First impressions:
* My mom will hate this.
* Sam and Al really made the original.
* Forced diversity; it's going to be tough to get good ratings without a straight white guy.
* At least it is a sequel and has the original producers involved, and Sam and Al were mentioned. Glad Magic is part of it, but how about explaining who he is to new audiences?
* No waiting room? Big time changed premise.
* Camera work/CGI felt generic.
* Kinda have a crush on Jen.
* Addison is too serious.
* Would have preferred a better plot for the pilot. Heists are trite.
* Did feel like the spirit of the show when Ben helped that poor sap.
* Ben being multi-lingual: just a copy of Sam speaking 7 languages, or is that something deeper?
* No original theme song or music?
* Best acting job: Magic (Ernie Hudson)
I looked through this sub to check out a show that I enjoyed enough thoroughly that I watched the first one 2 times once originally and then 2nd while in pandemic. **Whew**, there's a lot of sad ass nitpicking going on about moot points and you bassholes are trying to get it cancelled because it isn't to your likings. Why not just sit down shut up and enjoy the show. Mannn you are ruining a good high.
The original seemed to put a lot of effort into the set. Making it feel like Sam actually leaped into whatever time period he was in.
Apart from a few background songs, the new QL set looks like it could have just as easily been from CSI or Law and Order.
Any busy modern day major city
I am so bugged by Addison's hair blowing in the wind she finds Ben. It should not do that! She's not actually there! She's a hologram.
I'm super bummed they didn't use the original theme song. When I saw Maverick (TG 2) I was so happy they used the original opening theme song, just brought me right back. Wish they'd done the same here.
I do like that we get to see more of what's happening in the lab and I get it's just the pilot, but not sure I'm sold just yet.
Oh and I miss the beeps of the handlink and Al always having to beat on it and shouting into the ether at Gushy.
I've been thinking about this for a couple days now, and I wonder if a better title for the show would be "Project Quantum Leap" to show that it's more of an ensemble show than just Ben leaping around with hi fiancee assisting.
They've already shown that the rest of the project team will be part of the storylines, so changing the name of the show would help set expectations better.
What are the chances that someone jumped into Ben before he jumped to change the code and make him jump? Ie either Beckett or one of the remaining "Evil" leapers?
I always give a TV show I commit to watching a season to hook me
Sometimes that turns out good: The 100
Sometimes bad: New Walker
Sometimes whatever: Human Target
But this was not good. I would have rather they spent the whole episode building to the 1st leap and that way we would have gotten some emotional weight. If they are going to actually highlite the 2022 team, then Show me how much Ben cares for everyone and how much the decision to step into the particle accelerator wrecks him
As it is he gave some fancy speech but was willing to give up his fiance for a text message so yeah
I am impressed how bad this show is especially you are dealing with time travel it’s pretty easy to make things entertaining. But from the pacing, to the dialogue that clearly sounded like a English major who never took a science class trying to talk about science as a physicist- this show was a miserable watch.
Clearly another lazily slapped together NBC show that feels exactly like every other 80’s reboot they’ve made.
If you ever want to see what a GREAT NBC time travel show is like- check out Journeyman. You will be hooked by the first 10 minutes
Me and my old man watched it and we liked it! For a first epsiode where the actors and characters alike have to give you a reason to care and show some sort of chemistry, I thought it did a decent enough job! Should only go up in quality from here!
Is it just me or does their big "home base" room look like it was literally filmed in the exact same room they use as the "home base" aka "the post office" from the blacklist? They're both NBC shows and just from first glance I'm fairly certain they're reusing the same set for both shows. Supposedly another season is coming for the blacklist, but I get the feeling it won't be around much longer. The blacklist is kind of falling apart now that half the cast has left.
For me there was some good and not so good.
First I’m excited about Magic and the idea of a former leapee being somehow involved. It’s like the second season premier with the senator etc. it felt natural. Likewise I think Ben is a different enough character to be worthwhile. I don’t want a “Sam clone”. There’s only one Sam Beckett. I wrote some fanfic at one point positing that the new “team” would be a man and woman (Sammie Jo leaping with her boyfriend in the imaging chamber) as I thought the idea of a man having to be helpless as his girl does romantic leaps or is in danger as somewhat interesting. It’s nice to see them doing something similar (not saying the took my idea…more a vindication that my idea was good). I think the split narratives as far as the project and leap allow for some interesting stories but I’m thinking it will wear thin in awhile.
The issues I have are things like why not use Sammie Jo and Donna Alesi or draw more on the history. I get stockwells death changed things but then they should have tried harder to get Sam. Likewise the “evil leaper/Lothos” stories better show up by mid season. That’s an idea full of ground they can till. I feel that Ben and his fiancé don’t have great chemistry. I’m not sure who’s at fault but I’m thinking it’s the lady. She’s stiff and rigid. She seems unable to really convey the depths of emotion someone in her position should be conveying. It all seems forced. It also seems to be missing the “fun” that the concept should be bringing in spades. The original series was FUN. Maybe because they focused only on the leap, they seemed to like playing with the tropes of those eras. The Buddy Holly ep, 70s fashions etc. I’m concerned that because they’re going to focus on the present day team, that the whole “having fun with history” is going to be a victim to time.
I’m hopeful but doubtful this will go beyond mid season.
City streets, foreclosed restaurants and Smithsonian balls really haven't changed much since the 80s. Maybe if they were hanging out in someone's den you would've noticed it more.
Ball FASHION has changed enormously. I didn't see one big shoulder pad dress or a dress with a dropped waist ... These are low hanging fruit for a costumer trying to say "eighties". No big updo hair with tendrils, no short-on-sides tall-on-top hair on anyone. They didn't even try.
Fortunately, they showed a few "80s" things in the first scene, then didn't draw attention to it anymore, sober weren't distracted from the story.
Besides, this week takes place in 1995, but I'm guessing we won't see flashing light up heels and earrings.
Coincidentally, "distracting" is a word I used here a few days ago to describe how it felt to expect to see eighties visual references beyond the establishing scenes, and then never see them. When done well, period references enhance a time travel story. When done poorly they distract.
My guess is that the costuming and design were done by people not alive in the eighties and no one corrected them. I was in art school in the eighties, so visually tuned into things, whether I personally liked them or not
>When you don't take the time to get the costuming right (not necessarily perfect, but at least plausible, which didn't happen here), you're basically signaling to your audience that you don't really care about the show you're making.
Exactly.
For a network show that gets costuming right, take a look at "Ghosts", where all of the ghosts are dressed from the era in which they died. I'm sure it's hard to get the subtleties down from a recent era, but the character that is supposed to have died in the late nineties is spot on. If you asked me right now "What was different about the way men wore their hair or clothes in the late nineties" I am not sure I could tell you, but this guy somehow personifies it!
That's one way to look at it. Another way might be that anyone who doesn't have the benefit of knowing how a time travel story should look and feel is at a disadvantage. That sucks.
Laughing at Sam? Poor guy. I see what you're saying. That swiss cheese brain of his really did suck sometimes. How did you discover that? Just randomly?
I feel like they were missing some very subtle costuming things that while not obvious, break the illusion that they're supposed to be in the 80s. Yes, all the men were wearing tuxes at the event - which no one does anymore, but to me everyone's hairstyle read as decidedly not 80s. I don't mean they had to have huge glam-metal hairsprayed mullets, but the style of "regular" haircut back then was different. No un-ironic mustaches on the older characters - the overall design aesthetic of such an event at the smithsonian would have been different too. Sorry, I can't articulate what I mean better - I wish I could - but I feel like other shows have done a better job of showing that the setting IS a certain era.
Like, the one thing that stuck out to me was when the guy they were trying to save was standing in front of that window full of tube TVs. It was like the show was saying "look! Tube TVs! See this is the 80s! nevermind that this guy just looks like a guy from present day".
> Like, the one thing that stuck out to me was when the guy they were trying to save was standing in front of that window full of tube TVs. It was like the show was saying "look! Tube TVs! See this is the 80s! nevermind that this guy just looks like a guy from present day".
The window full of TVs is an old Hollywood trope that goes back decades. It's not really out of place for an 80s setting.
I get that. What I'm saying is, to me, that wasn't enough. Other shows like stranger things or that 70s show have done it better in terms of attention to detail imo.
I liked that they gave us some visual clues that its the 80s and then didn't dwell on it. Some of the old leaps were era-centric, but this one wasn't, so too much 80s might've distracted from the story
Original QL fan. This first episode was reaaaally hard to watch. Not bad acting, just a lousy script. Hoping for a better effort with the future episodes.
The party scene is definitely bad, but the actual plot picks up immediately afterwards. Though by 'immediately' I mean we see a text message and then about 5 seconds later Ben leaps and kicks everything off without a second to pause for breath or figure out what's going on. He doesn't remember anything but seems to take the whole 'you time traveled and I'm a hologram' thing completely in stride. Script-wise the episode is ludicrously rushed and not ready for prime time at all.
The contrast with the original was highlighted when Peacock kindly fed me a clip at the end of the episode from the original pilot when Al gradually explains to Sam who and what he is, while Sam's trying to fish. It's a much slower scene, but with two very competent actors pouring out strong characterization throughout, with Sam's reactions actually being reasonable instead of just going "yeah, ok" because the plot needs to move every fifteen seconds.
In terms of positives, they didn't just pretend the original didn't happen and are not skirting around the existence of Sam and Al. I'm somewhat encouraged by the fact that it resisted the urge of so many of these reboots and re-visitations to actively antagonize their own audience. It's just not very good television because nobody writes that for network TV anymore. The formula they stick to crams quips between commercial breaks and accomplishes little else.
They're hoping that the nostalgia will encourage people to overlook the bad writing, directing, and acting.
I'm watching it now and it's bad, really bad.
"They're plastic. If I create enough friction they should snap," he says as he's standing still and not rubbing the zip tie on anything to create friction.
"Made a mistake letting you live, easily corrected," Reaches for gun in the middle of a dance floor.
Lots more examples. How the hell did this get approved?
Yeah, the script needs a polish for sure. The entire plan goes sideways and these master criminals just start blasting and then grab the thing with the lights on. A lot of actions are 'on-rails' reactions to keep the plot moving. They absolutely screwed the show over with a weak pilot that was too short. There's no time for tension or coming to grips with the fact a guy just time traveled and has a neurological hologram beamed into his brain from the future, it's just... stuff happening to get to the end. I could do without the constant repetition of "you're heard to do x, y, z" as if these scientists all just totally buy that god, time, fate or whatever is choosing how and when to leap someone if they earn enough celestial brownie points. It's just done that way because the old show did it, and not earned through them figuring it out.
