History Characters / Sliders

* EmbarassingFirstName: In the novelization only (covering the pilot episode), he notes that he doesn't care for his first name.

* AffectionateNickname: Rembrandt calls him "Q-Ball."

* MeaningfulName: ''Quinn'' is Irish for "wisdom, reason, intelligence" and ''Mallory'' means "unlucky." Pretty fitting for a smart guy who [[spoiler:ends up being merged with his AlternateUniverse duplicate]].
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: {{Discussed|Trope}} in "The Other Slide of Darkness." His double blames himself for the Kromaggs and wants Quinn to kill him to "turn things around."

* TeamDad: Becomes this after Arturo dies in late Season 3. {{Lampshaded}} in "Slither," where Quinn laments that, without Arturo, "It's all on me, and I'm flying blind."

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:In Season 5's "Requiem."]]

%%* DroppedABridgeOnHim

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In Season 5's "Requiem," she sacrifices herself to save the other Sliders and stop the Kromaggs from acting on their plan to attack Kromagg Prime.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: "Welles" or "Wells."
** WordOfGod admitted to inconsistency within scripts, making it DependingOnTheWriter.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Rules of the Game," she says she has a problem with being on airplanes.

** "The Dream Masters" reveals she was once robbed at knife-point, giving her a fear of knives and of being cut. The same episode shows she has a problem with snakes, though she apparently got over it by the time of "Slither."

* HiddenDepths: In "Eggheads," he recognizes a classical composer after hearing only a few seconds of a piece.

* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler:Revealed as one in Season 4's "Slidecage."]]
* ManlyTears: His nickname is "Crying Man," after all.

* RealMenCook: In "Paradise Lost," it's stated he was a cook while serving in the Navy.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Slither," of snakes themselves.

* DisappearedDad: According to "Into the Mystic," he's actually this to his son back on Earth Prime.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The others almost always address him as "Professor."
* HeroicSacrifice: He takes a bullet for Quinn in "The Exodus, Part 2."
* HiddenDepths: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Eggheads," as he talks about his dead wife and how encountering her double is stirring old feelings.

* LastNameBasis: If the others don't address him as "Professor," then they do this.

* MissingMom: According to "Season's Greedings," his mother died during a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII bombing. [[spoiler:While WordOfGod confirms that the Arturo that said this was the double from "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome," their two worlds were described as so similar that the real Arturo likely experienced similar events.]]

* SecretlyDying: Introduced in "The Guardian," where Quinn finds out and is sworn to secrecy. Rembrandt finds out in "The Last of Eden."

* SpotTheImposter: In "Post-Traumatic Slide Syndrome," the Sliders find themselves faced with two Arturoes each claiming to be theirs. The Sliders themselves have trouble figuring out who is who [[spoiler:and WordOfGod ultimately confirmed what fans long suspected: The wrong one slid with them]].

* BareYourMidriff: In "Slidecage," she wears a midriff-baring top.

* DaddyIssues: Highlighted in "The Return of Maggie Beckett."

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Her joining the team late Season 3 wasn't exactly warmly embraced, especially by Wade. Rembrandt points this attitude out in "The Other Slide of Darkness."

* YourCheatingHeart: In the Season 3 finale "This Slide of Paradise," Rickman reveals he and Maggie were once lovers.

* ConvenientReplacementCharacter: The only new character to [[{{AvertedTrope}} avert]] this trope[[note]]Arturo died and Maggie joined the team in "The Exodus, Part 2"; Quinn and Colin vanished only to be replaced with Mallory and Diana in "The Unstuck Man"; but when Wade disappeared off-screen between "This Slide of Paradise" and "Genesis," it took five episodes for Colin to show up and join the team[[/note]].

* PutOnABusToHell: In "The Unstuck Man," Colin was made unstuck and left involuntarily sliding from one dimension to the next. At first, there was concern that Colin didn't survive, but he was generally treated as still alive and in need of help. By the end of the season, however, the characters acknowledged that Colin may really be dead, but it was nonetheless left ambiguous.

