Original subtitles

Get out of my house!

Go!

- Sorry! We're sorry. - It was my fault!

Wait!

It's not funny! We almost scared that woman to death.

It wasn't the woman, it was the cat!

Don't you worry about the effect we're having on people?

I mean, can't we just land in a deserted alley every time?

No, no, it just gets written off mainly as UFO sightings, you know?

Except a couple of times Remmy's been mistaken for Bigfoot!

You know, I wouldn't mind getting a cut

of some of the psychiatrist bills you guys have caused.

All right, look,

we got about 18-and-a-half hours

before we can create any more urban legends.

We need to check out the lay of the land.

And I don't recognize this town.

Beautiful Fresno, California.

Being a military brat, this was one of my many hometowns.

And I think there's a hotel this way.

So, Maggie, we never slid into one of your hometowns before.

So how about a guided tour?

Park, store, post office, you know the place.

Well, you don't seem too thrilled to be here.

All right, what do you wanna see?

The Girls' Academy where I spent every Christmas until I was 10,

or my mom's grave, which I was never allowed to visit?

Sorry, guys, it's not Norman Rockwell, you know?

Looks like the Becketts left their mark.

Hey, that used to be Oak Park Drive.

Yeah, and I suppose that used to be Oak Park.

At least it doesn't say "Maggie Beckett Memorial Park."

"To those who dared to reach the stars.

"In memory of the Intrepid Five of mankind's first mission to Mars.

"Lost to the cosmos, their fates known only to God."

Oh, Maggie.

Looks like you're a hero.

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds

where it's the same year and you're the same person,

but everything else is different?

And what if you can't find your way home?

Sliders.

"Hometown girl makes it big."

Sort of.

You okay, Maggie?

Yeah, I know the drill, Remmy. It's not me, remember?

Still. It'd give me the creeps.

It looks like you're looking at your own gravestone.

Ah, it's kind of cool, actually.

On this world, I was an astronaut.

And a lieutenant colonel to boot, look at that. Not bad, huh?

Well, congratulations, Colonel, but we better keep you out of sight.

Right, anyone recognizes you, we got a lot of splainin' to do, Lucy.

Maggie who?

Ooh!

It's pretty high-tech.

It helps explain their space program.

You know, we had a manned mission to Mars on the drawing board,

but that was 20 years away.

Our guys never made it past the moon.

So you wanna check out the library while we're here?

Absolutely. Could be some breakthroughs in quantum theory we need to know.

You know what I'd really like to do?

I'd like to check out my alternate.

Oh, please, please, Remmy, can we go?

Oh, please, you guys? Come on.

We have to go!

Okay.

I do love a woman in uniform.

Maggie, you know this isn't smart.

Oh, come on, I'm incognito.

If you were in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in some other universe,

you'd go, wouldn't you?

If there was any justice in the universe.

It says the Intrepid spacecraft disappeared without a trace

on its way back from the Mars landing.

Nobody knows what happened.

We finally made it there. I walked on Mars.

- Okay, she did. - Hey.

Check this out.

Oh...

Look at those little cheeks!

Don't make me hurt you.

So that's your mother?

Yeah. Wow, I'd almost forgotten what she looked like.

It's funny, being a slider, you don't own anything, you know?

No photo albums, no family heirlooms.

Only what you carry in your heart.

I'm Mr. Xybo. She's an inspiration to us all.

She certainly is.

Welcome to our museum. Have you seen our home movie archive?

We have an extensive collection of Maggie Beckett baby videos,

all her school plays, and that hard-to-find cheerleader tryout fiasco.

That I would love to see.

Who's this?

That is the most influential man in young Maggie's life,

her father Thomas Beckett.

Oh, and who's he shaking hands with?

Well, so much for public schools.

I suppose you couldn't even find where Canada was on a map, either.

It's President Adlai Stevenson!

President Adlai Stevenson.

He's decorating young Lieutenant Beckett

at the White House for service to his country.

You see, it was young Maggie's adoration of her father

that led to her own career in the military.

Father and daughter were extremely close,

especially after Maggie's mother died.

It was through the nurturing and tireless devotion of her father

that Maggie found the path in life that led her into space.

Please.

I'm sorry?

Please excuse me. I need some air.

Hey!

What is it?

Close? They think we were close?

That man shipped me off to boarding school one week after my mother died

because he didn't want to deal with me.

Nurture my butt.

Whoa, alternative universes, remember?

Just because you weren't tight with your dad doesn't mean that this Maggie wasn't.

Look, on all the worlds we've been to,

there are certain things that always stay the same.

Up is always up, fire is always hot.

The General was like that.

A real force of nature.

Oh, let her walk it off.

Look, you go ahead and check out the library.

We'll meet you back at the local hotel later.

Come on.

Maggie...

I was almost an astronaut, you know.

Right after test pilot school,

I was next in line for astronaut training.

Then the war came.

And the General decided that my place was on the front line defending my country.

So he denied my transfer.

I guess he was right.

Maybe. But it wasn't his decision to make.

Everything was the General's decision to make.

You're not gonna believe what I found out.

Right. Anyway, on this world in 1944,

the German Army broke through the Allied lines at the Battle of Bulge.

Now, the war in Europe dragged on for another three years.

General Eisenhower was eventually relieved as Allied Supreme Commander.

So "Ike" never came home a war hero.

And Adlai Stevenson became President.

And this has what to do with anti-gravity mail carts?

This.

Another tabloid world?

Well, they don't need tabloids on this world.

On your world, you must have heard all those crazy theories,

UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico,

a secret deal between our government and extraterrestrials.

We've seen The X-Files.

The what files?

Guys, it really happened.

Only, instead of covering it all up in the name of national security

the way Eisenhower did, President Stevenson went public.

He formed the Reticulan-American Free Trade Agreement.

RAFTA?

And American business started benefiting from the alien high-tech.

I knew it.

What?

Roswell, Area 51.

I always knew they were keeping something from us.

"They"?

You know who I'm talking about.

Black suits, black glasses, black choppers.

I was in the service. I know what the guys can do.

Remmy, I never took you for a conspiracy junkie.

Yeah, well, believe it.

Polaroid cameras, transistors, fiber optics?

You think we came up with all of that on our own?

Velcro.

Anyway, that's how this world advanced its space program so rapidly.

You really buy this?

Yes! I mean, look, I became a scientist because I realized

there was so much out there I didn't know.

Things I had to find out.

I've gotta try to meet one of these guys.

I'll pass. I hear they pack a pretty mean probe.

Yeah, and I'm just gonna hang out here and lay low,

you know, stay out of sight.

Now you're thinking. I'll go get us some food from the diner.

Great.

Now do you want a Beckett of chicken or the Maggie-roni and cheese?

Let me see that, are you...

Oh, my God.

Coming up in the next half hour,

we'll be offering the Maggie Beckett silk-touch leg razor.

In a zero gravity environment of space,

weightless leg hairs could clog sensitive equipment.

You'll probably never have that problem down here on Earth,

but the Maggie Beckett silk-touch shaving system

will leave your legs and underarms silky smooth without cuts or irritation.

And if you order the Maggie Beckett Commemorative Plate

within the next 15 minutes,

- you will automatically... - Hey!

Ow!

What are you doing?

Let go! I just brought you some lunch.

You gonna cut my food for me, too?

I didn't know if you wanted the "to boldly go" slaw or the Semper Fries,

so I got you both.

What's with the knife?

Okay, here's the deal.

You're like a legend on this world,

like Amelia Earhart or something.

Not me.

Oh, okay, your double is.

But anything to do with Maggie Beckett is gold.

Now look.

That's right, Teresa,

you must order the Maggie Beckett Commemorative Plate

within the next 15 minutes.

Made of heavy-duty Japanese porcelain,

this plate is meticulously silk-screened

with the insignia of the Intrepid Mars mission on one side...

