Sliders/Summer of Love

Summer of Love
Season 1, Episode 6
Airdate	April 19, 1995
Production Number	70401
Written by	Tracy Tormé
Directed by	Mario Azzopardi
← 1x05 The Prince of Wails	1x07 → Eggheads
Sliders — Season One

Summer of Love is the sixth episode of the first season of Sliders.

Starring: Jerry O'Connell (Quinn Mallory), Sabrina Lloyd (Wade Wells), Cleavant Derricks (Rembrandt Brown)

and John Rhys-Davies (Arturo)

Guest Starring: Obba Babatundé (Cezanne Brown), Deborah Lacey (Sharon Brown), Arthur Reggie III (Rembrandt, Jr.), Jason Gaffney (Conrad Bennish, Jr.)

Co-Starring: Gerry Nairn (Mace Moon) (credit only), Michele Goodger (Copeland)

With: Robert Lee (Harold), Barry Pepper (Skidd), Ajay Karah (Seeker), Richard Leacock (Tremelo), Gabrielle Miller (Fling), Joy Coghill (Mrs. Tweak), Mike Dobson (First Policeman), Joanna Piros (Newscaster)

Uncredited: Andre Benjamin (Street Radical)

Plot Overview

A failing timer separates Wade and Rembrandt from Quinn and Arturo on a world where the Hippie movement is still alive. Believing they have slid to different worlds, Wade and Rembrandt are taken in by a Hippie commune, whilst Quinn and Arturo begin work on fixing the timer.

Notes

Brave New Worlds

• A South American spiderwasp hybrid was created in Venezuela. The queen escaped in 1987 and due to immunity to pesticides, the swarm has not been slowed in the eight years, leaving death and destruction due to barbed wire stingers filled with venom and most buildings are extremely vulnerable due to their ability to eat through walls. It's spread up to San Francisco by the time group arrives.

• The U.S. lost the battle of the Coral Sea during World War II and Japan invaded Australia. After the surrender of Germany, Russia entered the Pacific War and helped liberate North Australia, but haven't given it back, resulting in the north attacking the south. With Oliver North as President, America has gotten involved, leading to a counterculture revolution akin to that of Vietnam in the 1960s in our world.

• Due to some ecological incident, the Pacific Ocean has risen and is about to engulf San Francisco in a tidal wave.

Doubles

• Rembrandt (mentioned only)

• Conrad Bennish, Jr.

• FBI Agents Copeland, Harold, and Tremelo

Timer

• 2 minutes and 18 seconds

• 48 minutes

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The FBI are investigating the disappearance of Quinn, Wade, Arturo, and Rembrandt on Earth prime.

• The timer has burned out due to the sliding. Quinn and Arturo work on it using the Helix Spiral. They manage to get it working and the timer now fixes its own time to open the windows.

• Due to Wade assuming counsel to some of the locals, she and Arturo have a disagreement about getting involved in the worlds they visit.

• The group finds itself in an abandoned San Francisco as a massive tidal wave is about to make contact.

Characters

• Quinn is an advanced physics student and specialist in super string theory. He also used to quarterback in high school

• Professor Maxillian P. Arturo is a noted international physicist and expert in the field of ontology and cosmology and taught at California University as Regent's Professor of Cosmology and Ontology.

• Wade Wells middle name is revealed to be Kathleen and was a student at North Shore Junior College where she was majoring in extemporaneous poetry and prose.

• Rembrandt, whose middle name is revealed to be Lee, has a brother name Cezanne. He also can't swim.

• Arturo's ego is demonstrated when he lashes out after his equations are mistaken for a pipe bomb, nearly getting he and Quinn into further trouble.

Referbacks

• The group are first seen wearing the same clothes they were wearing from the pilot, indicating that too much time has passed since that last slide.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• This was the third episode filmed, and was intended to be broadcast after the Pilot, but Fox decided to switch the episode order around. As such, this episode features a clip from Earth Prime where Quinn's classmate Conrad Bennish is brought in by the FBI to identify Quinn's sliding equipment in his basement. This was added by Tracy Tormé to show that the Sliders had not been forgotten about on their home world.

• A significant consequence of the rearranged order resulted in jettisoning explaining how the timer worked. In the aired order, casual viewers may not have picked on the group sliding at will at this point. If put in the proper order, this would have made it clearer that this is what caused the timer to burn out. Arturo and Quinn's work on the timer was so that it could find the "window of opportunity" in which they could leave, setting up the timer's behaviour in subsequent episodes. It was also to explain that if they missed this window, they would have been stranded on that world for 29.7 years.

• While Robert Lee recounted a pleasant time on set, he was disappointed to find his voice at been dubbed over when aired. He reached out to Tracy Tormé who called him to tell it was a mistake and had hoped he be brought back to use his own voice. Unfortunately, this plot line would never be picked up on.

• An electronic salesman named Mace Moon was intended to be a double introduced that would have appeared in all three worlds of the episode, but was ultimately cut because the producers didn't believe it was fleshed out enough. The only remnants of this are the store's signs seen prominently in all three worlds. The character wound up only appearing in one other episode, "Last Days".

