What happened to the Handlink

[par37670]

Hello All,

This is my first posting here. I have been inspired to look for some good QL stuff on the net and I found Al's Place which brought back lots of happy memories and inspired me to dig out my vhs tapes and watch the evil leaper episodes plus season 4.

My question concerns the handlink in The Leap Back which Al brought with him when he and Sam simo-leaped into 1945 and their roles were reversed. As we see during the episode the handlink is dead to both Al and then Sam when he swaps places again and tries the link to summon Gushie to retrieve him. Shortly after, Sam leaps out. So presumably, the Captain ends up with a strange looking object that doesnt appear to do anything, that is until the late 80s.

I don't know if this has been discussed on this forum before but its a good one to think about.

Cheers Paul

[Al's Handlink]

Welcome to the Board Paul. Stick around a while and let us know your thoughts on QL.

As for that handlink, it was never established what happened to the handlink. It has been said that maybe it went on through the years and eventually ended up at the evil leaper project

[par37670]

Thanks for the welcome. I wondered if the handlink became part of the evil leapers setup. Perhaps if Sam had stayed around long-enough after leaping into the Captain, he could have sped off into the town, got a padded jiffy bag, shoved the handlink inside, then mailed it back to Project QL c/o the same person he got Al to send the letter and $100 earlier. Just maybe, Sam may have leaped back to PQL.....

Paul

[QL Nut]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility of a Terminator-style time loop? Could it be that by leaving the handlink in the past, some how, some way, members of the Project found it in the early '90s and based their technology off it? Therefore, Sam and Al would have to leap back into the past in order for them to have the handlink technology in the future and vice versa.

Yeah, I know that Sam was inspired to make the gummi bear design from his old favorite show Time Patrol in the '50s. But, "The Leap Back" did happen after "Future Boy" hmm... I know it's a stretch, but still an interesting possibility to think about, I think.

[Al's Handlink]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility of a Terminator-style time loop? Could it be that by leaving the handlink in the past, some how, some way, members of the Project found it in the early '90s and based their technology off it? Therefore, Sam and Al would have to leap back into the past in order for them to have the handlink technology in the future and vice versa.

Very interesting theory. I never thought about that

[Sam Beckett Fan]

Originally Posted by QL Nut

Therefore, Sam and Al would have to leap back into the past in order for them to have the handlink technology in the future and vice versa.

what exactly is meant by this?

[QL Nut]

Originally Posted by SamBeckettfann

what exactly is meant by this?

In short, Sam creates the handlink because the Project found the one from the past. The Project found the one in the past because they created the handlink.

What I'm saying is that maybe in the early '90s, someone at PQL came across this newly left behind handlink and got the idea for the handlink off of themselves. So, now the handlink's design (or maybe even its existence) is dependent upon Sam traveling to the past. We'd know that he'd have to make his first leap in order to ultimately have the handlink left in the past again, ad infinitum.

It's sort of like how Sam changed the past in how he came up with his own string theory, of which PQL is based off of. The first time around, Sam presumably came up with his theory during his time as a physicist. But in "Future Boy," he explains his theory to Moe Stein. A young Sam Beckett ends up sending a letter to his character on Time Patrol, and Moe explains Sam's own string theory to him as a child, thus now giving himself his own ideas... So basically, the idea of PQL now came from Sam's own changing of history. He created PQL because he gave himself the idea in the past; he got the idea in the past because he created PQL.

[Sam Beckett Fan]

Originally Posted by QL Nut

Well, what I meant was that maybe Sam and Al changed history by now having a handlink left behind in the past that was never there the first time Project Quantum Leap was started. So, maybe now that the handlink was left in 1945, it would remain left behind in time and not work until some point in the early '90s. What I'm saying is that maybe in the early '90s, someone at PQL came across this newly left behind handlink and got the idea for the handlink off of themselves.

