Frequently Asked Questions List
| Created by: | Quantum Buc (buc@world.std.com) and Debbie Brown (dmb7229@ultb.isc.rit.edu) |
| With assistance from: | Vicky Sailer (admin@mrmarx.uu.net) Lisa (Vicky's officemate) Sally Smith (sallylb@netcom.com) Audrey Urling (amu@dukee.egr.duke.edu) and many other members of the QL/usenet community Occasional references from _Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows_, H. Castleman & W. J. Podrazik, Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1989 |
| Updated by: | Tracy Finifter (tracy@finifter.com), Cheryl Bellucci (ac961@dayton.wright.edu), and Robin Chi-Woon Kwong (rkwong@engin.umich.edu) |
| Based on Previous Revision by: | Sally "Lucky Bitch" Smith |
| Last Revision Date: | March 26, 1996 |
This is a reference file that is meant to answer those questions most frequently asked about the US television program, Quantum Leap. It also attempts to catalog the information viewers have been able to glean from individual stories and other, official and non-official sources. Permission is granted to distribute this file UNMODIFIED to other networks and BBSs. Rights to modifications to this file is reserved by the updater(s).
Note: you may freely copy and distribute this guide for personal use provided that it be distributed in its entirety, with all original author and copyright information intact. Any sales of this document or use of it in a for-profit project are expressly forbidden, without the specific consent of the authors.
Another FAQL exists, created specifically to deal with those questions that involve detailed spoilers of various episodes. Questions that are answered here in the regular FAQL and which are elaborated upon in the other will include a note to check the SP for further details. The SP also contains additional questions.
Credits are given in [square brackets] following individual paragraphs, since often there was more than one contributor to a question.
In the series finale, we get an ambiguous glimpse of the supposed
controller, but the exact nature of this controller (and in fact of
this entire episode) is still under heavy debate. (see SP#2) [Robin C.
Kwong]
To quote The Source Himself (Don Bellisario):
"...when Sam leaps in and bounces somebody out, I like to think of
it this way: ... if that person was hit by a car and they broke their
leg and hit the street and then Sam leaped in, Sam would not have a
broken leg. But if Sam leaped in and was crossing the street and was
hit by the car, then Sam would have the broken leg."
In other words:
He does not share handicaps or injuries suffered by the leapee
before his leap in, but will sustain injuries suffered while he is
there.
The fact that it is Sam's entire body that is leaping is supported
by a great number of episodes: "The Wrong Stuff," "Nowhere to Run,"
"Blind Faith," "Runaway," "Trilogy part 3," "Pool Hall Blues," "The
Color of Truth" (Jesse Tyler was revealed to suffer from rheumatism in
"Shock Theater," which Sam gave no indication of being affected by in
this ep), and probably any episode in which he is a woman and does
things beyond her normal physical strength. (Yes, this even includes
"8 1/2 Months" (see SP#8).) This is also supported by the fact that
Sam sees himself unless he looks in a mirror. [Kwong]
Also, it is stated that Sam and Al are linked via their mesons and
neurons, which are physical entities. If Sam does not leap physically,
then this link would be lost. [Kwong]
The fact that certain individuals--including himself--can see Sam
indicates that there is something behind the aura for them to see.
[Kwong]
The explanation for why Sam seems to be unaffected by the size
difference between him and the leapee is theorized in question 14.
There is *no* clear evidence given in any of the episodes to support
the theory that Sam's mind is leaping. [Kwong]
See also SP#7.
