Starring
Tracy Tormé as himself...
Date: 1/11/2000
From: QBall79
Hi folks, since there was such a demand for it, both on the board and in e-mail, I decided to post the transcript of last night's chat here. It was a very informal, shoes-off type of thing, so Q stands for the fan that was talking, while A is Tracy's response to the question/comment. So here you go!
-----
Q: Good afternoon, Mr. Tormé. Thanks for joining us!
A: glad to do it - hello
Q: I'll start with the big one:
Q: Which Arturo slid, and if it was the wrong one, did you ever plan to
address that?
A: of course i know which arturo slid but im sworn to secrecy - there are clues in
other episodes though
Q: We all figure it was the wrong one.
A: you could be right... then again
Q: Is the disease a clue?
A: disease - not really
Q: In Summer of Love, Arturo shows a knowledge of football (i.e. the
Wishbone offense)...
Q: but in The Guradian, he says, "I have just attended my very first
American football game"
A: but he says later that hes just seen his first football game
Q: exactly
A: maybe youre onto something
Q: Mr. Torme, may I ask...Your idea of Quinn..any relation to Wesley Crusher?
A: absolutely none - liked Will W. as a person - didn't like the charector much
Q: When FOX put the show on hiatus after Luck of the Draw, what was
supposed to happen to Ryan over the 5-episode arc we heard about?
A: production decision made by the network - lose the dog - im a huge dog lover so
you know it wasn't my idea
Q: We heard that Ryan was going to meet a most unpleasant demise.
A: no, not really - was never decided
A: unless im forgetting something
Q: Were there any plans for the character?
A: would've used ryan in a recurring way if i could have
Q: If it helps refresh your memory, here's a quote from an interview... "I worked out with Jacob Epstein, who was also executive producer that year, the path that Ryan would take. We had in mind three or four shows to do with him. By
the fourth show, something shocking was going to happen to him."
A: oh right - we were going to take Ryan with us for a little while - id forgotten
Q: Did you ever have any story ideas regarding the FBI before FOX axed the idea?
A: you mean from summer of love?
A: yeah - stuff going on with the FBI back on our world - their continuing attempts to figure out the sliding equipment
Q: Mr. Torme, how do you feel about Bob Weiss's effort to try to get a movie done? Will you take a part in it if he succeeds?
Q: BTW, Bob has said to me that he'd love to work on the script with you.
A: bob has barely breached the idea - we talked about it once, briefly
Q: he said that in chat.
Q: Would you like a transcript of it?
A: sure
Q: Mr. Torme, if Arturo would have left earlier, did you have any back up characters in the making to replace him?
A: anyone but the charectors they brought in later
Q: What's the scoop on Quinn living in a boarding house in an early draft?
A: that became the victorian house with his mother
Q: Bob said that others in the house got sucked into the vortex... was Wade initially living there?
A: no - not correct - no one else sucked in but R.B.
Q: Mr Torme, a little philosphical one. If you could end the series as it stands today(new
characters included), how would you do it?
A: dont know enough about the new charectors to begin to answer that
Q: How did you decide what alternate histories to use in your stories,and how did
you research them? Are there any alt-histories you wouldhave liked to explore but weren't
able to?
A: great number of alt histories left unexplored - basically used evens in history from
WW 2 and Revolutionary War, etc. to pursue dramatic stories
Q: Do you recall the original storyline for "Raging Quinn..." which later
became "The Other Slide of Darkness" with Maggie and Rickman?
A: Do I have to?
Q: I'm curious because "Raging Quinn" was, production wise, the first or
second script in development, while you were still there.
A: Not involved with raging quinn in any way
Q: What ever happened to "Twisted Cross" and "Heat of the Moment"?
A: One was concept - fox didnt want a story with nazi's - the other was a script that
went unproduced because of loss of arturo
Q: What were your original intentions with the Kromaggs?
