Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Sliding" into season 3 of cult sci-fi show, July 18, 2005
First this is an honest to goodness review of the boxed set. There's no speculation here as to what's in the set. The first two seasons of "Sliders" found the series looking for its "slider legs" so to speak. By the second short season the series had found its niche and a solid direction for the series. Both seasons had their fair share of strong episodes. The third season was the first full one with 25 episodes produced. While there were about as many quality episodes here as seasons 1 & 2, we get a number of the series best episodes here including one where Dr. Arturo leaves the group permanently in a moving episode. Regardless, season three had a number of strong episodes ("Rules of the Game", "Number 1 Fan", "The Exodus" Parts 1 & 2 and "The Guardian" are a few highlights). I'm not going to go over the plots of the episodes (there's too many to do justice to the series)but you can find synposis of each at the tv.com website.
Image and sound quality are exceptionally good. The series looks great with vivid, bold colors and features nice use of the Dolby Digital Surround format (evidently Universal must be thinking of the other "Sliders" produced on an alternate Earth as they list the soundtrack as being in mono in a number of places). Extras are light for season three with only a gag reel (provided by one of the fan sites). There was more material that another fan site had and would have offered Universal for free if they had been contacted in time (at least according to Gord Lacey at tvondvd). I'm hoping he's right as, perhaps, we could see this material on the mixed fourth season boxed set.
We do get as a bonus episodes of "Earth 2" and "Cleopatra 2525" ("The Man Who Fell to Earth", no it isn't related to Nichoas Roeg's movie, and "Quest for Fire Power" respectively)which is designed to get "Sliders" fans to purchase those series as well. While "Earth 2" had its moments, "Cleopatra 2525" never appealed to me all that much.
The packaging has improved with a digipak plastic container holding the discs. They no longer appear to "hover" in their container like the first season set (the design of which many fans disliked)but the digipak plastic container has its own challenges. Personally, I'm going to be putting mine into four slim line cases as these discs are dual sided and, as I experienced with "The Outer Limits", suffer damage so much easier than single sided dual layered discs.
Overall, season three had a good run of great episodes. While the quantity of episodes was up the quality didn't increase with more episodes so there's about the same ratio of good to so-so episodes here. At least this set is more reasonably priced and that's good news.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible Case Design, October 6, 2005
Whoever designed the cases/discs for both of the Sliders sets so far needs to be fired. Both cases are a huge risk to the discs. In the first one, its pretty easy to scratch them against one another. And this one is even worse!!! The double-sided discs wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't arranged the case the way they did. Having to take the top disc out to get to the bottom disc? Absolutely ridiculous!. And you practically have to hold the case open with both hands just to open it wide enough to get the discs out without scratching them. Then, you've got no hands left to grab the disc(s)!!! If you plan on buying this series, plan on investing in a set of cases too. There's no way you should keep them in the case they come in.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Good show in a crap package., August 12, 2005
The title pretty much sums it up. Sliders is an excellent program. The episodes are inventive, the characters are likeable, and the acting is usually very good. However, this is a review for the DVD set, not for the program itself, and, while the program is highly entertaining and one of my favourites, the DVD set is, quite possibly, the worst that I own.
The four double-sided discs come in a floppy plastic package. There is no episode list in the packaging, unlike most other DVD sets that include one to help you keep your place, and very little liner material. That which is provided is adhered lightly to the box with dry glue. The fact that the discs are double-sided makes them more fragile and prone to being scratched as there is no 'safe' side to touch. The flimsy plastic of the cases is difficult to hold open and provides little protection. Furthermore, the discs are stacked on top of each other, so you often have to pick up one to get at the one beneath it, increasing the opportunity for damaging the disc. I can barely imagine a more irritating package design. An empty box with DVDs in protective CD sleeves would be more convenient.
There are also few extras included, and you have to watch the Universal logo animation over and over and over. Clearly, this package was put out to convince us to buy more, which isn't likely to happen if they don't improve the materials. It's sad that such a terrific show wound up being so mistreated.
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