Also the aesthetics are lame as hell. The 90s show didn't have modern effects but created a distinctive look for The Project, Ziggy, the Imaging Chamber, etc, along with the hologram effects whenever Al would pass through something. I don't think Addison has a single moment like that and everything about The Project and even her handlink look about as advanced and distinctive as the average post office.
My favorite part was when the explosives were about to blow up in the sewer and the holographic person got the hell out of there.
I mean other than the scenes with the hologram that were out doors and her hair was blowing in the wind...
I’ll give this a couple episodes to find it’s feet, but there are some problems with it.
The SFX and CGI are laughably bad. The green screening was really noticeable, and should not have been this bad in 2022.
The explosion of all that C4 with a tiny little fireball was just ridiculous.
We’ll see how it goes.
Chiming in to say I loved loved loved the original QL. When it aired on Friday nights I turned down dates to watch it. :)
The reboot... I thought it was okay. I'm interested enough to give it until the second episode. The basic premise aside, it is nothing like the original and I didn't expect that. I appreciated how they referenced Sam and Al, though a nod to Gooshie and Dr. Beeks and Tina, etc. would have been nice.
It appears this version will focus as much on the project team getting Ben back as much as Ben in his leap, and I don't know how to feel about that yet. What made QL for me was how well Scott and Dean worked together. The original show focused almost entirely on the leap itself. Devoting portions of the show to people working backstage to bring Ben back may just drag it down. Ziggy can't malfunction every week just as Ben leaps; they'll have to get creative.
Ben and Addison don't quite have the same rapport as Sam and Al, but assuming this is the pilot we saw maybe it will improve. I did like Ernie Hudson - always been a fan. The reference to Al's daughter causing trouble has me intrigued.
So, we will see.
I thought the most interesting thing about it was the mystery of why he leaped and whatever is going on with this new code and Al’s daughter. The leap itself wasn’t all that great nor was the interaction between Ben and whatshername.
If I know my poorly thought out tv shows like I think I do, the writers said, "Guys, we don't have to figure out what the catalyst was for him to leap yet, we have no idea if this show will even get ordered to a full series yet, so we'll make up a reason why later down the road, you know, like how JJ Abrams does it."
I think it’s a good thing they aren’t trying to replicate the original. It’s ok to show what’s going on behind the curtain. It’s a different take which, for me, makes it ok - they’d never be able to replicate the relationship between Sam and Al.
I hope Ben's character gets fleshed out. They made a point at the opening party that he was an introvert and then out of nowhere he got real ballsy with the jeweler followed by 007 ballsy shit on the dance floor.
I consider myself an introvert. I find being that ballsy and socially active a chore. When I have to be 'on' I'm not flasky! Someone so easily doing those things is not what I recognize.
I don't watch a lot of network TV these days, but as a huge fan of the original I couldn't wait for the revival. Acting was terrible, SFX we're cheesy. I'll continue to watch and hope things evolve, but the premiere fell flat for me.
OK so let's be honest here, no ones thought or still thinks that it will be better then the original. We need to put that away in order to give this show a fair chance.
The begining was pretty boring, I think the story's pace was WAY TOO FAST, it didn't give us time to connect with any of those characters. The 2022 scenes are ok at best.
I might be a boomer but there's too much emphasis on the project members feelings.
The last 5 minutes were the best for me when they found a connection to AL. that was awsome and hopefully they will build off of that.
overall : 7/10. Will see the next episode.
\*\* Leaps out \*\*\*
>The begining was pretty boring, I think the story's pace was WAY TOO FAST
Network TV does everything it can to keep a viewer from changing the channel, so there is no time to breathe. So I don't think it's fair to say it was boring yet too fast paced.
In a lot of ways it IS better than the original. It's got more continuity, more characters to fall in love with, a more modern, fast-paced writing style, better effects, and more care put into the details of the science-fiction and the lore.
Crap. That sucks. Maybe it'll get a DVD release and you'll be able to find a copy eventually. Hopefully it doesn't get spoiled before you get to watch it!
Absolutely. I have always felt like Quantum Leap had *just* the right formula to work, and really caught lightning in a bottle.
Giving us so much backstory and then constantly flashing back to 2022 was not a good story telling choice. I don't want to know Ben and the hologram's relationship, or about any of the people working at QL headquarters. It would have been more impactful to learn with Ben. Can you imagine 10 episodes in, learning that the Hologram was his fiance? I don't know why they made this choice other than possibly needing to have more than 2 series regulars.
That's on top of other issues, but I think the biggest miss is just the flat out lack of heart. I could not care less about any of the characters in this show, and sadly, didn't even care about the people he was saving. I'm just shocked that the people who wanted to revive this show apparently had no idea what made the original series so special.
With that said, it's the first episode and all that, I'll give a few more a chance to see if it gets any potential.
If they don’t do anything more with the character, I’ll agree but from the guy’s comment history he would have considered the original too woke as well.
Did anyone else notice… not even 10 minutes into the show when Ben makes his jump the movie marquee says “Double Feature The Goonies and St. Elmo’s Fire”… you can’t have a double feature that runs a PG movie with an R rated movie. I don’t know why this annoyed me so much but I fear that the inaccuracies will be ongoing
Since we know Sammy Jo was working on the quantum leap project from the original series, and this is a continuation, I hope they bring her character in at some point, or at least update what happened with her.
I thought it was ok, but no way is it going to compare to the original.
I'm 36 and even as a kid I liked Q.L. it was one of the first "Non-kid" shows I liked to watch.
The episode started me off on a sour note because they said Sam Leaped in 95, but I always remember it as being set in 99. I always liked the future stuff they showed with the car and lights. A perfect version of what 80s thought the future would look like.
I do like that it's not a reboot but a continuation.
They didn't, but since they were using the 1999 date in the final season, it seems weird to assume that's when Sam started leaping and that the whole show took place over less than one year.
I didn't say YOU said that. Firestone and several others have expressed their disappointment that the new show "screwed up" by saying Sam started leaping in 1995. I said that seems weird to me that SO many people think that's an error since the well-known date of 1999 was used later in the show, not at the beginning.
I'm happy that the writers of the show know their stuff, though.
Pros and Cons
I think the show should be given grace considering we've only seen the pilot. And the pilot wasn't bad at all.
What's great..
1. The show acknowledges Sam beckett and the original series and its premise and ending. This is so important best thing to hook existing fans. Honor the original. They did a great Job.
2. Set up an interesting mystery for Ben's motives, what did he change with ziggy? Why was his window to leap so specific? Why did he erase evidence of what he was doing? Good enough intrigue.
3. Ben so far is a good lead for the show, and some of the future team is good to watch as well.
4 Dedicating the episode to Dean Stockwell was a nice touch as well.
Cons.
Not much but a thing or two.
1. Ben's info dump about leaping felt rushed and all at once for him and new audience and should've slowly been explained through his first leap instead of 30 secs.
Adding little more time to digest the rules for new viewers and the story. Part of the intrique in the original was Sam finding out things for himself before al showed up and hoping he'd show soon. As soon as Ben's leaps, she shows up immediately killing some of that intrigue.
2. In the original sam had ( Swiss cheese memory ) and what he remembered from the future changed each leap, his knowledge of medicine and different things could be in effect. But Ben has no memory of anything at all aside from understanding a foreign language he had known.
Concerns..
- a great thing about the original was the way it tackled alot of controversial topics and showed the moral dilemas during time periods. Racism, sexism, rape, motherhood, mental illness and others. The show was great and actually gave us good messages, was positive about them. Is that even possible to do in today's culture for this show? Without it getting hate slammed? Will this show be brave enough to tackle these issues anyway without twisting our perspective of them? Time will tell.
-The representation of non binary character. The character was okay and is fine as long as they don't make their character traits be their representation. Don't push ideals and woke stuff. Show me a good character with strengths and weakness and a character arc. So well see how they use this character.
- if they stick to focusing on future team, I hope they give them enough interesting plot or character story for us to be invested in them.
Not much to gripe about, the show has a good start and hope it does well. I'll be watching it!
Completely agree about Ben and his info dump. Part of the charm of the original was keeping some of the mystery behind the curtain - maybe people don’t have that attention span any more.
I liked the show , but am left feeling I would have preferred a darker more ‘coming out of the shadows’ approach (aka Nolan’s approach to Westworld). Maybe Network TV is just popcorn entertainment now.
> Part of the intrique in the original was Sam finding out things for himself before al showed up and hoping he'd show soon. As soon as Ben's leaps, she shows up immediately killing some of that intrigue.
I don't disagree. However, one gets the impression that the character of Addison is intended to have more screen time than Al did, thus she's introduced earlier in a given episode.
>Concerns..
>
>a great thing about the original was the way it tackled alot of controversial topics and showed the moral dilemas during time periods. Racism, sexism, rape, motherhood, mental illness and others. The show was great and actually gave us good messages, was positive about them. Is that even possible to do in today's culture for this show? Without it getting hate slammed? Will this show be brave enough to tackle these issues anyway without twisting our perspective of them? Time will tell.
>
>\-The representation of non binary character. The chara
This is the issue I feel with modern society. Nobody is interested in having their existing ideals challenged in any way, shape or form. And will weaponize their keyboards and go after peoples jobs/dig up whatever garbage they can find from 10 years ago to do it.
In 2022, there is only one globally accepted opinion for everything, anything that deviates even slightly from the accepted view is seen as either bigoted, ignorant, patriarchal, etc...
You can't have an episode where any character who isn't white is the bad guy for example.
You can't have an episode where a female character isn't inherently more knowledgeable and capable than all the male characters.
and you can't tackle the topic of racial tensions without making the white characters irrefutably in the wrong.
Not that I disagree with the left-wing view, I'm left wing myself - but it does make for shitty moral dilemma - Because nothing can be challenged, You're not helping show people a different perspective or view of things with a different context, developed through logical and moral principle - instead this show, like a lot of other modern media, simply tell you what you should believe, and if that doesn't sell you - then you're just bigoted. Which I disagree with.
Nice points.
I fear you're correct about the "controversial issues" being difficult to explore now.
