04. Prelude 1994 (Ashley McConnell)

Prelude 1994 (Ashley McConnell)

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alsplacebartender

alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender - Brian Greene
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Discuss "Prelude" here!

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Al's Place Novel Section: Prelude

Dr. Sam Beckett wasn't always a leaper. And Admiral Al Calavicci wasn't always a holographic image. In 1993, at Stallion's Gate, New Mexico, Sam and Al were ordinary men with extraordinary ambitions... Project Quantum Leap was only a dream. What was the secret that made Ziggy much more than a...
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Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
Dr. Sam Beckett wasn't always a leaper. And Admiral Al Calavicci wasn't always a holographic image. In 1993, at Stallion's Gate, New Mexico, Sam and Al were ordinary men with extraordinary ambitions...
Project Quantum Leap was only a dream.
What was the secret that made Ziggy much more than a machine? Why did Sam really want to travel in time? Where was Al that fateful winter night? And who almost destroyed the dream before it began?
The answers are just a leap away...


Note: This one takes up where "To Close for Comfort" leaves off, but you don't have to read one to enjoy the other.
 
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Publishing Information:
Quantum Leap: Prelude
by Ashley McConnell
Paperback | Ace | 1994-06-01 | listprice: $4.99
ISBN-10: 0441000762 | ISBN-13: 9780441000760
 
McConnell picks this up from the end of a previous book of her's "Too Close For Comfort". Which makes sense in way. That book involved a leap to Al's time right before joining the Project. But its totally inconsistent with the rest of Prelude.

This is very clearly the backstory before Sam had changed any history. Tom died in Vietnam, Donna never showed up for the wedding.

Yet the book starts out with younger Al interacting with a time traveling Sam, of course Al does not realize it. The ending of "Too Close For Comfort".

On a similar note, its strongly implied that the Doctor who operates on Sam was really a Leaper. That he saves the brain cells with the knowledge that they will be needed to create Ziggy. Shortly after which the Doctor has no memory of doing so...
 
Well I am reading between the lines a bit. It was confusing. Normally the Doctor would have no reason to save and properly preserve Sam's Brain tissue. When he hands over the sample to Sam he seems at a loss to explain why he did so.

I maybe be wrong but this was similar to how the author handled other Leaper's after they return to their time. Being confused as to what happened when they were gone. But really not questioning or doubting others accounts of events either.

Anyone else see this as another Leaper? Or Divine Intervention???
 
I've just finished re-reading it.

I just love the part when Sam is standing outside at night gazing in wonder with his arms in the air. As I was reading it I realized that the author was talking about Leaping. I think that section is so beautiful.

The banter between Al, Ziggy and Sam is totally funny.

The end section was also another favourite part. As you read the parts leading Sam to experiment with the accelerator it kinda reads like Sam knows this could kill him and it's really the unknown he's walking into. But knows he's ran out of options. It kinda makes me cry.

Janine xxx
 
I liked the background information from before Sam started leaping and reading about what started it all. This is a good one. The interaction between the characters is funny. :)
 
I didn't realise I hadn't read this one!!

but I haven't an I would love to. I'm relatively sure nobody here wants to send a copy to Australia for me to read, but I'll have to try and track this one down.
 
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I do like this story - need to reread the other one from the same author (and some of the other books but this was a fairly recent reread for me) And honestly I would probably enjoy a third story showing the aftermath of these events. I also noticed that the doctor appears to be have been a leaper for just those a few critical moments, from someone with medical training.

The question would be *who* that leaper would be and implies that Sam leaping to begin with is a predestination paradox or maybe just having a functioning hologram link and Ziggy is. Aka it has to happen in order for him to leap and IF the person leaping to accomplish this is Sam (has medical training) or anyone who follows behind him then time loop/predestination paradox. Of course in the new series other holograms seems to be much more flexible. In this book Sam and Al have head injuries making it easier to harvest the needed cells.

