Wouldn't a new Quantum Leap limited series be cool?

ChickenStu

Project QL Intern
Nov 8, 2005
82
0
0
With 24: Live Another Day being such a success and the recent announcements of new Twin Peaks and The X-Files limited series - I'm wondering if attention will soon be turned to Quantum Leap?

The ending of the series finale will be a tough one to swerve but I reckon it could be handled either two ways.

1. The first episode of the new series could open up with "Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home... or did he?

2. The first episode involves Al changing the timeline somehow making it possible for Sam Beckett to return home some day.

Then we could have a new 12 episode series set 20 years after the final episode that actually does end with Sam Beckett returning home.

I'm sure Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell would be interested in bringing Quantum Leap back. I guess the only stumbling block is was it really as big as 24 or The X-Files? Did it have the cultural impact of Twin Peaks?

Either way - I'm hoping this recent craze of "Limited Event Series" has gotten Mr Bellisario's attention.
 
With 24: Live Another Day being such a success and the recent announcements of new Twin Peaks and The X-Files limited series - I'm wondering if attention will soon be turned to Quantum Leap?

The ending of the series finale will be a tough one to swerve but I reckon it could be handled either two ways.

1. The first episode of the new series could open up with "Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home... or did he?

2. The first episode involves Al changing the timeline somehow making it possible for Sam Beckett to return home some day.

Then we could have a new 12 episode series set 20 years after the final episode that actually does end with Sam Beckett returning home.

I'm sure Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell would be interested in bringing Quantum Leap back. I guess the only stumbling block is was it really as big as 24 or The X-Files? Did it have the cultural impact of Twin Peaks?

Either way - I'm hoping this recent craze of "Limited Event Series" has gotten Mr Bellisario's attention.

Oh, I'm sorry to be so "pessimistic" but there is one little problem: That Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home not because he couldn't but because he didn't want to. Of course "Mirror Image" is open to every interpretation possible in this Universe, but I think the "Sam never returned home because he didn't want to and he wanted to keep on leaping from one place to another, fixing all the things that were within his reach to make this world a better place" theory is one of the right ones. He can go home whenever he wants to because he is in control now (as Al the bartender tells him at some point), he just chooses not to. So, in this context, making an entire (limited) season just to send him home at the end of it wouldn't work, because sending him home is not a fitting ending anymore. Might have been in '93 but not today. I think Bellisario ended his show brilliantly, he just ran out of time. He didn't have any more chances to let QL grow, because this was a show that deserved at least 10 seasons, even if it was going to end the same way. I certainly wouldn't want anything like what you proposed. It'd be very predictable and disappointing, in my opinion. Bellisario's ending works for me, the only issue is, I repeat, that it was shown too soon.

And nope. Quantum Leap is a cult classic, no doubt about that. But it never was as big as all those other shows you mentioned. Most people might remember The X Files or Twin Peaks, but only a few rememeber QL. QL has become a somewhat obscure show and I believe that one of the many reasons for that is because it hasn't aged particularly well (another consequence of it ending way too soon).
 
Yeah, I'd like some continuation myself. And these days, with 1) TV series being revived all over the place (Neftlix has a Full House reunion in the works, of all things); 2) seasons with shorter runs becoming the norm, allowing the networks to take chances since they don't have to commit as much money; and 3) streaming media allowing for more variety in programming, the time is perfect for a Quantum Leap revival.

Also, considering that Quantum Leap is still in reruns while many series that were its contemporaries aren't in reruns anymore, I would say that the show isn't that obscure. Not a monster hit, but not completely unknown and forgotten either.

With Scott tied up with NCIS: New Orleans, though, I can't imagine him having the time to commit to another series.

What I think would work would be to follow a new Leaper -- maybe a daughter of Sam's (I'm convinced that he and Donna conceived a baby during the events of "The Leap Back") as she tries to find her father.

I hope Netflix (or someone) commits to a 6- to 13-episode commitment for something like this!
 
Yeah, I'd like some continuation myself. And these days, with 1) TV series being revived all over the place (Neftlix has a Full House reunion in the works, of all things); 2) seasons with shorter runs becoming the norm, allowing the networks to take chances since they don't have to commit as much money; and 3) streaming media allowing for more variety in programming, the time is perfect for a Quantum Leap revival.

Also, considering that Quantum Leap is still in reruns while many series that were its contemporaries aren't in reruns anymore, I would say that the show isn't that obscure. Not a monster hit, but not completely unknown and forgotten either.

With Scott tied up with NCIS: New Orleans, though, I can't imagine him having the time to commit to another series.

What I think would work would be to follow a new Leaper -- maybe a daughter of Sam's (I'm convinced that he and Donna conceived a baby during the events of "The Leap Back") as she tries to find her father.

I hope Netflix (or someone) commits to a 6- to 13-episode commitment for something like this!

First post here- so stand by for moderation. :)

I think a continuation would be great. Just a while ago, I had read something about a continuation or reboot with a new leaper and I realized sort of a flaw in that for me. Let's say there was a new Leaper starting now who was about 42 years old, the same age Sam would have been in 1995. That would mean he/ she could only leap as far back as 1973 at the most, possibly 1980 if the show takes place six years in the future as the original did. For me, 1980 would almost be, "Drat. So he/ she really doesn't leap into the past at all. I mean, its only the 1980's for crying out loud."

It makes me wonder how my father would have reacted to the original or how my mother would react if she saw it. The 1950's mostly before I was born or the 1960's when I was a child might seem "the past" to me but might not at all to their generation.

But then again, the human interaction was the main point with the time period simply there to provide a background for that interaction so maybe it would still work.
 
Hi, Watchman!

Somehow I saw your second post first. Oh, well. Welcome to the forum! :)

Excellent point about Sam's potential daughter not being able to leap back that far. I had an idea about a possible way around that, but I fully admit I might be stretching the concept too far for some people.

Sam was able to leap back beyond his own birthdate when he switched places with Al in 1945 in "The Leap Back." Since leaping seems to have something to do with human skin (as in the "Terminator" movies), I was thinking that if Sam's daughter got a skin graft or tissue sample from Al stuck on to her body, she might be able to leap back as far as Al could. Not talking about some weird Frankenstein thing -- just a little skin graft on her leg or something.

Since both Al and Sam's daughter need to be able to look for Sam in the time periods where he'd be leaping around, and with both of them motivated to bring Sam home, I can see them trying this as an experiment.

Adding to the fun is that Al's birthdate is before Sam's. (I believe it's Jun. 15, 1934 for him.) So she could visit times that even Sam never went to! Yet I don't think it would be too far beyond what the audience could believe.

Anyway ... just random speculation from me, for whatever it's worth. :D