THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
WELSH-BORN ACTOR John Rhys-Davies, he of the stout chest and magnificent rolling baritone, will soon return to Virginia Beach to take up his role as the host of ``Archaeology,'' which is produced here for The Learning Channel.
But first, the man has some sliding to do.
In ``Sliders,'' a Fox science-fiction series that begins tonight at 8, Rhys-Davies plays a stuffy college professor named Maximillian Arturo who slips between dimensions into universes that parallel 1995 Earth. Careening through a ``wormhole'' or tear in time with him are Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd and Cleavant Derricks.
Rhys-Davies promises to be back on contemporary Earth in time to do his part for ``Archaeology,'' which is produced by New Dominion Pictures Inc. in Virginia Beach. Rhys-Davies shows up in Virginia about three times a year to stand before the camera in remote corners of Hampton Roads - Suffolk has been a favorite of late - and pull viewers into stories about frozen tombs in Siberia, 5,000-year-old mummies and other subjects dug up by ``Archaeology'' producers working in Virginia Beach.
Pardon the pun.
Series creator Tom Noughton is happy to have Rhys-Davies for even a day. ``He's a great actor always in demand,'' said Noughton of the man who has been in blockbuster films (``Raiders of the Lost Ark'') as well as blockbuster TV productions (``Shogun'').
Now this. ``Sliders.''
It must seem like bubble gum for the brain to an actor trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. The series filmed in Vancouver hardly challenges him as an actor, but Rhys-Davies isn't complaining.
The pay is good and, heaven knows, Rhys-Davies could use the money, because he plans to build a movie studio on the Isle of Man.
He lives on the island in the Irish Sea along with about 48,000 other souls. The Lord of Man. But when is he home? His work in film, TV and theater - Rhys-Davies revels in Shakespeare - takes him away from the island for months at a time.
``The best actors are those who are willing to work anywhere at any time. I work a lot,'' he said when meeting TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.
It's a life in which you learn a great deal about room service, he said. He's no snob about his work. One week, he's doing ``Hedda Gabler'' in London, and the next week he's on a soundstage in Vancouver with ``Sliders,'' being thrust into another universe in which Elvis is still alive and the U.S. is a Communist state.
Rhys-Davies finished nine episodes. Now he waits to see if ``Sliders'' will catch on. ``If we get to do more, we'll do more. If not, so be it. I think it's rousing science-fiction.''
Mini-review: The concept of ``Sliders'' is interesting and the cast is attractive. But tonight's two-hour pilot seems like it's three hours long. The producers promise better-paced hours to come.
Boy genius and physics grad student Quinn Mallory (played by O'Connell) builds a portal in his basement through which he and his friends travel between dimensions. The ``wormhole'' sucks you up and you are on your way.
You land with a thud on the other end. Ouch, said Rhys-Davies, who is no snowflake.
Rhy-Davies' TV wish is to join Noughton's ``Archaeology'' crews on location in Siberia or wherever instead of filming in Virginia and pretending to be somewhere remote and exciting.
Suffolk isn't Siberia. It just seems like that in the middle of the week.
``Perhaps I could get involved in something about the collapse of the Mycenaean or Minoan civilizations around 1200 BC,'' suggested Rhys-Davies. Perhaps. by CNB