Quantum Leap (TV series)

Quantum Leap
Format	Procedural drama
Created by	Donald Bellisario[1]
Starring	Scott Bakula Dean Stockwell
Composer(s)	Mike Post Pete Carpenter Velton Ray Bunch Greg Edmonson
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	95 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Production company(s)	Belisarius Productions Universal Media Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC[2]
Original run	March 26, 1989 (1989-03-26) – May 5, 1993 (1993-05-05)

Quantum Leap is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from March 26, 1989 to May 5, 1993, for a total of five seasons. The series was created by Donald Bellisario, and starred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist from the (then future) year of 1997, who becomes lost in time following a time travel experiment, temporarily taking the places of other people to "put right what once went wrong". Dean Stockwell co-starred as Al Calavicci, Sam's womanizing, cigar-smoking sidekick and best friend, who appeared as a hologram that only Sam, animals, and young children could see and hear.^[3] The series featured a mix of comedy, drama and melodrama, social commentary, nostalgia and science fiction, which won it a broad range of fans. One of its trademarks is that at the end of each episode, Sam "leaps" into the setting for the next episode, usually uttering a dismayed "Oh, boy!"

Despite struggling on Friday nights at 9 PM in its brief first season, NBC surprisingly renewed the series because of its impressive 18-49 demographics. The series was moved to Wednesdays at 10 PM where it flourished against other fan-favorite series, Wiseguy and China Beach. It was moved twice away from Wednesdays (to Fridays at 8 PM in the fall of 1990 and to Tuesdays at 8 PM in the fall of 1992) where it floundered. The series finale aired in its successful Wednesday 10 PM slot in May 1993.

In 2004 and 2007, Quantum Leap was ranked #15 and #19 on TV Guide's "Top Cult Shows Ever".^[4][5]

Show summary

The show's premise and the pattern of each episode is established in the first episode.^[6] Sam appears in the past with no memory of who he is or how he got there. Referred to frequently throughout the series as a "swiss-cheesed brain", Sam's partial amnesia prevents him from remembering most of the details of his own life; all he knows is that he's not who everyone in the past seems to think he is. Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), a naval officer and Sam's best friend, appears to him as a hologram and explains that Sam is the victim of a time travel experiment that went "a little kaka." Now Sam is lost in time, and his colleagues are unable to bring him back to his own time. Series creator Donald Bellisario once said in an interview that he got the idea for the series from movies like Heaven Can Wait (1978), a remake of the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Bellisario felt the premise, if handled correctly and put in a science fiction setting, could work.

Dean Stockwell (left) and Scott Bakula (right) as Al Calavicci and Sam Beckett

Sam soon learns that the man he replaced in the past (or "leaped into", in the show's parlance) is an Air Force test pilot who was about to be killed during a botched flight. Al explains that their best theory to what's going on is that "God, time, fate, or whatever" wants Sam to save the man before he can "leap out." Sam does so, but instead of returning to his own time he leaps into yet another person's life and once again tries to "put right what once went wrong." In each episode, Sam leaps into a new host, often finding himself in dangerous, embarrassing, or otherwise compromising positions, and with Al's help (and that of his colleagues, who have access to information from the future), he tries to right some wrong or misfortune in the life of that person or someone close to them.

Characters

Sam and Al are the only regularly appearing characters. In each episode a different cast of guest characters appear: the people whose lives Sam is there to "put right." Several additional characters are referred to regularly throughout the series, but are mostly unseen. Ziggy (voiced by co-executive producer Deborah Pratt) is the artificial intelligence that runs the project and attempts to deduce the purposes of Sam's leaps, appearing only in the fourth-season episode "The Leap Back." Al's often-mentioned girlfriend Tina appears in the same episode. Gooshie (Dennis Wolfberg), the project's head programmer and described in the pilot episode by Sam as having an issue with body odor, appears in five episodes including both the pilot and the finale (when Al is erased from history in "A Leap For Lisa", it's Gooshie who becomes Tina's fiance). Dr. Beeks, the project psychiatrist, is also frequently mentioned, but only appears in two episodes.

