Originally aired May 10, 1995
Written by Tracy Tormé
Directed by Vern Gillum
On a world where Rembrandt was the King of Rock 'N Roll, the Sliders team up with his double to save him from a crazy and jealous former band member.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Rembrandt happily greets the adoring public and opts to give them a taste of the Crying Man. The second he steps outside, they maul him and comes back all frazzled and saying they're a bunch of animals. He admits he still loved it, but he doubts he would've survived much more of it.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Maurice Fish is quite hammy, but he's also severely unbalanced and violent. Rembrandt's double is certain the guy is capable of murder and had him institutionalized.
- Breakup Breakout: In-universe. Whereas our Rembrandt faded into obscurity after splitting from the Spinning Topps and saw them go on to greater success, the opposite was true here. Rembrandt's double became the undisputed King, much to the frustration of former bandmate Maurice Fish.
- Breather Episode: This episode doesn't deal with major alternative history concepts, but with Rembrandt being a major star.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Arturo briefly imitates an Italian accent while ranting at Gomez Calhoun about being mistaken for Luciano Pavarotti.Arturo: (to Calhoun) I am not Mr. Pavarotti! Mr. Pavarotti is an Italian! He speak-a like-a this! Do I speak-a like-a this?! No! Why? Because I am an Englishman, you blistering idiot!
- The Cameo: The Del Rubio sisters appear as Captain Jack's newest act before he learns of his Rembrandt's supposed return.
- Celebrity Resemblance: In addition to Arturo being repeatedly mistaken for Luciano Pavarotti, a newscaster briefly mistakes Quinn for Jim Morrison
- Crapsack World: The world the Sliders were in at the start of the episode is a downplayed case: in this world, there's mention of Prop 199, the "Instant Justice Initiative" , which oversimplified the appeals process. Quinn's defense attorney makes two attempts at appealing Quinn's death sentence, and when the judge denies both, she gives up.
- Different World, Different Movies:
- In this universe, Michael Jackson was a member of Public Enemy, which he quit and later rejoined.
- The group watches Skipper's Island at the motel.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Get caught spray-painting an overpass? The sentence is death.
- Elvis Impersonator: Rembrandt impersonators, actually. He was just that famous.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While seeing the news, Rembrandt recognizes Captain Jack and says the version on Earth Prime desperately wanted to be his manager on the grounds that he could make him a big star. After saying that and thinking about how his double made out, Rembrandt starts to wonder if he should've signed with Jack.
- Faking the Dead: Rembrandt's super-star double faked his death and spent the years since living a quiet, relaxing life in obscurity.
- Funny Background Event: As Rembrandt talks about how wild his fans outside the motel are, Quinn asks what happened to Arturo. Through the window behind them, we start to see the Professor involuntarily crowd-surfing.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Quinn's only reaction to the escape from the trial is to excitedly say, "That has gotta be the coolest jailbreak ever!"
- In Medias Res: The episode starts in the middle of a different slide, with Quinn taking the follow of his double's crime of spray-painting an overpass.
- Noodle Incident: Quinn is stuck in his handcuffs from his trial, until Wade manages to pick them at the motel. She noticeably doesn't answer when Quinn asks how she learned to do that.
- Not So Above It All: Even Arturo agrees with Quinn's assertion that that was one cool jailbreak they just pulled off.
- The Resenter: Maurice Fish can't stand how his Rembrandt became a huge success after splitting from the Spinning Topps. It eventually drove him insane. Maurice demands that our Rembrandt sign a confession attributing all the credit for his songs and success to him.
- Rock Bottom: Captain Jack feels his career has been reduced to this ever since losing the King. He wants one last big concert that he can retire.
- Rule of Cool: Even though his double's actions almost got him killed in the "Prop 199" world, Quinn completely overlooks it due to the circumstances allowing for "the coolest jailbreak of all time"note , something Arturo agrees with.
- Sanity Slippage: Maurice Fish completely lost it, after his old bandmate went on to greater success. It got so bad that he had to be institutionalized, and he is clearly a mess when interacting with our Rembrandt.
- Singing in the Shower: When Arturo is first mistaken for Pavarotti, Quinn says he's never heard him sing opera before. Arturo says he only ever sings in the shower.
- Skepticism Failure: Quinn's defense attorney has this reaction when the group slides out in the middle of the courtroom.
- So Bad, It's Good: At one point, the group sees a movie Rembrandt's counterpart starred in, where he quite literally surfs an ocean of tears. The Sliders get a kick out of the film, with Rembrandt wondering who wrote the song he was singing.
- This Cannot Be!: Maurice's reaction to seeing two Rembrandts at the same time, at least before Quinn tackles him.
- This Is Reality: The Cold Open takes place In Medias Res, with Quinn being accused of a crime his double did (charge of spray-painting a highway overpass). His defense attorney, when trying to get him to accept the insanity defense, tries to get this trope in his head in response to his frequent assertions that he's an interdimensional traveler. And sure enough, at Quinn's trial (and after the opening credits), he is found guilty and sentenced to death... and the Slider escapes almost immediately after.
- Title Drop: "Ladies and gentlemen, stand aside. The King is back."
- "You!" Exclamation: Maurice's response to seeing this world's Rembrandt while our Rembrandt is still tied up.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Facing the death penalty for spray-painting, Quinn tried to tell them he was from a parallel universe. Everyone thought he was either just trying for an insanity plea or truly nuts.
