Sliders.tv → Sliders Bboard → Tracy Torme, co-creator of SLIDERS, has passed away
Nooooooooooooo!!!!! 
Rest in peace, Tracy.
Tracy Tormé, ‘Sliders’ Co-Creator and ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Writer, Dies at 64
The second son of singer Mel Tormé, he started out in comedy on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ then moved to drama projects including ’Fire in the Sky,’ ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Carnivàle.’
So sad to read this. Rest in peace, Mr. Tormé and thank you for your work!
What a truly sad, sad evening to learn of the passing of one of the most important artistic minds of my lifetime. I'm sure I'll have more to write about but the words aren't there right now. Tracy has suffered from numerous health ailments for many years now, and he was recently ill though he was still trying to make it tomorrow night for another appearance on an indie podcast show. According to his sister, he passed away on January 4th.
His brother James, a wonderful singer in his own right, posted this on Facebook.
Below was the front page of the Hollywood reporter website today. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my brother. We had a very special relationship. The kind that only a little brother and a big brother can ever have. He taught me about so many of the rights of passage in life and helped me to become a man. I’ll tell you more about him soon. But right now I am just trying to come to terms… thank you all for your sweet messages.
I made that as sort of a banner, unfortunately Tracy kept out of the public eye for many years though he and his wife Robin spent countless hours rescuing animals. He was quite "unknown" even to us Sliders fans. He was the guy who created the show, and despite having battles with FOX execs, he produced two abbreviated yet incredibly memorable seasons of the unheralded and unique show we all love. For years, all we had were his interview in Brad Linaweaver's book, and the numerous 2nd hand tidbits curated by TemporalFlux on the Dimension of Continuity. It gave us a window into the thought process, but so much was missing. He helped produce a small run of Sliders comic books, based frequently on his ideas, and released by Acclaim.
Tracy appeared at DragonCon, giving the now infamous panel session where he declared Sliders was BACK, and so was he! Fans were so hopeful, but alas, it was not meant to be. Years later, he appeared with Bob Weiss to provide treasured commentary during the two-part Pilot episode, as well as the short series making of. That commentary gave us a real knowledge of Tracy's mannerisms, but also, that he was so clever and comedic. He delivered his amazing, unproduced script, Heat of the Moment to Matt at Earthprime.com, another look at the what-if.
In more recent years, Tracy emerged from obscurity to lead a short-lived push to restart Sliders as a reboot. Once more, his enthusiasm knew no bounds, and fans became excited. Sadly, nothing would come of that. He went on to appear a number of times, despite frequent technical snafus, on The Prisoner rewatches with Gil "Cardinal Sin" Bavel, who sadly passed away recently as well. We were treated to Tracy's inspiration largely for Sliders, and he shared a number of humorous stories to boot. Thankfully, the producers of The Awake Nation latched onto Tracy, providing him better tech, and he appeared several times with them, largely to speak on his first love, the UFO phenomenon. His script for "Fire in the Sky" was brilliant, great movie. During those appearances, we got to see fun reunions with co-creator Robert K. Weiss, star Cleavant Derricks, and even his brother James Tormé. I will treasure those.
Thank you Tracy, the love affair which I've had with this wonderful concept you created has persisted for nearly three decades now.
this is wild. i've—we've all— spent so much time with the thing this man created, to me it felt like he'd always be there at the edge of it. i've written literally hundreds of thousands of words about sliders and i feel speechless right now. RIP, and a huge thank you. i'm forever in debt to his big, weird thing.
Jerry O'Connell tweet
https://twitter.com/MrJerryOC/status/17 … w&s=19
Tracy Tormé was the smartest dude I had ever met, when he cast me in SLIDERS. Rest In Peace Genius.
Rob Floyd tweet
What a truly sad, sad evening to learn of the passing of one of the most important artistic minds of my lifetime. I'm sure I'll have more to write about but the words aren't there right now. Tracy has suffered from numerous health ailments for many years now, and he was recently ill though he was still trying to make it tomorrow night for another appearance on an indie podcast show. According to his sister, he passed away on January 4th.
His brother James, a wonderful singer in his own right, posted this on Facebook.
Below was the front page of the Hollywood reporter website today. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my brother. We had a very special relationship. The kind that only a little brother and a big brother can ever have. He taught me about so many of the rights of passage in life and helped me to become a man. I’ll tell you more about him soon. But right now I am just trying to come to terms… thank you all for your sweet messages.
I made that as sort of a banner, unfortunately Tracy kept out of the public eye for many years though he and his wife Robin spent countless hours rescuing animals. He was quite "unknown" even to us Sliders fans. He was the guy who created the show, and despite having battles with FOX execs, he produced two abbreviated yet incredibly memorable seasons of the unheralded and unique show we all love. For years, all we had were his interview in Brad Linaweaver's book, and the numerous 2nd hand tidbits curated by TemporalFlux on the Dimension of Continuity. It gave us a window into the thought process, but so much was missing. He helped produce a small run of Sliders comic books, based frequently on his ideas, and released by Acclaim.
Tracy appeared at DragonCon, giving the now infamous panel session where he declared Sliders was BACK, and so was he! Fans were so hopeful, but alas, it was not meant to be. Years later, he appeared with Bob Weiss to provide treasured commentary during the two-part Pilot episode, as well as the short series making of. That commentary gave us a real knowledge of Tracy's mannerisms, but also, that he was so clever and comedic. He delivered his amazing, unproduced script, Heat of the Moment to Matt at Earthprime.com, another look at the what-if.
In more recent years, Tracy emerged from obscurity to lead a short-lived push to restart Sliders as a reboot. Once more, his enthusiasm knew no bounds, and fans became excited. Sadly, nothing would come of that. He went on to appear a number of times, despite frequent technical snafus, on The Prisoner rewatches with Gil "Cardinal Sin" Bavel, who sadly passed away recently as well. We were treated to Tracy's inspiration largely for Sliders, and he shared a number of humorous stories to boot. Thankfully, the producers of The Awake Nation latched onto Tracy, providing him better tech, and he appeared several times with them, largely to speak on his first love, the UFO phenomenon. His script for "Fire in the Sky" was brilliant, great movie. During those appearances, we got to see fun reunions with co-creator Robert K. Weiss, star Cleavant Derricks, and even his brother James Tormé. I will treasure those.
Thank you Tracy, the love affair which I've had with this wonderful concept you created has persisted for nearly three decades now.
That was an excellent and well-written tribute, Grizzlor.
I agree with everything you wrote.
Well done.
In recent years, I was heartened to know that across decades of disappointment, Tracy Torme kept Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo in his heart and his wish for a revival was to bring Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks and John Rhys-Davies back to their roles. A lot of shows and their creators have prioritized the brand (MACGYVER, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) over the cast, but Torme's loyalty was to those four characters as performed by those four actors. He cared about them as much as the fans did.
I hope that wherever he is, he found his way back to them, to his father, and to all of his questions regarding UFOs.
Damn. Rest in peace, Mr. Torme. Thank you for sharing your art with us. Thank you for sharing your mind with us. You've inspired a lot of us to write, even if our writing paled in comparison to your own.
Even though Sliders was, at the end of it all, a giant mess, I still hear it brought up a lot. Not just with nerdy folks like us but with normal people. No one ever seems to remember seasons 3-5...it's always just how cool the premise was and not being quite sure what happened to it.
I don't know much about his personal life and haven't done too much digging into it. But he created Sliders, and that says enough about him in my eyes.
Jerry O'Connell tweet
https://twitter.com/MrJerryOC/status/17 … w&s=19
Tracy Tormé was the smartest dude I had ever met, when he cast me in SLIDERS. Rest In Peace Genius.
I can't tell if this is Jerry high fiving himself or not. Is he saying that Tracy was the smartest dude he'd ever met at the time he cast him? Or that he was the smarted dude he'd ever met *because* he cast him?
Either way, I know Jerry's sense of humor can be a bit wacky. It might be a little of both?
Jerry O'Connell is saying both things: that Torme was a genius and that Torme was a genius for casting him in SLIDERS. I think we can reconcile both on the spectrum of human communication.
Jerry has said a few times: he doesn't really understand why anyone cast him as a scientist or ever would again because Jerry is not in any way scientific or scientifically minded. I think he is selling himself a bit short even as he is acknowledging a reality: he was a handsome young man and a face on which Torme and Weiss could sell a show to the FOX Network.
However, Jerry is very talented and he is, in fact, scientifically minded in a key area: he understands the science, or rather, the craft, of acting. Jerry has an instinctive grasp of how to use his movements, body, voice, expressions and reactions to convey information through a camera to an audience. I'm not going to say that Jerry has always used these talents well because often, he relied less on considered technique and more on instinct, and sometimes, his instincts were not a match for the characters he was playing. In the past two decades, however, Jerry has refined his methods so that his acting is both considered to the character but then instinctive within the framework he has chosen for the role.
