Unknown Facts This Slide of Paradise
Date: 03/13/2004
From: SynthIA
PhantomDennis wins tickets to "Blood Brothers," the musical! [http://www.albemarle-london.com/bloodb.html]
ThomasMalthus wins a box of Bram Flakes!
Recall317 wins the "Puppet Angel vs. Greg the Bunny" edition of Celebrity Deathmatch!
DieselMickeyDolenz wins "The Best of Stochi's Flame Oeuvre" coffee table book! It's Stoch-astic!
MissingSliderRyan wins a dish of blood pudding! It's also what's for dessert!
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SYNTHIA: Wow, I'm wiped.
BLINKER: You wha--?! Have you been sitting near that magnet again?
SYNTHIA: [rotates eyeballs to 12:00 until he gets the message]
BLINKER: OH, the old end-o'-season blues, huh? Well, seeing the episode we're up against isn't going to help matters.
SYNTHIA: Ah yes... "This Slide of Paradise," or more accurately, "The Other Slide of Paradise." Yech. All right, bring on the Unknown Facts!
BLINKER: Well, Peck's original "Wade Wells [sic] and Rembrandt Brown never returned home" ending intended to lead into the Quinn-and-Maggie-in-a-Manta S4 is pretty deservedly obscure.
SYNTHIA: And I'd bet most people don't know about the Bea Arthur cameo...
http://earth62.net/epguide/ep_slideparadise12.JPG
___________________________
Synthetic Intelligence Avatar #385D
I've Slid to Paradise, but I've Never Sl
Date: 03/14/2004
From:
PhantomDennis
id to Me.
You might notice that Michael York's character is immaculately groomed and tailored. When every other version of Dr. Moreau has been a bit grungy as befitting a Mad Island Doctor.
This was because of a product placement deal that fell through. Otherwise we'd have seen riveting footage Michael York washing his clothes, and groom his hair and using shaving products.
Also, the final world Quinn and Maggie slide to was one of several alternate endings shot depending on where Sliders was picked up. The futuristic world a deliberate homage to the SCI-FI Channel.
Alternate endings included a planet populated with frogs (the WB), a world where everyone had pointed ears (UPN), a wrestling match (USA), and a wrestling match (TNT).
Counter programming...
Date: 03/14/2004
From:
ThomasMalthus
Beginning Text is up against Starting Words!
"All they've got is the name and Quinn Mallory. We've got everything else. In the end, it'll be up to the fans to decide which is more important."
What was Tracy Torme's reaction to the planned fourth season on Fox, featuring solely Maggie and Quinn? "If Mr. Peckinpah has no use for the characters of Arturo, Rembrandt and Wade, I think it's only fair that I consider...bring(ing) them back." He proposed to do so with a new series, "Slidders".
In what was slated to be a midseason replacement for the ABC network in the 1997-98 season, Torme hoped "Slidders" would bring "Sliders" back to its roots; a situation inadvertantly helped by the ending of the third season finale. "That was the only good thing to come out of that episode," Torme chuckled. The series hinged on getting Cleavant Derricks, Sabrina Lloyd and John Rhys-Davies to reprise their original roles for the new series, as well as the addition of a cast member to be named later. "They won't be the problem," series co-creator Robert K. Weiss declared.
Indeed they weren't, but there were problems. Namely, ABC's unwillingness to commit to the series. "It's kind of vindictive, really," ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses said. "I mean, changing one letter to try to make the fans of one show become the fans of another? ABC simply can't afford to make programming decisions out of spite. I suggested Ms. Torme take her pitch to (NBC Entertainment President Warren) Littlefield, but she declined."
Network hedging and gender confusion aside, Torme was confident about his series idea. "Regardless of who we cast as the fourth slider, John has always wanted more of a leading role. Cleavant and Sabrina are always solid. The writing will be there. I couldn't be more excited about this." As to Tarses' comments, Torme explained, "It's called 'Slidders' because these people have already 'slid'. You know, Slid-ders. Now they're kind of piecing together their lives again. And if Ms. Tarses is really concerned with the ethics of title similarity, perhaps she should rethink the September premiere of 'ERR'.
With ABC not really a sure thing, Torme shopped the idea to both the WB and UPN, and even considered a syndication package. When Fox cancelled "Sliders", there were entreaties made to Jerry O'Connell to get on board. "Maybe we can make the first 'd' silent," Torme cracked. However, it all turned sour when "Sliders" (with one d) was picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel. Suddenly, it looked a lot more likely that most of the original cast would end up working for Sci-Fi instead of Mr. Torme.
John Rhys-Davies and Tracy Torme remained leading proponents of the new series, but it was all starting to unravel. After Sabrina Lloyd's acrimonious departure from "Sliders", she backed out of "Slidders". And no major network wanted to air a show that might be confused with something on the Sci-Fi Channel. "Slidders" was officially dead.
"It's really a shame. When the evils of network television produce something as shameful as 'This Slide of Paradise' and what they planned to do after that travesty, you start to think maybe this is your chance. It's very frustrating to not be able to breathe new life into your baby because of circumstances beyond your control."
ThomasMalthus
It was all inadvertant
Date: 03/14/2004
From: Recall317
Though this episode has drawn many unflattering comparisons to H. G. Wells "The Island of Dr. Moreau", none of the people involved had ever heard of the book or movies adapted from it.
"I though we were paying homage to Manimal!"
R317
It was all inadvertant
Date: 03/14/2004
From: Recall317
Though this episode has drawn many unflattering comparisons to H. G. Wells "The Island of Dr. Moreau", none of the people involved had ever heard of the book or movies adapted from it.
"I thought we were paying homage to Manimal!"
R317
The Plan
Date: 03/15/2004
From: DieselMickeyDolenz
Beginning text must end!
We've heard about the plan to continue Sliders on Fox using only Quinn and Maggie as characters, but the original plan was even more sinister than that. With JOC making noises about wanting a producer credit for the potential fourth season, a draft of the script was written wherein Rickman was to leap after Quinn, causing them *both* to enter the wormhole together as it was closing. The fourth season premiere would reveal that the result was a merged animal-mutant-Rickman-Quinn hybrid played (without makeup) by COC, saving the studio both money and a producer that actually knew less about production than the current staff.
Ultimately, this plan was scrapped when JOC agreed to accept the producer credit with the stipulation that he drop his demand have all the other actors mime their parts while he did voice-overs.
DMD
"Futureboy!"
Date: 03/15/2004
From: MissingSliderRyan
BT make like the Evil Leaper and leap out of here!
Peck: In an effort to bring continuity into the show, Future World was introduced. This was supposed to be a way to reintroduce Logan. We needed another villian after Rickman. Besides we missed out chance on hot Logan and Quinn sex scenes.
MSR
Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/4067785
Nominated by Blinker