It's sort of like how Sam changed the past in how he came up with his own string theory, of which PQL is based off of. The first time around, Sam presumably came up with his theory during his time as a physicist. But in "Future Boy," he explains his theory to Moe Stein. A young Sam Beckett ends up sending a letter to his character on Time Patrol, and Moe explains Sam's own string theory to him as a child, thus now giving himself his own ideas...

thanks QLnut, that makes sense. i, however ws not aware that the show was called Time patrol, i thought it was the adventures of captian galaxy and future boy?

and another question, so where did Sam get the idea for project Quantum Leap in the first place, before he changed all that history so the ideas pass between his younger selves?

[QL Nut]

Originally Posted by SamBeckettfann

thanks QLnut, that makes sense. i, however ws not aware that the show was called Time patrol, i thought it was the adventures of captian galaxy and future boy?

Nope, Moe Stein asks how many of the kids at the skating rink watched Time Patrol.

Originally Posted by SamBeckettfann

and another question, so where did Sam get the idea for project Quantum Leap in the first place, before he changed all that history so the ideas pass between his younger selves?

Well, the Bartender in "Mirror Image" asked Sam why he created Project Quantum Leap, to which the answer was "to make the world a better place." It's unclear whether Sam always intended to physically travel into the past, or if the idea was always just to observe it as a hologram, like Al does. As it turned out, the only way to make that work is to have a traveler physically be in the past. Sam would have came up with the idea for PQL no matter what, because it was his destiny. In the original history, he came up with his theories and got the idea during his time as a physicist. Maybe his own life experiences (father and brother dying, Katie marrying an alcoholic, etc.) had a little something to do with his motivation as well...

[Sam Beckett Fan]

Originally Posted by QL Nut

Nope, Moe Stein asks how many of the kids at the skating rink watched Time Patrol.



Well, the Bartender in "Mirror Image" asked Sam why he created Project Quantum Leap, to which the answer was "to make the world a better place." It's unclear whether Sam always intended to physically travel into the past, or if the idea was always just to observe it as a hologram, like Al does. As it turned out, the only way to make that work is to have a traveler physically be in the past. Sam would have came up with the idea for PQL no matter what, because it was his destiny. In the original history, he came up with his theories and got the idea during his time as a physicist. Maybe his own life experiences (father and brother dying, Katie marrying an alcoholic, etc.) had a little something to do with his motivation as well...

hmm, i never did consiter all that, yeah.
and as for how the timne travelling was suppose to work, there is one of the novels i read, i forget which one but it stressed that the progect was meant merely to be obvserved as a hologram like Al, which does not make sense, however in connection with the line you have in your last post from mirror image, that Sam wanted to change the world, he can't very well do that as a hologram, which is basically not being there.

[Al's Handlink]

hmm, i never did consiter all that, yeah.
and as for how the timne travelling was suppose to work, there is one of the novels i read, i forget which one but it stressed that the progect was meant merely to be obvserved as a hologram like Al, which does not make sense, however in connection with the line you have in your last post from mirror image, that Sam wanted to change the world, he can't very well do that as a hologram, which is basically not being there.

It might have been QL The Begining. It was about them trying to get everything ready for the project before the first leap

[par37670]

Well, my posting certainly seems to fired the imagination !! I like the time loop theory and the tie-in to Future Boy. Hmm I think I'll watch that tape tonight now !

I watched *that* egypt episode last night without problem. However, the BBC2 (UK) program announcer does apologise for the late start to the showing of the episode on my taped copy from 1990/91 - not sure of exact air date in UK.

Cheers Paul

[Lightning McQueenie]

I have another question about the handlink - when does it change from the smooth browny coloured handlink to the bumpy rainbow coloured one? I understand that Al destroyed the brown one when it wasn't working properly and uses the rainbow one later on in the episode, but if I remember correctly the rainbow one was used in a few leaps beforehand.

My main question is though, why did they change the design of the handlink, and why does the NEW version look like Ziggy? (It would make sense that the old one would look like Ziggy, not the new.)

