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S T A R T R E K T E C H N O L O G Y
S T A R T R E K T E C H N O L O G Y
by Leon Myerson
COPYRIGHT 1988 by Leon Myerson - permission to download and reprint this
essay for free distribution within the ranks of Star Trek fandom is
hereby granted provided the author's name and this copyright notice are
retained. This essay may be periodically superceded by revised versions
uploaded to Data Library 2 of CompuServe's Science Fiction Forum.
DISCLAIMER SECTION: None of the ideas expressed in this essay are
"official". All concepts put forth are solely my own opinions and
speculations, and as such, might be completely contradicted by
"official" Star Trek material issued in the future. I have drawn as
much as possible upon the filmed Star Trek episodes and features, and
refer to such "references" as the Franz Joseph blueprints and Technical
Manual, and to the "Spaceflight Chronology" book, when I have found it
useful to do so. At other times, I made it up. This material and any
companion essays I may upload, are for the sole purpose of having
fan-fun with the Star Trek universe. I have no connection whatsoever
with ST:TNG or with Paramount, I just like to speculate regarding
futuristic science. -Leon.
Warp numbers do not directly refer to speed, but to power. Warp 1 is
the power level required to enter the warp continuum, and is known as
Threshold power. Warp 2 is twice that power level, etc. Fractional
warp is simply less than Threshold power while the ship, though
traveling via warp field effect, is still "in" the Einstein space-time
continuum at sub-light speed. The unit of power between whole warp
factors for a given vessel is one "Impulse", as in the ST:TNG episode
"Conspiracy" when Geordi answers Riker's command to increase from Warp 5
to Warp 6 by acknowledging the addition of yet another full impulse to
the power already coursing thru the warp nacelles.
The formula relating the Warp number W to velocity in terms of C is not
the hopelessly inadequate V = W^3. In Trek Classic's very first episode
the Enterprise was seen at the edge of our galaxy. Even assuming this
to be the near edge reached by going perpendicular to the galactic
plane, it is still at least 1500 light years from Earth. At a cruising
speed of Warp 6 = 216 C, the ship would have spent at least 7 years
getting out there, then 7 more back.
Nor would that formula fit the size of the United Federation of Planets'
Treaty Exploration Zone mapped in the "StarFleet Technical Manual".
This zone was pictured as being approximately 12,000 light years in
radius, with both the Klingon and Romulan empires located at the rim
some 60 degrees apart. Clearly, Enterprise did not require an excess of
50 years to reach the neutral zone.
In the ST:TNG episode "Conspiracy", Picard and Riker confront the
parasite mother creature in the guise of Lt. Cmdr. Remmick as he/it
sends a beacon to the parasite beings' homeworld via StarFleet's own
CommNet. The 3-D map of that network on the wall behind him fits almost
perfectly the Treaty Exploration Zone of the Trek Classic Era.
Instead of V = W^3, velocity is defined by the sum of an infinite series
known as the 3rd-order Cochrane function, which is applicable to
Tertiary warp effect fields such as are utilized by major Federation
vessels from the Tritium class onward. The first term of this series is
the familiar W^3, the second term is the integral of the first term,
W^4/4, the third is the integral of the second, W^5/20, and so on, ad
infinitum. Each term is the integral of the preceding term. Thus the
common mistake so often made is to quote only the first term of the
series as if it were the entire function.
The behavior of this series is such that the terms rise in value at
first, then become increasingly smaller so as to converge on a definite
value. This may be calculated by the equivalent formula:
V = 6 * { e^W - [ (W^2)/2 + W + 1] }
where V = velocity, W = Warp factor, and e = base for natural logs
2.71828..
When calculated in this manner, this function gives the following
values:
Generated Uncorrected
Power Warp Speed x C
1 1.31
2 14.33
3 69.51
4 249.59
5 779.48
6 2270.57
7 6384.80
8 17639.75
9 48315.50
10 131792.79
11 358809.85
12 976018.75
13 2653889.35
14 7214947.68
15 19613332.78
For starship designers, these numbers seemed too good to be true, and
indeed they were. From the earliest days of starship operations, warp
engines had always registered a small power loss as they were fed more
than Warp 1 power. Defined as the difference between Generated Power
and Delivered Power, this drain was ascribed to the faintly conceived
notion of "continuum drag". It was Delivered Power that determined
actual velocity according to the 3rd-order Cochrane function. As the
phenomena was still too poorly understood for mathematical description,
progressive increases in power generation capability had to be matched
empirically with increases in Delivered Power via actual flight testing,
and the term Warp Factor continued to refer to Generated Power.
The Dilithium breakthru made it possible to generate unprecedented
multiples of threshold power, and led to the Federation's investment in
the Constitution class vessels. Able to safely generate and sustain
Warp 8 power, these ships found the drag/drain worsening rapidly at the
higher levels.
It was the USS Enterprise, under Christopher Pike, that first challenged
the "Warp Barrier". After three month's total overhaul at the Terran
Orbital Shipyards personally supervised at every stage by Montgomery
Scott, the ship went on speed runs pushing her anti-matter reactors as
high as Warp 13 for a few seconds at a time. The resulting measurements
at last permitted Scott to define the continuum drag equation:
tan(A)
CDF = G - ------------------------------------ + 10
(G-S) + (tan^2(A)+((G-S)^2)-1)^(1/2)
and thus
D = G - CDF
where D = Delivered Power; G = Generated Power; CDF = Continuum Drag
Factor; A = 5.1050881 radians; and S = 9.8658770244 (Scott's constant).
The corrected table of Warp speeds is therefore:
Generated Delivered Warp Speed
Power Power x C
1 1.00000 1.31
2 1.98354 13.91
3 2.96260 65.98
4 3.93509 230.94
5 4.89755 696.42
6 5.84370 1926.80
7 6.76140 4999.38
8 7.62571 12075.26
9 8.38615 26048.20
10 8.96633 46707.91
11 9.33067 67348.90
12 9.53548 82717.85
13 9.65322 93087.64
14 9.72615 100151.85
15 9.77477 105155.01
Old Warp New Warp
A graph of Scott's equation plotting Generated Power as X against
Delivered Power as Y, shows that at threshold power (Scott's equation
and the 3rd-order Cochrane's function are not applicable below this
point) X = Y = 1, and the graph line proceeds at an almost 45 degree
angle assuming equal scales. (This graph is available as WARP10.RLE in
DL2 for those with IBM PCs or compatibles.)
But as Generated Power exceeds 8 times threshold level, Delivered Power
deviates ever more significantly and the graph curves sharply to the
right. The curve is half of a hyperbola, rotated by angle A, with the
significant asymptote line represented by the equation Y = 10, so that
while the Generated Power may go arbitrarily high, the Delivered Power
will only approach ever more closely but never equal 10. The speed
value for Warp 10 from the uncorrected chart, 131792.39 times the speed
of light, is the theoretical limit of the Tertiary warp effect, and can
only be approached, never equaled or exceeded. This is also the
velocity of such warp continuum energy transmission phenomena as
sub-space radio and the standard phaser effect. (The complete hyperbola
is graphed in WARP_X.RLE, also in DL2.)
By the time of ST:TNG, it had become standard practice to quote Warp
factors in terms of Delivered, rather than Generated, power. This
explains the apparent discrepancy between the eras. Overall Generated
Power capabilities are still crucial to military vessels, as even a few
dozen extra C's may mean the difference between success and failure when
outrunning or persuing an opponent. Here then is the standard warp
factor scale used in the 24th century:
Delivered Generated Tertiary
Power Power Warp
1 1.0000000000 1.31
2 2.0167653720 14.33
3 3.0383208502 69.51
4 4.0670614879 249.59
5 5.1072983806 779.48
6 6.1676537197 2270.57
7 7.2682459514 6384.80
7.5 7.8487197368 10628.50
8 8.4694304149 17639.75
8.2 8.7364919027 21588.78
8.4 9.0203187626 26414.32
8.6 9.3280961537 32310.48
8.8 9.6717993420 39514.34
9 10.0729838055 48315.50
9.1 10.3071067812 53422.73
9.2 10.5747605008 59067.65
9.3 10.8903152831 65306.85
9.4 11.2777216596 72202.80
9.5 11.7800905867 79824.61
9.6 12.4836439773 88248.61
9.7 13.5895662949 97559.17
9.8 15.7014109302 107849.55
9.9 21.8369448362 119222.79
10 INFINITE 131792.79
New Warp Old Warp Velocity x C
To calculate the Generated Power corresponding to a given Delivered
Power level, use the formula:
((D-10)^2*(tan(A)^2-1)-tan(A)^2
G = S - ---------------------------------
2*(D-10)*tan(A))
An interesting aspect of the 3rd-order Cochrane function is that Warp 1
is not C but 1.31 x C. Taking the reciprocal of this number, 0.763,
gives what is known as threshold velocity. Under fractional warp power,
a starship "accelerates" as the power is steadily increased. At Warp
.99999 etc., the ship is traveling at 0.763 x C. Transition occurs, an
explosive event accompanied by the hauntingly beautiful phenomena known
as the Chromatic Detonation, the optical analog of a sonic boom. In the
next micro-instant, the ship is on "the other side", traveling through
the warp continuum at 1.31 x C. The ship is never observed at speeds
0.763 < V < 1.31 under normal conditions.
It should be noted however, that the boundary layer of the warp field
effect creates an envelope of 4 dimensional Einsteinian space-time
within which the ship travels. Therefore, all the familiar physical
laws of the "ordinary" continuum still apply within the envelope. From
the outside, it appears as though a space-time anomaly were manifested
sequentially along a linear path. Fleeting, multiple images of the
vessel in the center of the anomaly are created at widely spaced
intervals which grow more distant at higher warp factors. Light coming
from within the envelope gathers at the boundary layer until it reaches
optical crossover threshold, at which point it "pulses" through, thus
re-entering normal space-time to project the image of the ship. This
effect was nicely filmed for the climactic scene in ST:TSFS when we see
the Enterprise fleeing the detonation of the Genesis Device.
External light enters the envelope via complex optical interaction with
the warp field boundary layer. The micro-instant lost for photons in
front of the ship's path to cross the boundary layer causes them to
appear to originate from directions shifted away from the line of motion
in favor of apparent origins perpendicular to the direction of travel.
While an optical blind spot exists directly behind the ship along the
direction of motion, due to the superluminal velocity involved, the
tear-drop shape of the overall warp field minimizes the area so blanked
out to a vanishingly small region.
The overall effect is curiously symmetrical to that observed by vessels
approaching light speed in normal space-time. Such a vessel would see
its 3-dimensional field of view collapsed into twin circles of light in
front of and behind the ship, with a band of darkness around its
mid-section. A vessel in the warp field traveling at superluminal
velocities experiences a tunnel-like effect in which the dark region
consists of circles in front of and behind the vessel, and its view of
the universe is projected onto a cylindrical tube which the ship appears
to travel through.
Of course, the ship's computers correct for this effect to present an
intuitively "normal" view upon the bridge and other viewscreens.
Windows facing port or starboard reveal a relatively normal view without
sophisticated correction, others have internal holographic layers which
serve as the functional equivalents of corrective lenses to keep the
view at least intelligible, if not exactly accurate.
Sometimes a foreign body, such as small pieces of asteroidal rock or
chunks of cometary ice are pulled into the forming continuum envelope as
a starship achieves transition. Usually this is a harmless occurence,
unless the "dragger" is massive enough to damage the hull if it should
collide with the vessel. If so, the ship will usually power down below
threshold to release the object, otherwise it can remain within the
influence of the warp field effect and go along for the ride to the
starship's scheduled destination. An unusually extreme instance of this
effect occurs in ST:TMP when the old Enterprise, bucking wildly from her
imbalanced engines, pulled a whole asteroid into the warp envelope
formed around herself, and was forced to pulverize it with a photon
torpedo.
Old space junk from various inhabited systems often gets distributed
about the galaxy in this fashion, centuries in orbit about their star of
origin affording plenty of time for a chance encounter with a
transitioning starship. Some of places identifiable objects ultimately
turn up can be downright humorous. Items too small to possibly damage a
vessel thru its deflector shield are usually ignored, especially when
they have no possible salvage value.
