The Missing Year

Date: 04/29/2000
From: TemporalFlux

The reason I'm making this a new post is because I thought all of you may get a kick out of it (and may not otherwise see it). It was originally posted as responses here (but I've made some corrections):

http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/20277

This is basically a look at the Sliders continuity time-line. First of all, the start date of the sliding was in September of 1994...a fact you can see in the Pilot but is largely looked over (the reason is because Sliders was originally supposed to air in September of 1994 as part of the new fall lineup on Fox...but it didn't work out that way. In any case, they filmed it with September in mind).

Now we fast forward a bit to "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome". In that episode, Rembrandt clearly says they had been sliding for 18 months. That would place PTSS taking place in March of 1996.

The rest of season two and then season three through "Season's Greedings" is the rest of 1996 ("Season Greedings" - Dec. 25, 1996).

Now is where things get sticky. The rest of season three after "Season's Greedings" is incalcuable. They never really give time specifics. We get to "This Slide of Paradise", however...and the Sliders are separated. By the time Quinn gets back together with Remmy in "Genesis"...it's been 3 months and 10 slides. And Quinn clearly states in "Genesis" that they had been sliding for four years.

So, we have approximately a year and three months between "Season's Greedings" and "Genesis" that is not accounted for (it would be a year and six months...but we know where 3 of those months went). Depending on Quinn's definition of "four years", this would place "Genesis" somewhere between May and September of 1998 (it premeired in the United States in June of 1998 - so that tends to be the area I believe since it fits the zone).

The totality of season four is again quite a blank...but season five gives us clues. The first three episodes of season five, for instance, take place over a period of two weeks. And we know thanks to "Eye of the Storm" that at least six months had passed between "Applied Physics" and "Eye of the Storm" (likely a little more than time that...to give time for Geiger to set up that world in "Eye...").

We get to the end of season five, though...and find out that season four and five are apparently two respective years approximately. Remmy clearly says at the beginning of "The Seer" that it's been 2 years since he was home (referring to "Genesis"). Add that to the fact that Quinn said they had been sliding 4 years in "Genesis", and you have a total of six years the Sliders had been sliding per continuity as of "The Seer".

So there you have it...even though it was on air for five years, the Sliders were out there for six. We have a missing year of stories...and it's somewhere in between the episodes of the last half of season three (most likely before Arturo died...because all of those season three episodes with Maggie on board had her being treated as a new person). Of course, that's not mentioning the other missing gaps throughout the series to fill out the timeline...it's just that the missing year greatly stands out in comparison.

And just to make clear...the missing year is an approximate year of missing tales circa season three. When you get down to it, it's somewhere between 6 and 10 months of missing time (since Remmy and Quinn were both rounding off when they made their "year" statments in "Genesis" and "The Seer").

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

Interesting.

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Slider_Sarah

I have a question though... what year would that make the hypothetical season 6?

Also, I feel I should point out that Genesis first premiered in the UK on April 10th, 1998. However, that doesn't really mess up your timings :-)

Sarah.

Interesting indeed...

Date: 04/29/2000
From: QBall79

Makes you wonder what we missed. Are those really our Sliders? Maybe they were replaced before Genesis.

Maybe *that* Quinn always used to stay at the Chandler.

Q-Ball79
http://www.slidersweb.net/

Temp, What about this?

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Grizzlor

First, good work, Sliders history is so darn complicated I could never have worked it out.
Second, I always buy the Star trek encyclopedia book from Mike Okuda and he pretty much sets a good standard in time lines. They tend to take anything said on star trek pretty literally. for example, if data says it's been about 100 years since the destruction of a ship, then they'll put the year down as exactly 100 years ago to be a little more clear about things. That would make your Genesis and Seer assumptions somewhat correct. But personally I don't like that approach.

IF I say, "I've been living here for eight years," you might say I moved in in 1992. But that's pretty vague, and I could have moved in latter 1991 or anytime in 1992. Why? Because people hate saying 7 years, 7 months, or 8 years, 5 months. If somebody's 33 years old, they don't say 33 and a half or 32 and three quarters! It's all about perspective! So right there, that's a swing of one year in either direction.

Back to Sliders though, Quinn's statement of 4 years could be taken literally as that, or give or take 3 or 4 months here and there. Also, Remmy said two years and immediately when I saw it I thought that was odd. That means if Genesis was June 98, Seer is June 2000, which hasn't happened yet!
So Quinn and Remmy were probably just rounding it off.

How about this, Genesis is June 98 and then Seer is around this february, when it aired. I don't know, it's difficult. Unfortunately, you can't look at the seasons because San Fran and LA are about the same temp. all year long!

Seer didn't air Feb

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Slider_Sarah

It aired December. If you're using air dates as an approach, you have to take into account where they were shown FIRST.

Sarah.

