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Recap / Sliders S 05 E 13 A Thousand Deaths

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Originally aired September 24, 1999

Written by Keith Damron

Directed by David Peckinpah

On a world where people play in highly realistic virtual reality simulations, Rembrandt and Mallory take part in the simulations, only to learn that Maggie and Diana have been kidnapped and forced to play characters in the simulations, where each death experienced is real.


Tropes present in the episode:

  • Batman Cold Open: The Sliders get mixed up in a war between... fast food restaurants.
  • Claustrophobia: Diana suffers a nasty case of it.
  • Death is Cheap: Each person killed in the game dies for real, only to be revived after a second or so due to the machinery. The "thousand" part refers to that being the limit before a person's mind becomes so broken by the experiences that they're driven insane.
  • Disposable Vagrant: The Arcade uses its spa service to abduct people for the games. What disappearances are noticed are never traced back to the Arcade.
  • Godly Sidestep: At the end, Diana offhandedly mentions that she saw the afterlife while she was temporarily dead and remembers what it was like. She doesn't say anything more, and nobody else seems interested in it.
  • He Knows Too Much: All the victims are quietly abducted and all evidence of their visits gets erased. When Rembrandt and Mallory notice Maggie and Diana have gone missing and eventually get into the secret chamber, the management intends to take care of them.
  • Shout-Out: During the teaser, the sliders find themselves in the middle of a war of two clans that turn out to be two fast food companies. One clan's henchmen wear crowns. The other one's are dressed as clowns.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: The featured world runs on it. Rembrandt and Mallory want to play their respective games sincerely; everyone else just wants to slaughter video game characters, regardless of the plot of the given simulation.

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