'' is a
Science Fiction Television Series that ran from
1995 –
2000 , across five seasons. The series focuses on a group of travellers who ''"slide"'' between
Parallel Worlds by use of an
Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky Bridge .
The first three seasons of ''Sliders'' were shown by the
Fox Network . It was cancelled after the first season, which was broadcast from March to May 1995, but was brought back for a second season from March to July
1996 . A third season was broadcast from September 1996 to May
1997 . The
Sci Fi Channel produced the fourth (June
1998 to April
1999 ) and fifth (from June 1999) seasons, but cancelled it in February 2000.
In the
UK , the
BBC showed the first three seasons from September 1996 to January 1999. The episodes were (confusingly) shown out of order. No episodes have been repeated and the fourth and fifth seasons were not aired. The
Sci Fi Channel often shows all five seasons of ''Sliders'' in daily rotation.
The show was produced by
Tracy Tormé , son of singer
Mel Tormé (Mel Tormé appeared in an episode as himself, or rather a "double" of himself).
The series was filmed in
Vancouver ,
British Columbia ,
Canada in its first two seasons, but moved to
Los Angeles, California for the last three seasons.
The nature of the show changed during the seasons. Most fans tend to prefer the first two seasons, which focused on
Alternate Histories and alternate social norms. These stories explored what would happen if America was conquered by the
Soviet Union , if Penicillin had not been invented, and if men were subservient to women in a clear sexist divide.
The third season introduced the first change to the running of ''Sliders''. Episodes became more action-oriented in focus and to some this was the beginning of a downward slide, making it arguably the least favourite season among fans.
The main focus of the fourth and fifth seasons was the war against the Kromaggs and though popular in their own right, many fans say this is where the series
Jumped The Shark .
However, within these changing themes, a pattern was soon developed running through each and every episode: The Sliders arrive on a new world, often following a prelude, narrowly escaping a plight from the previous slide, trouble ensues and the Sliders are separated, after much drama, the Sliders reunite with the timer and escape.
''Episodes 1 - 10''
Young physicist
Quinn Mallory created a device capable of opening vortices to
Alternate Universes . With a little help from his double from another world, he developed the technology to the extent that not only could he send items through the gateway he created, but with the use of a timer, it would also be returned to its point of origin. He used himself as his first living guinea pig, and on his second journey, best friend Wade Welles and his professor Maximillian Arturo joined him.
The wormhole grew unstable and out of control. Singer Rembrandt "Cryin' Man" Brown, driving his car by Quinn's house, was accidentally sucked through with them. When the timer was activated ahead of time, over four hours before it was scheduled to, it lost its co-ordinates and the Sliders could not return home. This left them unable to control when the vortices would open or which world they would lead to. Thus, the Sliders continued their journey, trying to find their way back home.
A common theme during this season was to explore political issues and to play around with recurring characters who had first appeared in the pilot, showing how their situations had changed on various worlds.
''Episodes 11 – 23''
Still no closer to returning home, the Sliders encounter the
Kromagg s for the very first time in the episode "
Invasion ". Their presence is short-lived, but they become the main plot for later seasons. After some close encounters, the sliders make it a rule to no longer accept hitchhikers, an action that had previously saved people from plights in their own worlds, and agree to try to stop interfering wherever possible, much like the
Prime Directive from the ''
Star Trek '' franchise.
''Episodes 24 – 48''
The third season takes a more bizarre twist, producing a series of one-off episodes, most of which are patterned on existing ideas previously seen in films.
During a slide to a world that is soon to be destroyed by fragments of a
Pulsar , the Sliders help the inhabitants develop sliding technology, with the intent to evacuate their best and brightest to a new home. It is on this world that they encounter
Captain Maggie Beckett and the murderous Colonel Rickman, a veteran of the
Gulf War on that world, who contracted a strange disease which attacks his brain, thus making donor tissue necessary; Rickman kills both Maggie's husband and the Professor.
The Sliders now have a new mission - revenge. They continue to chase Rickman until he meets his demise in the season finale. They find the correct coordinates that will take them home and episode ends when Quinn tells Wade and Rembrandt to slide home without him, while he stays behind for Maggie. Using the second timer gained from Rickman, he and Maggie end up on a different world.
''Episodes 49 – 70''
Quinn and Maggie finally find Rembrandt, as a prisoner of the Kromaggs.
Earth Prime had been attacked, and he and Wade were separated (she had been sent to a Kromagg breeder camp). The three Sliders escape to find a weapon with which to liberate earth, but not after Quinn's imprisoned mother tells him that he is her adopted son and is actually from another, parallel world.
They find Quinn's brother Colin on another world, their parents having sent them to different worlds for their protection after their home was attacked by Kromaggs and was no longer safe. Colin became the sixth Slider and they tried to track down their birth parents, hoping they have the answers they seek and the means to defeat the Kromaggs.
The war with the Kromaggs is the primary theme throughout the season. The loss of Arturo and Wade (who left during the season 3/4 hiatus), and the increasingly bizarre plotlines, combined with some fans' dislike toward Colin created a dip in ratings.
''Episodes 71 – 88''
With Jerry and Charlie O'Connell stricken from the cast list, the writers decided to simply lose Colin in the vortex, and fused Quinn with his counterpart on the new world, who is the only duplicate to not look anything like Quinn (other than Logan St. Clair, the female double of Quinn, in a season three episode, "[[Double Cross (Sliders)
