Leap Within Lifetime

Don Quixote

Don Quixote

Project QL Intern
Dec 30, 2005
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Bradford, United Kingdom
www.quantumwiki.co.uk
Been thinking about this recently.

Do you think that Sam would be able to leap back to the point that he was conceived rather than when he is actually born.

He would have been still functioning and growing within his mother's womb, and alive.

So do you think that technically he could leap (ignoring the outatime episodes for this discussion) back as far as approx November 1952?
 
Well, considering this has already occurred in "The Americanization Of Machiko" and "Play It Again, Seymour," I think Sam could. Even though those episodes were written before Sam's birthdate was made up by Don Bellisario, looking back, the point of conception would have to count as the beginning of Sam's lifetime if they were to make sense. Besides, dates are just numbers; the real limit to Sam's leaping depends if he exists in the time period or not.
 
I have thought of this countless times, but my best friend and i both agree, that Ziggy was programed with Sam's lifetime beginning with Aguest 8, 1953 which was the day he was born. Machiko was just a boo boo i always thought.
 
Don Quixote said:
Sam's birthday was established in Genesis.
Click to expand...

Was it? For some reason I could have sworn those epsiodes were written before Don established it.

Don Quixote said:
That's quite a good point about the time period. When he leaps into his great-grandfather he has existed in that time period, so could he return there? Even without a strange quantum twist?
Click to expand...

I think I see what you're saying: if Sam wasn't genetically related to his great-grandfather, could he once again leap back to that time period since he has already been there? Yes, because he could theoretically leap back into any previous leap an infinite amount of times, depending on his success.

But let's not forget the only reason he was able to be there in the first place was because of his relation to his great-grandfather. So, his great-grandfather would have to be in that time period no matter what, anyway.
 
QL Nut said:
Was it? For some reason I could have sworn those epsiodes were written before Don established it.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was in the scene where Weird Ernie and Dr Berger were going over the memory loss test.

Weird Ernie: Birthdate: August 8th, 1953? That's a typo, surely he means 1923?

Dr Berger: Keep reading...!

It is possible that Play It Again and Machiko were being written at the same time though so there may have been confusion between the writers.
 
The question of what does and doesn't fall into Sam's lifetime is a question that can be debated ad infinitum since it keys on the question of when do you believe a person's life actually begins. Is it at the moment of birth or at the moment of conception? If you hold that life begins at concpetion then both "The Americanization of Machiko" and "Play It Again, Seymour" both occur within Sam's lifetime. If you hold that life begins only with birth then they're both out of Sam's lifetime.

I'm sure there was a bible that the writer's worked with for the series and, since these two leaps both occur after Sam would have been conceived but before he would have been born (a birthdate established in the pilot) I'm going to guess that the chosen answer was that life began at conception.

What date Ziggy's programmed with I don't believe really holds sway since when Sam and Al switch places Al lands well outside Sam's lifetime. Ziggy had to be programmed with that additional data. It would make sense when originally feeding the data into Ziggy before Sam even leaped that it would be easier to just put in all of the year 1953 as opposed to starting from a specific date.

Personally, I don't believe that the dates in "The Americanization of Machiko" or "Play It Again, Seymour" were mistakes at all but were conscious descions that Sam's lifetime started with his conception so he could, therefore, leap back that far. I also adhere to the belief that life begins at the moment of conception so that fits in perfectly with my belief system.
 
I believe Sam COULD leap back to the times outside his own lifetime he has already leapt into, but only if he has failed that leap the first time and needs to redo it, and only if he leaps into the same person again (i.e. Al in The Leap Back or his great grandfather in Leap Between The States.)
 
A bit of a concept

Julia...I'm in absolute agreement with you. Sam's life began at conception and thus...he could leap into another person that existed during that that part of his lifetime.

However, for MI it had to be the moment of his actual "exit from the womb." Why? Because now Sam is interating as SAM in the larger world, on his own, in his own body. There is no one in the waiting room. If MI went back to the moment of his conception...he was not interacting in the larger world at that time (rather, he was interacting in the smaller world of the womb.) There is thus logic that MI is based on August 8, 1953...and he walks into Al's Place at the moment of his "exit from the womb."

Anyways...that's my take on the whole thing. I guess unless Bellasario decides to say something...it's all conjecture anyways.
 
Well, I've had a few theories about Leaping, myself. I think one of the key things is, it's almost like Sam can only Leap into people in his own karmic circle. People who either have been in situations or life points that he can sympathize with, or people who share similar brain chemistry or biology. Like his great-grandfather.

Given this, it's entirely possible for Sam to Leap outside his own lifetime. I think the main limitation on that is that Sam has trained himself to THINK in terms of his own lifetime as a limitation.

For example. Say I Leaped into the past. I could theoretically Leap into an ancestor of mine in say, 1776. Which would be fascinating, actually... but anyway. Basically, Sam's Leaps seem to me like they're a reflection of his own karma and instincts.
 
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