Sliders (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The plotlines in Sliders are set around the idea of a multiverse where nondeterministic quantum processes split reality into multiple parallel universes.
• Speculation arose that Sliders was inspired by George R. R.

Production

Michio Kaku wrote in his book The Future of the Mind that the series began when a young boy read his book Hyperspace, but he takes no responsibility for the physics behind the show. Before moving to Sci-Fi Channel, each episode cost $1.4 million to $1.5 million. While filming the episode "Desert Storm", actor Ken Steadman (Cutter) was killed when a dune buggy he was moving overturned and crushed him; according to his parents, the death was preventable. Entering the fifth season, the production team knew the series was not being renewed and saved money from each episode's budget for a climactic season finale, but the money was used for the penultimate episode "Eye of the Storm" instead, leaving the final episode with an unresolved cliffhanger. Insiders have various theories for this, including that producers believed the Sci Fi Channel had lost interest in the show despite it being their highest-rated program at the time, and that the channel stopped supplying corrective notes or reading scripts. The Sci Fi Channel had a strict rule that a gun could not be pointed at a person's head; executive producer Bill Dial tested this by presenting a script featuring a character getting his head shot off, which was ignored, and then presented the script for the final-episode cliffhanger, which was also ignored. Some claim this was done to encourage fans to push for a sixth season, but production team members say the decision was personal. Iranian-American director Reza Badiyi directed several fifth-season episodes, and his daughter Mina Badiyi guest-starred in episode three, "Common Ground". Cleavant Derricks is the only cast member to stay with the series throughout its entire run; Derricks and Linda Henning (Mrs. Mallory) are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes. Derricks' identical twin, Clinton Derricks-Carroll, appeared in three episodes when a need arose for Rembrandt and his double to interact.

Broadcast

The story begins when Quinn tries to show off his vortex technology to Professor Arturo and Wade, but accidentally creates a large wormhole that pulls Rembrandt along with them onto a dangerous, ice-covered alternate Earth. To escape immediate danger, Quinn opens the vortex too soon, and the group discovers they cannot go back to their own world. To avoid being trapped on any single alternate Earth for more than two decades, they keep sliding from one reality to another, visiting worlds where history took different turns, like one where the British won the Revolutionary War or another where antibiotics were never discovered. During one slide, they meet the Kromaggs, an alien race that has mastered sliding and uses it to plunder resources from other Earths; these aliens become very interested in Quinn’s device. Later, the sliders land on a planet about to be destroyed by a pulsar. They help evacuate a small number of people to a safe dimension, but Colonel Rickman betrays the mission because he needs brain fluid to cure a disease he caught in a gulf war. Professor Arturo sacrifices himself to protect Quinn. Captain Maggie Beckett joins the group, and they chase Rickman to recover a timer he stole that contains the coordinates for their home Earth. Wade and Rembrandt manage to return, but Quinn and Maggie get left behind on another world. They eventually find their way back to Earth Prime, only to discover the Kromaggs have conquered it. They rescue Rembrandt but cannot save Wade. Quinn’s mother then reveals he is adopted, and his birth parents used sliding technology to hide him from the Kromaggs. She tells him where to find his brother Colin, who becomes a new slider. The group continues traveling, searching for a way to fight the Kromaggs across multiple dimensions.

Home media

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released all five seasons on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4. The fifth and final season was released in Region 1 on January 17, 2012, almost four years after season four. On December 2, 2014, Universal released Sliders – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1, containing all 88 episodes on 22 single-sided discs with a runtime of 66 hours (3954 minutes). On July 1, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1 and re-released the complete series on DVD on October 4, 2016, as a 15-disc set containing all five seasons in correct story order. On August 23, 2007, Netflix Instant View began providing all five seasons for streaming, though two season-one episodes ("Last Days" and "The Weaker Sex") are missing with a note stating the DVD is required to view them; the pilot is available both as one combined episode and as two separate parts. On March 12, 2008, Universal added season one to Hulu, with season two added on May 8, 2009, and season three on July 2, 2009. In late 2008, season five and eventually all five seasons were made available through the iTunes TV Shows store. In August 2020, all episodes were available with the free version of Peacock, though the pilot was split into two roughly 45-minute segments; the series was initially listed as "Drama" rather than "Sci-Fi" but was corrected within a month. As of February 2023, the series was no longer available for free on Peacock after episodes were moved to pay-to-view and left on June 30, 2026. On July 1, 2026, the free ad-supported streaming service Tubi, owned by Fox Corporation, added all five seasons for free streaming. On September 27, 2025, Jerry O'Connell, John Rhys-Davies, and Cleavant Derricks reunited at FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention for a 45-minute panel, photo ops, and autographs; Sabrina Lloyd was absent due to family commitments in Europe. The panel credited creator Tracy Tormé for early science-driven episodes while critiquing later seasons' Kromagg focus.

Sliders in other media

The pilot episode was novelized by science-fiction writer Brad Linaweaver and released in spring 1996, incorporating several deleted scenes from the original pilot script along with Linaweaver's own additions. Linaweaver also compiled an episodic guide titled Sliders: The Classic Episodes, covering only seasons one through three. Dennis McCarthy produced a Sliders soundtrack in 2007 with complete scores for the first-season episodes he scored, including the pilot; as of late 2010, no other scoring from other composers has been released. A 10-issue comic-book series was published by Acclaim Comics in 1996, with no direct input from series creators Tormé or Weiss, though Tormé passed along notes detailing unproduced stories; series star Jerry O'Connell personally authored one special issue. An 11th comic titled Get a Life was advertised and solicited but never reached store shelves, though artist Rags Morales completed 14 pages before production stopped. Inkworks produced Sliders trading cards in 1997, consisting of 90 cards including nine embossed cards, six foil cards combining into a large portrait of the Kromagg homeworld, two lenticular cards, and one promotional card by the Official Sliders Fan Club. After the 1994 DC Comics miniseries Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, the artistic design of time travel was changed and first introduced in Legion of Super-Heroes #74, where Superboy comments that the design is similar to the tunnel effect on Sliders; this design was used from 1995 through 2005. The December 19, 1996 FoxTrot strip by Bill Amend features Frosty the Snowman condemning Paige for watching Sliders. In 1997, Desktop Images released a training video on Organic Modeling and Animation hosted by David Lombardi, providing a behind-the-scenes look at special effects used in the season three episodes "Paradise Lost" and "Dinoslide".