This Slide of Paradise

// K1828 · Originally aired May 16, 1997

The final showdown between the Sliders and Colonel Rickman takes place on an island inhabited by bizarre hybrid creatures created by a mad scientist.

Written By // Nan Hagen
Director // Jim Johnston
Music // Stephen Graziano

Reviews

// Earth Prime

Maybe “This Slide of Paradise” isn’t offensive enough to really warrant an F, but it doesn’t do anything that deserves credit. I’m tired of giving Sliders points for showing up.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

A monstrous diatribe against the worst atrocity the show has yet committed. I have to say goodbye to Wade—here? Now? I’m not the only one who wants to jump howling off a cliff. All my friends are dead.

// External Reviews

Worlds Visited

Romani World

The classical architecture and nomadic nature of this world’s inhabitants suggests a medieval society with a class of rootless travelers.

Hybrid World

Geological instability has turned California into a series of tropical island paradises — all up for sale to the highest bidder.

Future World

Large, futuristic buildings dot the landscape of San Francisco, and huge hovercraft fly through the night sky.

Timer Status

Damaged either by the ocean landing or when Quinn drops it in the forest, the timer doesn’t track Rickman’s wormhole, separating Wade and Rembrandt from Quinn and Maggie on different worlds.

Details

Ceres says that it was a beast named Kolain who first saw our Sliders come through the wormhole.
Vargas says that he’s named his genetic creations “Huminals—a new species of life. Bred to be docile beyond reason.”

Character Information

Maggie once had a sexual relationship with Rickman, though she says it was the “biggest mistake I ever made.”

Notable Quotes

“You didn’t know the Professor that well.”—Quinn to Maggie, who says that she’s never heard a man snarl as viciously as the animal that was chasing them.
“Open up! We have an injured … “—Quinn, who looks back to Allisandra at the compound gate, wondering just what to call her.
“Trust us, we’re not even registered to vote around here.”—Wade, when asked if the Sliders were government agents.
“Get your stinkin’ paw off me.”—Maggie to Rickman, echoing Charlton Heston in “Planet of the Apes.”

Nitpicks and Errors

After Quinn uses the three darts and before the Sliders get trapped in the net, a scene of a Huminal descending from a tree is reused from earlier in the episode.
The most obvious nitpick about this episode is the final scene in which Quinn and Maggie land in a futuristic version of San Francisco. I say futuristic because, knowing the rules of sliding, set down firmly during the first season, the Sliders do not and can not time travel. The term ‘futuristic’ is used because it has the characteristics of a city of the future but, again according to the rules, is not. However this doesn’t stop Quinn, the scientist himself, from concluding that he and Maggie have gone into the future.

Guest Starring

Michael York as Dr. Vargas
Melinda Clarke as Alisandra
Neil Dickson¹ as Col. Angus Rickman
Deron Michael McBee² as Ceres
Marc Riffon as Daniel

Co-Starring

Sam Gifaldi as Michael

Neil Dickson plays Angus Rickman in The Other Slide of Darkness, Stoker and Dinoslide.
Deron McBee is a former American Gladiator.

Script Archive

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

The Inside Slide

“This Slide of Paradise” wasn’t meant to be a cliffhanger—the original scripted ending had Rickman falling to his death with his timer in hand, and the Sliders dejectedly entering another wormhole knowing their chance home was dashed on the rocks below. So what happened?

The Dimension of Continuity reports that while FOX was waffling on its decision to renew, it asked production to put in a cliffhanger leaving just Jerry O’Connell and Kari Wuhrer, allowing them to create a 13-episode order for the next season that would rotate on Friday nights with John Corbett’sThe Visitor and a third unnamed series. The proposal? A view of the multiverse through the “eyes of love.”

When the Sci-Fi Channel expressed interest in taking over the reins of the series, however, this idea was dropped.

· · ·

Of her ocean dip at the beginning of the episode, Sabrina says: “They made us go out into the ocean in Northern California. The water was freezing, there was a horrible undercurrent, and I almost drowned! I felt very daring.”