I think Jerry may be commenting on how Torme saw something in Jerry that Jerry didn't see in himself when Torme cast Jerry O'Connell to to play Quinn Mallory.
**
What were Torme's political and sociological views? They were complex and complicated, and while I didn't agree with a lot of Torme's opinions, I was impressed by how he practiced them.
Torme was a Libertarian and voted Libertarian, which means he could not be simply categorized as left or right or for Biden or Trump. Torme said that in his view, Democrats had become overrun by posturing with social values and imposing their social values rather than focusing on liberty and freedom. Torme spoke of how network executives wanted Rembrandt to speak in highly formal English and Torme insisted that Rembrandt speak like a proud Black man and the Black musicians Torme had known.
One extremely telling and admirable thing about Torme was in a podcast he recorded during the 2020 pandemic (which I can't find now): Torme said that he had some family members who were extremely dismissive of social distancing, masking and impending vaccination. Torme said he had some family members who were absolutely militant about distancing, masks and vaccines. He said he felt like he was in the middle of a civil war between relatives. He said he himself was highly familiar with virology as he had to research epidemiology to write the script for I AM LEGEND.
Torme described himself as "in the middle", saying he masked and distanced generally, but was inviting people to his home if they felt comfortable and had invited a homeless friend to move in with him; that he would get vaccinated but didn't have antipathy towards anyone who didn't because in America, they should be free to not do so. Asked about Trump, Torme said he hoped Trump would release information about UFOs.
To me, this says that Torme did not feel the need to impose his views on his social circle. His views were for himself and he might disagree with people, but he didn't wish to isolate himself to an echo chamber of the like-minded. He was controlling in showrunning a TV show, but outside a writers' room, he was content to live and let live. But even in the context of the writers' room, I would note: Torme had an all-consuming love for professional sports, yet allowed his sports mania to be mocked and satirized in the episode "Eggheads". This speaks to an openness of mind and spirit.
A lot of the time, we get angry over politics because someone is trying to impose their personal biases and at times bigotries upon others. Outside the realm of television, Torme had his views, but he recognized that they were his own views and didn't need them to be shared by anyone else.
That was an excellent and well-written tribute, Grizzlor.
I agree with everything you wrote.
Well done.
Thanks, I initially didn't know what to write, and then it starting coming to me.
In recent years, I was heartened to know that across decades of disappointment, Tracy Torme kept Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo in his heart and his wish for a revival was to bring Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks and John Rhys-Davies back to their roles. A lot of shows and their creators have prioritized the brand (MACGYVER, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) over the cast, but Torme's loyalty was to those four characters as performed by those four actors. He cared about them as much as the fans did.
I hope that wherever he is, he found his way back to them, to his father, and to all of his questions regarding UFOs.
Good point about the original cast. I would hope that we haven't seen the last of "Sliders," but I would agree that Tracy was the last hope to return it featuring the original cast in some major way.
I can't tell if this is Jerry high fiving himself or not. Is he saying that Tracy was the smartest dude he'd ever met at the time he cast him? Or that he was the smarted dude he'd ever met *because* he cast him?
Either way, I know Jerry's sense of humor can be a bit wacky. It might be a little of both?
Look Jerry's probably had less interaction with Tracy since 1997 than any of us have. I'm not sure why he was somewhat left out of Tracy's world, but I can say that Jerry maintained a high degree of respect for him, and he was always in awe of his capacities as a writer and thinker. If you read his old interviews, he literally said that exact phrase many times, that he latched onto Tracy and John Rhys-Davies during the first season, through admiration and wanting to learn.
Oh I'm not bashing Jerry by any means. He's free to feel and think whatever he wants. Even if he was making it about himself, I think that's still Jerry's brand. I just wanted to see what anyone else read into it.
For posterity, if anyone wishes to read up on additional Tracy thoughts from back in the day...
His fiery gauntlet laid down against that Doorways guy!
https://hof.slidersweb.net/celebs/u0002.html
Chat's courtesy of vortex62, including the infamous DragonCon 1997 panel, and Scifi.com webchat the next day. http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme27jun97.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme28jun97.htm
And a few more with fans, after the show went off the air. Rereading these, just love the answers Tracy gave to some of these questions, like you know he couldn't have been serious!
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme10jan00.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme15jun01.htm
I'll list his YouTube "appearances" when I get a chance tonight.
For posterity, if anyone wishes to read up on additional Tracy thoughts from back in the day...
His fiery gauntlet laid down against that Doorways guy!
https://hof.slidersweb.net/celebs/u0002.htmlChat's courtesy of vortex62, including the infamous DragonCon 1997 panel, and Scifi.com webchat the next day. http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme27jun97.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme28jun97.htmAnd a few more with fans, after the show went off the air. Rereading these, just love the answers Tracy gave to some of these questions, like you know he couldn't have been serious!
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme10jan00.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme15jun01.htmI'll list his YouTube "appearances" when I get a chance tonight.
I totally missed these! Thank you for posting, Grizzlor. I need to bookmark them to view later. Please add more YouTube appearances too!!
I will. I'm also working on transcribing the Linaweaver book interviews later today. My favorite remains his alt.tv.sliders posting where he apologized for the direction of the show and the loss of aspects like dark comedy, what-ifs, character flaws, satire, and even Remmy's music).
Here's Sabrina's posting on IG...
Today is a sad day
You can read the transcoded Interview section from the book here, and download it!
Hey, can we move the "Future of Sliders" chatter to the other thread? Just to make it easier for people to find stuff in here. [Moderator Message: Request granted, posts were relocated here: https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 225#p15225 ]
*These are the Cardinal S ones I could find, where in the stream Tracy shows up is random, a few he was audio only.
**Awake Nation's site went down or something today, so I couldn't search there yet.
Cardinal Sin appearances:
Sliders/science fiction themed
2021.07.12 - Masters of the Genre #8 Tracy Tormé
2021.09.22 - Masters of the Genre #9 Tracy Tormé & Marc Scott Zicree
The Prisoner themed
2021.09.15 - I Am Not a Number #1 w special guest Tracy Tormé!
2021.09.22 - I Am Not A Number #2 Arrival With Tracy Tormé & Captain Cockney Spock!
2021.10.21 - I Am Not A Number #6 The Schizoid Man
2021.10.27 - I Am Not a Number #7 - The General
2021.11.03 - I Am Not A Number #8 Many Happy Returns
2021.11.10 - I Am Not A Number #9 - Dance of the Dead
2021.11.24 - I Am Not A Number #10 - Checkmate - with Tracy Tormé
2021.12.08 - I Am Not A Number #12 "It's Your Funeral"
2022.01.19 - I Am Not A Number # 16 - The Girl Who Was Death
2022.01.22 - I Am Not A Number #15 - Living in Harmony
2022.01.26 - I Am Not A Number # 17 - Once Upon a Time
2022.02.09 - I Am Not A Number #18 -- Fall Out
UFO themed
2022.12.01 - Into The Fringe #86 Don Ecker & Tracy Tormé - UFO Updates & Best Cases
2023.02.03 - Into The Fringe #95 Tracy Tormé & Don Ecker
I didn't realize until the podcasts that Torme was a fan of THE PRISONER, a show that was really fantastic for the first run of 13 or so episodes and then collapsed upon itself in its final four. Amusingly, if you read the script for SLIDERS' "Please Press One", you can tell that it was meant to be a lengthy tribute to THE PRISONER, but it doesn't really come through onscreen, and I only hope that Torme never, ever, ever saw it.
I didn't realize until the podcasts that Torme was a fan of THE PRISONER, a show that was really fantastic for the first run of 13 or so episodes and then collapsed upon itself in its final four. Amusingly, if you read the script for SLIDERS' "Please Press One", you can tell that it was meant to be a lengthy tribute to THE PRISONER, but it doesn't really come through onscreen, and I only hope that Torme never, ever, ever saw it.
He'd mentioned Patrick McGoohan when discussing Sliders back in the 90s, it's in the Linaweaver book/interviews. I believe it impacted his writing on TNG as well, he was really as obsessed with The Prisoner as much as many of us were for Sliders. He certainly treasured the brief phone conversations he was able to have with his idol Mr. McGoohan prior to his death. Invasion he cited as an homage to The Prisoner, and you can definitely see why. I can assure you, Tracy never saw Please Press One! Supposedly he had some kind of tepid script review in his contract as "executive consultant," but he always maintained that he refused to participate in production whatsoever once Peckinpah was kept on as showrunner. I know in the old IRQ chats when he'd drop in (quite randomly), and elsewhere, he was emphatic about this, and often reacted quizzically if a concept from Seasons 4/5 were brought up, because I truly think he had no idea. There was stuff that went down in Season 3 which he was aware of and greatly embarrassed by. I don't know if that was just based on scripts he saw, or if others saw the episodes and cued him in, to his horror.
