Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested....

QL Damsel

QL Damsel

Al's Place / TVS & QR & Radio Files Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2002
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www.quantumleap-alsplace.com
For those who do writing and who read Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons, I just wanted to make an announcement here on Al's Place to let you in on what's going on at this point in QL:TVS history.

It seems that when AJ Burfield and I started out on this venture to do the Virtual Seasons, that she had a goal that I wasn't aware of. She had a thought process... a goal to shoot for... and I thought it was just to bring Dr. Sam Beckett home... but I think that it was more along the lines of how she wanted it to get there.

Well... things happen... stories veer off... and... ok...

To cut this short... AJ, as of this week, has decided that she needs to break free of QL:TVS. She has left a very sincere goodbye note on the messageboard on QL:TVS so, if you'd like to see it - shoot over there and read in the section: Notes From the Producers.

I have had nice offers from Sue Johnson, Damon Sugameli and Katherine Freymuth to help out with the website or other aspects of the website. I do appreciate it to those that I have already told and have been nice enough to offer help / support. Thank you.

I just wanted to let you guys know that in the following months, I'm the now... official... only one who is "producing" QL:TVS. I'm the one reading... editting... putting in order... checking to make sure that links are working... everything person... like Brian... just... uhm... I can't be there 24 - 7 for TVS like he is with Al's Place. (And... no Brian... this doesn't mean that Gooshie's back.)

Just to keep you guys updated...

QL:TVS will be showing the following in the next few weeks:

The Curling Shuffle - Mike Bloxam
Four Minute's Warning I - Sue Johnson
Four Minute's Warning II - Sue Johnson
Leap To The Rescue I - Helen Earl
Leap To The Rescue II - Helen Earl

After these stories air... there are 5 more places left for the season. I hope that within the next 5 weeks, that I can recieve 5 more stories. If not, then there will be a time that things will just have to shut down... until September. That will be enough time to get enough stories built up again for The Virtual Seasons.

I know that a few writers are still working on their stories, so for those of you who are already in the process of writing and you want to get it in for this season... please let me know when you might be done. A season finale would be nice to have to build up the suspense for the rest of the summer, but then again... that will leave people biting nails... and yeah... well... that's where we want you. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to let you -- the writers and readers know what's going on with the site and the people in charge of it.

Please, be patient with me.

Thanks,
MJ Cogburn
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

Well, as I've already mentioned to MJ, I'm hoping to have that season finale written for her soon. If Sue and Brian can help me with the first 2 chapters, I think I can do it. So, that would knock off 2 more slots on the TVS schedule (the third chapter would be the season premiere). I'm just trying to work out all the kinks of the story since it encompasses a good portion of Sam's "Lifetime." ;) If I still have time, I'll try and rush out "Post Traumatic Leap Syndrome."

I told MJ that, even with AJ's decision, she should still keep her name up as Executive Producer until the end of the season and summer hiatus, at least. Most television series do that... even after Gene Roddenberry died, Star Trek: TNG still listed him as Executive Producer until the 5th Season ended. If MJ does decide to seek a replacement for AJ, I'll place my name in the running. I couldn't bear to see MJ take this all on by her lonesome... and besides, I've always wanted to do something like TVS... to be part of something creative and entertaining... seeing the smiles on people's faces, knowing that you're giving them something to cherish and remember... it's a great feeling! :)

But... I won't go on about that. It's ultimately up to MJ to decide what she wants to do. (And I don't want to sound like I'm begging! :p )

Well... anyway... I wish the best of luck to AJ in her future endeavors. She might not have always seen eye-to-eye with a few of us on certain things or ideas we might have had, but she is a great writer nonetheless. I hope she'll find it in her heart to contribute more stories for MJ every now and then, even if she doesn't play an active role in its formulation anymore.
 
QL:TVS

Did I miss anything? I haven't been around of late due to a crisis with one of my friends (very long story) which still isn't over yet...This news just seemed rather sudden concerning AJ...Was there anything we did to cause this (i.e. along the lines of storylines veering off...)?
 
possibly...

As far as this goes... you need to understand that I have no idea what is going on in AJ's mind.

For example... I knew that we were going to "do away" with Gooshie because the actor himself died... and it was our way to dedicate the episode to him.

