310 A Little Miracle

I love this episode. Obviously it's an homage to "A Christmas Carol." Al was funny as the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Good Episode

I was definetly amusing!:hurray: :roflmao: :hurray:

Al was so funny as the ghost. looks like Dean had a great time dressing up to play it.

(Shame about Charlie Rocket i only found out about his death a few days ago, after watching this ep, after getting series 2 & 3 on dvd. It is sad to here him play Michael Blake & saying lines " I dont want to die alone" & " Do you have room for one more lost soul".(soppy i know but i cried at the end after watching it after finding out he died last yr)

yasmin
4th nov 06.(1.45am uk)

I love this episode.
It was funny to see Al dressed up as the "ghost" and saying "wooooooh" to scare him - like as if he didn't really want to..was bored or something..I dunno. It was also funny to see Sam in the background and looking at Al and trying not to laugh.

Another thing I noticed in this episode is when Sam is looking at the the photos in the closet. One was dated 1928 - Al said Mr Blake was 8 years old at the time (I could be wrong) which would mean he was born in 1920, but then towards the end, there was a headstone saying 1922... Like I said..I could be wrong.
Either way, it was a great episode.

Ha, when the rich guy notices Al as a hologram, that was very funny.

This is one of my most favorit. I like to show it to new comers. It show's them that Al can be funny...not that he isn't or anything, but you know. I like how Sam and Al were able to scrooge the rich man, and do it together. there are not so many times that they can do things like this together or should I say at the same time.

This is one of my favorite episodes. I liked the concept of it, and thought that the story was great. This is most probably one of the best of series 3.

Good episode,but defently not excellent. It was very amusing,but...what was the deal with all the howlings of Al as "Ghost of Christmas Future"? I found it realy irritating! And Dean acting as the "Ghost of Christmas Future" - in my opinion wasn't one of Dean best acting works...
Anyway, it gets only the "Good" grade from me.

isz said:

Good episode,but defently not excellent. It was very amusing,but...what was the deal with all the howlings of Al as "Ghost of Christmas Future"? I found it realy irritating! And Dean acting as the "Ghost of Christmas Future" - in my opinion wasn't one of Dean best acting works...
Anyway, it gets only the "Good" grade from me.

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You might want to brush up on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicChri.html) which is what Sam and Al were spoofing. Ebeneezer Scrooge if first visited by the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley who tells him he'll be visited by three more ghosts that night and he'd best heed what they tell him or he'll suffer the same fate as Marley. Scrooge is then visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Al's portrayal of the Ghost of Christmas Future is a direct reference to what happens in Dickens classic work. Personlly, I think the whole thing is a real hoot and one of the highlight moments for me.

Even if i would read Dickens book,i don't think that what would have changed my mind about this episode - First of all you can never campare a book to a movie based on him or got the inspiration from it . most of the time - The movie/TV movie/TV show would lose. big time.
Second of all - Al's howling during his part as the Ghost of Christmas Future is still irritating(and too childish),and it still isn't dean's best performance for QL - in my opinion.

I am so sure i posted here before but can't find my post now, very strange!, but what i thought i'd said before was I LOVED this ep, particlarly because i was a member of the salvation army (as a churchgoer) for about 26 years, i left when i was 26 years old so had and the stereotypes in this ep gave me such a huge giggle and the fact a lot of the things they did would never have really happened. She wore too much makeup, they never would have let her (changed now though) and he could never have married her and she stay a captain, officers can only marry officers so unless he became one (which is quite possible) they would never have married or she would have to leave (still the same now I think) and the whole band ensemble following her around that just had me on the floor in hysterics. I didn't really like Al dressing up and carrying on though, I think he could have been just as effective just being himself, and just talking seriously to the guy, I guess the whole get up lightened up the episode a bit though. I appreciate it was a direct reference to charles dickens but I just love Al as 'just Al'

jmoniz said:

Al's portrayal of the Ghost of Christmas Future is a direct reference to what happens in Dickens classic work.

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In A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a silent, terrifying specter who simply points to Scrooge's grave. So Al's style is the polar opposite--maybe lifted from the movie Beetlejuice, or maybe just Al going to town. He's not one to do things halfway, and I think this would fall flat if he toned it down. I love it, I think it's hilarious--in fact one of Dean's best bits in the series!

I still class this ep as one of my favs. Because it has some great funny moments especailly when Al all dressed up in make up etc gets all ghosty on Michael Blake.

I have to agree with Bexter, though. The Captain wore too much makeup for the character she was playing.

I love this episode...It's a very sweet retelling/take off of "A Christmas Carol". Al as the Ghost of Christmas Future alone makes watching this worthwhile, although there are a lot of great things about it. Dean was absolutely fabulous.

Snish said:

In A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a silent, terrifying specter who simply points to Scrooge's grave. So Al's style is the polar opposite--maybe lifted from the movie Beetlejuice, or maybe just Al going to town. He's not one to do things halfway, and I think this would fall flat if he toned it down. I love it, I think it's hilarious--in fact one of Dean's best bits in the series!

