Sliders chronicles the adventures of four "travellers" moving between parallel realities searching for the world they left. Sliders first appeared in the spring of 1995 on the FOX television network in the United States and soon was being shown all over the globe. The show recently ended it's third season, the first as a full season series and was summarily cancelled by FOX. Universal, the production company that films the series shopped the show to the SCI-FI Channel which picked up the series for 22 new episodes, in addition to the 48 already created, and started showing selected repeats in March 1998 and the new episodes bowed in June 1998.

The adventures started with Quinn Mallory, played by Jerry O'Connell, discovering the "gateway" to parallel dimensions while attempting to create an Anti-Gravity device. Excited by his discovery, he tests his "gateway" without knowing what he had created. "Sliding" through the wormhole, he landed back in his basement, or so he thought. He considered his discovery a failure and left for his morning classes at the local university. Much to his amazement he discovers that "his" world has changed. Green lights now mean stop, red lights mean go. Elvis and JFK are still alive, and, horror of horrors, his mother is married to Jake the gardener! It's at this point his "timer" pulls him back through the wormhole to his own world.

Arriving at the university, his professor, Maximilian Arturo, played by John Rhys-Davies, tells him he has the nerve to show back up at class. Quinn doesn't understand what's going on but wants to talk to him about his discovery. Arturo feels that Quinn is mocking him and his theories. Quinn tries to explain that he isn't. Totally disgusted, Arturo dismisses the class and storms out of the lecture hall.

Still not fully understanding what's going on around him, he leaves the university and heads over to his part time job in a computer store. Arriving for work, his coworker and "best bud", Wade Wells, played by Sabrina Lloyd, asks him what he's doing there. Quinn explains that he's working. She tells him that the manager fired him a little while ago when Quinn told him off. Quinn claims he doesn't remember that. Wade asks him if he doesn't "remember" the kiss either. Quinn doesn't and wonders why he'd kiss his "best bud". Wade gets upset with Quinn and leaves. Quinn, still not understanding what has happened to his world heads home.

Returning to his basement, he discovers that the formula for the wormhole, the "bridge" to other gateways, which he was unable to finish, sits completed on his chalk board. He doesn't understand it. It's at this point that Quinn appears out of the shadows and explains to him what he's discovered and what was going on. It's this parallel universe Quinn that completed the formula, that pissed off Arturo, got Quinn fired and kissed Wade. The second Quinn explains about some of the worlds that he's explored and that he calls his method of travel "Sliding". As his wormhole opens, the second Quinn attempts to warn Quinn of a restriction of the timer that Quinn had developed but his warning isn't audiable over the sound of the vortex.

Realizing what he's discovered and what he needs to do, he invited Professor Arturo and Wade over for a demonstration. Arturo can't believe that a "boy" has figured out the theorem that he has worked on for so long. Wade is in total awe of the whole idea and wants to go for a "joyride". Quinn is game while Arturo is cautious. Quinn tells him that he's set his "timer" for five (5) hours and they'll just look around. Arturo reluctantly agrees and Quinn activates the vortex. Wade wonders if it will be big enough so Quinn decides to increase the power and dimension of the opening and they "Slide" through.

Due to the increased power, the vortex moves out of Quinn's basement as it disapates and sucks in a car driven by a washed up 60s rythms & blues singer, Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown, played by Cleavant Derricks, who happens to be driving by on his way to Candlestick (now 3Com) Park to sing the U.S. National Anthem before a baseball game.

Landing in a new San Francisco, one in the middle of an Ice Age, our three adventurers and their unintended passenger, try to wait out the cold until the timer returns to zero and return them to their own world. As fate would have it, an "ice" torado springs up and spells certain doom for the four travellers. Their only means of safety is to activate the timer early and "slide" to another earth. Quinn activates the gateway and the foursome slides just in time.

Returning, seemly to their San Francisco, Rembrandt decides he still has time to get to the ballpark and hails a cab leaving the other three in the park. The others head back to Quinn's house. They soon discover that this isn't their earth. In fact, on this world, the United States was taken over by the Soviet Union and Wade is the leader of the revolution to free the States from the Soviet Rule. Freeing the captured Remmy and Rebel Wade, our heroes give hope to the rebellion that there is an earth where the U.S. is free. They make it back to the park, just before the police and army arrive and slide out, hopefully back home.

They return to Quinn's house where Quinn's mom greets them with open arms, wondering where Quinn has been. They are home. She makes them dinner and our travellers discuss what they should do with their "discovery". All conversation stops when Quinn's father arrives. Quinn and the other's realize that they aren't home because Quinn's father was killed when he was eleven (11) years old.

So begins their quest to find their native earth.

Toward the end of the third season, a season marked by blatent movie ripoffs instead of alternate history stories, the character of Maximilian Arturo was killed off and a new character, Maggie Beckett, played by Kari Wuhrer was introduced. John Rhys-Davies was fired from Sliders by the producers to bring in the younger, sexier, female character in an attempt to raise the ratings with teenage/young adult males. In addition, the producers felt that the characters were too "family" like and didn't have enough conflict, so all of a sudden, after 2 1/2 seasons, the characters are all at each other's throats.

At the end of the third season, the show was cancelled by FOX, but it was renewed on the SCI-FI Channel for two additional seasons.

The fourth season began with only three sliders returning, as the actress who played Wade Wells (Sabrina Lloyd) left the show during hiatus. The character of Wade Wells had been kidnapped by the Cromags from Earth Prime where she and Remmy returned. A fourth slider, Colin Mallory appeared around the 6th episode. The character of Colin is played by Jerry's real life brother, Charlie. Charlie has appeared in Sliders before in bit parts in the second season finale As Time Goes By and in the third season episode Dragon Slide.

For the fifth season, both Jerry O'Connell and Charlie O'Connell left the series and were replaced by two additional sliders picked up in the fifth season premiere. Repeats can be seen periodically on SCIFI.

Sliders was created by Tracy Tormé and Robert Weiss.