Interesting Observations/Facts/Questions about Quantum Leap

That would certainly be weird.
Something occurred to me, going back to what you said about how Al didn't lose his connection when Sam leaped from Oswald to the secret service agent. That would make Al wrong in Mirror Image when he told Sam that he didn't know what Sam looked like leaping. Unless that leap truly was Sam's subconscious than that wasn't really Al who said that but Sam himself.

This begs the question, if Sam were to leap out of one host in front of a mirror would he be able to see it at least for a moment?

The only times we ever see a leap from Sam's point of view is in Genesis, the first times he sees clouds, and then later it appears instantaneous. So I don't think Sam sees anything at all during the leaps and so wouldn't be able to see the leaping effect. If this is the case, then it's also quite possible that the image Al sees projected onto the Imaging Chamber also just disappears, so probably wouldn't see anything either. To him during LHO, maybe he just saw Oswald instantaneously replace Sam, or else it's possible he just wasn't looking and was concentrating more on the president...
 
The only times we ever see a leap from Sam's point of view is in Genesis, the first times he sees clouds, and then later it appears instantaneous. So I don't think Sam sees anything at all during the leaps and so wouldn't be able to see the leaping effect. If this is the case, then it's also quite possible that the image Al sees projected onto the Imaging Chamber also just disappears, so probably wouldn't see anything either. To him during LHO, maybe he just saw Oswald instantaneously replace Sam, or else it's possible he just wasn't looking and was concentrating more on the president...

True, if Al could watch Sam leap all he'd probably see is his connection/the holographic image around him shut down.
In the case of Oswald (and I might be remembering this wrong since it's been so long) If memory serves Al had given the real one a perplexed look as though he might not have recognized Sam's leap out mixed with panic because the assumed task was to sop Oswald from taking the shot but now Sam was missing from the post.

So you are likely right that from Al's perspective the real Oswald's appearance seemed to come from nowhere.
 
Here's a small problem with the mechanics of leaping - we are told in Genesis that Quantum Leaping takes time, in fact a full week passed between his leap from Tom Stratten to Fox. Yet in Dr Ruth, we see the leap from the point of view of the Waiting Room, with Dr Ruth leaping out and instantly replaced with the vampire.

I suppose the viewers could just be given a time-dilated version of the leap, where the time in between is sped up/removed, but that got me thinking, what would the aura in the waiting room be like in the time between leaps? Would there be an aura there at all? Would it just look like a blank shell?
 
Here's a small problem with the mechanics of leaping - we are told in Genesis that Quantum Leaping takes time, in fact a full week passed between his leap from Tom Stratten to Fox. Yet in Dr Ruth, we see the leap from the point of view of the Waiting Room, with Dr Ruth leaping out and instantly replaced with the vampire.

I suppose the viewers could just be given a time-dilated version of the leap, where the time in between is sped up/removed, but that got me thinking, what would the aura in the waiting room be like in the time between leaps? Would there be an aura there at all? Would it just look like a blank shell?

It's possible that as Sam got more experienced at leaping it didn't take as long for him to go from one leap to the other. Or in cases where it was targeted, like in 'Double Identity' and the LHO episode, he just got there faster because he knew where he was going.

I always thought the waiting room was empty between leaps, since it's Sam's body leaping. :)
 
It's possible that as Sam got more experienced at leaping it didn't take as long for him to go from one leap to the other. Or in cases where it was targeted, like in 'Double Identity' and the LHO episode, he just got there faster because he knew where he was going.

I always thought the waiting room was empty between leaps, since it's Sam's body leaping. :)

But we know from Revenge of the Evil Leaper that there MUST be some "empty" aura between when the leaper leaps out and the host leaps back, as the bullet passed through that empty space leaving both Alia and Angel completely unharmed...

ShotgunLeap3.jpg


My question though, is what would the aura LOOK like when it's empty. Would it stay in the position the previous leapee was in when they leapt? Or would it collapse or something else entirely? I'd say based on the Dr Ruth leap that it must stay in the same spot... Also, I suppose the aura would just look like a dead person, no life behind it...
 
