Will Sam Beckett Return Home? NBC Orders Quantum Leap Reboot Pilot

All the changes he made were actions that can’t be reversed like saving a life or winning a game, he wasn’t using his knowledge of astrophysics to get someone a job that they’d wouldn’t understand when they got back.

 

I was thinking more in terms of mending people's relationships or getting their lives back on the right track. What if the original person came back, fell into old habits, and immediately sabotaged the good Sam did?

Skimming through the first couple of seasons on the wiki, it does seem that he usually leapt into someone peripheral, someone who was there to help someone else make the right choice, so maybe it wasn't an issue as often as I thought. But in the first episode after the pilot, say, he leapt into a professor having an affair with a student. Okay, at the end, the student went back to her boyfriend, but what if the professor came back and was still hot for her, and he seduced her back away from the boyfriend? I mean, I guess Sam wouldn't have leaped if the change didn't stick, but the point is that in a case like that, one can question why it didn't stick if the Leapee didn't change his ways. Not the best example, but there might have been later ones where it was more relevant.

 

I was wondering about the pregnant girl. Sam found a way how she was able to keep her baby.
But what if she actually didn't want to? Even with support, raising a child when you are still a child yourself, is not easy.

 

Someone on Twitter mentioned that Ben would've been better paired with Ian as The Observer. And I agree (also I'm a huge Mason Alexander Park fan!).

Ben and Addison are just too alike in demeanor. There's no tension in the relationship other than Addison knowing stuff Ben doesn't about the real nature of their relationship.

What made the paring of Sam and Al great was that they were opposites. It lent itself to pathos and humor. And that's something that's really needed, especially the latter.

 

There is some tension, in that Addison trained to be the leaper and now she's stuck as the observer. There might be some buried resentment there that could build over time -- particularly since she knows Ben stole this from her on purpose, even if he can't remember why. Plus it puts both characters in roles that they aren't suited for, which is always good for drama and tension. Though it remains to be seen whether the writing takes advantage of that potential and whether the actors can pull it off.

 

Anyone willing to have part of their brain removed and put into Ziggy, can be an observer or a leaper.

If in the olden days the only problem was that Sam did not want to go home, they could have sent out a second leaper, the just had to make sure that the second new leaper was a callous narcissist... Or is that why Sam stayed in the past?

 

I watched the first 2 eps last night and enjoyed them. The story is interesting so I'll be sticking around for a bit. I liked that the first ep took place in Philly, but they did get the skyline wrong as they showed the modern skyline, not the one from 1985. Also, I Iive 3 blocks from York St and there are no buildings that size around just yet. Gotta give overdevelopment a few more years before we get there

 

Just came across the original pilot script online: http://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/2022/Drama/Quantum_Leap_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

It's much stronger than what actually aired. Allison and Ben's relationship leaps (pun intended) off the page more. It spends more time in the leap dealing with the relationships Ben is there to fix.

Ben has a personal story of his own, similar to Sam's with his father in the OG QL's pilot. That runner ties in nicely with the A-story of the leap.

This version has more heart than what aired.

The mystery box stuff is there but it's at a minimum. Of course, there is more mention of Sam Beckett in this version.

Wonder why the swap? Network interference? Did they network think the show needed to be more procedural (which it feels like right now)? Didn't have faith that the audience would get it? Cause the pilot that aired was very by-the-numbers.

Callous narcissist isn't what I associate with Sam. Hell, he couldn't even believe that all the leaps he did had a larger impact on the world. That's hardly the mindset of a self-centered person.

 

What if Als run time was a billion dollars an hour to send him into the past.

It's less than that.

There was an episode about the shows budget.

Google says PQL cost 43 billion a year.

For all Sam's human adventures, 43 billion a year could cure child poverty or homelessness, or clean the water in 50 towns like Flint Michigan.

If Sam was just sacrificing his own life to bring families together and save a few lives at a time, that's fine, but the US Tax payers might have some questions about what sort of return are they getting on their investment?

 

I am really liking the show so far and especially Ben Song...not getting why people think this seems so far off from the original....

 

Thank you for sharing.
Just read your post and trough the opening in the file.
Saving the rest for after that old/new episode with this particular leap aired.

Would have been a much much better opening IMO.
Such a Network meddling (it's too complicated, lot of viewers won't get it, more procedural) is common, so I think you are on to something. Additionally I also could see them not wanting to open with

Spoiler

a natural disaster/lots of injured and death

 

I've noticed that a lot of shows with unusual premises start out as case-of-the-week procedurals before they begin evolving in more novel directions, e.g. Person of Interest or Dollhouse. Or Agents of SHIELD, which started out looking like a conventional ABC-style show about a government agency investigating weird phenomena, and then took a big swerve late in the season (which would've come earlier if they hadn't had to sync with the movies). Even Orphan Black started out looking like a cop drama for about the first four weeks. My theory is that typically the first half-dozen or so episodes of a network show are made to appease the cautious execs, sticking to cozy formulas and not making too many waves, and then once the show has established itself and earned some trust, the producers have more freedom to push the show in the direction they really wanted. (Although for Person of Interest it was more like two or three seasons.)

So I'm not surprised that NBC wanted to push the show toward a more conventional approach, but hopefully it will just be that initial don't-scare-the-suits phase before the show begins to move away from it. It's interesting that the reworked pilot is being slotted in as episode 6.

