Treks, Gates and Wars

The 67th Academy Awards

Best Picture
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings And A Funeral
Pulp Fiction (W)
Quiz Show
The Shawshank Redemption

Best Director
Robert Zemeckis – Forrest Gump
James Cameron – Watchmen
Quentin Tarantino – Pulp Fiction (W)
Robert Redford – Quiz Show
Krzysztof Kieślowski – Three Colors: Red

Best Actor
Tom Hanks – Forrest Gump as Forrest Gump
Morgan Freeman – The Shawshank Redemption as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (W)
Nigel Hawthorne – The Madness of King George as King George III of the United Kingdom
Paul Newman – Nobody's Fool as Donald "Sully" Sullivan
John Travolta – Pulp Fiction as Vincent Vega

Best Actress
Jessica Lange – Blue Sky as Carly Marshall (W)
Jodie Foster – Nell as Nell Kellty
Miranda Richardson – Tom & Viv as Vivienne Haigh-Wood
Winona Ryder – Little Women as Josephine "Jo" March
Susan Sarandon – The Client as Regina "Reggie" Love

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Hamill – Watchmen as Walter Kovacs / Rorschach
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction as Jules Winnfield (W)
Chazz Palminteri – Bullets over Broadway as Cheech
Paul Scofield – Quiz Show as Mark Van Doren
Gary Sinise – Forrest Gump as Lt. Dan Taylor

Best Supporting Actress
Dianne Wiest – Bullets over Broadway as Helen Sinclair (W)
Rosemary Harris – Tom & Viv as Rose Robinson Haigh-Wood
Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George as Queen Charlotte
Uma Thurman – Pulp Fiction as Mia Wallace
Jennifer Tilly – Bullets over Broadway as Olive Neal

Best Original Screenplay
Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary (W)
Bullets over Broadway – Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Richard Curtis
Heavenly Creatures – Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh
Three Colors: Red – Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Best Adapted Screenplay
Forrest Gump – Eric Roth from Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
Wachmen – Sam Hamm and Joss Whedon from Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Nobody's Fool – Robert Benton from Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
Quiz Show – Paul Attanasio from Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties by Richard N. Goodwin
The Shawshank Redemption – Frank Darabont from "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King (W)

Best Foreign Language Film
Burnt by the Sun (Russia) in Russian – Nikita Mikhalkov (W)
Before the Rain (Macedonia) in Macedonian, Albanian, and English – Milcho Manchevski
Eat Drink Man Woman (Taiwan) in Mandarin Chinese – Ang Lee
Farinelli Il Castrato (Belgium) in French and Italian – Gérard Corbiau
Strawberry and Chocolate (Cuba) in Spanish – Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío

Best Documentary Feature
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision – Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders
Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter – Deborah Hoffmann
D-Day Remembered – Charles Guggenheim
Freedom on My Mind – Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford
Liberty and Justice for All (White People) – Michael Moore (W)

Best Documentary Short
A Time for Justice – Charles Guggenheim (W)
Blues Highway – Vince DiPersio and Bill Guttentag
89mm od Europy – Marcel Lozinski
School of the Americas Assassins – Robert Richter
Straight from the Heart – Dee Mosbacher and Frances Reid

Best Live Action Short
Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life – Peter Capaldi and Ruth Kenley-Letts (W)
Trevor – Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone
Kangaroo Court – Sean Astin and Christine Astin
On Hope – JoBeth Williams and Michele McGuire
Syrup – Paul Unwin and Nick Vivian

Best Animated Short
Bob's Birthday – Alison Snowden and David Fine (W)
The Big Story – Tim Watts and David Stoten
The Janitor – Vanessa Schwartz
The Monk and the Fish – Michael Dudok de Wit
Triangle – Erica Russell

Best Original Score
The Lion King – Hans Zimmer
Forrest Gump – Alan Silvestri
Watchmen – Phillip Glass (W)
Little Women – Thomas Newman
The Shawshank Redemption – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King – Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Tim Rice (W)
"Look What Love Has Done" from Junior – Music and Lyric by Carole Bayer Sager, James Newton Howard, James Ingram and Patty Smyth
"Circle of Life" from The Lion King – Music by Elton John; Lyric by Tim Rice
"Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King – Music by Elton John; Lyric by Tim Rice
"Make Up Your Mind" from The Paper – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Sound Effects Editing
Watchmen – Christopher Boyes (W)
Speed – Stephen Hunter Flick
Forrest Gump – Gloria Borders and Randy Thom

