REBOOTING Sliders for the Twenty-First Century

To be fair, a 'tidier, cleaner, better' approach would be a day-zero reboot with a fresh cast and no tangled ties to the past...

BUT having just said that, I do like the concepts mentioned above, as it handles the obvious aging of the original cast, which is in itself an inherent problem. It is, by far, the best outline I've heard to almost reset the entire show with the original cast. However, I can't help but feel some nagging niggles concerning it though. For better or worse, I feel that wiping out 5 seasons as 'their doubles adventures' is ... kinda dangerous. It reminds me of that information I read somewhere about how one episode was going to feature doubles of our Sliders, but the audience won't realise this until the end of the episode. It sets up a feeling of unease that, at any time, the audience might not even know who they are really watching. The audience is automatically on the backfoot and feel like personal investment in these characters are skewed, because at any times, it could be doubles or character-switch outs.

It's not really a logically thing, it's a feeling, but feelings are what gives births to massive fandoms and reactions, and this one could be quite dangerous to implement. Again, I'm not sweeping these concepts under the carpet, because as I mentioned earlier, it is the best damn structure I've heard to reboot the show with the originals ... but it does come with a cost.

Personally, I think it's a cracking idea that fans could play with, but if we're then taking the step up to discussing commercial aspects of a modern day reboot, then the actor's ages and ties (no matter how subtle or hidden) to the old show is baggage that would hold any network back. It would need to be a complete reboot with a fresh group of actors as our fab foursome from day one. I would love to see more modern storytelling tools of a more tightly woven character development arcs for each of the characters over the course of their journey, and for that friendship angle to not immediately be there from the start - but to slowly grow.

That's going to be very confusing and off putting to new viewers.

I think recasting is the best way to go.

You're trying to introduce the concept of doubles before you've established the premise of the show.  You're going to have new people thinking it's about time travel.

Okay, here's what I was thinking happens in the Pilot Redux:

• Opening scene: same footage from the Pilot where Quinn knocked out the power in 1994.

• Cut to 2016.

• Quinn, a tax accountant, has been assigned to income tax duty.

• Wade and Arturo are sent to his desk, where, as he does their taxes, they rant at him for various sins (giving up on science, ridiculing Arturo in his class, abandoning his life's passion, kissing Wade and pretending it never happened).

• Quinn tells them he has no idea what the hell they're talking about and he's done fine for himself. He failed in his ambitions for science -- he moved on. Wade leaves in disgust. Arturo tells Quinn he should be ashamed of himself.

• ARTURO: "You abandoned your gift! You could have changed the world with your intellect and body of knowledge, but what have you done with it instead? Learned how to fill out forms and reduced yourself to a calculator on legs!"

• The phone rings. Quinn picks it up. Then he hangs up. He looks blank and lost.

• ARTURO: "What the devil is wrong with you now?"

• QUINN: "My mom had a heart attack. She's dead."

• ARTURO: " ........................... but on balance, Mr. Mallory, perhaps you shouldn't be too hard on yourself."

• A blur of funeral arrangements, farewells, followed by Quinn going to his old house.

• He explores his basement, which he has not visited in years.

• He finds a video cassette on the floor, one of several. Pops one of these into a VHS player and TV.

• He sees his younger self (Jerry in young-age makeup, obscured by low VHS quality video) talking about adjustments to make to the anti-gravity machine.

• Quinn can't remember making this video or these adjustments -- but now he makes them. He triggers the machine. It doesn't work. But these adjustments inspire him to try a subsequent configuration. He triggers it again.

• A vortex opens and sucks Quinn in.

• He ends up in a parallel universe, explores it, and then the sliding machine back home re-opens a tunnel to bring him home.

• (Some explanation about how Quinn set up a double-entry gateway, purely by accident.)

• Quinn returns to his basement, excited. Starts playing more of the VHS cassettes -- and urgently calls the Professor and Wade to his house.

• He plays them the videos, saying that his alternate universe double must have left him these tapes all those years ago -- probably as an apology for screwing up his life.

• They review the footage, although some is missing due to some tapes having been broken over the years. They construct a timer while various segments of VHS-Quinn play.

• VHS-Quinn speaks in reverent, eager tones about what must be out there in the multiverse, how excited he is to explore.

• (Presumably, Quinn recorded these entries in 1994 between speaking to Smarter-Quinn and welcoming Wade and Arturo into the basement.)

• Quinn, Wade and Arturo slide out, accidentally ensnaring a passing Rembrandt as they do, who happens to be driving past the Mallory house for reasons too terrible and complex to explain here (read: I haven't thought of any yet).

• They have another adventure, but triggering the timer early causes them to be lost in the multiverse.

• All the video journals are left behind on Earth Prime except for fragments here and there that Wade finished converting to keep on her smartphone (as a convenient aid for future episodes if the writer gets stuck for a plot device).

And then, on the website! We have some exclusive web content. We have:

• Clips of VHS-Quinn talking. It's established that he's recording these segments in 2001. We have him recap individual episodes of the 1995 series from his perspective along with worlds we never saw.