Allusions and References

• The spiderwasps are an obvious but exaggerated allusion to the real world Americanised Bee, more commonly known as killer bee. While they had escaped quarantine in 1957 and had been spreading in the ensuing decades, they had begun to spread into the U.S. by the time of this episode. Despite their genuine threat, they are obviously not as monstrous or destructive as the episode's spiderwasps.

Memorable Moments

• Rembrandt listens to himself being eulogised while eating a doughnut just out of sight. After spoiling his cover, he's lifted in celebration by the attendees who lead him to hitting his head on a doorway.

• Quinn and Arturo have an encounter with a double of Bennish where the long-haired stoner is a clean-cut Young Republican.

Goofs

• Quinn throws the rock from Arturo's left, but it hits him in the head from his right.

• Quinn suggests there may be as few as six worlds, but this is demonstrably not true. Not only has his double already said to have visited eight, the group as a whole have already been to at least six, not counting the first one Quinn took by himself.

Quotes

• Agent Yen: Conrad Bennish, Jr?

Conrad Bennish, Jr.: Maybe. Who wants to know?

Agent Yen: FBI.

Conrad Bennish, Jr.: Whoa! What are you guys doing here? Oh, hey, if it's about that bong I just bought, I thought it was a plant holder. Honest.

• Agent Yen: Rembrandt Brown, also known as "The Cooking Man".

Agent Copeland: "Cryin' Man".

Agent Yen: Whatever.

• Newscaster: The swarm has now reached the outskirts of the deserted city. Given the massive devastation in Southern California, it's hard to imagine anyone would be foolish enough to venture within a 100 miles of this place.

Arturo: Of course! Who else could possibly be here but us, the happy wanderers?

• Newscaster: With a wing-span reaching up to a foot...

Rembrandt: Don't tell me that.

Newscaster: ...barbed stingers filled with venom and an immunity to pesticides, the spiderwasps have yet to be slowed.

Arturo: I think we'd better get indoors.

Newscaster: ...and their ability to eat through walls renders most buildings extremely vulnerable to attack.

• Wade: What has gotten into you?

Rembrandt: I hate spiders! I'd rather face a vampire after I cut myself shaving than deal with a spider!

Wade: Yeah, but these are more of a wasp than a spider.

Rembrandt: That's supposed to make me feel better, girl? That these spiders can fly and sting my head off?

• Arturo: And just look at this lot! I hated the '60s when it was the '60s. Tune in, turn on, turn over, and endless babble about free love. Totally irresponsible hogwash. Let's face it, lad, Wade and Rembrandt are probably on an alternate Earth and they have no idea how much I envy them.

• Rembrandt: I'll be damned. You guys are rich!

Seeker: Well, we may be into Mother Earth and spiritual values, but we're not stupid.

• Cezanne: I would just like to think that, well, that somewhere up there that Remmy can hear me. And I just want him to know that, well, that I forgive him for all the times that he let me down.

Sharon: I'm sure we all feel that way.

Cezanne: See the truth of the matter is, is that Rembrandt was jealous of me. 'Cause I was the family achiever.

Rembrandt: (out of earshot) Give me a break.

Cezanne: I mean, could I help it that I was born the better athlete? The better student?

Sharon: It's not your fault, Cezanne.

Cezanne: No, it's not my fault!

Rembrandt: Not true, either.

Cezanne: Now, we all know that, well, Remmy liked his music. He even thought about trying to make a career of it at some point. I mean, could I help it that the Lord blessed me with more musical talent?

Rembrandt: (stepping into view) Musical talent?! You couldn't carry a tune if it was strapped to your back!

• Rembrandt Junior: Now that dad's not dead, can we eat?

• First Policeman: Aw, shoot. Even the older generation's dropping out.

(Arturo smiles as he raises his cup)

First Policeman: What are you looking at, dropout? Clean yourself up and get a job.

Arturo: I have a job, sir! I am Regent's Professor of Cosmology and Ontology at California University.

First Policeman: Yeah and I'm Snoop Hippie Dogg. Quit tripping, grandpa. And button your lip before I haul your psychedelic ass down to the station! Freak.

Arturo: Impudent yahoos!

• Arturo: Now, seems we need a place to hole up if we are to work out the schematics of this thing. Given our current state of near poverty, a loft would suffice. It so happens that there is one in walking distance.

Quinn: "Furnished loft for rent on monthly basis. No pets, radicals, draft dodgers, musicians, or other counter-culture types allowed. Must be clean-living, drug-free and patriotic." Well, I guess what they don't know won't hurt them.

• Mrs Tweak: I won't allow any sympathising with the Outback Cong under my roof, understood? This fight ain't just with the Aussies. If South Australia falls, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to our shores.

Quinn: Well, we can't have that. Boomerangs and kangaroos everywhere? What a nightmare!

• Arturo: Different Earths, identical mayhem.

• Agent Copeland: So you got any idea what they're trying to cook up?

Agent Yen: Could be some kind of elaborate pipe bomb.

Arturo: Pipe bomb?! You blistering idiot! A pipe bomb's child's play compared to that!

• Arturo: Yes, well, that was remarkably stupid of you, Miss Wade. You know nothing of this world, nothing of their war. The proper position should have been, "no comment."

Wade: Some truths are universal. I mean, besides, if we can bring some of the things that we've learned on our world to parallel cultures, then I say go for it. We can't just slide from place to place aimlessly. We have to get involved.