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Quantum Leap (1989 TV series)

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This article is about the TV show. For the quantum physics effect, see quantum leap.
Quantum Leap
File:Quantum Leap logo.jpg
Created byDonald P. Bellisario
StarringScott Bakula
Dean Stockwell
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes97
Production
Running time45 minutes per episode
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 26, 1989 –
May 5, 1993

Quantum Leap was a science fiction television series that ran for 97 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on NBC. It follows the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant scientist who finds himself abruptly and uncontrollably 'leaping' through time, temporarily switching places with diverse people at various times within his own lifetime, the second half of the 20th century: "leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap... will be the leap home".

Story

Template:Spoiler

In the near future (about 1995), at a highly classified U.S.-government-funded research facility somewhere in the desert of New Mexico, Sam is working on a grand experiment to prove his time-travel theory. Sam is working alongside with Gushie, the lead programmer of Project: Quantum Leap. Gushie also works the controls for the imaging chamber. However, the funding for the project is about to be cut. Sam's colleagues protest that they're not ready, but in a last-ditch effort to prove that his theories are correct, Sam steps into the project's "accelerator chamber" and vanishes.

File:Quantum Leap.jpg
Dean Stockwell & Scott Bakula

Sam appears in the past with no memory of who he is or where he is. This side-effect of uneven amnesia is called Swiss-cheesing or (as a technical term in the show's universe) magnafluxing, which prevents him from remembering most of the details of his own life. His friend from his original time, Albert "Al" Calavicci (played by Dean Stockwell), appears to him as a holographic projection from the "imaging chamber", usually only visible and audible to Sam. Al is the project observer and a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral. It is revealed that Gushie made a frantic call to Al when Sam vanished in the imaging chamber and called him in to work on the situation. Gushie continues to work alongside Al in Sam's original time. Along with the (possibly) sentient supercomputer named Ziggy, Al is able to help Sam "set right what once went wrong" before he leaps out into the next person. At the beginning and end of nearly every episode, as Sam leaps into a new person, the catch phrase of "Oh boy..." was uttered. Two prominent exceptions occurred when Sam said "Oy Vey!" after he leapt into a rabbi and when Sam and Al switch places as leaper and hologram, they both said "Oh boy...".

In the pilot episode, Sam has leapt to the year 1956 as an X-2 test pilot, Captain Tom Stratton. In one of his holographic visits, Al tells Sam about Ziggy's theory that "God, or Time, was just waiting for your quantum leap to... correct a mistake." Al thinks that this is "a load of crap", but "If Ziggy's right, all you have to do is break Mach 3 and live." (Al also suggests that he wait 40 years and Sam will be in "the present.") But as more of these seemingly random leaps put Sam in a position to fix something that once went wrong, Al gradually comes to believe that the experiment has been mysteriously co-opted by an unidentified higher power, to use Sam to avert tragedies in ordinary people's lives. This, along with (possibly) the theory that God is controlling these leaps, is later somewhat confirmed when Sam appears to meet the devil (who temporarily assumes Al's appearance to torment Sam before trying to kill him), who tells Sam "Who gave you the right to go bungling around in time, putting right what I made wrong?". It is re-confirmed indirectly when Sam meets an "evil leaper" who knows that her job is to set wrong what once went right.

Another episode supporting the idea that a higher power was in charge was the one where Sam happened to encounter Al's first wife, Beth. At Al's insistence, Sam tried to prevent her from falling in love with the man she would marry while Al was a POW in Vietnam. But every time Sam thought he had gotten rid of the man, he wound up running into Beth again, as if it were meant to be. Finally, Sam found out Al's true motive and made Al tell him his true mission.

The term holographic projection is used in the program, although it is not the same as real holography. The show's "hologram" is a three dimensional, neurological projection; "created by an agitation of subatomic carbon quarks tuned to the mesons of my optic and otic neurons." To project the hologram, Al enters an "Imaging Chamber" in which the image of Al and anything he is touching, e.g., a person or cigar, are visible to Sam and Sam can hear Al speak, and correspondingly events in the past are visible and audible to Al. However, throughout the series, it has been found that animals, young children, the mentally ill and the fatally wounded can see Al. This has been used to Sam's advantage on a few occasions, such as Al soothing a crying child, leading a dog away from Sam, or speaking directly with an asylum inmate. This last proved very useful given that Sam was unable to perform his usual Leap duties as electro-shock therapy disrupted his ego and caused him to revert to the personalities of some of his past hosts; Al was able to talk to the person Sam was there to help and deal with the situation for him, although Sam still needed help to actually Leap in the end.

