Quantum Leap #7: Liberation

 Liberation

(16 October 1968)

Sam is...Margaret Sanders, protesting parent

The Mission...Stop women's liberation protester Diana St. Cloud being shot and keep Margaret's marriage together whilst trying to open up her husband George's eyes to the inequality faced by women. 

This is another episode I fondly remember watching while growing up and it's another example of Quantum Leap tackling a big social issue. We open on Sam leaping into a protest and I love the way of Sam seeing his new host body in this one by him suddenly being handed a photograph (and one that will come back to haunt him). After some heckling the police break up the protest and everyone is hauled off to jail. 

It's here that things get a little muddy plot wise as it's Sam standing up to the aggressive police chief Tipton (Stephen Mills) that inspires protest leader Diana (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) to pursue more violent means of getting her message across. So much so that Sam's mission becomes the prevention of her shooting but in that case what was the original history? Did Diana originally reach that conclusion herself following her assault by Tipton in the cell? With a violent father in her past surely it was only a matter of time before she decided to take a more violent approach. Could this be a self fulfilling prophecy in that Sam had to leap in to set in motion the actions that he himself had to counter? It's certainly one of the messier situations he's been in. 

The final showdown takes place at at gentlemen's club in which the women's libbers stage a sit -in...except they don't sit and it's one of the most unpassionate protests ever committed to film. Margaret's daughter Suzi (Megyn Price) heroically saves Chief Tipton from being shot by Diana despite putting his life in danger in the first place by handing Diana the gun that she had bought. Sam gives a typical QL speech about the virtues of using the law to change things. To sit and talk instead of using violence. The ending to this scene is particularly interesting as Diana is led away by police still ranting and Suzi has regrets ever following her and it's at this point a lesser production would have faded to black but Sam takes Suzi aside and convinces her that there was nothing wrong with Diana's views, just her actions. In fact, following her release from jail, we learn that she still played a big part in the movement. 

The other plotline here is with Margaret's husband George (Max Gail) who is a more sympathetic figure than you would expect. He could have been made a misogynistic, bully of a man that Margaret and the kids would be well shot of but instead he's kind and caring (in his own way) but, like Sam, a man out of time. As Al points out, he was brought up a certain way and it's going to take a lot to change his whole way of thinking but there are signs that he is starting to understand. One of the ways he does so is with a little nudge from Sam as two people vie for a promotion at his office - Tipton's son Peter (Bill Calvert) and Evy (Jordan Baker). Evy, despite having seniority, is afraid to put herself forward due to looking bossy but she impresses George with her ideas after a chat with Sam. After this latest rewatch  there was an exchange from the dinner party that I rather enjoyed as Peter bemoans that his wife Dora (Mary Elizabeth Murphy) bought a set of encyclopaedias missing three volumes. "I don't need to know everything" she quips back. It's played a little ditzily but could be a nice zinger if spat back in the manner of either comedies today or the fast moving ones of the 1940s. I could certainly imagine Joey from Friends saying it. 

There are the usual jokes about Sam wearing women's clothes and never wanting to see a bra again after he burns his and he leaps out during an uncomfortable kiss from George which has potential for looking homophobic today but then the idea of kissing someone, male or female, you don't want to is a comedy trope. Al is also quite cringingly sexist when he first shows up in the prison cell. 

Overall I still like this story. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell are as good as always with Sam being as harassed as ever trying to keep a number of plates spinning and makes a decent fist of trying to explain the issues of the time and societal changes from a suburban perspective. There are a couple of plot niggles as explained above plus the sit-in protest at the club is conveniently explained to George like it was common knowledge and also how did Suzi escape her locked room? 

As I write this, the long awaited reboot of Quantum Leap is set to air on the 19th September 2022 (the same day as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II which is quite the juxtaposition for you) so there may yet be more episodes for me to comment on rather than the two I have left. although it has taken me nearly a year to sit down and do this after writing initial notes last November. We know from the trailers that the new leaper, Dr Ben Song, will definitely be leaping into a woman at some point, in particular a 1980s rock star, and it will be interesting to see how much of a Trans angle is put on things. There are elements in the original series which certainly felt like it could be further explored. 

