Alia?

Dman176 said:

As for why the "evil leapers" were introduced, I believe that was more of a request on NBC's part to give Sam a "nemesis" of sorts to complicate things. To my knowledge, Don Bellisario wasn't too keen on the idea, but reluctantly agreed. Personally, I always thought it made perfect sense: Sam is out there putting right what once went wrong, fixing people's lives; so it's only logical to assume that there are others out there putting wrong what once went right, destroying people's lives. I fell in love with the concept the instant I first saw the Season 5 promo during the summer hiatus that year.

Anyway, if you want to find out a bit more about the "evil leapers," you can go here:

http://quantumleap-alsplace.com/evil/

Or, for individual "bios" on the individual characters, these are taken directly from the Quantum Leap: A to Z book by Julie Barrett. I warn you, though, these contain SPOILERS, so read them at your own risk:











Alia: If Sam Beckett was able to travel in time, it would stand to reason that sometime another person would do the same. Perhaps it was a greater shock than a surprise when Sam encountered Alia. When they first met, Sam had leaped back into Jimmy LaMotta’s life, and Alia had become Connie. They didn’t find out about each other until they touched, which set up a magnetic convergence field allowing them to see each other. Alia told Sam that she was with a time-travel experiment, and she too suffered from Swiss cheese memory and had no control over where she went. The one thing she really wanted above all was to go home. She then tried to seduce Sam, saying that he was the only one who could understand what she was going through. Their lovemaking was interrupted by the early return of Frank, Jimmy’s older brother. While Sam was digging for his clothes, Alia ripped her slip, scratched her face, and screamed that Jimmy had tried to rape her. Zo?, her Observer, then reported that she had to kill Sam, and that doing it could get her home. Alia explained to Sam it wasn’t God that put them against each other. Sam countered by postulating that evil could only exist because of good, and if she killed him, she may no longer exist, and it would only add to the power of whatever was leaping her around. Alia has apparently killed a lot of people, but she was unable to bring herself to kill Sam, and Alia and Zo? exited distorted and screaming in pain.

When the pair met again, Alia told Sam that she had been tortured, and that the experience was worse than death. She begged Sam not to let her go through that kind of pain again, and Sam suggested that if they were to hold each other when they leaped, they might be able to go together. They did, right into the Mallard Correctional Facility for Women. In an attempt to keep Lothos, the artificial intelligence controlling her leaps, from locking on to her brain waves, Sam altered them slightly by hypnotizing her into believing she actually was the woman into whom she had leaped.

While Alia didn’t seem to be completely evil (why else would she want to be redeemed?), she did wonder why some people help other people. Apparently such behavior was either not in her background or had been conditioned out by some means.

Alia could see Zo?’s Observer, Thames.

When Alia was shot by Zo?, she leaped out and Angel Jenson leaped back in, unhurt. Lothos reported that Alia was lost, and Ziggy reported to Al that she was free.


Zo?: Alia’s Observer. In some ways, she was just like Al—a clotheshorse who loved to lech after the opposite sex. After she was able to see Sam as himself, she called him a “studly morsel” and “sweet cheeks.” The similarity ended there, for Zo? was quite evil.

Apparently Alia and Zo? have been working for Lothos for several years. She told Alia, “We clawed our way out of Hell to land simple assignments like home wrecking and adultery. You don’t want to live through the horror we lived through before.” Zo? told Lothos she taught Alia “Every nuance. Every twist. Every lie. She was brilliant.” Lothos believed sending Alia out was a mistake, and that he always wanted Zo? to carry out his plan. In “Revenge,” Zo? herself leaped. Sam shot Zo?, as Warden Meyers, and Thames screamed that she was dying. After the familiar flash, Meyers returned and he was unhurt.


Thames: Zo?’s Observer enjoyed every minute of his stint as a hologram—except the last. He was a fan of James Brown and always carried a walking stick. Pronounced “Tems” like the river in Great Britain.


Lothos: The artificial intelligence unit that controlled Alia’s assignments. There were some indications that this time-travel project was set in the future, and might have built on Dr. Beckett’s theories. The participants used terms such as “Leaping” and “Swiss cheese,” and the electric leap effect was essentially the same. Lothos, however, seemed to have more control than Ziggy ever did. For example, he had the power to send his leapers where he wanted, and to reward and punish. He was not pleased with Alia’s performance the first time she encountered Sam. He also had the power to pull a leaper out at any time. Their Imaging Chamber was called the Holding Chamber. When Lothos sent out a leaper, there was a forty-eight-hour window in which he or she had to get home. After that, the percentage dropped with each leap.

Lothos held conferences with staff members called “deep input” sessions. During one with Thames, Lothos told him that sending Alia out was a mistake. It seems Lothos had some sort of master plan, but no one outside of the staff knew what it was.



Hope that helps!

Damon

Click to expand...

naggindragon said:

The only problem with Lothos being in the distant future is that Alia would be leaping outside her own lifetime. She's younger than Sam - so how could she have leapt into the Lomadas lives in DUFE or the university in ROTEL if Lothos was in the distant future?

Click to expand...

Sam Beckett Fan said:

this was actually the reason that i dumped th idea that EPQL was created based on the tape from Starlight Starbright. because if it was, Zoey would have known Sam when he appeared instead of Jimmy. i even told this to my best friend when we were talking the theory over.

Click to expand...