The Alternateville Horror

// K2803 · Originally aired July 20, 1998

When the group arrives on an Earth decimated by acid rain, they escape the weather by checking into a version of the Chandler Hotel plagued by mysterious paranormal activity.

Written By // Chris Black
Director // David Grossman
Music // Danny Lux

Reviews

// Earth Prime

The production crew admits to the budget reduction the show had in its move to the Sci-Fi Channel, but when episodes like “The Alternateville Horror” can showcase strong storytelling, good-natured humor, and excellent special effects for less money, I’m not concerned about the occasional bottle show.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

Memory Cheats, they say. Well, I never said that. Someone did. Oh God, was that a Ghost? It was? Tight.

// External Reviews

Worlds Visited

Acid Rain World

Unusually heavy El Niño rainfall and toxic over-pollution via offshore oil drilling make for a nasty combination.

Timer Status

Stolen by ghosts for a while.

Details

The Sliders walk past the Wrightwood Cafe before the rain starts.
The usual suite that the Sliders get in the Chandler Hotel is the Presidential suite on Acid Rain World.
Pizza Boy will be playing soon on the Spice Channel.
Beer is blue and usually comes served with oysters.
Room 315 of the Chandler is haunted.
Wednesday is Karaoke Night at the Chandler.
John Smith is the name of the Greek God of Intellectual Pursuits and Lost Objects.
Cal Tech has a fusion reactor.

Character Information

Quinn regrets having dragged Colin into sliding, and regrets bringing Maggie and Rembrandt along as well.
Colin’s homeworld burned witches on occasion.
Colin doesn’t like being thought of as a rube.
Holly’s husband died of cancer six years ago, right after they bought the Chandler.
Holly’s husband worked for SoCal Oil & Gas digging the San Fernando Petroduct.
Maggie is afraid of rats.
John Smith is a graduate student at Caltech.
John Smith built portable nuclear power cells in his garage.

Notable Quotes

“All those people ran out into an acid rain storm because the room service is just too good?”—Quinn.
“That woman should seriously consider decaf.”—Rembrandt, about Holly.
“This is the second weirdest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.”—Rembrandt.
“I’ve spent my whole life trying to adjust to my own world. Now I’ve got a million more to deal with.”—Colin.
“Don’t you ever sleep?!”—Quinn, to Holly.
“What kind of an idiot checks into a hotel with the alias of ‘John Smith’?”—Maggie.
“I realize that it is not a very common name, but that is no reason to be insulting.”—John Smith.
“Have you ever lost the timer before?”—Colin.
“Easy girl, I thought you were a Marine.”—Rembrandt, after Maggie confesses she’s afraid of rats.
“Not a stripper, love… exotic dancer.”—Alt-Maggie to her double, who is shocked that she could do something like that.
“Thank you, Igor.”—Quinn to Rembrandt after Rembrandt wires the hotel Frankenstein-style.

Money Matters

Quinn tips Holly for showing the Sliders to their room.
Quinn, Rembrandt and Maggie purchase a round of beers in the hotel bar.
Holly comps the Sliders’ room after they rescue her son from being trapped between dimensions.

Nitpicks and Errors

So the acid rain can burn through clothes and eat flesh and yet the landscaping around where the Sliders walk is lush and verdant?
The ice cubes in the ice box look incredible fake.
How does a ghost pick up a solid object like the timer and carry it through another solid object like a door?
How did the other group of Sliders and Matthew live for two years without food, hygiene or a different set of clothes?
Why is it every person that seems like a fish out of water (i.e. Colin) has to be taught slang? It happens on every show, EVER.
So the government takes over the hotel for two years and then gets bored with a perpetual rift in space? Are you kidding me?
Why does Matthew appear to be standing on a soapbox when Holly rushes to hug him? He looks about eye-level with her before she kneels down.
Alt-Quinn’s Austin Powers impersonation is really bad.
Rembrandt puts a flashlight coated with acid rain in his mouth to clamp the power to the lightning rod. Not very smart, is it?

Neatpicks

Rembrandt continues to nickname the Mallory brothers. First, it was “Q-Ball.” Now, Colin is “Farmboy.” Nice!
Holly’s reference to blood pouring out the elevator and dolls with steak knives are good throwaway lines referring to The Shining and Child’s Play.
While Rembrandt is shaving, he hums the tune to “Angel,” which he will later perform in Asylum.

Rewind That!

Maggie moves a bottle of Kahlua Mudslide while looking for a flashlight. At first airing, Kahlua was a heavy advertiser of the show.

Parallel History

Long ago, the ancient Greeks embraced the name John as the name of the God of Intellectual Pursuits and lost objects.

Since then, the western world has developed pretty normally. However, on the West Coast of the United States, the air quality is poor. So poor, in fact, that when it rains, it acid rains. Experts explain this as a result of heavily oil drilling off the coast and in the building of the San Fernando Petroduct. Sacramento officials were able to close the offshore refineries, and the air as gotten considerably better.

People are often given little warning to escape, as it has been shown that people panic seconds before the first drops fall. Rain slickers are metallic to prevent the acid from eating through fabric.

In 1993, Santa Monica Bay caught fire. It was a real bitch to put out.

Fortunately, the local foliage has adapted to the acid rather well, as flowers, grass, et. al. are left unharmed at the end of particularly vicious rainstorms.

Two years ago, the Chandler Hotel in downtown Los Angeles became haunted. Rembrandt Brown, a pioneer in the development of antigravity, accidentally slid himself, a stripper and a visiting rock star to a median point between universes. The Air Force was unable to determine the nature of the vortex. Little has been done to rectify the situation.

Guest Starring

Elyse Mirto as Holly
Lance Wilson-White as John Smith
Colton James as Matthew
Mike Muzzy as Screaming Man
Louisa Abernathy as Guest

Script Archive

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

The Inside Slide

Conceived as a bottle show, “The Alternateville Horror” gave production a chance to showcase its largest standing set—the Chandler Hotel—as well as writer Chris Black’s comedic chops.

“The Sliders wind up stuck in the Chandler Hotel with nowhere to go, and it’s about the creepy and wacky things that happen to them while they’re stuck there,” says Black. “I thought that one turned out very well, and it was really a showcase for our special FX team. We’re working on a much more modest budget than we were on Fox, and the crew, the director of photography and the special FX people are all forced to make do with fewer resources, and have really stepped up to the plate and done a fantastic job.”

Ironically, a bottle show doesn’t necessarily mean shorter shoots or cheaper budgets.

“‘The Alternateville Horror’ was a standard ghost story,” explains Bill Dial. “It started off with the idea that we would save a little money, but that show ended up taking seven days to shoot—longer than we would normally take because it was so complex.”

The last attempt at a bottle show, In Dino Veritas, also ended up with more elaborate effects and character-driven story than they thought possible.