We know from mirror image that the dead can be leapers, so our plausible options could be GFTW working through a "ghost-leaper" to nudge things just enough that Sam succeeds in becoming a "Super-leaper/Living Leaper" or whatever term it makes sense to coin to distinguish the types, Sam himself being near death being able to tap into this and operate on himself?, a Sam from an alternate timeline who still leaps but perhaps had no contact with his own time or something?, the same Sam who leaps in a closed time-loop, some future leaper we are unaware of (none of the known group from the revival project have the medical background needed - although again the mystery leaper seemed to only be there for the briefest moments/only partially overshadowing the actual doctor).

Overall its an interesting and enjoyable story, that left me wanting more.
 
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I really like this novel!But I think it could have been done better. I am surprised by people who seriously consider it canonical and consider it a full-fledged prehistory, the events that took place before the first episode. This is far from the case! Remember the end of the novel and the beginning of the first episode. Is Jessica Olivera from the novel and the girl from the beginning of Genesis really the same person? :)Further, the fate of the Asian scientist who tried to sabotage the Project remains unclear. I like to think that he is responsible for the Lothos Project, but of course that is not the case.When reading the book, I had the feeling that the author was bound by contractual obligations not to link his novel to the beginning of the series. The end of the book turned out to be very crumpled and could have been made much better by extending it by two or three chapters. But it was a very fascinating read!
 
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Talk about time travel - I am seeing a comment I wrote in 2009 but barely remember enough of the details of the book to understand what I mean!

My overall memory- I expected more. Similar to you I would have thought it would lead to the beginning of the original Pilot. I suspect this book, like most of the others, was aimed at general audiences. To appeal to as many readers as possible build on the overall premise and not the finer details. Incase a reader forgot how the pilot begins. Sometimes the early books feel like an alternate universe. With different rules mind leaping instead of body leaping.

Which reminds me of a lot of Star Trek novels before the Next Generation was on the air for a few years. The original series from the 1960s left a lot of the backstory a mystery. So fans created their and so did authors of the novels. But in the 80s the Next Generation was created and all its spin offs. Now a lot of that information was filled in tv episodes but contradicts the older novels.

But similar to that all the Quantum Leap novels are still interesting reads. Even more with QL novels because there are so few.
 
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You explain that perfectly! Also refreshed my memories. When I read it I was confused by the implication of that scene. I thought it was another time traveler/Leaper. But yours makes more sense.

In fact something similar happens in the first episode of revival. Ben first leaps because Ian leaped from the future to warn him about Addison. Ian was from timeline in which Addison was the Leaper as planned.

The greatest thing about the very premise of Quantum Leap is history is constantly changing. It could be argued that regardless of variations or inconsistencies in the novels - none are wrong. Just variations in the always changing timeline.

One of my favorite things some of the books explored is that Al remembered a lot of the changes. Was not sure what he would see when he left the Imaging Chamber. Which the finale of revival showed too when Addison remembered previous history and no else at the Project did.
 
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Avilos said:
You explain that perfectly! Also refreshed my memories. When I read it I was confused by the implication of that scene. I thought it was another time traveler/Leaper. But yours makes more sense.

In fact something similar happens in the first episode of revival. Ben first leaps because Ian leaped from the future to warn him about Addison. Ian was from timeline in which Addison was the Leaper as planned.

The greatest thing about the very premise of Quantum Leap is history is constantly changing. It could be argued that regardless of variations or inconsistencies in the novels - none are wrong. Just variations in the always changing timeline.

One of my favorite things some of the books explored is that Al remembered a lot of the changes. Was not sure what he would see when he left the Imaging Chamber. Which the finale of revival showed too when Addison remembered previous history and no else at the Project did.
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed, it can be compared to what happens in the new Ben Song show! Nevertheless, the most mysterious moment of the novel "Prelude", which has never been revealed, is who made the quantum leap into the doctor when this doctor performed surgery on Sam? Sam? Or someone else? There is no answer...)
 
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That moment really perplexed me. Says a lot that it’s the main thing I remember about that book.

I wonder if there was no planned answer. It’s a mystery for the sake of having one. Almost the equivalent of surprise endings episodes of the show sometimes had. UFOs, Vampires, Bigfoot, etc all exist! But saved for last minute before Sam leaps away. It’s fun but we not supposed to think about it too much. Because it will never be mentioned again .
 
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