Though I see where you are coming from Lightning McQueenie, I believe blue enigma is correct that the room would technically be empty or appear to be while Sam is in between leaps due to the aura seeming to be an essence not a physical presence. Without a being to wrap around it can't be seen. Somewhat like a refrigerator light if you will, we know it turns off when the door is shut but we are never able to see inside with it off (unless you are a hologram and can stick your head through the closed door haha).
I believe we are shown the empty waiting room in Mirror Image.

This is how it differs from the cacamemie notion in Ashley McConnel's and a one maybe two other authors' installments in the novel series that his soul rather than his body is leaping and thus in between leaps the waiting room holds a comatose body. Personally on top of the inaccuracy I find this quite distasteful but am able to read her nonetheless because I do enjoy her leaps such as in Random Measures.

The shooting incident in Revenge of the Evil Leapers actually has me puzzled as well and is something I will be needing help looking into for a fanfic I have begun when I reach the climax of the leap. We however do not necessarily know the bullet had not gotten Alia. Al announced her untraceable but "Where ever she is, she's free." Death though a tragic means would in all honesty free her (the same can be said of Sam), something that is wonderfully explored in her character in the novel Knights of the Morningstar.
"To be dead and therefore free...to find some kind of peace...
'Would you do that for me Sam? Would you kill me if I told you it would set me free?'"
One of my favorite lines in the novel.

And what of Zoey who had also taken a bullet which if memory serves actually did hit but when she was leaped out also left in her place an uninjured leapee? Guess that merely proves wrong a theory commonly discussed by PQL in the novel series, that in the event of Sam terminating in a leap the leapee would be stuck in the waiting room forever.

The Leapees' survival makes sense given they were not present to receive the bullets but If Alia had survived that gunshot I too am stumped.
 
His inability to regain his memory of Donna actually makes no sense however is explained in terms of the writing. Deborah Pratt who was more intrigued by the idea of putting Sam in an in-leap serious relationship (Abigail) regretted reintroducing Donna in The Leap Back. Sad in my opinion as I am a Sam/Donna fan, but his never remembering her is most likely a failed attempt to erase the idea that Sam is married back in his present.

Another way it can be seen from the storyline angle is that the possibility that Sam's success in Star Crossed had somehow been reversed by a timeline changing action of Sam's after The Leap Back could be entertained.

Is that true that Deborah regretted having Sam married to Donna? It would explain a lot. They did an excellent job of covering it up. So much so that I went through the entire series never realizing that Sam had actually changed history as a result of his third Leap. I missed The Leap Back the first time around. Luckily, I had also missed Trilogy until about a year after the series was over (something I wish that once I saw I wish I could unsee--apologies to Abigail/Sammy Jo lovers out there). Given the choice, I would much rather see Sam with Donna.

And I did entertain the idea that Sam changed history again after the Roberto! Leap in my writing, once I realized that Donna was indeed married to Sam. ;)
 
It's Scott's belief that Donna was aware of what she married into, that she understands that Sam is fulfilling a great purpose and therefore not hurt by his actions. He also seemed to disagree with Sam's being unable to act freely with the memory of her. That he would know that she understood and this that he wasn't hurting her.
Watch the 2012 Wizard World comic con Quantum Leap panel on youtube where Scott explains this to a questioner.
(NOTE: turn up your volume, the sound system at this panel was poor).

Which Wizard World Con QL panel was this? I watched the Philly one, but if that was a question on there, I must have missed it.
 
Wakkanne said:
Is that true that Deborah regretted having Sam married to Donna? It would explain a lot. They did an excellent job of covering it up. So much so that I went through the entire series never realizing that Sam had actually changed history as a result of his third Leap. I missed The Leap Back the first time around. Luckily, I had also missed Trilogy until about a year after the series was over (something I wish that once I saw I wish I could unsee--apologies to Abigail/Sammy Jo lovers out there). Given the choice, I would much rather see Sam with Donna.

It's true I am afraid. I read it somewhere I know I did and I thought it was in my book 'Another Time, Another Place' which is a behind the scenes biography if you will about the thoughts behind the show. I can't find it there however. Which means I have no idea where I read it but I just know I did.

