"Honeymoon Express"

Leap Dates:

Unspecified date in 1957

April 27, 1960

Episode Adopted By: AlBingo
Additional info provided by: Brian Greene

Synopsis:
A government committee is threatening to shut down Quantum Leap for failure to prove that Dr. Beckett ever actually leaped.

After saving a cat from a tree as a firefighter in 1957, Sam leaps into a cop who is on his honeymoon on a train to Niagara Falls.

Al tells Sam he must change history with a kind of global significance instead of just small personal fixes like he normally does. He must try and prevent a U2 mission from going ahead which launches the U.S. into the cold war.

While attempting this, Sam's new wife is being hunted by her mysterious ex-husband who is going to kill her if Sam can't stop it.

Audio from this episode

TV Guide Synopsis
Place
Leap Date
Name of the Person Leaped Into
Project Trivia
Sam Trivia
Al Trivia
Al's Women
Al's Outfits Worn in the Episode
Miscellaneous Trivia
Kiss with History
Writers
Director
Producers
Crew
Broadcast Date
Guest Stars
Guest Cast Notes
Personal Review
Say What?
Quotable Quotes

TV Guide Synopsis:
As a newlywed cop on his honeymoon in 1960, Sam's objective is to ensure that his new "wife," who has a violent ex-husband, will pass her bar exam. But Al gives him a different goal: alter world history or funding for the Quantum Leap project will be cut off. Diane: Alice Adair. Roget: Mathieu Carriere.

Broadcast Date:
September 20th 1989 (Wednesday)

Leap Dates:
First Leap: Wednesday, April 27, 1960
Second Leap: Thursday, April 28, 1960

Place:
First Leap: Orly County, Georgia
Second Leap: Train to Niagra Falls which passes through Harlem, New York.

Name of the Person Leaped Into:
Tom McBride

Project Trivia:
We meet Weitzman, chairman of the committee overseeing Quantum Leap.

Also present are several other unnamed committee members and a woman who is with Al at his table, presumably someone also working on Project Quantum Leap. 

Sam Trivia:
Al says that when Sam was ten years old he could beat a computer playing chess. Bearing in mind the year would be around 1963 when Sam was ten, there probably weren't even any computers who could play rock,scissors, paper, let alone chess. Any computer that sophisticated at that period would probably take up an entire warehouse.

We do not see the imaging chamber door in this episode but we hear it on one occasion.

Al Trivia:
In this episode we learn a little about Al's past. Apparently he  took his first, third, and fifth wives to Niagara Falls for their honeymoons. We also learn that Sharon, his fourth wife, wore pink baby dolls. More suprising is that Maxine, his fifth wife, wore nothing at all and flavored her toes with mint leaves. 

Al's Outfits Worn in the Episode:
Naval dress whites when addressing the senate committee.

Green pants, green shirt with white buttons, gray checkered jacket with black tipped collar. Bolo tie with silver and black design.

Red and black shirt with pink tie, sunglasses pin, circular white-faced wristwatch.

Al's Women:
He took his first, third and fifth wives to Niagara Fallson his many honeymoons. 

Sharon was his fourth wife.

Maxine was his fifth wife. 

Al: "I loved every woman I've ever slept with… at the time that I slept with them."

Miscellaneous Trivia:
Sam's first mission in this episode takes place in a different leap. The aim, save a cat from a tree!

This episode probably has the record number of 'Oh, boy's' for any episode of Quantum Leap. First, when he tries to talk to Al and Diane intervenes with a goodbye kiss. Sam also says 'Oh,boy when he later sees Diane in a black nighty. Sam says "Oh, boy" when he first notices Tom's gun.

Regular Cast:
Scott Bakula (Sam)
Dean Stockwell (Al)



Guest Stars:
Alice Adair as Diane McBride
Mathiew Carriere as Roget
Hank Rolike as Porter
Warren Frost as US Senator
James Mastrantonio as Henri
Fitzhugh G. Houston as Black Senator
King Moody as Southern Senator
Virginia Paris as Woman Senator
Kirk Scott as Yankee Senator
Donna Hardy as Gray Haired Lady
William McDonald as Conductor
James Clark as Engineer
Stan Garner as Assistant Engineer
Ron Chabidon as Tom McBride (Mirror image)




Guest Cast Notes:
Warren Frost has acted since to 50s, but he is well known for his role as Dr. William Hayward in the film and TV series Twin Peaks. He also starred in the crime drama Matlock playing Billy Lewis.