A: enemy unique to sliders - seems they later became ugly klingons with bad teeth
Q: :)
Q: lol
Q: And on a related note... who did you intend to have the Kromagg tracking implant revealed as being in (from the end of "Invasion")...and did Arturo's mysterious illness in season three have some connection?
A: cant reveal all the best secrets - especially when it was never produced
Q: How do you feel about the idea of Quinn not being from Earth Prime?
A: think its pretty ridiculous
Q: Seriously, what's it like working with Dave Peckinpah?
Q: Or Maury Hurley.
A: barely did work with him - we mostly went our seperate ways
A: as to Maurice... take a look at the charector of Hurley from early sliders
Q: Were there any more story ideas involving Logan St. Claire?
A: yes - never produced
Q: Care to elaborate?
A: dont remember much detail
Q: What was your vision on the Quinn and Wade relationship?
A: romance in denial
Q: romance in denial for how long?
A: until heat of the moment - too bad
Q: My partners and I are interested in getting a right-to-use license from Universal for use in our Sliders PC Game. Is there any insight youcan give me on what the licensing
department expects to see or receive in the way of a proposal? Do you know if the license is something that is really hard to obtain or is it relatively easy?
A: dont know anything about licensing - would be irrisponsible to speculate
Q: Why was the character Stephanie cut from the Pilot??
A: seen as superfluous on an already long script
Q: Mr. Torme, was Quinn's Father's death going to elaborated on? It always seemed too..I dunno....unexplored?
A: many things like fathers death were being planted as seeds - some were used later, some weren't, etc.
Q: If television shows like "Party of Five" can be taped in L.A. but be based in San Francisco, why couldn't Sliders production do the same thing for S3? I mean, "Guardian" showed how easy it is to establish it as being SFO.
Q: The timer radius thing always bugged me. It was never an issue before S3
A: many people at the top just didnt care - chose to do what was easy instead of what was good
Q: Could you give any details on the unused season two story and unpublished Acclaim Sliders comic titled "Get a Life" (which featured a satiric look at Sci-Fi fandom)?
A: dont think it was a season two story - i dont recall it at all
Q: Landing on a world where Sliders was a TV show.
A: yeah... always talked about that concept... dont recall developing it
Q: Sorry, I gotta know...Is Jerry O'Connell an idiot to work with?
Q: Was Blood and Splendor actually up for production on the show?
A: jerrys a nice guy - dont recall blood and splendor
Q: What would you, the creator of Sliders, like to personally see in a game that was inspired by your ideas/Television show?
A: never really thought about that
Q: What was cut from the original 8-minute payoff for Into the Mystic?
A: a rather elaborate Quinn/wade death scene and funeral/dream scene
Q: Quinn/Wade death scene?
Q: Presumably Quinn's death, in a scene focusing on Quinn and Wade.
A: Quinns death
Q: Do you have or could you get for us a fan mail address for Jason Gaffney? I can't find one anywhere...and many of us want to send him fan mail.
A: Hes a very close friend and a great actor - ill ask him what to do as far as contact
Q: Where have most of your Sliders concept come from, Mr Torme? What gave you the inspiration for the show and it's characters?
A: interest in history - sci-fi, etc
Q: In Heat of the Moment, you mentioned that we were following the wrong Sliders. How long? For just that episode or a lot longer?
A: just for that episode
Q: What happened to the cave scene in the Pilot?
A: cave scene?
Q: On the ice world?
Q: Was mentioned in an early Pilot script
A: i wrote all versions of the pilot - what cave scene?
A: what cave scene - when where
A: you mean on ice world?
A: right - it was an idea that was quickly changed to Quinns old house as I now
recall
A: for producton reasons mainly
Q: Were there any plans for storylines with Arturo's Son? Any storylines with him? Maybe him being Bennish?
Q: Wouldn't that be hilarious.
A: not bennish but yes
Q: Are there any unproduced scripts laying around anywhere?
A: probably
Q: Like "Onliners," a third season script we've heard about, or "Beauty World," an ep where the idea of beautiful is entirely different?