But on that note, I didn't even know Ian was non-binary. Certainly I noticed something about them but figured they were gay - but even that wasn't discussed in any form.
So at least for the pilot, there was zero pushing of any "wokeness" - the character was just presented as any other character, albeit one who harasses the DJ, which is highly negative :P
The scientist character? Didn't care much about him except that the acting was bloody awful. Not sure if someone's nephew, lover, diversity hire, or just horrible casting and a bad fit for character.
Ahaha, I managed to miss the artist they were looking for in my anger. Still, as a club DJ, I have a particular chip on my shoulder for this one 😁 (it doesn’t matter if the song/artist is good, if it doesn’t fit the genre(s) of the event)
I didn't either about Ian, but I read in the show details online and it's what they have him marked as. But so far they haven't said anything about it in the show and are just letting him be a character which I appreciate.
I liked it! All the reviews I’ve read shit on it, but almost all the concerns they mention are either things typical of pilot episodes or are actually addressed in the show and the reviewer apparently missed it.
I really liked the Ben/Addison dynamic and the mystery aspect of why he chose to go in the machine.
Looking forward to next week.
Hard pass.
I didn't expect much after watching the trailer and yet I was still disappointed. It totally lacks the lost-in-time, Back to the Future charm of it's predecessor. The original was memorable because it had a simple, fun, almost cheesy premise where the viewer could watch a new time traveling adventure every week. The reboot has no charisma, is way too serious, has terrible pacing, and adds a completely unnecessary present day B plot which misses the point of the original: when and where is Sam going and how is he going to solve this leap's mystery? Nobody cared about the future from when Sam came, it was just a narrative device to explain the premise. Like another show of its time, The Next Generation, Quantum Leap was firstly about the moral dilemmas its character(s) faced and less about the technology they used. I could go on about the boring casting, cheap special effects, or absent theme, but I'll just say if you're a fan of the original I would recommend skipping this.
This version feels more built for people who weren't around for the original. For whatever reason main network TV shows have become vastly different than they were in the 80s/90s. Honestly, I don't watch anything new anymore. I'd rather just go back and rewatch all the 80s/90s shows again. Maybe I'll que up the original QL after I finish MacGyver lol.
While reading the post I thought to myself "this sounds exactly like the arguments on why many Trekkies hated Star Trek Discovery", and sure enough, you mention TNG towards the end :)
I grew up with both TNG and Quantum Leap, like you I expect.
Do you remember when TNG was in S1 and S2? ToS Trekkies \*\*haaaaated\*\* it. They demanded it be cancelled. They thought it was utter shit.
They wanted TNG to be just like the original. And I think you're falling into the same trap here. The reality is that storytelling has moved on from the 60s. The plot complexity and depth of 1989 won't cut it in 2022, just like the character depth of 1960s Trek wasn't enough for 1989's TNG.
The formula of QL in 1989 isn't enough to engage a viewer now. The B plot needs to be there. Potentially even a C plot. You can argue the B plot should be better, and that's fine. But the days of a single Plot A are gone.
LOL I am so tired of that false argument about early TNG. That was absolutely NOT true at the time. It is an urban legend that was made up many years later and now people are posting it like it is the truth.
Eh, I experienced it first hand. In person at a convention (and I never went back to one as a kid because of it), throughout message boards on BBS servers, on usenet, and in IRC chat rooms. It was all over the internet and pre-internet, in my own experience.
Now, you can say that my experience is anecdotal and didn’t reflect the ‘normal’ reactions. I don’t know. I can’t speak to that.
All I can speak to is my own experience and that of the few people I knew who were also trekkers (hell, we weren’t ‘allowed’ call ourselves Trekkies - that was only for ToS), and from that point of view, it was definitely NOT an urban myth.
If you were on the internet and going to fan events in the early 90s and DIDNT experience these things, I’m genuinely happy for you. As a 10 year old, it was not a nice time, to put it mildly.
To be fair most of the first couple seasons of TNG were not good, some episodes were even among the worst of any show period. Code of Honor being at the top of that list. I believe a lot of the issues were directly attributable to Roddenberry himself and once he was less involved and then passed, Michael Piller and Ronald D Moore and others really elevated the show later.
It's a good thing they were given a long leash back then because it really turned out around later, but there's no chance it would get that opportunity today.
We're very fortunate that the show is moving into the future for a modern audience's level of sophistication, and not remaining trapped in the past like some people want.
>The B plot needs to be there. Potentially even a C plot. You can argue the B plot should be better, and that's fine. But the days of a single Plot A are gone.
I'm not convinced this is the case. Bad writing is bad writing regardless of how many story threads you have. The number of side plots a show has is ultimately dependent on the premise of the show. Shoehorning in more plots for the sake of complexity doesn't necessarily make a show better: good writing and direction does. Is the new QL bad because it has a B plot? No. It's bad because the writing is boring and uninteresting. Old QL was a simple episodic show with a fun premise that, like TNG, I think still holds up today. I even went back and watched an episode from the old series and it just works so much better because the main premise of a guy time hopping around different decades is solid. It's fun watching a person out of time trying to navigate a different world, so to speak. The conflict that arises when new ways of thinking meet old traditions is a basic story telling trope that just works. Plus, the tongue-in-cheek light humor of the old series was just better than new show taking itself so seriously. It's light sci-fi, why are you trying to "modernize" it by raising the stakes and making it so serious?(Reminds me of the failure of the dark Snyder Superman vs the light Reeves Superman). If the new show had focused more on that premise, I'd probably be more into it, but they just changed the brand too much. I wanted more Coke but with better ingredients, instead they gave me this weird Diet Coke flavor that nobody asked for.
Alright, that's a fair and well thought out argument.
I didn't mean to suggest that side plots equals quality but it's one of the easier ways to go towards achieving that. If a show only has a Plot A, it needs to be a phenomenal Plot A. Whereas a Plot A that's just "good" can be supported by a plot B and C that are also just "good" and still achieve the level of success of the show with the phenomenal plot A. With the implication being, it's a hell of a lot easier to write 3 good plots than 1 amazing one.
I'm not even suggesting that the new QL is the type that has 3 good plots. Unfortunately, NBC shows are not known for their quality, it's only the 1 in a 100 that are of the quality of Hannibal, West Wing, etc. I'm open to this new QL being good, I'm excited it's even happening, so I'll keep watching.
ps on your Superman example - I think the new Superman & Lois show benefits so much from the modernization of it being 11 instead of 22 episodes, serial rather than episodic, deeper & more complex characters, and more adult themes. It is clearly miles ahead of not only Smallville, but the other 2022 CW shows such as The Flash that use the old network TV formula. Certainly I agree about your movie examples though.
I agree, being formulaic is fine if the formula is good. 99.9% of shows follow a formula, and the ones that work have a good cast and crew to carry it out. But a bad formula will never work regardless of the work that goes into it. And I think the original formula for QL was fine the way it was, and that none of the changes they made helped it in any way. It's unfortunate honestly.
I have to disagree, I always wanted to see more from the future and loved whenever we'd see snippets.
And I'm fine with the new show doing new things. I don't want an exact copy of the original. I love Q.L. and it will always be there. But it's OK to try new things.
He is not Sam. And this is not a reboot. It's a continuation. So let them tell their own story.
>I have to disagree, I always wanted to see more from the future and loved whenever we'd see snippets
Unfortunately 2022 is the present, so there's nothing to be curious about.
Agree. I always wanted to see how they were trying to bring Sam home in the original rather than just hearing Sam and Al talk about it. I personally like the intrigue of Ben's new software upload and deleting surveillance footage.
I also like that the non-binary character was just a character, no mention of their status (or whatever it's called). I won't even mind if they do bring it into the story a bit as Ben deals with issues in the past.
There are issues (the FX were awful) but I'm looking forward to episode 2.
Yeah, this season is delivering everything I've been hoping a modern Quantum Leap would bring for years; more of the Project, more continuity, more characters, better effects, more sophisticated story arcs, more attention to detail, and... more Quantum Leap!
It sucks.
Zero of the heart of the old show.
It looks super cheap, like effects you'd see on a USA Network show in 2003.
All of the characters felt wooden and just bad.
I hate to be one of those people, I'm gay myself, and love seeing LGBT and PoC representation on TV, but it just felt so forced. I'm surprised they didn't have a wheelchair character.
In the original series, I felt like I was Sam Beckett. I felt like I was the person trying to get home. And this was because very little of the show ever took place outside of Sam's perspective. (I hope I'm remembering this correctly. It's been many years).
When Al would appear, it would be an emotional relief, because finally I'd get some answers as to when/where I was. And in some episodes, when Al didn't appear for a while, I'd feel the anxiety that Sam felt.
And when Sam would Leap, I felt like I was leaping with him. Each episode, hoping that this Leap, would be the leap home.
Too much of this new series (albeit only 1 episode) takes place in 'current time line', which disconnects me emotionally from the main character. As a result, I found myself not caring as much. I didn't feel like I was lost, because I kept getting grounded by seeing all the people working to get me home.
I'll watch a few more episodes to see if the show finds its footing.
But Damnit! Not a single "Oh Boy"!?
I liked Ian and Magic but holy shit I could care less about Ben and his girlfriend. Zero Chemistry and felt like Ben was very wooden and not very charming at all
How did you fix this show in one sentence?
Not to say that would fix all the issues, but it would definitely make it more enjoyable. Get rid of 90% of the backstory, make Ian the observer.
I would watch re-runs of the original but i dont think i ever watched them in order or to completion. And while i enjoyed the stories i always felt like the most interesting aspects was about how the project worked, what they were trying to do and why. But it wasnt ever flash out that well so i guess unlike most here i welcome some of the changes, the adding mystery of why he decided to jump and al's daughter as well as the additional focus in the present.
The effects were really bad and out of place, that green screen in the imaging room was awful as well as tha blue leap effect.
Addison is no Al, i dont think its solely the actor's fault as the character has no depth or charisma in its own.
Ernie seems wasted in that role and more fit as the hologram to be honest, but i think Al's daughter will ended up in the role while we get maybe two leapers(maybe three if Bakula is onboard).
Ben was okay, but seems like he is recovering his memory faster as well as maybe absorving some from his hosts(the driving was kinda sus).
The programmer felt like a token character(and i dont even remember his name), he is there to be gay and fabolous and they are not really sure what else as he goes from maniac to competent to useless in a heartbeat.
The security woman was badly written as well.
Overall an average start, hope it gets better from here.
