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Sliders (1995 - 2000)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
And having Arturo invent penicillin on this alternate earth — in spite of his being a brilliant cosmologist — was a stretch for this plot.

Ah . . . well . . . I feel compelled to defend that aspect of the plot.

Heck, even I know the history of penicillin and how it was invented by Alexander Fleming when he observed mold spores growing in a neglected petri dish.

So, a brilliant man like Arturo (with his vast knowledge in many scientific fields) would realize that in a world without antibiotics he could take common mold spores from a trash can and create a liquid solution similar to the one an elderly relative he mentioned used to concoct in his boyhood days. Very Happy

After all, good doctors know many basics things about cosmology, and good cosmologist know many important facts about the history modern medicine! They get stuff like that from all those years in college . . . just like I did! Laughing

However, Bud, the Sherlock Holmes fan, has never understood how Mr. Holmes was not aware that the Earth revolved around the Sun! Shocked

I'd love to question Sir Author Conan Doyle about that aspect of his famous character!

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________

episode #09 - The King is Back

This one begins a bit unusually, like the tail end of an episode: Quinn is on trial for defacing property and is sentenced to death. Fortunately, the time to slide has arrived as Quinn is about to be led away, and the Sliders all escape from the courtroom.

They end up on an Earth where the version of The Cryin' Man — Rembrandt — was the biggest superstar in music, on a par with Elvis. He had died suddenly in a boating mishap 8 years before, and this day is the anniversary of his death.

Rembrandt is giddy just with the thought that a version of himself had been such a success. He is spotted by some video cameras and soon rumors swirl about the Cryin' Man's return.

His agent (Chuck McCann) believes him to be the real Cryin' Man and sets up a return, but Rembrandt is kidnapped by one of the Cryin' Man's former band members, a psychotic.

At this point, we find out that this world's Cryin' Man had faked his death to live a life of quiet seclusion (this version of Rembrandt is played by Cleavant Derrick's real-life twin brother, Clinton Derricks, who was slightly slimmer).

The most interesting aspect of this episode is the impact it has on Rembrandt who, up to now, was constantly complaining and miserable about sliding from world to world, never finding home. The events here open his eyes and mind to the possibilities of alternate existence, that it might at times be even better than his homeworld.

In the final act, it becomes very possible that Rembrandt will choose to remain on this other Earth to live out a fantasy he had only dreamed about at home.

This is otherwise a sub-par episode, not very thrilling and rarely amusing. The plot seems to waste time with Rembrandt's kidnapping — by a clownish villain who has a screw loose (for reasons unclear — possibly due to never attaining fame). Torme's script does throw in that alternate Earth in the prologue, a world with very severe penalties for minor infractions. The epilogue, on yet a 3rd Earth, is lame.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bogmeister was being charitable when he describes this episode as "sub-par". I watched it yesterday, and I barely got through it. Frankly, it sucks . . . Sad

For example, there are long scenes of the crazy washed-up rock singer constantly acting like Little Richard (an insulting imitation, in fact), standing in front of the kidnapped Rembrandt Brown while he's tide to chair, forced to listen to madman sing to him for several minutes!

I finally had to fast forward the DVD.

The entire episode is filled with silliness and dull scenes like that. And one extremely annoying aspect was the fact that Cleavant Derrick's real-life "twin brother" looks significantly different from him . . . and yet the characters in the story act like they can't tell them apart!

Obviously the show's producers wanted to save money on FX that would place the two versions of Rembrandt Brown in the same shot, so they pretended that the twin brother was a dead ringer for Clinton Derricks, the actor in the series.

Sadly, it didn't work, and it flaws an episode that has plenty of other things wrong with it.

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #06 - Last Days

It's the end of the world . . .

The Sliders arrive on an Earth which will be hit by a 10-mile long asteroid in two days. As fate would have it, they are scheduled to stay on this Earth for 3 days.

The group divides: Rembrandt goes off to join some of the people who are having a last party. Quinn & Wade head to Quinn's home in the hopes of finding sliding equipment (why wasn't this done more?). while Arturo teams up with none other than hippie/genius Conrad Bennish (Jason Gaffney) to create the atomic bomb.

On this Earth, Einstein had purposely failed in his equations to develop the bomb.

Rembrandt's quest turns into a moment of truth between a man and his wife (Jennifer Hetrick), a parable on avoiding decadence and despair. Quinn fails to switch on the sliding equipment and this becomes a brief moment for Quinn & Wade to explore their feelings (mostly at Wade's insistence).

