The Peckinpah Interviews David Peckinpah reflects upon "Cooking Sliding Iron Crying Man": On the impetus for doing this show…       "I found it striking that the previous producer never explored a world controlled or influenced by Japan, especially considering the demographics of northern California." Seriously…       "The script called for a single set which means big savings for the network. It just so happened that Iron Chef uses the same music as the Backdraft exhibit in the park. I mean, talk about win-win!" On working with the cast of Iron Chef…       "It was much more difficult than I had imagined. Do you realize that the show is dubbed? None of them speak English! Eventually we were able to get past it and I feel we became like family. They even gave me my Japanese name—Kisama." On the title…       "Yeah, I admit something got lost in the translation. That's the last time I work with Koreans." The special appearance of Gamera…       "That was a real treat. He's a living legend. To have someone with his experience on the set, well, I think it had a very positive effect on Jerry and what's-her-name." On learning Gamera is a man in a rubber suit…       "What? You're kidding me! I mean, how does he eat?" Final thoughts…       "Not only was it a fun episode to produce, it also gave the fans some closure on the professor issue. It's a shame John Rice-Davids wouldn't reprise the role, but we got a fine performance from his stand-in. Man, is there any role Neil Dickson can't play?" David Peckinpah reflects upon "With God On Our Slide": Taking on a topic like religion…       "Sliders is supposed to be edgy, pushing the envelope. We're out there at the boundaries of television, going where no one else has dared go, be it the threat of honey-nut clusters of pulsars to the psychic abilities of snakes. I'd place this episode in that category." Wade's trouble with Maggie…       "You noticed they don't like each other?" [laughs] "That's something I'm working on. I felt the group was too buddy-buddy. We needed a source of conflict and Wade needed something to do anyway. Seriously, I don't know why Wade was ever introduced, but you play the hand you're dealt." On the mention of Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome…       "Huh?" After being explained what Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome is…       "You don't say? It was just something that [Scott Smith] Miller threw in there. I had no idea it was a continuity reference. I just thought it cool to strand a beloved character in a horrible, hopeless situation." On the reappearance of Logan…       "Again, something [Tony] Blake and [Paul] Johnson [sic. Jackson] asked for. Personally, it did little for me. She's not even blonde." The episode being aired out of order…       "Right. It was slated to air immediately after Exodus, but the boys at HQ felt it was too static. It ended up airing some ten episodes later, likely causing some deal of confusion and teaching us a valuable lesson. From that point on, we wrote every episode as if it was appearing after Exodus." Still, you crucified Quinn…       "Well it's certainly not the worst thing we've done to him this season. Wait until you see what we have planned for him in the future. You'll wish he died on that cross." David Peckinpah reflects upon "Dino Slide": Dinosaurs? Again?       "We've only begun to explore the many stories dinosaurs present us. What if a mad scientist brought back dinosaurs to our time by using ancient DNA? What if dinosaurs evolved into humanoids and left earth to explore space a billion years ago? Oh no, we're not done with dinosaurs by a long shot." And cartoon dinosaurs?       "We're through with them." On the massive copyright infringement…       "I defy you to find a moment where anyone actually says the word 'Flintstones.' Any connection a viewer may draw to them is by clever innuendo only, which incidentally is the mark of a fine homage." What about Yogi Bear and Woody Woodpecker?       "You know, we also had another scene that could be described as Secret Squirrel meets the Wheeled Warriors, but we had to cut it cause we were running long." On directing animation…       "For the most part it went fine as we used stand-ins so the live action would sync up with the finished product, though there were some drawbacks. For instance, the people at the zoo were not happy when we dropped off all those drunk pelicans." The implications of the final scene…       [laughs] "Don't underestimate Maggie. That's the moral of the story." Final thoughts…       "Easily one of the most popular episodes of the season. Fox was really pleased with this one and promoted the heck out of it. I think it really proved to them that the show was still viable and could succeed given the right direction. Of course, this success has a double-edge to it. It may lead to more animated comedies when I'd rather focus on the big motion picture homages that define Sliders." David Peckinpah reflects upon "A.I. Deficiency Slide": Sole Survivors, The Breeder, now A.I. Deficiency Slide…you're really working the plague concept hard.       "We've merely scratched the surface. There are almost an infinite amount of ways you can kill off humanity — swarm of locusts, frogs raining from the sky, and my personal favorite, that sex disease that strikes every Star Trek crew." Don't you think the viewing audience will get tired of these stories?       "These are important stories. The Fox viewer needs to know about the dangers of alien parasites and their use of the human body as host. It's our civic duty to show them the many, many ways this can happen." Why is this so important to you?       [pause] "My father died that way." No he didn't.       "We were…we were farming and…things got out of hand. It was tragic." [chokes up] "I don't like to talk about it." You just lifted that excuse from an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast!       "This interview is over!" David Peckinpah reflects upon "Sliderman": On the format change…       "Every ep it's the same old thing—slide in, slide out. You don't want to become too predictable. I thought using the bar for storytelling was a refreshing change." So you cheaped out on the vortex effect again…       "Yeah." On the lack of coherent plot…       "I think of this episode as more of an origin piece. When you're trying to introduce a character, particularly superheroes, you always end up burning too much time establishing why he is the way he is. This is all the more difficult when your superhero will only have his powers for one story." On why only Quinn was affected…       [winks mischievously] "I'd like to tell you, but I'd have to kill you." [long pause] "Seriously." The Dominion error…       "Amazingly no one saw that mistake during production. You know, there are just so many damn hotels on this show, I can't keep them straight. I swear, if I had my way, we'd have just one hotel…and we'd do every episode in it." [laughs] "Just kidding. That would be kind of stupid." Destroying the Golden Gate Bridge…       "I don't understand the furor over this. This isn't the first time a treasured national icon is wrecked in the name of Hollywood. They crashed a helicopter into the face of the Statue of Liberty in Batman Forever and I'm getting crap for blowing a hole through a bridge? Get a grip!" Low ratings…       "This one just didn't resonate. It's a shame cause Josef Anderson is such a fine writer. Mark my words, by 2003 he'll be a household name." David Peckinpah reflects upon "Strip and Slide": On the return of the Kromaggs…       "I wanted to have them played by actual monkeys, but they kept screeching during Kari's routine. That, and they kept flinging stuff at her. Where did they find all that chocolate?" On the timer being used as a weapon…       "Why shouldn't it be a weapon? It shoots lasers. It has the power to open portals to other planets. I wouldn't stand in front of that thing." But it's never been used like that before…       "That's called character expansion. It's like how Rembrandt's now a war hero and Wade's hair is now red. You can't expect the timer to appear in every episode and not grow." It's an inanimate object!       "Well, of course it's not animated. That costs extra, and I've saving up my cash for something sweeter — like a sports car, or one of those cool new TVs that hangs flat on the wall. How do they get the TV in there so it doesn't stick out into the next room? That's them superconductors for you." On Wade's vomiting spells…       "Every script read, Sabrina keeps making these gagging noises. I took it as a subtle hint that she wanted to see Wade's character move in that direction." On Kari taking off her clothes again…       "As always, Kari was a real professional about it. Very professional. You may not know this, but Kari is often asked to take off her clothes in the feature films she's appeared in. You could say it's her oo-ver." You mean her oeuvre?       "Yeah! It's French! I think it means naked." David Peckinpah reflects upon "Slides and Slidesability": On the multiple lawsuits…       "I don't get them. This entire episode was ORIGINAL. Yeah, it was someone else's originality, but I 'originally' thought to pay homage to them all." On the title…       "Quinn slides, and that's how he gains a slidesability. Look, it makes sense to me, okay?" On Wade misspelling her name in her own diary…       "Wade's not the genius of the group. Quinn is." On Quinn's destiny…       "Yeah, I just love that word. Say it with me—Des-tan-nee. Hey, maybe that one girl band will want to do an episode …" On why we never saw Quinn killing any Kromaggs before…       "I felt episode six was more important to air during sweeps than episode five. Episode five, 'Quinn Kills a Bunch of Nazi Kromaggs While Maggie Disguises Herself as a Stripper,' just didn't seem to have that special something that this episode had." On Rembrandt's lack of lines…       "This was more of a Quinn character episode. Why detract from it with a lot of useless subplot with Rem?" David Peckinpah reflects upon "When the Slider Wakes": On a title that finally makes some sense…       "There's no big secret to it. You just take a word out of the original piece and substitute slider in it. It's all the better if the word you removed starts with the letter 's'. In this case, we got not only the first two letters, but the same amount of syllables. It really clicked." No, in the sense that Wade is actually asleep all episode…       "I'm sorry. I'm not following." On the world of tomorrow…       "It's the future, right? So there has to be all sorts of futuristic stuff like flying cars and flying blimps and other flying things. Flying birds…" On how we never really see the world of tomorrow…       "How am I supposed to show the world of tomorrow when I've never seen it? Are you proposing I build a time machine, go into the future, see what it looks like, and then recreate it on set? Cause that's going to put us way over budget. I can't afford a DeLorean! All I have is this Jeep that Universal gave us." On writing a dream script…       "At first, I thought this would be really hard. Then we realized, it's a dream. Dreams aren't supposed to make sense! So we just wrote it like we normally would." It shows.       "Thanks! But I can't take all the credit. It was Josef's idea to do the main story. He has all these great ideas. It's like he has this secret library full of great plots. His next pitch is about an invisible man who goes mad and starts stalking the sliders." What will you call that? You can't call it Slider Man or Invisible Slider.       [long pause] "Nuts. Guess we'll have to scrap that one."

[    <<< The Otherworlds   |   <<< Earth 5260    ]