Quantum Leap getting a reboot, What do you think?

[Messianni]

Ziggy was created by man... He evolved... He rebelled... And he has a plan!

I can't wait for the obligatory 9/11 episode.

You already know how they'd do that episode. In the "original" timeline, United 93 hit the White House. So Sam or whoever helps prevent it from happening.

Exactly. He would debate with himself and Al over letting it crash into the field or trying one last time to save the plane. He ends up having lept into the body of Todd "Let's Roll" Beamer, fights the hijackers and leaps just as the plane is about to hit the field.

 

[Tom]

Well at the end of QL it was implied that because Sam told Al's wife to wait for him that history was changed and AL was then never a part of the QL project and Sam was then leaping by himself without Al's help anymore. This is why Al/God said the leaps were going to get harder because Sam would lose Al and I guess therefor Ziggy also, making him have to figure out each leap all by himself. This may be why 'Sam never returned home' because 'home' would not be the same place he left it, do to him changing Al's destiny. Sam may have returned to his own time but it was never 'home' in the sense that it was changed and not the way he remembered it.

So based on the above, a continuation of the series could have Sam leaping with new people helping him as a result of Al never being on the QL project (thanks to Sam chaning his past) and other characters be involved instead.

 

[William Leisner]

I'd prefer to see a continuation than a reboot.

Sammie Jo Fuller, workin' at Project Quantum Leap, finds out from Al that Sam is her father, that he leaped and had an affect on her past. And now Sam is gone from the project.

In an attempt to find her father and return Sam back to his proper time, not realizin' what happened between Sam and Al/God, Sammie Jo becomes a leaper, who is assisted by Al, at first, and then, one of his own daughters takes over as an observer.

Ya give Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell special guest star status for a few episodes, and have a main cast of two, maybe three, regulars.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

The whole deal with Sam's daughter was a bit of cheese invented in the last season, and never played any significant part in the series as a whole. The beautiful thing about the idea of reviving QL is that it was always an episodic series, almost to the point of being an anthology, with individual, stand-alone that only rarely ever played into subsequent episodes. So a relaunched QL could just start from square one, with a brand new pair of characters with their own backgrounds and life experiences. There's absolutely no good reason to bog it all down with a one-time minor guest character and her daddy issues.

 

[FlyingLemons]

I remember the excitement here about when Sci-Fi first announced it was going to revive Quantum Leap with a TV movie called A Bold Leap Forward. It was meant to star Sam Beckett's daughter going and searching for him, and it was written by the guy who wrote I Know What You Did Last Summer. There was a lot of excitement among the board's Leap fans, and then it all fizzled out after a while.

Still, it was nice while it lasted...

 

[od0_ital]

We can do without another Dollhouse style super ninja action woman show.

Well, I wasn't thinkin' they should get Eliza to play Sammie Jo or anything.

The series established that both Sam & Al had daughters in the end, why not let the literal "next generation" take over the project?

I would just like to have something to watch before I lose all interest in TV completely. Inevitably, a show with two female leads is going to go all Joss Whedon on us. It'll turn out that Sam's daughter is a Krav Maga expert and she'll be beating up 250 pound guys within 10 minutes of the first episode.

Sam's abilities, intelligence, and talents weren't introduced 'til they were needed, and there was always a logical explanation.

Did anyone have a problem with a piano playin' genious with multiple doctorates who could also deliver a spinnin' karate kick? Was it easier to accept because the character was a man?

No doubt whoever replaces Gushie will be some stereotypical male nerd with no social skills who pines over one of them with no chance of ever getting anywhere.

Why not keep Gushie as Gushie?

If I was to write a list of the top ten male role models for boys in TV history, Sam Beckett would be very high up on that list. There really aren't any characters like him on TV anymore.

I can agree with that.

Dear God! Someone posted with foresight, innovation and intelligence! Well done!

Glad ya liked it.

Then you denied yourself a wonderful, heart-breaking experience.

Eh, not from what I read about the series as it progressed.

Nah, keep the show simple. Sam Becket traveling through time putting right what once went wrong. That's QL.

Sam's only goal was to get back home, whatever that meant to him.

Sammie Jo's goal would be to find her father, and, as a leaper, she'd be doin' the work of a leaper while searchin' for Sam through time.

Thusly, you have negated any credibility your opinion may have carried.

My opinion of the pilot episode was that it sucked out loud, then. Better?

Well at the end of QL it was implied that because Sam told Al's wife to wait for him that history was changed and AL was then never a part of the QL project and Sam was then leaping by himself without Al's help anymore. This is why Al/God said the leaps were going to get harder because Sam would lose Al and I guess therefor Ziggy also, making him have to figure out each leap all by himself. This may be why 'Sam never returned home' because 'home' would not be the same place he left it, do to him changing Al's destiny. Sam may have returned to his own time but it was never 'home' in the sense that it was changed and not the way he remembered it.

So based on the above, a continuation of the series could have Sam leaping with new people helping him as a result of Al never being on the QL project (thanks to Sam chaning his past) and other characters be involved instead.

You're forgettin' that for the last two leaps we saw, Sam was himself. He no longer had a body back at the project.

So, a continuation of the series would have Sam leapin' as himself - he'd have to get into people's lives without havin' the camoflauge of bein' someone they'd know, normally.

As for the changes to Al's timeline, thanks to Sam tellin' Beth to wait for her husband, its still possible that Al was at Project Star Bright, he and Sam still met, and the two would still have worked together at Project Quantum Leap.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Sorry.

The whole deal with Sam's daughter was a bit of cheese invented in the last season, and never played any significant part in the series as a whole. The beautiful thing about the idea of reviving QL is that it was always an episodic series, almost to the point of being an anthology, with individual, stand-alone that only rarely ever played into subsequent episodes. So a relaunched QL could just start from square one, with a brand new pair of characters with their own backgrounds and life experiences. There's absolutely no good reason to bog it all down with a one-time minor guest character and her daddy issues.

Sam had daddy issues, too. He openly wept talkin' to his dad on the phone in the pilot episode, and tried to save his dad's life by destroyin' cigarettes & tryin' to improve the dairy farmer's diet durin' Thanksgivin'.

Sammie Jo's reason for leapin' would be more noble than Sam's. He was tryin' to prove his project would work, forcin' the government to fund it after he was gone. She would be lookin' for one of the most brilliant minds of a generation.

Personally, I liked that Sam wound up havin' a daughter, and that they got to spend a bit of time together.

 

[Aragorn]

"Sam, Ziggy says there's a 98.95% probability you're here to make sure the TV series Firefly gets canceled. Apparently it's a monster hit that ran for nine seasons, and in the year 2087, aliens from the planet Ma'Altaire mistake it for our historical records and launch an attack on earth."

 

[Skywalker]

"Sam, Ziggy says there's a 98.95% probability you're here to make sure the TV series Firefly gets canceled. Apparently it's a monster hit that ran for nine seasons, and in the year 2087, aliens from the planet Ma'Altaire mistake it for our historical records and launch an attack on earth."

I wanna live in that world! I'd be dead by 2087 anyway!

 

[Nowhere Man]

Here's what I had in mind. I think Al would have to be gone since Sam altered his future, but someone would be there in the next leap, but Sam's swiss cheese brain would make his memory even worse and the guy who replaces Al would basicaly have to start over telling Sam about himself. This would all be explained in a narrative by Sam. That would be like an update then you go to 15 years later or however long it's been. In the series it was 1998, so it's 1 year after 2012 and some catatrophy has hapened. Sam is able to finally Leap home and now there is a team of Leaper's. I do think the goal should be " To put right what once went wrong" and Sam should be the good guy, but there should be some drama and a personal goal of finding Al and becoming friends with him. I wouldn't mind a full reboot , but I'd rather see a continuation. I think you all have great Idea's and of all the show's i've wanted to see come back QL is one i've wanted the most. Maybe this thread can do it.

 

[Hermiod]

Sam's abilities, intelligence, and talents weren't introduced 'til they were needed, and there was always a logical explanation.

Did anyone have a problem with a piano playin' genious with multiple doctorates who could also deliver a spinnin' karate kick? Was it easier to accept because the character was a man?