Best Sound
Speed – Gregg Landaker, Steve Maslow, Bob Beemer and David MacMillan
Watchmen – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, Mark Ulano (W)
Legends of the Fall – Paul Massey, David E. Campbell, Chris David and Douglas Ganton
Forrest Gump – Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands and William B. Kaplan
The Shawshank Redemption – Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick and Willie D. Burton

Best Art Direction
The Madness of King George – Art Direction: Ken Adam; Set Decoration: Carolyn Scott
Watchmen – Peter Lamont and Michael D. Ford (W)
Forrest Gump – Art Direction: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles – Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Legends of the Fall – Art Direction: Lilly Kilvert; Set Decoration: Dorree Cooper

Best Cinematography
Legends of the Fall – John Toll
Forrest Gump – Don Burgess
The Shawshank Redemption – Roger Deakins
Three Colors: Red – Piotr Sobocinski
Watchmen – Roger Deakins (W)

Best Makeup
Ed Wood – Ve Neill, Rick Baker and Yolanda Toussieng (W)
Watchmen – Jeff Dawn, Peter Tothpal
Forrest Gump – Daniel Striepeke, Hallie D'Amore and Judith A. Cory

Best Costume Design
Watchmen – Marlene Stewart (W)
Maverick – April Ferry
Little Women – Colleen Atwood
Bullets over Broadway – Jeffrey Kurland
Queen Margot – Moidele Bickel

Best Film Editing
Forrest Gump – Arthur Schmidt
Watchmen – Stuart Baird (W)
Speed – John Wright
The Shawshank Redemption – Richard Francis-Bruce
Pulp Fiction – Sally Menke

Best Visual Effects
Forrest Gump – Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum and Allen Hall
Watchmen – John Bruno, Thomas L. Fisher, Jacques Stroweis and Patrick McClung (W)
The Mask – Scott Squires, Steve Spaz Williams, Tom Bertino and Jon Farhat

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The Oscar Reactions

This year's Academy Awards were facing some considerable controversy for its exclusion of Watchmen in the Best Picture category, as soon as the nominees were announced the internet forums exploded, Harry Knowles, future founder of the website Ain't It Cool News, would recall being livid at the Oscars for this decision, even going as far as starting a boycott of the Oscars over their decision which surprisingly gained considerable traction, with angry letters being sent to the Academy demanding a Watchmen nomination, many of which singled out Forrest Gump's nomination as a sign of how "out of touch" the Oscars were with the movie going audience, Knowles in a forum post would say "The Oscars chose Forrest Gump, over Watchmen, they chose the saccharine, wholesome, American dream-affirming film over the more serious de-constructive and (if I may add) entertaining one. They chose the film that made them feel good over the film that was good, and it was good, in fact it was great, the best superhero film ever made and yet the crotchety old, Oscar voters couldn't see it cause they were too blinded by their own nostalgia." The backlash against Forrest Gump's nomination was so massive, even from industry professionals, that it more or less ruined its chances of winning the Best Picture Oscar, which in turn went to Quentin Tarantino's magnum opus Pulp Fiction, much to Tarantino's and the audience's surprise as they were expecting either Forrest Gump or The Shawshank Redemption to snatch the Oscar.

Another Oscar nomination and win, which came under fire was of the documentary Liberty and Justice for All (White People) by Michael Moore, which was seen by many conservative commentators as nothing more than a liberal propaganda film, it's win further reaffirming their notion that the Hollywood establishments had a staunch liberal bias. The film in question would go on to have a retroactive 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and be regarded as one of the best documentary films of all time.

For an undisclosed reason, the following year's Oscars would feature ten nominations in the Best Picture category.