A: Worked on the second one - no idea about whereabouts
Q: How hard did you fight to try and regain control of the show after FOX cancelled it? Did you hear about the proposed "Maggie and Quinn in a manta ship" story?
A: you mean after third season cancellation?
A: I didn't fight anything - i was LONG gone
Q: And was Bennish actually gonna be in a couple S5 episodes?
A: I tried to set that up - they said yes then didnt follow through
Q: Is there any possibility of a Sliders book series?
A: possible
Q: Was there ever an explanation for the colors of the vortex?
A: how do you explain blue and green?
Q: Like the red Kromagg gateway, or Logan's orange one? Any hints at the nature of their slide tech?
Q: Did you try to set up other things for Season 5, or pass along any story ideas after the show left FOX?
A: no and no to the last two questions
Q: I had always wondered if it went along with power levels of the vortex
A: youre thinking too much
Q: LOL :)
Q: was there ever any talk abuot getting John Rhys-Davies for the fourth season?
A: I wasnt there for the fourth season
Q: Do you ever visit Fan based Sliders site??
A: I did a long time ago - swept through one night - would like to do it again - its been a long time
Q: I'll give you a list of URLs.
A: okay, thanks
Q: How did the number 29.7 for the slide window come about??
A: probably a dream I had
Q: :-)
Q: Were you suprised to see that Sliders has such a huge following?
A: pleased but not really surprised
Q: Is there an explanation as to why the Egyptian timer was counting down on its own world?
A: dont know that show
Q: Were there plans to develop Remmy's character a certain way, or was he always gonna
be comic relief?
A: of course he had many sides - not just comedic
Q: True, but what? Was he meant to be the action hero is now, or more dark?
A: you mean the guy who keeps talking about being in the navy? ????
Q: LOL
Q: LOL
Q: LOL
Q: LOL!
A: getting distracted here guys - got about five more minutes
A: im in a room full of writers so its a bit chaotic even in this far corner
Q: What was your favorite episode to write?
A: probably the guardian or the pilot - but i had fun with all of them -
Q: I just want to take this time to say thanks...Mr Torme, you are THE GOD of Sliders, and I look forward to seeing "Doomsday"
A: thats very kind of you - thank you for caring so much about the show
Q: How did the script of The guardian end up being so different from the filmed version?
A: the guardian script was different?
Q: VERY different.
A: how?
Q: The opening scene in the bar with Arturo's wife not there...
Q: It was just paced more slowly on paper, and the ending on screen was radically different.
A: well the prologue and the illness was changed at the top - but the rest of the script i thought was very close
A: how did the script end? remind me
A: im not joking - wrote it as one of many, years ago - if it was changed i dont remember exactly how - plus you somehow have an early draft and its way out of my
memory
A: all scripts go through lots of changes - mostly production reasons - once you move on to another draft you tend to completely forget what came before
A: my memory is that the guardian changed far less than most
Q: In the end, Quinn gives this big speech to the teacher about how she should hook up with his younger self in a couple years.
Q: On screen, she sees the vortex, where upon he says, my name isn't Jim, it's Quinn and jumps in, leaving her totally schocked.
A: okay - we went for quicker, more jolting ending, but really just a dialogue cut - not that different in the scheme of things
Q: I wish they'd kept in in San Francisco.
A: My favortie city
Q: The show lost a lot of it's charm when it moved to L.A.
A: the locale was the least of problems
Q: Thanks again for your time Mr. Torme
A: Yeah, seriously, thanks. :)
By
the way...
Date: 1/11/2000
From: QBall79
If you need confirmation, just ask Tf, Blinker, Slider_Sarah, or Sabre_Edge. They were all there too.
Q-Ball79
http://go.to/SSN
http://thegovernment.com/conspiracytheories
Cool
Date: 1/11/2000
From: humaggs
Thanks, QBall79! That is very interesting. Are you planning on puting this on your site? I saved the address to the chat with RKW from your site and tried to go there earlier today but the address didn't work. Is it still there?
