Sliders: The Complete Series (Review)

Creators – Tracy Torme (Star Trek: Next Generation, The Outer Limits), and Robert K. Weiss (Police Squad, The Complete Al)
Starring – Cleavant Derricks (Charmed, Carnival of Souls), Jerry O’Connell (Joe’s Apartment, Scream 2), and Sabrina Lloyd (Wanderlust, Superboy)
Release Date – 1995
Rating – 4/5

Tagline – “If you saw a doorway leading into another dimension…would you step through it?”

I get excited for a lot of my reviews but this one will be hard to beat.  When I was growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s while my father was out of town.  He had a garage and sold cars so he was constantly on the road visiting auto auctions and picking up cars for repair.  My mother left when I was young so my sister and I stayed with her.  It was here that I discovered sci-fi and some horror.  She loved the Sci-Fi channel (now Sy-fy) and shows like Rosewell, Lexx, Stargate, Quantum Leap, and Sliders.

I loved all these shows with the exception of Stargate but my favorite two was easily Quantum Leap and Sliders.  Sometime back Mill Creek Entertainment released the first two seasons of Quantum Leap on DVD.  I had to scoop that up and review it.  Around that time they announced a future release of Sliders the complete series on DVD.  I begged and pleaded to review that release and Mill Creek was kind enough to send a copy my way.  Thanks guys for allowing me the opportunity to review this and revisit my childhood.

**Spoiler Alert**The series follows four adventurers who travel through gateways to other dimensions that was accidentally created by Quinn Mallory (O’Connell) who was attempting to build an anti-gravity machine.  Along the way they encounter several world that mirror their own but with some very noticeable changes and have to fight to end various dangers to those people that look like the ones they love.**Spoiler Alert**

The nights I had to stay with my grandma was always ones of excitement.  My grandmother married my grandfather when they were both fairly old after my real grandmother passed away.  They had my uncle not long after and he was just a few years older than I was so I had someone to hang out with and play video games.  When my grandfather passed away she would watch the Sy-Fy channel which he was very much against due to his strict religious views.  I really enjoyed watching these shows with her, not only for the stories themselves but to watch her reaction to each episode.  Sliders was my favorite because she loved the Crying Man character and was often cackling whenever he would act afraid.  As I watched these episodes again I couldn’t help but hear her laughing.

The acting in this one is decent but it is far from the best acted show on television.  Jerry O’Connell does a solid job as Quinn, the reluctant adventurer with a knack for finding himself in sticky situation.  His character is not much different from his character in the raunchy comedy Joe’s Apartment.  His character is an unconventional hero but is a hero non-the-less which is what makes the show so much fun.  Sadly, he is not in every episode.  Cleavant Derricks is funny in his role.  His is loud, bold, and always terrified which makes all his scenes funny.  His one liners and quotes were legendary in my home growing up.  The remainder of the cast is decent but most come off as trying too hard and, sadly, we do not get a consistent female companion.  The show does change it up a few times with each being equal to the last.

The stories for the show is similar to Quantum Leap which came out just 6 years earlier.  The show follows a group of people “sliding” from dimension to dimension where they solved problems that had global implications while trying to differentiate themselves from their dimensional counterparts.  These are fun but we do see a reoccurring theme that does become stale over time.  The show tries to mix it up ever so often but these random episodes are few and far in between.

Finally, the effects in this cheesy sci-fi series is questionable even for the time period.  All are computer generated images that look dated even for 1995.  It’s painfully obvious that the show pooled all their resources and tried to save as much money as possible resulting in the effects lacking.  Overall, Sliders is a far from perfect show that you can’t help but love.  The characters are entertaining and the stories make great use of them.  It does get repetitive but if you stick with it you will really enjoy it.  Check it out.