An example would be the cryonics satellite found just prior to the
NCC-1701-D's recent visit to the Neutral Zone which originally WAS
orbiting Sol, minding its own business for centuries. People in the
future tend to leave space junk that old alone, the objects most popular
as tourist sights actually being protected with "landmark" status. A
sleeper ship such as Khan's would certainly have been detected, but the
cryonauts registered NO life signs at all, so no one ever knew what was
in this craft. Eventually, a starship pulled it into its envelope and
carried it thousands of light years out to the vicinity of the starbase
Enterprise was visiting for Captain Picard's conference with StarFleet
authorities regarding the apparent loss of stations near the Neutral
Zone.
This is also now considered the most probable explanation for the early
1990's Voyager 6 probe having reached a black hole capable of sending it
to the "machine" planet, as various research ships have made many
voyages directly from the Sol system to known black holes since warp
drive was first employed. Its return to the Sol system as "V'ger"
prompted some talk off a system wide clean up of old hardware, but
nothing ever came of it.
The relativistic time dilation experienced at Tertiary threshold
velocity is such that time passes at 64.6% per cent, or roughly 2/3's,
the "normal" rate of objects "at rest". This time dilation factor goes
along with the ship as the warp effect envelope separates from normal
space/time in crossing over the threshold, and remains stable
thereafter, so that all the time spent under way at superluminal
velocities is discounted by 1/3 for those on the vessel vs. those
staying behind. The effect is rather conveinient for starship crews, as
it effectively cuts by 1/3 the travel time between stop-overs, and since
all Tertiary warp vessels experience it, there is no disadvantage in
reaction time against opponents.
There are social aspects to the cumulative effect of a lifetime career
devoted to star travel, in that one's age starts falling behind that of
friends, family, and above all spouse's left behind. In the 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th feature films, we see James Kirk wearing four bars and three
dots on his sleeve, indicating 23 years service in StarFleet. Yet his
birthday depression in ST:TWOK and the presence of the fully grown David
Marcus all point towards a 50th birthday. Assuming Kirk graduated the
Academy at the normal age of 22, adding 23 years leaves a 5 year gap.
The gap is simply the cumulative effect of the time he's spent cruising
at warp speed. For married personnel, this "age gaping" becomes a
serious problem over a lifetime, and was a major factor in StarFleet's
decision to allow families to go along on its latest vessels of the
ST:TNG era.
A very important aspect of this effect derives from the behavior of the
threshold cross-over phenomena in the presence of intense gravitational
fields, such as would be found near stellar bodies. The intense warping
of space/time already imposed upon the region of the continuum nearest
the star causes it to become more tolerant of extreme profile skewing
than normal space. As a nearby ship accelerates, the threshold velocity
is reached, but cross-over does not occur, one has to increase the
degree of skew with still more power. This means going nearer to
lightspeed while still in the normal continuum, thus the time dilation
factor increases. Since the time dilation at cross-over remains in
effect throughout the period spent in the warp continuum's sub-space, it
is possible to retard one's own rate of time passage to an arbitrarily
high degree to assist in making extremely long voyages.
Some of the early Federation exploration ships, such as the famous USS
Horizon, used this sort of maneuver on occasion, but more often avoided
it due to the detrimental effect upon shipboard reaction time it causes.
Merchant vessels sometimes tried it, but the extreme danger of
maneuvering so close to a star led first to uninsurability and finally
to outright regulatory prohibitions against the practice. Ships full of
colonists almost always housed them in sleeper chambers, an old and
proven technology dating as far back as the late 20th century, leaving
only the crew awake.
One of the greatest scientific discoveries made by the original NCC-1701
Enterprise was that if a ship went EXTREMELY close to an object of
stellar mass while in the normal continuum, then poured on maximum power
to force its way to threshold before putting significant distance
between itself and the gravity field of the celestial body in question,
then the effective threshold velocity could actually be slightly above
lightspeed, and the associated time dilation not only extremely large
but NEGATIVE. This is the essence of time travel under what has become
known as the breakaway maneuver.
The class of phenomena known as "time travel" are extremely complex and
remain poorly understood. Most recorded incidents have involved
multiple effects which, in the absence of a fully developed theory of
time, are often difficult to untangle for separate description and
analysis. The Enterprise's unintentional journey to the Terra of the
late 1960's began with an accidental encounter with an uncharted black
hole. The unusual properties of this particular hole had attracted
their attention, resulting in the Enterprise making a low warp speed
sensor pass. The anomalous readings prevented them from realizing the
nature of this object until it was too late. The hole's intense
distortion of the continuum pulled the Enterprise out of warp, where the
ship was in iminent danger of being sucked into the hole itself.
On Kirk's orders, Sulu applied full emergency power in a desperate
attempt to fight their way back to threshold so as to to re-enter the
warp continuum, but even as the mighty starship trembled under the
effort, the threshold power level was moving higher and higher as they
neared the event horizon. With seconds left before the end, Mr. Scott
in engineering surmised the nature of their situation. Knowing the ship
could never make the rising tertiary warp threshold in time, he engaged
the emergency circuit breakers to take the tertiary booster coils
offline, and diverted 100% of the reactor output into what was now a
lower threshold secondary warp field system. The collapse of the
tertiary field into a secondary one "collided" with the rapidly growing
overall power level, kicking the ship into the warp continuum with such
explosive force that she briefly left sub-space itself on a kind of
"ballistic arc" OVER rather than thru the warp-space she would normally
traverse.
It would take Spock many weeks of theoretical study and analysis before
he would devise a tentative explanation for their seemingly miraculous
appearance within the Terran atmosphere. Ultimately, his explanation
for their movement thru space as well as time rested upon two major
points.
First, time travel does not permit violation of the conservation of mass
law. One cannot simply send 200,000 metric tons of starship back in
time to coexist with an "earlier" copy of the same 200,000 tons of
matter without in some way compensating for the effect such functional
duplication of mass will have on the overall gravitational process of
the cosmos.
Second, in this particular incident the mode of compensation took the
form of an exchange or displacement of the 20th century matter that
would one day be the Enterprise and her crew, this material swapping out
of the normal plane of existance to reside in the hyper-continuum the
ship had traversed to reach its destination. Therefore, in a manner
related to the phenomena of "symmetry breaking", the cosmos "selected"
as the ship's re-entry point a location determined by the whereabouts at
that time of the raw materials which would one day be the Enterprise and
her crew.
As most of this material would be found on Terra in the 1960's, that is
where the ship materialized. Fortunately, not quite all of the material
constituting the Enterprise was of Terrestrial origin, or the ship would
appeared at the center of the Earth instead of 5 miles above its
surface. That it wasn't 5 miles below the surface instead was simply
good luck as to the total net effect of the mass-origin location
factors. When the Enterprise returned to its proper place in time, the
older version of her material constituents resumed their proper place in
the continuum as well.
Later studies of the "breakaway maneuver" and its associated parameters
revealed that had this early incident not involved such extreme
conditions, the time traveling starship would have remained "linked" to
the net gravitational influence of the star used as the initiator mass.
This would have caused the celestial body itself to assume the role of
adjusting its own impact on the expansion of the universe to compensate
for sending a vessel back in time, and would permit such voyages thru
time while retaining the ability to target spatial destinations as well.
This type of controled temporal translation was successfully
demonstrated by the Enterprise via Sol during the mission Kirk's log
describes as "Assignment: Earth", and was later employed from a
captured Klingon cruiser to solve the "Whalesinger" crisis.
Given the operational parameters of starship reactor systems, the time
it takes to build up power applied to generating the warp field effect
normally requires an initiator mass the size of a star or greater to
perform the breakaway maneuver. A planetary mass is just too small
under most circumstances as the vessel will have already moved too far
from the center of its gravitational field before attaining threshold
power where the time dilation effects are manifested. This does not
mean it isn't possible to use a planetary mass as the initiator, only
that the ship in question would have to bring up its power output in an
incredibly rapid surge to do so. The only known means of doing this is
the all but suicidal technique of deliberate implosion to "cold-start"
completely shut down power systems. Only one ship, NCC-1701, is known
to have ever survived this procedure. Historians remained baffled as to
why the crew dubbed the gambit an "Irishman's Chance".
Were you to travel back in time without triggering some form of
gravitational impact compensation for your mass, the continuum would
soon destroy you via an effect strikingly similar to the manner in which
a living creature's immune system destroys that which does not belong.
The unfortunate time traveler would experience progressive
disintegration as the particles of his/her body are randomly pushed back
to their own correct time.
An advanced form of such compensation was an integral part of the
Atavachron, which functioned by actually forcing open "portals" between
times. As Kirk, Spock, and McCoy went through the portal but bypassed
the compensation stage, they were in grave danger and had but little
time to return. Sarabeth could not return with them unless they could
have learned to use the machine to compensate for her entry into their
era, but alas there was no time for that before the star in that system
went nova.
Just as the 3rd-order Cochrane function is known as Tertiary Warp, the
1st and 2nd orders represent Primary, and Secondary Warp. Primary Warp
is the function consisting of the sum of the infinite series begining
with X plus (X^2)/2 plus (X^3)/6 etc. As with the 3rd-order series, it
may be calculated with the equivalent formula (e^W)-1. This was the
first type of warp field effect propulsion system developed, and it is
still in use on later vessels as the Impulse Drive sub-system.
When Secondary Warp drive systems were developed, governed by the
2nd-order Cochrane function consisting of the sum of the infinite series
begining with X^2 + (X^3)/3 +(X^4)/12 etc., equivalent formula:
2*((e^W)-(W+1)), it was learned that they, and all higher order warp
fields, were dangerously unstable at low fractions of threshold power.
This forced the retention of some form of Primary warp drive, though it
need not handle enough power to go superluminal.
All warp field effects are created via the use of superconducting
Cochrane coils, which are wound according to the complex topological
patterns defined by Impulsor Calculus, the branch of mathematics
developed by Zephram Cochrane to express the new kinematics and
mechanics resulting from his successful unification of gravity with the
electro-strong-weak force of quantum physics. As this essay is intended
for a 20th century audience, ethical constraints place severe limits on
the range of comments that can be made on this subject, but the
inference should be obvious that if theoretical physics has mastered the
unification of the primal forces of nature, it becomes possible to use a
force easily generated and controled, such as electromagnetism, to
manipulate phenomena normally governed by another force, such as
gravity.
Cochrane's mechanics superceded Einstein's, as his in its time
supplanted Newton's. Each is "true" or at least acceptably valid,
within its range, and may be thought of as a special case approximation
of its successor, which is itself regarded as a superset of its
predecessor. The following clues to Cochrane's accomplishment,
paraphrased from the preface to his own textbook, are deemed safe for
20th century humans.
The first is that while current attempts to build ever larger particle
accelerators will lead to the unification of the strong nuclear force
with the electro-weak force, this approach will not be successful with
gravity. The reason is that while accelerators of sufficient power
approximate the fantastic extremes of temperature and pressure found
during the era immediately following the Big Bang, it was not these
aspects of the early universe but rather the extreme curvature of
space-time then in force which wedded gravity to the other forces. As
space-time expanded, or flattened, gravity was the first force to
de-couple from the others.
The second clue is that while Newton's mechanics were based upon the
Euclidean model of geometry, and Einstein's was grounded in 19th century
alternatives such as that of Riemann, Cochrane found the mathematical
tools he needed to join the probability functions of quantum physics to
the structures defined by distortions of space-time in the "strange
attractors" of Fractal Geometry's framework for the study of "chaos".
The warp effect itself derives from Cochrane's advanced concepts of
gravitation under which the interaction between the mass of a physical
body and the surrounding space/time matrix defines a complex
mathematical field known as a continuum profile. On a purely
theoretical level, Cochrane was able to establish a new understanding of
the term velocity by demonstrating an intriguing difference in the
continuum profiles of moving objects versus those stationary relative to
the observer. All objects having mass distort the space/time continuum
around them, but when an object is in motion relative to the observer,
the pattern of the this distortion, known as the continuum profile,
becomes skewed along the direction of travel.
Space/time is not infinitely malleable, it takes a minute but finite
interval for gravitational distortions to be fully manifested upon newly
encountered regions. Because of this propagation-time factor, the
region of space/time in front of a moving object at a given instant is
not as distorted as it would be had the object in question been
excerting its gravitational influence on it for an arbitrarily long
period, and the region behind the traveling body shows excess distortion
because of the time it takes to flatten back to its undisturbed state.
The concept of relative motion remains in force, for the skewing of the
continuum profiles of all objects in the universe is measured from the
vantage point of the observer's own comparably skewed line of travel.
