DVD Sets with all the music?

Sam Beckett Fan

Re-Writing Life
Jun 3, 2005
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Don't know if anyone else has ever purchased bootlegs of the series since I kinda need to vent right now if it's alright with everyone, this topic can be the place to discuss them.

As we were waiting for the region 1 season 4 set to be released by Universal In my and my best friend's anxiousness to see what happened after the Shock Theater cliffhanger I found on the internet and purchased a bootlegged set of the entire series (though it had not been until after the purchase was made that I learned what the word bootleg meant).
The presence of fragments of commercials in some episodes suggests that these are recordings of the original airings and contain the original music.
Though I would not have known anyway had it not been for the bootleg, I am most grateful to have purchased it for the episode Temptation Eyes containing one of my all time favorite songs 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' by Foreigner. The sound alike version in the Universal region 1 release pisses me off and as a result I never source it for that particular episode.

The set has also saved my Universal set because several years ago my mother accidentally returned one of my Universal discs from season 4 to Netflix as the film 27 Dresses and since they ignored my enclosed letter with the real 27 Dresses kindly asking for it's return my bootleg has been serving as a replacement. I however am thinking of trying to find a replacement of the official disc upon Friday discovering that my bootlegged Roberto (which is actually at the end of the Temptation Eyes disc) freezes and resumes seconds ahead in several places and several times in a row. It made it a pain for my best friend and I to get through. It's a shame it's far too late and that we don't have a Netflix account anymore, the suggestion I didn't take back then of ordering their copy of the disc and keeping it sounds good now. Since they withheld mind it would have been fair.

All these years later I am getting upset with myself as shortly after collecting the entire set in the Universal region 1 releases I somewhat regarded my bootleg set as no longer needed and somewhere along the lines I let an entire box containing season 1 and up to Goodnight Dear Heart of season 2. I am still convinced that if I tear my room apart that I could uncover it, I am having a heard time believing that I would throw it away.
Just today I discover that the remainder of season 2 is also missing and somehow I still have disc 1 containing the beginning of the first season where one of the missing discs should be. This on top of one I had to willingly dispose those years ago because it froze and did not resume during I believe it was Dr. Ruth. My best friend and I had ran out to get a cheap bottle of scratch remover but of the several attempts made no success was achieved in fixing it.

I know those discs must be somewhere, I seem to recall needing to use the box I am missing for something and lazily putting the discs onto the stack holders I have for writable discs. I very much appreciate my bootleg set and since not long ago my best friend and I tested Play Ball for a moment where we thought we recognized elevator music I have entertained the idea that we'd perhaps make an adventure of that throughout the entire series at some point.

It's also quite disappointing to have lost the episode M.I.A. I recall the bootleg contained extra moments of footage that were cut from the Universal region 1 release. Or so it seemed as I know watching it once I noticed moments I did not recognize. It was on disc 7 one of the ones I thought I still had but just discovered missing today, ugh I can't believe this!

Thanks again for your patience. I needed this.
 
G4 is showing ALL THE EPISODES with only minor cuts for time--AND THE MUSIC IS COMPLETELY INTACT!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea how much longer they will be showing them as the network is changing from G4 to Esquire this month but I have been recording it and am very proud to say I do not own the Region 1 (us) set as I sold it years ago. I have a dvd player that plays the British PAL set so I have them uncut at my fingertips -- what we need to do is convince Universal (sigh) to put 'em out HD like G4 is showing them. YES HD. It's remarkable.
 
G4 is showing ALL THE EPISODES with only minor cuts for time--AND THE MUSIC IS COMPLETELY INTACT!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea how much longer they will be showing them as the network is changing from G4 to Esquire this month but I have been recording it and am very proud to say I do not own the Region 1 (us) set as I sold it years ago. I have a dvd player that plays the British PAL set so I have them uncut at my fingertips -- what we need to do is convince Universal (sigh) to put 'em out HD like G4 is showing them. YES HD. It's remarkable.

Unfortunately it looks like G4 won't be showing Quantum Leap anymore, at least for now. Apparently Airwolf is being slotted in its place starting this Monday. Hopefully they will bring it back -- they have replaced it before and then started showing it again, so maybe they're just rotating shows right now.
 
Dear, what a shame. Recently I had discovered Quantum Leap on G4 but have only remembered, and been up on time to watch it a few times. Has it ceased yet?
 
