Two things I’ve never understood, but then I haven’t seen every episode:
1- The people who Sam “possesses” or leaps into or whatever- are they bodily in the holding cell or just psychically there (in Sam’s body, perhaps?)
2- When they return to their own time-body-world, do they have any conscious memory of what happened when Sam was there (like as not saving their bacon), or do they just draw a blank when people say “Don’t you remember how you saved the world from terrorists that time?”
Also a comment- I really thought they should have left Al in the alternaverse for longer than a single episode since, as he was 20 years older than Sam, they could have had a lot more to draw on (WW2, etc.).
Apparently (as evidenced in the episode where Sam leaps into a legless war vet) when Sam leaps into someone he only takes on the persons visage, physically he’s still Sam. Therefore… the folks that get leaped into wait around in the future only looking like Sam.
Yeah doesn’t make any real sense… but neither did Al being able to be seen by Dogs or Children.
I do not know if we got a clear answer on that. I would assume it was they “remembered” what happened. Like when they leaped back into their times they got a memory download of what Sam did on their behalf.
I will have to with Chaos with this one. Or somehow the people (Al and company) in the imaging chamber can see the person in the original form.
In the past week one of the cable networks have been showing the Halloween episodes (I usually catch it if I am not in the mood for Futurama and Family Guy). Sam has been leaping into some pretty strange characters and Al has made remarks about how strange the leapee looks. Specifically, when Sam leaped into a vampire Al told Sam you should see what this guy looks like, like a vampire. He was talking in past tense, like he just saw the vampire in the imaging room before visiting Sam.
There are plenty of examples of this. Anyway, I wouldn’t be suprised if it was inconsistent.
in the waiting room, if you were to look into a mirror, you would see Sam and not you. however you would be yourself. Dr. Verbena Beeks gives them psychiatric counseling during this time when they start to free out that they arent themselves.
Question 2:
It wasnt really talked about, but if they were like sam, then they had a tiny bit of recollection of what happened, but most things were swissed cheesed out during the leap
I am ashamed to admit this but I have seen every episode, multiple times even. But, I have always wondered this. Does the person have tales of being abducted and locked in some strange white room? People in white with multi-colored things in their hand running around?
It seems that the leapee in some episodes would need to have knowledge of what happened during the time they were gone. Otherwise everything that Sam did would unravel.
It was said many times that they are there bodily. Sam’s actual body leaps, and replaces the person. He is surrounded by a psychic aura that makes him look and sound like the person, but it is Sam’s own body.
In one episode, Sam leaps into a wounded soldier with no legs. Sam is able to walk, other people see the soldier seeming to float through the air.
In another episode Sam leaps into a rock star with webbed fingers. He doesn’t see the webbing when he looks at his own hand, only when he sees his hand in the mirror.
Likewise the leapee arrives in the QL lab surrounded by an aura that makes them look like Sam. In one episode, the leapee is a kidnapper involved in a hostage situatuion. He looks in a mirror and sees Sam. Also he escapes from the waiting room, and Gooshie addresses him as Dr Beckett. So he must look like Sam to other people.
In one episode Sam leaps into a Springer-style talk show host. He promises his audience that he will shortly tell the tale of how he was abducted by aliens and kept in an all white room. Its also implied that more sinister alien abduction tales are the result of the evil leaper and her team.
I’m watching the show through Netflix, and recently saw the Season 2 ep where Sam jumped into a woman. Al says that Sam’s body is back in the future, but his identity keeps getting switched. However when Al enters the holo-chamber so he can talk to Sam in the past, he sees the body that Sam’s currently occupying. This would indicate that Sam is psychically jumping.
I think its bodily with the Aura thing, in a season 3 episode Sam jumps into a pregnant woman who is just about to give birth.
Sam claims to be havin contractions, however sam says thats impossible because the baby is in the future with the mother (of course Sam then starts to give birth).
Today “Quantum Leap” series creator Donald P. Bellisario joins Ars Technica to answer once and for all the lingering questions we have about his enduringly popular show. Was Dr. Sam Beckett really leaping between all those time periods and people or did he simply imagine it all? What do people in the waiting room do while Sam is in their bodies? What happens to Sam’s loyal ally Al? 30 years following the series finale, answers to these mysteries and more await.