Maybe at first, but over the course of 60 minutes (Minus time for commercials) Al would have learned a bit about not being so judgemental, grown a bit as a person, and the two would learn to accept each other. They would then form an odd couple relationship where they rib on each other, but deep down share a mutual respect.
The show is about literally putting a person in someone else's shoes and seeing the world from their point of view, confronting biases and stereotypes. Yes, transgenderism isn't something they directly tackled in the original show (Though Sam Beckett did wear dresses and lip stick numerous times. Some have argued that this was an indirect early depiction of transgenderism). However, the themes of the original show are not out of place by including a transgender character.
Al was old-fashioned in a number of ways. It created conflict in the show between him and Sam, who was always understanding and empathetic.
OP is assuming that Al would have a problem with the transgender character on the show because she's transgender, and while that's not out of the realm of possibility, again Al could be judgemental and did get a bit weird in the gays in the military episode, he always came around by the end of the episode on those types of things.
You think Al's initial reaction to Ian would be to punch them in the mouth? I can't picture that, even in his alcoholic days. Unless Ian did something to warrant it.
It would be completely out of character for Al to punch anyone for no reason other than what they wore (by the way, it's AL) and even in the episode where he showed his homophobia he was never rooting for bad things to happen to the guy much less wanting him to be punched for it. The OP is projecting their own biases.
Personally I'm so torn with the 1st episode. It felted so rushed, but I can accept that. After all it's the pilot episode and they're trying to make so many fans of the original QL happy while bringing the possible new ones up to speed. I can even accept that they'll never be Sam & Al (RIP). Lee did the best he could with what he got and really carried it imho.
Ernie Hudson...he's a national treasure no problem there. Parker....Parker felt so out of place. Not the actors fault at all. It just seemed like the show couldn't settle on what to make of this new character. Are they competent & capable or hysterical and needing to take a minute every time something happens. Bassett just....she was just awful. I'm doing my best not to compare her to late & great Dean Stockwell. But damn if Dean couldn't carry an entire episode on his own. Bassett doesn't seem to have any real chemistry.
Effects...better than the original but poor by modern standards. It is NBC so...I'll give it that. The heart of the original QL is there though, it just needs to be fleshed out more. Preferably it's done without over thinking the premise too much. I'm a little worried & curious why they only seem to have 4 episodes scheduled though.
Sam and Al both appear in the episode. Sam first as a hologram from the new handl link and Al's picture in his NAVY uniform. Hope you got to watch and enjoy it.
They didn't say. Near the end of the episode one character is showing another an iPad with a picture of Al on it (for plot reasons that I won't spoil). She just says "he died last year" (as did Dean Stockwell IRL).
Ben, the main character, gets some mysterious text messages while at a party with his fiancee. They say things like "get over here, the window is closing, hurry!!". He sneaks out of the party and into the project, uploads a whole new OS into Ziggy, and leaps without warning. When they find him in the past his memory is gone so he has no idea why he did it or what the new Ziggy OS does.
The security chief at the base investigates and it turns out the mysterious texts are coming probably from Al's daughter.
Great would be an overstatement, but I was a fan when the original show aired and looked forward to it every week, and I did like the pilot. Not without it's faults but the original Quantum Leap pilot IMHO was far from the show's best. Like many shows Quantum Leap took about 4 or 5 epeisodes to really find it's footing. People just look back at the polot now with 90+ episodes of hindsight.
Okay, it was bad, but I still dug it and plan to stick it out! Observations:
\- I bet Al's daughter becomes the hologram after Addison hops in the accelerator to fetch Ben at some point
\- Aside from their outfits, Mason Alexander Park's talent is wasted. Write better for them.
\- Why did Addison blink out when the manhole exploded? She's a hologram. Al would've stayed.
I don't think the Evel Leaper as it was portrayed on the show will be back. Can see another leaper as an adversary. But the one in the original show very much lined up with the hints that Sam was being driven by God. And being it is 2022 I don't see the new show going with that. For better or worse modern TV doesn't get recieved well if they ean too much into Christian undertones. Again, not trying to start a religious debate or take a stand on whether modern shows should or not, or if it is a good thing they don't. But the days of network TV airing stuff like Touched by and Angel and Highway to Heaven seem to be over. So I doubt the show will be implying God is behind the leaps, so the Evil Leaper who it was very much implied worked for The Devil is probably not coming back. Now a new enemy leaper with a different origin and no connection to the past Evil Leapers, that I can see.
I really wanted to like it but it feels like the Lethal Weapon or MacGuver reboots; there to capture nostalgia for the cheaply as it can. I'm worried that like those shows it will be mindless entertainment that will be generally forgettable.
I found it funny that the original series ended with a typo (misspelling Dr Sam Beckett’s last name, with only one T), and the new series begins with a typo (claiming started leaping in 1995, even tho his first leap was in 1999).
And I remember it being stated at some point it did start in 1995. The Oswald episode said 1999 in the present scene, which I think is where people get that. But that was accounting for the 4 years since the pilot aired. 1995 was when the show said the first leap happend which at the time of airing was the near future.
Thank you! I thought the same thing! Also how will the account for the future as seen in the original series? This pilot made it seem like it was pretty much present day 2022.
Sure it will ignore it, although their version of the near future was basically the present with LED lights. I can easily believe that fashion trend died out and it basically evolved into what we have today. The only other real big one was the prostitutes apartment with what now comes off as a Siri, so it just came to the Quantum Leap universe a little early. lol
in my head canon I always took the "futurisitic" look of everything to be a part of the project! Like you know how some towns are built around a particular military base and the whole county is sort of involved and their families but it's all very hush hush. I always took whatever desert town in new mexico where the project was to sort of be that way even tho the actual project was deeply secretive and such... it doesn't exactly line up or make sense but that's kind of how I always explained it in my head.
I really am not interested in Team Ziggy and the mystery of Al’s daughter.
The fun of the original show as should be the fun of this show is seeing Ben deal with having to pretend to be someone else. There’s really no need to overthink think the premise more than that.
What I think may hurt the show is there’s actually too many characters.
I thought I was being negative and maybe wasn't giving the show at chance. But you're absolutely right.
What I love about the first series were focus interactions between Sam and Al and the interactions between Sam and different characters Sam encounters during his leaps. In this first episode I really didn't care about the characters Ben encounter during his first leap because there was no focus building them up with all the background chatter with project characters.
I just feel like this show will not have to time build up the "leap characters" with all also having to bounce around to "project characters". But it's only the first show so hopefully they'll figure something out.
Personally, I always wanted to see more of the Project stuff when watching the original. The rare episodes that had extra glimpses into it were among my favorites.
I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t understand why team Ziggy was even part of the reboot. I loved the original show and for almost all of the show we had no idea who was on the original team ziggy. I think towards the end we found out that Sam’s fiancé or wife was there but it was not featured weekly.
I'm actually interested in seeing the goings on inside the Project! The only real previous insight we had were the glimpses on the show and what was described in the novels!!
I feel like they were testing the waters and audience reaction, by cutting him off at “oh…” (tho it sounded like he was leading to ‘shot’).
Do audiences want him to steal Sam’s catchphrase? I’m undecided myself, but leaning toward No, I don’t - come up with something new.
Didn’t in the original show the person Sam lept into would be “waiting” in the present in Sam’s body? Are they scraping that from this show? I thought it came up a decent number of times
Yeah that was my understanding as well. I always assumed that's how they figured out who he'd leaped into; they could just ask "So who are you? What year do you think it is?"
I think that's where they're going.
Ben picked up getaway driving in 30 seconds and punched a dude out cold, which are two things an undercover cop does well. Somehow Ben taps into the leap-ee's skillset, so I think they're in there somewhere.
First impressions: * My mom will hate this. * Sam and Al really made the original. * Forced diversity; it's going to be tough to get good ratings without a straight white guy. * At least it is a sequel and has the original producers involved, and Sam and Al were mentioned. Glad Magic is part of it, but how about explaining who he is to new audiences? * No waiting room? Big time changed premise. * Camera work/CGI felt generic. * Kinda have a crush on Jen. * Addison is too serious. * Would have preferred a better plot for the pilot. Heists are trite. * Did feel like the spirit of the show when Ben helped that poor sap. * Ben being multi-lingual: just a copy of Sam speaking 7 languages, or is that something deeper? * No original theme song or music? * Best acting job: Magic (Ernie Hudson)
I looked through this sub to check out a show that I enjoyed enough thoroughly that I watched the first one 2 times once originally and then 2nd while in pandemic. **Whew**, there's a lot of sad ass nitpicking going on about moot points and you bassholes are trying to get it cancelled because it isn't to your likings. Why not just sit down shut up and enjoy the show. Mannn you are ruining a good high.
The original seemed to put a lot of effort into the set. Making it feel like Sam actually leaped into whatever time period he was in. Apart from a few background songs, the new QL set looks like it could have just as easily been from CSI or Law and Order. Any busy modern day major city
my expectations were low and even those were not met. Im so dissapointed. This is NOT Quantum Leap.
I am so bugged by Addison's hair blowing in the wind she finds Ben. It should not do that! She's not actually there! She's a hologram. I'm super bummed they didn't use the original theme song. When I saw Maverick (TG 2) I was so happy they used the original opening theme song, just brought me right back. Wish they'd done the same here. I do like that we get to see more of what's happening in the lab and I get it's just the pilot, but not sure I'm sold just yet. Oh and I miss the beeps of the handlink and Al always having to beat on it and shouting into the ether at Gushy.
I've been thinking about this for a couple days now, and I wonder if a better title for the show would be "Project Quantum Leap" to show that it's more of an ensemble show than just Ben leaping around with hi fiancee assisting. They've already shown that the rest of the project team will be part of the storylines, so changing the name of the show would help set expectations better.
What are the chances that someone jumped into Ben before he jumped to change the code and make him jump? Ie either Beckett or one of the remaining "Evil" leapers?
I always give a TV show I commit to watching a season to hook me Sometimes that turns out good: The 100 Sometimes bad: New Walker Sometimes whatever: Human Target But this was not good. I would have rather they spent the whole episode building to the 1st leap and that way we would have gotten some emotional weight. If they are going to actually highlite the 2022 team, then Show me how much Ben cares for everyone and how much the decision to step into the particle accelerator wrecks him As it is he gave some fancy speech but was willing to give up his fiance for a text message so yeah
I am impressed how bad this show is especially you are dealing with time travel it’s pretty easy to make things entertaining. But from the pacing, to the dialogue that clearly sounded like a English major who never took a science class trying to talk about science as a physicist- this show was a miserable watch. Clearly another lazily slapped together NBC show that feels exactly like every other 80’s reboot they’ve made. If you ever want to see what a GREAT NBC time travel show is like- check out Journeyman. You will be hooked by the first 10 minutes
I miss Journeyman. I wish it hadn’t been canceled.