Ms Marvel

Once again where Marvel goes, I follow. As Ms Marvel has presently landed on Disney + and is doing well I thought I would put up a couple of themed captions. Unfortunately I don't have the names of either cosplayer.  

This one was created for Jeannie over at Rachel's Haven and uses one of my favourite concepts - Secret Cosplay. The premise being that a person receives an envelope with a cosplay choice on they must dress as for a local convention and if they dare ignore it then the choice will be fulfilled whether they like it or not. I seem to remember creating as a way to get some quick capbacks done with a common concept I could use without doing the same thing over and over again. I have varied it and there are quite a few captions and characters I've used it with now. This one is more the classic Carol Danvers version of the character though rather than the Kamala Khan version from the TV show. 

Secret Cosplay: Ms Marvel (2018)

This second caption was created for Jay Seaver over at Rachel's Haven and was inspired by the then recent Captain Marvel movie and riffs on a more conventional bodyswap scenario.

Marvel-ous Cosplay (2019)

Check-Up #16

It's not often that I dream about gender change but it happened last night. I'm sure it must have happened before but I don't recall right now. It was an odd dream and from what I remember I wasn't the only one doing it but I had to switch bodies with a friend (who I think may have been an old flame). The swap worked and I remember feeling so much joy and excitement at being in a female body - however it wasn't long before I worked out that the swap hadn't actually worked and that I still had male genitalia which was disappointing. I woke up shortly after. I've since looked up the dream and it has a number of meanings and like a lot of dreams many more than you may actually think. The main one here is that there are parts of myself or feelings that are fighting to get out. 

It has been quite an interesting month though all told. I had a few days off and went to some events. On Halloween I went to a party as an old favourite go-to costume of mine which was a vampire cheerleader. Although not quite bold enough to travel by train in costume, a few drinks at a party and I ended up travelling back in it which meant a few minutes walking through a town I had never been to before plus an hour and a half on two trains to get back home. 

Earlier that day I had been able to complete a cosplay I had been sort-of planning. As you know I love Clara Oswald's outfits in Doctor Who and I found out through a costuming website that the dress she wore in the 2015 two part story Under the Lake/Before the Flood is available through Miss Patina. I ordered one and, despite it being a little tight (unfortunately there was no bigger size) I was happy with it. I'm also now getting emails about offers from the Miss Patina website which I love because they have some very cute clothes. Anyway the only other thing I needed to complete the costume was a mustard top. There are also some tights and boots but they're generic enough for me to get by with what I have although I do wonder whether the tights are navy or black. Anyway I managed to get a top in a charity shop and it looks so good. I'm stupidly excited about this look and wearing it in the future to a convention. 

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman in a 2015 BBC publicity photograph for the
Doctor Who two part story Under the Lake and Before the Flood

Over the last year or so I have gone back and forth with cosplay and whether I want to still do it including whether my age precludes playing younger characters. I have concerns about whether I'm good enough and whether I will still have the same group of friends still to enjoy it with. I guess I have fears of being left behind while others move on with their lives. Saying that, cosplay still remains an interest for me and I've still been trying to put various outfits together over the last year. Anyway, last week I went to the Destination Star Trek convention and really enjoyed myself despite the fact that a new cosplay I had ordered ( a blue TNG era uniform dress) was delivered the very day I went to the convention. Still there's always next year. I had a good time with my friends though and even had some nice photos taken. 

A couple of other things I would note as well is that I bought a purple top with some black flowers on and wore it to an event in London coupled with some purple tights, black skirt, cardie and boots which is the first time I've been to an event dressed for over a year. The boots are the same I wear for my Star Trek cosplay and there's definitely something about wearing them and hearing the tapping of the heels as you walk down the street. Other than that I missed out on two quite similar dresses recently. One I saw in a charity shop, left it for a week and it was gone when it came back but I did see one with a similar patten yesterday...just as it was being bought by someone else. Oh well. Every so often I do think about asking work if I can dress while I'm in the office but it just seems to be so ingrained in me, perhaps with age, that it's silly to even ask. Still, you never know. 

Christmas Morning

I was going to work up a caption featuring a topic I've been interested in recently (namely adults pretending to be teens but no-one noticing) but I didn't have time in the end so I've done it as a short scene. It's a bit rough but I hope you like. 

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"Breakfast is on the table now! Anyone not here in five minutes will meet a very well fed cat!" I shouted to the family upstairs. I'm not sure if mum would have said the same thing but since I'm driving now, I think I'm entitled to go off book every now and again. 

One by one all three came downstairs. Although they looked the same to the outside world, to me things still looked askew. I only hoped the effect didn't last long or that I would find a way to reverse it.  Either way, this was going to be the strangest Christmas the Davis family ever had. We were a tight knit unit: mother, father and two teenagers, a boy and a girl, but, as I said, things were a little more askew this year and it was like we had all been knocked to the left a little. I had prepared a special breakfast for Christmas Day, some reindeer shaped pancakes with some sausages and eggs, and I hoped not only would they like it but they would not suspect my cooking knowledge was minimal at best. I was the mother of the house, you see, a kind and dutiful housewife, dressed in a very festive red dress, black tights and tinsel earrings. A comical pair of antlers adorned my head and I was wearing a special apron with Santa on. Nobody would think it unusual to look in on us now that a 17 year old boy was the mother of the house. Somehow they would think that my tall, gangly frame, short brown hair and scattering of acne was not that odd for a housewife in her early 40s.

"Sausages from Tesco again?" my husband asked while chewing. "Yes, I got some new ones with apple in. I thought you would like them," I replied. "Well I do, very nice," came the response. This took me aback a little as I had never known my 16 year old sister to be pleased about much, certainly not in the last few years, but now to all intents and purposes she was my husband. Her blonde hair was somewhat shorter than usual and she was dressed in an old white t-shirt, striped shorts and a blue dressing gown but she was still my sister. My dad's clothes fit her perfectly, as did all of ours, only she wasn't aware of the change. That burden was on my shoulders alone, eye of the storm I guess as I was the one that caused this, and I'm not sure if I would rather live in ignorance. I know what you're thinking and, yes, I tried to avoid all forms of contact with her. I had a few 'headaches' over the past couple of days. She still seemed like my dad though from the way he would slump in front of the news every night with a glass of beer to the dirty jokes I heard occasionally heard him say to his friends on the phone. This time though it was the disapproving looks of his wife rather than his giggling son that heard them. 

My mum was the biggest surprise of all. I knew it would be weird dealing with myself, essentially, but I never knew how weird. She came to the table dressed in a Star Wars t-shirt, black shorts and a striped dressing gown, slumped into a seat and didn't speak two words to me other than to ask some syrup for the pancakes. Her body shape was still the same but her hair was shorter and a little spikier than before, less salon fresh, but still with some grey around the edges. Was that really how I acted? I didn't realise that before, well, you don't know how others look at you. If I manage to reverse this then I'm going to make some changes although I would much rather have my old life back today. My mum had to cook the dinner and basically plan Christmas whereas I only eat it and sit on my arse watching TV all day. 

"Kelly! Are you coming" I shouted upstairs. "Yes, in a minute, I'm talking to Kayla." The proper question would be when was 'she' not talking to Kayla. Those girls were never off the phone to each other. I say girls, by the way, but the part of Kelly was now given to my father. He came around the corner, about 6ft in height with long, greying hair but with the unshakable belief that he was a 16 year old girl. My dad was dressed in Kelly's usual night attire, a pink strappy top and booty shorts with lips branded on them and 'kiss-chase champ' on the front of the top, fluffy pink slippers and a pink dressing gown with hearts on. He drifted into his seat and turned his nose up at the food I offered and insisted on some cereal instead as he was 'staying away from fatty foods'. "Mum, can I go to Kayla's for dinner?," he asked, smiling at me. "No, dear," I replied firmly "It's Christmas and your grandparents are coming over so we are all eating here." "But that's not fair!" "Tough. You can go to Kayla's on Boxing Day," I said. "Daddy!" he protested. "Robert!" I added, remembering my mum's usual tactic of getting my dad on side. "Your mother's right, you can go to Kayla's tomorrow," my sister replied, the irony of her refusing her own request was not lost on me. "Yeah, my parents said tomorrow, total bummer," 'Kelly' complained with the phone clamped to his ear, twirling his hair around one finger "yeah, I know right. Face Time later, kay."

