# I'm reviving Quantum Leap--Who does the new leaper leap into? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517 "2009-05-15T12:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/21 "2009-05-15T15:45:30Z")
If Jackie had died, the chldren would have been raised differently. The Kennedys would have swooped down and raised them their way. I guess you could figure they would have ended up OD’ing as teenagers or something. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/22 "2009-05-15T15:47:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If Jackie had died, the chldren would have been raised differently. The Kennedys would have swooped down and raised them their way. I guess you could figure they would have ended up OD’ing as teenagers or something. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/23 "2009-05-15T16:09:50Z")
an episode called Leap Year. Sam leaps into someone’s 5th birthday party. “Oh boy, I’m five” It’s 12.01 am on Feb 29th (so he’s really 20, after all). Something Bad will happen shortly before midnight, and Sam has just 24 hours to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/24 "2009-05-15T16:46:10Z")
Wasn’t the idea of saving Jackie that the murder of her along with JFK would have resulted in a vengeful USA populace virtually demanding war against Russia? Or was that just what a friend figured when I said of the episode “Yeah, because the world really needs another book editor”? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/25 "2009-05-15T16:53:44Z")
If you’re serious about re-doing QL, have a series finale planned that is not an upraised middle finger to the network AND the fans. Just flip off the network, OK? A lot of the appeal of the show was the happy ending in every episode. Where was the happy ending for Sam? I want to second the idea that “leaping into ordinary people’s lives” is a better concept than fixing historical wrongs. I think people can relate better to the “Oh boy, I’m the Mommy!” kind of episode than the “I’m Oswald” episode. I also liked the episodes where Sam leaped into people on the edge of social trends. The one where he leaped into a secretary at a big 3 automaker in the early 1960s was good. He started wearing sneakers to work instead of pumps, started working for pay equity, tried to keep his room mate from sleeping with their married boss, and took said boss down a peg or three. Good times! The “Japanese War Bride” one was good also. OTOH, I _loved_ the Oswald episode. Creator/producer [Don Bellisaro](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0069074/bio) served with Oswald in the Marines, and that experience informed the episode wonderfully. After watching that episode I can see that Oswald was bat-poop crazy enough to shoot the president. The line at the end about Jackie being shot in the “original” time line had a lot of emotional impact. Even for me, the oldest person I know who does not remember JFK getting shot. JFK’s assassination was a terrible blow for the US. If Jackie had been killed also, well, it’s too much to contemplate. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/26 "2009-05-15T17:19:01Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > In Dean Stockwell’s role? I don’t see it. You know who’d be good? Dean Stockwell. Or Jewel Staite. I’d support that last part, and not just because I’d want to see Jewel in just about ANYTHING… 😃 But her usual brand of earnestness with a bit of ‘slightly nervous’ mixed in would be good for the person talkin’ to Ziggy. And she could flip around the ‘lecherous hologram’ shtick from the original, always trying to spy on attractive guys without being seen. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/27 "2009-05-15T17:23:52Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Where was the happy ending for Sam? Sam was an angel. Part of accepting angels\* is accepting that, from whatever standpoint they may have started from, they’re already dead and not getting better. In the final timeline we’re left with, we pretty much have to presume that Sam’s original experiment failed and he died in the acceleration chamber. But the point is all the lives Sam has touched since then. \*Not that I do, necessarily. But it’s plain from the finale that that’s what Sam was, so it’s the material we have to deal with. It dawns on me that now two of my favorite TV shows of all time have angels in them. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/28 "2009-05-15T17:24:12Z")
An interesting scenario would be that he leaps into a life so cool and fulfilling that he doesn’t WANT to leap. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/29 "2009-05-15T17:36:25Z")
