The best of times--Another leap forward for
the series as we got a number of memorable episodes that played with
the format of the show. Among the highlights of this season--In "The
Leap Back" Sam and Al switch places when lightning hits just as Sam
is about to make his leap. "Raped" is a memorable episode where Sam
is thrown into the body of a woman who has been raped. No one wants
to believe "her" because the person accused is the son of a
prominent member of the community. In "Temptation Eyes" a serial
murderer is at work and Sam becomes a TV reporter that must prevent
the psychic helping the police from becoming the next victim. Sadly
"I Want to Know What Love Is" is missing (if I'm correctly
remembering it being int he episode)."It's a Wonderful Leap" has Sam
as a New York cab driver trying to earn his medallion. He runs over
a lady who claims to be an angel there to help Sam achieve his
mission which makes it tough for Al because the two don't get along.
"A Leap for Lisa" is a terrific episode in which Sam leaps into Al
as a navy pilot facing rape and murder charges. Sam changes history
by asking a key witness not to testify on his behalf and it becomes
clear that Al may be put on trial.
The transfer looks pretty good. The images are occasionally soft and
there's dirt and debris in some of the transfers (some more than
others)but on the whole acceptable. Audio is solid throughout the
set. Image quality varies depending upon the amount of optical
effects as well and those scenes tend to be on the softer side with
more debris and dirt noticeable.
It was the worst of times--There are songs that have been replaced
in this set (it is at least noted on the box) but not in all the
episodes. For those where the music issue looms large I'd wait for
the Region 2 discs in the UK. It's sad that such a unique and
terrific show should be the victim of greed (whether it is on
Universal's end, the music publisher's end or both)or a lack of
interest in securing the rights to important songs. Personally, I
would think that the publishers would want additional exposure for
their music (it can continue to lead to additional sales and with
the music industry in a slump I would have thought they would see
that as an important extra).
We get two extras. One is a preview of the season five episode
"Liberation" where Sam leaps into the body of a mother who must
prevent her daughter from being killed at a protest. The second is a
featurette that was produced for Universal's 80's TV shows. It's
pretty generic but does have some interesting comments from both
newspaper and TV writers. None of the extras co-producer/writer
Deborah Pratt had offered Universal are included. I'm not sure what
Universal's issue is with this but it would be nice if Universal
actually showed that they cared what the fans felt (although that's
been pretty clear with every set after the first season). This
generic focuses on "Quantum Leap" for about 5 or 6 minutes of its
nearly 20 minute running time. I would gladly forgo expensive extras
if Universal would secure the rights to music to key episodes (and
let the original producers decide what is key to the scenes in the
episodes).
Packaging is like the 3rd season with the individual slimline
holders for each episode and the show is, once again, presented on
dual sided DVD18 discs. Five stars for the show minus a star for the
poor extras and the changes in music.
Sam and Al switch roles after
a lightning strike. This allows Sam to return home to his
wife, but when Al leaps into Captain Tom Jarrett, he is set
to be killed by his lover's jealous ex-fiance, Sam must act
as his hologram in order to save Al and continue to leap
through time.
Episode Note: In this, the first appearance of present
day Quantum Leap Laboratories, Ziggy is revealed to be
female in personality and voice (something which is
suggested elsewhere in the series by both Al and Sam
referring to Ziggy as "her" and "she" in previous episodes),
and is said to have a
1TFlop processing capacity, which is consistent with the
top
Supercomputer power in 1999[2].
Sam is a washed-out baseball
player named Lester "Doc" Fuller who has to help a younger
and angrier player get into the major leagues, the player
reminding him of Al when they first met.
Sam leaps into Archie
Necaise, a small-town sheriff in the middle of
Hurricane Camille. He must keep his host's girlfriend
from being killed in the storm... or by anyone else.
Sam leaps into a man named
Clyde just as he is about to join the
Ku Klux Klan, out of respect for the racist family he
has married into. He must prevent a black civil rights
leader from being lynched by the Klan while trying to
explain to his host's son the evils of racism, but due to
his moral upbringing, it becomes very difficult to act like
the person he has leaped into to avoid his own lynching.
Noble Willingham and
Michael Beach guest star.
Sam is Frank Bianca, a male
hair stylist living with his girlfriend, a single mother.
When her child witnesses a murder of a mall drugstore clerk
just as Sam leaps in, the boy's mother won't let him tell
the police what he saw, and the killer is getting closer and
closer to make sure that he never will.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt guest stars.
