Paradise Lost
As aired, "Paradise Lost" is a candidate for the worst episode of Sliders ever produced. Heck, it’s a candidate for the worst episode of scripted television any show ever produced. If this is the finished product, where did it begin? Shockingly, from a place of understated competence. That’s right. "Tourist Trap," as "Paradise Lost" was originally known, is a standard third season episode, destined to be forgotten like "State of the A.R.T." instead of remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In May of 1996, The X-Files aired "Quagmire," a story set in a tourist town featuring its own version of the Loch Ness Monster. The twist is that the monster is real, and the monster kills tourists. In effect, that’s "Tourist Trap." Instead of an aquatic beast, we’ve got a giant worm. From outer space. Or maybe not! We never really find out. But that’s the story, straightforward and simple. The Sliders uncover the secret, the leaders of the town realize that they can still be a tourist trap without the actual worm, and it is blown up.
Blown up utterly.
There is no magic worm goo. I repeat, no magic worm goo.
Care to learn more? Let’s go.
The United States of Native America
Space worm aside, the major alt-world difference is the Native Americans are in control and the white man has been placed in reservations. The reservation we visit is on some prime real estate—Malibu. It is never explained how this happened and our Sliders don’t bother to inquire. Arturo literally shrugs the question off.
Laurie Eagle, a Native American, has come to Malibu in search of her brother, who was filming a documentary on Big Sandy, the legendary worm of the area. He is missing and the townspeople are being suspiciously tight-lipped about it. As in the final version, the existence of the worm is revealed immediately, so the viewer knows we have a real monster on our hands. It’s just going to take the Sliders awhile to figure it out.
The reservation’s concern for Big Sandy is solely as a means of generating revenue. They know it’s real and they know it occasionally eats a tourist. But lately, its appetite is out of control and keeping the secret is causing internal tension.
The Characters of Malibu
The "chief" of the reservation is Len Erickson, who becomes the primary villain. His developmentally-challenged daughter serves up the Sliders the clues they need to crack the case. There is a sheriff here, but he is conflicted. Finally, we have Tommy, a good guy who really doesn’t want people to be harmed, and for that he’s fed to Big Sandy. There are other cowardly and creepy townfolk, but no one nearly as creepy as Parker, Bud, or Sheriff Burke. Unfortunately, Erickson is a stock villain. His aim is to protect the reservation at all costs, even when the costs need not be incurred. Erickson survived into the production draft, but his role was then divided between Parker and Burke.
Space Worm
Arturo spends most of the episode examining a Big Sandy rock that Quinn buys at the trading outpost for a dollar. In the limited time here, he manages to obtain a microscope, send away for—and receive—a chemical kit, and determine that the rock is not of this earth. Or a parallel earth: "As a matter of fact, it isn't made from any metallic elements known on earth." He also identifies a fossilized substance that leads him to believe the meteorite may have carried a lifeform.
And the Rest
The story itself is just a slow reveal of the worm to the Sliders and the effort made by the townspeople to conceal it. There is very little reason for the Sliders to even engage. Laurie is eaten by the worm in Act 1, though only Wade saw it (and it was very dark). Quinn and Wade decide they owe it to her to find out what happened, though they literally just met her. Rembrandt has nothing at all to do and sensibly argues that they should leave. For his heresy, he gets eaten by Big Sandy instead of Arturo.
The others immediately pursue the worm back to its cave. "The cove…the cove!" It is Erickson and the sheriff who bring the explosives to destroy the worm and our Sliders. Rembrandt, Tommy, Laurie, and Michael are all found alive in the worm’s cocoons, being saved as food for her hatchlings. Sandy eats the bad guys allowing our group to escape, but Quinn blows her up anyway. What an ingrate! But he doesn’t go back to see if he finished the job, and we close on an egg about to hatch. The cycle of life continues.
The Writer’s Draft is undated, but other documentation points to this being submitted October 16, 1996. The production draft is dated December 1, 2016 and "Tourist Trap" has fully morphed into "Paradise Lost." So what happened? Why such the dramatic change?
At the moment…we don’t know! We do know "The Fire Within" went into production as this script was submitted. There are some structural similarities between the two at this stage. Did we want to have another episode of Arturo at the microscope? Did the sentient flame take the wind out of the space worm? Would Quinn and Arturo be as skeptical of Big Sandy now? It’s a sound hypothesis, but that’s all it is.
In the end, production chose to rip off a different episode of The X-Files, "Gender Bender." And poorly at that. Very very poorly.