Quantum Leap

Didn't appear to be a topic, though it is a rather old show which might've been outshown by its contemporaries such as Mc Gyver. Just started watching it again, and I'm about to finish the first season box set.

Namer for Bellisario's Maxim, in case you weren't aware.

Huh, it's kind of empty here . . .

Echo, echo, echo . . .

Kind of a shame, I mean this is the second best time travel series we're talking about here.

I liked it. "Oh boy . . ."

Anyone remember the Evil Leapers arc?

Yeah, I thought that arc was pretty interesting, although the Foe Yay made me wonder how exactly two leapers could have a relationship.

edited 17th Jul '13 7:39:58 AM by KesagakeBoy

I watched that arc plenty more times than other episodes. It seems like they really tried to pull all the stops during Season 5.

Well yeah, they kinda had to if they wanted to stay on the air.

. . . Not that it worked.

Does anyone find the opening expository narration a bit odd? It goes on about Project Quantum Leap and time travel but it doesn't explain why Sam is time travelling into people and why he time travels when he helps their lives or why the project knows what to fix and how to do so.....

Yeah, but I guess that's what we have Bellisario's Maxim for. Honestly, I never thought about that stuff until you said that, but I guess it really doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it.

edited 21st Jul '13 2:29:49 PM by KesagakeBoy

^^ As I recall (I haven't seen the show since it went off the air, and my memory could give pointers to black holes on how to suck ) they often didn't know what was to be fixed, and had to guess at what wrong needed to be set right for the most part. Some stuff was obvious (saving the bacon of a young Ens Calavici [sp?], f'rex), while in other cases it was anything but (when Sam provided the QL theory to a young time travel show watcher named Sam Beckett).

I saw the episode where he gives the theory, but it's just the reasoning why Sam is stuck in his lifetime's timeline and such. Not why he travels into people or why he needs to help them to move onto others, despite it being what the show is about :P

Yeah, the thing about being in his own lifetime did bug me a little since it kept them from exploring a lot of good possible stories. I sometimes even forgot it was a rule, to the point that when I watched the Civil War episode I started to wonder why they thought they had to handwave it.

I thought it was a unique rule. It gave them an interesting restriction, to tell the tale of modern history (more specifically modern American history, but they never gave that explicit restriction, in spite of all but one or two leaps taking place within the States).

Also, regarding the bigger criticism: a large part of the premise was that after Sam initially made his first leap, nobody at Project Quantum Leap was in control of anything. After eliminating all other possibilities, Sam and the team decided that none other than God was leaping him around (they even mention this in the pilot - that after the initial leap, some higher force was controlling things). So really, the thing about him going into other people and changing lives for the better was implied to be the work of God until the finale.

In the pilot, Al didn't even really want to believe that Sam had to "set things right" in order to leap back - he mentions that it was the computer, Ziggy, that came up with this theory through its calculations. When it turns out this theory is right, they follow Ziggy's calculations as best as possible throughout the series - and a large part of the time, those calculations aren't even accurate. So, they really don't understand what happened beyond Sam's initial leap to save the project's funds. The entire series is just a group of people (particularly Sam) trying to follow the will of this intangible force which can barely be understood.

Hmm.

That does sound about right, but that just raises the question of why he almost never leaped out of the U.S.. Was it a budget thing or could they just not think of a good story outside of the States?

I don't know. They probably just didn't want to do non-English episodes, and didn't think to place the story in the UK or Australia.

Makes sense, although I doubt anyone would've cared if they just used Translation Convention.

I guess when it comes to this kind of issue, the question becomes, should a show, given a premise that allows it, affirmatively try to be "worldwide"?

edited 22nd Jul '13 3:04:35 PM by Leaper

Well when you put it that way, I'd have to say that I'd rather they write good stories set in the the U.S. than waste their time writing sub-par episodes just to set them elsewhere. On a different note, does anyone know if they ever ended up getting to work on the movie, or did that just end up not happening?

I'm just gonna say it. This show needs a reboot. I mean, imagine the opportunities! New characters! A new lifetime to explore! Hell, if they were clever they could even expand on the rules a little and have him appear all over the world!

If they were really clever they could even tie the two series together! Maybe Al never gave up on looking for Sam and works as the director of the Project. Maybe during his/her travels, the new Leaper finds Sam and sees what became of the great Dr. Sam Beckett.

I dunno, but I'd think it be cool. Hell' I'd love to write that.

There's a whole site dedicated to fan fic in the form of "virtual seasons" which take place after Season 5.

Also, though it might've just been a rumor, I read that at one point one of the writers (maybe Don himself?) actually wrote a 2-hour pilot for a new show, which would involve Sam's daughter as the protagonist.

That sounds awesome!

I think I heard something about that pilot before too.

As in Sammy Jo Fuller, or a daughter he spawned that one night he had with Donna?

Sammy Jo.

Just finished Season 2. That ending actually brought a light bit of water to my eyes. This, in spite of it being a little creepy if you think about the fact that Beth is probably still alive in Al's present, and he's basically doing the high-tech equivalent of looking through photos and/or footage of his ex-wife. Even still, I had immense feels during Beth's final line.

There was also a very quick foreshadowing moment in the previous episode, "Sea Bride." It's entirely played for laughs, unless you've seen the season finale....

And though I haven't watched it again yet, I kinda have come to hate the Season 3 premiere for Sam's immediate hypocrisy.

edited 25th Jul '13 3:27:00 PM by Izon

While I'm thinking about it, does anyone remember that one episode where he jumps into the guy who gets stranded on an island with a rich girl and they fall in love? I thought it was pretty good and it's the only leap besides 'Nam that I remember happening outside the U.S.