Sliders: The Classic Episodes [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

This book falls short of being good for several reasons which I can name off of the top of my head. For one, the book for the most part is no longer relevant. It doesn't deal at all with the current season being aired on the Sci-Fi Channel and there are no interviews with Charlie O'Connell, Marc Scott Zicree and many others who would be vital to any complete Sliders volume. I realize this is because the book was delayed so long, but couldn't they have made some changes during that time?

Secondly, Brad Linaweaver's wit leaves much to be desired. This is a much bigger problem than would normally seem the case because he liberally splatters it all over every page, including episode synopses and interviews. Brad, just write it straight, it's not a showcase for your writing talent, it's an episode guide for Sliders for crying out loud!

Thirdly, the book provides little information that you couldn't get over the internet. Despite the disappearance of the Sliders haven known as the Expert's page, most of this interview information and all of the episode guide can be obtained on just about any Sliders page in existance.

Who should buy this book? I would recommend it to Sliders fans who do not have access to the internet and/or have missed early episodes (Season One to Season Three). Otherwise, I would recommend passing this one by and maybe buying an alternate history book instead.

The author completely butchered the book with his own personality, which was not very appealing in the first place. There where so many errors in the episode descriptions that it was almost unreadable. His summary of the episode "The Young and the Relentless" is such an example. There was originally supposed to be a Kromagg teaser at the end of the episode but it was cut before the show aired. The writer puts it in the summary like it was in the actually episode that broadcast. He never makes any mentioning that the viewing audience never saw this scene.

The interviews where extremely weak. Almost all the information given in them could be found in Starlog Magazine and other sci-fi publications that did interviews with the cast from that time.

Hardly any inside information what's so ever. Brief mentioning of the departures of two of the series stars. It seemed to me that I should be telling the author about the series instead of the other way around. It's obvious that the author was just trying to make a quick buck with this one.

So now we got two bad Sliders books from the same bad writer. The terrible thing is these are the only two books out there for the series. Linaweaver has probably killed the publication aspect of Sliders.

In closing, this book is a complete waste of time and money.

As a fan since day one of Sliders, I can tell you that basically what you have with "Sliders: The Classic Episodes" is a piece of trash...especially when you consider that this book underwent a year's worth of delays to get to the sorry state it was released in.

First of all is the bulk of the book, the episode reviews. Not only is the job done in the most unprofessional manner possible (you get more childish ranting and rambling opinion of the author than actual information), but it's hard to tell what show the reviewer was watching. The reason for that is that the reviewer never bothers to point out that he is not watching the episodes that were broadcast...thus he never points out that many of the things he talks about in an episode review were *never* broadcast. He just treats the rare inside info as parts of the episode and adds so much of his own rhetoric that the main idea of the "lost scene" is lost (thus confusing the reader and robbing them of the enjoyment of inside information which would otherwise be a treasure). Examples of this can be found for the episodes "Summer of Love" and "The Young and The Relentless"...just to name a few. This just blends into the larger problem...Linaweaver based his book on the production scripts and not by viewing the episodes (he misleadingly tells the readers that he viewed the episodes). I've read the production scripts...I know. And don't even get me started on the pleothra of unintelligible mistakes in the episode information of this book that any "long time" fan would never make.

Of course, the most annoying thing of all is that even with one year to get it right, Linaweaver still couldn't "find the time" to review the last parts of season three. What was he doing during the delays?

The highlight of the book is the interviews...but that isn't saying much. The interviewer seems to take up all the time commenting on himself and his assistants rather than getting information from the stars and creators...and I personally love how the *co-creator* of the show (Bob Weiss) only got a page and a half in the book where as Peter Spellos (a *guest* actor) got a more in depth interview. Where were the priorities? Or do you get more inside info from the guest actor?!? And of course, every interview contains the endless mentions of how the book is dedicated to Ken Steadman...which takes any true, honorable meaning away from the gesture.

Bottom line: Save your money. You can find more comprehensive, better structured, more reliable, more insightful Sliders information on the internet for free (and you don't get as much pompous attitude and lude comments either!). Just consult your local search engine to find more inside information and thoughtful commentary on Sliders...and you'll find more enjoyment too.

Tf

temporalflux@hotmail.com