Conclusion

Throughout the series, Sam believes that God, or some other higher power, is controlling his leaps, sending him to times and places where he may be needed. In the series' final episode, he encounters a mysterious bartender who insinuates detailed knowledge of Sam's "mission" and his true identity. Because this bartender (or someone who looks exactly like him – both parts played by Bruce McGill) was also present in Sam's first leap (although there is no mention of this in the actual episode), Sam comes to believe he might actually be that higher power, though the man neither confirms nor explicitly denies this.

The bartender helps Sam remember that he built Project Quantum Leap exactly because he wanted to put right what once went wrong and makes him realize that he himself has control over his leaps. The bartender then asks Sam where he wishes to leap to next. Sam replies by saying he wishes to return home but he cannot as he still has a wrong to put right for Al, by letting his first wife Beth (Susan Diol in her second appearance in that role during the series) know that Al is still alive in a POW camp in Vietnam (when Sam first encountered Al's wife in the season 2 finale "M.I.A." he refused to tell her, because he felt it was wrong since that wasn't what he was there to change). Sam then promptly leaps out and does so as himself, not in a host body from the past. The show's epilogue states that Sam never returned home, however Beth and Al are still married and they have four daughters.

Physics of leaping

Sam is capable of using his own abilities, even if this is something his host normally can not do.^[7]

Al explains the concept of the experiment to Sam in the first episode during his initial period of amnesia using a simple analogy. Using a piece of string, Al explains that one end represents Sam's date of birth while the other represents Sam's date of death. Connecting the two ends together will, in effect, form a loop. The looped string is then scrunched up in one's hand and various parts of the piece of string will inevitably intersect and touch each other. By leaping at the intersections to a different section of the string, Sam can travel to a different date within his own lifetime. The leap seems instantaneous to Sam but Al explains in the pilot episode that he spent a week traveling in time between the moment he leaped out of the Air Force test pilot and the moment he leaped into his next host.

In early episodes, it was unclear whether Sam's mind was leaping into other people's bodies or whether his mind and body leaped together. Later episodes make it clear, however, that Sam's entire body has traveled through time and that "the illusion of [his host's] physical aura" surrounds him, making him look and sound like that person to those with whom he interacts in the past, as well as to Al (in later episodes, however, this changes and Al sees him as Sam). Likewise, Sam's counterpart in the future is surrounded by a similar aura and looks and sounds like Sam to people at the project. Sam is also able to transcend the physical limitations of his host, being able to see after leaping into a blind pianist, walk while sharing the existence of a legless Vietnam veteran (although it appeared to outside observers, when Sam was walking, that his host was floating), swim after leaping into a chimpanzee, and retain the strength of an adult man after leaping into a child, an elderly woman, and so on. This also made it possible for Sam to procreate with Abigail in the three-part 'Trilogy' episode, and thus his daughter, Samantha Jo, shares his genes rather than Will's, whom he leaped into for Part 2. In many instances it is shown that Sam also retains some very basic memories from his host, such as where he lives and other information that helps to function in his host's day-to-day life. In one extreme case, Sam occupied a mentally retarded man and began to feel as though the host's retardation was affecting him as well.

During the time in which Sam occupies a host, the host is simultaneously transported to the time travel facility where Sam made his initial leap – effectively switching places with them. It is never explicitly stated what happens to the people Sam has leaped into after he leaves, but it is assumed that the persons return to their timelines with amnesia of the events. Conversely, in the episode "Roberto!", Sam suggests that the people he leaps into remember being in the waiting room at Project Quantum Leap. This opens the possibility that the Swiss-cheesed memories of leaping may allow people to remember Sam's experiences as their own upon returning to their own time and move forward toward a positive future. Similarly, in the episode "Return of the Evil Leaper", Sam instructs Al to talk with the host in the waiting room, as he realises that without working through his emotional and psychological problems, he will continue to endanger his life once he has returned to his body.

