"Picture a piece of string. This string represents your life. One end represents you life. The other, your death. Tie the ends together and your life is a loop. Ball the string, and the days of your life touch each other out of sequence, moving you backward or forward within your own lifetime." This is How Dr. Samuel Beckett describes the theory of Quantum Leap..
Billowing white cloudsboil over the horizon, clocks run frantically backward, outside a window an unearthly neon-blue light flares... Sam Beckett, Quantum physicist from the future, is leaping for the first time into another life. He peers bearily around. In the bed next to him is a strange woman who think's he's her husband. What's worse, she thinks it's the year 1956 and that he's a renowned test pilot, and what's worse than that is he knows he can't fly. "Whoa, boy, I'm in big trouble here," he mutters, certain he must be dreaming. "Okay, it's not a dream, it's a nightmare, and if it's a nightmare a boogeyman has too show up sonner or later" he thinks to himself. What is going on? Let Albert-A boogieman if ever Sam saw one-explain it: "I can't tell you because it's restricted. Most of what your going to want to know is restricted," says Al, who casually adds that he's a neurological hologram. It's an image only you can see and hear" (which isn't entirely true, because, animals, crazies, and children under three can see him too)"Created by a subamatic agitation of carbon quarks tuned to the mesons of my optic neurons," Sam blurts out without thinking. "You got it,"Al replies diffidently. "How'd I know that?" Sam wonders... How indeed? And how does he leap from time ti time and life to life?More to the point, how do they-behind the scenes creators, writers and small army of technicians-do it? Perhaps not even Ziggy, the temperamental hybrid computer, knows. But you will....
For those of you who have not seen Quantum Leap, the basic story of the show is as follows:
Nobel Prize-winning quantum physicist Dr. Sam Beckett (played by Scott Bakula) develops a top-secret government project called Project Quantum Leap (PQL). The project allow Sam to travel through time within his own lifetime, occupying the body of a person in a certain time. Everyone in that time sees him as the person whose body he has leapt into, except for young children, animals, and the mentally absent, who are still in the Alpha state and can see through the leapee's ora. Dr. Beckett must use information from the future to change the lives of the people in that time for the better. His only contact with the future is through Admiral Al Calavicci (played by Dean Stockwell), Sam's best friend, who appears to Dr. Beckett as a hologram that only he can see and hear, except for people in the Alpha state, who can also see Al. Ziggy, the parallel hybrid computer that runs the project, who is the first computer to be programmed with an ego, has been programmed with information that Sam and Al need to figure out his mission. Because the government was threatening to cut the project's funding unless Sam produces some results, he steps into the Quantum Leap accelorator before all the bugs have been worked out. He leaps into a test pilot named Tom Stratton, but Sam is suffering from partial amnesia, which he refers to as being "swiss-cheesed". He can't remember his last name or even who Al is. Sam insists to Stratton's family that he is not Tom Stratton and he can't fly an airplane. This and bugs in the retrieval program makes it impossible for Ziggy to retrieve him. He is now stranded in time, leaping from life to life, putting right what once went wrong, trying to get back home.
Quantum Leap, for all of you who don't know, was a show starring Scott Bakula as Dr. Samuel Beckett. Thinking that he could travel throughout his life time he created Quantum Leap, however things went wrong..He cannot return home and thus, he travels from life to life, putting right what once went wrong, hoping each time that his next leap will be his leap home...His only link to home is a hologram by the name of Al, he gives Sam vital information about his current leap. Sam leaps into many different people, from pregnant women to bank robbers to victims of rape to monkeys... This show is a must see for all sci-fi fans. Quantum Leap is one of the most popular shows ever to grace the small screen... Have you ever noticed the similarities between the two projects (Sam's and the evil leapers)?? One theory is that the latter is another version of Quantup leap, when Quantum leap was scrapped(for one reason or another) That after several years, it was started again and the "evil" ones where hired and went through time making everything wrong, and sam previously went and made it right after Alyha went and made it wrong in the future of 1999. Hmm something to think about...