In what may be a form of paradox, in one episode Sam leaps into Al himself at an earlier period, when Al is on trial for rape and murder of a Commander's wife. Although in the original history, Al was acquitted, Sam's actions cause the case to begin turning against Al. Partway through the episode, when Ziggy projects that the odds are 100% that Al will be convicted, Al disappears mid-sentence and is replaced by Edward St John, a character played by Roddy McDowall (with only Sam remembering that Al was the Observer), implying that Al was convicted and executed. In this new continuity, the staff at Quantum Leap appeared less emotionally involved with Sam's various hosts, and Sam and St. John have no apparent connection beyond a professional relationship; St. John even calls Sam 'Samuel', a name that Sam hasn't been called since he last saw his great-aunt. Fortunately, as soon as the odds jump back in favor of Al surviving, Al is restored, with only Sam remembering that Edward St. John was ever even there. This confirms that Project Quantum Leap would still exist without Al, though it would be radically different from the project as we know it.

The Quantum Leap generator is run by a supercomputer called Ziggy which can use its immense database to pinpoint where and who Sam is and help Al figure out why he is there and what he must do so everything can be put right (In the above instance when history changed, Ziggy was called 'Alpha', another example of the formality of the alternate Project). Almost every episode centers on what Ziggy is trying to tell Sam to do, and giving him a clear objective, such as making sure someone doesn't end up in a car that will crash, saving a child's life, or having someone stand up for him- or herself after an attack like a rape or hate crime. Almost always, what Ziggy said was confusing and left Sam and Al to figure out in the last minute what had to be done so everything would be put right and Sam could leap. Ziggy is apparently self-aware, and in early seasons was generally referred to as "he", though in one episode in season four where Sam "returned home" to his own time (with Al becoming the Leaper), Ziggy was revealed to speak with a female voice.

Leaping: mind or body?

In early episodes of the series, it is unclear whether it is only Sam's mind that leaps (into other people's bodies) or if Sam's mind and body leap together. Subsequent episodes made it clear that both Sam's mind and body leap, and that an 'aura' surrounds him, making him look and sound like whoever he's leaped into (back home, the 'leap-ee' is suffused with a similar aura, and looks/sounds like Sam). Some examples of this include:

  • "Nowhere to Run": Sam leaps in as a Vietnam vet who has no legs. However, Sam can still walk, and actually does so in the episode (to outside observers he appeared to be floating in midair).
  • "Blind Faith": Sam assumes the life of a blind concert pianist. Sam, however, can still see, and must pretend to be blind in order to complete his mission.
  • "8½ Months": Sam poses as a pregnant teenage girl. Sam incredulously asks Al how he could possibly be giving birth, to which Al replies that this is impossible - "it's your body, not hers".
  • "The Wrong Stuff": Sam leaps into a chimpanzee in the space program. The episode makes it clear that chimpanzees are unable to swim, yet Sam is able to dive into the water to rescue a drowning man.
  • "Revenge of the Evil Leaper": Toward the end of the episode, Sam shoots the former Observer, Zoey, and kills her, but when the person she had leapt into returns, he is clearly alive and well; also, when Zoey attempted to shoot Alia, the first Evil Leaper, neither Alia nor her host are harmed, presumably because Alia leapt out just before the bullets hit and her host leapt back after the bullets passed through them. Zoey's fate also confirms that Sam could theoretically die during a leap. However, Alia's fate suggests that Sam would be leapt out of any such situation before he could actually die.

There are numerous other episodes in which Sam performs feats of strength that are suggested to be beyond the abilities of the people leapt into. For instance, in "Runaway", despite being a young boy, Sam is able to easily suspend his older and stronger sister over a well. Several other episodes feature Sam as a woman beating up male attackers while witnesses look on in amazement.

If Sam leaps in as somebody who is physically a different size than is Sam's own body, Sam is 'refracted' and temporarily made larger or smaller to fit (similar to the effect of light being refracted through a prism), most notably in "The Wrong Stuff" when he became a chimpanzee. However, a simpler explanation of this would be mere dramatic license.

It was established early in the show's run that Al sees Sam as the leapee rather than as Sam. However, later episodes indicate that he clearly sees Sam as Sam. In the episode "What Price, Gloria", Al becomes smitten with Sam's appearance as a woman. However, later in "Miss Deep South", Al mocks Sam's attempts to imitate a gorgeous beauty pageant contestant. (He refers to Sam/Darlene as "Scarlett O'Hara on steroids" at one point.) It has been suggested that after the distractions caused by the situation in "What Price, Gloria", the frequency in the imaging chamber was reconfigured to show Sam as Sam.

