Sliders Season 3 DVD Review

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DVD Review

Movie Rating: *** out of ****
Extras Rating: 1/2 out of ****

Movie Review: There are several things that one must remember when going into season three of Sliders. First of all, the first two seasons are way better, so lower your expectations drasticly and if you haven't seen those, give them a watch first. Second, Fox took the opportunity to wrestle control away from the series' creator Tracy Torme, so instead of being character driven, the show is much more action driven. Not neccissarily a bad thing, but the writing also takes a nosedive as well, resulting in some ill-concieved worlds trying to spice things up.

But despite all that, Sliders still remained an immensly entertaining show. Albeit on a completly different level.

Probably the best thing representing this season is Danny Lux, who steps up to the plate and gives Sliders it's signiture theme. The first two seasons were rather forgettable techno and rock tunes (especially season two, what was that about?). I'm a big fan of this theme, I think it fits the show perfectly. Lux would even go on to change it for the better in seasons four and five.

The lovable cast is back, for the most part anyway. Jerry O'Connell is back as Quinn Mallory, who is still the genius of the group, but a little more harder emotionally than before. After a few years of this lifestyle, his change of character is understandable, if somewhat disappointing. Sabrina Lloyd gets thrown in the backseat with a reduced role as Wade Welles (who has dyed her hair red). It's pretty appearant, now that the show is in different hands, that nobody has a clue what to do with her. Some of her values seemed to have changed. In season two's Obsession, she was going on about how you couldn't make someone fall in love with you, but in this season's Dragonslide, she's more than willing to try by helping Rembrandt with a love spell. Not to mention contradicting her character in the same season, like here fear of flying established in Rules of the Game, yet she doesn't have a problem with it in Slither. There's even a passing line about her being a vegetarian in Dinoslide, even though she's been willing to eat meat in the past (but to be fair, it may have been a polite little fib for saying "No thanks" to the food she was given in that episode). Cleavant Derricks is still the great Rembrandt Brown, who probably fared the best between seasons two and three before becoming a much darker character in seasons four and five. Here, he still is the light comic relief. John Rhys-Davies rounds out the originals with the ill-fated Maxamilian Arturo, who is, sadly, only around for slightly over half the season (Rhys-Davies was fired for creative differences). His replacement comes in the form of a D-cup named Kari Wuhrer, who plays Sliding newcomer Maggie Beckett. Maggie is a hard ass, fine ass, ex-Marine who shakes things up and adds conflict between the Sliders, most notably in Wade, which would eventually have resulted in the ultimate catfight had Sabrina not exited at the end of the season as well. Is she a decent replacement for Arturo? I'd have to say no. Arturo brought the mentor relationship to the group, wheras Maggie brings in the sex appeal (that is to those who didn't already think John-Rhys Davies was already sexy enough). She's basicly Sliders' Seven of Nine, only without the slightest hint of likability or acting talent. Of course that could just be because she replaced a hard act to follow, because my opinion of Maggie has softened over time. In fact, I even began to like her by season five. It's hard to know what to make of Maggie because her personality seems to change during each season (although she was always someone you wouldn't dare piss off), but she was a stone-cold bitch when she first came on the show.

As for the writing...well...it hardly ever got boring. Season three is split up into four catagories: the smart (Double Cross, the Guardian), the entertaining (Dead Man Sliding, Season's Greedings), the stupid (Paradise Lost, the Breeder), and the just plain bad (The Other Slide of Darkness, This Slide of Paradise). While the first few seasons, as well as the two seasons that followed, often redeamed themselves with fun adventure and neat ideas, many of the episodes in this season are Mini-Me B-movies. It will make you cry once you read that the same man who wrote season two's outstanding Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome also wrote This Slide of Paradise.

