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Quantum Leap (1989~1993)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Quantum Leap for the Thinking Man!
________________________________

Concerning Sam's "disguise" — Sam can't see his own reflection when he leaps into someone, but he apparently can look down at his own body, even though the people around him see his false identify.

Question #1 So, which is the illusion? Is it the body of the person he leaped into, and Sam has his own body? Or is Sam looking down at an illusion of his own body, and the body everybody else sees is real?

This question is complicated by fact that the real person is supposed to be in the "waiting room" in the future. And when Sam gets injured, he feels the pain and sees his injuries.

Concerning Sam's sexual conduct — Sam has sex with women in several episodes. It's always spontaneous, so I think it's unlikely the person he leaped into had a rubber in his wallet. Rolling Eyes

Question #2 Did Sam deposit his own sperm into these ladies, or was it the sperm of the person he "leaped into". If it's Sam's sperm, he might have fathered several children throughout the timeline. And yet, the mothers will all think the children's father is the man Sam leaped into! Shocked

Concerning the clothes Sam appears in — Sam is always dressed in the clothes of the person he leaped into when he appears. Does that mean the real person in the "waiting room" arrives naked?

And yet, on the many occasions when Sam leaped into a woman, he appears wearing a Big & Tall sized version of the dress the female "leapee" was wearing!

Question #3 — Is God creating these clothes for Sam when he leaps into a new identity, or are they just part of the illusion that Sam is now the "leapee"?

If so, then what IS Sam really wearing?

Concerning the mental state of the "returned" people — Once Sam completes his Holy Mission and leaps to the next person, the returned "leapee" resumes his/her identify and carries on with their life.

Question #4 But what (if anything) does the returned person remember about the events which took place while he/she was gone and Sam was in their place?

Concerning Sam's life span — Sam does all his leaping around for several years, according to dialog between him and his wife when he temporarily switches places with Al and gets to go home briefly.

Question #5 If Sam continues to leap and never gets back home (as stated on screen at the end of the series finale), will he age and eventually die, or will God grant him either immortality or an extended life span?

A whimsical question about Sam's hair — If Sam just appears to be the leapee to the people around him, then his actual hair will grow, and he'll eventually need a haircut.

Question #6 How can a barber cut Sam's hair if what he's looking at is the person Sam appears to be, not Sam himself? Laughing

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

After watching all the episodes on my box set of Quantum Leap today, I decided to watch the infamous series finale.

I've read several reviews of it, and the general consensus is that it's "the worst series finally in history." Many fans hate it. Sad

All the reviews I've ready attempted to describe the plot — but they made it sound like a hodgepodge of confusing elements which were cobbled together by the series producers, Donald P. Bellisario, simply because he didn't know if the series would actually have a sixth season.

Sadly, it didn't . . . Sad

But when I watched the finale today (which is called Mirror Image), I was astounded by fact that it succeeded in answered all the questions about this wonderful — but sometimes puzzling — sci-fi series!

I'm going to watch it again in a few days before I compose a comment that will address the concepts presented by the amazing conclusion Quantum Leap. But all I can say right now is that the show's initial premise is far more complex than I gave it credit for all these years.
Shocked
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2022 1:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some QL Facts from Wikipedia:

QL creator Donald P. Bellisario was inspired by the films "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," (1941), and "Heaven Can Wait," (1978) which is a remake of Mr. Jordan for QL.

The Time Tunnel SF TV series was another inspiration for Bellisario.

QL evolved from an unused story idea for Battlestar Galactica that was in turn proposed for the BG spin-off Battlestar Galactica 1980.

Mike Post created the wonderful score for QL and has a history of composing terrific musical scores for television.
Some of his scores are: The A-Team, The Rockford Files, Hill Street Blues, Magnum, P.I., and The Greatest American Hero.

From IMDB: Scott Bakula ad-libbed "Oh boy!" at the start of the first episode. Don Bellisario liked it so much that he then included it as Sam's signature line at the conclusion of the episodes as we see him leap into a brand new body setting up the following weeks episode.

QL came very close to being cancelled in its third season due to low ratings. A massive letter writing campaign by fans managed to save the series for two more seasons.

Sidebar: Shades of ST:TOS where a huge letter writing campaign saved the series from cancellation and had NBC renew it for a third season.

IMDB: Producer/creator Donald P. Bellisario stated that of all the TV shows he was involved with over his lengthy career that Quantum Leap was his favorite.

Sam Beckett leaped into 9 women/teenage girls over the run of the show.

Had the show continued, Bellisario planned to have Sam leap onto a space station in the distant future, and Al becomes a leaper in order to rescue Sam.

