![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6This is my biggest yet (and probably among the least interesting to most people on my friends list, but hey, it's a personal thing), I'll be tackling Sliders, the alternative-history travelling series first on Fox, and later on the Sci-Fi channel, giving TV Guide style log listings for 2 full seasons worth of episodes, as well as general thoughts, ideas, and grumblings about the way things actually went.
Sliders is almost the perfect case in point of a great idea, with a very good start, but which was pummelled into first mediocrity and then at times outright awfullness by bad handling.
As Season 3 approached, FOX executives specificically gave the order to do episodes copying plots from major movies, and to avoid the more highbrow aspects of the premise for fear of confusing people. Not to mention some horrendous stuff, the worst of pettiness, among production staff. Many of these things, for those interested, can be read about here: http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com/faq.htm .
The cutoff I'm starting with is Season 3. This is not to say the first two seasons were perfect (given the choice, I'd change a number of minor things about them), but there was a definate change in character as we hit season 3. The first and most important change I'd make is to not move the filming to LA, and instead leave it in Vancouver, where it had a certain charm and less of a 'movie set' look. This would entail some changes in casting. I will also assume that I have some degree of control over whether the cast returns and various aspects of production. At the end, I'll give some speculations for what I'd do if the cast didn't return. I'd also keep some of the original writers as long as possible. Another thing I would have stepped up is the use of doubles... not necessarily of the regular cast (though they'd show up where appropriate), but of minor characters. Riley, who was the first person to ever slide with the team in the first season finale and then never showed up again, for example. He could easily show up sometime leading to more interesting reactions than just meeting strangers.
Actually, let me retract. The most important thing I'd do is fire David Pekinpah, and most of the people brought on about the same time. David Pekinpah, especially, though, because he was behind some of the worst of the pettyness and awful decisions. Keep Tracy Torme of course, he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders (and it gave us an in to bring in alternate versions of his father, Mel Torme), and some of the others. Moving to Vancouver comes after that.
I'll go episode by episode (and I will assume the same number of episodes per season as really occured, so 25 for S3 and 22 for S4). Where I list an episode that existed as is (these will be marked (RE)), of course there will be slight changes due to casting and different location, and often it's just because I can't be bothered to think of a better one to go in there (in general I'd prefer ones that spring from a specific historical change, rather than 'wouldn't it be cool if...', but getting to deep into those is beyond the scope of WIDW). It could just as easily be replaced by a completely new episode. For that matter, many of the episodes I created could also be replaced.
For those who aren't too familiar with the concept, Sliders is an alternate reality travelling show. The four characters (a young college kid who accidentally invented the process, his girl-next door best friend, his pompous college professor, and a washed up singer from the 70s who got caught up in it accidentally)travel from alternate universe to alternate universe, trying to find their way home. Their stay on the world is randomly determined by a timer which counts down to the time in which their limited device has enough power to slide, and if they miss it, the next window of opportunity won't come for almost 30 years(although they could conceivably just build another big sliding device).
Season 3:
1: Double Cross (RE): The Sliders work with a woman named Logan St. Clair, who is studying Sliding technology herself and may be able to help them get home, but who has some nefarious ulterior motives. (Note: In this episode, a part in the Sliders timer is switched with one that causes them to land anywhere within a 400-mile radius of where they slide out. This episode can't be swapped out with another as it's important for later.)
2: This Other Slide of Darkness (RE, Heavy modifications): Nearing the end of a several months long stay on a particularly dull world, the Sliders have been taking a well-needed vacation. On their way back to San Francisco for the slide, their car breaks down in a small town and they are led to investigate rumors of disappearances, which leads to the discovery of a Sliding Double of Quinn's... the first one he ever met. And something's changed him.
3: Dead Man Sliding (RE): Landing in LA on a world where justice is meted out on a game show, Quinn is accused of the murder his double apparently committed.
4: Snake in the Garden: Long after a bio-engineered plague has wiped out most of civilization, the survivors have built a luddite utopia, where both violence and technology are outlawed and almost unknown... until the Sliders show up, pursued by a mob hitman who they witnessed pulling off a hit just before the last slide.
5: The Guardian (RE): Quinn helps his younger self deal with the death of his father on a world who's development seems to be a few years behind his own. Arturo decides to make the most out of life when he discovers he has a terminal illness. (no swapout)
6: State of the Art (RE): On a world where androids have killed almost the entire human population, Quinn and Rembrandt are captured to be downloaded into new models.
7: The Fire Within (RE, with some changes): The Sliders stop on a world dominated by sentient fire, and unwittingly transport one of the life-forms to the next world, where California is oil-country.
8: Call of Duty, part 1: The Sliders are captured, and their timer confiscated, on a world which is fighting off a Sliding invasion from another world. They're told if they can crack the mystery of how to slide to the other world and counterattack, they can get it back, but before they do so, the time is up. A spy at the facility alerts the invading world to Quinn's presence.. suspecting he's their version of Quinn, who disappeared, they send a team to capture him. Cliffhanger ends with Quinn captured and Remy hopping through the portal after him.
9: Call of Duty, part 2: Now on the invading world, Rembrandt tries to rescue Quinn and get back to their friends, while stopping a biological weapon that is poised to destroy the world, while on the invaded world Wade and Arturo attempt to track down the spy. (It's revealed here that because of the huge amount of sliding into the world, that the Sliders keep getting new 'windows' to slide out in. Also, most people on the invading world, which is overpopulated and heavily influenced by a revived Roman empire, believe there are only two worlds, not an infinite number, so that the invasion is a necessity).
10: Prince of Slides (similar to RE, but with major changes): Rembrandt is mistaken for the one next in line for the throne on a world where the US is a monarchy, and his missing double's wife is pregnant.