Now... there have been some questions as to the new handlink... the old one... the new idea of a hologram of Ziggy... in essence not needing Al. That's just not the case. I was the brain child on that one. I know that she didn't care for Zeus (when he came out) nor did she care for Dante... though cute... she didn't like it. And since I've heard background from others, it seems that no one else really likes the idea either. (Way to go... MJ)

There is other things that have come up that we have disagreed on as well... *shrugs*

If I was a different kind of person, I'd just throw in the towel. But I'm not. I know that people like the episodes... I know that they are being read... and people are joining daily on the PVTquantumleap yahoo group.

Anyway... I'm just hoping that for the next 11 weeks until the hiatus until September, that people will keep reading, writing and now... praying for QL:TVS to keep on it's timeline... and that we can keep producing an episode a week for the Eleventh season.

All of this... all 5 years that I've put myself into this can't be for nothing... can it?

MJ
 
Re: possibly...

Guess it's me that's put the cat amongst the pigeons and for that I can't apologize enough. What with the introduction of the Epochtonusalgraphic probe in "The Final Solution" and the Goniospectrophotometer in "Eeny Meany Miny Mo" along with the change of handlink.

But if a series isn't allowed to evolve and certain changes made, what is the hope for the future. The 'great man' himself made numerous changes to the series over its 5 year run and if it hadn't been cancelled then I'm sure we would have seen a lot more.

AJ should have said more, but instead she kept quiet, she has my email address and she never approached me to take anything out.

And now my upcoming story "Four Minute's Warning" has changed things further, but did AJ contact me? No. The first I hear about AJ's disapproval was from Helen and then the other day, from MJ, when she told me that AJ had backed out.

I just wish she could have spoken to me about what I was doing, I could have changed things, took things out and kept it basic. But if you don't know or are not informed that what you're doing isn't in someone else's plans, then there's nothing you can do about it.

To cut it short, I feel totally responsible for AJ leaving and I feel terrible. Sorry folks for rambling but had to get it out.
 
Re: TVS

I am truly sorry that AJ has felt it necessary to withdraw from the Virtual Seasons Production team.
I have not really had any direct contact with her, via chats or emails or anything, but I valued her as a dedicated member of the ?keep Quantum Leap alive? brigade.
I think it is really sad that ?artistic differences? should make AJ decide that she can no longer take such an active role, and it just goes to show the importance of communication. I?m sure that none of us, including Sue (who should in no way take sole blame for this at all) intended to ?spoil? the overall vision of TVS. We just needed to know what that was.
When you have so many people contributing to one great whole ? like the role play games, like script writing groups in professional series ? there are bound to be differences of opinion. That is one of the strengths, that fresh ideas and approaches can stop the stagnation that has led to many a series being cancelled (thankfully, the great script writing team meant that wasn?t the reason for the demise of QL). It does mean that compromises have to be made, and that is fine. Most people are willing to adapt, as long as we know we are all singing from the same song sheet.
I just wish AJ had felt she could come and discuss her reservations with us all, so that we could have sorted things out amicably before it got this far.
That having been said, please can we all learn from this? If we are not happy with something, it is far better to say something than to stew. If we don?t know you?re upset, how can we say sorry?
And let us all pledge to support MJ and whoever she chooses to help her keep TVS alive, because the last 5 years of her hard work have certainly meant something to me, even though I am still catching up, and it would be tragic if it became a casualty to misunderstandings.
Okay, that?s me off my soapbox.
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

Ok. Since I don't know WT... is going on here with the "HTML IS NOT ALLOWED" then... I'm going to go ahead and type this all back in again. AUGH!

=====================================

Ok... first a post toward one person:

Damon... see... I wanted to tell... but it gets taken out of porportion and people begin to blame their selves... and ... and... ohhhh poopy...

Ok.

=====================================

And another:

Sue.... this is not YOUR fault. NEVER was YOUR fault. OK? IF you really want me mad, then, for - goodness - sake keep thinking that way and then I'll have to fly my happy (word explicative removed so) donkey (hope that works) to where you live and kick that butt until it's time for me to fly back home... and on a teacher's salary... well, that's going to take some cash that I don't necessarily have.

So... stop. It had nothing to do with the gismo's or the new handlink... or the what-cha-ma-call-its that Steven added to the handlink or anything else. OK?

Now...that I've got that out of my system and I swear if you say anything else about it, sister, you're in for it...



Whatever the reason... I do agree with something that both Helen and Sue have said. To grow... the Virtual Seasons had to change. We all know this. It happens when you have a set plan... and yes, Bellasario probably had the same kind of thing happening as he went with the season. I understand this too.

