Home.
The threat of home hangs over these people every day. Every time these people enter a new world, whether we hear it or not, the question is asked: “is this our home?” And the more they never get there, the larger they realize this roulette wheel really is, and the more hopeless the journey becomes.
We, of course, know, that you can’t go home again. They’ve been gone so long (18 months, according to Rembrandt in this episode, which is actually kind of incredible) that they wouldn’t know home if they saw it, if it smacked them in the face.
So then what if they did make it home? What if the concept of home waltzed up and made it clear the journey was over? What would these people do?
“Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome” is a high-concept episode. Sure, you can have dinosaurs and you can have psychics, but this is something else— to have an episode where the plot is “the end.” Because for all intents and purposes, an episode where the sliders get home is the end of the show.
Look, everybody. There’s a (pretty short) list of episodes that pretty much everybody agrees are the best episodes of Sliders. “Luck of the Draw” is one of them. “El Sid” is not. This episode is one of those episodes that you’re supposed to absolutely love if you’re a Sliders fan.
Now it’s time for me to tell you how I came up with the idea for this blog: I watched this episode whilst high and thought it was the worst ever. The next day I was stunned— this is Sliders! My favorite show! What’s supposed to be the best episode! Is the entire show as bad as this? Answer: no, it’s not (mostly). More complicated answer: Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome isn’t that bad either.
But, in honor of my initial re-watch, I present this episode with the Time Again & World method of blog post— the ‘journal entry’ approach. This time I’ll augment it from time to time, as this is an episode that deserves at least a little bit of respect. But it’s also worth it to treat this ep with a bit of fun, no?
Sure, why not. Here we go:
-high concept- rembrandt in therapy!
-quinn’s mom thing
-how cute they are! greatest hits of sliders, so cute so cute.
“to friendship” —SEE GUYS I WAS RIGHT
full of nice scenes, slow pace at first, let them (and us) acclimate (to ‘the end’). oh hey, remmy hasn’t seen the batcave!
keep it quiet. an interesting (and wise) idea
“all the things we’ve done, the things we’ve seen. it’s all because of you. thank you.” KISSY KISS KISSM KISS
also New Quinn’s mom is the WORST.
ha ha everyone is going to tell EVERYONE
OH SHIT BETRAAAAYYYYYYEED
DOLLA DOLLA DOLLA
WADES DIARY (bar scene)
Quinn’s evidence: I’m a nerd/I’m a jerk
Seriously, it may as well have been “this dog I ran over with a car when I was 15 is still alive on this world.”
Well, now you’re being robbed, so no biggz/
Wade is SUCH a bizzy lady
Where is this loft/office? How does Wade afford it? Where does it come from? She had time to make all this happen? How long have they been here? NITPICKS!
Arturo’s press conference:
nice model i am sure you couldn’t turn it yourself, max
Rembrandt spends his time at home RE-RECORDING HIS OLD HITS IDENTICALLY
quiet moments without Quinn— character gold, right?
LOL WORST STATUE EVER
“The Father of Inter Dimensional Travel”
LOL WORST WINDOW CGI EVER
“i’m nothing!” wait, IM nothing? that’s weird.
Quinn is saying the right thing, but daaamn. (By this I am referring to how ridiculous Wade’s reaction is. Not the fact that she is upset that she is not home- that’s understandable. I’m really just bewildered about the “my career” bit. She really cares that much? Are these people so near-sighted and greedy that they’re more disappointed about cashflow than emotional stability? Food for thought, or not.)
man, WHYYYY is the professor such a DOUUUCHEEE
YOU MUST DO WHAT YOU MUST DO
BUT THEN SO WILL I
Whoa, Quinn lays it down: I’m not sure I can ever get us home.
SEE GUYS? GUILLLLT?
but wade is the nicest:
We’ll make it.
(Yeah, right)
Kudos for actually getting Maurice FIsh (and the pastor from Last Days? no wonder Remmy was so smug around him).
d be so nervous around FIsh, though.
CRACK COMMANDO UNIT
BUSTADDOOOOO
OH SHIT REMMY U GOIN TO THA LOONY BIN
BFFZ
CRACK COMMANDO UNIT PART TWO
sliders so crazy breakin people’s windows
SEE? It’s already two shots for breaking & entering (three if you count Alt-Turo stealing the Timer), and two for everyone drinking! We are so drunk now!
WUZZAT
IZZAT A DAWG BARKIN
a really big dog
“of course” ha ha, when quinine says “Of course” he is the dumbest dude
“now I know how the isrealites felt when Moses delivered them from the pharaoh”
…right.
OH SHIT OH SHIT
DOUBLE TROUBLE
OH MY OH MY
WHOS WHO BATTLE OF THE BULGE (get it?)
Back and forth of knowledge!
…and HEADBUTT
“you better be the right one, man”
like, really? this is all the looking into it they do? isn’t this a REALLY BIG DEAL?
and because WHY WOULD WE SPEND TIME DELVING INTO WADE’S PAST, her parents are no more than extras.
i hate quinn’s mom, guys.
BUMMER TAXI PUMP THAT MUSIICCCCC
OH SHIT ARTURO ON ARTURO
“oh my god.”
and with those words, sliders fanfiction is born.
EXTEND THAT
and then, a funny little coda where the sliders break into the therapist’s office and make him CRAYZEE
like a robin’s egg.
Okay, so an addendum: we’ve had some crazy endings before (all roads lead to “Luck of the Draw”), and this one sort of plays down how insane it is. But we’ve got to stop (especially if you’ve never seen it before [and I’m assuming that at least ONE of you hasn’t seen the show before]). But we truthfully don’t know if the right Arturo slid with them. Sure, you can play shell-games and educated guesswork or just ask Tracy Tormé, but if you’re not that kind of fan, you’d be forgiven for freaking the fuck out.
And like I said, this is the moment Sliders fanfiction is born (slight hyperbole). Because if there’s an alternate Arturo who happens to be the real Arturo, then said Arturo would be having his own adventures trying to get home (one assumes). And, should something terrible happen to the Professor travelling with the sliders, then there’s a backup copy stuck on Azure Gate world. So, in a way, this Alt-Turo Shell Game amounts to an easy 1-Up. An extra life. We know he’s out there. Waiting.
I take it back. This isn’t a horrible episode. But what it represents is more important than what actually happens in it. It is, however, a fantastic example of the ‘anything goes’ approach to the show being an incredible success. This show doesn’t have to be either Dinosaurs or This— it can be both.
Next week: Like a Velvet Fog Plugged with Lead (Greatfellas).
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