It would probably also wreak havoc for the top-secret nature of
PQL of all the leapees remembered enough facts for them to compare
notes. Not to mention the possible serious repercussions of "The Leap
Home part 1" and "A Leap for Lisa." [Kwong]
Don Bellisario believes a lot of these people ended up writing
books about UFOs. :-) [Finifter]
As for those cases where Sam leaps before his own birth ("Play It
Again, Seymour," "The Americanization of Machiko"), it is possible
that Sam's lifetime is not defined by his birth but by his conception,
since these dates are within 9 months of his birth. However, the DITTC
seems to apply most appropriately here. [Kwong]
The "within your own lifetime" principle is also broken in "Leap
Between the States," where it is theorized that the genetic similarity
between Sam and the leapee enables him to leap very far before his own
birth. [Kwong]
Things seem to change a little at the end of the fourth season
when Sam states that success is not required for a leap-out, which
seems to violate the precedent set by previous episodes, notably
"Genesis." At any rate, these statements only reflect the fact that
PQL can merely *theorize* on the leaping process. It is possible that
this question will not be answered satisfactorily simply because GTF
will not leap Sam into situations which he cannot handle. (see SP#5)
[Kwong]
It's all a matter of relativity. Consider a spaceship 10 meters
long. Send it off at 99.4% of the speed of light and it will seem to
be only 1 meter long to anyone still on earth, while still seeming
like 10 to those on board. Gravity can do the same sort of thing; put
an object deep into a gravity well and it will seem shorter. The point
is the ship is in a different 'reference frame' than the earth, and
the object in the well is in a different frame then the observer
floating outside it, and things like length (also duration) are not
the same across reference frames. [Larne Pekowsky]
So here's the theory: when Sam leaps his whole body leaps
(explaining things like "Blind Faith"), but it is mapped into a
different reference frame. If you look through a warped piece of
glass, things seem to be a different size and shape. The same thing
happens with a warped region of space (cf. "Gravitational Lenses.")
When Sam leaps the space containing him is warped in such a way that
not just length, but all physical properties are altered. And, of
course, the only person in Sam's reference frame is Sam, so when he
looks at himself he sees what he has always seen, but when he looks in
a mirror the photons have passed between frames, and so he sees the
leapee. [Pekowsky]
To answer the original question, when Sam, 6ft, has leaped into
someone 5ft7 and is talking to someone, they look at the leapee's
eyes, he sees them looking at his eyes, and likewise he looks down,
but the person he's talking to sees the leapee looking straight. Which
is really right? Neither, or both! It's the same as asking 'how long
is the spaceship really.' The answer is completely dependent on what
frame you're in because certain physical properties have no absolute
existence. [Pekowsky]
As for how this ties into superstrings - current thought is that
strings don't just define particles, but also in some sense define
space and time themselves (ref: "Superstrings: A Theory of
Everything?" edited by PCW Davies). When Sam leaps he takes the
strings comprising his body and 'soul,' into a region of space made up
of the strings of the person he's replacing. [Pekowsky]
With this in mind, then, "future" leaps would seem to be possible.
However, since now the m.o. of the Project has changed slightly due to
the interference of GTFWhoever, it just might not be practical. That
is, Sam leaps in order to right some wrong, often using his knowledge
of the future to solve the problem -- or at the very least, the fact
that he's from the future enables him to recognize the fact that there
*exists* a problem at all (preventing something from happening that
the original host didn't see coming up the first time around). In a
"future" leap, Ziggy would be useless in terms of obtaining data, Al
would be reduced to being only able to offer moral support or an extra
pair of eyes, and Sam would be just as clueless about the situation as
the original leapee was (and probably even more so). The sheer
impracticality of these conditions would then cut down quite a bit the
probability of a "future" leap. [Kwong]
Then again, if Sam does do a "future" leap, would that give away
the fact that he's not going to die in any other leap before the
Project's "real time" reaches that date? [Kwong]
There's been a lot of discussion on the net from time to time regarding
this topic, and it is some people's opinion that PEQL (Project Evil
Quantum Leap) is run by Satan himself. [Finifter]
To state it more specifically, once Sam leaps in and PQL locates
him, his "clock" and the Project's "clock" become locked in synch.
As in the Smallville example above, if Al steps into the Chamber
at 11:45pm (PQL time), he will only be able to contact Sam at
9:15am (Smallville time). Note that the Chamber becomes useless
unless there is a leaper to focus on. [Kwong]
From direct statements in one episode, we know the building of
the Project was begun in 1989. [Kwong]
This then appears to change through the seasons. Later episodes begin
to hint that Al sees Sam as Sam. By the fifth season, this is stated
explicitly to be the case. A possible theory is that, after the whole
mess in "What Price Gloria," Al had Gooshie re-configure the IC to
show him Sam's image only. [Kwong]
The leapee is occupying Sam's aura, not his body (see #8). The
audience sees the leapee in the WR. [Kwong]
Seriously, while Al may not cast shadows, Dean certainly does
(especially since-- as QL's director of photography Michael Watkins,
ASC once put it-- "Dean likes to talk with his hands so much that he's
a pretty active shadow anyway."). It's simply physically impossible to
eliminate them all. Also, there are times when having Al not cast a
shadow would actually make him look fake--like a pasted-on cut out
effect instead of a real person. [Sally Smith]
Any instances of Al's reflection appearing on objects, or things
reflecting off of Al's outfits, probably fall under the same category.
