106 The Color of Truth

[Lightning McQueenie]

Originally Posted by leaper1

yeah, it's a fun concept - which is why {shameless plugosity} in my story "Run for their Lives" I have Sam 'inherit' the Irish nanny's broad Irish accent! I'd truly love to hear Scott try to tackle it!

Where can I read "Run for their Lives"?

[leaper1]

Originally Posted by Lightning McQueenie

Where can I read "Run for their Lives"?

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/827199/Madders_Ahatter

This lists all five of my stories, which form an arc.
Run for their Lives is number 3 out of 5
1. Terror Firma
2. High Hopes
3. Run for their Lives
4. Snake in the Grass
5. M.E., Myself and Sam

Thank you for your interest, if you do read, please let me have your honest opinion.

Run for their Lives is the story I am taking to give Scott on Sunday, although it was actually written longer ago, and it shows! - High Hopes is the one I gave Dean.

[Lightning McQueenie]

You should have asked him to read it with the Irish accent :P

[leaper1]

Originally Posted by Lightning McQueenie

You should have asked him to read it with the Irish accent :P

I haven't met him yet - I'm hoping to ask him on Sunday.

Edit update:
I did ask him to read a couple of lines with an Irish accent.
Considering it was written phonetically and he was sight reading, he did pretty well.

[Al_Calavicci]

I have to agree with Samantha Beckett,this episode has always reminded me a little of Driving Miss Daisy.
All in all a great episode.

[bluedana]

Originally Posted by Al_Calavicci

I have to agree with Samantha Beckett,this episode has always reminded me a little of Driving Miss Daisy.
All in all a great episode.

It's quite clearly based on "Driving Miss Daisy." Many of the episodes were homages to or take-offs of previous movies. I don't think anyone involve in QL would deny that.

I love the tea scene. Both actors just nailed their respective positions. There was only so far Miss Melony was prepared to go, and Sam crossed the line. Her reaction was perfect.

[Al's the Best]

Something I've always wondered. Why did Sam jump all over Al when he said "A lot of my friends are black!"

[JuliaM]

Originally Posted by Al's the Best

Something I've always wondered. Why did Sam jump all over Al when he said "A lot of my friends are black!"

That sentence, "A lot of my friends are black," was, at one time, used by people to explain why they couldn't be racist...often preceeding or proceeding a racist statement. Basically, it was used a an excuse. I think the statement (and Sam's reaction to it) has lost the meaning over time and if you didn't grow up in the 60's or 70's, it probably seems like a perfectly innocent thing to say.

[chris-oates]

One of my favourite episodes, this is in my top 10 episodes. I never really knew how bad racism was in the 1950s in America, sure I'd heard about it, but seeing this episode was a real eye opener for me. My favourite scene has to be when Al gets through to Ms Melony, and she thinks it's her husband who told her to turn in at the cemetery.

[blue enigma]

Great episode. Best one of Season 1.

[Donofrio_QLTD]

Wow! Everything about this episode is quite memorable. One of Deborah's best screenplays, if not THE best. Everything ran so smoothly. Every character was very likable, even the "bad guys". Up until this point, the show was either a hit or a miss. Then comes along a mind-blower like The Color Of Truth and now you know people (and even more people) is going to stick around. What a commentary, and inside a very simple story! I think this is the episode for which QL is remembered, even to this day.

There's no single thing I dislike about this ep. Also loved the fact that the leaping effects had improved here. One of the first ones I keep playing whenever I decide to watch the whole first season again. For some reason, everytime I see this ep., I want to taste that soup Sam is preparing.

My rating: Excellent.

[Lightning McQueenie]

Originally Posted by Donofrio_QLTD

Wow! Everything about this episode is quite memorable. One of Deborah's best screenplays, if not THE best. Everything ran so smoothly. Every character was very likable, even the "bad guys". Up until this point, the show was either a hit or a miss. Then comes along a mind-blower like The Color Of Truth and now you know people (and even more people) is going to stick around. What a commentary, and inside a very simple story! I think this is the episode for which QL is remembered, even to this day.

There's no single thing I dislike about this ep. Also loved the fact that the leaping effects had improved here. One of the first ones I keep playing whenever I decide to watch the whole first season again. For some reason, everytime I see this ep., I want to taste that soup Sam is preparing.

