Sliders Season 4 Finally Arrives on DVD

Mark Talmadge · 12-17-2007, 01:26 PM

This is so awesome. Season 4 is coming our way. Way to go Universal. After waiting until the end of time, we finally get the fourth season. Are you excited? I'm excited! At least, I think I'm excited. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Sli...4-Box-Art/8637

joshEH · 12-17-2007, 03:05 PM

Hell yeah.

This is one of my favorite seasons of the entire series, finally returning the show to its original, fascinating "alternate history" roots, which is all the more miraculous considering the utter trainwreck that was Season 3.

That season boasted several very good episodes early on (produced while Tracy Tormé was still with the series), but soon degenerated into pure "movie-ripoff-of-the-week" horseshit once the FOX executives completely eliminated all creative control the writers once held over the show.

About effing time. Getting the show away from FOX was the best thing they ever did (at least for a year or so), and actually hiring real prose science-fiction writers for these last two seasons made a huge difference in the show's flavor.

Mark Talmadge · 12-17-2007, 03:57 PM

Mayve we'll get even more lucky and Universal will do a movie that wraps up the cliffhanger that ended the series ...

Nicholas Martin · 12-17-2007, 07:53 PM

I can't recall the whole season very well, but wasn't this season all Kromaggs, Kromaggs, Kromaggs with a couple of 'regular' alternate world episodes thrown in? Because that was what made me decide against picking this up long before any announcements.

Pete Battista · 12-17-2007, 08:19 PM

I will be looking forward to picking this one up. I remember a lot of Kromaggs too.. but that is ok... I want all the episodes!

**HTF Ads**

Mark Talmadge · 12-17-2007, 09:28 PM

At least we're getting that much closer to having the whole series out on DVD. Just one more season left and maybe Universal won't wait for another ten years to release the next season.

Pete Battista · 12-18-2007, 10:39 AM

yup... And I will jump at the fifth season 2 if/when it comes!

Mark Talmadge · 12-18-2007, 01:37 PM

Don't expect the fifth and final season to be released until around 2010, if Universal's track record is any indication.

Ron68 · 12-18-2007, 09:45 PM

This is great news! My jaw just about hit the floor when I saw this article on TVShowsonDVD.com. I was glad to see the Kromaggs return this season and in a more substantial role, my only complaint was Wade was missing

and I didn't care too much for the fate of her character. I'm definitely going to pick this up and, so far, I don't have any other planned purchases in March.

joshEH · 12-18-2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicholas Martin

I can't recall the whole season very well, but wasn't this season all Kromaggs, Kromaggs, Kromaggs with a couple of 'regular' alternate world episodes thrown in? Because that was what made me decide against picking this up long before any announcements.

Keep in mind, though, that the Kromaggs were created by Tracy Tormé, and were originally intended to become a major component of Season 3, before the FOX Network screwed things up on that front.

I've also heard it mentioned from various sources that a good chunk of what we got in Season 4 is what would've occurred in S3, in broader structural terms -- the Kromagg invasions, the search for their homeworld, et cetera. When Tormé declined to rejoin the show in S4, due to the presence of David Peckinpah, Marc Scott Zicree and Bill Dial picked up that storyline from where Tormé originally intended, and the series continued almost as if the third year never even happened (barring that One Small, Tiny Little Thing™, obviously).

Too bad two of the main cast members left the series during that interregnum, but S4 still ended up making a Maggie-fan out of me, which was no small task, and was the absolute utter last thing in the world I would've imagined right when Season 3 was drawing to a close on FOX. Getting Sliders away from them was -- for at least a season -- perhaps the best thing that ever happened to the show since Season 2.

Mark Talmadge · 12-19-2007, 01:21 PM

In my opinion, the PTB screwed the series up when Jerry O'Connell, John Rhys-Davies and Sabrina Lloyd left the series. Tracy Torme did a wonderful job but the people in charge of the direction of the series screwed up the series as well as leaving the series finale wide open with no apparent conclusion.

It also begs to question about the often talked about Sliders movie in which Jerry O'Connell stated that he was open to appearing in the movie version.

joshEH · 12-26-2007, 11:14 PM

Another thing, re: the Season 4 DVD:

Although supplemental features on these releases have been sort on the thin side (the first set had a pilot commentary and a "making of" doc, whereas Season 3 only had that year's Gag Reel), in the case of S4, there was the rather good "Making of Sliders" documentary that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the summer of '98, the night the new season premiered.

It was really quite good, with interviews with the new showrunners (Marc Scott Zicree and Bill Dial) and the cast, and from what I recall contained some pretty frank and candid assessments of Season 3, and what they hoped to fix during Season 4. Still have it on tape, and you'd think -- since Universal also owns Sci-Fi -- that it wouldn't be a huge issue to license it and include it in this release.

There was also a S4 Gag Reel, so I suppose time will tell.