Faring the worst of this year is unfortunatly their lame attempt at a story arc. I don't understand why they started it, and when it's over, you can't help but ask "what was the point?" Especially since the show tried something similar earlier in the year with a character named Logan St. Claire, yet she was never seen again, and instead we're stuck with Colonal Angus Rickman (played by two different actors: Roger Daltrey and Neil Dickson). Rickman is a character who has some sort of brain fungus and must feed off of other people's brain cells by pricking them with a hypodermic needle and injecting it into his brain. Sounds unappealing already doesn't it? Try featuring him in six episodes: The Exodus Part I, The Exodus Part II, The Other Slide of Darkness, Dinoslide, Stoker, and This Slide of Paradise. Not one of them leaves any sort of lasting impression, with the possible exception of Dinoslide, which was actually somewhat entertaining. And in several of the episodes, he serves no real purpose except to stand there, taunt them, and slide out. By the time his arc thankfully draws to a close, he's feeding off of human/animal hybrids and starts to turn into one himself (I can just hear Crow T. Robot's voice saying "He's almost as harry as Robin Williams"), making him even more unappealing than ever, even for a villian. However, when his unbelievable stupidity causes him to jump off of a cliff to his death, you'll be laughing so hard, you'll rewind it several times just so you can witness it again and again.

Ah, Rickman. As over the top and hillarious as you were, don't ever come back, you wanker. You bring out the worst in the series.

But other than the Rickman fiasco, the series stay fairly entertaining. A couple of neat worlds spread here and there and some cool stories dominating the year and we're left with a fun, if underwhelming, season.

Once again, the episodes are in Fox brodcast order as opposed to intended order, but the only episode that's out of place in this set is the Last of Eden, which is an episode with Arturo in it after he got killed off. Fox worked around this by filming a short scene for the beginning in which Wade wakes up from a nightmare and recalls the world to Rembrandt. It helps the episode fit better in the slot it's given, but it's hard seeing Arturo after he's been replaced, it only succeeds in reminding us how much better the original cast worked. But if you're really willing to nitpick, this also provides a problem with Dead Man Sliding, in which Wade's hair is much shorter than the episodes that aired around it. Also like the previous set, the "Sliders" whisper bumpers have been removed (this time all of them). Also edited to the beginning of each episode is the Universal logo. Why they did this, I have no clue, since the original airings had it at the very end of the credits (though they are cut out here). They are a little bothersome, since you can't skip over them, but they only last about 45 seconds each (but there's 25 of them, so take that as you will).

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Rules of the Game: The Sliders slide into the wrong place at the wrong time when they land in a battlezone for a game where you must make it out alive in order to win. Entertaining, if stupid. Good opening to the season.

Double Cross: On a world where resources are low, Quinn is discovered by Logan St. Claire, a woman who wants him to help her perfect the sliding technology she and Arturo's deceased double have developed. But when her true intent for the use of the technology comes into the light, Quinn must stop her. Smart episode, even if Rembrandt's subplot drags it down.

Electric Twister Acid Test: The Sliders slide in on a peice of land where electric tornadoes run amuck. Fleeing into a town in a valley, Quinn, Rembrandt, and Arturo are exiled into the twister infested land for bringing technology (the timer) into the valley. Their only chance of recovering Wade, who has been taken prisoner and sent into labor, lies with another group of exiles in the land. Guest starring Corey Feldman (O'Connell's costar from Stand By Me)! And the award for worst title ever goes to.....this episode! HUZZAH! Even if you can get past the title, this is pretty lame.

The Guardian: On a world that seems to be running 12 years behind ours, Quinn becomes close to his younger self, who he has been training in self defense for a upcoming schoolyard fight, much to the other Sliders' protests. Fabulous character episode. A nice throwback to the earlier seasons.

The Dream Masters: Refusing his sexual advances, Wade is haunted by a maniac in her dreams. But they discover that it's more than just a dream when they find out the whole town is terrified by this man and his followers. Guest starring Zach Smith! Stupid rip-off of a Nightmare on Elm Street, but watchable because it's somewhat well made.

