Ziggy

QL Damsel

Al's Place / TVS & QR & Radio Files Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2002
2,553
16
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Near Austin Texas
www.quantumleap-alsplace.com
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The Machine -- voice by: Deborah Pratt

First Appearance (in original form): Episode 401, ?The Leap Back? (original series)

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The Holographic Matrix -- played by: Heather Whyte

First Appearance (as a hologram): VS Episode 1010, ?Eeny Meany Miny Mo?

Job: Parallel Hybrid Computer

Sam designed this parallel hybrid computer to run Project Quantum Leap.

Ziggy was given an ego, which was a real breakthrough in computer development. Originally, the computer was called a "he", but after Sam leaped home to 1999, it was shown Ziggy had a female voice. Shortly thereafter the pronoun "she" was used almost exclusively.

Ziggy was given an ego, which was a real breakthrough in computer development. Unfortunately, Sam chose to give the computer the ego of Barbara Streisand, which caused a number of problems. During Sam's first Leap, Ziggy refused to accept responsibility for not being able to bring Sam back, and cut power to most of the Project, leaving only essential items available. Ziggy's ego won't allow for a change of mind, either.

The computer is also prone to mood swings and sometimes won't predict what will happen for fear of being wrong. One time Ziggy crashed and did screwball things like putting an extra zero on everyone's paycheck. Then the computer began to spit out data in foreign languages. Al blamed the problems on foreign microchips.

Ziggy's main control panel is located in a room that leads to the Imaging and Accelerator Chambers. While in the room, anyone can speak directly to the computer.

While Al is in the Imaging Chamber, he communicates with Ziggy, Gooshie and other via a handlink. The handlink has undergone a few design changes, most likely to make them hardier. Al tends to abuse them quite a bit, and one handlink died a spectacular death while Al was attempting to retrieve information.

Using the handlink, Ziggy can project images that Sam and others who can see Sam and Al can view. The computer projected the trajectory for pool shots for Sam, and Al used the link to show Teresa Bruckner pictures of dinosaurs. While masquerading as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Al used the link to project images of Blake Tower and news videos of the millionaire's eventual downfall.

Ziggy can get a mental signal from people close to Sam, but has a difficult time with people who have a few synapses missing in the brain.

Al modified Ziggy's sensors to be sort of a metal detector so he could attempt to find a bullet lodged in the wall of a church in 1971, but he required Teresa Lorrea to be there in order for the computer to center in on her brain waves. This gave Ziggy a clearer sensory base to pull from.

Ziggy nearly lost it when Sam leaped into Jimmy LaMotta for the second time. She went into maximum overload and kept insisting that history was changing and that things had changed for the Lamotta family, even though Sam wasn't doing anything. Dr. Beeks tried to reason with her, but received a shock that sent her halfway across the room.

Sam programmed Ziggy's memory banks for music, loading in all of Elvis Presley's hits and even a rap song. Ziggy digested the entire works of Shakespeare in a matter of seconds, explaining that with a one-million-gigabyte capacity, she was perfectly able of rubbing her belly, patting her head, and doing a trillion floating point operations at once.

Using Al's handlink, she was able to create a force field using the electric fences at Mallard Correctional Facility for Women in order to keep Thames from getting a lock on Alia.