Common Ground

// K2810 · Originally aired June 15, 1998

When Maggie inadvertently saves the life of a high-ranking Kromagg, the Sliders must take advantage of his gratefulness to stop a powerful weapon capable of ripping humans apart—atom by atom.

Written By // Chris Black
Director // Reza Badiyi
Music // Danny Lux

Reviews

// Earth Prime

This episode castrates the Kromagg menace by showing both Kromagg politicking and a Dynasty commander who’d much rather while away the time talking to prisoners and destroying his subordinates than building advanced weapons or doing his job.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

The humanization of the Kromaggs? Or the de-humanization of Rembrandt?

// External Reviews

Worlds Visited

Tropics World

Where you’re always in time to hang with King Kalehana and maybe see a fertility feast or two.

Kromagg Outpost 147

The humans of this world fought the Kromaggs with everything they had, leaving the survivors irradiated from nuclear explosions and sick from chemicals unleashed in the atmosphere.

Details

Quinn estimates that Kromagg Outpost 147 is at level 2 of the smog index.
The Kromaggs refer to sliding as “quantum probability translocation.”
The Kromaggs use Arabic numerology.
Quinn dials the Kromagg weapon from 6240 to the 6290s.
Phase 4 is known as “The Pit.”

Character Information

Rembrandt spent three months in a Kromagg Re-education camp, and would rather die than be trapped with the Kromaggs on Earth 147.
Maggie reveals that Pulsar Prime had three World Wars. In the third, in the Battle of California, Japanese troops landed on American soil and launched an offensive, fighting American troops voraciously. Left with no other alternative, the American government dropped two atom bombs on American soil, one in San Diego, the other in Los Angeles.
Maggie’s grandfather fought in the aforementioned Battle of California.
Maggie flew Harriers off of armed carriers and fought in the Siberian Push, a Russian battle of some kind which would lends credence to the Soviet/U.S. hostility shortly before Pulsar Prime was destroyed.

Notable Quotes

“We missed King Kalehana’s pagan fertility feast for this?”—Rembrandt, looking at his surroundings on Kromagg Outpost 147.
“A little tingly. Not in a good way.”—Maggie’s description of her eye-roasting torture.
“This is a freakin’ death camp.”—Rembrandt, under contract to use the word ‘freaking’ in every other episode.
“That seems to be a catch-all punishment with you guys.”—Quinn, on death.
“Let me guess. You’re lost again.”—Krolak, after apprehending Rembrandt and Quinn in Stage 4.
“You asked me if I pity you. I do now.”—Maggie, to Kromanus.
“There comes a point when even a warrior tires of pointless bloodshed.”—Kromanus.

Nitpicks and Errors

When Rembrandt first removes the helmet from Kromanus, look closely. You can see the makeup peeling off of actor Stephen Macht’s face.
Kromagg Outpost 147 is controlled by the Kromaggs. The Sliders slide into a military garrison. Kromagg Outpost 147 is in ruins. Where do the Sliders get brand new, stylish clothes that color coordinate?
Why is Kromanus headquartered in the Chandler Hotel? For that matter, why isn’t there any battle damage on the street around the Chandler?
Quinn fiddles with alien technology for fifteen seconds and completely reverses months of fine-tuning by Kromagg scientists that understand the machinery? What are the odds of that?

Guest Starring

Stephen Macht¹ as Kromanus
Tom Westbrook as Krolak
Mina Badie as Penny
Carl Gabriel Yorke² as Kromagg Leader
Tom Fitzpatrick as Eyeless man
William Bookston as Body

Unaccredited

All those people who get vaporized.

Steven Macht plays a whole lotta Krislovs in New Gods for Old.
Carl Gabriel York plays the Director in California Reich and a Technician in The Return of Maggie Beckett.

Script Archive

Click on the links below to download rare scripts, outlines, and memos associated with this episode.

The Inside Slide

“The first one I wrote, Common Ground, is a fairly dark, dramatic story, which is unusual for me, but I’m actually very proud of it,” says Chris Black. “It involves the return of the Kromaggs, who were introduced in an episode called Invasion that Tracy [Tormé] had done on Fox, another sliding race which is actually an offshoot of humanity, and they become the ongoing villains throughout the series; I think there are six or seven episodes that feature them. What we’ve done with the Kromaggs is add a little backbone to the season, so there are these people who lurk in the background. They have the same sliding capability, so they’re going to pop up from time to time, and each time the Sliders encounter them throughout the series, they learn new things and acquire new information from them.”

· · ·

“Chris Black did a really good script [“Common Ground”] that has a very good take on Maggie, where she’s strong but human, and we get a sense of her—she seems much more real and reflective in the episodes I’ve seen that deal with her,” adds Marc Scott Zicree. “And I think that’s a good template; in fact, I’m rereading Chris’ script again, to just get that voice in my head.”