Entertainment
Forgotten ‘90s Sci-Fi Classic Is Begging For A Reboot
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published

As a huge genre nerd, I have complex feelings about television reboots. Specifically, I think it’s a waste of time trying to reboot something truly great because the new show is likely to be a huge disappointment compared to the earlier one. Honestly, that’s why I was happy the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot got canceled; that depressing sixth season notwithstanding, the original show was nearly perfect, and trying to improve on that would be inevitably disappointing. Instead, it’s better to reboot a disappointing show that had potential, like Ronald D. Moore did with Battlestar Galactica.
With that in mind, there has never been a genre show more in need of a reboot than Sliders. The show had an absolutely perfect concept, and it explored how fun the multiverse can be way before Marvel ran this idea into the ground. But after a couple of seasons of awesome storytelling, Sliders transformed into a schlock action show that ripped off almost everything and started bleeding cast members until the series was almost completely unrecognizable. The result is a decent show that should have been a great show, and a reboot may be the only way for Sliders to achieve its full potential.
Playing Slide-And-Seek

The plot of Sliders is that Quinn Mallory (Jerry O’Connell) develops the technology to “slide” to different parallel realities, and he takes three companions (including a professor played by John Rhys-Davies) on a visit to a new universe. Unfortunately, the device they use to slide soon loses the ability to track the coordinates of their home dimension. Now, they are forced to travel to random worlds, hoping to eventually get back to their original reality. But there’s a timelock: they must travel to a new dimension when the countdown timer reaches zero. Otherwise, they’ll be stuck in an alternate reality for decades!
It’s a great concept, and the series is basically the lovechild of The Twilight Zone and Quantum Leap. As in the Twilight Zone, different dimensions are used to explore one fantastic scenario after another, including a world where America lost the Revolutionary War and worlds where time flows backwards. But much like Quantum Leap, our heroes typically spend their time in each reality trying to improve as many lives as possible. The result is a surprisingly heartwarming show in which our characters navigate prickly moral dilemmas while wearing their hearts firmly on their sleeves.
A Cast Driven Away By Bad Writing

Sliders had two seasons of nearly perfect storytelling, and if it had been canceled after that, genre fans would speak of it with the same reverence that we speak about Firefly. Unfortunately, the show went on for two more seasons, and it began to go seriously downhill in Season 3. That’s because the Fox network demanded that the show transition from thought-provoking sci-fi stories to action schlock. In an interview with Digital Spy, Rhys-Davies noted how Sliders “could’ve been the best show on television” but that the network interfered and turned most of the scripts into “incomprehensible gibberish.” This is one of the reasons he exited the show.
Rhys-Davies has been hilariously blunt in describing what went wrong with Season 3. When he was interviewed at the Toulouse Game Show, he discussed how the writers just started ripping off others’ ideas. “We did an episode like Tremors, one like Twister, one like The Night of the Living Dead, and even one like The Island of Doctor Moreau, using the film’s original masks!” Continuing, he said, “The breaking point for me was when I walked in and saw the writers sitting around looking at a DVD of Species, which had just been released, and saying: ‘Look, we could take a bit of that scene there and a bit of that scene there.’
Does Whatever A Slider-Man Can