My rating: Excellent.

Just make sure you have some salt on hand :P

[Donofrio_QLTD]

Originally Posted by Lightning McQueenie

Just make sure you have some salt on hand :P

Hahahaha! Noted.

[Lightning McQueenie]

I just wanted to say, this was the first episode of Quantum Leap that I ever watched in full (I'd seen a few minutes of some episodes earlier but the limited attention span my ten-year-old self could muster was busy with other things at the time), and this is the episode that got me hooked on Quantum Leap. In fact, if it wasn't for "M.I.A." it would be my favourite episode of all.

My mum had seen the majority of the series the first time it was shown here in Australia, then when we got PayTV, each weekday she would, without fail, watch and tape onto VHS every episode. This was the first episode where I actually sat down and watched it with her. I love history, and I simply could not believe that the segregation and racist attitudes of the town actually happened. Over the course of the episode, Mum explained why Sam had a different reflection, why Al could walk through things, why only Sam could see him, and the time-travel "putting things right that once went wrong" premise, and I was hooked. After that, without fail I would watch every episode with her (unless it was an episode considered too violent or adult-themed for my ten-year-old self... I watched those on my mum's videos whenever I could sneak them away )

[MO]

I'm watching this episode now. The first time the train is shown in this episode, a train passed my house and blew the horn for the crossing at the exact same time the train in the show blew its whistle.

[MO]

Following up now that I've finished the episode. An excellent episode. It truly shows the way life in the South was before the Civil Rights movement (and still quietly is, in some people's minds). I love how, as stubborn as Miss Melny is with the way she was raised, she saw the light and the townspeople had too much respect for her to behave otherwise.

About the train: There is no Alabama and Pacific Railroad. (It's to be expected that television writers make up names for places and businesses.) The locomotive shown in the episode is the Savannah and Atlanta Railway's Locomotive 750. At the time of filming, it was owned by Southern Railway (which is now Norfolk Southern - the railroad that goes past my house [see above post]), and was used as an excursion locomotive for steam trips. If you want to see it in person, head to Duluth, GA and visit the Southeastern Railway Museum.

This episode gets an "Excellent" rating in my book.

[chris-oates]

Two excellent episodes in a row here. While Double Identity makes my top 5, The Color of Truth is more of a top 10 episode. Still brilliant, though. One of the most famous episodes of them all, The Color of Truth sees Sam leap into Jesse Tyler, chauffeur to an elderly southern woman. The Driving Miss Daisy dynamic between Sam and Miss Melny is beautiful to watch. To see her slowly begin to embrace change, and accepting that part of herself that always knew that change needed to happen was beautiful to see.

My favourite part of this episode has to be Al getting through to Miss Melny. It was a dramatic, humorous and confusing moment all in one. I don't believe Miss Melny was senile or crazy, so she shouldn't have been able to here Al. I guess like in the end of MIA, this is one time when GTFW decided that Al needed to become present in the past, if only for a fraction of a second.

The message of this episode is powerful. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to have been a black man or a black woman living in the south during this period of history. Themes like this will be touched on again in the series, but it's never better than this one. The ending scene makes me smile every single time.

My rating. Excellent. A stellar effort by Deborah Pratt.

[leaper1]

Originally Posted by MO

Following up now that I've finished the episode. An excellent episode. It truly shows the way life in the South was before the Civil Rights movement (and still quietly is, in some people's minds). I love how, as stubborn as Miss Melny is with the way she was raised, she saw the light and the townspeople had too much respect for her to behave otherwise.

About the train: There is no Alabama and Pacific Railroad. (It's to be expected that television writers make up names for places and businesses.) The locomotive shown in the episode is the Savannah and Atlanta Railway's Locomotive 750. At the time of filming, it was owned by Southern Railway (which is now Norfolk Southern - the railroad that goes past my house [see above post]), and was used as an excursion locomotive for steam trips. If you want to see it in person, head to Duluth, GA and visit the Southeastern Railway Museum.

This episode gets an "Excellent" rating in my book.

I love finding out facts behind the eps. Thanks for this insight, MO. Cool that you are so close to this railroad, though I expect the noise can be intrusive at times.