Topic: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

In celebration of the twentieth anniversary, Earth Prime proudly presents SLIDERS REBORN, a five-part miniseries featuring Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo in 2015. Currently online are:

  • Reprise (1): Rembrandt leapt into the vortex. This is what happened next.

  • Reunion (2): Twenty years after the first slide, the original quartet must step back into the vortex.

  • Revelation (3): Five Sliders. Three Earths. A search for answers that will lead to Quinn's darkest secret.

  • Reminiscence (4): How can Wade and Arturo be alive? How was Quinn restored? How did they find Rembrandt? And how can home be free of Kromaggs? All will be answered here.

And in 2016:

  • Regenesis (5): The Sliders make their final stand for the fate of all realities.

October features two new installments of SLIDERS REBORN: "Revelation" (3), a 152-page screenplay and "Reminiscence" (4), a short interlude novella.

Hope everyone enjoys it! SLIDERS REBORN can be found at www.earthprime.com/reborn. Happy anniversary.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Thank you so much, I was waiting for several months the next entrances of Sliders Reborn. You did a really good job recapturing the spirit of the initial seasons while taking account of the later ones. So much than i'm considering those stories as canon, as the finally bring closure to the sliders saga.
I'm downloading now the pdf to read them.
Thank you smile

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

You may want to redownload. Just fixed a bunch of typos and also shortened a ton of technobabble. :-)

Sorry for the delay, everyone. When a decent interval has passed, I'll probably explain what the challenges were with more spoilers. I will say that I spent a stupid amount of time on graphics, only to go with something simple (putting Jerry's 2015 face on a 1995 photo of Jerry in Quinn's costume).

I really appreciate the acceptance into canon. As someone who loves STAR TREK and DOCTOR WHO and STAR WARS novels and comics and radioplays, I find that canonicity is less about approval and more about products that the audience loved and enjoyed. :-)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

In celebration of the twentieth anniversary, Earth Prime proudly presents SLIDERS REBORN, a five-part miniseries featuring Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo in 2015. Currently online are:

  • Reprise (1): Rembrandt leapt into the vortex. This is what happened next.

  • Reunion (2): Twenty years after the first slide, the original quartet must step back into the vortex.

  • Revelation (3): Five Sliders. Three Earths. A search for answers that will lead to Quinn's darkest secret.

  • Reminiscence (4): How can Wade and Arturo be alive? How was Quinn restored? How did they find Rembrandt? And how can home be free of Kromaggs? All will be answered here.

And in January 2016:

  • Regenesis (5): The Sliders make their final stand for the fate of all realities.

October features two new installments of SLIDERS REBORN: "Revelation" (3), a 152-page screenplay and "Reminiscence" (4), a short interlude novella.

Hope everyone enjoys it! SLIDERS REBORN can be found at www.earthprime.com/reborn. Happy anniversary.

Congratulations Ibrahim!

Thanks for adding these to the Sliders universe!  Another thing for us to chew on!

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

D'you think Quinn in 2015 would still dress the way he did in 1995?

Because this is a question I have to ask myself.

http://s4.postimg.org/6gh740lvx/young_and_old_quinn.jpg

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

D'you think Quinn in 2015 would still dress the way he did in 1995?

Because this is a question I have to ask myself.

http://s4.postimg.org/6gh740lvx/young_and_old_quinn.jpg


Ha. Going to vote no.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Throughout REBORN, I have imagined a 41-year-old Jerry O'Connell in the classic Quinn costume. Plain red and blue sweaters. Flannel shirts. Jeans. Loafers or running shoes. This was part of resetting Quinn back to Season 1 while having him be older.

http://s27.postimg.org/5bl6nq5v7/154618454.jpg

But now I have an actual photograph or two with 2015 Jerry in Quinn's 1995 clothes  -- and the effect is just *weird*. It's the awkward effect of seeing a grown man wearing a child's clothes, and Quinn was very much a child in Seasons 1 - 2.

That said, given Quinn's social isolation and depression in "Reunion" and "Revelation," I think it kind of works that he is still wearing the same outfits from 20 years ago. But I think he'll be changing his clothes in Part 5. I mean, he's a ______ now.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

Throughout REBORN, I have imagined a 41-year-old Jerry O'Connell in the classic Quinn costume. Plain red and blue sweaters. Flannel shirts. Jeans. Loafers or running shoes. This was part of resetting Quinn back to Season 1 while having him be older.

http://s27.postimg.org/5bl6nq5v7/154618454.jpg

But now I have an actual photograph or two with 2015 Jerry in Quinn's 1995 clothes  -- and the effect is just *weird*. It's the awkward effect of seeing a grown man wearing a child's clothes, and Quinn was very much a child in Seasons 1 - 2.

That said, given Quinn's social isolation and depression in "Reunion" and "Revelation," I think it kind of works that he is still wearing the same outfits from 20 years ago. But I think he'll be changing his clothes in Part 5. I mean, he's a ______ now.


Wow, that is erie.

9 (edited by christian.t.chung 2015-10-16 11:43:15)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

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Just finished to read the second and third episodes. God they are good ! I really love to read all those nods and continuation to all those years of sliders. I could not help but notice a strong ressemblance with 2 Doctor Who plots :
- the clocks everywhere reminded me of "The Power of Three", where mysterious black cubes appear everywhere on Earth suddenly, then after a while begin a countdown
- the reboot universe plot, like the "The Big Bang", where the whole universe is recreated and restored based on the atoms and memories of the Doctor's Companion

I really like how you mention the third season as being bad and everyone admitting it, but i'm wondering how come Colin is not mentionned at all ? After all, he was thought by Quinn as his own sibling. It may  be interesting to restore the planned "altered Quinn clone plant by Krommaggs" plot at "official" in the next novels ?

Again, thank you very much for your work, I really could picture the episodes in my head, and it was such a great pleasure to read them.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Huh? Jerry O'Connel kind of looks like Jeff Bridges now. Weird.

"It's only a matter of time. Were I in your shoes, I would spend my last earthly hours enjoying the world. Of course, if you wish, you can spend them fighting for a lost cause.... But you know that you've lost." -Kane-

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I am pleased and delighted that you enjoyed "Revelation" and "Reminiscence."

The doomsday clocks were indeed inspired by the cubes in "The Power of Three," but I like to think I made it my own by highlighting the countdown and comparing the countdown of the clocks with the countdown of the timer in the 1995 series. And I think my idea for what the clocks do was a *little* more inspired than making then electroshock murder machines. :-)

Strangely, the method for rebooting the multiverse actually came from a conversation with Robert Floyd -- I was interviewing him and he was talking about the technobabble he had to memorize and how he was really fascinated by the concept of a "recombinant universe" and I decided to incorporate that as a small tribute to a wonderful man who did so much for SLIDERS and Quinn Mallory.

The actual lift from DOCTOR WHO in "Revelation," I think -- is actually from "Day of the Doctor." The Doctor saves Gallifrey by putting it in another dimension safe from the Time War, just as Quinn and friends save reality by shifting the doomsday clocks into a pocket dimension that Quinn-2 can't reach.

As for "Reminiscence"'s idea for restoring the original, pre-Geiger timeline by using Rembrandt as a template -- strangely, that was Matt Hutaff's idea. And it also wasn't. I sent him the first draft of "Reminiscence" and he remarked that I gave no clear explanation for WHY the reunited Quinn, Wade and Arturo were searching for Rembrandt because I couldn't think of one other than friendship. "They need to find Rembrandt for Reasons," he remarked, followed by, "No, I think I get it -- they need Rembrandt because he was the only one of them to live out both timelines, right?" I cheerfully put Matt's interpretation into the story and moved on.

As for Colin. Well.

I'm not averse to building the latter seasons into my vision of SLIDERS. SLIDERS REBORN is an effort to treat SLIDERS as myth and legend, first by presenting the original quartet as iconic figures. I tried to do that with "Reunion" acting like Quinn being 'lost' and Wade and Arturo dying were no big deal, that SLIDERS would have inevitably brought them back if it continued, and that the original quartet are the definitive core of the SLIDERS mythology.

