Pressed for time? I’ve created an essential Sliders episodes list for you to watch. Now I don’t declare each and every one of these episodes “favorites”. In fact there’s a few favorites of my own that didn’t make the cut out of the chosen 20 episodes for this list. These are a blend of what I feel are fan favorites and important continuity episodes that will help you relive the series if you’re short on time without having to wade through 87 episodes. I’ve selected episodes from each season of the series for you to watch, so let’s get started.
Season 1
1. Pilot
This is of course where it all began. With this episode you’ll gain a understanding of parallel worlds. Quinn Mallory opens the gateway and takes his Professor, friend Wade Welles and a R&B singer named Rembrandt Brown to several worlds including a world where the Russians rule America.
2. Summer of Love
Imagine if Oliver North was President and America was at war with Australia. It appears everyone around you is stuck in the mindset of the 60s hippie generation. In this episode the Sliders are separated from one another and split up into two teams. They have to leave a world by sliding from two different vortexes.
3. The Weaker Sex
Roles reverse in this episode. Women are the breadwinners and rule the world while men are second class citizens. Hilary Clinton is president of the United States, and the Professor is determined to strike a political nerve by winning the mayoral seat for the city of San Francisco.
4. Eggheads
What if geniuses were the sports celebrities of America? Intellect is valued more than athleticism however corruption is still underneath the glamour of even the brightest of minds. Imagine if Michael Jordan had an IQ of 145 and answered scientific competition questions on the court.
5. Luck of the Draw
It’s something the global elite have been dreaming about for so long. Population reduction. Wade wins the lottery and is unknowingly a participant of the system that brings death after your every wish is granted. A slider ends up being shot leaving the season one episode in a dramatic cliffhanger.
Season 2
6. Into the Mystic
This episode explains the ending to “Luck of the Draw” while landing the Sliders on a world of mysticism and superstition. There’s a familiar face at the end of the episode and he may have the ability to send the Sliders to the world they want to see most of all… home.
7. Invasion
The story finds the Sliders as prisoners of a differently evolved human race called the Kromaggs. Fans of the show question whether the episode should have even gone that route in the first place. A slider is implanted with a Kromagg tracking device which will later prove important in season four.
8. Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome
The Sliders made a slide to home, or have they? Quinn meticulously questions his surroundings while Wade and Rembrandt jumpstart their careers. The biggest shock is to come as the Sliders find two Professor Arturo’s and they don’t know which one is their own. Will the right one make the slide?
Season 3
9. Double Cross
On a world running out of natural resources, the Sliders find a group of scientists trying to perfect sliding. The Sliders are weary of their plans but Quinn falls head overheels for himself, quite literally. A slider is taken hostage while another is nearly murdered. What else could go wrong? 400 miles could.
10. The Guardian
The Sliders haven’t time travelled, they’ve only slid to a universe where the earth spins on it’s axis a little faster. Everything appears to be in 1984 and it gives Quinn the opportunity to help his younger double through a traumatic life experience. The episode has a bittersweet ending that you won’t soon forget.
11. Slide Like An Egyptian
When the Sliders land on a world ruled by the Egyptians they decided not to slide because the fate of a missing slider is unknown. After deciding to miss the slide in hopes of finding the lost slider they cannot open the vortex for another 29.7 years. They discover a new timer that was made by the Egyptians that could give them a second chance.
12. The Exodus Part I
A pulsar is headed for a world the Sliders are on which will radiate all life. The Sliders find out that the government has been holding the truth from the public. They decide to help the local military find an alternate world suitable enough for living. Quinn may have found the perfect planet… home. But a life or death situation compounds their dilemma.
13. The Exodus Part II
This is the conclusion to the Exodus Part I. One Slider won’t leave this world alive. After finding a suitable world, the head military colonel is found to be far from noble and takes what is most dearest from them, while a new slider joins the team.
Season 4
14. Genesis
After the Sliders are separated, Quinn discovers that Earth Prime has been ravaged by the Kromaggs. A slider is lost, and Quinn questions his mission, his life, and what really is his home. With timer in hand he and the remaining Sliders search for Quinn’s long lost brother.
15. World Killer
The Sliders find a dimension where Quinn’s double slid the entire population to another world except himself. As the last man on earth, he joins the Sliders in search of the people to bring them back to their home world. This episode clearly defines how choices can lead you down a different path in life.
16. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Quinn finds his brother on an Amish-like world. It is a challenge to convince him not only that he is his brother but that his home is not what he has grown up to know. His brother gives the Sliders a challenging yet humorous journey.
17. Slidecage
To protect Earth Prime, Quinn Mallory’s father built a device on a parallel world called a “Slidecage”. Everyone including Kromaggs who attempt to slide to Earth Prime are rerouted to this large labyrinth. A Kromagg puts a hypnotic trance on Rembrandt sending him on a mission to kill one of his fellow Sliders.
Season 5
18. The Unstuck Man
One slider is split up into a thousand different directions in the multiverse and slides involuntarily. The other is stuck in his fraternal double and is struggling to show he isn’t gone. The Sliders and fans of the show haven’t been this downcast since “The Exodus Part II”.
19. Requiem
A long lost slider returns in this somber episode. They are forcibly being used in a Kromagg experiment as a type of human computer to destroy the human race. Their demented experiment is ultimately a failure but the fate of the slider is unknown.
20. The Seer
The Sliders discover they are essentially worshiped in a fanatical religion called Slidology on a world they thought was their home. One slider takes his chances in a life or death situation in an attempt to reach the one world he loves, home.