219 Leaping in Without a Net

Leaping in Without a Net

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alsplacebartender

alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender - Brian Greene
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Jul 10, 2002
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Leaping in Without a Net
November 18, 1958

Vargas Circus, Denver, Colorado


As a part of a Hungarian family aerial act, Sam must save his sister from falling to her death when she tries to perform the deadly "triple" trapeze act without a net.


Written by: Tommy Thompson
Directed by: Christopher T. Welch


Rate and comment on this episode!
 
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Really good ep! It really tested Sam's fear of heights, even though this was the first ep where that part of Sam's life was mentioned. I liked the part where Sam called out "Al" and Alberta(or Allison) and the observer turned around. :lol

~Steve(aka RossBeckett)
Come on ppl please get your TVS adoption requests in ASAP, whenever you can. The only one adopted(not turned in) is "Double The Leap, Double The Danger"-by me.
 
This is also one of my favorite episodes. i find Sam to be so adorable in this one, as we descover his fear of hights, which also makes for some humor in the episode.
"Victor get down!"
"I Can't"
"What do you mena you can't? Quit fooling around and release!"
"My Fingers won't let go!"
hehe.

I also enjoyed learning about Al, and his pet roach when he was eight. However, the kid in the next bed had a pet lizard.
"I'll never forget him, his name was Kevin"
"The kid in the next bed?"
"No, the roach".
we also learn that he ran away and joined the circus when he was Ten.
It was also cute when Sam didn't wanna get out of bed, at 4:30 in the morning to practice to catch Eva so she wouldn't meet death attempting the triple. this was one of my favorite scenes in the episode.
"I thought you always slept in shorts!"
"Ahh, Not always, now if you don't mind i'd like to go back to sleep".
Whoo hoo Sam doesn't sleep in boxers all the time :dreaming

I also loved the diolouge between Sam and Eva in this Scene concerning how Her and Victor's mom died attempting the triple just as Eva was now fated. We learn that Sam's host Victor was was supposed to catch her that night, but dropped her and she died. Eva mentions that she had been ill with a cold and off balance, that Victor should not have been to blame although the father sees it another way.
Also there was a mysterious scene involving a psychic who was able to sense Al
"An Angel!"
"An angel? what makes you think that?"
"Idon't know it just came out".
and see reincardnation in Sam's eyes.
"Ah, i don't believe in reincardnation"
"You would if you could see all the souls i see in your eyes".
i liked how mysterious and interesting this was.
I loved Seeing how even though it was diffivuilt for Sam, Al was able to help him face his fear of hights, and able to make the life saving catch of that night.
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I think it was Tommy thompson's first writing job for QL,and if i'm not mistaking so i think he did a good job,maybe even a very good job for his first writing job. I liked this episode,quite much.Espacially Eva.
Maybe it won't be on my top 20,but still - A very nice episode.
 
I do like this episode very much, especially with the original music. Nice blend of serious and comic.

What impresses me the most is an off-screen thing I read somewhere. Sam is afraid of heights, and overcomes it enough to do the stunt. Scott Bakula suffers from motion sickness. So, in order to do the shoot, which entails hours and hours of swinging on that trapeze, he tried everything from medication to hypnosis to acupuncture in order to get through the shoot. When I watch this episode, I am amazed by this guy's commitment to the show AND his talent - turning discomfort over one thing into on-screen discomfort over another. (It's like watching Private Dancer, and knowing that he's dancing on a broken foot.)

Incidentally, this is a fun episode to watch with a kid. My son loves it.
 
bluedana said:
I do like this episode very much, especially with the original music. Nice blend of serious and comic.

What impresses me the most is an off-screen thing I read somewhere. Sam is afraid of heights, and overcomes it enough to do the stunt. Scott Bakula suffers from motion sickness. So, in order to do the shoot, which entails hours and hours of swinging on that trapeze, he tried everything from medication to hypnosis to acupuncture in order to get through the shoot. When I watch this episode, I am amazed by this guy's commitment to the show AND his talent - turning discomfort over one thing into on-screen discomfort over another. (It's like watching Private Dancer, and knowing that he's dancing on a broken foot.)

