Unknown Facts • Into the Mystic

Date: 01/21/2004
From: Recall317

"My role in this episode is, uh...well, I'm there; I'm certainly there. I don't see myself as a vehicle for the plot so much as... sort of walking furniture. It's a very special episode written by the remarkable producer, writer and originator of our show, Mr. Tracy Tormé. And I'm sure I have a function." - John Rhys-Davies

The name of the game is Unknown Facts and the name of the episode is "Into the Mystic", the 2nd season premiere and one of the greatest eps of the series - to me anyway. John Rhys-Davies may disagree.

The object of the game is to make up a "fact", not to state a little known fact as the name of the game implies. How does one make up a fact? Well, just pretend you're a politician and begin expounding on the deficit. That should get you in the right frame of mind. Like this:

Did you know...Fox was totally against making any mention that a first season of Sliders even existed. It took co-creator Tracy Tormé months of fighting before Fox finally agreed to remove "Into the Mystic"'s opening "Last Season on VR-5" montage.

Anything else we didn't know about this story?

R317

Strange But Untrue

Date: 01/21/2004
From: Blinker

Both the "Sliders" whisper and the timer's emitter beam vanished for a few weeks beginning with this episode. Where'd they go?

JRD: *braaaap*

There was a coherent joke in here, but I can't seem to find i--

JRD: *braaaap*

- Blinker 7:-/
http://slidersweb.net/blinker

Henry the Dog

Date: 01/21/2004
From: JohnMU1

BT

Between "Luck of the Draw" and this episode, Henry the Dog got ahold of the timer, thinking it was a chew toy. He eventually tried to swallow it, but choked to death, which is why he isn't seen again. His drool seeped inside the device causing some damage, which explains why the timer suddenly doesn't beep anymore while counting and when the countdown approached zero and why the wormhole suddenly looks and sounds different.

The Fox effect started then for sure.

Date: 01/21/2004
From: Grizzlor

The Cliffhanger infuriated them, and began a long battle of Torme vs. Fox.

Icarus and Daedalus

Date: 01/22/2004
From: MissingSliderRyan

If JRD can be DiVinci, why not?

Originally we were going to expound on the Icarus and Daedalus theme with Quinn and Arturo flying in the air with feathers for wings. Unfortunately we had to scrap the idea after John and Jerry were in costume. Both were allergic to the feathers we used and developed large red welts. We had to scramble for a replacement scene and lucky for us Nick Lea was filming an 'X-Files' episode on the set next to us. He agreed to film a short scene for us before heading back to that set. That's the reason why Ryan's hairstyle is different. Yes, the tombstone was moving, but we were lucky on short notice, to find one that could withstand John's mass.
~~~ Richard Compton


MSR

Here's my addition ;-)

Date: 01/22/2004
From: TemporalFlux

And it's related to JRD's quote listed by Recall at the start.

Alternity_Orange, Vortex62 and myself were lucky enough to meet JRD at DragonCon a few years back, and he actually expanded on his feelings about "Into the Mystic". If memory serves, it began as a copy of the script to "Into the Mystic" was produced for JRD to sign. As many know, JRD signed it "God I hate this script. John Rhys-Davies"

As JRD ranted a bit, the focal point became the fortune teller scene. JRD noted how they had to reshoot that scene several times because he just couldn't help but ad-lib when the fortune teller brought up the Mozart/Salieri comparsion to Quinn/Arturo. JRD stated that he kept insisting Arturo's response to the fortune teller should be something akin to:

"And can *you* sing Mozart? Can *you* hum Salieri? The analogy falls to pieces right there."

Essentially JRD's insistent thought was that Arturo was being reduced with this continual Quinn comparison. In reality, they were both geniuses - they were both in the top 00.1% of quantum physics, and any comparison came down to exercise in semantics by the rest of the world who would never be at that level. I would equate it to the situation between Tesla and Einstein. Both made highly significant contributions to our modern science, but Einstein got the press while Tesla was (and largely still is) ignored. They were both examples of the highest genius we'll ever see on planet earth - but the rest of us put them in different boxes.

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

That's an excellent point, TF

Date: 01/22/2004
From: Recall317

So score one more for JRD

I've read that it's irrelevent to think about how much smarter Einstein is than yourself, because whether it's 1% or 1000%, you'd never be able to tell the difference. He knows more than you, and that's all there is to say about it.

JRD raises a valid argument that however he may be compared against Quinn, he's still head and shoulders above virtually everyone else. Given Arturo's personality, he probably would have pointed that out...especially to someone he considers both a fraud and inferior.

Of course, at this stage of the game, Tracy was probably writing in lines like this just to annoy JRD. :)

R317

Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/4067600
Nominated by Blinker