When Tom and Cat enter a door to a parallel universe they discover an Earth with no oil or petroleum, dependent only on horse-drawn transportation.

"It's the Zeitgeist", noted Bedford of the parallel universes now making the rounds of popular culture. "Throughout western civilization, we have become more and more aware in the last century of the fragility of events, the arbitrariness of history. This crucial idea emerges from some of the feelings of uncertainty and anomie and angst that go along with modern times".

Martin may have honed his own feelings of uncertainty, anomie and angst in the plethora of pitch meetings in which he has participated over the years. He noted he dreamed up the DOORWAYS concept while flying into Los Angeles to attend such a meeting at ABC. He came with several other ideas for a series, but none of these appealed to the network's programming execs.

They liked the parallel universe scenario though, and hired him to write and executive produce the series.

Martin eschewed the ensemble format adopted by STAR TREK, its spin-off, and BABYLON 5, preferring, as he did on BEAUTY & THE BEAST, to center his series on the relationship between two unlikely people and their battle against adversity. "I have nothing against ensemble shows", he said, "but there are other formats. I think our characters and the worlds they visit are interesting enough to keep the viewers entertained and engrossed".

It has been difficult for Martin to see SLIDERS relative success in the face of his own series' failure.

"I believe DOORWAYS is as good as any work I have every done", he said. "Had it aired, it would have bid fair to be one of the best SF series in the history of television. The writing was damn fair, too. Our lead actors were sensational. George Newbern is a very fine young actor, as those who have seen in FATHER OF THE BRIDE and DESIGNING WOMEN and his many other roles can testify. And Anne Le Guernec was simply magic, a French actress utterly unlike anyone on television. If DOORWAYS have gone, I believe Anne would have become a major star.

"SLIDERS is utterly unlike DOORWAYS in its characters, stories, lone, and general intelligence level, SLIDERS is relentlessly dumb; DOORWAYS tried at least to be smart DOORWAYS had humorous moments — I believe humor is essential in television — but we strove to be witty and quirky, and the main thrust of the show was drama and action/adventure. SLIDERS has a lot more humor and that humor is broader, louder and, well, dumber. If we were trying for a touch of Woody Allen, they are trying Benny Hill. That's a very crude metaphor, but it gives you the idea.

"They are two very different shows, but the concept is pretty much identical. Each week the lead characters travel to another alternate world. Unfortunately, In television, concept is all. If I did a show about a pair of FBI agents investigating paranormal activity, the characters and tone would likely be utterly different from X-FILES, but the series would still never get on the air, because the executives look only at the concept. In that sense SLIDERS has effectively killed whatever small chances I have remaining to launch DOORWAYS... but those chances were one in a million anyway.

"I said that the concepts were 'pretty much' identical There is a small difference. In DOORWAYS, the heroes were being pursued by a bad guy from Cat's original world. On SLIDERS, they are just adventuring around, without the pursuit element. The distinction is not sufficient to distinguish the two shows in the minds of executives".

And if it had gone as Martin envisioned, perhaps SLIDERS wouldn't even be around... or maybe DOORWAYS would be making a move to the SciFi Channel after cancellation for low ratings.

Sheldon Teitelbaum

September 1998

INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE

DOORWAYS (1993)

SLIDERS (1995–2000)

13 Awesome and Awful Pilots for SCI-FI Series We Never Got to See

RED DWARF USA (1992)

DOORWAYS (1993)

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (1997)

ULTRAVIOLET (1998)

ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL (2001)

HEAT VISION AND JACK (1999)

EARTH ANGELS (2001)

THE TIME TUNNEL (2002)

EASTWICK (2002)

FEARLESS (2004)

DARK SHADOWS (2005)

GLOBAL FREQUENCY (2005)

AREA 57 (2007)

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 550