Sliders – Season 1 And Season 2 DVD – Alex Bruhanski, Karin Konoval 

All 23 episodes from the first two seasons of the 1990s US sci-fi series starring Jerry O’Connell as Quinn Mallory, the boy genius who discovers the portal to an infinite number of parallel Earths, enabling him and his teacher, Professor Maximilian P. Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) to ‘slide’ from world to world, accompanied by his female co-worker Wade Welles (Sabrina Lloyd) – and Rembrandt ‘Crying Man’ Brown (Cleavant Derricks), a soul singer who just happens to be driving past Quinn’s house at the moment of the experiment. Season 1 episodes are: ‘Pilot Episode (Parts 1 and 2)’, ‘Fever’, ‘Last Days’, ‘The Prince of Wails’, ‘Summer of Love’, ‘Eggheads’, ‘The Weaker Sex’, ‘The King is Back’ and ‘Luck of the Draw’. Season 2 episodes are: ‘Into the Mystic’, ‘Love Gods’, ‘Gillian of the Spirits’, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Wealthy’, ‘El Sid’, ‘Time Again and World’, ‘In Dino Veritas’, ‘Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome’, ‘Obsession’, ‘Greatfellas’, ‘The Young and the Relentless’, ‘Invasion’ and ‘As Time Goes By’.

Though often and unfairly dismissed as a Quantum Leap clone, the Fox TV series Sliders earned a substantial fan base thanks to its intriguing central premise–the existence of multiple alternate realities–and impressive special effects, both of which get a fine showcase in this six-disc DVD set. Jerry O’Connell leads the appealing cast as a college student who accidentally discovers a portal into alternate dimensions; with the help of his professor (Lord of the Rings’ John Rhys-Davies), a spunky Girl Friday (Sabrina Lloyd), and a soul crooner (Cleavant Derricks), O’Connell encounters a host of strange parallel Earths, including a British-ruled United States and one where dinosaurs roam a national park. All nine episodes of the 1995 debut season and the 12-episode second season from ’96, as well as the pilot from ’95, are included in the aesthetically impressive set; extras, however, are limited to commentary by creators Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weiss on the pilot episode, and a making-of featurette with O’Connell and Derricks. –Paul Gaita