Topic: Nickname Q-Ball

So in the rewatch podcast, they were discussing a little bit on why Rembrandt calls Quinn Q-Ball. There's the obvious answer that he calls him that cause his name's Quinn and well Remmy loves to give people nicknames. But I decided to google the word in case anything other then sliders came up lol.

1. (This is coming directly from Wikipedia by the way) In theoretical physics, Q-ball is a type of non-topological soliton. A soliton is a localized field configuration that is stable—it cannot spread out and dissipate. In the case of a non-topological soliton, the stability is guaranteed by a conserved charge: the soliton has lower energy per unit charge than any other configuration. (In physics, charge is often represented by the letter "Q", and the soliton is spherically symmetric, hence the name.).

Perhaps Rembrandt is secretly a genius and came up with a witty nickname for his friend on behalf of Quinn's knack for physics.

2. Cueball is a nickname for a bald person. Quinn has a full head of hair. Maybe Remmy's doing this as a joke since he's the opposite of a cueball lol

And 3. Q-Ball is a streetname for an antipsychotic sleeping pill drug. Obviously doesn't come into play here at all.

All in all, nothing groundbreaking here. Just me over thinking a minor detal for all of two seconds lol.

Re: Nickname Q-Ball

We were never given an explanation, but I’ve always taken it as a reference to a game of pool:

https://i2.wp.com/pingpongbros.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Pool-Player.jpg?resize=1000%2C667

The cue-ball sets the game in motion and is the force that drives all balls into pockets off the field.  Rembrandt had a unique perspective in that he only slid because Quinn knocked him into the pocket.  Quinn was Remmy’s cue-ball.

3 (edited by ireactions 2021-06-06 10:36:17)

Re: Nickname Q-Ball

This is such a brilliant insight from TF. I never thought about this before.

It's strange: when TF, Slider_Quinn21, Chaser9, Informant and myself were sharing ideas for a SLIDERS 2013 reboot pilot script ( http://freepdfhosting.com/ab3f9e4b78.pdf ), one of the things I did in the script was exaggerate Rembrandt's penchant for giving people nicknames. I had Rembrandt 2013 calling Wade "Tinker Bell" and addressing Arturo as "Professor Dumbledore" while maintaining Q-Ball. However, I confess, I didn't have any real insight into WHY Rembrandt was doing this. I was just mimicking what I'd seen without understanding it.

TF describing Quinn as a cueball that knocked Rembrandt into the pocket of sliding is such a revealing observation. It indicates that "Q-Ball" is, in Rembrandt's mind, an insult at the start. Quinn knocked Rembrandt into a place he did not want to be, and is perpetually throwing him into one fine mess after another.

However, by the middle of the season, "Q-Ball" is a term of endearment and by Season 2, as Quinn confides in Rembrandt about his girl problems, "Q-Ball" is a term of gratitude: Quinn knocked Rembrandt into an unexpected life of wonder that made Rembrandt discover untapped reserves of strength, resilience and loyalty. The sliders became the true band of family to Rembrandt that the Spinning Topps weren't and with the sliders, Rembrandt truly came into his own and became not just a musician but an adventurer, a social activist, a father figure, a brother and a hero, living the life that he couldn't ever achieve with the Topps or as a solo performer.

Re: Nickname Q-Ball

That's a very intersting analysis on it. Nice job. I never thought of it like this before but it makes a lot of sense. I could see it being both ways almost. He calls him a cue-ball because he knocked him into sliding accidentely, but because his name is Quinn and that starts with a Q, it goes Q-Ball.

On the term of insult to term of endearment, I would say it is probably evident in Last Days the most. When the group find out they're going to die in a couple of days, Remmy's mad and goes "how Quinn? Huh? You're the reason we're in this mess!" when Quinn explains they will get out of it. By the end of epiosde, he comes around, happy to be with his friends. He greets him with "hey how you doing, Q-Ball?" It's an intersting point of development for the character. A few epiosdes ago in Summer of Love, he was ready set to ditch his friends without warning once he found out his double here was married to his high school crush. Then fast forward to Last Days, after spending all his time partying and helping out at the church, he decides to keep his word and spends what he thinks is his last few minutes with his friends.

Also, haha! "Tinker Bell" and "Professor Dumbledore" I love that. Perhaps 2013 Remmy is abig Harry Potter fan lol.

But all in all, Q-Ball is probably Rembrandt's most thought out nickname and that one was created in a pinch. The only others are farmboy for Colin, fogboy for Mallory. I guess sweetheart is kind of a nickname/term of endearment for Wade. "Professor" I guess you could call that a nickname but it's pretty obvious they all call him that cause they heard Quinn call Arturo that. Also Arturo would probably reject to being called by his first name lol. But other then that, I can't think of any other nicknames Remmy gave.

Re: Nickname Q-Ball

I doubt Rembrandt (or the writers) put as much thought into the nickname as y'all have