Quantum Leap (TV Series)

The Wrong Stuff - January 24, 1961 (1991)

Gary Swanson: Dr. Frank Winger

Quotes 

• Dr. Frank Winger : [referring to Sam/Bobo]  So, is this one of your, uh, future astronauts?

  Sam : Not if I can help it.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : These guys can do almost everything an astronaut can, except maybe swim after splashdown.

  Dr. Frank Winger : You mean, uh, chimps can't swim?

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : They drown, because they have so little body fat. So long as the capsule stays afloat, he'll be fine.

• Dr. Leslie Ashton : [talking about Dr. Winger's test methods]  You're still killing chimps to save humans.

  Dr. Frank Winger : Sometimes chimps die, yes.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : What gave you the right to sacrifice one species over another?

  Dr. Frank Winger : I'm not setting a precedent, Doctor. Every child who isn't in an iron lung, every diabetic who doesn't die before his time owes it to primate research. I'm sorry that we have to use any of them. But the contribution far outweighs the sacrifice.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : Not to me!

• [Dr. Ashton has discovered that Dr. Winger is performing head impact research on chimps] 

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : How many chimps have you killed testing helmets?

  Dr. Frank Winger : Doctor, do you know how many test pilots we lost at Edwards?

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : No.

  Dr. Frank Winger : One in four. If there'd been better helmets and protective equipment, maybe some of those men might be alive today. And besides, what are you getting on me for? You test chimps.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : The chimp research in Project Mercury is not lethal.

  Dr. Frank Winger : Well, how do you know they won't die of G forces or, or burn up on re-entry?

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : We don't know for sure, but we're doing our best to insure their safety.

  Dr. Frank Winger : To insure the safety of the astronauts.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : Right.

  Dr. Frank Winger : Well, that's what I'm trying to do for the pilots.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : But bashing chimps and trying to extrapolate to humans won't show you anything. In the Cameroons, I saw chimps fall from over fifty feet from trees, land on their heads and walk away. A man could die falling off a six-foot ladder.

  Dr. Frank Winger : The neurological structure of a chimp's brain is just a miniature version of a human's.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : But the frontal supraorbital ridges of his skull are two times thicker than ours. If you want to study human head trauma, study it in a human.

  Dr. Frank Winger : Well, that would be irresponsible.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : Oh, and it's not irresponsible to kill a chimp?

  Dr. Frank Winger : Doctor, you're getting very emotional here.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : No, Doctor, I'm being rational and scientific.

  Dr. Frank Winger : 'Doctor', is that an MD or is that a vet's degree?

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : I got my degree from the Royal Veterinary College and my PhD in animal behavior from London University.

  Dr. Frank Winger : And mine is an MD with eight years of training at Harvard, specializing in neurology. I know neurotrauma.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : And I know chimpanzees.

• [after Sam has dived into the water and pulled Dr. Winger to safety] 

  Dr. Frank Winger : I thought you said, they can't swim.

  Dr. Leslie Ashton : They- they can't. I don't know how he did it.