Electric Twister Acid Test

Writer:Scott Smith Miller
Director:Oscar L. Costo
Guests: Corey Feldman (Reed Michener), Julie Benz (Jenny), Tim Griffin (Jacob), Joshua Cox (Martin), Jordan Blake Warkol (Caleb), Bill Bolender (Franklin Michener).
Background: none necessary
Additional Notes:
* Corey Feldman co-starred with Jerry O'Connell in the classic 1986 film, Stand By Me.
* Joshua Cox had a recurring part on Babylon 5 as lieutentant David (?) Corwin.
* Although Wade Welles hates the film The wizard of Oz, her alter-ego Sabrina Lloyd appeared in this on the stage.
Plot:
The Sliders exit the vortex riding a bobsled. The world they arrive into is a desertish place. They were part of a bobsled race on the previous world and slid part way through. The timer's going crazy. They see a boy riding a twister which appears. The boy (Caleb) gets into trouble and Quinn goes to help him. Quinn pulls him out of the twister, then the boy runs off and disappears in a puff of sand.

They discover the twisters are electrically charged and there are a lot of them. That's what's sending the timer haywire. If they can't stabalise the timer, they can't open the vortex. They find a water pool with dead animals around it. Quinn throws in a piece of metal and they find that the water is also electically charged.

They find a green area protected from the twisters by loadstone. 23 hours to slide. Come across a man killed and left in stocks.

In the town, outcasts are raiding supplies and someone has been warning them where the stake-outs are. The daughter of the town leader, Jenny, goes outsidfe and sees Arturo creeping into the barn. She comes in and says they can't stay but she won't turn them in. Outside a tornado which shouldn't be able to enter the green area does and they all run into a shelter. That has never happened before according to Jenny. The tornado stops right on top of the Sliders and Jenny. The timer seems to be attracting it. Franklin, the leader, and his men find them and confiscate the timer.

Franklin takes the timer apart. Quinn is interrogated and tortured. He tells the truth, but isn't believed. Quinn then tries to get Franklin to believe that he was the only one who broke the laws, but that isn't accepted either. Wade is to saty in the town becasue she is of child-bearing age, but the others are taken out to the desert and left. From ihs adeptness at dismantling the timer, the guys realise that he is a scientist.

Wade is working with Jenny in the fields. Jenny has to teach Wade their ways. Women aren't treated as equals here at all. Jenny tells Wade that there was an accident in a laboratory which caused the tornadoes. Jenny's brother was banished. Wade and Jenny sneak into the house, but Franklin sees them.

In a dust storm, Remmy is struck by a discharge, but is okay. The boy reappears and leads them to a secret tunnel. The tunnel leads to an ex-concord airforce base. They meet the other outcasts, including Franklin's son Reed.

Jenny and Wade go to meet Caleb, who carries information from Jenny to the outcasts. They find out that the other Sliders are already safe. Franklin and his men come and catch them, but Caleb gets away. Jenny and Wade will be punished.

The male Sliders find out for certain that Franklin used to be a scientist. They have a horrible, but nutritious, drink.

Jenny is to be shunned and is no longer to marry Jacob.

The guys are taken to the weather station where Franklin used to work. They are told that a man was trying to create electic tornadoes for the benefit of mankind, but the government turned them into weapons. Things went wrong when Franklin began to work on the project alone. Reed was banished when he found out about all this. Caleb tells them that Jenny and Wade were captured. Arturo stays behind to make a safe place to slide from while the others go to rescue Jenny and Wade.

Jenny and Wade are in a cell. Jacob comes to see them even though he's not meant to. He comes into the cell and Jenny knocks him out so she can steal his keys. Jenny goes to get the timer. Wade goes to the tunnel put is cought (again) by Franklin with a pitchfork. She is to be drowned (like a witch). Franklin makes up lies to the villagers will let her drown. The others arrive in time to see her being lowered. Quinn gets in the water to help. She is raised and lowered again. When she is raised again, she isn't in the chair. The villagers see her and Quinn swimming to shore and then escaping in a vehicle.

Arturo is working on aligning coils and to neutralise the magnetic field.

They find Jenny with the timer. Are seen, but escape through another of these miraculous tunnels. They go outside to slide. The coils will keep the twisters out of that small area. Not long to slide and the coils start moving. Franklin's un-aligning them. Quinn goes down and tries to realign. Reed tells Jacob the truth about Franklin whilst Quinn is down there. Quinn persuades Franklin to search for a way to stop twisters as his penance. The coils get realigned and they slide.

Did You Notice?
* When Quinn (Jerry O'Connell) and Franklin's son (Corey Feldman) said goodbye, they did the "skin it" shake from Stand By Me. This was an in-joke and was obviously something they wanted to do after spending time together again. However, in the film, Jerry O'Connell's character Vern never actually performed the shake on screen. Tracy Torme' said that he wouldn't have let them do that had he been on set that day because he thought it detracted from the story.
Cool Quotes:

"So much for making a quick 10 grand!" - Quinn
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"When I said I wanted to lay on some sand in the next world I didn't mean a desert." - Rembrandt
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"Still waters run hot." - Quinn about the electrically charged water
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"That would explain the burn marks on the animals and puts paid to Miss Welles theory of alien experimentation." - Arturo about the electrically charged water
"Would you like me to get you a glass of water professor?" - Wade in return
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"Well, if a building does drop on us, I hope it's a "Burgar Burglar." I've been hungry since the last world!" - Rembrandt to Wade after discussing "The Wizard of Oz."
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"Who away supposed to be? Freakin' Lewis and Clark?" - Rembrandt about Quinn wanting to explore
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"I can't believe we're walking round here with a tornado magnet!" - Rembrandt about the timer
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"Where there's humour, there's life!" - Arturo about Rembrandt
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"It looked like you finally needed some help." - Caleb
"Finally? You give us too much credit!" - Rembrandt
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"Miss Welles, you look like a drowned cat!" - Arturo
"With only 8 lives left!" - Wade in response

Mistakes:
* When Quinn saves Caleb from the twister, the film is obviously sped up.
* What's with the smoke as Caleb disappears? He's only going in a door!
* While Michener takes the electrical timer from Quinn, he makes no mention of the watches worn by all the guys, which I would assume were digital from their looks.
* Why didn't anyone notice Quinn swimming to free Wade, I doubt he would have been able to hold his breath all that time, especially since he couldn't see where he was going. I had trouble holding my breath that long and I do Synchronised Swimming!
* When Arturo is discribing magnetic fields to Caleb, the uninterrupted noise implies a circle was drawn, but when we see the piccie, it isn't.
My Opinion:
This was actually a fairly predictable episode. I enjoyed watching it (as I do all Sliders ), but as I was watching it the first time, I predicted what would happen next. As it happens, I was pretty much correct every single time. Still, it gives us an interesting take on their life. This may not be the same for everyone, but I found that I was comparing Franklin to some of the dictators because to me that's what he was. He even goes as far as to lie to his people to keep their support of his leadership which is what I think dictators often did. He may not, however, have been doing this just because he was power-hungry. I think that was mostly the reason, but I think the rest of the reason was that he felt guilty and couldn't face it.


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