episode #03 - Summer of Love

Episode #3 air date: 4/19/95 (aired as #6) written by Tracy Torme Directed by Mario Azzopardi

This was the rare episode (because later ones would no longer do this) which featured some short scenes back on Earth Prime with Quinn's college classmate Conrad Bennish (Jason Gaffney): government agents are aware that the 4 Sliders have gone on their journey, probably beginning an investigation after Quinn's mother reported him missing. Bennish is questioned by these agents in Quinn's basement lab.

Meanwhile, the 4 Sliders have arrived in a deserted San Francisco; a swarm of giant spider-wasps are heading for the city - yes, giant spider-wasps (about a foot in length - a brief explanation is offered, to the episode's credit). The Sliders rush to another slide but because the vortex cuts off at one point, they are separated; Wade & Rembrandt end up in a park with a bunch of flower children while Quinn & Arturo, along with a couple of the giant insects, land in a construction site. Wade quickly becomes a guru to the hippies, who have no knowledge of astrology, while Rembrandt hooks up with his wife on this world (his double was supposedly killed in the war in Australia here - similar to our war in Vietnam). The President of the U.S. on this one is Oliver North.

Despite an exciting first act, including good FX of the big insects, this episode rapidly does downhill, a severe step down from the pilot. At first, it seems as if the two sets of Sliders ended up on different Earths, lending some tension to the plot, but we soon realize that they just ended up a few miles apart on the same Earth. Wade's scenes with the long-haired hippies (including Barry Pepper in an early role) are ridiculous while Rembrandt's story with his new wife is tedious; at first a sex bomb, she turns out to be a shrew. Quinn & Arturo don't have much to do in this one, running into the same agents we see on Earth Prime in the first scenes. There is one amusing moment when they meet the Bennish of this Earth, a Republican with a crew-cut.

There is also one hint of the possibilities of such a premise, since the Sliders introduced a couple of the giant spider-wasps to this Earth, which might mean eventual catastrophe. At the same time, stupidity informs some scenes even during the better moments: when escaping the giant flying insects, the Sliders delay their urgent slide, deciding who slides first (it ends up ladies first); that few seconds of delay causes the vortex to cancel out momentarily, separating the group. Later, Quinn clobbers Arturo with a flung stone while aiming at one of the spider-wasps. Rather than funny, it just depicts the characters as plain stupid - not very encouraging. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10

This one does have one of the most memorable epilogues:

Spoiler:

Earths Depicted: Earth #1 - Earth Prime, Quinn's origin point
----------------- Earth #6 - an Earth under siege by a swarm of giant spider-wasps
----------------- Earth #7 - war in Australia, hippie movement, President Oliver North
----------------- Earth #8 - San Francisco engulfed by a huge tidal wave