That being said, I would always point out that a lot of what Tracy wrote on Sliders links back to his love of dark comedy and cultural/political satire. He was a writer on SNL in the early 1980s, as well. Honestly, one of my favorite things about Sliders was the music. Granted Cleavant was a great musician and singer, but Sliders as only it could was unique in that you'd have multiple characters performing specifically written songs. Not a full musical episode or anything like that, just very random. Was there any goofier song than Cry Like A Man?! He also wrote satirical country songs for his father Mel to sing in Greatfellas, and Mel was no country crooner, again Tracy saying I'm going to do the most unexpected thing here. As he stated in the Linaweaver book, as well, he KILLS off his old man in the middle of the episode! Then went to great lengths to hide the fact he would return at the end unharmed, to keep the cast and crew out of the loop.
Hey, can we move the "Future of Sliders" chatter to the other thread? Just to make it easier for people to find stuff in here. [Moderator Message: Request granted, posts were relocated here: https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php … 225#p15225 ]
This was a good call.
I felt a certain relief to know that Tracy Torme, while reverent towards Patrick McGoohan's performance and vision of THE PRISONER, felt that "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out" were random and nonsensical while appreciating that others enjoyed them.
I felt a certain validation at Torme's SLIDERS: THE CLASSIC EPISODES interview where he expressed the view that people who are extremely left or extremely right, politically, end up being very much the same. I regret not buying this book for $20 years ago at a small town stage theatre festival when i found it in a used bookstore and appreciate Grizzlor putting it up.
No problem, I was able to take photos of the pages and use an online JPG to TXT website that did 95% of the work. I will NOT be transcribing the remainder of that book, there's not much of substance in there, trust me.
I found The Awake Nation streams. However, it seems like there's more episodes archived on Rumble under The David Zublick Channel, so I'm going to use those links. Obviously, this program is pretty "out there" and covers every conspiracy theory known to man, woman, and coyote. I will put the time at which Tracy joins, ha ha! I know some of you weren't on the same page as Tracy or certainly the two hosts, politically, so I rewatched all of these to give a brief synopsis and probably make it evident which ones to avoid. The vast majority feature Tracy recounting his career and many obscure occultist stories that he was fond of. He was a great storyteller and makes it very worthwhile.
If you excise the political rants, these appearances really managed to touch on every aspect of Tracy's life and career, and could serve as a biography on the man. Why should anyone care? Well, if you are a fan of Sliders, I think it's important to know where he drew motivation for so much of his writing on there. He was learned and passionate on many subjects, but also had a big heart. For me personally, Tracy gave a few interviews and chat room appearances from time to time, then over 20 years ago he just kind of vanished. His appearance on the DVD's extras was one of the few he did for seemingly decades. He gave an interview to Matt at Earthprime, but we mostly never heard from him. Not until his appearances with Cardinal Sin and then these.
2023.02.01 (0:42:00-1:30:00) The Story Behind Sliders, reboot pitch update, and David Peckinpah anecdotes.
2023.02.15 (1:40:00-2:30:00) Chinese balloons, Tracy's battle against political correction, Hollywood Wokeness, subverting FOX execs, Sliders stories that couldn't be told, on the cusp of UFO revelation, Fire in the Sky chatter
2023.02.22 (1:31:00-2:31:00) Tracy with "Alien Abductee" Travis Walton
2023.03.01 (1:43:00-2:32:00) Tracy recounts his early involvement on I Am Legend. Followed by films featuring pandemics and related conspiracies. Crop circles. Zodiac killer.
2023.03.08 (1:29:00-2:29:00) Aliens/The X-Files link? Bob Dylan. More Zodiac (Robert Graysmith). Alien disinformation.
2023.03.15 (1:33:00-2:28:00) Roswell with researcher/author Don Schmitt.
2023.04.05 (1:32:30-2:33:00) Dog rescue stories from Tracy and his friend.
2023.04.12 (1:33:30-2:31:00) Societal issues affecting the airline industry.
2023.04.19 (1:33:00-2:35:00) Tracy's unreleased "Doomsday" animated series with Howard Stern. Comedian Rick Overton on navigating political correctness.
2023.04.26 (1:29:00-2:28:00) Eat bugs not meat? Political rant time.
2023.05.10 (1:31:00-1:36:00) Budd Hopkins hypnosis sessions, and the abduction phenomenon.
2023.05.17 (1:25:00-2:31:00) Tracy and Peter Robbins in a sophisticated UFO abduction discussion.
2023.05.24 (1:30:00-2:25:00) Cleavant Derricks appears to talk Sliders!
2023.05.31 (1:38:30-2:32:00) California is BAD rant. Brad Linaweaver mentioned.
2023.06.07 (1:32:00-2:31:00) Round table on the "latest" UFO news.
2023.06.21 (1:33:00-2:28:00) Hunter Biden and UFOs.
2023.07.19 (1:32:00-2:33:00) Robert K. Weiss appears!
2023.08.02 (1:32:00-2:30:00) Talks about UFOlogists Allen Hynek and Lou Elizondo
2023.08.09 (1:35:00-2:30:00) mostly politics
2023.08.16 (1:31:00-2:31:00) UFO talk with Thom Reed.
2023.08.23 (1:37:00-2:38:00) Tracy and brother James remininisce musically.
2023.09.06 (1:40:00-2:30:00) UFOlogist Don Ecker joins.
More interviews for me to listen to this weekend. Thanks for the great updates, Grizzlor!
Although I will probably end up fast forwarding through all the UFO stuff. I'm not exactly what you would call open to the conspiracy mumbo jumbo...
More interviews for me to listen to this weekend. Thanks for the great updates, Grizzlor!
Although I will probably end up fast forwarding through all the UFO stuff. I'm not exactly what you would call open to the conspiracy mumbo jumbo...
Neither am I, but if you ever grew up with someone or an older relative who was great at telling "ghost stories?" That's Tracy. Beyond that, I'm always fascinated by late 20th century pop, and in this case, occult sub-culture. I don't believe any of it myself, but these people were very serious about all this, aka Budd Hopkins. The discussions over what video US Air Force releases of UFP's I find zero interest in. there's no art in that. You go from what used to be myths and legends a la Sasquatch to digital mehhh. No thanks. Plus it's Tracy and old friends recounting stories about what they were doing decades ago.
QuinnSlidr wrote:More interviews for me to listen to this weekend. Thanks for the great updates, Grizzlor!
Although I will probably end up fast forwarding through all the UFO stuff. I'm not exactly what you would call open to the conspiracy mumbo jumbo...
Neither am I, but if you ever grew up with someone or an older relative who was great at telling "ghost stories?" That's Tracy. Beyond that, I'm always fascinated by late 20th century pop, and in this case, occult sub-culture. I don't believe any of it myself, but these people were very serious about all this, aka Budd Hopkins. The discussions over what video US Air Force releases of UFP's I find zero interest in. there's no art in that. You go from what used to be myths and legends a la Sasquatch to digital mehhh. No thanks. Plus it's Tracy and old friends recounting stories about what they were doing decades ago.
Indeed. And Tracy was always a great story teller.
I am devastated. I feel as if Tracy leaving us is a huge loss. I thought of him as a brilliant man, even if I did not always share his view on everything he said. The point is, he pushed the boundries. Tracy did not enjoy being muzzled by the networks. He used black comedy and science fiction to share his observations and convey possible outcomes. He made light of the peculiarities we have. He warned of dangers. His creative literature was his work, his path to do this. In later years, he grew frustrated with the muzzling of discussion in society. He didn't distain people for holding opposite views -- what he disdained was not being able to have the conversation in the first place.
I feel like Tracy was a kean observer of human behavior, and systems, and personalities, and he knew how to create a linear thread to help illustrate what he witnessed. Even the tone of his voice made it more pleasant to hear him share these narratives. I believe he was ahead on the curve on a lot of things -- he saw things before others did and so we at times can naturally recoil at this views or discard them when he's further along in understanding something than us. Tracy of course was no god -- he could be wrong or extremely wrong about things at times -- but what I got out of his work and his interviews was he always made me think. At times it could frustrate me in the moment but because of his gift, of course it was interesting to listen to, so how could I not? At other times, his thoughts immediately resonated with me or just were enjoyable to take in. And I loved hearing about his background. This man really in the thick of everything from the entertainment business and UFO research perspective. The guy knew and worked with Carl Sagan, Gale Anne Hurd (and James Cameron), Gene Roddenbery, Joe Stefano, Harlan Ellison, J. Allen Hyneck, Jacques Valles, SNL's team, Travis Walton, Jerry O'Connell, John Rhys Davis, did projects for FOX, HBO, Showtime, network tv, had plenty of exposure to legendary musicians through his father. He rescued dogs. He survived health bouts. He got back into the business after being out of it for so long. He became friendly with Lue Elizondo. He even had something going on with Marvel and Paramount in the last decade of his career (projects that did not go). His UFO documentary which he splitted ways on (because he wanted it to be part non-fiction, theatrical type of fare) ended up becoming the most mainstream UFO documentary of all time.
