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Tracy Tormé Chat at AOL IM on January 10, 2000
DixonHillTT has entered the room.
Ducttape79: welcome DixonHillTT
LaymeDuck: Good afternoon, Mr. Tormé. Thanks for joining us!
Sabrr Edge: hi
JorgeCis: Good afternoon!
SeaAir1171: good morning
Blinker21V: Welcome!
jlbanker7: welcome
ninji78: Mr. Torme, it's a pleasure..
Vortex62: Hello!!
DixonHillTT: glad to do it - hello
maxinfinity: Hello!
Yeontwo: hi, Mr. Torme
gbdarren has entered the room.
LaymeDuck: So, I've got a list of questions here.
DixonHillTT: shoot
LaymeDuck: I'll start with the big one:
LaymeDuck: Which Arturo slid, and if it was the wrong one, did you ever plan to address that?
DixonHillTT: of course i know which arturo slid but im sworn to secrecy - there are clues in other episodes though
LaymeDuck: We all figure it was the wrong one.
LaymeDuck: Since it'd make it easier for JRD to come back. :)
ninji78: Is the disease a clue?
DixonHillTT: you could be right... then again
DixonHillTT: disease - not really
Ducttape79: I have a related question
LaymeDuck: shoot
Ducttape79: In Summer of Love, Arturo shows a knowledge of football (i.e. the Wishbone offense)...
Ducttape79: but in The Guradian, he says, "I have just attended my very first American football game"
Ducttape79: clue?
DixonHillTT: but he says later that hes just seen his first football game
Ducttape79: exactly
DixonHillTT: maybe youre onto something
maxinfinity has left the room.
DixonHillTT: max... come back!
LaymeDuck: LOL
SeaAir1171: :-(
Ducttape79: he'll be back, i'm sure
DixonHillTT: god, i hope so
LaymeDuck: LOL
ninji78: Mr. Torme, may I ask...Your idea of Quinn..any relation to Wesley Crusher?
DixonHillTT: absolutely none - liked Will W. as a person - didn't like the charector much
LaymeDuck: I've got one.
LaymeDuck: When FOX put the show on hiatus after Luck of the Draw, what was supposed to happen to Ryan over the 5-episode arc we heard about?
LaymeDuck: Instead of him and the dog just fading away.
DixonHillTT: production decision made by the network - lose the dog - im a huge dog lover so you know it wasn't my idea
LaymeDuck: We heard that Ryan was going to meet a most unpleasant demise.
DixonHillTT: no, not really - was never decided
DixonHillTT: unless im forgetting something
LaymeDuck: Were there any plans for the character?
LaymeDuck: If anyone wants to chime in, be my guest. :)
Sabrr Edge: ask a question?
DixonHillTT: would've used ryan in a recurring way if i could have
Ducttape79: no, just chime in.
LaymeDuck: Did you ever have any story ideas regarding the FBI before FOX axed the idea?
DixonHillTT: you mean from summer of love?
LaymeDuck: Yeah.
DixonHillTT: yeah - stuff going on with the FBI back on our world - their continuing attempts to figure out the sliding equipment
Blinker21V: If it helps refresh your memory, here's a quote from an interview... "I worked out with Jacob Epstein, who was also executive producer that year, the path that Ryan would take. We had in mind three or four shows to do with him. By the fourth show, something shocking was going to happen to him."
LaymeDuck: Would that have been a standalone episode, like with Bennish?
DixonHillTT: oh right - we were going to take Ryan with us for a little while - id forgotten
DixonHillTT: dont undestand the question
maxinfinity has entered the room.
LaymeDuck: Like an episode only on EarthPrime.
jlbanker7: wb
maxinfinity: Tech problems...ugh
LaymeDuck: Ask questions, folks.
JorgeCis: Mr. Torme, how do you feel about Bob Weiss's effort to try to get a movie done? Will you take a part in it if he succeeds?
LaymeDuck: BTW, Bob has said to me that he'd love to work on the script with you.