Yep, it's not on anymore. I have my British set and actually took some from G4 like Dreams and Temptation Eyes. For some reason 4th season is very difficult..they called it QL Lite on the set--they are very DARK and some, when transf to High def are grainy and not pretty at all. It's a shame. My original vhs were terrible to watch and I was enjoying seeing them in pretty good shape on G4 - and my British DVD's are good, too. There was some talk of Universal re-releasing them in HD but I doubt that was more than a rumor.
 
The British set has all the original music in tact I assume? I'd gladly purchase a set if I didn't already have my region 1 set. Back then I had no idea so I wasn't able to consider it.
Perhaps however my missing disc in season 4 provides the excuse for a replacement set via the British release. It certainly is the season I would choose if only one due to Temptation Eyes.
 
The British set has all the original music in tact I assume? I'd gladly purchase a set if I didn't already have my region 1 set. Back then I had no idea so I wasn't able to consider it.
Perhaps however my missing disc in season 4 provides the excuse for a replacement set via the British release. It certainly is the season I would choose if only one due to Temptation Eyes.

No. Only seasons 2 and 3 of the British set differ from the US version. Seasons 2 and 3 of the UK version have all the original music. Seasons 1 and 5 of both the US and the UK versions contain all of the original music. Season 4 has the music replaced in both versions (including Temptation Eyes, believe me, I checked). So it would do you no good to purchase season 4 of the UK version if you were looking for that one intact. Only the episodes which aired on television have season 4 with the original music.
 
Bummer! :p
Good to know thank you for the clarification.

Yeah, I actually became a member of this forum back in 2004 when the DVDs were being released. This is where I learned about the music replacements and I'm so glad that I did because after season 1, I went right out and bought seasons 2 and 3 from the UK.

I debated a long time before getting season 4 since there was no difference, other than the fact that all of the UK versions were single discs and not double sided. 6 discs per set instead of 3, so less chance to get damaged. I finally bought the US version brand new on amazon, but after having several problems with the manufacture quality (disc rot- discs becoming cloudy and not playing) on two different season 4 purchases, I eventually bought the UK version and have had no problems playing those.

I guess my account from 2004 got deleted due to inactivity, but if you do a search for my username, "wakkanne", you'll find some of my original posts about the DVD releases. :)
 
I am only a year behind you having joined in 2005 the same year I had discovered the series. Thus being a first time watcher all I cared about was finding out what the heck happened after the Shock Theater cliffhanger. In addition I was not as knowledgeable about this type of thing back then, I didn't even know the term 'Bootleg' until after making the purchase of my bootleg set.

Is this your first time as a member of the vbulletin version of the forum? Since being a 2004 member you'll like myself have registered on the ezboard and the name you are using now is apparently the exact same as the 2004 one which is suggestive that the current account has not previous existed here. If so than you needed to have Brian merge your old ezboard account with the new one you made here. I am not sure if it's still possible now as ezboard ceased existence years ago but you might try PMing him.
 
I am only a year behind you having joined in 2005 the same year I had discovered the series. Thus being a first time watcher all I cared about was finding out what the heck happened after the Shock Theater cliffhanger. In addition I was not as knowledgeable about this type of thing back then, I didn't even know the term 'Bootleg' until after making the purchase of my bootleg set.

Is this your first time as a member of the vbulletin version of the forum? Since being a 2004 member you'll like myself have registered on the ezboard and the name you are using now is apparently the exact same as the 2004 one which is suggestive that the current account has not previous existed here. If so than you needed to have Brian merge your old ezboard account with the new one you made here. I am not sure if it's still possible now as ezboard ceased existence years ago but you might try PMing him.

That must have been what happened. I was on ezboard before. Funny thing is though, I was able to find my old posts before I rejoined, but now I can't seem to find them through the search option on here. Maybe I found them through google... Ah, here we go:

http://quantumleap-alsplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=193
 
Thanks for the clarification--I have a good copy -- all of my old eps from the first run, well I taped them on a VHS machine that was dying. I did not know this until at the end of 4th when I decided to sit and watch everything and they were a mess. (Not to mention the light was dim on all of them). 5th season--I never watch LHO, Tale of 2 Sweeties, all the Dark Leapers, Taming of the Shrew and Dr. Ruth, Blood Moon, Liberation, Beast Within, Norma Jean, Nowhere to Run...so season 5 I can put on about 2 dvd's and I'm set. I have the British set because 2nd season is amazing looking and the lighting in 3rd and 4th is somewhat better.
 