* WideEyedIdealist: As seen in "California Reich" and "My Brother's Keeper."
-->"You don't hurt someone to help yourself...at least, you're not supposed to."

* FlipPersonality: Mallory emerged as the dominant personality, but in "The Unstuck Man" and "Applied Physics," Quinn's personality and memories periodically broke through. By the end of "New Gods for Old," however, Mallory could no longer feel Quinn.

* LastNameBasis: Mainly because Maggie was incapable of calling him "Quinn," and then everybody picked it up. Even Diana, who knew him before Season 5's events.

%%* TheNthDoctor

* BreakTheCutie: Back-to-back episodes "Applied Physics" and "Strangers and Comrades."

* SinisterMinister: In "Stoker," he poses as a priest to find brain fluid donors.

* TheMole: He's a double agent on the world featured in "Time Again and World."

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: ExecutiveMeddling prevented the writers from bringing him back. Tracy Tormé had to sneak him into "Invasion."

* {{Jerkass}}: In her first appearance.
* JerkassFacade: She wants revenge on Rickman for Steven's death, but she's never shown mourning him. Season 4 shows private moments where she has actually been holding back considerable grief.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: He admits in "Last Days" that he had a fairly religious upbringing. After that episode, he quotes the Bible on occasion ("The Breeder" being a prominent example).

* GenreSavvy: A variant of this shows up in that, especially with the Professor gone, Rembrandt becomes the oldest member of the group. With Quinn still around as "the brains" of the group, Rembrandt is not quite the TeamDad of Season 5 yet, but whenever the sliders end up in a world where some form of systematic oppression exists, Rembrandt, as a black man who's old enough to remember the Civil Rights Movement, is often a little quicker to recognize and adapt to survive in these hostile situations. In later seasons, especially after his [[spoiler: imprisonment and torture by Kromaggs, and the Kromagg conquest of his homeworld]], Rembrandt becomes a more standard version of this trope, overlapping with his other role as the OnlySaneMan.

* GenreSavvy: Thinks he's this whenever the sliders have to deal with a gang or similar dynamic in a criminal element. He's not as close to this trope as he thinks he is, though sometimes his instincts are on the money.

* GenreSavvy: A variant of this shows up in that, especially with the Professor gone, Rembrandt becomes the oldest member of the group. With Quinn still around as "the brains" of the group, Rembrandt is not quite the TeamDad of Season 5 yet, but whenever the sliders end up in a world where some form of systematic oppression exists, Rembrandt, as a black man who's old enough to remember the Civil Rights Movement, is quick to recognize and adapt to survive in these hostile situations. In later seasons, especially after his [[spoiler: imprisonment and torture by Kromaggs, and the Kromagg conquest of his homeworld]], Rembrandt becomes a more standard version of this trope, overlapping with his other role as the OnlySaneMan.

* {{Expy}}: Basically Lionel Richie if he was a dimension hopping adventurer.

%%* HonorBeforeReason

%%* TheHeart

* TheNthDoctor: Played by Jerry O'Connell for the first four seasons, [[spoiler:then briefly by an unknown actor in the Season 5 premiere before being replaced by Mallory]].

-->'''Played by''': Jerry O'Connell

-->'''Played by''': Kari Wuhrer

!!Quinn Mallory

!!Wade Welles

!!Rembrandt Brown

!!Maximillian Arturo

!!Maggie Beckett

!!Colin Mallory

!!Quinn "Mallory" Mallory

!!Diana Davis

!!Colonel Angus Rickman

!! Gomez Calhoun

!!Conrad Bennish, Jr.

* {{Badass}}: In Seasons 4 and 5.

-->'''Quinn''': {{It's all my fault}}. The Professor, this man, Maggie's next victim--all because I lost control of something I didn't know enough about. So, please, go ahead tell me what you were thinking because I think about it every minute of every day.

