#530927
Quantum Leap First Season
Original Air Dates: March 26 – May 7, 1989
This Time: In an attempt to travel through one own lifetime, things didn’t entirely go to plan. Dr. Sam Beckett found himself exchanging bodies with random people throughout history. While he has had an impact on major events, he mainly seems to be at his best when he steers things in a better direction than originally happened.
He has been a college professor, a frontier doctor, a teenager, a detective and even a couple members of a gang. He is met Buddy Holiday, Woody Allen and helped bring about one of the greatest political scandals in the past fifty years.
Sam is not alone in his efforts; his one and only constant companion is Al, who appears as a hologram that only Sam can communicate with through the science of brainwaves. Al is a cheat sheet, letting Sam know what will happen.
He needs all the help he can get because in addition to randomly going through time, he has no memory of who he is. Even a trip to a farm does not bring him back to his senses. The eight stories of the first season chronicle his efforts to see if her can get home.
Favorite Fact Check: From Genesis: Taking place around a historic test flight, though the Mach 3 threshold was broken on the day the episode takes place, the pilot was Captain Apt. Several other details line up, including the plane being an X-2 and not making it past the flight.
Favorite stop talking to yourself: From How the Tess Was Won: Sam reflects on how leaps can start off rewarding or not. He also finds it easy to locate his home in the openness of Texas. There is also a reflection on how to calm a horse. He notes that his slow dancing skills are sub par.
Favorite only Sam can see and hear: From The Color of Truth: After finding out Sam leaped into an African American, we learn Al has a history in the civil rights movement and knows a lot about southern cooking. Also, he is convinced that Ms. Melny heard him at the end which wound up saving her life.
This is the first time that he asks Gooshie to center him around someone other than Sam.
Favorite Mirror Images That Were Not His Own: From Star-Crossed: Sam looks at Dr. Bryant in the mirror and does not see someone resembling Tom Cruise. At all.
Favorite brush with history: From The Color of Truth: Not quite Sam, but Al mentions an experience in Selma. It is unclear if he was at the famous march there.
Favorite it’s a science project: From Genesis: Sam finds a way to prevent Peg from inducing premature labor six months into her pregnancy which would be fatal to her. He convinces the doctors to put alcohol into her IV which gets her almost instantly drunk.
Favorite tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: From Genesis: We get a glimpse of 1999 in the teaser when Al picks up a female acquaintance and drives her to the project. What happens afterwards is probably somewhere between what we later learn of his time with women and the fact that she doesn’t have security clearance. We also briefly see Gooshie, one of the scientists.
Favorite let’s up the rating: From Star-Crossed: Student Jamie-Lee and Professor Dr. Bryant have been busy. Apparently, they have consummated their relationship in his house, and the belltower. Plus, there are all sorts of … ‘marital aids’ in a Bryant’s cabinet, much to Al’s delight.
Favorite one more time: From How the Tess Was Won: “I won’t breed with inferior stock, Chance.”
Tess telling her dad that her romantic standards are higher than the local ranch hands.
Favorite Rainbow Treknection: From Genesis: Series star Scott Bakula would go on to star in Enterprise and his costar, former child star Dean Stockwell, guest stared in an episode of the first season. They would also reunite in NCIS: New Orleans under Quantum Leap creator Don Bellasario.
Favorite Trivial Matters: From Genesis: Sam asks Al to step around objects rather than walk through them. Presumably, this would make things easier on the effects department, though moving people through solid objects is fairly cheap.
Put Right what Once Went Wrong: “… Went a little … caca.” First seasons can be rough. No one really knows where the show will go and even with a plan in place, there are a thousand ways it can go wrong. Add in the factors against this specific plot (only two members of their regular cast, few standing sets, etc.) and it’s clear that the network gave them a green light to see what the show is and hoped that they didn’t stumble.
One of the strengths of this show is the writing. There was a rough draft of Grease, a cowboy romance, a civil rights piece, a mafia drama and a wodunnit. There are very few shows that can turn on a dime like that, even fewer that the audience will keep coming back to. It is telling that the second episode is a farce at the start and winds up being a compelling drama.
Of course, the best writing in the world is not worth a thing if the actors can’t bring them to life and week after week, the guest stars delivered. On most shows, it is not that bad if the guest stars fall through the cracks since they can be salvaged by the main cast, but that trick won’t work on this show. The acting is fantastic with the high note being the amazing Susan French in The Color of Truth. Thankfully, the writing gives a lot of what could be throwaway roles a good moment to shine. In The Camakazi Kid, the writers gave the parents good character bits and you can see this with all the episodes.
The weak link is Al, or rather his libido. It is a character trait that has not aged well and if it was off putting in the eighties, it is even more off putting in the twenties. The only way to swallow it is to accept that the targets of his interest are in on it but we cannot really be sure it is always the case.
The Color of Truth is my favorite of the bunch, but I would have to look hard to find a stinker. That is an impressive feat for a first season, granted a short one, but they got off the ground. They did not do anything wild past the pilot, aside from attempting a return trip which ended up helping that story, but really did not have the time to.
I (and this rewatch) am back for season two, but not rushing to my screen in anticipation.