Due to domino effect and butterfly effect chain reactions, most continuity errors or other inconsistencies in the series can be attributed to ripples from Sam's influence on history.

Historical references

The series very rarely addressed specific historical events, though it often used its "ordinary people" plots to address particular social, political, and spiritual issues. Many episodes depicted Sam dealing with issues characteristic of particular periods, such as civil rights, racism, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War (The presence of Al helped in these regards, as Al was captured for most of the Vietnam War and his sister Trudy suffered from Down Syndrome when he was young, although she died when they separated following their father's death). The series strongly favored messages of tolerance and understanding others, aided in large part by the story format, which had the protagonist literally walking in another man's (or, in later episodes, woman's) shoes. In one instance, Sam found himself back in his own childhood in Indiana, with a chance to improve his own family's life, but when his initial attempts failed, he realized that he may just have been there to say goodbye to them. (However, in the next episode, he was able to save his brother's life in Vietnam on a mission where the brother originally died).

One common criticism is that in all but a handful of episodes, Sam leaps into someone in the US. Apparently God or Time or whoever is controlling the leaps did not concern itself with trying to "put right what once went wrong" elsewhere in the world (though the ripple effect of Sam's changes, as described by the bartender in the series finale, may somewhat have alleviated this lack). The language barrier was not an effective explanation, since it was established early on that Sam spoke several foreign languages fluently, and thus could have conceivably leaped into numerous foreign countries without any significant handicap. However, in the last episode of the series, it was established that Sam wasn't the only leaper, so one could theorize that God or Time or whoever is controlling the leaps might have different leapers operating in different countries most of the time. Behind the scenes, however, the reason was obvious. The producers wanted to keep the leaps "local" so the American viewing audience could identify better with the situations presented. However, later in the show's run, Sam did begin leaping into foreign locales with greater regularity, leaping into Russia and Japan during the "Lee Harvey Oswald" two-part episode, an archaeological dig in Egypt in "The Curse of Ptah-hotep", an island in the Aegean Sea in "Leaping of the Shrew", England in "Blood Moon", and fighting in the Vietnam War in the second part of "The Leap Home".

There have been only two instances where Sam leapt outside of his own timeline. The first happened after Sam and Al leapt out of a previous leap while Sam is receiving electroshock therapy (to correct a mental problem encountered by receiving it at the beginning of the episode). This effectively switched the roles of Sam and Al such that Sam was the holographic image and Al was the leaper. Al leapt into a serviceman recently returning from combat in World War II, on almost exactly the date he was born. Circumstances beyond Ziggy's control (she was only programmed to document events that happened during Sam's lifetime, so the information about what Al was there to do arrived too late) forced Sam back as the leaper and returned Al to his own time when Al was knocked out before Ziggy could discover what Al was there to do; Sam leapt in to replace Al and complete the mission, since he would be conscious. Another instance was when Sam unknowingly leapt into his great grandfather, Capt. John Beckett, during the height of the American Civil War. The explanation for the leap was that although Sam cannot leap beyond his own lifetime, he somehow was able to leap with his great grandfather due to the fact that he and John Beckett had a similar DNA markup. The error which allowed Sam to leap beyond his own lifetime was subsequently corrected by Ziggy.

Some have inquired why Sam never tries to contact a past version of himself, or another member of the Quantum Leap project, to warn them about the accident that sent Sam leaping through time with no way to get home. This would have effectively changed history and prevented Sam's initial leap in time. During the series, Sam leaps both into past versions of himself and Al and on a few occasions comes into contact with family members, professors, and scientists who would either later know about Project Quantum Leap or directly contribute to its completion (On one occasion, his former professor ended up married to a woman Sam was there to protect). In one episode, Sam actually writes a letter to Project Quantum Leap (to be delivered by his father's lawyer decades later) telling the project to open the Imaging Room door during an accident where Sam and Al switched places. He thus theoretically had multiple opportunities to do so. If Sam changed history in this way, however, he wouldn't have leaped back in time in the first place to send the message.

One might speculate that whatever force is leaping Sam around in time would prevent him from being able to change history in this fashion. In addition, there are moral issues of undoing all his work and changing the lives of all the people he has helped. Another possibility is due to Sam's own discretion: If Sam prevented the project from ever happening, his dream of time travel would have never been realized.

Only a few times did Sam "leap" into an actual historical figure, the first being Lee Harvey Oswald and the last being Elvis Presley. He also leapt into the chauffeur of Marilyn Monroe shortly before she died. All these leaps were in the fifth (final) season and were widely believed to be efforts to boost the show's ratings and looked down on by some fans. However, throughout the series it was common for Sam to leap into a character or situation based fairly obviously on a real person and/or event (for instance, in the episode "Roberto!", Sam leaps into a sensationalistic reporter/talk show host who is quite clearly based on Geraldo Rivera).

The Oswald story arc confirmed that Sam and Al's "native time" occurs in a different timeline than our own, when Sam attempts to intervene during the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Although he fails to save the president, Al reveals that his mission was still successful because, in their timeline, Jacqueline Kennedy also died in the attack. It is also hinted that, in the original Quantum Leap timeline, Marilyn Monroe committed suicide at an earlier date than she did in the history we know, and Sam's actions are responsible for her staying alive long enough to make one more movie. From a fictional standpoint, it may be that our universe exists in the way it does because it has been "put right" by Sam's actions.

"Kisses with history"

Also common were so-called "kisses with history" where Sam would briefly encounter someone famous or a well-known event in a manner usually irrelevant to the story, including:

  • In an early episode Sam inspires Buddy Holly to write the song "Peggy Sue", and as it transpires this is what he was there to do. [1]
  • As a cab driver in 1958, Sam advises a 12-year-old Donald Trump that investing in New York City real estate would be a good way to get rich.
  • During one episode, Sam performs the Heimlich Maneuver on a choking man who is addressed as Dr Heimlich; no-one else present recognises the technique as it had not yet been "invented".
  • In the episode "The Boogieman", Sam's actions help inspire a young horror writer, Stephen King.
  • In the episode "Memphis Melody", during which Sam leaps into Elvis Presley, a young saxophonist in a music contest from Arkansas is addressed as "little Billy C", a reference to Bill Clinton.
  • In the episode "Camikazi Kid", Sam shows a boy called "Mikey", ostensibly Michael Jackson, how to moonwalk.
  • In "Good Morning, Peoria", Sam teaches Chubby Checker how to do The Twist.
  • In another episode, Sam leaps into the body of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who, while Sam deals with a case of sexual harassment in the past, helps Al get over his inability to tell women he loves them after his first wife left him (it seems that in this episode, the point of Sam leaping into Dr. Ruth was to for Dr. Ruth to help Al, rather than Sam to help the victim. Westheimer appeared as herself in this role). However, while defending a victim of sexual harassment from her harasser, a woman stops to listen to what Sam is saying, and when her companion speaks to her, we see that the woman listening is Anita Hill.
  • In another episode, Sam recalls to a young boxer a scene from the film Rocky -- the young boxer is revealed to be Sylvester Stallone.
  • In the aforementioned episode where Sam leaps into his own great-grandfather during the American Civil War, he is charged with helping runaway African slaves escape through the Underground Railroad; it is indicated that the child born to the freed slaves at the end of the episode is the paternal grandfather of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Series conclusion and legacy

The series (created by Donald Bellisario) was somewhat unusual in that it had a science fiction premise, but little science fiction- or fantasy-oriented storytelling, instead focusing on the personal journeys of Sam Beckett and those he encounters. Even in its final episode, the show refused to resolve many of its own technical and holistic questions, choosing instead to leave things open-ended and focus tightly on what is arguably the series' overarching message: that a single person can change the world one life at a time. Some feel the bartender in this last episode portrays God and what he tells Sam is that his project was messed up for a purpose that would change history for the better.

The final episode was in fact intended to be an end-of-season cliffhanger, but after the series was not renewed by the network, it was re-edited to function as the series finale. This may account for some of its ambiguous nature. The original ending had Sam leaping to tell Al's first wife, Beth, that Al was coming home. His Vietnam-era picture begins to "leap" (this is where the final episode cuts off), and then we see a modern picture of Al sitting with Beth and their four daughters. This ending somehow made it out of the studio and has been circulated on the Internet. In the ending that was actually broadcast, we are told that Al was reunited with Beth, that they remained married, and that "Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home." Fans have speculated that this would have erased Project Quantum Leap, Sam and Al's relationship, or even Sam himself from the altered timeline; however, the original script and subsequent statements by Bellisario leave all of these intact.

