Viewing Order

[proudhug]

For fun, has anyone ever watched the episodes in chronological order? I was thinking of doing this at some point.

[Donofrio_QLTD]

Originally Posted by proudhug

For fun, has anyone ever watched the episodes in chronological order? I was thinking of doing this at some point.

Never. It would take too much time from me, investigating each leap date and, well, I don't have it.

[MichelleD]

That would be interesting to do sometime, but part of the point of the show was that Sam never knew where he would end up. Chronological order would be sort of counterproductive to that concept.

I have to admit I like stuff in chronological order...I'm a bit OCD that way. That might work for something like a novel or fan fiction.

[proudhug]

I think it'd be interesting, not for the narrative of Sam, but for the narrative of history. To see the world evolve through the years the way it would've happened in real life.

[Lightning McQueenie]

Originally Posted by Donofrio_QLTD

Never. It would take too much time from me, investigating each leap date and, well, I don't have it.

There's a book that has them listed in chronological order...

[proudhug]

It's actually right here.

http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/...leap-dates.htm

[Donofrio_QLTD]

Originally Posted by Lightning McQueenie

There's a book that has them listed in chronological order...

Oh, I see! Didn't know that. Thanks.

[Sam Beckett Fan]

By leap dates? That would take way too much time and kind of defeats the concept that Sam never knows where he'll land next.

[Wrong Arturo]

I think it's a cool idea. I haven't done it myself yet, but it seems like a fun thing to do. After 25+ years, it's interesting to try watching the episodes in a different order to keep things from getting dull.

[Watchman]

Originally Posted by proudhug

It's actually right here.

http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/...leap-dates.htm

There are some mistakes in that list. For instance, it lists "To Catch a Falling Star" as being December 6, 1979. I just watched that one (one of the greatest episodes) and it clearly says May 21, 1979. I just watched the beginning again to make sure and, yes, May 21. So that list is a wonderful effort but I wouldn't assume it is completely accurate.

[Wrong Arturo]

Good catch, Watchman!

I think the person who made that list accidentally got the airdate and the leap date mixed up. "Catch a Falling Star" originally aired on Dec. 6, 1989.

It's hard with a TV show that always has (at least) two sets of dates for everything.

[Scotophor]

How about watching them in production number order?

*The true production number of the pilot episode, "Genesis" is currently
unknown to me and may not fall in line with the regular season episodes.