Sam's memory

At the beginning of the series, Sam has almost total amnesia, not even knowing his own name, or recognizing Al. Complex technical skills (such as medical and scientific training and his knowledge of foreign languages), as well as historical knowledge, seem to survive intact, yet he is unable to recall most of the details of his own life. (Even in the case of his knowledge, he sometimes requires clarification about whether he is able to do something, such as when he asked if he could read music before being reminded that he had a degree in it.) The appearance of these holes in his memory while other regions are left unaffected is what the characters commonly refer to as a "Swiss-cheese" effect.

Sam slowly starts to remember more personal information during the early episodes of the series, such as the fact that he had an older brother who was killed in Vietnam and a younger sister who eloped and married an abusive alcoholic. While reviewing his memory, Sam mentions that his sister now lives in Hawaii and is married to a Navy man, Jim Bonnick, a character from the series Magnum, P.I. He also seems to recognize Al's references to his various colleagues.

In the first episode of the fourth season, "The Leap Back", Sam briefly returns to his own time, at which point his pre-leap memories return but his experiences while leaping through time quickly fade. Sam calls this a "reverse-Swiss-cheese effect." (It is also revealed in this episode that the technical term for memory loss as a result of leaping is "magnaflux", although it was briefly alluded to in the series pilot when Al refers to Sam's brain as being "magna-foozled".) Sam's memory gets Swiss-cheesed anew when he leaps again in the episode's conclusion.

Brushes with History

The show often featured scenes where Sam briefly encounters a famous historical figure or is tangentially involved in a historically significant event, but which is unrelated to the episode's story. For example:

• In "Star-Crossed", Sam has to get his future fiancée (Teri Hatcher) to reconnect with her father, who is a colonel in the army. On June 17, 1972, Sam tries to bluff his way past the security guards in the lobby of the Watergate Hotel. He is ejected, but Sam manages to find a door with a piece of tape over the latch. He and his future wife sneak in but the guard, noticing that their car is still there, does a check of the outside doors and reports a break-in.
• In "The Right Hand of God", Sam bets on Muhammad Ali to beat George Foreman and wins.
• In "How the Tess Was Won", Sam helps a young Buddy Holly with the words to the song "Peggy Sue".
• In "Double Identity", Sam causes the Northeast Blackout of 1965 when he asks someone to plug in a 1000 watt hair dryer at a fraternity house at 111 Erie Drive, Buffalo (New York) at 5:15 EST on November 9, 1965.
• In the episode "Camikazi Kid", Sam demonstrates how to do the moonwalk to a boy called Mikey.
• In "Play It Again, Seymour", Sam leaps into a man who looks a lot like Humphrey Bogart and in 1953 New York runs into a young Woody Allen.
• In "Good Morning, Peoria", Sam helps Chubby Checker to perfect the Twist.
• In "Thou Shalt Not...", Sam performs the as-yet uninvented Heimlich Maneuver on a choking man who is addressed as Dr. Heimlich.
• In the episode "Jimmy", set in 1964, Sam tells the story of Star Wars to Jimmy's nephew Cory.
• In "Sea Bride", a voice can be heard over the ship's intercom saying, "Calling Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher."
• In "Leap of Faith", Sam recounts to a young boxer a scene from the film Rocky; the boxer's locker door is tagged S. Stallone.
• In the episode "The Boogieman", Sam's stories help inspire a young aspiring horror writer, Stephen King.
• In "Rebel Without a Clue", Sam pleads with Jack Kerouac to talk a young woman out of pursuing a dangerous life on the road.
• In "It's a Wonderful Leap", Sam, as a cab driver in 1958, advises a 12-year-old Donald Trump that investing in New York City real estate would be a good way to get rich, and that there will one day be a crystal tower on 57th Street and 5th Avenue.
• In "Lee Harvey Oswald", Sam had thought he was to prevent the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, but instead successfully prevented First Lady Jackie Kennedy from being shot. It is explained to Sam that in the original history, both Kennedys were shot, implying that we are living in Sam's altered history. Sam also runs into the series creator Donald Bellisario who did serve in the Marines with Lee Harvey Oswald.
• In "Goodbye Norma Jean", Sam inspires the title of the last film Marilyn Monroe ever completed. In Sam's original timeline she died before The Misfits was made.
• In "Dr. Ruth", Sam leaps into Ruth Westheimer to deal with a case of sexual harassment in the past. While defending a victim of sexual harassment from her harasser, a woman later revealed to be Anita Hill stops to listen to what Sam is saying.
• In "The Leap Between the States," Sam leaps into his own great-grandfather during the American Civil War and helps Isaac, a slave operating a stop in the Underground Railroad, get out of Virginia. At the end of the episode, Sam finds out Isaac intends to take on the last name "King" after being freed. Al explains that he is the ancestor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• In the episode "Memphis Melody", where Sam leaps into Elvis Presley, a young saxophonist from Hope (Arkansas) in a music contest is addressed as "Little Billy C", future President Bill Clinton.

