episode #15 - The Good, The Bad and the Wealthy

Air Date: 3/22/96 writer: Scott Smith Miller Directed by Oscar L. Costo

The title is a play on The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966), so this is, as one might guess, the episode with the western motif. The Sliders arrive on an Earth where Texas had spread all the way to the west coast during and after the Civil War, under the direction of President Sam Houston. Hence, they find themselves in San Francisco, Texas, not California. (The art direction/presentation is a bit strange: we see the usual city buildings as a backdrop, but the foreground is like a recreation of the old west, so it's like the city is divided into two sections - one very traditional). Many citizens, particularly lawyers, dress like gunslingers and solve all arguments, negotiations and even discussions with a gunfight. Quinn manages to get into the middle of one such argument and kills a top lawyer/gunslinger, establishing an instant rep for himself. From then on, he's in the middle of a hostile takeover perpetrated by the local bigshot (Jamie Denton) against a widow (who has a son, the annoying kid character of the story).

This episode becomes somewhat tedious because much of the plot and dialog revolves around such unexciting topics as corporate takeovers and "letters of intent." It only becomes slightly amusing when the possibility of a gunfight emerges during these discussions. The story does immerse itself in the alien culture of this bizarre alternate Earth and there's a consistency to the proceedings which is a bit impressive, a cohesive alternate universe. At the same time, much of it enters the realm of the absurd - it comes across as a caricature of the Hollywood western, with most of the characters ultimately coming across as clowns in big hats and play guns. There's a very corny denouement towards the end when Quinn makes a short speech about avoiding killing, as if speaking to a bunch of kids - would this really effect the world so easily? The kid shouting Quinn's name at the end is an homage to the ending of Shane (1953). BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10



Earths Depicted --- #28: a world where Texas has spread to the west coast; lawyers are all gunslingers