Questions I Have After Watching the Pilot

servo75

Project QL Intern
Dec 17, 2015
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Spokane, WA, USA
Before I get into the questions, I do want to say that my minimum wish for this series, the prerequisite for me to even watch it, is that this must be "season 6." It cannot be a reboot, there must be homage and connection to the original series and at least one "connecting character" who can span both series. I was pleasantly surprised though this new faster-paced version will be tough to get used to. I thought the 1985 part of the pilot was too rushed and slapped together. But on to some thought questions, with the understanding that some of these may take a few episodes...


1. What happened with the original project? Did Sam get "lost"? Maybe they lost track of him after Mirror Image because he was leaping as himself so no one could find him. I can't believe that Al and the rest would simply close up shop. Besides, that's the only way the project could shut down because they couldn't do so if people from the past kept leaping into the imaging chamber. The first one to see that there was no one around and leave would trap Sam back wherever he was. So I'm going on the assumption that anything after Mirror Image was Sam leaping as himself with an empty Waiting Room.



2. What about Sam's friends and family? What about Donna? Would she just give up? Sounds hard to believe that everyone back in 1999 would just throw up their hands and abandon Sam. Even going back to the original timeline, from the perspective of his mother, Kate and Tom, did Sam just "vanish" for 30 years? They had to have been told something, and if not they still have to be actively trying to find out where he is which should bring one of them into the series. Incidentally this is not canon, but we've heard one potential Season 6 arc would be that Al would leap back looking for Sam...


3. ...but if Sam fixed Al's marriage to Beth, it occurs to me that this itself should be a major paradox! Because then Al probably never develops a drinking problem or goes on Starbright, probably never meets Sam or becomes involved in the project, and it's only through PQL that their marriage was saved.


3. "Magic" Williams as many people know is a former leapee. It cannot be a coincidence that he's leading the project now. There's got to be another backstory there. I'd like to know how Magic came to head the new project. He and Al were both naval officers. In fact, they would have met when the young Magic was in the Waiting Room in "Leap Home Part 2"



4. Will Deborah Pratt come back as Ziggy? Why did we not hear from her?


5. The new apparent "L.A." location really doesn't make sense. Why would they re-build the entire project, including the imaging chamber, waiting room, accelerator and control room completely from scratch? Is the old project completely abandoned in New Mexico? How could they even do that if it was top-secret? Especially with leapees still coming in how can you just pack up and leave PQL New Mexico? I'd like to hear more about what happened to Donna and Gushie and Beeks and the others. I cannot believe that they're just out of the story now. We need a deeper explanation for what happened at the original PQL.



6. Are we going to see Sammie Jo or other of Sam's potential "offspring"? It would make sense and be a good connection to the original. In fact... here's my major prediction, I'm calling it right now: Ben, as far as we know, was born in San Francisco around 1985. Hmm.... I wonder if he was born around November 1985 as Ben Matsuda. The timing certainly fits. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!
 
Your points 1-2 are the punch-in-the-gut I felt after Mirror Image and all the same questions I had. I simply refuse to accept the "Dr. Sam Becket [sic.] never returned home." title card and Sam abandoning his whole family and friends to help strangers. I instead treat this scripted and filmed ending as canon and it makes me feel a lot better. :)



This would fall immediately after Sam tells Beth that Al is alive and the zoom-in on the photo of young Al. "Georgia on my Mind" would still be playing in the background.


3. Magic is leading Project Quantum Leap BECAUSE he remembers his time as a leapee and is still bothered by it. There's going to be a lot more connections but I don't want to spoil anything.

4. Deborah narrated the opening of the premiere and I presume she will be the voice of Ziggy in episodes going forward. Something tells me there won't just be a voice but who knows. None of that has been revealed!
 
3. Magic is leading Project Quantum Leap BECAUSE he remembers his time as a leapee and is still bothered by it. There's going to be a lot more connections but I don't want to spoil anything.


Looks like someone has some inside knowledge :). You've piqued my interest with the phrase that Magic was "bothered by his time as a leapee." But although he and Sam have never met, he and Al did, and he's probably close to Tom, so Lt. Tom Beckett has to be the connecting piece here. Maybe it's not something that happened during Magic's time in the Waiting Room (I'm completely stumped on what that could be) but stuff he learned after the leap. At the end of Leap Home Part 2, Tom referred to "Magic"/Sam as "little brother." This might have changed the relationship between Magic and Tom somehow. Assuming they stayed in touch over the years, Tom contacts Magic and they get to talking about his missing brother Sam. Tom knew, somehow, that there was a connection between Magic and his long lost brother. That doesn't explain Janice Calavicci's involvement, but more to come I suppose.


I also assume, if Sammie Jo was working on the original PQL, she would never stop searching for her father (then again Al stated that Sammie Jo doesn't know Sam's her father).



I'm not asking you whether I'm right or not, but I'm making three predictions on 9/21/22 after only Episode 1 (and no I have no inside knowledge I'm just a regular viewer):

1. Tom is somehow involved with Magic leading PQL.
2. Dr. Ben Song gets his IQ and talent in physics from... his FATHER.
3. At some point Ben's half-sister, Sammie Jo Fuller will come into the picture too.
 
Your points 1-2 are the punch-in-the-gut I felt after Mirror Image and all the same questions I had. I simply refuse to accept the "Dr. Sam Becket [sic.] never returned home." title card and Sam abandoning his whole family and friends to help strangers. I instead treat this scripted and filmed ending as canon and it makes me feel a lot better.


You know, until it was made official that Sam never did return home, I was thinking that absolutely he could have, if the series chose to go that way, to make Sam the leader of PQL or even Ben's hologram. "Dr. Becket [sic] never returned home..." ... yeah, as of 1999. But this is 2022. He certainly could have come home in the interim and taken control of PQL, or he and Donna could have leaped together and settled somewhere in the past.
 
Looks like someone has some inside knowledge . You've piqued my interest with the phrase that Magic was "bothered by his time as a leapee." But although he and Sam have never met, he and Al did, and he's probably close to Tom, so Lt. Tom Beckett has to be the connecting piece here. Maybe it's not something that happened during Magic's time in the Waiting Room (I'm completely stumped on what that could be) but stuff he learned after the leap. At the end of Leap Home Part 2, Tom referred to "Magic"/Sam as "little brother." This might have changed the relationship between Magic and Tom somehow. Assuming they stayed in touch over the years, Tom contacts Magic and they get to talking about his missing brother Sam. Tom knew, somehow, that there was a connection between Magic and his long lost brother. That doesn't explain Janice Calavicci's involvement, but more to come I suppose.

Wait, isn't it implied that the leapee also has a "Swiss cheese" memory loss when they are returned to their time and have no knowledge of being in the future waiting room? I know Magic had some kinda 6th sense perception even before Sam leaped in but I saw no sign of that in the pilot episode from Magic. Perhaps Magic loses it as he grows older or his Swiss cheese mind remembers nothing of being leapt into by Sam.

However, I do think Tom is the connection, maybe we will get a scene in a future episode where the technology has evolved so far that they can do a test on a subject and pick up residue of Sams aura in a leapee......that's a wild jump but possible.

Magic being very perceptive has to have known that Sam leapt into him somehow.
 
Magic being very perceptive has to have known that Sam leapt into him somehow.


Also remember that Tom and Magic served in war together. Even if Magic remembers little about the leap (and like I said I don't think it could be anything directly from his experience as a leaper), In that leap, Tom seems to have had a sense that Magic was his brother for 2 days. He and Magic start talking, and that jogs memories... And true, leapees do get memory loss after returning to their time. But I should imagine that meeting a fellow Naval officer in Admiral Calavicci and then learning about him years later would be enough to generate curiosity as well.
 
Also remember that Tom and Magic served in war together. Even if Magic remembers little about the leap (and like I said I don't think it could be anything directly from his experience as a leaper), In that leap, Tom seems to have had a sense that Magic was his brother for 2 days. He and Magic start talking, and that jogs memories... And true, leapees do get memory loss after returning to their time. But I should imagine that meeting a fellow Naval officer in Admiral Calavicci and then learning about him years later would be enough to generate curiosity as well.

I think Magic already knows Tom Beckett is Sams older brother but I doubt he would have any recollection or feeling of being leapt into by him, I'm hoping there is a way for them to measure that phenomenon.

It's the first episode so a Magic backstory will be explored much more and the relationship between him and Tom is further explained. HOOOYAH :D
 
If Al's Place gets to submit questions to the show runners, I'd like to know why they chose to have the Leaper be less knowledgeable/skilled than the Hologram?



I understand that the story is that they unexpectedly switched roles and it's a mystery why that happened, but I'm curious why they decided to do that in the scripts.

While Al always knew how to do stuff, Sam was no slouch. (Dancing, Martial Arts, Cow Milking, Science-ing stuff, etc.) The original pair complemented each other. I feel like this is an uneven pairing. Just mho.
 
Waiting Room

I'm curious to know why the waiting room was never mentioned in the piolet episode.

In the original series, when Sam leaped, the person he leaped into was transferred to the waiting room. Al would talk to them, and sometimes find out things that would help Sam. But in the first episode of the new series, NO ONE EVEN MENTIONED A WAITING ROOM, let alone there being anyone in it.

Wouldn't they have found out the person Ben leaped into was an undercover cop a lot sooner, if anyone had bothered to talk to the person who was (supposedly) stuck in this big, white, empty room?

Are the people Ben leaps into no longer being sent to the waiting room? If not, then where are they going? An alternate dimension? (The Twilight Zone maybe? :p :p)

Just one of many questions.
 
3. ...but if Sam fixed Al's marriage to Beth, it occurs to me that this itself should be a major paradox! Because then Al probably never develops a drinking problem or goes on Starbright, probably never meets Sam or becomes involved in the project, and it's only through PQL that their marriage was saved.

Not necessarily. Al was a high ranking Navel officer, he could have been involved in a lot of government projects. Also, in an episode from the original series (I think it may have been "Private Dancer") Al mentions his lab partner at MIT. Since Sam attended MIT at age 16, it's possible that's where the connection comes in, although I admit that doesn't jibe with ANOTHER original series episode, (I think it was "Play Ball") where Sam is reminding Al of how they met on or just after project Starbright.

Continuity and consistency were never the strong points on the original series. I'm hoping this series, if it lasts, does better.
 
I think Magic already knows Tom Beckett is Sams older brother but I doubt he would have any recollection or feeling of being leapt into by him, I'm hoping there is a way for them to measure that phenomenon.

It's the first episode so a Magic backstory will be explored much more and the relationship between him and Tom is further explained. HOOOYAH :D


Oh I think I mis-spoke something. :p Yeah I think the same last name "Beckett" would give some clues but what I meant was I think Tom senses that Magic actually WAS Sam for a few days. The way he commented that Magic was sounding "just like his brother" and at the end of the episode he says, "... thanks to you, little brother."
 
Oh I think I mis-spoke something. :p Yeah I think the same last name "Beckett" would give some clues but what I meant was I think Tom senses that Magic actually WAS Sam for a few days. The way he commented that Magic was sounding "just like his brother" and at the end of the episode he says, "... thanks to you, little brother."

I think Tom made that throwaway remark " Thanks to you little brother" just as a nod to the audience and to thank his little brother who he made the bet with. If Tom ACTUALLY knew Magic was Sam for those few days why didn't he converse with him as Tom and Sam??

I believe Magic by his 6th sense perception knew that he was leapt into by Sam in some way.

Anyway, good news they are addressing that phenomenon in episode 4 ��

Does Quantum Leap’s Herbert “Magic” Williams (played by Ernie Hudson) remember Sam Beckett (played in the original series by Scott Bakula) jumping into him? NBC’s continuation of the time-travel series will provide an answer in the coming weeks.

Episode 4 will address the leap in question, which occurred in a Season 3 episode of the original series featuring Christopher Kirby as a young Magic, showrunner Martin Gero tells TVLine.

https://tvline.com/2022/09/23/quantum-leap-spoilers-season-1-episode-4-sam-beckett-magic/