Changing History

Sam's voyage through time is seemingly for the express purpose of changing history, in contrast to other time travel science fiction epics which emphasis the importance of not changing history, to avoid creating a temporal paradox. Sam's actions in time, however, frequently alter the course of history to include saving the lives of people who previously died or, in at least a few situations, killing in self defense an antagonist who previously lived on after their crimes.

It is implied that the effects of Sam's time alterations are immediate in the future, as is seen in an episode where Sam helps a future Senator study for an exam, and this same Senator then suddenly appears in the future at a Senate committee meeting to vote for keeping Project Quantum Leap operational. The same episode, however, implies that members of the Quantum Leap team may have knowledge of both time-lines, as Al shows shock and surprise at seeing history change in front of him when the female senator appears.

In two cases, Sam appears to have a major effect on history. In the first season, when taking his future fiance, Donna, to visit her father while her father is staying in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., Sam and Donna sneak into the hotel through a side door, leaving it slightly ajar. A security guard discovers the ajar door and investigates, but instead of Sam and Donna, the guard stumbles upon the Watergate burglary. Al excitedly mentions this to Sam before the leap is complete, making it unclear whether before Sam's leap the Watergate scandal had been discovered at all, or whether Sam's actions merely facilitated a discovery that otherwise did happen in the timeline, but not as a result of Sam's actions.

In the other case, Sam interrupts the JFK assassination, preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from killing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. This history change, however, from a timeline where both President Kennedy and his wife were killed by Oswald, implies that the viewer is living in the world of Sam's time alterations.

While Sam is able to change the destiny of others, he is apparently unable or unwilling to change his own. In the beginning of the series, a "law" is mentioned in which a member of Project Quantum Leap may not use knowledge of the future for financial gain. Sam also never attempts to contact or warn a past version of himself about the disaster which led to his initial leap in time, thus avoiding a modified grandfather paradox, even though Sam at one point leaps into both past versions of himself and Al, as well as having contact with past versions of persons who would in later in life be connected to Project Quantum Leap.

