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Quantum Leap (2022)
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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:42 pm    Post subject: Quantum Leap (2022) Reply with quote



SYFY Wire:

Oh, boy! NBC has rebooted the QL television series as a weekly show the fall of 2022 on Monday night.

Dr. Ben Seong (Raymond Lee) is a respected physicist who finds himself in the same predicament as Scott Bakula's Dr. Sam Beckett faced all those years ago.

He's a man lost in the past, jumping from body to body in an effort to return back home.

The pilot episode thrusts Dr. Seong back to 1989, where he must work to prevent a terrible tragedy from taking place amid San Francisco's Earthquake that occurred that year.

Funnily enough, 1989 is the same year that the original iteration of the iconic show leapt onto the small screen.

It's a nice homage to the original creator of QL Donald Bellisario and Deborah Platt (voice of the A.I. "Ziggy")---both who serve as executive producers on this modern day revival.

Sidebar: We'll see if the network can catch lightning in a bottle for a second time with this new version of QL.

As a fan of the original I sure hope so. I am pleased to see that Bellisario & Platt are on board as producers.

Having the creators of a television series being involved with their "baby" when the show is updated makes me feel that the series will be in good hands. These are the folks that came up with the show in the first place they made it work, know it inside and out, and care and are protective of it. They have a fanbase and don't want to offend them or alter the premise so much that it becomes disappointing to others.

I recall reading an article about the making of the live action Thunderbirds movie. It stated that the creators/producers, Gary & Sylvia Anderson, were not asked to participate in the film production at all.

It's then that I had red flags about just how these producers of the film might mess it up royally. And they did, it was bloody awful as the British might say.

I think that when you ignore (disrespect) partnering with the creators of a TV show, you just might be arrogant about how you'll do it better. Often these kind of producers throw out the heart and soul of the series, they don't really get the concepts, characters, or fans. The new producers want to make it "their show."

A caveat: that's not to ever say that involving the creator of a concept will automatically make the revived show a smashing success. Sometimes even though the creators mean well, they can actually get in the way of some marvelous updates to their show.

When William Dozier decided to bring the Green Hornet & Kato to television on ABC back in 1966, he consulted with the creator of the GH & K, George W. Trendle even though Trendle was not an executive producer on the TV series.

Trendle came up with the GH back in 1936 as a radio show where it ran until 1952.

Dozier knew that the GH property was a thirty-year old one when he wanted to bring it for the first time to television audiences. He knew not many people remembered the crimefighting heroes in '66, or if they did, it was only vaguely. He also realized that since the GH was decades old by that time it would require some modernizing to the basic concept.

The GH was going to have to compete in a world where the James Bond film franchise existed; The Man From UNCLE, The Wild, Wild West, and such shows were hits with audiences.

To that end the GH was given various gadgets to work with such as the awesome Hornet Sting sonic weapon. Dozier retained the GH's Gas Gun that was part of the radio show.

So he knew it would be wise to keep some of Trendle's original ideas. The ones that worked well.

Dozier also knew that such new fangled concepts such as Britt Reid having a fireplace in his home that doubled as a secret entrance for D. A. Scanlon, and weaponizing the Black Beauty were musts for his TV show.

Trendle objected to such updates, and others, feeling that it was not true to his GH concept.

In my opinion that was a case where the original creator was fixated upon his ideas and was unwilling to view his characters in modern times for a new audience.

Change is never easy.

So, yes, a creator can get in the way of their concepts when it is passed into the hands of a new generation.

Revivals can be tricky. Sometimes a TV series was part of an era that has gone by. They were fundamentally locked into the time and place they first existed. It worked, then time went on. Bringing that idea back and into a new age cannot work out no matter whose capable hands it may land in.

But I think that the general rule should be to include the originators of a premise in its reboot and respect them.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

I've watched the first three episodes of the new version of Quantom Leap, and I'm very impressed! The pilot episode totally rocks! Cool

I cracked up at the end of the episode when Ben leaps into a space shuttle astronaut just as it lifts off, and he shouts, "Wait! Stop" — and then us says, "Ooooh . . . shit." Laughing

Welcome, the 21st century version of Quantum Leap.

The FX are astounding, and the stories are beautifully written. They infuse the stories with some real science which make the plots really taste like science fiction and not just morality plays, like the original series.

A large percentage of the stories take place at the Quatum Leap project, which has a group of interesting characters who work diligently to bring Ben back home.

