Date: 10/11/99
From: Blinker

The following is an e-mail I received from SIY at 7 PM today:
=====

Dear SIY participants,

The ballots have been counted, the judging is concluded and we're pleased to announce the 3 finalists in the first Slide-It-Yourself.

In pitch-numerical order:

Pitch 3: "America Without A Dream"
Pitch 5: "Blistering Idiots"
Pitch 10: "A Hard Day's Slide"

Congratulations to the members of these three teams. Congratulations as well to everyone else who participated -- competition was fierce, as seven of the ten pitches made it on to at least one judge's "top 3" list.

Instructions for members of these teams will be going out in the coming days. For them, the hard work has only just begun, as the transition from outline to script can be just as challenging as the one from pitch to outline.

Finally, we're pleased to announce that the last word in SIY will be in YOUR hands: registered members of SCIFI.COM will be the Stage 4 judges, so who walks off with the prize is ultimately up to you, the fans.

Speaking of prizes, we've held off announcing the prize all this time as we've been trying to get something out of the ordinary to offer, and I think we've succeeded. Each member of the winning team will get a copy of the script for THE SEER (the season 5 finale), autographed by Cleavant Derricks and writer Keith Damron. Due to the secret nature of the plot of this episode, the script will not be sent out until AFTER the episode airs in January.

Additionally, one member of the team -- either selected by the team members or, if there's no clear consensus, by random drawing -- will receive a leather jacket worn by either Tembi Locke or Cleavant Derricks (winner's choice) in an actual season 5 episode and autographed by that star.

For those who aren't in Stage 4, we hope you'll continue to develop your ideas, alone or in groups, for Sliders fanfic. The work you've done just to get to stage 3 has been great, and if you've had fun doing it there's no reason not to keep at it.

Thanks again for being a big part of Slide-It-Yourself.

The SIY Team

=====
There you have it. The winners are No Black Inventions World, Idiot World, and Rock Band World.

Oh, and even better, *all* of us will be able to choose the Ultimate Victor from between these three masterworks.

Rather reaffirms one's faith in the democratic process, doesn't it?

- Blinker 7>:-#
http://welcome.to/gate_haven

"Secret nature"??

Date: 10/11/99
From: buffyboy

They KNOW spoilers for The Seer have been released right here on this very board!! Secret my a$$!!
Unless....All the spoilers we received were from dummy scripts....Lets pray that they are!!!
Something is afoot at the sci-fi channel...Soomething...odd. But hey, what's new?
I wouldn't mind having an autographed leather jacket worn by one of the cast members in an actual ep.....Oh well.

Bb=:~)

BWAA-HAHAHA!!!

Date: 10/11/99
From: TemporalFlux

I apologize in advance to whomever is on that idea...but the Africanless America pitch was chosen *over* all those other great ones (including Blinker's, Informant's and RealmKeeper's)?!? These people are definitely smoking dope! There's no more doubt left! I mean...that had to be *the* crappiest one of the bunch and they chose it over those others. That's just dumb.

Tf
temporalflux@hotmail.com
http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com

i disagree TF

Date: 10/11/99
From: HunterD_Raven

the Rock Star World is the stupidest.
But hell they are all stupid. TO think pitches like my S5h & S5L at war in San-Fran with one group ready to kill mallory, the other to defend him was snubbed for this stuff.
I know how that SusanLucci gal felt for so long. No i didn't even get nominated. How about that guy from Home Improvement, yeah im more like him.
HunterD

And just to clarify

Date: 10/11/99
From: TemporalFlux

My thoughts are based on the idea in Pitch 3 that had to be worked with...not the writers. I mean, in my opinion...the writers didn't have anything to work with. Man...I am just in stupified disbelief over this.

Tf
temporalflux@hotmail.com
http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com

Oh, let's not forget the punchline...

Date: 10/11/99
From: Blinker

If you check the SIY room chat transcripts, you'll find that I (sarcastically) predicted all three winners, *before* the news broke.

*** Blinker changes topic to 'Winners are Idiot World, No Black Inventions and Rock Band World'
<Blinker> On Earth 69, anyway.
<RealmKeeper> Blinker you devil

- Blinker 7:-0
http://welcome.to/gate_haven

My God! The three suckiest pitches!