Arturo & Bennish succeed beyond expectations before the deadline, and they get the U.S. government send their new bomb on a missile course to impact the asteroid.

The concept of an approaching asteroid is nothing new — see Meteor (1979), though this episode did beat the two big films of 1998 (Deep Impact and Armageddon) in getting such a story to the screen.

There was also the similar Miracle Mile (1988), though that involved nuclear missiles only.

This presents the idea of how people would spend their time if they knew that they had only a couple of days left. In the case of Quinn and Wade, it forces them to confront issues about their relationship — are they boyfriend & girlfriend, or not?

It's telling that this all went to the wayside in subsequent episodes.

Also, clues about the Quinn of this world are dropped — that he was more interested in dinosaurs and time travel — but it's never clear how or if he left this world. His equipment is all covered up, as if not used in a year.

The more entertaining portions are Bennish annoying Arturo and the eventual reveal that Bennish will have a lot of power by the conclusion. It's also interesting that it is Arturo — not genius Quinn — who works on a complicated scientific solution (as in the previous episode), showing that he is the adult scientist in the group.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Except for a few exceptions, the series simply ignores the fact that every Earth they visit will include versions of themselves. And yet they rarely run into their duplicates or the people who are familiar with them!

As Bogmeister pointed out, they could seek out the resident Quinn Mallory on each world and get his assistance with some of their problems in the unfamiliar society.

Oh well. The show is complicated enough, I guess, without trying to include all the possibilities.

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #08 - Eggheads

The Sliders arrive on an Earth where people with the highest I.Q.s are regarded with the same amount of worship as sports stars and rock stars on Earth Prime.

Quinn's double on this world was the most famous superstar but he and the Arturo of this Earth had slid away a couple of months before. Quinn sees an opportunity to use this world's sliding equipment to get home, but his basement only contains trophies, and his home is being sold.

The group decides that Quinn & Arturo will play the parts of their doubles to perhaps find the sliding technology. But this involves Quinn participating in this world's most popular spectator sport, Mindgame.

Of course, his double was the best at it, while Quinn has no experience at all! Arturo, meanwhile, is being divorced by the woman who was the love of his life until she died of a brain aneurysm many years ago on Earth Prime.

The episode begins well but becomes rather tiresome around the midpoint. There are some revelations about Quinn's and Arturo's doubles, involving gangsters and a moral deficiency, but things are also kept strangely vague —- we are never certain that the doubles actually slid or simply went into hiding, though that may explain why no sliding equipment can be found.

The goofy Mindgame sport comes off as silly, even with all the scientic trivia question the players have to answer as part of the competition.

Arturo's quandary about his wife becomes tedious, rather than poignant — there's no spark there.There's also unexplained hostility between Wade and Rembrandt; she keeps calling him an idiot over the stupid things he says and does; she comes off as very shrewish in this episode.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10



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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bogmeister nailed all the flaws I found in this episode . . . except the biggest one.

He mentioned that Quin and Arturo are said to have left this Earth by "sliding", but he didn't mention the strange fact that no other reference to this world's knowledge of parallel dimensions is mentioned by the folks on this version of Earth!

This is just sloppy writing, guys. Rolling Eyes

For example, the group of sliders never try to tell the people who welcome them "back" from their sliding experience that they are NOT the originals folks from this planet.

As a result, the coach of the Mindgame team thinks Quinn is the same person who proved himself unreliable and dishonest! Instead of setting the record straight, Quinn and Arturo masquerade as the two men who left/slid . . . when they didn't have to.

This seems especially dumb for Arturo, who disparately tries to convince this world's version of his late wife not to divorce him because "he's changed" and won't continue to do the things that caused her to end the marriage!

Hell's bells, if she knows about sliders and parallel dimensions, just tell her he's not the guy who cheated on her! And if he told he that his actual wife died and he's been miserable without her, she might decide to take his late wife's place and let Arturo become her "new, improved" husband. Very Happy

So, NOT dealing with these possibilities makes the episode seem badly done. But if they HAD included these ideas in the story, it would have improved it tremendously. Cool

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #10 - The Luck of the Draw

In the finale of the first season, the Sliders arrive at what seems like the most ideal Earth yet, a problem-free world as far as economics and social problems, where the population is only 500 million.

San Francisco looks like a quaint little town, and the people seem to enjoy free money! They spend most of their time relaxing in park-like settings.

