"A Leap for Lisa"
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Cut Scenes: The original storyline concept was quite different, as Rich Whiteside recalled: “He had intended to have Sam leap into Al when Al was an astronaut, getting ready to go off onto a shuttle mission that got shut down” until Whiteside himself suggested this alternate plot. The Marine Guard’s line “Sir?”, reacting to Sam apparently talking to himself, was also Whiteside’s idea, put to Bellisario during rehearsal. This was his last work on the show. In the second draft script, dated 24th March 1992, there is a brief exchange in the Waiting Room in the middle of Sam’s first meeting with Dobbs: CMDR. DOBBS
June the twenty-second, nineteen fiftyseven. The night you’re accused of raping and murdering Commander Riker’s wife. On Sam’s reaction we… CUT TO 17. INT. QUANTUM LEAP WAITING ROOM – DAY – CLOSE ON THE OBSERVER The seamless background is a deep blue, but Al is bathed in and intense white light emanating from what he’s staring at. He looks overwhelmed. ON THE LEAPEE Lying on an examination table and clad in the skin-tight suit Sam wore on his first leap. He is so intensely backlit by the white light that we barely discern that he is human. He slowly sits up and looks around. LEAPEE Where am I? (beat) And who the hell are you? CLOSE ON THE OBSERVER If his eyes could dilate any more they would. OBSERVER (weakly) Oh, boy. This scene is the first ever written description of the Waiting Room. Behind-the-scenes footage showing the filming of this scene, as young Al awakes on the table, exists. When Chip enters, he compares Sam’s confusion to that of President Eisenhower. There is a brief extension to the scene in the officer’s club, where Chip suggests taking happy hour to Bingo. When Al interrupts Riker confronting Sam, he salutes him with a “Commander Riker! Sir.” We see Chip showing up at Bingo’s door to tell him Lisa’s dead. Al and Bingo recall their sister’s name as Helen (not Trudy, as established in Jimmy, and corrected for filming). In the flashback to the murder, the tussling between Chip and Marci is quite rough and it’s clear he snags her ankle on purpose – in the episode as broadcast, it almost appears as if they have some passionate kisses (at one point she is clearly initiating) and then he accidentally trips her over. Since the start of season two, scripts rarely ended with the leap outs to the next episode – this was a rare exception though, featuring a leap into the opening credits of Bellisario’s other famous show, Magnum, P.I. |
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| Syndication Edit: Part of the discussion between Dobbs and Chip in the Officer's Club is missing. |
