Saturday, May 30, 2009

Quantum Leap

If you've never seen the show Quantum Leap, you don't know what you're missing. It is a show about a time traveler, who instead of just purely traveling in time as the man in The Time Machine or as the boy in Back to the Future does, the main character "leaps". He leaps into other people's lives. Every episode, for five seasons, he leaps into another person's body and that person leaps into him - who is in the future. This time traveler, named Dr. Sam Beckett, then has to right some wrong that happened in this person's life before he can leap again. He's always hoping that he'll leap home, back into himself. It's a great show. It taught me a ton of history as a kid. I now own all five seasons and like to watch it on occasion, like today. (Yes, I'm watching Quantum Leap instead of doing my revisions. Leave me alone).

However, there is one thing that has always bothered me about the show. Sam leaps into this person's life and fixes some problem. He then leaps out, and presumably the person leaps back into his own life. So theoretically, Sam could leap into my life and do something extraordinary - like land me an agent. Then I leap back in. Do I know Sam has landed me an agent? Sam leaps in and changes my life, and in the meantime I was sitting in the "waiting room" in the future, being pumped for personal information that Sam could use. Does Al (Sam's friend in the future) brief me on what Sam does in my life? I don't know. So when I "leap" back into my own life, how do I know what's going on? Would I even know I had an agent?

So many questions and no answers, because clearly its just a show. This is never going to happen. Unless it's real and the show is a cover....like Wormhole Xtreme in Stargate:SG-1. I'm partially convinced that every show Scott Bakula (the actor who plays Sam) acts in is really an extension of Quantum Leap. Take Enterprise for example. Sam leaped into the life of Jonathan Archer. Makes sense to me, but I digress.

Quantum Leap was on for five seasons, and trust me its worth it to watch all five. It's not one of the shows that just suddenly ends because its canceled. The ending wraps up the show, giving you closure on all the characters. It really is great.

So yes, instead of revising I'm watching Quantum Leap, because I wanted to watch the three "evil leaper" episodes which led me to watching the Marylin Monroe episode, which led me to watching the Civil War episode, which led me to watching the series finale. But trust me, if you had every seen Quantum Leap, you would know that its worth the watch. And after the season finale, I can start my revisions. Only thirty more minutes left.

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