Quantum Leap

"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor 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 Doctor 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."

Quantum Leap is one of my all time favourite television shows. 

I'm a big sci-fi fan and my favourite area is time travel. Love time travel stories, they fascinate me and I first came across this show in my teens. Running for five seasons from 1989-1993 (it ended in 1994 over here though, I remember) it featured a scientist from 1999, Sam Beckett, who bounced around through time fixing things. He would leap into a body, fix something wrong which would normally involve someone going missing or dying in order to leap back out and into someone new. He would have the 'physical aura' of the person (looking just like them so no-one would notice the swap) and arrive standing in their clothes in some odd situation. It was heavy on nostalgia and love of Americana. Sam was a top scientist but also grew up on a farm in a small town, could kick ass and had a number of useful skills he would somehow be reminded off on his mission. 

Sam's time travel had a limit though and it was a lovely detail. He could only travel during his own lifetime: 1953 - 1999 although they did tweak it a little so he could visit other time periods such as leaping along his own DNA strand back to the American civil war. Part of the reason it worked so well was the chemistry between Scott Bakula (Sam) and Dean Stockwell (his holographic adviser, Al). The final episode, Mirror Image, was a headscratcher but it was an ambitious idea and one that has never left my mind. Sam leaps into a bar on the exact moment of his birth. The bar is populated by many of the show's actors with lots of references to past episodes and a God-like barman also called Al. Sam fixes a wrong for his friend Al leaps on his way at the end and we are left with one of the saddest sentences in all of science fiction: Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home. 

So, why am I going into all this? Well Sam may have predominately leapt into young white men but he leapt into a wide range of people and even a monkey so of course there were some episodes he became a woman. I think my mum used to watch it too but I was intrigued by an episode description which said that Sam leapt into the body of a young black singer, (A Song for the Soul) and even caught the last few moments of the previous episode in which we saw a snippet of the leap in, an ingenious TV hook (in more ways than one I guess). I had never seen it before but the next week I tuned in. I watched it up in my room, it felt so illicit like I was indulging in a fetishistic pleasure which I suppose I was to some extent. I loved it though. I've seen the whole series through quite a few times now and its also given me a new appreciation of the actors in supporting role who perfectly sold the idea that this thirty something hunk was really a 10 year old boy or a teenage girl or a pensioner or various other personas. Favourite epsiodes include Good Morning Peoria, All-American, The Camikazi Kid and Stand-Up. Ultimately, its a very uplifting and enjoyable show. 

I thought I would do a quick round-up of Sam's female adventures on here relying on my sketchy memory...but then I have the DVDs so I could just as well re-watch them and do them individually. Not sure how frequently this will be I think there's around 10. 

Anyway, I look forward to it. The first should be up soon.