Ditto on never watching Goodbye Norma Jean, Blood Moon is only watchable for the Al humor and I also only enjoy the beginning of Memphis Melody up until the Amazing Grace performance ends (Tidbit: The young girl shown bent in prayer during the line '..that saved a wretch like me' is Scott's daughter, Chelsea).

In season 4 there are a few I and my best friend don't watch as well including The Last Gunslinger unless we are in the mood to see Sam's drunk/hangover scenes. Those are worth watching it for sometimes.
 
(Quote) In season 4 there are a few I and my best friend don't watch as well including The Last Gunslinger unless we are in the mood to see Sam's drunk/hangover scenes. Those are worth watching it for sometimes.
Well "The Last Gunfighter" actually is a very good episode because it harkens back to a time when we had a lot of westerns on the air, seeing the old 'ranch" where they shot a LOT of westerns I dearly love, and the entire struggle of Sam and Al and the issue at hand. I like the wizened old cowboy (can't recall the actor but I like him) and some of the sweetness between Al and Sam and realizing was there ever a time before the leaps where Sam got a 'little' loaded and Al was the one pouring him into a nice warm bed to sober up? :cheers
Certainly, Sam had done that for Al. It's just a sweet episode and has more than enough moments. There are so many in 4th season I could care less about because when the show was actually ON Nbc there was this up and down effect, one good ep, a really lousy one, some apparently written on the fly, and confusing endings, like "Leap For Lisa" which I do love, just felt the ending was contrived to close the show NOW, when the hour was up. I always want to cry when they show the leap in to LHO (which I HATE, abominate, ect) and think of the little glimpse I saw at IndyLeap that Rich Whiteside showed where Sam leaped into Tom Magnum. For casting reasons they couldn't do it, but it would have been so much better than the nonsense of LHO.
 
The annoying thing about The Last Gunslinger is the grandson who'd rather see the only father figure he's ever had be killed rather than to taint his reputation. Then his thinking he could face the guy himself! Come on!

Samnal said:
the little glimpse I saw at IndyLeap that Rich Whiteside showed where Sam leaped into Tom Magnum. For casting reasons they couldn't do it, but it would have been so much better than the nonsense of LHO.

Hmm this is a scrapped leap then? This is the first I have heard of it.
Who is Tom Magnum? A famous figure I assume.

By the way, Goodbye Norma Jean could have been worse. Supposedly it was intended to be Madonna but because she's living her permission was required which she denied them. I'm a fan of some of her music but why would Quantum Leap need an episode revolved around her?
 
Hmm this is a scrapped leap then? This is the first I have heard of it.
Who is Tom Magnum? A famous figure I assume.

Thomas Magnum... Magnum P.I., another Bellisario production, of course. ;)

By the way, Goodbye Norma Jean could have been worse. Supposedly it was intended to be Madonna but because she's living her permission was required which she denied them. I'm a fan of some of her music but why would Quantum Leap need an episode revolved around her?

The best part of Goodbye Norma Jean was when Al told Sam to come quickly before it was too late and Sam ran out to see Marilyn skinny dipping. Sam's reaction to the entire scene is priceless! :D
 
The annoying thing about The Last Gunslinger is the grandson who'd rather see the only father figure he's ever had be killed rather than to taint his reputation. Then his thinking he could face the guy himself! Come on!

Yeah, that kid annoyed me no end.

In general I wasn't a fan of the real person/celebrity episodes but I didn't find 'Goodbye Norma Jean' as terrible as other people do. It's by no means a favorite, and I don't really rewatch it much, but I thought the actress who played her did a terrific job and I enjoyed her performance. It also gave us another nice glimpse of Sam's character that he didn't take advantage of her even though he was attracted to her and could have done so easily.
 
wakkanne said:
Thomas Magnum... Magnum P.I., another Bellisario production, of course.

You know that was the first...and well actually only guess to come to mind.

wakkanne said:
The best part of Goodbye Norma Jean was when Al told Sam to come quickly before it was too late and Sam ran out to see Marilyn skinny dipping. Sam's reaction to the entire scene is priceless!

