Season one turns more and more into a PSA as it progresses. Reminds me of recent Doctor Who. The worse bit is that the bad guy is almost always a white male. However, I still enjoyed the season overall. I hope the next season is more entertaining and less preaching.
Will Sam Beckett Return Home? NBC Orders Quantum Leap Reboot Pilot
- Thread starter Ryan Thomas Riddle
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Wow. Have you even seen the original series? It was very heavy on social commentary and allegory, speaking out against racism, sexism, child abuse, and other social ills of its day (though it fell short when given the chance to challenge homophobia), and shining a light on historical injustices. In modern vernacular, it was always woke. The new series is simply being true to the original's spirit.
I watched the original when it aired. And while it did provide social commentary, it was done better.
This new iteration feels more like an after school special.
I enjoy it overall. But it misses the strong chemistry between Sam and Al.
I don't see it as significantly different. It's just moved forward with the times. If anything, the original was probably preachier, since it was about putting an able-bodied white man into the shoes of other categories of people so that white audiences could learn sympathy. There was rather a white savior element to it, with Sam being the one with the superior skills and knowledge to save the day. This is coming from a nonwhite perspective and letting that immigrant experience be an organic part of the hero's life rather than just an object lesson for the white hero.
And if anything, the new show has less room for allegory and commentary because it devotes so much time to the mystery arc and plot-driven storytelling.
The plot driven story had far less screen time in the last half of the season than the first. This is the problem with network television. Too many episodes. Stuff gets dropped.
The white savior bit has been flipped. Same problem. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
And there are no white guys in the cast. It’s a diverse cast that doesn’t even have a token white guy. And when they do show up, they’re always villains. I don’t get this one. I struggle with this vilification.
And I say this as a registered Democrat.
Then you should know better than to spew bullshit like this. There have been thousands of TV series over the decades with exclusively white casts. There's nothing the least bit wrong about a series cast having zero white males; in fact, we need far more of them in order to improve the overall balance.
My heritage is as white as it's possible to get. My father's side of the family came over from England in 1634, and my mother's side came from Scotland in 1790, settled in Virginia, and stayed there ever since. Yet as I grew up, I got tired of seeing shows where white men were always the lead character and anyone else was relegated to supporting roles. It seemed only fair that other people should have their turn. And I have zero problem watching a show where none of the heroes look like me. That's not "vilification," it's just acknowledging that the world doesn't revolve around white men -- and that someone doesn't have to look like you or have your heritage in order to be worthy of identification and empathy. If you're uncomfortable facing that reality, that is entirely your problem, not the show's.
Rewatch the show.
The villain in almost every episode is a white guy. Imagine if in the original Quantum Leap the villain was always a minority. It’s a bad idea either way.
I was just reminded that Dennis Wolfberg's Gooshie appeared in just five episodes of the original series. He was such a memorable character I always feel like he showed up in more episodes than that.
He died at 48.
But after the show was cancelled. So it's a shame he didn't get to appear in more episodes.
I guess that's because Al talked about him frequently, or called instructions to him through the handlink. He was a character we already knew well as an offscreen presence by the time he finally gained a face and a voice.
Five? I thought it was only once (the one where Al and Sam switched places?)
Apparently he's in five. I know he's in the finale.
Yes, and?
Goshie is in the final episode. the episode when Sam leaped back and Al was stuck in 1945, The episode were the guy in the waiting room escaped. Not sure of the other two but my guess would be the Lee Harvey Oswald ep and the Return of the Evil Leaper ep or one of the ep's since that was a two parter. First one Sam was a kid dealing with Neil Patrick Harris as a bully and then he was in the women's prison.
The women's prison ep was also neat in the fact that if you don't count the ep were Sam leaped back, it is the one closest to the then present day for the who series. It was set in 1986. He leaped in the 80's a few times and even a couple in 1985 but nothing past 1986.
Yeah--that's not an argument. It is like using "all lives matter" as a slogan. We are living in a moment where the sins of the father are visited upon the son. It doesn't seem fair because it isn't supposed to be. That's why so many white families in North America are pissed off--because the space that used to be exclusively white is now shared. In the past, the pendulum swung the other way--where villains were the "other" and even allies from minorities were the sidekick rather than the hero. All that is happening now is that white people are required to "make room" for those who are not. This is the root of the backlash we seeing now when the "far right" has taken over the Republican party in the US and the Conservative party in Canada.
It wasn't always like that. A few decades ago, it was the Republicans who were more socially liberal as their primary agenda was "small government" that allows everyone to thrive. Now it is more the idea that my government needs to reflect my religious and social beliefs. (and that is on both sides)
After decades of stereotypical portrayals of non-whites (in both villain and ally roles) the over-swinging of the pendulum is a necessary counterbalance to reach a point where there is equilibrium. That's the moment we are in right now--and unfortunately, if the far right does win, it will lead to policies which the majority will not be comfortable with (see The Handmaid's Tale already in progress in the real world).
The age where saying "I am a liberal minded person" and with the silent caveat "as long as it doesn't make me uncomfortable" are over. The decision now is much more extreme, where thanks to the extremists on both sides, our elections mean deciding what level of racism we are comfortable with.
There was a Time Tunnel episode where the boys landed ten years in the past at tick tock base, during it's construction, and had to outwit a saboteur, who was still working there in "the present" worried that the time viewer device, tracking Doug and Tony, would out him as a foreign spy.
That's never been the case in my lifetime, certainly not since 1980. Republicans' "small government" rhetoric was always about removing government regulations on big business, while simultaneously promoting increased government control over people's private lives and personal choices.
The GOP stopped being socially liberal when Nixon and Goldwater adopted the Southern strategy and reoriented the party's values to embrace the Southern racists who were alienated when the formerly racist Democratic party embraced civil rights under Kennedy and Johnson.
I would also add in looking in terms of the show and the time travel aspects
If you look at America historically (and to the present day) the chances are fairly large (and they grow significantly the further back in time you look) that the person or people in charge are white men.
So if you are being realistic to storylines and plots and you have some type of figure with authority who is the 'villain/antagonist' in the plot the chance of that individual being a white male should be fairly high.
It would actually be unrealistic to have someone leaping back in time and put in situations where "oh, leaped into a doctor... That evil money grubbing hospital CEO is actually a black guy"
"Oh leaped into a coal miner... That evil money grubbing CEO is actually an Asian guy"