A couple stories explaining the gap between Seasons 1 - 2. Season 1 ended with Quinn shot, Ryan and Henry the Dog now joining the sliders. Season 2 dismissed it. So, I'd want to add Mike Truman's SLIDERS story, "All That You Can't Leave Behind," a flashback story where Wade recalls the events that took place between "Luck of the Draw" and "Into the Mystic" where Ryan, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo sought medical treatment for Quinn and Ryan chose to leave the sliders.

http://slidersweb.net/otherworlds/317/321.htm

I'd also want to add a second story after "Into the Mystic." Season 1 had the sliders constantly on the verge of homelessness, getting jobs. Season 2 dispenses with all that; the sliders just have money and stay in a hotel, no explanation given (because it was getting repetitive and stalling the plots).

I'd suggest a story where the sliders land on an Earth where the Cold War never ended and the sliders find in the Dominion Hotel a secret cache of cash, clothing, tailoring equipment and supplies. On each parallel Earth with a Dominion, the sliders will visit the hotel and find the cache in 2/5 versions of the Dominion, which is why we no longer seem them out of money and even alternating between outfits and why Arturo is always in a tailored suit.

Another story I'd want to add to SLIDERS canon: an X-FILES crossover. It's unfortunate that SLIDERS never crossed over with every single Vancouver-filming show airing on FOX. Nigel Mitchell's SLIDERS: "X Marks the Spot" story seems to fit the bill: http://freepdfhosting.com/2e80122e71.pdf

And I'd want to add a story into canon where Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo are all reunited after the events of Seasons 3 - 5 in a way that doesn't invalidate or redact anything. :-)

I think any approach to continuity is best additive rather than subtractive.

So it's really just John's vision and what he would want to do as Arturo and I think Jerry would go along with whatever John wanted to do.

Have Jerry play Rembrandt.

The pilot episode of WAREHOUSE 13 seems like something that nobody wanted to make or take ownership of, much like Season 5 of SLIDERS. The original script was written by Rockne O'Bannon (FARSCAPE) and Jane Espenson (BUFFY, ONCE UPON A TIME, GILMORE GIRLS, JESSICA JONES) but Syfy bought it and then retooled it with at least four different writing teams before landing on Jack Kenny, a veteran of children's fantasy show THE SECRET WORLD OF ALEX MACK. By the time WAREHOUSE 13 made it to air, it had become an indecisive, confused product. A photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy with many contradictory sensibilities.

The Pilot has the story elements of a paranoid, conspiracy-minded series of secret agents in a shadow government organization and a simple, Nickelodeon children's show where the heroes look to find and contain dangerous supernatural objects and the questions of who they work for and why is not something kids would ask. WAREHOUSE 13 also seems to be visually very similar to Season 5 of SLIDERS with interior locations being redressed beige hallways if it's not the warehouse set that's the equivalent of SLIDERS' Chandler Hotel.

But WAREHOUSE 13 cast well. And by the end of the first season, WAREHOUSE 13 had succeeded in doing what SLIDERS did in its first two seasons: it created a strong ensemble with the exuberant and childish Eddie McClintock, the bookish and flustered Joanne Kelly, the sardonic Allison Scagliotti and the jaded Saul Rubinek. And their affable, friendly chemistry smoothed out the conceptual confusion of their show. WAREHOUSE 13 was still a legally dissimilar X-FILES shot on a much lower budget, but it was an amiable, undemanding, unchallenging, lightweight X-FILES clone that was soothing and relaxing. Aside from the comedy episodes, THE X-FILES was never fun.

WAREHOUSE 13 being a clone of a pre-existing property and then cloned from subsequent drafts of the clone itself, however, was always something that held it back. I wonder if it is simply bad development strategy to look at a previously successful series and try to replicate it but with just enough differences to a void a lawsuit. But it can work sometimes. BILL AND TED was plainly an American Polaroid of a DOCTOR WHO episode. STAR WARS was an American portrait of THE HIDDEN FORTRESS.

**

What would JOHN RHYS-DAVIES' SLIDERS be like?

Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies, last year, were very enthusiastic about conceiving a new SLIDERS project. Assuming they could get Cleavant and Sabrina back and that they would be setting the creative direction -- what would Jerry and John want to do with SLIDERS? John most definitely has serious creative ambitions for SLIDERS. He wanted to run the writer's room and write scripts. But he also wanted to be the lead character and for Jerry to be his sidekick. I don't know if that's changed in the years that have passed.

I imagine that John would probably want JOHN RHYS-DAVIES' SLIDERS to just start over from the ground up again and he would want to take ownership of the new show and define it with his personality and interests. And I'm not sure John's interests are in social satire; judging from his personality, he would probably be more along the lines of overt lecturing and moral outrage and it would be a very different voice for SLIDERS having originally been more indirect and comedic.

John also doesn't want to do more than a year or two of playing Arturo before quitting and moving on.

I suspect Jerry doesn't have any real creative ambitions aside from always being happy to be working. He's the executive producer of CARTER and it's very obvious from watching CARTER that Jerry just wants to hang out with his friends on the set for 10 episodes a year.

And Transmodiar once wrote a spec script for WAREHOUSE 13 that is on EarthPrime.com for... some reason.

Because it's a good read produced by two of the site admins that has to do with a dimension-hopping van. How many more reasons do you need?

If you can promote Tf's spinoff, I can share this: https://earthprime.com/etcetera/warehouse-13-qed

It's fun, if you liked "Warehouse 13."

I didn't make it to the end. But you don't have to watch past season one to know the show doesn't give two squirts about timing, pacing, or focus. It hopes you like Nathan Fillion or Stana Katic; everything else is incidental.

Well, it cares about the timing of Fillion and Katic's verbal sparring. It cares about pacing the course of their arguments along the case of the (incidental, irrelevant) mystery of the week. It is completely focused on what Fillion and Katic are fighting about that week.

I think Castle's family add a breather between Castle's antics and show that he isn't just a quip machine but someone with a family that brings out a more sincere side and let him recharge before his next round with Beckett. It helps the timing and pacing of the arguments. I love Castle's sharp-thinking daughter and regal mother.

I am not there yet. But I've been making my own sodas lately with a Sodastream. It's amazing! I have had to drive a bit farther than I'd like for carbonator exchanges lately. CASTLE is very enjoyable. And Joanne Kelly showed up which makes me remember that I never got around to finishing WAREHOUSE 13 and should get to it. And Transmodiar once wrote a spec script for WAREHOUSE 13 that is on EarthPrime.com for... some reason.

Uh... how to make this post SLIDERS reboot related. How. How. How?! How?! CASTLE is based in New York City and Jerry O'Connell was born there and... and... oh my God, Grizzlor, PLEASE respond to this thread to make it relevant!

I don't feel CASTLE is trash (although I'm only in Season 2). It aims low. It hits its target. It seeks to feature Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing. It features Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing. Followed by Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing. Followed by Fillion fencing with his daughter and mother for a breather. Followed by Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing. It does exactly what it sets out to do. Why isn't that enough?

I've only seen the first season of CASTLE. I'm going to assume from Transmodiar's reaction that CASTLE suffers from behind the scenes issues that causes the show to lose its clear, focused sense of purpose which is to have Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic onscreen arguing and the murder mysteries being incidental if not irrelevant. They could be restaurant chefs. I do recall numerous press articles during its later years detailing how Fillion and Katic had become so hostile that by the end, they would not film together for more than two scenes an episode. It could be difficult for a show about Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing endlessly to function if it could no longer have Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic in the same scenes for entire episodes.

I didn't make it to the end. But you don't have to watch past season one to know the show doesn't give two squirts about timing, pacing, or focus. It hopes you like Nathan Fillion or Stana Katic; everything else is incidental.

If you keep watching, just skip over every scene with Castle's daughter or mother. With the exception of the contractually obligated A-story episode they get each season, they add literally nothing to the series. Nada. Bupkus. ZERO.