Some of us believe this to be the best series of all time, others simply just like it, but the point is, a lot of people like it to some degree. The purpose of this site is to provide entertainment and interesting things for the fans and at the same time, providing info on how we can continue this great saga. With a willing cast and crew, all that needs to be done is within the suits (the companies). If the series could be revived, that would be fabulous. Or perhaps a series of TV movies? But some real recognition would come with the long awaited silver-screen Quantum Leap movie. This has been talked about by the cast, crew, and fans for years and has not, so far, come to be. Perhaps they're thinking about it? Maybe if we let them know what we feel, they'll consider more towards some type of revival for the show. Quantum Leap appeals to all ages. It's a fabulous drama laced with science-fiction. There's lessons to be learned and humor to be laughed at. Truly, only 20-25% of the show is about Leaping. Most of the show focuses on the current problems at hand and the ways Sam and Al triy to solve them.
"Oh, God, Sam, I love her. Beth is the only woman I ever really loved. The only one I wanted to grow old with. That's why all of my marriages never worked after that. Sam, if you're lucky, life is gonna give you one shot at true love, and Beth was mine."
One of the saddest moments i have ever experienced in a show, was the story of Admiral Al. V. Callavicci and his ex-wife Beth. I cried when i saw the episode, and am proud to admit it... Al and beth where married before the vietnam war, Al went to battle over in Vietnam ansd was captured and became a P.O.W. he spent years in a small bamboo cage, fed nothing but rice and water, while back home, his wife was given news that he was K.I.A. she did not believe ity at first and waited for him to return, after a while she gave up hope and remarried. Al, returned home several years later and discovered she had remarried, and it broke his heart. He left his town without saying a word, noone knew. He remarried many times and divorced many times, never able to replace his one and only true love. During the course of Quantum Leap, Dr. Beckett leaps into Al's home town, soon before Beth finds the man she marries, Al, knowing it is against the rules, tells Sam that his mission for that leap is to stop Beth from remarrying, he must try to convince her tha her husband is coming home... same does not know that she is al's wife so he goes on with the mission until the end of the episode when he finds a picture of al, at beth's house and realises what Al has done... he runs out of the house and, at the end of the episode, when Sam confronts him about it, he explains the whole story..... Sam, goes on to finish his mission sucessfully, and Al gets a chance to see her once more. Beth cannot see him, but he goes inside, stands infront of her and says...
"I want you to wait for me, Beth. Don't give up, honey. 'Cause I'm alive out there. And the only reason I'm alive is because of our love. And someday...Oh, Beth...someday, I'm gonna come back home to you."
As sam leaps out, beth looks up and says... "al???" that is the exact moment sam leaps out.... the episode ends there.... however, in the very last episode of QL, Sam leaps back there at that moment and tells Beth that Al is gonna come home, he is safe, and she must wait for him nomatter what.... This is one of, if not the best matched couple in history.... they loved eachother more than anything... Beth's love for him Al was the only thing that kept him going while in the P.O.W. camp...
Following is a transcript of a television interview Scott Bakula recently Had.
LK: Oh my, indeed. Scott Bakula, it's really, really good to see you. It's a brilliant programme, really, really enjoy it, showing on BBC2, 9 o'clock tonight. It's the last one. Sometimes it's a wee bit too late for me. I just have to stay up; I have to be up early in the morning. Now, what a role for an actor! When would an actor be able to play all these different characters? It just wouldn't happen, would it?
SB: I can't imagine ever getting a role like this again. Actually it's been, I hope it's *not*, the role of a lifetime. I hope there's other things after it, but it's such a great thing to go to work every day, and have something different to do every eight days, which is how long it takes to shoot the show. And I'm constantly being challenged and learn new things all the time, and work never gets boring which of course is the down side of doing a long TV show sometimes.
LK: Sure, but because this is so different you're playing all these different characters. How hard was it for a man to play a pregnant woman? That must have been really extraordinary. I'm looking forward to seeing it tonight, to see how it goes.
SB: It was a great thing to do because it's not something, when you're studying to become an actor, okay now, someday you're going to be a pregnant woman; you never think about things like that. So I spent a lot of time talking with my wife reviewing her pregnancy and I had a lot of friends going through it coincidentally at the same time. So, I was on the 'phone saying, "So what does a contraction really feel like?" and then you just hope that you're not... I had a lot of fear about doing this role because I know so many people, so many women, have a very definite feeling about their pregnancy and it's very strong and those images are very strong. So, if I do it wrong people are going to be calling and writing. The point of this episode was to really convince people that Sam was somehow pregnant.
LK: What a brilliant idea for a series. It's an extraordinary idea. Was it an immediate success in America or did it take a while to build?