Could be December

Date: 04/29/2000
From: TemporalFlux

But in my opinion it would be easier for Remmy to say "A year and a half" than say "Two years" if that was the case. That's why I placed Quinn more around June of 98 in "Genesis". At that date, it would be the 4 year anniversary since the first slide just 3 months later in September of 1998. It makes more sense to me for someone to round off from June than to round off from April (5 months before Sept of 98). Maybe that's just me...as I said, it's up for debate since we have no real marker.

I used the same reasoning with "he Seer"...3 months from March would be June 2000...and going by the first approximation I made on Quinn in "Genesis"...June 2000 would be roughly two years since "Genesis" (again with the character rounding off time because it was really 1 year and 3 quarters since "Genesis"). I would be more comfortable saying "The Seer" was sometime in March...but it could be in February around the U.S. air date too (since that was just be 4 months from June - a little more than I think someone would round off...but different people do different things). To say "The Seer" happened in the end of December 1999, though...we would be 6 months away from June 2000. I just don't see anyone rounding December 1999 off as two years since June 1998. But it is kind of grey...because we aren't in the character's head. We basically have alot of leeway to play with inside a reasonable bounds. And we decide what's reasonable and what isn't individually.

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

You do make sense, Tf,

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Slider_Sarah

but if anyone's using the air dates as a marker, then you have to use first air dates.

Of course, the way you do it, you barely use that. Only for correlation you don't really need.

Sarah.

Hmm...

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Informant

I wonder if Weiss noticed this. Maybe, if the movie is set during this gap, it could set things right without tearing apart the past few seasons.

Just thinking out loud.

Actually, just thinking by typing, since it's not actually out loud... unless you're reading it out loud.

Okay, bye.

A problem

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Stax_

In Lipschitz Live didn't the sign in the Chandler say
The Chandler Welcomes
InfiniCorop &
Millenia Media
TO THE
1997 World Television
Corporate Summit

Of course , it could be a Van Meer earth .stax

To the problem

Date: 04/29/2000
From: TemporalFlux

That's a good observation on the sign in "Lipschitz Live" and something I had noted and just not mentioned. It just depends on what you give more weight to. Quinn saying they had been sliding for four years in "Genesis" or a sign placed up by the populace of an alternate earth that we never had the chance to fully explore.

I only went by things from our Sliders perspecitve...things they said, did or thought concerning the date (the Sliders stated several times in "Season's Greedings" how it really was Christmas time - never did they note the world was celebrating the holiday out of season). Then, I worked everything around all the things our Sliders gave. My belief is that the only gauge we could have to the passage of time for our Sliders is the Sliders themselves. There are just too many variables in a multiverse of infinite possibilities...but the Sliders knowledge would be constant. They were our anchor as much as they were their own.

That's just my take on it and what I believe...whether it's right or not, that's up to each individual to decide.

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

The Missing Year: REVEALED!!!!!!!

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Slider_Quinn21

During that missing year, the Sliders landed on a variety of unique, science fiction-like worlds. Wade, not Maggie, was involved a lot, there wasn't a lot of action, and none of their adventures were at all like any movie. So, because Peck was at the helm, those stories were.......forgotten.

Really, that would be a great idea for a fanfic. I can see it now.....

SLIDERS:THE MISSING YEAR!

Quinn

Something to consider

Date: 04/29/2000
From: JorgeCis

A few shows end and start their seasons in the new year. If you'll notice, in "Star Trek", the season finale cliffhanger is usually in December of their time while the season premiere is the next year ("The Best of Both Worlds", for instance).

Now, in the case of Sliders, this could be it, too. The group starts in Sept. 1994. Two years later, in season three, there's "Season's Greedings." So that fits.

Now, let's try putting "This Slide of Paradise" in October 1997, which also fits seeing how it's still the third season. Three months later, at the start of season 4, we have January 1998. Thus four years have passed since the initial slide, which is why Quinn says four years.

Seeing how Remmy landed on EP three months earlier, then he would have come home in October 1997. In "The Seer", which was filmed in 1999, Remmy would have been sliding for two years.

Let's look at "Lipshitz Live". The 1997 Summit could have taken place in 1998. Look at our taxes. Didn't most of us file our 1999 taxes in the year 2000?

Just wanted to toss that in...

Jorge

Well...

Date: 04/29/2000
From: TemporalFlux

That's something I haven't considered about Remmy...he was on Earth Prime 3 months before Quinn in "Genesis" (which by my time line would place "This Slide of Paradise" in March/April of 1998). So, Remmy saying 2 years since he went home in February of 2000 could be more accurate...December could be too (though that still may be stretching). Of course, it depends on what one interprets by Remmy's saying "since I've been home". Is he referring to when he got there or when he left as the last reference point? I can see it going either way...I tend to see it as referring to when he left ("since" would be the term to apply to case in my mind...when someone says that, they are usually referring to the last actual moment they were there and not when they arrived). If it refers to when he left...then it fits what I was thinking.