It's 300 bucks for a plate!

Can you imagine how much a lock of the real Maggie Beckett hair would go for?

You were gonna sell my hair?

Well, that guy from the museum gave me 100 bucks for a toothbrush.

You sold my toothbrush?

It was all chewed up anyway.

You rotten little weasel!

Come on! Come on, you've seen how gullible these people are.

Oh! You sneaky...

We gotta pay for the hotel somehow. Who's the victim?

What did you do?

I didn't do anything.

You must have done something. They're all riled up.

Maggie Beckett!

Let's get out of here.

Come on, Maggie!

Oh!

Hey! Hey!

Maggie!

Stay calm. I'm not her!

God, I told her to stay out of sight.

I'm not your Maggie!

- Let me through! - Hey, leave her alone!

You two, come on.

Let's go.

Into the van.

Maggie!

Who's the victim?

How many times do I gotta apologize?

I didn't even get to finish my lunch.

I could really go for one of those blended Maggie-ritas right now.

Hey, wait. Who's there?

Where are we? What the hell's going on here?

I apologize for the security precautions.

Release them.

Allow me to introduce myself.

I am

the leader.

Oh, great.

Why would a world without conspiracies need men in black?

I don't know.

But we've got less than 12 hours to find out

where they took Maggie and Mallory.

Why would they take them?

Somebody must've recognized Maggie.

And I imagine the government would have a few questions.

I mean, if one of their astronauts who was lost in space

suddenly reentered the world...

So what are we talking about? NASA? The Air Force?

It's a good place to start.

So, you're the leader.

I am.

I'm sorry, the leader of what?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NASA?

Correct.

As I'm sure you can understand,

we were quite surprised to have one of our astronauts

mysteriously return from the dead.

Yeah, well, about that...

Your last known location was 1.6 million kilometers from this planet.

And now here you are.

No re-entry vehicle, no space suit.

Well, you see, I have an explanation.

I'd like to hear it.

I'm not Maggie Beckett.

I know that I look very much like her,

but, you see, this whole thing is a big misunderstanding.

That was what we suspected as well.

Perhaps you were simply perpetrating a hoax for your own personal gain.

That's it.

Then how do you explain this?

It's a toothbrush.

Yes. Purchased undercover from a reliable source

that identified it as your toothbrush.

A DNA profile of the saliva on the toothbrush

is an exact match to the military records

of Lieutenant Colonel Maggie Beckett.

Welcome home, Colonel.

Yes, I know Maggie Beckett died.

I wanna know if you picked up someone posing as Maggie Beckett.

Well, I don't know why anyone would do that.

What? Me?

No, I'm just a concerned citizen.

All right.

I've called the Air Force, NASA, FBI, the CIA.

Don't tell me that there's a government that doesn't keep secrets.

It hasn't been invented.

So what do we do now? Do we hit the streets?

Oh, this makes me nervous, but I'm gonna call the cops.

Look, we give them a description of the van,

tell them that Maggie is missing. We might get lucky.

Yes, can you connect me with the police, please?

Freeze!

Would you hurry, please?

- Come on, move it. - Go, move!

Take her outside.

Outside, outside!

Move it. Move!

Let's go.

Come on, get in.

Hurry, hurry.

Let's go, let's go!

Hey, what's with all the muscle?

Who's in charge here?

That would be me.

What do you want?

The same thing you do, Mr. Brown.

To find Maggie Beckett.

Why don't you tell me how you got here?

Your goons grabbed us.

I meant on this planet.

I have a few questions for you.

Since when does NASA have a squad of thugs

who drive around in black vans abducting people?

It's for your own protection.

Oh, yeah? Really? Well, come to think of it, I've been to NASA,

and I don't remember them lighting their offices like this

or putting bags over people's heads

or hiring some pasty-faced mole to give people the third degree.

And another thing, what the hell kind of title is "the leader" anyway?

All right, you got me.

Huh?

