History Recap / SlidersS01E01E02Pilot

* EndlessWinter: Tundra World, the first world that the sliders visit, is a frigid wasteland. Arturo speculates it was caused by either nuclear war or an ecological disaster.

* BizarroUniverse: Quinn's first slide. Americans are emigrating to Mexico, Earth is going through global cooling, UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy is still president, and ''Music/ElvisPresley'' is still alive (as well as Creator/MarilynMonroe)!

** When Rembrandt is sworn in during the trial at The People's Court, the oath still ends with "so help me {{God}}." The Soviet Union was officially an atheistic society, so the use of God during legal proceedings is very unlikely.

* TwistEnding / YankTheDogsChain: : The final scene is this for the sliders. By all accounts, it looked like they managed to get back to Earth Prime... until Quinn's dead father, Michael, walks in alive and well.

* TwistEnding: The sliders seem to get home...until Quinn's dead father, Michael, walks in alive and well.
* ViewersLikeYou: While channel-surfing in Soviet World, we see a pledge drive for PBS where the viewer is asked to give money...or else.

* YankTheDogsChain: The final scene is this for the sliders.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The Russian in this episode (notably Pavel Kurlienko's lines) borders on this. Surprisingly, the French dub replaced all pseudo-Russian lines with lines in actual (and almost flawless) Russian, as well as fixed the aforementioned issue with Lenin's first name.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Pavel Kurlienko's Russian borders on this. Surprisingly, in the French dub, the Russian dialogue has been rewritten and is pretty much flawless.

Teleplay by Creator/TracyTorme & Creator/RobertKWeiss

Story by Creator/TracyTorme

Directed by Creator/AndyTennant

Physics student Quinn Mallory accidentally unlocks the gateway to parallel universes. He invites his physics professor, Maximillian Arturo, and his friend, Wade Wells, along for a ride, but an accident sends the three of them, along with rebounding singer Rembrandt Brown, to an altenate Earth that's in the middle of an ice age. Another mishap results in our heroes landing on a world where Russia rules America.

* AlternateHistory: The point of divergence here is that America lost the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, which started the domino effect until finally the American economy collapsed and the country was annexed by the Soviets. The novelization adds information revealing that the changes went back further, at least to World War II. (Franklin Roosevelt surviving his fourth term, for example.)

* AmbulanceChaser: Ross J. Kelly in Prime Earth.

** When he sees the statue of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]], the Professor gives his name as "Nikolai Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin." Lenin's first name was Vladimir. In addition, his birth name was Ulyanov while Lenin was an alias. Both would not be used in giving his full name.
** When Rembrandt is sworn in during the trial at The People's Court, the oath still ends with "so help me God." The Soviet Union was officially an atheistic society, so the use of God during legal proceedings is very unlikely.
* AsHimself: Judge Joseph Wapner appears as himself during Rembrandt's trial.

* BrilliantButLazy: Quinn shows shades of this. He's focused on in his experiments than schoolwork and reads unassigned papers because they interest him, but he passes up the chance to correctly answer Arturo's question during class.

* DeadAlternateCounterpart: In the Soviet dominated world, Rembrandt's double was killed in the Detroit Uprising in 1982. Wade's double, a leader of the resistance, is later killed. The trope is also inverted with the very much alive double of Quinn's father in the final scene.
* DeadpanSnarker: While wandering around Soviet-occupied San Francisco, Professor Arturo decides it's time to get something to eat.

* EndlessWinter: The first world that the sliders visit is a frigid wasteland. Professor Arturo speculates that it was caused by either nuclear war or an ecological disaster.

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: The US has been occupied by the Soviet Union for decades.

* JustThinkOfThePotential: [[InvokedTrope Spoken word-for-word by Quinn]] to the Professor.

* KissingTheGround: Unintentional inter-dimensional traveller Rembrandt kisses the ground when he thinks they've made it back to their home dimension from a world of ice and tornadoes. Unfortunately, of course, he is wrong.
* LaResistance: On the Communist Earth, Wade's double is the leader of the American resistance.

* NotNowKiddo: Wade attempts to call home, but is unable to provide a PT&T ID code and is told she will be arrested. She goes to tell Quinn, but he thinks she's trying to say they didn't make it home, which he and the Professor already know.

** Played for laughs when Arturo sees the solved equation.
** Ross J. Kelly in Soviet World. He is interrogating Rembrandt when Rembrandt recognizes him from the ambulance chaser commercial in Prime Earth, when, being a KGB interrogator, his identity should be secret.

* PetTheDog: Arturo comforts Quinn after he expresses regret over disappearing on his mother.
* PilotMovie: The two-parter is a coherent story on its own, and the series really starts with the movie's TwistEnding.
* RebelLeader: Wade's double on the Communist Earth.
* TwistEnding: The Sliders seem to get home...until Quinn's dead father, Michael, walks in alive and well.
* ViewersLikeYou: While channel surfing in Soviet World, we see a pledge drive for PBS where the viewer is asked to give money...or else.
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Wade's double on the Communist Earth is romantically involved with a black member of the American resistance.
* YankTheDogsChain: The final scene is this for the Sliders.

Teleplay by Tracy Tormé & Robert K. Weiss

Story by Tracy Tormé

Directed by Andy Tennant

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: It's ''[[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Vladimir]]'' [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]], not ''Nikolai'' Lenin, Professor. Furthermore, his real surname was Ulyanov, with Lenin as an alias, but writing his full name would not include both.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: It's ''[[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Vladimir]]'' [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]], not ''Nikolai'' Lenin, Professor.

** Ross J. Kelly in Soviet World. He is interrogating Rembrandt when he recognizes him from the ambulance chaser commercial in Prime Earth, when, being a KGB interrogator, his identity should be secret.

* RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: A DeletedScene mentions that UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was the Mayor of UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco in 1994 and that he was best known as an actor for playing the first Howard "Mr. C" Cunningham in ''Series/HappyDays''.