His show SLIDERS is still being viewed today and is on a premium streaming service and is in the top 92.4% of all tv titles in the U.S. ever produced as far as current streaming demand. 6.7x the market average. There have been 6 or 7 podcasts about the show. Countless websites that still exist. The thing about Tracy is, he impacted culture. Through SLIDERS, through elevating the Travis Walton case and popularizing it, through I AM LEGEND, which he was the first to jump on. The man made his mark. The man, who was ahead of most all of us in how he observed us, who did not want to just go with the status quo, who used his work and his voice to elevate, propose new ideas or introduce concepts, or share his thoughts, who wanted to have the conversation about things that were on his mind, made his mark. The world is a different one without Tracy Torme. How many of us can say we made as large of an impact.
I'm not building him up to be a lion. But for me, he was my lion. He was the artist / writer who I resonated with most. Between him and Bob Weiss, I found a lot of things they were involved with that I did not originally know they were involved with but I was drawn to. SLIDERS, Oddessy 5, Naked Gun, Kentucky Fried Movie, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Outer Limits, Contact. My brother even worked on I AM LEGEND as a PA. He was on the bridge that day with the seen with the dog that tracy had to walk out of the theater on because he could not take. I never got to tell him that thought I did tell him he had worked on that movie.
Many, many years ago when Tracy started working on 701: The Movie (which became "The Phenomenon"), I paid attention because it was a Tracy Torme project. They had a wealthy backer who made a lot of money off these prime mortage things, something the government cracked down on. The investor was a believer. They were offering $100k for anyone with great video as proof, and publicized it. That never materialized, but I did follow along the projects development, which had twists & turns and turned out to be a bit of a nightmare for both of the creators. On their youtube channel, they had uploaded some footage that was BBC archival footage I had never previously seen. I had considered the possibility of UFOs as real when I was super young but basically shut it down in the decades that followed because the entire subject went away, and it "felt" like there was really no compelling arguments for it. When I saw that BBC footage, which featured a bunch of school kids in South Africa, well. I could not turn away. I could never get out of my head, since it's not hard to tell when kids are lying, and so many of them were speaking honestly, I could not get out of my head, 'What if what those kids were saying was real?" And so, for me, the door could no longer be shut. Even if I don't know what to believe now.
In recent years, even though Tracy was a guy who didn't use cell phones or email much, or was rather late, and was still old school in making actual phone calls, we were blessed to get to hear from him again through the rise of creator work on youtube and podcasts. He sorta figured out how to do video streaming, he was burdened by the bad internet connection in moving to a more rural area of California (to get away from the traffic). And, after a huge gap in hearing from him, we got to enjoy him more. Dark Matters with Don Ecker (and later Gerry Kissell), Cardinal Sin's channel, where we were blessed with many episodes thanks to Gil, a wondeful man himself, and finally Awake Nation, where he became a weekly guest contributor for some time.
Now of course Awake Nation had/has some off the rocker batshit crazy stuff. But g*d damn we got Tracy every week. And even if it could be maddening some of the discussion, we got plenty of good stuff, and the maddening stuff could force you to challenge your thinking. Because even if you didn't always like what was being said, it doesn't mean you are always right. Or that things are black and white. On the show, Tracy also did a bunch of entertainment related things. He brought back Bob Weiss. He had a reunion with Cleavant which was a huge, huge gift to the fan base that we never were otherwise going to likely get and now, as long as the video is preserved, we will always have. We saw the love those two had for each other, and we saw the pure love that was in Cleavant's heart for tracy, and for life. In spite of Cleavant's own challenges with the health of his brother.
I was so looking forward to his return to Awake Nation on Jan. 10. Or Slidecage's upcoming interview, which was spoken about just five days before Tracy passed. Tracy had no idea that he would be passing. He was going back to his normal routine after a couple of months of bad health. He was feeling better.
In some ways, that he was feeling better before his passing, is a relief. I believe Thomas at Slidecage was fortunate enough to have that last phone call with Tracy, or that Tracy even felt better shortly before he passed, because some phenomenon that we don't know about, or don't understand, in a realm that we can't see, wanted to give him the proper exit before moving onto the next world. Where he could be with this father once again. That phone call Thomas had was a last chance for Sliders fans to convey how important to Tracy what he created was. How it lives in us, now almost 30 years later, and how he has impacted us. It was also a chance for Tracy to tell us sliders fans, he was OK. And how Sliders was still something he hadn't given up hope on. Whether it be a revivial or some sort of reunion fan event.
When Tracy first passed, I was sad, but also immediately angry. Because selfishly, I wanted more of his words and content, and now I don't get to have it. I was also mad, because I had seen this coming for a long time, and my fear was realized, at least in part. That before everyone got to get together again, the main cast and tracy, or some creative work from Tracy, that it would be too late. I had always wanted at minimum Tracy's "works" in that world to be recorded, so once his work on earth was done, we'd have them. I wanted novels and/or audio dramas, something lower level aimed at the fans. That didn't need to be explosively successful, but at least the fans would have. So when he passed, time ran out and just getting what should have been the simple things, was not realized. I always found doing a full on TV revival both an awesome goal but as years went on, maybe more ambitious than we needed.
I just wanted more of Tracy's words, whether they be in book form, or Cleavant reading them in an audio book, or Jerry speaking them in a tv event. It didn't matter. Because what I was interested most in was Tracy. He is the writer, author, observer, creator that has most resonated with me in my lifetime, and I feel like we lost a gift to the world. Someone the networks never really let run free. And I wanted him to get that shot, through SLIDERS, in whatever medium possible.
But, we were lucky to have him for all the time we did, and all the work he put out. At this point, I feel most for his wife, Robin, who he was very close with and who won't have his immediate companionship for the time being. I feel for his family. I feel like all Sliders fans lost a "friend", too. That's what upsets me most, more than just losing any of his future work.
Great post! I do hope that "Slidecage" Jim Hall does post his thoughts here. I suggest him to on Twitter. I'd love to hear about that last conversation. Even though Tracy often came off as a bit of a Debbie Downer and complainer on Awake Nation, in may ways he was a great optimist. Personally, I didn't give his reboot much chance, not with today's media landscape and overall what a turd NBCU has become. Exchanged many emails with the late Gil Bavel on the "Sliders convention," which I also had equally big doubts about from the get-go. Yet Tracy was still pushing those plans right up until the end. Was it wishful thinking? I don't know. I wasn't watching these broadcasts beyond the few with Cleavant and Bob, but you can tell in the summer, after a bout of the flu, that Tracy did not appear well. It's all very unfortunate, as I too wonder what he might have done over the last 20 years had he not been chronically ill? I had reservations about whether he was well enough to write/run a show again.
Great post! I do hope that "Slidecage" Jim Hall does post his thoughts here. I suggest him to on Twitter. I'd love to hear about that last conversation. Even though Tracy often came off as a bit of a Debbie Downer and complainer on Awake Nation, in may ways he was a great optimist. Personally, I didn't give his reboot much chance, not with today's media landscape and overall what a turd NBCU has become. Exchanged many emails with the late Gil Bavel on the "Sliders convention," which I also had equally big doubts about from the get-go. Yet Tracy was still pushing those plans right up until the end. Was it wishful thinking? I don't know. I wasn't watching these broadcasts beyond the few with Cleavant and Bob, but you can tell in the summer, after a bout of the flu, that Tracy did not appear well. It's all very unfortunate, as I too wonder what he might have done over the last 20 years had he not been chronically ill? I had reservations about whether he was well enough to write/run a show again.
Thanks Grizzlor.
Yes, it would have been nice had he not had the health issues, and didn't have to step away from writing, especially about 10 or so years ago, or whenever it was. I do think maybe his style fell out of favor, hollywood was looking for young talent but I think a lot of the style is coming back more to his strengths. There was a period where everyone was trying to do prestige tv like mad men, where stuff was so-self serious, had no humor, and a lot of the industry was making tv for themselves. There was also a period where, yes, everything had to have a sort of feel, as hollywood was trying to make up for it's embarrassing history in which its industry practices may not have lived up to the virtues it espoused. Even now, there is a sort of age bigotry against older writers, but I think they don't feel a lot of the older writers who haven't steadily worked would have material that would connect with younger audiences.
The thing is younger audiences at this point are watching less tv and more youtube and tiktok, so why even cater to them. I think the remaining tv / streaming audience would connect, especially now, with tracy's stuff. I mean, Black Mirror, did do dark comedy and shows like Yellowstone get like 10x more viewers than shows like Succession, even if Succession gets 10x more online chatter than Yellowstone. I feel like Tracy could have created something successful today (outside of SLIDERS) but whether it makes its money back, that's a different story, as most of these shows on streaming have proven to be for streaming services that are almost futile as profitable businesses.