I did however come across something interesting, the concept intended for a season 6 that Al would step up and become Sam's leaping partner with possibly Sammy Jo as the hologram. Don't know how tasteful I find that though the idea of seeing Al in more leaps is intriguing. My best friend and I were discussing not long ago that the whole The Leap Back should have been the trilogy instead of Abigail consisting of Al being involved in one or two more leaps, so that the reversed angle could be explored a bit more.

I as well prefer Sam with Donna or with Tamlyn the psychic from Temptation Eyes. Now that was a love story, she knew who he was. It would have been far more touching if he'd conceived with her. Come on, a genius/psychic hybrid, how totally kickass would that be!? :D

Wakkanne said:
Which Wizard World Con QL panel was this? I watched the Philly one, but if that was a question on there, I must have missed it.

San Diago, 2012.
 
It's true I am afraid. I read it somewhere I know I did and I thought it was in my book 'Another Time, Another Place' which is a behind the scenes biography if you will about the thoughts behind the show. I can't find it there however. Which means I have no idea where I read it but I just know I did.

I remember reading it in a thread here on this forum. I think it was Carol Davis who actually talked about this, but I can't find the discussion.

I did however come across something interesting, the concept intended for a season 6 that Al would step up and become Sam's leaping partner with possibly Sammy Jo as the hologram. Don't know how tasteful I find that though the idea of seeing Al in more leaps is intriguing. My best friend and I were discussing not long ago that the whole The Leap Back should have been the trilogy instead of Abigail consisting of Al being involved in one or two more leaps, so that the reversed angle could be explored a bit more.

I have to say, I don't know how much I would have stayed interested in the show if that was what they did with season 6, though I would have given it a shot of course.

Agree with you and many others about The Leap Back. One hour was too short for everything that was happening in the episode and it felt rushed. It really could've benefited from being a two-parter or even a trilogy. And I really would've liked to see Al do more leaps, have more of the role reversal and the differing dynamic that would have resulted. Plus, who didn't want to see Al leap into a woman and be on the receiving end of what he usually dishes out?
 
blue enigma said:
I remember reading it in a thread here on this forum. I think it was Carol Davis who actually talked about this, but I can't find the discussion.

I'll take your word for that. Al's Place was next guess.

blue enigma said:
Plus, who didn't want to see Al leap into a woman and be on the receiving end of what he usually dishes out?

Oh good Lord, all hell would break loose!
You know he'd be checking "himself" out in full length mirrors and thus receive groans of sickness from Sam. :roflmao:
 
You know he'd be checking "himself" out in full length mirrors and thus receive groans of sickness from Sam. :roflmao:

Maybe not. Remember, Sam had that part of Al's mind from the simo-leap, so he's the one who might've actually been checking out Al's reflection and saying yummola, lol.
 
Right if it's during the The Leap Back trilogy that's true. Oh that's even more hell breaking loose! Naughty Sam! XD
Sam totally needed in the diner scene to have a line to the effect of:
"Welcome to working with YOU."
 
Al Leaping along with Sam would have been cool, but I'm afraid that I too would have lost interest after a while if they had gone on in some of the ways they were suggesting for a season 6. In that sense, I'm almost happy it ended when it did. While I would have loved to see the show go on for many more years, they were getting away from what made the show so popular towards the end, there. I'm afraid of instead of saying, "Oh, I wish it didn't end when it did. It could have easily gone on for another three years", I may have been saying, "Quantum Leap was great for the first four seasons, but then it started going downhill in season 5. Sure it went on for 8 years, but only the first four are really worth watching."

I know that a lot of season 5 was them being at the mercy of the network, and it's sad. Too bad they couldn't just leave the show alone.
 
Wakkanne said:
I may have been saying, "Quantum Leap was great for the first four seasons, but then it started going downhill in season 5. Sure it went on for 8 years, but only the first four are really worth watching."

Agreed. Tragically the fifth season lost all of the show's intended direction and feeling; the celebrity leaps and though I enjoy them the evil leapers. Such story lines broke every rule and turned the show into a gimmick. The Evil Leapers in particular were a total Star Wars type of sci-fi stunt.
I do fear that if it had gone on it would have continued down that path, in fact having Al as a second leaper may have even made it worse. Not that he wouldn't make an entertaining leaper but that it's over the top and turns Al into exactly what Sam was to Donna (recall Sam corrected his failure in MIA and restored Al's marriage to Beth). And Sorry can't really say I am a Sammy Jo fan and having her as a hologram will probably just reinforce that rather than change my mind. Granted we only get to know her as a child and people can change greatly by adulthood. As a member of the project she probably became more serious and level headed however I can't help but also keep in mind that young adult Abigail was still a brat.

