Quantum Leap

[Phelan]

So I downloaded season one the other day and have been watching it. Thought I would drop onto imdb and see what Dean Stockwell has been up to and I stumble across the fact they are making a follow up???

Quantum Leap: A Bold Leap Forward

Twenty years after the original series left Dr. Sam Beckett "leaping" into the great unknown, Sam is finally reunited with Al, his old mentor and "partner in time." But when circumstances beyond their control send Sam away once more, Al must recruit his lost friend's daughter to pick up where her father left off and hopefully help find Sam again in the process.

Everybody join in with me... Oh Boy!

[StephenM]

Quantum Leap.

And if they make a follow up, that will be THE BEST THING EVER.com.

[Phelan]

Changed, although for some reason I knew that was the correct spelling but qrote it differently anyway! Bizarre.

I'm not so sure if a new series would be any good to be honest. Best leaving it ended the way it did.

[JohnC]

Maybe it will last a full season, if it is lucky.

[Phelan]

Shit, if they cancel Firefly etc I would be surprised if it lasted three epidoes.

Anyway, it looks like a tv movie. Might be a pilot for a series.

[Nutcasey]

Talk of this has been around for a while now. With Enterprise gone it might now just happen. Especially with how well the original Quantum Leap does on the Sci-Fi channel.

[anewman]

I used to love Quantum Leap, but I never saw the last episode.

What happened?

[Comrade]

I used to love Quantum Leap, but I never saw the last episode.

What happened?

←

Absolutely fuck all.

[Djx]

Absolutely fuck all.

←

Hang on.

Sam had a choice between going home or continuing to leap. He chose to carry on leaping.

[anewman]

I guess I kind of suspected I wasn't really missing anything, but it's nice to know.

I did the same thing with Twin Peaks. Watched it all the way through, then missed the final episode. I was devastated at the time, but I don't think it really made much difference.

[Nutcasey]

Theres a massive story about this that I dont know all the details about. But the basic parts of it are this: The last episode was in fact the first part of a two parter that never concluded. As a result a rush ending was put in its place where they said "Sam never got home". It was a shite way to end such a good series and I would just love to see QL come back and 'put right what once went wrong'.

[kensei]

I guess I kind of suspected I wasn't really missing anything, but it's nice to know.

I did the same thing with Twin Peaks. Watched it all the way through, then missed the final episode. I was devastated at the time, but I don't think it really made much difference.

←

No. As has been said many times on the forum, the final episode of QL is one of the best pieces of television ever made, by accident or design. It really couldn't have nded any other way and remained satisfying. Sam took the noble choice.

Dunno if the new series is a good idea. It'll be very hard to get right, and Sam was a one off - genius, doctor, physicist, atheletic. How's his daughter going to cope?

[Number 28]

Hang on.

Sam had a choice between going home or continuing to leap. He chose to carry on leaping.

←

Can't blame him. I'd get addicted to occassionally having tits too.

[alan cummings]

Didn't he meet God? Thats what I have always thought happened but i havent seen it since it was first on. I'd hardly call it fuck all.

I'm going to have to try and download it now!

[Lorfarius]

Didn't he meet God? Thats what I have always thought happened but i havent seen it since it was first on. I'd hardly call it fuck all.

I'm going to have to try and download it now!

←

Sort of. He thinks the bartender is God. But its never actually confirmed.

[OuttaHere]

Theres a massive story about this that I dont know all the details about. But the basic parts of it are this: The last episode was in fact the first part of a two parter that never concluded. As a result a rush ending was put in its place where they said "Sam never got home". It was a shite way to end such a good series and I would just love to see QL come back and 'put right what once went wrong'.

←

He ended up lost in time didn't he (I'm sure I remember him disappearing into some kind of void), because he saved Al's marriage which meant that the Quantum Leap programme was never started? He didn't get to carry on leaping, he'd created a paradox.

[SeanR]

Can't blame him. I'd get addicted to occassionally having tits too.

←

also

anyway, WTF!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Leap

A crossover with Magnum, P.I. (also produced by Donald P. Bellisario) was planned, in which Sam would leap into Thomas Magnum himself. Plans for a Magnum, P.I. movie 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. This would actually have created a continuity issue, since in an earlier episode a character is seen watching Magnum, P.I. on television...