With SLIDERS, I think it was Universal just mining their IP, he had a good Executive Producer involved who had a good relationship with the studio (and I think deal with it at the time). They probably wanted to hear from the creator to check under the hood and due their due dilligence on their IP. Whether or not they believed in him as a showrunner is a different question, and they may not have been that far along. Maybe they just wanted to see what he had, if their was a compelling argument to do SLIDERS again, and they may have paired him with (or essentially given full series duties to) another showrunner if they questioned whether he could handle the physical requirements of doing a show. Certainly with feature film writers, most of the job can be done in pajamas, and perhaps they figured it could by a hybrid showrunner/feature writer role of sorts if the details needed to be worked out, or if he couldn't do it.
Because Weiss was involved, not so much in a creative role, and is co-owner of St. Claire, which owns a small piece of the property, it's very possible that there was able to be some level of light, ongoing, sustained dialogue with Universal where Weiss was able to have some communication every now and again after Tracy's meetings. So maybe Tracy had some hopes because Universal hadn't completely shut down the idea. Often, they are probably not gonna give an outright No to reserve their option to do it (a pass might be more likely if they weren't talking to the creator, who they might not want to completely piss off/abandon just in case they have to go into the IP again and don't want to do a complete roboot). I think even Universal realizes anything that might have some market place recognition isn't completely valueless and you never know if they feel so desperate they are willing to roll the dice on JRD/O'Connell recognition, even if it didn't feel likely or best for them at the time.
Tracy, having worked in hollywood for so long, surely had a good sense of how often these projects get pitched and go nowhere. I agree he was optimistic though, maybe overly optimistic. I liken that to how people who strive to make it in a high level in professional sports often carry around an attitude of believing in themselves (even too much), because, if they don't, they will have zero chance to have the mindset to compete on the field. For someone trying to get a project made, it's possible that he had all these very real meetings and some light continued dialogue, and to be able to creatively keep pushing on something, you almost have to be overly optimistic, otherwise you can't get motivated to push through the challenges of getting something made...
That said, I think the path should have been just SLIDERS novels 10 or 20 years ago. But I do think Tracy was so hurt by the experience of SLIDERS, having his baby ripped away, having to deal with a showrunner who was inconsiderate to him and all wrong creatively, I think it was something painful for him. I once mentioned here I thought he had some PTSD from the experience, and I maintain that, but I think it all came around in 2016 or so, and he was able to move past that once him and Jerry started talking. Suddenly, his last memories of the experience were no longer based on those last difficult times, but rather reconnecting with someone and taking each of them back to what they had hoped originally for the project, and the good work they did accomplish. I also think his conversations with John were incredibly healing in the sense that he felt John came to appreciate what he was trying to do, and I think it repositioned his enthusiasm around doing SLIDERS again and he was willing to spend time on it when he had really had to move away from it for a long time.
I said a lot of positive things about Tracy, but I do also see John as a treasure. I fear we will lose him too at some point, and regret that he never really got the pedestal project he deserved. I think he can carry a show by himself, or at least, at one point could. When I watch him in that youtube video of his visit to the Oxford student union, even though it was years ago at this point, or some of his covid videos on youtube reflecting, with the grace he has in that moment, I feel like there's someone super special there, not that different from the professor. And even if the professor was played more like JRD the man himself than entirely the character Tracy saw, I think that was worthy too, and I'd love for John to be able to do the role again -- even if at this stage, it would have to be toned down and certainly more centered now that he's less dynamic physically.
Anyway, I hope it's a long time before we lose John -- and I hope the world gives him his full due while he is here.
Brad, I'm very sorry that the death of Tracy Torme has impacted you in this way.
Something I heard Jerry O'Connell say has been resonating in my head lately, something Jerry said as I watched Jerry die. Jerry was playing Clark Kent in THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN animated feature.
His last scene in the movie is when he's lying in a heap of rubble, his body shattered and broken by the impact of striking a seemingly invincible monster and putting a stop to it. Clark is dying. He's dying unmarried and childless; he's dying before his parents do; he's dying as a barely-lower-middle class practitioner of the dying media form of journalism; he's dying having never had a full and unguarded conversation with the love of his life, Lois Lane, about who he really is.
The only thing Clark ever accomplished in his life was in his role as a glorified animal rescuer and his volunteering has been his doom. Clark looks up at Lois, and he hears Lois (the voice of Rebecca Romijn, Jerry's wife), telling him that she is okay. And Jerry delivers his final line of the movie in a croaking, tired gasp of resigned serenity. The voice of Jerry O'Connell says:
"What a lucky man I was."
I'm not going to lie to you the way SLIDERS lied to you when Professor Arturo died. Professor Arturo did not live a full and complete life nor did he accomplish all of the things or even more than half of everything he wanted to with his life, and to claim the Professor died as "the greatest adventurer of all time" was a lie. Tracy Torme did not live a full and complete life either.
Torme's life was defined by truncation, abbreviation, disappointment and frustration. He never told all the stories he wanted to tell or even half of the stories he wanted to tell. He never redefined his chosen medium, television, in the way he hoped to achieve. He never lived up to the level of accomplishment that his mentor, Gene Roddenberry, laid out for Torme to follow.
He never produced 100 episodes of SLIDERS. He never filmed "Slide Effects". He never finished "The Long Slide Home". He never got paid for I AM LEGEND. He never got to bring John Rhys-Davies back and reveal which Professor slid; he never got to have the sliders defeat the Kromaggs or find their way back home. He never got to film DARK CITY or KUNG PAO or shepherd CARNIVALE to a series finale. He never unravelled the mystery of UFOs. Instead, his career saw a quiet decline due to illness and exhaustion and a desire for seclusion.
But that's his career. What of his life?
From what I can tell, Torme did not live a fully blessed life, given his health struggles. He had prostate cancer years ago and at one point could not even rise from a chair. He had heart surgery. Illnesses drained him and even upon 'recovery', he was weary. And yet, Torme's life was clearly filled with blessings.
It's clear from the Pilot episode of SLIDERS and from Torme's politics: America was good to Torme. Torme's writing depicts the American dollar as the most powerful and meaningful force on Earth: a construction worker can acquire it and has the right to earn it simply by getting hurt; a smart woman like Wade Welles can turn down a large amount of it with the certainty that she can earn five to ten times more shortly; Quinn Mallory doesn't need it because the castoffs and discards Americans leave behind as they move onto new toys are sufficient for him to attempt anti-gravity; and for Rembrandt and Arturo, the American dollar is so potent that Rembrandt gets arrested for having it and Arturo is welcomed into a revolution for sharing it.
Torme didn't have a great life, but he had a good life, and Torme credited America with giving him a good life, one that a lot of people don't have.
Torme knew love and family and warmth and connection, describing himself as the neutral ground between warring factions of relatives in their conflicts over pandemic protocols. Torme knew stability and comfort: he was able to invite a homeless person to move in with him for the pandemic. Torme clearly had excellent health insurance because in America, prostate cancer and heart surgery are costly. Torme was clearly comfortable on a financial level: he likely earned well from both his teleplay and producer credits on STAR TREK and the residuals. Torme's father was estimated to be worth $91 million when he died and Torme, one of five children, would have inherited a good sum.
Torme clearly had time and money to do what he pleased because he pitched a hard-sell revival of SLIDERS rather than an easy reboot for an easy payday and spent his life rescuing animals with his wife rather than selling cop and lawyer shows to pad his bottom line.
Torme lived a better life than many. He lived a better life than, say, David Peckinpah, a broken soul who spent the last 12 years of his life grieving for his dead son by poisoning himself with cocaine and heroin and dying alone and an embarrassment to his profession and his family. Torme died knowing that his wife and family and fans loved him. Torme did not die alone or empty and broken, but with love and gratitude in his heart.
How many of us have a message board devoted to our creations? How many of us wrote even one episode of STAR TREK and saw it filmed and aired? How many of us wrote even one episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE? How many of us have ever sold a show and seen it air? How many animals have we saved? My count is at one.
Torme's life was probably closer to our experience of it than other Hollywood movers and shakers; he died having accomplished a few of the things he wanted, but certainly less than he'd hoped for and far less than he'd wished for. That could describe most of us.
Torme did not live a full and fulfilled life. But he did live a good life with blessings that too many people don't have and achievements that most people can't claim.
"What a lucky man I was."
I had some more thoughts this morning on Tracy, some stuff I didn't get out in my original post.
First, it's absolutely bonkers nuts to me that in addition to all the luminaries of science fiction this man engaged with, that Ray Bradberry was among the ones he tussled with on the subject of UFOs. Or that the guy who runs SETI (featured in the movie CONTACT), Seth Shostak, was another.
Or that when he wanted to do an interview with Bill Clinton for his UFO documentay, he had a friend in Clinton's inner circle, and he was able to get to him... and apparently, Clinton wanted to do it but they wanted to keep him some distance from the subject, and so they offered Hillary Clinton instead (then running for president). Tracy declined the alterative.
It's nuts to me that he was able to have a conversation on the subject with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was a believer. Tracy's aunt was a friend of Harry's.