DixonHillTT: bob has barely breached the idea - we talked about it once, briefly
Ducttape79: he said that in chat.
JorgeCis: Would you like a transcript of it?
DixonHillTT: always love to work with bob
DixonHillTT: sure
JorgeCis: One sec.
ninji78: Mr. Torme, if Arturo would have left earlier, did you have any back up characters in the making to replace him?
DixonHillTT: anyone but the charectors they brought in later
LaymeDuck: LOL
Yeontwo: LOL
SeaAir1171: lolly :-)
ninji78: HA!
maxinfinity: Hehe
LaymeDuck: Ms. Flotation Device?
jlbanker7: hehe
LaymeDuck: What's the scoop on Quinn living in a boarding house in an early draft?
DixonHillTT: that became the victorian house with his mother
LaymeDuck: Bob said that others in the house got sucked into the vortex... was Wade initially living there?
DixonHillTT: no - not correct - no one else sucked in but R.B.
ninji78: Mr Torme, a little philosphical one. If you could end the series as it stands today(new characters included), how would you do it?
ninji78: Sorry, a complicated one, I know..
Blinker21V: He said there were too many characters pulled in to service in weekly episodes.
DixonHillTT: dont know enough about the new charectors to begin to answer that
Sabrr Edge: my go:
Sabrr Edge: How did you decide what alternate histories to use in your stories,and how did you research them? Are there any alt-histories you wouldhave liked to explore but weren't able to?
LaymeDuck: Do you recall the original storyline for "Raging Quinn..." which later became "The Other Slide of Darkness" with Maggie and Rickman?
DixonHillTT: great number of alt histories left unexplored - basically used evens in history from WW 2 and Revolutionary War, etc. to pursue dramatic stories
LaymeDuck: What ever happened to "Twisted Cross" and "Heat of the Moment"?
DixonHillTT: Do I have to?
LaymeDuck: I'm curious because "Raging Quinn" was, production wise, the first or second script in development, while you were still there.
DixonHillTT: One was concept - fox didnt want a story with nazi's - the other was a script that went unproduced because of loss of arturo
DixonHillTT: Not involved with raging quinn in any way
JorgeCis: What were your original intentions with the Kromaggs?
LaymeDuck: As opposed to Peck's space Nazis.
jlbanker7: hehe
SeaAir1171: lolly
DixonHillTT: enemy unique to sliders - seems they later became ugly klingons with bad teeth
Sabrr Edge: :)
SeaAir1171: lol
JorgeCis: Heh heh.
Blinker21V: And on a related note... who did you intend to have the Kromagg tracking implant revealed as being in (from the end of "Invasion")...and did Arturo's mysterious illness in season three have some connection?
ninji78: LOL!
LaymeDuck: Blink, that couldn't be the case if the wrong Arturo slide.
Ducttape79: ugly Klingons? As opposed to pretty ones?
DixonHillTT: cant reveal all the best secrets - especially when it was never produced
LaymeDuck: It's never gonna be produced now... :)
JorgeCis: How do you feel about the idea of Quinn not being from Earth Prime?
DixonHillTT: think its pretty ridiculous
LaymeDuck: LOL
JorgeCis: Cheers!
LaymeDuck: Thank you, Dave.
Yeontwo: YES!
SeaAir1171: don't we all
ninji78: Nice..
LaymeDuck: Seriously, what's it like working with Dave Peckinpah?
LaymeDuck: Or Maury Hurley.
DixonHillTT: barely did work with him - we mostly went our seperate ways
LaymeDuck: Any character named Peck in "Kung Pow" or "Doomsday?"
DixonHillTT: as to Maurice... take a look at the charector of Hurley from early sliders
LaymeDuck: LOL.
Sabrr Edge: :)
JorgeCis: ;-)
Yeontwo: hee hee
LaymeDuck: He did create the Borg...
LaymeDuck: Were there any more story ideas involving Logan St. Claire?
Blinker21V: I can believe that.