I had no problem with a 6'2" man with Scott Bakula's build beating up other similarly sized men, no.

Why not keep Gushie as Gushie?

Why not keep Sam as Sam ? Or Al as Al ? They'll frack with him, I promise you.

 

[od0_ital]

Why not keep Gushie as Gushie?

Why not keep Sam as Sam ? Or Al as Al ? They'll frack with him, I promise you.

I'm sayin' with my idea, Gushie could just stay as Gushie - I'm not thinkin' that a whole lot of time has passed between the original finale and my idea. So, Gushie, Tina, Verbeena & Ziggy would still be at the Project, with Sammie Jo leapin' & Al's oldest daughter as the observer.

 

[Checkmate]

I'm almost certain they'd go with a semi-reboot.

The main reason is simply because Bakula is getting a bit too old for all the physical demands of the role. And if you don't think there were too many demands, think about all the times he got into a fight, had to run, had to walk in high heels, or even had to pretend to be a chimpanzee. Sure they could write around that and make all of his leaps far more pedestrian, but that would sort of defeat the point of the basic concept.

I think what's going to end up happening is that Sam gets lost in time to the point where Ziggy and the rest of the team completely lose track of him. Al's disappearance from the show was covered by Sam's last leap in the series, so writing him out is all but done. With Sam lost and no one like Al to defend the project against the government's attempts to shut it down, the project is, in fact, shut down and locked away.

Years and years later, Sam's daughter discovers what happened to her father (possibly with Sam himself guiding her towards it during a particularly brutal leap involving the "evil leapers from the future"). Or maybe the US government discovers some other organization or government has begun working on a similar project (thus leading to said 'evil leapers") and tracks her down to head up the new project. However it comes about, she ends up following the same route her father did and winds up in the acceleration chamber and gets lost in time. The only difference is this time she does it to try to rescue or find her father rather than prove to the government that the project actually worked.

I think this is the way it's going to go down because it allows the new producers and writers a lot of options. It gives Syfy the doubtlessly coveted "hot chick" lead, it gives the writers a huge amount of leeway in writing story arcs, and it lets the show have both episodic and serial episodes with ease. All new graphics and technology, all new time travel rules (since it's a conituation/reinvention of the technology), etc. It also allows Bakula and anyone/everyone else from the original series the opportunity to show up for singular episodes or storylines, it still includes the "evil leapers," and it moves away from the heavy-handed "God is the one controlling everything" storyline that was bogging down the last season of the original series.

I really doubt a continuation is at all feasible. Especially as it was originally intended (with Sam leaping throughout all of time rather than within his own lifetime).

Just my two cents on the subject.

 

[firehawk12]

Wait a minute... so this rumoured thing is different from the thing a few years ago when it was supposed to feature Sam's daughter as the main character?

 

[Roshi]

Dear TPTB,

For future reference, make sure you acquire the music rights you're going to play in those episodes.

'kthksby

 

[Samurai8472]

I can't wait for the obligatory 9/11 episode.

Yeah, and he'll leap into a hijacker.

"Ziggy says there's a 100% chance your're here to crash into a Twin Tower. Oh, and your rules say we can't alter the past."

They'd have to seriously fuck with QL ideas and program rules.

Al- Sam! you gotta get to the cockpit NOW!

Sam-NO!

Or he leaps casually into a airline passenger.

Sam- Leaping in time has always been rough, but I think this leap will be relaxing

Guy Sitting next to him- We go for the stewardess

Sam-What?

*Other men stand up and shout orders*

No "Oh Boy" because it's a serious episode

 

[William Leisner]

Sam had daddy issues, too. He openly wept talkin' to his dad on the phone in the pilot episode, and tried to save his dad's life by destroyin' cigarettes & tryin' to improve the dairy farmer's diet durin' Thanksgivin'.

No, no, no, no, no, and no again. Sam did not have "daddy issues." Sam had a dead father. Sam was emotionally moved when, by happenstance, he crossed paths with his father, still alive. And when the opportunity presented itself, Sam used his 20/20 hindsight to urge his father to take better care of himself. Sam did not step into the Quantum Leap Accelerator with the intention of saving his daddy, as you're proposing.

