Requiem
The Sliders land in a peaceful setting by a lake, but soon Rembrandt experiences painful migraines and hallucinations about their long-lost friend, Wade. Over a year has passed since Wade had been sent to a Kromagg breeder camp. Rembrandt was the last one to see her and has never been able to talk about what exactly occurred. Suddenly, a vortex curtain appears and the Sliders enter, believing that Wade is on the other side. They find themselves in the midst of a Kromagg military complex — where Rembrandt was imprisoned with Wade. Her voice, speaking solely inside his head, beckons him to where she is being held. Inside a Kromagg lab, hooked up to electrodes and encased in a high-tech sarcophagus is what’s left of Wade’s body. The Kromaggs surround them and the leader, Captain Kesh, admits that Wade and other humans have been transformed into human computers, or cyberiads, able to create wormholes at will. This new technology will enable the Kromaggs to infiltrate Kromagg Prime, which has been made impenetrable by the humans. The Sliders manage to escape from their captors, but not before Rembrandt is wounded. He finally breaks his silence and reveals the torture he endured and the bitter farewell to Wade that has troubled him all this time. Rembrandt contacts Wade telepathically and she vortexes them back into the lab. To stop the attack ships from launching, Wade shuts down the control system. But if she is disconnected from it, Wade will instantly die. She pleads to see herself through Rembrandt’s eyes. The shock causes an adrenaline rush and Wade becomes completely alive with rage. With a few seconds left on the timer, the other Sliders vortex out. However, Rembrandt will not abandon Wade. As the Kromaggs blast into the lab, Wade creates a nuclear-like explosion and sends Rembrandt back to their original spot by the lake. Rembrandt receives a message from Wade that she will always be with him…
Worlds Visited
Toxic Smog WorldI guess it was a level four alert on the smog index in this parallel world. |
Pleasant WorldIt’s paradise, it’s quiet, it’s Starfleet Headquarters. Maybe Boothby is the one behind all of this… |
Filler WorldThis universe actually only existed for the 45 minutes the Sliders were on it. It doesn’t appear anywhere in the script, and nothing happens on it, so where did it come from? |
Kromagg Outpost 50The Kromaggs have developed a plague and a space folding technology to reconquer Kromagg Prime. |
Details
This episode favors confusion and plain, undressed sets over the little details.
Character Information
- Two months prior to the events in Genesis, Rembrandt and Wade were placed in the same cell. At times one would be interrogated, and soon verbal communication was replaced with tactile ones just to know the other was safe. However, the Kromaggs screwed with Rembrandt’s mind so much that he eventually thought Wade was an illusion. Finally, the Kromaggs threatened to ship Wade off to a breeder camp, but thinking it was another hallucination, he shrugged it off… until he saw the look in Wade’s eyes and knew they were serious. He told them everything but they wouldn’t return her.
- Wade doesn’t blame Rembrandt for abandoning her.
Money Matters
None. They slide into a Chandler room but never pay for it (no chance, either, it dissolves right after they slide out, since it doesn’t really exist).
Notable Quotes
- “Who’s Wade?” — Diana.
“Someone we lost a long time ago.” — Maggie. - “Maybe we’re interdimensional preferred customers.” — Mallory, on the world that doesn’t exist.
- “I don’t have to imagine. I remember.” — Rembrandt, about the Kromagg camps.
- “I could never hate you.” — Wade, to Rembrandt.
- “I don’t know how you did it girl, but nice goin’.” — Rembrandt, to Wade, after she sets off an alarm.
- “I never should have doubted you, Rem.” — Maggie.
- “Transdimensional travelers… you are no doubt aware it is illegal for humans to utilize this technology.” — Kesh.
- “I saw the pain and the fear in [Wade’s] eyes. It was her.” — Rembrandt, recounting his final moments with Wade.
- “I love you Rembrandt, but I can’t let you do this.” — Wade, getting Rembrandt out of the complex before she blows it up.
- “Everyone’s gone now… the Professor, Wade, Quinn, Colin… Rembrandt. Here. You guys go on without me. I’m through. I’ve come to the end.” — Maggie.
- “I’ll always be with you, Rembrandt. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there.” — Wade.
Nitpicks/Errors
- Rembrandt actually confused the space fold with his own vortex?
- Here, by far, is the biggest continuity good in the history of the show — even bigger than Quinn and company saying in The Exodus that their timer will work after they use another sliding device to go to another world.
- First, the Sliders start off on Pleasant World. They talk. They’ve got a day. During that time, a space fold vortex opens.
- Then they slide to Filler World, where the timer says they have ten hours. No problem.
