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"This Took Too Long!" Leap
Date: 1978
Synopsis: Instead of leaping home as expected, Ben finds himself in 1978 aboard a top-secret military flight, transporting mysterious cargo. When the flight comes under attack, the plot deepens as Ben and the crew discover the sobering truth behind their mission.
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Guide Synopsis: Broadcast Date: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 | 8pm on NBC Leap Date: 1978 Leap Location: Russia Name of Leapee: Sergeant Perez Project Trivia: New Saga-Sell opener voiced by Deborah Pratt (Co-creator of the original QL series, Executive Producer of this series, and voice of the original Ziggy) gives us some new PQL info: "In 2017, the military gathered a small group of scientists to try and bring the Quantum Leap time-travel program back online. Five years later, believing it was the only way to save his fiancée's life, Dr. Ben Song risked everything when he entered the accelerator to travel back in time. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. Ben believed he would only need to complete 18 Leaps before he could return to place and people he calls home. But something went wrong, and for reasons unknown, Ben did not Leap home." Project Quantum Leap was shut down circa-2025 after Ben disappeared for two years. The present time, according to Ian is circa-2026. Ben Trivia: Ben remembers Addison, Ian, Magic and Jenn, as well as the present year for Project Quantum Leap: 2023. He remembers a test session where Addison was put in a Fermi suit in preparation to be the Leaper. Ben speaks Russian. Addison Trivia: Addison is still confirmed to be the planned original Leaper for PQL in 2018. Ian's Outfits Worn in the Episode: In the flashback to 2018 PQL, Past Ian wears a beige blazer with white turtleneck. 2026 Ian wears a beige trench coat and clear circular glasses. Kiss With History: The cold war between the United States and the U.S.S.R. (Russia) raged on during this time period. Geopolitical, ideological, and economic relations between the two countries were tense and, at times, dangerous. Miscellaneous Trivia: Donald P. Bellisario, the creator of the original Quantum Leap series, is no longer listed as an executive producer as he was in the first season. The SAM missile base was created by Creation Consultants for the 2023 TV episode. Dave Asling talks about the pyro effects miniature in this video. Segment from Sense of Scale documentary. Photos: Dave Asling, Creation Consultants Model images used in the bunker explosion scene:    QUANTUM
LEAP – SERIES REGULARS
Addison Augustine (Portrayed
by
Caitlin Bassett) –
Addison is a smart, witty, fearless ex-military operative who now
serves as Project Observer at Quantum Leap HQ. She’s in charge of the
technology they use to communicate with the past, and tries to rescue
Ben from his time-flung existence.
Ian Wright (Portrayed
by Mason Alexander
Park) –
Quantum Leap’s nonbinary chief architect of the AI program.
Herbert “Magic” Williams (Portrayed by Ernie Hudson) – A Vietnam vet and current lead of the Quantum Leap time travel project. Herbert “Magic” Williams tries to keep the Pentagon at bay while the team tries to rescue Ben. Doctor Sam Beckett leaped into Magic during his Vietnam tour.
Jenn Chu
(Portrayed by Nanrisa Lee) –
Head of security at Quantum Leap HQ. Guest Cast: Francois Arnaud as Sergeant Curtis Bailey Melissa Roxburgh as Lt. Ellen Grier P.J. Byrne as Seargent Enock Abrams Aaron Abrams as Sergeant Ronny Abrams Roshan Maloney as Parminder Guest Cast Notes: Francois Arnaud as Sergeant Curtis Bailey: François Arnaud was born on July 5, 1985 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for The Borgias (2011), Blindspot (2015) and I Killed My Mother (2009). Melissa Roxburgh as Lt. Ellen Grier: Melissa Roxburgh is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012), as Ensign Syl in the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond, as Olivia Tanis in The Marine 4: Moving Target., and as Michaela Stone in the NBC/Netflix science fiction drama series Manifest. P.J. Byrne as Sgt. Enock Abrams: PJ Byrne is a SAG Award nominated actor for his ensemble role in "Babylon", he has worked with some of the best directors of our time. That list includes Martin Scorsese, Damien Chazelle, Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron, Clint Eastwood, Jean-Marc Vallee, Jay Roach, Peter and Bob Farrelly among many others. Byrne has compiled a long list of impressive award winning film and television credits. He is well known for his scene stealing roles and is considered one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. He has worked with a staggering list of dramatic, comedic and box office stars like Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Margot Robbie, Jim Carey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hanks, Dwayne Johnson, Brad