Desert Storm: The Sliders land in a desert world where water is more valuable than gold. But when they discover a young girl who can somehow detect water has been wrongfully taken from her people, they attempt to take her back. Dedicated to the memory of Ken Steadman (who died in a dune buggy accident during filming). Not exactly bad, but nothing on what the show used to be.

Dragonslide: On a world where wizards exist, Quinn is mistaken to be part of a family chain of very powerful wizards. Now an evil wizard plans to put his soul into his body, becoming immortal. Guest starring Charlie O'Connell (Jerry's brother)! Better than it should be. It's a surprisingly entertaining episode, and the subplot involving Rembrandt, Wade, and a love spell gone wrong is hillarious.

The Fire Within: After a short slide to firey land, the Sliders arrive in a world where LA is being drilled for oil. However, little do they know a small sentient flame has followed them through the vortex, and now all hell is breaking loose. Wha...? I remember when Sliders used to have intelegent ideas, how did we get to this? I guess the episode itself doesn't play out too badly, it's just so bloody ridiculous.

The Prince of Slides: In a hospital after a slide landing gone wrong, Rembrandt runs into the double of an old girlfriend, who needs him for an operation. Mistaking her needs as a blood transfusion, Rembrandt wakes up to find out that he's pregnant! Not just with a son, but the future king of this world. Sliders' answer to Junior. This episode is actually worth watching.

Dead Man Sliding: On a world where Quinn's double is a fugitive, Quinn is arrested and taken on a game show for trial in front of a studio audience. Guest starring Don Most and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (what's the matter? Couldn't get Ron Howard or John Travolta?)! This particularly crazy idea, even though an obvious take on the Running Man (then again, so was Rules of the Game), and it works. Jerry's hillarious Quinn double alone makes the episode. This is the best episode of the season.

State of the ART: One a world dominated by androids, a mad scientist kidnaps Quinn and Rembrandt, hoping to download their brains into mechanical bodies. Guest starring Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund ("Welcome to prime time, bitch!")! Good episode with a decent story. Could have been better, but it works fine as is.

Season's Greedings: It's Christmas time on a world where comecialism has been taken to the next level. After obtaining jobs at a mall, Arturo searches for the mother of a lost child, Wade faces the fact that she won't spend Christmas with her family after meeting the doubles of her sister and father, Quinn becomes an elf and flirts with Wade's sister, and Rembrandt gets into the "Christmas spirit" (and on that world, it's spend, spend, spend!). Looking back on the other episodes this season, I think we're lucky that the Sliders didn't slide to the North Pole and meet Santa and his Elves. This is actually a very good Christmas Special. Something worth watching annually.

Murder Most Foul: In a very orderly world, Arturo loses his temper (surprise surprise) and is taken into a relaxation fantasy camp, where he is brainwashed into thinking that he is the greatest detective the world has ever known, and is now hot on the case of a murderer. The other Sliders infiltrate the playact as actors, but when the fake murders turn real, they must get Arturo and slide out as fast as they can, because Wade might be next. Decent attept at what a Trekkie might call a "holodeck episode." It's not bad, but it's hardly that good either.

Slide Like an Egyptian: The Sliders land in a world where that has taken to the ways of the ancient Egyptians, and Quinn is immediatly taken prisoner after trying to help a slave girl. After learning that he has been killed, the Sliders are prepared to slide without him. But when they learn that there is the slightest chance of his survival, Wade refuses to leave him behind without knowing for sure and convinces them to miss the slide, trapping them on this world. The birth of the Egyptian timer is actually a decent effort, if somewhat silly with all the resurrections and giant scarabs running about. Not bad at all.

Paradise Lost: The slide leads the Sliders into a little town with a dark secret. Giant, killer worms surround the town, however provide the secret to eternal youth. I recomend you watch this episode if only to see how hillariously bad it is. The most roll on the floor hillarious episode of them all.

The Exodus, Part I: On a world where a pulsar threatens to destroy the Earth, the Sliders attempt to save the few they can by recreating the sliding technology. Guest starring Roger Daltrey! Decent, if below average start to a promising idea.