As I said, it's left up to interpretation. Personally, I don't see how January 1998 for "Genesis" is viable. That would be 9 months away from the actual 4 year anniversary of the start of sliding in September 1994...you just don't see people rounding 3 1/4 years into 4 years. At least I don't.

Even going with January 1998 for "Genesis", though...we have the last half of season three (after "Season's Greedings") taking place over 10 months? (if "This Slide of Paradise" is placed in October) There's still a sizeable gap there anyway...because the Maggie episodes in season three were clearly portrayed that she had not been with them long at all (they kept referring to that fact and playing off it). So those episodes seem to have taken place over a short period of time ("Exodus" and forward).

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

True.

Date: 04/29/2000
From: JorgeCis

Good point, TF. Maybe the pilot didn't take place in September 1994? Maybe it took place earlier? I mean, it would seem that Quinn had taken his class with Arturo for a while. And school usually starts in September here. Does that work for California, or does it start earlier?

More brainstorming. :-)

Jorge

What if...

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Informant

What if they weren't sliding at all? What if we're not missing anything? Maybe they were stuck on a world, maybe had games played with their minds... maybe they are different sliders who were made to think that they were OUR sliders so that they could play in with Kromagg games!

Okay, I'm not even making sense to me anymore. I think the Kromagg theory is best served in another post... so off I am to post.

One other thing, TF...

Date: 04/29/2000
From: JorgeCis

You're right that the last half of s3 shouldn't be ten months. If we go by production number, it isn't. In fact, "Season's Greedings" is production number K1806. Which is K1805? "The Dream Masters." That gives us an extra seven episodes to work with. Could that account for more time?

I'm just curious, TF: to continue brainstorming with this, I want to follow how you see this. Do you go by production number, or in the order it was meant to be aired, or in the order it was aired? Do you consider the s2 finale to be "The Young and the Relentless", or "As Time Goes By"? This is just so that we synchronize our clocks somewhat.

Jorge

One more thing to add

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Grizzlor

I just wanted to mention that a reason the Sliders dates are difficult to record is, again, another reference to Okuda's Star Trek Chronology/Encyclopedia. Basically, he says that the overriding factor in science fiction "facts" is that the scifi is a television show, and thus much of what should be done to keep continuity and believability is sacrificed. this is due to the cost constraints in one manner. But the biggest reason is that the primary concern that the producers/writers/directors have is to make good television. So the "gaps" in the sequence are clearly a result of focusing on the scripts and the concepts, rather than the details. Still, It would be nice if soon a former Sliders employee would make some sort of Official Sliders guide or encyclopedia or something to sort things out. At least we could have the answers then. There is definitely enough material on the show to do it. I've asked around for a while now to see if any books were made, but the only stuff is the novel about 4 years ago and the comics and the card set. We need more. See, Sliders just never got marketed right.

To all, my best take on the "gaps" of months at a time are that you obviously can't fit them into the episodes in a season ( which nearly every year are only 18, not enough), So how about we assume that these gaps feature the boring slides, or ones where they just worked, or vacationed, etc. In fact, most episodes begin and end with worlds we only see for few minutes. Therefore, if they've been there for a fewe days or weeks, there's a bunch of time there. And then add in the "boring" periods, or if they get stuck somewhere for a very long time....

Somebody better tell this to Weiss!

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Brand_S

Maybe this information could help Weiss when he makes the Sliders movie. I really think it could. If someone has his AIM handle, they should really tell him about it.

S

Dates

Date: 04/29/2000
From: TemporalFlux

Going back before 1994 is a bit much in my opinion. We know by the production intentions that it was meant to be September of 1994 (meant for a fall premiere in 1994 and pushed back to be a mid season replacement in March of 1995). But for timeline purposes...I'm only taking season one in production order. It's the only one that matters in that. The rest of the seasons are in the order they aired on U.S. Fox in my thinking (just as U.S. Sci-Fi airs them now). Also, the production numbers are not the ones to go by...it's the air numbers from Fox (which all began with the prefix SL).

As for filling in the gaps...why do we have to assume the "episodes" we didn't see were boring? I'm not saying the network or writers are at fault for something here...I'm just saying there is a huge window of potential for missing tales. Obviously they can't show everything...but little windows have been left to go back and fill. I'm very grateful for that...not upset (just look at what Trek novel writers have done with all the gaps and inconsistencies). And these gaps in Sliders are good especially since these windows fall in the "good times". Every season has small gaps that anyone can use to tell a missing tale...but season one and season three (while Arturo was still there) have an enormous amout (much more than any other). And I think it's great!

This is an opportunity...not something to brush aside and waste.

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

I'm with Tf on dates

Date: 04/29/2000
From: Slider_Sarah

It is a bit much to go back before 1994. I'm sure if we all paid close attention there would be certain ickle indications around.

There are so many fanfics with the 'original 4' that the gaps are probably a blessing!

Sarah.

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Nominated by DMD & TemporalFlux