And Magnum P.I. had already been established as fictional within the QL universe (in the ep where Sam leaps in as an 80's housewife).
Will Sam Beckett Return Home? NBC Orders Quantum Leap Reboot Pilot
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That didn't stop Batman and The Green Hornet from mutually watching each other on TV...
And in Seinfeld it's established that Kramer and Paul Reiser's character from Mad About You were hallway neighbors before Paul Buchman moved out and Jerry Seinfeld moved across the hall. Yet in another episode George and his fianceé Susan are in bed watching a taped episode of Mad About You.
The original Magnum was established as fictional in the rebooted Hawaii 5-0, yet they did a crossover with the rebooted Magnum.
The DC Animated Universe did it a couple of times. An early Static Shock episode had Virgil refer to Superman/Clark Kent as a fictional character, but then from season 2 onward the show was integrated into the DCAU and often crossed over with Batman and Justice League characters, including Superman. And IIRC there was a Superman: TAS episode where a character sarcastically referred to Lois as "Wonder Woman" years before Wonder Woman first came to Man's World in Justice League.
But the two Magnums can't possibly be in the same continuity, can they? So 5-0 can be in canon with one Magnum but fictional with the other.
Yeah, not sure what's going on with what one assumes is going to be a non-present day recurring character, but it almost had the feeling of a backdoor pilot type appearance.
I guess maybe this will be the season arc of sorts? The fact that she's a scientist in the making does seem to lead one to assume the goal would be to get her working on Project Quantum Leap, to help get Ben home somehow (unless they're renewed for season 3.)
What might be interesting is if she ends up working on the original Project and Ben leaps into Al or Gooshie or something (no idea how they'd pull that off convincingly on this show's budget though.) That would actually make a little more sense in terms of the timeline given she's in her 20's or 30's in 1949, so she's be in her 90's or more by the present day, while she'd have been more like in her 60's or 70's during the original project. Or another (much easier & cheaper) way they can tie it into the original project is have her be Sam's professor in college or something. The mentor figure most responsible for setting on his path perhaps? I'm sure there's already a character like that at least mentioned in an old episode, but this IP is built around retcons as part of the premise, so no reason to be too beholden to such things.
Now, leaping into actual Tom Selleck on the set of Magnum PI on the other hand would have been interesting and likely more fun for all concerned (one assumes there's some crew overlap between the two shows beyond just Bellisario.) That's more of a jokey 100th episode kind of thing though rather than finale material.
I guess maybe this will be the season arc of sorts? The fact that she's a scientist in the making does seem to lead one to assume the goal would be to get her working on Project Quantum Leap, to help get Ben home somehow (unless they're renewed for season 3.)
What might be interesting is if she ends up working on the original Project and Ben leaps into Al or Gooshie or something (no idea how they'd pull that off convincingly on this show's budget though.) That would actually make a little more sense in terms of the timeline given she's in her 20's or 30's in 1949, so she's be in her 90's or more by the present day, while she'd have been more like in her 60's or 70's during the original project. Or another (much easier & cheaper) way they can tie it into the original project is have her be Sam's professor in college or something. The mentor figure most responsible for setting on his path perhaps? I'm sure there's already a character like that at least mentioned in an old episode, but this IP is built around retcons as part of the premise, so no reason to be too beholden to such things.
I mean if you can't use his likeness, then what's even the point? That would just be Sam running around Hawaii in a loud shirt for 40 mins. Either way I'm glad they didn't do it since I never watched Magnum PI and it would have been lost on me.
Now, leaping into actual Tom Selleck on the set of Magnum PI on the other hand would have been interesting and likely more fun for all concerned (one assumes there's some crew overlap between the two shows beyond just Bellisario.) That's more of a jokey 100th episode kind of thing though rather than finale material.
Magnum is fictional even within the Magnum PI universe. Robin Masters writes a fiction series inspired by Thomas Magnum.
Ben setting up Area 51 
...
the scientist waitress had chemistry with Ben, unlike Adison... fun speculation who she is (gonna be).
my hunch, she's linked to Ziggy's specifically rather than the overall QL project or people.
As for the modern QL/Magnum crossover - very much doubt it.
QL was only renewed in mid-December 2022 while the (unkowingly final) season of Magnum was ordered in June/July 2022. Magnum finished filming earlier this spring + earlier than QL and without knowing that is gonna be their last episodes.
Based on other crossover, even on the same network, it takes a lot longer than 4-5 months to pull off.
...the scientist waitress had chemistry with Ben, unlike Adison... fun speculation who she is (gonna be).
my hunch, she's linked to Ziggy's specifically rather than the overall QL project or people.
As for the modern QL/Magnum crossover - very much doubt it.
QL was only renewed in mid-December 2022 while the (unkowingly final) season of Magnum was ordered in June/July 2022. Magnum finished filming earlier this spring + earlier than QL and without knowing that is gonna be their last episodes.
Based on other crossover, even on the same network, it takes a lot longer than 4-5 months to pull off.
Not impossible, but I was always under the impression that Ziggy was specifically Sam's brainchild.
Sam and Gooshie both, actually.
I didn't even recognize him, his voice sounds so different. BTW, They broke in with a news story so I missed a lot of the Ben/Addison stuff.