That and the young adult Sammy Jo portrayed in Loch Ness Leap while not canon is still stuck in my head. Good lord it was child Abigail all over again! I wanted so badly to slap her!
 
Al Leaping along with Sam would have been cool, but I'm afraid that I too would have lost interest after a while if they had gone on in some of the ways they were suggesting for a season 6. In that sense, I'm almost happy it ended when it did. While I would have loved to see the show go on for many more years, they were getting away from what made the show so popular towards the end, there. I'm afraid of instead of saying, "Oh, I wish it didn't end when it did. It could have easily gone on for another three years", I may have been saying, "Quantum Leap was great for the first four seasons, but then it started going downhill in season 5. Sure it went on for 8 years, but only the first four are really worth watching."

I know that a lot of season 5 was them being at the mercy of the network, and it's sad. Too bad they couldn't just leave the show alone.

Agreed with all of this.

There's a proposed script with a teaser for a season 6 opener that's posted on this site, and if that's anything to go by Al and the project have actually lost contact with Sam a long time ago. I don't know exactly what they had planned beyond that scene but if it was Al leaping with Sammie Jo as his hologram searching for Sam who they have no contact with I would have definitely lost interest quickly. The chemistry and dynamic between Sam and Al is what made the show.
 
There's a proposed script with a teaser for a season 6 opener that's posted on this site, and if that's anything to go by Al and the project have actually lost contact with Sam a long time ago. I don't know exactly what they had planned beyond that scene but if it was Al leaping with Sammie Jo as his hologram searching for Sam who they have no contact with I would have definitely lost interest quickly. The chemistry and dynamic between Sam and Al is what made the show.

Yeah, I read that and although intriguing, it made me wary. One can only hope that it was just going to be for a couple of episodes, then things might have gone back to normal, but who knows!

One more reason why I was never sure I wanted to see what they might have come up with for a Quantum Leap movie. That would have been fun, too, but Bellisario and Pratt would have had to be very careful and tread lightly on some of the Sammy Jo stuff they might have had, if any.
 
Honestly I don't understand how Sam could have continued leaping as himself. He can't go around telling others that he's a time traveler from the future who knows something bad is going to happen in their lives. It's not believable. In the case of Beth, he had that he was a friend of Al's. He won't have such excuses elsewhere. It just doesn't make any sense.

Agreed, that Sam and Al's chemistry is what made the show.
Hypothetically if anyone should be enlisted to search for a lost Sam it should be the now freed Alia. In fact years ago I created a thread here on this forum suggesting an opening for such a storyline. It's still here and I dug it up recently.
http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3529

Please keep in mind that today the writing would be much better quality. I've improved since then.
 
Honestly I don't understand how Sam could have continued leaping as himself. He can't go around telling others that he's a time traveler from the future who knows something bad is going to happen in their lives. It's not believable. In the case of Beth, he had that he was a friend of Al's. He won't have such excuses elsewhere. It just doesn't make any sense.

If he did continue on this way he would have to find other methods for accomplishing his mission on each of the leaps. Maybe that's part of what the bartender meant when he said Sam was about to embark on a difficult new assignment.

Hypothetically if anyone should be enlisted to search for a lost Sam it should be the now freed Alia.

This is one plausible scenario. However, for all we know she's in the same boat as Sam and can't help herself either. I'm not a fan of the evil leaper story line and I really hate the last one in the trilogy so I don't rewatch. But I remember questioning how Ziggy could possibly know that Alia was free. It's possible she died and can help Sam in the same way Stawpah helped Pete and Tonchi and indirectly Sam in 'Mirror Image'.
 
