Quantum Leap is something you don't see on TV very often and that's something with an original plot. It was a good show for the time even if they got the 21st century wrong but that's only a minor issue.
The plot is rather simple. Dr. Samuel Beckett, played by Scott Bakula, is a really smart guy who proves it's possible to travel in time but within your own lifetime. This means that he can't go further back in time than when he was born and can't go any further into the future than the current day. So he tests it out on himself and finds himself in the past in a body that isn't his. As a safety precaution he would be pulled back to the lab afterwards but something goes wrong. When his host body goes to sleep he leaves it but is immediately pulled back to that body. It looks like somebody, or something, needs him to stay there to fix something that happened.
With him, at his side, is Al played by Dean Stockwell, He's a project coordinator that works with Sam and can appear as a hologram that only Sam can see. He informs Sam that Ziggy, the main computer running things, has figured out that Sam needs to fix an event in this person's life before he can leap out and go home. He succeeds but instead of being brought home he leaps to another person, in another time and utters those famous words that finished every episode, "oh boy!"
This show focused on the characters more than the gimmick of Sam being unstuck in time. Scott Bakula plays a likable sort and Dean Stockwell is always good. And the fact that every episode took place in a new time with Sam having to take on different roles, including things like a legless Vietnam vet, a chimp and even a woman on more than one occasion. While he was in the other person's body, they would find themselves in the leaping chamber in his place. And while Sam always looked like Scott Bakula to us, he looked like whomever was currently in the leaping chamber to everybody else including Al. This led to some interesting developments especially when Sam was in a woman's body considering what a ladies man Al happened to be.
There are several standout episodes including the one where Sam leaps into the body of a young Al or when he leaps into the body of Lee Harvey Oswald in an attempt to prevent JFK from getting shot. But possibly the most heartfelt one is where during his leap he must tell Al's first wife that Al is still alive but currently in a Vietcong prisoner of war camp. It's a real tear jerker at the end.
And while there was a movie that was supposed to take place after the final episode it never materialized.
This is a good series and if you haven't already seen it, should check out streaming sites to see if it's running there.
The plot is rather simple. Dr. Samuel Beckett, played by Scott Bakula, is a really smart guy who proves it's possible to travel in time but within your own lifetime. This means that he can't go further back in time than when he was born and can't go any further into the future than the current day. So he tests it out on himself and finds himself in the past in a body that isn't his. As a safety precaution he would be pulled back to the lab afterwards but something goes wrong. When his host body goes to sleep he leaves it but is immediately pulled back to that body. It looks like somebody, or something, needs him to stay there to fix something that happened.
With him, at his side, is Al played by Dean Stockwell, He's a project coordinator that works with Sam and can appear as a hologram that only Sam can see. He informs Sam that Ziggy, the main computer running things, has figured out that Sam needs to fix an event in this person's life before he can leap out and go home. He succeeds but instead of being brought home he leaps to another person, in another time and utters those famous words that finished every episode, "oh boy!"
This show focused on the characters more than the gimmick of Sam being unstuck in time. Scott Bakula plays a likable sort and Dean Stockwell is always good. And the fact that every episode took place in a new time with Sam having to take on different roles, including things like a legless Vietnam vet, a chimp and even a woman on more than one occasion. While he was in the other person's body, they would find themselves in the leaping chamber in his place. And while Sam always looked like Scott Bakula to us, he looked like whomever was currently in the leaping chamber to everybody else including Al. This led to some interesting developments especially when Sam was in a woman's body considering what a ladies man Al happened to be.
There are several standout episodes including the one where Sam leaps into the body of a young Al or when he leaps into the body of Lee Harvey Oswald in an attempt to prevent JFK from getting shot. But possibly the most heartfelt one is where during his leap he must tell Al's first wife that Al is still alive but currently in a Vietcong prisoner of war camp. It's a real tear jerker at the end.
And while there was a movie that was supposed to take place after the final episode it never materialized.
This is a good series and if you haven't already seen it, should check out streaming sites to see if it's running there.