Slide Like an Egyptian

// K1817 · Originally aired January 17, 1997

The Sliders land in a world resembling ancient Egypt, where Quinn is used for a life-after-death experiment, and the others are entombed inside a pyramid.

Written By // Scott Smith Miller
Director // Adam Nimoy
Music // Danny Lux

Reviews

// Earth Prime

There are a lot of things going right in this story yet when they come together, they just don’t quite pop. Still, it’s a bold first entry in this post-Tormé era. If nothing else, it has staked itself a place as an episode you’ll have to remember.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

Probably the greatest scene ever to come out of the show.

// External Reviews

Martin Izsak

Worlds Visited

Egypt World

The Egyptian empire and its culture have spread all the way to the Pacific.

Timer Status

Looks like it’s the end of the road for the original timer. After Wade, Arturo and Rembrandt miss the original slide, it renders that device essentially useless for the next 29.7 years. It’s a good thing the Egyptian royalty on this world have access to sliding technology, and that the architect of the Pharoah’s pyramid stole some and left it in a place easily accessed by Quinn. Though it has 13 hours until it is to be activated, the Sliders open the vortex before it’s time (as they did in the Pilot on Tundra World), which corrupts the new timer and sends the four on another random sliding adventure.

Details

In the beginning of the episode, the Sliders walk past a building with the street number 618.
The headline on the New Alexandria Times reads “Pharoah [sic] Sealed in Pyramid Tomorrow.” Below are the sub-headings “Ceremonial Sealing of Tomb to begin at noon” and “Seven Die in Hi-Rise Fire.”
The postal service motto: “Neither locusts nor sandstorms nor gloom of night [shall keep us from our appointed rounds.]”
The sign on the wall as the procession begins reads: “No admittance—Hospital employees only.”
Running from Dr. Mubaric, Rembrandt hides in the Necrology Ward.
Quinn’s time of death is 3:15 p.m.
The Sliders are staying (again) at the Royal Chancellor Hotel.
Dr. Mubaric says that the reason Quinn was operated on was because scans show that he has a tumor. Quinn scoffs at that assumption, claiming he’s in perfect health, but is it possible that that ‘tumor’ is the tracking device implanted by the Kromaggs in Invasion?
The license plate of Deera’s red BMW is 1E49953.

Character Information

As a boy, Quinn would often play pass with his father who instilled in him the motto: “If you can touch it, you can catch it.” The phrase obviously served him well—Quinn went on to quarterback for his team in high school.
Quinn once dreamt that Arturo was his father. Looking back on that time, Arturo says “I never had the courage to tell him that I so often wished he was my son.”

Notable Quotes

“No, I’m not royalty. I’m just a scientist, trying to find his way home.”—a very defeated Quinn to Deera.
“Success covers many evils.”—the Kheri-Heb on using healthy people in afterlife experiments.
“Yeah, it probably cost twice as much as the estimate. You know how contractors are.”—Rembrandt, in reference to the unfinished section of the pyramid.
“Ouch, you’re a real sweet talker.”—Deera to Quinn who says that he doesn’t care if helping him will damage her career.
“Think of it as an impromptu phaser.”—Rembrandt’s reference to Star Trek about his electrical scarab-prong.

Money Matters

The four check into the Royal Chancellor Hotel for one evening but other than that, they don’t need currency on Egypt World.

Nitpicks and Errors

When the scarab attacks the architect, it seems that it has grown two-fold since the earlier scene where it’s being pushed in the wooden crate.
The CGI for the above-mentioned scene is atrocious.
At the end, as the Kheri-Heb is being pulled up by the scarab, he leaves his feet before the beetle even touches him.

Guest Starring

Shaun Toub as Kheri-Heb
Claudette Mink¹ as Sheilah
Rocco Vienhage as Dr. Achtbit
Jim Turner as Mike Mallory
Armando Valdes-Kennedy as Seyn Jebid, Royal Architect
Steven Meek as R.D.I. agent
Apollonia² as Dr. Deera Mubaric

Co-Starring

Justin M. Gorence as Priest
Terry Markwell³ as Reporter

Unaccredited

The male voice of the first newscaster.
The female R.D.I agent.

Claudette Mink also stars as First Mate Brice in Heavy Metal.
Apollonia’s real name is Patricia Kotero.
Terry Markwell also stars as a reporter in The Fire Within and The Prince of Slides.

Script Archive

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

The Inside Slide

Digital Muse effects supervisor Ken Stranahan describes the giant scarab as one of their most difficult opticals.

“[Director] Adam [Nimoy] really wanted to make this a great show,” he says. “We basically built a giant CGI scarab beetle. Luckily one of our animators actually studied entomology in school.

“I must apologize for some of the artistic license we took. Originally it was very accurate looking, then the claws on the front were not big enough so we ended up changing a lot of things. But it should still look pretty cool. It is really top notch and we put a lot of time into it. I ended up modeling the bug, but [CGI modeler] John [Daniel] worked hard on trying to make it a great looking bug. It is really amazing.”