Hypothetically if anyone should be enlisted to search for a lost Sam it should be the now freed Alia. In fact years ago I created a thread here on this forum suggesting an opening for such a storyline. It's still here and I dug it up recently.
http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3529

I like it. Sounds cool. And I do some of my best writing after midnight! House is quiet and I'm alone with my thoughts. :D I too liked Alia and I actually had my own theories about the "evil Leaper" and explored some of it in a "what if" story, a fanfiction based on my fanfiction, if you will, written in 1995, but takes place in October 2013! Sam is 60 and has now been home for ten years. When he encounters Alia (who is still Leaping), she looks exactly the same as when he last saw her. She tells him that she's not from an alternate or evil dimension, but from a dark future, 2043, and she was a guinea pig in an experiment conducted by a project that used stolen technology from PQL. I suggested that she might have even been a descendant of Sam and that's why they chose her as their Leaper. Anyway, it was just a theory that I had fun playing around with at the time. It was hard to imagine Sam at 60 way back in 1995... But you know, I wasn't far off!

------------
Saturday, October 5, 2013
By: Suzanne Smiley
Written: August 19, 1995
Revised: July 3, 2013

Creak…Creak…Creak…
Sam Beckett leaned back in the rustic porch swing of his suburban home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The swing was old, but then so was he. Two months ago had been his sixtieth birthday.
A small wind picked up, scattering leaves around the front lawn, rustling his greying hair, which had once been brown.
It felt good, sitting on the porch, observing the neighborhood on such a cool autumn afternoon. Actually, it just felt good to be himself, to be home. It had been ten years since he’d Leaped home for good and eighteen years since he had first stepped into the accelerator, sending his secure world into oblivion...
That day, ten years ago, was August 8, 2003, the day he turned fifty. So what? Now he was sixty. After spending so many years trapped in the past, Sam had promised himself he wouldn’t reminisce too much about his own. And yet here he was, doing that exact thing.
The wind blew again, a little more harshly and a little more cold. Sam frowned and zipped his jacket up further, sliding his time weathered hands into his pockets, shivering a bit.
Well, he didn’t feel sixty. That much he could say. Of course, eight years had been lacerated from his life. Although, Sam knew he had accomplished more in those eight years that he had in these past ten.
That bothered him. He didn’t want to spend the last twenty or thirty years of his life rotting away. Sam hated to admit it, but he missed Leaping. He actually missed Leaping. He didn’t miss being away from his family and wondering if he would ever come home, but he missed the helping people part, the satisfaction he derived from a job well done... it just wasn’t the same as it used to be. Nothing ever was.
Sam frowned. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he reached for his guitar, which was propped up between its case and the porch railing.
“Damn the cold,” he mumbled as he began to strum a few chords. At first disorganized, but gradually the rhythm became more clear and focused. Sam began to sing softly, “Imagine there’s no heaven…”
Suddenly it was November 26, 1969, Thanksgiving Day. It was cool, like now. His little sister, Katie, was sitting on the porch swing next to him, on the family farm in Elk Ridge, Indiana, looking up at him expectantly.
“And John,” she’d said. “What’s John gonna do? He’s my favorite!” she added with a giggle.
Sam never told her, but he did sing her that song. “It’s easy if you try…”
It was a touching scene between him and his sister, but it had not ended well. Katie had run to their mother, crying. She was afraid that if Sam knew the future, then he must be telling the truth about Tom dying in Vietnam.
Sam stopped playing. Tom didn’t die in Vietnam. That was because in one of his Leaps, Sam had saved his brother. So, Tom Beckett didn’t die.
Tom was still living in Indiana with his wife, Angie. He’d had two kids and three grandkids because of his little brother.
It really messes with your mind...
------------
 
This is one plausible scenario. However, for all we know she's in the same boat as Sam and can't help herself either. I'm not a fan of the evil leaper story line and I really hate the last one in the trilogy so I don't rewatch. But I remember questioning how Ziggy could possibly know that Alia was free. It's possible she died and can help Sam in the same way Stawpah helped Pete and Tonchi and indirectly Sam in 'Mirror Image'.

Agreed, while I did enjoy the Evil Leapers I felt the third in the trilogy took it too far with making Zoey a leaper. Because I am such a sucker for mush I have come to be able to watch it up until after Sam rescues screaming Alia from the wall and comforts her in his arms.

Also I have recently entertained that Alia could have been killed by that bullet and by "free" it meant death. This is one of my favorite angles in Knights of the Morningstar, how Alia pondered actually trying to get Sam to kill her to free herself. A dead Alia could still take on the task of finding Sam if in fact she ended up as Stawpah did.