Innovation Publication produced 13 comic book issues based upon the show.

One of the comics, "Seeing is Believing," had Sam as a newspaper reporter/columnist, who responds to a girl who has seen a U.F.O.

Another comic, "One Giant Leap," had Sam leap into the body of an extraterrestrial aboard an orbiting spaceship.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Quantum Leap Book by Louis Chunovic.

From Cameron Birnie, Production Designer.

The Pilot episode: Sam makes his very first leap, becoming a 1950s test pilot who's scheduled to fly the experimental X-2 rocket and, for the first time, break the Mach-3 barrier.

"The hardest thing was the pilot episode, particularly the X-2 rocket plane. Evidently Don Bellisario served time in the service and he knows a lot about testing rockets in the fifties. He knew exactly what the X-2 was, exactly what it looked like.

"He said, 'Don't worry, we'll get one,' and we went down to the Air Museum in Chino and looked through all their stuff and they didn't have it."

"It became apparent that we weren't going to get one anywhere."

"So then we went to the next thing which was called a V-1 rocket, which was the Navy version of the Air Force X-2, and we came to [Don] with a proposed plan on how we would turn the Navy V-1 rocket into an Air Force X-2 rocket."

But Bellisario, known as a stickler for detail, "didn't go for it. He said there were too many differences." He said, 'I can tell, and if I can tell other people can tell.'

"So what I had to do to get it ready, because there were only four or five days left, was to come up with this new way of doing things."

"We decided to make [the X-2] out of foam. Basically, it's a giant surf board, carved out of foam and fiberglass. What we did is, we got a lot of pictures of what the X-2 rocket looked like and we got a foam carver, and the foam carver glued tons of blocks, giant blocks of foam together, and then we gave him overall dimensions---forty feet long, the wing span, the whole bit. We had him sculpt the x-2 rocket."

How did Birnie know a foam-sculpted X-2 rocket plane would work? "I've worked with [foam carvers] before. I did a feature called The Golden Child [starring Eddie Murphy],where they used giant buddhas [carved out of foam]."

Sidebar: Just goes to show you that even a science fiction TV show that isn't particularly special effects heavy can face some daunting challenges.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________________

Fascinating post, Pow!

I LOVE this series, and I recently finished binge watching my newly acquired box set. However, despite my enthusiasm, I had to endure a number of unfortunate aspects of the series which were sort of like being on a date with a beautiful girl who had bad breath! Embarassed

So, here’s my Grip List for Quantum Lead.
Very Happy
________________________________________________

Things about Quantum Leap which were annoying!

~ Why didn’t Sam Beckett do a better job of convincing us that he was a super genius? (Oh, right. The leap “swiss-cheesed his memory”. But I just didn't buy it.)

~ Why did they want Dean Stockwell to play Al in such a comic manner. Dean could act . . . but they made him act silly too often.

~ For example, did the writers really think we were endlessly amused when Al started rambling about “my second wife . . . no wait, it was my third wife . . . or my fourth”. Rolling Eyes

~ Why did they make Al act like such a sex-crazed degenerate whenever a pretty girl was around? Sometimes he wander off chasing them when Sam needed his help! Shocked

~ Conversely, why did they make poor Sam act like a shy, pimple-face teenager every time a pretty girl flirted with him? Did his “Swiss-cheesed memory” make him forget how to act calm when talking to a hot gal?

Hell's bells, I was a shy, pimple faced teenager in high school — but I still had the nerve to ask the Senior Prom Queen for a date. Her name was Lyn Bell, a gorgeous blue-eyed blond who was dating a college guy . . . but I got the date AND a goodnight kiss! Cool

~ By the way, guys, the phrase “the leap Swiss-cheesed your memory” got pretty old by season three. And if God was in control of this leaping process, couldn’t He have given Sam a bit of “built-in” knowledge about the person he leaped into, just to help Sam pull off this masquerade and accomplish his Holy Mission? Confused

~ Why did the series claim that God was in control of the leaps — and then end the series by stating that Sam was in control all along?

~ Why did they never explain what the people in the “waiting room” remembered (after they were returned to their own time) about the period Sam spent while he was living in their bodies, so to speak?

~ Okay,let's be honest, folks. By the fourth episode we were all pretty damn tired of watching Al smack the side of that gaudy, glowing electronic gizmo every 20 seconds, as if the cheap-looking thing was an unreliable piece of crap, built out of Legos! And every time he hit it, we had to listen to cutesy little electronic cries of pain which sounded like R2D2 when C3PO kicked him!

(This last one is my biggest beef of all! Sad)

~ How come Sam Beckett (this alleged genius) constantly argued in a fairly loud voice with the invisible Al while people nearby watched him apparently talking to himself like a lunatic?