In measuring the velocity relative to himself, the observer is actually
noting the degree of continuum profile skewing relative to his own, and
an inertial frame of reference becomes one with a constant degree of
skew.
In astrophysics, this effect is largely muted by the ability of
space/time to "remember" repeated transits, so that all cyclic motions,
such as the orbits of planets, literally "groove" their paths into the
very fabric of the continuum, diminishing the skewing effect to almost
vanishing levels. Also, such circular motions involve the interaction of
mutually influencing bodies, so that each experiences far more change in
the direction of its skewing factor than in its absolute magnitude.
But for non-cyclic motions, such as that of spacecraft executing huge
linear translations thru the continuum, the effect is sufficiently
pronounced to impact observations made from onboard instruments.
Generations after Cochrane, the ability of the space/time continuum to
store such information-laden "memories" would be used by Dr. Carol
Marcus to establish the theoretical basis for the long suspected
existence of morphogenetic fields, and would lead her to attempt the
exploitation of this phenomena via the "Genesis" technology.
In creating his unified field theory, Cochrane opened the door to
full-scale interaction/exchange between the primal forces of nature.
Using the analytic tools of his carefully derived Impulsor Calculus, he
has able to map out complex yet stable forms of interwoven
electro-magnetic fields which would cross "the line" by manifesting part
of their effect in the form of gravitational phenomena. He was then
able to follow the conceptual trail back to the actual design and
contruction of field generating coils that could transform his theories
into useful technology. In his first great practicle success, he proved
that if his coil systems were used to reconfigure the continuum profile
of a "stationary" object so that it acquired the relative "skew" of a
moving one, it moved accordingly.
This led first to the developement of the long wished-for "jetless"
space drive, ultimately called "Impulse drive", in which designers no
longer needed to bother about reaction mass carried onboard only to
serve as kinetic exhaust. Later studies revealed that the application
of sufficient power to the skewing field would produce a degree of skew
effect so highly pronounced as to be insupportable by the familiar
Einsteinian continuum. Attaining this "threshold" level would so stress
the ordinary continuum that a vessel and its surrounding field envelope
would literally be ejected into a higher order continuum in which the
speed of light was no longer relevant as a limiting factor. Cochrane
himself visualized our familiar continuum as "floating" above the larger
realm, and so described the transition process as "dropping into
sub-space" rather than apply an upward linguistic bias and the overused
"hyperspace".
A gentle, private, and in some respects almost old-fashioned man,
Cochrane lived far enough into his twilight years to see his work send
humanity to the stars, before he mysteriously vanished. Some say that
the warp-driven space yacht presented to him by the greatful governments
of several worlds disappeared at the same time, fueling speculation that
he headed into unknown space on some final adventure. While historians
argue over his ultimate fate, none dispute the enormity of his
contributions, without which the very founding of the Federation could
never have occurred.
Just as the 20th century's mastery of undreamed of natural forces such
as electricity produces technological wonders inconceivable to 17th
century minds, so did Cochrane's breakthru set the stage for a vast
family of related discoveries and devices that seem almost magical to
residents of our time. In the decades following the construction of the
first "impulsor drives", further experimentation and theoretical studies
led to totally different, often unexpected, applications of the basic
Cochrane coil system. The coil itself would become as basic a concept
to an entire branch of technology as the "circuit" is to the field of
electrical engineering.
Physicist Alicia Chalmbers interwove two coils, one wound clockwise, the
other anti-clockwise, and sent twin currents thru them in opposite
directions. The "Chalmbers" coil did not move, as its external effect
upon the continuum was balanced between opposite and equal influences,
but within the dual-coil itself a profound disruption of space/time took
place. Wave like patterns of variation in the "topological gradient" or
distortability of space/time, went out equally in all directions. A
second Chalmbers coil, though unenergized, reacted to the distortion
pattern by converting part of its energy content back into electricity.
Of course, modulations in the current flow to the first Chalmbers coil
were echoed analog fashion in the current output of the second
"receiving" coil, giving birth to sub-space radio. The effect
propagates at the theoretical limit of the warp effect, Warp 10, the
actual speed depending on whether the Chalmbers coils are of the
Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary variety. All StarFleet, and virtually
all modern civilian vessels, use Tertiary Chalmbers systems, allowing
communications at 131792.79 x C. Passive listening for natural
occurences of this phenomena, and the active use of a form of sub-space
radio in "radar" mode, constitute much of the sensor technology of
Starships.
Another variation of the basic Cochrane device bends the coil away from
its "barber-pole" configuration, to double back on itself full circle,
in effect coiling the coil in a single loop. The result is an
artificial gravity field projected perpendicular to the plane of the
loop, in either pull or push mode depending on the orientation of the
windings and/or the direction of current flow. Within its housing, the
loop coil is physically anchored or it would simply spin in a warp
driven circle rather than impart its effect to the gravity field. Such
units are always paired so that the torque from each cancels the other
rather than be imparted to the vessel via the structural elements
holding them in place.
Other variants of the Cochrane coil take the form of conical shaped
pairs of coils nested within each other facing in opposite directions.
The conical shape causes the warp field's skewing effect to be projected
away from the coil system rather than centered upon it. By using the
two coils in tandem, one can induce any desired combination of push or
pull force up to the system's operational limits on a distant object,
moving it arbitrarily close to the starship's hull and holding it there.
Known as a tractor beam, this piece of equipment is indispensable for
modern spacecraft operations, without it sleek warp-driven starships
would be reduced to reliance upon primitive manipulator arms such as the
one found on the 1980's space shuttle. When holding a derelict vessel
via tractor beam, it is possible to apply the the repulsive force
against selected portions of the outer hull, concentrating the
attractive force thru the vehicles' center, so as to not only retrieve
and stabilize it, but provide artificial gravity as well for the comfort
of boarding parties.
In man's first experience with interstellar combat, the technological
level of the participants had the vessels of both sides drop into
sub-light speeds to maneuver against each other in a tight volume of
laser crossfired space. These primitive battles were analogous to the
way in which late 20th century fighter planes would reach a combat zone
via supersonic travel, then go subsonic for the actual dogfight. The
advantages of a weapon that could unleash its effect at warp speed were
so obvious that an all out technology race to build such a device began
even before the first Romulan War was over.
Ultra high velocity missiles carrying powerful matter/anti-matter
warheads were already in use. As the M/A anhilation produces a shower
of photons in the extremely high energy gamma ray portion of the
spectrum, these missiles were dubbed photon mines. Though their highly
developed fusion thrusters could accelerate them at hundreds of G's,
they were still so slow compared to even the sublight capabilties of
impulse driven starships that one had to use them in the manner of depth
charges, simply deploying them in the expected path of the enemy ship
and hoping for the best. Attempts to replace the fusion thruster with a
warp engine enjoyed some success against vehicles moving at sublight
speeds, but against vessels traveling at warp speeds what was needed was
a weapon that could travel substantially faster than any ship.
The answer was ultimately inspired by the ancient submarine torpedo,
which used steam power pumped into the torpedo by the submarine rather
generated onboard the weapon itself. The modern analog of the torpedo
tube emerged as an inside out warp engine coil which generated its field
within its own interior and imparted an enormous skewing effect on any
object placed inside. The specially designed warhead pod would zip out
of the tube at extremely high warp speeds, having an unprecendented
degree of skew, but free of the mass of any onboard warp field
generating equipment. Though the warhead pod is designed to retain its
imparted skew as long as possible, it does begin to decay immediately
after leaving the tube. As this takes at least several minutes, the
effective range is quite adequate for the tactical role these weapons
play. Note that these devices have almost no steering, only a slight
course correction The parallel to ancient submarine weapons was so close
that the term "photon torpedo" became permanently attached to these
deadly implements of celestial combat, which in the ST:TNG era are
capable of as much as 10 to 15 minutes travel at speeds approaching warp
9.9.
Early experiments with Dilithium crystals found that two such crystals,
a mirror, a semi-reflector, and a light source made a marvelously
efficient laser, as Spock once demonstrated in escaping from Gestapo
headquarters on the planet Ekos. When Science Officer Bruno Wilhelm
placed a dilithium laser setup inside a Chalmbers coil, the crystals
synchronized so as to overlap the coinciding lightwaves exactly out of
"phase" making the light energy effectively vanish from our continuum,
only to reimerge as a uni-directional highly intense disruption of the
space/time continuum now known as the "phaser effect". Such
synchronization of the crystals required a super-luminal transfer of
coordinating influences, and so was only possible in the context of a
coil-induced sub-space environment. Within the coil, one can reasonably
construe the laser as being "in" sub-space.
When fully powered, the phaser effect travels at the Warp 10 limit for
the type of Chalmbers coil used, be it Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary.
Naturally, StarFleet vessels are armed only with Tertiary phasers,
anything less would produce a "beam" literally too slow to catch a
Tertiary warp starship with Dilithium focused anti-matter reactors.
However, hand phasers don't have access to quite enough power to
energize the coil component to its equivalent threshold power level.
The result is that the phaser beam produced travels at a speed dependent
upon the power level applied to the coil. Whereas a beam emitted from a
coil at threshold power would always move at Warp 10, with additional
coil power just boosting the intensity or striking power of the beam, at
just below threshold power the beam's speed is the reciprocal of Warp
10. This is a mere 7.58766 x 10^(-6) x C, or approximately 7300 feet
per second from a Tertiary coil, therefore hand phasers use Primary
coils so that the phaser effect propagatation velocity is proportional
to the reciprocal of the Primary warp field's Warp 10 limit of 22025.47
x C. The reciprocal value is therefore approxiamately 8.45 miles per
second. At still less coil power, the speed diminishes in direct
proportion to the fraction of threshold power applied to the coil.
Operational maximums for ST:TNG hand phasers take their coils to about
1/3 of threshold velocity, so that the weapons full power effect moves
at roughly 2.82 miles per second.
One can vary the proportion of coil vs. initiating light energy levels
only so far without overloading the hand phaser, causing burnout or even
detonation. Thus to moderate the phaser effect down to stun levels, the
beam in some models of hand phaser may travel as slowly as 200 or 300
feet per second. We've seen this effect quite clearly when Kirk once
fired his phaser set for stun at the metabolically accelerated Deela of
Scalos, who simply stepped out of the way. Hand phaser on stun is
definitely a close quarters only weapon, where speed is not significant.
Unlike sub-space "radio", which simply attenuates under an inverse
square law, phaser beams have a much shorter range due their propensity
to "decay" by losing their energy to the creation of visible spectrum
photo their path of travel. This is what the observer sees, not the
phaser beam itself. The actual phaser effect is one of micro-range
random space/time fluctuations in the topological gradient of the space
encountered, imparting warp impulses to the atoms encountered. The
effect tends to spread and propagate thru solid matter, so that material
objects are likely to distribute the effect throughout their
particularly shaped volumes.
At high power, the effect is so severe that all molecular bonds are
snapped, and all of the particles are "impulsed" in random directions.
What had been a solid object becomes an expanding cloud of particles
moving fast enough to penetrate other solid matter to an enormous
extent. A body so "disintegrated" on a ship would pass right thru the
hull like a burst of gamma rays, but because the particles are traveling
via impulse rather than momentum, their behavior apes that of neutrinos
in that they do almost no damage to the matter they pass thru.
Lower power simply streches the molecular bonds without breaking them,
their rebounding motions translating into simple heat. In this manner,
a hand phaser may be used to heat rocks for warmth, cook food, or even
act as a very precise cutting torch. At the lowest useful power, the
jolting of molecules is too slight to really impact inanimate matter,
but does tend to produce neurological shock as large numbers of synapses
have their firing threshold randomly raised or lowered. The vast number
of additional versus inhibited synaptic firings causes a biological
equivalent of "systems crash" leading to unconsciousness, as the nervous
system becomes hopelessly confused and overloaded by spurious signals.
As no actual tissue damage is sustained, the nervous system "reboots"
itself eventually. Somewhat higher power can do permanent, even lethal
damage to the nervous system however, and can cause a seizure-like
muscular convulsion. This minimally lethal effect is not unlike
electric shock.
To residents of the 20th century, the transporter is perhaps a more
incredible application of Cochrane's Unified Field Theory than
superluminal travel, since the later affords no real Terrestrial gauge
for appreciating the effect, whereas the wonder of instantaneously
materializing elsewhere has been part and parcel of Earth's
mythology/magic belief systems for millenia.
