| Episode Info: | |
| Air Date: 22 March 1995 | |
| Prod Number: SL-101/SL-102 | |
| Written by: Tracy Torme'/Robert K. Weiss | |
| Directed by: Andy Tennant | |
| Synopsis:
The premiere episode of Sliders introduces Quinn Mallory, a
collegiate genius who accidentally discovers a portal to other dimensions while attempting
to create the world's first anti-gravity device. Quinn lives in San Francisco and works at
Doppler Computer Store as a service technician after school. When he perfects a timing
device, which allows him to control the amount of time spent in another dimension, he sets
the timer for fifteen minutes and steps into the vortex. Believing that nothing has
happened, Quinn ventures outside into a world where global cooling is a problem,
stoplights have been reversed (red means go, green means stop) and the last CD was made
(vinyl is here to stay). Jack Kennedy married Marilyn Monroe and doesn't want to run for
re-election, Elvis is alive and performing and the Mexican government is complaining about
the volume of American citizens crossing the border into their country. Quinn returns to
his house to discover his mom, a brunette here, is pregnant and married to the Jake the
Gardener. At that moment, Quinn's fifteen minutes are up and he is sucked back
through the wormhole to his home Earth, where he's somehow gotten himself into a mess of
trouble. Both his physics professor, Maximillian Arturo, and his boss are irate about
things supposedly said, and his best friend, Wade Welles, swears he kissed her. Returning
home, he finds the last piece of the equation for sliding completed on the blackboard in
his basement and a double of himself claiming responsibility for the morning's events.
This alternate Quinn describes sliding as playing a giant roulette wheel with infinite
number of slots, each one representing a different dimension which runs along the same
time frame. He claims to have been to a world where the Cubs have won three straight World
Series, and a world "just this side of paradise" where there is no fear, no hate
and strangers are welcomed with open arms. Before he leaves, he tries to warn our Quinn
about a function of the timer but is cut short when he's sucked into his wormhole.
Quinn invites Wade and Professor Arturo to his basement to show them his discovery
and the three of them decide to try it out. At the last minute, Quinn increases the power
to accommodate the two additional people. With additional power, the wormhole spreads out
into the street, sucking in a passing red cadilac car driven by a singer named Rembrandt
"Crying Man" Brown. Rembrandt, a former member of the group The Spinning
Tops, was on his way to a Giants game to kick start his come-back by singing the
National Anthem. The four of them, including Rembrandt's car, are transported to a world
which is in the midst of an ice age and a giant tornado is soon bearing down on them.
Against his better judgment, Quinn activates the timer early and they slide home. At least
it seems like home until they see a statue of Lenin in Golden Gate Park where Lincoln's
statue should be. On this next world, the American troops lost the Korean War in the 1950's and the Sino-Soviet Empire swept the globe. The United States became economically isolated from the rest of the world and eventually caved to the Russians. Rembrandt, who split from the group to try and make it to Candlestick Park in time for the Anthem, is arrested for treason when he gives a cab drive (Pavel) American currency to pay for a toll. He is interrogated and sentenced to appear on the People's Court where he is convicted of treason and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. The other three, who are trapped until the timer recharges itself, witness the trial on TV in an underground camp where they've taken refuge with the Western Resistance, a group of Americans fighting to regain control of their country. Their leader, the Wade Welles of this world, has been incarcerated in the same prison as Rembrandt and a decision is made to raid the prison and free them both. Since Arturo's double runs the prison, he is dressed up as a Soviet Army Official to get them through the prison gate. The deception works for awhile but a fire fights breaks out as the raiding party is on its way out of the prison. The alternate Wade is shot and killed but most of the resistance makes its way out safely. Our group slides out of Golden Gate Park on the run and finally lands back at home. Except on this world, Quinn's father is alive. |
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| The Soviet Money: | |
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| Screen Captures: | |
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| Credits: | |
| Actor | Character |
| Jay Brazeau | KGB Colonel |
| Alex Bruhanski | Pavel Kurhenko |
| Rusty Burrell | Bailiff (Uncredited) |
| Tom Butler | Michael Mallory |
| Jim Byrnes | Announcer (Uncredited) |
| Wayne Cox | PBS Spokesman |
| Roger R. Cross | Wilkins |
| Jason Gaffney | Conrad Bennish Jr. (Uncredited) |
| Raoul Ganeev | Sentry |
| Linda Henning | Mrs. Mallory |
| Gary Jones | Michael Hurley |
| Andrew Kavadas | Vendor |
| Sook Yin Lee | Pat |
| Doug Llewelyn | Comrade Llewelyn |
| Don MacKay | Artie Feld |
| Larry Musser | Jake (Uncredited) |
| John Novak | Ross J. Kelly/Interrogator |
| Garwin Sanford | Doc |
| Harry Shearer | DJ (Uncredited) |
| Yee Jee Tso | Wing |
| Frank C. Turner | Crazy Kenny |
| Sara Walker | Nan (Uncredited) |
| Joseph A. Wapner | Commissar Wapner |