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Wes Craven's In the Mouth of Madness

Crew:
Directed by: Wes Craven
Produced by: Sandy King
Screenplay by: Michael De Luca and Wes Craven
Story by: Michael De Luca
Director of Photography: Garry B. Kibble
Editing by: Edward A. Warschilka
Music by: Marco Beltrami
Release Date: February 3rd, 1995
Budget: $9 million
Box Office (worldwide): $56 million

Cast:
Robert Englund as John Trent
Jeri Ryan as Linda Styles
Jack Nicholson as Sutter Cane

Background:
Originally meant to be the third installment in John Carpenter's "Apocalypse trilogy", the preceding two being The Thing and Prince of Darkness, Carpenter was forced to drop out of the project due to creative differences with writer Michael De Luca and producer Sandy King, paving they way for a very interested Wes Craven, fresh from the set of New Nightmare, to take over. The film's plot concerns insurance investigator John Trent stumbling across an elaborate publicity stunt by acclaimed horror writer Sutter Cane, only to discover that the horrors of Cane's books are more than just fictional. Teaming up with Linda Styles, Cane's personal assistant, he must escape Cane's facsimile of the fictional town of Hobb's End before he and Styles succumb to the supernatural evil surrounding it.

The film was a box-office success and received mixed-to-positive reviews overall, retroactively receiving a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus reading: "A trio of expert performances and Craven's masterful direction result in a suitably scary film despite a somewhat scattershot script." Roger Ebert in the review show Siskel and Ebert would give the film a "thumbs up", describing it as a very tense and atmospheric film, praising it a cerebral horror film of the same caliber as New Nightmare.

The success of the film would pave the way for other horror film roles for the up-and-coming actress Jeri Ryan, who would cement her reputation as a scream queen the following year, with her casting in Was Craven's Scream as Gale Weathers.

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The Quick and the Dead

Crew:
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Produced by: Clint Eastwood, Joshua Donen, Patrick Markey and Allen Shapiro
Screenplay by: Simon Moore and Clint Eastwood
Story by: Simon Moore
Director of Photography: Dante Spinotti
Editing by: Pietro Scalia
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Release Date: February 10th, 1995
Budget: $40 million
Box Office (worldwide): $86 million

Cast:
Linda Hamilton as The Lady
Clint Eastwood as John Herod
Christopher Lambert as Cort
Christian Bale as Fee "The Kid" Herod

Background:
Writer Simon Moore finished his spec script for The Quick and the Dead in late 1992, writing it as a homage to the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, particularly the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The writer decided the lead character should be a female. "When you introduce women into that kind of world, something very interesting happens and you have an interesting dynamic straight away," Moore commented. The names of the lead villain (Herod) and the town (Redemption) were intentional allusions to the Bible. Moore considered directing his own script as an independent film and shooting The Quick and the Dead on a $3–4 million budget in either Spain or Italy.

Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Moore's script in May 1993 and approached Sharon Stone to star in the lead role in July 1993. Because Stone also signed on as co-producer, she had approval over the choice of director. Sam Raimi was hired to direct because Stone was impressed with his work on Army of Darkness. The actress told the producers that if Raimi did not direct the film, she would not star in it. Unfortunately Raimi had already signed to direct Batman: The Dark Knight, and could not participate in the production, causing Stone to drop out and the project to nearly go into turnaround.

The film was ultimately saved by Clint Eastwood inexplicably expressing interest in the project, signing on as the director, casting himself as the villain John Herod, Linda Hamilton as the Lady and Christopher Lambert and Christian Bale as Cort and the Kid respectively, with the film slated for a February 1995 release after Eastwood makes a few last minute rewrites to the script with Moore's approval. Unfortunately tragedy struck very late into production in which a live ammo round got mixed in with the blanks, resulting in actor Christian Bale being fatally shot in the chest. He was pronounced dead an hour after the paramedics arrived on scene. Bale's death would give the film considerable publicity, with Bale himself considered in retrospect to be a great actor who's life and career ended with their potential unrealized. Bale would posthumously receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the following year's Academy Awards for his performance in this film.

The film would ultimately receive a retroactive 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, being praised for Eastwood's direction, the clever writing and solid-to-amazing performances from Hamilton, Eastwood and Bale, with Lambert being considered the only weak link in the cast due to his inability to act with a convincing American accent.

