Question on Sam leaping.

jmellissa

Project QL Intern
Aug 22, 2005
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Coos Bay Oregon
Hi I hope you all don't mind me asking

Does anyone know if there is a thread about what happens to Sam when he leaps? I have a friend that think that Sam is "soul" traveling when he leaps into other people.

I wasn't able to tell her what happens to Sam's body when he leaps. We were talking that maybe Sam taken on the person's identity and leves his back home.

I do know that when people see Sam they see the person he leaped into not Sam. So does Al see Sam as Sam or as the leapy?
 
I buy that soul traveling theory. It's his mind that trades places with the leapee. In some cases they merg.

As for your question about Al, If I remember right he sees the leapee. It's only us as the TV audience that sees Sam.
 
This is a debate that has run and run, and there are several threads on this site alone dedicated to it.

My personal take on it, in terms of the fanfic stories I write, is that it depends on the demands of the leap.
That way, you can justify 'body' leaps such as when he is an amputee but can walk, or a blind man who can see, and his genes being passed to Sammi-Jo as said above. On the other hand, it also satisfies the 'mind/soul' leaping which seems to apply on other leaps (and explains how he can fit into other peoples clothes etc).

As for who Al sees - it is generally accepted that he saw the leapee until 'Gloria", when it threw him so much to have the hots for his best friend in a beautiful female body that he had Ziggy tweak the signal so he could see Sam as Sam.
 
Ah, this old favourite as arisen again ;) First of all jmellisa, never apologise for asking a question on here. It's what we do, it's what we're for.

I subscribe to the belief that Sam physically travels in him and the host body's is created by an aura.

There are several cases which support this

1. Blind Faith. Sam leaps into the body of a blindman, but can see.
2. The Leap Back. When Sam and Al switch places, Tina can be heard in the background saying about Sam 'He even talks like Al'.
3. The Wrong Stuff. Even though Sam is a chimp, he can swim.
4. Nowhere to Run. Even though Sam is an amputee, he is able to walk, but appears to be hovering in mid-air.
5. Trilogy 3. Sam's gene have been passed onto Abgail's daughter, Sammi-Jo, from when they made love in Trilogy 2.

There are probably other cases to back me up, but they do not spring to mind yet.

Also, in an interview after Quantum Leap ended, Donald P. Bellisario stated that Sam physically leaps and not just him mind. Who else would know better than Don ;)
 
ziggysego said:
Ah, this old favourite as arisen again ;) First of all jmellisa, never apologise for asking a question on here. It's what we do, it's what we're for.

I subscribe to the belief that Sam physically travels in him and the host body's is created by an aura.

There are several cases which support this

1. Blind Faith. Sam leaps into the body of a blindman, but can see.
2. The Leap Back. When Sam and Al switch places, Tina can be heard in the background saying about Sam 'He even talks like Al'.
3. The Wrong Stuff. Even though Sam is a chimp, he can swim.
4. Nowhere to Run. Even though Sam is an amputee, he is able to walk, but appears to be hovering in mid-air.
5. Trilogy 3. Sam's gene have been passed onto Abgail's daughter, Sammi-Jo, from when they made love in Trilogy 2.

There are probably other cases to back me up, but they do not spring to mind yet.

Also, in an interview after Quantum Leap ended, Donald P. Bellisario stated that Sam physically leaps and not just him mind. Who else would know better than Don ;)


Thank you sooooo much! I now understand why I didn't get what was said about Sammy-Jo. I have not seen it yet, I don't have that disk set yet. But would like to add... then did only Sam's gene's get passed down to Sammi-Jo? What happened to the other guy the one that Sam leaped into??

What is happening to the leapee in the waiting room. I do recall Al talking about a few that had a mind like "swiss cheese" or like Sam's. I think I am confusing myself. :eek: :help If anyone would like to help me to understand that would be greatly appriciated.:)
 
In Trilogy 2, Sam leaped into Aligail's fiancee Will Kinman in the middle of them making love. Because it's Sam physical body that leaps, Sam is Sammi-Jo's father and not Will.