[Kwong]
Int stands for Interviewer speaking, and Don for Donald.
Int: I think I've caught you in one error.
Don: What's that?
Int: Ziggy. Ziggy was referred to as a male, until the "Leap Back"
when Ziggy has a female voice.
Don: Yeah, Ziggy was referred to as a male through every show. Heh,
heh, heh. Yeah. But Ziggy turns out to be a she. It's not an error. We
just decided to make Ziggy a female. I mean, it wasn't like, "Oh God,
we didn't think of that!" We thought of that first thing, right off
the bat, and said, "Oh, who cares?"
If you want me to PCR [see below] that one, I'll tell you that Sam
didn't remember that Ziggy was a female until he came back, and Al,
not wanting to spoil anything for him or throw more of a load onto him
that he already had, just rode along with it. How's that?
[Another part of the same interview]
Don: ...Sometimes you get things you want to do creatively and you
don't have the reason for them. It's what I call PCR.
Int: Meaning?
Don: Post-Creative Rationalization. Heh-heh. It really is. "Why does
it happen? Why?" Uhhhhhhhh, because, because - he can only leap within
his own lifetime! [Referring to an earlier question]
And then, out of that came my string theory about how it all works.
So it was all stuff I knew I wanted to do. When you create something,
and people ask you how it works, to justify it, you go back and figure
it all out. And you PCR.
There you go! So, Ziggy changed sex in the Leap Back simply because
Don thought it would be a good idea! You can find the above transcript
in the "Quantum Leap Book" (ISBN 1-85283-866-3). [above answer
supplied by R. D. Gregson]
There seems to be a very neat order of transition when it comes to
Ziggy's various sex changes. Before the opening of the fourth season,
Ziggy was always referred to, and assumed to be, a male. Then in the
fourth season opener, we learned Ziggy had a female voice, but was
still referred to as "he" throughout the season. In the fourth season
finale, Sam tells St. John that "Al called her Ziggy," and the
reference was always female from that point on. [Finifter]
The official spelling of Donna's last name *may* possible be gleaned
from closed-captioning or a copy of the script. Does anyone have the
relevant episodes handy? The Chunovic book spells it "Eleese,"
but keep in mind that the validity of the book's contents are
suspect. [Kwong]
As long as we're on the subject of Chris, Joe, and weirdness, let's
note that the episode "The Curse of Pt*h-H*tep" appears to cause
earthquakes in Southern California -- the large quakes of Apr. and
June 1992 coincided with the two showings of this episode. Pretty
scary, huh, kids?
Any further elaborations can be filled in by FAQ # 27, the LB herself.
:)
[Why, thank you, Debbie...] Another example is the UCLA screening of
11/25/90. Scott had been to New York City and back that weekend
(appearing in the Macy's parade), had put in a long day at work and
was in a great deal of pain from an injured ankle. But he walked out
on stage and answered questions like he hadn't a care in the world and
afterwards signed autographs until co-executive producer Michael
Zinberg literally picked him up off the floor and took him away,
telling him he had to go to work the next day. Then there was the
convention...well, you get the idea. [Sally Smith]
PQL, IC, and WR refer to "Project Quantum Leap," "Imaging Chamber,"
and "Waiting Room" respectively, but that's pretty straightforward.
The symbol **" is no longer in so much use but refers to the ascii
representation (courtesy of Deb Brown) of the ASL symbols for "Quantum
Leap" as shown in the episode "Private Dancer." [Kwong]
Some more abbreviations that are commonly used, usually referring to
specific episodes that, for one reason or another, get mentioned
more frequently than others:
This joke shows up occasionally on QL-related posts on the net,
usually resulting in waste of bandwidth as others reply to the joke.