The Exodus, Part II: The Sliders race against time in order to save as many as they can of this doomed Earth with a new motivation, during one of Quinn's slides to discover a suitable world, he finally slides back into their home world. But Colonal Rickman has his own agenda, costing one of the Sliders their lives. Guest starring Roger Daltrey! Weak conclusion to what could have been a classic.

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Sole Survivors: On a world were a bacteria has infected the population, turning most residents into zombies, Quinn is bitten by one. Now they must discover a cure, before that trigger happy Maggie uses her own solution, her gun. Silly, but amusing in a Resident Evil kind of way.

The Breeder: Maggie becomes infested by a mysterious creature on a jungle world right before the slide, and on the next world, her sex drive has kicked into high gear. Another hillariously bad episode. Give it a look to see Kari's true talent, heavy breathing and chest heaving. Not to mention Quinn's gutbusting "I want you inside me" lines.

The Last of Eden: Waking up from a nightmare, Wade remembers the events of a previous slide in which the ground broke open during an earthquake and she fell in, prompting Quinn to climb down and rescue her from the creatures underneath. Guest starring John Rhys-Davies as Arturo! Maybe it's just relief of seeing Arturo after two subpar Maggie episodes talking, but I get a kick out of this episode. It's fun, adventurous, and well-plotted, despite a few moments of akward dialogue.

The Other Slide of Darkness: On a world of superstition and a mysterious fog, the Sliders finally track down Rickman, but all that brain fluid Rickman's been giving to himself has changed his appearance and the fog has driven him to the edge of insanity. The chase on Rickman leads Quinn to a person who he never thought he'd ever see again. This episode is as boring as the get. The dullest episode of the series (other than season four's the Chasm and season five's the Great Work).

Slither: During one of their longer slides, Quinn and Rembrandt fly out for a little vaction. But when they get bumped from their plane back, they hitch a ride on a charter flight to get back to Wade and Maggie, resulting in a series of events that puts them into a snake trade gone wrong. I have a soft spot for this episode, since it's the first episode I ever watched (well, technically I only watched the last fifteen minutes). It's not a particularly good episode, however. In fact it's one of the most absurd they've ever done. But there's a certain charm I find in it's badness.

Dinoslide: Rickman returns to the New World for the people of the Exodus, and the Sliders follow, shocked to discover that this world is inhabited by dinosaurs. Not as good as season two's dinosaur episode, but this one is pretty fun.

Stoker: On a world where vampires exist, Wade becomes lead singer in a rock group, unbeknowist to her that they are using her to get to the timer and turn her into one of them. Guest starring Tommy Chong and Danny Masterson! What the hell is this? In the past I've swallowed psychics, hippies, wizards, women who can grow facial hair, and real "corporate gunslingers," but vampires is a tad to far. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky, we could have had werewolves, which was the original idea for this episode. On the plus side, Jerry O'Connell does some decent direction and Sabrina has a lovely voice.

This Slide of Paradise: The Sliders land on an island in which is run by a mad scientist who has created a race of human/animal hybrids. Feeding upon these monsters brain tissue, Rickman has become uglier and even more unfrightening than ever. Guest starring Michael York! If you're going to rip off a famous novel, you could at least change something in order to try and pass it off as original. Sigh. The worst episode of the season, and after this, I'm not surprised Sabrina dropped out of next season.