DixonHillTT: yes - never produced
LaymeDuck: Care to elaborate?
DixonHillTT: dont remember much detail
JorgeCis: What was your vision on the Quinn and Wade relationship?
DixonHillTT: romance in denial
Sabrr Edge: My partners and I are interested in getting a right-to-use licensefrom Universal for use in our Sliders PC Game. Is there any insight youcan give me on what the licensing department expects to see or receivein the way of a proposal? Do you know if the license is something that is really hard to obtain or is it relatively easy?
LaymeDuck: But Logan eventually tracked down the Sliders again?
DixonHillTT: dont know anything about licensing - would be irrisponsible to speculate
Sabrr Edge: thank you
Yeontwo: romance in denial for how long?
DixonHillTT: until heat of the moment - too bad
Vortex62: Why was the character Stephanie cut from the Pilot??
DixonHillTT: seen as superfluous on an already long script
ninji78: Mr. Torme, was Quinn's Father's death going to elaborated on? It always seemed too..I dunno....unexplored?
DixonHillTT: many things like fathers death were being planted as seeds - some were used later, some weren't, etc.
LaymeDuck: If television shows like "Party of Five" can be taped in L.A. but be based in San Francisco, why couldn't Sliders production do the same thing for S3? I mean, "Guardian" showed how easy it is to establish it as being SFO.
LaymeDuck: The timer radius thing always bugged me. It was never an issue before S3
DixonHillTT: many people at the top just didnt care - chose to do what was easy instead of what was good
Blinker21V: Could you give any details on the unused season two story and unpublished Acclaim Sliders comic titled "Get a Life" (which featured a satiric look at Sci-Fi fandom)?
DixonHillTT: dont think it was a season two story - i dont recall it at all
LaymeDuck: Landing on a world where Sliders was a TV show.
LaymeDuck: Was Blood and Splendor actually up for production on the show?
DixonHillTT: yeah... always talked about that concept... dont recall developing it
ninji78: Sorry, I gotta know...Is Jerry O'Connell an idiot to work with?
LaymeDuck: LOL
JorgeCis: LOL
Vortex62: :-)
SeaAir1171: that's mean :-)
LaymeDuck: You're such a goof, Zack.
Blinker21V: Too bad :-)
ninji78: I had to know..
DixonHillTT: jerrys a nice guy - dont recall blood and splendor
Sabrr Edge: What would you, the creator of Sliders, like to personally see in a game that was inspired by your ideas/Television show?
DixonHillTT: never really thought about that
Sabrr Edge: any quick ideas?
LaymeDuck: What was cut from the original 8-minute payoff for Into the Mystic?
Yeontwo: slow down guys, give him a chance to answer
DixonHillTT: a rather elaborate Quinn/wade death scene and funeral/dream scene
LaymeDuck: Quinn/Wade death scene?
Blinker21V: Presumably Quinn's death, in a scene focusing on Quinn and Wade.
DixonHillTT: Quinns death
maxinfinity: Do you have or could you get for us a fan mail address for Jason Gaffney? I can't find one anywhere...and many of us want to send him fan mail.
DixonHillTT: Hes a very close friend and a great actor - ill ask him what to do as far as contact
ninji78: Where have most of your Sliders concept come from, Mr Torme? What gave you the inspiration for the show and it's characters?
DixonHillTT: interest in history - sci-fi, etc
JorgeCis: In Heat of the Moment, you mentioned that we were following the wrong Sliders. How long? For just that episode or a lot longer?
LaymeDuck: What happened to the cave scene in the Pilot?
DixonHillTT: just for that episode
DixonHillTT: cave scene?
LaymeDuck: Vortex62 tells me there was a cave scene... wanted to know what happened to it.
LaymeDuck: I dunno about it personally.
LaymeDuck: On the ice world?
Vortex62: Was mentioned in an early Pilot script
DixonHillTT: youll have to ask vortex62
maxinfinity: LOL
LaymeDuck: hehehe
Vortex62: :-)
DixonHillTT: i wrote all versions of the pilot - what cave scene?