James Mastrantonio also appeared in Matlock as 'The Prisoner' in the episode of the same name, and has a handful of TV movie credits to his name including Cagney & Lacey: Together Again.

Alice Aldair played Jan Bogomil in the film Beverly Hills Cop II.

Hank Rolike has had many guest appearances over the years. His varied career includes guest roles in The Incredible Hulk, Kojak, Hill Street Blues and Murder She Wrote.

Crew:

Summary:
Sam leaps into the body of Tom McBride a New York cop who has recently married his new wife Diane and they are currently on their honeymoon. They are currently on a train heading towards Niagara Falls.

Meanwhile back in the present Al is in court presenting a case to Congress to ensure that they will provide funding for Project Quantum Leap for another year. If they refuse to provide the funding then the project with shut down and Sam will lose contact with Al and his own time and he will be lost in the past forever. The government committee is having doubts weather Sam actually ever leaped at all, and seem highly dubious with Al's theory that God has taken control of Quantum Leap.

Back with Sam, Al informs him that he is there to save the life of Diane, who is to be murdered by her ex-husband Roget, who is hell-bent on getting revenge because she left him. Meanwhile while trying to this Al also tells Sam that he has to change the past on a larger scale to try and convince the committee that Sam really is leaping. To do this they must try and prevent the U2 launching that started the events that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.



Personal Review:
Honeymoon Express is a better than average episode of Quantum Leap. It has an interesting storyline, and been one of the early episodes has more plot ideas at its disposal, as this particular plot line was repeated many times later in the series. This episode is also the first time we see some of the world beyond Sam and Project Quantum Leap, which I think was an aspect of the series which was never looked at as much as it should, with only Killin' Time in the 5th Series doing the same.

Say What?
How is Al supposed to prove a change in the timeline to the Senate committee? Wouldn't they all just remember the new history as being the only history?

In the mirror, Tom takes a step backward, but Sam doesn't.

Al says the U2 mission happens in two days, but it was actually four days.

Quotable Quotes:
Al: "I took my first, third, and fifth wife to Niagara Falls."
-- Al, "Honeymoon Express"

Why would a cop bring his gun and handcuffs on his honeymoon?  . . . I'm thinking like Al!
-- Sam, looking at Diane, "Honeymoon Express"

Why are you wasting this on him?
-- Al (glancing heavenward), "Honeymoon Express"

Not the men's room again, Sam, I'm starting to feel like a pervert.
-- Al, "Honeymoon Express"

I've done everything I think you put me here to do, so please, either leap me out of here or look the other way.
-- Sam, "Honeymoon Express"

You'll enter politics ... and become the first President of the United States to give birth in the oval office.
-- Sam to Diane, "Honeymoon Express"

Is that how your mother calmed you down, by making you laugh?
No, she gave me a book to read.
At 2?
-- Diane and Sam, "Honeymoon Express"

I have loved every woman I ever slept with ... at the time I slept with them.
-- Al, "Honeymoon Express"

She thinks I'm her husband ... in a few minutes she's going to expect me to go in there and make love to her.
What's the problem?
-- Sam and Al, "Honeymoon Express"

Oh Sam, you're going to have to bite the bullet.  While I go back to put research on line, you're going to have to face a beautiful woman, who wants to spend the entire night making mad, passionate love to you.  It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.
-- Al, "Honeymoon Express"

Admiral, are you trying to tell us that God has taken control of Project Quantum Leap?
-- the Senate Committee Chairman, "Honeymoon Express"

Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but if you kill this project you will end one of the greatest adventures mankind has ever taken.  And more important, you'll leave a brave man back there alone.
He's not alone, Admiral, he has God.
-- Al and the Senator, "Honeymoon Express"

If you don't prove you're back here they're gonna shut down the project.
In case you hadn't noticed, I don't need the project, they aren't leaping me around any more, God is.
-- Al and Sam, "Honeymoon Express"

If they shut down the project, you won't be able to contact me.
I was thinking of trying a couple of tin cans on a piece of string.
-- Sam and Al, "Honeymoon Express"

I don't think I can make it without you, Al.
-- Sam, "Honeymoon Express"

Next time it will be easier.
-- Roget, after Sam stabs him, "Honeymoon Express"

I know you haven't proven that Dr. Beckett has traveled back in time or that if having done so he can make an impact of global importance, but it is the opinion of this committee that such heroic undertakings advance the human cause and whether or not they succeed is not so important as the fact that we tried.
-- Senator Diane McBride, "Honeymoon Express"

In two days, the Russians are going to shoot down the U2.
The rock group?
--Al and Sam, "Honeymoon Express"