Extras Review: I've got to give Universal credit, they've set the bar for laziness very high in the extras department. I fully understand that as a cult show the Sliders seasons wouldn't be a smash hit on the shelves, I think they even knew this with the small features they put on it. Where it went wrong was the price was so much for so little. This time they shrink it down. Next, in order to reduce the price, they decide to double side the discs to split the amount of discs in the set in half. OK, fair enough. Smaller price, means more money for me. Where season three is lacking is the extras. Sure we have a gag reel, but what the hell is this? We got a couple of episodes from two shows that have nothing to do with Sliders. I've never even bothered to watch either in the past either (although I did catch the end of a few episodes of Cleopatra 2525. It looked lame, despite Sam Raimi's name in the credits, so I never bothered to watch a full episode until now). I can see Universal's reasoning behind this, put it on the disc and this fanbase may check it out and get into it, therefor buying the other sets of these shows, but this is a swift kick in the gut. I purchased Sliders, and, damnit, I want Sliders. Leave your advertisements to 2 minute promos, maybe then, if I like what I see, I'll check out a few episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel (probably the best thing about that network is they often give prematurely axed shows a chance to build up their cult fanbase on the air with marathons and otherwise).

But what pisses me off most about this set is the packaging. Away with the foam from the first set, and up with the plastic case. Sure, the foam wasn't great, but at least it served displayable purposes and it would be nice for the sets to match at least. The above photograph is inacurate. The cover art is the same, but if you were to guess what this set was using to hold the discs in, it would have been four plastic holders taped together like the sets for Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise. I could have lived with that, instead we get this clunky thing with two discs stacked on top of each other. And I have no clue what that plastic flap is for, but it gets in the way big time. Even worse, since the discs are double sided, they're even more likely to be damaged. You'll have to be extra careful in taking these discs out. This is the most frustrating DVD case I've ever seen. The only advantage of this case is that it's much, much skinnier than the one for seasons one and two. However, no TV series, no matter how mind numbingly awful, deserves packaging like this. Let alone Sliders. It's obvious that Universal put no effort whatsoever into this set. If you guys are going to just pack them up and throw them out, you could at least shorten the wait between sets. It took a year for this abomination to get out. Could we at least have seasons four and five sooner than that?

Cleopatra 2525 episode "Quest for Firepower": In the year 2525, machines have taken over the world. Hel and Sarge, two humans who fight the machines, have discovered that a teammate is a robot. Now on the run from him, Sarge needs a new kidney after a battle. Hel takes her to a chryogenic lab and the doner turns out to be an exotic dancer named Cleopatra who was frozen in 2001 after her boob job went wrong. When Cleopatra wakes up, the robot stalking them returns to finish the job he started. Holy lord in hot pants, this is the kinkiest vision of the future I've ever seen. Is it just me, or was there a pink imprint of a thong on Sarge's outfit? I found the show poorly acted, silly, and stupid (even though I expected all of these things). Not to mention that it steals from countless sources: The Matrix, Spider-Man (of course, this was before the movie, so it had to have been a reference to the comic book), and even Terminator 2: Judgement Day. However, it does have an unexplainable charm about it. This show reminded me of Jason X, it was undeniably terrible, but it wants to be exactly what it is (hell, something tells me that the guys who made Jason X were big fans of this show). I will say that the theme song was catchy, though.

Earth 2 episode "The Man Who Fell to Earth Part II": A group of human colonists on a planet discover a man who claims to claims to have been stranded there for years. Guest starring Tim Curry! I like the concept of this show, but it was somewhat dry and a little dull. I liked it enough to maybe check out a Sci-Fi Channel marathon should the opportunity arise (after all, I haven't seen Part I and this episode ended on a cliffhanger, now I need to know what happens damnit!), but not enough to by a series set. I would recomend Sci-Fi fans to check it out, you just may like it.

Gag Reel: This is an aged blooper reel. It's kind of funny, but it's hard to make out what the people are saying.

Previews: Rickman did this! You hairy bastard! I'll get even with you if it's the last thing I do!

Earth 2 Complete Series/Sliders Season 3/Cleopatra 2525 Complete Series (see above/see above/see above)
Revelations (didn't see it. Heard it was mediocre)

Get to the damn point already: Season three of Sliders is for die-hard fans of the series. This season does provide some classics, but one must take the good the good with the bad. Beware the shoddy packaging though. Universal can bite me.

Stinger: From Paradise Lost: Arturo's being eaten alive by an overgrown sandworm, and all he can manage to say is "Confound you!"