Not that it isn't fun, but please, if you're tempted to follow up a
posted "height!" with one of your own, consider the chain reaction you
may be initiating/perpetrating. [Kwong]
[Ailsa Jenkins]
Other guest stars have also played recurring characters or
multiple roles. [Kwong]
There are other QL-related cons held at other locations, but I
don't have any details. [Kwong]
For "Quantum Leap: The Movie", write to:
Mr. Sid Sheinberg
Don Bellisario is working at Paramount Pictures now. His address there
is:
Donald P. Bellisario
As for Scott, his address is:
Scott Bakula
2. When Sam looks at himself, what does he see?
He sees himself, Sam Beckett - unless he looks into a mirror. Then he
sees the leapee.
3. Can Sam die during a leap?
According to Don Bellisario, yes he can.
4. Why could Sam see when he "replaced"
a blind man? Would he be able to hear as a deaf person? In other
words, is it Sam's mind that's leaping, or his body?
Sam is physically leaping through time, his mass being exchanged with
that of the leapee. Sam, not sharing the handicap, will not exhibit
it. Sam's entire body and soul trades places with the leapee, although
the physical aura stays around.
5. What does the leapee remember about his
experience after he returns?
This is also not known. The only time we've seen this occur was in the
episode "Double Identity," where Sam leaped to replace another body
and the original host returned. He APPEARED to have no memory of
anything after he was leaped into. It has been stated that the leapee,
while in Sam's body back in the Waiting Room, has a 'swiss-cheesed'
memory, much like Sam received upon his initial leap. Because of the
ultramodern hospital-like atmosphere of the waiting room, many of the
leapees believe they have been abducted by aliens. Deborah Pratt says
that as the leapees return, they pick up some of Sam's memories of
what happened, but they believe the events happened to them.
6. There is no number 6.
[This is a net.Leapers "in joke" that started on Monty Python's Flying
Circus.]
7. Can anyone see Sam as Sam, rather than as the
Leapee? Can anyone other than Sam see Al?
Small children, the "mentally absent", animals and people near death
can see him [And pretty blondes with very low IQs, if Dean Stockwell
got his way :-)]. Al has explained that children and animals see
things as they really are because they exist in a natural alpha state.
Also, if a person's brainwaves were sufficiently in tune with Sam's,
that person would be able to see and hear Al too.
8. Why can't Sam Leap back beyond his own
lifetime? (Or, why can't he leap into the far past?)
This is all part of Sam Beckett's String Theory. A person's lifetime
is like a string - one end of the string is one's birth, the other
end, one's death. Tie the ends together and ball up the string, and
all the days of one's life touch all the other days of one's life. If
one can loose one's self from the string, one can Quantum Leap from
one day to the any other. On one occasion (so far), Sam was able to
leap back to a time before the date of his birth due to an accident
that occurred during a leap out in the middle of a thunderstorm. Al
and Sam leaped together and wound up trading places, Al in the past,
Sam in the future. This "simo-leap" caused an exchange of subatomic
matter between Al and Sam allowing Sam to leap back into Al in the
year 1945. It isn't known at this time if this exchange of matter will
be permanent (therefore allowing Sam to leap even further back) or if
it was cleared up when Sam leaped back.
9. What would happen if Sam failed to do what he
was there to do?
Again, nobody knows. One theory that we have was that he would be
trapped in the past forever, replacing the host. This, however, is
doubtful. Another theory that we have had was that he would leap into
another's life to attempt again to fix "that which has gone wrong".
10.How is it that when Sam leaps into a leapee
who is shorter/smaller than he is, people around him don't notice a
difference in size?
I belive it is a question of topology. I'm not very good at it, but
consider the following argument. The QL maps everything from a
different time into a frame of reference relative to Sam. (And vice
versa for the host.) Sam doesn't see what really happens, but rather
what happens relative to his host. [Doug van der Veen]
11. Has Sam ever leapt outside the United States?
Into foreign nationals?
Sam has leapt outside the United States a total of 7 times:
[Finifter]
12. I read the QL Primer and I understand the
concept of time strings with the parts of the string touching other
times, and how the rule is that Sam can only leap to times that occur
during his own life-time. My question is, why can't Sam leap into the
future? By the future, I mean that period of time between the first
leap and Sam's death.
Sam's leaping into post-'90s time would seem to fit within the
definition of "his own lifetime," since one's birth as well as death
would constitute one's entire lifetime. This was stated as much in
"Genesis" ("One end of this string represents your birth; the other
end, your death. You tie the ends together, and your life is a loop.
Ball the loop...and the days of your life touch each other out of
sequence. Therefore, leaping from one point in the string to
another--" "Would move you back and forth within your own lifetime.").