Next, I sought to incorporate many variations of the SLIDERS legend into REBORN, seeking to produce an unstoppable super-myth that validates and embraces nearly every aspect of the series. I'd say the 'display room' scene and using Maggie as a character represent that, and "Regenesis" will further declare that just about every version of SLIDERS belongs in SLIDERS REBORN. Diana will be there. Maggie will be there. The rock-star vampires and the radioactive worm and the pancake parasites and the Dream Masters and the intelligent flame and the fat-craving zombies and the dragon will be there.

But there were some variations I failed to incorporate. The one that disappointed me most -- I could find no way to incorporate Mallory into the story. The problem is that, despite Robert Floyd being terrific, the presence of Quinn Mallory played by Jerry O'Connell renders Mallory irrelevant and Mallory's existence is also confusing. He's a double who isn't a double? Also, with the story having erased Quinn from the multiverse and the absence of Mallory doubles in Season 5, there seemed to be no logical way for Mallory to appear.

I attempted to bring him into the "Reminiscence" novella, but my beta-reader found it *entirely* too confusing and I had to remove him. I felt bad about it. Which is why I was so pleased to pay tribute to Robert Floyd in the Earth Prime interview and wanted Mallory's *memories* to at least play a role.

The other variation I failed to incorporate is Colin Mallory. The character does not sit well with my interpretation of Quinn. In my view, Quinn is isolated. Awkward. Alone. Traumatized by the loss of his father. Loved but never truly understood by his mother. He skipped two grades and was smaller than his classmates, physically intimidated, always on his own. The brother character screws up all the family and interpersonal dynamics I consider central to Quinn Mallory. And to bring him in was to once again bring in more confusion.

So, with Mallory and Colin, I found it best to simply label them as part of the Geiger-corrupted timeline created when Quinn was ripped out of reality along with all his doubles. There is a single mention of Colin in "Reunion" -- Quinn says that the Kromaggs took away his identity and made him think he had a brother. Which vaguely implies that the Kromagg-clone plot may have briefly come up during the events covered in "Reminiscence" but quietly sets aside the Quinn-from-Kromagg-Prime backstory.

I don't see myself revisiting Season 4 in terms of clarifying its narrative. The Kromagg Dynasty was erased from the multiverse. That's the end of them. It may be dismissive, but I think Kromaggs have had enough influence on the SLIDERS legend. Still, I have done my best to pay tribute to every season. Season 4's cryo-tube from "The Chasm" and the Sonmoha virtual reality technology from "Virtual Slide" are featured, and the aluminium-missing periodic table from Season 5's "Heavy Metal" along with the clown painting in "Map of the Mind" also appear.

Anyway. Thanks so much. :-)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

That fashion isn't too out of line with how people dress today. Jeans, plaid shirt, boots... it's pretty timeless. Could his style change? I suppose so, but a lot of grown men are wearing those clothes today and we wouldn't look twice at him if he were wearing them in public.

His hair would be different though, I think. If not in length, then in style. The center part isn't done a lot these days.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

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Thanks for all the explanations.
I still have one question, something I thought was a little confusing : does that mean that Geiger experiment on Quinn on season 5 created a corrupted timeline that ripples BACK to season 4 and 3, creating new events in the past that wasn't supposed to exist, like magic and dragons ?
At first read I was a little confused, because I thought the "Geiger experiment" you talked about may be another expriment, made before season 5, and that it would explain the change of behaviour in Quinn during season 3.

I thought it may be :
- Geiger unstuck and restabilising again during end of season 2/beginning of season 3 of sliders
- during second half of season 3, first experiment by working with Quinn and his doubles, and corrupting him, altering the timelines from that point
- 2 years later, season 5, furthering his experiment with this time, combining him with his double and erasing all the others

But the way it is explain later and your present explanation, it is more :
- Geiger unstuck and restabilising again during end of season 2/beginning of season 3 of sliders
- season 5, experiment on Quinn, ricocheing through time and space and retrochanging the events of the last 3 years.

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Hi again. My reasoning was this:

We had the original version of SLIDERS -- call it the Tracy Torme version -- for four years. Then in Season 5, we had the events of "The Unstuck Man" where Quinn and all his doubles were ripped out of reality. This wasn't just a case of Quinn's doubles going missing; they retroactively never existed.

Quinn remained in existence as scar tissue on a damaged multiverse, but removing his doubles cracked reality and broke the concepts of cause and effect. Quinn and his doubles were sliders, many entrenched and entangled in the history of infinite numbers of Earths; ripping them out would be like tearing out load bearing pillars in a building.

This retroactively affected past events. This manifested in small ways at first -- episodes happening in the wrong order, additional sliders vanishing and being forgotten -- but the effects became more pronounced closer to the ground zero point: magic and the supernatural in Season 3, the nonsensical Kromagg Prime backstory of Season 4 -- and then we had the present of Season 5 in which reality was now dying, the symptoms shown via parallel Earths shrinking and collapsing (hence all the episodes set in the Chandler hotel and on the Backlot). And there were no more Quinn-doubles, hence Quinn's peculiar absence from Season 5.

So, the version of SLIDERS that we saw on TV is actually a Geiger-corrupted version of the *real* SLIDERS.

In Season 5, we have a paradox: how can be there no Quinn-doubles? The only explanation is that not only were all of Quinn's doubles deleted, they were retroactively erased from history. But if he doesn't exist, who created sliding? In most time travel movies, paradoxes are resolved before consequences arise; this is what happens if they're not resolved. You get the craziness of Seasons 3 - 5; things stop making sense and it ripples into the past as well.

I will confess that the logic of this doesn't make clear, linear sense, but I feel this can be excused if the story declares that reason, rationality, cause and effect are broken concepts after the Geiger experiment with the effects affecting both past and present.

It is, essentially, a metaphor for the FOX Network's interference. :-)

But if it's confusing, a re-draft may be in order.

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Okay. I added a few passages to "Reminiscence" and reuploaded:

I told the Professor and Wade about the altered memories I'd witnessed. The monsters and the supernatural creatures and the insanity and madness.

The Professor told me that these were symptoms of a broken reality, the effect of Geiger's experiment reaching into the past as well as the present. He said that so many of my doubles had been sliders who'd been entangled in the realities of infinite worlds -- and ripping them out of existence was the equivalent of pulling load bearing walls out of a building. And he said that the Kromagg machine would only make it worse.

The Professor said we couldn't stop the machine. This reality warping engine -- it was spread out across 17 parallel Earths, all linked in function, gradually burning up individual universes as fuel to widen its influence. The Professor said the best we could do was repurpose it -- reprogram it to build instead of destroy.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Ireactions I have to ask if you have ever seen the British Comedy Sci Fi "Red Dwarf"?

There was an Episode called "Inquisitor" which featured a Genengineered Lifeform who is Biologically Immortal who had a Dilemma very much like that of the Alien who became Immortal via an accident with a Rubberband, Hot Beverage and Experimental Tech ie Lack of Purpose.

What to do with Eternity?

The HHGttG Alien chose to Time Travel and Insult Everyone in the Universe who ever existed.

The Inquisitor chose to Judge whether or not Worthy Lives have been lived.... Or if People have squandered their chance at life.

Mallory as a Living being from an infinite Multiverse has a lot in common with Dave Lister in that Episode mentioned above. The road not travelled.

Which Sperm reached the Egg? Both Sperm and Ovum Combinations in that Episode are named Dave Lister but both Physiologically are different iterations of Combining the same Genetic Codes of the Parent Donors but in different ways.

I like your ideas for Mallory in some ways but I think an infinite Multiverse has no need to exclude a different version of Quinn. It managed a Gender Divergence after all in Logan St. Claire and who knows how many other Female Quinns.

"It's only a matter of time. Were I in your shoes, I would spend my last earthly hours enjoying the world. Of course, if you wish, you can spend them fighting for a lost cause.... But you know that you've lost." -Kane-

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If you're not happy that Logan, Mallory and Colin don't/can't exist in this current state of continuity, or that there are no pre-1995 divergences in alt-history -- well, that's only what the current situation is as of "Revelation" and "Reminiscence." And it's only been the situation between 2001 - 2015.

There is one more chapter, and "Regenesis" will not leave things as they are. By the time I'm done, if someone wanted to do SLIDERS REBORN Part 6, they could. And if they wanted to tell a story about Mallory or Colin or Logan, they can do that too. SLIDERS REBORN is SLIDERS' series finale, but it's not a finale that prevents future stories. It is simply a point of... something for the original sliders. I will decline to reveal what it is for now.

