Colonel Angus Rickman

Colonel Angus Rickman is a villain appearing in the FOX science fiction series Sliders.

He was played by Roger Daltrey in his first appearance and then by Neil Dickson in subsequent episodes.

Rickman first appears in "The Exodus, Part 1." He is the commander of a US Army base in California on an alternate world that's under threat of annihilation by pulsars, and he's first seen chastising intelligence officer Maggie Beckett for her poor handling of Dr. Vladimir Jariabek, a Caltech professor who was tracking the pulsars. Later, after Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown, and Maximillian Arturo are apprehended by Maggie and brought onto the base, Rickman interrogates Quinn about his sliding timer, and coerces the Sliders into working with his scientists to develop sliding technology that can transport a select number of people to another world.

It later turns out that Rickman is the one behind a series of attacks that have been occurring on the base; he's shown extracting brain fluid from another victim and injecting it into the back of his neck.

In "The Exodus, Part 2," Rickman orders for a mob that's trying to get inside the base to be executed, and he listens contently as the gunshots ring out. Later, when Arturo discovers that they can slide more people to the new world that Quinn and Maggie found earlier, he arrogantly insists that they stick with the number they have already, drawing Arturo's stern criticism. Rickman later attacks Arturo and extracts some of the professor's brain fluid, but is forced to flee when he's interrupted by Rembrandt and Wade. Rembrandt and Wade later find vials of brain fluid in Rickman's office along with a newspaper clipping stating that, in the Gulf War of this Earth, the colonel was infected with a disease that attacks the brain stem, which necessitates his need for brain fluids.

When Dr. Jensen stumbles upon Rickman injecting himself with brain fluid, Rickman shoots him to prevent the truth from coming to light and later lies to Maggie about what happened. He then activates a vortex to the new world, but before he himself can slide, the Sliders show up. Quinn struggles with Rickman, but Rickman overpowers him and attempts to shoot him, only for Arturo to take the bullet for Quinn. Rickman then leaps into the vortex, which closes behind him.

The Sliders make it to the pulsar survivors' new world, where they join up with Maggie and inform her of the truth about her husband's death. Quinn and a vengeful Maggie go to find Rickman, and they separate to take Rickman by surprise. However, Rickman grabs Maggie. Fortunately, Quinn comes up and punches the colonel, leading to a short fight that ends with Rickman knocking Quinn out and using Dr. Jensen's timer to escape, leaving the three remaining Sliders, joined by Maggie, to resolve to track him down to retrieve the coordinates to Earth Prime (stored in Jensen's timer) as well as avenge Arturo's death.

Rickman next appears in "The Other Slide of Darkness," where he has taken refuge in a part of the woods covered by a strange, suffocating fog and has draining brain fluid from the locals. It soon turns out that Rickman has allied with an alternate version of Quinn (in fact, the very first double of Quinn that appeared in the series) in exchange for safe passage off this alternate world.

In "Dinoslide," Rickman returns to the world the pulsar survivors colonized earlier, but he again escapes from the Sliders.

In "Stoker," Rickman poses as a priest in order to find suitable brain fluid donors, but he again escapes.

In the third season finale "This Slide of Paradise," Rickman has landed on a world where California is a chain of islands, one of which is home to a genetically-engineeered breed of human/animal hybrids created by Dr. Vargas. Taking and injecting brain fluid from these hybrids has resulted in Rickman taking on animal characteristics. In the final act, Rickman attempts to jump into a vortex, but he ends up missing the portal and falling to his death.