Desert Storm
The Sliders enter the realm of Thunderdome, where thugs and vigilantes dominate a world with precious little water. Wade discovers a telepathic connection with Devin, a human dowsing rod, and she convinces the others to rescue her from a young man named Jeremy. Unknown to all, they take her away from her true family and deliver her into the hands of the murderer who killed her father when she was a young girl. Jeremy makes a second attempt, but abducts Wade by mistake. She learns Devin’s true backstory and convinces the other Sliders to return her to a hidden paradise. The thugs aren’t about to give up their most prized possession and launch an attack. In a side story, Arturo is taken to a faith healer to deal with his illness.
Worlds Visited
 | DesertworldA recent cataclysm has robbed the Earth of its oceans. |
Details
- Elston Diggs’ bar is called “The Sand Pit.”
- The term on the map in the Sand Pit reads “The Last Chance Cantina / In the Sand Pit”
- Outposts named on the wasteland map include Outer Limits, Lost City, Dry Gulch, the Sand Pit, Outpost, Eden and Aquarius.
- The bag of fuel that the arrow punctures reads “Made of Flax Duck From Scotland.”
- The Master Healer’s chant while standing over Arturo goes: “Ite…Missa…Est” (which means “Go. The Ceremony is Over.”)
Character Information
Arturo admits that, as a man of science, he considers himself a believer in knowledge and truth. He also calls himself a ‘realist.’
Money Matters
- Sorry, folks, no money here. It’s trade or nothing. And the Sliders don’t have much to trade.
Notable Quotes
- “We’ll talk about that later.” — Quinn’s response to Devin, who says that she’s Cutter’s “Water Priestess.”
- “We ride, we ride!” — Quinn as he gets behind the wheel of the Chevrolet monster pickup truck.
- “Figures. We rescue the biker babe that rides with Mad Max.” — Wade’s take on Devin.
- “You’re the first guy I ever met that really DID run out of gas.” — Wade to Jeremy after his truck goes dry in the middle of the desert. Jeremy doesn’t get the joke.
- “We’re not lost. We just choose to remain a mystery.” — Jeremy correcting Wade’s statement that he comes from the Lost City of Aquarius.
- “No. They’re mints. We make them ourselves. They’re quite good.” — The Master Healer in response to Arturo’s question as to whether they’ll cure what ails him.
Arturoisms
“No gift comes without a string or two attached.”
Nitpicks/Errors
- It seems that no matter what world the four land on these days, everybody has a Humvee.
- As the master healer is going over Arturo, he reveals that Arturo’s illness is in located in his heart — however, in The Guardian Arturo has a C.A.T. scan done on his head and a computer screen in the doctor’s office reveals that there is a mass located in the back of his head.
- Quinn points the timer in a 45-degree angle upwards but the vortex opens directly in front of him. But my real nitpick is how the actors can’t understand to point the damn thing directly ahead which would eliminate the need for the vortex stream to be emitted at crazy, broken angles.
Neatpicks
- Diggs’ establishment in the Sand Pit is named the Last Chance Cantina, a nice internal continuity nod to the bar set he usually works at (which is referred to in scripts as the Last Chance Bar).
Rewind That!
- When Quinn is thrown from Cutter’s dune buggy, freeze the frame. Much like the Shaft-Rembrandt stunt double in Greatfellas, Jerry O’Connell’s double looks a lot like Elvis.
Rewind That!
As Quinn puts the pedal to the metal in the monster truck, an unattributed line of dialogue that isn’t in the show says “Just one of the those chickens,” a possible request for him to run over a chicken for some food.
History Lesson
Desert World lives up to its name. Whereas a large portion of the Pacific Southwest is desert on Earth Prime, some cataclysm here dried up practically all water sources. Current maps show that the California coastline simply isn’t there anymore — it’s land as far as the eye can see.
As a result, civilization has descended into complete anarchy, and major settlements have either dispersed or been destroyed. Regular currency is useless in this new world; people acquire goods through barter and nothing else.
Petroleum must be in abundance because cars are plentiful and people drive them with little thought of conserving resources. Water is also available but it’s extremely valuable. Slaves, tools, skins and other useful items are traded for it.
Legends abound about a lost civilization that hoards the water they have. It’s aptly named the tribe of Aquarius, and those who are born into it exhibit strange psychic powers that allow them to act as living divining rods as well as telekinesis (this skill is relegated primarily with the matriarchy). One such person, Devin, was captured by a man named Cutter and his band of road warriors a decade ago.
Aquarius is hidden in the desert and contains lush flora and fauna and a variety of water sources. All of this is kept secret and only those who are from the city can find it thanks to special crystals that act as a compass to their home. Legends say this is where the spaceships go to gas up.
The Inside Slide
Tragedy struck while shooting on location when guest star Ken Steadman (“Cutter”) was killed in a dune-buggy accident.
“It devastated the entire company,” says Cleavant Derricks, who was speaking with the 27-year-old actor just a half hour before he died. “We still have wounds from it. Young people lose their lives every day. But to have it happen in front of you like that really brings things into perspective.”
As a result of the accident, which occurred in the middle of the film schedule, another actor was brought in to take Steadman’s place. These scenes are noticeable because the other actor is wearing blue make up and is a little heavier-set than Steadman.
· · ·
The Associated Press release from September 20, 1996 (8:54p EST) is below:
Actor Killed, Another Injured, on Desert Set of TV Show ‘Sliders‘
Adelanto, Calif. (AP) — An actor was killed and another injured Friday on the set of the Fox action-adventure TV series Sliders when a dune buggy they were riding in overturned in a dry, desert lake bed, authorities said. Kenneth Keith Steadman, 27, of Sherman Oaks was rushed by helicopter to San Bernardino County Medical Center after the 11:50 a.m. accident at El Mirage Dry Lake, said Randy Emon, a county deputy coroner investigator. He arrived at the hospital at 1 p.m. in full cardiac arrest and died four minutes later, Emon said. The other actor, who is not identified [it was later determined to be Christopher Malecki], was treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released, said Libby Gill, a spokeswoman for the MCA/Universal Television Group, makers of the program. Both actors were guest-starring on the series, which was scheduled to begin its third season Friday night.
Sliders is about people who travel to parallel universes where there are alternate versions of Earth. The California Highway Patrol was investigating the crash, but a spokeswoman for the agency had no immediate comment. The dune buggy had seatbelts, but the men were not using them at the time of the accident, Emon said. “Ken Steadman was a young and fabulous actor,” said his manager, Susan Ferris. “He was a very cool guy, very talented.” A native of northern Washington state, Steadman moved to Los Angeles five years ago to pursue acting, Ferris said. His career was just starting to blossom with guest spots last season on “NYPD Blue” and “Baywatch” and on Thursday night’s premiere of the new CBS show “Moloney,” she said. El Mirage Dry Lake, northwest of Adelanto, is in the Southern California desert about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
Guest Stars
- Gina Philips as Devin
- Kristofer Lindquist as Jeremy
- Ken Steadman as Cutter
- Lester Barrie1 as [Elston] Diggs
- Michael Lee Gogin as Master Healer
Co-Starring
- Christopher Maleki as Wolf
- Constance Forslund as Fiona (Devin’s mother)
- Judson Mills as Davy (standing around the fire)
Unaccredited:
- Gabriel Christy as Devin’s father.
- Lester Barrie appears as Diggs in other third season episodes like Double Cross, The Dream Masters, Dragonslide, Murder Most Foul and The Breeder.