11: Heat of the Moment (new episode, based on proposal by Torme that was mentioned in interviews): Stuck for several months on a world spiraling into the sun, Arturo does what he can for the problem, Quinn and Wade get engaged, and Rembrandt tries to revive a singing career. (at the end 'our' sliders show up, their window only being a few minutes, before sliding on again, revealing the episode focused on alternates)
12: Season's Greedings (RE): On a world where consumerism has gone wild, the Sliders spend Christmas in a huge mall where people live, go to school, and work, and if you can't pay your debts, you're forced to work until you can. Arturo tries to track down a woman who's abandoned her baby, while Wade encounters doubles of her father and sister.
13: Top of the Heap: Quinn is mistaken for his double and taken to an ultra-rich enclave while the others must try to survive in on the streets in a world of food riots and high crime. Arturo decides to tell Wade and Rembrandt about his terminal illness.
14: Worldkiller (similar to 4th season RE, with notable differences due to cast): The Sliders encounter an Earth devoid of people. When they realize the last newspapers are from when they first started Sliding, they are lead to Quinn's house, where they find a double... who's convinced he's killed everybody else on the planet. Actually, he's managed to slide everyone but him to a world which is now suffering from the sudden population doubling.
15: Better Half: Wade gets into trouble on a world where women are still considered second class citizens. Arturo considers rescuing his his abusive double's wife.
16: Exodus, Part 1 (similar to real episode, notable changes): On a world doomed to destruction, the Sliders are forced into helping the military's Sliding project, to transport as many people as possible onto a new world.
17: Exodus, Part 2 (major differences from RE): As the current world's apocalypse approaches, the Sliders must make sure a serial killer isn't among the people transported to the next world. (note: Arturo does not die in this episode, but military officer Maggie Beckett joins the cast for a few episodes in her quest to track down Rickman. Also, the timer gains the ability to track wormholes and store co-ordinates.)
18: The Final Arguement of Kings: Maggie runs into doubles of her husband and Rickman as she's mistaken for her double on a world where California has seceded from the US, and is facing war.
19: A Clockwork Slider: Rickman frames Quinn for a murder on a world where the punishment is an implant that punishes wrong thoughts. (To be daring, we might leave this implant in for a few worlds, or at least some of the residual programming, so he's unable to do any violent actions without getting seriously ill, until the end of the season at least. I rather like that idea, actually, so maybe I'll stick with it)
20: Heavy Metal (RE, with major changes due to cast): As a fluke with the sliding radius, the Sliders wind up landing in the ocean, on a world where lack of lightweight metals has made flight much less common. Luckily, they're rescued by a cargo vessel, only to find that it's headed away from land, and by the time they next Slide they'll be in the middle of the ocean again. The only way back might be a pirate vessel.
21: Reflections: Rembrandt discovers his double never joined the Spinning Tops on a relatively normal world, and goes in search of what happened. Meanwhile, Wade considers making a life for herself on a world where she never existed. (The first part of the episode description is from a proposed episode 'Topless' that never materialized)
22: Duck and Cover: When investigating a serial killer, who turns out not to be Rickman, Maggie becomes the next target. World is at the height of its own cold war with a still powerful Soviet Union, and everyone expecting that a nuclear war could happen at any time, and is also generally conservative and paranoid. Some of the other Sliders are suspected as spies.
23: Do Not Go Gentle...: Arturo's illness goes into the final stages, but he is offered a hope for survival, at a cost... destroying the timer's wormhole tracking capability. (the Sliders eventually decide to come up with a plan to both get the cure and catch Rickman. The first part succeeds, the second fails)
24: Icons: On a world with an intelligent but primitive life form being used by Rickman, they must risk becoming future religious figures in the world's history.
25: Alliance: Rickman's arrival on a world with Victorian sensibilities is tracked by Logan St. Clair, who's been stranded for months there... and wants some revenge on the Sliders (cliffhanger).
Season 4:
1: Alliance, Part 2: The Sliders must evade a trap set for them by Rickman and Logan. (Note: In this episode, the Sliders timer is fixed so they land within a fixed 2 mile radius of where they slide out again, Rickman is defeated, and Maggie Beckett returns to refugee world, her revenge satisfied. Doubles of her might occasionally show up if the actress is willing, where appropriate.)
2: Patchwork: The Sliders find a bizarre world which is a mishmash of worlds with very different histories, coexisting due to a bizarre error in early sliding research. Every 'region', ranging from a block or two to several hundreds of miles, comes from a different parallel world, although travel between them since the event has mixed everybody together. In the California area, three Quinns work together to try and understand and undo the phenomenon, while other areas have already taken to war to just conquer the world as it has become. And then there's dinosaurs, Kromaggs, and killer robots...
3: Just Say Yes (major changes from RE): A world where drugs are not only legal, but actively encouraged by the government. Arturo falls victim to drugs in the water supply, and when an angry Wade complains, she's sent to an intoxication center to calm her down. (An alternate of Wade's sister, in dire straits in this episode, joins the group for a short time)
4: Other People's Messes: Landing on a world seconds after a group of sliding doubles departed, the group must deal with the troubles and messes left behind by their alternates. Troubles left in large part by the copy of Wade's sister, which forces her to confront aspects of herself that have lead to some of her troubles in her own world.
5: Techno Shock: The Sliders arrive on a world in deep chaos as, over the course of a decade, their technology level has raised from barely having electricity to having higher technology than Earth Prime, thanks to the efforts of irresponsible group of paradimensional travellers remaking a new world in their own's image. (We could have Logan again here, either a double of the last one, or if we let the last one escape, her again)
6: Twisted Cross: It's worst case scenario time as
we finally do the episode everyone expects the show to do: The Nazis won WWII, conquered the world, and would expand if they only knew there was somewhere to expand to. Like, say, an infinite number of parallel worlds. (Wade's sister dies in this episode)
7: Live and Direct: The Sliders entry is captured on live TV on a Max-headroom esque media-dominated world, turning them into instant celebrities. (This may also wind up being the inevitable Clip Show, but I'd rather not). Depending on where we are, might have the reporter follow them to the next world, and then drop him off at the end of it (since they can go back to previous worlds).
