episode #09 - The King is Back

Air Date: 5/10/95 writer: Tracy Torme Directed by Vern Gillum

This one begins a bit unusually, like the tail end of an episode: Quinn is on trial for defacing property and is sentenced to death. Fortunately, the time to slide has arrived as Quinn is about to be led away and the Sliders all escape from the courtroom. They end up on an Earth where the version of The Cryin' Man - Rembrandt - was the biggest superstar in music, on par with Elvis. He had died suddenly in a boating mishap 8 years before and this day is the anniversary of his death. Rembrandt is giddy just with the thought that a version of himself had been such a success. He is spotted by some video cameras and soon rumors swirl about the Cryin' Man's return. His agent (Chuck McCann) believes him to be the real Cryin' Man and sets up a return, but Rembrandt is kidnapped by one of the Cryin' Man's former band members, a psychotic. At this point, we find out that this world's Cryin' Man had faked his death to live a life of quiet seclusion (this version of Rembrandt is played by Cleavant Derrick's real-life twin brother, Clinton Derricks, who was slightly slimmer).

The most interesting aspect of this episode is the impact it has on Rembrandt who, up to now, was constantly complaining and miserable about sliding from world to world, never finding home. The events here open his eyes and mind to the possibilities of alternate existence, that it might at times be even better than his homeworld. In the final act, it becomes very possible that Rembrandt will choose to remain on this other Earth to live out a fantasy he had only dreamed about at home. This is otherwise a sub-par episode, not very thrilling and rarely amusing. The plot seems to waste time with Rembrandt's kidnapping - by a clownish villain who has a screw loose (for reasons unclear - possibly due to never attaining fame). Torme's script does throw in that alternate Earth in the prologue, a world with very severe penalties for minor infractions. The epilogue, on yet a 3rd Earth, is lame. BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10

Earths Depicted:
---------------- #17: a U.S. with a death penalty for minor infractions
---------------- #18: Rembrandt's double is the world's biggest music star
---------------- #19: unknown, except that Quinn & Rembrandt have jobs as ice cream vendors