Sammie Jo's reason for leapin' would be more noble than Sam's. He was tryin' to prove his project would work, forcin' the government to fund it after he was gone. She would be lookin' for one of the most brilliant minds of a generation.

I beg your pardon? Sammie Jo would be "noble" for seeking out "one of the most brilliant minds of a generation"... the same brilliant mind you just fucking excoriated for pursuing his brilliant scientific theories in the first place?? Jeez, most centrifuges don't make 360-degree turns that fast!

You know what's noble? People who set out to rescue strangers, people they don't know and who have no influence on their lives -- the kind of people Sam Beckett dealt with week after week. If the goal of the Leaper in the next QL is to bring the brilliant doctor home, that could be noble. If his or her goal is to set right what once went wrong, that could be noble. If the primary motivation is "I miss my daddy," that pretty much undercuts whatever nobility the character may have.

Personally, I liked that Sam wound up havin' a daughter, and that they got to spend a bit of time together.

Well, we all have favorite episodes. But that has nothing to do with what would work best in a new series, or what would bog it down with unnecessary backstory.

 

[TGTheodore]

Ooh .. and we can bet that it will be "darker and grittier" like all the "reimaginings".

--Ted

 

[TGTheodore]

I think what's going to end up happening is that Sam gets lost in time to the point where Ziggy and the rest of the team completely lose track of him. Al's disappearance from the show was covered by Sam's last leap in the series, so writing him out is all but done. With Sam lost and no one like Al to defend the project against the government's attempts to shut it down, the project is, in fact, shut down and locked away.

Years and years later, Sam's daughter discovers what happened to her father ... However it comes about, she ends up following the same route her father did and winds up in the acceleration chamber and gets lost in time. The only difference is this time she does it to try to rescue or find her father rather than prove to the government that the project actually worked.

LOL! That's almost spot-on my storyline for Escape from the Time Tunnel which I wrote 15 years ago, except it's Tony's illegitimate daughter who is, like her father, a genius (but with decades more of technology advancements to help her along). She gets the location of the installation from a dying Ray Swain, reactivates the Tunnel (with better hardware and software), and the search is on ...

And mine has closure for all the characters (within a two-hour TV-movie).

And some return home.

And some die.

And yes, I DO address what might happen if Doug and Tony's original clothing pop back on before they travel back.

--Ted

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

FWIW, there's no evidence that anything happened to Al (viz. his involvement with Project Quantum Leap) after the final episode. We don't *know* that Al was no longer part of it. Just because Sam saved Al's marriage, that doesn't mean anything. For all we know, Al and his entire family were all on the board of the Project. He may even still have been Sam's hologram. We just don't know. The closing captions sure didn't say anything about that.

 

[Nowhere Man]

FWIW, there's no evidence that anything happened to Al (viz. his involvement with Project Quantum Leap) after the final episode. We don't *know* that Al was no longer part of it. Just because Sam saved Al's marriage, that doesn't mean anything. For all we know, Al and his entire family were all on the board of the Project. He may even still have been Sam's hologram. We just don't know. The closing captions sure didn't say anything about that.

I definately agree that Al still would end up Admiral and could have ended up meeting Sam on the side of the road pretty much the same way, but with Beth instead of Tina, however I think TPTB would probably do away with Stockwell because of his age. It's plausible that Backula would return as an anchor, but more likeley that they will choose to do a full reboot. The thing I could never figure out is why Sam's wife never tried to help. She was just as smart as Sam. That could be another angle they could take. I'm sure at this point the QL project would be either abandonded or shut down, leaving Sam to fend for himself. I think one way to start a new series would be for some one like Gushi or Al to break into the facility and get back in touch with Sam. I'm sure Ziggy would still be left behind and the Gov. wouldn't alow that tech to fall into private hands. Theres definaely a lot of potential. The rules would have to be changed though as far as Sam traveling within his own lifetime. Come on Syfy please do this one, it's a perfecft time for it!

 

[-Brett-]

What do you think?

I think it'd be really nice if someone, somewhere could put some decent sci-fi on TV that wasn't a sequel, remake, spin-off, reboot, or reimagining.

Y'know, just for laughs. To see if it can be done.