episode #26 - Dead Man Sliding

Air Date: 11/29/96 writer: Nan Hagan Directed by Richard Compton

The Sliders have just arrived in this latest Earth's version of Hollywood. Quinn is quickly targeted by a local female bounty hunter and captured for his double's crimes; his double is a petty criminal. In this L.A., criminals are judged and sentenced on televised game shows, notably on a show called "The Judgment Game" (hosted by a sleaze played by Donny Most, of Happy Days fame). There's also an appearance by big star Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, whose claim to fame on our Earth was the Welcome Back, Kotter TV series. Unfortunately for Quinn, the judges are typical idiotic fans of such shows, eager for blood, and the outcome is pretty much predetermined. Quinn is selected for death by guillotine (hey, that is painless - or so I hear). His only hope is that his Slider buddies locate the other Quinn; that, and the bounty hunter also begins to have doubts.

On the surface, the premise in this episode seems silly and ludicrous, but the brief explanation for how all this came about does make some sense: it all stems from the frustration endured by the general populace, an impression that criminals have more rights than victims. Also, the game show format eliminates much of the taxpayer expense for standard trials and incarceration. But, corruption has set in due to a need for high TV ratings, and some sentenced 'criminals' have actually been innocent. As Arturo explains, sleeping without fear of crime here is balanced out by the occasional death of an innocent. The episode has a been there-done that feel to it, for whatever reason. There's a tense and even spectacular escape via the vortex at the end, though it's done in a clumsy fashion - falling down a cliff takes a lot longer on this world for some reason and the epilogue on a new Earth is almost nonsensical. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10

Earths Depicted:
---------------- #52: game shows judge criminals; the big Hollywood stars are Arnold Stang, Jill Whelan and Linwood Boomer.
---------------- #53: looks like a typical suburb on Earth, but Quinn describes a resident as green and moldy...