"What time's dinner today, Emma?" my sister suddenly said. "About half three," I replied, luckily I retained enough of my mum's cookery knowledge and recipe books to cobble together a competent Christmas dinner. "Oh good," she smiled "just enough time for me to wrap that little gift I got you". I sighed at the mention of her 'little gift' as that's what got us into this situation to begin with. When my dad got back from his last trip to Romania I saw him stow away a small orb under some socks in his drawer. Intrigued, I dug it out and that was when my mum called me downstairs for some help with the washing up and it was in that moment I wished to be a proper adult. The next morning I woke up in my my parents' bed clad in my mum's nightdress and no matter how much I searched for the orb I couldn't find it. Suddenly I thought, if my sister can actually find the orb then maybe we have a chance at changing back. After I put in the turkey, and peel the veg, oh and then there's the stuffing... 

Quantum Leap #6: A Song for the Soul

A Song for the Soul

(07 April 1963)

Sam is...Cheree Watkins, Supreme Singer 

The Mission...Ensure bandmate Lynelle Walters doesn't sign a contract with sleazy club owner Bobby Lee

This episode holds a special significance for me as it's one of the first Quantum Leap stories I ever saw and I was drawn in purely by my burgeoning love for crossdressing and bodyswapping back when I was a teenager. I can't remember if I saw a trailer for it or just read the description in the TV Times but it was clear that a man was going to be dressing up as a woman and I had to see it. 

The opening scene doesn't disappoint either as Sam leaps straight into a performance by aspiring girl band, The Dovettes, all clad in black strappy bin-bag-like dresses with beehive hairdos. The mission is a straightforward one for Sam as he has to stop bandmate Lynelle signing the contract with club owner Bobby Lee and also bring her father round to the idea of his daughter wanting to pursue a singing career. This is made easier by the fact that he moves in with them for a time as Cheree's parents are handily 'not at home' and that's the last we hear of them. This episode also gives Scott Bakula another chance to show off his wonderful singing voice. 

This is another example of an episode that would probably not be made in this day and age but yet would have seemed more progressive back in the early 1990s. It's admirable that while all but the regular cast (Bakula and Stockwell) are black, the optics of a white man acting the part of a black female teen would not be looked on so kindly. Saying that though, seeing said man dressed as a woman was a big thing for this teenager interested in exploring their gender identity. 

As ever, Scott Bakula puts in a wonderful performance especially portraying Sam's awkwardness in the initial 'leap in' singing scenes when he's one step behind the others. He does seem to shift into the role of a mother hen at times, trying to protect the other two girls when he should be trying to fit in and is a little patronising at times. Support is provided by Tamara Townsend as Lynelle and T'Keyah 'Crystal' Keymáh as Paula who play the rest of The Dovettes and are very believable teenagers. Townsend is the main focus as Lynelle and does a great job as well as showing off her marvellous singing voice. Harrison Page is Lynelle's preacher father and a pre-E.R Eriq La Salle appears as our villain Bobby Lee. While The Dovettes are a proto Supremes, there are shades of Ike and Tina Turner's relationship in Bobby and Lynelle's. There are some lovely 1960s fashions too in the dresses the girls wear especially the bright pink sparkly ones they don for their big performance at Bobby's club (which looks more like a café). 

There are a few issues. The overall plot feels a bit hackneyed but then Quantum Leap plots were usually quite simple missions. Sam initially seems to side with Lynelle's strict father who nearly hits her in one scene. Bobby seems to walk straight into Lynelle's house and up into her bedroom without much trouble so did he break in? You also wonder what may have happened to the girl band he had The Dovettes' pink dresses made for. The reason for Lynelle's mother's death isn't really clear and why are they so concerned about having her father hear her sing anyway when she sings in the church's gospel choir every week? 

