Which
Sliders episode... (poll)
Date: 06/12/2001
From: ThomasMalthus
...has the most implausible alternate history?As I was watching "Slide Like an Egyptian", I realized how downright ludicrous this world's history would have to be to explain all the inconsistencies. OK, the Pharoahs are still around, and the Egyptians are still obsessed with scarabs and pyramids, right?
But then why does everybody speak English? Why do they talk about Alexandria and Cairo, Egyptian cities mind you, but ones founded by the Greeks and Arabs, respectively, when they conquered Egypt? And how likely would it be that there would be somebody named Mubarak, when that's a very modern Egyptian name? (The current Egyptian president is Hosni Mubarak.)
It seems to me like the writer just put down everything he knew about Egypt and put it in a script. Pretty lazy writing, IMHO.
What alternate history strikes you as the most unbelievable?
ThomasMalthus
The
2nd dino one (but I change my mind)
Date: 06/12/2001
From: Slider_Sarah
there IS no explanation. We're just expected to assume that 'oh, they never died out' at least that's how I remember it.For that matter, the first dino one was a little implausible.
Wait, how about The Chasm!!! Do NOT get me started on the Chasm.theme Park religion? What the ?????
Sarah.
slider_sarah@hotmail.com
Giant
world
Date: 06/12/2001
From: Sabre_Edge
The world in my opinion that is the most implausible are the Giant Worlds. I can't imagine how any of them came to be. It would somehow involve a much bigger earth, or a lot less gravity to allow things to evolve to those sizes.SE
Favorite
Egyptian gaffe
Date: 06/12/2001
From: Recall317
Arturo says that the Egyptian empire thrived because Alexander the Great never conquered it.THEN WHY NAME SAN FRANCISCO NEW ALEXANDRIA?! Uh...Alexandria, named after ALEXANDER. Yeah, history always dedicates cities to losers.
R317
world
Date: 06/12/2001
From: Slider_Quinn21
Peck- I see super-smart snakes knocking down doors! Go with it!
Dragonslide
world.
Date: 06/12/2001
From: DieselMickeyDolenz
We're not just talking an alternate history, we're talking magic. Just which decision point spawned a world where the laws of physics are different?DMD
"Funny, she doens't look Drewish"
Oh
where to begin?
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Recall317
I think we can rule out the episodes that attempted alt-history. As bizarre as they may be, at least they're remotely plausible. Take "The Good, the Bad, and the Wealthy." Any world where justice is decided by the gun and not by what is wrong or right, will be unable to prevent a descent into vigiliantism and anarchy. Yet this world presents itself as a functioning democracy. I don't think it would work, but then again, at least it is POSSIBLE.Unlike much of S3. I have to say "Dragonslide" is the greatest offender precisely because it does blow the laws of physics to kingdom come and completely undermines the series and its two lead characters. But when it comes to sheer stupidity and senselessness, you just can't top....
"Paradise Lost"
Yeah, a mutated earthworm that shits eternal life. Riiiiiiiiiiiight.....
R317
I
agree with the ones mentioned so far..
Date: 06/13/2001
From: SL4ever
... but to avoid being a parrot I'll mention a couple other ones. These are not as bad offenders as the ones mentioned but are still bad enough.1) Into the Mystic world: Again, there is some magic, not all of which is explained with technology. Also, it's hard to imagine how this world could evolve. I know that people (especially Peckinbals) say that anything is possible given an infinite number of worlds, but there are some constants in human nature. No matter how many infinite number of worlds there are, Sharon Stone would never sleep with Pee Wee Herman, for instance.
2) Dream Masters world: Was this world mentioned already? Now I can't remember for sure because I read most of these replies yesterday. >:-# Anyway, even if it has it deserves another mention.
3) New Gods of Old world: The fact that six losers on bikes took over the entire world is perhaps the most unlikely non laws of physics breaking world there was in the series. Alexander the Great? A PUNK! Hitler? Not even close! Napolean? Please! Men on Harleys? Did it without even breaking a sweat!
In
Defense of Mystic
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Recall317
SL4ever,You can't see a world evolving into "Mystic?" I can. We're already a hop, skip and a jump on our way. Science is exceedingly undervalued in today's society. Look at the prevalence of horoscopes, shows like John Edwards' "Crossing Over," faith healing, and other 'lucky' and 'cursed' things. Our world is very accepting of the 'other.' There are surely skeptics and scientists in "Into the Mystic," it's just our crew doesn't encounter them.
The fortune teller did know a bit too much, but at least she didn't hop on a broomstick and fly away. I can accept a few things going unexplained, especially when it relates to the mind, in which its capabilities are not fully understood.
I also must admit I'm probably that episode's biggest defender. Every time I watch it, it moves higher and higher up my lists of favorites. It's now in my Top 5. I finally read the outtakes at the DoC for that ep, and it would have been even better had it run as originally planned. Squeegee mummies! How cool would that have been!
R317
Sole
Survivors
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Slidemania
People start taking diet pills and turn into zombies...and then they infect everyone else, so EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD becomes a zombie (except for those who are immune)...yeah, that would REALLY happen!!!Question: when the authorities saw people start turning into zombies due to the diet pills, why didn't they take the diet pills off the market? For that matter, why didn't they just SHOOT THE ZOMBIES to prevent them from infecting other humans?!?!?!
I
agree with SL4ever!