I was wondering, were you, TF, Blinker, Slider_Sarah, and Sabre_Edge the only ones that knew about the chat? Wasn't there more people that knew about the RKW chat? When did you all first plan this? Last, what time did this chat take place?
Sorry for so many questions, I'm just curious. :)
Humaggs
Thanks
for posting
Date: 1/11/2000
From: Slider_Dee
Torme` didn't answer many of the questions you had though LOL. "Don't know" "could be" "probably a dream I had" "for production reasons" "never really thought about that". And all he said about jerry is that he is a nice guy.
Thanks for posting the chat!
DeeDee
well...
Date: 1/12/2000
From: slider409
Thanks for posting this, it was interesting... looked like a good time.
Slide ON!
When
did this chat take place ? <end>
Date: 1/12/2000
From: Sheridan220
°.
Re:
Date: 1/12/2000
From: QBall79
This chat was held Monday at 7PM Eastern, in an AIM Buddy Chat. There was a very small crowd, and this was because it wasn't moderated. If we let every Tom, Dick, and Harry into these things, it would be a madhouse, and nothing would get done. Besides, Tracy requested a small crowd.
In response to Dee, I also found it very interesting (and disappointing) that Tracy couldn't recall a lot of things. In fact, some of us could have answered a lot of those questions more thoroughly than he did. At one point I wondered if it was even Tracy. But I called him afterward and he confirmed that it was really he.
Oh, and someone asked about the Bob Weiss transcript. That is now at http://www.crosswinds.net/~horrendous/ssn/weiss.html -- so change your bookmark!
Q-Ball79
http://go.to/SSN
http://thegovernment.com/conspiracytheories
It
seems that Torme...
Date: 1/12/2000
From: SliderNum5
Is going on with his life. He has successfully blocked out Sliders story wise. I mean, he doesn't seem to care about the show past or present. I guess I should say good for him, but it make me feel sad that he probably wont help Robert Weiss out with the movie.
But he did mention he was in a room with a lot of writers, so maybe thats the reason for the un-detailed answers
~SliderNum5
QBall
and others.(More info on the Chat)
Date: 1/12/2000
From: darkslider
Since I was also there, I can give verification. It was Torme. He was on much longer than I'd thought he'd be. He was only going to be on for a few minutes but ended up staying on for almost an hour..He was very gracious. A really good man, I must say..
By the way, Qball....why don't you tell them who set up the chat???? And why not tell them all what occurred afterward??
-Darkslider
dark
Date: 1/12/2000
From: QBall79
I did not mention who set the chat up because I was given explicit instructions not to do so. If you wish to go against those wishes, then be my guest.
Q-Ball79
http://go.to/SSN
http://thegovernment.com/conspiracytheories
QBall....get
your panties out of a bunch
Date: 1/12/2000
From: darkslider
I *know* you were TOLD to NOT reveal the person's name, but you it seems as if you're taking some undeserved credit for it. But he *does* at least deserve some sort of mention, don't you think?
Also...there seems to be confusion as to your stance on this little chat here. It is incomplete. Why not post the ENTIRE transcript?? You seemed to have left a bit out....As for your "following of his wished" you did not believe the validity of it in the first place, which causes me to now ponder as to the reasoning why you're posting it..?..? Just curious......
-Darkslider
Okay
Dark
Date: 1/12/2000
From: TemporalFlux
You want to press this issue then fine. You've already broken the promise to your supposed friend...as most people here know that there is only *one* person you defend in this way. There's also the fact that QBall is doing this with the other person's consent (even *beyond* those e-mails they had further conversatons agreeing to this)...but no, that's not enough for you. You are the vaunted "friend" who will protect even if it means breaking a trust to that "friend". You want him to have credit...you want people to know went on? Here you go.