- Here is the problem: after maybe an hour the Sliders use the spatial fold to slide to the Kromagg Outpost. According to the rules set down by Tracy Tormé (the creator of the show, no less!) in Invasion, the timer will only work back on Filler World, when the designated ten hours are up. Instead, the timer now reads two hours. What? Then (because it gets better), when the two hours are up, the Sliders slide back to Pleasant World and Wade sends Rembrandt there, too! What the hell?!
- When Rembrandt and Mallory go into the spatial fold, Mallory goes in first but comes out second.
- What is the deal with Mallory’s attitude towards Wade? He’s got the absorbed memories of Quinn. Surely he must have a shred of compassion for his friend.
- Rembrandt makes it back from an exploding Kromagg outpost using an experimental sliding technology. His friends hug him and walk away?
Neatpicks
- Maggie recalls events from Just Say Yes when she talks about how they never slid into a room at the Chandler before.
- Rembrandt refers back to Slidecage when he says the Kromagg brainwashing is behind him.
- Mallory refers back to New Gods for Old when he tells Rembrandt that sometimes the group has its best interests at heart even if it makes one member unhappy.
- The Kromagg grunts actually spoke Kromagg instead of English.
The Inside Slide
The original title for this episode was “Mind Games,” and dealt with a mysterious woman — not Wade — who can contact Rembrandt only in his dreams.
· · ·
Story Editor Keith Damron wanted to bring closure to the Wade arc during the fifth season.
“I brought up in an early staff meeting that somewhere out there in the multiverse was Wade and that we needed to solve her predicament,” says Damron. “My mom would never forgive me if I left her in a Kromagg labor camp.”
This led to an idea of using Wade’s diary as a virtual re-enactment of her last days… as a human.
“The story would have been centered around a diary which belonged to Wade,” notes Damron. “It is found in the wreckage of a Kromagg Manta ship by Rembrandt, Maggie, Mallory and Diana. Not a book in the conventional sense, the device would have been a memory diary — a telepathic device which would permit our heroes to experience, in their minds, Wade’s true and final fate. The twist on the idea was that through some anomalous function of the device the people in Wade’s memories would have been played by our main characters. Kari would be Wade, Tembi Mrs. Mallory, Robert would be Wade’s half-human love interest and Cleavant would play a sympathetic Kromagg officer.”
“The idea was knocked around for a while but ultimately it was shot down based on the idea that the viewers wouldn’t accept our main players as other people… especially as Wade.”
· · ·
Michael Reaves was brought on board to write Wade’s fate after a pitch session.
“I was invited to pitch as a freelance writer to the Sliders show, and came in armed with several different ideas,” says Reaves. “One of them was a story about the Sliders on an interdimensional ship that was powered by a human brain interfaced with the controls. This is a fairly common idea in science fiction literature — it’s been used by Anne MacCaffrey, Norman Spinrad and others. It was a visual concept that hadn’t been done on the show before.
“The staff immediately saw the possibilities of the idea as a vehicle for their ‘Wade Returns’ story, and asked me to tailor my pitch to fit what they wanted to do with the character.
“I had been conscientious of the budget to the best of my ability, but we all knew from the start that ‘Requiem’ was going to be expensive. Everyone on staff was fond of the story, but ultimately it had to be trimmed down rather drastically to be an affordable shoot.”
Ultimately, what Reaves wrote wasn’t reflected on screen to his satisfaction.
“I must admit I’m not terribly happy with what finally aired,” he says. “I know the staff and crew did the best they could with it, but the lack of money really hurt the story, particularly the climax, which in my script was much more apocalyptic. Also, several people have pointed out that ending it with the strong suggestion that Wade is still alive makes the whole episode rather pointless. I agree. In my version there’s no question that she dies saving not just one world, but countless worlds — a sacrifice worthy of a hero. But the Sci Fi Channel insisted on the ending as it aired. I really don’t see why — we knew going in that this was the last season. It’s not like any of the characters will be coming back.”
What did Reaves envision for the visual of Wade? Not the “head-in-a-jar” fans saw on screen.
“No, she’s not a severed head,” says Reaves. “The ‘head-in-a-box’ design wasn’t what I envisioned (or called for in the script); mine would’ve looked more like those hypersleep pods in ‘Alien’.”
· · ·
The only reason we got Sabrina Lloyd’s (uncredited) voice in this episode is because Cleavant Derricks asked as a personal favor. Production was ready to go forward with a similar voice regardless.
Guest Stars
- Julie Caitlin Brown as Kesh [Kromagg Commander]
- Maria Stanton as Wade Stand-In
- Sabrina Lloyd1 as Wade Welles [voiceover]
- Sabrina was kind enough to lend her voice to the story to wrap up (yeah, right) the fate of her series regular character, Wade Welles.