Building on the ability of the "looped coil" to project gravitational
fields, experimenters eventually learned to handle gravity waves in ways
that parallel optical technology's capabilities with light waves.
Ultimately, command of these techniques was sufficient to produce a
gravitational wave "hologram" in which the system literally captured the
continuum profile of an object down to the minutest detail of atomic
constituents and molecular bondings in the intersection between its
stationary "reference beam" and the rotating "scanning beam".
Sophisticated split beam techiniques permitted the "projection" of a
second "continuum profile image", which, depending on the operational
limits of the equipment, could be located at an arbitrarily large
distance and direction from the source. These experiments were
originally conceived in pursuit of improved medical technology following
the progression of X-rays, ultrasound, nuclear magnetic resonance, and
positron emmision tomography, with the result enabling Dr. Crusher to
obtain a clear view of the parasite creature embedded in Admiral Quinn
during the "Conspiracy" period.
The transporter breakthru grew out of experiments attempting to
manipulate matter via alterations of the continuum profile associated
with an object. If a continuum profile projection were maintained long
enough, it began to fill itself in with atoms picked up from the
environment. Eventually, it would recreate the original, though in the
meantime, if sufficient power was used to intensify the projection, this
profile construct could behave like the original, even appearing to be
solid matter, as long it remained within range of the projection radius.
At the same time, it was shown that changes in the profile of the
original were reflected in the original object as well in the
projection, establishing the real-time linkage between the two. Early
attempts at matter manipulation were usually destructive, not until the
early 24th century would the raw computer power be available for such
things as the holodeck, where the projection could be based on computer
simulations rather than real life / real time models, but in these
pioneering efforts, the ability to project a profile back on its own
source object, while maintaining an independent second projection
elsewhere, was developed.
Dr. Janet Hester of the Deneva Research Station first conceived the
idea that if one reversed the "topological polarity" of the image
projected back upon the source, in effect FLATTENING the impression it
made in space/time, while simultaneously boosting the gravitational
intensity, and thus the DEPTH of the spatially projected image, one
could create a situation in which the probability of finding any given
constituent of the source object at the original location could be
reduced to zero, even as the probability of finding it at the
projection's location went up to unity. Every component of an object,
its atoms, the chemical bonds between them, even the ongoing molecular
processes, would cascade back and forth between the twin loci of
probable locations, finally coming to rest at the one brought to unity.
Of all the marvels that have sprung from Zephram Cochrane's insights,
none more clearly demonstrate his success at unifying gravitational
space/time continuum phenomena with quantum mechanical probability
functions.
It would take another four decades of dedicated experiment and study
before Science Officer Winston of the USS Moscow became the first human
to transport across to the USS Tehran. Still more work was required
before the ability of the tranporter to project a "virtual" yet
functional copy of the active components of the scanning and projection
processes to envelope the retrieval site would eliminate the need for
physical hardware at both ends of the transport linkage, and theb to
learn to bend the projection around the surfaces of planets using the
natural gravitational field so that transport could be free of
line-of-sight restraints. The depth of dense planetary matter the
transporter can penetrate is still limited, but the often life-saving
speed and conveinience of transport in general has proved well worth the
time, cost, and often sacrifice it took to perfect.
The Secondary Warp field effect was originally achieved by winding a
second-stage "booster" coil around a specially designed Primary coil.
The early versions of this system would energize the Primary coil first
to navigate at low percentages of threshold power. Once clear of
stellar and planetary gravitational fields, they would engage the
booster coil reconfiguring their warp field into the 2nd order type.
When this was accomplished, power would be steadily increased until the
threshold level was attained and transition to the warp continuum
occured. The Primary and the booster together constitute the Secondary
coil. Should the booster fail under operational stress, a fairly common
occurence in the early days, the Primary alone could be used and could
operate above its threshold level to take the ship to superluminal
velocities.
While later vessels retained the above system layout, experience proved
it far more efficient to energize the whole Secondary coil system as a
single circuit, and to navigate at very low power and speeds with an
independent miniature Primary system. This became known as the Impulse
Drive. As it was intended only for low speed operations, this system
would not normally be capable of handling the power load it would
require to bring the vessel past the threshold point. However,
engineers took advantage of this dual propulsion system to split the
vessel itself, letting each major sub-division of the hull house one of
the systems. It became customary to place the major living quarters in
the hull with the smaller Impulse Drive, both to better shield the crew
from the higher radiation levels the more powerful Secondary system
created, and also with the idea of better accomodating the entire crew
should "coil burnout" force the abandonment of the other hull.
The terminology of vessel design adopted the convention of referring to
the hull housing the Secondary coil system as the Secondary Hull, and
the other housing the Primary coil only Impulse Drive as the Primary
Hull. Tertiary drive systems simply wound yet another type of booster
coil around the Primary and Secondary stages nested inside it, but as
there were still only two drive systems and two main hull sections, the
one with the large engine system continued to be called the Secondary
Hull.
In the event of separation, the Primary Hull's Impulse Drive, freed of
the weight of the entire Secondary Hull and the even more massive main
drive engine nacelles, is usually large enough for superluminal
propulsion. This has been shown quite clearly in ST:TNG during the
initial encounter with Q, when the Primary Hull found its way to
Farpoint after the entire ship spent some 10 minutes pushing itself to
its operational limits while going in exactly the opposite direction.
It is equally well implied by Geordi's instructions to Engineer Logan to
take the Primary Hull to a Starbase if unable to re-establish contact
with him after performing the saucer-sep manuevar in the "Arsenal of
Freedom" incident.
The first three orders of warp field phenomena correspond to the first
three "generations" of warp drive technology in the "Spaceflight
Chronology". Logically, a "Fourth generation" designation should have
waited for the developement of Quarternary warp, the sum of X^4 +
(X^5)/5 + (X^6)/30 etc., equivalent formula 24*((e^W)-((W^3)/6 +
(W^2)/12 + W + 1)), but the impact of Dilithium on power generation, and
thus overall performance, was so great that the "Fourth generation"
label took hold for the Constitution class. All orders of warp field
phenomena remain subject to the Warp 10 limit on Delivered Power, but
higher order warps produce greater velocity for the same Delivered Power
than lower orders. (See Appendix for tables of Primary, Secondary, and
Quartenary Warp Factor Equivalent Velocities).
The term "Fifth generation" is usually applied to the abortive attempt
to harness "Trans-Warp", a misbegotten application of the Interphase
phenomena first observed by the Enterprise NCC-1701 during the "Tholian
Web" incident. The abandonment of this dangerous system was made doubly
disappointing by the continued failure of Federation science to perfect
a workable Quartenary warp drive. The seemingly insurmountable
difficulties encountered in the early attempts at Quarternary drive
design were the prime reason for the costly "Trans-Warp" interlude.
However, in the intervening decades advanced theoretical studies have
led to vastly simpler, more reliable Tertiary drives which can be
pushed, and above all held, far closer to the Warp 10 limit of Delivered
Power than the original design multi-stage units. These single stage
"integrated" units were first used in ship's of the NCC-1701-C's
Ambassador class, and marked the arrival of warp technology's "Sixth
generation". A highly refined and advanced version of this type of
drive serves as the main propulsion for "Galaxy" class starships such as
Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Gone are the inefficientcies of the nested,
three coil approach, advances in Impulsor Calculus theory and
supercomputer simulation techniques having found a single coil
equivalent.
As the early efforts at Quarternary warp floundered on the complexities
of a four level multi-stage approach, the success of the single stage
"integrated" approach for Tertiary warp has scientists of ST:TNG's era
once more confident of eventual success, and aggressively paced research
programs are again under way in the race for the Quartenary drive. It
should be noted that the extra heavy warp nacelle mountings and overall
structural strength rating of the Galaxy class design should easily
permit retrofitting of Quarternary Warp engines when they become
available.
Montgomery Scott correctly predicted the crippling deficientcies of the
Trans-Warp system, but was unable to dissuade StarFleet from investing
in it. Rightly convinced that Quartenary warp would have to await
improvements in warp theory permitting "integrated" designs, he
attempted to convince StarFleet to allow him to challenge the Warp 10
Barrier itself. Alas, Scott was never able to secure StarFleet backing
for his proposal, and only a handful of ST:TNG era technical persons
who've studied his original notes even know what he had in mind.
Realizing that the "SuperWarp" scheme was far too radical for his era,
Scott dedicated his leisure time engineering studies to the design of
the ship he felt StarFleet should build in place of more "Excelsior"
class vessels. Yet this project also offered too many radical advances,
as Scott was allowing for upgrades to integrated Tertiary or even
Quartenary main drives in his huge dreamship. But while the Galaxy
class would ultimately be larger and incorporate advances beyond his
wildest imaginings, even a cursory glance at Scott's old plans and
drawings reveals the striking similarities that mark the true lineage of
these greatest of all StarShips. NCC-1701-D's operational status is the
way Scott would most have wanted StarFleet Engineering to acknowledge
its continuing debt to its greatest practitioner.
As for the mechanics of SuperWarp, the mathematically inclined are
invited to contemplate the significance of the other half of the
hyperbola relating Generated to Delivered power, which most Federation
scientists dismiss as a mere geometric curiousity. Of course,
scientists once thought that C itself represented an impassable barrier,
yet as Spock would say, "There are always possibilities".
Without giving too much away, I can offer the following clue, that the
Constitution class USS Enterprise NCC-1701 under James Kirk, once broke
through the Warp Barrier by accident, the result of her Captain's famous
propensity for taking desperate gambles in otherwise hopeless
situations. Students of warp physics correctly identifying the occassion
are eligible to win a scholarship to StarFleet academy, which, alas, may
not be used until the 23rd century.
-Leon Myerson; 72157,3432; 6/23/88
APPENDIX 1 - PRIMARY WARP
Generated Delivered Primary
Power Power Warp x C
1 1.00000 1.72
2 1.98354 6.27
3 2.96260 18.35
4 3.93509 50.17
5 4.89755 132.96
6 5.84370 344.05
7 6.76140 862.85
8 7.62571 2049.24
9 8.38615 4384.92
10 8.96633 7833.82
Theoretical Limit = 22025.47 x C
Threshold Velocity = 0.5814 x C
Time Dilation at threshold = 0.813205
APPENDIX 2 - SECONDARY WARP
Generated Delivered Secondary
Power Power Warp x C
1 1.00000 1.44
2 1.98354 8.57
3 2.96260 30.77
4 3.93509 92.46
5 4.89755 256.13
6 5.84370 676.42
7 6.76140 1712.18
8 7.62571 4083.24
9 8.38615 8753.06
10 8.96633 15649.70
Theoretical Limit = 44030.93 x C
Threshold Velocity = 0.6944 x C
Time Dilation at threshold = 0.717939
APPENDIX 3 - QUARTERNARY WARP
Delivered Generated Quarternary
Power Power Warp
1 1.0000000000 1.24
2 2.0167653720 25.34
3 3.0383208502 170.05
4 4.0670614879 742.36
5 5.1072983806 2617.92
6 6.1676537197 8218.29
7 7.2682459514 24167.20
7.5 7.8487197368 40826.52
8 8.4694304149 68510.99
8.2 8.7364919027 84149.66
8.4 9.0203187626 103286.47
8.6 9.3280961537 126697.69
8.8 9.6717993420 155331.49
9 10.0729838055 190346.01
9.1 10.3071067812 210676.62
9.2 10.5747605008 233155.87
9.3 10.8903152831 258009.95
9.4 11.2777216596 285488.88
9.5 11.7800905867 315868.94
9.6 12.4836439773 349455.49
9.7 13.5895662949 386586.00
9.8 15.7014109302 427633.43
9.9 21.8369448362 473009.97
10 INFINITE 523171.18
Theoretical Limit = 523171.18 x C
Threshold Velocity = 0.8065 x C
Time Dilation at threshold = 0.590200
For comparison, here is a chart of Quarternary Warp Factor equivalent
velocities keyed on the older "Generated Power" scale.