I myself have no intention of doing this, but my successor (assuming for the moment that there is one) will be free to do so.

18 (edited by christian.t.chung 2015-10-17 06:58:42)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Thank you very much for your clarification and additions.
As with any finale, making everyone happy is always impossible, but you were quite close enough wink.
I guess you just have now to print and send it to Fox once finished, with a note saying :
"Guys, I just did for free for this TV Show what you paid some people to do poorly, and I even fixed their mess, isn't that nice ?" wink
Although Fox attitude toward Sci-fi shows changed after that (Fringe for example).
I'll be sure to tell my friends that finally, this jumped the shark show finally got the ending it deserved wink.
It was the best way you could tribute to this fantastic show for its anniversary.

19 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-08 18:33:20)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

I finally got around to having time to read this.  I read 1 & the first 50 pages of 2 on Saturday. Obviously, I had read a much earlier version of these some time ago.

warning: criticism follows but I think you want to hear something rather than nothing at all sad

This is just my opinion, and I don't really know if some of this was essential for feature-length films, but I think a lot of elements of the script in 2 could have been edited out all together. I wanted the story to move faster. And unfortunately, I really don't like the character of Laurel.

I found the parts that I was engaged was character interaction between the original Sliders.  I suppose Laurel might be necessary but either way, I do think there are a lot of parts that could be condensed.

I do have to say, and maybe I should have mentioned this earlier, but I didn't find Quinn and his operation believeable either. I think a version of it might be.

Not that you want to put the time into this, but I would think about heavily condensing these, cutting out Laurel if she's not necessary, and making Quinn's gig less solving various problems on different earths to more focusing only on big, big ones, especially ones that might be common to many earths. And perhaps with less of him feeling a burden around it but more he does it because he feels an obligation given his power and smarts, and he finds it interesting as well. Sorry if this feedback is late but perhaps the scripts expanded from the time I read them originally.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Sorry -- I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

Whether you like Laurel or don't, I am completely baffled by how anyone could look at REBORN and say she needs to be removed from the story when the original sliders would not reunite if she were not present. I'm finding your criticisms about Quinn's work... unintelligible. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

I'm looking over our E-mails. You read the original outline, where Part 2 is composed entirely of action set-pieces where Maggie and Hurley are killer cyborgs that the sliders fight and Laurel manifests telepathic powers.

You told me that these story elements were implausible and unbelievable and advised that I find more grounded means of advancing through the story. The scripts for REBORN, as posted online, do not contain killer cyborgs or telepathic powers and there are only two fight scenes in Part 2, each one lasting less than a page and both confined to the first third.

You and Matt had a lot to say to me. I agreed with all the problems you guys raised, but I came up with my own solutions to addressing them. A reader in this thread raised problems as well that prompted a rewrite.

I have thought hard on your post and I cannot understand what you're saying at all -- which is so very odd, because I had no difficulty understanding your extremely negative reaction to the first REBORN outline and making changes.

I'm thinking maybe reading only 50 pages isn't enough to offer an opinion -- or at least not one that I can put to use in making revisions.

21 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-09 09:03:42)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

Sorry -- I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

Whether you like Laurel or don't, I am completely baffled by how anyone could look at REBORN and say she needs to be removed from the story when the original sliders would not reunite if she were not present. I'm finding your criticisms about Quinn's work... unintelligible. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

I'm looking over our E-mails. You read the original outline, where Part 2 is composed entirely of action set-pieces where Maggie and Hurley are killer cyborgs that the sliders fight and Laurel manifests telepathic powers.

You told me that these story elements were implausible and unbelievable and advised that I find more grounded means of advancing through the story. The scripts for REBORN, as posted online, do not contain killer cyborgs or telepathic powers and there are only two fight scenes in Part 2, each one lasting less than a page and both combined to the first third.

You and Matt had a lot to say to me. I agreed with all the problems you guys raised, but I came up with my own solutions to addressing them. A reader in this thread raised problems as well that prompted a rewrite.

I have thought hard on your post and I cannot understand what you're saying at all -- which is so very odd, because I had no difficulty understanding your extremely negative reaction to the first REBORN outline and making changes.

I'm thinking maybe reading only 50 pages isn't enough to offer an opinion -- or at least not one that I can put to use in making revisions.


Well, first of all let me say completing all these scripts was a major accomplishment, and you deserve a congratulations on that.

I'm probably not going to be able to provide the type of feedback that would be useful. At one point as I read this I did try to transfer the script to google docs so I could attempt to just insert strike throughs but the formatting all got messed up.

For me personally, though all original sliders are in every scene, I much wanted it to be them primarily interacting with each other (not so much other characters). And I wanted the reunion to develop more quickly (at the very least with wade, arturo and remmy).  That is just my preference.  My feedback on Quinn's endeavor isn't terribly important but I would say I didn't buy that he would be worrying about condom drops in africa or free global wi-fi or stopping human traffickers.  Quinn never struck me in the show as overly idealistic or concerned with the plight of every human being where I believe he would take all that on. Wade maybe though, heh. I could see Quinn focusing his time on helping worlds obtain break-through technologies they didnt have before that help deal with the largest issues facing humanity. Like Malaria vaccines.

I cant say whether removing Laurel structurally would cause all sorts of problems that would be too difficult to cover but ultimately, as you mentioned you wrote this for your own imagination, and it's more important you satisfy yourself than any one viewer. Moreover, I think patterns of feedback are more important than looking at any one person's feedback.  So I do think my feedback here is my primary notes overall, and you should just tuck them away perhaps for later use or just dump them all together.

I don't think I'll be able to elaborate in a way that is going to be immediately helpful.  And if any of this is contradictory or was left out of my original notes, that is certainly possible. I thought it was important to just give you my thoughts / reaction regardless, and I think since you worked so hard on putting this together, you were deserving of some response to these. I am sorry if the critical feedback isn't given in a way that could be more helpful.

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"Reunion" starts with all the sliders separated and distant. The reason: I have two wishes for the sliders: to know that they made it home and that the 1995 series ended happily, and to see them sliding again. The two are mutually exclusive; sliding, while fun to watch for me, was hellish for them. So I started with 3/4 of the characters retired from sliding. The Laurel Hills character was a plotting necessity; her situation forces the sliders to reluctantly get the band back together and step back into the vortex. 

If you read only 50 pages, then you missed all of this.

There is no way, in my mind, that a Rembrandt in his 60s and an Arturo in his 70s would resume the kind of random sliding that drove the 1995 show. But random sliding is SLIDERS' storytelling engine, so that's where I needed them to end up. If a story requires characters to agree to something they very much don't want to do, the story must construct reasons and situations to justify it. Therefore, REBORN doesn't have the sliders back together until its final pages, and they only start sliding again on its last page. I had to earn it and Laurel was a plotting necessity to make that happen.

As for Quinn's situation -- I don't really know what you're talking about. I do not understand how to apply your comments to my scripts. But on that subject: REBORN has a serious problem at the outset; if Quinn has full control of sliding, then the character is vastly too powerful and impossible to write. However, if after 20 years, Quinn doesn't have full control, then he's incompetent. "Reunion" has Quinn saying he has to be careful with sliding, that he can't make waves, that caution is why he isn't saving the world with slide-tech, and the narrative clearly and unambiguously establishes that he is lying. It's stated outright in the dialogue. All is explained in "Revelation."

If you only read 50 pages, then you missed this as well.

In terms of patterns of feedback, the response to "Reunion" has been uniformly good, the response to "Reminiscence" has been good aside from one area of confusion (fixed). The response to "Revelation" has been more varied -- the main criticism is that the plot is extremely unwieldy and haphazard. Because it's presented entirely in terms of the sliders sitting around talking and the character voices are vivid, it's enjoyable and satisfying as an experience, but troubled and inconsistent as a work of science fiction. It doesn't explore the ideas enough; it's more interested in treating the SLIDERS like sitcom characters where listening to them talk is an end in itself.

Complaints have also been that some "Revelation" scenes are *extremely* long -- although given that REBORN is all about spending time with the characters again, 10 - 15 page scenes of the sliders chattering may not be excessive but instead going above and beyond in giving the readers their reunion.