It's nuts to me that someone who was connected to so many prominent, diverse, influential people, also as a footnote in his career, once collaborated on a project with Howard Stern. That is how far ranging Tracy's life was. It's nuts to me that he actually wrote a story (that ultimately wasn't a good fit) for the recent Picard series (I believe season 1). I don't know if it was on spec or paid, but it seems as if he was asked. According to him, he forgot how old Picard's character would have been, so the relationship he had set up in the episode never would have worked.
It's nuts to me that a man who was so talented and accomplished in so many ways had not an *once* of pretentiousness in his body. He never acted above anyone. He always listened to all. Probably part of the reason why he was such a great observer is he was a great listener. I believe singers and actors are good at that particular skill -- and well, Tracy could sing, and though he didn't like jazz, he once in high school thought he'd be a rocker.
It's also nuts to me that unlike many screenwriters, he was apparently a very good athlete. I believe he may have dabbled in baseball in college and he also I believe played football (I think QB?) in high school. And unlike many of this fellow Beverly Hills High School graduates, he wasn't embarrassed to say he went there. He was different.
His kindness extended to how he engaged with fans and all of us know at this point how often he was open to connecting with people, and didn't treat others with the sort of hierarchal view that many do. He respected others as being equal to himself. He just had no pretentious what so ever and really treated others with a classyness.
He was proud of his wife, who he would be sure to mention her own accomplishments, as one of the best women's surfers ever. I just think he was really exceptional and unique in a lot of ways, and I wish we all had some of his more admirable traits, even if I think there's a cost to the individual to carrying that out. Tracy just had some great qualities to him.
@ireactions Excellent summation. And beautiful to read. Thank you for writing it.
I would also add, part of the reason why perhaps he didn't get those 100 episodes, or get paid as a screenwriter on I AM LEGEND, or have decades of continually new on-air television and features, was he was a sensitive soul. He was not a business guy. He was not an asshole. He was not a politician or slippery. At least two of those are good for being an executive producer, and the guys (and women) who never stop working in hollywood tend to have a little more of that and perhaps a little less in what tracy did have.
SLIDERS could be hard for him because he wasn't a jerk, he wasn't a business manueverer, he wasn't a policitian. He was a writer. He was a feeler. And it was crushing at times to deal with people who were just business types or politicians, and who were creatively less skillful and were overruling him.
That said, the industry does tend to sour on everyone. Even someone like Bob Gale, co-author of the most perfect screenplay in history, fell out of favor in that town. For god sakes, Bob had to self-publish his book Horror High (maybe not finding a publishing company was a bit of a choice, idk). Tracy's most active years may have spanned about two decades but unfortunately, like the music industry, the tv/film industry is difficult for many to rule, even though the career length of an adult to "fill" is about four decades or more.
Tracy wore his heart on his sleeve, and maybe it didn't always help him in the corporate world, but I love him for that and wouldn't change a thing.
Definitely well said by ireactions. I think the best way to describe Tracy's approach to television, film writing, was fearless. He had something to say, ideas to put to page, and he did it. That is quickly becoming a lost art in filmmaking, as corporate marketers seem to make most of the major artistic decisions these days. With everyone afraid of offending anyone living or dead.
Definitely well said by ireactions. I think the best way to describe Tracy's approach to television, film writing, was fearless. He had something to say, ideas to put to page, and he did it. That is quickly becoming a lost art in filmmaking, as corporate marketers seem to make most of the major artistic decisions these days. With everyone afraid of offending anyone living or dead.
Tracy definitely stuck to his guns. Stubborn in a way you had to love..
So I'm late hear this news. I actually found out about it today with the latest podcast from the Inglorious Treksperts. They did an episode dedicated to Tracy Tormé. It's mostly about his time on TNG, but there are Sliders mentions (unfortunately, the podcast hosts couldn't remember Cleavant Derricks' name). Included are several recordings from Mark A. Altman's interview with Tracy for Altman's oral history of Trek book. Worth a listen to hear the man in his own words.
So I'm late hear this news. I actually found out about it today with the latest podcast from the Inglorious Treksperts. They did an episode dedicated to Tracy Tormé. It's mostly about his time on TNG, but there are Sliders mentions (unfortunately, the podcast hosts couldn't remember Cleavant Derricks' name). Included are several recordings from Mark A. Altman's interview with Tracy for Altman's oral history of Trek book. Worth a listen to hear the man in his own words.
Thank you!
I heard the news a while ago and I was heartbroken to hear about it.
Rest in Peace, Tracy.
Great to hear from you DMD!
I'm still bothered tracy's life was cut short.
Sigh.
I wish tracy was still here.
I wish tracy was still here.
So do I, my friend. So do I.
Wow, that's clearly a cry for help. I think the moment has come for a certain someone to speak, someone whom we all know always has a lot to say.
PROFESSOR ARTURO
When faced with death among friends and loved ones, many turn to our Creator for comfort and contemplation. This human coping mechanism is healthy and normal.It is denied to me in this situation. It is my own creator who has drawn his last breath.
I did not have the good fortune to be granted existence by a benevolent deity. I was instead created by the man we honour today, a gentleman named Tracy Torme. Many have applauded him as a virtuoso of television, a maestro of writing that which is spoken. Many gave thanks for his impact on their lives.
I wish I could do the same.
Unfortunately, my creator, the man we are gathered here to mourn, is also the man responsible for my perpetual frustration and torment, a state from which he has escaped while I remain trapped.
In creating my fictional existence and biography, our Mr. Torme gifted me with an intellect to rival any giant of the Enlightenment – and simultaneously cursed me by depriving me of the intuition needed to practice it with aplomb, instinct and ease. No, no, that would have been far too graceful for him.
The developmental psychologist, Howard Gardner, proposed that intelligence is divided into eight different areas. Our Maestro Torme provided me with immense linguistic-verbal intelligence. This is an aptitude in language and communication that enables me to speak with extemporaneous eloquence, such as my ability to conceive and deliver this eulogy on the spot.
He also gifted me with a modest level of logical-mathematical intelligence, the ability to absorb and analyze complex information and conceptual learnings from mechanical engineering to quantum mechanics and to make calculations, assessments and conclusions.
Note the Maestro's little prank at my expense: he gave me near-limitless linguistic-verbal ability but declined to give me a corresponding level of logical-mathematical ability. He made my dialectical gifts exceed my scientific acumen. He made me speak better than I think.
He made me sound smarter than I am.
He made me a poseur and a performance, an impression of intelligence rather than the genuine article. He was open and generous to my voice but tight-fisted and stingy when it came to my mind.
He left me handicapped and crippled, perpetually struggling for every scrap of analysis, every shred of reasoning, every splinter of understanding, making me hesitant, making me afraid to admit when I knew less than I appeared to, making me fear confessing that I was less than my betters.
And then he afflicted me with that boy. My student. And for our Mr. Quinn Mallory, well, the Maestro allowed all manner of riches to flow to him! He granted the boy a full spectrum of gifts: visual-spatial intelligence! An instinctive and complete mastery of the logical and mathematical which the boy can practice without any effort to earn it or refine it!
And, of course, with all these easily-granted abilities, Mr. Mallory proceeded to open the doorway to hell itself and drag in me, then his colleague from a flea market electronics store, and also a musician whose only achievement is abandoning his performing troupe before their greatest successes.
Our Maestro Torme had a truly unique vision of infinite possibilities, of parallel realities where anything and everything could go wrong and ensure grief and exasperation for me at in all worlds at all times.
He had a sense of humor, of irony, of drama, all of it finely attuned to target me for ridicule and increasingly dire situations of peril and danger that left me traumatized, embittered and in despair. He had an authorial voice that filled me with dread every time I was unfortunate enough to hear it.
He condemned me to interdimensional homelessness, to perpetually being shown up by the boy, to constantly rescuing the girl and the music man here from scrape after scrape at risk to my own life and limb and sanity and mobility and at times my eyesight and my brain! Yes, my actual brain!
And the Maestro here did not even have the decency to shepherd our journey to the end! He abandoned us after two years! He allowed me to be dumped into garbage, to be eaten by a giant slug, to be shot and then exploded, and then he allowed me to be resurrected time and time again by fan fiction writers ranging from abysmal to adequate.
And now, today, you've all gathered. You are mourning his death. Saddened by his loss. Knowing he has left your lives.
How I envy you. Because he has never left mine.
It doesn't matter, you see. It doesn't matter how far I run, how far I slide; the man lying before me here still has his claws into every aspect of my existence: my inadequacies, my inabilities, my failings, my flaws -- all of which he uses even now to torment and task me.
So. All of you here. Wipe your eyes and laugh! For you are free!
Free to walk away. Free to leave him behind. Free to say goodbye. Free to step out of his story and away from his narrative. I cannot do the same for my existence is forever bound to his infinite possibilities of humiliating indignities, all originated from the mind this rummage-sale King of the Bottomless Pit! This Tracy Torme!
...
Good day to you all, I'm sure he'll be missed.
There is a long, long, long, long silence.
