S1 | 10/10 | “Pilot”

Posted Thomas on August 9th, 2007 | Filed under Episode Reviews

Episode Review: “Pilot”
Season 1
Original Airdate: 3/22/95
Review Rating: 10/10

We’re brought into the secret world of Quinn Mallory, a brilliant college student that opens the gateway to parallel worlds.

I really like the fact that during Quinn’s first “slide” to a parallel world; the little things in life are turned upside down. We’re thrown on a world where a red light means “go” and a green light means “stop”. To a theory of global cooling to a living Elvis Presley, this is just the beginning of creating a parallel world to stir our imaginations and sense of adventure.

For the year 1995 the effects are quite good in what we see in the “Pilot”. You’ve got to give a good report on the vortex’s special effects. It’s a large, blue, 2-dimensonal pool that links one world to another and it’s what we see Quinn jump into. His homemade device known as the “timer” is used to access the vortex and it’s quite creative. It’s made from an old Motorola cell phone and has LED lights to countdown the time to the next world. The timer is iconic as much as the phaser and tricorder are to Star Trek. Sliders doesn’t rely heavily on special effects but the story instead, and I like that.

The story is based in San Francisco, California. However, the first two seasons are filmed in Canada and we’ve given some beautiful settings in the film. Some scenes however, are shot in San Francisco to give the effect of the city such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid Building.

For our character line up there’s Quinn Mallory, boy-genius who opens the gateway, professor Maximillian Arturo, Quinn’s gifted teacher, Wade Welles, close friend of Quinn, and R&B singer Rembrandt Brown.

The group’s first slide is to a frozen parallel world. Now I can’t give them much credit for a frozen over Golden Gate Bridge, it just looks too phony. There are some other flaws as well, but for the most part they pull off a frozen San Francisco pretty well. As the four realize an ice tornado is heading in their direction, Quinn opens the vortex in advance. This is one of the main problems in their quest of getting back to the home earth. Quinn had a faint realization that it could cause that problem. You think they would have huddled in the bottom of Quinn’s basement. After all that would have been the safest place to be in a tornado, but I guess you’ve got to have a problem solver now and then.

They later find themselves on a world where the Russians rule America. This is where we get some great comedy as Rembrandt tries to explain he’s from another world in a People’s Court episode. By the time the Sliders leave that world you get a great sense of how relieved they are. Hence showing how thankful we should be of our own country.

One of the greatest things about Sliders is the use of imagination. You don’t have to use galactic spaceships nor have bizarre looking creatures for a story. You can just look around the settings of our earth and imagine how things could be different. It’s the question of “what if”.

Jerry O’ Connell once said that Sliders is like The Wizard of Oz. You’ve got all different types of characters going on an amazing adventure together. It might be a little difficult for you to grasp the understanding of parallel worlds at first. However by the ending of the “Pilot” you should come away quite educated with the subject, due to the brilliance of creators Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss.

Memorable Quotes:

Quinn (commenting about the timer): “So what do we do with this thing?
Professor: “I never thought to hear myself say such a thing, but I believe we should consider destroying it. Einstein regretted that he had given the world the atom bomb. Oppenheimer, when he saw the first explosion, quoted the Hindu scripture, “I am become Shiva, God, the destroyer of worlds.””
Quinn: “But think of the benefits. There are bound to be worlds that have outlawed war or cured cancer.”
Professor: “And worlds where they have perfected war and developed new cancers.”
Wade: “Maybe that’s why we should keep it a secret. If I found a place that was paradise, I don’t think I’d tell anybody.”
Quinn: “Well, I’d like to propose a toast. To wherever you live.
Rembrandt: “And whatever your struggle.”
Wade: “To the revolution.”