March
21, 1963
October 5-6, 1957
January 6, 1959
October 21, 1959
April 10, 1963
October 21, 1963
November 21 & 22, 1963
Episode
Adopted by: Steve <aka> RossBeckett
Additional info provided by: Brian Greene
Synopsis:
For
the first time ever, Sam leaps into a notable figure in history! He has
leaped into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who supposedly
murdered President John F. Kennedy. As Sam leaps back and forth several
times throughout Oswald's life, his and Oswalds' minds become
intertwined to the point that Sam finds himself about to pull the
trigger from the Texas Schoolbook Depository window.
Part I:
A cosmic conspiracy incarnates Sam (Scott Bakula) as JFK assassin Lee
Harvey Oswald, whose mind is partly melded with Sam's. Part 1 of two.
Al: Dean Stockwell. Lee Harvey Oswald: Willie Garson. Marina: Natasha
Pavlova. Maj. Kosenko: Elya Baskin. Gooshie: Dennis Wolfberg.
Part II: Conclusion.
Sam leaps into JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Willie Garson). Al: Dean
Stockwell. Marina: Natasha Pavlova. Maj. Kosenko: Elya Baskin. Gooshie:
Dennis Wolfberg.
Season 5 Promo Clip
Features
scenes from upcoming episodes.
15
seconds Watch
on YouTube
Lee Harvey Oswald Commercial #1
NBC
Tuesday
20
seconds Watch
on YouTube
Lee Harvey Oswald Commercial #2
NBC Tonight
30
seconds Watch
on YouTube
Lee Harvey Oswald Commercial #3
Next
on NBC - plus - the opening montage to the episode.
5
minutes 18 seconds Watch
on YouTube
Places:
Project Quantum Leap @
Stallion's Gate New
Mexico
Military base in Atsugi, Japan
A bar in Negashaia-Yamato, Japan
Military base in Tustin, California
KGB HQ in Moscow
Oswald's apartments in Russia and Dallas
Streets of New Orleans
Ruth Paine's house in Dallas
Streets of Dallas with scenes at the Texas schoolbook
depository
Broadcast date: Tuesday, September 22, 1992 @
8PM for 2 hours
Promo Videos:
Music:
Quantum Leap theme by: Mike Post
Score music by: Velton Ray
Bunch
Velton's 15-minute "Suite from Lee Harvey Oswald" (Track 13) appears on the Official Soundtrack.
"Love is Strange" by Mickey & Sylvia plays in the Japanese bar.
"Marine’s
Hymn" is sung briefly by Reni Santoni (Sgt. Lopez)
Project
Trivia:
When Al appears in the August 9, 1963 leap, he refers to Ziggy as a
"he".
It is Valentines Day to the crew at Project Quantum Leap: February 14, 1999!
Sam
Trivia:
This is the first time Sam's mind merges with the leapee's mind significantly. It was hinted at in "Jimmy" and became stronger in "The Leap Back."
This is the
first time Sam leaps into a notable person in history.
Al Trivia: Al remembers Simo-Leaping with Sam in "The Leap Back." (Sam remembers it too.)
Al's Outfits Worn in the Episode: (1) Blue shirt, skinny silver tie, silver
bomber jacket and black pants.
(2) Red, white and black patterened shirt, red jacket, and a bolo tie.
(3) Brown
shirt with tie and a darker brown jacket.
One Planck length is equal to 10^-34 inches. "One Planck length" was
mentioned in the episode by Willie Garson (Oswald) and I further
researched the String theory which is known as the Superstring Theory.
On October 6th, 1957, when Sam is in Japan as Oswald, a slightly younger Sam Beckett has Leaped into St. Louis, Missouri as Kenny Sharp - AKA Future Boy.
The two usual Leap effects were created digitally for this episode instead of optically, as had been done for every prior Leap.
-Donald Bellisario's middle name is Paul.
Lee Harvey Oswald’s serial number really was
1653230, as stated in the episode.
Alternate titles to this episode: "Leap to
Judgement" and "Leaping On A String."
Kiss with History:
Donald Bellisario did meet Lee Harvey Oswald in real life when they were in the U.S. military.
Most of the episode is based on facts and testimony of actual witnesses.
Co-Executive Producers:
Deborah Pratt
Chas. Floyd Johnson
Supervising Producers:
Harker Wade
Tommy Thompson
Richard C. Okie
Producer: Robin Jill Bernheim
Director of Photography: Michael
Watkins A.S.C.