Opening narration

The series' original opening narration was read by Scott Bakula:

“

It all started when a time travel experiment I was conducting went..."a little caca". In the blink of a cosmic clock, I went from quantum physicist to Air Force test-pilot. Which could have been fun...if I knew how to fly. Fortunately, I had help – an observer from the project named Al. Unfortunately, Al's a hologram, so all he can lend is moral support. Anyway, here I am, bouncing around in time, putting things right that once went wrong, a sort of time traveling Lone Ranger, with Al as my Tonto. And I don't even need a mask... ("Oh Boy")

”

Beginning with the thirteenth episode of the second season, Bakula's monologue was replaced with a broader introduction explaining the show's premise. This introduction was originally read by actor Lance LeGault (who appears in the first season episode "How the Tess Was Won"), and later by Deborah Pratt (Bellisario's wife, as well as a co-producer and writer on the show). A shorter version of this second introduction, also read by Deborah Pratt, was used for the remaining three seasons. Its full text reads thus:

“

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top-secret project known as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator, and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brain-wave transmissions with Al, the project observer, who appears in the form of a hologram, that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

”

In the show's third season, the monologue was changed again, this time the computer Ziggy whose voice was revealed in season four's episode "The Leap Back," spoke the introduction, moderating it a bit for length:

“

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

”

Music

The theme for the series was written by Mike Post.^[8] The theme was re-arranged for the fifth season. Scores for the episodes were composed by Post (36 episodes), Velton Ray Bunch (24 episodes), and Jerry Grant (10 episodes).^[9]

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released in 1993 titled Music from the Television Series Quantum Leap. It was released on Crescendo on CD (GNPD8036) and cassette tape (GNPC8036) in 1993. The album is dedicated to John Anderson, who played Pat Knight in "The Last Gunfighter."

1. Prologue (Saga Sell) – Music by Mike Post/Velton Ray Bunch, narrated by Deborah Pratt (1:05)
2. Quantum Leap Main Title - Mike Post (1:15)
3. Somewhere in the Night (from "Piano Man") – Scott Bakula (3:32)
4. Suite from "The Leap Home, Part 1" - Velton Ray Bunch (3:37)
5. Imagine (from "The Leap Home, Part 1") – Scott Bakula (3:05)
6. Sam's Prayer (from "A Single Drop Of Rain") - Velton Ray Bunch (1:52)
7. Blue Moon of Kentucky (from "Memphis Melody") – Scott Bakula (1:41)
8. Baby, Let's Play House (from "Memphis Melody") – Scott Bakula (2:13)
9. Shoot Out (from "The Last Gunfighter") - Velton Ray Bunch (3:03)
10. Medley from Man of La Mancha (from "Catch A Falling Star") – Scott Bakula (6:18)
11. Bite Me (from "Blue Moon") - Velton Ray Bunch (3:29)
12. Alphabet Rap (from "Shock Theatre") – Dean Stockwell (2:05)
13. Suite from "Lee Harvey Oswald" - Velton Ray Bunch (14:55)
14. Fate's Wide Wheel (from "Glitter Rock") – Scott Bakula (3:05)
15. A Conversation With Scott Bakula (12:02)
16. Quantum Leap Prologue and Main Title - Mike Post (2:19)

Episodes

Main article: List of Quantum Leap episodes

Guest stars

A number of celebrities guest-starred on the series over the course of its run, including Debbie Allen, Bob Saget, Charles Rocket, Neil Patrick Harris, Lydia Cornell, Brooke Shields, Roddy McDowall and others; Chubby Checker, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer appeared in episodes as themselves.

Several future stars made guest appearances, including Jennifer Aniston, Michael Beach, Terry Farrell, Diedrich Bader, Robert Duncan McNeill, Jason Priestley, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Carla Gugino, Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Eriq La Salle, Patricia Richardson, Patrick Warburton, Anna Gunn, Claudia Christian, James Morrison, Gregory Itzin, Lauren Tom, Jane Sibbett, Amy Yasbeck, Michael Stoyanov, Tia Carrere, Beverley Mitchell, Michael Madsen, Jon Gries, Kurt Fuller, Donald Gibb and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk.