I would say the most problematic aspect of "Revelation"'s plot is the universal key card that works as a credit card and key with any lock or banking system in any universe. That's ridiculous. At the same time -- Smarter-Quinn is a genius; I don't see how he could function interdimensionally without something like this universal key. I have no idea how it would work; I just know that it's something Smarter-Quinn would have.

The first half of the climax is a long, long, long speech from Smarter-Quinn delivering a massive infodump. But -- it's the voice of Smarter-Quinn, which, to me, is interesting because it's the voice of Smarter-Quinn and a darker pastiche of Jerry O'Connell. Your mileage may vary.

My personal dis-satisfaction with "Revelation" -- the world-building's fine, but there's not enough of the little incidental, minor details of alt-history that Tracy Torme always peppered into his scripts. Tracy's comedic voice is present in the characters; his sense of social satire is not as strongly in evidence.

The most critical complaint with "Revelation," in my view: while all the characters have lively and distinctive voices, Professor Arturo and Wade suffer from the overstuffed plot. While they both have lots of funny moments and neat things to say, they do not have personal goals that are fulfilled by the narrative and it's hard to say who they are as people based on SLIDERS REBORN. Arturo is the wise Professor, Wade is.................................................. funny. But all the characters are funny. I'm going to see if I can't give Wade a good finale in the final script.

I certainly don't think my work is perfect, but I feel like the flaws you point out aren't flaws as much as they are different choices. I chose A. You would choose B.

I hope you will not take this remark harshly given our long friendship, but I firmly believe that good, reasonable criticism is accompanied by specific examples and a proposed solution and not based on a mere 18.12 per cent of the existing material.

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SPOILERS

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

My feedback on Quinn's endeavor isn't terribly important but I would say I didn't buy that he would be worrying about condom drops in africa or free global wi-fi or stopping human traffickers.  Quinn never struck me in the show as overly idealistic or concerned with the plight of every human being where I believe he would take all that on. Wade maybe though, heh. I could see Quinn focusing his time on helping worlds obtain break-through technologies they didnt have before that help deal with the largest issues facing humanity. Like Malaria vaccines.

You've lost me on this one. Maybe we have different views of the character, but my vision of Quinn is that he is a moral and social crusader. A nomadic wanderer who battles injustice and is filled with compassion for the weak. He rallied the rebels in "Prince of Wails," he stood with the sick and dying in "Fever," he fought to restore the Constitution in "Time and Again World," he used Gillian but inspired her in "Gillian of the Spirits," he fought the effort to change education into commercials in "Young and Relentless."

Why wouldn't Quinn want the world to have global wifi? "Time and Again World" has him appalled at the idea that people could have knowledge and history withheld from them. "Young and the Relentless" had him believing in the power of education.

Once Quinn made it home in 2001, he had sliding. The power to transport any object to any location he chose. I think that a Quinn who would not be committed to using his power for the benefit of all is a Quinn who has no business being the star of this show. And why wouldn't Quinn be protecting our world? His mom lives here, man. His mom lives here!

The real question is why he hasn't done *more* -- addressed in "Revelation." (Sliding is broken.)

24 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-09 10:14:20)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

SPOILERS


"Reunion" starts with all the sliders separated and distant. The reason: I have two wishes for the sliders: to know that they made it home and that the 1995 series ended happily, and to see them sliding again. The two are mutually exclusive; sliding, while fun to watch for me, was hellish for them. So I started with 3/4 of the characters retired from sliding. The Laurel Hills character was a plotting necessity; her situation forces the sliders to reluctantly get the band back together and step back into the vortex. 

If you read only 50 pages, then you missed all of this.

There is no way, in my mind, that a Rembrandt in his 60s and an Arturo in his 70s would resume the kind of random sliding that drove the 1995 show. But random sliding is SLIDERS' storytelling engine, so that's where I needed them to end up. If a story requires characters to agree to something they very much don't want to do, the story must construct reasons and situations to justify it. Therefore, REBORN doesn't have the sliders back together until its final pages, and they only start sliding again on its last page. I had to earn it and Laurel was a plotting necessity to make that happen.

As for Quinn's situation -- I don't really know what you're talking about. I do not understand how to apply your comments to my scripts. But on that subject: REBORN has a serious problem at the outset; if Quinn has full control of sliding, then the character is vastly too powerful and impossible to write. However, if after 20 years, Quinn doesn't have full control, then he's incompetent. "Reunion" has Quinn saying he has to be careful with sliding, that he can't make waves, that caution is why he isn't saving the world with slide-tech, and the narrative clearly and unambiguously establishes that he is lying. It's stated outright in the dialogue. All is explained in "Revelation."

If you only read 50 pages, then you missed this as well.

In terms of patterns of feedback, the response to "Reunion" has been uniformly good, the response to "Reminiscence" has been good aside from one area of confusion (fixed). The response to "Revelation" has been more varied -- the main criticism is that the plot is extremely unwieldy and haphazard. Because it's presented entirely in terms of the sliders sitting around talking and the character voices are vivid, it's enjoyable and satisfying as an experience, but troubled and inconsistent as a work of science fiction. It doesn't explore the ideas enough; it's more interested in treating the SLIDERS like sitcom characters where listening to them talk is an end in itself.

Complaints have also been that some "Revelation" scenes are *extremely* long -- although given that REBORN is all about spending time with the characters again, 10 - 15 page scenes of the sliders chattering may not be excessive but instead going above and beyond in giving the readers their reunion.

I would say the most problematic aspect of "Revelation"'s plot is the universal key card that works as a credit card and key with any lock or banking system in any universe. That's ridiculous. At the same time -- Smarter-Quinn is a genius; I don't see how he could function interdimensionally without something like this universal key. I have no idea how it would work; I just know that it's something Smarter-Quinn would have.

The first half of the climax is a long, long, long speech from Smarter-Quinn delivering a massive infodump. But -- it's the voice of Smarter-Quinn, which, to me, is interesting because it's the voice of Smarter-Quinn and a darker pastiche of Jerry O'Connell. Your mileage may vary.

My personal dis-satisfaction with "Revelation" -- the world-building's fine, but there's not enough of the little incidental, minor details of alt-history that Tracy Torme always peppered into his scripts. Tracy's comedic voice is present in the characters; his sense of social satire is not as strongly in evidence.

The most critical complaint with "Revelation," in my view: while all the characters have lively and distinctive voices, Professor Arturo and Wade suffer from the overstuffed plot. While they both have lots of funny moments and neat things to say, they do not have personal goals that are fulfilled by the narrative and it's hard to say who they are as people based on SLIDERS REBORN. Arturo is the wise Professor, Wade is.................................................. funny. But all the characters are funny. I'm going to see if I can't give Wade a good finale in the final script.

I certainly don't think my work is perfect, but I feel like the flaws you point out aren't flaws as much as they are different choices. I chose A. You would choose B.

I hope you will not take this remark harshly given our long friendship, but I firmly believe that good, reasonable criticism is accompanied by specific examples and a proposed solution and not based on a mere 18.12 per cent of the existing material.

Well, I did want to give you some sort of response, as I mentioned before, because I thought after putting in all that time to producing these pieces, the series deserved to be read and commented on by the dedicated members here. The worst thing (in my mind) would be to not read and comment at all.

I'm obviously not giving you feedback that you feel you can use, or is actionable, or is necessarily legitmate... it is good to hear that Reunion has been embraced by those who have given you feedback.

It is true that what I read was a small portion of all the work you produced here, but I felt what I read was substantial enough (an hour's worth of screen time if this were a movie) to provide the type of reactions one might solicit in audience testing, for instance.

But as you said, maybe I just prefer B to A.

25 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-09 10:26:16)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

SPOILERS

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

My feedback on Quinn's endeavor isn't terribly important but I would say I didn't buy that he would be worrying about condom drops in africa or free global wi-fi or stopping human traffickers.  Quinn never struck me in the show as overly idealistic or concerned with the plight of every human being where I believe he would take all that on. Wade maybe though, heh. I could see Quinn focusing his time on helping worlds obtain break-through technologies they didnt have before that help deal with the largest issues facing humanity. Like Malaria vaccines.

