This page is dedicated to one of the rarest items probably ever associated with the show...one of the Prototype models made by the Prop Master when designing the Original Timer. The timer pictured above and below is said to have actually been used in the filming of The Pilot episode...but only in a very limited capacity (such as shots when only the top dome was visible or when the timer was taken apart).
The history behind how this timer was acquired is the most interesting part. You see, when the show moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles in 1996, none of the Vancouver crew was brought along. This in turn caused the crew to loot the set and props...taking their piece of Sliders *at that moment*. Because of this, all the timer props used in seasons one and two were lost...along with practically every other prop used on the show to that point. Most of these acquirements have not surfaced...but the loss of the timers did cause the necessity for completely new ones to be built for season three. In fact, you can tell slight differences throughout the seasons if you look closely...the big change on the season three original timer was the deletion of the red "swoosh" above the dial.
Take a look below at the various incarnations of the timer...starting with the earliest on the left (Pilot era with the larger, black Days window) all the way to the final incarnation on the far right (season three vintage):
But you ask yourself...if these other timer props did *not* surface out there yet, then where did this prototype come from? Well, the looters didn't think to check where it was at.
You see, while filming in Vancouver, the trailers for Sliders were directly next to the trailers for The X-Files. As such, the cast and crew often "hung out" together and exchanged items. In fact, there are numerous stories of how Jerry O'Connell and David Duchouvny would play basketball between takes...and then there is the fact that the X-Files make up crew lent their talents to create the complicated make up effect for the Kromaggs in season two's "Invasion". This friendship between the shows often had things being traded back and forth...including one prototype timer.
It's not clear how it got there, but in 1998 when X-Files production moved from Vancouver to LA, the prop boxes were sorted and sifted through as part of the move. One of the crewman found an oddity at the very bottom of the X-Files prop box, however...something he didn't recognize. Normally such a thing would have most likely been discarded, but this crew man held on to it. And as a result, the prototype would eventually make it out into the public which has allowed you to see it here in depth today.
Now for a more indepth look at this prop. Below you will find up close pictures of the different segments, as well as information on how the timer prop operates. And the most intriguing thing (and neatest thing) of all is that the original timer *was* made out of items a college kid could afford to buy at a local hardware store. Now *that's* detail.
It is unclear what was used to make the box like appearance of the black section...but the top and front portion of the cell phone were cut out and the box placed in. The smooth black surface (mostly seamless) is actually achieved by some form of tape or coating overlaying the section.
The letters are obviously screen printed on (in the same exact font, size and style as the ones on the other timer props of season one and two vintage). The dial is unlike anything I've ever seen, but I'm sure it's yet another simple item that could be found if one knew where to look. Turning the dial controls the speed of the blinking lights and LCD bar motion.
The top dome actually acts as a magnifer for the light...because it *is* a magnifier. The top dome is actually a desk magnifier used for reading (the kind with the dome top and flat bottom). The ends have been sanded clean to an angle to give the desired effect. The copper bands? Two halves of a piece of copper piping that has a circumference which roughly fits the dome of the magnifier dome.
Here we have a look at the lighted inside portion of the front of the timer. The lights are deactivated as long as the timer is in closed positio (with the flip portion up). When you open the flip portion, all the lights on the face come on automatically.
One of the first things to notice is that the LCD numbers for the readout are different. These appear to be smaller than the ones ultimately used. Also, they numbers are in one panel rectangles that contain two numbers. The single digits on either end are in reality one of these panels cut in half and placed on.
The lights and LCD bars are fairly simple and can be found in most stores like Radio Shack. The buttons are in fact the actual buttons used on the cell phone casing. However, only the early models of the Micro T-A-C Ultra Lite (the original foundation) or 550 Motorola phones before 1996 feature the black buttons. The Micro T-A-C Ultra Lite actually went of production around 1993...but all 550's after 96 had solid white buttons.
The "1" button "opens the vortex" and causes the top magnifier dome glow a bright white when depressed. All the other buttons have no function. However, the switch on the right side of the timer turns the red dome glow off and on.
The red light is yet another validation and dates the piece. The top dome only had a red glow at one time during the series...The Pilot episode. The red glow was associated with the return mechanism...and is only seen once when Quinn returns home after seeing the double of his pregnant mother.
All the rest of the features of the prop are unfinished and just like the phone casing. This timer was never meant to be used for up close shots of the face...but instead it was meant for design testing and later for the action scenes (such as the shots when we only saw the back of the timer...or when we saw the timer taken apart).
The lights are powered by a regular Motorola Flip Phone Ni-Cad battery...they were just tied into the power source that was already there.