Incidentally, this is a fun episode to watch with a kid. My son loves it.
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Yeah I read that in Another Place Another Time and there is a shot in it of the beginning of the scene where the heroic catch must take place and Scott is pintching his temples like he has a head ache. I feel bad for him in this ep now when I watch it but I of course still love it. And Scott in tights, whoooo yeah! And even better:
"I thought you always slept in shorts"
"Ah not all the time..."
*pants with delight* :dreaming
 
I just finished watching this episode again as I've recently started re-watching the whole series (1-5). Overall a good episode, one of my favourites scenes is of Al telling Sam about his pet roach, Kevin :)

That and mentioning all the things that Sam had but Al didn't growing up:

"You had a cow!"

:)
 
I enjoyed this episode but at the same time I was rather disappointed with it. Sam was obviously scared but not as scared as he should have been. He should have really backed out part way through and absolutely refused to help his "sister" with the triple. Other than that it was great.
 
Janna Galaxy said:
I see what you're saying but there are different levels of phobia (I should know I've conquered a couple of them) So sometimes it's rasier than you think, but it also can be difficult. It preey much depends on the person.
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I know but that would have made the episode... not as straight forward.
 
I love this episode and the courage the positive attitude that Eva gave to Sam about wanting to do the triple and how much faith she had in him.
I can undestand Sam's fear of heights I have a fear of flying and I too like Sam must work up courage to get over it.
I agree I totally admire Scott's courage and dedication cause he had motion sickness and did this role so wonderfully. Thumbs up thank you.
 
I like to see Sam on the trapeze. I think it looks funny and cute when he gets swing. I think it's a good ep. It shows that you can get over your fears if you need to.
 
I know it's been awhile since anyone has posted anything about this episode, but I like it a lot too. The banter between Sam and Al was funny, and it's sweet that Sam went on and did what he was there to do in spite of his fear of heights. And of course, the scene where Eva gets an eye full when she's waking Sam/Victor up to practice is very cute. Lucky girl. :)
 
One of my favorite episodes. I love that Sam has to work through his fear of heights in order to successfully complete the leap. There are so many great comical exchanges, too. I love the exchange about Al running away to join the circus leading into the story of his pet roach.
 
Fun episode but one thing that really distracted me was the stock footage used of the circus audience. That, and the barker, clearly showed people in clothing and hairstyles that were most definitely not 1958!
 
Very good episode by Tommy Thompson. Loved almost everything except for a couple of scenes that I didn't think they were actually needed, like the fight, for example, when Sam kicks everyone else's butt. It was over-the-top but fun. And the other scene with the psychic/madame, I don't know how to call her exactly. It was so "meh!"

Loved the message on overcoming the fears and on family values. Loved the whole "adventure" vibe the atmosphere has throughout the episode. Even when you can predict the ending, like in most QL episodes, it all keeps you glued to the screen and you wanna know the very last scene. One of those eps. that leaves you with a smile and with your heart finally slowing down after all that hard beating.

My rating: Good.
 
I wouldn't say the scene with Sybil the Psychic was completely unnecessary; there needed to be a convincing response from Eva to Sam's blunt statement "Papa is going to drop you and you're gonna die".

While true that he might have resorted to revealing himself in an unnecessary panic, it wasn't just his own fear of heights that had him concerned that he couldn't accomplish this task. When you really think about it, the few days he had were an unrealistic expectation for him to become efficient in the act and he wasn't in the wrong to be concerned that Eva wasn't any safer literally in the hands of an inexperienced catcher than she was in Lalzo's professional but injured hands making the attempt to get her to altogether drop the act sensible (No pun intended, haha, it actually took me a few seconds to even see that XD).

