Original subtitles

We're cutting it close. Two minutes left.

That's far enough.

You got the formula?

Got it right here. Now where's our friend?

All in good time.

We did what you asked. We brought you the ransom.

What more do you want?

Just step forward slowly, set the formula on the box.

Then we'll release her.

- Flannigan's! - Uh-oh!

I should have known this.

Only you would stoop so low

to send spies into my organization

just to steal the secret sauce!

Don't play the self-righteous burger monarch

with me, Hubert.

You stepped over the line

when you napalmed that shipment of zany meal toys.

You're no angel.

Take this, you pasty-faced goons!

There she is!

She looks hurt. I'm going in after her!

Better make it quick.

Eat lead, you monarchical pukes!

Hey!

Three, two, one.

Next time you rustle us up some jobs,

make sure you steer clear of the burger joints.

How was I supposed to know we'd end up in the middle of a fast food war?

Literally.

Talk about destroying the competition.

That was one weird world.

Diana, are you okay?

What's wrong with her?

I don't know.

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.

Ah, no, no. Don't, don't do that!

Sorry, I thought the light might be bothering you.

No, um, let it all in.

The more the better.

What happened? Where are we?

Well, we managed to get you away from those clowns...

Thanks.

And barely made the slide.

But now we're in a beautiful resort hotel.

Remmy and Mallory are scoping the place out.

But so far, it looks fairly normal.

Ah, some place normal! That's a welcome change.

Last chance to register for the Civil War.

Game starts in 10 minutes.

- Really? - Yeah.

Hey, partner, how you doin'?

I sure did.

No need for jobs on this world

thanks to my well-to-do duplicate's ATM account.

We're going to need a big bankroll if we're staying here.

Looks like we've slid into entertainment world.

Lots of things to spend it on.

Damn.

Unlucky in love, unlucky in cosmic space disintegrators.

Someone should tell her it's not the size of the score that counts.

Or maybe you should just lay off of that beer

until after 10:00 a.m.

It's part of a complete and balanced breakfast.

As far as I'm concerned, we're on vacation.

Vacation? That's not a bad idea.

Besides, when in Rome...

Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Come on.

Here you go. I thought this might help.

How are you doing?

Better.

I just thought I'd gotten over this little problem I have.

Is there anything I can do to help?

Uh, no.

Unless you have a cure for claustrophobia.

It's a little memento left over from my childhood.

And those crazy burger clowns locked you in that box.

Yes, a very small, dark box.

You know, imagine a precocious little girl

who suddenly decides she's going to close herself off

in her teacher's closet.

An experiment to see how really dark, dark can be.

The only problem was

I locked myself in for an entire weekend.

Oh!

It wasn't pretty.

How long was I gone for?

Almost two days.

You know, it was so dark in that thing.

You know, just like the closet.

I mean, at one point I had no idea how much time had passed.

I was convinced I was dead.

Look, I'm sorry. I do not want to heap all this stuff on you.

You know, sometimes I can be such a wimp.

It sounds really scary.

And you're not a wimp.

You've been sliding long enough,

things tend to pile up on you.

Diana, I really understand the burden that you carry

and, well, you're our resident scientist.

We turn to you for everything.

And still we're no closer to finding Remmy's home world

or figuring out how to even begin to find Colin.

And I'm sure it weighs really heavily on your mind.

It does, every day.

Hey, look who's awake.

I knew that an army of evil corporate clowns couldn't keep you down.

How's she doing?

Well, I'd say she's going to be back on solid food in about a month.

Great.

Well, you're not going to want to miss any of this.

I'm Mark Einman, President of Einman Entertainment

and I would like to extend to you

a personal invitation to The Arcade,

the world's cutting edge, state of the art

family entertainment center.

At The Arcade, you can experience in absolute realism

any one of 30 role playing scenarios.

Re-live history as a Civil War general,

hit the streets as a hard-nosed detective,

be a hot fighter jock.

There are no limits at The Arcade.

And for a limited time only,

California residents with a valid driver's license

get $10 off their family admissions pass.

Lisa Leopard,

Melina Mouse, what do you think of that?

We'll be at the spa.

See you at The Arcade,

the funnest place in the world.

The people of this world live to play.

They've developed some of the most sophisticated kinds of entertainment

I've ever seen.

And I've seen a lot.

Yeah, call it extreme fun.

And this guy, Einman,

he seems to own most of it.

I mean he practically rules this entire world.

We're here for two and a half days.

So instead of running for our lives from, uh, fill in the blank,

we think it's time for a little R&R.

