Quantum Leap get's ending put down

re

Hmm...To be honest I actually agree with the website. It was a totally rushed and subsequently screwed up ending.

Hopefully the film/series/whatever will either end it properly or else start up a whole new generation of show.

Paul

Personally, I don't mind the ending. I like the philosophical implications it sets up, and frankly, I don't really need a happy ending. I think it's sadder that this fifty year old man would spend the rest of his life thinking, okay, now what? I much prefer to think of him pursuing his calling.

Sore point.....

Apparently, the plan for the next season was for Sam to go into the future, the previous leaps had been a test. Due to the morons in charge deciding to call time on the show, the much crapped out ending was dumped on the loyal viewer.
I remember watching the start of the program, the BBC2 announcer having announced this was the last ever leap for Sam, so there's me thinking "Good, Sams going home." Many thanks universal for screwing the fans over (again!)

I have to agree that it's one of the worst endings as well. And not because it was a sad episode or that Sam didn't get to go home. Actually, those are the only qualities I liked about the episode because you don't see unhappy endings too often (at least at the time). Why I agree it was the worst ending was because of the fact that it made no sense at all and threw the entire show's logic out the window. Even if a 6th season was made, I'm not too sure how exactly something like "Mirror Image" could be explained. I guess my problem is that none of the absurd circumstances in the episode had any thought behind them besides making fans scratch their heads and go, "huh?"

I just wish the show's story stuck with the scientific aspect of the leaping, as opposed to implying that there may be an entire army of angelic leapers out there. Not that that's a horrible idea, but I like consistency. If the show stuck with the scientific explanations to Sam's leaping (of course overlooking the GFTW leaping Sam around part), I felt it helped keep the show a little more realistic. Straying away from that direction doesn't ground the show's premise enough, because then it feels like anything can happen at all. I know there were some episodes that dealt with curses and angels and aliens, but I never felt that it was anything too out there.

I for one think that Don was a Genius leaving Sam leaping around in time.

MacMan, Don Bellisario is the one who decided not to send Sam home. He wanted to leave Sam leaping around in time. He likes the idea of him leaping around in time striving to put right what once went wrong.

Also, Maybe Quantum Leap would still have the kind of following it has now if everything was wrapped up into a nice neat little package. A lot of fans feltr wronged that Sam Never Returned Home, I know I did at first. But if he had, maybe a lot of the fans would have been like, That was good, at least he returned home. Then 10 years down the road, QL is just a show that they watched once upon a time.

Everyone involved with the series knew it was getting canceled way before it's time. (Even NBC said later that they probably shopuldn't have canceled it.) So, with the open ended ending, it leaves a back door to possibly return to the series one day. It certainly opened up the door for Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons which to date has been running for 7 seasons.

And, If Bold Leap Forward ever gets made, it will be because of the open ended ending to the series.

re

MacMan, Don Bellisario is the one who decided not to send Sam home.

Click to expand...

I wasnt annoyed at Sam not getting home, that wasnt my point. I only found out about the plans for the next series much later on. The point I was making was that the next series was for Sam to go on Leaping (into the future) and not to go home. When the announcer stated it was the finale, I just assumed he would leap home.
We didnt get this because of Universal cancelling the show at the last minute. Don had to put together some semblance of an ending whilst at the same time keeping it open for futue sequel series. It just so happens that the ending was crap. I agree that there were some good points to the episode, its just the ending was bad.

Another Take

I have moved through Mirror Image. When it first showed, I would have agreed that the ending was one of the worst. It was totally unfair that after 5 years of leaping around with his only stated desire to "go home" that Sam would NEVER return home. That was just cruel and unnessasary. I absolutely turned away from the series at that point and it actually became for me a show that I'd watched and enjoyed at one time, but was too angry to consider a future for.

Last year, events conspired (and enough time had passed) that I was curious again and started searching around on the internet about QL. That ultimately lead me here and I've spent the last year falling back in love with QL and the entire concepts and ideas. Thank GFTW for fanfiction (especially TVS).

So, I now have a totally different view of the last episode. It was DEEP, deeper than many in TV world want to look at. To Chris's point, much of science actually points to and implies the deeper meanings of life and the universe that we tend to put into studies such as philosophy or religion. I sort of like the line from Hamlet "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy." In Shakespeare's time, the study of philosophy included the study of what we term science so this quote covers both concepts. Thus looking at MI from this standpoint, it was a fascinating episode. From a scientific standpoint, I don't have a problem with the MI now. Indeed, after reading more about the quantum world, MI actually has more on the ball then it doesn't. And not having concepts thought out? Well, if they weren't, then it must be a coincidence that so much can be pulled out of the show...the concepts in that last show were as I stated before DEEP.

(Of course, Douglas Adams once said that the choice of the number 42 for the answer to everything is just that he was looking for a "funny number." If you do a search on the number 42...it's amazing how many fundamental things that it DOES answer. So was Adams just tuned into the collective unconscious and that's why 42 was used? Maybe Bellasario was tuned into the same collective unconscious when he wrote MI.)

I think, though, that Bellasario made a major mistake if he was to bring the show back to life in some form or fashion. He put a "FINAL STAMP" (and that's how it was read) on the story..."Dr. Sam Beckett NEVER returned home." One, it got many loyal fans absolutely angry about the whole franchise. I KNOW I'm not the only one that had the reaction I did as I have talked with people that also had that reaction. Thus, in many ways, Bellasario divided the fanbase (those that continued to follow whatever was still out there such as conventions, fanzines and fanfiction, books, or anything else and those that the final episode had so hurt that they turned away.)

Now, if Bellasario had simply indicated in the final screen "Dr. Sam Beckett has not returned home...yet," a whole different mindset would have played out. That is, those fans that got upset and turned away would have been ready to do whatever it took to get Sam home. Then there would have been a stronger momentum to either have the show return or movies to be made. You still would have had Sam continuing to leap out in the world and it certainly wouldn't have been the "tie up all the strings" happy ending. But as has been said (and shown throughout the ages) "United we stand, divided we fall." Bellasario's final screen was divisive.

Thus, 13 years out, we're still hearing the rumors of a TV movie or perhaps a new TV show. Look again at how many of the people who were turned off to the ending are coming back and how many new fans have joined. Could that be why these rumors are gaining momentum? Could it be that a united group of people can bring a show back to life?

Star Trek: TOS was seen on TV from 1966-1969. Discounting the cartoon (not because it wasn't good, but because it wasn't live action), the next show was in 1979 (ST: The Motion Picture)...10 years. Then the whole set of successful movies, starting with ST: The Wrath of Khan in 1982...13 years out. Then for the show to return to TV, ST: TNG in 1987, 18 years out.

Now...the world of TV and Movies has certainly changed over the years. What was true back in the 80's is no longer true in this new millenium. However, I believe that we will most likely see a return of some form of QL in the future (hopefully within a few years). Should it have returned sooner, well...YEAH. But I do believe that the division that the final show caused was at least a part of that equation, part of the reason it didn't return sooner. After all, the world of TV and Movies is ultimately based on green stuff (you know...those little slips of paper that you can take into a store and trade for things). If the powers that be don't see the potential for a LOT of green stuff, they won't put any effort into bringing the fans vision to fruition.

So...bad ending or good ending. All else being considered, it was only the final screen "Dr. Sam Beckett Never returned home" that caused this ending to be one of the worst. But then...hindsight is 20/20.