The project director is played by Ernie Hudson (Ghost Busters, Congo), and he's a joy to watch. Very Happy

Addison Augustine is the new Al, and she's the fiance' of Ben Song (the new Sam Beckett). She and Ben work together even better than Sam and Al did — and frankly, Ben does a much better than Sam Beckettjob at convincing us he's a genius

Don't get me wrong, Scott Bakula is a fine actor, but he just never sold me on the idea he was super-smart. Sincere and noble, yes — but no quantum physicist, I'm sorry to say.

I was delighted to see that Addison Augustine doesn't have Al's annoying habits, like acting like a sex fiend, and bumping the hand-held com device constantly, which I absolutely hated. And the device doesn't look like glowing Legos, Pete's sake . . .

I'm a little worried about the fact that the premise still includes the concept that Ben Song (like Sam Beckett) is leaping around to change certain events in the past, even though his temporal destinations and his new identities aren't being controlled by the people at the Quantum Leap project.

I hope it won't include the silly idea that God is doing it.

Heck, if there really is a God, He shouldn't be making mistakes and forcing people to correct them — especially without even explaining what the mistakes are, not to mention making Ziggy figure it all out! Rolling Eyes

So, hopefully this new version of Quatum Leap won't include that unfortunate aspect. But since it's presenting itself as an actually sequel-series, we're probably stuck with it.

The ratings, the critics, and the fans are apparently trashing the show, — so this might end up as yet another great series that died because it was just too good and too smart for dumb audiences who have to buy their intelligence in the form of "smart phones". Sad

I'll wait to hear the opinions of you other folks before I post anything else. Please don't make me wait too long for those replies.

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got a kick out of the homage in last night's episode of the new QL to the old QL show.

The scene shows a table full of older tech lying across it, at one point we see a cable running to the computer hand-link that Al (Dean Stockwell) used on the original series. You know, the one that looks like a bunch of glowing Legos snapped together. The hand-link on the new show looks nothing like the original.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Ah, but it's much more than an homage, Mike!

That young lady is Al's daughter — Janis Calavicci — a brilliant quantum physicist in her own right. In addition to Al's old hand-link, she also stole equipment and data from the Quantum Leap project! Shocked

She's the one who altered Ziggy and the QL programing to do something which she and Ben planned together — or so the QL people suspect. But even if it's true, Ben doesn't remember all that now.

Ernie Hudson and the tech person Ian Wright (played very well by transgender actor Mason Alexander Park) discovered that Ben was deliberately leaping to several predesignated time periods to "build up momentum" so he could eventually reach some period well beyond his own lifetime.

Janis Calavicci also hacked into Ziggy, so that means she's getting all the data from Ben's leaps which the QL people receive.

Just after we see the old Lego-link on the table, she picks it up and steps onto a platform . . . which is apparently her home-built imaging chamber!

That means she's going to appear to Ben, back in his leap-time-period the same way Addison does!

Mike, I think she's figured out some way to bring her father back.

After all, we're dealing with a show that delivers weakly stories about a time traveler who deliberately does the same thing Marty McFly desperately tried NOT to do — change the timeline.

The original Quantum Leap's final episode had a brief scene in which Sam leapt back and told Al's wife that her husband
wasn't dead, he was a prisoner of war who would be returning home in a few years.

As a result, she didn't remarry. She and Al were reunited. In fact, Janis and her sister (who was not mentioned in this new episode) wouldn't have been born if Sam hadn't drastically altered the timeline of Al's life.

The three episodes of the new series which have aired so far did not say how Al died. But I don't think he was especially old, because his wife (played by Susan Diol) looks surprisingly young.



_______________


Perhaps Al wasn't as old as Dean Stockwell. So, his death may have been from an illness which, if treated early, could have given Al a longer life span.

Consider these clues we've seen so far.

~ Al's daughter, Janis, owes her very existence to the fact that Sam altered the timeline and reunited Al and Beth.

~ Janis is a quantum physicist who is intimately familiar with the Quantum Leap project.

~ She possesses equipment and knowledge she could use to employ quantum leaping and change the timeline.

~ Ben Song is "memory impaired" and might be misled by false information Janis gives him when she appears in the past

~ In an effort to resurrect (so to speak) Al Calavicci, she could use Ben's leaping ability to reach a moment in time when Ben Song could to tell a very young Al about his fatal medical condition.

Now, perhaps you're thinking that because Dean Stockwell is no longer among the living, my idea can't possible work. Well, I don't think that's necessarily true.