Regular
Cast:
Scott Bakula as Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dean Stockwell as Rear Admiral Al Calavicci
Guest
Cast:
Reni Santoni as Sergeant Lopez
Willie Garson as Lee Harvey Oswald aka Alik J. Hidell
Natasha Pavlova (Pavlovich) as Marina Oswald
Elya Baskin as Major Yuri Kosenko
Donna Magnani as Mariska
Dennis Wolfberg as Gooshie
Michael Rich as Corporal McBride
PhilipMcNiven as PFC Briggs
Ward C. Boland as Lt. Obrigowitz
Rodney
Kageyama as Joda
Patty
Toy as Bar Girl
Julie Ann Lowery as Ellie LaForge
James
Medina as Carlos Bringuier
Chris
Kinkade as New Orleans Policeman
Matthew
Charles Nelson as Sergeant Donald P.
Bellisario
Erika
Amato as Lieutenant Anna Guri
Lazar as Guard
Nathan
Lisle as Frazier
Becky
London as Ruth Paine
Karen
Ingram as Jackie Bouvier-Kennedy Mia Drake Inderbitzin as Marina Oswald (in "A Leap for
Lisa" footage)
Guest Cast Notes:
-Natasha Pavlova (Pavlovich) guest-starred on "Wings" (NBC from 1990-1997) in the
episode "Fools Russian" as Roy's mail order Russian fiance.
-Willie
Garson played Ross's angry new
neighbor, Steve, in "Friends" episode "The One With the girl who hits
Joey".
-Reni
Santoni played the character "Poppie" in two episodes of Seinfeld, one of which was the series finale.
Erika
Amato (Lt. Anna Guri) is the lead singer of the band "Velvet Chain."
-Although
not a guest in this episode, director
James Whitmore Jr. has many directing credits for Quantum Leap and many
other shows including "24", "Enterprise", and "Mister Sterling" in
which his father played a recurring part as Bill Sterling Sr. That show
was canned by NBC right after the first season.
Personal
Review:
Of all the controversial episodes of Quantum Leap, this one is my top
favorite. The reason being is because of the suspenseful scenes between
Scott (Sam, while he's Oswald) and Dean - and the waiting room scenes
between Dean and Willie Garson(Oswald). I also really enjoyed the
January 6, 1959 leap ever since I figured out that Matthew Charles
Nelson was playing the role of the one and only QL creator Don
Bellisario. To have Sam Beckett talking with Don is what I like to call
a kiss with reality. It can also be called a kiss with history of
course. Sam did not save the president, but he saved the first lady,
which I thought was very touching! ***** out of 5!!
Best Lines:
"I'm
not like you Al! I don't have to sleep
with every woman that I meet just because-Because she's there!"-Sam to
Al in the bar.
"String theory?[pause] It closed the conceptual gulp between relativity
and quantum mechanics. It postulates that subatomic particles are not
points, but strings, about one planck length long. The rate at which
strings vibrate can generate the properties of all known particles.
Huh? How did I know that?" -Lee Oswald spouting out Sam's words
Best
Scene:
Close to the end when Sam was about topull the trigger and Al comes in
to try and reach him. He's successful after a while and Sam leaps out
just
in time to save the President's wife.
Say
What?
In "The Leap Back" (The 4th season premiere) the date at PQL is
September 18, 1999, as mentioned by Al. However, "Lee Harvey Oswald"
took place from February 14-16, 1999 - seven months earlier.
Sam is handed red-tipped bullets, which are blanks. When he loads the gun, they are shown as live bullets.
Sam's rifle shifts from his hands to over his
shoulder during one shot.
Why
does Sam keep Leaping within Oswald's lifetime? In several of the
Leaps, he doesn't seem to be there to change anything, but rather to
observe or just do what Oswald would have done anyway.
The on-screen caption shows the date as
January 6th, 1959, but the duty roster shows March
3rd. "The Worker" brocure is also
from March 1959.
In the second scene (1959) with Lee Harvey Oswald appearing in 1999, he’s two years older than the first
time (1957) but he picks up the conversation where they left off. No swiss-cheese effect for Oswald!
When
Sam Leaps into the secret service guard at the end, Al is not
re-centered on Sam as would normally happen - he is still next to
Oswald.
Al: "He's doing exactly what Oswald did!"
Carlos: "With pleasure."(Is about to hit him when...)
New Orleans Policeman: "Y'all freeze! Hands up against the wall! Up
against the wall! Shut up!"
Al:
"Sam, can you hear me? It's the ninth of
August of 1963. There's only three months until the Kennedy
assassination Sam, and this leap is bringing you closer! If you leap
into Dallas on November 22nd and Oswald is still in control, you won't
be able to change anything Sam! You gotta fight him. Fight him Sam!"