* BreakTheCutie: Three years of sliding takes a toll on her; Arturo's death is the moment that finally breaks her.
-->'''Wade''': (''to Quinn'') You know, when I first started sliding, all I saw was adventure. Now all I seem to see is death.

** "The Dream Masters" reveals she was once robbed at knife-point, giving her a fear of knives and of being cut.
** She also has a problem with snakes, though apparently got over it by the time of "Slither."

%%* AsTheGoodBookSays

%%* BewareTheNiceOnes

* DirtyCoward: In Season 1.

-->'''Rembrandt''': If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta appreciate the greats.

%%* TakingTheBullet

-->'''Colin''': You don't hurt someone to help yourself...at least, you're not supposed to.

%%* FauxAffablyEvil

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: If anyone was ever in need of help, Quinn would be the first one to jump in. "El Sid" deconstructs the trope, as the group has to deal with the fallout of his actions.

* DisappearedDad: His father died in an automobile accident when Quinn was very young.
* GadgeteerGenius: He built the timer for starters.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: He resented his intelligence for years because it made him different from everyone else. (Being skipped ahead and thus smaller than his classmates didn't help.)

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Discussed in "The Other Slide of Darkness." His double blames himself for the Kromaggs and wants Quinn to kill him to "turn things around."

'''Alt-Quinn:''' It will change you: make you strong like them--strong enough to get home, to protect it, to protect the ones you love... like I couldn't.

-->"It's all my fault. The Professor, this man, Maggie's next victim--all because I lost control of something I didn't know enough about. So, please, go ahead tell me what you were thinking because I think about it every minute of every day."

* WellDoneSonGuy: Downplayed in the PilotMovie. Quinn deeply admires Arturo and goes to him first with his discovery, but he doesn't fall over himself in class to try to impress him.

-->"You know, when I first started sliding, all I saw was adventure. Now all I seem to see is death."

%%* [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Bridge On Her]]

* MsFanservice : Although she dresses conservatively in the first two seasons, once Maggie joins the cast, Wade's outfits become tighter and more revealing.

** "The Dream Masters" reveals she was once robbed at knife-point, giving her a fear of knives and of being cut. She also has a problem with snakes, though apparently got over it by the time of "Slither."

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Starting in Season 2. As freaked out as he'd be by some strange sights, he'd still kick ass.

-->"If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta appreciate the greats."

-->"What happened to Wade, I live with that every day!"
* TheNicknamer: But only to the Mallory brothers--"Q-ball" (Quinn), "Farm Boy" (Colin), and "Fog Boy" (Mallory).

* BadassGrandpa: On occasion, he gets to throw his weight around. He even once punched out a Kromagg.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Had some brain fluid sucked out, was shot, and then left on a destroyed world.

* HeroicSacrifice: He takes a bullet for Quinn.
* HiddenDepths: Lampshaded in "Eggheads," as he talks about his dead wife and how encountering her double is stirring old feelings.

* LikeASonToMe: Expresses this sentiment about Quinn in "Slide Like an Egyptian" after Quinn is believed dead. The fortune teller in "Into the Mystic" also suggests that Quinn reminds Arturo of his actual son.
* MissingMom: According to "Season's Greedings," his mother died during a WorldWarII bombing. [[spoiler:While WordOfGod confirms that the Arturo that said this was the double from "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome," their two worlds were described as so similar that the real Arturo likely experienced similar events.]]

* SpotTheImposter: In "Post-Traumatic Slide Syndrome," the Sliders find themselves faced with two Arturoes each claiming to be theirs. The Sliders themselves have trouble figuring out who is who [[spoiler:and WordOfGod ultimately confirmed what fans long suspected: the wrong one slid with them]].
%%* TheSmartGuy

* BareYourMidriff : In "Slidecage," she wears a midriff-baring top.

