As the saying goes, you wait forever for one body-swap comedy, after which half a dozen come out suddenly. From good (Big), Badly (Mutually) and downright ugly (Kirk Cameron Like father Like Son), the late Eighties saw a boom in putting someone’s mind into one other person’s body, with some incredibly hilarious consequences. But it was there Quantum leap, a weekly NBC show that ran for 97 episodes, pushing the concept to its extreme limits.
The two-part pilot, which is celebrating its thirty fifth anniversary, may not turn its hero into a chimpanzee or, much more surprisingly, into Lee Harvey Oswald (yes, each happened later). However, by jumping from the near way forward for 1999 to a Nineteen Fifties military training program and a Nineteen Sixties Minor League baseball game, it brilliantly sets the “everything goes” tone of the offset.
Tell me what you want concerning the original Quantum leapcreated by Donald P. Bellisario (Magnum P.I) in tribute to the 1941 film about a second likelihood at life, Mr. (*35*) is coming but it surely doesn’t waste a second. Now, when many series reveal the explanations for his or her frustration, it is sort of disorienting to observe a series that reveals its fundamental premise within the first five minutes.
Before the opening credits even roll, we learn that physicist Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) has spent years and $43 billion in government money on a time travel project. The lack of concrete results means he’ll soon lose all funding, so Beckett goes against all advice and tests him personally. We also learned from the subsequent scene that this man is not only rushing into the long run Time magazine dubbed “the next Einstein” has been consigned to the past.
It’s a stunning begin to a series that proved procedurals can work outside the standard police stations, hospitals and courthouses. Sure, the identical thing happens every week: Sam is transported to a different body to course-correct a specific moment in his life. But with an ever-changing forged of supporting characters, sophisticated world-building (with exquisite attention to period detail), and clear end goals, each episode carried with it a sense of the unknown.
It’s secure to say that the first plot of the pilot, which begins with Sam waking up next to a pregnant woman he’s never seen before, is way more intriguing than the second. “Where am I?” a voiceover appears, a narrative tool that enables viewers to find and understand the principles of the series along with its fundamental character.
These include the indisputable fact that Sam can only make one other jump once he has achieved his goal, only seeing his holographic sidekick, Al (Dean Stockwell), who shows up frequently to provide directions, and the indisputable fact that Sam has something he calls turn into the “memory of Swiss cheese”. Although he doesn’t remember anything concerning the “some cocoa” experiment, Sam remembers the talents he acquired as a black belt, music master, and holder of six advanced degrees. Fortunately, these resources will come in useful during his adventures; on this case, his medical training allows him to forestall a stillbirth.
Sam literally takes on the role of Tom Stratton for the first time, the 1956 Bell X-2 pilot who died while attempting to destroy the Mach-3. Tom was apparently a prankster too, considering how his colleagues immediately dismissed Sam’s constant admissions that he lacked flying experience as just one other joke. Cue sweats and screams as he’s suddenly forced to take control of a rocket-powered plane 1000’s of feet above the bottom, one in every of several daring set pieces that get the adrenaline pumping.
The show gains a lot of comic relief because of the fish-out-of-water scenario. “Code?” surprised wife Peg (Jennifer Runyon) notices when Sam desires to call his headquarters, which probably hasn’t been built yet. Bakula shows excellent timing when he has to come back to terms with his unexpected transformation, just like the first moment he sees his reflection. Even though we see him as Bakula, everyone agrees Quantum leap he sees Sam in the shape he has taken.
But it is the emotional beats that make this first episode stand out. There is a beautiful and tender moment when Sam, who has real feelings for Peg, asks her to bop during a celebratory trip to a dive bar. And then there’s a touching scene through which Sam sees the advantage of going back in time: a likelihood to seek advice from his dead dad again. Their telephone conversation, during which a strangled Sam pretends to be his long-lost cousin, is a masterclass in saying a lot without saying anything. When young Sam speaks on the opposite end of the road, well, there’s unlikely to be a dry eye in the home.
It’s easy to see why the square-jawed Bakula became TV program pin-ups too. The series never misses an opportunity to indicate off its hairy chest, and yet it boasts a sensitivity that the majority of its hyper-macho peers lack, especially when there are glimpses of recognition about its past. And who doesn’t love a man who can perform complex medical procedures without taking a breath?
Unfortunately, the pilot’s B-plot feels more like an afterthought introduced to pad out the runtime. While the first 70 minutes deal with the survival of the war hero, his wife and their unborn child, the last 20 revolve around winning a baseball game. Quantum leap they were a lot better at combining life and death with some light relief, but here they do not quite appear to have found the proper balance.
Still, this clever introduction hit the mark. “You know, maybe this quantum leap isn’t so bad after all,” Sam remarks to Al as he leaves the sphere. A meta-note, you would possibly say, but revolutionizing each procedural and episodic science fiction “ain’t that bad” would sell Quantum Leap short pilot.
Credit : www.inverse.com