8: The Alternativeville Horror (RE, major changes due to cast): Stuck in the hotel during a downpour on a world full of acid rain, some of the Sliders come to believe the hotel is haunted. (If we take the reporter from the last world we can include suspicion that he's making it up for a 'story', because the world they arrived on wasn't very interesting from a news perspective)
9: Virgin Field: After getting stung by an insect on a world with no human life, one of the Sliders (Wade?) accidentally carries a new bacterial infection to the next world. (As a note, this episode's setup is similar to the 3rd season episode 'The Breeder' in the real series, except in that one it made the infected person into a Species-esque slut looking to mate. The episode was pretty bad, but it did have one or two good ideas in there that I might steal, and so I give credit to that)
10: Cutting Edge: Cyberpunk style planet, hijinks ensue, notable in that with this episode Wade uses the technology there to decrypt the coordinates they got from Rickman's timer that they believe leads to their home world. World also descended from an America where much of California was annexed by the Japanese during WWII, and held for a time afterwards before recently being returned (a la Hong Kong) to the original government. Because it wouldn't be a Cyberpunk story without a heavy Japanese influence. ;)
11/12: Homecoming (Two parter): The Sliders return to what they believe is home, and all is well... until Kromaggs arrive and start taking over. The Sliders leave again, trying to find allies. (As a note, the Kromaggs are a menace descended from another possible evolutionary path, but they're not 'cruel nazis, right down to the uniforms, except with bumpy heads' they became in later Sliders. They probably gain another slider, from Earth, in the second part. Maybe Wade's sister again, maybe Conrad Bennish Jr, the pothead classmate of Quinn who was just a great character in early Sliders. Maggie and Rickman also appear here as military officers when they contact the military with what they know about the Kromaggs and how to track wormhole formations)
13: Consequences: The Sliders happen to return to the world of the first season 'Last Days' where they gave the atom bomb to the world to help them divert an asteroid. Now, years later, they have to deal with the aftermath of that.
14: One Nation, Under God: The Sliders land on a world where, thanks to a slight change to the early constitution (which blossomed into major changes only in the fifties thanks to McCarthy), the US is now a virtual theocracy. One of the sliders gets in trouble, wackiness ensues (I was thinking of having it be Bennish, getting in trouble for trying to warn the world about the Kromaggs, and thus getting him in trouble for teaching Evolution) (The Kromaggs themselves may show up in this episode, having tracked the Sliders this far)
15: Asylum (RE, heavily modified due to different cast): One of the sliders is seriously injured on a world that the Kromaggs strip-mined for natural resources and then abandoned. The world knows about other dimensions, and in fact has the coordinates of several Kromagg facilities, but no sliding technology to make use of it. The only doctor who knows a treatment that can save him/her is a woman Remy is quickly falling in love with, but may have once been a Kromagg collaborator and is wanted by people seeking to try her for War Crimes. She tries to get them to get her off the world in exchange for her help. (The tracking device in one of the Sliders is also removed in this episode, and the manage to determine the coordinates of the world that it sends the tracking signal to.)
16: Mission of Antigravity: Quinn first invented Sliding when he was experimenting with anti-gravity. On this world, Quinn succeeded with gravity, but is now in hiding and paranoid about the government using it as a weapon. However, as gravity control is a key feature of Kromagg technology, the team needs to find him... so they can use it as a weapon. But is this Quinn really pursued by a conspiracy, or is he suffering from paranoid delusions?
17: The Devil You Know: After discovering a group of Nazi descended sliders (from the world in Twisted Cross) on another world Arturo comes up with a controversial plan to set the Nazis onto the co-ordinates of major Kromagg worlds, in the hopes they'll fight one another and take some of the heat off Earth Prime.
18: Murder Most Foul (RE, with major changes due to situation): Arturo is diagnosed as overstressed on a fast paced business world and is sent to a theme recreation park where he's temporarily brainwashed into believing he's a Victorian detective, to let him 'unwind'. The others take jobs as actors in the park to find him before the slide.
19: Slidecage (RE: Heavy modifications): The Sliders wind up shunted to a prison on an inhospitable world, filled with Kromaggs, Human, and other alien sliders, and unable to slide out, as part of a defense system to keep out unauthorized entries to a world. Quinn's genius lets them escape leading to...
20: Federation: The Sliders stop on one of the worlds of an alliance, who they think might be able to help them against the Kromaggs (Or, at least the evil Kromaggs. The episode would reveal that one of the major members of the alliance is another group of Kromaggs who are much nicer. Along with Saurians, descended from Dinosaurs, and 'Ethicals' - AIs which have an ethical basis to their programming). But first they must account for damage they've done to other worlds in their travels... and, perhaps, the damage other versions of themselves have caused. (I've always kind of wanted to deal with the 'gray goo' doomsday scenario of nanotechnology, but didn't want to saddle to Sliders with that kind of guilt... but the Federation could show a world where after some other Sliders landed on a 'gray goo' world, carried some of the nanites to the next world, which then proceeded to both kill them and the other world, as an illustration about the dangers of Sliding) Oh, this is another one that _could_ be a clip show if we really needed to, and Live & Direct wasn't, but again, prefer not).
21/22: Liberation (Season Finale, two parter): The Sliders return to Earth Prime, to try and rid it of the Kromaggs once and for all. (Possibly using a 'slidewave' like on Worldkiller to slide all non-native objects off the world, possibly with the help of the Federation people, or the Antigravity device, or possibly just a good old fashioned offensive assault on the invading world to keep them on the defensive while more secure anti-sliding defenses can be implemented).
I've left some things (such as when exactly certain new sliders arrive and leave) a bit open of course, but it serves as an overall plan for seasons 3 and 4.
