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DVD Talk review of 'Sliders: Seasons 1 & 2'

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DVD Talk review of 'Sliders: Seasons 1 & 2'

Old 07-18-04, 10:57 AM
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Your eventual review of SLIDERS Seasons 1 and 2

Hello all!

I hope one of your reviewers gets to post a review of the upcoming SLIDERS boxset before its August 3 releasae date, simply because then you could confirm if the audio is in Mono, as all specs have indicated, or (hopefully) Dolby Surround, as the case with fellow Universal TV-DVD title Quantum Leap, where even the package incorrectly listed it as mono.

It would help when going to the store to pick it up, as it is supposed to be quite pricey.

Thanks
Old 07-19-04, 08:06 AM
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Hi Nick,

I hope we can get teh review up early too, but a lot of that depends on the studio. Sometimes we don't receive our review copies until after the release date, sometimes much later. I didn't have Robotech remastered set 3 in my hands until six weeks after the release date!

After we get the screener, we still have to watch it, which can take a nontrivial amount of time with a miniseries. With 23 hour long show in the first pair of seasons, it isn't the type of thing you can knock out in an evening.

I can tell you that we haven't received our review copy yet. I've put in a request for this series myself so I've been keeping track of the release date. We try to get reviews up as close to the release date as possible, but sometimes it's out of our control.
Old 08-01-04, 07:54 PM
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DVD Talk review of 'Sliders: Seasons 1 & 2'

I read John Sinnott's DVD review of Sliders: Seasons 1 & 2 at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=11767 and...

Quantum Leap and Sliders ran the same number of seasons (5) and Quantum Leap produced more episodes than Sliders...so I think the "shorter-lived" reference to Leap is an inaccurate one. Sliders did hang around on TV for a longer period - but that was because it jumped networks and spent a lot of time OFF the air during that period.

I'm also surprised "Last Days" didn't get its kudos in the review...it's my all-time favorite episode of Sliders. It's the one where Arturo has to show Bennish how to build a nuclear bomb to stop an asteroid. "Post Traumatic Slide Sydrome" is also a personal favorite.

As far as the Sliding device goes - I think the show makes it very clear that you CAN'T Slide before the timer tells you to because doing so would trap you in a vortex between worlds forever...you wouldn't just slide to a random world, you'd be trapped in the vortex that the Sliders move in from one world to the next.

Last edited by Shannon Nutt; 08-01-04 at 07:57 PM.
Old 08-01-04, 09:44 PM
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Re: DVD Talk review of 'Sliders: Seasons 1 & 2'

I liked "Last Days" but since it was the third episode that was broadcast (though it was meant to come later in the series) they had not mentioned any rules about sliding and I kept wondering why they didn't just leave. Other than that, it was a good episode. I liked Bennish's reaction at the end.

As far as the Sliding device goes - I think the show makes it very clear that you CAN'T Slide before the timer tells you to because doing so would trap you in a vortex between worlds forever...you wouldn't just slide to a random world, you'd be trapped in the vortex that the Sliders move in from one world to the next.
Have to disagree with you there. They don't mention that in the first two seasons. I would have been much more pleased with the show if they did. In the featurette, it is mentioned that there was such a scene, but it was cut when the network rearranged the order of the shows.

It is noted that if they miss a slide, they are trapped on that world though, but nothing about sliding early (and they do it in the pilot, why not again?)

One thing I found myself wondering is why they didn't make another timer as a backup. It did get lost a couple of times, and a it would have been easy to hack another one together on most worlds. Heck Arturo uses parts from his watch to repair the timer when it gets hit by lightning in one show.

Actually there were a lot of good shows that I didn't mention. I was going to do a review of each show, but I figured there were only about three people in the universe who would read it all, so I settled for an overview of the whole series and some good show were left off. I really enjoyed "Summer of Love" and "Love Gods" too. I thought "Invasion" was pretty dumb at first, but I really liked the ending.

I was also disappointed that they didn't have another cliffhanger ending for the second season.

As for which show lasted longer: Ya got me there....I was positive that QL only lasted 4 seasons. Thanks for pointing that out.

-John
Old 08-02-04, 10:35 AM
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Did a little more digging this morning about why the sliders can't slide early, the explination of which was cut when the episodes were rearranged. I found the scene in question of the web and it's very interesting. According to this scene the timer was damaged and it didn't have the energy to open a hole except during a certain moment when the wormhole is most easily accessed.

I'm still astounded that they didn't refilm this and insert it into the second episode...or even the third.

