So the Netflix show Parallels is being turned into a tv show now, co-produced by Neil Gaiman. I loved the movie, can't wait for the series.

http://nerdist.com/neil-gaiman-fox-the- … fi-series/

As you know, I didn't like it ... but it would be nice to have something to help for my Sliders fix, so we'll see...

Great to hear that Parallels is not dead yet.

Yea, I'd be super excited if it got picked up.  I'm not sure if it will go in a direction where I start losing interest, but I really liked a lot of what they did with the original pilot and loved the alt-world execution, which I hope would keep up episode to episode.

https://www.inkshares.com/books/champio … ird-planet

Also, he gave an update on Parallels in a recent Reddit AMA.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ … rector_of/

The entire AMA is real interesting.

I usually find that most media can be deconstructed into a single core concept, the most engaging of which are the concepts which can resonate with me on a core fundamental (usually emotional) level, regardless of the actual construct of the story that can spiral out from this. For example Sliders  - four friends just trying to find their way home - is such a concept. Being lost sliding from one alternate dimension to another is a really cool tool used to facilitate this, just like with Quantum Leap and time travel, but that core concept of 'finding home' is the resonating factor here.

But this is right where my issues with Parallels begins.

We start with a familiar concept, but by the end of the very pilot, the worldbuilding involved around this has utterly distorted it, much like Season 4 of Sliders did. It is no longer about being lost, since they can now control their destination. It is no longer about finding home, since that was just the Earth they were born on and their parents are actually from the Core world. We could argue that it is still about the journey and that sense of adventure whilst trying to track down a family member, but do you not see the issue here? Within a single pilot the core concept has been allowed to take such a sudden, and ultimately jarring, turn, several times over.

You could argue why is this wrong? Why can't a core concept shift and change over time? Well we could easily argue until the cows come home about all the problems and perils of changing a show's core concept halfway through its run, but within its own pilot? Ultimately, the real question is, has the pilot built a strong enough foundation of its world building to either facilitate or ignore such a change?

My personal answer is a resounding no.

We hear of this Core world, with incredible technology beyond what we can imagine, which can punch a hole through to every known dimension in order to place a mysterious building within each world, serving as the gateway for our travellers. Yet, a hacker from a nuked Earth hacked into this building that has such advanced technology (with another world's advanced technology that he wasn't even knowledgeable with) in less than 36 hours? A number which, as I've mentioned before, so far has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and is immediately rendered obsolete by the end of the pilot.

We are told of trauma of this young man's life as he fled the family home after the tragic death of his mum due to a fault of his own, leading him to a life of fights before he found an outlet as a boxer. Yet, he doesn't bat an eye, doesn't show any emotion or impact at all when his deadbeat Dad tells him that she is alive? That the years of guilt, years of anger and sorrow that he or his sister felt, was meaningless? ... Nothing? No emotional at all? This fiery tempered boxing youth?

We see a world more advanced than ours with advanced tech, flashing billboards, and bio-prints which are used as everything from opening doors to paying for goods and services. Yet, we are to believe that a high ranking lawyer's laptop is encrypted with a simple password?

We see a world that has been nuked (by their Dad, or a double, who knows as it wasn't explained) and become a wasteland. Yet, some guy has not only replicated a suitcase nuke, but he has created his own gun that can adapt to ANY ammunition that he can scavenge?

What available worldbuilding or characterisation leads us to believe any of this? Do you not see my problem here?

So, if the worldbuilding is so fragile to start off with, I would argue that shifting its concept (or revealing its true concept from here on out) was a huge mistake. I don't get it. I don't buy into it. I'm not emotionally involved in the story, or the concept, or the characters, or the world building. So what else is there left for me?

You can't throw in this incredible technology to puncture a bridge between every single known dimension, and put a building in every single one that someone can then use to somehow travel through, slap a random arbitrary number countdown on it, have a bomb maker suddenly be able to hack into it

I don't understand. Why can't you do these things in a story? What tenets of storytelling does this violate? Why is this a problem for you? I would like to understand your thinking and learn from it.

But perhaps these elements are only acceptable if you're engaged with the characters and you most definitely weren't?

No, these elements weren't acceptable to me because they didn't make any sense within the worldbuilding that was being presented. You can't throw in this incredible technology to puncture a bridge between every single known dimension, and put a building in every single one that someone can then use to somehow travel through, slap a random arbitrary number countdown on it, have a bomb maker suddenly be able to hack into it - within what like half a day was it after finally going into the building? - throw the estranged sibling's Dad in it who supposedly used to travel along it - oh and he or an alternate bombed the hackers world by the way - have a mum that was dead but somehow now isn't - go find her! And oh, they are both actually from the Core worlds, and oh, that hacker now has created a bridge so you can choose your destination?!! ... It's just a string of random nonsense. Something more akin to the movie of the week Sliders phase of season 3. There was no solid basis or foundation for the show, except - anything can happen. And yes, that's 3 Pollys!

It's obvious you liked it, that's fine.  But I just didn't like it. And this is coming from someone who is a massive science fiction fan.

I ... I hated it. Sorry.

We are only treated to 2 new dimensions, but we aren't really given any real background, history or discovery about these worlds. No show is complete without a villain, and on post-apoc Earth we have a guy who has been 'watching' the building for some time now as the main character's Dad nuked their world. (Another WTF. Don't ask).

Well. Personal taste. I really enjoyed PARALLELS. With the lack of detailed alternate history -- I felt that it was part of the show's approach. PARALLELS focused on the confusion, the disorientation, the alien environment of a parallel universe. The characters don't stumble into infodumps via exposition, they encounter only bits and pieces of information and are ultimately encountering only fragments of larger realities. The only area in which I would dispute your criticisms  --

I don't understand the premise of your criticism. Science fiction is often driven by inexplicable constructs defy sense and reason and any restrictions of physical reality. The idea that the timer can split the skin of reality and send four people to another dimension based on equations and a laser light show is the worst manner of lie ever created.

The TARDIS of DOCTOR WHO and the starships of TREK operate on the idea that they can travel vast interstellar and/or temporal distances through highly advanced technology beyond human comprehension (magic). If the building is such a dealbreaker, I don't understand why you'd watch a science fiction show.

The mystery of the nuclear weapon -- given that it's presented as a mystery, I don't think it's fair to declare it to be poorly considered or illogical -- it's point-blank indicated that there's more to be revealed should and when PARALLELS returns.

But perhaps these elements are only acceptable if you're engaged with the characters and you most definitely weren't?