As for what happens to people in the Waiting Room. It is different for different people, but what is certain, they do suffer a little Swiss Cheese effect. Some think they were kidnapped by aliens, some think it was dream and some.... well they just plain don't remember.
 
Thanks for the info Ziggysego. I think I remember sothing about Al saying that a few thought that aliens had kidnapped them.

So...then it is Sam's body that leaps not just his mind or soul or what ever. good to know. My friends says that QL is just to werried for her. I told her what is there not to love!
Anyway thanks again, Jemllissa
 
[shameless plug] jmellissa, I have just finished a story that has to do with Sam's body Leaping. There is also the mention of the Leapee thinking Al's an alien. You can find it here. Thanks for reading! [/shameless plug]
 
Al The Observer said:
[shameless plug] jmellissa, I have just finished a story that has to do with Sam's body Leaping. There is also the mention of the Leapee thinking Al's an alien. You can find it here. Thanks for reading! [/shameless plug]

Thank for the link :D I enjoy things like this :)
 
When Sam leaps, his body and mind leaps. An aura surrounds him making him look and sound like the leapee. Same goes for the leapee in the waiting room. An aura surrounds them making them look and sound like Sam. In season two on the episode, 'What Price, Gloria?', Al makes it clear that he sees the leapee and not Sam. But in season three on 'Nuclear Family', Al makes it clear that he sees Sam. This suggests that after the issue with the 'Samantha Stormer' leapee, Ziggy re-tuned the frequency that Sam was on so that Al could see Sam.
 
There's one aspect to this that puzzles me a bit: When Sam leaps into someone who wears glasses, wouldn't the glasses distort Sam's normal vision? Are the leapee's glasses part of the "aura"? Is the leapee wearing his glasses in the waiting room, and if he looks in a mirror, will he see a Sam Beckett in glasses?
 
Aging Boomer said:
There's one aspect to this that puzzles me a bit: When Sam leaps into someone who wears glasses, wouldn't the glasses distort Sam's normal vision? Are the leapee's glasses part of the "aura"? Is the leapee wearing his glasses in the waiting room, and if he looks in a mirror, will he see a Sam Beckett in glasses?


Yes, the glasses should be distorting Sam's vision. The only thing I can figure is that each time Sam leapt into someone with glasses, the leapee's prescription never happened to be thick enough to really hurt Sam's eyes. So no, the glasses are not part of the aura. However, "How the Tess Was Won" contradicts that when Sam's reflection shows glasses despite the fact that he's not wearing any. But since that was a point very early in the series, I just think that was a result of Don Bellisario not yet fine tuning his rules regarding the series (just as there are many other things in the early episodes that contradict later episodes).

If the leapee looks in the mirror while in the Waiting Room, they wouldn't see Sam's reflection with glasses because the leapee isn't wearing them. We know for certain that the leapee's glasses do not leap with them from the episode "Dr. Ruth," where Al tells Dr. Ruth that the Project reproduced her eyeglasses.
 
Well The shows seems to specify that His body leaps
I.E: He leaps into Andrew Ross a man who is blind yet Sam himself retains his sight, He leaps into Captian Ronald Miller a man with no legs, however sam himself retains his legs. He also concives a daughter with his own geans. That's the biggest one.

however the novels seem to contradict that and also there are several different authors in the novel series all seem to agree on his soul leaping. Although it's the show that is canon obviously because Bellisario himself did not approve those stories.

Personally I prefer to believe that his body as a whole leaps as the show seems to suggest.
 
jmellissa said:
Thanks for the info Ziggysego. I think I remember sothing about Al saying that a few thought that aliens had kidnapped them.

