Quantum Leaps troubled beginning?

[Spartan83]

Many fans will be familiar with QLs very controversial finale which has rightly had its critics but very rarely do we discuss its very rushed first episode opening. I mean there we have AL doing a quick drive by pick-up and all all of a sudden Gushie contacting him
shouting down the comm "He's Leaping".

Not the greatest opening intro to our hero Sam,his work or origin. I would have liked to have seen Sams struggle to convince the committee and a little about the science behind the machine and its tech.

Very ironic how both the opening and ending finale were rushed . I don't know if DPB meant to write it in that way

[Dman176]

Originally Posted by Spartan83

Many fans will be familiar with QL very controversial finale which has rightly had its critics but very rarely do we discuss its very rushed first episode opening. I mean there we have AL doing a quick drive by pick-up and all all of a sudden Gushie contacting AL
shouting at down the comm "He's Leaping". Not the greatest opening intro to our hero Sam,his work or origin.

Very ironic how both the opening and ending finale were rushed

I don't think the opening was necessarily rushed; the whole idea behind the way the series began was that we (the viewers) were meant to be coming into the premise every bit as disoriented as Sam was when he first "woke up"...not knowing who or where he was. We were learning new bits of information right along with the protagonist. There's an excerpt of an interview with Don Bellisario where he explained the first scene he ever wrote: a man wakes up in the middle of the desert practically naked, not knowing who or where he is, knows nothing about his past...basically a blank slate. Then a sheriff picks him up in a car and tells him to get in the car and there's like a dead body in the trunk, and he looks in the mirror and sees that he's an Indian or something like that. That was basically Don's first draft of the pilot. So, right from the start, we were supposed to have as little information as possible.

[Spartan83]

Originally Posted by Dman176

I don't think the opening was necessarily rushed; the whole idea behind the way the series began was that we (the viewers) were meant to be coming into the premise every bit as disoriented as Sam was when he first "woke up"...not knowing who or where he was. We were learning new bits of information right along with the protagonist. There's an excerpt of an interview with Don Bellisario where he explained the first scene he ever wrote: a man wakes up in the middle of the desert practically naked, not knowing who or where he is, knows nothing about his past...basically a blank slate. Then a sheriff picks him up in a car and tells him to get in the car and there's like a dead body in the trunk, and he looks in the mirror and sees that he's an Indian or something like that. That was basically Don's first draft of the pilot. So, right from the start, we were supposed to have as little information as possible.

Not really how I would have done it tbh, as a viewer I'd have liked to have got a premise of the events leading up to Sam leaping and not told as a backstory by AL later on. If I'm not mistaken from memory it took them at least the opening of season 3 The Leap Back for us the viewer to see the QL facilities and the staff involved in it. It's a good thing the storytelling in the lata episodes caught us up.

[feldon30]

Quantum Leap was weekly morality play addressing the cultural issues of the 50's, 60's 70's, and 80's with *just enough* sci-fi thrown in to make it work. They didn't even have the special effects really figured out until Season 2.

If Quantum Leap had started with a Leap Back type reveal of the future, I don't think it would have picked up the diverse audience it had. It might have been dismissed as another sci-fi gobbledygook time travel show and picked up a much smaller sci-fi enthusiast audience.

And I say this as a sci-fi fan who latched onto the tiny glimpses of sci-fi elements we saw only sporadically on Quantum Leap.

[Avilos]

I agree with everyone who says there is no problem with the Pilot. The show was never really about what happens at the Project. While the show slowly introduced more of that as it went on, the stories were about who Sam leaped into.

Which is a big reason the ending never bothered me. The show really is not about him getting home. It’s about Sam helping people. Everything else is vague background info. Not that it was not fun to learn about the Project and it’s people in small doses. But it was never what drove what the show was about.

[Spartan83]

There was nothing wrong with the pilot premise, Sam leaps, he wakes up hazy and swiss-cheesed, we have some funny hologram interaction with AL and they both find a way to leap onwards.

I'd have liked to have seen the events leading up to Sam stepping into the accelerator instead of Gushie telling the audience 2 minutes in "HE'S LEAPING Ziggy said No" "

It's strange because at that point in the show nobody knew who Sam , Gushie or Ziggy were

[Dman176]

That's also very much the nature of a "fish-out-of-water" story, which is the role Sam's character had. The scenario is much more relatable when you know just as much (or as little) as the character you're following. LOST was very much like that in the beginning too: we were thrown right into the crash, and the flashback format was used to fill in the backstory on how we got to that point, and who the characters were before the crash. (A lot of shows use a similar format these days to tell their story. It makes things more interesting.) If the original Quantum Leap had been done today, I definitely feel like we would have gotten something more along those lines. (For all we know, maybe they'll do something similar with the new pilot.)

[feldon30]

An expression I've heard about movies, TV, stage acting, etc.

"If you want the audience to like you, show them everything.
If you want the audience to love you, hold things back and make them thirst for more."

[Spartan83]

I'm all for holding something back to tease the viewer but I'd have liked to have seen the events leading up to Sam stepping into the accelerator.

[alsplacebartender]

I'm thirsty! LOL

Originally Posted by feldon30

An expression I've heard about movies, TV, stage acting, etc.

"If you want the audience to like you, show them everything.
If you want the audience to love you, hold things back and make them thirst for more."

[QL Nut]

I wouldn't say the premiere was rushed in terms of story, premise or plot. But remember the show was a mid-season replacement and likely the reason why the special effects weren't fully realized (or affordable), which could convey that impression.

A smaller budget in the initial first season is pretty apparent, especially considering the handlink was just a shard of plexiglass in the pilot. Only as the episodes went on were more and more electronics added to it. I saw an interview where Don Bellisario remarked that they were able to save money by utilizing pre-built sets owned by Universal for other productions which helped the show's atmosphere tremendously.

[QL Nut]

Originally Posted by feldon30

An expression I've heard about movies, TV, stage acting, etc.

"If you want the audience to like you, show them everything.
If you want the audience to love you, hold things back and make them thirst for more."

I just realized why Breaking Bad was perfect. It always knew where it was going and provided flashbacks and flash-forwards simultaneously. It checked all the boxes.

[slider86]

Originally Posted by Spartan83

I'd have liked to have seen the events leading up to Sam stepping into the accelerator instead of Gushie telling the audience 2 minutes in "HE'S LEAPING Ziggy said No" "

It's strange because at that point in the show nobody knew who Sam , Gushie or Ziggy were

The teaser was meant to thrust the viewer into the action without any context. This allows Sam to discover things about what happened like the audience do. It's a good scriptwriting technique and more importantly doesn't need to rely on flashbacks or flashforwards.