This thought occurred to me while I was writing in another thread...
In "Mirror Image," Sam leaps in to talk to Beth, apparently mere seconds after he and Al have leaped out of the events of the episode "M.I.A."
Which brings to mind this question: if Sam is already in one time/place as a Leaper, can he leap into the same time/place as a different person?
We've seen him switch bodies within a leap ("Double Identity") and take over someone else's leap ("The Leap Back"), but in both cases, time kept moving forward.
What if, for instance, Sam leaped into Person A between Feb. 25 and Feb. 28, 1958, but didn't complete his mission. Would it be possible for him to leap into Person B on Feb. 27, 1958, in the same town, and complete the rest of the mission?
For that matter, would he simply be able to be in two unrelated places at the same time? What if he was in Texas on Feb. 25, 1958 -- could he be on another mission in a different leap on the same day and time?
Could future-Sam call past-Sam and give him advice about his current leap? And whose voice would Sam hear on the phone - his own, or the person he called?
If future-Sam touched past-Sam, would they be able to see each other, like what happened with Alia? Or would a paradox happen, as suggested in the Back to the Future movies? Or (heaven forbid) would Sam simply blow up when he touched himself, a la Timecop?
I don't have an episode guide handy, but I think Sam's leaps did happen on the same day at least once during the series, but nothing was made of or even mentioned about the possibilities I suggested.
Also, I seem to recall one of the novels suggesting that Sam couldn't be in more than two places than once (that is, his own regular lifetime, plus the leap, not another leap), which (by extrapolation) suggested that there might be an end to Sam's leaping if he leaped the entire length of his life again. But of course, novels aren't canon, so...
Anyway, this is all speculation. What does everyone else think?
In "Mirror Image," Sam leaps in to talk to Beth, apparently mere seconds after he and Al have leaped out of the events of the episode "M.I.A."
Which brings to mind this question: if Sam is already in one time/place as a Leaper, can he leap into the same time/place as a different person?
We've seen him switch bodies within a leap ("Double Identity") and take over someone else's leap ("The Leap Back"), but in both cases, time kept moving forward.
What if, for instance, Sam leaped into Person A between Feb. 25 and Feb. 28, 1958, but didn't complete his mission. Would it be possible for him to leap into Person B on Feb. 27, 1958, in the same town, and complete the rest of the mission?
For that matter, would he simply be able to be in two unrelated places at the same time? What if he was in Texas on Feb. 25, 1958 -- could he be on another mission in a different leap on the same day and time?
Could future-Sam call past-Sam and give him advice about his current leap? And whose voice would Sam hear on the phone - his own, or the person he called?
If future-Sam touched past-Sam, would they be able to see each other, like what happened with Alia? Or would a paradox happen, as suggested in the Back to the Future movies? Or (heaven forbid) would Sam simply blow up when he touched himself, a la Timecop?
I don't have an episode guide handy, but I think Sam's leaps did happen on the same day at least once during the series, but nothing was made of or even mentioned about the possibilities I suggested.
Also, I seem to recall one of the novels suggesting that Sam couldn't be in more than two places than once (that is, his own regular lifetime, plus the leap, not another leap), which (by extrapolation) suggested that there might be an end to Sam's leaping if he leaped the entire length of his life again. But of course, novels aren't canon, so...
Anyway, this is all speculation. What does everyone else think?