Some
comments on "New Gods for Old"
Date: 7/17/99
From: Executive
If there is one story that veteran sci-fi writer and author David Gerrold will best be remembered for it's the 1967 STAR TREK episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Though considered a classic by many Trek fans, I thought it just too cute for Star Trek but at least as a comedy it succeeded.
Gerrold's first and only SLIDERS episode had some good acting by Cleavant Derricks and, as a doctor, guest-star Stephen Macht (previously seen as Commander Kromanus in "Common Ground"). The main problem behind "New Gods for Old" is in Gerrold's decision to go more with fantasy over sci-fi, and as a result this is still another 5th season episode that doesn't work. At first glance, the white-robed cultists found on the second of the story's 3 worlds could have made this appear to be another "Prophets and Loss" -- only in reverse. These people promote life rather than human sacrifice featured in P & L, and without the advanced technology.
So how did they become they way they were? By drinking an elixer called "the water of life", they suddenly were healed of whatever physically ailed them. Spiritually it turned them into religious "fanatics". When Mallory drinks the water he heals completely and is transformed into one of them in ** seconds **. If the conversion process wasn't so amazingly fast and a better scientific explanation behind it was given by the doctor or even Diana I would have accepted the situation. I was surprised that David Gerrold of all people could overlook this in his script.
Mallory's coming to terms with himself and having merged with our Quinn and his furthur insights into the meaning of life were well-intentioned and a better than usual showcasing for Robert Floyd, but we have yet to see a 5th season story that really captures what SLIDERS once was. Bringing in a new writer like David Gerrold wasn't a bad idea on the surface, but he should focused much more on how other worlds had developed differently than ours by taking a different historical path. There are a number of other series in which magical potions belong -- just not SLIDERS.
THE EXECUTIVE
Wrong...
Date: 7/17/99
From: buffyboy
Its not a magic potion, its water with nano probes in it. Nanites are not fantasy, they are hard Sci-Fi. This ep was not fantasy at all, but rather Sci-Fi in a very enjoyable way, ie had strong characters and made you feel for them. Just correcting a mistake.
BB=:~)
David
Gerrold's own website:
Date: 7/17/99
From: Executive
Check it out at:
Nanoprobes
Date: 7/17/99
From: Executive
I didn't catch the nanoprobe reference, Buffyboy, but I did notice the micro-organisms being examined under a microscope. Nanoprobes are characteristic of the Star Trek: The Next Generation (The Borg) - a series to which David Gerrold was a consultant, and for that matter Star Trek: Voyager. The Trek genre supports instantaneous changes to the human condition -- and until Dr. Geiger came along in "The Unstuck Man" SLIDERS did not. This show has gotten so far from what it once was, it's easy to see why it can't continue beyond this season.
Nanoprobe technology was also key to the plots of the 1995 OUTER LIMITS episode "The New Breed" (with Richard Thomas) and the superb X-FILES story "SR-819", but in both cases the changes were more gradual.
I
respectfully disagree
Date: 7/17/99
From: HunterD_Raven
first off as for the healing in seconds...IT IS SCI-Fi...let me get this staight, visiting other worlds, changeing them, and not causeing the whole universe to collapse on itself-fine. in other series like the Hulk..hit with nuclear rays, transformed into giant monster when mad-sure. Healed in seconds by advanced technology. NO WAY! come on. It is a little silly to gripe about technology in Sci-Fi cause that is what makes it Sci-Fi. As i look at it, this is the best ep in 2 long years of crapola (Roads Taken is still second)
Executive
Date: 7/17/99
From: GryffynLocke
I know what you mean by "instantaneous" tranformations (I especially hate genetic alterations/cures that happen without any real consequences, thereby making the theme--tampering with genetic codes is dangerous--relatively moot) but in this case I think it was a matter of television time constraints. A slow, gradual process simply wasn't possible given the limitations of a one-hour show. I did feel, however, that it wasn't "magical"--the use of nanites/microbes, though hastily explained, qualifies it as a viable science fiction element.
Executive,
about your reviews..
Date: 7/18/99
From: PrimeG
I would have to say that I find your season five reviews to be a bit disturbing. Has there been a season five episode you have liked so far? In my opinion four of the five episodes shown so far has been a much better quality then anything from the past year and a half of the show. (I thought "The Great Work" was VERY bland and never should have been filmed.) I read your reviews for "The Unstuck Man" and "Applied Physics" and both seemed to lean to the negative side. Although I disagreed with those two reviews it seemed you at least knew what the episodes where about. Your most recent review here of "New Gods For Old" bothers me somewhat because your making comments on something you either only seen part of or did not pay to much attention to. I do not see how you could have overlooked the nanoprobes "mentioning" when it was the most important aspect of the story. They where mentioned all through out the episode. For you to have missed the most important story element like that, do you not think it would be a good idea to re-watch the episode for you to be able to make a proper review of the story? Unless you feel it's OK to take unwarranted stabs at Gerrold's script with out having a full grasp of what it contains.
PrimeG
Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/9041
Nominated by Blinker
