The sci-fi American television series Sliders, in the Russian-language box office “Sliding” or “Parallel Worlds,” went in the second half of the 90s and gained a huge number of fans around the world. The series is replete with references to the cultural and historical world heritage, because heroes often fall into worlds with alternative earthly history.
In this short article, we will discuss in detail the television project Sliding, which won the hearts of moviegoers around the world many years ago.
What is the series about?
The series tells about how physics student Quinn Melori conducted experiments on the study of gravity, but instead of an anti-gravity machine, he creates a machine that allows you to travel (“slide”) to other worlds.
Once, together with his girlfriend Wade and his teacher, Professor Maximilian Arturo, he decides to try the car and go to one of the parallel worlds. But something goes wrong, the timer settings go astray during an urgent evacuation from the world they entered, and travelers cannot return to their own dimension.
Now they can only glide over other worlds, hoping for good luck, because not all worlds are safe, and therefore a lot of adventures await the heroes and even a mission to save the world. But will they be able to return home? This is what the television series “Moving” or “Parallel Worlds” narrates.
main characters
Queen Melori is the protagonist of history, who studies physics at the university. Well, he is most interested in string theory and the works of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen.
He accidentally invents a device that allows you to slip into parallel dimensions of the planet Earth. Quinn talks about his discovery to his girlfriend Wade Wells and Professor Arturo, after which he goes with them to study the unknown, but they are unable to return from their first trip.
Wade Wells is the protagonist's girlfriend in love with him. She is an expert on computers and a loyal ally of Queen in gliding across other worlds.
Professor Maximilian Arturo is a professor of cosmology and ontology at the University of California, where Queen studies. He is a bit narcissistic and a little jealous that he did not invent the slider. But he loves Queen Melori and in one of the episodes says he would like to have a son like Queen.
Rembrandt Brown accidentally enters the portal with his Cadillac. It is sucked in, because the power of the slider was too high. Rembrandt didn’t really want to slide, but he was the only one who had no choice. Later, Queen and Rembrant will become best friends.
Other characters
Maggie Beckett is the captain of the US Air Force. Joined Queen and his team in season three. Sliders accidentally witnessed the death of her husband, Maggie, and she decided to go with them, hoping that she would find those who were responsible for the death of her husband. So, the heroine wanted revenge.
Colin Melori is Queen's brother, with whom his parents separated him, being also sliders (sliding between worlds). Quinn meets Colin in one of the worlds, where everything is at the level of the 19th century, so Colin behaves a little strange and naive. He joins the team in 4-5 seasons.
Queen Melori Melori plays the main character of Queen, who accidentally changed his appearance, and he had to stay so, starting from the 5th season of the epic.
Dayana Davis also joined the sliding team in season 5. Former assistant to the villain Dr. Geiger, who escaped from him.
Actors
In the series "Sliding" actors took part both famous and beginners. The main role of the young scientist and inventor was played by Jerry O'Connell, who began his film career at the age of 11 with the film “Stay with me”.
The role of Queen's girlfriend was played by Sabrina Lloyd, who also got on stage early, starting her acting career with the musical “Annie” at age 12.
John-Reese Davis, who played Queen’s teacher, also played many roles before being accepted into the Moving Project, whose actors got work for years, as the series went on TV for several years.
Clevant Derricks began his acting career with the stage and even received the Tony Award for his play in Dream Girls. In “Parallel Worlds,” he plays Rembrant, who by mistake fell into the Queen slide team.
Carrie Wührer starred a lot before getting into the "Moving". The actors of the television series, like Carrie herself, did not suspect how long the epic would last, but the fame that followed the role in “Sliding” redeemed everything.
The project was opened by Charlie O'Connell, who worked as a model, but turned out to be a good actor. In the series, he played the brother of Queen Colin.
In the series “Sliding” actors Robert Floyd and Tembi Locke came in the 5th season after a change in the main composition. They fit perfectly into the atmosphere of the film, and the fans did not at all regret that the performer of the main role suddenly changed his appearance. After all, Robert Floyd just played the main character with a changed appearance. And the black actress Tembi Locke played his girlfriend, a former assistant professor-villain, who escaped from him.
After the series “Sliding”, the actors gained high-profile popularity and crowds of fans around the world. It is worth a lot of respect!
Genre Changes
Spectators and actors of the series “Sliding” / “Parallel Worlds” in some rentals were not ready for certain surprises prepared by the scriptwriters. For example, many were surprised to find genre changes in the format of the series.
This was due to the fact that the television companies that broadcast the series changed, and with them the leadership policy that influenced the plan of the filmmakers. Many times the series was on the verge of closing, but fans stubbornly insisted on continuing the show. Then the series stretched for 5 seasons.
Between themselves, the seasons are very different, including the cast. In the project “Moving”, the actors, whose roles are obsolete, left the show, so the caste looks so strange that even the face of the main character changes in the last season.
Initially, the series was sci-fi and adventure, but from season to season its genre orientation changed from a fantastic action movie to a trash action.
Once in the series “Moving”, the actors and roles were ideally suited to each other, because the project became so popular in the 90s, despite the fact that it did not have a logical conclusion.
Episodes
The series consists of five seasons with a different number of episodes in each. The largest number of episodes was in the third season (25 episodes), and the smallest - 10 episodes - in the first season.
Each series ended with what the next one was supposed to begin, but FOX showed the series mixed up, increasing the rating due to more interesting series, because of which the audience was confused, because the series were arranged illogically.
Interesting Facts
As if gliding across the sky, actors in the guise of their characters glided through unknown worlds, but once on the set there was a real tragedy, and guest star Ken Stadman died, crushed by a buggy while working on the series “Desert Storm”.
Also in the pilot series, Professor Arturo calls Lenin by the name of Nikolai, although, as you know, Lenin was always called Vladimir, but, obviously, the professor knows that the name Nikolay was one of Ilyich’s pseudonyms.
One of the episodes was invented based on “The Wizard of Oz” by Frank Baum.
References to books are not uncommon in the series, many episodes were created under the influence of science fiction novels.
Fan club
Thanks to the fans, the series was extended for several seasons, but it could have been closed even after the first one was released. There are still fan sites dedicated to your favorite television project, fan clubs for actors, forums where episodes are discussed and even fan fiction is written (fan stories based on the series).
The series "Sliding", actors and photos of them are publicly available on the Russian Internet, so some photos are even included in this article if anyone wants to join the culture of science fiction films of the 90s.
In fact, the series “Sliding” is an excellent example of popular science fiction, the fashion of which is returning to our time.