1020 Guinea Pig, Part II

Guinea Pig, Part II

  • 5 ? This is an excellent episode! One of my personal favorites!

    Votes: 1 50.0%

  • 4 ? This episode was great! I will definitely tell others about it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 3 ? This episode was good. It was worth reading.

    Votes: 1 50.0%

  • 2 ? This episode was like the neutral zone ? I am indifferent.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 1 ? Bellisario would be rolling in his grave if he had one

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    2
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
Guinea Pig, Part II
December 3, 1959

Secret U.S. Military Base, New Mexico


In 2004, the U.S. Military needs to shut down all Level 1 Top Secret projects that are not weapons-related. The cost of maintaining an operation in Iraq after 9/11, plus the rekindling of the space program by President Bush have forced costs to be cut. In short, PQL will be dismantled, Ziggy terminated, and the PQL staff reassigned to other projects. Al must find a way to convince a four-star general to give them more time to get Dr. Beckett back, or try to convince him that the project works. Sam, in 1959, must figure out his objective without information from a dying Ziggy or from Al, while having leaped into a dying man whose medical records are classified with no listing of date of death. Sam breaks some rules in helping a quantum physics specialist finish his Time Displacer Unit so that Sam can use it to get home.


Written by: Greg Carey


Thanks,
TVS Team
 
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Our rating system this season consisted of six raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode.

Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 8.95


WARNING!
Some reviews contain spoilers!
If you want to remain surprised, do not go further!​

Some of the comments given were:

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Valery S. Gemini said:
The "flood" of events in this part 2 was so huge that I had to read it twice, just to check if I hadn't missed anything... What a rollercoaster again! So, within two short weeks, GTFW allows Sam to rest, almost makes him die, then sends him home, even if only for a few minutes (what a tearjerking moment, that scene in the Waiting Room...) What's next?

Dear TVS producers, have you more "new writers" of the same quality under your sleeve? Another virtual bouquet would be nice to thank Greg for this awesome story, which will surely bring much more developments, with the return of Lothos and so on.

Long live the VS!

RATING: 9.75

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Sporty said:
I would rate GUINEA PIG, Part 2 an 8 (This was a good story. It is a good read.)

RATING: 8.0

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Morris Finkle said:
First of all, let me just say: this 2-parter was a fantastic first outing by Greg and I look forward to seeing what else he might have up his sleeve for future stories...

That being said, this story was a surprising change-of-pace, in that Sam technically wasn't the one who accomplished what needed to be changed - Braden did. In fact, Sam inadvertantly caused more chaos by his actions, the biggest of which has ALREADY been a thorn in Sam's crusade for a long time now. Talk about irony...

The whole "interrogation scene" by Braden was very reminiscent of when Sam was drugged by the government officials in "Star Light, Star Bright"... a moment which coincidentally, many QL fans theorize might have created Lothos and the Evil Project. I'm not sure if this story was meant to officially "bring back" Lothos, Zoe, Thames and company, per se, but it was still an interesting and exciting plot twist. Especially when you consider that the "prelude scene" of Alia's first foray into the Accelerator, while never shown, has already happened in QL continuity. (Or HASN'T it? Damn, time travel can get confusing!) I've personally always had a fascination with the evil leapers, so I enjoyed this "blast from the past!"

Also, I just knew that a younger version of Hawkins would somehow be a factor in the leap. It was the only logical way I could see Al getting out of the deep "ca-ca" they were in. Between Braden going psycho and the "return" of Zoe and Lothos, I literally could not stay sitting down while reading this. I'm not kidding... :)

Rating: A perfect 10! Well done, Greg!

RATING: 10

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Seeker said:
Nicely done; good open-ended conclusion.

RATING: 9.0

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Sparky said:
No comment given.

RATING: 8.0

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Kazzi said:
Unable to rate.

RATING: NR

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team
 
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SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!

DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ PART II
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I left this story open in the event anyone wanted to take the series in a different direction. General Hakins was a character I left behind that could return to cause trouble even though he saved the Project from termination. The US government could in turn use HAwkins to dictate what Sam must do. I gave this scenario to Dman: What if Sam Leaps into a certain day in 1982 and Ziggy says Sam is there to stop a kid from choking on his food in the school cafeteria so that the kid can go on to develope Mars rover technology but the gov't says Sam is there to stop Reagan from getting shot. It would really put Al and the Project in a bind.
Also, if anyone noticed in Part II of this story, the villain was the one who actually did Sam's job for him. The evil Dr. Braden put events in motion that destroyed Garner and Hudson's Projects. All Sam did was go on instinct that GTF would not leave him and that he knew deep down he was supposed to make sure the Time Displace worked so that the Project would be saved in the future. So really, the whole time it was the villain that gets the job done and Sam has to break his rules to get what he could done.
Coincidentally, I couldn't say this after Part I or else I would've given Braden away, but if I were to cast the role of Dr. Braden, it would've been Eric Braeden who played the evil Dr. Hasseline in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes.
Another issue is, who else did Braden sell his secrets to? Did Dr. Connors get anything from him to build his experiment?
I guess this story can be considered the chicken before the egg since the origins of Lothos funding come later in Sam's Leaps...

