In order to avoid having to chronicle everything that's happened to them throughout the series, these biographies are written from the viewpoint of Earth Prime (the Earth they first slid from). They stop short of when the Sliders began sliding. These biographies are based on facts given during the series, as well as theories and guesses of my own creation to fill the gaps. Anyone who finds errors in this text is encouraged to email me with corrections at [email protected].
Quinn Mallory was born in the city of San Francisco, California. As a child, Quinn developed a lifelong fascination with dinosaurs, and began pursuing an uncanny facility in the sciences.
In 1984, Quinn's father was killed in a car-crash on his way to work. This devastated Quinn, who suffered the double loss of having his dog, Bopper, run away the afternoon of the funeral. This, combined with schoolyard bullies, drove Quinn to hate his genius.
Unable to locate Bopper again, Quinn later got a grey cat which he named Schrodinger, after the noted quantum physicist. Schrodinger remained his companion for many years, down to the time of his disappearance.
As Quinn grew up, he attempted to deny his genius by pursuing a career in sports. At California High School, Quinn spent a brief period of time as a quarterback in the school football team. However, a knee injury forced him to drop out, pursuing his interest in quantum physics, instead. Though he later came to grips with his intellect, Quinn continued to hide it by working in secret in the basement of his house.
When he graduated, Quinn began attending classes at the University of California. He studied engineering as well as classes in cosmology under Professor Maximillian Arturo. To supplement his income, Quinn became a repairman at Doppler Computer Superstore, where he met and developed a platonic relationship with a young woman named Wade Wells. Between college and work, Quinn also began working on experiments in his spare time, attempting to solve the Unified Field Theory.
In 1995, Quinn began examining the possibility of developing the world’s first antigravity device. On September 13th, Quinn’s experiments led him to create a swirling disk in open space that he could not identify. Later examination led him to conclude that it was the mouth of a tunnel to an alternate reality. He began discussing the possibility of alternate dimensions with his friend and classmate, Conrad Bennish, and eventually came to the conclusion that he had created an Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky Bridge.
On September 22th, Quinn began sending objects through the wormhole. None of them returned until he perfected a timing device on the 25th, at which time he was able to send and retrieve a basketball. On the 27th, Quinn took a leap of faith and entered the wormhole. Videotapes show that he returned to his basement a few minutes later in a state of excitement, talking about an alternate reality he had visited. Shortly afterward, Quinn disappeared, along with three other individuals. An FBI investigation is pending.
BIOGRAPHY OF MAXIMILLIAN ARTURO
Maximillian P. Arturo was born in the United Kingdom during the turbulent days of World War II. Near the close of the war, Arturo and his mother went out to the country to visit relatives. That night, the house was bombed by enemy planes. Arturo's mother was killed when she shielded him from the blast with her body.
With his father fighting in India, Arturo's rescuers had no way of identifying him. He was placed in an orphanage for four months. Though his father eventually returned to take him home, Arturo carried the fear and horror of being abandoned for the rest of his life.
Arturo loathed the freewheeling, revolutionary days of the 1960’s, but managed to survive it long enough to get an education in quantum physics. In graduate school, he met and fell in love with a woman named Christina Fox. But a few years later, she died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 27. Losing his one true love deeply affected his life, causing him to focus on his work instead of women. His dedication brought him international acclaim for his theories on superstring theory and cosmic wormholes.
In 1991, Arturo immigrated to the United States, where he took a position as a professor of cosmology and ontology at the University of California in San Francisco. There, Arturo finally met his match with a young student named Quinn Mallory.
In his first year of teaching, Arturo was giving a lecture to a group of American scientists. During the lecture, Quinn asked a question that challenged his theories, and infuriated Arturo. However, when Arturo went to look up the answer, he was shocked to discover that Quinn was right. Quinn's intellect succeeded in cracking the shell Arturo had formed around himself, bringing them slightly closer than any of his other students.
But on September 27, 1995, Arturo was shocked when Quinn entered his classroom and began criticizing his theories. Then Quinn returned a few minutes later, seemingly oblivious to his insults. Furious, Arturo stormed out of the class, but had a change of heart a few hours later. He went to Quinn’s home to await an apology, where he disappeared. His current location is still unknown, although an FBI investigation is pending.
