Slither

// K1829 · Originally aired April 25, 1997

Quinn and Rembrandt must race to reunite with Maggie and Wade after a vacation from hell separates them in tropical Southern California with a crooked researcher and a pair of psychic snakes.

Written By // Tony Blake & Paul Jackson
Director // Jim Johnston
Music // Stephen Graziano

Reviews

// Earth Prime

At its heart, it’s a story of temptation and betrayal. On screen, it’s a comical disaster of epic proportions.

// Think of a Roulette Wheel

The final victory of the 18-34 demographic. Who, as it turns out, are all parseltongues.

// External Reviews

Worlds Visited

No Smoking World

The climate of Southern California here is humid and tropical — the perfect place to grow acres and acres of tobacco, an illegal narcotic on this world. It is also part of a country called Delgado, not the United States.

Details

The episode opens with a shot of the airplace HK 3177 Interand Colombia.
Quinn and Rembrandt hitch a ride on an N4NE Perris.
The label on the snake case reads “Please Handle with Care Fragile.”
Wade says that Quinn and Rembrandt hitched their flight at Zamora airport on a plane headed toward Delgado.
Carlos fires seven shots into the snake that is about to attack Maggie.
In Santa Marta, the words on the side of the bus read “La Grande Turismo.”
The angry villagers of Santa Marta shout “Vayaté” at the Sliders, which, translated, means “Go! Get out of here!”
Quinn fires 13 shots from his AK-47 at the snakes in the fuse box before he runs out of bullets.
As Maggie, Wade and Carlos drive into Santa Marta, a shot shows the front of a building with the words Tienda de A[rest obscured] written over the door.

Cultural References

Remmy’s paraphrase from the Bible, “the apple was there, the snake was persuasive, only this time the man didn’t take a bite,” is a reference to the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve.

Character Information

Rembrandt says that he, like Wade, is really afraid of snakes (see The Dream Masters).
Rembrandt expresses his agreement with the fact that tobacco is banned on this world.
Wade speaks a little Spanish.
Quinn feels that the weight of decision-making within the group has been lumped on him since the Professor died.

Notable Quotes

“Yes lady, it is cute, but I don’t need a dead cockroach holding a little tennis racquet.”—Rembrandt’s ‘polite’ refusal of a peddler at the airport.
“Never heard of it. But we travel a lot. We never get a chance to read the business section.”—Quinn’s response to Kyra’s explanation of her job at Selvatech.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll be able to collect for quite some time.”—Maggie, after purring that a ‘mutual’ deal could be worked out with the greasy mechanic, and then hoofing him squarely in the almonds.
“Yeah, you’d be surprised at some of the ‘impossible’ things we’ve seen since leaving home.”—Quinn to Kyra who dismisses Rembrandt’s theory that the snake’s mate is following them as impossible.
“This has turned into the vacation from hell!”—Rembrandt, also summing up this episode.
“You know, I’m getting the distinct feeling that it’s not your head doing your thinking right now!”—Rembrandt to Quinn, yet another sexually-charged line in an episode chock full of them.

Money Matters

Quinn and Rembrandt obviously took a vacation, which means they paid for airline tickets, and Quinn later offers a ‘fair price’ to Kyra in an attempt to get home, which means he either has money on him or can get some when they get back to San Francisco.
Later, Wade and Maggie rent a plane from a guy for $300 cash—and that’s all they have left.

Nitpicks and Errors

Why the hell would Rembrandt and Quinn go on vacation? Aside from the fact that they travel to a different world every couple days or so, do they really need to travel to Zamora (wherever that is) to unwind? And why would they leave Wade with Maggie? Those two hate each other.
For someone who’s tracked snakes for five months, Kyra seems awfully afraid of walking through the jungle.
Even those the plane disintegrates, everyone on it survives (except the already-dead pilot).
If tobacco is considered a drug on this world, and they still have “drug cartels” here (as per Carlos), they why wouldn’t they still have the Drug Enforcement Agency rather than the (rather contrived) Tobacco Enforcement Agency? I’m all for differences between worlds, but this is a bit much.
Just before the snake drops out of the tree onto the cartel henchman, you can notice the lower back pad the actor is wearing for his upcoming fall backward. It’s protruding from his pants and shirt.
Another movie rip-off? How ’bout a crouching Maggie unwittingly refreshing herself by the water as a menacing reptile sneaks up on her—just before Carlos kills it. See: Crocodile Dundee.
Maggie seems to have gotten over her husband (RIP, Doc Jensen!) rather quickly. In Slider-time, it’s only been a few weeks and already she’s looking to “enjoy the company of a man.”
In The Dream Masters, Wade express—quite adamantly—that she was deathly afraid of snakes, and yet when it comes time for her and Maggie to leap over a pile of them (twice) in this episode she seems to think nothing of it. In general, she doesn’t seem all that alarmed by the fact that there are thousands of snakes within a foot of her. In the writer’s defense, however, it’s possible that she’s trying to put up a good front so as not to get the third degree from brave Maggie.
Explain to me how a three dozen snakes or so get vertical on a flat wooden door and produce enough force to break it off its hinges and slam it to the floor. Please.
Also please explain first how is it that Quinn shot the timer at a 45 degree angle and yet the vortex ends up horizontal with the ground and second why he shot it in the air in the first place. Ridiculous.
It’s amazing that Wade and Maggie actually manage to connect with Quinn and Rembrandt!
As Kyra is supposedly lying dead at episode’s end, watch her belly quickly heave up and down. Looks like breathing to me. Quick! Paddles! Clear! Buzzt. Damn it, too late—this episode’s dead.

Neatpicks

Rembrandt echoes Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark with the line “Snakes. I hate snakes.”
Quinn opens up to Kyra as he talks about how the professor’s death has left the burden of being the father figure on his shoulders. “It’s all up to me. And I’m flying blind,” he says.

Guest Starring

Julie St. Claire as Kyra
Randy Vasquez as Carlos
Marc Tissot as Don
Danny Mora as Angel
Thomas G. Waites as Randy
David Correia as Customs Official

Unaccredited

The two cartel henchmen who chase Remmy, Kyra and Quinn.

Script Archive

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

The Inside Slide

“Not one of my proudest moments, and only added to the schedule at the last second when Universal decided we could do a tie in to Kari’s release of Anaconda,” reveals Paul Jackson. “There was no reason for that story to exist other than as a marketing tie to the movie.

“We tried to make something out of the idea. I actually thought the scenes between Quinn and Remmy re: their evolving relationship (now that the Professor was gone) were interesting. However, the rest of it was not much above dreck. Eh…”

· · ·

So how do snakes knock down a door? According to producers, with ‘the Force.’

During script read-through, Cleavant Derricks asked production how the snakes would enter the room.

“Well,” one of the producers said, “there’s all these snakes together, and together they push the door down.”

“Right,” he replied, “but see, the door is vertical. Snakes are on the ground! How are snakes supposed to knock a door off its hinges?”

The producer went on to explain that the snakes had this powerful Force that allowed them to, as seen in the televised version, attach themselves to a door and knock it over with their weight. Fortunately for the producers, that Force wasn’t gravity.