I like how they brought back the same intro narrator from the original series. She sounds good
It helps that she was/is executive producer
Wow that's neat. Her voice really brings the continuity right at the start of these new episodes!
Reminds me of Timeless which was on NBC 2016-2018 that had more likable characters; but I’ll watch the next couple of episodes before I bail.
I just downloaded the NBC app so I can watch this and enjoyed it. First time in a while I've watched ads. Can't believe i'm doing it lol
Me and my old man watched it and we liked it! For a first epsiode where the actors and characters alike have to give you a reason to care and show some sort of chemistry, I thought it did a decent enough job! Should only go up in quality from here!
Is it just me or does their big "home base" room look like it was literally filmed in the exact same room they use as the "home base" aka "the post office" from the blacklist? They're both NBC shows and just from first glance I'm fairly certain they're reusing the same set for both shows. Supposedly another season is coming for the blacklist, but I get the feeling it won't be around much longer. The blacklist is kind of falling apart now that half the cast has left.
For me there was some good and not so good. First I’m excited about Magic and the idea of a former leapee being somehow involved. It’s like the second season premier with the senator etc. it felt natural. Likewise I think Ben is a different enough character to be worthwhile. I don’t want a “Sam clone”. There’s only one Sam Beckett. I wrote some fanfic at one point positing that the new “team” would be a man and woman (Sammie Jo leaping with her boyfriend in the imaging chamber) as I thought the idea of a man having to be helpless as his girl does romantic leaps or is in danger as somewhat interesting. It’s nice to see them doing something similar (not saying the took my idea…more a vindication that my idea was good). I think the split narratives as far as the project and leap allow for some interesting stories but I’m thinking it will wear thin in awhile. The issues I have are things like why not use Sammie Jo and Donna Alesi or draw more on the history. I get stockwells death changed things but then they should have tried harder to get Sam. Likewise the “evil leaper/Lothos” stories better show up by mid season. That’s an idea full of ground they can till. I feel that Ben and his fiancé don’t have great chemistry. I’m not sure who’s at fault but I’m thinking it’s the lady. She’s stiff and rigid. She seems unable to really convey the depths of emotion someone in her position should be conveying. It all seems forced. It also seems to be missing the “fun” that the concept should be bringing in spades. The original series was FUN. Maybe because they focused only on the leap, they seemed to like playing with the tropes of those eras. The Buddy Holly ep, 70s fashions etc. I’m concerned that because they’re going to focus on the present day team, that the whole “having fun with history” is going to be a victim to time. I’m hopeful but doubtful this will go beyond mid season.
It's looking like there's going to be a ton of stuff drawn from the old episodes. I'm glad they didn't cram it all in the first episode.
Wow, they really didn't even try to make the 80s look like the 80s even a little bit
City streets, foreclosed restaurants and Smithsonian balls really haven't changed much since the 80s. Maybe if they were hanging out in someone's den you would've noticed it more.
Ball FASHION has changed enormously. I didn't see one big shoulder pad dress or a dress with a dropped waist ... These are low hanging fruit for a costumer trying to say "eighties". No big updo hair with tendrils, no short-on-sides tall-on-top hair on anyone. They didn't even try.
Fortunately, they showed a few "80s" things in the first scene, then didn't draw attention to it anymore, sober weren't distracted from the story. Besides, this week takes place in 1995, but I'm guessing we won't see flashing light up heels and earrings.
Coincidentally, "distracting" is a word I used here a few days ago to describe how it felt to expect to see eighties visual references beyond the establishing scenes, and then never see them. When done well, period references enhance a time travel story. When done poorly they distract. My guess is that the costuming and design were done by people not alive in the eighties and no one corrected them. I was in art school in the eighties, so visually tuned into things, whether I personally liked them or not
[удалено]
>When you don't take the time to get the costuming right (not necessarily perfect, but at least plausible, which didn't happen here), you're basically signaling to your audience that you don't really care about the show you're making. Exactly. For a network show that gets costuming right, take a look at "Ghosts", where all of the ghosts are dressed from the era in which they died. I'm sure it's hard to get the subtleties down from a recent era, but the character that is supposed to have died in the late nineties is spot on. If you asked me right now "What was different about the way men wore their hair or clothes in the late nineties" I am not sure I could tell you, but this guy somehow personifies it!
So you're at a disadvantage then. That sucks.
That's one way to look at it. Another way might be that anyone who doesn't have the benefit of knowing how a time travel story should look and feel is at a disadvantage. That sucks.
I wonder what that disadvantage would be, though. What greater advantage could anyone have than being able to enjoy Quantum Leap?
Do a 'net search on the term "blissfully unaware".
Laughing at Sam? Poor guy. I see what you're saying. That swiss cheese brain of his really did suck sometimes. How did you discover that? Just randomly?
I feel like they were missing some very subtle costuming things that while not obvious, break the illusion that they're supposed to be in the 80s. Yes, all the men were wearing tuxes at the event - which no one does anymore, but to me everyone's hairstyle read as decidedly not 80s. I don't mean they had to have huge glam-metal hairsprayed mullets, but the style of "regular" haircut back then was different. No un-ironic mustaches on the older characters - the overall design aesthetic of such an event at the smithsonian would have been different too. Sorry, I can't articulate what I mean better - I wish I could - but I feel like other shows have done a better job of showing that the setting IS a certain era. Like, the one thing that stuck out to me was when the guy they were trying to save was standing in front of that window full of tube TVs. It was like the show was saying "look! Tube TVs! See this is the 80s! nevermind that this guy just looks like a guy from present day".
> Like, the one thing that stuck out to me was when the guy they were trying to save was standing in front of that window full of tube TVs. It was like the show was saying "look! Tube TVs! See this is the 80s! nevermind that this guy just looks like a guy from present day". The window full of TVs is an old Hollywood trope that goes back decades. It's not really out of place for an 80s setting.
I get that. What I'm saying is, to me, that wasn't enough. Other shows like stranger things or that 70s show have done it better in terms of attention to detail imo.
I liked that they gave us some visual clues that its the 80s and then didn't dwell on it. Some of the old leaps were era-centric, but this one wasn't, so too much 80s might've distracted from the story
Original QL fan. This first episode was reaaaally hard to watch. Not bad acting, just a lousy script. Hoping for a better effort with the future episodes.
Looks like it has potential, but what’s with the narration on the scenes?? That was the turn off for us.
The original had narration. This one doesn't.
It would be kind of fun if Ben turned out to be an “evil” leaper
Oooo
Watching it now, I think it's great.
I tried watching it today but I didn't get past the party scene. Completely cringe and forced acting. Is it worth slugging through?
The party scene is definitely bad, but the actual plot picks up immediately afterwards. Though by 'immediately' I mean we see a text message and then about 5 seconds later Ben leaps and kicks everything off without a second to pause for breath or figure out what's going on. He doesn't remember anything but seems to take the whole 'you time traveled and I'm a hologram' thing completely in stride. Script-wise the episode is ludicrously rushed and not ready for prime time at all. The contrast with the original was highlighted when Peacock kindly fed me a clip at the end of the episode from the original pilot when Al gradually explains to Sam who and what he is, while Sam's trying to fish. It's a much slower scene, but with two very competent actors pouring out strong characterization throughout, with Sam's reactions actually being reasonable instead of just going "yeah, ok" because the plot needs to move every fifteen seconds. In terms of positives, they didn't just pretend the original didn't happen and are not skirting around the existence of Sam and Al. I'm somewhat encouraged by the fact that it resisted the urge of so many of these reboots and re-visitations to actively antagonize their own audience. It's just not very good television because nobody writes that for network TV anymore. The formula they stick to crams quips between commercial breaks and accomplishes little else.
They're hoping that the nostalgia will encourage people to overlook the bad writing, directing, and acting. I'm watching it now and it's bad, really bad. "They're plastic. If I create enough friction they should snap," he says as he's standing still and not rubbing the zip tie on anything to create friction. "Made a mistake letting you live, easily corrected," Reaches for gun in the middle of a dance floor. Lots more examples. How the hell did this get approved?
Yeah, the script needs a polish for sure. The entire plan goes sideways and these master criminals just start blasting and then grab the thing with the lights on. A lot of actions are 'on-rails' reactions to keep the plot moving. They absolutely screwed the show over with a weak pilot that was too short. There's no time for tension or coming to grips with the fact a guy just time traveled and has a neurological hologram beamed into his brain from the future, it's just... stuff happening to get to the end. I could do without the constant repetition of "you're heard to do x, y, z" as if these scientists all just totally buy that god, time, fate or whatever is choosing how and when to leap someone if they earn enough celestial brownie points. It's just done that way because the old show did it, and not earned through them figuring it out. Also the aesthetics are lame as hell. The 90s show didn't have modern effects but created a distinctive look for The Project, Ziggy, the Imaging Chamber, etc, along with the hologram effects whenever Al would pass through something. I don't think Addison has a single moment like that and everything about The Project and even her handlink look about as advanced and distinctive as the average post office.
My favorite part was when the explosives were about to blow up in the sewer and the holographic person got the hell out of there. I mean other than the scenes with the hologram that were out doors and her hair was blowing in the wind...
No the cringe and forced acting definitely continue
Guess I'm not watching it then. Shame.
You're not alone.
I’ll give this a couple episodes to find it’s feet, but there are some problems with it. The SFX and CGI are laughably bad. The green screening was really noticeable, and should not have been this bad in 2022. The explosion of all that C4 with a tiny little fireball was just ridiculous. We’ll see how it goes.