And if you make it past the episode where the sidekicks get caught in a burning building, I'll buy you a soda.

ireactions wrote:

CASTLE was a taut, capable, well-paced, focused series about the belligerent sexual tension between Fillion and Katic and novelist Richard Castle had some actual (if delusional) insight and flashes of brilliance to offer murder mysteries.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I've only seen the first season of CASTLE. I'm going to assume from Transmodiar's reaction that CASTLE suffers from behind the scenes issues that causes the show to lose its clear, focused sense of purpose which is to have Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic onscreen arguing and the murder mysteries being incidental if not irrelevant. They could be restaurant chefs. I do recall numerous press articles during its later years detailing how Fillion and Katic had become so hostile that by the end, they would not film together for more than two scenes an episode. It could be difficult for a show about Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic arguing endlessly to function if it could no longer have Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic in the same scenes for entire episodes.

Which, I think, speaks to another point of interest with SLIDERS. Over in the DECLASSIFIED thread, reading Temporal Flux's screenplay has made me realize to my shock that SLIDERS does not need Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo to be SLIDERS -- that the SLIDERS brand is in social satire and commentary rather than Jerry O'Connell.

However, if the purpose is to revive SLIDERS as opposed to creating a legally dissimilar series with a different title, then you need to use characters named Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo and keep characters with these names together for five to seven years or you'd end up with Grizzlor's poll here, contemplating where the show should have been allowed to die a quick death. CASTLE and Transmodiar's mocking laughter towards CASTLE may be another indication of this.

Which means it's vital to hire writers who can run a show for up to a decade and actors who wouldn't ditch the show or take it for granted or refuse to be in the same room. The Bryan Fullers and David Duchovnys of the world wouldn't work for this.

Ideally, you'd want young actors to play Quinn and Wade who have worked in the business for awhile, who've been child actors, who've seen the ups and downs of business and would appreciate a potentially stable job. Kids who've been in Disney Channel type shows that were never huge hits. And you'd want older actors for Rembrandt and Arturo who don't consider themselves above television and wouldn't ditch it for a movie or Broadway and wouldn't drunkenly embarrass a network executive for no good reason whatsoever.

In terms of creators -- you'd want writers and producers who'd form close, personal friendships with their cast and ensure that everyone will be getting along for a decade and who have written material close to SLIDERS' comedy satire.

In the past, I've always though of science fiction writers like J. Michael Straczynski (BABYLON 5) or Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman (FRINGE) for SLIDERS, but in the light of DECLASSIFIED, I realize that Straczynski's writing is too preachy for SLIDERS and Pinkner and Wyman are too technology-focused in their science fiction. I also liked the idea of Dan Harmon (COMMUNITY) writing SLIDERS, but again, after DECLASSIFIED -- I realize that SLIDERS is not a situation comedy about wacky characters and that maybe I should have noticed before spending 2015 - 2016 writing just that.

I think I would now want Michael Schur (BROOKLYN NINE NINE) and Greg Daniels (PARKS AND RECREATION) to write SLIDERS as both writers have worked together (on PARKS) and their comedy with police officers and municipal government presented an extremely ambivalent and comedic take on these institutions, never preaching their fundamental importance but never condemning them either. Instead, both Schur and Daniels' scripts focused on the peculiarities and eccentricities of the people within these establishment organizations as they worked with or against or for one another or the public.

I think every long running series is going to have its regrets. But SLIDERS kept falling into holes and Grizzlor's poll shows how SLIDERS kept digging itself deeper with David Peckinpah always having a brand new shovel for Rembrandt with each season premiere. A new SLIDERS needs builders, not diggers, and that attitude has to be reflected among all the cast and creators whether it's Jerry and John playing older versions of the originals (doubles or not) or a new team.

CASTLE was a taut, capable, well-paced, focused series about the belligerent sexual tension between Fillion and Katic and novelist Richard Castle had some actual (if delusional) insight and flashes of brilliance to offer murder mysteries.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It occurred to me that CARTER, airing two years after CASTLE ended in 2016, is a legally dissimilar version of CASTLE attempting to mine the market that CASTLE left open: a procedural where a man from the entertainment industry is paired with a straight laced police investigator. CASTLE was a taut, capable, well-paced, focused series about the belligerent sexual tension between Fillion and Katic and novelist Richard Castle had some actual (if delusional) insight and flashes of brilliance to offer murder mysteries.

