From The Vault is a series of posts about TV series from “the past”. There are many series that I keep close to my heart, for different reasons. Some of them touched me deeply, influencing my sensibility and connecting with me in a strong emotional way. I am going to start this From The Vault corner with one of my absolute favourite: Quantum Leap.
Quantum Leap, created by Donald P. Bellisario in 1989 and broadcasted on NBC until 1993. The show had a 5 season run and, while gaining a certain popularity (including a granitic fan base, self-proclaimed “The Leapers”), it never got the numbers to become a mega hit. Still, the show won many awards, including two Golden Globes and several Emmy Awards.
The premise of the show is fascinating (I first saw the show on Italian TV in the 90s and it blew me away). Logline:
Quantum physicist invents a time machine and uses it to change the lives of strangers throughout history.
This is not just sci-fi. This is pure modern fantasy anthology. But the most amazing thing of the series was its theme: it talked about all these American social scenarios that as a young Italian in the 90s I never heard of. Quantum Leap is how I was introduced to the American approach to civil rights. I was instantly addicted. Completely, totally addicted.
The premise was created by Bellisario to let him produce an anthological series, something he had been wanting to do for a long time. He figured, correctly, that time travel would have allowed him to do so. It wasn’t exactly an original idea: Doctor Who had been doing the exact same thing for 25 years. Ironically, the year the world lost one time-traveller was also the year they gained a new one (Doctor Who’s original run ended in December 1989 and Quantum Leap debuted in March 1989). And, similarly, Samuel Beckett was an all-positive character, just like the Doctor.
There was something absolutely fascinating about Quantum Leap and it was the way it tackled social issues. Feminism, racism, pacifism, consent, self-determination and even homophobia. Sam became a woman, a black man, a pregnant girl, a black girl. A teenage daughter, a harassed secretary, a mother at the start of the feminist revolution. Even if it was through the eyes of a white heterosexual man, the show gave voice to many screenwriters who were able to be vocal and very, very direct, about social issues they cared about.
Nothing was left out, with the exception of rape (which only appears as a pre-attempt on a season 5 episode). But misogynism has been the main theme of many episodes, covering many shades.
There was something about all that that is outstanding even by today’s standards.
Can you imagine the online backlash that a show where the main male lead becomes a woman that would have today? Yes, I’m looking at you, whiners complaining about a female Doctor. Quantum Leap was bold and, for an 80/90s show, went all the way, on prime time TV.
Another definite pillar of the show was the chemistry between Sam and Al. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell were able to give life to beautiful characters and they were absolutely brilliant together. In particular, I remember how it was impossible not to like them. Even Al, with his chauvinism. He was harmless and full of complexity. And his outfits! Damn! That was some top quality 80s design they got there. Absolutely mesmerising.
Dean Stockwell is one of those actors who do the most when they don’t have lines. One of those actors who are always switched on. Who react to everything especially their own train of thoughts. So. Good.
Sam and Al. A duo that will forever be one of the greatest American tv duos of all times. At least for me. They were fun, they were close, they were dramatic, they were unique.
For these reasons, please, pick up Quantum Leap and watch it.
All rainbows and unicorns?
Don’t get me wrong. The show was still a product of 80s broadcasting network television. It had flaws. Many, many flaws.
First of all, it’s very apparent how Bellisario wasn’t interested in sci-fi per se. The sci-fi element of Quantum Leap is clunky, at best. The premise is an impossible scientific breakthrough, fine. Every sci-fi story is based on an impossibility becoming reality. But why would a time traveller switch place with random people in the past? Why the geographical displacement? Where’s the logic of a time machine that is able to switch your body with the body of another person, through time?
The answer to that is God. “Very simply”, the show landed on this concept. Probably not the Catholic God. But 100% an overseeing entity that “got in the middle” and “meddled” with the experiment, getting Sam to leap in time to make history “a better place”.
Fine, it’s the premise of the show, we have to accept it. Ok. Cool.
