First Contact w/ Quantum Leap

Thank you Michelle!!!!! :D You just made my decision for me. I'm going to spring for the region free DVD player and get the UK set. Although I'm very disappointed that version doesn't have the blueprints that the US version has (anyone have pics?). I'm a nut for details and things like that really appeal to me. But, the original music appeals to me more.
 
I started watching Quantum Leap when it premiered in 1989. I was in high school at the time, and I watched the show religiously. I'm still a huge fan of the series, and I'm working on a crossover fanfic between Quantum Leap and another TV show that I also enjoy (the common history between the two series makes it a great fit).
 
I was in high school when Quantum Leap touched my life. Ever since that point in time, I've been blessed with meeting so many wonderful people that I would have never met before thanks to this show.

Just like Sam - his light touched us and the ripple keeps moving on.

The show touched topics that hit home - that struck a nerve sometimes, but did it in such a way that it helped you to see the other side without shoving it down your throat.

It touched my life and made it better. I only wish that it had kept going... that's why AJ Burfield and myself kept it going in The Virtual Seasons and why Eleiece Krawiec and I started working on Quantum Retribution. True, we haven't been working on TVS or QR for the last couple of years... and I do regret that, but when it comes down to making money or writing as a side - you have to do what you have to do.

May your life be lighted by QL... :)
 
Wow, first contact per se... probably when I was like 6 years old. Of course by then I probably didn't pay too much attention to it, but when I was like 12, probably 13, my mom (may she rest in peace) was watching an episode, I clearly remember that it was "A Single Drop Of Rain". We were even commenting on it and when he leaped out and into "Unchained" I didn't quite get it but she explained to me why that was happening. The next day they aired the re-run of Unchained and she didn't see it to the end but I did and immediately got hooked. There was always a mystery and a suspenseful moment at the end of each ep. when I didn't know who he was going to leap into the next time. Haha! To this day it's hard for me not to remember each episode and what's going to happen next. I've seen them too many times already, but I still love this show. I don't think my mom ever got to see every episode, only a few of them. My dad was less hooked into it but he also liked it.

I remember a time when all my brothers, my sister and even my niece, I think, came to visit and they were airing the re-run of "The Leap Back". It was the only episode we all watched together and they were fascinated with it. It was probably the only show we could all sit together to and have words for it even after an episode was long over, even though I'm the only one who has seen them all. I live alone now and I'm clearly still hooked hehehe!
 
My first exposure to QL was the summer before my sophomore year in high school. I had heard of the show and had even seen the commercials promoting the first Quantum Leap week on NBC, but for whatever reason I didn't immediately start watching until one summer night when I sat down with my parents and decided to finally see what it was all about. The episode was a rerun of "Play It Again, Seymour," and by the end I was immediately hooked. I never missed a single episode from that point on and made sure to catch all the ones I had missed (including the pilot) when it premiered on USA in syndication. I even recorded my favorite episodes so that I could watch them over and over again. I would sit and manually pause recording whenever the commercials came on (which I used to do for a lot of other shows I liked too). I definitely related to Sam because of my intellect and ideals. Quantum Leap was the first series I had ever seen every single episode of by the time it ended.

It also inspired quite a few leap ideas of my own, some of which I was finally able to write a decade later for the Virtual Seasons with my "Lifetime" trilogy: having Sam leap into the future to see his legacy become the basis for a religious cult, revisiting his past at the Star Bright Project, and having an evil leaper leap into him in the present to put wrong what was supposed to go right. To this day, I still firmly believe that we would have seen similar ideas being explored if the series had continued at least one more season. Granted, some of my other VS stories started to get a bit more complex compared to what one would expect from a typical QL episode. Not even sure Bellisario himself would like the direction I took with my "World Without Sam Beckett" concept (yes, still unfinished, I know...), but then again my imagination has always run wild with time paradoxes, alternate realities, and abstract concepts.

That being said, it always warms my heart when I meet people who, after I say one of my favorite shows was Quantum Leap, say, "Oh yeah, that was a great show! They should try to bring it back!" It reassures me that I'm not alone. :)
 
I struggle to believe I haven't posted to this thread, but as a previous poster said, An't that a kick in the butt? (Actually it was "what a good question", but you get my point).

I, too, live in Australia, and any time anything vaguley SF sounding came on, I was on it like blue light on a leaper. I read in the TV guide a very brief synopsis of the show and thought "Worth a try". The timing of the episodes wasn't great, in Summer where I live it was on at like 7:30pm and there was still heaps of light for playing basketball, but over weks and months I recall getting more and more keen to be home by the start of QL no matter what. I even recall watching the Pilot episode with my mother who surprised me by liking it too.

Like many of you, I felt I was watching something special, but TV networks down here suck even more badly than you guys elsewhere in the world would think and it changed timeslots and even (at one time) networks, getting shunted to a very late night slot and (like any good SF show in Australia) was pre-empted, shown out of order or forgoten about for months at a time only to be quietly slotted back in when nobody was looking.