Wakkanne said:
Sam is 60 and has now been home for ten years. When he encounters Alia (who is still Leaping), she looks exactly the same as when he last saw her. She tells him that she's not from an alternate or evil dimension, but from a dark future, 2043, and she was a guinea pig in an experiment conducted by a project that used stolen technology from PQL. I suggested that she might have even been a descendant of Sam and that's why they chose her as their Leaper. Anyway, it was just a theory that I had fun playing around with at the time. It was hard to imagine Sam at 60 way back in 1995... But you know, I wasn't far off!

Dang, that's insane though honestly Alia doesn't fit as Sam's descendent or rather that doesn't fit as a reason for her to have been their chosen Leaper. It's explained that Zoey was intended but she owed Alia (for what they don't reveal) so insisted they go with her.

If you think 60 is hard to picture Sam at try 80-something! My best friend wrote an amazing fanfic about how after Al passes away his spirit wondered until it's able to bring an 80-something year old Sam home. He's reunited with Donna and Beth and is able to meet his children and grandchildren. Donna had been impregnated during The Leap Back with a daughter we named Chelsea after Scott's daughter (we did this whole storyline around that idea though we never actually got to write the birth). Soon after however after making love to Donna one last time he passes away in his sleep and is reunited with Al. It had been inspired by the song Fate's Wide Wheel, the line which pleads for "one final leap" earning the fic it's title. I assisted in writing his death (though I am not sure I am pleased with that writing anymore).
She even wrote out the family tree where she named and gave personalities to Al's four daughters and even had some of the Calavicci line marry into the Beckett line.
 
Dang, that's insane though honestly Alia doesn't fit as Sam's descendent or rather that doesn't fit as a reason for her to have been their chosen Leaper. It's explained that Zoey was intended but she owed Alia (for what they don't reveal) so insisted they go with her.

Like I said, it was entirely theoretical and a fanfiction to my fanfiction, so not "cannon" to my series at all. It was fun to play around with, and interesting since the events took place less than a month from now. :) However, even so, my current actual "cannon to my series" stories are more interesting to me right now. I'm tempted to cut to and finish my "Leaping Sam home story" that I've entitled, "Driven By An Unknown Force", but then I would be doing the same thing I did back in high school... skipping ahead and not finishing the stories that came before it. I need to finish the early ones so that everyone can enjoy reading them other than me!

If you think 60 is hard to picture Sam at try 80-something! My best friend wrote an amazing fanfic about how after Al passes away his spirit wondered until it's able to bring an 80-something year old Sam home. He's reunited with Donna and Beth and is able to meet his children and grandchildren. Donna had been impregnated during The Leap Back with a daughter we named Chelsea after Scott's daughter (we did this whole storyline around that idea though we never actually got to write the birth). Soon after however after making love to Donna one last time he passes away in his sleep and is reunited with Al. It had been inspired by the song Fate's Wide Wheel, the line which pleads for "one final leap" earning the fic it's title. I assisted in writing his death (though I am not sure I am pleased with that writing anymore).
She even wrote out the family tree where she named and gave personalities to Al's four daughters and even had some of the Calavicci line marry into the Beckett line.

Wow, that sounds powerful and amazing, but I don't know if I could ever read through that. I'd probably be bawling the entire time! :)
 
Back then I felt the same, that the idea was so tragic it would be tough to handle. That and it begins with him fulfilling a final leap in which he needed to convince the Leapee's wife to see a doctor because her cancer was returning(but if she saw a doctor right away she could beat it again). Though I have gotten better now I was once quite the pathophobic which is fear of disease. What I enjoyed most though was how she had written just for me a mush scene where the wife is terrified to think that her cancer had returned and Sam comforts her.
 
OK, I have to say I totally disagree with the idea that Alia is dead. For one thing, that would mean Zoe succeeded in her leap and would have leapt away immediately afterwards, not have her asking Thames where she went and then settling for the consolation prize of killing Sam. Also, it would totally go against the basic premise of the show, which is doing good and good triumphing over evil. There is no way any writer of the show would allow that.