In the season finale, Sam appeared as himself to Al’s wife and told her to wait, that he was a POW but would be coming home. She waits for him and they end up having lots of kids and grandkids. In QLII, Sam leaps into one of the children, now grown, who is planning a school shooting at his university. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/30 "2009-05-15T17:42:54Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > But the point is all the lives Sam has touched since then. Two things on follow-up. One: Given my assignation to Sam of the job title “angel,” I really regret using the word “touched.” 😉 Two: I meant to make clear that Sam’s “happy ending” consisted of deciding to go on doing the Angel thing. FWIW, I believe myself to be one of the only _QL_ fans who did not go into a raging fury over the finale. I thought it was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/31 "2009-05-15T17:43:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I actually thought about him. But I think a new QL really has the potential to get nice and dark (as per the OP), and Bakula chews too much scenery to do it properly. Stockwell’s character on Battlestar was perfect for this. Hell - Stockwell in the role of Sam would be great too! It’d bring up some excellent underlying themes of an aging individual with literally a new lease on life. You misunderstand. I’m not suggesting Scott Bakula star, but that the leaper leaps _into_ actor Scott Bakula. Lots of recursive and ironic potential there. Of course, if you think he chews scenery too much, this wouldn’t stop him. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/32 "2009-05-15T17:53:28Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > FWIW, I believe myself to be one of the only _QL_ fans who did not go into a raging fury over the finale. I thought it was perfect. I didn’t hate it, either. I thought it was interesting. Although, a friend of mine (who was a bigger fan of the show than I was) wasn’t happy that God was a bartender – she thought that was a huge cliche. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/33 "2009-05-15T18:07:50Z")
How about leaping into a whistle-blower who is torn whether to shut down an economically depressed town’s only factory or watch as said factory continues to spew out birth defects alongside the paychecks. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/34 "2009-05-15T18:11:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I recently saw that episode, and I have to ask what was the significance of saving Jackie Kennedy. I remember watching that when it was first shown and thinking “Wow, what a hugely pointless waste of time that was.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/35 "2009-05-15T18:19:31Z")
I remember being a little disappointed with the Marilyn Monroe episode. Sam’s mission was nothing more than to make sure she stayed alive long enough to make her last movie. But it does hammer the point home that repairing the timeline doesn’t always involve things that we might think are worth it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/36 "2009-05-15T18:30:15Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > - Someone on Death Row Sam leapt into a Death Row inmate in the episode [“Last Dance Before An Execution”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0681134/) aired May 1, 1991. Leap Date May 12, 1971. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/37 "2009-05-15T18:43:31Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Two things on follow-up. > > One: Given my assignation to Sam of the job title “angel,” I really regret using the word “touched.” 😉 > > Two: I meant to make clear that Sam’s “happy ending” consisted of deciding to go on doing the Angel thing. > > FWIW, I believe myself to be one of the only _QL_ fans who did not go into a raging fury over the finale. I thought it was perfect. I loved it. Especially given that it worked even if the show was not cancelled (they made that one knowing they were on the bubble). > [@cochrane](#): > > Sam leapt into a Death Row inmate in the episode [“Last Dance Before An Execution”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0681134/) aired May 1, 1991. Leap Date May 12, 1971. I figured that one was most likely to have been used. I may have even seen it. I would still liked to have seen the long rumored/promised Magnum PI crossover. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/38 "2009-05-15T18:52:01Z")
I know it’s completely ridiculous but I heard a rumor that if the show had continued they were planning to have Sam leap into a cartoon character. It’d be interesting to see them do it just to see what kind of explanation they come up with for this. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/39 "2009-05-15T19:02:31Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Oooh good one! He could try to convince the Star Trek writers to lay off the time travel. It would be great to start off with an epic fail. The leaper should jump into the role of Scott Bakula’s _friend_, and dissuade him from doing “Major League 3: Back to the Minors.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517/40 "2009-05-15T19:04:27Z")
How about Sam leaping into Mary Queen of Scots the night before her execution? Fun times! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reviving-quantum-leap-who-does-the-new-leaper-leap-into/496517.md?page=3)