These are scenes from the August 7, 1996 first revision of the production draft of the script for the episode Electric Twister Acid Test written by Scott Smith Miller. These scenes did not make it into the final episode due to time and story considerations.
We begin with a few special effects differences...
First of all, the timer was supposed to CRACKLE with electricty when the Sliders looked at it.
Also, the boy near the beginning of the episode was supposed to be riding an UPSIDE DOWN twister.
Next we come to some slightly different lines for Act One...
ACT ONE
FADE IN:
EXT. DESERT - DAY - LATER
The Sliders, now in regular clothes, having left their helmets and jumpsuits behind, trudge across the barren landscape. Several UPSIDE DOWN TWISTERS (CGI) bob and weave in the distance, then seem to dissipate with an electrical FLASH.
WADE
That's the fourth one of those
weird tornadoes we've seen in the
last hour.
ARTURO
Yes, and they all seem to be
generated by some kind of
electrical charge.
QUINN
(eyes timer; CRACKLES)
Those electrical charges could be
what's affecting the timer.
REMBRANDT
(to Arturo)
You sure we're going to get to the
ocean this way?
ARTURO
As long as we keep following the
sun.
REMBRANDT
Yeah, but *how* long?
WADE
Maybe we should have stayed where
we were and looked for that kid.
He had ot have been with some kind
of desert community.
REMBRANDT
I think that kid was a mirage.
ARTURO
(facetious)
Or perhaps a ghost. I'm sure
Miss Welles can believe in that
possibility.
QUINN
The kid was real. I felt him.
ARTURO
Then perhaps he's a Houdini
prodigy.
Then we were to dissolve into the Sliders continuing to walk and coming up upon the electrifed water hole just as we saw in the final version...
Another missing line was one for Arturo when they find the city nestled in lodestone...
ARTURO
Brigadoon, here we come!
And another set of lost lines is found when they enter the town...
As they jump down off the last rock they spot a MAN locked in wooden stocks, and obviously dead. Next to him is a hand written sign: "Outcasts caught raiding will be executed."
REMBRANDT
That's a helluva welcome sign.
ARTURO
Harsh environments create harsh
people.
REMBRANDT
Maybe we should just keep going.
QUINN
If we want to slide we're going to
have to stay within this rock
perimeter.
WADE
I don't know about you guys, but
I'm not a camel. I need water.
REMBRANDT
And I need...
QUINN
(heard it before)
I know. Something to eat. All
right, but let's keep a low
profile. Try not to draw
attention to ourselves.
Then we cut to inside the house where the locals are talking about the raiding like we saw before...
Another difference comes with the first scene of our Sliders in the barn...
INT. FRANKLIN'S BARN - DAY
Quinn sits on a hay bale. As Wade clears a spot on the floor to sit, Remmy opens a wooden cabinet and takes out a jar of preserved fruit. Arturo enters as...
WADE
(to Remmy)
What are you doing? You can't just
take that.
REMBRANDT
Why not?
WADE
It's stealing.
REMBRANDT
We gotta eat. And I don't remember
passing an IHOP on the way in.
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out some bills as Arturo uses a ladle to drink.
WADE
I'll leave some money.
REMBRANDT
Girl, you are too much.
ARTURO
Water anyone?
As Wade moves to Arturo, Rembrandt approaches Quinn who's sitting pensively on a hay bale. He holds out the jar of canned fruit to him.
REMBRANDT
Hungry, Q-Ball?
Quinn, seemingly in another world, just shakes his head.
REMBRANDT
What's up, man?
And from there we go into Quinn's remembrance of his child hood vacations in Minnesota...
Another lost bit concerns a small bit of alternate history...and also an indication of just how wide spread the tornado epidemic was...
ARTURO
Don't worry Mister Brown. The
lodestone will prevent any
electrically charged tornado's from
entering the town. Isn't that
right, miss?
As Jenny closes the door...
JENNY
That's right.
QUINN
(to Jenny)
Look, is there a store or
restuarant where we can get
something to eat?
She eyes them now, more curiously as the RUMBLING NOISE now grows to a ROAR.
JENNY
Of course not. We're totally self
sufficient. Where are you from?
