Originally aired March 29, 1995
Written by Ann Powell & Rose Schacht
Directed by Mario Azzopardi
On a parallel world plagued by a deadly epidemic, Wade is infected and Quinn is captured by a health agency, so it falls to Rembrandt and Arturo to save their friends.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Alternate History: On this world, penicillin was never discovered. That is, until Arturo invents it in order to cure the Q.
- Cassandra Truth: After being captured by the CHC, Quinn undergoes an examination which finds no trace of the "Q" infection in him. Dr. Morton refuses to believe it.
- Easy Come, Easy Go: Quinn namedrops this when they find that they only have a minute left in Black Gold Rush World, not giving them enough time to enjoy its perks.
- Find the Cure!: The goal of the episode after Wade gets infected.
- Foreign Queasine: After arriving on Q Earth, the sliders decide to get some lunch. Lunch turns out to be vacuumed-sealed hamburgers. Rembrandt is less than enthused.
- Homemade Inventions: Arturo uses ordinary moldy food to produce penicillin.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In the final scene, the Sliders end up on a world inhabited by cannibals.
- Money to Throw Away: One man does this in the teaser, as the Sliders arrive in a San Francisco that's sitting on top of a massive oil reserve and thus all the residents are now extremely rich. Since they only have twenty minutes, Rembrandt and Wade grab as much of the free money as they can.
- The Needs of the Many: Arturo gets ready to take the first mouthful of his homemade penicillin when Quinn's double points out that there are people who are even sicker. The Professor counters that it might one of three things: it may do nothing, it might cure, or it might kill.
- Nice to the Waiter: Rembrandt gives Pavel, the Russian cab driver, a crisp $100 bill and promises another if he is still there when he rescues Quinn. Stunned, Pavel says he'll wait.
- Oh, Crap!: Rembrandt, when he sees that Quinn is a wanted man in the current universe.
- Patient Zero: The alternate Quinn is known as this on the Q Earth.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Quinn gives one to Dr. Morton:Quinn: You want to know what could've cured me? I've been sliding through an inter-dimensional wormhole, seeing how many different ways people like you can screw up civilization!
- State Sec: The California Health Commission, which has its own soldiers to enforce quarantines.
- Suddenly Shouting: See "The Reason You Suck" Speech above.
- Alt!Quinn also does this while speaking with Arturo:Alt!Quinn: Maybe not in your America, but here it is real! If you don't believe me, then ASK THEM!!!
- Alt!Quinn also does this while speaking with Arturo:
- Typhoid Mary: The alternate Quinn Mallory was infected with the disease that would later be called the "Q," but he was given a clean bill of health by Dr. Morton. The result was he ended up infecting lots of people.
- Villain of the Week: Dr. Darren Morton, the first official one of the series (excluding alternates). It's hinted that he deliberately said Alt!Quinn was fine in order to have an excuse to release the "Q" on the general population.