Pitt, Cynthia Erivo, Courtney B. Vance, Ryan Reynolds, Steve Carrell, Jack Black, Naomi Harris, Tracy Morgan, Zach Galifianakis, Regina Hall and the list goes on. In addition to his on-screen roles, Byrne is the voice of many cartoon characters including the voice of "Bolin" in the Emmy- nominated Nickelodeon series, "The Legend of Korra" and received a Behind The Voice Award for his portrayal of that character. He is a graduate of Boston College with a double major in finance and theatre and has an M.F.A. in Acting from the prestigious Theatre School at DePaul University. A Garden State native, Byrne was born in Maplewood, New Jersey and was raised in Old Tappan, New Jersey. Aaron Abrams as Sergeant Ronny Abrams: Aaron Abrams is a Canadian actor and writer who has appeared in several regular and reoccurring roles for television, including including Masters of Sex, The L.A. Complex, Longmire, The Oath, Rookie Blue, Slings & Arrows, Blindspot and Hannibal where he played Brian Zeller. Aaron Abrams has also written and produced several films. He is a graduate of The Goodman Theatre School in Chicago. Guests Who Appeared in Other Quantum Leap Episodes: Deborah Pratt (Co-creator of the original QL series, Executive Producer of this series, narrator of the original series Sage-Sell, Troian Claridge in "A Portrait for Troian", and voice of the original Ziggy) voices the new Saga-Sell in this season two opener. Characters who appeared (or were mentioned) in Classic Series episodes: Sam Beckett, Al Calavicci, and Sam's wife (presumably still Donna) are mentioned throughout the episode. Songs & Music: "On the Road Again" by Canned Heat plays as the team heads to the Russian relay station. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones plays after the team departs following the tripwire incident. Say What? How would a crew of trained Russian military not see Ben's team waiting to ambush them on top of the fuselage? Where was Grier hiding? Ben is clearly within earshot of the team when they stop at the tripwire, yet he speaks out loud to Addison, wondering where she is. When Ben and the others take turns switching out on the land mine, why do the other three not step back a safe distance to avoid blowing up their entire team? How does Ben know how much his host weighs? Grier comments on the fact that she believes one reason she has been assigned this mission is because she's a woman. Later, she says she would have said yes to a suicide mission. This is hard to believe after being treated as such by the Air Force. Quotable Quotes: "You get to finally go home. Isn't that what you've always wanted?" -Lt. Grier to Ben "Hard as it is to be the time-traveler, I think it's even harder to be the people left behind. For them, there is no adventure... just the longing." -Magic to Ben "So we're going to die because of feminism? No thanks!" -Ronny to Grier "When all is lost, the one thing you can do is get back up and put one foot in front of the other. -Ben to the team, quoting Addison "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't know people from the future." -Grier to Ben "Can't wait to explode with all of you!" -Enock 2018 Ben: "What if I lose you?" 2018 Addison: "Then you'll come find me." Personal Review & Detailed Synopsis by Brian Greene: In the Season 2 premiere, we are treated to a new Saga-Sell opener voiced by Deborah Pratt (Co-creator of the original QL series, Executive Producer of this series, and voice of the original Ziggy) which throws in an excerpt from the original series Saga-Sell! The "eye-roll" Leap-in is used again here, as it was in the first season. Ben Leaps into an airplane restroom. He looks in the mirror and discovers that he did not Leap home as expected, following the season one finale. He calls out to Addison, Ian, Magic, and Jenn - he remembers them all. Someone knocks on the door and asks if he's okay. Ben, distressed, says "Yeah, I'm good. He exits the restroom to find himself on a commercial flight with three men and a woman. They are all Air Force military personnel in charge of transporting a large crate from Germany. Sgt. Enock Abrams speculates that the crate could contain an artifact from Nazi Germany, while Sgt. Ronny Abrams (his brother) is skeptical and guesses humorously that it's of alien origin. They start to wonder why the Air Force has them posing as civilians to transport the mysterious package. The third man, Sgt. Curtis Bailey, tells then to stop talking about it; that secrets in the Air Force can bite you in the ass. The woman, Lt. Ellen Grier,enters and tells them that all they have to do is nothing and they can all go their separate ways. They have apparently been together for about five years. She tells her team that that are headed to New Delhi, India and after they drop the crate there, their dead-end, long haul supply missions are at an end. Suddenly, alarms go off signaling surface-to-air missiles have locked