Sliders: Seasons 1 and 2 [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

Sliders on DVD.......2004-11-08

Never before available to buy, not even on video, top sci-fi show Sliders finally gets a release on DVD!
Although relatively low budget, the stories and characters are what made this series unique. Following the adventures of Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown and Professor Arthero, we are taken on a ride through dimensions as they attempt to find a way back home.
This set features all 9 episodes of season 1 (including the feature lengthed pilot), plus all 13 episodes of season 2.
I hope that season 3 also gets a release, as it is equal in strength to the first 2.
It's just a shame that seasons 4 and 5 lost their way and over-complicated the story, with massive changes to the cast.
Still, this set collects most of the best.
Any chance of a Region 2 release??

Slip-slidin' away..."Sliders" finally shows up on DVD.......2004-08-04

Bread crumbs. Even Hansel and Gretel knew to leave those behind but, of course, the birds ate them so, perhaps it might not have helped Quinn Mallory to leave a trail behind. If he had done so in the pilot there wouldn't have been a series and that's what it's all about. "Sliders" arrived on the scene and immediately faced critical barbs. Some folks accused it of being a rip off of "Quantum Leap". It wasn't any more a rip off than "Babylon 5" was a rip off of "Star Trek". They both used unique devices to let their characters travel to different situations.

Quinn Mallory accidently discovers a key to opening wormholes when he creates a device to defy gravity. Unfortunately, he, Wade (Sabrina Lloyd), his physics professor (John Rhys-Davies) and a washed up r&b singer named Rembrandt (Clevant Derrick)who happens to be passing by on his way to sing at an San Francisco Giants game get sucked into the wormhole when a power surge causes it to go out of control.

They discover that there are other worlds with intelligent life. Most of those other worlds are alternate Earths that have followed very different paths than our world. Unfortunately, Quinn has no way for them to get back home so they must keep sliding (the portals open on an unpredictable time schedule allowing them only so many hours in each world)from alternate universe to alternate universe hoping they'll eventually slide home.

Created by Tracy Torme (who was a staff writer on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and for trivia buffs the son of singer Mel Torme)and Robert Weiss, the series started off with a lot of potential. Although the quality varied a bit from year to year, the best stories were always interesting and the performances were, for the most part, very convincing.

We get the shortened first and second season here in a box that is packaged in a half cardboard half clear plastic box with the DVDs suspended by a foam core. It creates the illusion that they're suspected in the middle with out any means of support. It looks quite cool. The picture quality is very good with few blemishes and the sound has exceptional mastering as well. I didn't detect a lot of compression or distortion. So the show looks great and tastes great, too.

The extras are lean. We get a featurette on the making of the show and a stills gallery but that's about it. On the back is a one sheet with info on the DVD when you fold it out it has an episode guide but without any cast listing or crew credits. When yo pop in each disc and select an episode you get an on screen symposis similar to that on the "Quantum Leap" first season set. I have to give Universal praise for putting both the first and second season in one set (unlike "Quantum Leap") although the price is a bit high especially when compared to another release from the same day, "Knight Rider". That set retails for about 1/3 less than "Sliders" and it has more features (although the design of the box isn't quite as sharp). Clearly Universal has the impression that this series is going to appeal to a cult audience and, as such, as tried to make it as attractive looking as possible.

We only get a commentary track on the pilot by Torme and Weiss. While it's interesting and provides fascinating tidbits about pre-production, production and post-production problems the crew ran into, I would also have liked to hear from the original cast members as well. The show has aged surprisingly well although not all the CGI effects have held up but then again that's true of most movies and television shows. The CGI effects work at moving the story forward and that's their purpose. I would have liked to have a featurette on the CGI visual effects, more commentary on the various directions the show took over time, etc. Perhaps that'll be on the next couple of sets.

While I like the unique design, the box can be a bit of a pain to put back together and it might not withstand wear and tear as much simpler sets. I'd suggest buying a couple of amray DVD containers and putting them in there and keeping your box as a colletible. It almost looks cool enough to put on display.

There's been lots of discussion about the varied quality of the show over the years. It doesn't matter. The best episodes are worth viewing again and again. Although there might be more memorable ones in this set than another, there's always something memorable about even the weakest episode of the series. Pick it up today but try to avoid paying retail full price if you can.

Customer Reviews:

A STAR BONUS.......2005-04-28

The so-called 'bonus' on this DVD is, in fact, very much more than that. The most thrilling performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4 you're likely to hear (and see) in a long time. Rozhdestvensky and the Leningrad Philharmonic at the 1971 Proms is fantastic treat - not to be missed.

"To go without music is to forgo happiness".......2004-12-23

This title tops for my money the new batch of EMI Classic Archive releases. Good quality footage of the legendary Russian conductor Evgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988) is still something of rarity, but here we get as part of an extensive biographic survey produced by the BBC (2003) loads of first-rate material - fragments from rehearsals, concerts, and even home-made video's. Interviews with the conductor's widow, members of the Leningrad Philharmonic and fellow-conductors who worked with him (mainly Kurt Sanderling and Mariss Jansons) shed new light on the career and personality of this unique musician, caught between the memories of his life in pre-Revolutionary Russia and his artistic pre-eminence within the Soviet society which he resented. His association with Dmitry Shostakovich in the 1930s and 1940s, of whom he premiered several symphonies in spite of the composer's repeated problems with the Stalinist government, was in this respect characteristic.

The documentary is followed by two concert performances of Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in Weber's "Oberon" and Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini", one of the conductor's signature works, respectively dating from 1978 and 1983. The sound quality leaves a lot to be desired, but to see Mravinsky in action at such length is in itself an exhilarating experience, especially because the largely static camera almost exclusively focuses on him.

If you can find it on the DVD there is also an extensive bonus in the form of a 1971 BBC-Proms concert of Tchaikovsky's 4th by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (and recently released on CD as part of the BBC Legends series). A solid performance, well recorded (courtesy of Brian Large) but one that leaves you with as much regret that it wasn't Mravinsky instead of Rozhdestvensky who was filmed.

All in all, an indispensable release.

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