Well I have thought long and hard as to how I could follow Georgia’s Rodette, and in the end concluded that –

I can’t.

It would not be fair of me to try and do something similar, based around an episode (TV or Virtual). We are two different people with different approaches, and as she so rightly pointed out, different styles and our columns should reflect that fact.

So: to find something completely different. (Shades of Monty Python?) Hmmm.

Well, having made so many great new friends here recently, like Georgia and Jennie, and having rediscovered some old friends from way back such as Emma and Kaz, and having read some VS stories at the sister site from writers I’ve not seen around lately, (Peta Stanford and William Elsom spring to mind) I got to thinking about Quantum Leap fans.

The majority of people who follow a television program (with the possible exception of Trek fans – and I’m not going to get into whether they should be called Trekkies or Trekkers or whatever –this is not the place nor the time, and besides, they know who they are!) tend to be a fickle bunch.

Oh, they’ll be faithful to the show to the extent that they’ll record it if they go out, (though they may well wipe over it with something else, or with next week’s episode) or perhaps they’ll go the extent of buying the seasons on DVD (which they may well watch a handful of times and then either file away or sell on). They may even campaign to prevent it getting axed. Yet even so, they will generally tend to ‘outgrow’ their enthusiasm for a given show, and move on to other interests.

I know that this is a sweeping generalization, and there are other series that command loyalty in their fan base, and I mean no insult to either the programs or their fans, but on the whole, few series capture the imagination and the hearts of their viewers in quite the way that Quantum Leap seems to have done.

I myself have been an avid fan for over 10 years straight, and when people (like my husband!) suggest that surely I must be bored with it by now, I must have squeezed all the enjoyment and interest possible from it, I can honestly say that I enjoy watching the episodes as much now as I did when I first saw them, (I still have every episode on video from when I recorded the Sky One showings, and have kept even the season one episodes that I now have on DVD) and the Virtual Seasons keep the series fresh and alive for me. The show inspired me, it continues to inspire me, and it changed my life in so many positive ways, not least in the wonderful friends I wouldn’t otherwise have come to know.

I think maybe that is the key – the appeal lies not just in the series itself (though I still say it was the best series ever made, and all others pale by comparison), but also in what it brings out in those who follow it. Perhaps there is a little bit of Sam in all of us – wanting to wear the white hat and be the eternal Boy Scout, but we don’t have his courage or his commitment. Yet, having watched him make a difference in the lives of ordinary people such as ourselves, we maybe make just that little bit more effort to lend a helping hand or a sympathetic ear, or simply to smile at someone. And so, in however small a fashion, we pay it forward, we become less selfish, self-centered, we do a tiny bit to make the world a better place, and our reward is a feel-good factor that stays with us, even when the show isn’t airing.

Quantum Leap doesn’t just entertain; (though it is wonderfully entertaining!) it changes people. It changes them for the better, and it changes them forever.

Without exception, every fan I have found again after long absence has remained a fan, and proudly so. None of the "oh yes, I remember I used to watch that when I was younger!" almost apologetic attitude, but "Of course I still love it!"

Which leads me to put a sort of challenge out there:

If anyone knows somebody who fits this description, get them to update us, what are they doing with themselves? Do they still check out the sites, to read if not to contribute? Do they even still take an interest in Quantum Leap, or has it faded to a nostalgic memory of times past?