I don't really work for NASA.

Most people would've believed that lie.

They believe anything their government tells them.

You have a suspicious mind, though. I like that.

I suppose it's to be expected after what you've been through.

What I've been through?

The big lie, of course.

The cover-up.

Your heroic demise on the frontiers of space.

But now the world is going to know the truth.

And you're going to help me show it to them.

Look, General, if you could help us find our friends, we appreciate it.

But there's one big mixup here.

She's not Maggie Beckett.

Of course she isn't.

Lieutenant Colonel Beckett died two years ago

when her Intrepid return vehicle suffered a major malfunction and disappeared,

a million-and-a-half kilometers in space.

We may have a fix on them, sir.

Scanning software has picked up key phrases

from the scrambled satellite phone frequency.

Nail it.

What is all this? The troops, what are you looking for?

Your friend has been abducted by a very dangerous man,

if he can even be called a man.

His very genetic makeup renders him a dangerous psychotic.

So what does he want with our friend?

Well, his paranoid delusions cause him to see conspiracies everywhere.

He believes Colonel Beckett and the other Intrepid astronauts

didn't die in space.

He thinks we killed them.

What?

He and his followers are convinced the Intrepid mission was faked.

That the government staged the Mars landing in a Hollywood sound stage,

and then had the astronauts murdered to prevent them from revealing the deceit.

So if he thinks our friend Maggie Beckett

is the real Maggie Beckett, then his theory falls apart.

She won't go along with him.

She'll tell anybody who's listening that she's no astronaut.

Exactly. That's why she's more valuable to him dead than alive.

The skeptic is an endangered species, my friends.

For years, those in power have been spoon-feeding the people

a steady diet of the truth, openness, freedom of information.

It's made us soft. A society of believers.

How about relationships based on trust?

They eventually have to break down.

And you're left unprepared for the lies that must inevitably follow.

Like the lie that made me.

What lie is that?

You may have noticed my unusual appearance.

You could use a little sun.

We were told the Reticulans would bring us prosperity.

Technology. MRI scanners. Ball-point pens.

Velcro?

Exactly.

But we weren't told about the side-effects their technology would cause.

You're one of those side-effects?

In the early 1960s, the government began using Reticulan DNA

to develop powerful vaccines for childhood diseases.

Smallpox, polio, TB, were virtually wiped from the face of the Earth.

That's a good thing.

Only for about 99.9% of the population.

But what about the other 0.1%?

What about the children whose bodies assimilated the alien DNA into their own,

turning them into outcasts, freaks?

Oh, sure, I have massively increased brain capacity,

supernumerary nipples and many other assets.

But I haven't found many women who dig the look.

I think you're really striking.

Save it.

I realized that a government

capable of doing something like this to its own children

would be capable of almost anything.

So I founded this organization,

a secret society devoted to rooting out the vast network of conspiracies

that only I had the vision to see.

Had any luck?

Not until now.

But your lifeless body will provide the proof I need.

Okay, time out. One of your assets must be that you're insane!

Your sacrifice to the cause of truth will be remembered, Colonel Beckett.

Oh, am I glad to see you guys!

Likewise. Are you okay?

Yeah. Who's the cavalry?

Dad.

"Dad"?

What are you doing?

- Hey! - Stay there!

So you lied when you said you'd help us.

Maggie!

You can't do this!

Put that down, please.

Yes, sir.

What do you do when you're forced to confront something that is,

but cannot be?

It's been my experience not to rule anything out.

The truth might surprise you.

Surprise doesn't cover this.

DNA tests confirm that you are Margaret Allison Beckett.

But that woman is dead.

Maybe I'm her twin.

Impossible.

How can you be sure?

Because I was there when she was born.

I never knew that.

You could be a clone.

But who would have the technology?

Not that gray-headed buffoon or his followers.

I'm not a clone, sir.

That's the second time you've called me "sir."

Are you in the military?

I was.

But you were "sir" to me long before that.

I don't remember you having family pictures in the office before.