You up for it, Diana?

I don't know, it all sounds like guy games.

And your point is?

Except for the Roman spa he mentioned.

Huh, right about now, a hot mineral bath sounds great.

Maggie, how about those guy games?

No. I'm gonna, I'm gonna...

I'm gonna do the spa with Diana.

Great. This is gonna be great.

- See you later. - See ya.

Boys will be boys.

Hey there, folks.

It's the last chance to sign up

for the Western Round-up,

so lasso your sweetie,

your hubby or your little children

and get on over to the Western Round-up.

Sign up in 10 minutes.

Hey.

Who the hell are you, Huggy Bear?

I'm a hard-hitting detective from the '70s.

And I'll have you know that this was once all the rage.

I know.

I've seen my parents' high school pictures.

Well, nothing personal, but I'm rooting for the North.

I wanted to be a general, one of Lee's command staff.

Yeah, well you're a private.

In this game, they make you start at the bottom

and work your way up.

I know he's not real but I was hoping I could meet Lee.

But as a private, I won't get anywhere near him.

So, what are you, a history buff?

Not always.

I hardly cracked a book when I was a kid.

But habits change when you find yourself stuck in a wheelchair.

Yeah, I know that story.

Nothing ever turns out like you hope, right?

Back when my group, the Spinning Tops, were hot,

these Hollywood big-wigs were scoping me out for a TV show.

- No kidding? - Yep. A cop show.

Nothing panned out.

That's the problem with being flavor of the month.

It's only a matter of time before you melt away.

Whoa! You two look...

You better think about this.

Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

Smart boy.

My, my, my.

Hi, I'm Fred. You must be my partner.

Partner?

You did pick the '70s buddy-cop scenario, didn't you?

Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

Name's Rembrandt.

So, you played this before?

Practically every day.

Every day?

You're a newbie, aren't you?

Well, you stick with me. I'll show you how it's done.

We can start by skipping the orientation video.

It's a bunch of safety this, safety that, blah, blah, blah.

Let's go, partner.

Wow, this looks real. Are we outside?

No, this is an indoor arena.

The hologram projections only work in an enclosed environment.

Then all of the people are just holograms?

That's not a lot of fun.

They're much more than projections.

They're highly sophisticated interactive holograms

contained in a malleable electrostatic force field.

In other words, if they take a swing at you, duck.

And don't worry about the bullets, they're harmless.

Now this baby's real.

This is our ride?

Oh, yeah.

Things just keep getting better.

Yeah.

- Oh, yeah. - Yeah.

Now from what I understand,

we're on the trail of this young girl that's been kidnapped, right?

So we check in with the Chief,

shake down our contacts and track her down?

Yeah, something like that.

General Lee, I think you're wrong to attack up the middle.

No, that's not it.

Begging the General's pardon,

I think General Longstreet is right.

An attack up the middle is a really bad idea.

Yeah, that's it.

Well, here goes nothing.

Blue Bellies are coming!

All right. Just move them down.

Fire.

Fire!

Fire!

Whoa, I need a bullet.

Why are you killing us?

This is no game.

Thank you.

You know, I, uh,

I kind of got the impression

that you would have rather gone with Rembrandt.

You know, you still can, you know.

I'm, uh, all right now.

Are you kidding me?

No, Diana, it's not that I didn't want to go with you.

It's just...

It's just that I'm used to hanging with the guys.

Mmm.

All right, you see, I have this problem,

I've always had this problem

where I have more male friends than female friends,

and it's not by choice.

It's just that, well, I guess some women find me threatening.

Really?

You too?

No, absolutely not.

Let's just say I didn't know what to make of you at first

but I wasn't threatened.

The problem is not with you.

The problem is with people who are so insecure

that they feel threatened by you.

You're okay, Captain Beckett.

I was thinking about something that you said earlier,

what did you mean when you said

you were convinced you were dead?

Oh, uh, well, I guess for me

death is no different than being in that black box,

absolute nothingness.

You don't have a case of classic claustrophobia.

You're afraid of darkness and nothingness.

You're really just afraid of death.

Hey, what's going on over there?

According to that tip that you beat out of Ferret Face,

they should be holding her here.

All right, let's play this real cool,

by the numbers, that way nobody should get hurt.

- You dig? - Yeah, whatever.

You know, I can't believe you made me stop to get a search warrant.

Well, isn't that how it's done?

In real life, maybe.

Hey, hold it right there, vermin!

Cover me, partner!

What the hell was that all about?

I thought it was a bad guy.

