Originally aired June 29, 1998
Written by Marc Scott Zicree
Directed by Reza Badiyi
After landing on a vacant world, the Sliders go to Quinn's house, where they discover that Quinn's double accidentally slid everyone else to another world a few years ago. Quinn, his double, Maggie and Rembrandt must now somehow reverse the process.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Alternate History: Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable were never film stars in Maggie's world.
- Always Someone Better: Quinn's double is actually smarter than our Quinn and has the awards and technology to prove it. The catch is that he doesn't have Quinn's humility.
- Apocalypse How: Quinn's double accidentally slid an entire population onto another world, which created a great deal of chaos.
- Artistic Licence – Gun Safety: When the gang visits Alt-Quinn's house and find nobody there, Maggie - a trained soldier - pokes Quinn in the butt with the muzzle of the shotgun she's carrying...without even taking her finger off the trigger. She handles it in various butt-puckering ways in other scenes, as well.
- Call-Back: While berating his double, Quinn recalls testing the vortex by himself.
- Call It Karma: While the Sliders and the audience know the truth, the kinder Sister Celine (the one dressed in white and black) expresses a belief that this was an act of God Himself.Sister Celine: It started a long time ago. God saw what became of the world, and He made a terrible rain. And He told Noah, "Bring the animals two by two," and He spared them. But in time, the world became as it had been—unholy, corrupt—and so God brought His terrible judgment. He made two by two, only this time it was with people. What had been one became two, five billion became ten. And so Hell was made manifest, so we could see what we had done to His beautiful creation. This is our penance and our shame. Well, that's just one theory. There are plenty to go around.
- Crapsack World: The world that all the people were slid to became this. The suddenly doubling of the population created mass chaos (which allowed small timers like the Boss to carve out some power for themselves) and put considerable strain on resources.
- Different World, Different Movies: In the opening scene, Quinn, Rembrandt and Maggie are seen leaving a cinema whose marquee advertises The Man Who Would be King starring Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. This was based on the fact that John Huston had tried, unsuccessfully, to make a version of the film with those iconic Golden Age stars in the 1950s. After they slide, they arrive in exactly the same spot and the cinema marquee now advertises The Wizard of Oz starring Shirley Temple and W. C. Fields. In real life, those actors were considered for the respective roles of Dorothy and the Wizard before Judy Garland and Frank Morgan were cast.
- Freudian Excuse: Alt-Quinn grew up having his intelligence nurtured, but also constantly trying to live up to his father's accomplishments.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The Boss used to write greeting cards.
- Lampshade Hanging: While being detained at the headquarters of the Boss, Rembrandt remarks at least it's not a jail cell like in the most recent episodes.
- Mass Teleportation: Quinn's double's initial sliding experiment resulted in the entire population of his Earth (bar himself) being sent to another Earth.
- Not Quite Dead: Alt-Quinn was certain he had actually killed everyone instead of just sending them to another world.
- Shout-Out: To Things to Come. After the collapse of national government, a local warlord known only as the Boss has risen to power in the vicinity.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Quinn tears into his double for not showing any remorse for his actions and only caring about proving his genius.Quinn: When I first tested it, it was small and on myself; not on the whole damn world. You didn't have to use that much power; you just didn't give a damn.
Alt-Quinn: Hey, the universe has risks.
Quinn: The universe has no conscience, so we have to. Let it in: you blew it.
