At the 2008 Comic-Con convention, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane referred to Sliders as, “Great premise, s–tty f—ing show”. I wonder what co-creators Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weiss would think. Not to mention Jerry O’ Connell. It’s the scifi series that jump started his career and fanbase. Well MacFarlane, if Sliders is so bad why do people even remember this show? Sure the first two seasons are primarily the best and the final season is nearly unwatchable. Yet Sliders has a cult fan following much like you’re own show.

“Family Guy” airs controversial subject matter such as: Nazis, anti-semitism, homosexuality, pedophilia, transvestites, babies in dumpsters, and not to mention religious bigotry. The show even knocks Jesus Christ and illustrates Him as a record store clerk who is obsessed with fame and eventually gets arrested. The Fox Network has now even chose not to air an episode because of it’s extreme graphic nature of the depiction of an abortion. Crushing and dicing a human being to bits? Oh well now, that sure is funny isn’t it? Yes, it sure looks like everyone is becoming shameless… of everything. No MacFarlane, everything in this world isn’t funny.

Back to the parody of Sliders, I highly doubt this show will do justice to the series. If anything of course, they’ll make fun of and destroy Sliders’ true brilliancy. “Family Guy” is one of those shows that lacks the brains of other animation series such as Mike Judge’s King of the Hill. The only thing “Family Guy” has to offer and I repeat, the ONLY thing, is bringing attention to the great television shows such as Sliders.

“Family Guy” was canceled two times, in 2000 and 2002. Yet a strong fan base and rallying DVD sales brought the show back twice. An exceptional and outstanding come back for the history books, you say. HARDLY. Sliders was canceled three times, and a strong cult fan base also rallied to bring the show back, twice. Not to mention the fourth season, which at the time, brought the Syfy Network it’s highest-rated series… ever. One year later after its fifth season the show was canceled, despite high ratings.

In essence “Family Guy” is anything but a “family”. Hopefully it’s next cancellation will be the third nail in the coffin. The premiere of “Road to the Multiverse”, featuring the Sliders parody will air on September 27, 2009.

But then when we thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. The season three DVD set came with double sided discs overlaying on top of one another. Not to mention the annoying orange plastic that always bends in your way while you’re trying to get a disc. Trying to get a disc out without smudging it is like performing a precise surgery incision.

By then, I had enough. I eventually bought a small wooden case that has the so-called “sleeves”. I found this to be even more of a problem than the foam or overlaying discs. The discs are hard to remove since there is only a slot at the top of the sleeve and they’re almost as rough as light sandpaper. Plain and simple, I just decided to put the discs back in their original packaging.

I looked into various DVD cases including thin paks (small DVD cases), and about any case suitable. I felt 10 cases were just too much, too many, and too confusing to keep up with so I abandoned that plan.

Not longer after, the season four DVD set was released. Finally, there was a DVD set I could live with, as well as other Sliders fans. It isn’t perfect but it is created like a book, where each DVD is placed in a small plastic page. At times I want and need to go back and watch seasons one through three. I became concerned again especially for season three’s discs. So I just put the first three seasons in CD cases. Still though, it felt odd that season four was in its own case while the other ten cases are scattered and mixed.

After much research and browsing I came upon a case called Discus, created by Discgear. It’s a round CD/DVD case that opens on both ends (a double sided case). Each holder has soft fabric that allows me to hold the DVD from the side… not the top of a double sided disc. You may have heard of the product or own one yourself. It sounds like it was a hit in the late 90s, but by it’s design it also has a Sliders feel. The creative catch is that each side that you open holds ten DVDs, for a total of twenty discs.

Side A of my Discus case holds the first three seasons of Sliders; ten discs in all. While side B holds the five discs of season four. Assuming that a season five set will have five DVDs or less… I’m covered. And there you have it, one small compact CD/DVD case that holds all my Sliders DVDs.

If you’re interested in the Discus case you can find more info at: Discgear.com
What are some of your Sliders DVD re-packaging solutions?

The season one episode entitled “Fever” pictures a parallel world where a flu pandemic arises since penicillin was never invented. Of course the virus is called “the Q” on this world, not the “Swine Flu”. The word “patient zero” has also been used in the media today, which means the first known carrier of a disease. I wonder if the “patient zero” from Mexico and his parents will be scrutinized like the Quinn of Sliders was? We’ve also seen men walking around in their protective suits. Although we haven’t seen officials throwing body bags in portable dumpsters… well at least not yet.

