We all have arguments and disagreements, whether they’re family or friends. In this top 5, I’ll give you the most heated arguments among the Sliders family. As Professor Arturo stated, “Miss Wells, the four of us have become an extended family and like all families, I’m afraid we know how to press each other’s buttons.” I guess it’s no wonder most of these are from Season Three. There was so much chaos behind the scenes, with Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) and the Sliders creator, Tracy Tormé, leaving the series. The writers had to get in something besides movie ripoffs. What else were they going to do? Make interesting storylines? No. Only more chaos, and heated moments.
Honorable Mention:
In this episode Wade has a tizzy because the Professor has an outburst at a nagging robot. She says the robot has feelings. I guess I can’t complain that Wade is upset about hearing arguing. But the fact she thinks robots are on the same level as humans is just lunacy. Wade continues to say that we may run on different oils but we’re machines too. Unreal. The Professor runs mad at her proclaiming he doesn’t care how creative the robot is. It cannot have moral growth, love, you name it. She later apologizes, but tells the Professor he knows how to press people’s buttons.
5. Slither
On this snake world, Rembrandt and Quinn are separated from Wade and Maggie during a vacation. A snake smuggler or something of the nature has to get her snake back into San Francisco because it will save millions of lives. The Sliders have to tag along because they have to get back within the sliding radius. Snakes are big money on this world. It turns out that the woman is the biggest snake. She tries to seduce Quinn at all costs, no matter how dire the danger they’re in. Unfortunately Quinn takes the bait.
Rembrandt tries to get them to hightail it out of the building to safety. Why? The whole building is surrounded by snakes trying to get in! The opposing ideas arise. Quinn states the snakes will become lethargic at night, and they can sneak by them. While Rembrandt says they won’t have to wait 5 hours if they would just let go of the snake they have. Somehow the special snake they have and the others somehow have advanced intelligence. I don’t know if the snakes want to breed with the snake they have or kill it. Rembrandt doesn’t care, nor would I. He attempts to shoot the snake or box, whatever the case may be. They both struggle with the gun.
Quinn comes up with the harebrained idea to leave the earth and come back because the timer has that ability. Yet Rembrandt says they don’t know how long they’ll have to stay on the next world and they’ll be lucky to find Wade and Maggie when they return. Quinn tosses Rembrandt the timer and haphazardly says, “I’m not making any more decisions. You want to leave? Go.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine being in Rembrandt’s situation.
The Sliders land on a world where women dominate over men. The traditional roles of men and women are reversed, and the Professor is intent on making an impression on young men who dream of becoming leaders. He decides to run for mayor of San Francisco facing overwhelming backlash but also rising support. The Sliders view him being reported on TV as essentially a complete buffoon. The confrontation begins with Wade and the Professor. Quinn’s stuck in the middle and keeps quiet.
Wade states since women took over, the world has no war anymore or violent crime. Anger and fighting go hand in hand in human nature so that’s beyond a long stretch. But this is scifi and a parallel world so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and suspend my disbelief as well.
With disappointment, the Professor turns off the TV and says “they laughed at Ross Perot.” He was one of America’s former politicians with logical ideals that were overlooked. Wade angrily says the Professor is upset because he is “devalued and overlooked because of your sex.” Something she has felt most of her life. The Professor had enough of her talk and says she’s in “an unaccustomed position of influence and don’t wish to see it threatened.” If Wade has these feelings ok. But the fact she acts out in anger and doesn’t support the Professor is ridiculous. They’ve been through dangerous situations more than you can count. You’d think there would be a sense of supportive friendship. Throughout the entire episode she doesn’t support his cause. Not once. Not even of the smallest amount.
Wade sees two men shot and killed—doubles from the current and previous earth, with their actions reversed. She has seen two murders in such a short time span. Unfortunately both men drive off. They’re asked numerous questions by the police and later check in at the Dominion Hotel. It’s at that point I’d stay low rather than putting everyone at risk. Let them run into a different problem altogether if necessary.
The Professor says to Wade that the man is a killer and deserves the full rigor of the law. She then has a fit, telling the Professor “What are you saying? I’m emotionally invested?!” He returns fire saying, “Yes, Ms. Welles! You are emotionally invested…” Two people with guns bust the hotel door down telling them they are not to talk to the police anymore. Rembrandt, Quinn and the Professor get ready to run for the hills. Wade complains saying a man is dead and she may be able to help. They run out of the room temporarily while Wade just sits there. The guys have to give in to her insane plans and even her smirk. She’s gotta have mental problems and is a liability to everyone.
After the death of Arturo, Maggie tags along with the rest of the Sliders. I guess you can now call her “a part of the team.” A Slider. They arrive on a zombie world, and you can see the tension rising between Wade and Maggie. It something that never really goes away in the series. Maggie states “I see her whining.” I can’t argue with that. But eventually it turns very cold when Maggie says “She’s all broken up over some old guy she wasn’t even related to.” That guy is the Professor. This has to be the cruelest moment as far as personal beefs in the entire series. Being in the military, Maggie has the mindset of putting feelings away, “hold it till downtime, and then deal with it.”
Wade defends herself and the Professor, but Maggie also throws out a threat, “next time, you get hurt.” The bickering between all of the Sliders lasts over a minute and a half. The rumor is there was resentment behind the scenes because Wade (Sabrina) felt Maggie (Kari) was essentially moving in on her territory. Did the resentment bleed over into the acting? I don’t know. Whatever the case may be, the acting between the two in this moment was stellar.
This would be the Professor’s (John Rhys-Davies’) last episode in the series. Everything comes to a boiling point and no wonder. The world the Sliders were on was about to be destroyed by a neutron star. A military Colonel wants to save some essential people of society, and some for himself. But there’s more to that story. Anyway, Quinn had promised the small group of select individuals he would slide them to another world. Upon scouting other suitable earths, Quinn found the Sliders home world. He now had the coordinates! Finally.
He gives the good news to the rest of the Sliders. Yet two conflicting ideas arise. Rembrandt wants to leave immediately and go home without helping those on that perilous world. Quinn proclaims that’s not the deal he made with them. He even goes on to tell Rembrandt what’s he going to do about his newly found friend, Malcolm, who can’t breathe on their world. Well Wade has to come up with something ludicrous and say they can put him in one of those “little bubbles or something.”
Rembrandt angrily yells at Quinn, “You’re the reason why we’re in this mess” and “I am sick of you acting like God!” are just a few of his outbursts. I can understand where Rembrandt is coming from. On the other hand, like Quinn, you really should stay true to your word and save lives. Especially after you’ve promised help. On top of all this, Wade has to add insult to injury, telling Quinn “sometimes you can be such a bastard.” Now after this top 5, maybe you can understand why I always say Wade is annoying and whiny.