Rembrandt Lee Brown was born in the deep South with a younger brother, Cezanne. Cezanne and Rembrandt suffered a bitter rivalry that continued into their adulthood. Despite his brother's ridicule, Rembrandt showed a talent for singing early on and decided to pursue a musical career. At seventeen, Rembrandt was in a group called Little Rembrandt and the Chandelles. He only spent a few years with the group before enlisting in the Navy. He spent enough time there to acquire basic skills in demolitions, weapons, and combat training, then left on a USO tour.
Rembrandt didn't achieve true stardom until the late 1960’s. Rembrandt became the lead singer of an R&B group known as the Spinning Topps. There, along with members Maurice Fish, Sebastin Smith, and Leroy Hopkins, Rembrandt was catapulted into stardom with such hit songs as Cry Like A Man. Rembrandt gained the nickname "Crying Man," both because of his tearful singing, and his ability to cry real tears at will out of each eye individually. Presumably, it was during this time that he acquired a red Cadillac with a vanity license plate that reads CRYN MAN.
His first solo album, Toppless, was released in 1973 with the single Tears In My 'Fro. By September, the record had sold 100,000 copies. Buoyed by this success, Rembrandt finally left the Spinning Topps in 1983. Ignoring the promises of stardom from a manager named Captain Jack Brim, Rembrandt went with another manager, Artie Feld, who did less than that. While the remaining Spinning Topps went on to greatness, releasing fifteen hit albums, Rembrandt’s career faded.
By September 27th, 1995, his career had fallen to the point where singing the National Anthem at a Giants game was considered his "big comeback." Rembrandt was driving to the stadium in his Caddie when he was seen accidentally driving into what has been described as a swirling blue tunnel in space. Both him and his car were never seen again, although an FBI investigation is pending. The world mourns the loss of this great, but unappreciated genius.
Wade Kathleen Welles was raised with her sister Kelley in San Francisco, California. In junior high, Wade was forced to wear braces which left her isolated from her peers. To cope with this, she became an avid reader and developed an interest in the supernatural.
After high school, Wade attended Northshore Junior College, majoring in extemporaneous poetry and prose. She got a job as a saleswoman at Doppler Computer Superstore, where she met and befriended Quinn Mallory. Her friendship with Quinn grew into love, but he continued to perceive her as a "bud." On September 27th, 1995, Quinn was seen kissing Wade passionately after insulting his boss. She visited Quinn’s home a few hours later, entered his basement, and disappeared at the same time Quinn did. An FBI investigation is pending.
BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN MAGGIE BECKETT
Captain Maggie Beckett was born on an alternate Earth from the other four Sliders, one in which the war between the United States and Russia did not end. As the only child of a military general, Beckett aspired to live up to her father's greatness. To this end, Beckett became a skilled fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. But after building up a great service record, Beckett encountered something she had never expected - a brilliant physicist named Steven Jensen.
Jensen and Beckett fell in love, but their relationship began to drift apart as the two concentrated on their careers. Then in 1996, Jensen suffered a spinal injury during a skiing accident that paralyzed him from the waist-down and confined him to a wheelchair. While in the hospital, he begged Beckett to kill him, but she refused. Instead, he underwent intense physical therapy and rehab treatment, during which Beckett visited him every day. She eventually married Jensen, keeping her name out of respect for her father. She also resigned as a pilot in order to spend more time with Jensen.
She remained in military service by accepting a new position as an intelligence officer for a military base run by Colonel Rickman. During her service under Rickman, Beckett was forced to perform many duties that she found distasteful. Not the least of which was the concealment of the approach of a pulsar that would emit a powerful burst of radiation, wiping out every living thing in Russia. To achieve this, Beckett was assigned to watch over the discoverer of the pulsar, Dr. Jariabek. But Dr. Jariabek escaped. During his escape, Jariabek was shot and killed, but not before he was able to tell four people about his discovery - Quinn Mallory, Maximilian Arturo, Wade Welles, and Rembrandt Brown.
The Sliders and Beckett forged a grudging alliance when it was discovered that the pulsar was going to destroy her Earth. It was decided that they would use sliding to find a new homeworld. After several attempts, they found a new Earth to migrate several hundred people from her world. But they discovered too late that Rickman was a psychopath who killed Jensen and escaped into another dimension. Beckett agreed to travel with the Sliders until they found Rickman and avenged her husband's death.