Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
Thanks for sharing this. I would like to say I'll listen to it soon... but I am really hypnotized by The Televised Podcast covering the first two seasons of BATWOMAN and the final season of SUPERGIRL right now! I will return to other podcasts after I finish this one.
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
ireactions wrote:
Thanks for sharing this. I would like to say I'll listen to it soon... but I am really hypnotized by The Televised Podcast covering the first two seasons of BATWOMAN and the final season of SUPERGIRL right now! I will return to other podcasts after I finish this one.
It really is quite excellent!
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
I really enjoyed Floyd's comments on SLIDERS. I've never ceased to be amazed by how much he appreciated the entire history and legacy of SLIDERS and his place on the show despite coming in only at the end and after the original creators and vision had left.
I think the reason: Floyd loves performing and storytelling, and SLIDERS was a place where, even if the onscreen results may have been less than his talent, Floyd got to do a lot of performing and storytelling in a really creative and meaningful way.
I don't think Season 5 gave Floyd enough to do and I think a lot of viewers feel that way, given how much Quinn was missed and how well Floyd played the dual personas, going from mere mimicry to an almost transcendental bodily possession. I would have loved for Quinn to have been played by Floyd from Day 1.
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
It is fascinating, though. I think most Sliders fans think that season 5 is better than season 4 from a storytelling perspective, but I don't think season 5 resembles the Torme years much more than season 4 did. I feel like they had more artistic control - Peckinpah was less active (right? am I misremembering?) and Jerry's influence was gone. They moved away from being Kromagg heavy, but they stayed with more Sci-Fi concepts and less alternate history concepts.
I think there was an opportunity to do what they wanted, but it feels like they made a conscious decision to just do more of the same.
(Disclaimer: it's been forever since I've seen any of Season 5).
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
Slider_Quinn21 wrote:
It is fascinating, though. I think most Sliders fans think that season 5 is better than season 4 from a storytelling perspective, but I don't think season 5 resembles the Torme years much more than season 4 did. I feel like they had more artistic control - Peckinpah was less active (right? am I misremembering?) and Jerry's influence was gone. They moved away from being Kromagg heavy, but they stayed with more Sci-Fi concepts and less alternate history concepts.
I think there was an opportunity to do what they wanted, but it feels like they made a conscious decision to just do more of the same.
(Disclaimer: it's been forever since I've seen any of Season 5).
Currently I'm midway through season 5 and what I've noticed is that aside from Cleavant, the other 3 cast members are boring and terrible actors, often getting outacted by the show's guest-stars.
IMO, the scripts were never great, but the OG cast were good actors and the 4 of them had strong chemistry, so they could elevate the material.
There are moments where two the OG cast are just sitting down, having a conversation and it's great and tonally seems disconnected to the rest of the episode - I'm inclined to think that the director just told them to improv a scene to fill out the episodes and they're great at it.
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
I personally think well of every actor's talent on SLIDERS. Charlie O'Connell turned out to be pretty good at seething outrage; Kari Wuhrer's comedic timing and dramatic prowess is strong, particularly when she has to do both in EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, and I say that despite strongly disliking Kari for how she treated Sabrina Lloyd. Tembi Locke does a beautiful job of crafting distinct personas for her roles, particularly in her Diana doubles in "Applied Physics". Robert Floyd is a master of the craft, achieving perfect naturalism in his BAR RESCUE episodes and effortlessly mimicking Jerry O'Connell as a performance rather than as an imitation.
Charlie was inexperienced. But to me, if the performances for Kari, Tembi and Rob have issues (and they do), it's never because of the actors. The scripts require unnatural behaviour or awkward dialogue; the story lacks emotionality or subtext; the direction is poorly staged and underconsidered; the blocking is under-rehearsed and ill-timed.
There's also the fact that acting styles have evolved significantly since 1994 - 2000. Acting in a 90s TV show was less about naturalism and more about conveying clear points of plot and emotional information, more a highly technical form of stage theatre than the more naturalistic approach that's preferred today. Actors in a 90s era show will overenunciate and speak more slowly and unnaturally than a performer would today.
Seasons 1 - 2, to me, look like a mid-budget indie production, while Season 5 looks like what it is: a rushed and slapdash cable show on a very low budget, and that's naturally going to affect ahow the performances turn out. I would never say that the cast were not good, but rather that the material and the results weren't equal to their talent.
8 2025-05-30 17:38:24 (edited by Chuck 2025-05-30 17:40:26)
Re: Rob Floyd On Sliding Through Dimensions Podcast
While I disagree with you on the replacement cast's acting chops (at that time), I do agree that they didn't have the best scripts, dialogue or directing to work with.
Also, I saw the recent Rob Floyd interview, where he was charming and engaging and remember thinking, "Where was that guy?"
I think nowadays, he'd be a good side character on just about any show; maybe he just needed the seasoning.
I understand that Temi Locke has found success in other areas and good for her.
Kari Wuhrer, I dunno. I saw Eight Legged Freaks and don't remember having ANY thoughts about her or anything else I may have seen with her in it.