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The Bridges of Madison County

Crew:
Directed by: Frank Marshall
Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall
Screenplay by: Richard LaGravenese
Director of Photography: Allen Daviau
Editing by: Anne V. Coates
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
Release Date: June 2nd, 1995
Budget: $30 million
Box Office (worldwide): $93 million

Background:
A straightforward adaptation of the novel of the same name, it would receive a 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Stargate

Crew:
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Produced by: Dean Devlin, Oliver Eberle and Joel B. Michaels
Screenplay by: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner
Story by: Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin
Director of Photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Editing by: Derek Brechin and Michael J. Duthie
Music by: David Arnold
Release Date: June 9th, 1995
Budget: $86 million
Box Office (worldwide): $381,3 million

Cast:
Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O'Neill
Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Daniel Jackson
Jaye Davidson as Ra
River Phoenix as Skaara
Jeri Ryan as Lt. Samantha Carter
Angelina Jolie as Sha'uri
Xander Berkeley as Maj. Charles Kawalsky

Story:
The story concerns Dr. Daniel Jackson being recruited into a project to activate an Einstein-Rosen bridge generator called a "Stargate". According to the hieroglyphs on the coverstone the gate was buried underneath, the stargate was used to transport ancient Egyptians to another planet by an advanced alien race. Jackson, with the aid of theoretical physicist Lt. Samantha Carter, eventually realizes that the symbols on the gate's inner circle, function like a rotary phone, by "encoding" the correct sequence into the gate's "chevrons" they can activate the device. A team consisting of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr. Jackson, Lt. Carter, Maj. Kawalsky and several other soldiers is sent through to make contact with the aliens who could send them back if they prove friendly.

The film ends with the heroes destroying the gate on the alien planet's side to prevent Ra from invading Earth through it while they remain behind to begin a resistance movement against Ra. But as the final scene shows another Stargate was discovered in the Antarctic with a different set of symbols, presumably leading to a different destination.

Background:
Despite an incredibly troubled production, Stargate was finally released in June 1995, to generally positive reviews and to solid financial returns. With critics praising the direction, the compelling story and the performances of Richard Dean Anderson and Jeff Goldblum. The film would receive a retroactive 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earn more than four times it's already bloated budget in worldwide box-office returns. With a hit like this, MGM would immediately green-light a sequel to be released for a June 1998 release, however neither Emmerich nor Devlin were interested in making a sequel, the former especially given how terrible the production went, the final sequel teaser scene only being added in at the last minute after the positive reception at the test screening. Emmerich had a different project in mind, a film about an alien invasion that would serve as a modern take on the sci-fi B-movies of the 50s and 60s. Likewise slated for release in June of 1998.

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Batman: The Dark Knight

Crew:
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Produced by: Tim Burton and Peter MacGregor-Scott
Screenplay by: Ivan Raimi and Sam Raimi
Director of Photography: Stephen Goldblatt
Editing by: Dennis Virkler and Mark Stevens
Music by: Danny Elfman
Release Date: June 16th, 1995
Budget: $100 million
Box Office (worldwide): $415 million

Cast:
Micheal Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Michelle Pfieffer as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Mark Hamill as Hugo Strange
Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon

Backgound:
After Batman Returns produced disappointing Box Office returns Tim Burton was asked to limit his involvement with the next film to a producer role, leaving the director's chair for someone else to take over. The search then began for a new director to take the reins of the film series and after passing on Joel Schumacher who would instead work on Waterworld, the studio settled on Sam Raimi after seeing his superhero cult classic Darkman. Raimi was then able to convince the studio to adapt the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns into the next movie, which was to be called Batman: The Dark Knight. Batman actor, Michael Keaton was somewhat bitter over the studio's treatment of Burton and considered dropping out of the project but Raimi's involvement was enough to dissuade him from leaving. With the involvement of Keaton secured, the Raimi brothers began adapting the book and soon came to the conclusion that it was going to be a very loose adaptation as the Joker had died in the first film and Warner Bros. wouldn't allow them to use Superman in this film, thinking that his presence would confuse the audience. Despite heavy re-writes to the story, most of which weren't approved by The Dark Knight Returns writer Frank Miller, Raimi ultimately had a script he was satisfied with and shooting was on schedule for a June 1995 opening.

The film would receive critical acclaim, with particular praise being given to Raimi's direction and the complex narrative which far surpassed the preceding films the the trilogy. Rotten Tomatoes would give the film a 90% rating based on 40 reviews, a consensus reading "Sam Raimi's masterful adaptation of one of the most beloved Batman comic books, brings the Tim Burton Batman trilogy to a spectacular close". This film along with Watchmen would set a trend of "gritty" superhero film adaptations, most notably numerous Image and Dark Horse properties such as Spawn and Hellboy. The trend in hindsight is considered to have brought more bad films than good.

A nice piece of works, the second part of the The 67th Academy Awards will most likely contain the winners if i am correct.

A now i see it, to shame Tom Hanks did not win as in OTL, loved the movie.