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Consecutive
I agree with what he said about New Gods for Old. He failed to mention the improbability of water evolving into a magic substance that healed the biker chick who slept with Mallory, but I can overlook that ;-)THE
CONSECUTIVE
http://pages.scifi.com/consecutive
NEVUR
announce you agree with SL4ever!
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Exec_Impersonator
It shows a lack of curtosy! ;-)As for implausible episodes, I would have to pick The Seeur. It was completely ovur-the-top to suppose that the Cryin' Man would leave his world on a risky furthur slide when he had already made it home! Then again, what can you expect from the comphrehension-defying, mostly abyssmal final season?
T H E
E X E C U T I V E
I M P E R S O N A T O R(...and I'm not typing about Diet 7-Up! ;-)
A
Current Affair world...
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Informant
Oh, wait... nevermind. :-)
I'll go with... Well talking fire is pretty out there. So fire world would be an option.Aside from that, there are a bunch of episodes that were pretty out there... "DragonSlide" anyone?
Allow
me to do the fault-finding...
Date: 06/13/2001
From: Brand_S
If you try hard enough, you can find fault with virtually every alt-history as covered in Sliders...Cases in point:
Pilot - It's fairly obvious that the Ice World froze over very recently, and it was at least somewhat normal before. Shouldn't it, like, take a LONG DAMN TIME for a whole world to freeze over, especially in CALIFORNIA? I could understand Seattle weather going from shitty to über-shitty, and I may not have been to NoCal in a long time, but it's still pretty hard for me to believe.
And in the Communist world, did the US really run any kind of risk of losing the Korean War? Even if China or Russia did come to Korea's aid, China was too problematic to put up a good fight (not that it was in MacArthur's better judgment to go up to the Yalu River) and Russia was too concerned with the tension-filled, fragile world politics and the incredibly high cost of their participation in WWII to fuck it all up (worse) by fighting. Besides, if the Communists got involved and the US was defeated, I doubt they'd still call it the Korean War. World War I isn't called the Serbian War and it's not called the Great War anymore. At the very least, it'd be renamed "The War where America barked up the wrong tree and got monkey-raped"... in Russian... comrade.
The US may have been by far the most passionate of the UN in their decision to fight in the Korean War, but Britain could have picked up the slack if the US couldn't, if only because Britain owed the US for saving Britain's ass in World War II (although, as we all know, the British will probably save our ass in World War III; France could have helped too, but they have bad luck in wars).Luck of the Draw - Would THAT many people agree to voluntarily commit suicide for the greater good?
I could understand encouragement not to produce so many kids, but there's more to the reasons for the world's overpopulating than the inability of the world's men to keep it in their pants. If you want population growth to decrease, then help advance women in third world countries.Time Again and World - Converting the US into a totalitarian state isn't as easy as people think. I mean, did we survive for this long because our government can be toppled easily? At the very least, I think it'd require the president to have the military and Secret Service systematically assassinate the senate, house, and judicial branch, and if that happened I doubt the populace would react the way they did. Maybe it's because so much as saying the wrong thing could get your ass killed, but the people in the US on that world didn't seem to mind living under such a state. The underground didn't seem that passionate, and nobody was dressing as conservatively as one would think.
Let's also think about this. How likely is it that there's someone on an alternate world who shares your parents, every single one of your chromosomes, your facial structure, and was born at the exact same time as you? Could doubles really be that common? And, as my philosophical post in the HoF says, what is a double? The definitions surrounding the word are so fluid that it's really hard to say.
Also, how likely is it that, if you really did slide, it'd be into a world where you could live? Humans have a very specific atmosphere in which they can live. You slide into a CO2-gas world, or a vacuum, you can drop the timer and kiss your ass goodbye.
But I still love the show anyway, because it's so gosh-darn cool. Now if there weren't so many people who made me ashamed to call myself a Sliders fan... but hey, Kelsey Grammer is one, so I can't complain!
S
You
doth protest too much, S
Date: 06/14/2001
From: Recall317
S,By and large, I do agree with you. Virtually every alt-history ep in the series has some critical downfall in its logic. But it doesn't mean it's impossible to pull off.
In the limited fanfic I've done, I've developped my alt-worlds thoroughly--in my head. But when it comes time to put them down on paper, I try to stick to the crucial pieces and leave out the rest. While you and I might find the sociopolitical ramifications of the French forming an "Israel" of sorts in United States territory in the 1860s for the Native American population as a way of checking the growth of a burgeoning superpower under the guise of humantitariasm fascinating, most readers don't. And I suspect Tormé recognized this as well. He could have spent thirty minutes expounded on all the ways the Soviet Union could have pushed the U.S. to the brink and lost his audience, or he could say..."uh...they lost the Korean war and whaddaya know? The Domino Theory wasn't a load of crap on this world. Now on to the 'People's Court'!"
I do disagree with you on "Luck of the Draw." I find that alt-history plausible. Two points-
1. This population is composed of true believers. They believe, honestly, that life is transitory and something greater awaits at death. If you were 100% confident that something better happens after life, why would you cling to it?
2. Wealthy nations do tend to have lower birthrates. If the entire world was wealthy, then theoretically, birthrates would drop. And since low birthrates means less overconsumption and potentially more wealth, a cycle could exist where the two reinforce each other.
All I ask from "Sliders" is an effort. When the script is good, I'll let alt-history gaps slide. So for S1 and S2, the mistakes don't bother me. But when there is nothing to distract me from the wretchedness (i.e. most of S3), then EVERY mistake is magnified.
R317
Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/26076
Nominated by Blinker