Change is not the problem for me. I think that it adds to the wonderful grand scheme of things.

To prove my point (and I'm glad that I had time this afternoon to do it) I got to sit down and read Four Minute's Warning Part I. Other than a few glitches in hitting the wrong keys... comma's here and there, and a question that I need to ask you about later, Sue... it's a great story. I was there... I could see it in my mind's eye... I could feel the... (BAH! Not telling about the story is frustrating... ) but I could feel the angst. He-double hockey sticks, I wanted to beat something up too. And the ending! I can't wait to sit down and read Part II! Talk about... "OH BOY!"

If change has to do with stories that are coming up like this one... then... I'm all for change.

But, I agree also with Damon in his earlier response about keeping her a part until the hiatus... or until the new season starts. That's just how it'll be.

I hope that you guys understand... and if not... then... I have to save up to come and kick some but-te.

Later guys and gals....
MJ
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

I just wanted to let you guys know that in the following months, I'm the...only one who is "producing" QL:TVS. I'm the one... like Brian... just... I can't be there 24 - 7 for TVS like he is with Al's Place. (And... no Brian... this doesn't mean that Gooshie's back.)
Click to expand...

For the record, I am not here 24-7. I am here about 20-7. I do get some sleep! Ha ha hay ho....

Also, I am available to fix broken links, etc from a technical standpoint on TVS. I can continue to fix little things like I did when MJ was in the hospital if needed/wanted.

And as far as what MJ is talking about with the Gooshie not being back thing... everytime MJ and I chat online, I invite her to bring Gooshie back to TVS. Then I ask her. Then I say "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY! BRING GOOSHIE BACK!" Then she gets aggravated and says that supper is ready. LOL! And Gooshie is my favorite character so that's why I want him to come back. And for those of you who think "Hey, Gooshie died in that story way back when... how would he come back anyway?" Well... read Mirror Expression III and you will see how. Enough about that though.

I'm sure everything will work out for the best at QL:TVS. MJ has a great eye for talent and knows how to weave these stories together. If only she would bring back Gooshie. Damn! I did it again.

Anyways, good luck to everyone involved with TVS and I hope it will continue to thrive for many years to come!

P.S. BRING GOOSHIE BACK!
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, BRIAN....

:rollin

You know that I secretly love you to death... so... quit trying to worm Gooshie back in.

*snickers*

MJ
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

We've been through this... round and round....

Alright... here...

Brian, you give me a detailed explanation as to how he can come back... and I mean down to the one millionth decimal place so that I won't get confused....

And I'll think about it.......

OK?
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

To Greg:

No, you didn't miss anything. This was a very sudden decision AJ made, although I suspect it's been sort of coming for a while now.

To MJ and Brian:

Ai, ai, ai, you two... :nut

Time travel makes it possible to bring dead characters back, but in most cases, I don't think they should be brought back, if it's meant to be permanent. It's too convenient an excuse to use to bring people back from the dead. Especially when that said character died a hero. Negating his/her death would lessen the impact of the sacrifice they made.

To all interested:

I'll give you all a good example of this, although it's a bit off-topic:

As a few of you know, I'm a comic book fan. One of my favorite characters is the Flash. Well, in 1985, there was this huge year-long event called Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which a wall of anti-matter was destroying the entire multiverse of parallel earths, one universe at a time. It was all set in motion billions of years ago by a god-like entity called the Anti-Monitor, who came from an anti-matter universe. With each positive matter universe destroyed, he became stronger and more powerful. His counterpart, the Monitor, was gathering the most powerful heroes and villains to combat the threat and restore everything. Basically, the purpose was to clean up continuity and fix 50 years worth of inconsistencies (different writers coming up with different ideas). Anyway, during this series, the Flash of Earth-1 (Barry Allen) was captured by the Anti-Monitor and he discovered that an anti-matter cannon was being manufactured which would wipe out the few remaining universes that were left. It was powered by tachyon particles which supposedly travel about 10 times faster than the speed of light. In order to dismantle the cannon, he needed to run against the flow of the tachyons at a speed so fast -- faster than he had ever run before -- that he knew his physical body could never endure it. But, he knew that if he didn't, all reality as he knew it would be gone forever. So, he did what a true hero does... ran into the face of death and never looked back. The pain was beyond description, but he kept running, even as his body decayed into nothingness. Barry Allen died the most noble death of any super-hero before him. He literally saved all creation from total annihilation. (After that series ended, his nephew, Wally West, a.k.a. Kid Flash, became the new Flash.)