You've lost me on this one. Maybe we have different views of the character, but my vision of Quinn is that he is a moral and social crusader. A nomadic wanderer who battles injustice and is filled with compassion for the weak. He rallied the rebels in "Prince of Wails," he stood with the sick and dying in "Fever," he fought to restore the Constitution in "Time and Again World," he used Gillian but inspired her in "Gillian of the Spirits," he fought the effort to change education into commercials in "Young and Relentless."

Why wouldn't Quinn want the world to have global wifi? "Time and Again World" has him appalled at the idea that people could have knowledge and history withheld from them. "Young and the Relentless" had him believing in the power of education.

Once Quinn made it home in 2001, he had sliding. The power to transport any object to any location he chose. I think that a Quinn who would not be committed to using his power for the benefit of all is a Quinn who has no business being the star of this show. And why wouldn't Quinn be protecting our world? His mom lives here, man. His mom lives here!

The real question is why he hasn't done *more* -- addressed in "Revelation." (Sliding is broken.)

We disagree here, I really don't think he would try to solve every world problem on such a large (infinite) amount of earths but I don't think it matters a great deal to the overall story.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

I thought after putting in all that time to producing these pieces, the series deserved to be read and commented on by the dedicated members here.

I'm not troubled by a small readership for various reasons.

First, I never expected a PDF screenplay series sequel to a TV show cancelled in ignominy and disgrace 15 years previous to have a huge readership beyond the 15 - 20 people who have read it and sent me messages.

Second, I wrote REBORN because I wanted a twentieth anniversary special, and when NBCUniveral (correctly) declined to commission one, I made my own. It's something of a SLIDERS tradition that the fans have to make their own merchandise, their own collectibles, their own DVD cases, and now, their own anniversary special.

Third, because I was writing REBORN as a niche project, I wrote it as a sequel to Seasons 1- 5 with all continuity intact (or memories of the continuity intact, at least), meaning that the project is likely incomprehensible to anyone who didn't see all five seasons of the show.

Fourth, the PDF screenplay format is still lengthy and requires time and commitment and it's probably best enjoyed on an e-reader or a tablet and preferably one with a good-sized screen. This isn't something you can read on your phone.

Informant liked "Reunion." Cyrokin liked Parts 1- 4, as did intangirble. Martin Markov liked it. Nigel Mitchell liked it. Slan, Christian, i_am_scifi, James Clarkson, general_vulcan, Do De, "Erika," rootofunity, NeutroBlaster96, Hondoh, Aaron Orenstein, Omountains and noothername liked it. Slider_Quinn21 said he'd get back to me on it.

I once asked Nigel Mitchell why he published ebooks on Amazon to a small audience. He replied that their existence made him happy. That's good enough for me as well.

27 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-09 11:58:26)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:
RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

I thought after putting in all that time to producing these pieces, the series deserved to be read and commented on by the dedicated members here.

First, I never expected a PDF screenplay series sequel to a TV show cancelled in ignominy and disgrace 15 years previous to have a huge readership beyond the 15 - 20 people who have read it and sent me messages.

That's great to hear. Had I known that I probably wouldn't have provided my criticism then! I thought you mentioned in an other thread that probably only 4-5 people had read Reborn and felt bad about its lack of response (and I was one of the people slacking who had not yet gotten to it, even though I wanted to!).

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

I felt what I read was substantial enough (an hour's worth of screen time if this were a movie) to provide the type of reactions one might solicit in audience testing, for instance. I really don't think he would try to solve every world problem on such a large (infinite) amount of earths but I don't think it matters a great deal to the overall story.

I just re-read "Reunion" and I see nothing that indicates Quinn is trying to save infinite numbers of Earths. Within the script, his attempts to improve situations are confined to his home Earth.

If Quinn Mallory being a force for good is something you find out of character -- that is so incomprehensible to me that I can't see you enjoying any of this project even if you get around to finishing it. I don't understand how that could possibly be a problem; I don't see how (or why) I could possibly address that. That is simply a non-starter for me.

"Killer cyborgs are silly," "Laurel brings about global collective consciousness is silly," "Try to find a more plausible way to get from point A to B" -- "You have crafted set pieces strung together by the flimsiest of machinations that make no sense," "Your continuity references are so thick I have no idea what you're referring to and I've seen the show enough for most" -- "I don't understand how the Season 5 Combine affected events in Season 1" -- those are criticisms from you and Matt and Christian that I can understand.

"Quinn Mallory should not be heroic" -- sorry. We have come to a parting of ways on this project.

You're free to like or dislike however much of REBORN you read, but at present, REBORN is 276 pages. You read 50 of them. I don't see how you can claim scenes need to be cut when you have no way of gauging whether or not they paid off at a later point; I don't see how you can declare Laurel Hills needs to be removed from the story when you don't really know what the story is. The fact that there is no telepathy or war games across San Francisco should tell you the scripts bear little resemblance to the outline I first sent you.

This is not the first time you have spoken badly of my writing. In the past, you have called my writing clumsy and poorly conceived and badly executed. Matt has also regularly noted serious errors and glaring discrepancies and logical failures in my writing. I was always happy to see that, because the criticisms were specific to the material and therefore very helpful as opposed to -- as opposed to whatever the hell this is supposed to be.

I don't see what you could possibly have to say about REBORN beyond the general impression that you're not really into it and probably won't finish it, which is the only fair or reasonable reaction I think any reader could have after reading 50 pages out of 276.

29 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2015-11-09 14:25:31)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:
RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

I felt what I read was substantial enough (an hour's worth of screen time if this were a movie) to provide the type of reactions one might solicit in audience testing, for instance. I really don't think he would try to solve every world problem on such a large (infinite) amount of earths but I don't think it matters a great deal to the overall story.

I just re-read "Reunion" and I see nothing that indicates Quinn is trying to save infinite numbers of Earths. Within the script, his attempts to improve situations are confined to his home Earth.

If Quinn Mallory being a force for good is something you find out of character -- that is so incomprehensible to me that I can't see you enjoying any of this project even if you get around to finishing it. I don't understand how that could possibly be a problem; I don't see how (or why) I could possibly address that. That is simply a non-starter for me.

"Killer cyborgs are silly," "Laurel brings about global collective consciousness is silly," "Try to find a more plausible way to get from point A to B" -- "You have crafted set pieces strung together by the flimsiest of machinations that make no sense," "Your continuity references are so thick I have no idea what you're referring to and I've seen the show enough for most" -- "I don't understand how the Season 5 Combine affected events in Season 1" -- those are criticisms from you and Matt and Christian that I can understand.

"Quinn Mallory should not be heroic" -- sorry. We have come to a parting of ways on this project.

You're free to like or dislike however much of REBORN you read, but at present, REBORN is 276 pages. You read 50 of them. I don't see how you can claim scenes need to be cut when you have no way of gauging whether or not they paid off at a later point; I don't see how you can declare Laurel Hills needs to be removed from the story when you don't really know what the story is. The fact that there is no telepathy or war games across San Francisco should tell you the scripts bear little resemblance to the outline I first sent you.

This is not the first time you have spoken badly of my writing. In the past, you have called my writing clumsy and poorly conceived and badly executed. Matt has also regularly noted serious errors and glaring discrepancies and logical failures in my writing. I was always happy to see that, because the criticisms were specific to the material and therefore very helpful as opposed to -- as opposed to whatever the hell this is supposed to be.

I don't see what you could possibly have to say about REBORN beyond the general impression that you're not really into it and probably won't finish it, which is the only fair or reasonable reaction I think any reader could have after reading 50 pages out of 276.


Had I known providing the feedback was going to upset you so much, certainly I would not have done it.  I miscalculated thinking you wanted to hear everything based on just reading your posts in the past.  I wrongly guesstimated, and will be more careful in the future.

My criticisms here are certainly not well-developed arguments. They are simply high-level reactions and expressions of my preferences.

Just for the record though, I certainly never called anything you've done in the past sloppy, poorly conceived or badly executed. I'm a fan of your ability and talent... so that wouldn't come from me.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Feedback of WHAT? Whatever your feedback is in this thread, it clearly hasn't any bearing on my story since you didn't bother finishing to read even one of the full-length scripts before telling me it was bad.

