Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Characters / Sliders

Go To

1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3[[folder:Quinn Mallory]]
4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_quinn.png]]
5-->'''Played by''': Creator/JerryOConnell
6
7* AffectionateNickname: Rembrandt calls him "Q-Ball".
8* BasementDweller: He still lived with his mother while finishing college. He still had his own room, but converted his basement into a makeshift laboratory and spent most of his free time down there.
9* 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 the class because their contents did.
10* ChildProdigy: Was skipped ahead two grades when he was 11.
11* ChronicHeroSyndrome: If anyone was ever in need of help, Quinn would be the first one to jump in. "El Sid" [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs the trope]], as the group has to deal with the fallout of his actions.
12* DidntSeeThatComing: He was originally trying to invent anti-gravity, but accidentally created a wormhole to a parallel world instead.
13* DisappearedDad: His father died in an automobile accident when he was very young.
14* GadgeteerGenius: He built the timer, for starters.
15* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Rembrandt.
16* 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).
17* 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]].
18* 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."
19-->'''Quinn:''' Killing you won't change anything.\
20'''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.
21* MrFanservice: The show frequently has Quinn [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]].
22* MyGreatestFailure: Getting the others lost among dimensions. His guilt gets worse when people start to suffer as a result of sliding. From "The Breeder" after getting into an argument with Wade:
23-->"''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."
24* 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 Robert Floyd]].
25* ReallyGetsAround: Had {{Ship Tease}}s with Wade and Maggie, as well as plenty of [[GirlOfTheWeek one-off love interests]].
26* 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."
27* TookALevelInBadass: In Season 3.
28* TwoFirstNames: ''Quinn'' and ''Mallory'' can be either first names or surnames.
29* WellDoneSonGuy: {{Downplayed|Trope}} 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.
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:Wade Welles]]
33[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_wade.png]]
34-->'''Played by''': Creator/SabrinaLloyd
35
36* AgentMulder: She has an interest in the occult, so she always believes in the most fantastical possibilities.
37* AlliterativeName: '''W'''ade '''W'''elles.
38* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:In Season 5's "Requiem".]]
39* BreakTheCutie: Three years of sliding takes a toll on her; Arturo's death is the moment that finally breaks her. A line from "Slither" sums it up (though Quinn insinuates she's addressing him when she was really just making a general observation).
40-->"You know, when I first started sliding, all I saw was adventure. Now all I seem to see is death."
41%%* DamselInDistress:
42* DevotedToYou: EVERY male character in EVERY dimension falls in love with her.
43%%* DroppedABridgeOnHim:
44%%* TheHeart
45* 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.]]
46%%* GenderBlenderName
47* HonorBeforeReason: Frequently, much to the others' occasional irritation.
48* InconsistentSpelling: "Welles" or "Wells". WordOfGod admitted to inconsistency within scripts, making it DependingOnTheWriter.
49* MsFanservice: Although she dresses conservatively in the first two seasons, once Maggie joins the cast, Wade's outfits become tighter and more revealing.
50* PlatonicLifePartners: With Rembrandt.
51%%* TechnoWizard
52* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: With Maggie in Season 3. Wade is the Girly Girl of the pair.
53* VitriolicBestBuds: With Arturo. They frequently squabbled, but she deeply cared about him. She was the most devastated by his death.
54* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Rules of the Game", she says she has a problem with being on airplanes.
55-->'''Quinn:''' [[LampshadeHanging Sliding between parallel worlds doesn't bother you, but flying does?]]\
56'''Wade:''' You have no idea how much.
57** "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".
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Rembrandt Brown]]
61[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_rembrandt.png]]
62-->'''Played by''': Creator/CleavantDerricks
63
64* 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). He's not TheFundamentalist though, by any means, and when confronted with alternate Earths where California is run by those, he's usually quick to point out how these groups tend to think their interpretation of religion is the only valid one.
65* BewareTheNiceOnes: After he TookALevelInBadass. He's always friendly and affable, but he'd kick ass to protect his friends.
66* BreakTheCutie: He spent ''months'' in a Kromagg prison between Seasons 3 and 4.
67* ButtMonkey: He tended to suffer more than his fair share of misfortune, though he was still a distant second to Arturo.
68* ConspiracyTheorist: "The Return of Maggie Beckett" reveals that Remmy always believed aliens landed at Roswell.
69* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Starting in Season 2. As freaked-out as he'd be by some strange sights, he'd still kick ass.
70* DeadpanSnarker: Due to him being the OnlySaneMan.
71* {{Expy}}: Basically Lionel Richie if he was a dimension hopping adventurer. His band, "The Spinning Tops" was a CaptainErsatz of the Four Tops.
72* TheEveryman: One of the reasons his character was originally put in the show was so Quinn and Arturo could explain the science to him.
73* TheHeart: Easily the most emotional of the group.
74* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Quinn.
75* HiddenDepths: In "Eggheads", he recognizes a classical composer after hearing only a few seconds of a piece.
76-->"If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta appreciate the greats."
77* ItsAllAboutMe: He was prone to this a lot in Season 1. He gets over it, though.
78* LovableCoward: In Season 1. He's quite easily spooked and intimidated, but he retains the audience's sympathy since he doesn't put his safety at the others' expense.
79* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler:Revealed as one in Season 4's "Slidecage".]]
80* ManlyTears: His nickname is "Crying Man", after all.
81* MyGreatestFailure: In Seasons 4 and 5, he blames himself for Wade being taken away by the Kromaggs.
82-->'''Rembrandt''': What happened to Wade, I live with that every day!
83* TheNicknamer: But only to the Mallory brothers--"Q-Ball" (Quinn), "Farm Boy" (Colin), and "Fog Boy" (Mallory).
84* OddFriendship: With Arturo.
85* OnlySaneMan: He's usually the first one to point out the craziness of a given situation.
86* PlatonicLifePartners: With Wade. Starting in Season 4, also with Maggie.
87* RealMenCook: In "Paradise Lost", it's stated he was a cook while serving in the Navy.
88* SmallNameBigEgo: He has a lot of these moments in the first two seasons.
89* TeamDad: In Season 5.
90* TookALevelInBadass: At the start of the series, he was easily spooked by dangers on parallel worlds. By Season 4, he gladly fights ''Kromaggs'' hand-to-hand and mocks them to their faces.
91* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Slither", of snakes themselves.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Maximillian Arturo]]
95[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_arturo.png]]
96-->'''Played by''': Creator/JohnRhysDavies
97
98* AgentScully: Arturo always looked for the most rational and logical explanation to whatever the group encountered.
99* CatchPhrase: The number of times he called someone a "blistering idiot" and yelled "Incoming!" at the end of a slide borders on this.
100* CoolOldGuy: When you get past the gruff egotism.
101* DeadpanSnarker: Tends to react to things around him with either blustering anger or dry sarcasm. One example from the pilot, where everyone's shock at finding themselves in a Soviet-dominated parallel America is interrupted by the Professor's desire for lunch:
102-->'''Quinn:''' Professor, how can you ''eat'' at a time like this?!\
103'''Arturo:''' My stomach has no political preference.
104* DisappearedDad: According to "Into the Mystic", he's actually this to his son back on Earth Prime.
105* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Had some brain fluid sucked out, was shot, and then left on a world that was destroyed by pulsars moments later.
106* EmbarrassingFirstName: In the novelization only (covering the pilot episode), he notes that he doesn't care for his first name.
107* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The others almost always address him as "Professor".
108* HeroicSacrifice: He takes a bullet for Quinn in "The Exodus, Part 2".
109* HiddenDepths: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Eggheads", as he talks about his dead wife and how encountering her double is stirring old feelings.
110-->'''Wade:''' I had no idea that you were such a romantic.\
111'''Arturo:''' And I had no idea that I would have the opportunity.
112* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Season 2 introduced the idea that he resented Quinn for inventing sliding ''by accident''.
113-->'''Fortune Teller''': You resent the boy because it comes so easily to him. You are Salieri to his Mozart, yes?
114* {{Irony}}: The one person who completely respects him and his work is Quinn, the guy Arturo worries about being overshadowed by.
115* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: But virtually every single double encountered was a {{Jerkass}}.
116* LastNameBasis: If the others don't address him as "Professor", then they do this.
117* LikeASonToMe: He 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.
118* 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.]]
119* MisterExposition: If an alt-history or scientific matter needed to be explained, the task usually fell to him.
120* OddFriendship: With Rembrandt.
121* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Along with being a professor of cosmology and ontology, he has working knowledge of sciences outside of his field (as shown as early as in "Fever") and is well-versed in history.