* JerkassFacade: She wants revenge on Rickman for Steven's death, but she's never shown mourning him. Season 4 would show private moments where she had actually been holding back considerable grief.
* MsFanservice: In her season 3 appearances, she wore very revealing outfits, and the episode ''[[SlidersS03E19TheBreeder The Breeder]]'' pretty much speaks for itself. She slowly grew out of this in season 4, and stopped being this completely in season 5.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Was dangerously close to being this in late season 3, when the production team thought of continuing the show with only Quinn and Maggie. Come season 4, her personality was rewritten and expanded to become TheHeart, and in season 5, with Quinn gone, a TeamMom.

* ConvenientReplacementCharacter: The only new character to [[{{AvertedTrope}} avert]] this trope[[note]]Arturo died and Maggie joined the team in ''Exodus, part 2''; Quinn and Colin vanished only to be replaced with Mallory and Diana in ''The Unstuck Man''; but when Wade disappeared off-screen between ''This Slide of Paradise'' and ''Genesis'', it took five episodes for Colin to show up and join the team[[/note]].

* SmarterThanYouLook: Colin is rather naive, but only because he came from a less advanced world. He is nonetheless quite intelligent, adapting rather well to modern technology and figuring things out for himself.

-->"You don't hurt someone to help yourself...at least you're not supposed to."

%%* BookDumb:
* TheCharmer: He can blend in with pretty much any social group, all it takes is a smile and telling an interesting story. He also tends to fall in love on a regular basis.

* IOweYouMyLife: He is weary of Dr. Geiger, but acknowledges that without him, he'd still be in a wheelchair.

!! Colonel Angus Rickman

* BigBad: In Season Three.
* BookEnds : His first and last appearance.
* DisneyVillainDeath: His arc ends rather ignobly when [[spoiler: he misses a slide at the edge of a cliff]].
* KillingForATissueSample: Along with a dose of OurVampiresAreDifferent , Rickman needs specimens to combat a brain parasite.
* LargeHam : He chews up a lot of scenery, but he's a bad guy, so it's forgivable.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: As the main page points out, he's the "highest-ranking Englishman in the U.S. Army."

* IdenticalStranger: Sort of. He's the hotel clerk in most of the worlds the group visits in Season 1 and 2. Averted in Seasons 4 and 5, when the character is played by a different actor.

* MommasBoy: In the first two seasons
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: He doesn't appear in Season 3 because the show moved production to L.A.--leaving all the Van Couver-based actors behind. Sasso was living in L.A. by the time of Season 4 and was approached to make some guest appearances, but talks broke down over money.
* RecurringCharacter: Throughout most of the series. His doubles were shown at three of the Sliders' resting spots: the Motel 12, the Dominion Hotel, and the Chandler.

!! Conrad Bennish, Junior

* HiddenDepths: Despite his outward appearance and laidback approach, he's highly intelligent; the first time we see him is in Quinn's (and Arturo's) college physics class.

%%* TheEveryman

* BookDumb:

%%* BadassGrandpa

%%* CoolOldGuy

%%* DroppedABridgeOnHim

%%* MisterExposition

%%* TheProfessor

%%* SmallNameBigEgo

%%* DefrostingIceQueen

--> Played by Roger Daltrey, Neil Dickman

* BigBad : In Season Three.

* KillingForATissueSample : Along with a dose of OurVampiresAreDifferent , Rickman needs specimens to combat a brain parasite.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent : As the main page points out, he's the "highest-ranking Englishman in the U.S. Army."
* PickyPeopleEater

--> Played by Will Sasso, Israel Juarbe

* IdenticalStranger : Sort of. He's the hotel clerk in most of the worlds the group visits in Season 1 and 2. Averted in Seasons 4 and 5, when the character is played by a different actor.
* TheMole : He's a double agent, on one world
* RecurringCharacter : Throughout most of the series.

* EruditeStoner : A [=SoCal=] hippie type.
* EyeScream : He's the one who informs us of the Kromaggs' preferred delicacy.
* HiddenDepths : Despite his outward appearance and laidback approach, he's highly intelligent; the first time we see him is in Quinn's (and Arturo's) college physics class.
* MauveShirt : As of his last appearance, it's fair to assume he will be dead soon.