Finally saw last week's UFO-themed episode. As I expected, it's fraught with anachronisms, on a par with the Roswell reference in the season premiere. Though the flying saucer craze began in 1947, there were multiple different hypotheses put forth to explain them; while the proposal that they might be of alien origin was one of the hypotheses, it didn't begin to emerge as the dominant belief about flying saucers until around 1950, so people in 1949 wouldn't have taken it for granted as shown here. Moreover, the acronym "UFO" wasn't coined until 1953, and didn't catch on widely outside technical circles until the '60s; it would've been called a flying saucer or flying disk. It would've made more sense to set this episode at least five years later. Although the use of the term "alien" to mean an extraterrestrial, rather than a foreigner, didn't become commonplace outside of print science fiction until the 1960s. People before then would've more likely used a term like "spaceman," or "Martian" like the sheriff used.
It also annoys me that the episode made the common mistake of equating UFO superstition with the interests of a scientist, in portraying Ian's interest/belief. On the contrary, people trained in scientific thinking can see the folly and irrationality in UFO beliefs. Of course we believe life exists in other star systems, but that doesn't mean aliens are visiting Earth in huge numbers, that they look like skinny naked humans with big heads, or that they're trying to hide from us yet regularly fly around our night skies with their high beams on.
An okay episode otherwise, but it was jarring that Addison talked about how men of the sheriff's generation had no outlet for expressing their emotions, yet then the sheriff spent the whole episode monologuing about how broken up he was about his family troubles. Was Addison supposed to be wrong about the sheriff? If so, you'd think the script would've acknowledged the discrepancy.
As for Hannah the waitress, I think it's significant that Ben didn't leap until he gave her the tip about the science program. That suggests that the real reason he was there was to help her. I suspect the season arc will involve Ben leaping back into her life at various stages and realizing he's meant to shepherd her toward something important.
It also annoys me that the episode made the common mistake of equating UFO superstition with the interests of a scientist, in portraying Ian's interest/belief. On the contrary, people trained in scientific thinking can see the folly and irrationality in UFO beliefs. Of course we believe life exists in other star systems, but that doesn't mean aliens are visiting Earth in huge numbers, that they look like skinny naked humans with big heads, or that they're trying to hide from us yet regularly fly around our night skies with their high beams on.
An okay episode otherwise, but it was jarring that Addison talked about how men of the sheriff's generation had no outlet for expressing their emotions, yet then the sheriff spent the whole episode monologuing about how broken up he was about his family troubles. Was Addison supposed to be wrong about the sheriff? If so, you'd think the script would've acknowledged the discrepancy.
As for Hannah the waitress, I think it's significant that Ben didn't leap until he gave her the tip about the science program. That suggests that the real reason he was there was to help her. I suspect the season arc will involve Ben leaping back into her life at various stages and realizing he's meant to shepherd her toward something important.
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Just some thoughts thus far.
Based on the news that 2 new characters would be joining the cast and one of them would be Addison's new interest I was kind of skeptical. I really didn't want to see a love triangle especially given that Ben leaped in the first place to save her. But watching how the story has unfolded I have to say it's not annoying. Also, I'm curious about the person that built the new chip for Ziggy. Who are they and other than just IP theft what is their goal for stealing Ziggy's code? Also, Tom's reference to his late wife sets up an interesting potential plot an earlier poster proposed that he may have an agenda. Tom's comment to Magic about the quantum accelerator and the "cost" of using it being a one way trip was intriguing. I'm curious to see how Eliza Taylor's character will resurface and what role she'll play going forward.
As far as the Ben/Addison conflict I have to say it's being handled pretty well. I wonder if Tom is somehow using her to get access to the accelerator and he leaves Addison to be save his wife which would then setup a couple of potential scenarios. Would it change history since Addison and Tom would not get together (paradox?) or would it be the case that everyone would have knowledge of both timelines and then Ben has to figure out how he wants to handle that situation?
In any event, I do like the writing thus far in both the leap stories and well as the QL HQ stories.
As far as the Ben/Addison conflict I have to say it's being handled pretty well. I wonder if Tom is somehow using her to get access to the accelerator and he leaves Addison to be save his wife which would then setup a couple of potential scenarios. Would it change history since Addison and Tom would not get together (paradox?) or would it be the case that everyone would have knowledge of both timelines and then Ben has to figure out how he wants to handle that situation?
In any event, I do like the writing thus far in both the leap stories and well as the QL HQ stories.
I ended up skipping through much of the leap bits.
For some reason those sorts of lost love story lines give me a major cringe and just can't watch them.
Much better with the reconnection to the lost daughter.
Yeah, these NBC shows are getting a bit repetitive. On Manifest, Ben's wife hooked up with someone after believing him dead. La Brea has a tar pit of a triangle that's just eye-rolling at this point. Not to mention the mystery-box format that's taken over these types of series. And the latest episode had more telling than showing. Everyone is just a walking infodump, and Ben is barely hiding talking to his hologram. He's going to get committed to a rubber room if he doesn't exercise greater discretion.
Oh. And I find the new handlink dull. Did they forget it can project graphics the audience can see? And the Leaping effect looks like he's being flash-frozen first.
But wow. Tim Matheson. Jonny Quest himself. Wow.
Oh. And I find the new handlink dull. Did they forget it can project graphics the audience can see? And the Leaping effect looks like he's being flash-frozen first.
But wow. Tim Matheson. Jonny Quest himself. Wow.
And Al.
Literally.
They used nerve fibres from Sam and Al to create Ziggy, which is why Al is his holo-buddy, and why Sam has the grey in his hair.
Amusing -- or perhaps sad? -- that that's still what he's known for in spite of everything he's done since (like being the vice president on The West Wing).