Remember the scene where the Sliders walk through a scanner just to enter “Fay’s” restaurant? Well it has been reported that some airports are using scanners to detect the body heat of individuals to see if they have a fever. Of course there’s the other scene in the restaurant where a man coughs and everyone stares fearfully at him. It’s almost as if this scenario will come true as well. The media is already giving out orders for a way to handle the situation. If the guy next to you sneezes you better take cover. Also avoid being in closed-in areas such as planes, classrooms, and subways.

Perhaps it’s a good time to critique the episode “Fever” a little more. First of all there’s been a huge run on protective masks for your nose and mouth. Where are these in the episode? Well, maybe they run out like we are now. Perhaps they should have briefly explored the spread of the virus to other countries as well. One thing they did get right was the people’s fear in the episode, and the CHC’s (or CDC’s) attentiveness to the situation.

Some things are bizarrely similar to the situation in Sliders and only time will tell if the “Swine Flu” will end up like a scenario from the episode “Fever”. Perhaps it’s a good time for you to experience the episode again, or see it for the very first time.

**Spoilers**

While the first two seasons are the most popular among fans, the last two seasons have their own vital significance to the series as well. I find many who are quite repulsive of the seasons and there are others who even doubt whether or not to watch them.

Let’s consider the season four premiere of “Genesis”, where it’s revealed that Quinn is from another world. Sure it takes time to get used to that fact, and yes it’s quite shocking, plus debatable if it was just a Kromagg game. But the fact remains that this plot opened up debate and imagination, more so than we were given from the third season. The Kromaggs and Quinn’s new world become a plot for enjoyable continuity throughout the entire season.

We also discover Rembrandt’s despair of leaving Wade behind among the Kromaggs; considering he could have done something. We find Maggie tamed among the other Sliders this season and friendly, calling their world her home since her own was destroyed. We find Quinn even more determined to get home and thrilled that he has a brother. There aren’t that many times when we see him as happy. Then we have Quinn’s lighthearted brother, Colin. He doesn’t fail to create interest by being naive and yet he creates the comic side of the season. The fourth season certainly lacks no interest in character development, continuity or humor. Even though the Professor and Wade are gone, a team must go forward whenever they lose someone and that’s what we find the Sliders doing.

You’re probably thinking season five is the least enjoyable and yes, I will agree. The departure of Quinn (Jerry O’Connell) and Colin (Charlie O’Connell), was one of the biggest factors if not the biggest that led to that. Nevertheless, a real treat from season five is Rembrandt. At times we see him disconnected with the new Sliders, longing for his old friends. He’s still determined to get home with all that has happened; and yet he’s still the interesting guy he is. We’ve rode along with Rembrandt from the beginning and we see from his eyes all that has happened to him. In a way, the fifth season should be viewed as Rembrandt’s story, as he reflects upon his lost pals.

Now I don’t know about anyone else, but I just hate it when we see a favorite character played by another actor. Instead of replacing the characters Quinn and Colin Mallory with different actors, we’re given another plot. It’s smearing Quinn into another guy and calling him “Mallory”. It probably wasn’t the greatest idea but at least there wasn’t another actor actually trying to portray our beloved Q-Ball.

The complete series as a whole is quite unique because there were no major fairy tale endings. If the theory of sliding could be discovered in our own time it would probably end up like our favorite TV series, Sliders. No happy endings, depressing and disastrous, with a few annoying Sliders with us along for the ride.

Which parallel earths would you like to visit?

I feel “Eggheads” would be intriguing to see, where geniuses are the equivalent to sports stars. The earth’s population would be more intelligent, and as a result make new scientific and medical discoveries. Opposed to the less intellectual games that we have, like football and basketball, it would also open more ways for children to learn. Season three’s “Slide Like An Egyptian” would impose an Egyptian culture into our mindset; a foreign concept for the majority.

Finally, “World Killer” from the fourth season is a must see. You get there look around, and realize everyone on the face of the planet has slid to an alternate earth. Think of the silence; there’s no roaring vehicles, no loudmouths, and you even have exclusive ‘roaming’ privileges. Which worlds would you like to visit?