Oh Boy!! The Return of Quantum Leap

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Oh boy, I’m nervous as hell!!!!

So I think it’s fair to say that most of us grew up falling in love and continuing that love story to this day with Quantum Leap. As a writer this is one of the shows close to my heart that I have in my head to make my stories as good as can possibly be. Brilliant scientist Sam Beckett bounced across time within his lifetime putting right what once went wrong with the help of his holographic best friend Al Calavicci. Sam was the creator of project Quantum Leap and in the end he never got to get home. Many were left frustrated by this finale and they even spent his surname wrong at the end. Over the years there have been rumours of a movie or new series which would reunite the magical combination of Sam and Al.

This show for five years was pure magic and saved by the fans when the network lost faith. We laughed and cried in quick succession. Who can forget the time Sam leaped home into his younger self. He tries to change his family’s fates. His Dad will die of a heart attack, his brother will die in Vietnam and his sister will marry into an abusive relationship but ends up making things worse. Cursing God or fate or whatever is hurling him through time, Sam vents that it isn’t fair. Al stops Sam in his tracks by saying it’s damned fair. Al wishes he could see his family again, save his Down Syndrome sister from dying in an institution and tell them how much he loves them but he can’t. This is Sam’s reward, not his punishment. We cut to a scene where Sam gets to have a family dinner as he will leap the following day. Even now I’m welling up thinking about it because so many of my family have gone now.

That was Quantum Leap; the brothership between Sam and Al was the heart of the show and never wavered on and off the screen with both of them being reunited for an episode when Bakula became Captain Archer in Star Trek and Stockwell guest starred as a villain. They were brothers; they were family. They would die for each other so when Sam changes Al’s fate in the final episode it broke our hearts. Sam was never going home and he couldn’t allow Al to waste his life being his guide so he went back to the love of Al’s life, Beth, and tells her that Al is alive and coming home to her. Originally Al was believed dead in Vietnam but in fact was a POW. Beth married someone else and when Al returned home his heart was broken. He became a party animal forever chasing women like Tina because he could never have the woman he was born to marry.

Similarly Al gave up his chance to get home when Sam leaped into Magic Johnston, a soldier in Vietnam under the command of Sam’s brother Tom. Tom is destined to die but a woman photographer dies instead allowing Tom to return home to his family. It is only when her photos are developed does Sam realise the POW they passed were Al and his fellow inmates. Al sacrifices his chance for happiness so Sam’s brother can be saved.

So now we have a continuation rather than a reboot. Magic Johnson is now running project Quantum Leap. Dr Sam Seong takes the work of Sam and tries to solve the mysteries of where he is. He soon finds himself bouncing across his own lifetime just like Sam putting right what once went wrong. His holographic sidekick this time is Addison Augustine but with Ben’s Swiss cheese memory, he does not realise she is his fiancee.

Like Sam’s wife in the original, Donna, Addison will be forced to watch the man she loves become romantically involved with other women changing the dynamic. But has the substitution of love with brotherhood be able to give us the same emotional heartbreak between Sam and Al did?

These are big shoes to fill. The original cemented itself into the hearts of millions and everywhere they went Scott bakula and Dean Stockwell were given a reverence that is not usually held for actors. It was the fans that got Dean Stockwell his star on the Hollywood Walk. Beautifully written, directed and acted, the fact anyone would try to expand on that universe is a credit to them.

What can we expect? Will we have the same theme tune? Will we get the electric halo effect when Ben leaps? Can we please have the hand link and is Ziggy still going? Will we get the famous ‘Oh Boy!’ The inclusion of Magic Johnston may well throw some light on what happened to the original team of Quantum Leap. Is Addison Al’s granddaughter? Where is Sam’s daughter Samantha that worked on the project to get her father home? Is the Evil leaper still operating? Lothos anyone? What happened to Donn and Goochie?

We are going to spend more time in the present day which i fear may impact on the quality of the story that Ben is involved in. Where is the mystery when we will see more of that team? Remember the impact when Sam remembered that he had a wife waiting for him that leaping had wiped from his mind? Even Donna would not stand in the way of Sam and Al’s friendship. These questions need to be answered. Does Raymond Lee have the charisma that Scott Bakula had to endear himself to the audience and make Ben the everyday man we root for? Will we care that the love of Addison’s life doesn’t know her? Scott bakula has stated that he has passed on the chance to come back but then again so did Andrew garfield and Toby Maguire on Spiderman: No Way Home.

Well today the world will get its first glimpse of the first episode and only time will tell will be finally solve the riddle of Doctor Sam Beckett?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=G3I0SpwjVK8