I've recently been watching the first season of Quantum Leap again, and it occurred to me how trivial some of his first few leaps were. If we look at the real reasons why he leapt into some of the situations, they include helping an old lady win Bingo, help Buddy Holly with the lyrics to Peggy Sue, help a couple stay together and to win a baseball game.
I know it's possible that the writers of the show didn't quite know what direction they wanted to go in yet, as later episodes would focus more on saving lives, but I also think that a couple more things are possible.
The first being, since Sam was so new to leaping, GFTW wasn't willing to put him into very dangerous situations to start with. But I think the more logical reason is to do with the ripple effect, that the smallest change starts a ripple. For example, maybe the couple that was brought together had children who helped save other people. Maybe the old woman used her Bingo winnings to help others. Maybe winning the baseball game opened doors for Fox to put him in a situation where he could train others. Who knows? I just wish that we'd heard more about what happened to these people and the ripples caused AFTER Sam had changed their histories, rather than the brief summary Al usually gave.
What's your opinion?
I know it's possible that the writers of the show didn't quite know what direction they wanted to go in yet, as later episodes would focus more on saving lives, but I also think that a couple more things are possible.
The first being, since Sam was so new to leaping, GFTW wasn't willing to put him into very dangerous situations to start with. But I think the more logical reason is to do with the ripple effect, that the smallest change starts a ripple. For example, maybe the couple that was brought together had children who helped save other people. Maybe the old woman used her Bingo winnings to help others. Maybe winning the baseball game opened doors for Fox to put him in a situation where he could train others. Who knows? I just wish that we'd heard more about what happened to these people and the ripples caused AFTER Sam had changed their histories, rather than the brief summary Al usually gave.
What's your opinion?