The Chasm
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Season 4
DVD Box Set
Region 1 NTSC
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Season 4
DVD Box Set
Region 2 PAL
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(Sliders Story No. 66, starring Jerry O'Connell)
- written by William Bigelow
- directed by Robert A. Hudecek
- music by Danny Lux
- produced by Edward Ledding, Jerry O'Connell, & Marc Scott Zicree
- Production # K2817
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Story: The Sliders discover a blissful town that regularly
encourages a chosen one to jump into a chasm in a cave.
While Rembrandt tries to console a little girl who has lost her
grandfather this way, Quinn doesn't seem to care, and decides
to give up sliding and call this town his new home. What is
the real secret power that this cavern holds over these people?
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In-Depth Analysis Review
by Martin Izsak
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WARNING: This review contains "SPOILERS", and is intended for
those who have already seen the program.
To avoid the spoilers, read the
Buyers' Guide to the season instead.
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Today's episode has a decent idea behind it producing some worthwhile
stuff, but it misses a few tricks in the execution and isn't one of "Sliders"
most memorable stories.
The premise mixes sacrificial religious motifs with psycho-emotional
exchange dynamics, which is a fairly rich avenue of exploration for a sci-fi
story. The partly disguised mechanics of this process stretch credulity,
and the backstory has to do a few backflips and somersaults to try and be
logical - expect fans to be split on whether or not it works.
A separate question is whether or not it was all worth it in the end.
We do get some good displays of character at many points,
and some extremes for the actors to have fun with. They haven't had a whole
lot of this lately, so it is welcome.
Early on, this looks like a Rembrandt-centered story, which we haven't
had in a while. Bring it on. Remmy makes a good central character for
about 60% of the episode. But all of a sudden,
he disappears, and Colin seems to emerge as the figure of sanity and
the glue holding the team together during this slide. Okay, not a bad
switch. So the final fix of the story goes to... Maggie. Bizarre.
Well, teamwork is good, and each member certainly is definitively
defined in this one.
If there's one major drawback in the writing of this one, it is that
the audience is allowed to get way ahead of the protagonists time and again
in piecing the puzzle together and figuring out what should be done.
These guys have been through too many similar weird things.
The writer should give them more credit for seeing through today's
challenge. And if members of the audience are led to come up with their own
plausible theory for the main premise too soon, they may easily feel
that the one that eventually comes across on screen contradicts theirs,
and refuse to buy into it.
I do like that the concluding act moves through into new territory,
and is realized in a fairly exciting way on screen. But though this one
isn't too bad while it's on screen, the story's aftertaste is not as
pleasant. Just what was it really all about, and was this bizarre ride
really worth it? This episode seems to have much in common with
season three - in particular a really weird sci-fi premise that struggles
to justify its own existence. I think a full-on Rembrandt story might have
satisfied more.
Well, this is definitely a weird one, and certainly not the best of
season four, but it's not too bad and remains an interesting and entertaining
45-minutes of "Sliders".
This story has become available on DVD.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you
for pricing and availability:
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Season 4
DVD Box Set
Region 1 NTSC
for the North American market:
in the U.S.
in Canada
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Season 4
DVD Box Set
Region 2 PAL
for the U.K.
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Comments on this article are welcome. You may contact
the author from this page:
Contact page
LYRATEK.COM
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Read the In-depth Analysis Review for the next story:
"Roads Taken"
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