Roads Taken

// K2822 · Originally aired April 16, 1999

When Quinn and Maggie are separated from Rembrandt and Colin during a weird slide, a mysterious stranger claiming to be their son in a parallel universe may hold the key to saving them from a bizarre malady.

Teleplay // Bill Dial
Story // Marc Scott Zicree
Director // Jerry O'Connell
Music // Danny Lux

Reviews

// Earth Prime

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what in particular about “Roads Taken” sets me off, but it’s proved elusive. All I know is I want to take this episode and beat it with a tire iron.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

On this week’s thrilling episode of Sliders, Quinn and Maggie bump their heads and dream of the most dully heteronormative relationship imaginable; later commit genocide.

// External Reviews

Worlds Visited

Navajo World

All that’s known about this world is that Colin’s laptop was dismantled by a shaman here, and that Quinn and Maggie escaped some kind of fight.

Microsoft World

I guess people realized that Windows wasn’t such a great product. The collapse of the giant software concern crumbled the stock market, and Mexico decided to attack the U.S. in the confusion.

Bubbleverse

An extension of Quinn and Maggie’s desire to have a normal life for once, this abnormality of space-time has split their psyches in half.

Timer Status

Thomas Mallory upgrades it to visit the Bubbleverse.

Details

The Chandler Hotel offers Ambassador, Deluxe Economy and Regular Economy levels of service. Ambassador rates get you a key to the communal shower and a crank-operated radio.
CNN exists.
New curfew hours are posted for Nuevo Los Angeles due to unrest in the Northern San Fernando Valley. Citizens are to be off the streets by 9:00 p.m.
An ELL ruling council turned down demands for bilingual education in the North Valley, citing that this was a Spanish-speaking country now.
California governor Robert Dornan’s fighters are called B-1 Bobbies.
The sniper shot down by UN peacekeepers was stationed atop the Marshall building.
Medical officer Kurtz is a soldier in the 105th MASH unit.

“Sudden Light”

The poem recited by Thomas Mallory in the bubble universe is a slight variant of the original poem. The version in the show is below, the original follows afterwards.

Sliders Style

I have been here before
But when and how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
the sighing sound, the lights around the shore.
And you have been mine before, –
How long ago I may not know:
Has this been thus before?
And shall not thus time’s eddying flight
Still with our lives restore
In death’s despite,
And day and night yield one delight once more?

Original by Rossetti

Here is the poem as it appears in our universe, first published in 1863.

I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.
You have been mine before, —
How long ago I may not know:
But just when at that swallow’s soar
Your neck turned so,
Some veil did fall, -l knew it all of yore.
Has this been thus before?
And shall not thus time’s eddying flight
Still with our lives our love restore
In death’s despite,
And day and night yield one delight once more?

Character Information

Maggie wants a relationship with Quinn.
Maggie’s father’s first name was Thomas.
Thomas Mallory spent several years researching in the South Pole.
Thomas graduated from Cal Tech.
Quinn will eventually grow up to become commandant of a wise-cracking Police Academy, whereafter he’ll retire to the life of an apartment super raising an orphan.

Notable Quotes

“When are we going to slide into a world where people aren’t killing each other?”—Maggie. Um, never?
These beets are chemically preserved and will retain their wholesome color long after they are no longer safe to eat. — Message on a can of beets.
“Again?”—Rembrandt’s response to Colin’s claim of another haunted Chandler.
“You do own a gun, don’t you?”—Bubbleverse Maggie making sure Quinn is suitable for her father.
“You mean you can wish a whole world into being?”—Rembrandt.
“Why not?”—Thomas.
“I’ve always had a little dignity.”—Commandant, er, Quinn.
“I think we’ve reached the beginning.”—Quinn, obviously excited at the memories he has of having sex with Maggie.

Money Matters

The Sliders have cash and aren’t afraid to use it. They buy the most expensive hotel room and Rembrandt throws back a couple of tequila shooters without any problem.

Nitpicks and Errors

Quinn mentions that he worked under the tutelage of Professor [Richard] Feynman. Either he didn’t die in 1988 on Earth Prime like we thought, or Quinn was in high school taking doctoral level classes.
Quinn and Maggie get married at the Temple of the Chasm.
After the Sliders essentially time travel, why do they repeat their conversation with the Lieutenant when they already know the Chandler will be clear?

Neatpicks

Robert Dornan is a real-life state senator of California from Southern California.

Guest Starring

David Dukes as Thomas Mallory
George Gaynes as Old Quinn
Julie Adams as Old Maggie
Justine Miceli as Caroline Tatashore
Israel Juarbe¹ as Gomez Calhoun

Israel Juarbe also portrays Gomez Calhoun in Lipschitz Live and To Catch a Slider.

Script Archive

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

The Inside Slide

Kari Wuhrer laughs at the possibility of Maggie Beckett developing a romance with a fellow Slider. “I’m waiting! Believe me, I’m waiting!” she says. “We do see some indications that Quinn and Maggie are struggling to develop a deeper relationship. But it’s just bits and pieces because there’s really no time for romance when you’re sliding.”

And there’s still a possible romantic entanglement with Maggie and the apparent love-doomed Quinn. “Yeah. There is a very interesting episode where it takes me through our entire courting, marriage, our children and our old age, which shows what could have been if we weren’t so stubborn.”