In contrast, Jerry O'Connell's Carter is so juvenile that he never comes off as Sydney Tamiia Poitier's equal and in making Jerry's character an actor as opposed to a writer, Jerry's role on his own show is that of an annoying guest-star who should be tolerated for one episode and dismissed entirely. If CARTER is trying to file off the serial numbers of CASTLE to avoid a lawsuit, it ends up sanding down what made CASTLE effective in the first place.

Could something like this happen to SLIDERS if it were revived in the form of a legally dissimilar TV show?

In contrast, Jerry O'Connell is so obnoxious as Carter (and I agree with pilight that it's deliberate). CARTER is 20 episodes as of Season 2; Carter has a case closure rate of 100 per cent. I don't know how this is possible as Jerry is determined to make Carter the most erratically inept investigator alive. To quote MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, perfect or not, Carter's methods look suspiciously like chance and his results would appear alarmingly like luck.

I don't know how Sydney Tamiia Poitier's Sam tolerates Carter and Sydney Tamiia Poitier's performance indicates that Sydney Tamiia Poitier is so good at her job that Jerry O'Connell at his twitchiest cannot seriously impede Sydney Tamiia Poitier from accomplishing anything that Sydney Tamiia Poitier sets her mind to doing.

The mysteries are not that interesting. The stakes are always incredibly low. The threats are not convincing. A running 'gag' (I think) is Carter referring to previous episodes of his TV show, CALL CARTER which is (I think) a completely fictional TV series that doesn't exist meaning Carter is referring to nothing whatsoever. I think that it's supposed to be funny but it's meaningless. This show has no reason to exist except that 10 episodes a year of Sydney Tamiia Poitier creates a marginally better world than one without 10 episodes of Sydney Tamiia Poitier except this is Sydney Tamiia Poitier and surely she deserves a better job.

Season 2 ends on a soft cliffhanger where Carter asks Sydney Tamiia Poitier not to leave the small town for New York City because Carter is in love with her. Sydney Tamiia Poitier regards Carter in this cliffhanger with slightly teary eyes, I assume, because the wind blew into her eyes at that point. I have no idea what the Sydney Tamiia Poitier would see in the dysfunctional man child that Jerry O'Connell is playing in this series; she's a responsible, capable career woman and Jerry's version of Harley Carter seems incapable of opening a door without causing a scene. Once again, Sydney Tamiia Poitier plays the moment to indicate that if she were to lower her standards to date an extremely childish Jerry O'Connell, it wouldn't seriously interfere with her goals in life.

A lot of CARTER is Jerry O'Connell engaging in what looks suspiciously like actors' exercises with minor league Canadian stars that may be very amusing to people who are friends with a lot of actresses (raises hand) but meaningless to anyone else.

CARTER is funded by some Canadian media companies and the beneficiary of some Canadian tax credits and is filmed in the small Canadian town of North Bay. It's only just finished airing its latest 10 episodes in America and may or may not get a third season and that decision is probably dependent on funding rather than ratings. CARTER is a marginally diverting hour of television and an interesting study into Jerry O'Connell's acting in the modern era. I'm not sure who else would want to watch CARTER.

I can report that Jerry O'Connell clearly LOVES the show. Perhaps a little too much given how his visible glee and relish for his ridiculous character is so high energy that he noticeably drains energy from ME just from watching him. It is very clear that ever since Jerry quit drinking, his enthusiasm for his work has been cranked up to the point where he's not entirely able to restrain himself at times. I recognize, as pilight observed, that Harley Carter is meant to be a terrible actor and that he sees acting as drawing attention to himself rather than conveying the emotion and meaning of the scene, but when nearly every scene has Jerry at his most manic, then every scene becomes the same.

If CARTER gets a third season, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have another 10 episodes of Sydney Tamiia Poitier being commanding and driven and somehow above all of Carter's nonsense.