You can read the scene here:

http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com/sumoluv.html

Last edited by videophile; 08-02-04 at 10:37 AM.
Old 08-03-04, 02:12 PM
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Even with the high price of the set I'm pretty pleased with my purchase. ( 60.00 or so after Wal-Mart Employee discount )

The picture is very clear for a TV and that makes me very happy after buying all the Sex and the City seasons only to find out the picture quality was absolute crap. The sound is also very good and just what I would expect from a TV release.

The biggest problem with this release is the awful packaging. Normally I like different style cases but this one caught me way off guard. When the lady at the store took it out of the box and handed it to me I was pretty shocked. I can't believe I haven't seen anyone mention this packaging yet.



The DVDs are only held in place by a chunk of foam in the bottom of the case. I'll be finding another way to store these DVDs.
Old 08-03-04, 02:53 PM
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Yeah, that's pretty shoddy packaging...I wonder if we'll see a lot of problems with cracked/scratched DVDs. If you bought six of those slim-case DVD holders, would they fit inside the package properly?
Old 08-03-04, 04:34 PM
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Originally posted by Shannon Nutt
Yeah, that's pretty shoddy packaging...I wonder if we'll see a lot of problems with cracked/scratched DVDs. If you bought six of those slim-case DVD holders, would they fit inside the package properly?
That was the suggestion my wife made when we were looking for another way to store these. Unfortunately the case those slim-case ( Family Guy/Futurama Style ) cases are just a bit too big. If someone would make a custom cover for the series I'd be willing to ditch the box and go with this other style case.
Old 08-03-04, 05:15 PM
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could someone tell me the correct order to watch these episodes ? and i concur terrible packaging but i am just happy to own the best two years of sliders.
Old 08-04-04, 12:01 PM
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Just watch them in order...that's the way (I'm pretty sure) they aired, and it's certainly the way they ran in syndication (on Sci-Fi Channel).
Old 08-04-04, 02:25 PM
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i thought i read in the dvdtalk review that fox switched them around so you have the solutions before you see the setup. thats why i was wondering
Old 08-04-04, 03:31 PM
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Originally posted by Piazza
i thought i read in the dvdtalk review that fox switched them around so you have the solutions before you see the setup. thats why i was wondering
I haven't watched the DVDs yet, and it's been a while since I've seen the show - but doesn't each episode end with a teaser for the next show...kind of the same way Quantum Leap did?
Old 08-04-04, 09:35 PM
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If you watch the show the way they were listed and the way they are ordered on the DVD they are in the "correct" order but for continuity that order is incorrect.

My wife noticed that at the beginning of one episode they are in hippie outfits and later on at the end of another show they leap out of "the hippie dimension". So even when they were aired the first time they were out of order.

The show doesn't always do the Quantum Leap style teasers. At the end of one show they arrived in a dimension with cannibals and mentioned it during the last few minutes....and when the next show came on they were somewhere else.

I hope this makes sense cause I'm beat and trying my best.
Old 08-05-04, 12:30 AM
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Hey MasterofDVD was their scratches on any of the dvds when you first got the dvds out? and I have been hearing that it is impossible to get the discs out of its foam case without putting finger prints and scratches on the discs, I was wondering if it was possible? I like to keep my games and dvds without prints and scratches, especially this set of dvds...thanks
Old 08-05-04, 01:12 AM
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They were in excellent condition when I took them out. The foam is a very soft kind but I still don't trust it. I just removed them carefully and I had no problems.

I've already swapped them out to a different case. I see in the cover forum someone is requesting some for this set and I hope they happen real soon.
Old 08-05-04, 08:28 AM
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Yes, Fox did switch the order of the shows, but with the creators knowledge. In the commentary track they talk about it. Apparently they had several shows in the can before the pilot aired. Fox viewed them all, and wanted to put the best shows on first in order to build an audiance, which makes sense. Unfortunately that meant that some of the costumes wouldn't match from begining to end, and one implied set up occurs after the solution.

In any case, go ahead and watch them in the order they appear on the set. That is the broadcast order, and there isn't anything wrong with it. The people behind it wanted to make the show rerun friendly, and knew that it would probalby be shown out of order, so there are only a few spots where the end of one show dovetails with the begining of the next.

As for the foam, I think the set looks really cool with the 'floating' discs. If it helps sell a few more sets, and gets the other season released, then I'm all for it. I had no trouble removing the DVDs at all, though putting them back without bending the foam was a little tricky.
Old 08-05-04, 12:02 PM
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Originally posted by MasterofDVD
They were in excellent condition when I took them out. The foam is a very soft kind but I still don't trust it. I just removed them carefully and I had no problems.

I've already swapped them out to a different case. I see in the cover forum someone is requesting some for this set and I hope they happen real soon.
Before I get mine I think I am going to buy dvd cases the push button type, and I will put them in those just to be safe.

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