Conveniently enough, the Raiders of the Lost Ark actor has summed up exactly why Sliders needs a reboot. A new series that never tries to do crappy ripoffs of other movies and shows could take its time exploring all of the practical, ethical, and moral conundrums involved with interdimensional travel. This would reduce the risk of core actors abandoning the show; like, by the end of the original series, only one member of the original cast (Cleavant Derricks) was still there! But a Sliders with a consistent cast and a perfect premise for episodic adventures? That’s a reboot that would be utterly unstoppable.
However, a reboot of this show seems less likely than ever before. Previously, Jerry O’Connell and John Rhys-Davies discussed a possible reboot with Sliders creator Tracy Tormé, who was working on reviving the franchise as recently as 2021. Sadly, he died in 2024, meaning we might have to slide into a new universe to see what a reboot looks like. Fortunately, fans can still experience the original show in its entirety at the click of a button. Sliders is currently streaming for free on Tubi. Just be sure to keep the remote handy; Season 2 is a countdown, and once it hits zero, you’ll want to slide your TV over to a better show!!
Entertainment
Time for a new smartwatch? Snag the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic for 51% off ahead of Samsung Unpacked.
SAVE $280: As of July 21, get the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic for $269.99 at Woot, down from its usual price of $549.99. That’s a discount of 51%.
$269.99
at Amazon
$549.99
Save $280
If you’re looking to kit your wrist out with a new smartwatch, now’s a great time to do so. Samsung is on the verge of debuting several new models, and that means the old ones are going down in price. Case in point: the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, which you can get for an excellent discount right now if you don’t want to wait for the new crop of devices.
As of July 21, get the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic for $269.99 at Woot, down from its usual price of $549.99. That’s $280 off and a discount of 51%.
This classy smartwatch opts to keep things traditional while offering a variety of modern features that you’ll appreciate. That includes a bright, easy-to-read display, a rotating bezel you use to select apps and navigate menus, and several health-tracking abilities so you can stay on top of what’s happening with your body and fitness at all times.
From a heart rate and sleep score monitor to a daily Energy Score calculated from your heart rate, sleep, activity, and rest this watch can make sure you’re ready for the day in all the ways that count. It can also be used to help track blood pressure.
Mashable Deals
Beyond all its health-centric features, this is a great smartwatch for day-to-day functionality and staying on top of your schedule. It has a built-in AI assistant as well as the option to use voice commands to navigate, which means you never have to use your hand to get things done if you don’t want to.
If you’re ready to debut a new smartwatch without breaking the bank, now’s a good time to buy in.
Entertainment
The Latest Poster For Avengers: Doomsday Secretly Spoils The Plot
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published

With less than five months left until the film’s release, Marvel has taken their marketing for Avengers: Doomsday to the next level. Right now, fans are mostly focused on the trailer that dropped today, which is no surprise; after all, it’s not every day that you see the reunion of Thor and Steve Rogers or, for that matter, a battle between Shang-Chi and Gambit. Amid all the breathless hype over the trailer, however, a more powerful advertisement is lurking in plain sight. At the same time Marvel launched the trailer, they also released a new Avengers: Doomsday poster.
Compared to that crowded character poster, the new poster is downright subdued. It features Doctor Doom staring at a huge tapestry with a broken world and two characters: a woman and a boy. Some comics fans think this image is Doom and his mother, a character who is eventually damned to Hell. However, other fans are convinced that this is actually an image of Doom’s wife and child; if true, this would effectively ruin the biggest plot twist. How does it do that? If you don’t mind some potential spoilers for this year’s biggest film, just keep reading!
You Can’t Spell “Painting” Without “Pain”

So, let’s start this story in reverse (just don’t let the TVA get me!): why do some fans think the woman in this poster is Doctor Doom’s mother? In the comics, she’s a big deal. To defeat an evil dictator who was ruling her country with an iron fist (an actual fist, not the kung-fu guy), she made a deal with the devil. As usual, the deal went wrong, and she lost control of the powers that she gained from Mephisto. She renounced those powers, got killed, and was then dragged into Hell. To see her again, Doom later mastered magic, visited Mephisto, and conducted an experiment that ruined his own face.
However, all of the lore behind this origin story is too dense to fit into Avengers: Doomsday, a movie which is already crowded with endless character cameos. It seems the movie is taking a different direction, as multiple reports have claimed that the two figures are actually Doom’s wife and child. An unconfirmed leak of the movie’s plot (don’t say I didn’t warn you about spoilers, kids!) claims that Doom actually lost his family to one of the incursions, which is when one reality collides with another. This motivates Doom to learn more about the incursions and to plot his revenge.
A Hero Will Be Broken

Revenge against whom, you ask? According to the leaked plot, Steve Rogers! Reportedly, Loki visits the former Captain America in the past and warns him that the TVA will prune his entire timeline because he’s not supposed to be there. In an act of seeming kindness, Loki brings Cap, Peggy, and their young son to the Fantastic Four’s universe. However, the leak claims that Steve’s presence in this universe somehow triggers an incursion and that Doom disfigured himself and killed his own wife and son trying to stop it. In a shocking twist, Doom reportedly kills Steve’s son in front of the hero in an act of vengeance.
Now, again, all of this comes from a leaked plot summary that hasn’t been confirmed, so all of this could be an Ego-sized bottle of hogwash. But it’s worth noting that the Avengers: Doomsday teasers last year prominently focused on both Captain America and Thor becoming fathers. This potentially adds credence to the idea that this is a film about family and how far someone will go to protect the ones they love. If the leaks are true, this innocuous poster featuring Doctor Doom is spoiling the motivation the villain will have to cross time and space and cross countless moral event horizons along the way.