Edgy, Wade moves to the door and looks out a crack.
QUINN
(hesitates, then)
Up north.
JENNY
(wary)
There is no "up north", anymore.
The guys react as a frightened Wade turns back to them.
WADE
Hey! Are you sure that tornado
can't cross those rocks?!
And as you know...the tornado does cross over and into the rest of the scene as we saw it...
Interestingly, the original script called for Arturo to be the one strung up to the tree...and he was to be whipped, not beaten.
Another interesting deviation...the original script called for Rembrandt to be hit by a broken tree limb to knock him unconscious in the desert...in the final broadcast episode, Rembrandt was struck by lightning.
Near the end of the episode, the Sliders were supposed to find the timer in not quite as good of shape...
Our scene begins with Martin wrestling with Jenny outside as our Sliders run up...the timer laying open at her feet where she dropped it in the struggle...
ANGLE - REMMY AND MARTIN
Martin lunges the pitchfork, Remmy jumps back. Frustrated, Martin heaves the sharp tines at Remmy's head, but he swats the tool away with the plank and it falls harmlessly to the ground. As Marting turns and races away, Remmy swats him in the butt with the 2x4.
REMBRANDT
And that's for leaving me in the
desert!
He drops the 2x4, kneels to pick up the opened timer as Reed and Jenny approach.
REMBRANDT
(yelling)
Q-Ball! Out back!
(eyeing the disassembled timer)
Oh, sweet Mary.
A still damp Quinn and Wade race around the corner of the house. Rembrandt holds out the opened timer and the dislodged circuit board in his cupped hands.
REMBRANDT
We got a problem here, man.
QUINN
(taking the timer)
We got one out front too! Franklin
and his men are coming up the road!
REED
Follow me!
Reed leads them to a nearby tree. He drops and pushes away some dirt, revealing a small wooden door. As he lifts it and gestures for the others to go down...
REMBRANDT
(re: timer)
Can you fix it, Q-Ball?
QUINN
Yeah... maybe... if we're lucky...
REMBRANDT
(facetious)
Keep talking, man. I'm feeling
better and better.
And then they disappear into the hole and another scene...
The biggest change of all comes at the end...originally we were supposed to see the next world our Sliders went to...and if you watch the end of the episode, you can hear some evidence that maybe this scene was filmed but cut...
Rembrandt grabs Wade's hand and jumps up, his free arm outstretched to the vortex. It sucks them both in. Arturo jumps, then Quinn and we...
INT. WORMHOLE - SLIDING (STOCK)
The zigzag ride is accompanied by the SOUND OF SPARKING ELECTRICITY sucked up from the tornado.
EXT. PARK - THE NEXT WORLD - DAY
Quinn's the last one out. He lands near his friends under a tree. As the Vortex closes and the SPARKING SOUND fades...
REMBRANDT
(ecstatic)
Hey, hey!
WADE
I can't believe we made it!
Wade reaches out to hug Rembrandt. SFX: ZZTTT! They recoil from a shock of electricity. OW!
REMBRANDT
Damn, that hurt! What's the story,
Q-Ball?
QUINN
Just residual electricity.
Wade playfully reaches out and touches Arturo. SFX: ZZTTT!
ARTURO
OW! Stop it this instant, Miss
Welles!
WADE
C'mon Professor. Where's your
sense of humor?
She ZAPS him again. Quinn tries to hide a smile, can't.
ARTURO
Oh... think it's funny do you?
Now he reaches out and touches Quinn. SFX: ZZTTT! A "zapping" contest breaks out, each Sliders touching the other in good natured fun. Suddenly...
VOICE
Are they human?
Surprised, the Sliders look around, finally focusing their attention above them, where they see...
TWO TREE DWELLING HUMANS
... apparently FLOATING upside down above them, dressed in tailored hemp clothing. CAMERA WIDENS TO REVEAL they're actually hanging from tree limbs... BY THEIR TAILS.
TREE DWELLER
I'm not sure, but I'm not hanging
around to find out.
As the tree dwellers start to move away...
THE SLIDERS
... exchange a look and we...
FADE OUT
THE END.
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