Awards

• Golden Globe Awards
  • 1990: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (Stockwell)
  • 1992: Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Drama (Bakula)
• Emmy Awards
  • 1989: Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series (for "Double Identity")
  • 1990: Outstanding Cinematography for a Series ("Pool Hall Blues")
  • 1991: Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Series ("The Leap Home" (Part 1))
  • 1991: Outstanding Cinematography for a Series ("The Leap Home" (Part 2))
  • 1993: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production ("Lee Harvey Oswald")
• Directors Guild of America Awards
  • 1991: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows – Night (Michael Zinberg, for "Vietnam")
• Edgar Awards
  • 1991: Best TV Series Episode (Paul Brown, for "Goodnight, Dear Heart")
  • 1991: Fred Lord laser effects

Other media

Non-fiction

• Julie Barrett: The A–Z of Quantum Leap. Boxtree, London 1995. ISBN 0-7522-0628-1
• Louis Chunovic: Quantum Leap Book. Boxtree, London 1993. ISBN 1-85283-866-3
• Hal Schuster: The Making of Quantum Leap. HarperCollins, London 1996. ISBN 0-06-105438-0

Novels

Ace Books published a series of novels due to the show's popularity, beginning in 1992 and continuing until the year 2000. While not considered canon, the novels were met with approval from Bellisarius Productions and Universal Studios. Being non-canon, the novels tended to deviate from series norms and also attempted to provide explanations for conventions that went unexplained in series episodes. For example, in Quantum Leap: The Novel (a.k.a. Carny Knowledge), Sam is depicted as exchanging bodies with subjects he leaps into, rather than being surrounded by the person's aura as explained on the show. The novel also states that Sam used brain cells from himself and Al in the creation of Ziggy, and that this "link" was the reason why Ziggy could transmit an image of Al to Sam's mind. This is also used to explain why Al can recognize changes in the present due to Sam's actions while others remain unaware.

• Julie Robitaille: The Ghost and the Gumshoe. CORGI BOOKS, London 1990. ISBN 1-85283-397-1. Re-published in U.K. by BOXTREE LIMITED, London 1994. (Novelization of "Play It Again, Seymour" and "A Portrait of Troian")
• Ashley McConnell: Quantum Leap: The Novel. ACE, 1992. ISBN 0-441-69322-9. Re-published in the UK as Carny Knowledge. Boxtree Limited, London 1993. ISBN 1 85283 871 X
• Ashley McConnell: Too Close for Comfort. ACE, 1993. ISBN 0-441-69323-7.
• Julie Robitaille: The Beginning. BOXTREE LIMITED, London 1994. ISBN 1-85283-392-0. (Novelization of the pilot episode)
• Ashley McConnell: The Wall. ACE, 1994. ISBN 0-441-00015-0.
• Ashley McConnell: Prelude. ACE, 1994. ISBN 0-441-00076-2.
• Melanie Rawn: Knights of the Morningstar. ACE, 1994. ISBN 0-441-00092-4.
• Melissa Crandall: Search and Rescue. ACE, 1994. ISBN 0-441-00122-X.
• Ashley McConnell: Random Measures. ACE, 1995. ISBN 0-441-00182-3.
• L. Elizabeth Storm: Pulitzer. ACE, 1995. ISBN 1-57297-022-7.
• C. J. Henderson and Laura Anne Gilman: Double or Nothing. ACE, 1995. ISBN 1-57297-055-3.
• Barbara E. Walton: Odyssey. BOULEVARD, 1996. ISBN 1-57297-092-8.
• John Peel: Independence. BOULEVARD, 1996. ISBN 1-57297-150-9. Re-published in the U.K. as Leap Into the Unknown. BOXTREE LIMITED, London 1996 ISBN 0-7522-0137-9.
• L. Elizabeth Storm: Angels Unaware. BOULEVARD, 1997. ISBN 1-57297-206-8.
• Carol Davis: Obsessions. BOULEVARD, 1997. ISBN 1-57297-241-6.
• Sandy Schofield (Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Loch Ness Leap. BOULEVARD, 1997 ISBN 1-57297-231-9.
• Melanie Kent: Heat Wave. BOULEVARD, 1997 ISBN 1-57297-312-9.
• Christo Defillipis: Foreknowledge. BOULEVARD, 1998 ISBN 0-425-16487-X .
• Mindy Peterman: Song And Dance. BOULEVARD, 1998 ISBN 0-425-16577-9.
• Carol Davis, Esther D. Reese: Mirror's Edge. BOULEVARD, 2000 ISBN 0-425-17351-8.