[Kwong]
13. Who are the "evil leapers"?
We first see Alia and Zoey in the fifth-season episode "Deliver Us
From Evil" and later in "Return" and "Revenge." Apparently they have a
means of leaping which contains notable parallels to PQL--including a
holographic chamber, handlink, holding area, and a controlling
computer named Lothos--and in fact seem to act as something of a
counterpart. Beyond the fact that they clearly do not have Sam's good
intentions where leaps are concerned, not much more is known about
them. (See also SP#2.) [Kwong]
14. How much time passes between leaps?
Time between the leaps is instantaneous for Sam. For those back at
PQL, the gap seems to vary. We've heard mention of gaps as long as six
days, and were even once treated to the sight of an instantaneous leap
in from the point-of-view of the Waiting Room. It would appear that
the lengths of the between-leap gaps for the PQL staff are random.
[Kwong]
15. Does time pass differently at PQL than it
does for Sam?
We've never seen an indication that it does. At most, there is a time
difference resulting from, say, Sam leaping into Smallville at 9am
while back at the Project it's 11:30pm...the kind of difference one
would get when trying to place a long-distance call to someone in
another time zone. There is no indication that an hour's length for
Sam is not the same as an hour's length for the PQL staff. [Kwong]
16.When is Al's "present"? Or rather, in what
year did Sam start leaping?
Through various little hints and clues, the date of Sam's first leap
has been determined to be 1995 (seven years after our present,
since Quantum Leap premiered in the spring of 1989). This date was
confirmed in the fifth season episode, "Killin' Time." Al's "present"
tended to jump around a bit during the course of the series. Through
arithmetic or direct statements, it was 1997 in the third season
finale, then 1999 for the fourth season opener. Then in the fifth
season opener, the date was given as a few months *before* the fourth
season opener, with references to events from the fourth
season. [Finifter]
17. When Al looks at Sam, what does he see?
Al sees the leapee, initially. In the episode entitled "What Price,
Gloria", Al was out of control at seeing Sam as the gorgeous
secretary. Al probably recognizes Sam because they are linked through
their brainwave transmissions, which is what is used by the project to
locate Sam in time.
18. Who is in the "Waiting Room"? What does it
look like?
The leapee. To everyone at the Project (with the possible exception of
Al (see #2), the leapee looks like Sam. The waiting room has been
described by Don Bellisario as being a sterile, hospital-like room
where the leapee is examined by the Project's medical staff. We've
seen it a few times and it's big and blue, and located at the end of
an isolated ocrridor. Once we got to see (and HEAR) the leapee when
she entered the imaging chamber with Al, and she looked to us like the
image Sam saw in the mirror. This is probably due to the same
mechanism that allows us to see Sam as Sam [Bellisario's rules :)].
19. What is the Imaging Chamber?
This is the only place where Al can go to talk to Sam. Its
construction allows a holographic image of Al to be generated for
transmission into Sam's optic and otic neurons in the past, and for
Sam and his surrounding images to be projected onto Al's neurons.
Speculation (and a quote from Don) has it that this is a very large
and cavernous room judging from the amount of walking Al can do
without bumping into walls and the sound of the door as it slides
open and closed.
We've seen it once, and it is large and blue, similar to the
Waiting Room. [Finifter]
Since Al is a hologram, the fact that he seems to be able to walk up
and down stairs in several episodes is probably a script glitch. [Kwong]
20. Can anyone else at the project go into the
Imaging Chamber and see Sam?
Only when Al is touching an object will it be visible to Sam (and us).
In more than one episode, Al brought an object into the Imaging
Chamber for Sam to see (this is beyond Al's clothing, cigar and
handlink). Skin to skin contact must be needed for another person to
be seen in the Imaging Chamber. Dr. Beeks, by holding Al's hand was
seen by Sam [and us :)]. In one other episode (Killin' Time), a quick
jury-rigging job by Ziggy enabled Gooshie (see question 19) to contact
Sam via the hologram/brain-wave process, but the image broke up a lot.
(see SP#4, SP#13)
21. How does Ziggy know so much about people's
lives in the past?
Ziggy is hooked up to every major database of the late '90s. It's
amazing, when you think about it, just how much is REALLY known about
you that is stored on computers.