Sabrr Edge: Tex? :)
LaymeDuck: Tell the man, Steve!
LaymeDuck: Bootleg copy!
Vortex62: *digs out his script
ninji78: Were there any plans for storylines with Arturo's Son? Any storylines with him? Maybe him being Bennish?
LaymeDuck: Wouldn't that be hilarious.
ninji78: Yeah..
SeaAir1171: lolly
DixonHillTT: not bennish but yes
Vortex62: on a green revision dated for 4/18/94 for cave scene
LaymeDuck: It's probably the basement, dude.
DixonHillTT: what cave scene - when where
DixonHillTT: you mean on ice world?
DixonHillTT: right - it was an idea that was quickly changed to Quinns old house as I know recall
DixonHillTT: now recall
DixonHillTT: for producton reasons mainly
LaymeDuck: Are there any unproduced scripts laying around anywhere?
DixonHillTT: probably
LaymeDuck: Like "Onliners," a third season script we've heard about, or "Beauty World," an ep where the idea of beautiful is entirely different?
LaymeDuck: How does one get access to these scripts? :)
Blinker21V: "Beauty World"... if it was fourth season, they actually would've CALLED it that.
maxinfinity: LOL
DixonHillTT: Worked on the second one - no idea about whereabouts
SeaAir1171: :-) no imagination
LaymeDuck: How hard did you fight to try and regain control of the show after FOX cancelled it? Did you hear about the proposed "Maggie and Quinn in a manta ship" story?
LaymeDuck: What's the synopsis of "Beauty World?"
Blinker21V: Then spent most of Act I with hoods over everyone's heads... trying to hide the ep being about beauty.
DixonHillTT: you mean after third season cancellation?
LaymeDuck: Yes.
DixonHillTT: I didn't fight anything - i was LONG gone
LaymeDuck: And was Bennish actually gonna be in a couple S5 episodes?
LaymeDuck: I remember the DragonCon where you talked about how season 4 was going ahead and how you went in to talk about the show.
DixonHillTT: I tried to set that up - they said yes then didnt follow through
jlbanker7: Is there any possibility of a Sliders book series?
DixonHillTT: possible
JorgeCis: Was there ever an explanation for the colors of the vortex?
LaymeDuck: Did you try to set up other things for Season 5, or pass along any story ideas after the show left FOX?
DixonHillTT: how do you explain blue and green?
Blinker21V: Like the red Kromagg gateway, or Logan's orange one? Any hints at the nature of their slide tech?
Sabrr Edge: max has a theory on that
DixonHillTT: no and no to the last two questions
maxinfinity: I had always wondered if it went along with power levels of the vortex
Ducttape79: was there ever any talk abuot getting John Rhys-Davies for the fourth season?
DixonHillTT: youre thinking too much
jlbanker7: LOL
LaymeDuck: HAHAHAHAH
SeaAir1171: lolly
Yeontwo: LOL :)
LaymeDuck: Fans try to analyze EVERYTHING.
LaymeDuck: I should know, of all people. :)
Sabrr Edge: the theory works tho
DixonHillTT: I wasnt there for the fourth season
Vortex62: Do you ever visit Fan based Sliders site??
ninji78: Whatever happened to Michele in El Sid??
DixonHillTT: I did a long time ago - swept through one night - would like to do it again - its been a long time
Blinker21V: Yeah... I heard one rumour there was a two-ep arc planned for her.
LaymeDuck: I'll give you a list of URLs.
LaymeDuck: Maximum-Security Slide?
DixonHillTT: okay, thanks
Vortex62: How did the number 29.7 for the slide window come about??
DixonHillTT: probably a dream I had
Blinker21V: BRB, guys. I hope.
Vortex62: :-)
SeaAir1171: k
jlbanker7: Were you suprised to see that Sliders has such a huge following?
Ducttape79: la de da de da
Sabrr Edge: Is there anything you would like to ask us?
