Quantum Leap Fans Have Been Left STUNNED.. Here's Why

Quantum Leap Fans Have Been Left STUNNED.. Here's Why

Welcome back to Film Tremble. NBC's Quantum Leap relaunch has found a way to break its most important rule, sending Ben Song further back in time than Sam Beckett typically traveled. Quantum Leap's time travel has always been more of a plot device than anything solid and concrete, but there have still been a few rules baked into the core concept. The most important (only broken once in the original series, with the breach explained as being due to genetics) was that leapers like Sam Beckett and Ben Song could only travel back within their own lifetimes.

Quantum Leap episode 5 breaks this rule, however, sending Ben back to the year 1879. This was actually set up in previous episodes, with the Quantum Leap project team realizing he was building up a sort of temporal momentum to break the normal barriers imposed by the Quantum Leap form of time travel. It was compared to a slingshot effect, where a ship builds up momentum by using the gravity of a star or planet. The analogy is an intriguing one, in that it implies Ben's initial leaps were deliberately chosen in relation to some major event in world history, one that would boost his travels through spacetime. In related news, Quantum Leap episode 4 finally answers that question, in a striking scene in which Herbert "Magic" Williams reveals he remembered what it is like to be leaped into. A soldier in the Vietnam War, he was originally supposed to die in the conflict - along with Sam's own brother. Sam Beckett changed the timeline, however, leaping into Magic's body at just the right moment. Magic remembers experiencing a strange feeling, as though he was stood in front of a door and could choose whether to open it or not. Curiously, he chose to accept the experience, and then seemed to black out. When he "awoke," it was a week later, and he learned he'd just gotten his band out of trouble yet again. This is the first time Quantum Leap has ever addressed what it feels like to become a leaper's host.

#QuantumLeap #BrokeIt’sMostImportantRule #OriginalShow’sOldestMystery

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[soniclore]

In the original series finale, Al and Gooshi realize that Sam leaped into himself because there was nobody in the Waiting Room. At the end of the episode when Sam decided to leap to Beth’s living room, he did so AS HIMSELF.
Again, nobody in the Waiting Room.
What if Sam just continued leaping around as himself? With nobody in the Waiting Room, the Project Quantum Leap staff would have assumed he was lost.

[MyLibertyTV]

What happened to Sam's body is not up for debate. His body remaining in the "waiting room" where Al would interrogate the host mind inhabiting Sam's body was a firmly established concept in the original show. Sam's body never vanished until the final leap where he consciously decided to not return home.

[danh]

The real importance of that rule in the original series is that it made sure the writers were constrained to topics and contexts arising within their OWN life experience, and prevented them from trying to speak authoritatively of times not their own. I'm not surprised at all that a writing room in 2022 has no such humility. I'll give them points for at least attempting to justify it in the plot, though.

[jeepdude]

If they hire Scott Bakula like they should have, there would be an entire decade more that he could leap back and still remain within the confines of the show.

[elizabethquinn]

My main issue with the reboot is that almost every single episode is life or death. It seems that in almost every episode Ben literally has to save someone's life and while that did happen on the original QL, a majority of those episodes were about Sam leaping into the body of someone who was at a crossroads in his/her life and he needed to help them change their fate for the better. It felt more intimate and relatable. And while I appreciate the increased diversity in this new version and that the reboot is tying itself to Sam's story, the fact that they spend so much time back at the QL project means we don't get as much time with Ben and the people he leaps into so we lose time to develop an emotional connection to these characters. Just my two cents. But hey, what do I know? Apparently this reboot is popular.

[mooboy]

I loved the original Quantum Leap, grew up with it and have re-watched it multiple times. When this new show came about I only had one thought, if they don't find and help Sam at some point, I will be pissed. That was the only thing I hated about how the original ended and it seriously needs "good" closure.

[mikenash]

The original series seemed confused over whether Sam's body moved in time or only his consciousness or spirit, but I'm fairly sure that it settled on the theory that his body went with his mind into the past, and only the "aura" of the person he'd leapt into remained behind, which is why most people saw the person he'd leapt into, but young children and people with mental handicaps could see Sam himself. In one episode, Sam leapt into an army veteran who had lost both his legs, but Sam could still walk, and it looked to everyone else like he was floating in mid-air. In another, he leapt into a blind concert pianist, but he could still see. If only his consciousness had leaped, this would have been impossible.

As for the idea of leaping outside his own lifetime, in the original series, there was a group of "evil leapers", clearly from Sam's future, who were using technology based on his Quantum Leap project. They were from further ahead, and leaper Alia looked younger than Sam, but she was still able to leap into Jimmy LaMotta's sister-in-law in 1966, so it's very likely that the evil leapers could send someone beyond their own lifetime.

[chapelpluto]

Can't leap further than your own lifetime? Maybe. Can't leap further than cancelation. Definitely.

[supremex]

Sam's body remaining in the present was in the original series, not just novelizations. There's an episode where a criminal escapes the QL compound in Sam's body and Al has to retrieve him.

[christopherlh]

There actually was one episode of the original series where Sam leaped into one of his ancestors who was a soldier in the civil war. So in that particular instance, he did leap further than the limits of his own lifetime.