onto the plane and the team straps in to their seats. The plane begins to go down. Ben comes to, and realizes that they have crashed. The Captain of the plane died in the crash and wreckage is all around. Enock is pinned under a piece of the plane and they help get him out from under it. Enock tells Ronny that he wants to confess a betrayal just before they rescue them, then decides not to tell Ronny afterwards. Meanwhile, Ben goes to find medical equipment in the wreckage. Ben finds the med kit and discovers Grier attempting to save the crate. Ben assists her and they remove it before the fuselage explodes. An impressive explosion occurs just after they clear the plane. Grier attempts to radio for help as the team digs a grave for the dead pilot. They say some words over the grave. In a flashback sequence, we see Ben and Magic overlooking Addison in a Fermi-suit at PQL. Magic says it's a big test today. Ben asks Magic if he thinks that when Sam Beckett got into the accelerator that he knew he was never coming back. Ben contemplates what Sam's wife and Al thought. Magic says that they all knew the risks, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. The team begins to argue about leaving the site of the crash for help. Grier insists that they stay to save the crate. The other members of the team believe that no one will save them and want to leave before the Russians come to retrieve the package. Ben interrupts to say he can fix the radio and MacGyver it back together. As this is 1978, no one gets the reference to the television show. Ben talks to himself wondering if he'll ever get home as Bailey walks up. Ben says he was praying and Bailey says he thought Ben's host was an atheist. Ben talks about being engaged and this surprised Bailey, who finds it odd that Ben has been keeping secrets from the team. A truck approaches and they run back to the others. Russian military surround the wreckage. The team has climbed on top of the fuselage and jump down to ambush the enemies. A Russian voice comes on the radio and Ben speaks to them in the language, surprising everyone and buying them some time. They find a nearby place to make a radio call for help and the team argues again about whether to take the mysterious crate. Ben flashes back to 2018 PQL, the day before Ben and Addison go on their first date. Ian tells Ben that they believe Ben has a crush on Addison. Ziggy projects the probability of success in an Addison and Ben relation at 50%. Ben cracks open the crate to stop the argument about its' importance and discovers that it is loaded with plain bricks. They have been made decoys to something else. They hypothesize that the government has used them to protect another mission, potentially sacrificing the team. Ben speaks about not giving up, citing a quote from Addison from the episode "Ben, Interrupted." The team decides no to give up and they head out to the Russian relay station. On the way to the station, Enock and Ronny argue about Enock's betrayal statement earlier. Enock denies anything. Ben talks to Grier about her military history and tries to console her about her disappointment and congratulate her on her service as a female. The truck stops short as they have come to a tripwire. They fan out to investigate. Bailey lets them know he found a land mine... he is standing on it! Bailey tells the team to leave, that he doesn't have anyone left. He confesses that he lost a romantic partner who was also in the military, and that after his death, his parents read his diary and turned Bailey in to the military for being homosexual. Because Bailey's father was a General, they didn't discharge him, but instead put him on low-end missions, The team dismisses Bailey's sacrifice and Ben comes up with a plan to gradually lower the weight on the pressure plate covering the mine by taking turns swapping themselves onto it, thus lowering the weight gradually until they can get it down to the weight of the sandbags they are carrying with them. They agree to the plan to save Bailey. The plan succeeds and they had back on the road. They arrive at the relay station after dark to discover that it's actually the SAM site (surface-to-air missile launch site). Ben says he can patch in and send a message to the fleet to rescue them without alerting the site attendants he imagines are 50 feet below in a bunker. He succeeds and a helicopter should arrive before dawn according to the radio report Ben gives. However Ben also overhears a Russian military transmission saying that they know the crashed plane is a decoy and now the real plane is in danger. Ben notifies the team that the Russians plan on taking out three more planes if they don't act. The team contemplates on using the tripwire and mine from earlier to blow up the control panel on the SAM station in order to save the other planes. In flashback to 2018 again, Ben talks to Addison about the danger of time-travel and she admits