G.
 
SPOILER WARNING!!​

Well, after reading Part 2 this morning, Greg, I can honestly say that this is one of the more intriguing QL stories I've read in a long time. This definitely changes the direction of the series, in terms of the ramifications of Braden's actions. My original observation on the "damaged timeline" still stands. I mean, think about it, people... leaping through time for a decade, constantly changing events over and over again... something's gotta give, wouldn't y'all think? ;)

The Zoe/Lothos connection is definitely something I'd like to expand on, since I already have a cliffhanger idea for a story I've wanted to write for a very long time (the trilogy I mentioned about a year ago that could serve as a "bridge" between the original QL and "A Bold Leap Forward"). It can be incorporated into TVS with some minor tweaking, but I just hope that my idea will not conflict with something that Greg or anyone else would like to write. (I've mentioned it to Sue, but have yet to discuss it in more detail with MJ.)

The best way I can conceptualize Greg's "chicken-before-the egg" idea in a way that makes logical sense, is a term that's been used in Star Trek once or twice before: Predestination Paradox. What that means is, an event in the past has occurred that was fated to occur BEFORE the time traveler even goes back to change anything in the first place. In effect, Sam inadvertantly created the very event he was trying to change. Normally, when Sam leaps back, he's altering history... but this time, it seems as if history must have already recorded Sam's presence before he went back there... otherwise Zoe and Lothoman couldn't have gotten the information from Braden, and Sam would never have encountered the evil leapers beforehand. Either that... or the Evil Project happened differently the first time. I'm sure I can easily explain that with my "parallel timeline" concept I hinted at in "Second Genesis".

I hadn't given a lot of thought as to how Connors got a hold of Sam's research to use in his own theories yet... only that it happened sometime during the Star Bright years. It was something I was eventually going to explain in Brian's Starbright Project series (sort of like a "prequel crossover," if you will), and then follow up with a recurring plotline in TVS, culminating in a major cliffhanger that would shake things up for a few episodes. I'm sure I could factor Braden into the equation though.

One small problem with that though... Brian's series is meant to take place in the "original" timeline (BEFORE any of Sam's changes took place). If Brian's open to it, I could use the "parallel timeline" concept to get around that, I suppose...

But I digress. Great story, Greg! I think it's an entirely plausible scenario to have the government seeking to manipulate Sam's leaps from this point forward, now that Hawkins has proof, and I'm curious to see how this potential plotline could be carried out in future stories. Kudos to a wonderful first outing!
 
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To borrow a Vulcan catchphrase, "If memory serves..." Sam didn't give too much info when he was drugged in that earlier episode, he was sprung outta there before he got too technical. I wondered if Lothos came from that but I felt that just giving his real name wasn't enough to launch that storyline of Jimmy Revisited. I often wondered what would happen if Sam spillt everything and it fell into the wrong hands and I realized there was a way I could tie that into the Evil Leapers...

I have a few more story ideas kicking around, nothing fleshed out completely yet...I think my next one will be lighter considering Guinea Pig was a very dark story (I wanted to write a QL equivalent of Empire Strikes Back where all the good guys are thrown into these situations where you just think, "My god, they are so screwed, how will they ever get out of this mess?" What better arena than to throw Sam near a bomb detonation while stricken with cancer while Al's career is in jeopardy as is Ziggy and the Project...how much worse could it get?

One of the raters commented on how Sam was almost left to die by GTFW but if I ever get around to yet another story (involving the untapped powers of the human brain especially from a once in a lifetime genius) there is a reason why it had to happen...*Hint* remember Sam could hear Al the Bartender just before he Leaped out...

Im glad everyone enjoyed my first outing...I had that story locked in my head for over 10 years, and considering I haven't watched the show much in recent years (my vhs collection has been mothballed with the advent of DVD and sci-fi channel doesn't air it regularly), I was surprised how quickly a lot of it came back to me. All I had to do was add in the current events subplot and change Gooshie to Sinjin.

Thanks to MJ for letting me get this story out and again thanks to everyone who enjoyed it! And I'd like to thank the Academy...lol...

On a side note....Congrats to Lord Of The Rings!!!!!!

G.
 
As you said
"How much worse can it get?"
Oh boy, Ground Zero - Nuclear explosion (wasn't that supposed to be one of the best chances of getting Sam home in Genesis?) Lung cancer, and then shot!
You are even meaner to Sam than I am, and I thought that was pretty impossible!
Great story Greg, I loved it.
A lot of us seem to have been thinking reunions lately (I won't say more as there are things in the pipeline from myself and others that I don't want to give away) maybe it is all this talk of the DVD's and the proposed movies that has got us all so sentimental!
Hands up how many would have liked to be in that group hug!

Seriously, Greg, well done, and I shall look forward to more from you.
 
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