Generated Delivered Quarternary
Power Power Warp x C
1 1.00000 1.24
2 1.98354 24.41
3 2.96260 159.92
4 3.93509 680.00
5 4.89755 2315.80
6 5.84370 6908.99
7 6.76140 18761.08
8 7.62571 46527.25
9 8.38615 101833.70
10 8.96633 183948.24
11 9.33067 266146.24
12 9.53548 327403.32
13 9.65322 368752.42
14 9.72615 396927.10
15 9.77477 416884.29
16 9.80915 431599.84
17 9.83463 442835.76
18 9.85421 451667.92
19 9.86971 458779.77
20 9.88225 464622.34
21 9.89262 469503.75
22 9.94445 494688.02
Sliders FAQ Alternate Earths
Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!hookup!news.join.ad.jp!news.imnet.ad.jp!usenet.seri.re.kr!news.kreonet.re.kr!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!newsf
From: edhall@brillig.com (Ed Hall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.sliders,alt.tv.sliders.creative,rec.arts.sf.tv,alt.answers,rec.answers,news.answers
Subject: Sliders FAQ: Alternate Earths
Followup-To: poster
Date: 2 Mar 1996 23:22:48 -0800
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Summary: This posting contains a complete list of all the different
Earths visited by the Sliders in the Fox TV series SLIDERS.
Part three of three related SLIDERS posts.
Xref: newsfeed.direct.ca alt.tv.sliders:1909 alt.tv.sliders.creative:408 rec.arts.sf.tv:15937 alt.answers:4776 rec.answers:4943 news.answers:15735
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Posting-Frequency: monthly or after each revision
Last-modified: 2 March 1996
URL: http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
SLIDERS FAQ: ALTERNATE EARTHS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This List of Alternate Earths is Part 3 of the three part SLIDERS Frequently
Asked Questions posting. All three parts can be found on the Usenet
newsgroups alt.tv.sliders, alt.tv.sliders.creative, rec.arts.sf.tv,
alt.answers, rec.answers, and news.answers.
The latest version of this FAQ is available via FTP from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu//pub/usenet-by-group/alt.tv.sliders/
A version of this document also exists on the World Wide Web at
the URL: http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
Please send additions, questions, comments, and corrections to this FAQ to
Ed Hall at edhall@brillig.com. Thanks!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIST OF ALTERNATE EARTHS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This list contains a short description of each alternate Earth the Sliders
have visited. Other Earths which have been mentioned, but not visited by
"our" Sliders, appear at the end of the first list.
The name of the episode appears in [brackets] following each entry. Consult
Part 2 of this FAQ, "Sliders FAQ: Episode Guide" for more information about
each episode.
1. Earth Prime
The Sliders' Earth of origin. [Pilot]
2. Elvis' Earth
Elvis is alive, JFK is president and everthing you ever knew about traffic
lights is wrong. Quinn's mom has married the gardener and is expecting a
baby. [Pilot]
3. Winter Earth
Generally a bad place to be--watch out for ice tornadoes. Based on a photo
found in the ruins of alternate Quinn's house, his family on this Earth
includes a sister he never had and a dog that ran away when Quinn was young.
It's never established if this world's frigid climate is due to Nuclear
Winter or to an Ice Age; since the Sliders never show symptoms of radiation
poisoning and many buildings in San Francisco are still standing, I have to
assume this is an Earth caught in the midst of an Ice Age. Cool! [Pilot]
4. Red Dawn Earth
A world where the Domino theory became fact and the Soviets took over the
world. This Earth's alternate Wade is a leader in the American underground.
Alternate Rembrandt was killed twelve years ago in the Detroit Uprisings.
Alternate Arturo is Citizen General (i.e. the warden) of a political prisoner
camp in the local university. ("Alway a leader among men!") [Pilot]
5. Dad's Earth (a.k.a. Earth Prime + Dad)
An alternate Earth very similar to Earth Prime in every detail but one: in
this world, Quinn's father never died. [Pilot]
6. Oil Boom Earth
Oil is discovered under the streets of San Francisco and in Quinn's own
backyard. Unfortunately, the Sliders only have twenty minutes to enjoy their
newfound wealth. [Fever]
7. Fever Earth
An alternate world where penicillin was never discovered is a dangerous place
to kiss a stranger. Alternate Quinn is Patient Zero, the first carrier of the
"Q" disease and a $1,000,000 reward is offered for his capture. [Fever]
8. Cannibal Earth
Exercise caution if invited over to a friend's house for dinner on this
alternate Earth. This arid world might be a good place to become a
vegetarian. [Fever]
9. Asteroid Earth
A huge asteroid is is due to hit the west coast of this Earth's United States
in two days; too bad the Sliders' timer is set for three days. This world's
Quinn had tried to tinker together a time machine; it's unclear if his
research was successful or not. [Last Days]
10. Water Earth
The oceans of this world have risen several hundred feet, probably due to the
melting of the polar ice caps. San Francisco is covered by so much water that
only the upper twenty feet or so of San Francisco's Transamerican Pyramid is
projecting out of the water. [Prince of Wails]
(Note that when the Sliders arrive on Water Earth they are wearing the
clothes they were wearing when they slid out of Hippie Earth in Summer of
Love. This makes sense since Prince of Wails (episode SL-104) was filmed
after Summer of Love (episode SL-103). I assume that the tidal wave we see at
the end of SOL causes the flooding we see here on Water Earth.)
11. British Earth
Here the American Colonies lost their Revolutionary War against the British
and George Washinton is just a footnote in the history of the British States
of America. Harold the third, Prince of the Americas and heir to the British
throne has a private game preserve where Oakland is on Earth Prime. Alternate
Arturo is the Sheriff of San Francisco. God save the King! [Prince of Wails]
12. Spiderwasp Earth
On this world a potential form of pest control, the South American
Spiderwasp, escaped from the lab where it was genetically engineered in 1987.
A hybrid with the worse attributes of spiders and wasps, its swarms have
spread to cover all of South America and it is now invading North America.
The first swarms reach San Francisco about the same time as the Sliders...
[Summer of Love]
13. Hippie Earth
The peace movement of the 1960s lives on here--right down to the communes and
war protesters in San Francisco. These protestors however, are protesting a
protracted war against Soviet controlled North Australia. Ollie North is
President. Alternate Rembrandt is a henpecked Sergeant First Class in the
Army who never had a musical career. [Summer of Love]
14. Egghead Earth
A world where the super-intelligent have fans the way athletes do on our
Earth, gangsters speak Latin, and public libraries have longer hours due to
popular demand. Nikke (our Nike) uses the slogan: "Just think it."
Alternate Quinn is the captain of the University of California's MINDGAME
team (the Eggheads) but he's also $1,000,000 in debt to a gangster. Alternate
Arturo is a Chairman at the University when he isn't on the lecture circuit
at such places as the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. In addition, alternate
Arturo's wife has filed for divorce. (Arturo's wife on Earth Prime, the same
woman, died when they were in their twenties and he's still very much in love
with her.) Both alternate Quinn and alternate Arturo disappeared several
months ago, supposedly on a slide, but our Sliders were never able to confirm
that fact or locate their equipment. [Eggheads]
15. Women's Earth
Women wear the pants on this world. Women here fly planes, hold public
office, play professional sports, and are the captains of industry. They can
even become Pope, just ask Jane Pauley! Men stay home and take care of the
kids or, maybe, get a job as a receptionist. Hillary Clinton is president.
One wonders if Elizabeth Dole will run against her in '96? [The Weaker Sex]
16. Tahiti Earth
A nice place to spend nine days, sipping Singapore Slings beachside. [The
Weaker Sex]
17. Law and Order Earth
On this world, the crime of spray painting a freeway overpass carries the
death penalty. Not only that but, due to Proposition 199, the "Instant
Justice Initiative", the appeal process only takes a moment--long enough for
the judge to say "Request denied." Sliders visiting this world are advised to
keep off the grass.
Since Quinn is convicted of this crime based on eyewitness and fingerprint
evidence, I think it's safe to assume that this world's Quinn is a bit of a
criminal, or at least a rebel. It's also worth mentioning that the judge who
sentences Quinn bears an uncanny resemblance to Judge Lance Ito. [The King Is
Back]
18. Crying Man's Earth
Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown was the King of Rock and Roll on this Earth
until a tragic sponge fishing accident in the Gulf apparently ended his life
at the peak of his career. Now, years later, there are Crying Man
impersonators and a shrine to his memory in Memphis. Imagine this world's
surprise when the Sliders arrive. [The King Is Back]
19. Ice Cream Earth
All we know of this world is that Quinn and Rembrandt got jobs as street
venders selling ice cream (King brand ice cream of course!) [The King Is
Back]
20. Lottery Earth
Society on this world keeps the population down to a mere 500 million through
a variety of means including birth control drugs in cola and a lottery system
which usually proves fatal to the winners. The president of this world's
United States is Jocelyn Elders.
The Sliders are joined by two others from this world: Ryan and a dog named
Henry. [Luck Of The Draw]
21. Cliffhanger Earth
Quinn was shot in the back by the Lottery Police when escaping Lottery Earth.
The sliders spent their three days on this world here taking care of Quinn;
Ryan helped by digging the bullet out of Quinn's shoulder.
Ryan, and presumably Henry the dog, stayed behing on this world. [Luck Of The
Draw; Into The Mystic]
22. Halloween Earth
A world where interaction with the paranormal is very normal and the CEO of
the world's most successful corporation is known as "the Sorcerer." When
visiting this world, be sure to see the Golden Gargoyle Gate Bridge -- from
a safe distance of course. One other piece of advice: never *ever* skip out
on a bill owed to a licenced shaman, not ever the great lawyer Ross J.
Kelly could help you if you did! [Into The Mystic]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER ALTERNATE EARTHS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other worlds which have been mentioned but never visited by "our" Sliders
include:
* "Smarter" Quinn's Earth
The Quinn of this world was able to figure out the final equation which made
sliding practical. He also invented the term 'Slider' and was married
(perhaps to an alternate Wade?). "Oh yes, and one more thing about the timer,
whatever you do, don't ever..." *whoosh* [Pilot]
* Utopia Earth
Visited by "Smarter" Quinn during one of his previous slides. [Pilot]
In the December 1995 issue of "Sci-Fi Entertainment", there is an interview
with Robert Weiss (Co-Creator of SLIDERS) where he indicates that Utopia
Earth may be the same as the Lottery Earth seen in the episode "Luck Of The
Draw." Since then, Tracy Torme (SLIDERS Executive Producer) has said that in
a future episode, the Sliders may visit a world which fits "Smarter" Quinn's
description of Utopia a bit better:
"I once stepped onto an Earth just this side of paradise. Where there
was no pollution, no crime or hate. People were happy and a stranger
was welcomed with love. No one was afraid there Quinn--think about
that. No one was afraid.
I had set the timer for twenty hours before I left home that day. Not
nearly enough time in a world like that. I hope I find it again; I'll
always keep looking." -- "Smarter" Quinn
* Cubs Earth
A world where the Cubs have won the World Series for the last three years.
Visited by "Smarter" Quinn during one of his previous slides. [Pilot]
Note: The Cubs of our Earth haven't won the World Series since 1908.
* five other earths
"Smarter" Quinn mentions that his visit to Earth Prime is his eighth slide so
there must be five other worlds he's visited which we know nothing about.
[Pilot]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLOPHON
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sliders FAQ consists of three postings:
1. Sliders FAQ: General Questions
2. Sliders FAQ: Episode Guide
3. Sliders FAQ: Alternate Earths (this one!)
These are posted on a regular basis to the alt.tv.sliders,
alt.tv.sliders.creative, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.answers, rec.answers, and
news.answers newsgroups.
The latest version of this FAQ is available via FTP from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu//pub/usenet-by-group/alt.tv.sliders/
The HTML version of these documents can be found at:
http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
Comments, suggestions, and contributions are always welcomed by the
maintainer of this FAQ:
Ed Hall (edhall@brillig.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 1995,1996 by Ed Hall. All rights reserved.
This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, or BBS as
long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this copyright statement.
This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain. This FAQ may not be
included in commercial collections or compilations without the express
written permission of the author.
Ed Hall (edhall@brillig.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
Sliders FAQ General Questions
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From: edhall@brillig.com (Ed Hall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.sliders,alt.tv.sliders.creative,rec.arts.sf.tv,alt.answers,rec.answers,news.answers
Subject: Sliders FAQ: General Questions
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Date: 9 Mar 1996 21:17:52 -0800
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Summary: This posting contains the answers to many Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQs) about the Fox TV series SLIDERS.
Part one of three related SLIDERS posts.
