Found out my favorite 90s show had a phantom season nobody talks about

I was digging through Wikipedia last night looking up old episodes of "Sliders" and found out there was a whole fifth season that aired on Sci-Fi Channel after Fox dropped it. Turns out it ran for 18 episodes but almost nobody watched it because the network barely promoted it. The wild part is that most of the original cast had already left by then so it's basically a different show. Has anyone actually seen those episodes or were they as rough as the reviews say?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace41929d ago

Actually the fifth season of Sliders had 22 episodes, not 18. Sci-Fi Channel ordered a full season but they only aired 18 of them in order because the network kept changing the schedule around. The other 4 episodes ended up getting burned off later or just dumped on DVD. You're right about the Kromagg costumes though, they looked ridiculous. But one thing people get wrong is that Jerry O'Connell didn't just leave, he was legit fired because the producers wanted to go in a cheaper direction without paying the original cast. The mall planet episode you mentioned was actually called "The Great Work" and it's probably the most watchable of that whole season because it's so insane. The real tragedy is that the original showrunner Tracy Torme had nothing to do with season 5, and you can tell because the writing just falls apart completely without him.

hugow301mo ago

Man, the fifth season of Sliders is a TRIP. They went FULL sci-fi channel budget mode and the quality drop is REAL. I watched a few episodes and the stories got WEIRD, like the Kromaggs became the main villains but their costume designs looked like cheap Halloween masks. The whole thing feels like a fan film that somehow got aired on TV, with half the cast acting like they're in a totally different show. Some of the episodes have this really bizarre, low-budget charm though, especially the one where they land on a planet that's just a giant shopping mall. It's definitely not good, but for a hardcore Sliders fan it's this strange piece of alternate reality TV history.