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a real conclusion to the story, just a tearful father and daughter reunion which tells you that things are most likely going to be alright despite the fact they never have much of a discussion. Did Lynelle sign with Bobby Lee? Presumably she told him to take a running jump otherwise Sam wouldn't have left. We also learn nothing about what the future has in store for the characters which was always a nice coda to the episode for me. All in all, this is a middling episode of Quantum Leap but one which I will always remember. 

Quantum Leap #5: Raped

Raped

(20 June 1980)

Sam is...Katie McBain

The Mission...seek justice for Katie's rape

Before going into this I feel I should offer a little explantion partly because I haven't done one of these reviews since 2018 and the title of this one may make people wonder what the hell I'm writing about. Quantum Leap was a TV series that ran from 1989 to 1993 and featured scientist Dr Sam Beckett lost in time and jumping from body to body, decade to decade (mainly from the 1950s to the 1980s), doing good deeds so that he can move on and eventually get back to his own body in the space year 1999. Throughout his travels Sam leapt into a number of women which always meant actor Scott Bakula having to drag up and this intrigued the teenage me so I thought I would review all of Sam's female-based adventures within this blog. Other reviews can be found elsewhere on this blog; just click the Quantum Leap tag

This entry however I did have second thoughts about due to the subject matter. My reviews are often light hearted and this is a very dark subject however I did commit to doing these reviews and I wanted to see that through plus the original production team would have taken quite a risk in producing an episode with this subject matter and I didn't want to ignore that. Please stop reading now if the subject may cause offence or be a trigger.

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Throughout these reviews, we've seen Sam tackle various aspects of female life and this episode focuses more on the darker side. In some senses it feels like a companion to the earlier What Price, Gloria? with its sexual harrassment storyline. In the 21st century crime shows use the subject of rape regularly but in 1991 it was still quite taboo on TV so I dare say it was brave of the production team to run with the storyline especially considering you had a man in the lead role taking the place of the female victim but at least it has a female writer, Beverly Bridges. When I origianlly watched most of the series on BBC2 weekend mornings in the mid 1990s this one was omitted due to the subject matter and I only caught up with it later. This episode also has the distinction of being one of the rare episodes in which the 'mirror image' actor gets to do more than look just shocked and even has actual lines plus their name in the opening credits. Cheryl Pollack, who plays the real Katie, shines in the court scenes.  

Opening at a hospital in Mill Valley, California during the hours after the assault, Sam leaps in and vows to bring her attacker to justice. He has his usual quick grumble about becoming a woman but that is soon shelved once he learns that Katie has just been raped. On the face of it he has a straightforward mission especially as we know who the attacker is, local rich kid and Katie's ex Kevin Wentworth, alothough the story plays with the idea that sex may have taken place consensually with Katie crying rape later as she was known to be 'a tease'. Sam's friend and observer Al once again plays devils advocate in suggesting that Sam may be here to stop Kevin being convicted.This idea never really sticks though especially when the real Katie testifies in court. While Sam may have the courage to take on the small town mentality and Kevin's powerful family, he doesn't have all the facts of the case. It's here that the show's sci-fi element comes in handy as the real Katie is back in 1999 at Project Quantum Leap and with the help of Al she is able to appear in court and give her testimony while Sam, the only person who can hear her, parrots her speech. 

The fact that Kevin then goes free presents a bleaker ending however it seems a bit at odds with the plotline because Sam needs to complete his mission to leap out. The eventual ending does satisfy though as a freed Kevin tries to assault Katie again and gets a beating from Sam. We are given little information about what happened in the originl plotline apart from the fact that the McBains move away and presumably the rape would have weighed heavily over Katie's life perhaps causing serious problems. With this ending Kevin would presumably have been arrested for the later attack. His sort of entitled rich kid would doubtless have still been offending simply because he could get away with it had he not been brought to account by Sam. For all we know the rape of Katie McBain in 1980 may have been the first time so Sam was sent back to nip it in the bud. Earlier drafts of the script supposedly had Katie growing up to become a lawyer specialising in prosecuting rape cases. This would make a lot of sense as you could argue that without the trial, successful or not, putting her on that path a lot of criminals would go free. I also wonder if this story changed anything in Sam himself and his attitude to becoming a woman and I'll look out for that when revisiting subsequent episodes.   

