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| Synopsis:- |
| Brilliant young physics student Quinn Mallory creates a machine that can transport people to other dimensions - dimensions where history may have taken a different course to our own. Along with his college Professor Maximillion Arturo, his close friend Wade Welles and, inadvertently singer Rembrandt Brown, Quinn "slides" through the vortex. Once through the group find that there is no way back and they must slide through a myriad of alternate worlds in search of home. |
| My review:- |
| As a concept for a sci-fi series, sliding is, or should be, a winner. The idea of there being an infinite number of alternate worlds means that the possibilities for storylines are only limited by the imagination of the writers. A communist USA, a USA that is still under British rule, a USA in which winning the lottery is a death sentence are just a few of the alternate realities encountered. On the whole the stories in Sliders are well-written and thought-provoking although there are occasional lapses when the writers borrowed heavily from the plots of books or movies e.g. The Island of Dr Moreau). |
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| But for me the great strength of the show has to be the relationships between the individual Sliders. The character of Wade is the linchpin - the glue that binds the group together. One gets the feeling that without Wade the group would have split up or imploded. Wade has a special kind of relationship with each of male Sliders. With Quinn there is the constant undercurrent of mutual attraction which never quite surfaces. (The decision not to develop this relationship was definitely the correct one. It allowed Wade to be transformed from being just "Quinn's girlfriend" to being "Wade Welles".) With Arturo there is a surrogate father/daughter relationship. And she enjoys the closeness of a brother/sister relationship with Rembrandt. |
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| This changed with the death of Arturo during season three and the introduction of a new female character, Maggie Beckett, played by Kari Wuhrer. There had always been conflict within the group but it was down to difference of opinion and viewpoint and didn't destabilise the essential feelings of closeness between the characters. The conflict signalled by the new arrival went deeper than that. Wade's feelings for Quinn were still unresolved and she sees Maggie as a threat. Her negative feelings towards Maggie sometimes spill over and are directed towards the others, particularly Quinn, and she develops a more cynical edge to her character in the post Arturo episodes. At the same time, possibly as a result of the Professors death, Rembrandt also seems to be becoming more disenchanted with sliding and distances himself from the others. |
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| Of all the characters I found Rembrandt to be the weakest. Wade, apart from being the only female, is also the moral conscience of the group and has useful skills in dealing with both people and computers. Quinn, as inventor of sliding, was nominally the leader of the group (although decisions were usually made by consensus). His scientific knowledge was of great use to the group and he also tended to take on the role of action man. Arturo also had a great store of scientific knowledge but was also well versed in other areas such as history, always helpful when trying to pinpoint the difference between worlds. All this seemed to leave Rembrandt out in the cold a little. He always seemed to be tagging along after someone else. |
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| As for the performances. Cleavant Derricks does what he can with what he had but the limitations of the character mean that this often isn't much. Jerry O'Connell is fine as Quinn but I always find that the character is a bit immature (too immature for Wade certainly), a trait that I found irritating at times. To be fair though, this may be intentional as a more mature Quinn would have been moving into the Professors territory. Speaking of which, John Rhys-Davies is perfect in this role and hams it up nicely as the crusty Arturo. Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles has to be one of the most inspired pieces of casting of all time. Wade is a much more complex character than the other three and is usually heavily involved in the more emotionally charged scenes. But Sabrina handles it with ease. She even manages to make the character of Wade seem grounded in reality while voicing decidedly unreal |
| sci-fi dialogue. |
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| It is safe to say that Sabrina Lloyds portrayal of Wade Welles is what made me become an avid, rather than occasional viewer. *Sabrina left the series in 1997 at the end of season three and for me that is where it ends. However, there is another reality where Sliders has gone on, with further cast changes and a "resolution" to the |
| Wade storyline (featuring a Sabrina Lloyd voice over). Maybe sometime in the future Sliders will return to this reality and Wade Welles will slide again. |
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| NB: The first three seasons of Sliders are available on DVD. |
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