"Roads Taken" - How'd they do that?

Date: 12/12/2000
From: TemporalFlux

For some reason, "Roads Taken" is a theoretical gold mine for me. I've got another one you might enjoy...

What caused the events that made this new dimension where Quinn and Maggie lived out another life? We've always been missing the key...the catalyst. It could have easily be unconvered by one sentence...but I can only assume the writer's didn't care to find a reason or just weren't able to think of one. And I'm first to say...it's not something that's easy to explain. However...I've got a theory.

During Sliders life, we saw how several things could affect the vortex...most notably being the lightning bolt which sent Quinn to the astral plane due to the power overload. There's a few important things to note from that. For one, the power surge only affected the person closest to the strike...but the other Sliders further down the sliding tunnel felt a jolt (Rembrandt mentioning the "kick in the butt"). Also, we are shown that the vortex itself absorbed the brunt of the energy released by the lightning bolt and altered that energy similar to a conductor (otherwise Quinn would have been crispier than a french fry). Of course, the resulting energy shift dispersed as it traveled further down the sliding tunnel...and the effects with it.

With that groundwork, what could have caused a seemingly unrelated event such as the creation of a new dimension? Well...how about a nuclear bomb?

Another event we've never seen on Sliders is what a ground zero nuclear detonation would cause on an open vortex and it's slide tunnel. Once inside the slide tunnel, the Sliders would theoretically be shielded from the more disasterous effects of such an event (as shown by "Gillian")...but what would it cause to the tunnel and the travelers who were the closest to the opening?

Much like a lightning bolt, the slide tunnel could absorb the energy...conduct it...and shift its power. Also, the "astral plane" Quinn was shifted to by the lightning bolt could be called limbo just as easily. A place between dimensions...almost like the power was shifting Quinn into a new dimension but didn't have quite enough power to push him all the way into the next. A nuclear explosion and its properties may have just that little bit more power to push a traveler beyond limbo...beyond the threshold...and into that new dimension. But...is it a new dimension?

Common sense would lead one to believe that for new dimensions to be created, there must be extra space out there. A "piece of paper" not completely filled up...so that new histories can be drawn in the blank spaces. Could the power shift have sent Quinn and Maggie to one of these blank spots on the comsic sketch book? And as human psychology often does...they would have just filled in the blanks. After all...what is the difference in most dimensions? A human being having a change of thought...that's all the power that was needed to create a new dimension...at least by some arguments.

So what effect would a human mind have if injected into blank space? In some respects, that human would become a god...able to create whatever they wanted. But our Sliders didn't think of themselves as that...they didn't even understand what was going on. So they just created what they subconsciously wanted...and where Quinn didn't fill in the blanks, Maggie did...and vice versa (thus explaining why this relationship came up...Quinn just wanted a relationship and didn't stipulate with who; so Maggie filled in that blank of his fantasy world).

But...I know. You're asking how all of this leads to a person being split apart into two entities. This is why I chose a nuclear explosion as the catalyst. Nuclear detonations are a process of fission...splitting an atom apart. When the slide tunnel absorbed the ground zero detonation, it could have theoretically kept the same basic properties...thus dimensionally splitting Quinn, Maggie and the slide tunnel apart. Rembrant and Colin were further down the pike, so they stayed in the original tunnel and felt the aftershock (more than a kick in the butt as in "Gillian"). Think of a zipper...Rembrandt and Colin were still on the closed part...but the unzipping was catching up to them quickly (increasing turbulance as it came closer).

Anyway, I had this line of thought occur to me and it made sense...at least to me. It also has a beauty to it in a continuity sense...after all, the Sliders wouldn't necessarily know a nuclear bomb was going off just as they slid. It may be that they honestly have no clue what caused the situation even though it's something relatively that simple. The bottom line though...there had to be a catalyst of some kind. This event didn't just "happen".

So, yet another layer of "Roads Taken" uncovered. I've got a million of them (my favorite being how this accident was a creative form of brain washing - making Quinn fall in love with Maggie and giving Maggie an interest in physics - "Strangers and Comrades"...the effect being that they both were so intertwined by the process that they could no longer tell where one ended and the other began).

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

It's still a discontinuous dimension

Date: 12/12/2000
From: Recall317

TF,

All good points. I'd normally be skeptical of a nuclear bomb, but since no mention is made of the dimension they just left, one can't rule it out. However... we still have to account for the bubble dimension itself. It appears we pick up in the past where Maggie and Quinn have been dating since high school. In general, new dimensions spin off from the point of decision and the pasts remain the same. Granted "bubble dimensions" are "uncharted", but I still saw it as a cop out. A story could just have easily been written if they thought they lost Colin, Remmy and the timer and just gave up on Sliding. If Revelations is any indicator, they were mighty close to that point anyway.

And this is all speculation based that the writers even had a plan, in which I sincerely believe they did not. JOC needed some time off so he could do his producing and directing duties, so they knocked Quinn out of commission...again. Funny. Whenever, Quinn is laid up for an episode, something incredibly bizarre happens with the vortex. (See Asylum and its vortex- able to track crashing planes! Can safely deliver Sliders from heights of thousands of feet without harm! Now playing at the Chasm of your choice!)

Some clarification

Date: 12/12/2000
From: TemporalFlux

Just want to make sure this is known for others...I'm never insinuating the writers had actually thought of this stuff. I know they didn't...I've talked to them. These are just my own musings on how it could work...nothing has ever stopped us from filling in the blanks on our own. That's what I'm doing...not trying to intuit what the writer's intended, but instead trying to find an element that would add a plausible new level to the story.

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

Lightning bolts & nuclear detonations...

Date: 12/12/2000
From: DianaDavis

Weren't those mentioned as the two factors that could've caused the Imaging Chamber to lock up and Sam & Al to switch places on "Quantum Leap"?

Mmmmm... french fries.

~Diana

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