Well, it wasn't.

Jeez!

Are you going to shoot at everything that moves?

Well, no.

Good. See to it that you don't, man.

Stick to the scenario.

We're cops. Act like it.

Yeah, that means a lot coming from a guy in a plaid leisure suit.

Who's the baddest dude around?

Downtown Brown.

Who can bring the bad guys down?

Downtown Brown.

Ah! Platform shoes, what the devil were we thinking?

Freeze! Police!

Careful, man, you're gonna hit the girl!

Let's go!

You gotta take it easy, fella.

You gotta learn to pace yourself.

Yeah, pace yourself.

Hey, fella! Hold it right there!

Nice and easy, okay?

Nobody's gonna hurt anybody.

He's street pizza.

You shot her!

But I got him, too.

Okay, watch out.

You're not supposed to kill the victim.

She got in the way.

Besides, what difference does it make?

She's not real.

That's not the point, man. We just lost the game.

So, we hit the reset button.

Who cares about winning?

The object of the game is to have fun.

Maybe I don't want to play this game, anymore.

You are messing with my groove, man.

You are messing with my groove.

You wanna get real, huh?

You wanna get real with me?

Bring it on, daddy! Bring it on.

That's what I thought.

Play doctor in an emergency room.

Emergency starts in 15 minutes.

Hey.

Didn't expect to find you here.

I'm sitting this war out.

I thought that's what you were interested in.

I am.

But the people part, not just the fighting part.

I guess I was hoping to witness the most important

and solemn period in our history.

I mean, brother fighting brother,

the cruelty of slavery, a nation torn apart.

I think some of these people are missing the point.

Sorry, Private, but I think we missed the point.

My stint as a hip, cool detective turned into a blood bath.

My partner's motto was shoot first and ask no questions.

It looks like these sophisticated interactive experiences are just

overblown shoot-em-up type video games.

Well, I for one have had my fill.

I mean, why play the game?

We live this on a daily basis.

- And we get to do it for free. - Yeah.

You kept the badge.

A souvenir.

You really wanted that TV show gig, didn't you?

I thought I'd get a feel now for what I missed then.

I didn't miss all that much.

Come on, let's find the others, let's get the devil out of here.

Closed? What's that all about?

You see them anywhere?

They said that they would meet us here by 2:00.

That was 10 minutes ago.

We'll just check the old registration log.

And... voila.

It shows the visitors' registration.

It also shows the session ended and the visitors logged out.

But according to this, Diana and Maggie were never there.

Wait a minute. That's not right.

We were with them when they registered.

I'm only reading what it says.

Excuse me.

This is a restricted area. Is there something I can help you with?

Ah, maybe there is. We're looking for two friends of ours

who signed up for your spa.

I'm Mr. Flint, the general manager.

Are your friends listed in the registration?

No.

Then there's no way they could have been in there.

No, no, no. We, we saw them go in.

Well, you must be mistaken.

Now if you'll kindly stay clear of this area

or I'll have to have security remove you.

And enjoy your stay here at The Arcade,

the funnest place in the world.

Something funny about that guy.

You think?

Come on, maybe there's a service entrance to that spa.

Nobody home.

- They were here. - Flint was lying.

The question is why?

We need to find somebody who'll be straight with us.

Give us some information about this place.

I've got a radical idea.

I'll bet we can get some answers from those holograms.

That's not a radical idea, that's a crazy one.

They aren't real people. They're some kind of computer projection.

I know, but during my simulation

I could swear one was trying to communicate with me.

He said something that really spooked me.

He said, "This is no game."

Come to think of it

I've got an informant on the streets of New York.

Maybe he can cough up some info.

It's worth a shot, I suppose.

Just leave the partner at home.

Right on, right on.

Come on, Ferret Face, come on out of your hole.

Diana?

Diana, what are you doing here?

We thought you were at the spa?

You talking to me?

Yeah, I'm talking to you, baby.

Who are you talking to?

I'm talking to this man right here who wants to take me out on a date.

Now, will you let me do my business?

No way, baby. He's the heat.

Hey, wait a minute. Hey, Diana, wait.

Wait a minute, he's just a projection. He can't hurt me.

Diana!

Oh, no.

Hey, hey, excuse me.

Hey, hey, buddy, you remember me?

You spoke to me earlier today, just before...

Just before you died.

People keep killing me, why?

I need your help.

I have died a thousand times.

You can't die.

You're a computer program.

I have felt lead fragments five score times tear through my body.

Walked to the light,

only to have it ripped from me time and again.