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Actually Michael Blake himself points this out, that the Ghost of Christmas Future wore black robes and that it was Jacob Marley who wore the chains. It's just supposed to show that Al hadn't done his research before dressing up (not that they had a lot of time mind you, he might not have read/watched A Christmas Carol in many years).

This will go down as one of my favorites. Al playing the Ghost of Christmas future is a real treat, and you can tell that Dean Stockwell was having a ball chewing the scenery. Yes, it was kind of a cheesy rip-off of A Christmas Carol but it seems like almost every TV show has done some variation of this and QL gave it it's own unique spin.

You know, it took a long time for me to appreciate Al. I never really cared for the character when the show originally aired, and had only seen a handful of episodes. I'm really just now catching up with the series on G4, and it took about two full seasons before I started to warm up to him. Now I fully appreciate what he brings to the show and this was an outstanding episode for him. (And it cracks me up whenever he hits the handlink at it makes that "oww" sound.)

Very nice, fun and enjoyable Christmas episode. I got to admit that, everytime I play it, it's because I only want to get to the ending with the Ghost Of Christmas Future. Of course everything in the middle is outstandng as well. Mr. Blake is yet another one of my favorite characters from Quantum Leap. Robert Wolterstorff was a great writer companion. He crafted some of the most memorable characters in the series (Jimmy being another example). Shame he didn't make any more writing collaborations after this episode.

It's very hard not to notice that Dean is having the time of his life with this episode, especially at the ending, when he's playing the Ghost. Every actor and actress do an amazing job as well. You can also tell Charles Rocket is feeling his character to the fullest. I didn't like the character of The Captain at first, but after the second viewing she grew on me a lot.

My favorite funny part: When Al as a Ghost shows Blake that, when they took his plaza, they named it "SUMITO PLAZA".

It made me roll a tear when Blake finally breaks up and understands all the wrongs in his life. Another thing I loved from QL, it could make you cry as well as make you laugh, sometimes even at the same time.

One of the nicest spoofs of "A Christmas Carol".

My rating: Excellent. THE Christmas episode.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Quantum Leap Podcast Christmas special, to be released in the near future, about this episode.

In the podcast, it's funny because none of us could agree on who represented the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present (Al obviously was the Ghost of Christmas future), so I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were?

My take is that Sam represents the Ghost of Christmas Past, as he is the one who found the box of photographs, and is the one who took Blake to the neighbourhood where he grew up; and that Captain Downey represented the Ghost of Christmas Present, as she was representative of everything that Blake wanted at that point in time.

However, a couple of alternatives were given - Albie thinking that Sam actually represented the Ghost of Christmas Present, and that the past was represented by the photos. Amanda agreed with Sam being the Ghost of the Present, but thought that the Ghost of the Past was represented by Blake's childhood friend.

What does everyone else think?

This episode, ladies and gents...is probably my number 1 episode out of ALL Quantum Leap episodes. Objectively speaking it probably doesn't deserve to be number 1, but in regards to my personal preferences it really is a pretty much perfect episode. It's definitely, 100% sure to always make my top 5 list. In fact, it's this Christmas episode that got me back into the show after a hiatus, when I caught my mother watching this episode last Christmas Eve. That's what prompted my full rewatch and subsequent quest to review every episode on this forum.

So, what do I love about A Little Miracle. Well, first of all, I love Christmas time. In many ways, I revert to being a kid again during the holidays. So the fact this episode revolves around Christmas is a big plus for me. Another positive mark is that the episode is, in many ways, a modern retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I love A Christmas Carol. I watch multiple different versions of it in the buildup to Christmas, so the whole idea of Scrooging Blake is just wonderful.

There aren't many episodes where I like all the characters in it but this is definitely one of them. This is the first out of two appearances on the show for Charles Rocket, and he's really great here. His acting towards the end is really good. Sure, he does the comedy bits well with Dean, but that scene where he realises just how empty his life and whole existence truly is does always make me emotional. I also like Captain Downey. A character like that could come across as being self righteous, but Melinda McGraw does a good job with the character. She's warm with just the right amount of strength and guts. So yes, all the characters are a big plus point. Even Calloway, the yes man who works for Blake makes me laugh.

When it comes to best scene. Well, there can only be one, really (not really just one scene, though, as it is more of a sequence). Al as the over-the-top Ghost of Christmas Future. Honestly, if I had to choose one scene as the funniest ever QL scene of all time, it would probably be the one with Al taunting Blake in the bedroom. Just pure comedy gold. Second best scene is the very last one, with Blake and Downey together, and Sam and Al wishing each other a Merry Christmas, right after Sam realises that it wasn't Al who put the shining star up in the sky.

My rating. Excellent. A heartwarming, humorous tale full of Christmas magic. And quite possibly my very favourite episode of Quantum Leap.