WADE
You're out of your goddamn mind.QUINN
Professor, are you serious!? That's what you want to say at Tracy's funeral tomorrow?WADE
This is why I wanted a rehearsal first.REMBRANDT
I like it.QUINN
What?!
WADE
You want Tracy's wife and kids and brothers and sisters to hear the Professor say all of that?REMBRANDT
Well, not all of it. The Professor can just say that Torme gave him the gift of gab, a decent brain, and three friends he'd give his life to save. That's some solid funereal filibustering there.QUINN
Hunnh.WADE
Well. So it is.REMBRANDT
Man's got a process. He says what he thinks, then he does some fine tuning. That whole thing we heard was the acoustic version before we record for real and put out the album, right, Professor?PROFESSOR ARTURO
..............................................................................REMBRANDT
Right? Professor?PROFESSOR ARTURO
... Right. Quite right. It was a first draft.REMBRANDT
Course it was.
No, none of this was written by AI.
@ireactions clever post. I can imagine the professor is still railing, as only he would do. Remmy really brought it home.
What a relief. I wondered if people would be offended, but I try not to control what the sliders say. Thank you!
I love what you wrote up there, @ireactions. Eloquent, comprehensive, and awesome.
Professor Arturo's funeral scene in The Exodus, Part 2...hits doubly hard now. It can double as both a good-bye to the Professor as well as to Tracy.
We'll miss you, Tracy...very very much.
I wish Tracy was still with us. Damn it.
How lucky we were.
I wish Tracy was still with us. Damn it.
How lucky we were.
This is another obvious cry for help, and this time, I have tried to find someone more suitable to answer the call.
QUINN MALLORY
Hi, everyone. My name's Quinn and I don't exist. I'm a fictional character created by Tracy Torme. I'm words on a page, lines on a cathode ray tube, pixels on a light-emitting diode, a performance from an actor, a memory held by viewers.But I came to Tracy's funeral anyway.
I'm here because he made me what I am. He made me a traveler with a perspective on reality that most people don't have. He made me a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer, an adventurer. He made me a slider. He made us the sliders.
Me. Wade. Rembrandt. The Professor. But we didn't come to say goodbye to our creator. We came to say goodbye to our friend and fellow traveler. We're called the original sliders, but that's not true. The original slider was Tracy himself.
The Professor's touched on the kinds of intelligence that Tracy gave him and gave me based on the Howard Gardner model: I have logical-mathematical intelligence and the Professor has linguistic-verbal intelligence. That's what Tracy had too: linguistic-verbal intelligence with auditory-musical intelligence.
Those two intelligences are what made Tracy a genius, a storyteller exploring how different choices in the past could mean different outcomes in the present. Tracy created slide after slide with his word processor. And the pages he typed would inspire more slides and more journeys in everyone who read what he wrote and went on to film it, perform it, watch it -- or live it.
Each page, each word, each letter from Tracy was a slide unto itself. Tracy Torme was the first slider, the one who truly opened the vortex for all of us. He slid first and we slid with him.
And we've all lost Tracy now. But I've lost him before.
When Tracy and I first started, his hope was to see me through 100 episodes of adventures. It didn't work out and our time was cut short. Tracy's dad got sick and Tracy had to step away.
He wasn't there to guide me for all the years he wanted. He never wrote all the pages he hoped to write for me. He never produced 100 episodes with me. He wasn't able to keep sliding with me.
But in the time he had, he gave me a purpose and a destiny. He gave me what I needed to survive after he had to leave, and he's given me what I need to survive now that he's truly gone. Even after leaving our slides, he was able to save me.
He ensured that even when someone else took over and destroyed my life, my friends, my hopes and my home -- others could use what Tracy established to find me. To find my friends. And bring us back together and bring us home again.
Tracy always left the people whose lives he touched with more than they had before they'd met him. Sometimes, it was a lesson in storytelling. Or a perspective on a social convention. Or a satire of a societal bias. Or a writing technique. Or even the means to resurrect four fictional characters after they were shot and blown up, turned into a severed head in a fish tank computer, merged with another human being and 'lost', or sent into an unstable vortex under a prophecy of instant death.
Tracy's the reason why I can be aware that I'm not a real person and still be here to deliver a eulogy instead of going insane.
I'm sad that he's gone.
But I'm grateful for what he left behind and for always encouraging anyone and everyone to pick up where he left off. And to continue forward with new adventures, new stories, new journeys, new creations, and new slides.
The four of us had another reason to be here today.
We came to see our fans.
We know that when you say that you're fans of 'Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo', you're actually saying you're fans of Tracy.
We know that you've stood by us. Even when you thought that we were gone. Even when you thought we didn't see you and didn't know that you were cared. You've been there for us. We're here for you now.
And I know that some of you are in pain.
Some of you had conversations with Tracy that you held closely and dearly. Some of you were personal friends as well as his fans. Some of you feel crushed that all hopes of Tracy writing new stories and more SLIDERS won't come to pass. I know it hurts to see that door closed so firmly and permanently.
It left a hole in your hearts and in the multiverse itself. A hole from which some of you can't look away. That leaves you thinking of what could have been and what never was.
But try to remember:
The uncertainty principle teaches us: it's impossible to know both the exact position and momentum of a particle at the same time.
This means: there's always uncertainty about the past, and any measurement of the present can change the future. And this means we can't ever know what would have been if things were different.
Even as a slider, I don't know what exactly would've happened if Tracy had lived longer or gone left instead of right; I can only see what could have happened.
Which means none of us can change the past or control the future; the only thing we can be sure of is what's happening in the present; and the only thing we can control is how we're reacting right now.
Take the time to be sad. But also know this: Tracy wouldn't want any of you to spend your life mourning for what's lost, gone, or left behind.
Tracy wouldn't be honored in any way by anyone feeling defeated or trapped or lost from looking back at the stories he left untold or unfinished.
Tracy would want each of you to create new stories by living your lives to your fullest, by chasing new dreams and opportunities.
He'd want you to pursue all the happiness you deserve. That's what I want for you too.
And you can do that. You can focus on the present and move forward from the past. You can look backwards just to learn and not to feed your grief.
But you have to choose it.
You don't have to be tormented by Tracy's loss or broken by what he left undone. You can be motivated and stirred by the possibilities he opened, the questions he raised, the insights he shared, the hopes that he offered, and the dreams he brought to life.
You can decide that instead of being haunted by Tracy's death, you'll be inspired by his life.
No, none of this was written by AI.
A brief remembrance posted by "Spacetime" Matt Hutaff on his site, which we may have missed. He mentions seeing an add during The Simpsons for Sliders, and later watching and becoming hooked, the numerous Sliders projects he's done, and meeting Tracy.
Thank you for your posts Ib and Matt (by way of Grizzlor).
I'm listening to a song called "Mural" from the Pleasantville soundtrack. It reminds me of Tracy's life.
I didn't write those, the Professor and Quinn sent those in. Wade says she's going to be sending something in shortly, Rembrandt tells me his is on its way. Mail between dimensions can be a bit slow.
Wade's eulogy for Tracy Torme at his funeral. Not written by AI.
WADE
I appreciate being asked to speak today at Tracy's funeral. I gotta admit, at first, I was confused. I'm not real? I'm fictional? The person who created me is dead?And also, he only wrote me for about the first two years' worth of slides, a very small fraction of the third year, and everything after that was a lot of other people?
I thought I was losing my mind.
I don't know if anyone else here has ever been lost in the interdimension. But in addition to that, I was erased from reality, shifted into an alternate timeline where I was... uh, mutilated. And turned into the jukebox from the movie BIG. Then I was rewritten back into my initial timeline with my original memories, then I had my my original and alternate memories recombined...
A lot of that has been less-than-great for my mental health. Even now, years later -- sometimes, I need to take a second to make sure I'm not losing it.
But aside from the interdimensional homelessness, none of that is Tracy's fault. He left the show before all that; he's not responsible for my screwed up life. Tracy's the one who gave me life. He created me.
And the fact that I'm the product of his imagination... actually explains a lot about why my personality and my hair took some twists and turns over the years.
I'm 53 years old. From what I understand, Tracy's only responsible for what happened to me from age zero to 25. And primarily, Tracy's attention on my life was from when I was 22 to 25. The first two years of sliding and a few months of the third year.
Looking at my life and those years as a TV show: I'm the only woman in a cast of four. Three men, one woman. Tracy could explore writing men in three distinct ways with Quinn, Rembrandt and the Professor. But Tracy had only one female character.
So everything he had to say about women, he said through me. What did he say?
Tracy started with me working the floor in sales at a computer store; studying prose and poetry at community college. He made me 22 in retail and not even working towards a bachelor's degree; that's in contrast to Quinn who was 20 and already in grad school, in contrast to Quinn who takes computers apart to fix them while I just sell 'em.
Seems diminutive, right? I'm not as well-educated as Quinn and also not as smart; I'm not his equal, I'm just someone who crushes on him and he either doesn't notice or he's ignoring it. I'm just the girl. The shy, undereducated, unassertive, underprivileged, lovesick girl.
