Net Worth

This episode first aired in the UK on 13th July 1998 on Sky 1.

Writer:Steve Stoliar
Director:doh! (again)
Guests:Christian Oliver (Rick Montana), Hayley DuMond (Joanne), Sandy Martin (Mrs. Montana), Mark A. Shepherd (Jack).
Background:None Neccessary
Additional Notes:
* Xpose issue 26 says, "On the whole the piece remains fresh and interesting."
Plot:
When the Sliders exit the vortex, Quinn and Rembrandt are on one side of a glass wall, and Maggie and Colin on the other side. Quinn and Rembrandt are inside, so they try to find a way outside, but can't. Maggie and Colin at this time see a boy being beaten up. He is carrying a rose and a key, but he crushes the key so his attackers can't get inside. He is about to be killed when Maggie and colin interfere. Quinn and Remmy watch through the window and are caught and though to be "off-liners." However, a girl comes and thinks that Quinn is 'Rick' a guy she was supposed to be meeting there. Quinn and Rembrandt play along and they find out that on-liners never go outside and they travel using tubes between their towers. In the lift the girl kisses Quinn and he seems to enjoy it.

Outside, Maggie and Colin have just rescued the real Rick and he tells them that off-liners live outside and are not allowed in the towers. While Rembrandt and Quinn are looking round Joanne's room with all its hi-tech stuff, Maggie, Colin and Rick get to Rick's home-made computer and link up to Joanne's computer. Rick was meant to be meeting Joanne, but she doesn't know that he is an off-liner. Rick sends Joanne an e-mail asking about Quinn and Rembrandt, but they are cut off part way through by scavengers. They fight them and eventually get away with the computer.

When she gets this message, Joanne realises that Quinn tricked her and is about to call security when Quinn persuades her not to. Quinn tries to reconnect, but can't, although he does get a lock on the computer in off-liner territory. Joanne realises that Rick is an off-liner and she is not happy.

Maggie, Colin and Rick go through a mine field that holds back the scavengers and they reach Rick's house. Rick's computer is activated by Quinn's remote, and makes noises for him in front of his mother who doesn't like anything to do with on-liners or computers.

They connect and Joanne asks Rick if he is an off-liner. He tells her the truth and she is angry, but Quinn and Rembrandt persuade her that he is still the same guy he was when she though he was an on-liner. They set up a meeting in off-liner territory. Joanne doesn't really want to go outside, but she agrees to go. They get out through the garbage chute and meet as arranged. They all decide to go to the abandoned Chandler hotel to hang out for a while.

They are seen going in by the scavengers and the scavenger leader, Jack, is particualy interested in Joanne. Inside the Hotel, the Sliders, Rick and Joanne drink and talk. Rick and Joanne argue and Rick breaks Joanne's rig (that connects her to the computer). Maggie comforts Joanne.

The scavengers come in and make Maggie put down her gun. They are only interested in Joanne, so they take her. Rick tries to stop them, but can't. The scavengers shoot the ceiling and Rick is hurt by the rubble. He won't go to a hospital until they find Joanne because only he knows where they would take her.

The scavengers take Joanne to the on-liner building and make her let them in. They go into her room and start to steal stuff.Meanwhile, the Sliders and Rick shut down the garbage chute so they can climb up it. Quinn and Rick log on and set up the computer so they can tell where everyone in the room is (and their weights!). They take control of the neural implanter thing and get Jack into it. From there they threaten the rest and Joanne calls security.

They all, including Joanne go back to Rick's house. Joanne decides to stay off-line with Rick, though she may still visit her parents. The Sliders decline an offer of food because they have to go. They go outside and slide.

Did You Notice?
* Maggie's look to Quinn when Rembrandt says, "Love hurts,"?
* Rick Montana and Joanne C...... gives the same initials as Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet.
* Quinn has had a habit of putting his arm round Maggie since Virtual Slide. Maybe there could be something there.....
* Joanne's room is in the penthouse.
* The onliner towers have green, red and blue towers connecting them.
"We're from Canada"s: 2
Cool Quotes:

"Don't give me that Mr. Spock stuff." - Maggie
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"I really wish that girl would learn to just mellow out." - Quinn about Maggie
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"One of these days we're gonna slide into a solid object(!)" - Maggie
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"We're Marines. At least, she is." - Colin
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"I could wait out in the car. If we had a car." - Rembrandt
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"A keyboard? Yeah, when I was abot 3!" - Joanne
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"She's gotta get over hating you first. That could take a few minutes." - Maggie
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"It was kinda nice not hearing you" - Quinn, to which Maggie fakes crying
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"There's a difference between fact and really knowing something!" - Rick Montana
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"How are you doing?" - Rembrandt
"How do you think? They just dropped a room on me!" - Rick
Mistakes:
* This isn't really a mistake, but some of the CG images of the towers were not that well done,although they were a good design.
* Why do they have calculator-type letters? Wouldn't they have normal type? It would be easier to read.
* Why is there a way for the rich to get back into the building if the only way to get out is through the garbage chute? The on-liners must enjoy the garbage chute!
* Would there actually be a New York stage on Colin's Amish world. I don't know that much about the Amish culture so could somebody help be here?
* I don't really see there being an off-liner hospital. For starters, where would the doctors be trained. And I don't see the on-liners being willing to share their good hospitals. All the doctors would probably have had enough money to become on-liners. I suppose there could be doctors trained by onliners who decided to go outside to help the off-liners.
* Why didn't Jack and his scavengers take Maggie at the same time as they took Joanne. Even if she couldn't help them get in, they had expressed an interest in her earlier.
My Opinion:
This was a very "Romeo and Juliet" story as one of the characters mentioned, but I did think this was a good episode. I thought it showed the ultimate discrimination between the richer people and the poorer people with little regard for the intelligence or personallity of each other. I did, however, think that some of the CG backgrounds were awful (they looked CG) and the garbage shute was very typical. Also, I though that one of the offliner sets (the one where the explosion happened) looked very much like the set on which Kyra died in The Dying Fields. Can anyone out there verify (or not) this? Despite all these nit-picky things, I did enjoy this episode a lot, though I think that it is aimed more towards the female Sliders viewers, which is probably why I liked it better than the more violent episodes.


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