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Last-modified: 9 March 1996
URL: http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
SLIDERS FAQ: GENERAL QUESTIONS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is Part 1 of the three part SLIDERS Frequently Asked Questions posting.
All three parts can be found on the Usenet newsgroups alt.tv.sliders,
alt.tv.sliders.creative, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.answers, rec.answers, and
news.answers.
The latest version of this FAQ is available via FTP from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu//pub/usenet-by-group/alt.tv.sliders/
A version of this document also exists on the World Wide Web at
the URL: http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
Please send additions, questions, comments, and corrections to this FAQ to
Ed Hall at edhall@brillig.com. Thanks!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS SLIDERS?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"SLIDERS is a one-hour action/adventure series with a touch of black comedy.
The series chronicles the cosmic roller coaster ride taken by four eclectic
characters who discover a "wormhole" between dimensions that transports them
to parallel universes. Led by Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell), a handsome
physics grad student who accidentally creates the gateway while working on an
experiment in his basement, the interdimensional travelers include Wade
Welles (Sabrina Lloyd), a beautiful computer tech; brilliant but arrogant
physics professor Maximillian Arturo (John Rhys-Davies); and former R&B
singer Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown (Cleavant Derricks), who is sucked into
the vortex by mistake as he drives by Mallory's house.
Each week, the Sliders will travel to a different parallel universe in which
they find themselves in present-day alternative versions of Earth. The
Sliders might encounter, for example, worlds in which the Communists have won
the Cold War; nuclear winter prevails or the male gender is considered the
weaker sex. At each stop, the Sliders face the jeopardy, surprise and thrill
of encountering worlds that may look familiar but are never quite what they
appear to be.
SLIDERS, created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Torme, is produced by St. Clare
Entertainment and distributed by MCA Television Limited. Tracy Torme, Jacob
Epstein and Alan Barnette are the Executive Producers and Robert K. Weiss is
Executive Consultant."
--from a Fox Broadcasting press release
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHO CREATED SLIDERS?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIDERS was created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Torme. Here is some
information provided (in large part) by Fox Broadcasting's publicity
department:
Tracy Torme (Co-Creator/Writer/Executive Producer of SLIDERS)
Tracy Torme began his career before his senior year of college had a chance
to play itself out -- when he was hired as a staff writer for the much
acclaimed Second City Television. From there he joined Saturday Night Live
as a Writer/Filmmaker. He then became a member of the writing staff of
"Star Trek: The Next Generation," writing some of that series'
best-received episodes (including "The Big Good-bye", for which he won a
Peabody Award). Torme also served as Writer/Producer on the Emmy-nominated
mini-series "Intruders."
In addition to his many television credits, Torme wrote the screenplay for
the 1993 film "Fire In The Sky," which he also co-produced.
At present, Torme is developing "Dark City," a ninety minute pilot for
HBO, and is working on the script for a film based on Richard Matheson's
classic novel "I Am Legend," which he will also produce.
He lives in Los Angeles.
For more information, check out Starlog's Science Fiction Explorer #7
(June 1995) for an interview with Tracy Torme written by Frank Garcia.
Robert K. Weiss (Co-Creator/Executive Consultant of SLIDERS)
Robert K. Weiss' credits as a film producer include the three "Naked Gun"
films, "Dragnet," "The Blues Brothers" and "Kentucky Fried Movie." For
television, he produced "Police Squad," the progenitor of the "Naked Gun"
film series. As President of St. Clare Entertainment, Mr. Weiss presides
over the development of network and cable television productions. St.
Clare's many shows include "Dream On" and "Weird Science."
A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Mr. Weiss has extensive
experience in studio and location video production resources. He has
served on the Board of IS Robotics, a Cambridge, Mass. company whose
business is the design, development and manufacture of micro-robots for
a wide range of applications, including extraplanetary exploration. He
currently sits on the Board for The Center for the Study of the
Environment, in Santa Barbara.
Mr. Weiss lives in California. He is a member of the Directors Guild of
America.
During the first season of SLIDERS, Mr. Weiss was one of the three
Executive Producers of SLIDERS. For the second season, his title has
changed to that of Executive Consultant.
Mr. Weiss has been known to post on both alt.tv.sliders and on America
Online.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIDERS PROLOGUE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First season:
"What if you could find brand new worlds right here on Earth where
anything's possible? Same planet--different dimension."
"I've found the gateway!"
"SLIDERS"
Second season:
"What if you could travel to parallel worlds? The same year, the same
Earth, only different dimensions."
"A world where the Russians rule America, or where your dreams of being
a superstar came true, or where San Francisco was a maximum security
prision?"
"My friends and I have found the gateway. Now the problem is finding a way
back home!"
"SLIDERS"
A 346K audio file containing a copy of the SLIDERS prologue from the first
season may be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.best.com/pub/edhall/pub/sliders/sliders.au
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTOR'S BIOGRAPHIES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of the following information is from a Fox Broadcasting press release:
Jerry O'Connell (Quinn Mallory)
As a young boy, Jerry O'Connell appeared in numerous television commercials
and, at age 11, co-starred in the hit film "Stand By Me", directed by Rob
Reiner.
O'Connell's television credits include "My Secret Identity", "Camp Wilder"
and "Olie Hopnoodle's Haven Of Bliss" for PBS and the Hallmark Hall of Fame
presentation of "The Room Upstairs." He has also starred in the TV movie
"The Ranger, the Cook and the Hole in the Sky", and in the feature film
"Calendar Girl" opposite Jason Priestly. His more recent roles include the
Fox TV movie "Blue River" and the lead role in MTV's feature film "Joe's
Apartment" in which he shares the screen with 3,500 cockroaches.
A native New Yorker, O'Connell is currently a senior at NYU, where he is
majoring in Film and Television. He is also a member of the university's
sabre fencing team. He was born on February 17th, 1974.
Sabrina Lloyd (Wade Kathleen Welles)
Sabrina Lloyd knew at the age of 12 that she wanted to be an actress. She
made her start in a local production of "ANNIE" in her hometown of Eustis,
Florida. She continued to work in the local community theatre there,
starring in such productions as "Grease", "Crimes of the Heart", and "The
Wizard of Oz."
Lloyd made her first feature film appearance in "Chain of Desire" and
subsequently starred in "Father Hood" with Patrick Swayze. For television,
Lloyd made a guest starring appearance in the series "Law & Order" and
starred in television movies as "The Coming Out of Heidi Leiter" and "Off
Limits."
Lloyd currently resides in New York and her birthdate is November 11th.
Cleavant Derricks (Rembrandt Lee "Crying Man" Brown)
Cleavant Derricks decided to try his hand at acting when it occurred to him
that while all his friends were playing sports, he was always playing in
front of a camera. He began his career in the theatre, performing first
with local tours, then Off-Broadway productions and later won a Tony Award
for his performance in "Dreamgirls."
His other Broadway credits include "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Big Deal",
"I Have a Dream" and "Your Arm's Too Short to Box With God." Forging his
way into television, Derricks has starred in "Drexell's Class", "Whoops",
"Roseanne" and "Something Wilder."
Derricks currently resides in Agoura Hills, CA and his birthdate is May
15th.
John Rhys-Davies (Professor Maximillian P. Arturo)
Acclaimed Welsh-born actor John Rhys-Davies is probably best know to film
audiences for his roles in the blockbuster hits "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". He has also had leading roles in
"Victor, Victoria", "The Living Daylights", and "King Solomon's Mine".
Rhys-Davies, who was raised in England, Africa and Wales, credits his early
exposure to classic literature for his decision to pursue acting and
writing. He later refined his craft at London's renowned Royal Academy of
Dramatic Arts.
His television credits include James Clavell's "Shogun" and "Noble House",
"Great Expectations", "War and Remembrance", "Archaeology" and "The
Untouchables."
Rhys-Davies is also known for his roles in the radio version of
"Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and as one of the live action characters
in the game "Wing Commander 3" and the voice of a recurring character in
the animated series "Gargoyles."
An avid collector of vintage automobiles, Rhys-Davies has a host of theater
roles to his credit, including "the Misanthrope", "Hedda Gabler" and most
of Shakespeare's works. He divides his time between Los Angeles and the
Isle of Man.
Rhys-Davies was born on May 5th 1944 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
Note: Stephen Bosch (sfbosch@acs.ucalgary.ca) has made the observation that
it would be difficult for Mr. Rhys-Davies to be both "Welsh-born" and "born
in Salisbury, England." Salisbury is nowhere near Wales.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECURRING CHARACTERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No matter where the Sliders travel, they keep running into some of the same
people again and again. I've broken up this list based on whether or not the
character has shown up in more than one episode as well as on more than one
alternate Earth. These lists are sorted by number of appearances.
Recurring Characters (Multiple Episodes)
Michael Hurley (Gary Jones)
* manager of Doppler Computer Superstore on Earth Prime [Pilot]
* member of resistance on Red Dawn Earth [Pilot]
* British army officer on British Earth [Prince of Wails]
* "Smarter" Quinn mentions that Hurley is a "putz" on every alternate
world he (Quinn) has visited.
Quinn's Mom (Linda Henning, Deanne Henry)
* a widow on Earth Prime [Pilot] waiting for her missing son to return
[Into the Mystic]
* married to Jake the gardener (and pregnant) on Elvis' Earth [Pilot]
* happily married (never widowed) on Dad's Earth [Pilot]
* it's mentioned that she has moved "back east" on Egghead Earth
[Eggheads]
Mace Moon (Gerry Nairn)
* owner of Moonatic Electronics on Asteroid Earth [Last Days]
* owner of Moonatic Electronics on Hippie Earth [Summer of Love]
* assumed to be the owner of Moonatic Electronics on Spiderwasp Earth
(we see his store but never see him) [Summer of Love]
* assumed to be the owner of Moonatic Electronics on Water Earth (we see
his store but never see him) [Summer of Love]
Pavel Kurlienko (Alex Bruhanski)
* a taxi driver on Red Dawn Earth [Pilot]
* a taxi driver on Dad's Earth [Pilot]
* a taxi driver on Fever Earth [Fever]
* a taxi driver on Halloween Earth [Into the Mystic]
Conrad Bennish Jr. (Jason Gaffney)
* a student in Professor Arturo's class on Earth Prime [Pilot] and a
friend of Quinn's. [Summer of Love]
* a physics graduate student who helps build the Bomb [Last Days]
* the president of Young Republicans *For* the War. [Summer of Love]
Ross J. Kelley (John Novak)
* Attorney-At-Law on Earth Prime who sells his "services" via TV
commercials using the slogan "I'm Ross J. Kelley and I won't take 'No'
for an answer! I'll fight for you!" [Pilot]
* An interrogator for the Soviets on Red Dawn Earth, he tells Rembrandt
"I'll fight for you!" [Pilot]
* A lawyer on Halloween Earth who promises in his TV commercials that
"I'll fight for you!" [Into the Mystic]
Gomez Calhoun (William Sasso)
* Motel 12 manager on Fever Earth [Fever]
* Motel 12 manager on Crying Man's Earth [The King Is Back]
Policeman (Mike Dobson)
* Policeman on Asteroid Earth [Last Days]
* First Policeman on Hippie Earth [Summer Of Love]
Wing (Yee Jee Tso)
* a student in Professor Arturo's class on Earth Prime [Pilot]
* tells Quinn about oil well in Quinn's backyard [Fever]
Recurring Characters (Single Episode)
Crazy Kenny/Senator (Frank C. Turner) [Pilot]
* A bum ranting in an Earth Prime park about the imminent rise of
communism over capitalism. He warns Quinn: "Join the Revolution or
suffer the consequences!"
* A Senator speaking in a Red Dawn Earth park about the plight of the
Proletariat
* A bum sleeping behind the Lincoln statue in the park on Dad's Earth
Mr. Gale (Hrothgar Mathews) [Into The Mystic]
* A farmer on Cliffhanger Earth; Gale also appeared as an Undertaker
in Quinn's nightmare
* the sorcerer's aide on Halloween Earth (although he prefers the title
"executive assistant)
* Mrs. Mallory's new gardener on Earth Prime
Four FBI Agents [Summer of Love]
* investigating the Sliders' disappearance from Earth Prime
* attempted to capture "subversive" Quinn and Arturo
Jake [Pilot]
* the Mallory's gardener on Earth Prime
* apparently married to Quinn's (pregnant) Mom on Elvis' Earth
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RUMOR MILL (MINOR SPOILERS)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A *very* alternate version of Mel Torme (the father of SLIDERS Co-creator and
Executive Producer Tracy Torme) will make an appearence in an upcoming
episode. [Greatfellas]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Hurley (Gary Jones) will be back as the manager of Doppler Computer
Superstore during the second season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first SLIDERS novel is in the works. Brad Linaweaver (MOON OF ICE) is
working on a novelization of our heroes' adventures on Red Dawn Earth.