But what I can’t come to terms with is how Sam was said to be leaping with his own real body. He is a man, with his height and strength and abilities. He can see when the original person was blind, he can walk when the original person had no legs. People around him see the original person only because there is “an aura” of the original person left behind.
If this is the case… then how come clothes always fit?
When Sam took the place of a 15-year-old black singer in episode 15 of season 4, how come he was able to wear her clothes comfortably? Why the shoes fit?
Very simply, this is a huge hole in the series bible.
The fuzziness of the series sci-fi background popped up here and there.
For example, it’s a given, throughout the series, that in order for Sam to be able to leap, he must change whatever went wrong in the original timeline. But in episode 22 of Season 4, “A Leap for Lisa”, Sam says that his success or failure has nothing to do with his ability to leap.
Wait… WHAT!?
That was the whole point! The conflict, episode after episode, was all there! Sam HAD TO change history or he would have been stranded in time forever! Then, all of a sudden, it’s not true anymore? And the episode was written by Bellisario himself. What a mess.
So messy that, in fact, they retracted that concept over and over again in many following episodes.
There were other small issues, like poor special effects. And I am not just talking about the tacky hologram effects (the practical jokes may have been fun in the early nineties, whatever). But there were other production mishaps. Episode 3 of Season 5, “Leaping of the Shrew”, had Sam on a raft stranded at sea. The cloudy sky was so fake you could see the parts where the glue was holding the fake sky sheets together. Terrible. Even by early 90s standards.
And what about the absurd idea of changing the theme tune for season 5? Who thought that was a good idea? It was so bad they had to change it back for the series finale.
Casting
As I mentioned, Sam and Al were perfectly cast. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell were amazing in the roles and the chemistry between them was everything.
As an anthological series, every episode had important supporting roles that had to be cast. And casting these characters right was everything. When you have an anthological show it’s like casting the main cast every single time. Black Mirror faces the same issue (and found a fantastic solution for that using big talents as the lead).
Most of the time, Quantum Leap got casting right. But the CDs of the show had an extremely annoying habit: recasting the same actors for different roles.
Unless you are American Horror Story, you are working with an imaginary world where every human is unique to a character. Recasting the same actor for a different character destroys the immersion straight away. Particularly if you establish an actor as a quite memorable character in an episode and then you recast them for a similarly memorable but different character.
For example… Willie Garson was cast to play the role of Seymour, a nerdy paper boy who Sam helped to push into the noir novelist career. Quite the memorable character. Still the first season. A “genre” episode. Seymor has tons of lines. And so on… Then, on season 5, the same actor was recast as Lee Harvey Oswald, nonetheless.
Why?! This is simply lazy casting.
There was also an odd casting choice when the production team decided it was a good idea to have Scott Bakula playing the part of Sam’s father in the episodes 3×01 “The Leap Home (Part 1)” and 5×11 “Promised Land”. Why did they do that? Probably to symbolise how close Sam was to his father. Or to showcase Bakula’s ability. But the result was so off. And it didn’t really add anything. It was just a bad stunt. Ugh.
Now… it sounds like I have a lot to complain. Well… that’s what happens when you really love something. You wish it was perfect. But when you think about how slow and un-engaging the Pilot was, or the extra off-place season premiere 5×01-02 “Lee Harvey Oswald”, so slow and against the spirit of the show, you just can’t help it.
Play it again, Sam.
Still, there is nothing that will stop me from loving Quantum Leap. Despite all the above issues and many others like reusing actors for completely different roles (and quite important ones! – check Willie Garson), the fact that in every single episode they had to put in a scene where people see Sam talking to himself / thin air (with no effect on the plot), despite all that, Quantum Leap was an anthological series that explored social themes with courage and defiance.
I miss Quantum Leap. We need a new Quantum Leap, today. A series able to touch our current social themes and tensions in such a delicate way. It would have to be updated, clearer on some subjects (no need for the lead to be so upset for being a woman) and giving us that sense of hope and positivity that Quantum Leap was deeply rooted in.