It's also interesting that the epsiode is set in 1980. Quantum Leap by and large liked to stick around the 1950s and 1960s so setting an episode in the 1980s, a decade which had finished only two years previously, would be their equivelent of doing a modern day story. The show rarely showed the outside of the project and the world of 1999 and to good effect as nothing dates like a vision of the future and the later episode Killin' Time, which saw a killer leapee escape from the project, showed that. In fact the show had only just ventured into the 1980s with its previous episode, Permanent Wave which was set in 1983. The fashions and styles of the time are also quite muted so we doubtless get a better picture of the 1980s than the earlier decades. 

There isn't much of a supporting cast, mainly the detective Officer Shumway and Katie's lawyer ADA Nancy Hudson who help Katie and her family but they do well. Matthew Sheehan who plays Kevin keeps just right side of creepy to make you wonder if he did it (although there is never really that much doubt) before fully revealling his true self as he breaks into Katie's back garden by which time you really are glad to see Sam knock the stuffing out of him.  

Overall it's interesting to see such a tough subject being handled in this era of television and on a feelgood fantasy show such as this. You would certainly not be able to make it like this today which you could say of a number of Quantum Leap stories especally our next one in which we'll be taking a leap back to the 1960s to sing some soul songs. 

Quantum Leap #3: Miss Deep South

Miss Deep South

(07 June 1958)

Sam is...Darlene Monty (AKA Miss Sugar Belle), Southern Stunner.

The Mission: Find out why fellow beauty pageant contestant Connie Duncan disappears.

We now reach 'Beauty Pageant Contestant' in the big Quantum Leap checklist of feminine situations to put Sam into. The plot is quite a common one for this show, namely that Sam has to find out why/stop someone disappearing. Sam is a beauty pageant contestant and has to find out what happened to roommate Connie. In the end it turns out to be a sleazy photographer selling nudie photos of the contestants. 

Watching this again it reminded me of Sam's first foray into femininity in What Price Gloria. Sam is clearly hating being a woman again and going through the rigmarole of the contest with the parasol parade, swimsuit show and talent contest and it's a nice touch that he has to finish third in order to keep Darlene's life on track and thereby meaning he can't just ignore it. His relationship with Connie is reminiscent of Gloria too as the two share many nice moments together. Gloria was the stronger character and I think the actress was better but Connie is a different, more innocent person than the more independent Gloria. The time period is much the same as well with three years between both episodes settings and photographer Clifford, although sleazy, is a more low key performance than Buddy. 

Since we are now in the third season, Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell know their parts very well and Scott really shines in this episode with so many bits of physical business such as covering his face with his hand while talking to Al. Remarks are made on his masculine walking and grip and, again like Gloria, once he gets back into his room after his interview with Colonel Sanders, he immediately dispenses with the earrings and heels. There's a lovely reveal of him at the beginning of the episode too as he emerges from a bus and it dawns on him, thanks to a poodle skirt, that he's a woman again. There is of course also the Carmen Miranda outfit too and two great musical moments come out of this episode as Sam and Al perform Cuanto Le Gusta and later Sam give a great rendition of Great Balls of Fire. This show always made use of Scott Bakula's lovely singing voice and he's clearly loving it here and despite the character's reticence at entering a beauty contest he's overcome with genuine emotion at the end as it's revealed that he's won and it's lovely that he wishes his sister was there to see him win. 