To get money, people simply ask for it at automatic teller machines. There seems to be no limit to how much one can ask for. Arturo advises caution, as he's aware of the old saying which states that nothing is ever free. But this does not deter Rembrandt (who asks for $5,000), or Wade (she asks for a grand).

Later, winners of the local lottery are announced, and Wade is one of them, adding to her enjoyment. Yes, things just seem to get better and better. Very Happy

The lottery winners are all escorted to a grand ballroom setting where they are catered to and treated like royalty. Wade meets fellow lottery winner Ryan (Nicholas Lea), with whom possible romance blooms.

Quinn soon gets a bad vibe, hints about the true nature of the lottery. The winners are actually to be put to death — painlessly, yes, but it is death, a means of population control. The more money one asks for — referred to as being a "high roller" — the more likely it becomes that you'll be a lottery winner.

This means Rembrandt and Wade have really stepped in it this time . . . Sad

Besides the pilot, this was one of the best episode of the season, an effective way to draw the season to a close.

The story's first act is deceptively benign, though there is at least one note of warning even here that all is not what it seems, with an underlying chord of tension, since we know the shoe will drop eventually. We're just not sure how.

It's an intriguing puzzle in the first couple of acts, and then it gets pretty grim and quite chilling. Arturo is the one who voices the paradox of such a situation; this world avoids the millions of deaths through poverty and famine that Earth Prime endure. And yet, is the solution here truly more moral as a result, even if the citizens are fully aware and volunteer with eyes wide open?

There is no deception practiced here. The only problem in this case is that Wade entered the lottery in ignorance, unaware of the local culture and its practices. The disturbing aspect surfaces when it becomes apparent that those who try to cheat the system will be put to death painfully (tortured in some manner not detailed).

That's the really perverse element, a method governed by sadism. However, there are protesters to this whole set-up, and it's a wonder that they are not eliminated quickly by the establishment — that's another part of the puzzle. Also, aren't the Sliders safe as long they slide out — a slide which is scheduled before the appointed death? The episode ends on a cliffhanger, there is an escape . . . but do all escape without injury? Confused

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
Pow wrote:
And having Arturo invent penicillin on this alternate earth — in spite of his being a brilliant cosmologist — was a stretch for this plot.

Ah . . . well . . . I feel compelled to defend that aspect of the plot.

Heck, even I know the history of penicillin and how it was invented by Alexander Fleming when he observed mold spores growing in a neglected petri dish.

So, a brilliant man like Arturo (with his vast knowledge in many scientific fields) would realize that in a world without antibiotics he could take common mold spores from a trash can and create a liquid solution similar to the one an elderly relative he mentioned used to concoct in his boyhood days. Very Happy

After all, good doctors know many basics things about cosmology, and good cosmologist know many important facts about the history modern medicine! They get stuff like that from all those years in college . . . just like I did! Laughing

However, Bud, the Sherlock Holmes fan, has never understood how Mr. Holmes was not aware that the Earth revolved around the Sun! Shocked

I'd love to question Sir Author Conan Doyle about that aspect of his famous character!

Bud, there is the tendency to believe that because penicillin can be derived from moldy bread and that it was an accidental discovery that it is a relatively easy item to create.

The conditions for creating it 'safely' are exacting and you best know what all the steps required are...to perfection.

Obviously I realize that the scriptwriter had to advance the plot for "Fever" in order to reach the denouement for the episode. And he wanted the medicine being created introduced by Arturo as one that would have an enormous impact upon this world that would be both positive and long lasting.

This would make it something that our 'Sliders" could claim with justified and tremendous pride. All cool.

So yeah, I get all that as being a component of the episode.

I'm simply making a case that we'd have to have reservations regarding this element of the story. Arturo would probably not realistically have the perfect working conditions and tools on this alternate earth in order to pull off such a feat.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always thought it might have been intriguing to have our 'Sliders' encounter a well prepared group of sliders from another earth.

This group would be fully capable of being able to return to their earth; unlike our regular gang.

They would be set-up like one of the Away Teams from "Star Trek:The Next Generation."

The group would have a leader with a military background (Commander Ryker). A medical doctor (Dr. McCoy) who could treat injured team members as well as study any biological anomalies on the alternate earth they are exploring.

A general science/IT member (A combo Mr.Spock & Barney Collier from "Mission:Impossible"). to collect all kinds of data & intelligence from this different earth.

