Episode
adopted by: R. Joy Helvie Additional info provided by: Brian Greene
Synopsis:
After
a lightening strike simo-leaps them both, Sam and Al have switched
places, with Al stuck in
the year 1945 as an ex-POW returning from WWII and Sam confined to the
Imaging Chamber which has been locked by mistake. Al must find a way to
keep his host's former girlfriend from marrying someone else and Sam
must
get the Imaging Chamber door open so that he can save Al...and return
home.
TV
Guide Synopsis: Aftershocks
from a previous leap cause Sam and Al to trade places: Sam is bumped
back to his present, and Al leaps into a returning WWII POW. Donna:
Mimi Kuzyk. Mike: Douglas Roberts. Clifford: Robert Prescott. Suzanne:
Amanda Wyss. Sam: Scott Bakula.
Music:
"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" by Louis Jordan plays in the car when Al kisses Suzanne.
Project
Trivia:
Ziggy will seal the Imaging Chamber door if she detects a
catastrophic collapse of the radium accelerator ring surrounding the
Imaging Chamber. Once the door is sealed, it can't be opened until the
radiation half-life of the radium ring has expired. The length of the
half-life is 1,600 years.
Al and
Sam's neurons and mesons merged during
the simo-leap, which
allowed Sam to Leap before his birth. It also caused problems by making
Al a prude and Sam rude.
There
is enough air in the Imaging Chamber to
sustain a single person
for six months.
Sam still calls Ziggy "him", even after Ziggy speaks with a female
voice.
An
object (in this case, the Handlink) can be
leaped out along with the Leaper.
According
to a cut scene from the original
script, the Handlink costs $1M for each charge.
We find
out that the white outfit Sam wore when
leaping initially is called a Fermi Suit.
2) Dark brown dress shirt, silver tie, gray jacket with pinstripes
Al's Women:
Al has an "encounter" with Suzanne Elsinga.
Miscellaneous
Trivia:
This was the first time Scott Bakula and Dennis Wolfberg had ever met.
Even though Wolfberg appeared in the Pilot epsiode, his scene was
filmed separately.
Along
with "Private
Dancer"
, this episode tied for the most watched episode of the series with
14.1 million viewers!
The
mailing of the letter in order to get
information quickly from the past to the future was taken from "Back to
the Future Part II" which had been released very recently in 1989.
The
estimated budget for the Control Room set
was over $31,000.
We
never hear Dr. Beeks speak in either of the
episodes she appeared in!
It is
possible that Donna is sometimes married to Sam, and sometimes not, as
time is always in a state of flux. We never hear another mention of
Donna in the series. She is in some of the Novels,
but not all.
According
to Ziggy, Al has save Sam's life 23 times. Throughout the series to
this point, 23 directly involved times are not shown.
While
it has been widely accepted that the Project's bad-breathed programmer
is named Gooshie, the closing credits spell it "Gushie."
Deborah Pratt recalled when she became the voice of Ziggy: “We needed a
voice for Ziggy, and I was there, and I had this very deep voice that I
could articulate. And it was a bit androgynous, so we didn’t know if it
was male or female. Machines don’t necessarily have to be male or
female, but because of the intimacy between Dr. Beckett and his
creation 'Ziggy' there was a thing.”
Scott
Bakula didn't think it was the best idea
to make Sam married, partly due to the infidelity issues that creates
as he continues leaping.
The
control room had a real waterfall
wall.
Guest
Cast:
Mimi Kuzyk as
Donna Elesee-Beckett
Amanda
Wyss as
Suzanne Elsinga
Douglas
Roberts as
Mike Marchezak
Robert
Prescott as
Clifford White
Candy
Ann Brown as
Verbeena Beeks
Jeanine
Jackson as
Kelly Marchezak
Dennis
Wolfberg as
Gooshie
Gigi
Rice as
Tina
Susan
Ann Connor as
Naval Admiral
Deborah Pratt as Ziggy
Dean
Denton as
Captain Tom Jarret (Mirror image)
Bob Harks as Townsman
In the photo below, three members
of PQL are never named:
Unknown as Project QL Woman (shadow in foreground, right)
Unknown
as Project QL Man holding Magna
Link I (back, far right)
Unknown
as Project QL Man holding Magna Link II (foreground, far left)
Guest
Cast Notes:
Mimi Kuzyk as
Donna Elesee-Beckett: Mimi
Kuzyk is a Winnipeg born actress, best know for her roles in the series
Hill Street Blues (1981) and Blue Murder (2001). Mimi grew up in
Winnipeg with her brother and five sisters. She discovered her love of
dance at the age of eight. Following her passion, Mimi joined the
Rusalka Folk Ensemble, which she would participate in as both a dancer
and a choreographer for the next fifteen years. Realizing she was
happiest on stage, Mimi decided to pursue an acting career in Toronto.
After a series of commercials and small TV roles, Mimi moved to LA in
1983. After a only a short time in LA, she landed a recurring role as
Patsy Mayo in the series Hill Street Blues (1981). This hit show was
undoubtedly the making of Mimi's career; but she considers her greatest
achievement to be her daughter, Kaliopi. After a lengthy career is in
LA, Mimi has returned to Toronto and continues to work. She enjoys
quiet times reading the classics with her cats.
Mimi's film credits include Camille
(2008), opposite Sienna Miller and James Franco, The Human Stain
(2003), starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, as well as the
science fiction thrillers The Final Cut (2004) with Robin Williams, and
The Day After Tomorrow (2004). Her extensive body of film work also
includes Lost and Delirious (2001), which earned Ms. Kuzyk a Genie
nomination for Best Supporting Actress. On television, Ms. Kuzyk has
recently been seen in guest starring roles on such hit shows as Ghost
Whisperer (2005) and NCIS (2003). She is well recognized for her role
as Detective Patsy Mayo on HIll Street Blues. Her performance as "Rita
Kapeli" in the CBC drama Little Criminals (1996), and as Deputy Chief
Kay Barrow in Blue Murder (2001) earned her Gemini nominations for Best
Supporting Actress. In 2013 she was introduced to the world of motion
capture in the video game Splinter Cell: Black List. Her recent credits
include Pegasus Vs. Chimera (2012), A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013), and
Sorority Surrogate (2014). She also stars with an incredible ensemble
of Canadian stars in the independent film Sex After Kids (2013).
Amanda
Wyss as
Suzanne Elsinga: Born
and raised in Manhattan Beach, California, Amanda Wyss, was discovered
playing the titular character (Rhoda Penmark) in a production of "The
Bad Seed" at an LA theater. She quickly found work in commercials
before landing a guest starring role in television's science fiction
hit Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), followed by a recurring
role on When the Whistle Blows (1980). She won a Best Young Artist
award for her work in the ABC After School Special She Drinks a Little
(1981), before sharing the stage with Eva Marie Saint in the stage
production of "The Country Girl". Major motion pictures came next,
including hits such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), A Nightmare
on Elm Street (1984), Better Off Dead (1985), Silverado (1985) and the
award-winning indie film, Powwow Highway (1988). She has worked
extensively in television, with recurring roles on Cheers (1982), St.
Elsewhere (1982), Cagney & Lacey (1981), Highlander (1992) and more
recently, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Dexter (2006), Murder
in the First (2014) and All Rise (2019), among many other guest
starring roles. She was awarded Best Actress honors at the Santa Monica
International Film Festival for the horror film Oct 23rd (2016), she
starred alongside genre favorites in the Syfy Channel original movie,
The Sandman (2017) produced by the legendary Stan Lee, and broke hearts
in her critically acclaimed performance in the award winning drama,The
Id (2015). Next, she made a return to westerns with her award winning
turn in, Badland (2019). Is known as Freddy Krueger's very first murder
victim in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), the first of the series.
Douglas
Roberts as
Mike Marchezak: Douglas
Roberts was born on September 29, 1961 in the USA. He is an actor,
known for Patch Adams (1998), The Rapture (1991) and Envy (2004).
Robert
Prescott as
Clifford White: Robert
Trout Prescott was born on May 17, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan. His
father, John Sherwin Prescott Jr. (deceased), worked in management at
several large city newspapers (Detroit, Baltimore, Miami, Charlotte,
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.). His mother, Robin Balch Prescott,
is a doctor of speech and audiology who taught and did ground-breaking
work in the field of cued speech. Prescott changed schools often from
K-12. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a
degree in English. He then moved to New York City and studied acting at
the Bill Esper Studio with Joanne Baron and continued at the Joanne
Baron Studio. Upon completing the two year program, he was cast in Joy
of Sex (1984) by director Martha Coolidge (an overlooked gem from the
early 1980s golden age of low-budget teen comedies), which brought him
to Los Angeles for the first time. He spent the next 10 years in Los
Angeles acting in movies (Bachelor Party (1984), Real Genius (1985)),
television pilots, television guest spots (numerous), and was a
founding member of two theatre groups -- the JamCenter and the
Whitefire Theatre. Rather discouraged and dissatisfied with his life in
Los Angeles, Prescott chose to move back to New York City and step away
from the business ("I needed to do something else, or more like, I had
to do something else.") He taught and coached basketball at Martin
Luther King High School in Manhattan. He tended bar in the Lower East
Side, and worked a construction job at Ground Zero in the months after
9/11. He gradually resumed his acting career and began working on
television episodes shot in New York City: The Sopranos (1999), Damages
(2007), Blue Bloods (2010), Trinity (1998), Deadline (2000), Third
Watch (1999), New York Undercover (1994), C.P.W. (1995) and Law &
Order (1990). He acted in New York City and regional theatre, and has
appeared in dozens of commercials. He acted in New York City area
movies: Gun Hill Road (2011), The Bourne Legacy (2012), Cold Comes the
Night (2013), Burn After Reading (2008), and Michael Clayton (2007), in
which he unsuccessfully attempted to explode George Clooney.
Candy
Ann Brown as
Verbeena Beeks: Candy
Ann Brown was born on August 19, 1958 in San Rafael, Marin County,
California, USA. She is an actress, known for Ali (2001), Baby Boy
(2001) and Quantum Leap (1989).
Jeanine
Jackson as
Kelly Marchezak: Jeanine Jackson is known for Somebody I Used to Know (2023), Election (1999) and Red Dragon (2002).
Dennis
Wolfberg as
Gooshie: Dennis
Wolfberg was born on March 29, 1946 in New York, USA. He was an actor
and writer, known for Quantum Leap (1989), The Clairvoyant (1982) and
Teacher Teacher (1990). He was married to Jeannie McBride. He died on
October 3, 1994 in Culver City, California, USA.
Gigi
Rice as
Tina: Gigi
Rice was born on March 13, 1965 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She is an
actress, known for A Night at the Roxbury (1998), The Man (2005) and
The John Larroquette Show (1993). She has been married to Ted McGinley
since June 21, 1991. They have two children.
Susan
Ann Connor as
Naval Admiral: Susan Ann Connor is known for Casual Sex? (1988), Quantum Leap (1989) and Capitol (1982).
Deborah Pratt as Ziggy: Deborah
M. Pratt is an American Director, Writer, Producer, Singer, Dancer, and
Actress. After graduating from Webster University with a degree in
Psychology and Theatre, she won a nationwide talent search and came to
Hollywood under contract to NBC. She wrote songs and sang on multiple
albums, started acting, writing and producing. After starring in
multiple pilots and writing for the shows she had been reoccurring on,
she co-Created, worked her way through the ranks and became Executive
producer and head writer on the iconic series Quantum Leap (1989) for
NBC for which she penned 25 episodes and co-wrote an additional 15. She
Executive Produced and worked as the head writer for Tequila and
Bonetti (1992) for CBS. Ms. Pratt co-Created for television and
Executive Produced The Net (1998) for USA network. She wrote for
multiple television series. As a writer, Ms. Pratt sold features to
Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox animation. She is a proud,
award-winning graduate of the American Film Institute's Directing
Workshop for Women and made her directorial debut with Cora Unashamed
(2000) was for the BBC, PBS, and Masterpiece Theatre's The American
Collection.
Deborah is a five-time Emmy nominee, a Golden Globe nominee, and
recipient of The Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film, The Angel
Award, The Golden Block Award, and Five Black Emmy Nominees Awards. She
has written to direct multiple feature films including the biographic
screenplay for her epic, 17th century love story "Chevalier &
Antoinette" and "Heartswear" about Black, Chicago attorney Mattie Tatum
who returns to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to defend and save her White,
childhood best friend Nadine Palmer for the murder of her abusive
husband.
Dean
Denton as
Captain Tom Jarret (Mirror image): Dean
Denton was born in Dermott, Arkansas. He was raised in McGehee and
Conway, Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at
Fayetteville in 1981. During his freshman year, he auditioned for and
was cast in a minor role in a TV mini series, "The Blue and the Gray"
that was being shot around campus and Northwest Arkansas. While working
on this production, Dean met Stacy Keach. Stacy encouraged Dean to move
to Los Angeles or New York to break into acting. Before taking Keach's
advice, Dean moved to Dallas and studied acting with Adam Roarke and
Lou Diamond Phillips at the Film Actors Lab. After several years of
working on numerous commercials, films and TV projects in Texas, Dean
moved to Los Angeles in 1989. The first week in LA, Dean booked his
first acting role, which was a small role on the TV show "Days of Our
Lives." That role led to bigger roles and an agent. Dean has appeared
in over 55 TV, film and commercial projects. Dean is married to Julie
Denton, first cousin to the actor Josh Lucas of "Sweet Home Alabama."
Bob Harks as Townsman: Harks
came in at the tail end of the television western era, it was only
natural for him to find work on the unpaved streets of several
television westerns like Bonanza and Gunsmoke. With the downturn of
popularity in westerns, Harks made the transition from a cowboy to a
detective. Over the next 15 years, he would frequently be seen on shows
like Kojak where he'd appear around the squad room and also on shows
like Lou Grant where he'd make crosses. In the early 1970s, Harks
gained work as a utility stand-in on the Bill Bixby show The Magician
and it would be his big break. Both he and fellow Magician stand-in
Edna Ryan would later find themselves working on another show Bixby
starred in called "The Incredible Hulk." Bixby was very fond of Bob and
would frequently have him appear in roles that require Hark to be
upgraded to a pay rate than you usual extra role. Harks would usually
drive the car that would either pick up Bixby at the end of the episode
or he would use his car to pass Bixby's character up as he was
hitchhiking to his next destination. After the closing of The
Incredible Hulk, Harks got regular work as Bixby's stand-in on the
short lived show Goodnight Beantown. As Bixby's career started to wind
down, Harks found work as a stand-in on the show Alien Nation and he
worked on it for the rest of his career not only appearing in the
series but also most of the subsequent television movies. It was during
this time that Harks decided to retire and move Wisconsin to be closer
to his sister Sue and the rest of his family bringing a 30+ year career
to a close.
Say
What? When
Sam leaped at the end of Shock Theater, he seems to have taken Sam
Beederman's clothes with him! Is Beederman laying naked on the shock
table? And is Nurse Chatam now fired (or worse) for shocking him? What
will hapen to Beederman now that all the doctors think he has/had
multiple personalities?
There
is a some ambiguity as to whose persona Sam is inhabiting when he
returns to his own time, his own or Al's. Sam leaps into Al's location
in the Imaging Chamber (rather into his persona's own location, the
Waiting Room). Tina remarks that Sam sounds just like Al. At no point
does the audience see Sam's reflection. Of course, no one says
explicitly that Sam is in Al's persona but no one says explicitly that
he is in his own. Additionally, Sam is wearing neither Al's nor his own
clothes (see above). (problem is if Sam leapt into Al's persona,
wouldn't he be holding the handlink and wearing Al's clothes ... There
seems to be no logical explanation as to why Sam lept into the Imaging
Chamber)
The
clock in the background when Sam is walking
through the cannon doesn't have any hands.
Sam says that Beth remarried after Al was M.I.A. for four years, but it was only two years.
A
calendar in the diner shows the date as July
1945 but in a different shot, it changes to a different style calendar
and shows June 1945.
The 4F
classification that Clifford was given
in order to stay out of the war is a real military classification, but
wasn't invented until the Vietnam War era.
The
Imaging Chamber Door closes quite a bit
slower than had been previously seen throughout the series.
Tina
says that Sam sounds just like Al, but no
explanation is given as to why she says this.
There
is a real-life Crown Point, Indiana.
However, there are no cliffs nearby as the area is primarily flat.
Ziggy
can be heard from inside the Imaging
Chamber. So why on Earth has Al been beating up Handlinks to read
pieces of the missions all these years if Ziggy could just tell him?
Was this just recently fixed? Did it break right after this episode?
Why
didn't we see Al's Leapee in the Waiting
Room during this episode? Was Tom Jarret left alone most of the time?
Al....Whooomp whoomp whooomp hahahaha! -- Sam, slapping Al in a Three Stooges-like fashion. "The Leap Back"
Come on you rotten pile of Gummi Bears! -- Al, "The Leap Back" <smacking the handlink>
Do you know what this means? What? It's MY turn to slip into the powder room like the Invisible Man ...it's my turn. -- Sam and Al "The Leap Back"
Al, my name is Al... Al what? You think I've forgotten my last name? I'm about to bet on it. Well, you'd lose...it's Beckett...Al Beckett. It's Calavicci...Al Calavicci. Calavicci? It's not Beckett? No. Well, then who the hell is Beckett? Me...I'm Beckett. -- Al and Sam, discussing Al's swiss-cheesed memory, "The Leap Back"
Oh, how? How? There's nobody home. -- Al and Sam, "The Leap Back"
Yeah, this is Top Secret and I'm evaluating it for the Pentagon. That's good enough, put it away. Put it away. -- Al and Sam, making an explanation about the handlink, "The Leap Back"
Ask him, how she is. How she is. -- Sam and Al, "The Leap Back"
Are you okay? I'm just a little woozy from the le...uh, flight. Good catch. -- Mike the milkman, Al, and Sam, "The Leap Back"
Happy milkman? -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
Unless.. I'm don't think I'm going to like this unless. -- Sam and Al "The Leap Back"
Why do I feel this is gonna be a big number. -- Al, talking about the half-life of a radium ring, "The Leap Back"
Yumola! -- Sam, looking at the calendar girl, "The Leap Back"
Boy, did they have women with Big Kasooms! -- Sam, commenting on Kelly, "The Leap Back"
Are you forgetting who slips you a pound of butter now and then? I didn't know I was swapping sugar for it. Well, if a pound of butter is all it takes... I got me a dairy farm that I've... Stop that! -- Mike, Kelly, Sam and Al, "The Leap Back"
Oh my Go--, you've got a filthy mind! YOU'RE the one saying all the dirty things! -- Sam and Al, talking about the personality switch, "The Leap Back"
I'm sorry Tom, I guess we all have to wash our minds up after this war. Yeah, especially *HIM*! -- Kelly and Al, talking about Sam's comments, "The Leap Back"
Al...Al, if you keep this up I'm gonna have to throw a bucket of cold water to separate you two. -- Sam, commenting on Al's and Suzanne's kissing, "The Leap Back"
Aha, Al... I think that's why you're here... you're here to get Suzanne to sleep with you... marry you. -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
Ok, Al... get ready to leap! -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
What are you doing? Sucking face, pal, with my buddy here, it's very big in the 60's ... 80's. Sucka... sucka... sucka... Will you shut up! -- Clifford, Sam and Al, "The Leap Back"
Well, you're about to find out, Knucklenose! -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
What are my mother and father going to say about that? Cancel the church... cancel the reception... cancel the tux, the cake... -- Clifford and Sam, "The Leap Back"
It's only natural that you have some old yearnings. Boy, I'd like to satisfy 'em! -- Clifford and Sam, commenting on Suzanne, "The Leap Back"
Like running barefoot through sprinklers. I like running barefoot through sprinklers. Me too. -- Clifford, Al and Suzanne, "The Leap Back"
You flat-footed, egg-sucking, chicken turd!! Why don't you tell him how you really feel, Mike? -- Mike and Kelly, about Clifford, "The Leap Back"
Only we didn't get all the glory. You just got all the women. -- Clifford and Al, "The Leap Back"
Well, I'll tell you something... I just had one of Kelly's breakfasts and I feel like I could take on Mike Tyson. -- Al, "The Leap Back"
We don't even know why you're here. I think I'm here to kick Clifford's butt! -- Al, "The Leap Back"
I didn't know you knew how to do that. I didn't either. -- Sam and Al, about the kick, "The Leap Back"
You think a one-legged man could do that move? Uh, sure, if you could drive this truck... worst thing that could happen is that you'd end up on your butt. -- Mike and Al, about the kick, "The Leap Back"
This isn't fair... Sam! A beautiful body like that and I'm just thinking pure thoughts! Damnit! -- Al, talking about the blonde walking by, "The Leap Back"
Hello Bay-bee! Don't do that! Revenge is mine, thus sayeth the hologram! -- Sam and Al, "The Leap Back"
We'll mail Doc Croznoff a letter with say... a hundred dollars. For the stamp? -- Sam and Al, "The Leap Back"
Well, Ziggy you're looking very user friendly. I
see that simo-leaping with Admiral Calavicci has had a positive effect
on you. You're in for some pleasant surprises Dr. Elesee. -- Sam and Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Ziggy! Yesssssssss? Do you have enough... ...data
to give you a reasonable, accurate projection as to why Admiral
Calavicci has leapt into Crown Pointe, Indiana in the year 1945? Yes! No. -- Sam and Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Do you have any data on Admiral Calavicci? He'll kiss the girls and make them cry. Oh, ain't that the truth. -- Sam, Ziggy and Tina, "The Leap Back"
Actually, I was doing quite well absorbing the year until Franklin Delano Roosevelt died...it depressed me. -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
I
believe your brain is still slightly magnafluxed, Dr. Beckett... or
you'd remember, I never experience guilt. That's a flaw only
found in human computers. Good night, Doctor... have fun you two. -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Ziggy! It won't do you any good. Why did I give him Barbara Streisand's ego? -- Sam and Donna, "The Leap Back"
Clifford...what a nozzle! -- Al, "The Leap Back"
What were you doing up here? Well, uh... Were you parking in Lover's Lane with that draft dodging nozzle while your boyfriend was risking his life for his country? I thought you died for your country. -- Al and Suzanne, "The Leap Back"
And every time Clifford kissed me. I'd close my eyes and pretend it was you. Take a hike, Mr. Morals... Calavicci's taking over! -- Suzanne and Al, "The Leap Back"
You have great eyes. Are you talking about how they look or my vision? Yes. -- Sam and Donna, "The Leap Back"
God I wish he was here. I know. So I could kick his butt! -- Sam and Donna, talking about Al, "The Leap Back"
Sorry to interrupt your first night of matrimonial bliss in four years... -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
That was a quickie, Dr. Beckett. -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
What do you got on Al? He's 175.26 centimeters tall, weighs 70.91... Ziggy! Yes, Doctor? Give me what I want, baby! Ooh, if you weren't my FATHER! -- Sam and Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
...the Crown Point Gazette... isn't THAT a parochial name? -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Why do human beings die for love? Check Shakespeare. Thank you, Doctor. Not now! Why
not? With a million gigabyte capacity I'm quite capable of
rubbing my tummy, patting my head, and doing a trillion floating point
operations at once. -- Ziggy and Sam, "The Leap Back"
Maybe it just needs a little encouragement too. -- Suzanne, about the handlink, "The Leap Back"
Al, you didn't! Sam! Who? How could you! ... of course how could you not. -- Sam, Al and Suzanne, "The Leap Back"
Look, we need to talk alone, okay? Where's a Men's Room when you need one. -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
Oh, you poor baby. Oh, boy. -- Suzanne and Al, "The Leap Back"
Sam! What am I doing? You Dog! Well, it's your filthy mind! Well, I want my mind back! These choir boy thoughts are driving me nuts! Well they didn't seem to stop you a few minutes ago. -- Al and Sam, "The Leap Back"
I've never experienced anything quite like that and I guess I owe that to you. Yeah, well, I guess I owe you one too. Just one? -- Al and Sam, "The Leap Back"
In an apparent double su... double su... <smack>... icide... suicide, a double suicide! -- Sam, on the handlink, "The Leap Back"
Damnit, Ziggy! Tell me something I don't know! Tina is having an affair with Gooshie. -- Sam and Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Mmm... GREAT legs, Doctor. -- Ziggy to Sam, "The Leap Back"
I can't let him die. And I can't let you go. -- Sam and Donna, "The Leap Back"
How many times has Al saved my life? 23. -- Sam and Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Sam... I love you. I love you too. -- Sam and Donna, before Sam leaps again, "The Leap Back"
I love you, Sam. I love you, Donna. -- Donna and Sam, as Donna gazes at a 1956 star, "The Leap Back"
Who's going to wait 54 years to deliver a letter? The post office. -- Al and Sam, "The Leap Back"
Doctor Beckett, I should warn you that Clifford... too late. -- Ziggy, "The Leap Back"
Ziggy's not even gonna be a gleam in my eye for another 50 years or so. -- Sam, "The Leap Back"
You are an amazing woman Donna. -- Al (to Donna Elesee), "The Leap Back"
Sam's
Best Line:
MIKE: Are you forgetting who slips you an extra pound of butter every
now and then?
KELLY: I didn't know I was swappin' sugar for it.
SAM: If a pound of butter's all it takes, then I got me a dairy farm
that I---
Al's
Best Line:
(gorgeous woman walks by)
AL: This isn't fair. Sa-am... A beautiful body like that, and I'm just
thinking pure thoughts? Dammit!
Best
Scene:
I love the scene when Al and Suzanne are... "you know", because with
all of Al's talk throughout the series, this is the only episode in
which we actually see Al get any "action".
However, I'd probably have to say the best scene would be the very end,
when Al and Donna are talking.
Awards:
Emmy Nomination: Dean Stockwell for "Outstanding Supporting Actor In A
Drama Series in 1992"
Emmy Nomination: Quantum Leap for "Outstanding Drama Series in 1992"
Golden Globe awarded to Scott Bakula for Best Performance by an Actor
in a Drama Series in 1992
Deleted
Scene:
"The Leap Back" -- Sam
sounds just like Al
One after another the team greets their leader. When he reaches Dr.
Virbina, [That is the spelling in the script] he kisses her
on both cheeks.
DR. BEEKS
I don't recall you leaping into any Frenchman.
SAM
I think I picked that up from an actor.
DR. BEEKS
I want to be sure you haven't picked anything else up. My office in
twenty minutes for a physical.
Donna slips her arm protectively around Sam.
DONNA
Your office, tomorrow. (beat) Tonight, he's mine.
FEMALE ADMIRAL
He has to be debriefed, Doctor.
SAM
(Al la Groucho) I'm not wearing briefs, but don't let that stop you.
Everyone is a bit taken aback at Sam's line except Tina who smiles
wistfully as she turns to Gushie.
TINA
Gee...he sounds just like Al.
Synopsis & Review:
In
this episode, Sam and Al switched places, thanks to a lightning strike
in the end of the previous episode, "Shock Theater", at the end of
Season Three (episode #24). Al's stuck back in 1945, as U.S. Army
Captain Tom Jarrett (the leapee Tom is played by Dean Denton in a
mirror image cameo). Sam realizes that he is in the Imaging Chamber, so
has therefore returned home to 1999. However the two friends have a
problem... the now powerless Handlink is in the year 1945 with Al, and
Sam needs it to open the Imaging Chamber door.
Meanwhile,
Sam is starting to regain his memories, and remembers an override code
that can be used to unlock the Imaging Chamber door from the outside.
Sam remembers that in the event of a catastrophic collapse of the
radium accelorator ring surrounding the imaging chamber, that Ziggy
would have automatically sealed the chamber to protect from a possible
radiation leak, and that once the imaging chamber door is sealed, it
can't be opened, not even by Ziggy, for another 1,600 years, until the
radiation half-life of the radium ring had expired, which prompted Al
to ask Sam, frustrated and angrily, "How could you design a system
without a fail-safe?".
Sam remembers that he did create a fail-safe to be used if the chamber
door is sealed in error, it can be reopened from the inside, problem
being that Al, who's stuck in 1945 as the leaper with the handlink,
which can't be used for another 54 years, but, Sam, in his genius mind,
devised a plan: If the others in the imaging room realize that the ring
didn't collapse, that someone would have to be there to open the
chamber door, by getting the backdoor code, which Sam remembered that
he designed in the event of a catastrophic failure such as what caused
he and Al to switch places. He arranges for a letter containing the
code to be delivered to Gooshie through a letter in the U.S. Mail
System, addressed to Irving Gushman (Gooshie's real name), mailed to a
Doc Crosnoff, Sam's dad's lawyer, with about $100 in 1945 money, for
his trouble, with implicit instructions to be delivered to Gooshie on
September 15, 1999, the date which Al switched places with Sam.
Suddenly, more of Sam's memories start to emerge and Sam remembers
something important. He demands to know why Al didn't tell him, and Al
tells him simply that he couldn't. As soon as Sam has Al put the letter
into the mailbox, the Imaging Chamber door opens up. Sam runs through
into the main hub of Project Quantum Leap and is reunited with Donna,
his wife that his Swiss-cheesed brain had forgotten about. After a
loving embrace between the two, Sam reacquaints himself with Gooshie
(who confirms the letter was just delivered, nearly fifty-five years
after it was posted), Dr. Beeks and Tina. He then activates Ziggy,
whose ego and stubborness are as large as ever. Sam demands she try and
find a way to help Al.
Meanwhile, Al is trying to stumble through a leap without Ziggy to give
him information. He is Tom, a former WWII Army POW who was presumed
dead who has just returned home from Germany to his hometown Crown
Point, Indiana. His former girlfriend is going to marry another guy in
two days and Al and Sam guess that he is there to get her to marry Tom
instead.
Ziggy finally reaches a probability hypothesis, inconveniently while
Sam and Donna (Mimi Kuzyk) are having some personal time, and informs
Sam that Al is in 1945 to prevent Tom and his girlfriend before he went
off to fight in the war, Suzanne Elsinger (Amanda Wyss) from committing
suicide (or at least how it looked to the police when they discovered
their bodies) in what seemed like a Romeo and Juliet-inspired lover's
pact.
Sam and Al soon discover, unfortunately, almost dangerously too late,
that it was not suicide at all, but a carefully planned murder by the
scorned ex-boyfriend. Sam fails to prevent Al getting knocked out, and
realizes the only way to save him is to go back into the Accelerator
Chamber and leap back to 1945 to accomplish the mission. After saying
farewell to Donna promising he'll be back, Sam leaps and switches
places, with Al returning to 1999 into Tina's grateful arms. Sam
quickly knocks out the loser who was trying to kill them, however Ziggy
fails to retrieve him yet again, leaving Sam with nothing but the
useless handlink. Afterwards Sam leaps, with no memory of ever
returning home or of Donna. Source
Personal
Review by R. Joy Helvie:
Let's just say this... After initially watching this episode during an
MLK Jr. Day marathon a few years back (so, this was on a Monday), I
watched it once a day, every day, for the next week.... Basically, I
love it.
Production Credits:
Theme by: Mike Post Music by: Velton Ray Bunch Co-Executive Producer: Deborah Pratt Co-Executive Producer: Michael Zinberg Supervising Producer: Harker Wade Produced by: Jeff Gourson, Tommy Thompson Produced by: Chris Ruppenthal, Paul Brown Created by: Donald P. Bellisario Written by:Donald P. Bellisario Directed by:Michael Zinberg
Executive Producer: Donald P. Bellisario Associate Producer:James S. Giritlian
Coordinating Producer: David Bellisario
Story Editor: Paris Qualles Director of Photography:Michael Watkins, A.S.C. Production Designer:
Cameron Birnie Edited by:Jon Koslowsky Unit Production Manager: Ron Grow First Assistant Director:Ryan Gordon Second Assistant Director:Kate Yurka Casting by: Ellen Lubin Sanitsky Set Director: Robert L. Zilliox Costume Designer: Jean-Pierre Dorleac Costume Supervisor: David Rawley
Art Director:
Ellen Dambros-Williams Sound Mixer:Barry D. Thomas Stunt Coordinator: Diamond Farnsworth Sound Editor: Greg Schorer Music Editor:
Bruce Frazier
Panaflex ® Camera and Lenses by: Panavision ®
This
motion picture is protected under laws of the United States and other
countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may
result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.
The
characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any
similarity to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Bellisarius Productions and Universal, an MCA Company
Quantum Leap Podcast - The Leap Back
Listen to The Quantum Leap Podcast
on this episode here:
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stargazing.
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