So...then it is Sam's body that leaps not just his mind or soul or what ever. good to know. My friends says that QL is just to werried for her. I told her what is there not to love!
Anyway thanks again, Jemllissa

There seems to be a bit of confusion about this amongst fans in general. It is clearly stated in Trilogy that Sam having a daughter is a rare experience, as according to Al and Ziggy (when Sam states in Trilogy II that he made love to Abigail and NOT Will) it should not be possible (implying that in most cases Sam's body does not leap in).

It is taking one fact (Sam produced a daughter in a leap) and spreading it across the whole series (while it is clearly stated by Al that it should be impossible). I always try to confine something to the episode it is happening in (which in this case is pretty obvious from Al's comments and the superstition / occult of the Trilogy as a whole).

Does that mean that in most cases Sam's body does not leap in with his soul? Perhaps, but I surely won't take the opposite for granted.
 
QL Nut said:
Yes, the glasses should be distorting Sam's vision. The only thing I can figure is that each time Sam leapt into someone with glasses, the leapee's prescription never happened to be thick enough to really hurt Sam's eyes.
That sounds plausible, but in "Pool Hall Blues," Black Magic Walters is supposed to be suffering from seriously failing eyesight. One would expect his glasses to be really thick.

I don't want to nitpick, except that the show seems to go out of its way to make the implausible events sound as scientifically credible as possible.
 
Grimlock said:
There seems to be a bit of confusion about this amongst fans in general. It is clearly stated in Trilogy that Sam having a daughter is a rare experience, as according to Al and Ziggy (when Sam states in Trilogy II that he made love to Abigail and NOT Will) it should not be possible (implying that in most cases Sam's body does not leap in).

It is taking one fact (Sam produced a daughter in a leap) and spreading it across the whole series (while it is clearly stated by Al that it should be impossible). I always try to confine something to the episode it is happening in (which in this case is pretty obvious from Al's comments and the superstition / occult of the Trilogy as a whole).

It wouldn't make sense to me to have Sam's body sometimes leap in and sometimes not. Why would it be different on different leaps? It seems clear to me that Sam's body always travels in time. It's not just one episode, but a number of them in which Sam's physical abilities are different from those of those of the person he leaps into. Several times he leaps into a woman or a boy but retains the strength of a full-grown man.

I'm surprised to hear that the novel authors didn't get this. It's such a basic part of the series concept that it should have been made clear to them. I know novelists don't always get a good grasp of the characters--unlike the fans, they probably haven't seen every episode. But I would hope they would get a written overview of the series that explains these details. I guess not....

Oh yeah, and the eyeglasses thing. They really should distort Sam's vision. I suspect they overlooked this detail simply because it would be inconvenient to work with it.
 
Snish said:
It wouldn't make sense to me to have Sam's body sometimes leap in and sometimes not. Why would it be different on different leaps? It seems clear to me that Sam's body always travels in time. It's not just one episode, but a number of them in which Sam's physical abilities are different from those of those of the person he leaps into. Several times he leaps into a woman or a boy but retains the strength of a full-grown man.

I'm surprised to hear that the novel authors didn't get this. It's such a basic part of the series concept that it should have been made clear to them. I know novelists don't always get a good grasp of the characters--unlike the fans, they probably haven't seen every episode. But I would hope they would get a written overview of the series that explains these details. I guess not....

Oh yeah, and the eyeglasses thing. They really should distort Sam's vision. I suspect they overlooked this detail simply because it would be inconvenient to work with it.

I couldn't agree more Snish. I have heard the theory of his Body leaping only sometimes, and it makes no sense to me eaither. It seems to me that his body is always there *see my examples in above post*.
 
Snish said:
I'm surprised to hear that the novel authors didn't get this. It's such a basic part of the series concept that it should have been made clear to them. I know novelists don't always get a good grasp of the characters--unlike the fans, they probably haven't seen every episode. But I would hope they would get a written overview of the series that explains these details. I guess not....

In all fairness to the authors, some of the novels were written during the original run of the series. So, some were written at that point early in the series where it wasn't clear yet whether it's Sam's body or soul that's leaping. I'm assuming the author(s) made a choice and had to stick with it even after the series made it clear that it's supposed to be Sam's body leaping (which I agree it is his body and always has been).

