Talk:Quantum Leap (1989 TV series)

Doctorates

In part 2 of the pilot, Al states that Sam holds six doctorates and is prehaps the smartest man since Einstien. I am in the process of watching all of the episodes to find out what all of Sams doctorines are in hopes that this information about him can be added to the wikipedia article.

1. Quantum Physics (confirmed in "Pilot")
2. Medicine (confirmed in "Pilot")
3. Hieroglyphics (confirmed in "Star-Crossed")
4. Law (confirmed in "So Help Me God")
5. Music (confirmed in "A Song for the Soul")
6. Currently Unknown

--Wesw02 01:29, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Sorry but number 4 is incorrect. So Help Me God confirms that "None of [Sam's] six degrees is in law" (my emphasis) and, in fact, Sam relies on what little he remembers of Perry Mason - plus his own detective skills - to complete his mission in that episode. --Zoe.R 14:26, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

--67.180.242.217 (talk) 07:37, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

For emphasis to #5, music, in "Blind Faith", Al comforts Sam about his ability to play the piano noting that he should have no problem playing at Carnegie Hall because he already done it before.

Star Trek

In the article:

"The fourth season episode "A Leap For Lisa" includes three coincidental tie-ins to the Star Trek franchise. In this episode, Sam leaps into young Al who is to stand trial for the rape and murder of Commander Riker's wife. Commander Riker is the name of one of the principal characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation series. Lisa was portrayed by Terry Farrell, who would later star in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Scott Bakula (Sam) would go on to play Captain Jonathan Archer in the Star Trek: Enterprise series."

Surely unnecessary? It's not as if this was a deliberate attempt at a ST/QL crossover. Jsteph 10:29, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

External links

A few weeks ago, several external links were removed, with reference to WP:EL ([1]). I understand the need for this general type of cleanup. However, one of the links that was removed (Al's Place - A Quantum Leap Fan Site), has been, in my experience, a particularly useful and comprehensive information source. In my opinion, it seems worthy of inclusion in the "External links" section. Do any others share this sentiment?--GregRM 03:58, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Pop Culture References

The Pop Culture references section lists a scene from How I Met Your Mother where one character says, "Oh Boy!" Is this really a QL reference? Based on the context, I really can't see how it would be. Elmorth 17:54, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Quantum Leap is mentioned by name during the conversation. You can't get much clearer than that.Raymondluxuryacht 21:15, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Conflicting information.

In the "series conclusion" section it is stated that this show ended at season 4, yet near the bottom of the article it is shown that a 5th season is available on DVD. Some explanation would be nice

The show ran five seasons, not four. Someone keeps changing that one part to say it ended at season 4, even though that's wrong. I keep reverting it when I catch it, but for some reason, they keep changing it back.Raymondluxuryacht 06:28, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Intro Voice-Over

The voice-over listed at the top of the article is significantly different from the one I am familiar with; after checking my S2 DVD (US Version), this is the intro as it is played:

"Theorizing that one can time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Accelerator, and vanished.

He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own; and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.

His only guide in this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and here.

And so Dr. Beckett finds himself, leaping from life to live, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap home..."

Here is the version currently listed in the article, in case it needs to be re-entered. Is it possible different countries had a different intro?

"Theorizing that one could time-travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert, to develop a top-secret project known as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator, and vanished...

He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brain-wave transmissions with Al, the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, put things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next Leap will be the Leap home.

The longer version (the "led an elite group of scientists" one) was the intro originally, and then was shortened to the version you know. However, in syndication, all episodes feature the shorter intro. What we need to do as far as the article goes, I don't know. It seems like it would be bloating the article to feature both versions, but if we don't, people are likely to keep changing it back and forth. Basically, I'm open to suggestions.Raymondluxuryacht 18:25, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

In the versions I have, season 1 doesn't really have an intro, season 2 uses the one in the article, and seasons 3+ use the one you show. It doesn't really matter which one we use, so I say either stick with the longer one or remove it entirely. Oren0 04:55, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Leaping into the wrong body

In series two (I'm going by the UK DVD releases here) there are several episodes ('A Portrait for Troika' is an example) where Sam is seen leaping into a host from a series one episode. In the next episode, however, Sam has lept into a new host and the apparent inconsistency is not mentioned. Does anyone know what the reason for this re-use of material was? I'm assuming it has something to do with the next episode not having been ready at the time of the previous one's broadcast, so stock footage was used to show Sam leaping? --jek 20:54, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