Original Air Dates: March 26 – May 7, 1989
This Time: In an attempt to travel through one own lifetime, things didn’t entirely go to plan. Dr. Sam Beckett found himself exchanging bodies with random people throughout history. While he has had an impact on major events, he mainly seems to be at his best when he steers things in a better direction than originally happened.
He has been a college professor, a frontier doctor, a teenager, a detective and even a couple members of a gang. He is met Buddy Holiday, Woody Allen and helped bring about one of the greatest political scandals in the past fifty years.
Sam is not alone in his efforts; his one and only constant companion is Al, who appears as a hologram that only Sam can communicate with through the science of brainwaves. Al is a cheat sheet, letting Sam know what will happen.
He needs all the help he can get because in addition to randomly going through time, he has no memory of who he is. Even a trip to a farm does not bring him back to his senses. The eight stories of the first season chronicle his efforts to see if her can get home.
Favorite Fact Check: From Genesis: Taking place around a historic test flight, though the Mach 3 threshold was broken on the day the episode takes place, the pilot was Captain Apt. Several other details line up, including the plane being an X-2 and not making it past the flight.
Favorite stop talking to yourself: From How the Tess Was Won: Sam reflects on how leaps can start off rewarding or not. He also finds it easy to locate his home in the openness of Texas. There is also a reflection on how to calm a horse. He notes that his slow dancing skills are sub par.
Favorite only Sam can see and hear: From The Color of Truth: After finding out Sam leaped into an African American, we learn Al has a history in the civil rights movement and knows a lot about southern cooking. Also, he is convinced that Ms. Melny heard him at the end which wound up saving her life.
This is the first time that he asks Gooshie to center him around someone other than Sam.
Favorite Mirror Images That Were Not His Own: From Star-Crossed: Sam looks at Dr. Bryant in the mirror and does not see someone resembling Tom Cruise. At all.
Favorite brush with history: From The Color of Truth: Not quite Sam, but Al mentions an experience in Selma. It is unclear if he was at the famous march there.
Favorite it’s a science project: From Genesis: Sam finds a way to prevent Peg from inducing premature labor six months into her pregnancy which would be fatal to her. He convinces the doctors to put alcohol into her IV which gets her almost instantly drunk.
Favorite tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: From Genesis: We get a glimpse of 1999 in the teaser when Al picks up a female acquaintance and drives her to the project. What happens afterwards is probably somewhere between what we later learn of his time with women and the fact that she doesn’t have security clearance. We also briefly see Gooshie, one of the scientists.
Favorite let’s up the rating: From Star-Crossed: Student Jamie-Lee and Professor Dr. Bryant have been busy. Apparently, they have consummated their relationship in his house, and the belltower. Plus, there are all sorts of … ‘marital aids’ in a Bryant’s cabinet, much to Al’s delight.
Favorite one more time: From How the Tess Was Won: “I won’t breed with inferior stock, Chance.”
Tess telling her dad that her romantic standards are higher than the local ranch hands.
Favorite Rainbow Treknection: From Genesis: Series star Scott Bakula would go on to star in Enterprise and his costar, former child star Dean Stockwell, guest stared in an episode of the first season. They would also reunite in NCIS: New Orleans under Quantum Leap creator Don Bellasario.
Favorite Trivial Matters: From Genesis: Sam asks Al to step around objects rather than walk through them. Presumably, this would make things easier on the effects department, though moving people through solid objects is fairly cheap.
Put Right what Once Went Wrong: “… Went a little … caca.” First seasons can be rough. No one really knows where the show will go and even with a plan in place, there are a thousand ways it can go wrong. Add in the factors against this specific plot (only two members of their regular cast, few standing sets, etc.) and it’s clear that the network gave them a green light to see what the show is and hoped that they didn’t stumble.
One of the strengths of this show is the writing. There was a rough draft of Grease, a cowboy romance, a civil rights piece, a mafia drama and a wodunnit. There are very few shows that can turn on a dime like that, even fewer that the audience will keep coming back to. It is telling that the second episode is a farce at the start and winds up being a compelling drama.
Of course, the best writing in the world is not worth a thing if the actors can’t bring them to life and week after week, the guest stars delivered. On most shows, it is not that bad if the guest stars fall through the cracks since they can be salvaged by the main cast, but that trick won’t work on this show. The acting is fantastic with the high note being the amazing Susan French in The Color of Truth. Thankfully, the writing gives a lot of what could be throwaway roles a good moment to shine. In The Camakazi Kid, the writers gave the parents good character bits and you can see this with all the episodes.
The weak link is Al, or rather his libido. It is a character trait that has not aged well and if it was off putting in the eighties, it is even more off putting in the twenties. The only way to swallow it is to accept that the targets of his interest are in on it but we cannot really be sure it is always the case.
The Color of Truth is my favorite of the bunch, but I would have to look hard to find a stinker. That is an impressive feat for a first season, granted a short one, but they got off the ground. They did not do anything wild past the pilot, aside from attempting a return trip which ended up helping that story, but really did not have the time to.
I (and this rewatch) am back for season two, but not rushing to my screen in anticipation.
New places for old(er) keywords: Continuing Mission
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights