ORBzine - Quantum Leap TV Review
[Season 1 !Season 2 !Season 3 !Season 4 !Season 5 ]
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 1]
Genesis - September 13, 1956 (1)
Shown 26 Mar 89
Shown 11th May 2006 [Thursday]
Futuristic-looking 1999. Dean Stockwell picks up a gorgeous 30-something named Tina. Ain't that a kick in the butt?
Scott Bakula wakes up in the 1950s. He has amnesia, but remembers that the face in the mirror isn't his!
He's a USAF rocket-plane test-pilot working for Bruce McGill [MacGuyver]. Only he can't remember how to fly!
Al [Dean Stockwell] pops up to deliver some exposition.
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 2]
Genesis - September 13, 1956 (2)
Shown 26 Mar 89
Shown 12th May 2006 [Friday]
Sam must achieve the pilot's goal in order to leap home. Luckily, Al is a qualified jet pilot.
Naturally, things aren't that easy. Otherwise there'd be no TV show.
The result is a cross between Time Tunnel and Touched By An Angel .
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 3]
Star-Crossed - June 15, 1972
Shown 31 Mar 89
Shown 15th May 2006 [Monday]
Sam is a US College Professor, specialising in English Lit.
Sam's memory is so swiss-cheesed that he can't remember things like the Watergate Scandal. Neither can the audience - people born after 1970, or non-US citizens! However, he can remember that one of the college students is his future non-wife, Teri Hatcher !
Sam must heal broken hearts and so on, so Teri doesn't jilt him at the Altar. This is set 15 years before she met him ... and 15 years after she made this ep, she stars in Desperate Housewives. Wow ... and she still jilted him?
Sam has 6 Doctorates, including Medicine, Quantum Physics and Ancient Languages. What a nerd!
Al's work back at HQ is under investigation, but we learn a couple of things. Firstly, Ziggy the computer is apparently male. Secondly, Al is MUCH better at giving secret messages to invisible people that Sam is!
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 4]
The Right of God - October 24, 1974
Shown 7 Apr 89
Shown 16th May 2006 [Tuesday]
Sam is a boxer who is under pressure to take a dive.
Sam is owned by a nunnery. The main nun is very pretty - a real waste. She wants the money to build a chapel, the end result being that people will be brainwashed into letting religion destroy their everyday lives.
Al, as comic relief, spends most of the time asleep. He's cheating on Tina with Deirdre, another woman he barely knows.
Sam must train himself up to win the California championship. He hasn't remembered that he has multiple blackbelts!
Shown 14 Apr 89
Shown 9th July 1999 [Friday]
This sees Sam back in Season One again - as a vet on a Texas ranch run by Belisario favourite Lance deGault [ Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ]. The plot this week sees Sam woo deGault's tomboy cowgirl daughter [ Kari Lizer ].
Marshall Teague [ Babylon 5 ] is a cowboy who also wants Tess.
Al is having problems with Tina - she eloped to Las Vegas with Gushy.
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 6]
Double Identity - November 8, 1965
Shown 21 Apr 89
Shown 18th May 2006 [Thursday]
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 7]
The Color of Truth - August 8, 1955
Shown 3 May 89
Shown 19th May 2006 [Friday]
Sam is an elderly African-American man who chauffeurs an elderly white woman. Like in Driving Miss Daisy.
The ep excellently illustrates the problems and unfairness created by segregation. Every time Sam is treated unfairly, he is shown his reflection.
The mission is to save the white woman from an RTA. With Sam being hassled, can Al influence her?
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 8]
Camikazi Kid - June 6, 1961
Shown 10 May 89
Shown 22nd May 2006 [Monday]
Sam is a spotty teenage boy.
His sister is going to marry the school bully, then join the Peace Corps. Sam must defeat the bully [and his sidekick, Jason Priestly - Tru Calling ].
Quantum Leap [Season 1, Episode 9]
Play It Again, Seymour - April 14, 1953
Shown 17 May 89
Shown 23rd May 2006 [Tuesday]
Sam is a PI who looks like Humphry Bogart. He's also a suspect in the murder of his business partner.
Everyone's a suspect. Claudia Christian is a femme fatale - Sam's lover and his partner's widow. Willie Garson [ Stargate SG-1 ] is a newspaper seller. Maybe he's Lee Harvey Oswald, and HE's the killer!
The ending is at an airport - reminiscent of Casablanca.
The final leap is to a woman!
Quantum Leap
Quantum Leap [Season
, Episode 1
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Shown
Shown
th June 2006 [Wednesday]
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Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 1]
Honeymoon Express - April 27, 1960
Shown 20 Sep 89
Shown 24th May 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is a NYPD cop on his honeymoon, aboard the train to Niagra Falls.
His bride's ex-husband is a French arms dealer. He and a sidekick are aboard the train, eager to murder Sam and kidnap the woman!
Al wants Sam to prevent the Gary Powers U2 flight. If they don't, US Congress will pull all funding.
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 2]
Disco Inferno - April 1, 1976
Shown 27 Sep 89
Shown 25th May 2006 [Thursday]
Sam is a stuntman working on the set of Earthquake.
Sam does his bit for interracial relationships by dating a gorgeous african-american woman. Al is in his element, in the disco era!
The stuntman's little brother has issues. He doesn't want to disappoint his dad, so he copies his brother.
Sam remembers his own troubled relationship with his brother. And his brother's death in Nam ...
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 3]
The Americanization of Machiko - August 4, 1953
Shown 11 Oct 89
Shown 26th May 2006 [Friday]
Sam is a USN sailor, on leave in smalltown USA. Odd how Bellisario loves the USN characters and small-town settings ...
Machiko is the sailor's new wife. He married a Japanese bride, and now has to help her integrate into his home town. To do this he teaches her about womens' lib and equal rights. Yep, that PC stuff will go down well in McCarthyite Hicksville!
Unfortunately, his mother is a hateful old woman. His High School sweetheart is a horny nympho who wants to take up where they left off. And the town bully is a self-pitying asshole who blames all Japanese people for starting WWII in order to ruin his sporting career!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 4]
What Price Gloria? - October 16, 1961
Shown 23rd July 1999 [Friday]
QL is worse than ever this week, with its PC brainwashing reinforced with a load of man-hating Feminazi propaganda.
Today Sam is a beautiful woman whose handsome male boss wants to give her physical pleasure.
The second part of the plot is to do with Sam's flatmate, who is sleeping with the sex-crazed boss and thinks he will marry her.
You do not need a lover to make you feel special, Sam assures her.
Nice one, Sam Beckett. We know you're a pathetic wanker who can never have a proper relationship, relies on Mrs Palm and her 5 lovely daughters for pleasure, and will die sad and alone. But why condemn someone else to such a terrible fate?
QL, leave us heterosexuals to enjoy our intercourse in peace!!!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 5]
Blind Faith - February 6, 1964
Shown 1 Nov 89
Shown 31st May 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is a concert pianist. Who is blind! He's playing in Carnegie Hall, NYC.
Luckily one of Sam's MANY skills is piano-playing. He played Carnegie Hall when he was aged 19. But he's not blind, so he has trouble faking it.
The pianist has a young woman as a hanger-on. Unfortunately her mother wants her to choose a career over marriage - the typical dilema of this show!
The Beatles are in town. As is a serial-killer, stalking young women in Central Park. Yes, there's an action-packed crime-solving aspect to the ep as well. Luckily the seeing-eye dog is a vicious alsatian!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 6]
Good Morning, Peoria - September 9, 1959
Shown 8 Nov 89
Shown 1st June 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is a radio-station DJ in a smll town where the locals want to ban rock and roll music!
The DJ has a relationship of sorts with the female owner. Can Sam bring these 30-something singletons together?
Chubby Checker has a cameo as himself. Let's Do The Twist!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 7]
Thou Shalt Not... - February 2, 1974
Shown 15 Nov 89
Shown 2nd June 2006 [Friday]
Sam is a Rabbi.
He has to stop his sister-in-law from having a one-night stand. The real problem is that the entire family is wallowing in self-pity because the eldest son died an entire year previously!
A friendly Shrink [Russ Tamblyn - Twin Peaks ] is demonised for seducing lonely, sexually frustrated housewives. The ending is nonsensical - why would his bestseller book be cancelled due to libel suits? Wouldn't he just change the names to Patient X?
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 8]
Jimmy - October 14, 1964
Shown 22 Nov 89
Shown 5th June 2006 [Monday]
Sam is a retarded - I mean, special, kid named Jimmy.
While working at the docks he is hassled by Michael Madsen. This role is even referenced in Reservoir Dogs!
The other great thing about this Dean Stockwell's Trudie speech. An excellent delivery, the best thing he does in the entire show!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 9]
So Help Me God - July 29, 1957
Shown 29 Nov 89
Shown 6th June 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is a lawyer in Louisiana. His client is a young African-American woman, accused of murdering her white lover.
Predictably, Sam has to prove her innocence. And when the killer's identity is revealed, it's quite a shocking scene.
The ep has high production values, and a wonderfully authentic feel.
Shown 29th June 1999 [Tuesday]
This is the Don-Wan Kihotay episode. Sam is understudy to the innkeeper from Northern Exposure. Unfortunately, they're rivals for the affections of Sam's old piano teacher.
Sam's a totally selfish moron in this ep. His childhood crush takes him over entirely, and he totally ignores the fact that he has a mission to perform.
There is a happy ending, though - the bald fat guy gets a beautiful woman! Also, there are several songs from the Musical Man of La Mancha , and the end credits show the entire cast and crew seated in a theatre!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 11]
A Portrait for Troian - February 7, 1971
Shown 13 Dec 89
Shown 8th June 2006 [Thursday]
Sam is a scientist investigating the paranormal. His gear is surprisingly high-tech, and allows Al to be heard by other people!
Troian is the unlikely name of a beautiful woman. She lives in a creepy mansion, and thinks her husband's ghost is calling to her.
Though Sam refuses to believe in ghosts, ther may be something to them. In the final ep, an explantion for the dead returning was given ... Plus, Carolyn Seymour is the creepy housekeeper - and she later appears as Zoe in Season 5!
The ending shows Sam leap into the Season One dragster race!
Shown 6th August 1999 [Friday]
QL sees Sam Beckett as leader of a College Fraternity in 1967, his mission to prevent Anti-War demonstrators from blowing up the Chemistry department!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 13]
Another Mother - September 30, 1981
Shown 10 Jan 90
Sam is a housewife and single mother with a handful of kids.
The youngest is a girl who can see Al. Apparently under-5s are pure and see only the truth.
The eldest is a teen boy, the big brother from Blossom. He is due to go missing. Perhaps he runs away from school. After all, he's 15 and still a virgin. Like pretty much EVERY teenage boy in Sam's lifetime!
Luckily, Sam has a handful of blackbelts. Also, the hottest babe at the High School is slutty for the virgin-boy.
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 14]
All Americans - November 6, 1962
Shown 17 Jan 90
Shown 13th June 2006 [Tuesday]
Sam is a high-school boy, and top player of American Football.
Sam and his buddy are both kids of Mexican illegal immigrants. However, if they play really well they'll get college scholarships.
Spanish is one of Sam's half-dozen languages.
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 15]
Her Charm - September 26, 1973
Shown 7 Feb 90
Shown 14th June 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is an FBI Agent, working in Witness Protection. This is a Taming of the Shrew type story, with him looking after an annoying woman.
This ep is unusual, insofar as it has scenes from the villains' perspective. The bad guy this time is a smuggler who helped illegl immigrants enjoy the safety of life in the USA. For an example, check out the smiling Mexicans in the previous ep!
Sam meets his old Professor, who helped him work out string theory. Pity this is never exploited in later eps!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 16]
Freedom - November 22, 1970
Shown 3rd February 2006 [Friday]
Sam's a Native American. Unfortunately, the sheriff is a racist SOB.
Sam must get Granpa back to the Reservation, where he can die in peace. However, Sam's medical ethics promote a worthless life over a good death.
The sheriff gives chase. The fugitives head into the mountains, on horseback. A nice evocative metaphor for the events leading up to the demise of Native American power in the USA.
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 17]
Good Night, Dear Heart - November 9, 1957
Shown 7 Mar 90
Shown 16th June 2006 [Wednesday]
Sam is a small-town mortician who doubles as the local coroner. He has to ascertain the cause of death of a young woman. He decides she was murdered, and the sheriff doesn't agree - so Sam decides to solve the case himself.
Sam has a medical degree of his own, though he's a bit squeemish. He also becomes completely obsessed with the dead girl.
Ths suspects include the girl's boyfriend [Robert Duncan McNeill - Star Trek: Voyager ] and her roommate [ Marcia Cross ].
The real shock is that the damsel in distress wasn't worth Sam saving, or he would have leaped in ther with a chance to save her. Also, the killer didn't do other evil deeds, so the case had no point!
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 18]
Pool Hall Blues - September 4, 1954
Shown 14 Mar 90
Sam becomes an aging African-American pool-player. Unfortunately Sam can't play pool, so naturally Al can. In fact, Al was taught by the very person who Sam has leaped into!
The player's grandaughter [ Shari Headley ] look a loan from a loan shark. Since she can't get a loan from the bank [Evil white racists!] she offers to sleep with a pool hustler instead. Sam naturally wants to stop everyone from having orgasms, so he plays pool ...
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 19]
Leaping in Without a Net - November 18, 1958
25th July 1999 [Saturday]
QL sees Sam as a Carny - a trapeze artist, to be exact. He must catch his sister, while performing without a net ...
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 20]
Maybe Baby - March 11, 1963
20th August 1999 [Friday]
QL guest-stars Julie Brown as a stripper. This is not as sexist as it sounds; Ms Brown also wrote the episode!
Sam has to help Ms Stripper take a baby from its father and carry it across the State line to its mother. But the woman is a compulsive liar, and Al has trouble finding out what Sam should do ...
Quantum Leap [Season 2, Episode 21]
Sea Bride - June 3, 1954
5th September 1999 [Sunday]
QL has a familiar plot; a beautiful aristocrat must marry a nouveau riche type so her family can recover its finances. However this is interrupted by a shipboard romance with her true love.
Yes, this looks oddly like another source for Titanic. It is not great, but then with retrospect the series never was.
31. 2-22 65412 9 May 90 M.I.A. - April 1, 1969
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 1]
The Leap Home - November 25, 1969
Shown 28 Sep 90
Sam jumps into his teenage self. He's an All-American boy from the Midwest. A redneck, in other words. Which makes the politically-correct crap he starts spouting all the more unbelievable.
Bakula plays his character's father. Covered in old-age makeup, he's recognisable. And distracting.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 2]
The Leap Home, Part II (Vietnam) - April 7, 1970
Shown 5 Oct 90
Sam leaps into one of the SEALs in his brother's unit, the day before his brother is due to get killed. His mission is to rescue some POWs, and hopefully protect his brother.
The SEAL Sam jumps into is an african-american. Not the first time Sam's done that. But it's the first time he leaped outside the borders of the USA!
Andrea Thompson is a sexy big-haired reporter who wants an exclusive story. Tia Carrere is a VC defector who volunteers to guide the SEALs to the POWs.
This is one of the best eps, not just because of the glorification of violence. Hey, Producer Bellisario was in the USN for several decades. What makes this ep so great is the ending. The ending is shocking, tear-jerking and absolutely wonderful.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 3]
Leap of Faith - August 19, 1963
Shown 12 Oct 90
Sam plays a pugilistic priest who wins the respect of poor kids by teaching them to beat the crap out of each other - to the Marquis of Queensbury Rules, of course. One of the boxers has S. Stallone on his locker, and talks funny ...
Sam's partner is a tough priest who's targeted by the local thug. The thug, just a teenager, knows the priest will testify against him in court. They are both too macho to leave town, so one will end up dead.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 4]
One Strobe over the Line - June 15, 1965
Shown 19 Oct 90
Sam becomes a fashion photographer. He has to deal with a lot of pussy - a lion, in fact!
He must also avoid the aattentions of the femme-fatale who runs a modelling agency.
A model is in trouble, addicted to amphetamines. The girl's tall, with a deep voice ... and probably big hands as well. Sam must use his self-control to prevent himself [and anyone else] from having a good time.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 5]
The Boogieman - October 31, 1964
Shown 26 Oct 90
Sam becomes a horror novelist, preparing for a hallowe'en party. Unfortunately, people start to die mysteriously. Are the deaths accidental, murder ... or satanic?
There are breaks in continuity. Unlike shows such as X-Files , these changes are deliberate clues. Also, there are a lot of references to novels by Stephen King . These are explained at the end. Sort of.
The climax is ... confusing. We are never really told what happened. This does sort of set up the Evil Leaper storyline, but it is never clearly explained.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 6]
Miss Deep South - June 7, 1958
Shown 2 Nov 90
Sam becomes a teen Beauty Queen down in Dixie-land. At a pageant where he can walk around, behind the scenes, where all the other teen babes are naked.
Unfortunately, someone else has nude teens on his mind. The photographer does private sessions in his room. Eeeeevilly exploiting hot babes, consentually photoing their bumps and fur. That truly IS eeevil!
38. 3- 7 66403 9 Nov 90 Black On White On Fire - August 11, 1965
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 8]
The Great Spontini - May 9, 1974
Shown 16 Nov 90
Sam is a divorcee dad, a professional stage-magician with a daughter as sidekick. Unfortunately, the ex-wife is going to get custody.
The daughter prefers to live with daddy, so a reasonable conclusion should be reached. However, for some reason the story turns on its head. The ending is totally unrealistic, and sends a terrible message to anyone involved in a divorce or breakup.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 9]
Rebel Without a Clue - September 1, 1958
Shown 30 Nov 90
Sam is a member of a biker gang. The leader is Dietrich Bader [Beverly Hillbillies], who dresses like Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
Bader's girlfriend is a blonde chick who ran away from home. She was inspired by Jack Kerouac's book On the Road, and conveniently Kerouac lives nearby so Sam can go visit him.
Yes, this is a predictable hatchet-job on American counter-culture. Typical of this show.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 10]
A Little Miracle - December 24, 1962
Shown 21 Dec 90
Sam is the manservant of a NYC property billionaire. The boss wants to knock down a slum, and put nice buildings there instead. Bastard!
Sam and Al play the old Xmas Carol trick on him, hoping to make him fall in lust with a babelicious leader of the Sally Army. Poor woman doesn't have the brains to seduce herself a rich husband.
The victim's brain chemistry is close to Sam's, so he can see Al. He's not related to Sam, and can't see Sam's real identity. It's pure plot contrivance, after all. As is the supernatural Star of Bethlehem that appears at the end.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 11]
Runaway - July 4, 1964
Shown 4 Jan 91
Sam is a teenage boy, on a road trip with his family.
The mother will go missing. She is frustrated with her macho hubby, who supports equal opportunities for ethnic minorities but not for housewives!
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 12]
8 1/2 Months - November 15, 1955
Shown 6 Mar 91
Sam is a pregnant teenage girl.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 13]
Future Boy - October 6, 1957
Shown 13 Mar 91
Sam is a young actor who plays Futureboy in a SciFi TV show. He's pretty clueless, even though he apparently watched the show himself as a kid.
His co-star, Richard Herd [ V ] is on the brink of a mental breakdown. He wants to build a time machine!
We find out where Sam got the original idea for time travel.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 14]
Private Dancer - October 6, 1979
Shown 20 Mar 91
Sam is a male stripper who dresses as Zorro.
He helps a deaf girl avoid a career in prostitution. Instead he steers her towards dancing - and she dances sexy as hell in her new scarlet hooker dress. Yes, she gives sexual pleasure to far more people than Sam would approve of.
Debbie Allen directed the ep, and co-stars as a blonde woman who does favours for strange men. This is the only ep where we see Sam talking to Al from someone else's perspective. He looks ridiculous, waving his arms in the air as he talks to an invisible man!
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 15]
Piano Man - November 10, 1985
Shown 27 Mar 91
Sam, last seen as an expert dancer, is now a pianist/singer. His musical talent was first explored at least a season ago. However, the Season one nerd has become unrecognisable. Sam is a real renaissance man, a master of dozens of skills. Multiple doctorates, Carnegie Hall-level pianist/singer, and 4 blackbelts ...
He's lucky, because this time he's targetted for assassination by the mob. He and the leapee's ex GF, a jinxed blonde woman, drive about the US midwest being chased by a hitman.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 16]
Southern Comforts - August 4, 1961
Shown 3 Apr 91
Sam runs a fancy bordello in Naw'leans. He protects the horny career-sluts [including Lauren Tom ] from rough sailors and abusive Exs.
Eugene Tackleberry [Police Academy] is the friendly local sheriff.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 17]
Glitter Rock - April 12, 1974
Shown 10 Apr 91
Sam is a glam rock star, a British citizen on tour in the USA. He deprives sexually frustrated groupies of much sought-after pleasure. Bastard.
Sam is going to get murdered within 24 hours. The suspects are ...
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 18]
A Hunting Will We Go - June 18, 1976
Shown 18 Apr 91
Sam is a bounty hunter, taking a dangerous prisoner to a small town in Midwest USA.
Jane Sibbett is spectacular as the prisoner. Feisty, gorgeous ... a pity her career never took off. She had supporting roles in sitcoms like Herman's Head, Friends ...
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 19]
Last Dance Before An Execution - May 12, 1971
Shown 1 May 91
Sam is a young African-American kid on Death Row. He's due to be executed in the electric chair in 48 hours time.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 20]
Heart of a Champion - July 23, 1955
Shown 8 May 91
Sam is a wrestler. He and his partner pretend to be Russians - this is the Cold War, after all.
Unfortunately, the wrestling is all fake and fixed!
The major villain is a plotting, scheming woman. About time we had some female equality. And the end even justifies equal violence against equal women. A great victory for equality!
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 21]
Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962
Shown 15 May 91
Sam is in a family who build bomb shelters, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As always, the Duck and cover tactic is mocked, despite the fact that it saved lives at Hiroshima.
Quantum Leap [Season 3, Episode 22]
Shock Theater - October 3, 1954
Shown 22 May 91
Sam is a parent in an asylum. He's given electro-shock treatment, which has the opposite effect to the intended one!
Sam relives the personalities of the people he leapt into. We even get flashbacks, though this is not a clip show. Bakula is wonderful as he takes on the different roles.
Al must save Sam's sanity - and perform his mission too! Sam was supposed to teach a retarded boy to read. The boy can see Al, so Al teaches him with a song. No, not the A, B, C, D rhyme. Instead, Al does a 1991-style hip-hop rap!!!
Sam must have more ECT to be cured. This is the last ep of the season - so to people who know this, Sam's fate is uncertain. There's an element of jeopardy. And the result of the ECT-confused leap? It's original ...
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