The Dream Masters

Season 3
Airdate: 10/18/96
Rating: 2/5

“Hey. Sweet dreams.” – Quinn Mallory

The Sliders land on a world where a group of men torture people by entering their dreams. Wearing Mardi Gras attire from Cajun world, they land in the middle of an amusement park. Bicycles aren’t allowed but some “idiot” as the Professor proclaims, crashes into a rollerblader. The rollerblader furiously lashes out at the bicycler but soon realizes his mistake. He’s flashed by a pentacle or as most acknowledge, a pentagram on the biker’s palm. The bicycler places it on his face while he falls down to the asphalt. The Sliders hold the man down while having a seizure. That’s one of the worst things to do, but I wouldn’t call it a seizure after what just happened. Rembrandt summons a police officer but she immediately reports the death as a suicide. The Sliders are baffled and so am I.

The bicycler had a pentacle on his palm. What is a pentagram vs a pentacle? A pentagram is a five pointed triangle, while a pentacle is the same but it’s within a circle. They’re often confused with one another. The pentacle itself has been used for various different reasons including paganism, Christianity in the Middle Ages, magic, Satanism, Wicca, you name it. The pentacle has also been used by Atheists, Catholics, and Muslims. Each point of the star can also represent different symbols. There’s quite the myriad of history, use cases and confusion. But for this review it’s clear the “The Dream Masters” use it as a symbol for fear.

The bicycler soon walks up to Wade and inappropriately says, “I can’t wait to sleep with you”. This is often a phrase for sexual intercourse. It may mean that or perhaps dreaming or both. After all, this is called The Dream Masters episode. After giving him the ultimate kick a man dreads, he angrily tells her he’ll see her in her dreams. This puts Wade in a troubled state, more so than we usually see her.

This is actually the first episode where I feel Sliders is starting to run off the rails. It’s the first episode after the departure of Sliders creator, Tracy Tormé. It’s not the fact that I won’t accept fantasy, I’m just ajar from our original standards as a series. The episode runs away from pop culture, comedy, and science. In past interviews with John Rhys-Davies, he mentioned how the series started flirting with the fantasy genre. Not all episodes do, but this one does. Not only is it hard to take seriously, it’s hard to even make fun of. It’s trying to be fantasy and horror all the same time.

The Sliders hang out at the hotel bar playing chess while Wade draws the pentacle she saw on the man’s hand. They try to unearth the true nature of the event. The Professor says the victim had neck spasms and the resultant angina, induced by an epileptic fit. Quinn equates it to being tired and seeing things. Meanwhile, bartender Elston Diggs walks up looking like the green haired basketball player, Dennis Rodman. I’m glad Sliders continues to use different doubles, maybe not often, but it’s still there with Diggs. We did have cab driver Pavel and Bennish before the series moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Diggs reveals the true nature of the Dream Masters of entering people’s dreams creating nightmares. They even got his last cocktail waitress. The whole situation of the Dream Masters is hush hush, so much so that Diggs doesn’t want to discuss it further.

Wade lies down on the hotel bed which is the worst possible thing you could do, but eventually heads down to the bar for some coffee. The Dream Master appears out of nowhere and eventually places his palm on her thigh. A pentacle burns on her skin and suddenly disappears. I’m assuming this could be one of the steps to enter a person’s dreams. Then again, he made some type of telekinetic intervention with the rollerblader victim. He has the whole bar in a state of fear. At the same time though, it’s like filming crew never had the extras to do anything. I guess they can put on their work resumé that they stood up from a table.

Wade has a series of scary nightmares and the Sliders find her bleeding on a sidewalk. But the fact is there are no cuts on her. To stay awake she takes a cold shower which is a nightmares in and of itself. The Professor, Quinn and Rembrandt keep going through theories of what is causing the dream reaction. It’s left up to Remmy to be her babysitter while the other two go visit the police. They end up meeting the same policewoman on the beach the first go around. This feels like an alternate version of Baywatch. On this earth it’s “some people stand in the light, afraid to step into the dark.” She demands the two idiots, Quinn and Arturo, to skedaddle and stop talking about The Dream Masters. As they walk off she reluctantly provides the Sliders with some information. She was a victim herself. On this earth there are actual shelters for dream victims.

The head dream master Wade is dealing with is played by the actor Zach Ward. He worked on an episode with Jerry O’Connell in a previous showed called My Secret Identity. I was even more surprised to find out he was in the episode The King is Back. He plays a security guard, which is practically impossible to see, and unaccredited for the role. He’s most known for his roles in “A Christmas Story” (1983) and the tv series “Titus”. Despite the bad story we’re dealing with for a Sliders episode, I think he plays his part well as an intimidating dream master.

The dream victim clinic has several coma patients and Dr. Lujan goes through various topics including the subconscious, insomnia, REM sleep blockers, hypnotic suggestion and more. Her husband ran a lab in hopes of stopping the dreams before becoming a victim himself. I can’t help but mention this clinic is in a cave. I don’t know how many times we’re going to have to deal with caves this season. As the Professor and Quinn talk to Dr. Lujan, Rembrandt himself falls asleep back at the hotel failing to keep Wade awake. She has various frightening dreams and begins bleeding yet again.

Wade is rushed to the clinic for treatment. It’s evident that Arturo is in a state of fury at Rembrandt. His arm is tied off to give blood to Wade. He curls his fist up in the air staring down Rembrandt. I know we all have a fit of rage from time to time, but this just doesn’t feel like our Professor. At all. At the Dream Masters headquarters everyone sits around a table using their telekinetic powers. The numero uno of the group is Vincent Cardoza. He’s played by the actor Michael Des Barres. In my book he’s best known as the villain named Murdoc in the TV series MacGyver. This season is somehow obsessed with women dancing off to the side. Not normal dancing either. They come up with anything weird and just go with it.

The table of Dream Masters enter Wade’s dream and she is thrown into torture. To be honest, it’s probably the most frightening of the episode. That’s a dimly lit red elevator that is falling to the ground. It’s now their intent on killing every slider off. The doctor explains to Arturo that Rembrandt couldn’t have donated blood even if he wanted to. There’s a sedative in his blood that is normally used by the Dream Masters. This time the Professor realizes his mistake. He has to eat his own words and apologize. Rembrandt takes advantage of the situation and it eventually unfolds into a humorous line of never ending apologies.

The Dream Masters attack Wade for the umpteenth time, throwing whatever she fears the most and that’s being cut and bleeding. They attack the victim with their inner most fears. For some it might be snakes but for another it could be fire. All the Sliders decide to go into Wade’s dream to help protect her. They use some electrodes to link them with Wade and use tranquilizers to put them under. Your guess is as good as mine as to how all this works. They’re all reminded though that everything they will experience is not real.

The Sliders and Dream Masters end up in a dream duel with flashing lights and changing color hues of blue, red, yellow and green. The whole atmosphere and the arrangement of characters seem to be a replica of a scene in the original Star Trek episode “Spectre of the Gun”. I don’t know if you’d call this an homage or a ripoff. However it all comes off looking ridiculous. The only thing that appears real or scary is when Quinn drowns in a pool of quicksand. As good as Sliders is, I wish this entire episode was merely a nightmare of my own dreams.