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Though it boasts a brief 83-minute runtime, Parallels (2015) sets up a ton of unanswered questions that could be further explored if it transitioned into a full-fledged series. The film has a lot of qualities reminiscent of Sliders (1995) and Fringe (2008), and establishes plenty of potential plot directions and theoretical questions that could be analyzed through continued material.

• Why were Ronan (Mark Hapka) and Beatrix (Jessica Rothe) sent to the building by their father?
• What is the building, and who made it? What is its purpose?
• Which Earth is the core planet?
• Does Alex (Yorgo Constantine) (Ronan and Beatrix’ father) control the building, or work for those that do? Is he even their dad?
• Is Ronan and Beatrix’s mother actually dead?
• Why did Alex kill Tinker (Michael Monks) after he went upstairs? To protect his children, or to hide what’s up there?
• Why are there three copies of Polly (Constance Wu) at the end?
• How many Earths are there? How are they being numbered with the graffiti? What allows people to know what “number” Earth they are on?
• Does the building only travel to specific Earths?
• Is there a pattern to which Earths the building travels? If so, does that imply it only travels to specific ones and not potentially infinite Earths?
• How does the building exist in versions of Earth where its style architecture never existed? Or does it?
• What is the purpose of the Core Earth’s spherical artifact Ronan found in his father’s car trunk?
• Is an alternate version of Tinker involved with creating the building? Why was he capable of building a machine that controlled it using electronics from a foreign Earth?
• Does the building’s “jumping” not draw attention from the outside?
• Why 36 hours?
• How does the building replace what was in its position prior to a jump when it jumps from Earth to Earth? Are those buildings always empty?
• Who are the guys hunting Alex at his home?
• Why doesn’t the main cast run into copies of themselves?
• How many other people are jumping between universes? Can they be interacted with inside the building, or is everyone within their own plane?
• Does the building itself create the deviations in Earths?
• Why did Alex nuke the version of Earth that Tinker came from?
• What’s above floor 7?
• Why did Ronan not exist on the second Earth? How often will he not exist on various Earths?
• What is the Big Danny?

The sheer quantity of questions raised within this compact film is proof there are many avenues for a series to navigate. In reality, the filmmakers probably didn’t even consider the answers to most of the questions above, but given the opportunity would be able to examine them.

What other questions do you have after viewing the film? What possible answers can you see?