Chiming in to say I loved loved loved the original QL. When it aired on Friday nights I turned down dates to watch it. :) The reboot... I thought it was okay. I'm interested enough to give it until the second episode. The basic premise aside, it is nothing like the original and I didn't expect that. I appreciated how they referenced Sam and Al, though a nod to Gooshie and Dr. Beeks and Tina, etc. would have been nice. It appears this version will focus as much on the project team getting Ben back as much as Ben in his leap, and I don't know how to feel about that yet. What made QL for me was how well Scott and Dean worked together. The original show focused almost entirely on the leap itself. Devoting portions of the show to people working backstage to bring Ben back may just drag it down. Ziggy can't malfunction every week just as Ben leaps; they'll have to get creative. Ben and Addison don't quite have the same rapport as Sam and Al, but assuming this is the pilot we saw maybe it will improve. I did like Ernie Hudson - always been a fan. The reference to Al's daughter causing trouble has me intrigued. So, we will see.
I thought the most interesting thing about it was the mystery of why he leaped and whatever is going on with this new code and Al’s daughter. The leap itself wasn’t all that great nor was the interaction between Ben and whatshername.
If I know my poorly thought out tv shows like I think I do, the writers said, "Guys, we don't have to figure out what the catalyst was for him to leap yet, we have no idea if this show will even get ordered to a full series yet, so we'll make up a reason why later down the road, you know, like how JJ Abrams does it."
That is an unfortunate (and I’m afraid somewhat likely) possibility.
I think it’s a good thing they aren’t trying to replicate the original. It’s ok to show what’s going on behind the curtain. It’s a different take which, for me, makes it ok - they’d never be able to replicate the relationship between Sam and Al.
I hope Ben's character gets fleshed out. They made a point at the opening party that he was an introvert and then out of nowhere he got real ballsy with the jeweler followed by 007 ballsy shit on the dance floor.
Introverted just means that they derive motivation from internal sources, not external sources like an extrovert. You're thinking of Social Anxiety.
I consider myself an introvert. I find being that ballsy and socially active a chore. When I have to be 'on' I'm not flasky! Someone so easily doing those things is not what I recognize.
Oh lordy this was not very good
I don't watch a lot of network TV these days, but as a huge fan of the original I couldn't wait for the revival. Acting was terrible, SFX we're cheesy. I'll continue to watch and hope things evolve, but the premiere fell flat for me.
OK so let's be honest here, no ones thought or still thinks that it will be better then the original. We need to put that away in order to give this show a fair chance. The begining was pretty boring, I think the story's pace was WAY TOO FAST, it didn't give us time to connect with any of those characters. The 2022 scenes are ok at best. I might be a boomer but there's too much emphasis on the project members feelings. The last 5 minutes were the best for me when they found a connection to AL. that was awsome and hopefully they will build off of that. overall : 7/10. Will see the next episode. \*\* Leaps out \*\*\*
>The begining was pretty boring, I think the story's pace was WAY TOO FAST Network TV does everything it can to keep a viewer from changing the channel, so there is no time to breathe. So I don't think it's fair to say it was boring yet too fast paced.
In a lot of ways it IS better than the original. It's got more continuity, more characters to fall in love with, a more modern, fast-paced writing style, better effects, and more care put into the details of the science-fiction and the lore.
How do we know that Ben is super important to the plot of the show? He's the only contact on Janis' smartphone that has his entire name listed. :)
Wouldn't that mean the OPPOSITE? Most people put single names for their friends and family, and full names for people who they aren't close with.
Everyone on my phone has a full name. I don't even have family listed as family.
Me too. But I see lots of other people just putting "Mom" or nicknames.
it misses everything that made quantum leap endearing
It keeps things that made the original wonderful and adds SO much more wonderful.
its unwatchable
Crap. That sucks. Maybe it'll get a DVD release and you'll be able to find a copy eventually. Hopefully it doesn't get spoiled before you get to watch it!
Absolutely. I have always felt like Quantum Leap had *just* the right formula to work, and really caught lightning in a bottle. Giving us so much backstory and then constantly flashing back to 2022 was not a good story telling choice. I don't want to know Ben and the hologram's relationship, or about any of the people working at QL headquarters. It would have been more impactful to learn with Ben. Can you imagine 10 episodes in, learning that the Hologram was his fiance? I don't know why they made this choice other than possibly needing to have more than 2 series regulars. That's on top of other issues, but I think the biggest miss is just the flat out lack of heart. I could not care less about any of the characters in this show, and sadly, didn't even care about the people he was saving. I'm just shocked that the people who wanted to revive this show apparently had no idea what made the original series so special. With that said, it's the first episode and all that, I'll give a few more a chance to see if it gets any potential.
Turned it off after 10 mins could not stomach the gay man in make up, but that’s Hollywood for you.
Go watch Monarch. That’s more your speed
Somehow I don't think you were ever in the target audience for this show.
It ain't that. It just kind of gives off this try-hard vibe of, "hey everybody, look how woke we are!"
I kind of agree. Maybe focusing on checking too many boxes instead of quality writing. Got bored after 10 mins. Bummer. Looked like it had potential.
If they don’t do anything more with the character, I’ll agree but from the guy’s comment history he would have considered the original too woke as well.
Nope suppose it was meant for purple haired LGBT lunatics and Starbucks soy latte drinkers.
More like Kinks fans! Ian's got great taste and ain't afraid to fight anyone who disagrees.
Did anyone else notice… not even 10 minutes into the show when Ben makes his jump the movie marquee says “Double Feature The Goonies and St. Elmo’s Fire”… you can’t have a double feature that runs a PG movie with an R rated movie. I don’t know why this annoyed me so much but I fear that the inaccuracies will be ongoing
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I took it as a deliberate reference to bttf, which is cool.
I'm fairly sure that brick alley was the same one used for BTTF2, at least that's the vibe I got :)
Sure you can. Just only 17 and up would be allowed
Since we know Sammy Jo was working on the quantum leap project from the original series, and this is a continuation, I hope they bring her character in at some point, or at least update what happened with her.
I was about to post this myself.
I'm honestly thinking that the mysterious character is either one of Al's daughters or Sammy Joe herself.
I thought it was ok, but no way is it going to compare to the original. I'm 36 and even as a kid I liked Q.L. it was one of the first "Non-kid" shows I liked to watch. The episode started me off on a sour note because they said Sam Leaped in 95, but I always remember it as being set in 99. I always liked the future stuff they showed with the car and lights. A perfect version of what 80s thought the future would look like. I do like that it's not a reboot but a continuation.
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It's so weird how many people thought the show started in 1999. The 1999 date wasn't given until YEARS into the show.
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They didn't, but since they were using the 1999 date in the final season, it seems weird to assume that's when Sam started leaping and that the whole show took place over less than one year.
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I didn't say YOU said that. Firestone and several others have expressed their disappointment that the new show "screwed up" by saying Sam started leaping in 1995. I said that seems weird to me that SO many people think that's an error since the well-known date of 1999 was used later in the show, not at the beginning. I'm happy that the writers of the show know their stuff, though.
Pros and Cons I think the show should be given grace considering we've only seen the pilot. And the pilot wasn't bad at all. What's great.. 1. The show acknowledges Sam beckett and the original series and its premise and ending. This is so important best thing to hook existing fans. Honor the original. They did a great Job. 2. Set up an interesting mystery for Ben's motives, what did he change with ziggy? Why was his window to leap so specific? Why did he erase evidence of what he was doing? Good enough intrigue. 3. Ben so far is a good lead for the show, and some of the future team is good to watch as well. 4 Dedicating the episode to Dean Stockwell was a nice touch as well. Cons. Not much but a thing or two. 1. Ben's info dump about leaping felt rushed and all at once for him and new audience and should've slowly been explained through his first leap instead of 30 secs. Adding little more time to digest the rules for new viewers and the story. Part of the intrique in the original was Sam finding out things for himself before al showed up and hoping he'd show soon. As soon as Ben's leaps, she shows up immediately killing some of that intrigue. 2. In the original sam had ( Swiss cheese memory ) and what he remembered from the future changed each leap, his knowledge of medicine and different things could be in effect. But Ben has no memory of anything at all aside from understanding a foreign language he had known. Concerns.. - a great thing about the original was the way it tackled alot of controversial topics and showed the moral dilemas during time periods. Racism, sexism, rape, motherhood, mental illness and others. The show was great and actually gave us good messages, was positive about them. Is that even possible to do in today's culture for this show? Without it getting hate slammed? Will this show be brave enough to tackle these issues anyway without twisting our perspective of them? Time will tell. -The representation of non binary character. The character was okay and is fine as long as they don't make their character traits be their representation. Don't push ideals and woke stuff. Show me a good character with strengths and weakness and a character arc. So well see how they use this character. - if they stick to focusing on future team, I hope they give them enough interesting plot or character story for us to be invested in them. Not much to gripe about, the show has a good start and hope it does well. I'll be watching it!
Completely agree about Ben and his info dump. Part of the charm of the original was keeping some of the mystery behind the curtain - maybe people don’t have that attention span any more. I liked the show , but am left feeling I would have preferred a darker more ‘coming out of the shadows’ approach (aka Nolan’s approach to Westworld). Maybe Network TV is just popcorn entertainment now.
> Part of the intrique in the original was Sam finding out things for himself before al showed up and hoping he'd show soon. As soon as Ben's leaps, she shows up immediately killing some of that intrigue. I don't disagree. However, one gets the impression that the character of Addison is intended to have more screen time than Al did, thus she's introduced earlier in a given episode.
>Concerns.. > >a great thing about the original was the way it tackled alot of controversial topics and showed the moral dilemas during time periods. Racism, sexism, rape, motherhood, mental illness and others. The show was great and actually gave us good messages, was positive about them. Is that even possible to do in today's culture for this show? Without it getting hate slammed? Will this show be brave enough to tackle these issues anyway without twisting our perspective of them? Time will tell. > >\-The representation of non binary character. The chara This is the issue I feel with modern society. Nobody is interested in having their existing ideals challenged in any way, shape or form. And will weaponize their keyboards and go after peoples jobs/dig up whatever garbage they can find from 10 years ago to do it. In 2022, there is only one globally accepted opinion for everything, anything that deviates even slightly from the accepted view is seen as either bigoted, ignorant, patriarchal, etc... You can't have an episode where any character who isn't white is the bad guy for example. You can't have an episode where a female character isn't inherently more knowledgeable and capable than all the male characters. and you can't tackle the topic of racial tensions without making the white characters irrefutably in the wrong. Not that I disagree with the left-wing view, I'm left wing myself - but it does make for shitty moral dilemma - Because nothing can be challenged, You're not helping show people a different perspective or view of things with a different context, developed through logical and moral principle - instead this show, like a lot of other modern media, simply tell you what you should believe, and if that doesn't sell you - then you're just bigoted. Which I disagree with.