22. Who is this "Gooshie" that Al keeps talking to?
Gooshie is Ziggy's programmer, a short guy with bad breath. We used to
see him very briefly in profile wearing a headset in the opening title
sequence as Sam is leaping out and in the pilot and the episodes "The
Leap Back," "Killin' Time," and "Mirror Image." He was played by the
late Dennis Wolfberg.
23. If Al is a hologram, why does he cast
shadows?
The shadows are holograms, too, and are generated and projected by
Ziggy as part of the process, of course. [Sally Smith]
24. Since Al is a hologram, we always see the
neat effects of cars driving right through him, etc, so how can he sit
in the car and travel within it too?
Well, when Al appears to be riding in the car, what's actually
happening is that he's merely placed his image within the car and set
it (his image) to track along with Sam's traveling. This same
technique also allows him to track alongside the outside of moving
vehicles as well. I'd assume that he's standing the entire time he's
"riding," which also accounts for why he often seems to be facing a
different direction than one normally would while riding in a vehicle
(i.e. straight ahead). [Kwong]
25. Why is Ziggy sometimes referred to as "he"
and at other times "she"?
What follows is a segment of an interview with Donald Bellisario that
describes why and when Ziggy moved from being a 'he' to a 'she'. The
transcript has been moved around a bit so that it makes sense in this
context.
26. How is the Head Programmer's name spelled?
What about Donna's last name?
Dennis Wolfberg's character is spelled "Gooshie" in "Genesis," and
"Gushie" in "The Leap Back" (all other appearances list Dennis in
the beginning credits, rather than by character name). This was
probably due to an oversight. The official spelling is not known.
[Kwong]
27. Who is this Sally Smith person and why does
she know so much about the behind the scenes goings-on of Belisarius
Productions? Why is she called "Lucky Bitch"?
Hey, that's TWO questions! Sally Smith is our own "Set Elf", otherwise
known to the less fortunate of us as the "Lucky Bitch" who resides
somewhere in the Bay Area of California. Through some kind of divine
providence, she has been granted the blessing of frequent visits to
the set of Quantum Leap where she communes with the shining lights of
Leapdom and imparts her learnings unto the less fortunate of us on the
net (this is where the "Lucky Bitch" comes from). This blessing comes
with a price however, in the form of air fare, gasoline and phone
bills that when combined, resemble the national debt. This price she
pays gladly so that she may share her visits and info with us both on
the net and formerly in her mailing list. Unfortunately for all of us,
the frequency of her visits have been greatly reduced due to a new
studio policy that restricts visits to the sets in their domain.
[!@#$%^& legal nozzles. Sally Smith]
28. What about other inconsistencies that I've
noticed in QL?
"Don't investigate this too closely." --Don Bellisario, 3/17/90
29. What are "Leapheads"?
There is no such creature as a Leaphead. This is a word coined by a
NBC employee referring to a Leaper, which is a Quantum Leap fan.
"Leaper" is the preferred term, used by the fans themselves and the
cast and crew of Quantum Leap when speaking about the fans. The
prevailing attitude is, "if 'Leaper' is good enough for Don Bellisario
and company, it's good enough for us".
30. So what's the story with that episode titled
"The B**giem*n" and why do Leapers refuse to mention it by
name?
[Episode title edited for net.safety] This episode first aired near
Halloween 1990, and from the first time it aired, weird events have
been associated with this episode. As an example, this episode seems
to have the highest incidence of VCR/cable/local station failure than
any other episode aired. There have been numerous reports of VCRs
cutting out during the taping of this episode, local stations and
cable companies dropping their signal. Even mentioning it by name is
hazardous, as one net.Leaper can attest. This hapless individual (who
knew better) was bandying about the name of this episode. He lost his
job AND his net.access. Its mention has been known to cause power
failures and auto breakdowns, so it's best to just refer to it as "The
Halloween Episode". Leapers everywhere will know of what you speak. By
the way, cameras and recording equipment also tend to act strangely
around Chris Ruppenthal, the writer of this episode. Since it aired,
his nickname has been "Ruppenboogie". He _is_ kind enough not to say
the title of the episode around the fans, though director Joe
Napolitano does. Mention of all this merely causes Chris to laugh
evilly.
31. I remember watching a time travel show in the
60's, Time Tunnel. Anyone else remember it?