Exactly, agreed. Sam's reaction to turn and squeeze his eyes shut and then yell at Al for that being his idea of an 'Emergency" was hilarious.
What bugs me most about this episode aside from it being a celebrity leap is the fact that they repeat the OD walk that was done in One Strobe Over the Line.
Honestly I'd watch it over a few episodes such as the Abigail story line, I can't stand her but actually I have lately been getting the desire to give her a second chance. I am sure the time will come during my best friend's and my rewatch marathons...whenever she next visits from Grad School.
 
Honestly I'd watch it over a few episodes such as the Abigail story line, I can't stand her but actually I have lately been getting the desire to give her a second chance. I am sure the time will come during my best friend's and my rewatch marathons...whenever she next visits from Grad School.

I gave Abigail a second chance about a year ago. Nope. I was still just as mortified as I was when I saw it at age fifteen. I actually had nightmares and was physically and emotionally shaken for days after seeing those episodes in high school. From the "Children of the Corn" young Abby to Sam's completely out of character actions throughout, I found myself crying and screaming for Sam to get the heck out of there at the end of part one and it just went downhill from there. :p Maybe it's just me.... But it turns out that 20 years didn't change my feelings about it.
 
I gave Abigail a second chance about a year ago. Nope. I was still just as mortified as I was when I saw it at age fifteen. I actually had nightmares and was physically and emotionally shaken for days after seeing those episodes in high school. From the "Children of the Corn" young Abby to Sam's completely out of character actions throughout, I found myself crying and screaming for Sam to get the heck out of there at the end of part one and it just went downhill from there. :p Maybe it's just me.... But it turns out that 20 years didn't change my feelings about it.

I'm not a fan of the Trilogy either. It's true that Sam can become obsessed about both things and people, and we've seen that in episodes like 'Dear Heart' and 'The Curse of Ptah Ho-tep'. So I didn't find the obsessiveness to be too far out of character. But the rest of it, yeah. Frankly I thought young Abigail was guilty of something in the first episode. I realize they were trying to build suspense and make us wonder, but it wasn't done well and she just came across as creepy and mean to me. I couldn't understand how Sam could be so gullible when it came to her.

I also strongly dislike his breakdown scene in the home with her mother in part two -- I know a lot of people love this scene, and I respect that and completely get why they love it. But it's way too over the top for my taste. I prefer storytelling that's more subtle. 'Catch a Falling Star' explored a lot of the same themes but did it better in my opinion.
 
I'm not a fan of the Trilogy either. It's true that Sam can become obsessed about both things and people, and we've seen that in episodes like 'Dear Heart' and 'The Curse of Ptah Ho-tep'. So I didn't find the obsessiveness to be too far out of character. But the rest of it, yeah. Frankly I thought young Abigail was guilty of something in the first episode. I realize they were trying to build suspense and make us wonder, but it wasn't done well and she just came across as creepy and mean to me. I couldn't understand how Sam could be so gullible when it came to her.

I also strongly dislike his breakdown scene in the home with her mother in part two -- I know a lot of people love this scene, and I respect that and completely get why they love it. But it's way too over the top for my taste. I prefer storytelling that's more subtle. 'Catch a Falling Star' explored a lot of the same themes but did it better in my opinion.

I completely agree. Catch A Falling Star was amazing compared to this drek. I never understood how both Sam and Al thought she was so sweet and innocent in part 1. The scene where she just appears in the hallway and the "good night daddy!" line was like something out of The Shining. ;) Sweet and innocent? Poor girl? Uh-huh, okay. :)

I understand your point about Sam's obsessions, but I don't see this as the same thing. Goodnight Dear Heart, a little, as that was a kinda creepy one, too, but not this creepy. I'm not going to argue Sam's motives here, so as not to re-upset myself over something I've managed to push back into the furthest corner of my mind, but I still think it was completely out of character for him. And even when Sam begged Al to help him. To say something to stop him, Al just stared at him and said nothing. Al could have knocked some sense into Sam like he did in Catch a Falling Star, but he didn't even try.