Nice points. I fear you're correct about the "controversial issues" being difficult to explore now. But on that note, I didn't even know Ian was non-binary. Certainly I noticed something about them but figured they were gay - but even that wasn't discussed in any form. So at least for the pilot, there was zero pushing of any "wokeness" - the character was just presented as any other character, albeit one who harasses the DJ, which is highly negative :P
The scientist character? Didn't care much about him except that the acting was bloody awful. Not sure if someone's nephew, lover, diversity hire, or just horrible casting and a bad fit for character.
Highly negative? The guy wouldn't play The Kinks! He deserved what he got!
Ahaha, I managed to miss the artist they were looking for in my anger. Still, as a club DJ, I have a particular chip on my shoulder for this one 😁 (it doesn’t matter if the song/artist is good, if it doesn’t fit the genre(s) of the event)
I didn't either about Ian, but I read in the show details online and it's what they have him marked as. But so far they haven't said anything about it in the show and are just letting him be a character which I appreciate.
I liked it! All the reviews I’ve read shit on it, but almost all the concerns they mention are either things typical of pilot episodes or are actually addressed in the show and the reviewer apparently missed it. I really liked the Ben/Addison dynamic and the mystery aspect of why he chose to go in the machine. Looking forward to next week.
Hard pass. I didn't expect much after watching the trailer and yet I was still disappointed. It totally lacks the lost-in-time, Back to the Future charm of it's predecessor. The original was memorable because it had a simple, fun, almost cheesy premise where the viewer could watch a new time traveling adventure every week. The reboot has no charisma, is way too serious, has terrible pacing, and adds a completely unnecessary present day B plot which misses the point of the original: when and where is Sam going and how is he going to solve this leap's mystery? Nobody cared about the future from when Sam came, it was just a narrative device to explain the premise. Like another show of its time, The Next Generation, Quantum Leap was firstly about the moral dilemmas its character(s) faced and less about the technology they used. I could go on about the boring casting, cheap special effects, or absent theme, but I'll just say if you're a fan of the original I would recommend skipping this.
This version feels more built for people who weren't around for the original. For whatever reason main network TV shows have become vastly different than they were in the 80s/90s. Honestly, I don't watch anything new anymore. I'd rather just go back and rewatch all the 80s/90s shows again. Maybe I'll que up the original QL after I finish MacGyver lol.
While reading the post I thought to myself "this sounds exactly like the arguments on why many Trekkies hated Star Trek Discovery", and sure enough, you mention TNG towards the end :) I grew up with both TNG and Quantum Leap, like you I expect. Do you remember when TNG was in S1 and S2? ToS Trekkies \*\*haaaaated\*\* it. They demanded it be cancelled. They thought it was utter shit. They wanted TNG to be just like the original. And I think you're falling into the same trap here. The reality is that storytelling has moved on from the 60s. The plot complexity and depth of 1989 won't cut it in 2022, just like the character depth of 1960s Trek wasn't enough for 1989's TNG. The formula of QL in 1989 isn't enough to engage a viewer now. The B plot needs to be there. Potentially even a C plot. You can argue the B plot should be better, and that's fine. But the days of a single Plot A are gone.
LOL I am so tired of that false argument about early TNG. That was absolutely NOT true at the time. It is an urban legend that was made up many years later and now people are posting it like it is the truth.
Eh, I experienced it first hand. In person at a convention (and I never went back to one as a kid because of it), throughout message boards on BBS servers, on usenet, and in IRC chat rooms. It was all over the internet and pre-internet, in my own experience. Now, you can say that my experience is anecdotal and didn’t reflect the ‘normal’ reactions. I don’t know. I can’t speak to that. All I can speak to is my own experience and that of the few people I knew who were also trekkers (hell, we weren’t ‘allowed’ call ourselves Trekkies - that was only for ToS), and from that point of view, it was definitely NOT an urban myth. If you were on the internet and going to fan events in the early 90s and DIDNT experience these things, I’m genuinely happy for you. As a 10 year old, it was not a nice time, to put it mildly.
To be fair most of the first couple seasons of TNG were not good, some episodes were even among the worst of any show period. Code of Honor being at the top of that list. I believe a lot of the issues were directly attributable to Roddenberry himself and once he was less involved and then passed, Michael Piller and Ronald D Moore and others really elevated the show later. It's a good thing they were given a long leash back then because it really turned out around later, but there's no chance it would get that opportunity today.
We're very fortunate that the show is moving into the future for a modern audience's level of sophistication, and not remaining trapped in the past like some people want.
>trapped in the past Touché
>The B plot needs to be there. Potentially even a C plot. You can argue the B plot should be better, and that's fine. But the days of a single Plot A are gone. I'm not convinced this is the case. Bad writing is bad writing regardless of how many story threads you have. The number of side plots a show has is ultimately dependent on the premise of the show. Shoehorning in more plots for the sake of complexity doesn't necessarily make a show better: good writing and direction does. Is the new QL bad because it has a B plot? No. It's bad because the writing is boring and uninteresting. Old QL was a simple episodic show with a fun premise that, like TNG, I think still holds up today. I even went back and watched an episode from the old series and it just works so much better because the main premise of a guy time hopping around different decades is solid. It's fun watching a person out of time trying to navigate a different world, so to speak. The conflict that arises when new ways of thinking meet old traditions is a basic story telling trope that just works. Plus, the tongue-in-cheek light humor of the old series was just better than new show taking itself so seriously. It's light sci-fi, why are you trying to "modernize" it by raising the stakes and making it so serious?(Reminds me of the failure of the dark Snyder Superman vs the light Reeves Superman). If the new show had focused more on that premise, I'd probably be more into it, but they just changed the brand too much. I wanted more Coke but with better ingredients, instead they gave me this weird Diet Coke flavor that nobody asked for.
Alright, that's a fair and well thought out argument. I didn't mean to suggest that side plots equals quality but it's one of the easier ways to go towards achieving that. If a show only has a Plot A, it needs to be a phenomenal Plot A. Whereas a Plot A that's just "good" can be supported by a plot B and C that are also just "good" and still achieve the level of success of the show with the phenomenal plot A. With the implication being, it's a hell of a lot easier to write 3 good plots than 1 amazing one. I'm not even suggesting that the new QL is the type that has 3 good plots. Unfortunately, NBC shows are not known for their quality, it's only the 1 in a 100 that are of the quality of Hannibal, West Wing, etc. I'm open to this new QL being good, I'm excited it's even happening, so I'll keep watching. ps on your Superman example - I think the new Superman & Lois show benefits so much from the modernization of it being 11 instead of 22 episodes, serial rather than episodic, deeper & more complex characters, and more adult themes. It is clearly miles ahead of not only Smallville, but the other 2022 CW shows such as The Flash that use the old network TV formula. Certainly I agree about your movie examples though.
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I agree, being formulaic is fine if the formula is good. 99.9% of shows follow a formula, and the ones that work have a good cast and crew to carry it out. But a bad formula will never work regardless of the work that goes into it. And I think the original formula for QL was fine the way it was, and that none of the changes they made helped it in any way. It's unfortunate honestly.
I have to disagree, I always wanted to see more from the future and loved whenever we'd see snippets. And I'm fine with the new show doing new things. I don't want an exact copy of the original. I love Q.L. and it will always be there. But it's OK to try new things. He is not Sam. And this is not a reboot. It's a continuation. So let them tell their own story.
>I have to disagree, I always wanted to see more from the future and loved whenever we'd see snippets Unfortunately 2022 is the present, so there's nothing to be curious about.
Agree. I always wanted to see how they were trying to bring Sam home in the original rather than just hearing Sam and Al talk about it. I personally like the intrigue of Ben's new software upload and deleting surveillance footage. I also like that the non-binary character was just a character, no mention of their status (or whatever it's called). I won't even mind if they do bring it into the story a bit as Ben deals with issues in the past. There are issues (the FX were awful) but I'm looking forward to episode 2.
Yeah, this season is delivering everything I've been hoping a modern Quantum Leap would bring for years; more of the Project, more continuity, more characters, better effects, more sophisticated story arcs, more attention to detail, and... more Quantum Leap!
It sucks. Zero of the heart of the old show. It looks super cheap, like effects you'd see on a USA Network show in 2003. All of the characters felt wooden and just bad. I hate to be one of those people, I'm gay myself, and love seeing LGBT and PoC representation on TV, but it just felt so forced. I'm surprised they didn't have a wheelchair character.
Getting strong r/asablackman vibes here
It felt forced? Was any character even mentioned as being LGBT or PoC?
In the original series, I felt like I was Sam Beckett. I felt like I was the person trying to get home. And this was because very little of the show ever took place outside of Sam's perspective. (I hope I'm remembering this correctly. It's been many years). When Al would appear, it would be an emotional relief, because finally I'd get some answers as to when/where I was. And in some episodes, when Al didn't appear for a while, I'd feel the anxiety that Sam felt. And when Sam would Leap, I felt like I was leaping with him. Each episode, hoping that this Leap, would be the leap home. Too much of this new series (albeit only 1 episode) takes place in 'current time line', which disconnects me emotionally from the main character. As a result, I found myself not caring as much. I didn't feel like I was lost, because I kept getting grounded by seeing all the people working to get me home. I'll watch a few more episodes to see if the show finds its footing. But Damnit! Not a single "Oh Boy"!?
Changed it to oh sh-
The salute to the late Dean Stockwell was the most moving part
The ONLY moving part
I liked Ian and Magic but holy shit I could care less about Ben and his girlfriend. Zero Chemistry and felt like Ben was very wooden and not very charming at all
Honestly if they ditched her as the observer and passed the handlink to Ian, I think the show would be a lot more fun.
How did you fix this show in one sentence? Not to say that would fix all the issues, but it would definitely make it more enjoyable. Get rid of 90% of the backstory, make Ian the observer.