With the SLIDERS 2013 project, you told me that the scene where Malcolm tells Rembrandt the entire world history made no sense; Malcolm doesn't know Rembrandt's from a parallel Earth, he'd see no reason to impart generally known, common information. I rewrote it, moving Malcolm's exposition to the news snippets.

At one point, you told me I shouldn't try to work so closely with other posters who would never match my level of commitment and that I would always be disappointed. I switched to writing all the outlines myself but running them past consultants.

Withe the first draft of the REBORN outline, you said that characters often moved the story along through means that made no sense, such as the action sequences, Laurel being telepathic, etc.. Specific. Clear. Which made me think that I could count on you for reasoned criticism that would actually relate to my writing.

Instead, you read 18 per cent -- 18 per cent -- of SLIDERS REBORN and proceeded to tell me 100 per cent of it should be rewritten. I didn't realize it was such a stressful, overbearing, taxing requirement that people read the material before saying how it should be revised.

If some other poster read 1/5 of my writing and told me I should change the other 4/5, I would have shrugged it off, but I valued your opinion. I sent you outlines and scripts for this as early as 2014 and I seriously considered your advice and I thought we were friends. Apparently, not so much, since you don't feel you need to read the damned scripts before declaring that plots and characters need to be cut.

It's great that you've got so much time to type up your thoughts on SLIDERS REBORN but no time to actually read it first. Your criticism has been largely incomprehensible in that way critiques are when the critic is largely ignorant of the material: vague and inaccurate, irrelevant to the actual material (because you don't know the material) and utterly worthless.

Spare me -- and this thread -- anymore of your less-than-useless opinions on stories you haven't actually read.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

I think Quinn opposes Injustice where he finds it but he is also the type of person that gets tunnel vision and a little obsessive on 1 particular thing at a time.

If he saw Human Trafficking occuring, yes he would oppose it and throw his intellect at the problem but.... As an immediate thing ie a Short term goal.

I think Quinn only has room for one long term overarching dominant goal at a time whereas juggling multiple short term goals is very much a thing e can do.

Like RCLF said though Wade would nudge him to do more.

"It's only a matter of time. Were I in your shoes, I would spend my last earthly hours enjoying the world. Of course, if you wish, you can spend them fighting for a lost cause.... But you know that you've lost." -Kane-

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

omnimercurial wrote:

I think Quinn opposes Injustice where he finds it but he is also the type of person that gets tunnel vision and a little obsessive on 1 particular thing at a time. If he saw Human Trafficking occuring, yes he would oppose it and throw his intellect at the problem but.... As an immediate thing ie a Short term goal. I think Quinn only has room for one long term overarching dominant goal at a time whereas juggling multiple short term goals is very much a thing e can do.

How would you know? ;-)

During the four seasons Quinn was on the show, he was sliding randomly. When during the show did he ever have the chance to demonstrate long-term planning and project management skills? Does the fact that he was never in onscreen situations where he could plan long term mean he was incapable of doing so? Or that he couldn't learn?

That said, a Quinn with no long-term thinking who has been made this way by sliding -- that's a valid take on the character. There are definitely Quinn-doubles like that out there; some other writer might write Quinn in this way and it would be a legitimate interpretation. It's just not mine. The Quinn of REBORN is not a nomadic college student. He's a 42-year-old man who has had 14 years to refine his technology, methodology, body, mind, spirit and soul and make himself superhuman while still remaining socially awkward, troubled, disturbed, withdrawn, isolated, and a messy dresser who forgets to get haircuts.

**

Anyway. Some excerpts from the final SLIDERS REBORN script. Up to this point, this scene best represents what I ultimately want for SLIDERS.





               EXCERPT FROM SLIDERS REBORN: REGENESIS

               For Rob Floyd



               INT. SLIDERS INC. BOARDROOM - NIGHT

               Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo step into the boardroom,
               followed by five Maggie-doubles (Allison, Mags, Bex, Peggy
               and Meg) as well as Diana. Everyone sits. Rembrandt is
               carrying a LARGE, FRAMED PHOTO -- and he puts the photo frame
               in the vacant chair next to him.

               The photo frame holds an image of Mallory (Robert Floyd).

                                   ALLISON
                             (to Rembrandt)
                         Okay. Who's the guy in the photo?
                         And why do you always bring that to
                         meetings?

                                   REMBRANDT
                         He should be sitting at this table.
                         He ain't here anymore, but he sure
                         earned his place.

                                   ALLISON
                         Nobody knows who he is!
                             (looking to Quinn)
                         Mallory! Tell your buddy he's being
                         weird.

                                   QUINN
                         Remmy, you're being weird.

               Rembrandt looks furious.

                                   QUINN (CONT'D)
                         Just hang his photo on the wall.

               Rembrandt's eyes widen as though this simply failed to occur
               to him. He stands, picks up the photo frame and moves to the
               wall --

                                   QUINN (CONT'D)
                         I already drilled in a hook in the
                         center.

               Rembrandt finds the hook and hangs the photograph of Mallory.
               Mallory now overlooks the boardroom table.

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Could we get Colin up here too?

                                   QUINN
                         Could we not? I'm still getting
                         over how he was one of fifteen
                         clones programmed to kill us.

               Rembrandt nods and happily returns to his seat, Laurel comes
               in, pushing a cart of coffee and tea. She sits down while
               Diana stands and moves to the head of the table.

                                   DIANA
                         Alright, this is the forty-third
                         weekly meeting on the subject of
                         addressing the 1995-limitation on
                         the multiverse as well as reality's
                         inability to split and generate new
                         dimensions. Thank you all for
                         coming to brainstorm.

                                   ALLISON
                         Whose turn is it to throw out an
                         idea this week for fixing the
                         multiverse?

                                   PEGGY
                         Uh -- Brown's up this week, right?

                                   DIANA
                             (checking a notepad)
                         Yes!

               The Maggies all groan with dismay. Rembrandt looks hurt.

                                   ALLISON
                         Why are we asking the soul singer
                         for scientific theories?

                                   ARTURO
                         Ms. Beckett, I am most disappointed
                         to witness such intellectual
                         elitism.

                                   MEG
                         Oh, look who's talking.

                                   ARTURO
                         Mr. Brown is an artistic spirit
                         with a creative mind.

                                   MAGS
                         He's only going to come up with
                         useless bullshit.

               Rembrandt looks longingly at the door to the boardroom.
               Arturo looks to Quinn for help, Quinn mouths something
               vaguely.

                                   ARTURO
                         Mr. Brown is also the only slider
                         in this room who didn't die; he has
                         seniority and it's his turn.

                                   LAUREL
                         Stop mentioning that you all died!
                         It's god-damn creepy!

               As Arturo nods agreeably, Rembrandt stands while Diana sits.

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Well, I was kinda taken with the
                         other Q-Ball's idea -- the one he
                         tried last year. You know, with the
                         doomsday clocks.

                                   WADE
                         Well, yeah. Quinn's always been
                         very smart.

               She smiles fondly at Quinn and Quinn can be seen flushing
               with pleasure.

                                   WADE (CONT'D)
                         Aside from ripping off an episode
                         of Doctor Who and nearly killing
                         everybody, the doomsday clock plan
                         did have the benefit of being one
                         that would work.

                                   LAUREL
                         I'm sure Rembrandt isn't suggesting
                         we go with Smarter Quinn's plan to
                         kill everybody -- and yes, I'm
                         calling him that, I went there,
                         it's fine.

               Everyone looks to Quinn to confirm this, he shrugs
               indifferently.

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Well, uh -- I know the big problem
                         is that we want to take out the
                         1995-limitation without taking out
                         the people living under it. I was
                         wondering if we could try doing
                         Smarter Quinn's plan after
                         everyone's died. Like, we could set
                         it on a timer.

                                   ALLISON
                         What?

                                   PEGGY
                         I don't understand anything you
                         just said. Is that word salad? Are
                         you having a stroke?

                                   DIANA
                         I believe what Rembrandt's asking
                         is this: is there the possibility
                         of employing Smarter Quinn's plan,
                         but making preparations so that the
                         collapse and replacement of our
                         reality takes place after the human
                         race has gone extinct?

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Yeah!

                                   QUINN
                         It'd be humane. It's sensible. It's
                         currently not feasible.

               Rembrandt's face falls.