she knows the risks as part of the greater mission. Ben asks Addison on a date, saying he knows a great Chinese place. Addison accepts. The team straps the mine to their truck. As Ben and Grier drive towards the station, a missile launches. Ben says that if they take out the station, the missile will lose guidance. They jump from the truck, and it crashes into the control panel. This causes the missile to find the closest heat signature to it, the fire at the station. The missile circles back and destroys the station! As the team cheers, Ronny tells Enock to tell him about the betrayal thing now. Enock answers humorously, "Never!" and they continue celebrating their mission success. As Ben heads out to get rescued, he hears his name from behind. He turns and finds Ian as the hologram! Ian looks much different than in past episodes. Ian tells Ben that he has been missing for three years! Project Quantum Leap was shut down a year ago (presumably 2025) and everything has changed. Ben then Leaps! I enjoyed this episode in several ways. I loved the intro by Deborah Pratt and the callbacks to the original series. I loved the pyrotechnics used and the SFX were done extremely well. The interactions between the brothers provided just the right amount of comic relief. The Leap story itself was written well and I appreciated that the episode focused on it, more like an original series Leap. However, I also felt it was missing something - it felt like the story moved a bit slowly. With the revelation that Ben had not Leaped home after "Judgment Day", I wanted to see the PQL team a bit more for a change and find out how they handled it. It looks like things are going to shake up completely after hearing Ian say it had been three years since they last saw Ben! The dynamic we have become comfortable with is about to be turned on its' head, I believe. Production Photos:               Production Videos: Coming Soon Production Credits: Producer: Meg Fister Supervising Producer: Tim Scanlan Supervising Producer: Kristy Lowrey Co-Executive Producers: Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes Co-Executive Producer: Drew Lindo Co-Executive Producer: Aadrita Mukerji Co-Executive Producer: Marc Bienstock Executive Producers: Steven Lilien & Bryan Wyndrandt Executive Producer: Alex Berger Executive Producer: Chris Grismer Executive Producer: Deborah Pratt Executive Producer: Dean Georgaris Executive Producer: Martin Gero Developed by: Steven Lilien & Bryan Wyndrandt Created by: Donald P. Bellisario Written by: Martin Gero Directed by: John Terlesky Co-producer: Margarita Matthews Co-producer: Rammy Park Associate Producer: Ethan Henderson Executive Story Editor: Shakina Casting by: Jennifer Cooper, CSA Original Casting By: Kamala A. Thomas Music by: Daniel James Chan Unit Production Manager: Melanie J. Elin Unit Production Manager: Marc Bienstock First Assistant Director: Mark Trapenberg Second Assistant Director: Athena Alexander Costume Designer: Genevieve Tyrrell A Camera Operator: Dave Hirschman B Camera/Steadycam Operator: Josh Harrison Production Sound Mixer: John Lakin Chief Lighting Technician: Donna Vega Key Grip: Peter Chrimes Art Directors: Suzan Wexler and William Eliscu Set Director: Tim Stepeck Costume Supervisor: Mark A. Summers Property Master: Erik Grasteit Construction Coordinator: Matt Sazzman Department Head Hair: Amy Marie Wilson Department Head Makeup: Julia Lallas Leadman: David Napoli Stunt Coordinator: Jeff Barnett Location Manager: Kevin Funston Transportation Coordinator: Sandra Ninham-Gallardo Production Office Coordinator: Sofie Johanna "Bubbles" Dejus Assistant Production Office Coordinator: Brenden Hickey Production Controller: Natalie Chiengkul Script Supervisor: Rhonda Rubio Script Coordinator: Sue Palmer Casting Associates: Lindsay Jameyson & Mia Cascio Post Production Supervisor: Gabriella Scudieri Music Supervisors: Season Kent and Leah Harrison Music Editor: Zed Starkovich Assistant Editor: Katie Rose Cornblath Online Editor: Richard Wells Colorist: Chris Boyer Visual Effects Supervisor: Trent Smith Visual Effects Editor: Mengle Han Supervising Sound Editor: Kelly Cabral and Kevin Zimmerman Re-Recording Mixer: Yuri Reese & Sean Madsen Special Effects Coordinator: Ryan Amborn Special Effects Foreman: Corey Helmer Best Boy Grip: Brian Deutsch Key Rigging Grip: Jeremy Brussell Best Boy Rigging Grip: Bob Reilly VFX Editor: Matt Collarafice Promotional Consideration furnished by: Apple The State of California and the California Film Commision, California Soundstage Filming Tax Credit Program Copyright 2023 Universal Television LLC All Right Reserved Dean Georgaris Entertainment Quinn's House Universal Content Productions Universal Television Quantum Leap Podcast Aftershow (with Albie, Hayden and Myself): Welcome to Season Two with Executive Producer Chris Grismer! Damon Sugameli's Quantum Leap Podcast: |
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