Overall I liked it. It's not a favourite for me but still an enjoyable story. It comes at an interesting point in the series too. It's a comedy episode in between the chilling and a bit surreal Halloween story The Boogieman and racially charged Black On White On Fire. I have to wonder whether Sam would take his pageant teachings into his next lives and what the hell Darlene thought of 'her' performance of Great Balls of Fire. One minute she's on the bus to the contest and the next she's won it. There's a rather sober end for Connie too and we don't get the 'she became a famous actress' end but just the fact that she continued acting and led a good life. Quantum Leap often gave a rather low key end for its supporting characters, they may not make it but they would live a happy life. In the end, I guess that's what we all hope for.    

Quantum Leap #2: Another Mother

Another Mother 

(30 September 1981)

Sam is...Linda Bruckner, multitasking mother

The Mission: Save son Kevin Bruckner from running away from home and subsequently vanishing without a trace.  

This is another favourite episode for me and one I have watched a number of times.

We are still in season two and this story comes a mere nine episodes after What Price Gloria. We've done 'single girl in the city' so 'mother' is the next logical step. As such, we are over the whole "oh no I'm a woman" thing and struggles with heels and getting into the situation at hand. Sam looks a lot better in Linda's pirate-y blouse and long skirt than he did in Samantha Stormer's revealing dresses. I noticed Al's bizarre clothes a bit more this time with his tie with bites taken out of it and flurry of buttons on the collar. 

While Linda is dressing as a pirate, all the cool kids in 1981 are dressing as cowboys and cowgirls it seems. Speaking of which, up to this point 1981 was the furthest the show had ever travelled forward for a mission. I suppose it was like a present day Doctor Who episode, saves money on period detail at least. This episode also introduced the idea that kids could see Sam and Al because they exist in a natural alpha state and could not be lied to. "That's not mommy, that's a man," repeats younger daughter Teresa at the beginning, and no doubt to several psychiatrists in the years since. She's was played by Troian Bellisario daughter of producer Donald Bellisario and this episode's writer Deborah Pratt.  

Michael Stoyanov (whom I remember mainly from the early 1990's sitcom Blossom) plays Kevin well and has some of the most pop-culture laden lines pre-Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Somehow he's involved in Demons and Dragons, an odd Dungeons and Dragons game in which ranking is based on sexual encounters for some reason. When school hottie Jackie agrees to embarrass Kevin in front of his friends he is soon sent into the night and into the clutches of two mute perverts who we have seen heading towards the town in a beaten up van in various previous scenes. Al has a wonderful line in response to one of the Kevin's so-called friends, telling him he won't lose his own virginity until 6 years time although how he has this information to hand is another mystery. Sam gets the opportunity to kick ass in a long skirt ("Watch that knife, Sam. It could be sharp," is Al's helpful advice) and it's worth it to see the stunned look on Kevin's face when he stumbles out of the van to see his mother has beaten up his kidnappers. Their motivation is never explained but perhaps they don't need one beyond being generic dirty old men and providing someone for Sam to fight which he does so while Al reels off a list of all the fighting styles Sam handily knows. 

So, it seems a bit like an 80's teen sex comedy in places but there's a lovely dynamic with the kids, Kevin and his sister Susan bicker all the time but make up and Al's scenes with Teresa are lovely as she embraces the logic of the leap. Teresa also appears in a novel sequel Angels Unaware (1997) by L. Elizabeth Storm. Not only does Sam have a schedule to keep up with but there's some interesting moments as he finds he can't have a heart to heart with Kevin as he feels he can't relate to his mum. 

This story was less about Sam being a woman and more on his role as mother and it was all the better for it, the outfits he wore for it worked better too. 

That's not quite it for season two though as we also have a snippet of the finale M.I.A (01 April 1969) in which Sam leaps into it, at first sight, a hooker standing in an alleyway. This is a wonderful little fake out which appears in the credits but our crossdressing leaper is for once actually crossdressing and the figure in the big hair, red top and orange mini skirt is actually undercover cop Jake Rawlins. After leaping twice into a woman this season, you couldn't blame Sam for thinking otherwise. It's not the first crazy costume he wears this episode too. As a newbie detective he also finds his locker filled with frillies and once again he's delighted to see a pair of jeans. That's where the CD element ends but this is a lovely bittersweet story in which Al tries to get Sam to stop his first wife remarrying while he's MIA (missing in action) in the Vietnam war. Ironically, the next story after this sees Sam try to change his own past in season three opener, The Leap Home.