Beyond season 4, if we continue, it's a little hard to plan ahead. Hard to see how the dynamics are going, actors might want to move, etc. I was thinking of having the last revelation of Season 4 being that the world wasn't Earth Prime at all, based on some minor difference they didn't even notice, thus sending them on their quest again, but that seems a bit cheesy. I just can't think of a way after that to continue the series after that without a dramatic change in direction and tone of the series(if sliders becomes a Government project, how do they justify Remy and Wade being in on it, for example, as both likely just want to get on with their lives). I suppose I could split season 4 into two years, with filler episodes (I use the term without the derogatory meaning) for the rest. I don't want to leave the Kromagg plot going on too long though, I think it's best served as a short arc. So I might just have to do the cheesy 'Oh, this isn't our world after all!' but since the Sliders are now heroes, they're able to use the world as a base in between other worlds. This changes the dynamics of the show a little (as new seasons should every once in a while, IMHO), and introduces a little more stable recurring cast (ongoing plots in year 5 might be Quinn's relationship with the mother of his double from that world, for example, and what happens when _that_ group of Sliders returns home). Of course, speaking of family relationships a possible Year 5 could continue, with Earth Prime still being Earth Prime, with a 'quest for Earth POWs' plot, where the relatives of the Sliders families were taken early on, motivating them to try and get them back. But that's a little more depressing IMHO. I think my favorite option is to leave them looking for their Earth, but having this world as a base of operations.
In any event, Kromaggs would still be an ongoing threat in later seasons; they may have been beaten off Earth Prime (or whatever it was), but they can still show up or control whole other worlds. Not to mention some of the other alien races. There would also be three other episodes, which are based on real episodes of the fourth or fifth season, but either closer to the original intent, or heavily modified.(Really, some of these could be swapped in for other episodes on my list above without much trouble, too).
These are:
"New Gods for Old" - based on the S5 episode written by David Gerrold. A nanotech 'cure' for a crippling injury on one of the Sliders, offered only by a particular 'cult' type group, leads him/her to become telepathically linked to others in the cult, and anyone else with the nanites.
(oh, speaking of David Gerrold, I would also do more efforts to commission episode written by actual SF authors, and especially alternate-history people like Harry Turtledove)
"The Great Work" - I recently discovered upon doing a little research for this WIDW that the original plan for this was that 'The Great Work' was an interdimensional library, collecting alternate histories (and probably great works of art, etc) from all sorts of alternate worlds, and it being assaulted by the Kromaggs looking for information on their original world (which they were exiled from long ago and is one of the reasons they're a little angry at humans), with the Sliders both wanting to use it and wanting to protect it/move it to a safer world. So, I'd like to include that in S5.
"Onliners" (Taking the original working title of S4's 'Net Worth', revising it for new characters and with my own twist)- On a world where the Net is everywhere, and is almost more common than face to face conversation, Quinn and Wade find themselves playing Cyrano to their lovestruck but mutually shy doubles, only to find some of their own feelings for each other coming out. Meanwhile, Arturo tries to give his double's career a boost by anonymously feeding him new theories.
In case anyone wonders... (headhangs), yes, many years ago I did write at least one of these S3/S4 episodes as fanfic. Not saying which one(s), it's probably still on the net.
Just for fun, I'm going to go into how I'd deal with the loss of cast members if the show was otherwise the same as it always was, and I was just put in charge of that.
Arturo: I'd fight like hell to keep him, even let him write episodes. In all the interviews I read he came off as a big SF buff and he was a little disappointed that the potential was being wasted. Failing that, I'd probably go with Maggie Beckett as a replacement, at least for a short time, but get a better actress who can more convincingly play a military officer, rather than a sex-kitten. However, I don't see her staying permanently, I'd like to have a Dr. Who style revolving companion slot. I'd also either leave it open for hom to return, or make him have a dying confession that he wasn't the original Arturo (there was an episode in year 2 that left it open that a double slid instead of the original). Eventually I'd like to have a second sliding expert take a more permanent role (I always had the idea of Bruce Greenwood playing a lone scientist slider who, when the normal team's timer is destroyed, decides to take them along for a while)
Wade: Again, fight like hell to keep her, but if she was dead set on leaving, we'd have to make other options. From what I understand, she was originally fired because it came down to a decision between her and the actress who played Maggie, who was a royal bitca, and the executive producer liked Maggie. Since Wade 'left' on a story where they returned home and the Kromaggs came, and she was kidnapped, adding her sister to the team might be a good replacement - she has a reason to help. Also, I hated hated hated the whole 'sending her to a Kromagg breeding camp' idea (which was part of the pettyness I spoke of before. It was a deliberate degrading end to the character because of Pekinpah's problems with the actor). No, in my version they just sent her to a POW camp for prisoners who were known to be Sliders. (This would mean no Colin in my version, and no 'Quinn comes from another earth!' plot either, hopefully). Try to get both her and the Professor to come back as guest appearances, as their own doubles if not themselves.
Quinn/Colin: If I was brought in at Season 5, where Quinn and Colin were leaving, I'd just have them be separated on different worlds. Whoever is with the cast would be joined by two new sliders. I'd still like to go with my 'Bruce Greenwood' idea if it hasn't already been used, and then the third person being another girl, a more 'sensible average person caught up in the wonder of it all' type. Maybe, to make her different, she deliberately gets involved for the adventure of it all (since by this point in the series, they can store coordinates and she's not necessarily leaving home forever)
So, yeah, there it is. I've often said this series was a whole mess of wasted potential, and that I could come up with better story ideas than they did(and often make better stories out of the ideas they did use). So, this is my attempt at proving it. For those wanting a look at how things actually turned out (or get an idea of which episodes came before my cutoff), and don't want to sit through Sliders as it is, the real episode list is located at http://www.tvtome.com/Sliders/eplist.html . Despite all my complaints, I still think it's a show worth watching for at least the first two seasons, and the first half or so of the third... up until Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) dies, in fact. There are a couple of stinker episodes in there of course, but he classes up the series a lot.