Aging Boomer said:
That sounds plausible, but in "Pool Hall Blues," Black Magic Walters is supposed to be suffering from seriously failing eyesight. One would expect his glasses to be really thick.

I have a couple of back-up theories for this. For the sake of not reading too deeply into the facts, I went with the other explanation. But since "Pool Hall Blues" contradicts that, there are two other possibilities. First, if we're going to question things such as the eyeglasses of various leapees, we'd also have to question how their clothes always fit Sam. The way I explain that is that the quantum field changes the molecular structure of the clothes so that they're "molded" to Sam's body. Well, while this occurs, perhaps this also affects the eyeglasses? Since Sam is surrounded by the illusion or aura of the leapee, this could perhaps be creating sort of a filter in which Sam's eyes aren't affected by the prescriptions.

The second idea can't apply in the case of "Pool Hall Blues," but might be applicable to other episodes. And that theory is that perhaps certain physical traits are traded back and forth between the leapee and Sam. An example of this would be Sam's heart condition in "Trilogy Part III," where he absorbed Larry Stanton's heart condition. Perhaps in other episodes, Sam's vision is affected as well, and he actually needs to be wearing the leapee's glasses.
 
QLNut said:
In all fairness to the authors, some of the novels were written during the original run of the series. So, some were written at that point early in the series where it wasn't clear yet whether it's Sam's body or soul that's leaping. I'm assuming the author(s) made a choice and had to stick with it even after the series made it clear that it's supposed to be Sam's body leaping (which I agree it is his body and always has been).

Wow interesting, I did not know that.
 
I've seen that most of the show supports the idea that he switches bodies with them... there was the episode where the guy in his body breaks out of the waiting room.

However, there are plot holes... and it's just a show.
 
QL Nut said:
In all fairness to the authors, some of the novels were written during the original run of the series. So, some were written at that point early in the series where it wasn't clear yet whether it's Sam's body or soul that's leaping. I'm assuming the author(s) made a choice and had to stick with it even after the series made it clear that it's supposed to be Sam's body leaping (which I agree it is his body and always has been).

Actually, when I recently re-read the books, I noticed that's not entirely true. The Novel makes repeated references to Shock Theatre, which means it was written, at the latest, during season three with some edits to take the season finale into account. This is the same season with 8 1/2 Months, which actually states it's Sam's body, not his mind. (Yes, I'm aware that that particular episode is one of the controversial ones for this issue. :) ) There would've been plenty of opportunity to correct the first book to fit with the body-leap theory.

And as for Al's statement that it should have been impossible for Sam to have a daughter... well, maybe the problem is with Sam. Maybe he can't have children, which is why this came as a surprise. (Don't kill me!)
 
LadyKayoss said:
Actually, when I recently re-read the books, I noticed that's not entirely true. The Novel makes repeated references to Shock Theatre, which means it was written, at the latest, during season three with some edits to take the season finale into account. This is the same season with 8 1/2 Months, which actually states it's Sam's body, not his mind. (Yes, I'm aware that that particular episode is one of the controversial ones for this issue. :) ) There would've been plenty of opportunity to correct the first book to fit with the body-leap theory.

Well, according to this site, it was printed in November of 1992, and is the oldest of all the novels, so I certainly can't refute that. But it does seem like certain authors prefer the body leaping over the mind and vice versa. Or perhaps the authors, as said above, hadn't seen every episode up to that point and just went with their own interpretations.
 
ladykayoss said:
And as for Al's statement that it should have been impossible for Sam to have a daughter... well, maybe the problem is with Sam. Maybe he can't have children, which is why this came as a surprise. (Don't kill me!)

When Did Al ever state that it should have been impossible for Sam to have a kid? Of course I dont watch the trilogies so it would be no surprise for me to miss this, althoughI have seen the third one a few times and recall no such statement.