Somewhat surprisingly Sliders was the first drama that used the idea of parallel universes for an ongoing action/adventure series, although many others had dabbled with the idea for the odd episode or two.

The lead character was physics student Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) who manages to build a device that can open a wormhole to a parallel dimension. But, as is usual in such cases, the return journey isn't quite as easy, and Quinn, Professor Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), Wade Wells (Sabrina Lloyd) and Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks) find that returning to their own universe may take a little longer than expected...

Despite showing promise, Sliders was axed after just nine episodes, although Fox then did an about turn and recommissioned the show the following year for a second season comprising thirteen episodes.

These first two seasons were undeniably the best, as the characters stumbled across different versions of San Francis with scenarios ranging from the US under communist control, through to versions where antibiotics or even nuclear weapons had never been discovered or invented.

Season 3 then saw the show move into movie remake hell as the quest for higher ratings saw an enforced change in direction. This was to prove unsuccessful and Fox duly cancelled the series for the second time, leaving the way clear for The Sci-Fi Channel to pick it up, albeit with a reduced budget.

However, from the middle of the Season 3 onwards the cast started to leave one by one until Rembrandt was the only original Slider left at the end of the Season 5.