Earth Prime (Sliders)

Earth Prime, a term used in the television show Sliders, is the name of the alternate Earth where the four original sliders (Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown, and Maximillian Arturo) started their journey. Although it is very similar to our Earth, the creator of the show, Tracy Tormé, has stated that it is not our Earth.

This Earth was the same as our Earth until 1997 or 1998, when the Kromaggs slid onto Earth Prime and conquered it. Two months after the Kromaggs arrived, Quinn learned that he is not from Earth Prime, but of Kromagg Prime instead, though Quinn did live on Earth Prime from a time when he was a baby until when he started sliding. Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo were born on this earth. Some other inhabitants of Earth Prime include incarnations of several of the recurring characters of Sliders: Amanda Mallory, Conrad Bennish, Jr., and Michael Hurley. Michael Mallory also existed on Earth Prime, but is deceased at the time of the pilot episode.

Although the goal of the show is to return to Earth Prime, the sliders have actually been to Earth Prime more than once during the series and left. The first time they returned was in "Into The Mystic". Quinn's double (known as The Sorcerer on that earth) was able to determine the sliders' home coordinates. However, since the vortex was scheduled to open in fifty-three seconds, they had to decide quickly whether or not this was the sliders' home earth. Quinn tested to hear if the gate to his house squeaked. Since it did not, the sliders decided that they were not home, so they left. Quinn did not realize that the gate had recently been oiled, which caused it to no longer squeak.

Quinn returned to Earth Prime near the end of the episode "The Exodus, Part One" along with Maggie Beckett (Arturo, Wade, and Rembrandt were not with them). Quinn and Maggie were scouting parallel worlds to find one suitable to build a colony and by coincidence, landed on Earth Prime. Quinn and Maggie were scheduled to be on that world for 30 minutes. Quinn found his mother shortly after arriving, but Maggie was unable to breathe. Quinn slid out with Maggie, telling his mother that he promised he would be back.

For the rest of season 3, the Sliders track Colonel Rickman to get his timer and use it to return to Earth Prime. Finally, in "This Slide of Paradise," they are able to get Rickman's timer and Quinn sends Rembrandt and Wade through the vortex, but due to damage to the tracking device of the Sliders timer, is unable to follow. By the time Quinn and Maggie manage to track the wormhole to Earth Prime three months later, it has been overrun by Kromaggs shortly after Wade and Rembrandt returned. After rescuing Rembrandt and learning that Quinn is from another Earth, the Sliders leave again to seek a weapon that can save Earth Prime from the Kromaggs.

In "The Seer," the series finale of Sliders, the Sliders, who didn't manage to find a weapon to use against the Kromaggs, try to return to Earth Prime using coordinants given to them by Doctor Oberon Geiger, but wind up on Seer World where they are warned that if they attempt to slide again, they will die instantly upon exiting the wormhole. Getting a biological weapon used on that world to wipe out the Kromaggs, the Sliders decide to return to Earth Prime and use the virus to free it, but their timer is destroyed. As the series ends, Rembrandt slides to Earth Prime after having injected the virus into his body, but it is unknown if he survived the trip or not or if he was successful in defeating the Kromaggs with the virus.

External links

• Earth Prime, a Sliders website
  • "travelogue" on Earth Prime