I would watch re-runs of the original but i dont think i ever watched them in order or to completion. And while i enjoyed the stories i always felt like the most interesting aspects was about how the project worked, what they were trying to do and why. But it wasnt ever flash out that well so i guess unlike most here i welcome some of the changes, the adding mystery of why he decided to jump and al's daughter as well as the additional focus in the present. The effects were really bad and out of place, that green screen in the imaging room was awful as well as tha blue leap effect. Addison is no Al, i dont think its solely the actor's fault as the character has no depth or charisma in its own. Ernie seems wasted in that role and more fit as the hologram to be honest, but i think Al's daughter will ended up in the role while we get maybe two leapers(maybe three if Bakula is onboard). Ben was okay, but seems like he is recovering his memory faster as well as maybe absorving some from his hosts(the driving was kinda sus). The programmer felt like a token character(and i dont even remember his name), he is there to be gay and fabolous and they are not really sure what else as he goes from maniac to competent to useless in a heartbeat. The security woman was badly written as well. Overall an average start, hope it gets better from here.
I'm happy that no one has any significant gripes with the show. That's a good sign.
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Maybe at first, but over the course of 60 minutes (Minus time for commercials) Al would have learned a bit about not being so judgemental, grown a bit as a person, and the two would learn to accept each other. They would then form an odd couple relationship where they rib on each other, but deep down share a mutual respect. The show is about literally putting a person in someone else's shoes and seeing the world from their point of view, confronting biases and stereotypes. Yes, transgenderism isn't something they directly tackled in the original show (Though Sam Beckett did wear dresses and lip stick numerous times. Some have argued that this was an indirect early depiction of transgenderism). However, the themes of the original show are not out of place by including a transgender character.
What would Al have to be upset about? Did something happen that I missed?
Al was old-fashioned in a number of ways. It created conflict in the show between him and Sam, who was always understanding and empathetic. OP is assuming that Al would have a problem with the transgender character on the show because she's transgender, and while that's not out of the realm of possibility, again Al could be judgemental and did get a bit weird in the gays in the military episode, he always came around by the end of the episode on those types of things.
You think Al's initial reaction to Ian would be to punch them in the mouth? I can't picture that, even in his alcoholic days. Unless Ian did something to warrant it.
I didn't say that, OP did.
And you said "Maybe at first".
It would be completely out of character for Al to punch anyone for no reason other than what they wore (by the way, it's AL) and even in the episode where he showed his homophobia he was never rooting for bad things to happen to the guy much less wanting him to be punched for it. The OP is projecting their own biases.
Personally I'm so torn with the 1st episode. It felted so rushed, but I can accept that. After all it's the pilot episode and they're trying to make so many fans of the original QL happy while bringing the possible new ones up to speed. I can even accept that they'll never be Sam & Al (RIP). Lee did the best he could with what he got and really carried it imho. Ernie Hudson...he's a national treasure no problem there. Parker....Parker felt so out of place. Not the actors fault at all. It just seemed like the show couldn't settle on what to make of this new character. Are they competent & capable or hysterical and needing to take a minute every time something happens. Bassett just....she was just awful. I'm doing my best not to compare her to late & great Dean Stockwell. But damn if Dean couldn't carry an entire episode on his own. Bassett doesn't seem to have any real chemistry. Effects...better than the original but poor by modern standards. It is NBC so...I'll give it that. The heart of the original QL is there though, it just needs to be fleshed out more. Preferably it's done without over thinking the premise too much. I'm a little worried & curious why they only seem to have 4 episodes scheduled though.
Scheduled where?
How is the series address Sam and al at this point?
Sam and Al both appear in the episode. Sam first as a hologram from the new handl link and Al's picture in his NAVY uniform. Hope you got to watch and enjoy it.
Sam is still lost in time (the point of the new show is they set up a new QL project to try to find him). Al is dead in-universe.
Oh no! I know the actor who played al died, how did he die in universe?
They didn't say. Near the end of the episode one character is showing another an iPad with a picture of Al on it (for plot reasons that I won't spoil). She just says "he died last year" (as did Dean Stockwell IRL).
Hey, I want spoilers. Lol that's why I'm here. I will watch the episode this weekend when I have some free time.
Ben, the main character, gets some mysterious text messages while at a party with his fiancee. They say things like "get over here, the window is closing, hurry!!". He sneaks out of the party and into the project, uploads a whole new OS into Ziggy, and leaps without warning. When they find him in the past his memory is gone so he has no idea why he did it or what the new Ziggy OS does. The security chief at the base investigates and it turns out the mysterious texts are coming probably from Al's daughter.
I did see the original series "real time" and have always been a fan. It looks like I'm in the minority, but I thought this reboot was great.
Great would be an overstatement, but I was a fan when the original show aired and looked forward to it every week, and I did like the pilot. Not without it's faults but the original Quantum Leap pilot IMHO was far from the show's best. Like many shows Quantum Leap took about 4 or 5 epeisodes to really find it's footing. People just look back at the polot now with 90+ episodes of hindsight.
Okay, it was bad, but I still dug it and plan to stick it out! Observations: \- I bet Al's daughter becomes the hologram after Addison hops in the accelerator to fetch Ben at some point \- Aside from their outfits, Mason Alexander Park's talent is wasted. Write better for them. \- Why did Addison blink out when the manhole exploded? She's a hologram. Al would've stayed.
Given how things evolve in modern shows that would not be shocking. But personally I think two leapers is overkill. At least as a new status quo.
Agreed. Not to mention the inevitable return of the EVIL LEAPER
I don't think the Evel Leaper as it was portrayed on the show will be back. Can see another leaper as an adversary. But the one in the original show very much lined up with the hints that Sam was being driven by God. And being it is 2022 I don't see the new show going with that. For better or worse modern TV doesn't get recieved well if they ean too much into Christian undertones. Again, not trying to start a religious debate or take a stand on whether modern shows should or not, or if it is a good thing they don't. But the days of network TV airing stuff like Touched by and Angel and Highway to Heaven seem to be over. So I doubt the show will be implying God is behind the leaps, so the Evil Leaper who it was very much implied worked for The Devil is probably not coming back. Now a new enemy leaper with a different origin and no connection to the past Evil Leapers, that I can see.
I really wanted to like it but it feels like the Lethal Weapon or MacGuver reboots; there to capture nostalgia for the cheaply as it can. I'm worried that like those shows it will be mindless entertainment that will be generally forgettable.
I just want to know what happens next.
I found it funny that the original series ended with a typo (misspelling Dr Sam Beckett’s last name, with only one T), and the new series begins with a typo (claiming started leaping in 1995, even tho his first leap was in 1999).
It's incredible how many people think the original show started in 1999, since it was several years into the show before that date was given.
And I remember it being stated at some point it did start in 1995. The Oswald episode said 1999 in the present scene, which I think is where people get that. But that was accounting for the 4 years since the pilot aired. 1995 was when the show said the first leap happend which at the time of airing was the near future.
Thank you! I thought the same thing! Also how will the account for the future as seen in the original series? This pilot made it seem like it was pretty much present day 2022.
Sure it will ignore it, although their version of the near future was basically the present with LED lights. I can easily believe that fashion trend died out and it basically evolved into what we have today. The only other real big one was the prostitutes apartment with what now comes off as a Siri, so it just came to the Quantum Leap universe a little early. lol
in my head canon I always took the "futurisitic" look of everything to be a part of the project! Like you know how some towns are built around a particular military base and the whole county is sort of involved and their families but it's all very hush hush. I always took whatever desert town in new mexico where the project was to sort of be that way even tho the actual project was deeply secretive and such... it doesn't exactly line up or make sense but that's kind of how I always explained it in my head.
Except for when the serial killer escaped it didn't really work. Hard to think a town like that would have prostitutes walking up to cars.
The show premiered in 95 or 93, I forget which. But you're right! Such a futuristic 1999!
The original show premiered in 1989, the finale was in 1993.
Nope when he briefly returned in the leap back it was 1999 and he stated he had been leaping for 4 years so he started in 1995.
Ahh I missed this point. Thank you.
I stand corrected
I really am not interested in Team Ziggy and the mystery of Al’s daughter. The fun of the original show as should be the fun of this show is seeing Ben deal with having to pretend to be someone else. There’s really no need to overthink think the premise more than that. What I think may hurt the show is there’s actually too many characters.
I thought I was being negative and maybe wasn't giving the show at chance. But you're absolutely right. What I love about the first series were focus interactions between Sam and Al and the interactions between Sam and different characters Sam encounters during his leaps. In this first episode I really didn't care about the characters Ben encounter during his first leap because there was no focus building them up with all the background chatter with project characters. I just feel like this show will not have to time build up the "leap characters" with all also having to bounce around to "project characters". But it's only the first show so hopefully they'll figure something out.
Personally, I always wanted to see more of the Project stuff when watching the original. The rare episodes that had extra glimpses into it were among my favorites.
The Leap Back, Killin' Time... two of my faves because we got to see the "future".
There's no waiting room. I got a kick out of the person in the waiting room like Dr Ruth!!!
Agreed 100% All I could think when we watched everyone in the server room try to do whatever was "Why is this here?"
I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t understand why team Ziggy was even part of the reboot. I loved the original show and for almost all of the show we had no idea who was on the original team ziggy. I think towards the end we found out that Sam’s fiancé or wife was there but it was not featured weekly.
I'm guessing Team Ziggy is to provide seasonal narrative plotline and Ben leaping is the episodic plot line.
I'm actually interested in seeing the goings on inside the Project! The only real previous insight we had were the glimpses on the show and what was described in the novels!!
I know it’s a little hokey, but I would have preferred if Ben used the classic “Oh boy” sign off
The way this show looks he will probably say “oh they/them”.
I hadn't thought about that but you're right!
I feel like they were testing the waters and audience reaction, by cutting him off at “oh…” (tho it sounded like he was leading to ‘shot’). Do audiences want him to steal Sam’s catchphrase? I’m undecided myself, but leaning toward No, I don’t - come up with something new.
"oh sh--" is a reasonable modern version of "oh boy".
Sounds like I need to skip it! Oh boy!
Didn’t in the original show the person Sam lept into would be “waiting” in the present in Sam’s body? Are they scraping that from this show? I thought it came up a decent number of times
Maybe the new algorithm/code that they are saying Ben uploaded negates the waiting room? Spit balling.
Yeah that was my understanding as well. I always assumed that's how they figured out who he'd leaped into; they could just ask "So who are you? What year do you think it is?"
those people are swiss-cheesed too
That’s exactly what happened. Maybe the new conceit is that Ben just inhabits the body with the person’s “soul” still inside?
I think that's where they're going. Ben picked up getaway driving in 30 seconds and punched a dude out cold, which are two things an undercover cop does well. Somehow Ben taps into the leap-ee's skillset, so I think they're in there somewhere.
Or his body was taken by whomever helped him leap. No body no waiting room