Comments welcome.
Oh and I finally found a use for the 'Memories' function. This and all previous and future WIDW will be added to the Memories tab in my userinfo for easy reference.
Sliders is almost the perfect case in point of a great idea, with a very good start, but which was pummelled into first mediocrity and then at times outright awfullness by bad handling.
As Season 3 approached, FOX executives specificically gave the order to do episodes copying plots from major movies, and to avoid the more highbrow aspects of the premise for fear of confusing people. Not to mention some horrendous stuff, the worst of pettiness, among production staff. Many of these things, for those interested, can be read about here: http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com/faq.htm .
The cutoff I'm starting with is Season 3. This is not to say the first two seasons were perfect (given the choice, I'd change a number of minor things about them), but there was a definate change in character as we hit season 3. The first and most important change I'd make is to not move the filming to LA, and instead leave it in Vancouver, where it had a certain charm and less of a 'movie set' look. This would entail some changes in casting. I will also assume that I have some degree of control over whether the cast returns and various aspects of production. At the end, I'll give some speculations for what I'd do if the cast didn't return. I'd also keep some of the original writers as long as possible. Another thing I would have stepped up is the use of doubles... not necessarily of the regular cast (though they'd show up where appropriate), but of minor characters. Riley, who was the first person to ever slide with the team in the first season finale and then never showed up again, for example. He could easily show up sometime leading to more interesting reactions than just meeting strangers.
Actually, let me retract. The most important thing I'd do is fire David Pekinpah, and most of the people brought on about the same time. David Pekinpah, especially, though, because he was behind some of the worst of the pettyness and awful decisions. Keep Tracy Torme of course, he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders (and it gave us an in to bring in alternate versions of his father, Mel Torme), and some of the others. Moving to Vancouver comes after that.
I'll go episode by episode (and I will assume the same number of episodes per season as really occured, so 25 for S3 and 22 for S4). Where I list an episode that existed as is (these will be marked (RE)), of course there will be slight changes due to casting and different location, and often it's just because I can't be bothered to think of a better one to go in there (in general I'd prefer ones that spring from a specific historical change, rather than 'wouldn't it be cool if...', but getting to deep into those is beyond the scope of WIDW). It could just as easily be replaced by a completely new episode. For that matter, many of the episodes I created could also be replaced.
For those who aren't too familiar with the concept, Sliders is an alternate reality travelling show. The four characters (a young college kid who accidentally invented the process, his girl-next door best friend, his pompous college professor, and a washed up singer from the 70s who got caught up in it accidentally)travel from alternate universe to alternate universe, trying to find their way home. Their stay on the world is randomly determined by a timer which counts down to the time in which their limited device has enough power to slide, and if they miss it, the next window of opportunity won't come for almost 30 years(although they could conceivably just build another big sliding device).
Season 3:
1: Double Cross (RE): The Sliders work with a woman named Logan St. Clair, who is studying Sliding technology herself and may be able to help them get home, but who has some nefarious ulterior motives. (Note: In this episode, a part in the Sliders timer is switched with one that causes them to land anywhere within a 400-mile radius of where they slide out. This episode can't be swapped out with another as it's important for later.)
2: This Other Slide of Darkness (RE, Heavy modifications): Nearing the end of a several months long stay on a particularly dull world, the Sliders have been taking a well-needed vacation. On their way back to San Francisco for the slide, their car breaks down in a small town and they are led to investigate rumors of disappearances, which leads to the discovery of a Sliding Double of Quinn's... the first one he ever met. And something's changed him.
3: Dead Man Sliding (RE): Landing in LA on a world where justice is meted out on a game show, Quinn is accused of the murder his double apparently committed.
4: Snake in the Garden: Long after a bio-engineered plague has wiped out most of civilization, the survivors have built a luddite utopia, where both violence and technology are outlawed and almost unknown... until the Sliders show up, pursued by a mob hitman who they witnessed pulling off a hit just before the last slide.
5: The Guardian (RE): Quinn helps his younger self deal with the death of his father on a world who's development seems to be a few years behind his own. Arturo decides to make the most out of life when he discovers he has a terminal illness. (no swapout)
6: State of the Art (RE): On a world where androids have killed almost the entire human population, Quinn and Rembrandt are captured to be downloaded into new models.
7: The Fire Within (RE, with some changes): The Sliders stop on a world dominated by sentient fire, and unwittingly transport one of the life-forms to the next world, where California is oil-country.
8: Call of Duty, part 1: The Sliders are captured, and their timer confiscated, on a world which is fighting off a Sliding invasion from another world. They're told if they can crack the mystery of how to slide to the other world and counterattack, they can get it back, but before they do so, the time is up. A spy at the facility alerts the invading world to Quinn's presence.. suspecting he's their version of Quinn, who disappeared, they send a team to capture him. Cliffhanger ends with Quinn captured and Remy hopping through the portal after him.
9: Call of Duty, part 2: Now on the invading world, Rembrandt tries to rescue Quinn and get back to their friends, while stopping a biological weapon that is poised to destroy the world, while on the invaded world Wade and Arturo attempt to track down the spy. (It's revealed here that because of the huge amount of sliding into the world, that the Sliders keep getting new 'windows' to slide out in. Also, most people on the invading world, which is overpopulated and heavily influenced by a revived Roman empire, believe there are only two worlds, not an infinite number, so that the invasion is a necessity).
10: Prince of Slides (similar to RE, but with major changes): Rembrandt is mistaken for the one next in line for the throne on a world where the US is a monarchy, and his missing double's wife is pregnant.
11: Heat of the Moment (new episode, based on proposal by Torme that was mentioned in interviews): Stuck for several months on a world spiraling into the sun, Arturo does what he can for the problem, Quinn and Wade get engaged, and Rembrandt tries to revive a singing career. (at the end 'our' sliders show up, their window only being a few minutes, before sliding on again, revealing the episode focused on alternates)
12: Season's Greedings (RE): On a world where consumerism has gone wild, the Sliders spend Christmas in a huge mall where people live, go to school, and work, and if you can't pay your debts, you're forced to work until you can. Arturo tries to track down a woman who's abandoned her baby, while Wade encounters doubles of her father and sister.