For Piete’s sake, didn’t Sam realize that he could simply turn his back towards the nearby folks, lower is voice to a whisper, and refrain from getting so excited that he waved his hands all over the place! Rolling Eyes

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All excellent questions, Bud, for this enjoyable SF TV series.

My best guess is that making Al so woman-crazy was that the creator of the show (Don Bellisario) thought it would provide comic relief to the dramatic parts of the story. Instead it is a huge misfire.

You're right though, it just comes off as silly and not funny at all. I would guess that women watching the show back then did not find Al at all humorous or charming with his attitude towards females. Woman today would outright dislike the Al character.

It also came off as entirely unprofessional for the Al role. Now here's a man who is a graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy, top jet fighter pilot, and Vietnam vet. And we're to expect that such an individual will act like a lowbrow philistine and all around jerk? Not buying it.

I'm not saying that Al couldn't be funny at all. It was a smart idea to bring humor into the show to counterbalance the dramatic aspects to it.

But let's make Al funny in a smart manner. Develop the humorous dimension to Al and his remarks like they did so brilliantly with the M*A*S*H doctors. Those were obviously intelligent gents. After all, they were surgeons, but their remarks and observations were a riot. So yes, you can do smart & funny in the same character and not turn them into some farcical sex-crazed maniac.

Al hitting the computer hand-link got old fast. It must have been created as schtick for Al to do in order to add comedic moments to a drama series.

The problem was that you can only do comedy bits so many times and then the audience isn't laughing — if they ever did — over the bit. On an Abbott & Costello film, Lou did a bit where he accidentally walks into a door as scripted. He improvised and did it immediately again for a second time. The director called cut and Lou asked why, wasn't it funny?

The director said yes it was but only the first time and not the second. Much of what makes an audience laugh is what they can't and don't see coming. It's the element of surprise. Constant repeating of a gag becomes trite and loses its surprise factor and its ability to amuse people.
Many fine writers who can pen terrific dramatic scripts simply cannot write humor as well, or at all.

It would have been wise for Bellisario to have hired comedy writers as well as dramatists, and to have had at least one comedy writer on his writing staff.

Same deal for Sam talking out loud to the invisible holographic Al and people witnessing Sam's strange behavior. Sure, it was amusing a few times because we understand that Sam Beckett is still getting his bearings and hampered by his 'Swiss-cheesed brain.'

Again, Bud is right on another score, seeing someone as high I.Q. as Sam continually doing this throughout the run of the series merely makes Sam look stupid. Now it could happen from time-to-time in certain situations. Sam is talking to Al and thinks he's doing it privately but someone spots Sam. It could be in some high stress situation, or in a desperate situation where Sam is aware that people nearby will hear him speaking to Al and wonder what the heck is going down? But the situation might be so grave that Sam has to talk to Al as he (Sam) is unable to get away to some location more private.

As a continuing comedic routine though it simply loses steam and becomes old and tired for the audience. Once again, it is most likely due to fine dramatic writers being able to create truly funny business because they don't have that magical funny bone that allows them to script great comedy.

I remember reading in The Twilight Zone Companion book how the authors had tremendous admiration for the writing talents of the esteemed Rod Serling. However, in reviewing some of the classic Zone episodes that were also comedies they wrote that Rod really had no skill in that area. His comedy episodes fell flat. You either got it or you don't when it comes to comedic chops. Even many fine dramatic writers can discover that they ain't got it and must leave comedy to the pros.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Pow, it's good to know that a fellow fan of this beautiful series loves her like I do . . . despite her occasional "bad breath"! Laughing

I'm pretty sure that the problem with Sam neglecting to conceal his conversations with Al was actually not caused by misguided attempts at humor.

Instead I think that Bellisario didn't want to inhibit Scott Bakula's wonderful acting by making him sort of "mumble" his dialog to Al, despite the fact that it would necessary for him to do so if the situation had been real.

After making the decision to have Scott "emote dramatically" while conversing with his invisible friend, the producers elected to occasionally turn them into comic moments.

However, as you said, there would be dramatic situations when Sam needed to address Al loud and fast, and to hell with what folks around him thought! The series had many moments like that.

As for the chirping Lego toy that Al loved to abuse, it didn't look a bit hi-tech in the 90s, and it looks even less so now!

It's sad to think that every smart phone which the average person carries around today can chat with its owner in a voice remarkably like Deborah Pratt's sexy "Ziggy" — with no need for physical abuse to make it respond quicker! Rolling Eyes

And isn't it ironic that the name of the Apple assistant is Siri, which sounds so much like Ziggy?

