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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Everyone forgets the story
of Hansel and Gretel: If you leave home, always
leave bread crumbs.
"Sliders" appeared in 1995 and met with fan
approval but was initially lambasted as a
knock-off of "Quantum Leap." The similarities were
largely cosmetic. Just as Sam in "Quantum Leap"
travels through time not knowing which journey
will take him home, Quinn Mallory and his fellow
travelers travel through alternate dimensions not
knowing where they're going or where they'll end
up.
When college student Quinn (Jerry O'Connell)
creates a device to defy the law of gravity, he
finds that the device does nothing of the sort:
instead it opens up small wormholes that provide a
link between alternate dimensions where Earth
exists but it isn't quite the same as our world.
When Quinn demonstrates the device to his physics
professor Maximillian Arturo (the marvelous John
Rhys-Davies), the wormhole becomes unstable and
sucks Quinn, Arturo, Quinn's friend Wade (Sabrina
Lloyd) and a singer passing by in his car by the
name of Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks).
The quartet end up on an Earth where the Soviet
Union invaded America and most of San Francisco is
buried beneath ice. Quinn discovers traveling
without a map can be a bitch. He has no way to
find home and the quartet go from alternate Earth
to alternate Earth hoping that one of the
wormholes will lead them to their original Earth.
Quinn and Arturo try a number of different tactics
to get back but it's unsuccessful. How many
alternate Earths could there be, you ask? There
are enough to fill a few short seasons. The first
boxed set consists of the short Season 1 (10
episodes when you count the two-hour pilot as two
episodes) and Season 2 (12 episodes). In reality,
you're getting all of Season One including the 85
minute pilot episode, since the show was a
midseason replacement and the episodes were broken
up over two "seasons."
"Sliders" started off with considerable promise.
Although the central premise of the series didn't
offer much diversity initially, the writers
quickly got the hang of playing with the
conventions of the sci-fi genre. The pilot written
by Tracy Torme and Robert Weiss is clever, well
written, and with interesting characters. The
writers did catch some flack for their portrayal
of Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown and the fact that
the character fell into a black stereotype. As the
series progressed, however, actor Derrick and the
writers managed to develop the role into a much
more complex and interesting one than in the
pilot.
By the time the show was cancelled by Fox (the
third season) the show had lost viewers (it was
the lead in to "The X-Files" initially) and then
lost much of its creative force when
producer/writer/creator Tracy Torme left the
series in a spat with the network. The third
season of the show saw major cast changes when
Rhys-Davies left during the beginning of the
season and Sabrina Lloyd left shortly there after.
Star O'Connell left during the fourth season
although, curiously, his character remained when a
really creative approach that could only be used
in a science fiction series had his character
"merge" with another after a slide. The first two
seasons included here have some very strong and
interesting episodes. Despite a limited budget and
the use of some marginal CGI effects, "Sliders"
works primarily due to the appealing cast and the
well-written and directed episodes.
Luckily, "Sliders" doesn't look like it just
emerged from a wormhole. The crisp, sharp image
quality and bright colors translate well to DVD.
The transfer manages to keep most of the best
qualities of the image intact and, although there
are some minor analog (dirt, scratches, etc.) and
digital blemishes, the show looks very good on
DVD. I'm disappointed the Stereo Surround
Soundtrack hasn't been remixed or remastered for
5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. Considering the cost
of this boxed set (particularly when compared to
the cost of "Knight Rider: Season One"), the fact
that this isn't remixed for 5.1 is a crime. Still,
the Stereo Surround Sound mix comes across as
clean and crisp with minimal compression.
Unlike the recently released "V: The Television
Series" from Warner, "Sliders does come with some
extras. The making-of featurette has new
interviews and promotional footage shot for the
show during its first season. Including an extra
on some of the better CGI effects (such as the
swirling wormhole effect) and a discussion with
the cast and crew about the initial challenges
they faced would also have been of interest.
Hopefully Universal has more featurettes that
focus on the visuals, a catalog of the alternate
Earth's and the conflict between creator Torme and
the network brewing for the next couple of boxed
sets.
Although the packaging isn't an extra per se, it
is different. Half of the box is made of cardboard
the other clear plastic with the DVDs held in
place by foam. Although great in design and
execution, it's a bit cumbersome and may not take
wear and tear very well. It can also be difficult
to put the set back together again unless you're
careful. I'd recommend purchasing Armary DVD
holders for the discs. (Universal has overpriced
this boxed set considering the extras here and the
transfer -- you're paying for the packaging).
The back has information about the DVD and, unlike
the glossy sheets for the "Star Trek" or "Deep
Space Nine" boxed sets this one actually has a
purpose. When you fold it out, it gives you an
episode guide to the series. Unfortunately,
there's no booklet but the DVD's do have a
synopsis of each episode. It's a nice way to give
fans an idea of what each episode is about and it
is a bit sturdier than a booklet. We also get a
commentary track on the two-hour pilot by Torme
and Weiss on the pilot. Both are candid about the
problems they ran into with meddling Fox
executives and the inspiration about various
characters. Their off the wall commentary
occasionally can be very funny, making it an
enjoyable way to watch the pilot again. |