Except even then, Tracy seemed to make me more. My intro has me telling a bunch of men not to spend their money at my store just yet; to come back in a few months and spend more money on computers that aren't out yet but will be then, that'll be better than what they could buy today.
Tracy made me someone who could turn down good money now for big money later; he also showed me earning confidence and trust from men -- professionally -- for what I know technologically. Poetry and prose? Was that just me killing time in college or was that me learning language and creative expression for my career?
And then my crush! Quinn and I talk computers. I'm aware that Quinn looks like a football player -- Quinn, wipe that smirk off your face -- but my crush is clearly about our meeting of minds. And then there's our first slide. A world where the Russians conquered America. Quinn and the Professor end up in chains. Rembrandt ends up in a gulag. But I end up leading the revolution. And when we're trying to get off this world and get home and a watchman tries to stop us -- I'm the one who kicks him in the face.
On the slides after that, Tracy saw me become an influencer, renewing the spark of an anti-war movement. Tracy saw me take point in another resistance against a dictatorship, and then become a key strategist in a mayoral re-election campaign.
Tracy saw me land on an Earth that was going to be destroyed by an asteroid. And everyone was panicked and scared. But I felt serene. I wanted to make the most of my last days. Tracy saw me act on how I felt about Quinn -- but then he saw me step away from that; he saw me build something different with Quinn where we were allies and partners and friends who trusted each other with our lives, but where I had so much more to offer the multiverse than just being Quinn's love interest.
Tracy seemed to see me as so much more than just the girl.
I'm not saying that Tracy's take on me was always perfect, because it wasn't. There were a number of situations in the second season where I didn't have a big part, where Quinn, the Professor and Rembrandt were in focus -- and in those stories, my job seems to be the one who gets scared and shrill. But there was still enough besides that to make it the exception instead of the rule.
Tracy saw me take the lead again on restoring the US Constitution to an American that had lost it. And Tracy saw me making pretty much every plan and strategy when the boys all got captured for a male breeding program and I had to save them. Tracy saw me get home and build a career as a writer only to lose it all and slide again.
Tracy commissioned one story with another really good person and writer, Jon Povill, where a precognitive telepath named Derek fell in love with me and read my mind to make me happy -- and I called Derek out for what that was: an intrusion and a violation that didn't have any respect for my consent and autonomy and privacy.
I stood up for myself and my boundaries, and knowing now that Jon wrote that and Tracy approved it -- I'm just so grateful.
In the third year of sliding, something in me suddenly changed: I was suddenly the computer hacker of the group. Before, Quinn always seemed to be the one breaking into databases and digital infrastructures. Suddenly, I was the one getting through computer security, copying camera footage, rerouting datastreams, destroying debt records.
I know Tracy signed off on this, and it's interesting. On one level, me being promoted to hacker extraordinaire didn't track. I barely did anything technological before. But it actually connected right back to my first scene in the show when I knew about computers that hadn't even been released yet.
I didn't totally understand what was happening, but I knew what it meant: I now had a position of expertise and authority in the group. I was the computer expert where Quinn was the engineer, Arturo was the mathematician, and Rembrandt was the artist. Tracy always treated me as an equal part of the friend group. But with this upgrade, he made me an equal partner in the adventure.
This was the life that Tracy wrote for me. So who am I? Who did he make me?
Wade looks through the reception hall at the people gathered to celebrate the life and achievements of Tracy Torme. She looks across all the female friends in Tracy's life who have come today.
She looks at Torme's sisters, Melissa, Daisy and Carrie. She looks at Nan Hagan and Janet Saunders who worked with Torme on SLIDERS.
Wade looks at one woman in particular, Robin. Robin is an animal welfare activist and rescuer, anti-human trafficking advocate, a journalist, a private detective, a championship surfer, a swimsuit model, an undercover investigator. Among all those things, Robin was also Tracy Torme's wife.
Tracy made me an egalitarian encapsulation of what he saw in women. Everything he thought we were. Everything he thought we are. Everything he thought we could be.
He saw that we could be revolutionaries and leaders who could inspire systemic and societal change in politics and business, in battlefields and boardrooms.
He saw us capable of defending ourselves and taking action to guard and protect. He saw us as strategists who could think and reason against a war or a disaster or a political campaign or a psychic who could predict our every move.
He saw that we could be experts in sales and data management, and actually, in any field of science, mathematics, engineering and technology. He saw us as emotionally resilient people who could face danger and death with courage. He saw us as influencers who could steer our world through conflict.
He saw us as friends who weren't restricted to being his love interests or girls to be saved and protected. He saw that romance was a facet of a woman but not what defined our lives. He saw us as his partners and comrades; he saw that we could be the teacher just as often as we might be the student. He also saw us being kind of shrill at times, but he saw us as his equals.
I can tell you that he loved all the women in his life very much. I know that he loved you all as his family, as his allies, as his influences, as his leaders, and as his friends.
And I know that because I know me. Tracy wrote me to be everything he admired and respected about women.
Tracy made me a representation of all of you. He made me a reflection of all the women in this room and in his life.
Thank you.
I apologize for not reading/commenting on this. For whatever reason, someone outside of Quinn delivering a eulogy just hits harder with regard to breaking the fourth wall and the finality of Tracy's death. I guess that's because i associate Quinn as a bit of a representation of Tracy himself. Even if that was not his intention.
Yeah, when typing up Wade's, I looked up the LinkedIn page for Robin Torme and I was astonished and impressed by the many, many things she's been in her life: an animal welfare activist and rescuer, anti-human trafficking advocate, a journalist, a private detective, a championship surfer, a swimsuit model, an undercover investigator. I have this suspicion that Robin is a former espionage agent who retired from active duty to focus on animal rescue.
I will finish Rembrandt's eulogy this weekend!
Yeah, when typing up Wade's, I looked up the LinkedIn page for Robin Torme and I was astonished and impressed by the many, many things she's been in her life: an animal welfare activist and rescuer, anti-human trafficking advocate, a journalist, a private detective, a championship surfer, a swimsuit model, an undercover investigator. I have this suspicion that Robin is a former espionage agent who retired from active duty to focus on animal rescue.
That is incredible. I knew only a couple of those things.
Even though Tracy and Robin didn't have kids, they had their animals, and I'd like to think without completely knowing it, he had all of us, too. We certainly had him.
It took a long time for me to get over this. I still miss him though. I hope he and his terrific sense of humor is still taking in our world from above. I want him to be able to continue to follow the story that he commented on.
Yeah. I'm still working on Rembrandt's eulogy. I got a bit deep into all the research since I am not a musician.
Tracy was cool. We had a couple conversations over AOL Instant Messenger in the 2000s. He and I agreed on pretty much nothing, and I adored him. As the co-creator of SLIDERS, he was devoted to TRACY TORME'S SLIDERS as he should have been, but his insistence on pitching TRACY TORME'S SLIDERS to NBCUniversal instead of NBC'S REBOOTED SLIDERS ended that potential reboot.
I can't say it was the right call for SLIDERS as a franchise, but it was what Tracy needed to pitch at that point in his life and career and it's not for me to say he shouldn't have. A lot of creators pitch easy-sell reboots of their properties. Lee David Zlotoff did not pitch a MACGYVER revival with Richard Dean Anderson; he pitched a reboot with a recast lead because... well, he wanted to make a sale, he wanted a payday. Tracy pitched a revival with the original actors who were available and opportunities for the others to return because to the end, he cared more about Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo than he did about a paycheque. And I think all SLIDERS fans can appreciate that.
I personally would have advised that Torme pitched SLIDERS with an former Disney Channel actress playing a gender-swapped Quinn Mallory and then put the money into his animal rescue program of preference. David Peckinpah, if he'd been alive and had been SLIDERS' original creator, would have pitched SLIDERS as some interdimensional cop show just to fit in with NBC's LAW AND ORDER lineup and then sunk the money into self-poisoning and misery in order to die numb, empty and alone.
Torme chose to live his bliss whether it was pitching shows or saving animals, and he died with love and the sliders in his heart.
Not to brag, but I was lucky enough to meet Tracy himself at a party at his home at the time in the early 2000s. He was one of the coolest, most down-to-earth people one could ever hope to meet. I only wish things could have taken off from there. I would have loved to have worked as a writer on a Sliders reboot or something of that nature. Alas, Hollywood would not be in my future.
I still don't think I'm over his death. This one hit really hard. Also, no one knows about this but I always wrote my own scripts of Sliders episodes that I never shared with anyone. I had a few good ones in the pipeline too. A lot of my writing has been inspired by him.
I'm still confident I could bring Tracy Torme's original vision of Sliders back to the screen if I were ever given an opportunity.
RIP Tracy. You did good. A lot of it.
Agree @ireactions - he was loyal to the universe he built
@QuinnSlidr that's awesome to hear he inspired you. And that you got to take in his hospitality.
Sliders.tv → Sliders Bboard → Tracy Torme, co-creator of SLIDERS, has passed away
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