Ryan Simms
Sliders:

Luck of the Draw

(episode #1:10) 17 May 1995
 

Into the Mystic

(episode #2:01) 1 March 1996
 

Synopsis - Luck of the Draw

Alternate Earth 27
Duration: 3 days

This Earth has a population of only 500 million people; San Francisco has only 100,000. As Wade described it in a journal she has decided to keep of their travels, this world has "no crime, no pollution or poverty, no racial strife. San Francisco feels like a small town." Public cars are available for anyone needing transportation (courtesy of Golden Bay Rapid Transit) -- they don't even need keys to start. Products like "BC Cola: birth control in a can" help control the population, as does the Lottery. Lottery terminals allow entrants to get money out, much like an automated teller, apparently with no limit. The more money taken out, the greater the chance of winning the Lottery. 12 lucky people are selected from the entrants. The winners receive over 5 million dollars, plus "white cards" which allow them to get anything they want, from any store, absolutely free. The catch is this: they have only about a day to enjoy it all before they are killed, and their winnings are passed on to their next of kin. The money they win is society's way of saying thanks for volunteering to give their lives (known as "making way") to help keep the population down. Anybody who tampers with the lottery system by trying to keep the winners from dying, etc., is given "the process" -- the Lottery Police make them pay in pain before they kill them. People known as "right-to-lifers" are trying to put a stop to the Lottery.

One other difference in this world is the reading of rights when someone is arrested: "You have the right to remain silent, and if you choose to do so, it can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Comment
Luck of the Draw was the last episode of the first season and Nick's character, Ryan Simms, was introduced with the intention of him becoming the 5th Slider. Changes at the TV station resulted in their rejecting the premise of a fifth 'star' and in Into The Mystic the first episode of the delayed second season, Nick appeared only in the teaser to conclude his story line.

Synopsis - Into the Mystic

Alternate Earth 28
Duration: approximately 3 days

We know nothing of this Earth except that it is the first alternate world visited by Ryan and Henry (the dog); it was on this world (at the end of the last episode) that Quinn collapsed after being shot in the back by the lottery police of alternate Earth 27. Ryan was able to get the bullet out of Quinn's shoulder, then he left the group after Wade refused to stay with him on this world, presumably taking Henry with him.

Trivia:
Nick's scene in Into the Mystic was shot from a very odd angle, near his feet, to try to disguise that fact that he had had his hair cut very short, ready for the X-Files 3rd season episode Piper Maru, just before he was asked to return to Sliders.

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