505 Star Light, Star Bright

Star Light, Star Bright


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alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender
Staff member
Star Light, Star Bright
May 21, 1966


Charlemont, Massachusetts


After encountering a UFO, Sam has to convince the parents and grandson of the old man he has leaped into that he is telling the truth before his son commits him to a mental hospital. Meanwhile, he needs to find a way to patch the relationship problems within the family, and a government agency is tracking Sam...and the UFO.


Written by: Richard C. Okie
Directed by: Christopher Hibler


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Great episode. There is a follow up in the virtual seasons where the information that Sam gives while he is drugged actually helped them. It also deals with the issue of rock stars and their drug problems.
 
One problem i have with this episode is, whilst under the truth serum he gives an access code for the project. As this is set in 1966, and the project is not started until years later how can this code be valid?
 
Its not, notice the goverment guys' reponse
"Its a couicidence he was in the service"
"In world war 2?"

Which I didnt get that by the way.

Anyway since I am here I might as well give me opinion on this ep. I really liked it. I thought it was a very good story and the realtionship between the grandfather and the teenage boy was nice. I also like the portrayal of the common TV theme of the kid thinking the parents are against them and wants to get away from them. Oh and possibly my fav part of the ep was when Sam did that Hunkalious sexy Hendrix Impression, WHOO!

The only thing that did not settle with me was the end
Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
when he was supposed to get taken by the ship
, beyond cheesy. My mom needs to see this because she thought Sam's voice saying "I love you Donna" at the end of Leap Back was cheesy and thats not cheesy not compared to some other stuff they have done like this and
Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
Bigfoot at the end of The Beast Within.
 
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Sam Beckett Fan said:
I also like the portrayal of the common TV theme of the kid thinking the parents are against them and wants to get away from them.

*chuckle* It's not just a TV theme. In the 60s and 70s kids often did feel that their parents were against them. Young people wanted to try new things that their parents found very dangerous and threatening. They called it the generation gap. Experienced it myself.

As far as the episode goes, it's not one of my favorites, doesn't do a lot for me. I didn't find it believeable that one little chit-chat about drugs would save that boy's life. And he would be seriously weirded out to hear that kind of talk coming from his "grandfather." Grandfathers did not know about drugs in those days!

I don't mind the cheesy stuff--I actually like the second one you mentioned. I think it's cute. Just a reminder not to take this show too seriously.
 
Yeah I found that a bit weird that one little talk about a bunch of singer that he didn't even know of at that would stop him from doing drugs. I didn't get how that worked the way it did. Oh and speaking of him not having heard of a lot of the people Sam was naming I totally love when he wiggles his fingers and hums The Twilight Zone music haha.
 
An average episode,in my opinion. It had a few problems and snish already mentioned the main one here,so i don't see any point of repeat it.
BTW one of the more amusing things in this episode,in my opinion is that Sam unintentionally really "Damaged" his host by making people around him think he's even "crazier" then they already thought he is...
And one more thing - i really liked the reflection scene of sam's host playing the guitar. That was great!
 
Ok I know I made a thread about this a long time ago but I am confused still as I watch this ep now.

When Sam is under the truth sirum I don't understand why he says that he's in New Mexico in '99, thats his present time but that's not where he is, so its not the truth why didn't he say that he's in Massachsettes in '66? Because that's the truth?
 
Sodium Pentathol, the drug Sam was given, has erroneously been called a truth serum. It doesn't necessarily make the person who's received it tell the truth. It's barbituate properties suppress the higher cortical funtions. Psychiatrists theorize that lying is more complex than telling the truth which is why someone who's been given Sodium Pentathol is more likely to tell the truth. I'd hypothesize in Sam's case, remembering that he's in Massachusetts and it's 1966 just took more work than simply saying he was in New Mexico in 1999.

In addition to its use as a "truth serum", Sondium Pentathol is also used as anasthesia, to create a medically induced coma, and lethal injection.
 
jmoniz said:
Sodium Pentathol, the drug Sam was given, has erroneously been called a truth serum. It doesn't necessarily make the person who's received it tell the truth. It's barbituate properties suppress the higher cortical funtions. Psychiatrists theorize that lying is more complex than telling the truth which is why someone who's been given Sodium Pentathol is more likely to tell the truth. I'd hypothesize in Sam's case, remembering that he's in Massachusetts and it's 1966 just took more work than simply saying he was in New Mexico in 1999.