You always said it was unprofessional.

You are not my daughter.

You don't know how many times

I've tried to convince myself of that.

Who are you?

I'm Maggie Beckett.

I thought we've already ruled out that possibility.

Like I told you,

the truth might surprise you.

Surprise.

I can't believe you were duped by that tool of the shadow government!

What makes you any different from them?

You kidnapped our friends, you were planning to kill Maggie!

I didn't want to.

Do you think we didn't try other means?

All we needed to do

to convince the people that the government had deceived them

was to produce one of the missing astronauts in the flesh.

Initially, we tried to grow them in vats.

We tried a variety of gene-splicing concoctions,

but we could never get it quite right.

Why go to all the trouble to prove something you don't even know is true?

I know it's true.

The government could never allow the Intrepid Mars mission to succeed.

It would have opened the way to the stars, to the Reticulan Unity.

I might even have gone to my ancestral home,

to a place where I would fit in.

But they wouldn't allow it.

What? What is it?

I'm sorry.

It's just that I never thought I'd get a chance to meet someone like you.

A freak? A non-human?

No. Someone who could prove that the universe isn't one empty place.

And how have I done that?

The proof is in your face.

It's an empty place for me.

Look, we might be able to help you.

How?

It's a secret.

But it's not what you think.

What is this place?

A room full of ghosts.

Seems like an appropriate place for us to talk.

I can't believe after all I've been through,

you still intimidate me this much.

I've never even met you.

Not on this world.

I've had enough of this game.

I don't know who you are or what you want,

but I consider you a threat.

Do you think just because you have her face I'll treat you differently?

You've always treated me differently,

pushed me harder, demanded more from me.

And you loved me less for it.

How dare you tell me how much I loved my daughter.

I don't know how much you loved her,

but I know how little you showed her.

You think I joined the Marines because I admired you?

I've had enough of this.

Because I wanted to walk in your footsteps?

I'll tell you something.

I joined the Marines

because the only time you would even see me

was when I was in that uniform, sir.

I never got a hug, so I settled for a salute.

Are you trying to hurt me?

Is that what this is? Some kind of a sick judgment day?

Show me what a bad father I was?

You told me

that the only one that can judge a man is himself.

And I have. Over and over.

My daughter and I made our peace.

I don't believe you.

Who the hell cares what you believe!

You're talking ancient history!

What could possibly have made you change?

Losing you.

A parent should never outlive his child. It's a terrible thing.

After my wife died, you...

Maggie was all I had left.

Then why did you shove me away?

Dad?

Why just ship me off to some boarding school to be raised by strangers?

I don't have to justify my actions to you.

I wanted my daughter raised right.

If you want something done right, you do it yourself.

I didn't think I could.

Enough of this.

Who are you?

- I'm Maggie Beckett. - Stop it!

You asked me how I know you're not my daughter.

I know because I watched her die, right here in this room.

And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!

Sir.

What happened to her?

We didn't lose the Intrepid in space.

They returned to Earth alive.

Barely.

Halfway through their return trajectory,

we noticed a flaw in the ship's radiation shielding.

They were slowly being bombarded by lethal levels of solar radiation.

My God.

And they still had six months of travel time.

Six months that they knew they were slowly being cooked alive.

And we couldn't do a damn thing.

All we could do was watch.

I'm sorry.

I didn't want her to go.

I didn't want to risk losing her, too.

I could have had her grounded.

Why didn't you?

Because it was her dream.

She'd worked her entire life for this mission.

And when she got out of that spacecraft,

my daughter, on another planet.

I can't tell you how...

how proud I was.

Then why are you keeping it a secret?

Do you want the world to remember her like that?

In agony? Out of her head?

She knew the risks.

She'll be remembered as a hero.

She is a hero.

Enough!

Now that we've established who you're not,

why don't you tell me who you really are?

You're visitors from another dimension?

Pretty crazy, huh?

Perhaps not.