The working title is "THE SECRET OF LENIN'S STATUE."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sliders will visit a world where crime is so rampant that *huge* super
prisons are created. In fact, they are transported into the middle of "San
Francisco Federal Prison." [El Sid]
The following message relating to "El Sid" was posted to USENET and will be
of great interest to Sliders fans. I have taken the liberty of removing the
poster's name so as to not affect her chance of being cast as an extra again
at some time in the future! :-)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.sliders
Subject: I worked on Sliders last week
Date: 26 Nov 1995 08:41:29 GMT
Hi there
Thought people in this newsgroup might be interested in the following. I
do extra work in Vancouver and a few days ago I did an episode of
Sliders. In this episode San Fran is a giant penal colony, but very
upscale--i.e. everyone dresses well, etc, so you wouldn't know it
aactually a jail. I was in a scene with about 30 other women and the
actress who plays Wade. In this penal colony, inmates are required to go
to daily therapy sessions, and that's what we did. We wore barcodes, and
bracelets that glow red when you break a rule. If that happens, you and
your 'bracelet buddy' are immediately killed. Very Big Brother. John
Rhys-Davies and the Rembrandt-guy was there as well. Lots of fun!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sliders will visit a world where J. Edgar Hoover was President and San
Francisco is now more or less crime free. Reading the (now suspended)
Constitution of the United States is an offense punishable by death.
J. Edgar always was a little strict, but he was *such* a snappy dresser...
[Time Again And World]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following message was posted on the alt.tv.sliders newsgroup:
> From: rkweiss@aol.com (R K Weiss)
> Newsgroups: alt.tv.sliders
> Subject: Re: back at home?
> Date: 9 Jul 1995 05:52:04 -0400
>
> Re: >when his 2 guests arrived and never came back out of the garage and
> >they are presumed missin on Earth Prime,I'm sure the Government is
> >Paying the bill till he gets back to answer questions.
>
> Not only is the government paying the electric bill, they are vigorously
> investigating the whole affair. In addition they are...wow, I just caught
> myself from leaking some spoilers. Better Slide on out of here before I
> give away some secrets from next season ;->
>
> Best, Bob Weiss, Executive Producer, SLIDERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section is for all the little bits of trivia which don't really fit into
any other section of the FAQ. If you think of something which gets asked all
the time in the alt.tv.sliders newsgroup and yet isn't here, drop me a line
at edhall@brillig.com and I'll try to include it in the next version of the
FAQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Has SLIDERS been cancelled?
A: Absolutely not! Thirteen brand new episodes are airing Friday night on Fox
starting March 1st 1996.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where is SLIDERS filmed?
A: SLIDERS is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, although a few
establishing exterior shots have been filmed in San Francisco and on the
University of California at Berkeley campus.
Most studio work is done in Vancouver at the studio where M.A.N.T.I.S. was
filmed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What are SLIDERS fans called?
A: People have been kicking this one around since the show first aired and
dozens of suggestions have been made on alt.tv.sliders. Star Trek fans are
called Trekkers or Trekkies, X-Files fans are called X-philes, so it's only
fair that SLIDERS fans have their own name.
It seems that the name which has gotten the most support among fans is the
obvious one: "Sliders."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Quinn has a cat on Earth Prime. What is the cat's name?
A: The cat's name is Schrodinger and is named for Erwin Schrodinger, a
quantum physicist famous for (among other things) formulating a "thought
experiment" involving a cat, a geiger counter, a piece of uranium and a
loaded gun. For more information regarding Schrodinger's Cat, refer to
Michio Kaku's book "Hyperspace" or take two years of college physics.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Is there a SLIDERS Fan Club?
A: There aren't any *official* SLIDERS Fan Clubs. Not *yet* anyway.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Are there any SLIDERS toys?
A: Not yet, but I've heard that there are finally some in the works.
Wouldn't you love to have a Timer or a little four inch tall Arturo action
figure? :-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Is Earth Prime *our* earth?
A: Of course not. If the Sliders were to visit our Earth, they would be
surprised to discover their alternates were all actors in a Fox TV show! <g>
Further evidence that the Sliders aren't from our Earth can be found in the
first few episodes. The University which Quinn attends looks exactly like the
U.C. Berkeley campus but seems to be located in San Francisco's Golden Gate
Park. (Berkeley is across the bay from San Francisco, about 30 miles away.)
More proof is that in the episode Summer of Love, it is mentioned that Wade
Welles attends Northshore Junior College--there is no such college in *our*
San Francisco.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where do I send fan mail?
A: The new and improved address to send fan mail is:
SLIDERS
c/o Fox Broadcasting
P.O. Box 900
Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900
Fox had an e-mail address (sliders@delphi.com) during SLIDERS first season
but it doesn't seem to be working anymore. Perhaps it will be hooked up
again now that the second season has started.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where can I get copies of the SLIDERS scripts?
A: The first draft of the script for the SLIDERS' pilot (dated January 14th
1994) is available for $19.95 from a company called Script City. Script City
is in Hollywood, California and can be reached at (213) 871-0707.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Were the First Season Episodes Shown in the Correct Order?
A: Not even close. For some reason, Fox decided not to show the episodes in
the order they were filmed. I don't know why this was done, maybe Fox wanted
to group what they thought were the better episodes together or maybe some
episodes weren't quite ready to be aired so others were shown in their place.
Assuming that the production number assigned to each episode represents the
order in which the episodes were filmed, here is a list of the episodes as
they were filmed and as they were aired.
As Filmed As Shown
---------------- ----------------
1. Pilot (2 hours) Pilot (2 hours)
2. Summer Of Love Fever
3. Prince of Wails Last Days
4. Fever Prince of Wails
5. Last Days Summer Of Love
6. The Weaker Sex Eggheads
7. Eggheads The Weaker Sex
8. The King Is Back The King Is Back
9. Luck Of The Draw Luck Of The Draw
Just to confuse matters a little bit more, Fox decided to air the repeats of
of the first season episodes in yet another order. The episodes appeared as
repeats in the following order:
1. Pilot, part 1
2. Pilot, part 2
3. Fever
4. The King Is Back
5. Last Days
6. Eggheads
7. The Weaker Sex
8. Summer of Love
9. Prince of Wails
10. Luck Of The Draw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMER OF LOVE: THE LOST SCENE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally, in "Summer of Love" there was a scene which explained a bit about
the fuctionality of Quinn's timer and explained why it is so important for
the Sliders to not miss the next opening of the gate out of the current
Earth. Unfortunately, this scene just didn't make sense once "Summer of Love"
was bumped from episode #2 to episode #5 and the scene was cut from the
episode.
That said, here is the original scene as it appears in the "Summer of Love"
script and, presumably, as it was filmed:
-----------
REMBRANDT (CONT'D)
Where's the Professor?
As if on cue, Aurturo bursts out of the loft, running after
them and trying to hold four guns at the same time. Scant
seconds later, the Feds also exit the building, sprinting
after him. Arturo spins, dropping three of the guns and
shooting the fourth one in the air as a warning that gets
the Feds to freeze.
Uncomfortable carrying any firearms, he flings the fourth
gun away and resumes running toward his friends.
ARTURO
Hurry up, get back in the car!
The Feds are scrambling to retrieve their guns as Quinn,
Arturo and Rembrandt hurry back to the Cadillac.
Rembrandt jumps behind the wheel, Quinn and Arturo dive into
the open back seat - Copeland and Yenn have retrieved their
guns, they OPEN FIRE. Rembrandt is driving and ducking, as
bullets whiz past the accelerating purple vehicle.
REMBRANDT
Seems like you two make friends
wherever you go! Why am I not
surprised?!
The Caddy screeches around the corner at breakneck speed and
gets away - for the moment.
INT. THE CADDY - NIGHT - ARTURO IS IN THE FRONT
Quinn in the back; Rembrandt drives, keeping a careful eye
on the rearview mirror, while bemoaning his near brush with
domesticity.
REMBRANDT
Man, that is the _last_ time I do a
good deed. The Crying Man gave
that woman his all, and look at
the thanks he got.
(to Quinn, in
mirror)
Now, what was that about the
timer?
QUINN
It's badly damaged. We can't open
the gate at will anymore. So the
Professor and I did some
calculating based on The Helix
Spiral --
REMBRANDT
-- Felix who?
QUINN
_Helix_. It's a ten dimensional
form of Witten's index theorum.
REMBRANDT
Oh. That.
QUINN
It suggests there will be a single
window of opportunity on each
Earth we visit. A moment in time
when the weakened powers of the
gizmo will still allow us to
access the gate.
ARTURO
The window he's referring to will
be different on each Earth - mere
minutes till it arrives on some,
several months on others.
REMBRANDT
So you're saying we may have to
wait _months_ on some of these
worlds before we can try and get
home again?
ARTURO
Correct. We've re-rigged the
timer to serve as a countdown
device, telling us how long till
the window on each Earth we visit.
REMBRANDT
What if the window comes and goes
and we never access the gate?
ARTURO
I'm afraid it's 29.7 years to the
next opportunity. So that's a
mistake we can not afford. We
must always be sure to be together
at the appointed time... or else.
QUINN
We're lucky we didn't miss the
window on this world.
He shows Rembrandt the timer: it reads 42 MINUTES, 16
SECONDS, and counting.
QUINN (CONT'D)
How far to the commune?
REMBRANDT
About forty-five minutes
(winks)
_If_ we obey the speed limit.
That said, he slams on the accelerator.
-----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FURTHER READING
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Books and stories having to do with parallel universes.
Fiction
"Time Patrol" (and sequels) by Poul Anderson
"Ox" by Piers Anthony
"Virtual Mode" (and sequels) by Piers Anthony
"The End of Eternity" by Isaac Asimov
"Eon" (and sequels) by Greg Bear
"Fireball" (and sequels) by John Christopher
"Lest Darkness Fall" by L. Sprague de Camp
"The Wheels of If" by L. Sprague de Camp
"The Infinite Worlds of Maybe" by Lester Del Rey
"The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick (won the 1962 Hugo award)
"The World Next Door" by Brad Ferguson
"The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
"Replay" by Ken Grimwood
"Job: A Comedy of Justice" by Robert Heinlein
"The Number of the Beast" by Robert Heinlein
"The Proteus Operation" by James P. Hogan
"Thrice Upon a Time" by James P. Hogan
"Worlds of the Imperium" (and sequels) by Keith Laumer
"Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman
"The Dark Tower" (and sequels) by Stephen King
"Alternities" by Michael P. Kube-McDowall
"At the Narrow Passage" (and sequels) by Richard C. Meredith
"Elric of Melnibone" (and sequels) by Michael Moorcock
"All the Myriad Ways" (short story) by Larry Niven
"Crossroads of Time" by Andre Norton
"Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" by H. Beam Piper
"Para-Time" by H. Beam Piper
"The Coming of the Quantum Cats" by Fred Pohl
"Trips" (short story) by Robert Silverburg
"The Probability Broach" (and sequels) by L. Neil Smith
"The Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove
"Crosstime Traffic" (short stories) by Lawrence Watt-Evans
"The Universe Next Door" (and sequels) by Robert Anton Wilson
"Nine Princes in Amber" (and sequels) by Roger Zelazny
Non-Fiction (!)
"Hyperspace," by Michio Kaku
Required reading for all would-be Sliders. Quinn was reading this book
in the pilot before his first slide.
"The Fourth Dimension," by Rudy von Rucker
Covers the basic concepts of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, with cartoons.
"Parallel Universes: The Search for Other Worlds," by Fred Alan Wolf
Explains the quantum physics theories behind the concept of parallel
universes, then moves on to some speculation about parallel universes.
"'Relative State' Formulation of Quantum Mechanics," by H. Everett III,
Reviews of Modern Physics 29, pg 454-462 (1957) [also see Hugh Everett
III's Ph.D. thesis submitted to Princeton University on March 1, 1957]
Everett's theory introduced the original concept of parallel universes
as a real scientific theory, entirely consistent with quantum
mechanics.