Sam leaps into Katie McBain,
a woman who has just been raped by the town's all-American
boy. He must make sure that justice is done, resulting in
the woman herself being brought into the Imaging Chamber to
testify at her trial. It loosely represents the
Alex Andrew Kelly case.
In a very bizarre
out-of-the-human host, Sam leaps into Bobo, an astro-chimp
whom he must get into the space program - or he'll disappear
forever due to unethical helmet testing methods.
Sam leaps into a cop named
Jack Stone just as he finds a man accused of murdering his
wife, before killing himself and emotionally crippling their
children. He must uncover a childhood trauma of the man he
leaped into (which has unfortunately remained in Sam's head
after the Leap) and catch a murderer before his host becomes
the next victim.
Sam is William "Billy"
Beaumont, a traveling rainmaker returning home to a farming
community suffering from a drought, who has to make it rain
while preventing his host's brother's wife from running away
with him.
Sam is Chance Cole, an
escaped convict who is chained to a wrongly accused black
man named Jasper who escape together only to be recaptured
again. Sam must find a way to prove Jasper's innocence to
the corrupt warden as the string of robberies continue.
Sam leaps into a man named
Joe Thurlow who's dating a much, much older woman and must
convince her not to move back to Cleveland with her
straight-as-an-arrow son and his wife. And somehow he also
has to get through a nude version of
Hamlet.
Sam leaps into Thomas "Tommy"
York, an honor-roll cadet at a Naval Academy who might be
gay. His roommate was kicked out of the Naval Academy for
being gay and Sam must stop his former roommate from being
killed by a bigoted gang of midshipmen, while also dealing
with Al's own homophobia.
As a rash of serial murders
take place in San Francisco, Sam leaps into a television
reporter named Dylan Powell who must prevent a psychic who
is helping the police from becoming the next victim. But
when she discovers who Sam really is, they fall for each
other and the ordeal becomes very personal.
Tamlyn Tomita guest stars.
Sam is a retired gunfighter
named Tyler Means who's living with his family in an Old
West town that is used for tourism and films. He must face
his former partner, who wants to kill Sam because his host
stole his heroic antics for his own, while also preventing
his host's grandson from ruining his life after his image of
his grandfather is ruined.
Sam leaps into a member of an
all-girl R&B trio named Cheree and must prevent one of the
singers from signing a cheap contract and ruining their
lives.
Sam leaps into a copilot of
an air taxi named Eddie Brackett that is transporting two
young newlyweds, one of whom is very sick with appendicitis.
But that's the least of his worries when the plane flies
into the
Bermuda Triangle and he loses contact with Al and
Quantum Leap...
Carla Gugino guest stars as a sick woman.
Sam is Roberto Gutierrez, a
Geraldo Rivera-inspired talk-show host who works with
his co-worker to unmask a local fertilizer and pesticide
plant that is researching and producing chemical weapons...
before they're silenced.
Delane Matthews and
Jerry Hardin guest star.
Sam is a New York City
taxicab driver named Max Greenman who's trying to earn
enough money to get his father his own medallion. Along the
way he meets a woman who claims to be an angel and can see
Al, believing him to be the devil.
Brushes in History: Sam mentions details of the future of
New York to a young boy in Max's cab who we are led to
believe is Donald Trump as a child.
Sam leaps into Kyle Hart, a
soap opera actor who is kidnapped by an obsessed fan who
wants him to father her baby... and, in the original
history, his host ended up wandering the countryside with a
gunshot wound to the head that rendered him totally
amnesiac.
Sam leaps into Dale Conway, a
member of an archeology team that has just unearthed the
tomb of the Pharaoh Ptah-Hotep, but the find carries with a
terrible curse.
Sam leaps into a man named
Davey Parker who's part of a trio comedy act, with his male
and female partner so in love with each other that they
cannot face it. Sam must get the couple to see that they
love each other, and prevent one of the comedians from being
killed by the
Mafia.
Bob Saget and
Amy Yasbeck guest star.
Sam leaps into a younger Al
"Bingo" Calavicci who is on trial for the murder and rape of
his commander's wife, but when Sam's actions unintentionally
prevent the witness whose testimony cleared Al in the real
history from testifying before she dies, things take a turn
for the worse as Sam suddenly finds himself with a renamed
Ziggy (Now called 'Alpha'), a married Gushie and Tina, and a
new Observer (guest star
Roddy McDowall)
Terry Farrell and
Charles Rocket guest star.