Next time we enter the world of the beauty contest...

Quantum Leap #1: What Price Gloria?

What Price Gloria? 

(16 October 1961)

Sam is: Samantha Stormer, sixties secretary. 

The Mission: to stop Sam's flatmate Gloria from committing suicide. 

This is perhaps the episode of Quantum Leap I have seen more than any other. I bought it on video back in the mists of time. They released episodes two to a tape and this shared it's space with The Americanization of Machiko in which Sam leapt into a sailor in 1953 bringing his Japanese war bride home to his small town. I've not seen it in years but still I was mouthing along with much of it, a sign of how well I know this episode. 

Surprisingly, they didn't have the idea of leaping Sam into a woman until season two and as the first one it tackles all the things you would expect such as complaints about the clothing women have to wear and rampant sexism. I've never seen Mad Men but this feels like it could be much the same world but instead of advertising, Sam is thrust into the world of the automobile. 

Scott Bakula puts in a wonderful performance as a grumpy Sam forced into heels and all kind of female activities and hating every minute of it especially after the elation of being called by his own name on a leap. He has some wonderful moments of physical comedy too especially when he's hobbling along in heels at the start. Dean Stockwell also has fun with Al who suddenly finds his best friend so attractive although I had to wonder how on Earth Al recognises Sam when he first leaps in. Indeed, the woman who plays Sam's mirror image (LaReine Chabut) probably had more to do here than any other mirror image in the whole series. I swear that one day I want to write an out of work actor character who's main claim to fame was appearing as the mirror image one week in Quantum Leap. 

Most men in this are the stereotypical letches but then the plot requires it I suppose but then I've also no idea how rampant sexism was in the 1960s. The supporting actors do well here especially the excitable Gloria (Jean Sagal) (who does seem to go suicidal a bit quickly) and the slimy Buddy (John Calvin) who feel like they're having fun and help you believe the conceit. The dinner scene was used in the opening credits and it really made me want to see this episode, Sam's cheeky eyebrow raise was also fun. Gloria is saved (I wonder if the girls had to pay for all that falling masonry? Hope no-one was under it) and ready to change her career. It's a lovely twist that goldigger Samantha turns out to have the talent while Gloria goes on to marry Parker, the man she met on the date. Sam's final seduction of Buddy is a little odd to watch but it's shot very well. In the end, it almost feels like a public information film about gender dysphoria. A pretty woman to the rest of the world, we see her as the man she really is protesting that she's wearing the wrong body and expected to behave as such. I have to wonder what Samantha came back to when she leapt back. An assault charge? Perhaps Buddy wouldn't want to admit he was knocked out by a girl so he was more than happy to shunt her and Gloria onto the design course. 

While looking at a couple of things on the net for this I realised that this is the one show I really don't want to know a lot about or read the usual torrent of bitchy posts. I would rather just leave as this wonderful little show from back in the 1990s. Not that it looks it though, the period detail is good and having a show set in the past ensures that it never looks that old. Samantha Stormer even makes brief return in the season three finale Shock Theater which, upon leaping into a mental patient in 1954, Sam is given electro shock treatment and starts thinking he is some of his previous personas. 

I wouldn't say this is my favourite but it's certainly memorable even if it is a bit on message at times plus once they got Sam's initial discomfort with swapping sex out of the way they were able to explore the subject better. 

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. 

25 Caps of Christmas 2013

I've started up this little capping advent calender again this year so if anyone reading is on Rachel's Haven and wants to contribute then please sign up. I'm sorry to say it looks a bit bare this year so I'm wondering whether this will be my last year of doing it.

25 Caps of Christmas 2013

Anyway, on a happier note, just like last year I'm going to give you all a taste of it by reposting my first caption here. So please welcome special guest star Lea Michelle from Glee!

Hope y'all like :)

Elf (2013)