[AnimeOtakuDrew]

The original series made it clear that Sam replaced the person he leapt into not only in mind, but also bodily. Let's not forget the episode where Sam leapt into a double amputee but was still able to stand up. So from that it is clear that the person appearing in the "waiting room" is also in their own body. However, the deleted scene from the end of the final episode made it clear that Sam was leaping as himself rather than replacing other people after the events of that episode, mean there was no longer anyone appearing in the waiting room. In the revival series, we know that Ben is not leaping as himself, but at the same to there has been no mention of anything remotely similar to the waiting room of the original series, but neither has there been anything about Ben's body being left behind. I'm enjoying this series, but that is an inconsistency I really feel they need to explain. It could possibly be done by having a character talk a little about how the quantum leap technology has been refined since Sam's original version, so I see no reason for the writers not to address this.

Also, regarding your thoughts on Ziggy guiding the leaps and how Ziggy being shut down would have affected Sam, you seem to be forgetting that the original made it pretty clear that Sam's leaps were random. The revival, however, made it very clear that Ben and Janice had created a new program that would guide his leaps toward whatever goal he's trying to achieve. What this says to me is that, in the original quantum leap program, there was no control, be it by Ziggy or any other earthly being or system, so Sam would have continued to leap random regardless of Ziggy's operational status. The program that is controlling Ben's leaps is a new addition to the quantum leap program that is able to override whatever natural (or supernatural) forces would usually control the leaps in a similar way to how technology can redirect currents or other such things. I don't struggle with that part at all.

[Player_Zhirow]

Here's how you can tell a writer (group of writers) suck at their job, an inability to work within the established rules of a work of fiction because.. Dun-dun-dun incompetence. Really wish they'd stop rebooting good shows to coast on their good reputation. FFS.

[andrewlee]

Have you actually watched the entire original show? There are multiple episodes in the original series in seasons 4 and 5 where they actually show the people Sam jumps into in the “waiting room” inhabiting Sam’s body. The episode where Sam leaps in to a young Al, the one where he leaps in to Lee Harvey Oswald, and the episode where he leaps in to a serial killer- just to name a few. To say the waiting room is no longer considered canon is like saying that these important episodes in the original series are no longer canon. These things didn’t just happen in side novels.They were a part of the show. They really dropped the ball on that one detail in my opinion. I’ve been bothered by it since I watched the first episode of the new series. I do want to clarify that I’m very much enjoying the new series. I just feel that if they chose to make a sequel(which is what they did) instead of a reboot, they should not be making changes to how things worked in the original. I do understand that the reason they made this change was probably because it would be difficult to explain the absence of Sam’s body in the waiting room, or what could have happened to it during the interim between the two shows. Sorry for the long comment, but I’m a huge fan of the original show, so I’ve got strong opinions about it.

[taurnguard]

3:53 "Both characters can leap into other bodies for a specific amount of time."
INCORRECT. Sam was not allowed to leap until he corrected whatever he needed to in history.

[rox]

I haven't seen the reboot, but for people that saw the original we know the other people go to the waiting room and the person leaping can go back during the lifetime of anyone that saw been leaped into. It makes sense that Ziggy could use those same pathways now for Ben.

[ellee]

I hate that the fiancé is his handler! The original show allowed for Sam to dive in the person life that includes emotions & love! This new one is no feelings or even empathy, its just blah!! They need to make Ben more involved in the person lives he jumps in including love for the people he leaps in!!!

[julianorris]

Haven't watched it and never not quantum leap without Sam

[GreymansGoose]

Going back to the body argument. It wasn't just the novelizations (admittedly, I haven't read them but now I'm going to look for them). In several points in TOS, Sam's body possessed by whoever he leapt into was part of major episodes.

Keep in mind, I'm going primarily by memory, but there was one episode in which a criminal that Sam had leapt into, escaped the quantum leap facility. And if they didn't manage to get the criminal back, then Sam wouldn't be able to leap and he would be stuck.
There was the time that Sam lept into Dr Ruth... And she gave Al relationship advice. And, most importantly there was a time that Sam leapt into a younger version of Al. By the end of the episode, the solution was to have Al jump into himself to undo something that had already been done. These were all instances, where we saw the people Sam had leapt into being temporarily into the future, on screen, and in canon.
They didn't stop coming until the last episode, Sam started leaping as himself as opposed to another person. When that happened, project quantum leap lost the ability to track Sam, and they just got lucky in the last episode when they found him.

[azimhulaimi]

I think sometimes ppl forget that the creator Donald belassario also sometimes break some rules of his own for this show or wrote some episodes that's really weird or out of the ordinary and didn't explain it further as well. So for me, it doesn't really matter. The new writers are just trying to break the norm and explore what's possible in new quantum leap. I'm still crossing my fingers for Scott bakula's return as Sam and eventually bring him home. #bringsamhome 😂👌🙏

[GGCanLove]

I love how the new show gives 2 competing storylines. Also, explaining the experiences of the host when Ben or Sam Leaps into their bodies.