In my continuing effort to post regularly here, I’m going to steal an idea from a couple friends and make certain days of the week sort of theme-y. Henceforth, today shall be known around here as Wayback Wednesday wherein the TV Chick (the party of the first part) shall reminisce about shows gone by.
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished …. He woke 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.
This week’s focus will be “Quantum Leap.” If you don’t know anything about this show, I’d suggest proceeding to your nearest video store and renting it. Or better yet, buy it because if you like sci-fi mixed with a deep well of intriguing and different stories in every episode, then you’ll love QL.
It was a brilliant gimmick for a show - an accidental time-traveler leaps into different characters and must save someone in that character’s life before he can move on, and each time he leaps, he continually hopes the next one will get him back home to the woman he loves.
I think this provided a fantastic opportunity for the writers and actors - especially Sam (Scott Bakula) to show off their acting/writing chops. Bakula has to portray both Sam Beckett AND a different character he leaps into each episode. The writers have an almost never-ending fountain of story ideas they can write for Sam. It was such a unique show filled with colourful characters like Sam’s perpetually horny hologram guide Al. Just thinking about the wealth of ideas available to the show makes me giddy.
“Quantum Leap” is ranked #15 in TV Guide’s list of the “25 Top Cult Shows Ever!” and with good reason. It was compelling, it had anguish and drama, but also light moments, fun characters, mystery, and intrigue. The show lasted for five seasons and the grand finale is one of the best endings I’ve ever seen.
My favourite episode of “Quantum Leap” was what my sister and I call the ‘Evil Al’ episode. It was a Halloween episodes called “The Boogieman” in which “Sam leaps into horror novelist Joshua Rey and fails to prevent several suspicious deaths caused by the Devil himself, who resents Sam “putting right what I made wrong.” (Wikipedia) Along the way Sam runs into future horror novelist, Stephen King. This episode scared the snot out of my little sister when it aired. Brilliant 
Finally, I think I’ll end these little trips down memory lane with a bit of trivia:
“Scott Bakula ad libbed the line “Oh boy!” at the end of an episode. The producer liked it so much that it became the signature final line of each episode, as Sam finds himself in a new body.” - (IMDb)