                                   QUINN (CONT'D)
                         I said currently not feasible! The
                         problem is that there might not be
                         enough of a multiverse left to
                         rebuild at the endpoint -- but this
                         is an avenue we need to explore.

                                   ARTURO
                         Well done, Mr. Brown.

               Rembrandt nods, looking relieved. He takes a seat. Diana
               leafs through her notes.

                                   DIANA
                         I believe the Professor wished to
                         raise a concern?

                                   ARTURO
                         Thank you, Dr. Davis.

               The Professor stands.

                                   ARTURO (CONT'D)
                         My friends, I have been privileged
                         to see the convergence of ideas
                         over the past forty-three weeks.
                         However, I would be remiss if not
                         to advise that we begin
                         consideration of what is becoming
                         an uncomfortable truth.

                                   LAUREL
                         If this is going to be a long
                         speech, can I go to the bathroom
                         first?

                                   ARTURO
                         We may need to consider that there
                         is no way to remove the 1995
                         limitation without destroying this
                         present incarnation of reality.

                                   QUINN
                         Professor!

                                   ARTURO
                         We must consider how to confront
                         this situation.

               Quinn stands as well. Facing his teacher.

                                   QUINN
                         We are confronting it. We're going
                         to fix this.

                                   ARTURO
                         Mr. Mallory -- I believe that a
                         multiverse without the 1995
                         limitation is essentially a new
                         multiverse entirely -- one that
                         cannot co-exist with our own. They
                         would be mutually incompatible. One
                         would replace the other.

                                   QUINN
                         There's got to be some way to make
                         new universes form around the ones
                         we have right now --

                                   ARTURO
                         The notion is ridiculous.

                                   QUINN
                         Oh, come on. It happens all the
                         time!

               The Professor looks incredulous.

                                   ARTURO
                         What?! When?

               Quinn looks like he's struggling to think of something. His
               hands flail desperately, then --

                                   QUINN
                         It happens in Star Trek?

               Arturo glares at Quinn.

                                   ARTURO
                         Star. Trek?

                                   LAUREL
                         Oh, yeah! The 2008 movie! There was
                         a rebooted continuity, but the
                         novels and video games still take
                         place in the old timeline.

               Arturo looks to the Maggies, Wade and Rembrandt for help.
               Then he looks to Diana.

                                   DIANA
                         There are some contradictions
                         between novels and the games?
                         Specifically, Wesley Crusher, who --

                                   ARTURO
                         All right! So, in our search for
                         positive examples, we have a single
                         feature film --

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Well, hang on, Professor. The new
                         Terminator did the same thing.

                                   LAUREL
                         Did it? I thought that the Genisys
                         continuity replaced the Terminator
                         II timeline --

                                   DIANA
                         Yes, but the Guardian and the
                         version of Skynet in the film were
                         also from separate timelines,
                         suggesting co-existing timelines in
                         a quantity of at least --

                                   ARTURO
                             (roaring)
                         Will you people shut up?!

               He glares around the room at Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt, Laurel
               and Diana. When his glower hits the Maggies --

                                   BEX
                         Hey! I haven't even spoken yet!

                                   ARTURO
                         This conversation has degenerated
                         into a pointless discussion of
                         cultural trivia that has no bearing
                         whatsoever on our deliberations!

               Wade stands.

                                   WADE
                         What the Professor's saying is that
                         he's really happy with all the
                         great ideas that've come out of
                         this group.

                                   ARTURO
                         If we have assembled merely to
                         debate the merits of the latest
                         effort to exploit overexposed
                         copyrights, kindly be certain to
                         exclude me from any subsequent
                         concursions!

                                   WADE
                         The Professor's also impressed with
                         you, Remmy -- the whole idea to
                         blow up the multiverse after life
                         is done living in it? Really good.

                                   REMBRANDT
                         Hey, thanks, Professor!

                                   ARTURO
                         If none of you here have anything
                         further to contribute, then be so
                         good as to disperse and dispense
                         with any further pretense of
                         meaningful discourse!

                                   WADE
                         And now that we've come up with a
                         neat new angle to think on, we
                         should get some dinner, get some
                         sleep and get back to work
                         refreshed and recharged!

               Arturo turns towards Wade, his face red with fury. Wade
               smiles sweetly at him. Arturo storms out of the boardroom. At
               a distance, the sound of a slamming door can be heard.

                                   LAUREL
                         Dude just hates the new Terminator.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Don't blame him. Genysis is pure awful. It's like a bad Fanfic got funding for a Film adaptation.

"It's only a matter of time. Were I in your shoes, I would spend my last earthly hours enjoying the world. Of course, if you wish, you can spend them fighting for a lost cause.... But you know that you've lost." -Kane-

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

One of my favourite movie reviewers, Devin Faraci (a man with whom I rarely agree but love to read), described THE FORCE AWAKENS as STAR WARS fanfic because it was simply a pastiche of the 1977 movie rather than a new STAR WARS story. He wrote:

"Most fanfic is, on some level, fan service -- fans giving themselves what they want. Bringing together characters they like, killing ones they don’t, redeeming villains they love, exploring concepts barely glanced upon in the original property. They right perceived wrongs, give new endings and reconstruct emotions and relationships. That’s usually dramatically unsatisfying, and very often the best stories are the ones that drive fans the craziest. Getting what you want is fun at first, but it’s like letting a kid have free reign of the fridge - - they end up with a bellyache and maybe even scurvy if you don’t step in soon enough. You gotta eat your vegetables, and fanfic rarely is interested in greens.

"THE FORCE AWAKENS is ice cream for dinner. It’s full of familiar things, sometimes with just a new name on them. It’s filled with familiar characters, who have - in true fan fiction style - reverted to fan-favorite versions of themselves. It reinforces and reiterates what we already love, if slightly changed around and mashed up to be a bit more fan-friendly.

"For STAR WARS to escape the stigma of just being corporate-appointed fanfic someone needs to redefine what STAR WARS is. If STAR WARS has, until now, been George Lucas, the right move isn’t to just ape what Lucas has done but to do something blazingly new."

SLIDERS REBORN is guilty of many of these charges -- wanting to right the wrongs of the 1995 show, mimicking the Pilot episode in plot structure. Matt was telling me about the most emotional script he'd ever written. I remarked that "Reunion" was my most emotional because there was almost no thought put into the plotting -- it was simply my feelings and emotions with regards to SLIDERS. I wanted to know that Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo were okay and had been as of two minutes after "The Seer" ended. Writing it was a process of working my emotions into a 20-years-later pastiche of the Pilot in order to pay tribute to how it all started.

"So what you're saying," Matt crowed, "is that it's easy to be derivative!" Yes. But at the same time, I trust my storytelling instincts. Not my plotting -- my plotting has regularly needed a Nigel Mitchell or a Matt Hutaff to sort it out -- but I trust my instincts in terms of charting an emotional course for the story and making it feel vivid, compelling and worthwhile.

And what my instincts told me was that it would feel false and awkward if in 2015, Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo were hanging out and all lived in the same house and ate all their meals together. That would be ice cream for dinner. Even operating from the position that SLIDERS REBORN is like a DOCTOR WHO novel -- written for fans who know the show inside out -- it wouldn't work to have the original four all together at the start of REBORN.

Most Season 6 fanfics have tried to resolve all the unfinished plots point by point, immediately after "The Seer." It's always a mess. REBORN had a 15-year time gap that could be used to create distance between "The Seer" and today. This allowed for the present-day situation to be whatever was best for the characters with the justification that something in the last 15 years had resulted in an Earth Prime where the Kromagg invasion never happened. It's absurd -- and only feels plausible if the unknown events of the time gap are emphasized -- which required that the characters be distant from each other to reflect the distance of the 1995 series and the way it ended.

"Reprise" showed the characters instantly resurrected. As charming as this is, the sliders being together at the start of the 2015 story would then demand that the magic of "Reprise" be explained, which would immediately sink any sense of mystery or magic. Having the sliders apart left it vague, undefined, mysterious and created a sense of myth and wonder.

Was this delaying what was wanted by some guy who only bothered to read 50 pages before writing the whole thing off? Yes, because you have to stretch before you sprint. The audience has not seen Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo together since 1997; to pretend like they were never apart would feel false, whereas to have them split up and gradually meeting up again would feel real because it mirrors the real-world situation. It would feel like fan service unless it were earned.