People had started saying "I gotta Bounce" when they had to leave, but being the nerdburger I am, my version was "I gotta Leap". I recall a mate of mine saying "You do realise that's never going to catch on, don't you?". Sadly he was right, but whenever I see him, and it's time to go I still say it. :)

The chemistry twixt Sam and Al, and when I have seen them interviewed jointly, Scott and Dean is fantastic, and for me it's what the show is about. Al's helplessness to help and his utter devotion to doing his damndest at any cost to do the impossible, and Sam's earnestness and heroism were a winning combination.

I know it's been said, but the Leap Back is agoosebump-fest for me. "Ziggy! How many times has Al saved my life?" and Ziggy's quiet, understated "23" is still, to me the epitome of the feelings this show can invoke. It makes you invvvest.

Shock Theatre is the episode I reference most often (I work in Mental Health) and which I recommend to anyone looking to get into the show, even though it's inside out. It's one of the best episodes of any show I ever saw, its sad, funny, bittersweet, terrifying and tearjerking all at once "Save Jimmy. Save Sam" is hard to even type, and it's the reason I know Bakula and Stockwell are every bit as good as any Oscar, Emmy or Tony winner, if not better.

The writing, the production values (after the pilot) the pathos, the theme music, the impact on other shows.

But you understand that. That's why you are here ;)
 
I struggle to believe I haven't posted to this thread, but as a previous poster said, An't that a kick in the butt? (Actually it was "what a good question", but you get my point).

I, too, live in Australia, and any time anything vaguley SF sounding came on, I was on it like blue light on a leaper. I read in the TV guide a very brief synopsis of the show and thought "Worth a try". The timing of the episodes wasn't great, in Summer where I live it was on at like 7:30pm and there was still heaps of light for playing basketball, but over weks and months I recall getting more and more keen to be home by the start of QL no matter what. I even recall watching the Pilot episode with my mother who surprised me by liking it too.

Like many of you, I felt I was watching something special, but TV networks down here suck even more badly than you guys elsewhere in the world would think and it changed timeslots and even (at one time) networks, getting shunted to a very late night slot and (like any good SF show in Australia) was pre-empted, shown out of order or forgoten about for months at a time only to be quietly slotted back in when nobody was looking.

People had started saying "I gotta Bounce" when they had to leave, but being the nerdburger I am, my version was "I gotta Leap". I recall a mate of mine saying "You do realise that's never going to catch on, don't you?". Sadly he was right, but whenever I see him, and it's time to go I still say it. :)

The chemistry twixt Sam and Al, and when I have seen them interviewed jointly, Scott and Dean is fantastic, and for me it's what the show is about. Al's helplessness to help and his utter devotion to doing his damndest at any cost to do the impossible, and Sam's earnestness and heroism were a winning combination.

I know it's been said, but the Leap Back is agoosebump-fest for me. "Ziggy! How many times has Al saved my life?" and Ziggy's quiet, understated "23" is still, to me the epitome of the feelings this show can invoke. It makes you invvvest.

Shock Theatre is the episode I reference most often (I work in Mental Health) and which I recommend to anyone looking to get into the show, even though it's inside out. It's one of the best episodes of any show I ever saw, its sad, funny, bittersweet, terrifying and tearjerking all at once "Save Jimmy. Save Sam" is hard to even type, and it's the reason I know Bakula and Stockwell are every bit as good as any Oscar, Emmy or Tony winner, if not better.

The writing, the production values (after the pilot) the pathos, the theme music, the impact on other shows.

But you understand that. That's why you are here ;)

I'd advise you to post what you said to quantumleappodcast@gmail.com , we have a giveaway where if you submit an essay "What Quantum Leap Means To Me" it will be read out on the podcast and you'll win a free copy of Quantum Leap Comic #9.

http://quantumleappodcast.com/giveaways/01-essay-contest/
 
I've told this story before but this time I shall include all details.
It was April 2005, I distinctly remember that because I'd recently returned from a trip to Lake Tahoe with a friend.
It was my senior year of high school and I was sleeping over at my best friend's. We were snuggled down in our sleeping bags having our pre-sleep discussion that we usually had and she told me about this show called Quantum Leap another friend turned her onto saying I should try watching it. I'd halfheartedly agreed though her description didn't much appeal to me. I believe my wording was along the lines of "Alright I guess."

The next time we were together she'd played it for me. The episode was season 1's Double Identity because she'd seen Genesis a bit too many times in the recent past but assured me that you didn't need to watch them in order. Which I now know very well to be true. Still Double Identity can be a slightly confusing one for a first time watcher considering the unique situation in it. I remember after seeing the Frankie to Geno leap the ending teaser to Color of Truth didn't make complete sense to me.

Nonetheless the moment Sam started screwing up the Volare act it had me. That cracked me up. As they say, the rest is history.
 
My first contact(s) with Quantum Leap?
Back in 1991 I was sitting home one night and turned on TV, the episode i saw was "Raped". I thought it was interesting and the concept unique. I did not hate the show I actually enjoyed it but I was not watching much TV back then. Star Trek TNG was the only show i watched consistently.
It was a few years later in the late Nineties when I discovered Quantum leap on Sci Fi channel in reruns. I watched and was hooked. i have rediscovered the show on netflix and recently purchased the DVD's.
Great show.