Further more, I just learned that the Windows Phone assistant, which came out in 2012 (two years after Siri), was actually named . . . (yep, you guessed it) . . . "Ziggy". Shocked

Ain't that rich! Laughing

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:37 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Will there be a new Quantum Leap? Well . . . sort of.

Watch this YouTube video.


NEW Quantum Leap... NBC Said NO to Scott Bakula's return as Dr. Sam Beckett!


__________

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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2022 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking at the different photos of the iterations for the hand-link computer that Al uses on Google, I've come to the conclusion that the producers blew it.

On the early seasons of QL, Al uses a nifty hand-link. It's sophisticated looking, futuristic; like something out of Star Trek: TNG. A gizmo that you can respect.

In the later seasons they give Al this brightly colored Lego-like hand-link that looks like a joke! It's like a kids' toy you'd purchase at a store. Ya can't take it seriously at all.

What a big fumble from an otherwise wonderful SF TV series.
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2022 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

I agree completely! If the devices in the "future" are built out of Legos, I'm definitely keeping my existing devices from the 20th Century! Shocked*




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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The episode, "A Little Miracle," takes place on December 24, 1962 on Quantum Leap, although the episode is from December 21, 1990. I just happened to watch this a few days ago on the SyFy Channel's Rewind, where they air back-to-back episodes of older science fiction television shows.

The plot has Sam Beckett leap into the body of the valet for the wealthy and ruthless real estate magnate Michael G. Blake who is played by Charles Rocket (1949~2005.)

The story is a retelling of the classic Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Sam and Al attempt to convert Michael from his heartless ways by showing him his future. At one point, Al, disguised as the ghost of Christmas future, informs Mike that he will commit suicide by leaping off a skyscraper.

That scene startled me because, tragically, Charles Rocket did commit suicide 15 years later.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
That scene startled me because, tragically, Charles Rocket did commit suicide 15 years later.

The weird thing is that Rocket actually cut his own throat while standing out in a field on his own property! That sounds very suspicious, and it took the medical examine ten days to come to the conclusion that it was suicide.

Why did it take him ten days? Confused

It seems to me that cutting one's own throat would be extremely difficult. I suppose Rocket just sliced open his juggler vein, rather that doing what we see in violent action movies — the classic "cutting a man's throat from ear-to-ear from behind".

The fact that Rocket apparently left no suicide note and committed the act in a field just doesn't seem as consistent with suicide as it does with murder.

I suspect the police just accepted the suicide verdict because they found no motive and no suspects for a murder charge.

Hey here's a theory! George Reeves put on his Superman suit and traveled forward in time by flying around the Earth real fast. He killed Charles Rocket and then went back to 1959. But Christopher Reeve figured out that George was a murder, so he put on HIS Superman suit, traveled back in time, shot George, and then traveled Back to the Future!
Shocked
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 12:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The series finale for QL left many fans of the show confused, angry, unsatisfied. Here's what Dr. Sam Beckett himself, Scott Bakula, recently said about it in an interview.

"He's [Sam Beckett] still out there doing his thing. I like that sentiment that there's a Sam Beckett out there and he's doing right by a lot of people. There are a lot of people who make a difference every day, and take time to look at people and not just assume that they know better. So I like that idea. Is it sad that he never gets home? Yes. But sometimes there's greater work to be done."
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

Well, that's all just fine for the true fans of the show, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would rather have it the way I've described below.
______________________________________________

The QL project should be in complete control of their time travel device so could use it to research people in the past who needed help, and then send Sam Beckett or Ben Song back to help them.

I dislike the whole wacky idea that some God-like being uses QL to send a person back in time to fix mistakes He made . . but didn't have ability to fix them!

Folks, that's a poor excuse for a God. Rolling Eyes

Frankly that's exactly what The Time Tunnel did wrong. Doug and Tony blundered around through time and made changes that affected the future . . . simply because they were stuck and couldn't get back.

Hell, those guys should have just given up and settled down somewhere/somewhen so they'd stop screwing up the timeline!

Quantum Leap (both versions) could have been an exciting show about a team of scientists who used advanced technology to make careful changes in the timeline based on careful research which they hoped would benefit mankind.

I know, I know . . . that's a risky endeavor. But if we've got the ability to fix things that went horribly wrong in the past, why not used it? Shocked

And if you're thinking, "But about God's will?", Quantum Leap's premise suggested that God's will was flawed . . . and He needed help fixing mistakes He made!

So, why don't we just throw out God and His flawed Will from the Quantum Leap premise? After all, this show is science fiction — not Highway to Heavon.

Mixing science and religion together just doesn't work. Rolling Eyes

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