Tracy Torme Movies

Adapted from acclaimed author Richard Matheson's influential novelette of the same name, Constantine director Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend follows the last man on Earth as he struggles to survive while fending off the infected survivors of a devastating vampiric plague. A brilliant scientist who raced to discover a cure for the man-made virus as humanity came crumbling down all around him, Robert Neville (Will Smith) was inexplicably immune to the highly contagious superbug. Now the entire population of New York City -- and perhaps the world -- has been transformed into carnivorous bloodsuckers that fear the light and live solely to spread their contagion to any remaining living creature that crosses their path. It's been three years since civilization came to an end, and the loneliness has taken a devastating toll on Neville. By day he scours the city for food and supplies while sending out desperate radio messages in hopes that someone might respond, and by night he attempts to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus by experimenting with his own blood. But time is running out for Neville as the legions of infected watch his every move from the safety of the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. They, too, long to learn the secret that lurks in Neville's blood, though they will have to take caution while attempting to procure it because Neville will sooner die attempting to slay every last one of them than willingly giving up a single drop. Previously adapted for the screen in the 1964 Vincent Price frightener The Last Man on Earth and the 1971 Charlton Heston action film The Omega Man, Matheson's novelette also served as the inspiration for George A. Romero's groundbreaking zombie classic Night of the Living Dead. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Dennis Haysbert stars as Joshua Finch, an outer-space circuit court judge who travels from one planet to another. Arriving in a world where no law of any kind has ever been practiced, Judge Finch must try the case of an alien accused of murdering several humans. The judge faces an especially daunting challenge: Though this is a lawless planet, it has its own peculiar definitions of truth, justice, innocence, and guilt. "Rule of Law" was first telecast on August 25, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After completing a three-year run on the Fox network, the sci-fi series Sliders appropriately resurfaced on cable's Sci-Fi Channel for an additional two seasons. When last we saw Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) and Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer), the two sliders who had used Quinn's timing mechanism to travel to alternate worlds and universes throughout the time-space continuum, they had been hurtled centuries into the future. As the series' fourth season begins, Maggie and Quinn have reached his home earth, now in the thrall of the Kromaggs, a fascistic race of warrior sliders. As for the other former series regulars, prof. Arturo was killed near the end of season three, and Wade Wells has been shipped off to a Kromagg breeding camp; only Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks) is able to link up with Quinn and Maggie. Before long, Quinn discovers that his own parents had been sliders from a different world, and that he has been implanted with a microdot that will enable him to locate a powerful weapon capable of wiping out the Kromagg. As icing on the cake, this microdot will also ultimately reunite Quinn with his long-lost brother, Colin (Charlie O'Connell), who upon being rescued joins sliders Quinn, Maggie, and Cleavant in their quest to topple the Kromagg and save their world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Two of the Fox sci-fi-fantasy series Sliders finds college student Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) and his friends Wade (Sabrina Lloyd), Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), and Rembrandt (Cleavant Derricks) using the timing device he has invented to hopscotch around dozens of alternate versions of his native San Francisco, as the foursome desperately seek a way to return to their own world. In the season opener "Into the Mystic", the sliders pop up in a contemporary San Francisco ruled by magicians, whereupon Quinn becomes a hunted man when he refuses to pay his witch doctor's bill. Other typical episodes this season include "The Good, the Bad, and the Wealthy", in which San Francisco is part of the Nation of Texas; "Obsession", depicting a bizarro Frisco controlled by evil psychics; and "Greatfellas", in which the foursome emerge in a modern world where Prohibition has never ended, with San Francisco in thrall of old-fashioned gangsters. And foreshadowing of season three, wherein Quinn and company move beyond San Francisco and slide throughout the world and the universe, our heroines (and heroine) meet a band of fellow sliders from another planet in "Invasion." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First seen over the Fox network on March 22, 1995, the weekly, hour-long Sliders was a sci-fi-fantasy opus about a group of people who visited bizarre parallel worlds by means of a device that could open wormholes in the universe. Jerry O'Connell starred as Quinn Mallory, the San Francisco-based college student who invented the device, a timing mechanism that resembled an ordinary TV remote. Together with his physics professor Maximillian P. Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), his computer-store co-worker Wade Wells (Sabrina Lloyd) and washed-up soul singer Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown (Cleavant Derricks), Quinn continually popped up in infinite alternate versions of San Francisco, some only subtly different than the world the travelers were familiar with, others radically changed. In one episode, Frisco was a Communist city; in another, the town was in the throes of the Ice Ace; in still another, the city is a tributary of "the country of Texas"; and in yet still another, dinosaurs roam throughout the city's streets and hills. In these other worlds Elvis still lived, the British had won the Revolutionary War, psychics and hippies controlled the government, and Rembrandt Brown was still the biggest singing star on Earth. In each episode, it fell to the four protagonists -- the sliders -- to right various wrongs in these crazy-quilt worlds, and to find a way to return to their own San Francisco. Beginning with the series' third season, the sliders moved beyond San Francisco and visited alternate worlds all over the Earth and the rest of the universe. In the course of their journeys they picked up another slider from another world, Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer). The series ended its Fox run on August 8, 1997, with Professor Arturo being killed and Wade disappearing from view. Beginning June 8, 1998, Sliders was picked up by cable's Sci Fi Channel, with Jerry O'Connell, Cleavant Derricks, and Kari Wuhrer still in the cast. It was explained that Quinn's home Earth had been overrun by a race of warrior sliders called the Kromagg, who had conquered the planet and shipped Wade off to a breeding farm. It also turned out that Quinn's own parents had been sliders from another world, and that he'd been implanted with a micro-dot which would not only enable him to find a super-weapon with which he could destroy the Kromagg, but also locate his long-lost brother Colin (Charlie O'Connell) -- who, when found, became the newest member of the sliders' team. At the outset of the series' final season, both of the Mallory brothers perished in a bad slide, but Quinn's "life essences" were manifested into another slider (played by Robert Floyd), who was immediately re-christened Quinn Two. Ultimately, Quinn Two linked up with Rembrandt, Maggie, and another new slider, a scientist named Diana Davis (Tembe Locke). The last episode of Sliders -- which rather perversely brought the whole saga full-circle -- was originally aired on February 4, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most famous real-life UFO abduction cases on record becomes this character-driven drama from sci-fi screenwriter Tracy Torme. D.B. Sweeney stars as Travis Walton, a forestry worker who disappears one night during an encounter with a flying saucer. Authorities treat with skepticism the outrageous story related by the only witnesses to the event, Travis' five co-workers, who include his best friend and future brother-in-law, Mike Rogers (Robert Patrick). A state lawman (James Garner) finds a tabloid newspaper in the crew's pickup truck and quickly ascertains that tensions had arisen between Walton and a surly fellow logger (Craig Sheffer), leading him to conclude that a murder cover-up is underway. However, all of the men pass lie detector tests and the case becomes stalled until the shocking last-minute reappearance of Travis, who tells a literally fantastic story involving his whereabouts for the past week. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The title character in this episode is none other than our old android friend, Lt. Cmdr. Data. Along with several other crew members, Data rushes to the aid of dying scientist Ira Graves (W. Morgan Sheppard). Fascinated by Data, Graves bestows upon him a split personality, then unceremoniously expires. The motivation behind Graves' final gesture remains unclear to everyone but the old man's faithful assistant, Kareen Brianon (Barbara Alyn Woods). Scripted by Tracy Torme from a story by Hans Beimler and Richard Manning, "The Schizoid Man" initially aired January 28, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Enterprise's Holodeck malfunctions, trapping Captain Picard in a recreation of 1941 San Francisco. In the tradition of the earlier Star Trek episode A Piece of the Action, Picard finds himself smack-dab in the middle of a film noir-style gangster melodrama, with familiar movie stereotypes abounding (two of them played by "cult" actors Lawrence Tierney and Dick Miller). As if this weren't enough, Picard is pestered by hostile aliens who demand that he give them their undivided attention. Nominated for a Best Cinematography Emmy Award, "The Big Goodbye" was written by Tracy Torme, and was first telecast January 16, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Majel Barrett, one of the cast members of the original Star Trek, guest stars as Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana in this Next Generation episode. Unexpectedly showing up at the Enterprise, Lwaxana announces an impending wedding, not hers, but Deanna's. Understandably upset at the notion of a prearranged marriage to the son of an old family friend (Rob Knepper), Deanna is in no mood to contend with a band of renegade plague-bearing aliens who intend to take refuge on an inhabited planet. Originally telecast December 5, 1987, "Haven" was cowritten by Tracy Torme and Lan O'Kun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide