| “Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome” | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rembrandt, Arturo, and Wade are celebrities. | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 8 | ||||||
| Written by | Nan Hagan | ||||||
| Directed by | Adam Nimoy | ||||||
| Guest stars | Brian Arnold Stacy Grant Deanne Henry Tina Klassen Linda Ko Don MacKay Kristoffer Tabori Carlton Watson | ||||||
| Production no. | K0812 | ||||||
| Original airdate | May 3, 1996 | ||||||
| |||||||
| List of Sliders episodes | |||||||
Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome is the eighth episode of the second season of the science fiction television show Sliders. It originally aired on May 3, 1996.
Plot[]
Rembrandt is in a psychiatrist's office relating his and the other Sliders' arrival to a San Francisco identical to the one they came from. Finding little things (like the Mallory's gate, which has squeaked since Quinn was twelve) right and his mother overjoyed to see them all, the Sliders toast their good fortune and, after one and a half years of sliding, plan to go their separate ways. Arturo returns to the University of California, Rembrandt meets with his agent Artie, and Wade reunites with her parents.
Quinn begins to get suspicious when he notices the incorrect figure for a Super Bowl game. He tries to contact Rembrandt and Wade, and they dismiss his concerns. Rembrandt's preparing for a nationwide singing tour, Wade is publishing her journal of the Alternate Earths they've been to (which she's kept at least since "Luck of the Draw"). Back at the university, Quinn finds that Arturo is holding a press conference on sliding and claiming it as his discovery. When Quinn confronts him, Arturo says that he won't let this opportunity get spoiled by anyone—even if he's not home. The mention and appearance of the "Azure Gate Bridge", not the Golden Gate Bridge, convinces Rembrandt and Wade of what Quinn had suspected all along.
The three go to Professor Arturo's house one last time to make him see reason, but they find someone (The Real Professor Arturo) tied up in the basement. When they release him, the captive claims he is their Arturo. On this world, Arturo remained behind while Quinn, Rembrandt, and Wade went sliding. When this group of Sliders appeared, Arturo's double kidnapped him and planned to reveal sliding to the world and claim interdimensional travel as his, not Quinn's, discovery. The timer is also here in the basement—the one Quinn and Wade tried to steal earlier from a museum exhibit honoring Arturo is a mock-up.
Quinn and Wade meet their families at his double's home and explain their Quinn and Wade are probably sliding blind as well. About two minutes before the gate is opened, Arturo's double pulls up and claims that he is the original who tied up his unscrupulous double. Both Arturo's struggle and Quinn considers taking them both and settling the matter on the next world when Arturo's double knocks out him out, and departs with Quinn, Rembrandt, and Wade. The other Arturo is left as the vortex closes and mouths "Oh my God . . ."
Rembrandt is shown to have been telling this story to the psychiatrist the whole time, and he reveals the Sliders are still unsure whether the Arturo with them is the one they've traveled with. Just before the psychiatrist can have Rembrandt committed, Arturo, Quinn, and Wade inform Rembrandt that it's time to slide. Witnessing the vortex appearing and describing it convinces the asylum personnel that the psychiatrist needs to be committed.
Trivia[]
- The famous climax of this episode, depicting one of two Arturo's sliding while the other remains after a confusing struggle, has remained unresolved per the show's official canon. However, Tracy Tormé had stated in an interview that he believes the wrong Arturo made it through the wormhole, going into detail and stating that he would have resolved the matter had he remained on the show. Whether the Arturo who slid is the true Arturo or not, will likely remain unknown.
Worlds Visited[]
Trivia[]
- The working title of this episode was "Our So-Called Lives", a reference to the series My So-Called Life.