You would think that in three parts, they could have gotten something right, but the story still seemed rushed and wholly unrealistic. They turned a wonderful fun show into something dark and soap operatic. Maybe Deborah was pushing too hard to make this happen. Again, I'm sure there are those who will beg to disagree, but you're not going to change my mind on this. Funny how I feel the need to apologize for abhorring an an episode that, from what I gather, as a whole, the fandom enjoyed? Or am I wrong in assuming this? I just think I was exposed to this at too young an age and I've never fully recovered. Although, I'm not sure I would have approved had I seen it for the first time at age 35, either. :/
 
I completely agree. Catch A Falling Star was amazing compared to this drek. I never understood how both Sam and Al thought she was so sweet and innocent in part 1. The scene where she just appears in the hallway and the "good night daddy!" line was like something out of The Shining. ;) Sweet and innocent? Poor girl? Uh-huh, okay. :)

I love 'Catch a Falling Star'. Yeah, they were being obvious about the Don Quixote/Sancho comparison to Sam/Al in that but I liked it and felt they stayed just this side of it being too much. And the viewer comes away from that episode knowing that yes, Sam is a hero who always does the right thing even at his own expense, without it being hammered home by Al or anyone else. Frankly I think Al acts out of character in the Trilogy as well, especially during the breakdown scene.

I understand your point about Sam's obsessions, but I don't see this as the same thing. Goodnight Dear Heart, a little, as that was a kinda creepy one, too, but not this creepy. I'm not going to argue Sam's motives here, so as not to re-upset myself over something I've managed to push back into the furthest corner of my mind, but I still think it was completely out of character for him. And even when Sam begged Al to help him. To say something to stop him, Al just stared at him and said nothing. Al could have knocked some sense into Sam like he did in Catch a Falling Star, but he didn't even try.

Oh, I agree with you that Sam's obsessiveness is over the top here. I guess for me I could kind of see that he could become obsessed with someone, but it is definitely off the charts here. And as I said above, I think Al's behavior is bizarre. Why didn't he try to knock sense into him? He's just way too indulgent of Sam, and that seemed very out of character to me.

You would think that in three parts, they could have gotten something right, but the story still seemed rushed and wholly unrealistic. They turned a wonderful fun show into something dark and soap operatic. Maybe Deborah was pushing too hard to make this happen. Again, I'm sure there are those who will beg to disagree, but you're not going to change my mind on this. Funny how I feel the need to apologize for abhorring an an episode that, from what I gather, as a whole, the fandom enjoyed? Or am I wrong in assuming this? I just think I was exposed to this at too young an age and I've never fully recovered. Although, I'm not sure I would have approved had I seen it for the first time at age 35, either. :/

I think the fandom is split down the middle on this one. There are people who adore the Trilogy and Abigail and Sammie Jo, and then there are people who loathe it as much as you and me. From what I can tell it's about 50/50. I did watch the 'Trilogy' more than once at different times, just to give it a chance and see if maybe I just wasn't seeing it at the right time in my life and would appreciate it better on a second or third viewing. Nope. In another thread someone said the 'Trilogy' felt to them like a Mary Sue fic and I agree with that assessment. Deborah Pratt is a good writer, so it was a little bit better quality Mary Sue but still a Mary Sue.
 
Agreed with both of you.
I found the story to be ridiculous and outrageous. The whole thing with the Fuller curse and the nastiness of Lita Aider (while brilliantly performed) was not believable like a badly written fanfiction. A little girl committing murder, come on!? Though she certainly did have a nasty temper given what she did to the other little girl. I also agree with the creepiness of the 'Goodnight Daddy' scene, I found her both child and adult to be completely irritating (which she unfortunately passed on to Sammy Jo). She was a terribly whiny brat at both ages. For example the child 'tell me all the ways you love me' thing was clearly horribly attention seeking.

While we know Sam to be a very compassionate man towards others and Abigail's situation while stupid was probably the most tragic he's ever come across it's not completely clear where the parts of him that weren't Will were getting this obsessive attractiveness to her. My only guess is how if memory serves the young adult abigail resembled in a southern ditz way, Donna. The hair mostly. I also can't help but feel it a little sick since he technically somewhat fathered her as a child. Though I suppose there doesn't have to be a special reason. Of course he is a man with needs like any other, it's not unusual for him to have been so especially attracted to someone including those he encounters on leaps. We've even seen it a few times before, Tamlyn and Diane McBride are two examples.
Mostly I wonder what he saw in such a brat.
Personally I kinda theorize that Sam leaped into Abigail's life not so much for her as for himself. To produce the child who would provide the project with exactly what they needed to set the stepping stone for his path home, a version of his own mind, the mind which created the project. Why Abigail however is beyond me. I think it would have been a lot sweeter if he'd conceived with Tamlyn. Yeah alright, I'm bit of a Samlyn junkie, being a hopeless romantic I adore Temptation Eyes.