A savvy actor/con artist performer (Rollin Hand from M:I, Faceman from "The A-Team") who could quickly adapt to the unusual mores of a unknown earth.

Other specialists could also be included as needed.

I don't have a story beyond this concept. I would like this highly organized sliders group not to be villains at all. Too cliche. Perhaps both teams unite on some mission.

Maybe the other sliders have a non-interference mission statement like the Prime Directive from Star Trek.

This could cause a conflict between the two groups; or make our sliders question their actions when arriving onto other iterations of earth?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Holy molly, Mike! Your concept is brilliant! Shocked

It fixes everything I don't care for in the original series, and it's so good that savvy network execs (if there are any) could reboot this series today. Very Happy

The new version wouldn't need any connection to the original, other than a respectful mention of Quin Mallory's work that made the new organization you described possible.

Your concept allows an intelligent and organized application of the technology for the benefit of ALL versions of planet Earth! Very Happy

The Sliders series presented multiple versions of Earth which suffered from serious problems. On a few of them, the Sliders team was able to help — such as in Fever, where the team created a vaccine for a global pandemic, and End of the World, where an approaching asteroid is destroyed with their help.

Mike, the beauty of your suggestion is that it turns the various Slider's Teams into TOS starship crews who use the Federation's technology and benevolence to help the sentient beings on various worlds deal with their problems.

And I love the idea that all the "new worlds and new civilizations" these Slider's Teams journey to are actually versions of Earth!

It's a unique variation on the science fiction concept from series like TOS, TNG, DS9, and Babylon. The stories are about journeys to other planets . . . without actually traveling through space, or even needing starships!

I love it! ( . . . except that I wish I'd thought of it first. Sad)

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #11 - Into the Mystic Empty

The first episode of the 2nd season wraps up the cliffhanger of Luck of the Draw in its prologue, in a strange, unsatisfying fashion.

Quinn took a bullet at the end of Luck of the Draw and things looked bad for him. This episode begins with a surrealistic sequence at a cemetery in which Quinn's friends bid him adieu.

Ryan (Nicholas Rea), the possibly new 5th slider introduced in the previous episode, also appears here briefly. But, this is just a bad dream that Quinn is having. It turns out, Ryan had removed the bullet from Quinn and then simply departed after Wade refused to go off with him. How very . . . convenient (why not have Ryan as a 5th slider for at least one episode? Did the actor refuse?).

We know nothing of this Earth as the Sliders exit through the latest wormhole, except that it looks like a park . . . and there's a creepy caretaker who spooks Quinn just before they leave.

They end up in a spooky setting and looking for a doctor, since Quinn's tumble through the vortex didn't do his wound any good. However, the only doctors on this Earth seem to be witch doctors — the office of Dr. Xang (Christopher Neame) shows off holistic healing and even a witchcraft eye chart.

The doc sues Quinn for running off without paying, so the group finds a lawyer, but he's not much help except in pointing them towards a resident known as "The Sorcerer" — another Slider.

Quinn really needs some help, because a lawsuit on this world means the doctor can take Quinn's brain! This becomes a steal from The Wizard of Oz playbook, as the group eventually finds that the man behind the curtain is another (long-haired) Quinn — yes, he really is another Slider.

If all of this sounds wacky, it is. The episode is long on style, with its eerie and gloomy visuals, but short on substance — until the end. Finding the Sorcerer was an interesting twist.

The cabdriver from the pilot episode returns yet again. And, the epilogue is probably one of the most wrenching of the series.

Earths Depicted:

~ #21: unknown Earth of which only a park-like setting is seen

~ #22: Mystic dark magic dominates medicine and a mysterious Sorcerer awaits

~ #1: Earth Prime visited briefly

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10



BoG
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #12 - Time Again and World

This episode was similar to the repetitive scenarios of those repeating days plots (films like Groundhog Day and 12:01, series like Tru Calling), though only in the first few minutes. It begins on an Earth where the Sliders have been stuck for a couple of weeks.

They are in a bad mood, particularly Arturo. There's nothing very unusual about this Earth — except that many females sport face hair! Just before they slide, they witness a car accident and a shooting; the dying man hands Wade a computer disc.

The next Earth is eerily similar to the last one — the accident and the shooting also occur here, only a few minutes later, and due to Wade shouting a warning the other man gets shot.

He turns out to have been a cop. As the Sliders later find out, this is essentially a police state, brought about by President J Edgar Hoover in 1952, when perpetual martial law was declared. The man on the run is part of an underground movement to reintroduce the U.S. Constitution (which is what is on the computer disc), and return basic rights to citizens.

