**Spoilers**
Before you say “not that again”, many of you hardcore fans probably know where I’m going with this. Yes I’ve over analyzed but it’s more of a brainstorm of “what if” than actually trying to prove it. Over the years many Sliders fans have dismissed the notion of what I’ll call the Mallory-Richards theory. To get the full view it really covers 3-4 episodes from seasons one through four.
The theory? Quinn has a sister named Daelin. However if you believed this theory it would certainly expand the depth of this series which I feel makes a show all the more interesting. There’s a few reasons I feel many don’t buy into this, a couple are probably a disfavor of season four and also that it tends to break the original home world concept Quinn is from in the “Pilot”. If you don’t know about the Quinn sister controversy I’ll explain it below. To understand my point of view it’s best to look at a few season episodes in reverse. Starting with season four’s “Genesis”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, next season three’s “Dragonslide”, and finally the first episode “Pilot”.
In the season four episode “Genesis” Quinn discovers that his parents are in reality doubles. In the episode his mother removes a microdot from her arm and Quinn places this on his head. Through this he learns his real birth parents are actually doubles from a parallel world rather than earth prime (the world in the “Pilot” episode). Near the end of “Genesis” we find out that Quinn has a brother. We don’t know for sure since Kromagg mindgames may, and I emphasize may, have been utilized. However a few episodes later in “O Brother Where Art Thou” we discover Quinn’s Amish brother named Colin. Colin was separated from Quinn at birth and placed on a different parallel world.
From this stand point we realize that Quinn does have a brother, minus the Kromagg-spy plot (it was originally planned for Colin to be a Kromagg spy) but in the end this story was eventually scrapped behind the scenes. In season three Charlie O’Connell actor of “Colin” guest starred in the episode “Dragonslide” as “Officer O’Hara”. In the second season episode “As Time Goes By” he appeared as “Kit Richards”, brother to character “Daelin Richards”. When Daelin introduces Quinn to her brother, Quinn exclaims “Yeah! I remember you” while Kit makes a face of disbelief. That remark and expression even seem totally out of place in that scene. Perhaps its a nod to both actors being brothers in real life. Nevertheless wouldn’t it be possible that in the episode “As Time Goes By” Colin’s double was sent to a world to be fostered by the Richards family and given the name Kit Richards. Why you say then wouldn’t his last name be Mallory instead of Richards or even like in the other episode he was known as “O’Hara”. Colin pointed out that the family that raised him actually died from influenza. Perhaps in Kitt Richard and O’Hara’s case their parents died of something simliar and they were adopted by a non-Mallory family.
Now there are some cons to this theory like why was Quinn dating Daelin, or it may have been a convenient mishap with acting roles, etc. And yes, this theory is likely grabbing at straws with various connections. However I personally find it more interesting to dive into the realm of “what if” because it digs deeper into the story of parallel worlds. In reality though you think the crew would have inserted this idea in season four. But I guess after the death of Arturo, the addition of Maggie and other distractions the audience would have never remembered the episode “As Time Goes By”. To me the final and most interesting piece to all of this comes from the “Pilot” episode. During their slide to Ice World, Quinn finds a photo of his double’s family. Arturo asks, “Who’s the girl?” Quinn replies, “It must be the sister I never had.” Makes you wonder…
What do you think? Should the idea of Quinn having a sister been explored further?