• We have clips of Quinn explaining the function and properties of sliding.

• We have clips of Quinn talking about his childhood, which is precisely the same as "The Guardian."

• And then a final clip.

• It's Quinn in 2001, saying that terrible things have happened.

• His friends are all dead.

• His world is gone.

• The only reason he's alive now is because a fellow slider sacrificed himself to bring Quinn back from quantum limbo.

• Quinn has been forced to make a terrible choice.

• He has commandeered a Kromagg weapon.

• It is a reality warping weapon. He has modified it. He has reprogrammed it.

• He can alter reality. He can change the past. He can make it so that no one has ever created sliding, not himself, not his doubles, not the Kromaggs.

• Everyone will live the lives they'd have had if sliding had never been created.

• But this is only a delay; he knows his amnesiac self will reconstruct some variant on the technology eventually. So he's left him these tapes to guide him.

• He hopes his amnesiac self has the wisdom and perspective in the future that Quinn lacked in 1994 and wishes his future self luck in his adventures, speaking of the infinity and wonder of the multiverse and everything that awaits him once again.

How in the world is Quinn alive and well?

History was altered. Sliding was never created by any civilization; not by the Kromaggs, not by any Quinn and so everyone lives the lives they would have had from 1994 - 2015 had sliding never been created.

What happened when Rembrandt stepped through the final slide? How did they all get their memories wiped? Where's Colin? What happened to the Maggs? Where are the other Sliders? How was sliding purged from the multiverse? How is the Professor and Wade with the group?

I don't feel this matters enough to be explained onscreen aside from a blanket explanation: Quinn, in 2001, found himself in trouble on all sides due to an interdimensional war. He took a desperate measure; he altered specific universal constants, reshaping reality so that sliding doesn't exist and can't exist -- at least not for awhile.

(Unnecessary scientific explanation: he restructured reality with a commandeered Kromagg weapon so that sliding is no longer unlocked by negating gravity but rather by the altering spherical harmonics of the Earths' electromagnetic field in order to produce the exotic matter needed for an interdimensional gateway. Whatever! He found a way to remove sliding from reality. This event is really a metaphor for the cancellation of SLIDERS.)

This rewrite of the universe rewound time back to 1994 -- and then let it proceed as though sliding had never been created.

So everyone in every universe lives a sliding-free life. The Kromaggs? They're on their own world. Sliding doesn't exist.

How much of this would ever need to be onscreen? I'd say very, very little. Preferably as little as possible.

WADE: "Why the heck was all that junk still in your basement? You gave up on science two decades ago."
QUINN: "My mom wouldn't throw it out -- she said she still held out hope. Even when I'd given up on myself, she still believed in me."
ARTURO: "Then she was a wise woman, Mr. Mallory."
REMBRANDT: "So what you're saying is that if she'd cleaned house once in the last twenty years, you'd never have built that machine, you'd never have discovered sliding -- AND I WOULDN'T BE HERE!"

I don't think a virgin slidehead would see the VHS tapes as anything more than an artifact left behind by a Quinn-double 20 years previous. The veiled revelation that the Quinn-double was actually this Quinn would just be a small, subtle note for the fans.

To be absolutely frank, I suspect you and Slide Override have spotted some recurring flaws in my writing -- flaws that I tend to cover with jokes. And since the jokes have not been written -- well, the flaws are glaring. Sorry.

Hmm. Well, the whole "Quinn kills sliding to reset reality" was a suggestion from Matt Hutaff for SLIDERS REBORN. So, as with REBORN, the explanation would have been that Smarter-Quinn was in an interdimensional tunnel when reality was rewritten and therefore his timeline and his effect on Earth Prime survived the revision. However, his parallel universe did not survive the revision.

In this Pilot Redux, I imagine Smarter-Quinn then found himself stranded on a parallel Earth and his attempts to rebuild sliding failed. I probably wouldn't ever, ever, ever deal with this onscreen... but I would address it in a web comic.

Again, I think this is one of those flaws in my writing. A hole from which I would distract with a joke or emotional intensity.

Well, Slide Override and pilight could still be right that it's too confusing. I dunno. In my mind -- the new viewer is going to be misled into thinking that VHS-Quinn is a double and they'll be left to think that. Even the end-scene would simply suggest that VHS-Quinn is a double reaching out to another double. The issue of Smarter-Quinn won't come up for them -- only a fan would think about that, so that's why there'd be a web comic.

However, Matt and Nigel, when reviewing my stuff, have constantly raised the issue that my plots are confusing and try to cram too many maneuvers or plot mechanisms to possibly work -- and I frequently hit that point in scripts and end up using TV-style editing or hyperbole or humour or I simply alter the story on the spot. So, when I find Slide Override and pilight making precisely the same criticisms that two other editors have made, I'm inclined to give it due consideration.

