Electric Twister Acid Test

Episode number: 26
First Aired: 10/04/96
Production number: SL-304
Previous Episode: Double Cross
Following Episode: The Guardian

Summaries

The Sliders land on a world where tornadoes are a regular occurence and people live only in safety zones or underground. Quinn figures out that their timer is acting as a magnet to the dangerous twisters. -Fox

In the middle of a desert, the Sliders find a village plagued by constant tornadoes and presided over by a dictator who'll stop at nothing to keep his subjects under his iron rule. -TV Guide

Alternate Earths

56. Bobsled Earth

We never get to see this Earth directly, but we do see the Sliders hurtle out of the wormhole from this Earth riding a four-person bobsled. Quinn's comment ("So much for a quick ten grand") indicates they were in some type of contest they fully expected to win. It's safe to assume this Earth is colder than Earth Prime; there aren't too many bobsled runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

57. Twister Earth

On this world in the 1960s, scientists developed a way to create artificial electronic tornadoes. They wanted to use these tornadoes for good purposes, such as digging canals and leveling slums before rebuilding. Unfortunately, the military found out about this new technology and, while trying to convert it into a weapon, accidently unleashed tornadoes on the whole planet.

Today, the only humans who are known to have survived exist in and around a farming community which is shielded from the tornadoes by a natural outcropping of lodestone. This farming community is ruled by Franklin Michener who, unknown to the others living there, is one of the scientists who developed the electronic tornadoes in the first place.

Notes

• I will always have fond memories of this episode because I was able to watch some of it get filmed. The cast and crew spent almost an entire day in and around a fake barn located on a fake ranch north of Los Angeles. I watched the four Sliders hiding out in the barn, only to be discovered by the farmer's daughter, Jenny Michener. I watched Jerry O'Connell film a scene where Quinn reminisces about a trip he took shortly before his father's death. I even had a chance to chat with the director briefly at lunch.

  But by far, my favorite memory of the day was when a man with a very distinguished voice come up to me between shots and say "Hello, I don't believe we've met. My name is John Rhys-Davies." We chatted for at least a half-hour. Fun day.

Credits

Written by:   Scott Smith Miller
Directed by:  Oscar L. Costo
Music by:     Stephen Graziano
               
Guest Stars:
  Corey Feldman        as Reed Michener
  Julie Benz           as Jenny Michener
  Tim Griffin          as Jacob
  Joshua Cox           as Martin
  Jordon Blake Warkol  as Caleb
                 and
  Bill Bolender        as Franklin Michener

Earth Prime -- The Fans' Guide to SLIDERS is maintained by Ed Hall (edhall@brillig.com).