“Lipschitz Live!” is episode thirteen of season four of Sliders.
Quinn exits the wormhole to discover the others aren’t with him. The same happens to Colin, who finds that everyone is watching Lipschitz Live on television and don’t like him blocking the view. Maggie and Rembrandt are together, but dangling from a window cleaning platform on the side of a skyscraper. They start to clamber up and Rembrandt is having a go at Quinn until Maggie tells him Quinn isn’t there. She’s sure this has to be Quinn’s fault somehow.
Quinn is looking for the others, as there’s only 2 hours 50 minutes in this world. And lots of people are watching Lipschitz Live. Maggie has found the controls to the platform when she spots Colin on the ground below. Too far away to hear her yells.
Quinn heads to the Chandler; on the screen over the entrance, it’s being announced that Lipschitz Live is the most watched show in history. Inside, the receptionist would rather watch the television than serve Quinn, and says they’re booked up. Big corporate wedding – indeed, it looks like two companies are marrying. Quinn wants to leave a message for his friends, but is told that he can’t unless he has a room.
Rembrandt and Maggie have made it to the roof. Rembrandt says this is like no trip they’ve had before. They’ve been separated before, but not like this. The only other time there was a problem was when the wormhole was struck by lightning in “Gillian of the Spirits”. Maggie thinks Colin was heading to the Chandler.
Quinn is in the Chandler’s bar; everyone is really fixated on Lipschitz Live. When asked by the barman if he watches it, Quinn says he travels a lot. He mostly reads. The barman says that’s the problem with kids today; they read too much and don’t watch enough television. The barman is paying so little attention that Quinn charges his beer to one of the companies getting married. Then a meal.
Colin is heading to the Chandler. Two men in suits with earpieces are following him.
In the bar, the barman sees Quinn’s timer, which he thinks is a television remote and proudly shows his own off, describing its features. Which sound a tad excessive. Rembrandt and Maggie arrive in reception to be told there’s no Quinn Mallory. A Colin Mallory has checked in. They break into the room and start going through the things, puzzled by how Colin has managed to get so much stuff in so little time.
Colin arrives in reception, watched by another guest. Also Colin. The receptionist asks all Colin’s questions without being asked. Colin sees Quinn in the bar, but is bundled off by the men who were following him as his double watches. In the bar, Quinn is asking the barman how to find someone in a hurry. He’s told that everyone just kind of sits around all day watching Barry Lipschitz.
Rembrandt and Maggie find Colin’s double, only for him to run in front of an ambulance. They end up going to the hospital. Quinn is asking about Lipschitz Live and the barman tells him how it came about after lots of corporate mergers. Quinn asks how you get on the show. The barman asks if he has a weird story to tell. Sort of. Well, they shoot a few blocks away from here.
Colin is bundled into a limo and is being told by the other Colin’s stepfather that he will live up to his obligations. The limo belongs to one of the two companies getting married. Apparently, this wedding will end fifty years of brutal corporate warfare. Colin is handed a suit to get changed into.
Maggie and Rembrandt have found the other Colin; Maggie assumes he is suffering after the accident given his out of character behaviour. Neither seem to think they have a double and prove to be surprisingly slow on the uptake.
Quinn is having problems convincing the producer of Lipschitz Live that his story is interesting. He lists who he’s met, including a female version of himself in “Double Cross”. This interests the producer, who asks Quinn if he slept with her. He doesn’t answer. Nor does he deny it.
It turns out the corporate wedding involves an actual wedding, and Colin’s double is the groom. Which means that Colin is taking the groom’s place.
Quinn needs to get on television to tell everyone where he is and how long they have left to slide. Which isn’t very long.