There's a level of sloppiness evident in this episode. For example, when Wade is handed the disc at the beginning of the episode, her hand gets bloodied, yet after the slide her hand is clean.

More importantly, the story structure doesn't hold up very well. The entire plot hinges on the shooting near the start, which involves a computer disc containing the U.S. Constitution and the existence of a police state. Yet, this same shooting occurred on the previous Earth, with the same characters. Was there a police state on that previous Earth as well? The Sliders had been on that Earth for 2 weeks and no mention of a police state was made.

Therefore, the shooting on the previous Earth must have been about something else, but this is never explained.

Wade becomes increasingly annoying in this episode, very stubborn and petulant. She seems willing to sacrifice her fellow Sliders to pursue some vague goal (before they know any facts).

Otherwise this was a more clever episode than most, extrapolating from changed past events of the fifties and sixties to present a social climate reflecting an archaic fifties-styled society.

Hurley (Garry Jones), Quinn's & Wade's boss at the computer hell store of the pilot episode, returns here for an encore appearance.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10

Earths Depicted:

~#23: most females have beards and mustaches; only observed in a prologue

~ #24: most men wear skirts; U.S. a police state, under martial law since 1952




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PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #13 - El Sid

Begin with a dash of Mad Max (79), continue the story with a version of Escape From New York/L.A., add in elements from disaster pics like Earthquake (74), and you have the episode El Sid (the title a riff on El Cid, the big epic Heston film from 1961).

The prologue takes place in some post-WWIII scenario Earth dominated by roving outlaw gangs. No real details are offered. The Sliders are on the verge of sliding when Quinn decides to rescue a damsel in distress who's being threatened bu the titular character by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a brutal & resourceful sociopath of this dystopia.

They all end up sliding into a San Francisco which is eventually revealed to be a huge penitentiary, converted a few years back when it was determined that the whole area was going to drop into the sea during 'The Big One' (the biggest earthquake).

Apparently, on this Earth, they can predict such quakes with certainty — it's a question of very soon, not if.

The Sliders are immediately equipped with electronic bracelets which pair them with "buddies". In this bizarre system, if a buddy breaks some rule or law, both get executed!

Quinn gets paired with the psychopathic Sid, who wastes no time trying to break some laws. Sid also has a grudge against Quinn. All problems will become moot as the increasing jolts to the Earth make it apparent that The Big One will happen in the next day or so, about the time they are scheduled to slide.

Most of this episode's appeal has to do with the charismatic performance of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Sid, a violent dirt-bag, but someone you can't take your eyes of off, waiting to see what he does next.

This was an early role for Morgan, who would only attain some measure of fame nearly a decade later, on episodes of Grey's Anatomy and then in the Watchmen film, and more recently in Rampage with Dwayne Johnson.

The story doesn't really go anywhere, having to do with "watching your back", getting betrayed, and dealing with a very repressive culture. There is also some similarity to Demolition Man (93), about throwing a very violent, uncontrollable criminal (Sid in this case) into a rigid society.

However, nothing is done with this concept.

There was also a missed opportunity (as had happened before) with Sid's girlfriend, who slides with the Sliders, perhaps to become a 5th Slider for an episode or two, but she vanishes by the next episode, never be mentioned again.

Earths Depicted:

~ #25: post-World War III Earth, seen only in a prologue

~ #26: San Francisco as a state penitentiary, about to be hit by huge earthquake

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This episode is well presented in terms of costumes and staging, but the premise is impossible to take seriously.

The physical appearance of of this city-sized "prison" looks like a futuristic utopian society. But the populace is actually comprised of polite guards and well-behaved prisoners.

And the aerial shots of San Francisco — the beautiful City by the Bay which Tony Bennett sang about — certainly don't convince us that this is a high security prison which has been hit hard by recent earthquakes! Not a single shot is shown of any areas with damage. Confused

According to the premise of this episode, the citizens of San Fransisco were evacuated because of the impending earthquake — despite the complete lack visible damage!

And yet somehow this doomed city is deemed suitable to incarcerate thousands criminals, along with the large staff of guards and technical support personnel for the hi-tech equipment which keeps the prisoners in line.

But the prisoners act like law-abiding citizens, making few attempts to escape from this "prison" which is expected sink into the ocean within a few days! Shocked

Does any of that make a lick of sense?

No, of course not . . .
Rolling Eyes
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