TITLE                              PROD. #   EP. # & AIRDATE           LEAP ARRIVAL DATE
Genesis                            65000*    1 - March 26, 1989        September 13, 1956
Double Identity                    65001     5 - April 21, 1989        November 8, 1965
The Right Hand of God              65002     3 - April 7, 1989         October 24, 1974
Star-Crossed                       65003     2 - March 31, 1989        June 15, 1972
How the Tess Was Won               65004     4 - April 14, 1989        August 5, 1956
Play it Again, Seymour             65009     8 - May 17, 1989          April 14, 1953
The Color of Truth                 65013     6 - May 3, 1989           August 8, 1955
Camikazi Kid                       65014     7 - May 10, 1989          June 6, 1961
What Price Gloria?                 65017     12 - October 25, 1989     October 16, 1961
A Portrait for Troian              65019     19 - December 13, 1989    February 7, 1971
Disco Inferno                      65401     10 - September 27, 1989   April 1, 1976
Blind Faith                        65402     13 - November 1, 1989     February 6, 1964
The Americanization of Machiko     65406     11 - October 11, 1989     August 4, 1953
Jimmy                              65407     16 - November 22, 1989    October 14, 1964
Good Morning, Peoria               65408     14 - November 8, 1989     September 9, 1959
Thou Shalt Not...                  65409     15 - November 15, 1989    February 2, 1974
So Help Me God                     65410     17 - November 29, 1989    July 29, 1957
Honeymoon Express                  65411     9 - September 20, 1989    April 27, 1960
M.I.A.                             65412     30 - May 9, 1990          April 1, 1969
Catch a Falling Star               65413     18 - December 6, 1989     May 21, 1979
Another Mother                     65415     21 - January 10, 1990     September 30, 1981
Her Charm                          65416     23 - February 7, 1990     September 26, 1973
Animal Frat                        65417     20 - January 3, 1990      October 19, 1967
All-Americans                      65418     22 - January 17, 1990     November 6, 1962
Leaping in Without a Net           65421     27 - March 28, 1990       November 18, 1958
Pool Hall Blues                    65422     26 - March 14, 1990       September 4, 1954
Freedom                            65423     24 - February 14, 1990    November 22, 1970
Good Night, Dear Heart             65424     25 - March 7, 1990        November 9, 1957
Maybe Baby                         65428     28 - April 4, 1990        March 11, 1963
Sea Bride                          65430     29 - May 2, 1990          June 3, 1954
The Leap Home, Part 1              66401     31 - September 28, 1990   November 25, 1969
The Leap Home, Part 2–Vietnam      66402     32 - October 5, 1990      April 7, 1970
Black On White On Fire             66403     37 - November 9, 1990     August 11, 1965
Glitter Rock                       66404     47 - April 10, 1991       April 12, 1974
Runaway                            66405     41 - January 4, 1991      July 4, 1964
Miss Deep South                    66406     36 - November 2, 1990     June 7, 1958
Rebel Without a Clue               66407     39 - November 30, 1990    September 1, 1958
Leap of Faith                      66408     33 - October 12, 1990     August 19, 1963
One Strobe Over the Line           66409     34 - October 19, 1990     June 15, 1965
The Boogiem*n                      66410     35 - October 26, 1990     October 31, 1964
The Great Spontini                 66412     38 - November 16, 1990    May 9, 1974
A Little Miracle                   66414     40 - December 21, 1990    December 24, 1962
Private Dancer                     66416     44 - March 20, 1991       October 6, 1979
Future Boy                         66417     43 - March 13, 1991       October 6, 1957
Piano Man                          66419     45 - March 27, 1991       November 10, 1985
8 1/2 Months                       66421     42 - March 6, 1991        November 15, 1955
Southern Comforts                  66422     46 - April 3, 1991        August 4, 1961
Last Dance Before an Execution     66423     49 - May 1, 1991          May 12, 1971
A Hunting We Will Go               66424     48 - April 17, 1991       June 18, 1976
Heart of a Champion                66425     50 - May 8, 1991          July 23, 1955
Nuclear Family                     66426     51 - May 15, 1991         October 26, 1962
Shock Theater                      66428     52 - May 22, 1991         October 3, 1954
The Play's the Thing               67301     63 - January 8, 1992      September 9, 1969
Permanent Wave                     67302     57 - October 16, 1991     June 2, 1983
The Leap Back                      67303     53 - September 18, 1991   June 15, 1945
A Song for the Soul                67304     67 - February 26, 1992    April 7, 1963
Play Ball                          67305     54 - September 25, 1991   August 6, 1961
Hurricane                          67306     55 - October 2, 1991      August 17, 1969
Ghost Ship                         67307     68 - March 4, 1992        August 13, 1956
The Wrong Stuff                    67308     59 - November 6, 1991     January 24, 1961
Justice                            67309     56 - October 9, 1991      May 11, 1965
Raped                              67312     58 - October 30, 1991     June 20, 1980
Unchained                          67314     62 - November 27, 1991    November 2, 1956
Stand Up                           67315     73 - May 13, 1992         April 30, 1959
A Single Drop of Rain              67317     61 - November 20, 1991    September 7, 1953
The Last Gunfighter                67318     66 - February 5, 1992     November 28, 1957
Running for Honor                  67319     64 - January 15, 1992     June 11, 1964
Dreams                             67320     60 - November 13, 1991    February 28, 1979
Temptation Eyes                    67322     65 - January 22, 1992     February 1, 1985
It's a Wonderful Leap              67324     70 - April 1, 1992        May 10, 1958
Moments to Live                    67325     71 - April 8, 1992        May 4, 1985
Roberto!                           67326     69 - March 11, 1992       January 27, 1982
The Curse of Ptah-Hotep            67328     72 - April 22, 1992       March 2, 1957
A Leap for Lisa                    67329     74 - May 20. 1992         June 25, 1957
Star Light, Star Bright            68101     79 - October 27, 1992     May 21, 1966
Lee Harvey Oswald                  68102     75 - September 22, 1992   October 5, 1957
Nowhere to Run                     68103     77 - October 6, 1992      August 10, 1968
Leaping of the Shrew               68104     76 - September 29, 1992   September 27, 1956
Trilogy Part I: One Little Heart   68105     81 - November 17, 1992    August 8, 1955
Killin' Time                       68106     78 - October 20, 1992     June 18, 1958
Liberation                         68108     86 - January 12, 1993     October 16, 1968
Deliver Us from Evil               68109     80 - November 10, 1992    March 19, 1966
Promised Land                      68110     84 - December 15, 1992    December 22, 1971
Trilogy Part II: For Your Love     68112     82 - November 24, 1992    June 14, 1966
Trilogy Part III: The Last Door    68113     83 - November 24, 1992    July 28, 1978
Dr. Ruth                           68114     87 - January 19, 1993     April 25, 1985
Goodbye Norma Jean                 68115     91 - March 2, 1993        April 4, 1960
Blood Moon                         68117     88 - February 9, 1993     March 10, 1975
A Tale of Two Sweeties             68118     85 - January 5, 1993      February 25, 1958
The Leap Between the States        68121     93 - March 30, 1993       September 20, 1862
The Beast Within                   68122     92 - March 16, 1993       November 6, 1972
Memphis Melody                     68123     94 - April 20, 1993       July 3, 1954
Return of the Evil Leaper          68124     89 - February 23, 1993    October 8, 1956
Revenge of the Evil Leaper         68125     90 - February 23, 1993    September 16, 1987
Mirror Image                       68126     95 - May 4, 1993          August 8, 1953