Now, how the heck does any of this have to do with Gooshie, you ask? :p Well, in the nearly 20 years since Barry's death, there have been great debates among the die-hard Barry Allen fans, saying, "Please, please, PLEASE, bring Barry back!" (Sound familiar? ;) ) But there are also an equal amount of people who say, "No, he died a martyr, and should remain dead. Bringing him back would make his sacrifice meaningless."

I know some of you may be thinking, "Geez, Damon, it's just a fictional character for crying out loud. Get a grip!" My point is, when you read stories or watch shows about characters that you enjoy, you begin to care about them -- even miss them when they're gone. That's what great writing and storytelling is all about. (Why else would we all continue to write stories about QL in the first place?) And even in fiction, death is a part of life. Characters need to learn from it and evolve.

Besides... just because a character dies doesn't mean he/she can't appear in a "flashback" sequence... or appear in a time-travel story when they were still alive... or even still be alive in an "alternate" timeline...

:bat

"Alternate" timeline?! Heh, heh, heh... that's all I'm gonna say about THAT...
 
Re: Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons... Those interested...

Ahhh a debate!

I agree that some characters in many stories should stay dead, especially when they die and are brought back to life multiple times.

But with Gooshie... I think he was killed off in TVS mainly because Dennis died in real life. The story did have a sacrifice he made, but I didn't get the feeling that Gooshie knew he was making a sacrifice when he died. In fact here is the exact text from the episode: "Ziggy?s plea for help was still fresh in Gooshie's mind as he reached into the exposed circuitry. He didn?t even think about the possible consequences. "

Therefore... I'm for the side of bringing him back if it is done tastefully. It could be done so that he is even more of a hero, and live to do even more good - maybe in the future....
 
debate

Perhaps there could be a story called QL: The Search For Gooshie...Captain Kirk against orders from Starfleet goes back in time and in doing so changes history so that Gooshie is alive...Although Gooshie's mind will have to be retrained, Gooshie helps Kirk save the whales and everyone lives happily ever after...:nut
 
Re: debate

Brian,

I'd like to refer you to my story "Run for their Lives" in which I had Gooshie die heroically as a tribute to Dennis.
Unfortunately, I have not yet posted this on your excellent 'Original fanfiction by our members' forum, as it forms part of a story arc with the unfinished 'High Hopes' and the already posted 'Terror Firma', and may therefore need 'tweaking' once HH is finished.
I am hoping to get the go ahead soon from Jill Kinmont to include her as a major kiss with history in High Hopes, at which time you will be flooded with these works as fast as I can produce them.
In the meantime, if you would like a sneak preview of Gooshie's demise, I'd gladly email you a copy of 'Run for their Lives' as it stands in its present format. I would welcome your opinion.
I also had an interesting(?) solution to keeping Gooshie's memory alive at the project - by having it written into his replacement's contract that whenever he was on duty he had to be referred to as Gooshie. That way, Al was able to keep him on payroll, and prevent Senator Weitzman and co from discovering that he had died at the project. It also kept Sam in the dark in subsequent leaps (though he knew about it in the relative one).

Perhaps you should write your own tribute story, Brian.
It may have been done at VS - but there are other forums!
 
Re: debate

Ohhhh the joys of the debate....

Oy oy oy oy oy oy oy oy oy :banghead

Alright....

I tend to slide on Damon's side of the fence on this one...

*sigh*

I don't want you, Brian, to write the whole thing and it be shot down... I need an outline... ok... with a logical - well thought out reason -- and consequences... so that nothing that Sam has done changes....

Make sense?

MJ
 
Re: debate

Well, as this is now seeming to be a big hassle, I'll drop out of this for now. I just always thought it was a shame to kill off a great character just because the actor died. Dennis was a great comedian, actor, father, and person from everything I could find. That's one of the reasons I liked Gooshie so much. His memory isn't really "living on" if he's dead and replaced by someone else with very little mention of him anywhere since, ya know?

Helen, I'd love to read your story, but why is everybody killing him off LOL? He's one of the funniest characters in the series either on or off camera. To me (and this is just my opinion, ok?) a tribute is not remembering someone's death. It is celebrating his/her life.

Oh well, he can live on in the Starbright Project series unless that dies too since no one has expressed any more interest in it since the second episode aired over six months ago :(
 
Hmm....