Ah yes, Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel. This was a show about a secret
government funded time travel experiment in which a young researcher
sends himself back in time in an effort to prevent the project's
funding from being cut. This, the two men travelling through time, and
the efforts to retrieve them are the only things this show has in
common with Quantum Leap (which only has ONE man travelling through
time, his companion is firmly rooted in the future, but I digress). In
the Time Tunnel, time travellers Anthony Newman and Doug Phillips
unfailingly arrived at historical events and desperately tried to
influence events based on their knowledge of the outcome. They always
failed. This is a show where the time travellers would find themselves
at the Roman coliseum one week, and in Napoleon's army the next, THEN
tripping to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is drastic time changes
like this that Don Bellisario wanted to avoid when he imposed the
'within his own lifetime' rule. He felt the huge differences in time
settings were distracting and unrealistic. :-)
32. Isn't Quantum Leap just like that other time
travel show, Voyagers?
Phineas Bogg with the assistance of companion Jeffrey Jones are time
travellers who find themselves trying to fix history, or to 'put
things right' when 'people become displaced in time and find
themselves a half-step away from a totally different destiny' [Harry
and Wally]. In one episode, Franklin D. Roosevelt became a movie
director and it was up to Phineas and Jeffrey to set him on the right
course to the presidency of the United States. This is another show
that would find its heroes travelling to far-flung places and times, a
plot device that Don Bellisario wanted to avoid.
33. Is Scott Bakula really as nice as he seems to be?
Yes, yes a thousand times yes. A perfect example of just how nice,
patient, hardworking and DECENT this man is is his appearance at the
QL screening for the fans in LA back on February 25, 1991. He had put
in a hard day on the set working on the episode "Last Dance Before an
Execution", a very emotionally intense, exhausting episode when he had
to appear at the screening to answer questions (with the BGU, Deborah
Pratt and Dean) and to meet the fans. He was pleasant and open with
the fans, even joking with people and accepting small gifts and hugs
with aplomb. Afterward, he was mobbed by (literally!) hundreds of
mostly female fans who requested his autograph and their picture taken
with him. He spoke to each person and smiled for the cameras. He is
truly a sweet, gracious person, traits which are shared by the rest of
the people associated with this production.
34. Does Scott Bakula do his own singing on the show?
You betcha. Scott is an accomplished singer (1988 Tony nomination for
"Romance/Romance"), pianist (see "Blind Faith"), songwriter (he wrote
the lyrics to the song "Somewhere in the Night" from "Piano Man"),
dancer, and all-around athlete. Let's put it this way -- if you think
Scott's doing it (and it's not wildly dangerous) -- it's him.
35. What are these abbreviations you people keep using?
Whoops, sorry! GTF means "God, Time, or Fate" -- whatever "unknown
force" is leaping Sam around. BGU (coined by Warren J. Madden) stands
for "Big Guy Upstairs", and depending on context, that either means
GTF or Don Bellisario.
36. What's the significance of the word "height"?
This was mentioned on E!'s Behind the Scenes on QL as being an in-joke
among the QL cast and crew: whenever the word "height" is mentioned,
all those within earshot repeat it. [Kwong]
37. What members of the QL staff and crew have
appeared in the show?
38. Wasn't the guy who played Al the bartender in
the last episode the same actor who played Weird Ernie in the first
episode?
Yes, that was indeed Bruce McGill who played both parts. It is
interesting that his part in "Genesis" was not alluded to in "Mirror
Image" as were many of the other recurring characters. Bruce McGill
also appeared in several episodes of another Belliario production,
"Tales of the Gold Monkey". [Bellucci]
39. Are there Quantum Leap conventions?
The first annual Quantum Leap convention was held in (??)
over Leap weekend, February 1992, along with Dean Stockwell's star
ceremony (Hollywood Walk of Fame). The Con has been held at around
the same time each year since then. Dean and Scott have shown up
(officially and unofficially) so far each time. [Kwong]
40. Who do I write to get a Quantum Leap movie?
And how can I write to the cast and crew now?
That's two questions again, but they're good ones. :-)
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
c/o Jay D. Schwartz
Sutton, Saltxman, and Schwartz
8967 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
41. How long did QL originally run?
QL ran from March 26, 1989 to May 5, 1993, on NBC...for five seasons
and a total of 95 episodes. [Kwong]