I've had a theory that the Reticulans may have used

a trans-dimensional drive system

to make their journey here from the home world.

Interesting.

That would make interstellar travel feasible.

I'd love to hear your theory.

Well, I suppose I could,

if you like.

If you help us, we'll give you proof.

It is possible to travel between universes.

You're asking me to give up my life's work.

Your Maggie has presented me with the opportunity

to finally expose one of the most insidious government conspiracies of the century.

Conspiracies to do what?

In all the years you've been looking, have you found any real evidence

that the government is up to something?

What do you really want?

To continue some single-minded crusade against the government?

Or find the people who actually helped make you?

Maybe we can give you that chance.

Listen, we've got about two hours, and that opportunity is going to disappear.

Please.

That's an amazing story.

It's true.

In your world,

what happened to your father?

He was on a diplomatic mission when his helicopter was shot down.

Everyone on board was killed.

Hmm.

I lost six men on that shoot-down. Fine Marines.

Before the chopper went down...

I never told Maggie that I loved her.

Just because I never said it.

I've scheduled a press conference in half an hour.

- Why? - To put an end to this.

You're going to tell the world that you're a fraud.

That you were posing as Maggie Beckett to cash in on her good name

and you'll apologize to her friends and to her family for the pain you've caused.

And pretend none of this ever happened? I won't do it.

You'll do as you're told.

You're not my father.

And even if you were, I wouldn't do it.

Then you'll sit in a holding cell until you change your mind.

And if that means missing your sliding window, so be it.

You're sending me to my room?

Is this the way you treated your Maggie?

Is this the way you showed her respect?

I'm letting her rest in dignity.

You're the one that's dishonoring her with this charade, not me.

She's a hero. For how she lived, not how she died.

I believe you're doing this for her.

But this is not what she would have wanted.

Look at me!

I know that.

Mr. Xybo? How did you get in here?

I used to work here. Your friends are waiting for you.

Rembrandt says you only have 37 minutes left.

Great. Let's go.

This is it, Pop.

I've, uh, strapped everyone in

and I slaved all the computers to Houston.

So you should be able to dock us with ISS from there.

Before I sign off, I...

I just want you to know that don't regret a thing.

We did it, Pop. We walked on another world.

Don't let anyone forget that.

I'll always love you for letting me go.

Intrepid out.

Why are you doing this?

I was a project engineer on the Intrepid.

I designed the radiation shielding on the return vehicle.

It's not your fault.

Actually, it was.

But I've spent a lot of time dealing with that.

It's why I started the museum.

Sort of my penance.

When I saw you there, I thought it was a sign.

A sign that I had finally been forgiven.

That, or I was losing my mind.

Well, you're not losing your mind.

Well, I know that now. But it is a sign.

A sign that people haven't forgotten.

No. They haven't forgotten.

Look who it is!

What kept you guys?

We're right on time. Got a couple of minutes to spare.

What's he doing here?

Looks like the leader had a change of his six-chambered heart.

Not quite.

You didn't expect me to believe your ridiculous story about sliding, did you?

I've heard some whoppers in my day, but, man...

It's the truth.

The truth is relative.

And I still need you to create my own.

Back in the van, all of you.

You said you'd let them go.

How many times have I told you?

Don't believe everything you hear.

Hold it! I said hold it!

Hey, what's he saying?

Stand back.

I take complete and sole responsibility for this terrible deceit.

I have done a disservice, both to the people of this country

and the astronauts of Intrepid.

So today, I will be releasing documents and videotape

that will show the true fate of our astronauts.

What is he doing?

Stealing your thunder.

It will show the true depth of their character,

their strength, their heroism.

And all the nation will remember them

the way I have been privileged to remember them.

That's all I have to say.

Thanks, Pop.

Don't feel bad. There's still plenty of secrets to uncover.

Exhibit A.

Don't twist the truth so much till you forget what you're really looking for!

Wait! This is yours.

Why don't you keep it?

Thanks.

I want you to do me a favor. Fix that window for me.

Okay.