Sliders: The First and Second Seasons

After college student Quinn (Jerry O'Connell) accidentally invents a portable wormhole generator that opens doorways into alternate universes, he hops in--along with his physics professor (John Rhys-Davies), would-be maybe girlfriend (Sabrina Lloyd), and washed-up R&B singer (Cleavant Derricks), who joins the trio by mistake. Unfortunately, a second little accident makes it so they can't get home unless they randomly come upon their particular version of San Francisco among the millions of parallel Earths. The 23 episodes compiled here from the first and second seasons (1995-1996) offer a crash course in the SF alternate universe subgenre, exploring worlds where dinosaurs still exist, where commie Russia has taken over America, and where intelligence makes you cool and famous rather than looks (now that's sci-fi). Sliders can be funny (there's a world where the Cubs have won the World Series thrice), witty (the Oakland Raiders are a troop of rebels in a British-ruled monarchy in America), and scientifically--and science fictionally--clever, but it's also frequently a tad naive when it comes to political and interpersonal perspectives. Still, this is compulsively watchable popcorn TV, fluffy and fun. Bundled in a six-disc box set (the packaging--the discs slide into a block of soft foam--looks cool, but is rather precarious), special features here include audio commentary on the pilot episode and a "making-of" featurette. Recommended. (M. Johanson)