Quantum Leap: Reboot,Reimagining or Continuation

[Checkmate]

The thing that made it somewhat silly was the thought of where did the evil leaper come from? Was some other project that just so happened to have the same exact idea , but instead thought that you had to do evil things in order to leap home. One way it could make sense is if the future was so messed up that they thought they needed to change things in order to make the future better. It would be interesting to see Alia and Sam run into each other and eventually go home together. sam's wife would have to leave eventually and the GOV. would lose interest too.

I always got the impression that they were from a near-future where an insane AI had taken over society, and was purposely trying to counter and thwart Sam's maneuverings in the past. Someone behind the scenes was manipulating the "evil leaper," threatening and punishing them if they didn't do what they were told.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I was always under the impression Sam's mind was why he could see and walk when the person he lept into couldn't. I never brought (or figured) he kept his body, mainly because others don't see his body.

I don't know if I'd want anything really, unless it were well done and not a total shit on the original series.

Random note: When I was younger, I found the opening theme creepy, the part where the camera is going closer to the shadowed/darkened person with fog all around them...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The evil leaper's computer (the counterpart of Ziggy) was named Lothos. I don't know, what's the significance of that name?

 

[scorpius1701]

I dont know how they would even do a 9/11 takeoff.
(Leap)
Terrorist: Allahu Akhbar!
Sam: Oh boy...

I actually thought the show had a perfect ending. Sam has all the time been subconsciously unable to stop trying to help people. Now that hes aware, he can leap home whenever he wants to, so he doesnt want to. The show ends with the viewer knowing that Sam is still out there, trying to help as many people as he can. Its sort of poetic. The ending comes with Al no longer being there to aid Sam. Perfect ending.

 

[Tom]

I wonder if something more could be done with the "Evil Leaper" concept though.

At some point farther in the future (maybe 10 years from "present day" or so) Project Quantum Leap ran out of funding, was shut down and subsequently taken over by some corrupt organization/government agency/corporation. They managed to develop the technology further. Now they're able to control the leaps to some extent. They can can more or less determine to which year someone leaps (although sometimes this still goes wrong) and they can bring their leapers back home. And they start to use the technology to change history for their own purposes.

Sam's (or an other lead character's) mission would be to thwart the "evil leapers" attempts to manipulate history. He would also try to change the timeline in a way that Project Quantum Leap is never taken over by the bad guys in the first place. To raise the stakes a bit, let's say that Al (or whatever the lead character's companion is) will be murdered by the bad guys when they take over the project ten years from "now". That's the "big" wrong he tries to right during the course of the show.

The Timecop series have a very similar plot where there were corrupt agents from the timecops future bumping heads with the hero when he went back in time and even in his present (that took place in 2005 I think, series was in 1995).

 

[extent]

I think a remade tv version would be utterly pointless (imo) as it wasnt exactly a show that relied too much on amazing sfx, and I think they would struggle to find actors that would really fit the main characters. What i liked about the original was that it didnt always take itself too seriously - had some good acting, but most of all there was a great deal of humor in there that kept it from getting stale. A movie remake would also be very difficult-they would have to fit at least 4 great related leap stories into less than 2 hrs that still kept the audience on their feet! I think they would be best to just show the originals back on some main tv channels If its ever remade, itll have to be more than just a carbon copy albeit with difference actors, itd definately need a personality of its own

 

[tharpdevenport]

Maybe it really is the Devil leaping people back to undue good things. But maybe he uses bad people who've sold their souls or are going to Hell -- that way he doesn't endow them with any real power, and they have real bodies to interact with the people on the physical world. The "Al" equlivent is a demonic soul. Essentially some Evil Leapers are good people gone astray -- maybe someone to help -- but some are bad, some even bad but pretending to be good, just to screw with Sam.

 

[KB24]

I seem to recall some really disliking the Evil Leaper storylines and the increased questions of God and Fate or whatnot controlling Sam's leaps. If you remove the ethical and big picture aspects of the show from the later two seasons, you end up with a lot of the stunt leaps like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. With these two options fizzling down the ratings, I suspect the only way to continue the original series would have been to scandalous add a new leaper in training or another doctor from the future interacting to bring Sam home. Perhaps then Sam could have been brought home and a new leaper begun.

As much as we can love to hate how the series ended, again I say it's damn fine television the way it is. I wish shows like this were still on the air. SyFy has dropped classic series, and TV Land has moved on. We need another classics channel!

I have the series on my netflix instant watch, but it was available on Hulu, too. Here's a link to my season reviews if anyone cares to read them

http://ithinkthereforeireview.blogspot.com/search/label/Quantum Leap

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Alia (the Evil Leaper herself) wasn't that big of a deal, but her hologram observer (Zoey) was a riot! Especially when Zoey was pissed off, which was pretty much all the time.

 

[extent]

I thought adding evil leaper stories was arguably a sure sign that the show was starting to run out of ideas. The whole point of the program was so sam would start each episode as someone new, with a whole new problem to get out of/"make right".. It couldnt change the main storyline, so trying to develop Sams own character was surely difficult when he kept 'jumping' as someone else. Another part of the problem was probably due to the show having differing writers for each episode anyway, but why should there have been character development anyway? It just wasnt that kind of show. Did anyone even stop to think as to why some nutcase scientist would even throw himself into a little tested time machine (Sam), and end up only having a non stop womaniser wannabe pimp (Al) as his only source of help? lol. It was still a great show, great fun to watch. Theres not many shows I can say the same about today

Im trying to think what actors today (in tv or movie) would be the closest fit to Sam and Al if the show was remade...

 

[Joy]

I've always thought that if they did a British version of QL, John Hannah would make a GREAT Al.

 

[Nick Ryder]

As much as we can love to hate how the series ended, again I say it's damn fine television the way it is. I wish shows like this were still on the air. SyFy has dropped classic series, and TV Land has moved on. We need another classics channel!

http://ithinkthereforeireview.blogspot.com/search/label/Quantum Leap

Well at least here in Milwaukee, Quantum Leap sometimes airs on ION, which I think used to be called PAX, but now just airs all kinds of stuff. Its not a cable only channel, its one of them thar new fangled digital channels. I haven't caught it on there in a while, but I think they used to air it. So its on somewhere. Not sure if your market gets that station or not. But thanks to the new digital channels, there've been a few new classic tv channels that have started up or have been going around. We recently got RTV (RetroTV) that is hosted by our Fox affiliate, METV and THiS which is hosted by our CBS affiliate and ION which is part of the independent thing that used to run PAX.

I'd love to see a continuation of QL even if only a mini series or one off movie, just to feel like there's some closure, especially since we've waaaay passed the original's date

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Did anyone even stop to think as to why some nutcase scientist would even throw himself into a little tested time machine (Sam), and end up only having a non stop womaniser wannabe pimp (Al) as his only source of help?

They actually did explain that. Sam was being pressured to get results or the government would cut the funding for the project, so he started it himself without testing. The narration said so.

As for Al? He and Sam were best friends from way back (and Al was a decorated Navy Admiral as well), so it makes sense that Al would come to work on QL.