Although I gather the ratings are weak, so I wonder if the show will even last long enough to break out of the initial phase. The problem with the "appease the executives" approach is that sci-fi/fantasy audiences want the kind of unusual or boundary-pushing stuff that the execs get nervous about, so a genre show that commits too much to the procedural approach can bore its audience and cause them to abandon it before it has a chance to shift away. That happened to Threshold, which lost viewers so quickly that it got cancelled just before the episode where the story arc really kicked in and started to get genuinely interesting.

 

Thank you for posting this! I would love to have seen this presented instead since, as you pointed out, it gives Ben depth and motivation not initially presented. And it does have more heart.

And yes, I think I did hear the internet crashing when we heard that familiar voice in 2022...

I liked the Jurassic Park Easter eggs. "Dennis Nedry'd..." Eric, the kid of a divorcing couple. The electrocution of Naomi...

Now I wonder how they will salvage the story elements in the actual earthquake episode. The Project material will have to be scrapped.

 

Not a bad episode. We got enough of the past leap too to be invested in it.

 

Watching episode 3, which is set in in 1977. At first I thought they might be implying that Ben is actually a man in his 40s rather than his 30s (Raymond Lee is 35) but it actually address that Ben is leaping beyond his lifetime on purpose. Probably because his destination resides beyond his lifetime.

 

Fairly good ep. Felt like a better balance to me, even if the actual breakdown was the same (no idea, but just saying so in case) ...it just felt like I wasn't spending pointless time away from making the Leap interesting. It still felt a bit slight, but positive progress.

Keep building this momentum, please QL.

Spoiler for this ep...

Spoiler

Al's handlink. A good sign.

Spoiler for future eps?

Spoiler

One of the creators said in an interview that nothing from the old show is off limits. As in, they have not ruled out anything because it's 'too silly'. We're likely to see or have referenced the Evil Leapers, and who knows what else. I'm glad. If you're gonna embrace your roots, really go for it.

Oh, and they also said that they're not holding stuff back for later, they plan on doing as much coolness as they can in the first season.

 

Spoiler: Tether to the past

A tether to the past...

And for those of you missing the original Quantum Leap theme, you can hear it punctuate this Handlink reveal.

Personally, I'm not happy they toned down all the color! The Gummy Bears have gone all stale!

 

Well, I hate boxing, but otherwise this was a pretty good episode. It feels more like the old show, focusing on character drama, the Leaper helping someone with a period-specific problem (post-Vietnam PTSD before there was good treatment for it) rather than just a life-or-death action scenario.

Addison using the hologram tech to teach Ben the fight moves was a cool idea, but how did they extrapolate a 1970s film or video recording into a lifelike 3-dimensional hologram? When Ian mentioned shadow boxing, I thought they were going to set up something where Addison was in the ring and Ben shadowed her moves. Although now that I think about it, I guess that wouldn't really work, since things go so fast and you'd have to react instantly.

So Ben conveniently has a photographic memory, just like Sam. He's also a pretty good actor, since he really got into character as Danny in the cell when he convinced Danny's brother to get help.

So we now know explicitly that the Leapees' bodies are still there in the past, and Ben is just occupying them, which I guess is why there's no Waiting Room. He has their physical attributes but not their knowledge or skills. This is, I think, consistent with how the early episodes of the original show portrayed it (as well as the Ashley McConnell tie-in novels), but contradicts later episodes like the one where Sam was able to walk in the persona of a double amputee.

And now Al's daughter has a handlink and a back door to Ziggy, which I hope means we'll get to hear Ziggy's voice again. And it looks like she's built her own accelerator. Is she going to start leaping too? Maybe not an Evil Leaper, but at least a Rival Leaper?

 

the leaping part felt like a typical QL episode - which is good and meant as a compliment.

I'll start to fast forward over parts of present day soon - it is getting worse and more annoying for me.

Did they really have to promo a stupid reality show so much ugh and a social media company by name.

the opening "credits" feel generic and drab - miss the emotion in the voice over and musical/adventure enthusiasm-feel.
Hopefully the can improve that.

the actor who plays Ben does a good job, like the character so far.
Helps with the other characters who are rather flat so far, even Magic.

Techie is the most interesting and qualified of them so far. Only was annoying in the pilot, improved since.

Still not warming up to Addison unfortunately - also give the lady some colors and costumes, doesn't have to be as shiny/over the top as Al, but almost always black pants and the red/brownish leather jacket.

I see no need for Security lady and Magic to be regulars, recurring would be enough.
There is no story line there, unless there is a steady threat - which leads me to:

Spoiler

• I'd hate it if Al's daughter somehow is part of the evil leaper thing. Always hated that OG storyline so much.
  
• Hopefully she has good intentions related to Sam/Al/Ben.

• intrigued about "sling shot-ing" to whatever point in time part.
• Yay for seeing an OG inspired handheld, respectfully updated.
  
• Techie's tie was a nod to colorful Ziggy I assume
• it takes about 10 to 20 episodes leaps to the Season 1 finale that point in time... LMAO

 

The boxing episode wasn't bad, a nice character based storyline. It's nice the stakes aren't always life or death. Otherwise not much to say about this one.