Production numbers copied from http://www.springfieldspringfield.co...-leap&season=1
Note that that site's so-called "scripts" are actually just the episodes' closed captions in plain text form. There are no scene numbers, stage directions, nor even any indication of who speaks each line. While copying the data from that site, I noticed errors which I attempted to correct. Please let me know if my edits are mistaken, or if you notice any other errors which I missed or introduced.

Generally speaking, a series' airdates are often not in exactly the same order as episodes were filmed; airings are often delayed for technical or artistic/storyline reasons and occasionally due to pre-emption by the network. Production numbers are usually in the order that episode scripts are submitted for production and not necessarily the order in which the scripts are approved (after any needed revisions, etc.) or filming of each episode is commenced or completed. Sometimes a TV series' episodes are deliberately shown in a particular order which does not match either the production number order, nor the order in which they were filmed.

In the case of Quantum Leap, in most instances there is very little within the episodes that stands out as anachronistic if the order of viewing differs slightly from the order of production or the original broadcast order. A minor exception is that if the order is changed, in most instances the "preview teaser" at the end of each episode will show Sam leaping into the beginning of a different episode than the one that follows. A few other notable exceptions: The style of Al's handlink changed slightly from the pilot to the first season, and again in the second season, then dramatically early in the third season. There are two episodes with first-season production numbers which were first shown interspersed among the second-season episodes ("What Price Gloria?" #65017 and "A Portrait for Troian" #65019). I haven't determined yet whether the handlink props used in those episodes are anachronistic. However, the first appearance of the new third-season handlink style (the colorful "rotten pile of gummi bears", first shown in "The Boogiem*n" #66410) went completely unmentioned, then in the third following episode (in original airdate order, "The Great Spontini" #66411) the new style was explicitly introduced onscreen! The only apparent explanation for this discrepancy is that timetable planning was deficient, with the episode in which the new handlink was introduced having been delayed in the broadcast sequence for reason(s) unknown -- or perhaps the makers intended to 'fast track' "Spontini" to air it before "Boogiem*n", but production pressures and deadlines did not permit airdates to be adjusted accordingly. Watching the episodes in production number order makes this discrepancy slightly less anachronistic, because then the "introduction" of the new handlink style comes in the episode immediately after the one in which it's first seen -- but, there's a block of five episodes with earlier production numbers (66403-66407) which were all first aired after "Boogiem*n" and "Spontini", do all of them have the "gummi bear" handlink? Another obvious discrepancy occurs in the fifth season, wherein the 3-part "Trilogy" sequence of episodes become separated if viewed in production number order. I would suggest that those three episodes be kept together by anyone viewing the episodes in production sequence, by moving "Trilogy Part I: One Little Heart" #68105 after "Promised Land" #68110.

[Wrong Arturo]

Wow! What a great post. I love detailed information like that. That's an all-time Hall of Fame post, Scotophor! Thanks for sharing!

I had never seen those numbers before. I agree with you that it's unlikely that the episodes were filmed in that order, because of lots of discrepancies (for instance, "Honeymoon Express" wouldn't have even been filmed until the season was well underway, even though it serves as the premiere).

I would also like to see how well this order would follow the use of the various handlinks. Of course, the gummy-bear handlink would have made several other appearances before "Spontini," but they'd be different episodes than the ones that aired. Then all of a sudden it would revert back to the black handlink for "Leap of Faith" and "One Strobe..."

Still, it's fascinating to me when someone finds obscure information that hasn't been widely available to the fan community until now. I'm definitely going to keep this information on hand. Now if one day we could find out the actual filming order!

Thanks again, Scotophor!

[Scotophor]

Originally Posted by Wrong Arturo

I had never seen those numbers before.

Really? You must have seen some of them but forgotten... a few of the synopses in this site's Episode Guide mention the production numbers. In fact, I haven't checked yet whether those numbers match up with the list I just posted. I'm sure someone will let me know if they don't.