The chat was put together by SpaceTime. He set up the final details with Torme', he set up a new account for Torme' to use, and he set up very strict rules on who could attend (the reasoning he gave was that he didn't want his name to sully the legitimacy of the chat due to recent events - which is why you haven't seen that mentioned before now).
After the chat was over with, several of us (including myself) felt this was just another SpaceTime hoax after coming in with the impression it was real. The person chatting didn't seem like Torme' to us (honestly, the man wasn't even recalling stories *he* wrote...something that every other writer/producer I've ever talked with has recalled with ease no matter how much time it has been).
Another thing that didn't seem right was the fact of Tracy's spelling and grammar as compared to other chats he has done (such as the one transcribed at the Dominion from 1997). One glaring instance on that was the habitual misspelling of "character" you will find in the recent chat as compared to prior ones. It turns out Tracy had another person typing for him on those prior chats.
This doesn't even bring up the fact that Torme' couldn't come in under his proven to be legitimate handle (which operates in non-chatroom AIM just fine - he can send and receive instant messages all day long but we now find out he can't enter AIM chat under his legitimate handle)...so Torme' came in under a new, never before seen handle created by SpaceTime (which when a search on this new handle was done, it traced back to SpaceTime's e-mail account).
And if you read through the chat, there is nothing in there that couldn't have easily been faked (as most answers either feed off info we already knew from other interviews...or are so vague that they do a nice sidestep and don't committ).
And after the chat, we suddenly see SpaceTime talking through a handle in the AIM chat room that is not his own but was present the *entire* time of the chat (which automatically leads one to think he's using at least two multiple handles - and by reasoning, could have been using many more than that...including Torme's. As it turns out, the other handle was of a co-worker of SpaceTime's sitting right beside him at a separate computer, and SpaceTime simply borrowed his terminal and username for a second).
All these things combined with SpaceTime's prior history here and elsewhere led me (and any other reasonable person who just had those facts to go on) to the conclusion this was a hoax by SpaceTime (since the board no longer trusted him, I believed he was pulling one on the last bastion of people who still did at least to some degree). Of course, I've been lambasted by Dark, ST and a scant few others for even *daring* to doubt...which I frankly find extremely laughable considering how much they preach that people should think and not take things at face value. Guess that shoe doesn't fit when on the other foot.
After presenting our doubts *only* once Tracy was *gone* (he had signed off...everyone was saying goodbye as you see above), QBall did use Tracy's phone number he already had (the same number ST provided as evidence after a long while of just offering "How could you not trust me?" as the sole defense). QBall called Tracy...and Tracy himself confirmed the chat was real over the phone (and also cleared up such details such as other people typing for him at previous chats). After hearing about SpaceTime's previous antics, Tracy understood why we doubted and there was no problem.
In any case, all this has led to SpaceTime and a few others to be utterly pissed off at myself and all those who dared to doubt...even though we have said we came to the wrong conclusion (but once again, what conclusion would a reasonable person come to knowing what we did? And don't give me the "He was your friend!!! :(" crap...that's not a "get out of reputation free" card - and I've had my own issues of distrust with SpaceTime over the years even before the RKW chat hoax).
Tf
temporalflux@hotmail.com
http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com
dark
Date: 1/12/2000
From: QBall79
I haven't taken credit for anything here. I never said I organized the chat. I never even said I made this transcript!
"As for your 'following of his wished' you did not believe the validity of it in the first place, which causes me to now ponder as to the reasoning why you're posting it..?..?"
I am honoring his wishes because I made a promise, and unlike some other people on the board, I am a man of my word. Yes, I doubted the validity of the chat at first, and I had good reason to. But Tracy himself told me that it was him chatting, so I now know it was indeed true. You know this; you were there.
I honestly don't see that you are trying to accomplish here, other than to make me break a promise. Well, I'm not going to.
Q-Ball79
http://go.to/SSN
http://thegovernment.com/conspiracytheories
Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/16381
Nominated by EustiSlider
