Sliders - Season 1-2 [DVD] [1996]

Forget the lastest batch of US sci-drivel, this is a show that doesn't solve all of it's problems with a Matrix-inspired fist-fight or an explosion-of-the-week. The Sliders are actually capable of thinking through their problems, which is a handy skill to have when faced with the challenge of a new world.

Sliders bridges the gap between those time-travel shows with a regular cast (like Quantum Leap, The Time Tunnel, Doctor Who, Seven Days, etc) and more speculative science fiction anthology shows like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. However, that's not to say that the concept of Sliders is unoriginal - quite the opposite.
It attempts to answer all of those 'what if' questions that arise from the exciting theory of travelling to multiple dimensions (crossing the Einstein-Rosen Bridge). It plunders popular culture along the way, with episodes blatantly based on various movies, icons and books (for example, 'The Good the Bad and the Wealthy' and 'Greatfellas' which really speak for themselves) but again, somehow, Sliders injects it's own originality into the mix to create a truly thought-provoking, addictive and original series with characters that work excellently together (solid performances from a great cast as well).
Without referring to popular culture the show simply wouldn't work as well as it does - afterall, part of the magic is wondering what the world might be like, for instance, if Elvis was still alive, or if the allies had lost the second world war, etc. As Quinn Mallory puts it:
"What if you could find brand new worlds, right here on Earth, where anything is possible? Same planet, different dimension."

Only one odd thing is the episode selection screens, as they don't tell you in which order to watch them (assuming you don't use the 'play all' option). This means that, for me (selecting episodes from left to right) the Sliders arrived on a new world dressed in hippy-style clothes, but didn't actually get those clothes until the next episode.

Now, all I need to do is build my own Timer and Slide to a world where they've already released the rest on DVD.. keep 'em coming please!

Sliders was a great sci-fi show, with a group of four people becoming lost in parallel worlds, where certain things may be different, whether it is culturally, technologically or just plain science fictional, Sliders had it all, and it was great in it's early seasons.
Here we have seasons 1 and 2. The first season contains the feature lengthed Pilot, plus 8 more episodes, and the second seasons contains 13 episodes.
First things first, the episode order is wrong. The Fox Network, in all their wisdom, decided to air the episodes in the USA beginning with those that they liked and leaving the supposidly "bad" episodes until last. This episode order unfortunately remained with the two seasons as it was aired in other countries. Surely the DVD release could have corrected this error?
Example: 'The Prince of Wails' and 'Summer of Love' should have been placed the other way round, since SOL ends with the sliders about be engulfed in a tidal wave, and TPOW begins with the gang wearing the same clothes as in SOL and in a tight spot above a submerged San Francisco.
Another issue is that the episodes remain cut. Every episode has at least one deleted scene, but have they been re-inserted here.....? No.
Extras are a bit thin on the ground too, with only a commentary for the Pilot and a 14 minute 'Making of' featurette with interviews with Jerry O'Connel, Cleavant Derricks, Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weisse.
Overall, I would recommend buying this set, since Sliders hasn't been released in any other format.
Here's hoping that the Season 3 set will be more worthwhile.

Recently released in the USA, I was hoping that this box set of Sliders first and second seasons would finally reach our shores. Having not even been released on video, any kind of a release looked uncertain, since the final two seasons, four and five, kind of lost the plot a bit, leaving the show cancelled and subsequently unfinished as opposed to most other tv series. This set contains season one, which includes the feature lengthed pilot plus 8 more episodes, and season two, which contains a total of 13 episodes. Personal favorites include the opening movie, in which college student Quinn Mallory and his friends, Wade Welles, Professor Arturo and Rembrandt (Remmy) Brown, first become lost in alternate dimensions trying to find their way back home. Also, there is Last Days, in which an asteroid threatens to destroy a world, Luck of the Draw, in which Wade takes place in a less than conventional lottery, Gillian of the Spirits, in which a bizarre accident leaves Quinn on another plain of existence, Time and Again World, in which Wade unfolds a government conspiracy on a world without rights, Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome, in which Remmy recalls a slide where they thought they had made it home, and As Time Goes By, in which Quinn finds an old girlfriend in three different worlds. Even the weaker episodes are worth watching, just to see how things have been concieved, plus the theme tune to season two is quite cool. I can only hope that a decision is made to release season three aswell, as that is the last of the good sliders, which also has the best version of the opening theme tune. Seasons four and five have some good episodes, however a large turnover in the cast and an overcomplicated plot ruin the simplicity of the first three seasons, where the only goal is to get home. Still, I'm very happy that these two seasons have been released. A recommended classic sci-fi!