EDIT: I just checked them all, and there are only three synopses here that mention the "Production code": "A Portrait for Troian", "Animal Frat" and "Leaping in Without a Net". So you're forgiven for forgetting that there are production numbers mentioned previously on this site, since there are so few they could easily be overlooked, even if you've read every entry in the Episode Guide. Those three numbers match the production numbers I posted.

[Wrong Arturo]

Heh. I'm guessing that I never read the Episode Guide. By the time this site was active, I had read multiple books, websites, etc. that had the episodes listed to the point where I had them memorized. I'm glad that the resource exists for others, but I didn't think there was any new information there.

I didn't realize there were production codes listed -- even if there were just three of them.

[proudhug]

I always knew the production numbers from epguides.com, and later from that closed captioning site and the "Another Time, Another Place" reference book.

I've been working for the past year or so on an epic complete QL timeline and one of the things I've been mulling over is the proper order of episodes from the Project's perspective. The airdate order, production order, leap-outs, handlink used, and Ziggy male/female references have all be useful. As well as the scarce specific date references.

[Scotophor]

Leap-outs? Do they not always match the next episode in original airdate order?

Also, re: handlinks used... do you have episode-by-episode info on which specific version (or versions) is shown for the "calculator" style handlink? Or the "gummi bear" style (very difficult - the gummi versions are so similar they can pretty much only be distinguished in excellent close-up frontal shots, which are rarely shown)? I started collecting some data a while ago, but did not get any more specific than "calculator" or "gummi bear" style for each episode. I even have the handlink style in ep. 6 "The Color of Truth" listed as "none" -- I noticed only one scene in which Al appears to be operating the handlink, including sound effects, but his hand is down low out-of-frame, so unless I blinked at the wrong moment, we never see any handlink at all in that episode.

[proudhug]

Originally Posted by Scotophor

Leap-outs? Do they not always match the next episode in original airdate order?

I'm only able to go by the DVDs at this point, but I'm assuming they match the original aired versions. For the most part the next aired episode was the leap-out, but there are a few exceptions such as "Play It Again, Seymour" into "What Price Gloria?"

do you have episode-by-episode info on which specific version (or versions) is shown for the "calculator" style handlink? Or the "gummi bear" style (very difficult - the gummi versions are so similar they can pretty much only be distinguished in excellent close-up frontal shots, which are rarely shown)?

Unfortunately, I haven't. I only recently found out that there WERE different versions. I never looked closely enough at the handlink and always thought there were just two; the calculator and gummy (plus the random piece of plexiglass in "Genesis"). I'd love to see a list of these or make one myself at some point.

[Scotophor]

There were at least three "calculator" handlink versions (counting the "Genesis" version as one), perhaps more but I haven't really looked into that prop yet.

I'm working on a detailed breakdown of the different "gummi bear" versions, and considering whether to post it here or on a props forum. So far it's looking like only two "hero" props were used for the majority of the close-up frontal shots in the show, but one of them was modified several times, so if you looked at details it appeared to be a different prop. There were one or two other "hero" GB props used rarely. Unfortunately, we usually see the handlink from the back, and I haven't been able to spot any noteworthy differences there, so any given back view could be any one of several versions of the prop.

[Scotophor]

My synopsis of the different "gummi bear" handlink versions is now posted at Dewback Wing - A.S.A.P.

[Scotophor]

Update to post #17 above: I just re-watched The Color of Truth, and Dean does use the handlink prop once, in the scene when they first visit the cemetery. It must be one of the "Calculator" handlink versions, but isn't shown well enough to determine which one. However, I also re-watched Star-Crossed, and there doesn't seem to be any handlink used in that episode.

Update to post #19 above: I now know there were at least four "Calculator" handlink versions. The one in Genesis was very simple, had no LEDs, and was thinner than all the others. I call that version "Calculator Alpha". The one in Double Identity was thicker, with a different arrangement of "button" graphics at the bottom, but apparently also no LEDs. I call this version "Beta". In The Right Hand of God, How The Tess Was Won, Camikazi Kid, and probably several other episodes, the handlink has a row of four red LEDs in the top "screen" area, and below that, two rows of four "buttons" each, which are backlit with red LEDs. The screen LEDs are not visible from the back of the prop, but the button LEDs are. I call this version "Gamma". At some point in the second season, a completely new "Calculator" handlink version appears which includes green LEDs as well as red, and has a green LED dot-matrix screen at the top which scrolls text. This version, which I am provisionally calling call "Calculator Delta" until I can verify that there was only one such version, is shown very clearly in close-up in Pool Hall Blues.