episode #14 - Love Gods

Air Date: 3/8/96 writer: Tony Blake & Paul Jackson Directed by John McPherson

This was probably inevitable: a world of women. On this Earth, the Iraqi unleashed a virulent bomb that wiped out the Y-chromosome a few years back; this killed only males. As Arturo soon explains, there will always be survivors - those immune or resistant - so there are a few men left. But, very few. Those that remain are essentially locked away in special breeding camps, the only way that the now-ruling female leadership has devised to regrow the population. Naturally, very soon after the Sliders arrive, the three new males cause a riot in the streets among the women. The men are arrested while Wade manages to slip away. The three gents are shifted to a breeder camp in short order. There, they see that being awarded as 'Breeder of the Month' is one of the carrots tossed to the incarcerated men; the champ is an obnoxious Aussie who had over 200 confirmed impregnation in the past month. Speaking of Australia, they are the new world power, since their male population fared best in avoiding the death cloud. There's a conflict between the U.S. and Australia, usually over the remaining men (btw, Iraq is a wasteland in this reality). There is an escape from the breeding camp, after which Quinn ends up being cared for by a woman who needs a special favor...
I found this episode to be largely underwhelming as it missed many opportunities to explore the outlook of an unusual minority - men - who have become sex slaves to the dominant female culture. Maybe this was simply a limitation of TV back then. Everything is skimmed over or treated in a perfunctory, even silly fashion. It does state the obvious - that for those couples in a serious, loving relationship, this entire scenario would be painful. Love has been taken out of the equation on this world and it's all about the pragmatics of procreation. But, besides presenting yet another totalitarian regime, there is no commentary on what this has done to the human spirit. It only enters a poignant note in Quinn's brief relationship with the woman who needs his help to get pregnant, for reasons other than pure necessity. It's also intriguing in that Quinn leaves his seed on this world before he departs - so to speak. I guess there could have been a sequel a year or two down the road. Wade makes a mess of things at the midpoint by leading the authorities straight to where the heroes are hiding out. Also, yet again, at least one guest character slides with the group at the end, but we never see them again. The slide at the end is unusual as most of the Sliders are inside a moving van when they enter the vortex. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10


Earths Depicted -- #27: a world mostly of women, with most men wiped out by a biological bomb