But you're not real.

You're a projection.

You'll live again.

Only to die again.

No, not this time. True release is near.

Soon I will be free.

Great.

Second wave coming. Yanks on the left flank!

Now what?

Come on, boys, let's get us some Johnny Reb!

Maggie?

Knew the spa wasn't your speed but...

Maggie!

Maggie!

What the hell?

It wasn't her. It was a projection.

One of those holograms?

Yeah, I had a similar run-in with Diana over in the New York arena.

Come on.

Are you sure that wasn't really her?

Not unless she's turned her current profession

into the world's oldest profession.

No, look, I accidentally shot her and she turned off right before my very eyes.

Come on. There's another exit over there.

Why would these people want to use images of Maggie and Diana?

Man, I don't know. But I'm gonna find out.

I ran into that union soldier again.

I couldn't get much out of him. All he said was, "I died a thousand times."

Wonder what he meant by that?

Well, I'm no expert

but I guess they mean that they use the same computer simulations over and over.

I mean, you could say that these things die a thousand times.

I've killed a thousand times.

What the hell are you talking about?

Remember when I told you I read a lot when I was confined to that wheelchair?

- Yes. - That's not all I did.

I played a lot of video games. A lot of shoot-em-up type stuff.

I would spend hours staring into a TV screen,

mindlessly blasting anything that moved.

It never occurred to me that I was blowing away images of people.

Thousands of people without giving it a second thought.

Sounds like my ex-partner. "Drop-em-dead" Fred.

And most of the people on this world.

Come on.

Oops.

You caught me.

What?

Well, Mr. Einman doesn't like us maintenance guys

to be seen by the visitors.

Kind of spoils the illusion, if ya know what I mean.

He's for real.

All right, listen, my partner and I want to ask you a few technical questions

about how this place operates.

Oh, I can't do that. That's against policy.

Under no circumstances are employees ever to show

the inner workings of the park to the visitors.

I'm Detective John Shaft, this is my partner here, Private Dick.

We're on a special assignment to investigate

a number of unexplained disappearances.

Now, we can be your worst nightmare. You dig?

- Let's go. - Okay.

You guys will check this out with my supervisors, won't you?

I mean, just to be sure. Those middle managers can be real bone-crunchers.

Thought this was the funnest place in the world, Hal.

For the visitors maybe. Not to the employees.

Einman runs this place with an iron fist.

What's behind the door?

I don't know. It's restricted.

Okay, you got kids, Hal?

Oh, you betcha. I got Hal Jr.

He's a peach. He's president of the Thespian Club over at the school.

And then there's Juana. She wants to study welding some day.

I love them both.

We have us a situation here, Hal.

A conspiracy that would rock the foundation of this very company.

It could bring down Einman,

his entertainment empire and everything that he stands for.

Now, would you want that for your kids' future?

A future without Lisa Leopard?

Holy moly!

Hey, what is this?

The waiting room from hell.

You hear rumors about this sort of thing, but...

What do you mean "rumors"?

Well, people disappearing, stored in strange rooms.

I mean, that flap over the Euro-Arcade was on all the papers

but no one bought into it.

Everybody figured it was just a publicity stunt

being that the park had laid an egg and all. But this...

Wow-ee. This is scary stuff.

I found her.

It's okay, it's okay, you're safe now.

Oh, I just had the strangest dream.

It felt so real.

Oh, you shot me.

I died.

Where's Maggie?

I haven't found her yet.

Come on.

Look, what happened?

I remember.

One of the technicians told me while they were prepping us

that the skill level of most of the game players eventually

progressed faster than the games themselves.

The computer game designers needed to replicate human reaction

but they couldn't figure out how.

So they decided to integrate real human hosts

to drive each simulation, each hologram.

So, what's happening now?

He just died.

You mean the hologram that he's attached to just died.

No, he just died.

His brain does, but only for a second.

Then he's brought back and he's re-set for the next game.

Each host has up to a thousand uses before its system becomes fried and...

insanity sets in.

They experience their own death a thousand times.

This place is hell.

She's not here.

There must be 50 other rooms like this, you know.

Your friend could be in any one of them.

Hal, there was a young woman in the Civil War simulation.

Maybe you've seen her?

Sure I have.

She was the reason I was tweaking on the holo-projector.

There were no female union soldiers.

I thought there was a glitch in the system.

I had no idea there were, there were bodies behind it.

Well, leave it to Maggie to give a computer a hard time.

She must have been trying to communicate with us.

- Mr. Flint. - Yes, sir.