A movie where costumed vigilantes (like Batman, Spider-Man, and so many more) are driven by the ghosts of family members they lost when they were children? Well, nobody ever accused Marvel of being all that original!
Entertainment
The Best Horror Series Ever Made Is Now Streaming For Free
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published

My absolute favorite kind of movie is the anthology. When you have a collection of short films all rolled into one, it provides the ultimate ROI for the audience. Don’t like one of the stories? You can just thug it out with the short runtime or skip ahead to the next tale. Either way is infinitely preferable to slogging through a two-hour film that started boring you to tears in the first scene. The anthology is much rarer in television, however, because networks and streamers have learned just how attached fans get to the same characters and stories, causing them to run these shows into the ground.
Heroes, Stranger Things, Star Trek: Discovery…what do all of these shows have in common? They were designed to be anthologies that would change things up each season, but their early success meant we were stuck with the same cast for years as the show got worse. Fortunately, true anthology lovers are just a click away from getting their fix. Right now, Tales From the Crypt is streaming for free on Tubi, just waiting to delight all you ghouls and boys. It’s not just the perfect anthology show; it is, in fact, the greatest horror series ever made!
Meet The Cryptkeeper

Tales From the Crypt fully embraces its anthology format, with every single episode focusing on different characters and different terrifying tales. What ties all of them together is our host, the Cryptkeeper. He’s a snarky, hilariously mean corpse of a character brought to life by a small army of puppeteers. The show originated on HBO, and its creators embraced the fact that it didn’t have to abide by any of the restrictive standards of network television. As such, episodes were filled to the brim with vulgar language, nudity, sex, and more buckets of blood than you can shake a bodybag at.
Younger horror fans should know that it’s almost impossible to overstate the popularity of Tales From the Crypt and its ghoulish host. Despite all the blood, breasts, and beasts, the show was wildly popular with kids, including my own underage self. Accordingly, it got two spinoffs aimed directly at children: Tales From the Cryptkeeper (a Saturday Morning children’s cartoon) and Secrets of the Cryptkeeper’s Haunted House (a weird gameshow). If that seems odd, this was during the same time that Kenner marketed toys based on Terminator 2 and Aliens directly to kids. What can I say? The ‘90s were weird, man!
Friends In Low Places

One compelling reason to check out Tales From the Crypt is that it had plenty of awesome guest stars, all of whom were happy to do an episode without being tied down to a long contract. Guests included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt, Michael J. Fox, Tom Hanks, and so many more. In most cases, these actors are performing against type, making what happens to them onscreen that much more shocking. Trust me: if you only know actors like Robert Picardo and Wil Wheaton from Star Trek, you’ll never look at them the same way after watching Tales From the Crypt.
For me, though, the single best thing about Tales From the Crypt is the show’s wicked sense of humor. With his relentless puns, wild expressions, and unhinged laughter, the Cryptkeeper sets the tone for a show that has black comedy running through its veins at all times. This adds serious entertainment value and also helps position the show as a light (but filling) bite for horror fans. Not in the mood for elevated horror and don’t have the time for a two-hour psychological thriller? You can always count on Tales From the Crypt to deliver a perfect slice of scary entertainment in under 30 minutes.

There’s not much more to say, especially without spoiling these awesome episodes. Ready to see if this early HBO success story lives up to the hype? Maybe you want to laugh and scream in equal measure, or just write down some weird new puns with which to torment your children? Whatever your reason, the best horror series ever made is just a click away. Tales From the Crypt is currently streaming for free on Tubi, which is arguably the best platform for any boils and ghouls who love a good scare!

TALES FROM THE CRYPT REVIEW SCORE