[Al's Handlink]

Yeah, it was in The Great Spontini when Al finally breaks the old handlink, The one that I use as an avatar, It is the scene where Sam is sitting in front of the judge and he needs Al to relay basic information like the daughters birthday, Al hits the handlink so hard, he breaks it.

[Samantha Beckett]

Originally Posted by Al's Handlink

Yeah, it was in The Great Spontini when Al finally breaks the old handlink, The one that I use as an avatar, It is the scene where Sam is sitting in front of the judge and he needs Al to relay basic information like the daughters birthday, Al hits the handlink so hard, he breaks it.

You know, I hadn't actually put 2 and 2 together to realize that Al had broken the handlink. I just always thought Ziggy got mad at Al for beating on her/it so much and just shut down, lol.

Samantha Beckett

[Samantha Beckett]

I think Scott said on an interview somewhere that they kept "upgrading" handlinks (with the exception of The Great Spontini, when it was deliberate) was because Dean was "beating the hell out of the props" (to quote Scott) when he was in character so hard that several originals did break behind the scenes.

Samantha Beckett

[Sam Beckett Fan]

Originally Posted by Samantha_Beckett

I think Scott said on an interview somewhere that they kept "upgrading" handlinks (with the exception of The Great Spontini, when it was deliberate) was because Dean was "beating the hell out of the props" (to quote Scott) when he was in character so hard that several originals did break behind the scenes.

Samantha Beckett

oh so you mean Dean was breaking them in real life, lol.

i actually think i have heard about this interview, cuz my friend kristen mentioned something about that, or maybe i read it on Scott's Sci Fi interveiw, or maybe both, i forget. cuz i read Scott's sci fi interview long before my desktop crashed.

[QL Nut]

Well that explains a lot! I always thought it was because Don was never quite satisfied with the handlink's look until they started using the gummi bear version. But even then, there's a few episodes like "The Great Spontini" where it looks slightly different than its regular arrangement.

[Al's Handlink]

I seem to remember when Sci-Fi ired their Quantum Leap Year Marathon Scott mentioning that they were always replacing them because Dean kept beating the hell out of them

[Samantha Beckett]

Originally Posted by Al's Handlink

I seem to remember when Sci-Fi ired their Quantum Leap Year Marathon Scott mentioning that they were always replacing them because Dean kept beating the hell out of them

*light bulb* YES!! That's it!!!! THAT'S where I heard it! LOL. I watched so many of those clips in one sitting they all ran together. Yeah, Dean was the reason they kept changing handlinks, lol.

Samantha Beckett

[QL Nut]

Originally Posted by Lightning McQueenie

I have another question about the handlink - when does it change from the smooth browny coloured handlink to the bumpy rainbow coloured one? I understand that Al destroyed the brown one when it wasn't working properly and uses the rainbow one later on in the episode, but if I remember correctly the rainbow one was used in a few leaps beforehand.

My main question is though, why did they change the design of the handlink, and why does the NEW version look like Ziggy? (It would make sense that the old one would look like Ziggy, not the new.)

Had this question many years ago. As we have seen specifically in "Lee Harvey Oswald," BOTH versions of the handlink are shown onscreen in the same scene. In fact, THREE handlinks are actually onscreen quickly in one scene (a wall-mounted backlit "Gummi Bear" handlink set as a button, the alternate version of the "Gummi Bear" handlink in Al's hand, and the "calculator" handlink in Gooshie's hand).

With that said, we can safely say that there were always BOTH versions of the handlink and that they always existed simultaneously. It was simply a case of Al utilizing the "calculator" version at first as the Project was coming up to speed. The technology was notoriously on the fritz and so like anything else, they simply upgraded once Al broke the "calculator" model. Obviously, more than one of these existed in order for Gooshie to utilize one in "Lee Harvey Oswald," unless it was a repair.

In regards to the official 'continuity error' of the "Gummi" appearing in "The Boogiem@n," this was either an elongated dream sequence, or it was the literal Devil using a mock handlink (the "Gummi" never lit up in the episode and was simply a front).