420 The Curse of Ptah-Hotep

The Curse of Ptah-Hotep


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alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender
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The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
March 2, 1957


Tomb of King Ptah-Hotep, Egypt


Strange accidents begin to happen when Sam leaps into an archaeologist who has uncovered the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Ptah-Hotep. As the legend begins to take face, the curse will bring forth a sandstorm that will bury the site of Sam's camp?and the tomb?forever.


Written by: Chris Ruppenthal
Directed by: Joe Napolitano


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This is another creepy episode. This episode has also been known to cause strange events, like causing cable stations and VCR's to fail. People mentioning the name of the episode seem to have bad luck.
 
I actually like this episode, because it's very spooky and dark. We get a chance to see Obsessed!Sam, who sets his sights on a goal and doesn't think about the consequences. This is obviously the guy who would step into the Accelerator Chamber prematurely rather than risk losing funding. He borders on being mean to Al, and gets sort of a come-uppance in the end. I really like that they took a chance on roughing up Sam's nice guy image.
And as the episode adopter said, the look on Al's face when he sees the result of the curse is priceless.
 
This is the first Quantum Leap episode I ever saw all the way through, so it'll always be one of my favorites. And what a first episode; dark, a little scary, and I got to see Al scream, which still cracks me up. I agree with the above; I liked seeing Sam's obssessive side come through, and seeing it get him into trouble once again.

This one's cursed, too? Well, well, well... Ruppenboogie strikes again.
 
I didn't care too much for this episode at first, so this one was another victum of the ole second chance method. I had Kristen over for a sleepover in March during spring break and we watched it while we had breakfast and I had forgotten all the great Al humor, plus all the strange coincidences to Devil Al that may indicate that maybe that was the orignial intention for this ep. (I posted a thread about it: http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3735
and no one else seemed to see it but my best friend and I are standing by it). I think it would have made a great return of Devil Al episode, they should have done it. Oh funny thing, I dont know why but even in proceeding to this ttead to write this review I keep wanting to think this this ep is in season five. :p

Oh and I forgot to add, I never got what he was there to do. Was it to produce proof of Ptah-hotep's descovery?
 
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Sam Beckett Fan said:
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Oh and I forgot to add, I never got what he was there to do. Was it to produce proof of Ptah-hotep's descovery?
I thought he was supposed to save Dale and Ginny from getting killed in the sandstorm, although that seemed to be left unresolved.

I wasn't that crazy about this episode, though I enjoyed the return of Superstitious Al. The "secret baddie authority figure" thing is getting predictable.
 
Oh yeah cuz I think Al said they both disappeared in the storm, so maybe he was there to save them, but maybe also to get proof because Al also said that the tomb was destoryed and no evidence of its descovery was ever produced.

I must say I also loved about this ep, that Sam was so into his surroundings and facinated by the tomb. It made me wish I still had my Hyrogliphic name that I made in sixth grade when we studied Egypt.
 
In my opinion - Chris Ruppenthal weakest writing for the show. I didn't like this episode very much. It was spooky,but nothing more. maybe it was Chris Reppenthal try to hmm...revive his great episode - "The B**gieman" he wrote for the show,but if that what he ment to do - he failed.
One thing i can credit Chris for in this episode is giving us a look on Sam darker sides - like his obsession with the tomb. And how this obsession sets his sights on a goal and made him not thinking about the consequences.
In the bootom line - the story was spooky,but it was also quite boring- this episode gets Only "Fair" from me.
 
Aging Boomer said:
I thought he was supposed to save Dale and Ginny from getting killed in the sandstorm, although that seemed to be left unresolved.

I wasn't that crazy about this episode, though I enjoyed the return of Superstitious Al. The "secret baddie authority figure" thing is getting predictable.
Yeah I kind of thought that too but then he leaped out in a very weird position to having done so. He leaped out in a very weird position period. So it's hard to say. But this episode clearly showed that Ginny got pictures of the mummy which I am guessing did not get accomplished in the first history. Because Al stated that the descovery was never heard of due to the tomb being destroyed by the sandstrom. I am guessing this was because the mummy was never found without Sam's itellect there to help them. So that's what lead me to my first idea.
 
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I'm easily amused, so I liked this episode. Glad Al got his superstitious nature back; I like it when the tough guy acts like a scaredy-cat, lol.

In terms of writing, it reminded me of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." If Sam hadn't leapt in, I guess everyone would have been gone, one at a time. I also liked the way they (well, AL) used misdirection to accuse each and every person of being a murderer. I don't think the Museum guy confessed to killing anyone, so those were mysterious, yet explainable, deaths. The kerosene explosion wasn't unexplainable - that fire was very close to the fuel tent.

Overall, we enjoyed it, even the parts that made us jump.
 
This wasn't one of my favorites, but I agree Al was funny in this one. I liked it for the most part. :) I like ancient Egyptian history, so the setting was interesting.
 
Great episode. It's like The X Files meets The Mummy. This is more like it. Thoroughly enjoyable episode.