Comics

Cover of Quantum Leap#10, art by C. Winston Taylor

Innovation Publishing produced a series of comic books which ran for thirteen issues from September 1991 through August 1993. As with the television series, each issue ended with a teaser preview of the following issue and Sam's exclamation of "Oh, boy." Among the people Sam found himself leaping into in this series were:

Issue	Person	Date
1	High school teacher in Memphis, Tennessee	March 25, 1968
2	Death row inmate who must prevent a murder on the outside	June 11, 1962
3A	Part-time Santa Claus	December 20, 1963
3B	Student researching sub-atomic physics	April 2, 1968
4	Contestant amid the quiz show scandals	August 15, 1958
5	Newspaper reporter/columnist who responds to a girl who has seen a UFO	November 14, 1957
6	Teenage girl with an identical twin sister	February 12, 1959
7A	Professional golfer with the mob after him	1974
7B	Bus driver who discovers child abuse	May 19, 1953
8	Bank robber, while the leapee tours the Project with Al	1958
9	Lesbian on parole after twelve years in prison for murder	June 22, 1969
10	Stand-up comedian who befriends a fading silent movie star	June 13, 1966
11	Doctor studying the effects of LSD on human subjects	July 1958
12	Gas station attendant with a lot of time on his hands	April 24, 1958
13	Alien aboard an orbiting craft	June 5, 1963

Few of the comic stories referenced episodes of the television series, with the notable exception of #9, "Up Against A Stonewall": Sam leaps into Stephanie Heywood, a central character in the episode "Good Night, Dear Heart". The story in the comic book begins with her parole, about a week before the Stonewall riots.^[10]

Feature film

According to Scott Bakula at the TV Guide panel during the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, show creator Donald Bellisario is working on a script for a Quantum Leap feature film..^[11]

VHS and DVD releases

In the 1990s, a few of the episodes were released on VHS. In the United States, these included "The Pilot Episode" ("Genesis"), "Camikazi Kid", "The Color of Truth", "What Price Gloria?", "Catch a Falling Star", "Jimmy", "The Leap Home", "Dreams", and "Shock Theater". In the United Kingdom, they were mostly released in pairs, selling as "The Pilot Episode" (on its own), "The Color of Truth" and "Camikazi Kid"; "The Americanization of Machiko" and "What Price Gloria?"; "Catch a Falling Star" and "Jimmy"; "The Leap Home" and "The Leap Home Part II – Vietnam"; and "Dreams" and "Shock Theater".

1998 brought the DVD release of "The Pilot Episode", containing only the episode "Genesis" and chapter selection.

Universal Studios chose not to obtain the necessary music rights for all of the music for use in the Quantum Leap: The Complete Second Season Region 1 DVD. Some were replaced with generic instrumental music. This outraged many fans and inspired a letter-writing campaign, demanding such a modification be corrected. One being the removal of Ray Charles's "Georgia on My Mind" from the season two finalé, "M.I.A.", during a scene in which the holographic Al dances invisibly with his first wife Beth. Subsequent Region 1 DVD releases continued to feature music replacement, but Universal did begin including a disclaimer on the package indicating such (this disclaimer also began to appear on other releases of various other Universal series, such as Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team). Quantum Leap: The Complete Third Season and Quantum Leap: The Complete Fourth Season also have extensive music alterations in order to keep licensing costs low. Original music, however, is retained when the show is viewed via Netflix's streaming library.^[12]

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1, 2, and 4. Due to the expense of music fees, songs originally heard on the show have been replaced on Region 1 DVDs. Music on Region 2 DVDs is generally (but not always) intact as originally aired.

