My son and I were wondering something. Is Sam's physical strength limited to the body he's in? Like in the one where he's in a blind man's body. He can see just fine. So we were curious about whether he has his own strength or is he bound by his body's limitations?
shareHe's not in anyone's body; it's his body stepping into some sort of remnant, perceptual aura, which was admittedly kept pretty ambiguous. When he leaped into the vet who had lost his legs, Sam could still walk; and in the mirror, it looked like the guy was standing on mid air. That may have arguably stretched the premise a bit; as well as when he was Dr. Ruth, who is like, half his height.
At one point, Sam apparently fathered a child in the past.
I read a Quantum Leap novel set in Berlin during the height of the Cold War, and it suggested a sort of lensing effect for Sam; sort of like a forced perspective of the world around him, because he leaped in as a child, and everything looked bigger. When he leaped, he leaped back in as the person as an adult, returning to the same home and how everything looked bigger. It seemed like an interesting idea; and by that token, he could be limited in some ways by the host he's leaped into, as it's warped and compressed to match that person.
One of the few up sides to the show being canceled when it was, was that they never had the chance to do an episode where Sam leaped into a baby, like they had planned.
On the other hand, when Sam leaped into a chimp, Sam was still able to swim, despite chimps being unable to.
Joss Whedon and Steven Moffat walk into a bar. There were no survivors.
THEY PLANNED TO DO AN EPISODE WHEN HE LEAPT INTO THE BODY OF A BABY?????😲 AWESOME! 🙌
shareThere was an episode, Pool Hall Blues, when Sam leaped into an aging pool player. Sam was confronted by some bully. While they were grappling, the bully was shocked by how strong "the old pool player" was. We can conclude that Sam retains his own strength while in his new body.
shareYeah it's obvious Sam retains his strength and agility,just look at the countless times he displays his MA ability and goes up against much stronger opponents.
shareThere's lots of things I didn't like about that. Bellisario always said "it's just a tv show." But when it started I thought he lept into other person's minds. Then at first he only lept into guys about his height and weight...then women...didn't understand about Sam fitting into clothes...shaving...fixing his hair...getting haircuts because he had long hair at the beginning of season two...then later on cut.
shareSam's body is still back at Quantum Leap HQ so I think his hair cuts were done by Teena and it transfers over to the leaps.
That also explains the grey bangs coming and going.
Teena tries out "Just For Men" on Sam while he can't defend himself - and when it works she can use it on AL (who should be fully grey by Admiral status).
These are all just my thoughts that I just came up with.
____________________________
Kerbal Space Program:
Failure is not an option. It's a requirement!
Sam's body is still back at Quantum Leap HQNo, it wasn't; they make it quite clear throughout the series that it's Sam's entire body leaping, and only an ambiguous aura remains in the future, surrounding whomever he's leapt out.
You and your remembering.
I tell ya. A guy can't get away with nothing.
____________________________
Kerbal Space Program:
Failure is not an option. It's a requirement!
Chimpanzees can swim I've seen videos where they do it's just not common for them to swim. Even if Sam's body didn't leap ( i agree it did) and only his mind did why would he not be able to swim as a chimp?
shareWell, according to the contention within the episode, they're supposed to lack the body flat to be buoyant.
"I'm in it for the power and the free robes." - Harry Stone
I don't think he's limited to the strength of the person he leaps into because he has kicked some serious butt in a lot of episodes.
In "raped" he kicks the crap of a man much stronger than the girl he lept into. There's no way a thin girl like her could knock a man out. Sam on the other hand...
There are a lot of episodes where Sam shows abilities that should not be present in the person he's leaped into.
The obvious example being the one already mentioned where he walks across the room, despite supposedly having no legs.
Other examples;
The episode Runaway where Sam, as a 13 year old boy, lifts up his older sister and hangs her upside down. She expresses surprise that he has the strength to do so.
The episode Leap Of Faith, Sam leaps into a vicar. During the leap, he gets into a bar fight and uses his martial art skills on his attackers. The whole bar stops and looks at him in amazement. Sam first looks confused, then looks in the mirror and remembers he is a balding, fairly overweight man who would struggle to do lift his legs high enough to do karate kicks. A similar joke was used in the episode Star Light, Star Bright where Sam leaps into a 79-year old man, and teaches his grandson to play guitar. Getting caught up in the moment, he begins to break-dance much to the bafflement of the young boy watching.
However, continuity wasn't always great. Take the episode 8-And-A-Half Months. It was heavily implied that Sam, despite being male, could give birth to a baby if he didn't leap out in time.
Bellisario's rationale was that if it was just Sam's consciousness in someone else's body then he would never be in danger. If he got killed on a leap then it would be the other poor sap who died and Sam would just leap in to the next one. It had to be Sam's actual body leaping through time so if he made a mistake, it would be him who got killed. The stakes were higher for Sam that way.
shareI think to some extent he is affected by the body he's in - part of the "swiss cheese" effect.
In the episode "Jimmy" he does struggle with some tasks, such as getting his work card punched, and accidentally knocking things over - but whether that is part of the body, or more a statement on how he's feeling - at one point he remarks to Al about how frustrating it is that people are treating him like an idiot, when he's clearly not.
I think at least part of that was to highlight how other people's perspectives on you can influence your circumstances and even become self-perpetuating. Nothing that happened to Sam was really anything precluded to someone physically or mentally handicapped, but because people looked at and treated him based on preconceived notions related to Jimmy's disability, everything became overblown; and started affecting Sam's own behavior too. Jimmy's brother wouldn't have micromanaged Sam punching out at work if he saw Sam for Sam; and the machine might have still tore up his timecard, but few people would have considered that any fault of Sam's. Connie might have still been upset about her grandmother's china being broken, but she'd arguably have been more aware that it was an accident, in part caused by her coming through the door when Sam just happened to be standing there. As goo intentioned as he was, would Frank have gotten as defensive with Sam about how he was washing his car, if he didn't have his own preconceived notions about his brother? I would expect Sam would have been given more of the benefit of the doubt when he denied turning on the solvent, or whatever it was, that got all over the floor; and lead to Jimmy being fired. I don't think the neighbor would have reacted as strongly to Sam pulling off the neighbor kid starting a fight with Corey, but then if they saw Sam as Sam, there probably wouldn't have been a fight.
"You can lead a hearse to water, but you can't make it sink." The Cat