DixonHillTT: pleased but not really surprised
jlbanker7: cool
JorgeCis: Is there an explanation as to why the Egyptian timer was counting down on its own world?
DixonHillTT: dont know that show
jlbanker7: he was gone then
ninji78: Were there plans to develop Remmy's character a certain way, or was he always gonna be comic relief?
LaymeDuck: Has anyone listened to Cleavant's CD?
DixonHillTT: of course he had many sides - not just comedic
jlbanker7: I ordered it but it hasn't come yet
ninji78: True, but what? Was he meant to be the action hero is now, or more dark?
DixonHillTT: you mean the guy who keeps talking about being in the navy? ????
Sabrr Edge: LOL
maxinfinity: LOL
JorgeCis: LOL
ninji78: LOL!
DixonHillTT: getting distracted here guys - got about five more minutes
Sabrr Edge: What was your favorite episode to write?
DixonHillTT: im in a room full of writers so its a bit chaotic even in this far corner
DixonHillTT: probably the guardian or the pilot - but i had fun with all of them -
Sabrr Edge: How long does a script usually take to go from concept to final draft?
ninji78: I just want to take this time to say thanks...Mr Torme, you are THE GOD of Sliders, and I look forward to seeing "Doomsday"
LaymeDuck: How did the script of The guardian end up being so different from the filmed version?
DixonHillTT: thats very kind of you - thank you for caring so much about the show
LaymeDuck: We all care about the show.
LaymeDuck: Can't wait for the spinoff. :)
SeaAir1171: that we do
DixonHillTT: the guardian script was different
jlbanker7: lol
DixonHillTT: different?
LaymeDuck: VERY different.
DixonHillTT: how?
LaymeDuck: The opening scene in the bar with Arturo's wife not there...
LaymeDuck: It was just paced more slowly on paper, and the ending on screen was radically different.
DixonHillTT: well the prologue and the illness was changed at the top - but the rest of the script i thought was very close
DixonHillTT: how did the script end? remind me
Ducttape79: LOL
Ducttape79: this is rich.
Sabrr Edge: :)
Sabrr Edge: Thanks for your time, I appreciate you chatting with us
Ducttape79: it ended with Arturo falling off the bridge
Blinker21V: LOL
DixonHillTT: im not joking - wrote it as one of many, years ago - if it was changed i dont remember exactly how - plus you somehow have an early draft and its way out of my memory
Ducttape79: remember?
Yeontwo: While he's typing, I'd like to thank you too, for joining us. It's quite an honor for us.
jlbanker7: agreed
Ducttape79: hey, but that last day was lived as a lion.
DixonHillTT: all scripts go through lots of changes - mostly production reasons - once you move on to another draft you tend to completely forget what came before
DixonHillTT: my memory is that the guardian changed far less than most
LaymeDuck: In the end, Quinn gives this big speech to the teacher about how she should hook up with his younger self in a couple years.
jlbanker7: hehe
LaymeDuck: On screen, she sees the vortex, where upon he says, my name isn't Jim, it's Quinn and jumps in, leaving her totally schocked.
DixonHillTT: okay - we went for quicker, more jolting ending, but really just a dialogue cut - not that different in the scheme of things
LaymeDuck: I wish they'd kept in in San Francisco.
DixonHillTT: My favortie city
LaymeDuck: The show lost a lot of it's charm when it moved to L.A.
LaymeDuck: I'm from the Bay Area, far more interesting up there.
DixonHillTT: the locale was the least of problems
ninji78: As is the case with alot of things...
Ducttape79: Tracy, what episodea from Season 4 did you see?
LaymeDuck: And what is your least favorite episode (that you've seen)?
LaymeDuck: Oh yeah, did you ever figure out what the hell was going on in Time Again and World (S2)? 'Cuz we'd all sure like to know. :)
Sabrr Edge: Thanks again for your time Mr. Torme
LaymeDuck: Yeah, seriously, thanks. :)
SeaAir1171: Thank you
JorgeCis: Thanks.
DixonHillTT has left the room.
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