What is going on here?

I don't know, sir.

You don't know.

Look...

Those people are obviously park visitors, not employees.

They've gained access to the holo-hosts.

They don't belong there.

Yes, sir.

I'll get on it right away.

Yes, you should have gotten on it earlier.

Security, this is Mr. Einman.

There are intruders in siphoning room B.

Send a team there immediately.

Shoot to kill.

We've gotta find Maggie.

This place is gonna be crawling with guards any minute.

I saw her hologram on the battlefield.

When you reset the game we'll go in and find her.

Maybe she can tell us where she is.

No, when I saw Diana's hologram, it didn't know me.

Wait a minute. You said you remember my shooting you.

Oh, I remember the whole incident.

I just couldn't do anything about it.

They've got these inhibitors.

In order for the projection to work,

they have to nullify the host's personality

so it can be manipulated by the main computer.

So, without the personality inhibitor

maybe Maggie can communicate with us.

Like that Union soldier that you saw.

Listen, can these inhibitors be turned off?

I can cut off power to select areas of the system, yeah.

Okay, this is what we're going to do.

We're going to shut down that inhibitor gizmo,

find Maggie on the battlefield.

With any luck, she'll be able to tell us where they stashed her.

It's going to be tough with all those rent-a-cops running around.

Einman's got himself an army.

Well, then we'll just call in the cavalry.

Take cover.

Stay here. I got an idea.

General Lee!

We got Blue Bellies encroaching on the left flank, sir.

They're using real bullets!

What's wrong? The reality too much for you to handle?

I'm getting my money back.

Almost there. Just a few more minutes.

Here comes Maggie.

Good thing they can't hurt her.

Of course they can, Mallory.

When you're hooked up to that machine you feel it all.

You feel the pain, you feel the bullets, and you do die.

Look, we can't let her go through that again.

There's no telling how much damage she's suffered.

Remmy, how much longer?

All done.

It'll take the PI's a few minutes to wear off.

We're almost there. Just a few more minutes.

Then we can't let those guys get a shot on her.

What's going on?

Come on, let's get them, boys!

This isn't over yet.

Are we gonna let them get away with all that they've done to us?

No!

How long are you gonna keep dying

for no real reason other than someone else's pleasure?

Huh?

Our bullets can't touch them. They have no effect.

But we have our arms, and our bayonets

and our rifles to use as clubs.

And I know you're tired of this mess,

and I know you don't want to fight anymore,

but we have one reason to fight,

probably the only real reason to fight.

And that's for your freedom!

So, for freedom and justice,

charge!

Remember, they can't hurt you. They're only projections!

I don't suppose turning off those personality inhibitors

would make those hologram bullets real.

I'm afraid not, these guys are shooting blanks.

Yeah, well, I'm not.

We've been betrayed.

Yeah!

You should have seen yourself leading that charge.

I should have had a camera.

How do you feel?

Okay, I guess. I'm just not quite all here yet.

Yeah, you've got that right.

What the hell is going on here?

You shut this simulation down.

- Clear the arena. - Yes, sir.

Game over, man.

As we used to say in the '70s,

you are busted, sucker.

Mr. Einman used a worldwide network of vacation resorts to hijack his victims.

Of course, I had no idea this terrible activity was going on.

Uh, I'm a family man.

Well, if it isn't Stonewall Beckett.

- You were fantastic. - What about me?

I lead a pretty mean charge.

Oh, yeah, I saw,

and gray is definitely your color.

Sir, if we can please have a statement here.

This changes very little.

People will just find another way to get their kicks.

Don't you understand?

We're all warriors underneath.

It's just part of the ancient animal we all carry inside of us.

There'll always be a need for the kind of work I do.

The kind of service I provide.

You know, Einman...

I once worked in this greasy spoon diner in the town where I grew up.

The old man there was a lousy cook but he had a booming business.

And he once told me why.

He said, "Kid, if you serve up nothing but slop,

"eventually people will develop a taste for it.

"They won't want anything else."

Think about it.

Well,

I've had my share of rest for one lifetime.

I've had my share of lifetimes.

What do you think of the dark now?

Maggie, I've seen it.

What are you talking about? What did you see?

A light, a bright light at the end of it all.

I've experienced life beyond the cosmos

and now I've experienced life after death.

There is a life after this one.

I guess I had to die to realize that.

I'm not afraid of the dark anymore.

We still have a little over a day here.

Then let's eat.

Stopping bad guys makes me hungry.

Great, who's for burgers?

Wait, what? What did I say?