Quantum Leap (TV Series)
Mirror Image - August 8, 1953 (1993)
Scott Bakula: Dr. Sam Beckett
Photos
Quotes
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Al, the Bartender : Sam, if you became a priest...
Sam : I've been a priest.
Al, the Bartender : So you have. If the priesthood had been your chosen life, even though the Church might move you from parish to parish, don't you have to accept responsibility for the life you lead?
Sam : Even priests can quit.
Al, the Bartender : That's true. Hmm... But they can also take sabbaticals, especially before embarking on a difficult new assignment.
Sam : Are you telling me that the leaps are gonna get tougher?
Al, the Bartender : Where would you like to go, Sam?
[a tear rolls down Sam's cheek]
Sam : Home. - I'd like to go home. But I can't. Can I? I've got a wrong to put right for Al. You knew that, didn't you?
Al, the Bartender : [puts his arm around Sam's shoulder] God bless, Sam.
[Sam leaps]
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Al, the Bartender : You're not here to save them.
Sam : How'd you know what I was thinking?
Al, the Bartender : A good bartender has to be part philosopher, part psychiatrist, part psychic.
Sam : Al. I'd like to talk to the philosopher part.
Al, the Bartender : I just stick to the basics.
Sam : Okay, okay, uh... "To be or not to be," er, "I think therefore I am," that kind of stuff?
Al, the Bartender : Uh-huh.
Sam : Uh-huh. Why am I here?
Al, the Bartender : Why do you think you're here, Sam?
Sam : No, no, no, no, that's answering a question with a question. That's, that's psychiatrist stuff. All right? We're talking philosophy.
Al, the Bartender : That's good, Sam.
Sam : Thank you. Now, why am I here?
Al, the Bartender : You're beginning to think you're here to save Pete and Tonchi.
Sam : But I'm not.
Al, the Bartender : Not directly.
Sam : What about indirectly?
Al, the Bartender : Who knows what Don Quixote can accomplish?
[Sam looks at him in amazement]
Sam : Who are you?
Al, the Bartender : [shrugs] Bartender.
Sam : Who knows everything?
Al, the Bartender : Only God knows everything.
[he laughs at Sam's suspicious face]
Al, the Bartender : You don't really think I'm God, do you?
Sam : You're not just a bartender.
Al, the Bartender : No, that's true. I own the place, too.
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Al, the Bartender : Why did you create Project Quantum Leap, Sam?
Sam : To travel in time.
Al, the Bartender : Why did you want to travel through time?
Sam : Because... I w... I-I wanted to, um...
Al, the Bartender : To make the world a better place?
Sam : Of course. To make the world a better place.
Al, the Bartender : To put right what once went wrong?
Sam : Yes. But not one life at a time.
Al, the Bartender : Ugh! I got Mother Teresa here. Do you really think that all you've done is change a few lives?
Sam : Basically, yes.
Al, the Bartender : At the risk of over-inflating your ego, Sam, you've done more. The lives you've touched, touched others. And those lives, others! You've done a lot of good, Sam Beckett. And you can do a lot more.
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Sam : Captain Galaxy?
Ziggy Ziganovich : No, it's Captain Z-Ro. Is there a Captain Galaxy too?
Sam : Yes.
Ziggy Ziganovich : It must be on channel 8. Al don't get channel 8 so good. Only sometimes late at night, when the signal bounces off the iodine layer.
Sam : You mean the ionosphere. The signal bounces off the ionosphere.
Ziggy Ziganovich : Yeah, that too.
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[Ziggy describes the feeling of shooting a machine gun]
Ziggy Ziganovich : Empty cabbages fly everywhere.
Sam : You mean empty cartridges.
Ziggy Ziganovich : Yeah, that too.
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Sam : [referring to Collins] Why did you tell him I was a Safety Inspector?
Stawpah : Company men like Collins make me cripple, so I make them sweat.
Sam : Look, Stawpah. You've got a lot to be bitter about. But how is sweating Collins gonna help Tonchi and Pete down there?
Stawpah : You right. I need find way get them out this time. They cold, wet, scared. Pete real scared, 'cause he no can see his brother.
Sam : What about their lamps?
Stawpah : Carbide lamp burn air, so Tonchi put it out. It black like coal down there. But that not worst thing. Worst thing is water. Pump no work in bottom. Water already up to Tonchi belt. We no get them out soon, they no come out.
Sam : How do you know all this?
Stawpah : I been there. Too many time.
Sam : [v.o] I had thought Stawpah's pain had turned him bitter and blind to anyone's plight but his own. I was wrong. He needed to save Tonchi and Pete as much as I did. Maybe more.
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[Sam looks in the mirror, stunned]
Al, the Bartender : Something wrong?
Sam : That's, uh... me - in the m-mirror.
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[last lines]
Sam : I'm gonna tell you a story, Beth. A story with a happy ending. But only if you believe me.
Beth Calavicci : And if I don't?
Sam : You will. I swear you will. But instead of starting with, "Once upon a time," let's start with the happy ending. - Al's alive. And he's coming home.
Beth Calavicci : Oh!
[Beth starts crying]
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Ziggy Ziganovich : Don't let Stawpah get your coat. He don't trust nobody. He forgets he ain't in Russia, where everybody works for the BVD.
Sam : KGB.
Ziggy Ziganovich : Hmm. Them too.
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Sam : So, Stawpah was here?
Al, the Bartender : I remember him.
Sam : Why don't they?
Al, the Bartender : That's the way it is.
Sam : "That's the way it is"? One moment he-he's one of them, and the next, he's just a memory, and all you can say is, "That's the way it is"?
Al, the Bartender : Sometimes, "That's the way it is" is the best explanation.
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Sam : [examining his face] God!
Al, the Bartender : What?
Sam : I've got white hair.
Al, the Bartender : Just a little. You know, you really should look in the mirror more often.
Sam : Look at these crow's feet!
Al, the Bartender : When's the last time you took a really good look at yourself?
Sam : It's been a while.
Al, the Bartender : Well, you let too much time go by, you could lose touch with reality.
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Sam : Your name isn't Moe Stein, is it?
Ziggy Ziganovich : Nah, I'm Ziggy.
Sam : Oh, Zig... Ziggy? Your name is Ziggy?
Ziggy Ziganovich : You heard of me?
Sam : [chuckles] I got a friend named Ziggy.
Ziggy Ziganovich : I never knew anyone named Ziggy. What's he do?
Sam : She figures things out.
Ziggy Ziganovich : "She"? This Ziggy is a girl?
Sam : Sort of, yeah.
Ziggy Ziganovich : [laughing] Not much of a looker, huh?
Sam : I wouldn't let her hear you say that.
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Sam : The guy who was sitting at that table, where did he go?
Tonchi : What're you talking about?
Sam : He was sittin' right there, and... and then he was... surrounded by some... blue light, and then-then electricity passed... all through his body and... then he disappeared.
Mutta : Whatever Sam's drinking, I'll have one!
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Sam : It was August the 8th, 1953 - literally the day I was born. But instead of nursing at my mother's breast, I was nursing my third beer in a vain attempt to make some sense out of this bizarre leap.