13: Top of the Heap: Quinn is mistaken for his double and taken to an ultra-rich enclave while the others must try to survive in on the streets in a world of food riots and high crime. Arturo decides to tell Wade and Rembrandt about his terminal illness.
14: Worldkiller (similar to 4th season RE, with notable differences due to cast): The Sliders encounter an Earth devoid of people. When they realize the last newspapers are from when they first started Sliding, they are lead to Quinn's house, where they find a double... who's convinced he's killed everybody else on the planet. Actually, he's managed to slide everyone but him to a world which is now suffering from the sudden population doubling.
15: Better Half: Wade gets into trouble on a world where women are still considered second class citizens. Arturo considers rescuing his his abusive double's wife.
16: Exodus, Part 1 (similar to real episode, notable changes): On a world doomed to destruction, the Sliders are forced into helping the military's Sliding project, to transport as many people as possible onto a new world.
17: Exodus, Part 2 (major differences from RE): As the current world's apocalypse approaches, the Sliders must make sure a serial killer isn't among the people transported to the next world. (note: Arturo does not die in this episode, but military officer Maggie Beckett joins the cast for a few episodes in her quest to track down Rickman. Also, the timer gains the ability to track wormholes and store co-ordinates.)
18: The Final Arguement of Kings: Maggie runs into doubles of her husband and Rickman as she's mistaken for her double on a world where California has seceded from the US, and is facing war.
19: A Clockwork Slider: Rickman frames Quinn for a murder on a world where the punishment is an implant that punishes wrong thoughts. (To be daring, we might leave this implant in for a few worlds, or at least some of the residual programming, so he's unable to do any violent actions without getting seriously ill, until the end of the season at least. I rather like that idea, actually, so maybe I'll stick with it)
20: Heavy Metal (RE, with major changes due to cast): As a fluke with the sliding radius, the Sliders wind up landing in the ocean, on a world where lack of lightweight metals has made flight much less common. Luckily, they're rescued by a cargo vessel, only to find that it's headed away from land, and by the time they next Slide they'll be in the middle of the ocean again. The only way back might be a pirate vessel.
21: Reflections: Rembrandt discovers his double never joined the Spinning Tops on a relatively normal world, and goes in search of what happened. Meanwhile, Wade considers making a life for herself on a world where she never existed. (The first part of the episode description is from a proposed episode 'Topless' that never materialized)
22: Duck and Cover: When investigating a serial killer, who turns out not to be Rickman, Maggie becomes the next target. World is at the height of its own cold war with a still powerful Soviet Union, and everyone expecting that a nuclear war could happen at any time, and is also generally conservative and paranoid. Some of the other Sliders are suspected as spies.
23: Do Not Go Gentle...: Arturo's illness goes into the final stages, but he is offered a hope for survival, at a cost... destroying the timer's wormhole tracking capability. (the Sliders eventually decide to come up with a plan to both get the cure and catch Rickman. The first part succeeds, the second fails)
24: Icons: On a world with an intelligent but primitive life form being used by Rickman, they must risk becoming future religious figures in the world's history.
25: Alliance: Rickman's arrival on a world with Victorian sensibilities is tracked by Logan St. Clair, who's been stranded for months there... and wants some revenge on the Sliders (cliffhanger).
Season 4:
1: Alliance, Part 2: The Sliders must evade a trap set for them by Rickman and Logan. (Note: In this episode, the Sliders timer is fixed so they land within a fixed 2 mile radius of where they slide out again, Rickman is defeated, and Maggie Beckett returns to refugee world, her revenge satisfied. Doubles of her might occasionally show up if the actress is willing, where appropriate.)
2: Patchwork: The Sliders find a bizarre world which is a mishmash of worlds with very different histories, coexisting due to a bizarre error in early sliding research. Every 'region', ranging from a block or two to several hundreds of miles, comes from a different parallel world, although travel between them since the event has mixed everybody together. In the California area, three Quinns work together to try and understand and undo the phenomenon, while other areas have already taken to war to just conquer the world as it has become. And then there's dinosaurs, Kromaggs, and killer robots...
3: Just Say Yes (major changes from RE): A world where drugs are not only legal, but actively encouraged by the government. Arturo falls victim to drugs in the water supply, and when an angry Wade complains, she's sent to an intoxication center to calm her down. (An alternate of Wade's sister, in dire straits in this episode, joins the group for a short time)
4: Other People's Messes: Landing on a world seconds after a group of sliding doubles departed, the group must deal with the troubles and messes left behind by their alternates. Troubles left in large part by the copy of Wade's sister, which forces her to confront aspects of herself that have lead to some of her troubles in her own world.
5: Techno Shock: The Sliders arrive on a world in deep chaos as, over the course of a decade, their technology level has raised from barely having electricity to having higher technology than Earth Prime, thanks to the efforts of irresponsible group of paradimensional travellers remaking a new world in their own's image. (We could have Logan again here, either a double of the last one, or if we let the last one escape, her again)
6: Twisted Cross: It's worst case scenario time as
we finally do the episode everyone expects the show to do: The Nazis won WWII, conquered the world, and would expand if they only knew there was somewhere to expand to. Like, say, an infinite number of parallel worlds. (Wade's sister dies in this episode)
7: Live and Direct: The Sliders entry is captured on live TV on a Max-headroom esque media-dominated world, turning them into instant celebrities. (This may also wind up being the inevitable Clip Show, but I'd rather not). Depending on where we are, might have the reporter follow them to the next world, and then drop him off at the end of it (since they can go back to previous worlds).