122* ParentalSubstitute: To Quinn.
123* TheProfessor: Well, obviously.
124* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:See SpotTheImposter below. The unscrupulous fake Arturo from "Post-Traumatic Slide Syndrome" ended up taking a bullet for Quinn.]]
125* SecretlyDying: Introduced in "The Guardian", where Quinn finds out and is sworn to secrecy. Rembrandt finds out in "The Last of Eden".
126* SmallNameBigEgo: Indeed. PlayedForDrama in some Season 2 episodes.
127%%* TheSmartGuy
128* SoProudOfYou: He's not one to get emotional, but his admiration for Quinn always came through.
129-->'''Arturo''': Every teacher goes through life hoping just once he'll have a student like you.
130* 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 slides with them]].
131* TakingTheBullet: He dies putting himself in-between Quinn and Rickman.
132* TeamDad: Seasons 1-3.
133%%* TechnicalPacifist
134* VitriolicBestBuds: With Wade. He had no problem picking a fight or argument, but as he once told her, he adores her.
135[[/folder]]
136
137[[folder:Maggie Beckett]]
138[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_maggie.png]]
139-->'''Played by''': Creator/KariWuhrer
140
141%%* ActionGirl
142%%* CuteBruiser
143* DaddyIssues: Highlighted in "The Return of Maggie Beckett".
144%%* DamselInDistress
145%%* DeadpanSnarker
146%%* DeadGuyJunior
147* DefrostingIceQueen: She shows a softer side over the course of her Season 3 appearances.
148* TheHeart: In Season 5.
149%%* HiddenDepths
150* {{Jerkass}}: Her original characterization had her butt heads with the rest of the team, showing her to lack any sort of tact (such as flat-out telling Wade her mourning the Professor made no sense, since they weren't related) . Not to mention the lack of ''any'' visible grief for her husband, who was killed in her introductory episode. By the time Season 4 comes, she grows out of it.
151* HiddenHeartOfGold: 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.
152* 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.
153* 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".
154* PlatonicLifePartners: With Rembrandt, starting in Season 4.
155* SameCharacterButDifferent: Her personality was [[{{Retool}} retooled]] between Seasons 3 and 4. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the Season 4 premiere with a character with a personality of the Season 3 Maggie.
156* SatelliteLoveInterest: Was dangerously close to being this in late Season 3 and beyond, when the production team thought of continuing the show with only Quinn and Maggie.
157%%* TheSnarkKnight
158* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Averted at first, as she was nothing like Arturo. Her Season 4 onward depiction does bear some similarity to Wade's, though.
159* TeamMom: In Season 4-5.
160* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: With Wade and later Diana. Maggie is the Tomboy of the pair.
161%%* WaifFu
162[[/folder]]
163
164[[folder:Colin Mallory]]
165[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_colin.png]]
166-->'''Played by''': Creator/CharlieOConnell
167
168* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: On his adoptive world, the Amish-like residents treated him badly because of his inventions.
169* 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]].
170* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Possibly. See below.
171* FishOutOfWater: After spending most his life living in an Amish paradise, he has a little trouble adapting to more advanced universes for a while.
172* GadgeteerGenius: He built his own hang glider, for one.
173* 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.
174* 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.
175* WideEyedIdealist: As seen in "California Reich" and "My Brother's Keeper".
176-->"You don't hurt someone to help yourself... at least, you're not supposed to."
177[[/folder]]
178
179[[folder:Quinn "Mallory" Mallory]]
180[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_mallory.png]]
181-->'''Played by''': Creator/RobertFloyd
182
183* AntiHeroSubstitute: More selfish and less scrupulous than Quinn.
184* AppliedPhlebotinum: Geiger's experiments and combining him with Quinn allowed Mallory to walk again.
185%%* BookDumb
186* 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.
187* DarkAndTroubledPast: Including ParentalAbandonment, a criminal past, and suffering from muscular dystrophy.
188* 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.
189* HonorBeforeReason: He agrees to the attempt to restore Quinn in "Eye of the Storm" despite what could happen to himself.
190* IOweYouMyLife: He is wary of Dr. Geiger, but acknowledges that, without him, he'd still be in a wheelchair.
191* 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.
192* LoveableRogue: He is a [[{{TheCharmer}} charmer]] with a criminal past.