All seasons have been released on DVD in the UK; Season 1 was released on November 8, 2004, Season 2 on October 31, 2005, Season 3 on December 12, 2005,Season 4 on June 26, 2006 and Season 5 on December 26, 2006.

All five seasons are available on DVD in Australia; Season 1 was released on May 2, 2005 (music intact), Season 2 on February 7, 2006 (music intact) and Season 3 on June 7, 2006.

DVD name	Ep#	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete First Season	9	June 8, 2004	November 8, 2004	May 2, 2005
The Complete Second Season	22	December 14, 2004	October 31, 2004	February 7, 2006
The Complete Third Season	22	May 10, 2005	December 12, 2005	June 7, 2006
The Complete Fourth Season	22	March 28, 2006	June 26, 2006	November 2006
The Complete Fifth Season	22	November 14, 2006	December 26, 2006	February 21, 2007
Seasons One – Five (The Ultimate Collection)	97	N/A	October 8, 2007 (only available in R2)	N/A

See also

• List of Quantum Leap characters
• List of Quantum Leap episodes

References

1. ^ O'Connor, John J. (November 22, 1989). "Review/Television; An Actor's 'Quantum Leap' Through Times and Roles". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/22/arts/review-television-an-actor-s-quantum-leap-through-times-and-roles.html?scp=7&sq=Quantum%20Leap&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
2. ^ Carter, Bill (October 1, 1991). "NBC Defends Move on 'Quantum Leap'". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/01/news/nbc-defends-move-on-quantum-leap.html?scp=3&sq=Quantum%20Leap&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
3. ^ Cerone, Daniel (July 15, 1990). "'Quantum Leap' Is Scott Bakula's Idea Of An Actor's Dream". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-15/news/tv-384_1_quantum-leap. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 
4. ^ TV Guide - The Top 25 Cult Shows Ever! May 30-June 5, 2004
5. ^ TV Guide Names the Top Cult Shows Ever - Today's News: Our Take TV Guide June 29, 2007
6. ^ O'Connor, John J. (March 30, 1989). "Review/Television; Comeback for Wimps in New Series". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/30/arts/review-television-comeback-for-wimps-in-new-series.html?scp=7&sq=sam%20malone%20cheers&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
7. ^ Taken from the Season 4 episode "The Wrong Stuff"
8. ^ "Mike Post (I) – Filmography by TV series". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006236/filmoseries#tt0096684. Retrieved 2009-07-05. 
9. ^ ""Quantum Leap" (1989) – Full cast and crew". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096684/fullcredits#music_original. Retrieved 2009-07-05. 
10. ^ Mangels, Andy (w, a). "Up Against a Stonewall" Quantum Leap 9 (February 1993), Innovation Comics
11. ^ "Bakula mentions possibility of feature film". Screen Star Movie Blog. http://www.screenstar.com/Blog/Entry/59. Retrieved 2010-08-05. 
12. ^ "Quantum Leap music instant watch vs on DVD". Netflix Community. 2009-10-18. http://netflixcommunity.ning.com/forum/topics/quantum-leap-music-instant?commentId=1993323%3AComment%3A1149194&xg_source=activity. Retrieved 2010-09-17. 

External links

• The Leap Back 2009 Convention for Quantum Leap
• Al's Place Quantum Leap Fan Site
• Quantum Leap on TV IV – Information and Episode Guides
• Project Quantum Wiki, A Wiki project based on the series.
• The Accelerator Chamber – Informative Site
• Quantum Leap at AllRovi
• Quantum Leap at the Internet Movie Database
• Quantum Leap at TV.com
• "Quantum Leap (at SciFi.com)". NBC Universal Television. Archived from the original on April 23, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060423001756/http://www.scifi.com/quantum/index.html. Retrieved July 7, 2009.