After the timeline has been changed, we'll watch a beautiful montage of scenes with Dean Stockwell — from young to middle age to slightly older — scenes borrowed from various movies and shows, all in soft focus, accompanied by stirring music! Very Happy

This montage will convey the changed timeline and the happy news the Al Calavicci is alive and well — his life AGAIN changed for the better by Project Quantum Leap! Very Happy

After that, the series will move on to new and imaginative plots, and Al need not be mention again.

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Mike, have you seen the first two episodes? The second one has Ben Song on the space shuttle Atlantis! The FX are astounding, and the story is incredible. Mr. Green

If this series is NOT a big hit, it will be for two reasons.

The first reason is the fact that the original series was adored by people who were 30 and 40 years old, and now their 60 and 70. Unfortunately, the tech-rich age of 2022 is far beyond what they grew up with.

I know, because I'm 74. Fortunately I'm a 74-year-old sci-fi geek, so I have an advantage. Cool

The second reason is that young people today were raised on video games composed of glitzy visuals with interactive action . . . and no story they needed to think about or follow.

But this new series has a very complex story with brilliantly portrayed characters and an original concept that was first presented 30 years earlier to people who were NOT raised on video games.

Because of this, the new series might not succeed with the older fans today because it's more complex, and it's different from their beloved original in too many ways for them to accept.

Ironically, however, the series might not succeed with the younger viewers today because it too complex, and they don't want to wrestle with strange new concepts which require them to pay attention and listen to the dialog.

I short, Mike, we're living in The Twilight Zone — a world in which half the population remembers their dreams of a marvelous technological future which they believed would someday come true. Cool

However, the other half is immersed in the same incredible technology we dreamed of . . . and yet they have no dreams at all. Sad

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The eternal question: Why do some smart, clever, well done television series (of any genre) struggle and fail, while simple-minded and lowbrow junk enthrall millions of viewers?

In spite of the hyper-critical critics & fans, I see that NBC has ordered 6 brand new episodes of this marvelous new QL show.

So there may be hope yet for this SF show.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Hey, that's great news, Mike!

I liked the fourth episode, and I admired the fact that they had Ben Song leap in a female body WITHOUT making the actor have to spend the episode in women's clothes, makeup, and jewelry — the way poor Scott Bacula sometimes did. Rolling Eyes

All in all, it was another fine episode.

I'd like to go on record as predicting that Bacula's statement about how he was "not involved in the new series" was a clever ploy to conceal the fact that at some point Sam will be "brought home" by Ben Song and the team!

After all, if Bacula had even hinted that he WAS involved, nobody would be surprised by the triumphant return of Sam Backett! Very Happy

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________________________

Well, hallelujah! A new espisode of Quantum Leap that's even better then the first two!

Episodse 7 was a Halloween special about a young girl (think: Linda Blair) who is possessed by a demon in 1934, ahd Ben Song is a priest called upon to perform an exorcism.

It was so well done that even before the story revealed that this wasn't going to be a murky story that never answered the question — "Is there a demon or isn't there?" — I was completely enthralled!

And then it revealed itself to be a true science fiction story that was absolutely brilliant.

The final moments of the episode spring a surprise on us; the appearance of Al Cavalicci's daught as a hologram who appeaars to Ben and desperately tries to tell Ben Song something before he leaps.

Unfortunately, she fails.

Good lord, I've been waiting for this moment since we found out that Janice Calavicci (Al's daughter) had stolen hardware and solftware from Project Quantum Leap to achieve some hidden agenda.

The perfect answer would be to keep her father from dying from whatever illness killed him, and to bring back Sam Beckett — something her father desperately wanted to do.

If that's not what they're doing, than I'm a better writer than they are!

But dammit . . . I don't want to be a better writer than they are! I want TV shows by better writers than me! Shocked

We might find out the answer next week . . . but that episode is the freakin' Fall Finale, (dammit, I really HATE those!), so the series might drag out the Big Reveal until after this show has been cancelled — and we'll NEVER find out what the producers have in store for this great show! Shocked

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________________________

Four things the new Quantum Leap doesn't do that the old show did . . . or that the new show should be doing. Very Happy
________________________________________________

~ They don't suggest that God is choosing who Ben Song is leaping into, just because God thinks He's screwed up something, and HE wants the Time Leaper to fix it. I always hated that idea!

Damn it, if God screwed up something, He damn well should fix the screw-up himself! Is God really a funbling old fool? Rolling Eyes

~ The hologram of Addison Augustine never enters and leaves through a brightly-lite rectangular doorway, the way Al did. She just walks into-and-out-of the frame when she joins or leaves Ben. I can't figure out why the new show is deliberately omitting those beloved moments! Sad

This makes the show runners seem cheap and lazy. Such an effect would be easy to do today. Rolling Eyes

~ Ben's "leap out" is presented with a plum wimpy special effect, compared to the original series!