I'm sure these lists (especially the first one) will grow over time.
Contributions are always welcome.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER SOURCES OF ONLINE SLIDERS INFORMATION
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Wide Web sites:
Universal cHANnEL's Official SLIDERS page:
http://www.mca.com/tv/sliders/
Ed Hall's SLIDERS FAQ web page: (the WWW version of this FAQ)
http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
Tim Lucas' SLIDERS page:
http://www.xtc.net/~lucast/sliders/sliders.html
Robb Potter's SLIDERS page: [New]
http://www.iii.net/users/robbp/sliders.html
Mike Harrison's collection of SLIDERS sounds in WAV format:
http://www.interlog.com/~mharris/sliders.html
Vincent V. Juodvalkis' WWW archive of alt.tv.sliders.creative:
http://gossamer.eng.ohio-state.edu/sliders/
John R. Potter has constructed a SLIDERS word search puzzle:
http://www.NeoSoft.com/~jrpotter/puzzles.html
Joe Reiss' SLIDERS Spoiler-free Opinion Summary (S.O.S.) page:
http://hci.ise.vt.edu/~jreiss/cgi-bin/sos.cgi
KOKH FOX 25 Virtual TV Station:
http://www.kokh.ionet.net/
Aaron Greenhouse's Fox Broadcasting page:
http://www.eden.com/users/my-html/fox.html
The Usenet Alternate History List, maintained by R.B. Schmunk:
http://www.panix.com/~rbs/AH
FTP sites:
The latest version of this FAQ and a few images and sound files are
available at:
ftp://ftp.best.com/pub/edhall/pub/sliders/
Vincent V. Juodvalkis' FTP archive of alt.tv.sliders.creative
ftp://gossamer.eng.ohio-state.edu/pub/archive/sliders/
USENET Newsgroups:
alt.tv.sliders
This is *the* newsgroup for SLIDERS fans. Robert K. Weiss (Co-Creator/
Executive Consultant of SLIDERS) has been know to post tidbits of
information regarding future episodes here.
alt.tv.sliders.creative
Have a piece of SLIDERS fan fiction you'd like to share with the rest of
us? Post it here or just read the offerings of others while waiting for
the second season to begin.
Incidentally, if you post any SLIDERS fan fiction to this group, you
should also mail a copy of it to Vincent V. Juodvalkis at
juodvalk@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu so that he can add your work to the
alt.tv.sliders.creative archives he maintains. (see above)
rec.arts.sf.tv
All science fiction shows, not just SLIDERS, are discussed here.
alt.history.what-if
soc.history.what-if
These two newsgroups are not for SLIDERS related postings! We have our
own newsgroup (alt.tv.sliders) for that. These groups are for serious
discussions regarding alternative history, not science fiction TV shows.
Of course, if you want to discuss what the world would be like if the
American Revolution had never occurred or if the United States had lost
the Battle of Coral Sea, these are the newsgroups for you!
SLIDERS Mailing Lists:
Sliders Mailing List
A mailing list for the descussion of all aspects of SLIDERS.
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a message to the address
majordomo@stargame.org and in the *body* of the message type either
"subscribe sliders" or "subscribe sliders-digest" without the quotes and
without your name.
This list is run by Alicia Mowlai-Ashtiani (mowlaial@ucunix.san.uc.edu).
Sliders Creative Mailing List [New]
A mailing list for SLIDERS fan fiction and the discussion of SLIDERS fan
fiction.
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a message to the address
slfic-request@xmission.com and in the *subject* of the message type
"subscribe" without the quotes and without your name.
This list is run by Kyrie Daniels (kyrie@deltainet.com).
SLIDERS Internet Relay Chat (IRC):
SLIDERS fans gather in the #sliders channel on IRC after each episode airs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIDERS NEWS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 March 1996
SLIDERS' SECOND SEASON BEGINS!
31 January 1996
SLIDERS TO AIR FRIDAYS AT 8:00 BEGINNING MARCH 1
Thirteen new episodes of SLIDERS will return to Fox starting March 1st at
8pm. The first episode aired will be "Into the Mystic" will will resolve
the first season's cliffhanger.
10 December 1995
NO AIR DATE YET
Fox Broadcasting has still not selected an air date for the second season
of SLIDERS. Since they've waited so long, it's now only 50% likely that
new episodes of SLIDERS will begin to air in January as had been
previously announced here. If SLIDERS doesn't begin in January, it will be
delayed until March of 1996.
SLIDERS COMIC BOOK SERIES
Work is continuing on a three-part SLIDERS comic book mini-series, targeted
at adults and expected to hit store shelves around March. Acclaim/Armada
Comics is behind this project with the full backing Tracy Torme and the
SLIDERS creative team. D.G. Chichester is the writer, comic book legend
Dick Giordano is on the pencils, with the inks being done by Mike DeCarlo.
Look forward to plot lines which just can't be done on television due to
budgetary limitations.
14 November 1995
D.G. Chichester (dgchi@aol.com) posted the following to alt.tv.sliders:
> To coincide with the new episodes, Acclaim/Armada comics will be doing a
> special two part comic book featuring the characters and concepts from
> the show (plus a few that were developed and haven't yet been approved
> for on air)! This will not mirror the new programs (not just adaptations)
> but will be all new adventures, and is being done with the cooperation
> and supervision of the Sliders' creative head honchos. If response
> warrants, this would lead to an ongoing Sliders comic.
>
> Hopefully this will be as succesful as the X-Files comic books so Sliders
> can get a little more exposure.
13 November 1995
The exact air date for the first episode is still up in the air. It most
likely will be a Sunday in January but which one is unknown until an
offical date is set. I've heard anywhere from the 7th to the 21st of
January mentioned.
Filming of "Time Again and World" has been completed. Filming of "El Sid"
has begun.
1 November 1995
Filming for the second season of SLIDERS begins on schedule.
29 September 1995
Filming for the second season of SLIDERS is scheduled to begin on
Wednesday, November 1st. A *tentative* airdate for this episode has also
been scheduled: Sunday, January 21st 1996.
The Executive Producers for the second season of SLIDERS are Tracy Torme,
Jacob Epstein and Alan Barnette.
18 August 1995
Robert K. Weiss, Executive Consultant of SLIDERS, reports that all four
principal actors (Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks, and
John Rhys-Davies) will be returning for the second season of SLIDERS.
29 July 1995
Robert K. Weiss announces that the Executive Producers of SLIDERS (himself,
John Landis and Leslie Belzberg) have all stepped down from that post.
Weiss will be remaining at St. Clare Entertainment with the title Executive
Consultant.
26 June 1995
Fox issues a press release which makes it official: Sliders has been
picked up as a 1995-96 mid-season replacement series!
16 June 1995
Fox Broadcasting ordered thirteen new episodes of SLIDERS as a mid-season
replacement. The new episodes will begin filming in October of 1995 with an
expected air date of early 1996.
Congratulations to everyone who took the time to tell Fox that you wanted
to see more episodes of SLIDERS!
1 June 1995
Fox announced that SLIDERS re-runs will be aired starting Sunday June 25th
at 7PM (6PM Central.) Repeats will continue until a new series, SPACE,
ABOVE AND BEYOND takes over the timeslot in the fall. Fox also said "a
decision on SLIDERS as a fall backup is still pending."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MUSIC OF SLIDERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All songs written by Tracy Torme except "Cry Like a Man", written by Tracy
Torme and Paul Kelly.
"Cry Like A Man" [Pilot]
----------------
My friends ask me why I cry
It's 'cause I feel I wanna die
These tears fall from my eye
Ever since you said goodbye
I'm gonna cry like a man
Hard as I can
And if you had a heart
Maybe you'd start
To understand.
See me walking down the street
And everybody that I meet
They say hello, goodbye
And tears spring from my other eye.
Whoa I'm gonna cry like a man
Hard as I can
And if you had a heart
Maybe you'd start
To understand.
"Tears In My 'Fro" [The King Is Back]
------------------
I've got tears in my 'fro
'Cuz I'm standing on my head over you
Got a long way to go
Will this crying stop...
I wish I only knew.
At first I thought our love was never-ending
Together, you and I till eternity
But now I realize I'm just pretending
I'm only half the man I used to be.
I've got tears in my 'fro
'Cuz my world is upside down over you.
I should wash them out, I know
But that's the saddest thing I'll ever half to do.
I've got tears in my 'fro
'Cuz I'm standing on my head, girl...
Oo-ver yoo-oou.
"Purple Hawaii" [The King Is Back]
---------------
I'm surfing on an ocean of tears
Feels like I've been...
Weeping for years.
My little island girl
Set my mind awhirl
Now I think I need...
To sink a couple of beers.
"Library Rap" [Eggheads]
-------------
Yo Homes, what's up?
What up with you?
Whatcha' gonna say?
Whatcha' gonna do?
Where you gonna go?
What we gonna see?
We're goin' to the li-bra-ree.
I'm moving down the aisle with my Homeys in tow
We're grovin' through the home of the librarian Ho
She checks us out from behind thick glasses
We walk right past and we wiggle our asses
Hemingway... Lawrence... Checkhov and Miller
Fitzgerald was a freak, Mailer is a killer...
Quiet pleeease!
Quiet pleeease!
The silence is golden
To books I am beholden
I know I'm bad
'Cuz of the knowledge that I'm holdin'
And I give you one warnin'
There will be no repeats
Get out of my face
While I'm readin' my Keats
"Library Rap" performed by MC Poindexter & The Study Crew
"Comrade Rap" [Pilot]
-------------
Comrades, Comrades, get on down
Get that grain right into town
You got to serve the State
And feed the people
Because the in-div-i-du-al is evil!
"Comrade Rap" performed by MC Hammer & Sickle
"Summer of Love" [Summer of Love]
----------------
The Gods will come down from the sky
Just two months after July
In the Summer of Love...
They'll descend from above
And men will no longer die
And our brothers will no longer die.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLOPHON
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sliders FAQ consists of three postings:
1. Sliders FAQ: General Questions and Answers (this one!)
2. Sliders FAQ: Episode Guide
3. Sliders FAQ: Alternate Earths
These are posted on a regular basis to the alt.tv.sliders,
alt.tv.sliders.creative, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.answers, rec.answers, and
news.answers newsgroups.
The latest version of this FAQ is available via FTP from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu//pub/usenet-by-group/alt.tv.sliders/
The HTML version of these documents can be found at:
http://www.brillig.com/sliders/
Comments, suggestions, and contributions are always welcomed by the
maintainer of this FAQ:
Ed Hall (edhall@brillig.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My thanks to the following people who, in one way or another, helped make
this a better FAQ:
Stewart M. Clamen (clamen@cs.cmu.edu)
Brian Eirik Coe (bcoe@trumpet.aix.calpoly.edu)
Kyrie Daniels (kyrie@deltainet.com)
Darren "PromoGuy" Denham (kokh@ionet.net)
Ed Dravecky III (dsheldon@netcom.com)
Beth Epstein (epsteinb@carleton.edu)
Frank Garcia (fgarcia@direct.ca)
Mitch Gold (goldm@rpi.edu)
Vincent V. Juodvalkis (juodvalk@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu)
C. Daniel Kinser (70004.146@compuserve.com)
Tim Lucas (lucast@etsu.east-tenn-st.edu)
J. Brett Martinson (u9010521@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca)
Will Mengarini (seldon@eskimo.com)
Nigel G. Mitchel (Zikzak23@aol.com)
David Playle (dplayle@ins.infonet.net)
Robin Reid (rmreid@opus.freenet.vancouver.bc.ca)
Scott W. Roby (roby@oswego.oswego.edu)
Mark Schey (mark_schey@delphi.com)
Stephen Sisk (sjsisk@islandnet.com)
Ford A. Thaxton (FordaT@aol.com)
Larry Trujillo (ltrujillo@cctr.umkc.edu)
Special thanks to Francesca Redwine.
And of course, thanks to Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Torme for creating SLIDERS
in the first place!
Thanks for everyone's comments, suggestions, and answers!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 1995,1996 by Ed Hall. All rights reserved.
This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, or BBS as
long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this copyright statement.
This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain. This FAQ may not be
included in commercial collections or compilations without the express
written permission of the author.
Ed Hall (edhall@brillig.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
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