Why is SLIDERS not the show SYFY is relaunching?

[Christopher]

Tracy also wrote up a treatment for his lost episode "Heat of the Moment" for the site; if you're interested in what that would have been like, you can read it here:

"Heat of the Moment" synopsis

Seems like a rehash of plotlines they already did -- Arturo and Bennish saving the world by inventing something the world never invented, Rembrandt going off to deal with family/career issues. And the overall gimmick is a little too "Course: Oblivion."

 

[Sliding Dragon]

Seems like a rehash of plotlines they already did -- Arturo and Bennish saving the world by inventing something the world never invented, Rembrandt going off to deal with family/career issues. And the overall gimmick is a little too "Course: Oblivion."

Well, in fairness, it's an unfinished rough draft, and it was written 3 years before C:O...

 

[Mistral]

An interesting possible episode. I'd have liked to have seen it.

 

[crouteru]

Seems like a rehash of plotlines they already did -- Arturo and Bennish saving the world by inventing something the world never invented, Rembrandt going off to deal with family/career issues. And the overall gimmick is a little too "Course: Oblivion."

Well, in fairness, it's an unfinished rough draft, and it was written 3 years before C:O...

Rehashing plotlines was an unfortunate symptom of many sci-fi series. I can't remember how many shows did the time loop episode for example.

 

[Noname Given]

I wasn't a big fan of Alien Nation, but I did like it better than Sliders. I think Alien Nation gives SyFy a chance to make an adult, edgy type of show that will probably deal with contemporary issues, a companion piece to Caprica perhaps.

To be honest, I haven't seen much clamoring for either AN or Sliders. I did think Tembe Locke was very cute though. I would clamor to see her again.

^^^
This - PLUS the 2 seasons that had Sci-Fi channel execs running the Sliders production back in the day were the WORST episodes of Sliders produced (and I did like the show up to that point). When you decide to FIRE the original cast members, better to pack it in, then to try and get mor seasons in the can.

 

[Christopher]

This - PLUS the 2 seasons that had Sci-Fi channel execs running the Sliders production back in the day were the WORST episodes of Sliders produced (and I did like the show up to that point).

I'm amazed you could say that. Nothing in the entire history of television is as thoroughly atrocious as the back half of the third season on FOX. The people running the show then had no conception of what science fiction was (they thought it was ripping off old sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies) or what characterization was (they thought it was unmotivated petty bickering). The third-season finale was so mind-blowingly awful that broadcasting it should be prosecuted as a war crime. The SciFi seasons had their weaknesses, but they were far, far better written. They had producers such as Bill Dial and Marc Scott Zicree who actually understood what science fiction was and what characterization was. They turned Maggie Beckett, who had been an unpleasant cipher existing only to be a sexpot in the FOX season, into an actual character who was appealing and interesting to watch and enabled Kari Wuhrer to demonstrate that she could actually act when given good material. They had episodes written by accomplished SF writers like Michael Reaves and David Gerrold. It's true that the SciFi seasons suffered from executive meddling and forced cast changes, and sometimes the episodes were weak and awfully silly, but saying they were worse than the latter half of S3 is like saying that cheap fast food is worse than strychnine poisoning.