%%* {{Adorkable}}

%%* ChronicHeroSyndrome

%%* GadgeteerGenius

-->'''Wade''': (''to Quinn'') You know, when I first started sliding, all I saw was adventure. Now all I seem to see is death.

%%* ButtMonkey

%%* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
%%* DeadpanSnarker

-->'''Rembrandt''': If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta appreciate the greats.

%%* OnlySaneMan

%%* AgentScully

%%* HeroicSacrifice

-->'''Fortune Teller''': You resent the boy because it comes so easily to him.

* LikeASonToMe: Expresses this sentiment about Quinn in "Slide Like an Egyptian" after Quinn is believed dead.

%%* SmallNameBigEgo

-->'''Colin''': You don't hurt someone to help yourself...at least you're not supposed to.
* YouLookFamiliar: Charlie O'conell appeared in two episodes as unrelated characters before being added as a regular cast member. Of course, given the premise of the series these might have been alternate versions of the same character.

%%* LoveableRogue: He is a [[{{TheCharmer}} charmer]] with a criminal past.

* EruditeStoner : A SoCal hippie type.

* TedBaxter: He has a lot of these moments in the first two seasons.

%%* TedBaxter

%%* MsFanservice

%%* BookDumb

%%* LoveableRogue

%%* SplitPersonality

!!Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell)

%%* {{Badass}}
%%** BadassBookworm
%%** TookALevelInBadass

* BrilliantButLazy: In the pilot, he passes up the chance to correctly answer a difficult question (despite Arturo yelling at him) because it didn't interest him. On the other hand, he took the time to read Arturo's papers that weren't assigned for class because their contents did.
%%* ButtMonkey
* ChildProdigy: Was skipped ahead two grades when he was eleven.

* DidntSeeThatComing: He was originally trying to invent anti-gravity, but accidentally created a wormhole instead.
* DisappearedDad: Michael Mallory died in an automobile accident when Quinn was very young.
* {{Fanservice}}: The show frequently has Quinn [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]].

%%* HollywoodNerd

%%* TeenGenius
%%* TwoFirstNames

!!Wade Welles (Sabrina Lloyd)

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:In "Requiem."]]

-->You know, when I first started sliding, all I saw was adventure. Now all I seem to see is death.

%%* HeroicSacrifice

!!Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks)

* {{Badass}}: Seasons 4 and 5.

* BreakTheCutie: He spent ''months'' in a Kromagg prison.

* DirtyCoward: Season 1.

-->If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta appreciate the greats.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Prone to this a lot in Season 1. He gets over it, though.
* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler:In Season 4.]]

* TheNicknamer: But only to the Mallory brothers--"Q-ball" (Quinn), "Farm Boy" (Colin) and "Fog boy" (Mallory).

!!Maximillian Arturo (Creator/JohnRhysDavies)

* DisappearedDad: According to "Into the Mystic," he's actually this to someone back home.

-->You resent the boy because it comes so easily to him.

* SecretlyDying: Introduced in "The Guardian," where Quinn finds out and is sworn to secrecy. Rembrandt would find out in "The Last of Eden."

-->Every teacher goes through life hoping just once he'll have a student like you.

!!Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer)

%%* {{Jerkass}}, later JerkWithAHeartOfGold

!!Colin Mallory (Charlie O'Connell)

-->You don't hurt someone to help yourself...at least you're not supposed to.

!!Quinn "Mallory" Mallory (Robert Floyd)

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Including ParentalAbandonment, a criminal past and suffering from muscular dystrophy.

!!Diana Davis (Tembi Locke)

%%* BlackAndNerdy

* [[spoiler:BackForTheDead]]: In "Requiem."

%%* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]

* [[spoiler:ManchurianAgent: In Season 4.]]

* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: See SpotTheImposter below. The unscrupulous fake Arturo from "Post-Traumatic Slide Syndrome" ended up taking a bullet for Quinn.]]

!!Maximillian Arturo (John Rhys-Davies)