193* TheNthDoctor: When Creator/JerryOConnell left the show after season 4, season 5 opened with Quinn being fused into Mallory - his non-identical counterpart from the universe they slid into - due to Oberon Geiger's experiments in sliding and fusing alternates together.
194* ParentalAbandonment: His parents died when he was very young.
195* SharingABody: With Quinn.
196* SplitPersonality: In his first appearance, the original Quinn Mallory would sometimes resurface and talk through him. But after a few episodes, Quinn faded away, and Mallory was the only personality left.
197[[/folder]]
198
199[[folder:Diana Davis]]
200[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sliders_diana.png]]
201-->'''Played by''': Creator/TembiLocke
202
203* AlliterativeName: '''D'''iana '''D'''avis.
204* BlackAndNerdy: She's black, and a scientist.
205* BreakTheCutie: She is admittedly spoiled and comes from a wealthy family. Back-to-back episodes "Applied Physics", where's she is led to do a horrible thing to the world the Sliders are visiting, and "Strangers and Comrades", in which she lands in the middle of a war, both break her optimism.
206* DitzyGenius: While she is BookSmart (if her "Dr" title is anything to go by) , her past as a sheltered rich child left her with little in terms of street smarts.
207* HeelFaceTurn: In the episode where she's introduced.
208* SheCleansUpNicely: While the show generally does not emphasize her looks, she stuns Mallory and Rembrandt when she dresses up in "To Catch a Slider".
209* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: She takes over the role of the resident science expert from the original Quinn Mallory.
210* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: With Maggie. Diana is the Girly Girl of the pair, taking Wade's place in Season 5.
211[[/folder]]
212
213[[folder:Colonel Angus Rickman]]
214-->'''Played by''': Music/RogerDaltrey, Creator/NeilDickson
215
216* BigBad: In Season 3.
217* BookEnds: His first and last appearance.
218* DisneyVillainDeath: His arc ends rather ignobly when [[spoiler:he misses a slide at the edge of a cliff]].
219* FauxAffablyEvil: He often speaks to Quinn and Maggie with a faux politeness.
220* {{Jerkass}}: Rickman was a grade-A scumbag with no respect for anyone else.
221* KillingForATissueSample: Along with a dose of OurVampiresAreDifferent, Rickman needs specimens to combat a brain parasite.
222* LargeHam: He [[ChewingTheScenery chews up a lot of scenery]], but he's a bad guy, so it's forgivable.
223* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: As the main page points out, he's the highest-ranking Englishman in the U.S. Army.
224* PickyPeopleEater: He needs brain tissue from matching donors to stay alive. He can get buy with mismatches, but it eventually begins to take a toll.
225* TheNthDoctor: Injecting brain fluid gave his face a brief morphing effect. The writers used this to explain why his face changes.
226* SinisterMinister: In "Stoker", he poses as a priest to find brain fluid donors.
227* SociopathicSoldier: He was an army colonel, and very clearly insane.
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Gomez Calhoun]]
231-->'''Played by''': Creator/WillSasso, Creator/IsraelJuarbe
232
233* IdenticalStranger: Sort of. He's the hotel clerk in most of the worlds the group visits in Season 1 and 2. {{Averted|Trope}} in Seasons 4 and 5, when the character is played by a different actor.
234* TheMole: He's a double agent on the world featured in "Time Again and World".
235* MommasBoy: In the first two seasons.
236* RealLifeWritesThePlot: He doesn't appear in Season 3 because the show moved production to Los Angeles, leaving all the Vancouver-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.
237* 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.
238* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: During Season 3 before he was recast in Season 4, he was replaced by Elston Diggs, a waiter at the Royal Chancellor Hotel.
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder:Conrad Bennish, Jr.]]
242-->'''Played by''': Creator/JasonGaffney
243
244* EruditeStoner: A [=SoCal=] hippie type.
245* EyeScream: His double in "Invasion" suffered this at the hands of the Kromaggs.
246* HiddenDepths: Despite his outward appearance and laid-back approach, he's highly intelligent; the first time we see him is in Quinn's (and Arturo's) college physics class.
247* RealLifeWritesThePlot: ExecutiveMeddling prevented the writers from bringing him back. Tracy Tormé had to sneak him into "Invasion".
248* RecurringCharacter: Arguably the show's most beloved example.
249[[/folder]]

Top