"A Portrait For Troian"

Leap Date:

February 7, 1971

Episode adopted by: Xeen

Synopsis:

As a parapsychologist, Sam must save a woman from drowning in a lake as per the family curse. Haunted by the voice of her dead husband, Troian has hired Sam to prove the voice she is hearing real. But is there more to it than just a ghost's curse?

Look for Carolyn Seymour who also plays Zoey in the Evil Leaper episodes!

Audio from this episode

Place
Leap Date
Project Date
Name of the Person Leaped Into
Songs
Music Artists
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
Guests who appeared in other Quantum Leap episodes
Cast members who have passed away
Personal Review
Best Lines
Best Scenes
Say what? (things in the episode that make no sense)
Quotable Quotes
Awards
Regional Titles for this episode

A Portrait for Troian

Season 2
Episode # 019
Production code: 65019

Leap Date:
Sunday, February 7, 1971

First Air Date in the USA on NBC: December 13, 1989
Air Date in Germany on RTL:  March 8,1991
Air Date in France on M6: October 19, 1993
Air Date in the UK on Sky One: June 28, 1996


Leapee:
Parapsychologist Timothy Mintz.

Place:
near Los Angeles, in Southern California.

Kiss With History :
California's Sylmar quake. It was the worst recorded quake in the city's history. Heaviest death toll was in San Fernando Valley, epicenter of the jolting.  Scientists at California Institute of Technology said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale.   Its epicenter was 10 miles east of Newhall. The quake was the worst in the Southland since the Long Beach disaster of 1933. Gov. Ronald Reagan declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County.

Summary:
Sam has leaped into Dr. Timothy Mintz, a famous parapsychologist and ghost hunter. He must prevent a young widow from sharing her husband's fate at the bottom of a lake.
You missed the beginning….
Dr Beckett leaps into a stormy night. He is in the middle of a cemetery and a   beautiful woman, standing at a doorway to a mausoleum, is calling out. She presses him to check whether his electronic machinery has picked anything because her dead husband, Julian, is calling to her.
Jimmy, Troian's brother wonders whether Sam is helping her to further his own ends. He tries to warn Sam off, with help from the weird Ms. Stoltz. He is worried that Troian is having a nervous breakdown since every member of the Claridge family has died a violent and untimely death, including Troian's late husband Julian who drown in the lake three years ago.

Project Trivia
* The hologram frequency is registered as supersonic on the device used by the ghost hunter.
* An electroencephalograph would show Sam's brain waves instead of ones of the Leapee.

Sam Trivia:
Sam has a talent at engineering things that could come quite handy if needed.

Al Trivia:
Al is afraid of ghosts, ghouls, living dead, etc…. anything supernatural.

Miscellaneous Trivia:
* Dean Stockwell did the whispering voice from the grave. "Troian…"… "Jimmy..."
* Michael Zinberg was involved in 9 episodes of the show
* This episode was written for the first season, but eventually aired during the second season. In the opening summary, you may spot clips from Camikazi Kid.
* References to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (Mrs Stoltz/Denver, dead husband/wife) and Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey (the changes in the painting).
*  Nathaniel Claridge was married to Priscilla Stoltz, 131 years ago.


Al's Outfits Worn in the Episode:
* Yellow and blue shirt, silvery black blue vest and matching tie, blue slacks and shiny buckled belt.
*  Red hat and shoes, white stripped shirt and black and white check suspenders.
*  White jacket, black shirt with big dots, black tie with small white dots, pink slacks, red shoes.

What Makes No Sense:
In the last scene, when Sam and Troian are talking after they found the bodies, Julian's "body" (the closest to the camera) moves his feet.

Best Scene:
Near the end of the show, at a very thrilling moment, Al yells at Ziggy that he wants to be centered on Sam. One can expect Dr Beckett to be far from the site. But he is rushing towards Al at that very moment and Ziggy transports Al mere yards from his original position, just in time to see him running past.

Personal review:
No rhythm and an expected ending.  It hopefully tends to turn out fantastic enough to save the day.

Quotable Quotes :
Al: "I'm not into necrophilia!"
Sam: "At last, something sexual he's not into!"
Al: "That's not funny Sam"
Al: "This is a fresh one."
Sam: "1948?"
Al: "It could still have... yucky stuff in it."

Priceless Line:
Al: "You tell Ziggy that if he doesn't center me on Sam right now, I'm going to feed his sex century microchips to Tina's crocodile!"

Guest Cast Notes:
* Deborah Pratt who was Don Bellisario's wife at the time, is the voice of Ziggy in Quantum Leap. She was a recurring character in "Airwolf" (Marella), in Magnum, P.I. (Gloria). A talented writer and producer to Bellisario's series and "The Net". As a producer and co-creator of the show, she makes that only appearance along with Donald Bellisario in that very episode. Troian is their daughter's first name.
* Donald P. Bellisario who wrote and produced the episode appears à la Hitchcock.
* Robert Torto had the recurring role of "Jay Clemens" in The  Drew Carey Show.
* Carolyn Seymour is from UK. British accent really does well on villains! She will return to play "evil observer" Zoey in three episodes, starting "Deliver Us From Evil" where she will be Al evil alter ego. She was on Bellisario's Magnum, P.I. playing Elizabeth, Lady Ashley in episode: "Echoes of the Mind: Part 1 & 2" (episode # 5.1/5.2.) and playing Leeann in episode The Love-for-Sale Boat (episode # 5.17). She appeared in three different characters on episodes of  Star Trek: The Next Generation and played the recurring role of Mrs. Templeton on Star Trek: Voyager.

Crew

Teleplay:
Scott Shepherd
(who is a producer on several episodes in 1989-1990)
& Donald P. Bellisario

Story: 
John Hill & Scott Shepherd

Director:  
Michael Zinberg

Guest Cast:    
Deborah Pratt as Troian Giovanni Claridge
Robert Torto as Jimmy Giovanni Claridge
Carolyn Seymour as Priscilla Stoltz
Bill McLaughlin as Coroner
Bette Rae as Mrs Little (known but unaccredited)
Don P. Bellisario as Timothy Mintz/mirror (unaccredited)
Paul Brown as Julian Claridge

Executive Producer:
Donald Bellisario

Associate  Producer:
David Bellisario & Jeff Gourson

Executive Story Editor:
Paul Brown

Music:
Mike Post

Supervising Producer:
Scott Shepherd

Co-Producer:
Deborah Pratt

Produced by:
Harker Wade

Director of Photography:
Henry Lebo

Production Designer:
Cameron Birnie

Edited by Ken Dennis

Unit Production Manager:
Paul Cajero

First Assistant Director:
Roberto Villar

Second Assistant Director:
James Dillon

Casting:
Ken Carlson

Set Decorator:
Robert L. Zilliox

Costume Designer:
Jean-Pierre Dorleac

Costume Supervisors:
David Rawley
Donna Roberts-Orme

Sound Mixer:
Mark Hopkins McNabb

Stunt Co-ordinator:
Diamond Farnsworth

Panaflex®
Camera and Lenses by PANAVISION®



Regional titles:
Germany: Die Stimme aus der Tiefe
France: Histoire de fantômes sournois
Italy: Il Ritratto di Nancy