Date: 10/11/99
From: Brand_S

Man, if I wasn't going to reuse my ideas for my spinoff, I'd be pissed off.

S

Just when you thought it was safe ...

Date: 10/12/99
From: SL4ever

...to hate SIY without getting any more pissed off, this happens! Love the potty mouth face thingy, dude. My sentiments exactly!

SpaceTime's pitch was one of the best ..

Date: 10/12/99
From: Sheridan220

That's my opinion.

Sheridan220
The Icelandic Slider
Iceland

Sliders: A World BEyond WEbsite
http://come.to/sliders-beyond

Wait for final drafts - and be fair. :)

Date: 10/12/99
From: TimerPrime

When you guys get to read the final drafts, I think you'll have to agree that Rock World (though originally a questionable pitch - I can say that because it was mine) has turned into a pretty 'classic' Sliders episode. It follows the typical Sliders formula and mixes music with politics. You can't say that couldn't really happen - look at the international / Internet concert that took place over the weekend. Kind of scary that our pitch parallels real life (Politics and music - in its infancy)!!

All I ask is that you give our final beat sheet an open-minded read, then criticize the h - - - out of it. :)

So does mine, TimerPrime.

Date: 10/12/99
From: Blinker

Upon doing a little research, I was surprised to learn that my fanciful little pitch parallels a real-world phenomenon as well:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/990925/2908326.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/990926/2912727.html

BTW, since when has adhering to formula been considered a *good* thing?

- Blinker 7:-|

Plot flaws (To Blinker)

Date: 10/22/99
From: Bunky34

To Blinker,

I am not going to comment on some shortcoming in your story. You should completely re-read your story and see if it really does measure up to the three finalists.

The writing is extremely bad in your story and it is a bad clone of "My Borhter's Keeper" <pun intended>.

Both you and TemporalFlux should really read both of your stories very carefully for content, themes, and characterization. Sure, you had a better idea, but not the better written proposal.

Here are a few problems with your beat sheet:

* Shares many themes that occur in "My Brother's Keeper"- with cloning, harvesting of human organs, and clones are people too message

* No adequate explanation of copyright frenzy

* Remmy feeling guilty about Diana's abduction is out of
character

* Sitting around drinking beer is very passive, slows down
the action (usually only occurs as a transition scene or
at the end of an episode)

* Plot turns to comedy as soon as Kelly enters the picture
(inconsistent)

Also, Proposal 10 does something that no Sliders episode has ever done -- satire. Remmy and the Sliders jam on stage but the message is that everyone has a voice.

This theme is carried throughout the entire episode with Persuasion, the deaf/mute problem on the world, artists not being able to play their songs, sign language, Hall's sign/speech at the end, media coverage of Worldstock, the online poll, and more. There was a significant amount of planning that went on to pull off this pitch.

You can knock its shortcomings, but you also seemed to recognize the delivery was there for the three proposals that you predicted would make it to Stage 5.

Finally, your idea for copyrighting was decent, but you never really developed an adequate, or original, institution, history, or character that embodied the concept. Until that happens, your episode is only a concept, it has no real bite.

On a different note, SuperHero World sucked. The delivery was awful. The characters were cardboard figures, no character development for any of the Sliders. You have to laugh at all of the cliches in the beat sheet:

1. The villian pulls a BOMB (?) from under his shirt. No
one saw that coming. It's just bad writing.

2. Gee, we have the typical mixup between hero and
bad guy that occurs in almost every comic book.

3. The villian is an idiot, so is the hero. They battle
with technology that do not understand. They have
very little motivation. Except, of course, Arturo's
son (saw it coming).

4. Maggie flies through the air while tied up. Picture
that scene on TV. How funny is that?

Plus, did you notice that in the Fire World beat sheet that everyone can smell Methane gas (its odorless). Major plot flaw there.

I am sorry, but you guys did not offer SIY much of a problem disregarding these beat sheets.

You can have your opinions and rail all you want. Give me some substance. Return to Stage 3 and post your comment there and the problems with the beat sheets.

Thanks,
Bunky34

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/13484
Nominated by Blinker