Originally aired January 18, 1999
Written by Chris Black
Directed by Robert A. Hudecek
The Sliders accidentally slide out with Maggie's double, leaving the real Maggie stranded on a military base. While the other Sliders land on a world where technology is outlawed, Maggie uncovers deadly experiments being performed on fighter pilots and also encounters a face from her past.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Alternate History:
- The world on which Maggie becomes stranded is highly similar to her own, seen in the two-parter "The Exodus", before it was destroyed by a pulsar. As such, the Soviet Union still exists in 1999 and it is on the verge of war with the US.
- On the other world featured in this episode, Earth is recovering from some sort of calamity caused by technology, presumably a nuclear holocaust. It has a feudal society akin to The Middle Ages and all surviving forms of advanced technology are anathema. Possessing any such technology carries the death penalty.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Quinn slips into an Irish accent while defending Rembrandt.
- Chewbacca Defense: Quinn saves Rembrandt from certain doom by putting on an Irish accent, defending technology as something that can be used for good or ill, and declaring himself and Rembrandt wizards.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Alt-Steve believes this of Alt-Maggie, and given what Alt-Maggie's like he may have a point.
- Large Ham: Quinn hams it up when he's giving his Chewbacca Defense for Rembrandt.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Alt-Maggie is a female, less-evil-but-still-unethical Colonel Rickman—brain-related abnormality, amoral behavior, and all.
- The two universes we see in this episode are Maggie's homeworld and the anti-tech world Quinn got stuck in the astral plane at with their respective militarism and anti-tech beliefs turned up to eleven, as well as a Darker and Edgier take on the pro-tech vs. anti-tech discussed in the episode right before this one.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: This exchange after Quinn successfully prevents Rembrandt from being burned at the stake for possessing tech:Rembrandt: That was the best you could come up with? You churning the buttery goodness?Quinn: I don't have writers, you know!