The truth is that a lot of these plot holes are in some ways deliberate. I want the SLIDERS reboot to have a fortysomething Quinn exploring the abandoned laboratory of his youth, wondering if maybe, despite his complete and total failure, there was something worthwhile in husks and fragments of the world of science he left behind. I want the post-2000 events to be vague, unknowable and cosmically indescribable. These are all metaphors for how I feel about SLIDERS.

This may be why they don't make logical sense in the plot and require awkward half-measures -- the basement still has all the equipment and a working VCR! Sliding was erased in a way that Kromaggs can't rebuild it but our Quinn can?! How can Smarter-Quinn still exist?! I keep choosing emotional sense over logical sense. Slide Override and pilight have fair points. Would either of you care to be retained as my script editor?

Ireactions, I would like to give you a statement that is both a profound compliment and a simultaneous criticism all at the same time ... you write like Moffat!

You definitely come up with some rather grand and clever concepts, ones that are easily enjoyable and ultimately memorable, however, it does feel like you tend to forget (or like you mentioned, directly ignore in favour of emotional sense) those stray story strands at the other end of the scale, and don't necessarily follow each development thread all the way through to their natural progressions or conclusions. There's nothing wrong with hyperbole or tv-style editing in measured doses - but just don't forget that a well constructed story and solid rules are just as important as the emotional side of character development and fan service.

You've certainly got a talent though, and this is just from the outlines you've spinned - I haven't even had a chance to actually read your work yet. I freelance as a proofreader and trust me, you're definitely headed in the right direction. Just don't forget those dangly threads.

I could really see this concept working as a kickstarter movie or even an audio drama with the original cast.

By having 40's Quinn in our world with our Tech Level and a Mystery to solve not only instantly makes Sliders Relatable again but also grabs attention pretty quick.

I have always liked this aspect of the premise.

It is the rewriting of reality/multiverse I have issues with as I pointed out at an earlier point.

Any Change Quinn makes to the Multiverse would essentially create a Split leading to Two Multiverses.

One with the Rewriting Mguffin and One without as per established Canon.

In effect we just end up with a magnified Reality Divergence event.... Except it is now a Mulriversal Divergence Event by Title and Scope.

I DO like that reasoning and perspective.

I kind of like the Tapes unexplained Nature and outstanding Mystery it's just that I would keep the Mystery a Mystery.

Never explain the Reunion/Reboot of the Awesome Foursome and just leave it to Fan Speculation wherein your Reboot/Multiversal Retcon fits.... But so do other theories.

I DO ignore post Season 3 and even half of that I live in denial of so I get where you are coming from.

New Viewers NEED everything fresh and new and us Old Fans need references, gags, parody and returning Characters that are also New Characters to those New Viewers while allowing a New Fan who seeks out any Original Sliders eps to get in on said Jokes and Tips of the Hat.

Adressing all the inconsistencies is not the goal as you say so a balance is needed to avoid excluding any Fans with more familiarity to the parts we dislike while ensuring it does not become Series Six continued.

Temporal Flux attempted a comic revival in the years after the cancellation. The problem, unfortunately, was that the investment was too high and the return too low. Currently, I don't think there's a sufficient readership for SLIDERS comics without a very capable publisher willing to engage in deficit financing. So, it's unlikely, but stranger things have happened with properties even more obscure than SLIDERS.

THE X-FILES: SEASON 10 was what inspired my own SLIDERS stuff. SEASON 10 was very much a for-the-fans product that would be incomprehensible to anyone but the die-hards -- and yet, there was a sufficient readership to make the comic a massive financial success (albeit one that was wholly ignored by the TV show making an unexpected return). However, THE X-FILES was an international success, as was BUFFY. FIREFLY less so, but, like THE X-FILES, there were enough die-hards to make a comic profitable.

I'd be curious to read these more obscure comics of ancient TV shows someday -- but I admit, I'm probably not going to watch SIX MiLLION DOLLAR MAN or KOLCHAK anytime soon.

I think a far more cost effective route for SLIDERS would be an even lower budget -- either prose or the screenplay format. However, to really engage with an audience -- well, first, it has to be licensed. Don't get me wrong, a script being posted on EarthPrime.com is official enough for me, but that won't pass muster if aiming for mainstream.

Also, it would have to be in a digital format and be extremely, extremely cheap and also very short. Maybe the Pilot redone as a short novella or a screenplay sold in ePub and PDF. Paradoxically, it would have to be written by a big name writer willing to take a low advance on a brilliant project in the hope of returns down the line.

So, instead of me writing it -- we'd approach JK Rowling or Neil Gaiman or Stephen King or Suzanne Collins or Veronica Roth -- someone huge, prepared to give the series a massive start, and then you'd have me, Informant, Slider_Quinn21, Mike Truman, Temporal Flux and Nigel Mitchell write short novellas with our big name opener returning every 3 - 4 volumes.

This proposal, paradoxically, operates on having a very low budget and yet requires hugely expensive writers to provide their services for pennies on their usual rate to start.

I think the show should return as a web series focused entirely on the staff of a hamburger restaurant. Quinn works the grill, Wade is the janitor, Rembrandt's on the counter and Arturo is the manager. They are the staff of SLIDERS.