In many ways, the show was similar to Highway to Heaven, Touched by an Angel or Joan of Arcadia; shows that had recurring plots where the protagonist tried to right wrongs without knowing the full purpose behind each mission.

The Sci-Fi Channel was projected to begin airing a sequel, supposedly called A Bold Leap Forward, sometime in 2006. However, the project appears to have suffered various setbacks, and it currently remains in development.

In an interesting nod to QL fans, when series star Scott Bakula arrived on the set of his most recent show Star Trek: Enterprise, he jokingly suggested that the middle name of his Trek character (Captain Jonathan Archer) might be Beckett. Later in the series, Dean Stockwell performed a guest role in an episode of Enterprise.

The 'Magnum' connection

A crossover with Magnum, P.I. (also produced by Donald Bellisario) was planned, in which Sam would leap into Thomas Magnum himself. Plans for a Magnum, P.I. movie (later aborted) led to the crossover being cancelled, although some footage was filmed, including the initial leaping in sequence, usually put at the end of the preceding episode (the "Oh boy..." bit). This featured Scott Bakula, dressed in Magnum's classic red Aloha shirt, turning towards the camera and comically raising his eyebrows, just as Tom Selleck does at the end of the opening credits to Magnum, P.I.. Some consider that if this situation had Sam leaping into Magnum rather than Tom Selleck the actor, this would have created a continuity issue, since in an earlier episode a character (The daughter of Sam's current host, to be precise) is seen watching Magnum, P.I. on television. However, in the Pilot episode of QL, Sam mentions that a relation of his had married Jim Bonick, who was a reoccurring character from Magnum, P.I.. One possible solution could be that Magnum (the character) had his own television show in the QL universe.

Home video releases

File:Quantum Leap series 1 DVD front.jpg
Sam Beckett strolling forward: The front cover of the DVD of the first season of Quantum Leap.

In the 1990s, a few of the episodes were released on VHS. In the United States, these included "The Pilot Episode" ("Genesis"), "Camikazi Kid", "The Color of Truth", "What Price Gloria?", "Catch a Falling Star", "Jimmy", "The Leap Home", "Dreams", and "Shock Theater". In the United Kingdom, they were mostly released in pairs, selling as "The Pilot Episode" (on its own), "The Color of Truth" and "Camikazi Kid"; "The Americanization of Machiko" and "What Price Gloria?"; "Catch a Falling Star" and "Jimmy"; "The Leap Home" and "The Leap Home Part II - Vietnam"; and "Dreams" and "Shock Theater".

1998 brought the DVD release of "The Pilot Episode", containing only the episode "Genesis" and chapter selection.

In 2004, the first two seasons of the series were released on DVD. The Region 1 version of "Quantum Leap: The Complete First Season" came out in North America on 7 June 2004, containing all of the episodes as they originally aired (except for "Play It Again, Seymour"), along with some bonus features.

For some unknown reason, Universal was unable to obtain music rights for all of the music in "Quantum Leap: The Complete Second Season", in the case of the Region 1 version. Some were replaced with generic instrumental music. This outraged many fans and inspired a letter-writing campaign, demanding such a modification be corrected. The most criticized instance was the removal of Ray Charles's "Georgia on My Mind" from the season two finalé, "M.I.A.", during a scene in which Al dances with his first wife Beth. Subsequent Region 1 DVD releases continued to feature music replacement, but Universal did begin including a disclaimer on the package indicating such.

Season 4 was released by Universal on Region 1 DVD on 28 March 2006 and on Region 2 DVD on 26 June 2006. However, the majority of the music from those episodes on both versions were changed or omitted, most probably once again due to Universal being unable to obtain music rights.

The first four seasons have been released on DVD in the UK; Season 1 was released on the 8 November 2004 (music intact), Season 2 on the 31 October 2005 (music intact), Season 3 on the 12 December 2005 (music intact) and Season 4 on the 26 June 2006 (music partially intact).

The first three seasons are also available on DVD in Australia; Season 1 was released on the 2 May 2005 (music intact), Season 2 on the 7 February 2006 (music intact) and Season 3 will be released on the 7 June 2006.

Trivia

See also

Further reading

  • Julie Barrett: The A–Z of "Quantum Leap". Boxtree, London 1995. ISBN 0752206281
  • Louis Chunovic: Quantum Leap Book. Boxtree, London 1993. ISBN 1852838663
  • Hal Schuster: The Making of Quantum Leap. HarperCollins, London 1996. ISBN 0061054380
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