Sam: "My name?"
Al: "DR. SAMUEL BECKETT!"
Sam (as
Oswald): "My name is Lee Harvey
Oswald."[Leaps out]
[Scene
between Al and Gooshie walking
in the PQL corridors]
Gooshie: "Ziggy computes the best option under the circumstances is to
do nothing."
Al: "Well Ziggy doesn't want to make another mistake."
Gooshie: "Perhaps, but if Dr. Beckett leaped into Oswald to uncover the
conspiracy, then doing nothing is an effective course of action."
Al: "How the hell do you figure that?"
Gooshie: "Whether Dr. Beckett is himself or Lee Harvey Oswald is
immaterial. Either way, you'll be there to observe. To watch the sixth
floor window, the grassy knoll, the railroad overpass. You'll see it
all! You'll know the truth."
Al: "Yeah, but I won't be able to stop it!"
Gooshie: "I realize that Admiral, but you yourself said that's not what
Dr. Beckett was leaped back to do."
Al: "Well, what if I was wrong? What if that's precisely the reason
that Sam was leaped back?"
Gooshie: "Then Oswald would have to be the sole assassin."
Al: "That's right!"
Gooshie: "No conspiracy?"
Al: "No. Just one angry, envious man who wanted to propel himself into
infamy!"
Gooshie: "One lone man!?!"
Al: "I know it's more comforting to believe in plots, because if
Kennedy could be killed that easily, by one sicko, what hope is there
for the rest of us?"
Gooshie: "Admiral, what are you gonna do?"
Al: "To try and find the truth."[He goes into the waiting room]
[Skip
to waiting room scene with Willie Garson
and Dean]
Oswald: "I admire the president very much!"
Al: "You admire him, but you're gonna kill him."
Oswald: "That's what this is about! You're secret service and you're
detaining me because you think I'm going to shoot the president."
Al: "I know you're going to shoot the president. What I wanna know is
are you acting alone?"
Oswald: "I don't even own a gun!"
Al: "You own a 6.5mm mannlicher-carcano rifle and an S+W .38 special.
The rifle is wrapped in a blanket at Ruth Paine's house and the pistol
is at your rooming house at 1026 North Beckley. You ordered both of
these guns through the mail under the alias of Alex J. Hidell."
Oswald: "Marina! She told you these lies!"
Al: "Marina told me nothing. But, when questioned, she'll talk about
the shot you took at General Walker. And she'll talk about locking you
in the bathroom when Nixon come to Dallas because she was afraid that
you were going to try and shoot him too!"
Oswald: "I want a lawyer!"
Al: "There's no lawyer here, there's just you and me and the truth!"
Oswald: "I know my rights. I'm a member of the ACLU and I have-"[Cut
off by Al who grabs him by the shirt]
Al:[Getting very angry] "You're going to shoot the president from the
sixth floor window of the Texas schoolbook depository!"
Oswald: "You're crazy!"
Al: "You're damn right I'm crazy.[Pulls a gun out of his back pocket]
I'm crazy enough to blow your brains out through your ear if I don't
get the truth!"[Now you see Oswald choking with fear]
Oswald:
"I don't believe in killing someone
just because I disagree with their politics!"
Al: "ARE you acting alone?"
Oswald: "I- I want a lawyer."[Al pulls the trigger right next to
Oswald's ear. Remember, the only thing that's preventing Al from
killing him is if he does, Dr. Beckett can never get back]
[Shot
of Sam who looks like he heard the
shot]
Oswald: "I'M DEAF! I'M DEAF!"
Al: "You're gonna be dead in a minute if you don't tell me the truth!"
Oswald: "Okay, Okay. Just don't hurt me. I'm not gonna shoot the
president. But, I know who he is."
Al: "Who?"
Oswald: "Hidell. The guy who ordered the guns in the mail. He's the one
who-[Cut off by Sam's words] I'm lying Al."
Al: "Sam!"
Sam: "There is no conspiracy. I'm acting alone and you have got to stop
me."
Al: "I can't reach you Sam. He's taken over completely!"
Sam: "You have to. You have to. Or else it's gonna happen all over
again. You have to find-[Cut off by Oswald's words] -Hidell. Find Alik
J. Hidell. That's the man who's going to shoot the president."[With
that, Al walks out of the waiting room and end of scene]
Awards: Jon Koslowsky: Emmy Award for
Outstanding Single Camera Editing for a Series in 1993
and the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited
One Hour Series for Television in 1993
Jean-Pierre Dorléac: Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual
Achievement in Costume Design for a Series in 1993 and for Outstanding Individual
Achievement in Costume Design for a Series in 1993
