I wonder if they have DVDs on an alternate Earth... by Gord Lacey (All reviews)
7/31/2004
What if you could travel to parallel worlds? The same year, the same Earth, only different dimension. A world where the Russians rule America? Or where your dreams of being superstar came true? Or where San Francisco was a maximum security prison. My friends and I found the gateway. Now the problem is... finding a way back home.
The opening of Sliders second season provides a wonderful summary of the series. Quinn Mallory has discovered a way to slide to alternate versions of our Earth. He invites professor Arturo, and his friend Wade, along for an adventure, and accidently brings Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown along for the ride. The alternate world is frozen wasteland, and Mallory is forced to alter the timing device programmed to bring them home when the four are threatened by an icy tornado. That has dire consequences, as the group is thrown into an alternate universe where Russia won the cold war, instead of being sent home. With no idea how to get back to their Earth, they are forced to jump from Earth to Earth, hoping that the next slide will take them home. This set includes the 9 episodes from season 1 (including the double-length pilot) and the 13 episodes from season 2.
Sliders is a brilliant concept, and is often compared to Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap featured Sam Beckett leaping through time, hoping to return to his present time, while the Sliders leap to alternate Earths. Both shows provide an endless number of stories, and I enjoyed them both quite a lot.
The Packaging
When we first posted the concept packaging on the site we received a number of emails from people asking whether that was really it, or how the discs "float" in the package. The effect is actually very simple, once you look inside the box. Stuck to the left box is a piece of foam with slots cut in it to hold the DVDs. Slide one in there and it's held in place well enough that the right side doesn't have to be supported. It makes for a neat package that still fits on a shelf. Some of you might be upset, thinking that pushing the discs into foam will scratch them. I assumed people would say that, so I did a test. Grabbing a new CD-ROM, I pushed it into the foam and pulled it back out. I did this over 100 times without a scratch. Then I decided to try spinning the CD around while in the foam; still no scratch. I was determined to scratch the CD, just so I could complain that the packaging was poor and would damage the discs, so I put it in and pulled it out while watching one of the episodes. Try as I might, I couldn't scratch the CD on the foam. The irony is that I dropped the CD while putting it away, and it slid across the floor, scratching the surface. Hey, at least it wasn't the foam, right?
Video
Sliders is a recent show, but not recent enough to be in widescreen, so these episodes are presented in their original full frame (1.33:1) aspect ratio. The transfers that Universal uses for their DVDs always seem to be high quality, and Sliders is no exception. There are bits of dust in the prints, but it isn't too bad, and is easily overlooked when you're watching the show. There were a few scenes in the final episode of season 2 that appeared to be taken from a non-film source. I would like to say video, but it looked poorer than that. I was shocked to see that there wasn't a chapter placed after the opening of the series. Universal has been fairly good about this with their recent releases, so I wonder why this release didn't include this. Each disc contains a "play all" feature, or you may select an individual episode to watch.
Audio
Universal has a nasty habit of advertising the wrong audio specs for their DVD sets, including wrong specs for Sliders. All information from Universal lists Sliders as containing an English Mono track, but that is wrong, wrong, wrong; the episodes contain a nice Dolby Surround mix. I'm not sure why they keep listing incorrect specs, but at least the DVDs are always better than we're expecting.
With only a few exceptions, the Sliders audio is great. While the rear speakers aren't used for much, they do contain music, and the occasional sound effect, though this is rare. The front speaker gets the most action as it's used for most of the dialog, and some sound effects and music. A few pieces of dialog contained some clipping which distorted the voices. I only noticed this in a couple of episodes, and it only lasted for 10-15 seconds in each case, but I feel it should be mentioned. The biggest complaint I have is the clipped music as the picture fades to black for a commercial. I think the person transferring the show was paying attention to the black dissolve, not wanting too much black screen present, and not listening to the audio. The result is a noticeable clipping of the music, which is slightly jarring, depending on the severity of the cut. The set contains English, French and Spanish subtitles, and is not closed captioned.
Photo Gallery (1:05)
Photos flash by while music plays.
Summary
I thought Sliders was a cool concept when I first heard about it, and I think the show lived up to my expectations. I'm not sure I liked how the show took a turn near the end of the second season, but I still stuck with it for a few seasons when it was on. I didn't catch the final season or two, so I hope this set sells well enough to justify the release of the other seasons.
When this set was first announced there were some fans grumbling about the price. $89.98 is expensive for 22 episodes, but it could be much worse. Talk to a Northern Exposure fan who dished out $60 for the first 8 episodes of the show, and is looking at $60 for the 7 episodes of season 2 and you'll consider yourself lucky you're only paying $90 for the two combined seasons.
Universal continues to deliver cool shows, interesting packaging and quality transfers on DVD. Sliders might not be one of the most popular sci-fi shows, but it has a following, and the fans will be picking up this set on August 3rd.