[esjmllcj01x]

He ended up lost in time didn't he (I'm sure I remember him disappearing into some kind of void), because he saved Al's marriage which meant that the Quantum Leap programme was never started? He didn't get to carry on leaping, he'd created a paradox.

←

This is exactly how I interpreted the final episode.

I assumed the final message meant that he had died by causing a paradox which removed him from existence.

It was only from speaking to others afterwards that the idea he got to carry on leaping occurred to me.

I'm not sure which I prefer.

[Alex W.]

I always thought it was the "wiped from history" version. Didn't it show a photograph of Sam and his wife at the very end, and his picture "leaps" away?

[esjmllcj01x]

It's a much better ending to the series than the horrendous future leaping they had planned.

[Lorfarius]

He ended up lost in time didn't he (I'm sure I remember him disappearing into some kind of void), because he saved Al's marriage which meant that the Quantum Leap programme was never started? He didn't get to carry on leaping, he'd created a paradox.

←

No because earlier in the series (Series 3 I think) Al was put on trial earlier in his life and executed (when he was a young member of the army or marines). Al the hologram disappeared and a new guy was placed there. Sam had no idea who he was and kept asking where Al had gone. They worked out the only way to get Al back was to stop the execution (obviously). Which they did and back popped Al.

I get the impression that Sam simply carried on working for God as a leaper. The whole last episodes refers to him as controlling his own leaps and going off the time he met an angel, it turns out the good leapers always work alone (by living in the same time period over and over until they learn enough to fix everything).

[SeanR]

What about the EVIL leapers?

[Nutcasey]

This series really does need a proper ending. The other one was a rush job that was fixed on when they realised they couldnt film the second part to what we eventually saw as the last episode. What a mess.

[esjmllcj01x]

This series really does need a proper ending. The other one was a rush job that was fixed on when they realised they couldnt film the second part to what we eventually saw as the last episode. What a mess.

The second part of that episode was going to lead into a major departure for the show. From that point on Sam would be able to leap beyond his lifetime into the future, and the original ending found him leaping into a future world with a race of aliens.

Fate was kind to end it when it did. And as it is, I found it a really moving and fitting end.

No because earlier in the series (Series 3 I think) Al was put on trial earlier in his life and executed (when he was a young member of the army or marines). Al the hologram disappeared and a new guy was placed there. Sam had no idea who he was and kept asking where Al had gone. They worked out the only way to get Al back was to stop the execution (obviously). Which they did and back popped Al.

I think this can either be put down to a minor inconsistency or explained by the fact that external forces were apparently at work in the final episode and Sam was forced to make a choice.

The fact that Sam disappears from his family photo, if correct, is strong evidence that he was erased from history.

[Popo]

The second part of that episode was going to lead into a major departure for the show. From that point on Sam would be able to leap beyond his lifetime into the future, and the original ending found him leaping into a future world with a race of aliens.

Fate was kind to end it when it did. And as it is, I found it a really moving and fitting end.

I think this can either be put down to a minor inconsistency or explained by the fact that external forces were apparently at work in the final episode and Sam was forced to make a choice.

The fact that Sam disappears from his family photo, if correct, is strong evidence that he was erased from history.

←

I just a read through that Wiki entry and apparently the series creator said this was not the case and that Sam just continued leaping.

*shrug*

[esjmllcj01x]

Fair enough.

[Lorfarius]

What about the EVIL leapers?

←

Well the show was based heavily on a religious front so the evil leapers were there as the devils workers or something. Anyway, Sam stopped the big bad one earlier in the series. Freed her from the leaping.

[Just Jaymo]

I've seen that last episode a couple of times and it always confused me. Didn't other people start leaping too? What was that all about?

[Nutcasey]

I still think that it was no good way to end a great series. Roll on the new series! If of course, it ever happens.

[Lorfarius]

I've seen that last episode a couple of times and it always confused me.  Didn't other people start leaping too?  What was that all about?

←

It was to show Sam that there was other leapers and that he wasnt alone. The connection made in the past had been that only angels were leapers and Sam had transcended into something more than humanity or something similar. Its been over a decade some details are a little hazy :s