When the episodes were originally broadcast on network, the leap-in at the end of each episode would always be to whatever episode was due to be broadcast next; if the next episode up was a repeat, the leap-in would be to that of the repeat episode rather than the next new episode in sequence. The DVDs obviously skip over the repeats and show only the new episodes.Raymondluxuryacht

Page move

It seems pretty clear that this article should be moved to Quantum Leap, since that page redirects here anyway. Are there any objections or concerns to doing this? If not, it seems easiest to just make the direct move immediately. If so, I'll propose a formal move request so we can discuss the options further. -Silence 22:23, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Didn't we do this already? Point 23 above. HalJor 22:46, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

No Quantum leap is not just a redirect As it says - This article is about the physical phenomenon. For the television program, see Quantum Leap (TV series).

Super Bowl XXX

In the second season episode "All Americans", Al notes that he is watching Super Bowl XXX and that the Steelers are 3 points behind. The game was in fact played between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers, though the Steelers never trailed by exactly three points. This is notable because the episode was filmed well in advance of any knowledge of what teams would play.

This is not true. The Cowboys scored a field goal on their first possession of the game, making the score 3-0. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.110.203.52 (talk) 16:45, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

And not just that- they also trailed 20-17 late in the game.Raymondluxuryacht 18:37, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

A Bold Leap Forward

Was it a hoax? Was it a genuine idea that just never got off the ground? Might it still happen? This could do with a mention if any more details are known, although I guess Scott Bakula knowing nothing about it counts for something. --84.9.197.88 (talk) 05:16, 25 November 2007 (UTC)--84.9.197.88 (talk) 05:16, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

"Recommended reading"?

This is an odd title for a section. Can anyone think of something better than Recommended reading? Gh5046 (talk) 05:32, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Number of episodes

hiya. thinking about buying the box set series 1-5 from play, and play have the episodes listed as 1 - 97 rather than the 96 listed on the article. Is this just for dvd? 86.146.30.72 (talk) 15:59, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

The wikipedia article lists the first episode Genesis (the pilot) as one episode, but other sites consider it two episodes since it's a two parter. That's the discrepancy. It is 97 episodes. Gh5046 (talk) 18:07, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Too Long

I have added a "too long" box at the top of the article, as it seemed long-winded and full of a lot of semi-trivia. I am not an expert on QL, but I am a fan and am trying to create a more coherent article on a sci-fi landmark. Gdkh (talk) 20:04, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Planning to remove trivia

I'm plan on removing the pop culture references section, and other similar trivia in this article. Having information about weak references from other television programs just doesn't add to the quality of the article. If anyone has issue with this, please let me know here. Gh5046 (talk) 17:51, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Article Length/Size

To quote from Wikipedia:Article size "Readers may tire of reading a page much longer than about 6,000 to 10,000 words, which roughly corresponds to 30 to 50 KB of readable prose." Quantum Leap is only 52k, 2k is not much past the sugested size, the Too Long tag is not needed. Darrenhusted (talk) 13:32, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

It's still over the recommended size, 2K is a lot of text. This article has a lot of complexity for such a simple subject. The plot section is too long, and other portions of the article can be cut down. This article doesn't need to be split up, so please don't think I'm suggesting that, but there is a lot of cruft that can still be cut. I'm adding the tag back. Gh5046 (talk) 14:05, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

There it has been cut. Darrenhusted (talk) 14:37, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Works for me. Gh5046 (talk) 14:52, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Once i get five minutes I'll trim more of the fat. Darrenhusted (talk) 15:16, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Stallone/Philadelphia

While Stallone was born in NYC, he *did* grow up in Philadelphia and went to high school at Lincoln High. See the Wikipedia page on Stallone.134.243.211.185 (talk) 21:37, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Another changed premise

I think this should be mentioned in the article, probably falling best at the end of the Leaping: mind or body? section. Near the end of the episode Good Morning Peoria, Al stands near the radio station's antenna as it is powered up, causing Al to appear blue and electrified, much as Sam appears when he leaps. He exclaims, "Sam, I'm leaping!" and Sam replies, "No, you're standing too close to the antenna." However, in the series finale, when Sam gives credit to another patron at the bar for saving the miners in the mine shaft, he observes the other man leaping out of existence. He later asks Al, "When I leap, do I turn all blue...?" to which Al replies, "When you leap, I go back to the imaging chamber." This implies that neither Sam nor Al see this effect when Sam leaps, contrary to the implication in the radio episode. Dansiman (talk|Contribs) 00:18, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Origin of Main Character's Name?