Wakkanne said:
You would think that in three parts, they could have gotten something right, but the story still seemed rushed and wholly unrealistic. They turned a wonderful fun show into something dark and soap operatic. Maybe Deborah was pushing too hard to make this happen. Again, I'm sure there are those who will beg to disagree, but you're not going to change my mind on this. Funny how I feel the need to apologize for abhorring an an episode that, from what I gather, as a whole, the fandom enjoyed? Or am I wrong in assuming this? I just think I was exposed to this at too young an age and I've never fully recovered. Although, I'm not sure I would have approved had I seen it for the first time at age 35, either. :/

Don't ever apologize for expressing your opinions. You have just as much right to your viewpoint as the opposing has to theirs.
Agreed it seems like most of the fandom finds the Trilogy to be this brilliant love story. Personally when I read in my BTS book a tidbit that a lot of fans complained that Sam's relationship with Tamlyn was unfaithful to Donna, it pissed me off. It doesn't appear such a claim was made of Abigail and she was even more so if either were and I don't believe that. This is why I must wonder if a lot of the love for the Trilogy is mostly based on it having made Sam a father.
The comments on it here from you both have actually surprised and brightened me, to know that I am not quite so alone in this particular community in disliking it.
While most of season 5's storylines; the famous leaps and the evil leapers, were the request of the network which graciously took on the show while it was being defeated in the ratings by Full House (and Bellisario was very irritated by it), the trilogy was Pratt's idea. It was who wanted to see Sam in a serious in-leap relationship and regretted reintroducing Donna in The Leap Back. Though I am unsure how much influence she had on the story as a whole, her ideas do tend to get pushed right up against their limits such as the ending she insisted upon adding to Raped where Sam got to beat the **** out of the rapist. My best friend and I felt the destruction of the gazebo in the process was an exaggeration.
 
Personally I kinda theorize that Sam leaped into Abigail's life not so much for her as for himself. To produce the child who would provide the project with exactly what they needed to set the stepping stone for his path home, a version of his own mind, the mind which created the project.

This is a great theory and I actually thought that was the whole point, their intentional reason for introducing Sammie Jo into the series at all. At the end of part three Al tells Sam that Sammie Jo has a theory on how to get him home. Then he never returns home. Which is an absolutely in character choice. But it bothers me in the context of his (1) abandoning Donna forever and (2) adding insult to injury by having this love child Sammie Jo somewhere in time with Abigail who is maybe going to get him home, which then doesn't even pay off.
 
Those aspects bothered me as well. The fact that it's implied that Sam chose never to return home (and personally I don't wish to buy that he never did) is not totally believable. Though he doesn't remember Donna, Sammy Jo or Tom (people he changed in-leap) and of course feels drawn to those in pain I have a hard time believing that he would forever give up his identity and the family he does remember back home, his mother and Katie. That he would allow his staff to have given five years of their lives to his project in somewhat vein.
In fact Knights of the Morningstar suggests to Sam that wanting to return home is contrary to his belief unselfish and that when he believed that is when he'd be able to.

Then as you pointed out Sammy Jo had this theory to bring him home, so what happened to that? What was it even?
 
Those aspects bothered me as well. The fact that it's implied that Sam chose never to return home (and personally I don't wish to buy that he never did) is not totally believable. Though he doesn't remember Donna, Sammy Jo or Tom and of course feels drawn to those in pain I have a hard time believing that he would forever give up his identity and the family he does remember back home, his mother and Katie. That he would allow his staff to have given five years of their lives to his project in somewhat vein.
In fact Knights of the Morningstar suggests to Sam that wanting to return home is contrary to Sam's belief unselfish and that he needed to believe that to be able to.

That's actually one of my favorite things in Knights of the Morningstar and I really like that Rawn brought out this point. I would argue that not only is Sam's desire to return home unselfish, but there's an aspect to his choosing to keep leaping that is actually extremely selfish, even while it's also selfless at the same time. In the Sam Beckett character thread wakkanne made the excellent point that Sam got so involved with school and his work that he didn't go home when the family lost the farm, or when his father died, or when Katie was in an abusive marriage. Those were times when his family needed him and he wasn't there. And here he is, how many years later, leaping and even talking to Al about how much he regrets not being there those times, and still making the same mistake now of not being there in the present for his family and friends.
 