On another note, you've got to be intrigued by Sybil's ability to see Sam's past leaps in his eyes.
"I've never noticed how many times you've been reincarnated."
"I...uh...I don't believe in reincarnation."
"You would if you could see all the souls I see in your eyes."

That was a very unique hint as to someone being able to see past the aura.
 
I enjoyed this episode. Loved Al's history with joining the circus, and teaching Sam the art of trapeze. I felt so badly for Sam (and Scott) when watching, though, especially the point of view shots. I get bad motion sickness very easily. I can't even swing on a playground swing sitting up! Still, fun episode all around. It gets a Good from me.
 
Just saw this on BluRay for the first time. I think the BluRay is generally amazing, but it does highlights "sins" that are covered up in lower definition... for example, I'm going to assume that there was an uncredited stunt person involved, and that this wasn't the actress?:

qlswinger.jpg


If this was just an instant then it wouldn't be a big deal, but this is the point where they decide to use slow motion.


As for the episode, I rated it "fair". By the definition of the show, you know how it's going to turn out, so they have to do something to raise the anticipation IMO. Here the question "will Sam catch her or will she fall to her death?" is so self-evident, and it's not blurred by any real character involvement. Perhaps the weakest of season two for me.
 
Anorak said:
Just saw this on BluRay for the first time. I think the BluRay is generally amazing, but it does highlights "sins" that are covered up in lower definition... for example, I'm going to assume that there was an uncredited stunt person involved, and that this wasn't the actress?
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Wow. No, that definitely wasn't the actress.
 
blue enigma said:
Wow. No, that definitely wasn't the actress.
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Although BluRays of old TV can produce some absolutely stunning results - I saw the original Twilight Zone and it looks like it was made yesterday - it does unfortunately flag up these things, I find. Like the TZ episode where a "bald" character is suddenly wearing a clearly visible bald wig.... or The Prisoner, where the stunt double for Patrick McGoohan couldn't be any more obvious.
 
Anorak said:
Although BluRays of old TV can produce some absolutely stunning results - I saw the original Twilight Zone and it looks like it was made yesterday - it does unfortunately flag up these things, I find. Like the TZ episode where a "bald" character is suddenly wearing a clearly visible bald wig.... or The Prisoner, where the stunt double for Patrick McGoohan couldn't be any more obvious.
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lol, yeah, this stunt woman looks nothing like the actress who played Eva. They really couldn't have anticipated how technology would advance and could expose that kind of switch.
 
blue enigma said:
lol, yeah, this stunt woman looks nothing like the actress who played Eva. They really couldn't have anticipated how technology would advance and could expose that kind of switch.
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It's hard to fathom just how not only the image quality, but also the quality of TVs could be so bad that this wasn't noticed before. I say that as someone who watched it at the time, of course.

As I said, it wouldn't have been a big deal if it was in real time, but they even used slow motion for that bit.
 
I'm fond of this episode. It's one of those that deep down I think probably deserves an average rating, but I personally think it's better than that. I like the idea of Sam leaping into a circus act.

This is just a fun episode all in all. I like the character of Eva. She's just so full of life and strong. I like a lot of the minor characters here as well, particularly the fortune teller Sybil. I think it's good that we find out Sam has a fear of heights in this episode. Even though it's never mentioned before or even again (although I sense I'm forgetting one other instance). It gives Sam's mission greater weight.

The only parts I didn't like were those concerning Laszlo. I just didn't feel for the character at all. At the end I still think he's a jerk looking for someone to blame. I also didn't like the actor playing him. I think he was a poor actor in all honesty. I'm also not crazy about the idea of Al running away to the circus. Even though it leads to some funny lines, I just don't buy that for some reason. Knowing his chequered family history I suppose it is theoretically possible. But it just felt tacked on.

My rating. Good. A decent, pleasant episode.
 
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