Furthermore, we never see his "leaps into" someone at all! Shocked

They just show Ben Song after that leap, looking puzzled about where he is. Dammit, that's both unsatisfying and frustrating. Sad

~ The new show makes no mention of the old "Holding Room" located at Project Quantum Leap.

In the old days, the show stated that the bodies of the "leap recipients" were located in the present — and they were wondering why they had sudden been taken from their own reality to this strange new place!

Frankly, I never liked that idea. What did these poor people do when they were returned home and found out what "they" had done while Sam Beckett had been in control of their bodies! Shocked

This new series doesn't even acknowledge this problems, much less solve them! Shocked
________________________________________________

Please bear in mind that most these are flaws in the original show that have not yet been addressed by this new one. But in time I hope they will be "fixed".

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NBC has renewed the freshman SF show for a second season. Well, they did better than Stargirl.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Glad to hear it! I was worried that the network would decide to simply drop it!

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Read a very good post on FB regarding QL.

The person wrote that the show should replace the Addison Augustine character (Caitlin Bassett) with Ian Wright (Madison Alexander Park) as Dr. Ben Song's (Raymond Lee) hologram guide.

Ian is sharp, funny, kind of offbeat. Addison is serious and grim and somewhat dull.

I've liked Caitlin as Addison. The whole storyline that Ben and she are in love, but Ben had forgotten played out dramatically & heartbreakingly. And that worked dramatically for their characters.

Now that Ben realizes who Addison really is and his relationship with her, you have to wonder where else can they go with this anymore? You can't really milk it before it sinks iand the audience becoming apathetic about it all.

So yeah, I think its time to wind this down and have Ian become Ben's more intriguing partner on his journey.

I also thought why not have "Magic" or the security Asian woman step in from time to time to aid Ben? They both have military-law enforcement-espionage skill sets that would be useful to Ben on specific QL missions.

Last week's episode gave me the best, though brief, look so far of Addison's hand-link device. It appears to be circular as she held it in the palm of her hand.

I thought that was an awkward shape for a human hand to hold. The design should be more practical and easy to grip.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Quantum Lead episode 11 did not air on January 16th, and I learned that it won't air next week either. Sad

The reason seems to have something to do with competing programs that NBC feels will siphon off too many viewers on those nights.

On January 24th NBC will rerun episode 6, the one which took place during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

But episode 11 will air on Monday, January 30.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2023 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last night's episode (March 6, 2023) "S.O.S." is one my favorite one's for this series so far.

It saw Ben as third in command on a Navy destroyer in 1989.

It had elements of The Enemy Below, The Bedford Incident, and Crimson Tide which are all fantastic feature films. Don't let that put you off though that this episode was merely borrowing plotlines from those movies. Quantum Leap packed in plenty of original material of its own to stand on its own two feet.

The sets for the ship were awesome looking in their detail and realism. I'm sure QL did not have the budget or time to construct such sets, especially for a one-shot appearance on their TV show. So they probably were originally built for a movie that would have had ample time and money to do such a splendid looking job. Either that, or they really were able to manage to shoot on board an actual Naval vessel that was decommissioned. Either way, it was terrific on this marvelous and exciting episode.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2023 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Your right, Mike. That was by far the best episode yet! And it made good use of the Addison Augustine character and her father (the XO of the ship).

You recently suggested that she be replaced by the Ian Wright character as Ben's "hologram" interface. But I questioned that idea because I like the Addison/Ben relationship, and I like Ian being the tech guy at Project Quantum Leap.

S.O.S. seems to show just how good the Addison/Ben relationship can be, so I'm more convinced than ever that it should remain the same. Very Happy

As for ship they filmed the episode on, I found this info on IMDB trivia.

Battleship U.S.S. Montana was almost a real battleship with the same number: 67. The Navy ordered the Montana class ships in May 1942, but the Montana class was placed on hold because the Iowa-class battleships and the Essex-class aircraft carriers were under construction in the shipyards intended to build the Montana class.

And this on Den of Geek.

In “S.O.S.,” the battleship housed at the USS Iowa Museum on the L.A. waterfront serves as the set for an active naval vessel engaged in war games on the East China Sea in the year 1989. Quantum Leap’s military episode doesn’t just look the part, it gets it right.

So, Mike, your second guess was right.
Very Happy
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