Thanks, up next: Trouble on the set of Star Trek: Voyager, so stay tuned for details.

Another fine piece of work, you are fleshing out this universe nicely.

1994 was a pivotal year for cinema and in the backdrop of all the excitement of Watchmen's success and Quentin Tarantino's rise to prominence, a duo of TV writers were trying to get their idea for a TV series off the ground. Unfortunately for both Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss, FOX would pass on their pilot but thankfully the two would come across Brannon Braga, fresh off the Star Trek: Voyager writer's room as they were pitching the pilot to UPN. With Braga's help Tormé and Weiss manage to successfully pitch the pilot to the network, giving them a 13 episode order, and thus Sliders was born and over the next six years would grow to be the network's flagship show alongside Voyager.

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Sliders

Created by: Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss
Developed by: Brannon Braga, Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss
Executive Producers: Tracy Tormé, Robert K. Weiss, Brannon Braga

Cast:
Jerry O'Connell as Quinn Mallory
Elizabeth Mitchell as Wade Welles
Bruce Spence as Professor Maximilian Arturo
Cleavant Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Following the show's greenlight for production Torme and co. discovered that the actors Sabrina Lloyd and John Rhys-Davies would not be able to reprise their roles as Wade Welles and Professor Arturo respectively necessitating a quick recast, with Elizabeth Mitchell and Bruce Spence being cast in the roles. Spence's casting would result in the character of Arturo being overhauled to accommodate the actor's differing take on the character.

The show would enter production in late 1994 with a premiere date set for August 28th, 1995 to coincide with the premiere of the second season of Star Trek: Voyager as part of UPN's new "Sci-fi Mondays" block featuring Voyager at the 8/7c slot and Sliders at the 9/8c slot, with the brand new anthology series UPN Sci-fi Theater airing alongside the back half of Voyager's second season as a post-season replacement for Sliders.

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Sliders - Season 1:

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Episode 1 - Sliders (Part 1)

Directed by: Mario Azzopardi
Teleplay by: Tracy Tormé and Brannon Braga
Story by: Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss

Story:
Quinn Mallory is a university student that accidentally discovers how to create inter-dimensional wormholes while searching for a way to generate anti-gravity. His first attempt at "sliding" with his co-worker Wade Welles and Cosmology professor Maximilian Arturo results in the three being stranded in a parallel world stuck in an ice age alongside a down on his luck R&B singer Rembrandt Brown.

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Episode 2 - Sliders (Part 2)

Directed by: Mario Azzopardi
Teleplay by: Tracy Tormé and Brannon Braga
Story by: Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss

Story:
After discovering that instead of sliding home but to a world where the USA has been conquered by the Soviet Union following the USA's defeat in the Korean War and the ensuing confirmation of the longstanding "Domino theory", the Sliders have to reunite and escape from this world and hopefully make their way back home.

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Episode 3 - Summer of Love

Directed by: Timothy Bond
Written by: Tracy Tormé

Story:
On a world where the Summer of Love never ended and hippie counterculture is still prevalent to this day the Sliders are separated and have to find their way back together before they find themselves stuck on this topsy-turvy world forever.

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Episode 4 - Fever

Directed by: Mario Azzopardi
Written by: Ann Powell and Rose Schacht

Story:
The Sliders arrive on a world where Penicillin (and by extension antibiotics) was never discovered and as such the world is currently suffering a pandemic of a virus called Q. Wade becomes infected with the disease while Quinn is mistaken for his counterpart, the disease's patient zero and taken to a quarantine centre necessitating a rescue before the timer counts down to zero.

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Episode 5 - California Island

Directed by: Les Landau
Written by: Brannon Braga

Story:
The Sliders arrive on a world where California is an island nation of Native Americans locked in a cold war with a fascist Confederate States of America, and get mixed in an operation to destroy an underground movement to bring down the government.

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Episode 6 - Last Days

Directed by: Michael Keusch
Written by: Dan Lane

Story:
The Sliders slide on a world two days away from destruction via a meteorite that cannot be destroyed due to a lack of nuclear weapons in this world and a timer which hits zero in three days, forcing Arturo to work with this universe's Conrad Bennish Jr. to create the Atomic Bomb all over again and save this world and the Sliders.

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Episode 7 - The Weaker Sex

Directed by: Vern Gillum
Written by: Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin

Story:
After Sliding on a world with reversed gender roles, Arturo becomes the first male mayoral candidate in decades in attempt to create a more egalitarian society.

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Episode 8 - Eggheads

Directed by: Timothy Bond
Teleplay by: Scott Smith Miller
Story by: Jacob Epstein and Scott Smith Miller

Story:
On a world where high intellect is considered just as fame worthy as athleticism and the most famous spectator sport is a cross between football, trivia and go, Quinn and Arturo assume the roles of their famous counterparts only to discover to their dismay that intellectual refinement is not the same as moral refinement.

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Episode 9 - The King is Back

Directed by: Vern Gillum
Written by: Tracy Tormé

Story:
The Sliders arrive on a world where Rembrandt died in the 70s and became this world's equivalent of Elvis, he has to endure the temptation of assuming the place of his deceased counterpart and live out the rest of his life in fame on this world, much to the other Sliders' dismay.

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Episode 10 - The Witch Hunts

Directed by: Oscar L. Costo
Written by: Brannon Braga

Story:
After Sliding onto a world in which the Cold War is still going on and the Red Scare has made a resurgence thanks to the election of a hardline Republican, Quinn joins the Progressive Front, a coalition of left-wing activists who oppose the new authoritarian government and wish to live in peaceful coexistence with the increasingly democratic USSR.

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Episode 11 - Luck of the Draw

Directed by: Les Landau
Written by: Jon Povill

Story:
Following the crushing disappointment of the "Rembrandt's the King" world and their failure to make a difference in the previous world, Rembrandt has had enough and decides to stay on this idyllic world where the Earth's population is less than a billion and money is given away for practically nothing, except for a very fatal downside.

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Episode 12 - Intensive Care

Directed by: Mario Azzopardi
Teleplay by: Jon Povill and Scott Smith Miller
Story by: Tracy Tormé

Story:
After the escape from the "Lottery world" Quinn is in a serious condition and as he undergoes a surgery the rest of the Sliders along with their latest member Ryan Simms, get to know each other a little better as they wait for news as to Quinn's condition.

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Episode 13 - Most Wanted (Part 1)

Directed by: Timothy Bond
Written by: Brannon Braga and Tracy Tormé

Story:
On a world where the USA is a borderline police state, Quinn stumbles across his counterpart from the Pilot who agrees to help them get back home, unfortunately on this world Quinn is a wanted man as part of the infamous "Mallory twins", of which him and his counterpart are mistaken for. Quinn's double is arrested and the Sliders need to break him out before his timer runs out or else he'd be lost in the multiverse like them. In the meantime Ryan attempts to come to grips with the fact that he may never see his world again as his relationship with Wade blossoms, putting a wedge between the two and Quinn.

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Release and Reception:
Season 1 of Sliders was a resounding success for the UPN, their strategy to air it immediately after Voyager paying off immensely as nearly all of Voyager's viewership would resist tuning to a different channel so that they could enjoy the latest inter-dimensional adventure of the Sliders. The resulting high ratings all but ensured a second season of 26 episodes to match the episode count of Voyager, with Sliders' post-season replacement in the "Sci-fi Mondays" block, UPN Sci-fi Theater, being likewise expanded to 26 episodes per season and airing at the later 10/9c slot.

The series was successful in terms of critical reception as well, with many critics going as far as to say that it was the better show of the two to air in the "Sci-fi Mondays" block. The success of Sliders would have a positive influence on the much improved but still struggling Voyager as despite Rondald D. Moore's new direction, UPN's mandate to not have complex character and story arcs would severely stifle the writers during the first and second season of the show, the resulting subpar storytelling would result in the second season premiere of Sliders drawing in more viewers than third season premiere of Voyager. With Sliders' ratings proving that a serialized sci-fi show could work, Voyager's writers were given free reign to make their show as they see fit, resulting in a third season which is considered by many fans to be the best season of the show.

thejovian

Interesting ideas here. Probably in a minority in that I will miss DS9, which was probably my favourite of the assorted ST spin-offs. Which makes me think did Babylon 5 still get made?

Sounds from the last entry that Cameron will be invited to relaunch the Star Wars series.

Steve
 
  PS

  Oops!  Only read the 1st page so their actually producing DS9 and Voyager in parallel here.  Some interesting casting changing both in the series and some of the films.  Rather like the alternative "Quick and the Dead", although the fatal accident for Christian Bale is nasty.