8: The Alternativeville Horror (RE, major changes due to cast): Stuck in the hotel during a downpour on a world full of acid rain, some of the Sliders come to believe the hotel is haunted. (If we take the reporter from the last world we can include suspicion that he's making it up for a 'story', because the world they arrived on wasn't very interesting from a news perspective)
9: Virgin Field: After getting stung by an insect on a world with no human life, one of the Sliders (Wade?) accidentally carries a new bacterial infection to the next world. (As a note, this episode's setup is similar to the 3rd season episode 'The Breeder' in the real series, except in that one it made the infected person into a Species-esque slut looking to mate. The episode was pretty bad, but it did have one or two good ideas in there that I might steal, and so I give credit to that)
10: Cutting Edge: Cyberpunk style planet, hijinks ensue, notable in that with this episode Wade uses the technology there to decrypt the coordinates they got from Rickman's timer that they believe leads to their home world. World also descended from an America where much of California was annexed by the Japanese during WWII, and held for a time afterwards before recently being returned (a la Hong Kong) to the original government. Because it wouldn't be a Cyberpunk story without a heavy Japanese influence. ;)
11/12: Homecoming (Two parter): The Sliders return to what they believe is home, and all is well... until Kromaggs arrive and start taking over. The Sliders leave again, trying to find allies. (As a note, the Kromaggs are a menace descended from another possible evolutionary path, but they're not 'cruel nazis, right down to the uniforms, except with bumpy heads' they became in later Sliders. They probably gain another slider, from Earth, in the second part. Maybe Wade's sister again, maybe Conrad Bennish Jr, the pothead classmate of Quinn who was just a great character in early Sliders. Maggie and Rickman also appear here as military officers when they contact the military with what they know about the Kromaggs and how to track wormhole formations)
13: Consequences: The Sliders happen to return to the world of the first season 'Last Days' where they gave the atom bomb to the world to help them divert an asteroid. Now, years later, they have to deal with the aftermath of that.
14: One Nation, Under God: The Sliders land on a world where, thanks to a slight change to the early constitution (which blossomed into major changes only in the fifties thanks to McCarthy), the US is now a virtual theocracy. One of the sliders gets in trouble, wackiness ensues (I was thinking of having it be Bennish, getting in trouble for trying to warn the world about the Kromaggs, and thus getting him in trouble for teaching Evolution) (The Kromaggs themselves may show up in this episode, having tracked the Sliders this far)
15: Asylum (RE, heavily modified due to different cast): One of the sliders is seriously injured on a world that the Kromaggs strip-mined for natural resources and then abandoned. The world knows about other dimensions, and in fact has the coordinates of several Kromagg facilities, but no sliding technology to make use of it. The only doctor who knows a treatment that can save him/her is a woman Remy is quickly falling in love with, but may have once been a Kromagg collaborator and is wanted by people seeking to try her for War Crimes. She tries to get them to get her off the world in exchange for her help. (The tracking device in one of the Sliders is also removed in this episode, and the manage to determine the coordinates of the world that it sends the tracking signal to.)
16: Mission of Antigravity: Quinn first invented Sliding when he was experimenting with anti-gravity. On this world, Quinn succeeded with gravity, but is now in hiding and paranoid about the government using it as a weapon. However, as gravity control is a key feature of Kromagg technology, the team needs to find him... so they can use it as a weapon. But is this Quinn really pursued by a conspiracy, or is he suffering from paranoid delusions?
17: The Devil You Know: After discovering a group of Nazi descended sliders (from the world in Twisted Cross) on another world Arturo comes up with a controversial plan to set the Nazis onto the co-ordinates of major Kromagg worlds, in the hopes they'll fight one another and take some of the heat off Earth Prime.
18: Murder Most Foul (RE, with major changes due to situation): Arturo is diagnosed as overstressed on a fast paced business world and is sent to a theme recreation park where he's temporarily brainwashed into believing he's a Victorian detective, to let him 'unwind'. The others take jobs as actors in the park to find him before the slide.
19: Slidecage (RE: Heavy modifications): The Sliders wind up shunted to a prison on an inhospitable world, filled with Kromaggs, Human, and other alien sliders, and unable to slide out, as part of a defense system to keep out unauthorized entries to a world. Quinn's genius lets them escape leading to...
20: Federation: The Sliders stop on one of the worlds of an alliance, who they think might be able to help them against the Kromaggs (Or, at least the evil Kromaggs. The episode would reveal that one of the major members of the alliance is another group of Kromaggs who are much nicer. Along with Saurians, descended from Dinosaurs, and 'Ethicals' - AIs which have an ethical basis to their programming). But first they must account for damage they've done to other worlds in their travels... and, perhaps, the damage other versions of themselves have caused. (I've always kind of wanted to deal with the 'gray goo' doomsday scenario of nanotechnology, but didn't want to saddle to Sliders with that kind of guilt... but the Federation could show a world where after some other Sliders landed on a 'gray goo' world, carried some of the nanites to the next world, which then proceeded to both kill them and the other world, as an illustration about the dangers of Sliding) Oh, this is another one that _could_ be a clip show if we really needed to, and Live & Direct wasn't, but again, prefer not).
21/22: Liberation (Season Finale, two parter): The Sliders return to Earth Prime, to try and rid it of the Kromaggs once and for all. (Possibly using a 'slidewave' like on Worldkiller to slide all non-native objects off the world, possibly with the help of the Federation people, or the Antigravity device, or possibly just a good old fashioned offensive assault on the invading world to keep them on the defensive while more secure anti-sliding defenses can be implemented).
I've left some things (such as when exactly certain new sliders arrive and leave) a bit open of course, but it serves as an overall plan for seasons 3 and 4.