It occurred to me that the name of the title character is Samuel Beckett. Another famous Samuel Beckett is the author of the play Waiting for Godot, among other works.

So the question is, was the name of the main character named after the famous author?

Sixit (talk) 06:37, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Inconsistencies

Two inconsistencies I noticed recently:

On this page "Mind or body : Blind faith" someone notes that "Al makes it clear that he is risking his own sight if he does not seek medical attention immediately". This comment was Speculation on part of Al from what he believed as a character, and not the world of the show. In that episode, Sam is barely recovering. We keep seeing glimpses of Sam's sight, giving an idea of how well / quickly recovering. Based on that, Sam was still almost completely blind when he leaps into a new body where, as usual, he is confronted with a mirror and made immediately clear that he has completely regained his sight.

Another inconsistency, same leap, the leap at the end of Blind Faith, Sam Leaps into a DJ. The same video footage (not to mention vinyl) is used at the end of "Blind Faith" as the Beginning of "Good Morning, Peoria" as usual Thwith a leap, but the music playing is different. I think a list would have historical and fan significance. MAYBE deserves its own page, conflicts and inconsistencies? 67.180.242.217 (talk) 08:06, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Regarding the end of an episode and begining of the next one, it is very common to have slightly different footage from one episode to the next. However, I wouldn´t rate ths as an inconsistency, since the footage is the same, only slightly altered in order and length.Mrkeked (talk) 19:31, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I've been rewatching the show looking for inconsistencies, and there's something inconsistent in how Al appears to other people. I've had the chance to put this on the page, but I believe some discussion on it would benefit a more accurate description of this particular inconsistency. In the pilot, Al states that he is a neurological projection, which would make Sam the only "viewer", since Al would appear only in Sam's mind. However, animals and even children under 5 years old can see and hear Al. In "Another Mother", a little girl is able to interact with Al and can even see Sam for who he is, which doesn't make much sense. Al's explanation is that "children can only see the truth" and babbles something about alpha waves. Maybe I'm being picky, since the show is partially based on the supernatural...Mrkeked (talk) 19:15, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

What??

'A notable exception is in the episode "Dr. Ruth," in which the leap is shown from the leapees' point of view rather than Sam's. When the leap takes place, we are with Dr. Ruth in the waiting room, who gives Al counseling about his own relationships. This was most likely because the next person Sam leapt into was suspected(especially by Al) to be a vampire, and had to be shown directly(he removes Dr. Ruth's glasses and bares his fangs at the viewer) because of the superstition that vampires cast no reflection(But then, as a hologram, neither does Al, and Sam called him a vampire in the pilot when he couldn't see Al in the mirror).'

This passage is about as clear as mud. I'm pretty sure it actually makes no sense at all. I think the whole article needs trimming down and styling up

Tru Calling

Can somebody explain what Tru Calling is doing in the "See also" section?

Ratings.

I've only recently gotten into this show. It's odd to me this lasted Five seasons and I had never heard of it before. Does anyone have information on the show's ratings over its lifespan to add to the article?--Occono (talk) 21:35, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind that this was a show with only two permanent cast members, and I believe it made extensive use of pre-existing sets and such. I imagine it would've been able to go a long way with a small-but-devoted fanbase, though obviously nowhere near the level of Mystery Science Theater 3000. --Shay Guy (talk) 20:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

It must have had more than decent aproval, since I saw it when I was a kind here in Portugal, which means that it was picked up for international "sindication". I'm not sure about the official ratings, but Scott Bakula talked a alot about Quantum Leap when he was on Star Trek: Enterprise, so it did have a solid fan base, at least enough for him to be interested in pleasing Quantum Leap fans over on Enterprise. His interviews regarding this are out there and must be pretty easy to track down.Mrkeked (talk) 13:59, 16 January 2009 (UTC)