That's something else that has come to bug me. I could have sworn that Sam had snuck a mention to Irene in Future Boy that he had not attended his father's funeral as Moe Stein had not attended his wife's but when my best friend and I recently watched it, it was not there. But I could swear he mentions it and was responded to with "I am sure your father forgave you." Maybe I'm losing my mind haha. XD

Speaking of which Mirror's Edge brilliantly uses Tom in the present day to express how even when Sam was around his family he still actually wasn't as he was up in his head working on his theories. Something Donna admitted to noticing as well (there is even a flashback where she's straight up asks him for sex while he's working late but he denies her) but knew what she married into and expressed more than once that she could never want another. Her love for him was unbreakable.
 
That's something else that has come to bug me. I could have sworn that Sam had snuck a mention to Irene in Future Boy that he had not attended his father's funeral as Moe Stein had not attended his wife's but when my best friend and I recently watched it, it was not there. But I could swear he mentions it and was responded to with "I am sure your father forgave you." Maybe I'm losing my mind haha. XD

Is this maybe a syndi-cut thing? It might be on the DVD but not in the version they aired on G4. Or maybe you're thinking of 'Promised Land'? There's definitely a part in that episode where Sam in not so many words says or implies at least that he wasn't there when his father died.
 
Is this maybe a syndi-cut thing? It might be on the DVD but not in the version they aired on G4. Or maybe you're thinking of 'Promised Land'? There's definitely a part in that episode where Sam in not so many words says or implies at least that he wasn't there when his father died.

Hmm. I don't recall Promised Land much except his finding out that Tom returned from Vietnam and a favorite part of my best friend and myself Sam and Al's 'almost high five'. We still have not gotten this episode in our rewatch marathon however. That could be it however since it was in this episode that he gets to hug his father as it takes place quite soon before his death.

But now that you speak of cuts I have to wonder if there is a cut mention in my bootlegged Future Boy. Though not sure if I ever watched seasons 1-3 of my bootlegs since those I had the officials of. Yet somehow I had watched M.I.A since I remember some cut moments in it so it's possible.
 
Sam Beckett Fan, blue enigma, I LOVE you guys! :D

Oh my gosh, yes, the, "Daddy, tell me all the ways that you love me" line... :D I actually made a taped "radio" play with my brother back then where she says that line and then Sam says, "Abigail, I love you so much that I want to have sex with you..." I called it "Bumpkin Love". hehehehe....

I certainly agree that there COULD have been this wonderful Sam love story involving an in-leap romance that resulted in a child, but this was NOT it. And I also agree, that for story telling purposes, if they decided to give Sam a child with the express intent of bringing him home, when they never intended to bring him home, is just misleading and frivolous.

And can I just mention Al's comment at the end of part 3 where he basically says, that the curse is broken because Sam and Sammy Jo share DNA... WHAT? WHAT? I mean, I know that Al is superstitious and all, but he is also a scientist. How can you even connect the two? I mean, WHAT?

And I know I shouldn't have to apologize for my opinions. I think about that every time I hear someone say, "Oh I HATED that episode" referring to one that I enjoyed. I just have to remind myself, "remember Trilogy". Or as I like to call it, "The Episodes Thrice That Shall Not Be Named". ;) Quantum Leap had something for everyone, I suppose.


Based upon your comments here, you are probably going to LOVE my fanfiction, even though my writing, since it was originally based off of the QL novels, supports the mental leaping aspect. Reading these comments have given me a renewed confidence that the fandom may not reject it, but actually embrace it. I in fact, two years prior to seeing The Episodes Thrice, created a couple of characters that knock the socks off of Abigail or Sammy Jo. Maybe that's also part of why I hate Trilogy. When I saw finally saw it, it felt to me like an insult. It was like, how could I so effectively create this wonderful story out of a somewhat similar concept, while my inspiration, the show I loved so much, could have failed so miserably, not capturing the characters at all?

I really need to finish story #1, so that you guys can read it. And at the end of my series, I DO bring Sam home... although, it's only the beginning of yet another adventure... ;)