The reason Ziggy knew that Alia was free was because of the way she leapt - since she leapt blue instead of red, that means that Ziggy could tell she was being leapt by the good force and not the evil force. The only way the good force could leap her away was because she had been released from the evil force, thus freed.
 
I like it. Sounds cool. And I do some of my best writing after midnight! House is quiet and I'm alone with my thoughts. :D I too liked Alia and I actually had my own theories about the "evil Leaper" and explored some of it in a "what if" story, a fanfiction based on my fanfiction, if you will, written in 1995, but takes place in October 2013! Sam is 60 and has now been home for ten years. When he encounters Alia (who is still Leaping), she looks exactly the same as when he last saw her. She tells him that she's not from an alternate or evil dimension, but from a dark future, 2043, and she was a guinea pig in an experiment conducted by a project that used stolen technology from PQL. I suggested that she might have even been a descendant of Sam and that's why they chose her as their Leaper. Anyway, it was just a theory that I had fun playing around with at the time. It was hard to imagine Sam at 60 way back in 1995... But you know, I wasn't far off!

------------
Saturday, October 5, 2013
By: Suzanne Smiley
Written: August 19, 1995
Revised: July 3, 2013

Creak…Creak…Creak…
Sam Beckett leaned back in the rustic porch swing of his suburban home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The swing was old, but then so was he. Two months ago had been his sixtieth birthday.
A small wind picked up, scattering leaves around the front lawn, rustling his greying hair, which had once been brown.
It felt good, sitting on the porch, observing the neighborhood on such a cool autumn afternoon. Actually, it just felt good to be himself, to be home. It had been ten years since he’d Leaped home for good and eighteen years since he had first stepped into the accelerator, sending his secure world into oblivion...
That day, ten years ago, was August 8, 2003, the day he turned fifty. So what? Now he was sixty. After spending so many years trapped in the past, Sam had promised himself he wouldn’t reminisce too much about his own. And yet here he was, doing that exact thing.
The wind blew again, a little more harshly and a little more cold. Sam frowned and zipped his jacket up further, sliding his time weathered hands into his pockets, shivering a bit.
Well, he didn’t feel sixty. That much he could say. Of course, eight years had been lacerated from his life. Although, Sam knew he had accomplished more in those eight years that he had in these past ten.
That bothered him. He didn’t want to spend the last twenty or thirty years of his life rotting away. Sam hated to admit it, but he missed Leaping. He actually missed Leaping. He didn’t miss being away from his family and wondering if he would ever come home, but he missed the helping people part, the satisfaction he derived from a job well done... it just wasn’t the same as it used to be. Nothing ever was.
Sam frowned. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he reached for his guitar, which was propped up between its case and the porch railing.
“Damn the cold,” he mumbled as he began to strum a few chords. At first disorganized, but gradually the rhythm became more clear and focused. Sam began to sing softly, “Imagine there’s no heaven…”
Suddenly it was November 26, 1969, Thanksgiving Day. It was cool, like now. His little sister, Katie, was sitting on the porch swing next to him, on the family farm in Elk Ridge, Indiana, looking up at him expectantly.
“And John,” she’d said. “What’s John gonna do? He’s my favorite!” she added with a giggle.
Sam never told her, but he did sing her that song. “It’s easy if you try…”
It was a touching scene between him and his sister, but it had not ended well. Katie had run to their mother, crying. She was afraid that if Sam knew the future, then he must be telling the truth about Tom dying in Vietnam.
Sam stopped playing. Tom didn’t die in Vietnam. That was because in one of his Leaps, Sam had saved his brother. So, Tom Beckett didn’t die.
Tom was still living in Indiana with his wife, Angie. He’d had two kids and three grandkids because of his little brother.
It really messes with your mind...
------------

Oh, I like this Suzanne! Very imaginative and a bit eerie too. It really does make you think about what Sam might have had to deal with if he'd made it home after years of Leaping. The Leap Home is such a great episode too. :)
 
OK, I have to say I totally disagree with the idea that Alia is dead. For one thing, that would mean Zoe succeeded in her leap and would have leapt away immediately afterwards

Let's not forget the the Evil Project managed to perfect their leaping and could control when and into whom they go as well as being able to retrieve their leapers. Also remember that there was a 48 hour window for Zoey's leap. She needed to be brought back within that time limit whether she succeeded or not or else be stuck in random leap mode as Sam is.
Their leaping is not based on success because they control it. In the first Evil Leapers episode both Alia and Zoey were retrieved and punished after failing.
It's actually implied to be unclear if even Sam's leaping is based on success. Catch a Falling Star and Leap for Lisa are episodes in which they seem to think it's not.