Beyond season 4, if we continue, it's a little hard to plan ahead. Hard to see how the dynamics are going, actors might want to move, etc. I was thinking of having the last revelation of Season 4 being that the world wasn't Earth Prime at all, based on some minor difference they didn't even notice, thus sending them on their quest again, but that seems a bit cheesy. I just can't think of a way after that to continue the series after that without a dramatic change in direction and tone of the series(if sliders becomes a Government project, how do they justify Remy and Wade being in on it, for example, as both likely just want to get on with their lives). I suppose I could split season 4 into two years, with filler episodes (I use the term without the derogatory meaning) for the rest. I don't want to leave the Kromagg plot going on too long though, I think it's best served as a short arc. So I might just have to do the cheesy 'Oh, this isn't our world after all!' but since the Sliders are now heroes, they're able to use the world as a base in between other worlds. This changes the dynamics of the show a little (as new seasons should every once in a while, IMHO), and introduces a little more stable recurring cast (ongoing plots in year 5 might be Quinn's relationship with the mother of his double from that world, for example, and what happens when _that_ group of Sliders returns home). Of course, speaking of family relationships a possible Year 5 could continue, with Earth Prime still being Earth Prime, with a 'quest for Earth POWs' plot, where the relatives of the Sliders families were taken early on, motivating them to try and get them back. But that's a little more depressing IMHO. I think my favorite option is to leave them looking for their Earth, but having this world as a base of operations.
In any event, Kromaggs would still be an ongoing threat in later seasons; they may have been beaten off Earth Prime (or whatever it was), but they can still show up or control whole other worlds. Not to mention some of the other alien races. There would also be three other episodes, which are based on real episodes of the fourth or fifth season, but either closer to the original intent, or heavily modified.(Really, some of these could be swapped in for other episodes on my list above without much trouble, too).
These are:
"New Gods for Old" - based on the S5 episode written by David Gerrold. A nanotech 'cure' for a crippling injury on one of the Sliders, offered only by a particular 'cult' type group, leads him/her to become telepathically linked to others in the cult, and anyone else with the nanites.
(oh, speaking of David Gerrold, I would also do more efforts to commission episode written by actual SF authors, and especially alternate-history people like Harry Turtledove)
"The Great Work" - I recently discovered upon doing a little research for this WIDW that the original plan for this was that 'The Great Work' was an interdimensional library, collecting alternate histories (and probably great works of art, etc) from all sorts of alternate worlds, and it being assaulted by the Kromaggs looking for information on their original world (which they were exiled from long ago and is one of the reasons they're a little angry at humans), with the Sliders both wanting to use it and wanting to protect it/move it to a safer world. So, I'd like to include that in S5.
"Onliners" (Taking the original working title of S4's 'Net Worth', revising it for new characters and with my own twist)- On a world where the Net is everywhere, and is almost more common than face to face conversation, Quinn and Wade find themselves playing Cyrano to their lovestruck but mutually shy doubles, only to find some of their own feelings for each other coming out. Meanwhile, Arturo tries to give his double's career a boost by anonymously feeding him new theories.
In case anyone wonders... (headhangs), yes, many years ago I did write at least one of these S3/S4 episodes as fanfic. Not saying which one(s), it's probably still on the net.
Just for fun, I'm going to go into how I'd deal with the loss of cast members if the show was otherwise the same as it always was, and I was just put in charge of that.
Arturo: I'd fight like hell to keep him, even let him write episodes. In all the interviews I read he came off as a big SF buff and he was a little disappointed that the potential was being wasted. Failing that, I'd probably go with Maggie Beckett as a replacement, at least for a short time, but get a better actress who can more convincingly play a military officer, rather than a sex-kitten. However, I don't see her staying permanently, I'd like to have a Dr. Who style revolving companion slot. I'd also either leave it open for hom to return, or make him have a dying confession that he wasn't the original Arturo (there was an episode in year 2 that left it open that a double slid instead of the original). Eventually I'd like to have a second sliding expert take a more permanent role (I always had the idea of Bruce Greenwood playing a lone scientist slider who, when the normal team's timer is destroyed, decides to take them along for a while)
Wade: Again, fight like hell to keep her, but if she was dead set on leaving, we'd have to make other options. From what I understand, she was originally fired because it came down to a decision between her and the actress who played Maggie, who was a royal bitca, and the executive producer liked Maggie. Since Wade 'left' on a story where they returned home and the Kromaggs came, and she was kidnapped, adding her sister to the team might be a good replacement - she has a reason to help. Also, I hated hated hated the whole 'sending her to a Kromagg breeding camp' idea (which was part of the pettyness I spoke of before. It was a deliberate degrading end to the character because of Pekinpah's problems with the actor). No, in my version they just sent her to a POW camp for prisoners who were known to be Sliders. (This would mean no Colin in my version, and no 'Quinn comes from another earth!' plot either, hopefully). Try to get both her and the Professor to come back as guest appearances, as their own doubles if not themselves.
Quinn/Colin: If I was brought in at Season 5, where Quinn and Colin were leaving, I'd just have them be separated on different worlds. Whoever is with the cast would be joined by two new sliders. I'd still like to go with my 'Bruce Greenwood' idea if it hasn't already been used, and then the third person being another girl, a more 'sensible average person caught up in the wonder of it all' type. Maybe, to make her different, she deliberately gets involved for the adventure of it all (since by this point in the series, they can store coordinates and she's not necessarily leaving home forever)
So, yeah, there it is. I've often said this series was a whole mess of wasted potential, and that I could come up with better story ideas than they did(and often make better stories out of the ideas they did use). So, this is my attempt at proving it. For those wanting a look at how things actually turned out (or get an idea of which episodes came before my cutoff), and don't want to sit through Sliders as it is, the real episode list is located at http://www.tvtome.com/Sliders/eplist.html . Despite all my complaints, I still think it's a show worth watching for at least the first two seasons, and the first half or so of the third... up until Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) dies, in fact. There are a couple of stinker episodes in there of course, but he classes up the series a lot.
Comments welcome.
Oh and I finally found a use for the 'Memories' function. This and all previous and future WIDW will be added to the Memories tab in my userinfo for easy reference.
