Sliders/Eggheads

Eggheads
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	April 26, 1995
Production Number	70405
Teleplay by	Scott Smith Miller
Story by	Scott Smith Miller & Jacob Epstein
Directed by	Timothy Bond
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Sliders — Season One

Eggheads is the seventh episode of the first season of Sliders.

Starring: Jerry O'Connell (Quinn Mallory), Sabrina Lloyd (Wade Wells), Cleavant Derricks (Rembrandt Brown)

and John Rhys-Davies (Arturo)

Guest Stars: Charles Cyphers (Coach Almquist), Peter Spellos (Joey Fountain), Gabrielle Rose (Christina Fox-Arturo)

Special Appearances by: Rick Garcia (Referee), Tom Jackson (Color Commentator), Ron Pitts (Play-by-Play Announcer)

Co-Starring: Andrew Guy (Wilson), Karen Austin (Lydia), William B. Davis (Professor Myman)

Featuring: Roman Danylo (Boyer), Johnny Mah (Victor), Rachel Hayward (Karen), Anthony Harrison (Agent Cannon), Marc Baur (Agent O'Malley), Sheelah Megill (Mrs. Bingham), Colin Warner (Harvard Captain), Bentley Mitchum (M.I.T. Player), Mark Poyser (Rapper Leader), Carl Hibbert (Rapper #1), Michael McMillian (Rapper #2), Amanda O'Leary (Librarian)

Plot Overview

On a world where intelligence is celebrated more than sports ability, Quinn is mistaken for his famous double who, along with Professor Arturo, were reported to have gone sliding some time ago. In order to find the sliding equipment they assume the lives of their doubles; Quinn must play the intelligence-based sport Mindgame, and the Professor finds that his deceased love Christina is still alive on this world.

Brave New Worlds

• A culture that respects and reveres intellect to the level given to celebrities.

Doubles

• Quinn (mentioned only)

• Arturo (mentioned only)

• Mrs Mallory (mentioned only)

Timer

• Little more than 5 days

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Quinn explains that if he could access to his sliding system, they can avoid reconfiguring the timer and can autoset the system to return them home.

Characters

• It's revealed that Arturo had a wife for a few shorts years before she died from a brain aneurysm at 27. He still considers her the great love of his life.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• This was the 8th episode filmed.

• The working title of this episode in pre-production was "Genius".

• UCAL player number 7 is Torme, an obvious reference to Tracy Tormé. Tormé insists he had nothing to do with this.

Allusions and References

• As Rembrandt deduces, the classical music playing on the boombox is Tchaikovsky. The composition is from The Nutcracker Suite.

• Nikke and Weeties are obvious pastiches of Nike and Wheaties, respectively.

Goofs

• When Quinn says he's not playing in the game, Rembrandt seems to turn off the TV, but you can still hear the announcers talking.

Quotes

• Arturo: Well, we evidently have arrived on a world where they regard intellectual achievement with the same adulation that we confer on movie stars or sports heroes. Rather sensible if you ask me.

• Rembrandt: If you've got all these endorsements, how come you're so broke?

Wade: How's he supposed to know? He's not him.

Rembrandt: Maybe I'm missing something. I don't know.

Wade: How come you're always asking stupid questions?

• Color Commentator: But it ain't over until the fat lady closes the book.

• Wade: (to Rembrandt) You bet on a game that you don't understand? You're an idiot.

• Wade: We're supposed to be in some elevated super-intellectual society. Everything's just as twisted as it is back home.

Quinn: Worse.

Arturo: Intellectual refinement's one thing. Moral refinement's something different.

• Arturo: (recording a message for his double) Like you, I'm a man of science and a slider. You inhabit a world which esteems the intellect. I inhabit a world that all too often appears to despise it. You have wealth, success, fame, and a wife that loves you. And yet, despite all of this, you are a fool. There was a Christina in my world, too. And when she died, I discovered that I had lost everything that gave my life any meaning. If you lose your Christina, I promise you, your life will lose its meaning, too. Don't let that happen, my dear alter-ego. You are, after all, far too intelligent for that.

"Library Rap" by MC Poindexter & The Study Crew

Yo, homes, what up? What up with you?

What we gonna say? What we gonna do?

Where we gonna go? What we gonna see?

We're goin' to the library

I'm moving down the aisle with my homies in tow

We're groovin' in the home of the librarian, yo

She checks us out from behind thick glasses

We walk right past and we wiggle our asses

Hemingway, Lawrence, Chekhov, and Miller

Fitzgerald was a freak, Mailer is a killer

(Quiet please! Quiet please!)

The silence is golden, to books I am beholden

I know I'm bad 'cause of the knowledge that I'm holdin'

And I give you one warnin, there will be no repeats

Get out of my face when I'm readin' my Keats