This is not to imply there was a competition (although I seem to remember a rumor that their divorce was going on and that is why Sam never reconnected with Donna and ended up having a lovechild), but I wanted to highlight my impressions of Don and Deborah's writing approaches.
It always appeared to me that Don was more interested in writing stories about people, and was less focused on technical aspects of the stories. It seemed to me that he was relying on those as just a vague backdrop. As he said himself, "Don't think about this too closely." I personally find that frustrating because I like the technical aspects to be more defined or make more sense.
In Deborah's cases, I had the strong sense that she was much more cerebral and interested in psychology ("Shock Theatre" to be exact) and making the technical aspects of the technology more precise. More or less, she appeared to be more interested in connecting dots.
The episodes that really give me this impression are the Evil Leaper episodes (Deborah) and "The Leap Back," and "Mirror Image" (Don). In regards to "The Leap Back," to me I feel like Don sacrificed making sense of what would have happened with the "simo-leap" for the sake of writing an entertaining episode. For example, why and how would a lightning bolt strike Al, who was never actually there; why would the Handlink travel with Al to the past instead of remaining in the Imaging Chamber with Sam; and why wouldn't Sam revert back to wearing his Fermi Suit, just as every leapee wore it? The answer, of course, is because he wanted the plot to unfold a specific way and the audience was never supposed to ask these questions.
I could also throw in "Lee Harvey Oswald" for good measure, where apparently Sam's mind was merged with Oswald's and they were trying to reconnect throughout the episode, which is the only time I believe this ever occurred. Interesting but just vague enough. The details of things like continuity of the present also seemed to not make much difference to Don (in "Shock Theatre" the present was in 1997, in "The Leap Back" the present was 9/18/1999, in "Lee Harvey Oswald" the present was 2/14/1999, and in "Star Light, Star Bright," the present was 5/1/1999).
In "Mirror Image," well...the episode speaks for itself and just ignores almost everything :lol.
"Shock Theatre," on the other hand, got into specifics on how Al could bring in the image of anything with him in the Imaging Chamber via skin contact, however no sound would come in. (It is a contradiction how the patients could hear the Alphabet Rap beat, by the way, but not Dr. Beeks' voice.) I would have to guess there must have been collaboration with Don for the nonsensical lightning bolt leap-out at the end. I would chalk this up to a combination of a minor oversight and collaboration for the sake of the following premiere episode.
The Evil Leaper episodes seemed to have some specific details. For instance when Sam and Alia make physical contact, it creates a quantum disturbance which allows them to see themselves for who they are. Or in the 2-parter episodes where Zoé explains she has a 48-hour window to get back home with a dropping percentage with every subsequent leap. And then some apparent omitted details like the leapers being from the year 2020.
What do you think? Any other glaring examples or am I way off?
It always appeared to me that Don was more interested in writing stories about people, and was less focused on technical aspects of the stories. It seemed to me that he was relying on those as just a vague backdrop. As he said himself, "Don't think about this too closely." I personally find that frustrating because I like the technical aspects to be more defined or make more sense.
In Deborah's cases, I had the strong sense that she was much more cerebral and interested in psychology ("Shock Theatre" to be exact) and making the technical aspects of the technology more precise. More or less, she appeared to be more interested in connecting dots.
The episodes that really give me this impression are the Evil Leaper episodes (Deborah) and "The Leap Back," and "Mirror Image" (Don). In regards to "The Leap Back," to me I feel like Don sacrificed making sense of what would have happened with the "simo-leap" for the sake of writing an entertaining episode. For example, why and how would a lightning bolt strike Al, who was never actually there; why would the Handlink travel with Al to the past instead of remaining in the Imaging Chamber with Sam; and why wouldn't Sam revert back to wearing his Fermi Suit, just as every leapee wore it? The answer, of course, is because he wanted the plot to unfold a specific way and the audience was never supposed to ask these questions.
I could also throw in "Lee Harvey Oswald" for good measure, where apparently Sam's mind was merged with Oswald's and they were trying to reconnect throughout the episode, which is the only time I believe this ever occurred. Interesting but just vague enough. The details of things like continuity of the present also seemed to not make much difference to Don (in "Shock Theatre" the present was in 1997, in "The Leap Back" the present was 9/18/1999, in "Lee Harvey Oswald" the present was 2/14/1999, and in "Star Light, Star Bright," the present was 5/1/1999).
In "Mirror Image," well...the episode speaks for itself and just ignores almost everything :lol.
"Shock Theatre," on the other hand, got into specifics on how Al could bring in the image of anything with him in the Imaging Chamber via skin contact, however no sound would come in. (It is a contradiction how the patients could hear the Alphabet Rap beat, by the way, but not Dr. Beeks' voice.) I would have to guess there must have been collaboration with Don for the nonsensical lightning bolt leap-out at the end. I would chalk this up to a combination of a minor oversight and collaboration for the sake of the following premiere episode.
The Evil Leaper episodes seemed to have some specific details. For instance when Sam and Alia make physical contact, it creates a quantum disturbance which allows them to see themselves for who they are. Or in the 2-parter episodes where Zoé explains she has a 48-hour window to get back home with a dropping percentage with every subsequent leap. And then some apparent omitted details like the leapers being from the year 2020.
What do you think? Any other glaring examples or am I way off?
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