In addition to its use as a "truth serum", Sondium Pentathol is also used as anasthesia, to create a medically induced coma, and lethal injection.

Once again you have made everything clear to me now Julia. Thank you. Very interesting how the drug actually works, I never consitered that but it makes more sense that way otherwise its like a fictional potion or something.
 
I liked watching this episode. I think it was nice that the boy had a good relationship with his grandfather at least, although I think the way they treated poor Sam's host at the end was sub-par, putting him in a home like that. However, I enjoyed this episode.
 
I don't remember this episode at all, but I loved it. It's funny when Al and Sam argue and people think Sam's nuts. I can just imagine the scene in the Waiting Room. If you were a UFO buff, of COURSE you would think you'd been abducted by aliens, especially with Al's wardrobe, lol. (Love it, don't get me wrong!)

A little idealistic to think a chat with Gramps could steer an aspiring musician away from drugs in NYC, but hey it was worth it just to see the space ship. I guess we're to conclude that that was a strong relationship, huh?

I wish we had gotten a straight answer about where the ships came from and why they were on a schedule.

I wonder if Al could have led Sam through the RIGHT answers while under Sodium Pentathol? "Repeat after me...My name is () and I've never seen a UFO, but I'm an avid starwatcher..." SOmething like that.

What was the mission for the government guys? Were they supposed to check the validity of the guy's story or cover up the UFO activity?

Shouldn't someone have destroyed that tape with Sam's disclosures about Quantum Leap? (Maybe after they saw the UFO for themselves, they decided to destroy the tape themselves.)
 
I loved this episode myself, The funny part is where Al told Sam that he changed his mind and that Sam was crazy LOL that talk on the docks was priceless! I felt bad for Sam being dragged off to the mental hostpital like that being set up and all I wanted to slug those government guys myself for what they did to poor Sam. NYC If i was Al I would have done some code changes at the project after what those guys did. He probably got a different code to be on the safe side lol
 
That would be a smart thing to do, but what if Sam came back and didn't know the new codes....hmmmm....
 
Shouldn't someone have destroyed that tape with Sam's disclosures about Quantum Leap? (Maybe after they saw the UFO for themselves, they decided to destroy the tape themselves.)
This is actually one of the two theories to explain how the Evil Leaper Project came about: the information the agents got from Sam is what led to the creation of Lothos and the evil leapers (which just conveniently happens to be introduced in the very next episode). The other theory is that someone managed to reverse-engineer the handlink that Al accidentally left behind in 1945 during "The Leap Back" from Season 4. Personally, I like to believe it was a little bit of both. ;)

Damon
 
This is actually one of the two theories to explain how the Evil Leaper Project came about: the information the agents got from Sam is what led to the creation of Lothos and the evil leapers (which just conveniently happens to be introduced in the very next episode). The other theory is that someone managed to reverse-engineer the handlink that Al accidentally left behind in 1945 during "The Leap Back" from Season 4. Personally, I like to believe it was a little bit of both. ;)

Damon

It probably is a little bit of both, as well as Alia being "grabbed" by Devil-Al, just like GFTW "grabbed" Sam on his first leap ;) I wonder what other pieces of "evidence" Sam might have left lying around throughout his leaps?

Something that just occurred to me - the Government were the ones who funded the Quantum Leap project in the first place... Wouldn't this tape be proof that the project was a success? Maybe this was part of the reason why the project never had any further problems with receiving continued funding...
 
I thought the Jimi Hendrix guitar was another Shark Jumper, however, thought it was cool that he made the teenager memorise the names of the dead future rockstars.

As someone else has said, although this is a shark jumper, I think it's also a reminder not to take this show too seriously. The alien ship being one of the most obvious silly moments.
 
What's GFTW?

God, Fate, Time or Whatever

I forget the exact origin of this, but I'm pretty sure it was one of the early episodes, and it was Al's way of describing 'who or what' was Leaping Sam through Time.
Someone with a better memory such as Janine or Julia or Joy will probably be able to give you chapter and verse
 
God, Fate, Time or Whatever

I forget the exact origin of this, but I'm pretty sure it was one of the early episodes, and it was Al's way of describing 'who or what' was Leaping Sam through Time.
Someone with a better memory such as Janine or Julia or Joy will probably be able to give you chapter and verse

I believe Al said something like that in Genesis, explaining Ziggy's theory as to why they couldn't retrieve Sam.
 
Max must've moved from Ireland between 1900-05, but he couldn't have been leaving due to the potato famine, as that happened in the late 1840s.