@MichelleD: Read her "Oh Boy" beginnings in the 'DvD Sets With All The Music' thread, she really is terrific.
I have my own beginning there as well which needs work in itself let alone the entire fanfiction be finished. She's given me a more believable approach to my opening.
 
Let's not forget the the Evil Project managed to perfect their leaping and could control when and into whom they go as well as being able to retrieve their leapers. Also remember that there was a 48 hour window for Zoey's leap. She needed to be brought back within that time limit whether she succeeded or not or else be stuck in random leap mode as Sam is.
Their leaping is not based on success because they control it. In the first Evil Leapers episode both Alia and Zoey were retrieved and punished after failing.
It's actually implied to be unclear if even Sam's leaping is based on success. Catch a Falling Star and Leap for Lisa are episodes in which they seem to think it's not.

Sorry but this is also incorrect.

Zoe: Now Thames! Don't forget, I am here on borrowed time.

Thames: You are here until you do what you have been sent here to do...

Zoe: I have a 48 hour window after my first leap to get home. After that, after every leap, the percentage drops!

So even though the Evil Project has more control over the leaping, the leapers still can not leap until the mission has been completed. That's why Zoe was so worried and kept hurrying Thames, she knew that if she didn't complete the mission within the 48 hours she would not be able to leap and so could be lost in time like Alia and Sam were.

Mind you, the condition that the mission needs to be completed does NOT mean that the mission has to be a success. In fact, all three times we see a leaper from their project leap out, it's after they have FAILED - the first time Alia failed to kill Sam, the second time Alia failed to ensure that Sam/Arnold would end up dead, and finally the third time is when Zoe has failed to kill Alia and has been shot by Sam, thereby making it impossible for her to attempt to kill Sam. So you are correct that their leaping isn't based on success, but (and I don't think Diane McBride would appreciate me using her words in this context, but too bad) the important thing is that they try. They are never able to leap until they either succeed or get to a point where there is no possibility of success.

Also, just because "fate worse than death" awaits them if they fail, does not necessarily mean they get leapt back to their project - in fact, it's well known that they CAN'T get Alia back, so how could they torture her there. It must just be that Lothos leaps them to a place and time where they end up tortured...
 
Alright, I admit my mistake in understanding the condition of Zoey's leap, I don't watch Revenge as much because while I enjoy the evil leapers I felt they took it too far making Zoey a leaper.

I however don't believe success was vital to how immediate her leap out was. This is why:

Lightning McQueenie said:
Mind you, the condition that the mission needs to be completed does NOT mean that the mission has to be a success...They are never able to leap until they either succeed or get to a point where there is no possibility of success.

In Deliver Us from Evil, they were leaped out immediately upon failure. In Return Of The Evil Leaper, Zoey demanded Alia's removal though there could have still been room for success. When Sam leaped out the real Arnold would have returned where he'd be accessible by Alia for termination. It's made clear that Arnold was her assignment not Sam as it's directly revealed that they were initially unaware that the Arnold they were dealing with was in fact Sam.
As I said, their leaps are controlled, they can be extracted whenever desired. The reason Zoey probably wasn't immediately was because Alia's leap out had perplexed the Evil Project. In between Alia's leap out and Zoey catching the second bullet Thames had been pressing buttons on his handlink frantically trying to figure out what had happened to Alia. Thus not giving the command as Zoey did in the previous episode to have Zoey extracted. Then she was killed (if memory serves) thus that is probably what ended up triggering the leap.
In fact since they wouldn't be able to lock on to Alia from that point on, they probably never knew whether she'd caught that bullet or not thus nor if Zoey succeeded or failed.

Lighning McQueenie said:
does not necessarily mean they get leapt back to their project - in fact, it's well known that they CAN'T get Alia back...

o_O It is? Wait, are you referring to their not being able to retrieve her after she leaped out in Revenge?