Episode Review: Dead Man Sliding
Season 3
Airdate: 11/29/96
Rating: 4/5
Episode Details
Airdate: November 29, 1996
Network: FOX
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: Nan Hagan
Notable Guest Stars: Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Don Most
Nielsen Ratings: Viewers: 8.5 Million, Rating: 5.2, Share: 10, Rank: 74
Worlds: Buttonwillow World (Not Seen), Lemoore World (Not Seen), Wasco World (Not Seen), Justice Voting World, Green People World
Memorable Quotes:
(Arturo points to a woman in a house after the slide)
Quinn: “Oh, no. She’s got a video camera. I will be right back.”
Arturo: “Mr. Mallory.”
(Quinn runs into the house)
Wade: “Come on. Don’t let him get arrested again.”
(Quinn walks out with a videotape)
Rembrandt: “She actually gave it to you?”
Quinn: “Not exactly.”
Arturo: “Quinn, you didn’t—”
Quinn (destroys tape): “Of course not. I simply told her we were alien life forms from another world, and if she didn’t give me the tape, we’d take her back home with us when we left.”
(Arturo, Wade and Rembrandt laugh and turn around to Quinn)
Rembrandt: “We look like alien life forms to her?”
Quinn: “Mmm-hmm.”
Rembrandt: “How is that? What exactly does—”
Quinn: “Trust me short, green, and moldy is not a great look.”
(the sliders run after Quinn)
“This mob is only interested in entertainment. It doesn’t give a damn about the truth.” – Professor Arturo
We’re introduced to a world where the legal system is a televised game show. The introduction shows the sliders walking through the entrance plaza of Universal City Walk in Hollywood. The place is packed and it’s obvious everyone is staring at them. Everyone around the actors (Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys-Davies, etc.) are likely just your average person in public walking around. Although I’m sure they have extras near them. It’s a disappointment that with all the stares they get that the vortex wasn’t implemented. Show them sliding into the area, but we never see this. Then it’d be less obvious and work more towards the episode’s advantage. If strangers slide into a packed area in public, you’d certainly get the stares.
There’s a star of fame walk on the floor and Wade begs for a picture seeing that Dolly Parton’s name is engraved there. Dolly is a singer but probably most famous for her theme park Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Rembrandt mentions how bad enough it is for same place, same earth, different dimension, but now you have a 400 mile sliding radius because of Logan St. Claire messing up the timer. For once it seems the Sliders are relaxing by walking around but you gotta have a good story. Sure enough there’s a wallet laying on the ground and everyone stares but no one picks it up. Quinn insists on picking it up and checking it for ID to return it to the owner. Good thing he picked it up because he would of been hit with a tranquilizing dart from a sharpshooting woman on the upper deck.
The show continues to insist upon illustrating the differences a parallel world would make. As they should indeed. Among the highly acclaimed celebrities are Arnold Stang (It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), Jill Whelan (The Love Boat), and Linwood Boomer (the blind guy on Little House). On this world “Skip Collins” is your Judgment Game host where he lets YOU be the judge and jury of everyone’s criminal sentence. I guess you could say Don Most as Skip Collins is your most famous celebrity. He’s known for playing Ralph Malph on Happy Days on our world. But he really isn’t a huge star on our world. Right after his appearance on the TV the sliders see everyone placing their bets. How sad it must get for a society to have fun and place bets on a guilty or innocent conviction.
Before we know it Quinn is captured by Taryn, the woman who was aiming at him for the wallet. He’s brought in and chained to a chair at the backroom of The Judgment Game facility. The primetime event features Quinn Mallory (the contestant), a rowdy crowd using a device that resembles the game Simon Says, and an advocate for Quinn, Professor Arturo. There’s three judges in the background and might I say they’re quite creepy. They’re merely there as a representation of the old ways of law and order. The traditional legal system has been completely abolished as the Professor has to be sworn in to have never been to law school, taken legal exams and everything under the sun.
Quinn is being tried for murder. The evidence being brought out is a video of him beating a man to death for money in a wallet. The crowd chants guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. I’m beginning to wonder if this episode was partially inspired by what’s dubbed “The Trial of the Century” The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson. OJ Simpson was a former NFL player and movie actor who was charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The trial was so highly publicized on TV that it was felt by many, that citizens affected the outcome of the verdict.
Will he live or die? Quinn’s verdict is in your hands. I’d be quite apprehensive with this method of justice as it would be bent on the entertainment factor and nothing else. People are sitting back with a bag of popcorn and watching the events as they unfold. This serious situation reminds me of the survivalist series Dual Survival. A survival instructor on the series, Cody Lundin was apprehensive at how viewers would perceive the show. So often TV is merely for your entertainment only, and in most circumstances they’re not as serious or educational as it should be. It’s pure entertainment. Looking back at the episode “Rules of the Game” that’s all the subject was about, TV viewers having fun of watching people kill one another. But are we, the viewer, taking some of what we see in Sliders as informative? I think in some ways we can learn from Sliders, but it’s not always a necessity for any show.
Quinn and Arturo try to prove innocence with an in-depth teaching of parallel worlds. That dry erase board brings back memories of the Professor and Quinn in the Pilot. Anyway, Wade finds Taryn, the woman who captured Quinn. Wade instills a bit of doubt into her decision that well, her Quinn is not their Quinn. It proves too little too late as Quinn has been sentenced to die by a guillotine. Before he’s hauled off into a van I can’t help feel a little sad. I don’t know whether it’s the music, the police beating him with batons or Arturo pleading with despair. Later in the courtyard Quinn and the rest of the Sliders don’t even get the decency of privacy. A camera is setup likely for his 30 minute TV special of execution.
The only resolution of getting Quinn out of jail is finding his double. They get a tip from Quinn’s double’s former girlfriend. What mouthful it is to explain Sliders sometimes. While that’s happening Taryn finds out that our Quinn has no scar like their Quinn who took a whopping sixty stitches because of a bar fight. He’s nothing like ours, but more of a rebellious smart aleck. Even though he has a bad history they discover the murder video “evidence” has been faked through software. Call it a shoddy version of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro.
The Sliders try to pull off a last minute MacGyver style escape for Quinn and hurry before the timer expires. The slide of a lifetime must be pulled off. This idea of an alternate justice system is interesting and the next world doesn’t disappoint either. A fresh breeze clears the air, and the most charming music compliments the lighthearted atmosphere as the Sliders run off in the distance.
Dissatisfied? If you’re not happy with my review you may call 1-96-JUSTICE.