#10 TV shows: Quantum Leap - Oh yeah I can see it your face... you remember!!!!

Gooooood morning vi… Steemians!

Today we are going to pass through the time machine again and talk about a nice TV Show I have been watching for years; Quantum Leap, oh yeah baby!!!!

source Quantum Leap

Like many TV Show I am going to talk about, it is an american TV Show which was on the air from march 1989 until May 1993 on NBC. Four full years of Quantum Leap, GREAT show, 94 episodes in total and 3 in long version.
But how does this crazy show began? Well it began in the future….. 1995 WOW… Doctor Samuel Beckett, called Sam all through the seasons, is a scientific genius. At this time he finally achieve his time experience… And his mind disappear in the past.
From now on, he travels through time jumping from a period of time to another and another and another :) But that does not end here, each and every time he appears into a character of this time period: a man, a woman, sometimes animals, and all of this with one goal: to correct one or many mistakes that these people did in their life.
The poor Sam does not have ANY control of where and when he will jump to another place.

I think you can perceive these « mission » as god sent, but well that is what you imagine all through the 4 seasons of this TV Show… The last episode will reveal one surprise you did not expect, but shhhhhh…. it’s a secret…
All through his adventures he has a little help called « Al Calavicci », a worker that appears with his big cigar under the shape of an hologram. Al always has a sort of remote control in his hand, like big calculator illuminated that does the link with Ziggy, the main computer responsible for the time traveling.

Of course nobody do realize that a total stranger has taken control of a person, or that a hologram is speaking to him. In general nobody can see that except a few exceptions like animals, young kids, angels (oh yeah it goes very very far), sensitive persons or people close to death.
Walls have eyes…. :)

source Quantum Leap

Concerning the actors of this TV Show, producers have made an interesting choice. Two mains characters that you can see all through the 94 episodes, and then a whole bunch of « guest stars » invited to play in each episode, but rarely recurrent (I think it happened twice using my memory).

So on one hand you have Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, the two main characters playing Sam Beckett and Al Calavacci, and on the other hand a pleiad of actors guest such as Bruce McGill, Teri Hatcher, Jason Priestley, Michael Madsen, Neal McDonough, John Finn and plenty of others, Brooke Shields, Jennifer Aniston, Neil Patrick Harris or Roddy Mcdowell to only name a few… sorry for the others… who probably will never read these lines anyway :P

So let’s talk a little bit more about the 2 protagonists: Scott Bakula, and Mr Dean Stockwell.

Scott Bakula AKA Dr Samuel « sam » Beckett

source Quantum Leap

Born and raised in Indiana, this character is by far the one and only hero of this TV Show. You will follow Scott Bakula through his adventures from a time period to another. The specialty of this doctor is « Quantum Physics », where he will get a nobel price for his research. But Dr Sam is a complete intellectual, he has the whole package and six PhD, medicine, astrophysics, and ancients languages for example.
Everything was perfect in his life until the moment where he construct a prototype of temporal accelerator, the beginning of his trouble of course!
His first try was a failure, and Sam was transferred in the body of a pilot in 1956. Since then, he will just jump from body to body, in order to rearrange the mistakes done by this person. You will see a LOT of celebrities incarnated such as Stephen King, where he will give the author many ideas for his futures novels, but also Lee Harvey Oswald, when Sam will have to save the life of Jackie Kennedy who should have died this day. Along with that, without spoiling anymore, you will see Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Buddy Holly, Michael Jackson (he taught him the moonwalk… I swear!) and much more.
Concerning Scott Bakula, no much more to say, he is a great actor, very good in his Sam role. Code Quantum was really THE role that allows him to have a greater view to a wider public. Later on you will see him on various show such has Mr and Mrs Smith, Star Trek: the enterprise, but also in a few movies such as the color of night with Bruce Willis or Behind the Candelabra with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.
Today, and since 2014, he has the main role in NCIS: New Orleans.

Dean Stockwell, alias amiral Albert « Al » Calavicci

source Quantum Leap

Al is sent by Ziggy to inform Sam, trapped in time, of what he has to do in order to escape. Sam is the only one able to see AL, and Al the only one able to help Sam. He always has the ultra connected remote control in his hand, « handlink », obligatory to be able to communicate with Ziggy.
Al is a colorful character with always the little funny quote to say at the good time. It is a lovable character, even if he smokes big cigars… :)
Dean Stockwell is what we can call a born actor… He began his career at the age of 7 and played in a lot of movies, around 100, oh yeah 100 movies!!!! (a little less actually I think 94).
If you like the cinema and the movies in general, you HAVE SEEN him for SURE…. He played in huge productions, and many movies such as Blue Velvet, Dune (I love David Lynch), Beverly Hills cop 2, Tucker, Married to the Mob, Naked souls, The Venice Project, Inferno, Face to Face, Buffalo Soldiers and the list goes on and on and on….
For the TV Shows, the list is almost as impressive…. This man is living for acting, and I love the guy and his carer in each and every role he played.

Code Quantum is a good TV Show, you can miss an episode, it does not change anything to your enjoyment rate :) Of course it has a plot, and we are hoping that he finally gets back to his time period and finally becomes back Dr Sam Beckett…. Or will he???

Cheers,
Mangou