After talking with MJ last night about some of the details of my story outline I sent her, I did some thinking, and I suddenly had a brainstorm (never a good thing ;) )...

I think I have a way of changing history without actually going against what's already been written. The idea just... gelled in my head. It makes 100% perfect sense to me, and if people can keep an open sci-fi-oriented mind toward the idea, it could work. It could work...

MJ: Remember what I said last night about (Part 3) of my story? It was a bit confusing for you? If -- IF! -- you'd be willing to go through with a temporary change (or permanent, if you want), I've got a better idea that would be considerably less complicated (depending on how you look at it). Trust me... it would make things more interesting, and I can use future stories to follow up on the idea. It would in no way interfere with the "main" flow of TVS, but it would directly tie in with the plans I had for future story arcs. Contact me later when you get the chance, ok? I'll fill you in...

Brian: If MJ likes the idea, I'll let you in on it. Give me a couple of days to rework the story a bit.

And about The Starbright Project? I promise I will eventually write a few stories for it. I think the main reason no one has had any ideas for SBP is because we don't really know what the "aim" of the series is. Don't get me wrong, it's a great concept to go back to the beginning and tell the story of what came before QL, but as a writer, I don't know what to write about for it.

Any television series has a set goal: For Star Trek, it's to "boldly go where no one has gone before," for humanity to explore the outer boundaries of existence and learn more about themselves in the process. For Sliders, it was exploring infinite numbers of parallel universes, a different one each week, trying to find their way back to Earth Prime -- and sharing their beliefs with others along the way, to open people's minds up to new concepts unheard of on their native worlds. For Quantum Leap, the "aim" of each episode was that Sam leaps into someone's life, corrects something that went wrong, and then moves on to his next "assignment." That's the "Heart Story" for each episode. So, that's my main question: what is SBP aiming to accomplish in each episode? What is its ultimate "goal" and how does it relate to Quantum Leap, other than the obvious connections? ;) I know that SID is somewhat of a prototype for Ziggy, and that Sam, Al and company follow a "space-travel by day, time-travel by night" philosophy at the Project, but other than that, I'm not sure what to write about, other than the few ideas I have.

I hope you don't take my constructive criticism personally, Brian. I'm just trying to help you and other potential writers to put things in perspective and maybe formulate some thoughts to get SBP going again. I wouldn't give up on it yet. Although it's off to a slow start, I think once you get a few more stories in the can, others will follow.


To go off-topic for just a minute, Mike and I have also discussed potentially starting a new virtual series which would be a spin-off of one of the other cult TV shows I mentioned: Sliders. We've tossed out the title Sliders: The Next Dimension. Although I have yet to come up with a good story for the "pilot" episode and a thorough way of bringing back some of the characters logically, I told Mike I wanted the series to get back to basics -- pure, alternate-history type stuff. I figured there should be 5 main characters: Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown, Maggie Beckett, and Professor Maximillian Arturo (I don't think many people liked Colin Mallory, Diana Davis and the "composite" Mallory anyway), and the stories would continue the "spirit" of what made the show so unique when it first began on Fox, before the creator Tracy Torm? left. But one thing we definitely agreed on was that we should try to get a few people to write some stories before we "aired" the pilot episode. That way, we'd at least have a few stories lined up to get people's attention and attract them to submit some ideas.

Perhaps, Sue could adopt this philosophy for Into the Future, and Brian could sort of "retool" The Starbright Project... wait until people have a few more stories submitted before the series "officially" start. I know SBP already "aired" 2 episodes, but MJ and Eleiece went back and "restarted" Quantum Retribution last year. I don't see why Brian couldn't do the same for SPB, but that's just my own opinion. You can all ignore me if ya want! :p
 
Re: Hmm....

Damon, maybe you're right about the SBP. I mean, I know what I had in mind and I think Sue had a grasp on it, but...

I'll try and draw something up in the next few days/weeks and see about getting it on some sort of streamlined track. I know it'll be on hiatus until next year at the earliest.

As far as a character return, you guys do what you wish there. I am not caught up enough on my reading to make a good story out of that right now :( , so you guys will have to come up with that on your own.
 
Re: Hmm....

Ohhh boy.

Ok.

Watch out world... MJ's thinking of planning something herself.

But just for the record... and I know how Brian's going to answer.... I'd like to see how everyone feels about this... so check out the poll forum.

After this weekend, I'm closing it down and then am deciding on what to do.

Thanks,
MJ
 
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