SB: It took a long time to build. It was a very hard idea to sell. It's amazing to me now, as I've been working so much I haven't really been travelling and this is my first time in three years. It's amazing to be here in England, for instance and someone saying, "Oh we love the show, we love the show. This week you're pregnant." They don't even think about it. In the beginning, the first time I played a woman, it was a big deal; how will it work, and now people accept almost anything that we do and that's really amazing. It shows the power of the show. People have gotten past their hang-ups; what is he and who is he and they just accept it. So we can do anything.
LK: You can. There are no limits at all as to what you can do. It's extraordinary. What sort of category is the show put in America? Is it under the heading of sci-fi or what would you say?
SB: Well it's technically called 'hour drama' television. It's sci-fi, it's fantasy. Part of that has, I think, scared some people away because really it's a very gentle show about human relationships and there's always a good heart story involved, and some people feel like, "Oh, it's another sci-fi Star Trek" or there was a show in America, I don't know if it ever ran here, "Time Tunnel", in the 60s, remember that?
LK: Oh yes, yes it's running again on Channel 4.
SB: A great series, but not like ours at all. People thought, "Oh that's what it is." It was hard to get people to turn it on, but once they turned it on, they kept it on.
LK: Yeah. You, yourself, where did you start acting? Where did you actually start? What made you start acting?
SB: I started acting, actually I had a rock band early in my life, like in the 4th grade.
LK: What sort of things did you play?
SB: At the time we were doing a lot of Beatles things, in the 60s and everything, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, just wild stuff. I think back it must have been pretty terrible, but we had a good time.
LK: As long as you enjoyed it.
SB: Yeah, my parents loved it too. Nice and loud. So I started performing that way. I did a lot of theatre as a kid mostly musical things. There's a show called "Amal and the Night Visitors". I don't know if you know that.
LK: I don't think we've had that here.
SB: It's a Christmas opera. Menotti wrote it. I did that when I was thirteen and I kindof got the bug there. I started in St Louis, I went to New York, I spent ten years in the theatre and then I moved to Los Angeles about six years ago.
LK: So you're living in LA now, that's where you're based?
SB: Yeah.
LK: Are you living with all the superstars in Beverly Hills?
SB: No they won't let me in there. :-)
LK: Have you got to be vetted before you're allowed in?
SB: That's right!
LK: They look at you to see whether you're allowed in Los Angeles. We hear so much about it and there were the riots recently. Is it really a safe place to be especially, you've got a young child? Have you got to be there, like, for your work?
SB: I have to be there for my work. And I can't tell you that I'd honestly seek out Los Angeles to live in, but it's where my business is and the business has been wonderful to me there. So it's hard for me to say too many bad things about LA. The air is terrible, there are places that are unsafe, like there are in any big city. I lived in New York and there are bad places in New York. But the city offers many things, certainly for the entertainment industry it's a great place to be.
LK: As long as you don't get sucked in by all the hype. You seem very much that you've got your feet on the ground. You are a family man as well, which probably helps.
(SB looks down at his feet) ;-) SB: It does help, children help a lot.
LK: It gets it all in perspective.
SB: You have to get up early in the mornings, so it changes your life.
LK: Absolutely. Know about that. We do anyway, that's for sure. So what are you going to do next, what would you like to do next? Obviously is Quantum Leap going to continue, will we see some more?
SB: It's going on another year. We do one year at a time, so that's all I know. We've shot 77 shows and we'll have a hundred at the end of next year. I don't know if it will go on beyond that, but I'd like to. I've been able to do a couple of movies in the last two years. I'd really like to get back to the theatre which is really kindof my first love.
LK: Bakula is your second name. Where does that come from?
SB: Bohemia.
LK: Bohemia, yeah. Is that like going a long way back in your family?
SB: Yeah, pretty long. People wanted me to change it when I first started.
LK: No, it's good, it's good. You don't want to be Troy Tempest or something. Scott Bakula has a ring about it.
SB: That was my first name and I changed it. :-)
(LK turns to MM beside her) LK: Transylvanian?
MM: Your Father's not Count Bakula is he?
SB: No, not that I know of. He doesn't sleep much during the night. :-)
LK: It's been really really good to see you.
SB: Well thank you.
LK: There have been loads of calls this morning about you coming on; the show is obviously very popular. We shall be glued to our screens 9 o'clock tonight to see you as a pregnant lady.
SB: Yeah, well thanks for having me on. It's been great.
LK: OK. Good stuff. Thank you.
Thus ends my story... for now.... Be sure to check back for updates...
Till then, Take the leap.....
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