The other aspect of fanfic that Faraci critiques is that it rarely creates anything new, instead pastiching what previously existed. A new work on an existing property, to move beyond being just a pastiche, has to find an effective way for the writer to use existing characters to express the new writer's heart. This is a critique that REBORN most definitely does not rise above.

REBORN is a pastiche -- not of the SLIDERS scripts as written by Torme and Weiss, but of the actors who played the characters. It's a print-and-prose approximation of the performers' speech patterns, line deliveries, body language and physical interaction -- and in that sense, REBORN is unlike the majority of most SLIDERS fanfics mainly because most SLIDERS fanfics were written when the show was on the air and shortly after the cancellation as opposed to being written by someone who spent 15 years obsessively studying "As Time Goes By" and "Luck of the Draw." Most fanfic writers can't do that because most fanfic writers have god-damn lives.

My ability at pastiche is mostly from examining DOCTOR WHO novels where bombastic, idiosyncratic actors were re-created in print. The overall effect is a pastiche of a scripting style, but again, it's not Torme's. It's done in the style of Dan Harmon's COMMUNITY scripts, all about idiosyncratic characters with distinctive backstories and odd personal tics and baffling obsessions bouncing off each other as inseparable friends who drive each other carzy.

That said, REBORN is not simply running through the classic SLIDERS tropes. There are new ideas and a new approach. The classic SLIDERS usually took the view that North America at the end of the twentieth century was an ideal situation and most divergences from that end result were regarded as dangerous, threatening, disturbing and an aberration to be corrected as best as possible. This wasn't in any way intended by the writers; it was something of an accidental implication due to the characters' stated longings for home and their suspicion and confusion towards the unfamiliar.

REBORN, mostly thanks to Nigel Mitchell, is skeptical and suspicious of the idea that our world is on the right and proper path, and the story eventually becomes about all the terrible ways the world could end. I give full credit to Nigel for SLIDERS REBORN having new and original ideas. Like George Lucas before his divorce, I am not a skillful producer of fiction, but I'm collaborative and will happily commit to other people's ideas in order to produce the story I wish to experience.

So, yes -- REBORN did not open its 2015 story with sliders already together and it has Quinn exploring new applications of sliding technology.

Sure, this is an unlikely prospect for a 2015 revival, but I like to think SLIDERS REBORN is a SLIDERS production that took place on an Earth where the show's reruns were a hit in syndication with the first two seasons and select Season 3 episodes re-aired as a (rerun) event mini-series. Much like the series EERIE INDIANA became a hit in reruns on FOX in 1997, years after its original run in 1991.

Matt Hutaff, correctly, thinks that anyone who would try to revive SLIDERS in REBORN fashion would be competely insane even on an Earth where SLIDERS reruns were a big hit right up to 2015. I'd like to think that on this Earth, Dan Harmon was a big SLIDERS fan, and that when he was approached by Yahoo to revive COMMUNITY, he asked to do four SLIDERS Internet movies as well and Yahoo wrangled the rights from NBCUniversal and gave Harmon twelve million and three months, and would later report this SLIDERS revival as part of their $42 million loss on new media.

Anyway. I took my time getting the band back together because I felt it had to be earned. Please don't criticize this project without at least finishing the first 95-page script. That's a pretty reasonable request.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Well, it's extremely good to see you are showing off your stuff, ireactions since the last time I've been in here...which clearly has been years. Sounds awesome. And can't wait to sit down and read it with the rest of you all.

PS. Hey everybody.

Stuslide
SLIDERS: ALTERNATE SPIN
www.angelfire.com/ky/sliderspinoff
"Just think of the possibilities."

36 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2016-01-31 10:19:47)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

I'd like to suggest submitting Sliders 2013 or the Sliders Reborn series to these guys:

http://brokensea.com/?page_id=2

They've done fan fic audio dramas for the Dr. Who and X Files franchises before and the production quality I've heard is really professional. I bet Tom and Corey might even be able to provide some assistance if something were to come to fruition.

Submissions:

http://brokensea.com/?page_id=124

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

I would never stop anyone from doing an audio adaptation of SLIDERS REBORN, but I also wouldn't encourage them. I've heard their PRISONER audioplay and it's terrible, completely failing to capture the charm of the lead character's performance. I think having impressionists perform SLIDERS REBORN is completely self-defeating; the point of the REBORN scripts is that they are pastiches of the actors.

The reason the scripts are lengthier than one would expect: the scripts don't just contain the dialogue. They contain all the acting as well. The body language. The physical behaviour. These are imagination-fuelled simulations of Jerry, Sabrina, Cleavant and John -- so that when you read it, you can hear those actors in your head as opposed to impressionists.

I don't think SLIDERS REBORN is really suited to anything other than it's current format. It's a media tie-in novel that uses screenplay format.

Anyway. I also wouldn't submit anything that isn't done. SLIDERS REBORN will finish in 2016, though. The Rewatch Podcast boys can confirm that I just sent them a beat sheet for the final installment -- it's just lacking in details I want to add in before scripting in full.

38 (edited by RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan 2016-01-31 12:50:28)

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

I would never stop anyone from doing an audio adaptation of SLIDERS REBORN, but I also wouldn't encourage them. I've heard their PRISONER audioplay and it's terrible, completely failing to capture the charm of the lead character's performance. I think having impressionists perform SLIDERS REBORN is completely self-defeating; the point of the REBORN scripts is that they are pastiches of the actors.

The reason the scripts are lengthier than one would expect: the scripts don't just contain the dialogue. They contain all the acting as well. The body language. The physical behaviour. These are imagination-fuelled simulations of Jerry, Sabrina, Cleavant and John -- so that when you read it, you can hear those actors in your head as opposed to impressionists.

I don't think SLIDERS REBORN is really suited to anything other than it's current format. It's a media tie-in novel that uses screenplay format.

Anyway. I also wouldn't submit anything that isn't done. SLIDERS REBORN will finish in 2016, though. The Rewatch Podcast boys can confirm that I just sent them a beat sheet for the final installment -- it's just lacking in details I want to add in before scripting in full.


Would you mind if I submitted Sliders 2013 to them for consideration?

I know you weren't happy with it but myself and everyone I shared it with loved it.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

Well, that's up to you. I certainly won't stand in the way. But they did a PRISONER adaptation where they found a completely charmless performer to play Patrick McGoohan's suave, forceful, aloof, outraged, gallant Number Six. They don't seem to be very good at casting. The Alice Drake character was supposed to be an English spy and should sound like Emma Thompson speaking perfect English. For some reason, they cast someone with truly peculiar pronunciation and a hesitant line delivery that gives the impression she doesn't know the language.

I think Tom and Cory's impressions are fine as comedy spoofs, but impressions don't really lend themselves to drama.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

ireactions wrote:

Well, that's up to you. I certainly won't stand in the way. But they did a PRISONER adaptation where they found a completely charmless performer to play Patrick McGoohan's suave, forceful, aloof, outraged, gallant Number Six. They don't seem to be very good at casting. The Alice Drake character was supposed to be an English spy and should sound like Emma Thompson speaking perfect English. For some reason, they cast someone with truly peculiar pronunciation and a hesitant line delivery that gives the impression she doesn't know the language.

I think Tom and Cory's impressions are fine as comedy spoofs, but impressions don't really lend themselves to drama.

I've only listened to the X Files stuff, about an hour of it. They don't use actual X Files characters, they play within the universe. I was very impressed by the quality of production, considering its completely a volunteer-based effort.

Casting some of the Sliders characters could be tough, but given that we presumably won't be getting any audio-visual material out of the franchise going forward, I certainly would like to see someone take a crack at it. If it ends up being really bad, I figure nothing is lost.

Re: SLIDERS REBORN: The twentieth anniversary special continues on EP.COM

I'll check out some of the X-FILES stuff.

I guess the reboot script is probably best in that the actors won't need to try imitating the actors. They can be their own versions of Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo. It'd be silly to do SLIDE EFFECTS or SLIDERS REBORN because both are using the reader's familiarity with Jerry, Sabrina, Cleavant and John to summon their voices to the story. The 2013 script was still doing a pastiche of the 1995 actors, although it wouldn't be hard for decent actors to interpret the lines in their own way.