MovieChat Forums > Quantum Leap (2022) Discussion > A possible way for OG QL fans to get the...

A possible way for OG QL fans to get the happily ever after they never got...

posted 6 months ago by The_Rev (206)
8 replies | jump to latest

So, I was just thinking about this right now, because I have to say, I feel like it was a disservice to the characters of OG QL, and the QL fandom, that we never got a true "end" to the OG series. As some of you may know, Originally, the season finale of season 5 was not meant to be the end of the series. The actors, producers etc expected to continue the series after the 5th season. Executives however had other plans. They felt they had milked the series for all it was worth and were ready to move on.
So my point is, just because Scott Bakula is adamant about not returning for any cameos, doesn't mean they can't use his character (who's shrouded by the aura of whomever he's leapt into) with a different actor, and maybe only show his image (which, I mean, they wouldn't even need his permission for technically, since they could use archive footage) for a second or two, or perhaps just use some similar language/facial expressions, body movements, etc to "recreate" Sam's character with a different actor, and astute fans of the series would "know" it's Sam without actually SEEING him...
All I'm saying is, I don't think Bakula's refusal to be part of the show could stop Bellisario from reintroducing his character with a different face (because after all, we only saw Sam as Sam because we were looking at it from "inside" the project's eyes...) If this new team comes across Sam, he's NOT going to look like Sam to them/us, since QL has no direct connection to him anymore.
I honestly don't care if they were to recast Sam Beckett at this point, because the CHARACTER deserves to go home to his wife, who's still been longing for him, and not completely giving up hope, all these years later.

[–] cyrusfan (5) 6 months ago

I very much hope they give this show a happy ending also. Happy endings have gone out of fashion in the past thirty years, but I think that in our scary and often hopeless society we need happy endings.

[–] DoctorThirteen (10393) 6 months ago

I remember I liked the way it ended. It was a real shock and not at all what I expected. I didn't know at the time that they'd intended to do more, I just thought it was pretty gutsy to go with such a bleak ending.

[–] The_Rev (206) 6 months ago

Eh... I liked "parts" of it... Like Sam being able to see himself in the mirror, seeing some of the old characters from previous seasons, and how they're "the same, but different"... And Sam going back at the end to give hope to Al's wife, so that she won't give up and move on from him.
What I DIDN'T appreciate was how NBC axed the show with no warning, stuck a little caption on the S5 finale saying "Sam never leapt home"... The whole show was based on the idea that someday, they'd either find a way to bring Sam home, or maybe even Sam himself would leap home at his own will... And then the network goes and spits in beloved fans' faces and tacks on the little bit of text, saying effectively, "this is the end of the story" with no resolution on the entire journey of the main character. It's like, millions of fans invested in that show for 5 years, and while we enjoyed the journey, the final destination is what the die hard fans that fell in love with Sam, Al, Donna, Gooshie, Verbeena, Tina (even tho she was only in 1 episode) since the beginning NEEDED for the end of the series... And then NBC just pulls the rug out from under them... >:-(
It's something that I will always "miss" from the original series... And something that would be utterly nonsensical for the writers to "pass" on in the reboot.

[–] [deleted] 6 months ago

It's possible only thing is that they saw Leaper X as Richard Martinez not as who he had leaped in to, as that's how they were able to find him in the future and pay him a visit. So technically by what they setup in that, they should see Sam as Sam, however guess they could backtrack on that to some extent with it being 30 years since Sam disappeared and this being a new Ziggy setup and not the old unit.

[–] The_Rev (206) 6 months ago

Actually you're wrong (respectfully)... I remember quite distinctly from the original show, Al and anyone else sees the person he leaps into during a leap (with exception for the mentally ill and small children, who see Sam as he is, not as who he's leapt into). And the person in the waiting room appears as Sam to everyone who interacts with them in the "Waiting Room" in "present day" AKA the time Sam came from. Googled for confirmation.
Edit: Oh... Other leapers see him as his "host" too, unless/until they make physical contact with each other, at which point they'll both see the leaper.

[–] [deleted] 6 months ago

And in that I'm talking about what they did in this new series, as in:

https://thecinemaholic.com/who-is-richard-martinez-is-he-leaper-x-in-quantum-leap/

Because Leaper X has also used technology like the Quantum Leap project, his predicament is quite similar to Ben’s. The team views the past and them in it through the imaging chamber, which filters out a lot of stuff, including the way that they look. In the past, both Leaper X and Ben jump into the bodies of other people. To the people in that timeline, they appear as the person whose body they have occupied. But, to the people in their original timeline, who view them through the imaging chamber, they appear as their own selves. This is why Addison sees Ben as Ben and not as Diego, John, Danny, or Eva. This means that Leaper X also appears to them as he is.

Once they know what Leaper X looks like, they use facial recognition to figure out his real identity. It turns out that he is someone from the present, a man named Richard Martinez. He is a marine and for now, seems to be completely oblivious to the time travel project. After talking with him, Jenn and Magic become sure of the fact that he hasn’t time traveled yet.

It's why I said: "So technically by what they setup in that, they should see Sam as Sam, however guess they could backtrack on that to some extent with it being 30 years since Sam disappeared and this being a new Ziggy setup and not the old unit."

However that aside, as for Al after the "What Price Gloria?" episode (Season 2: Episode 4) Ziggy is modified so that Al sees Sam. That happens because Al is frustrated and ashamed of his strong attraction to Sam as Gloria and admits that it is adversely affecting his relationship with his girlfriend Tina, and has forced him to seek help from the Project psychiatrist, Doctor Beeks (so Ziggy updates so it won't happen again).

Also in the three-part Lee Harvey Oswald episodes (Season 5: Eps 1, 2 and 3) it shows Al talking to the Lee Harvey Oswald character in the waiting room, here's an FB link to the scene: https://www.facebook.com/QuantumLeapNBC/videos/ai-works-with-lee-harvey-oswalds-mind-quantum-leap/881736343203834/ (Oswald looks down into the visualiser at the end and sees Sam as him).

In this 2021 Interview with Donald P. Bellisario he also talks about the waiting room and you see various people in it that Al is talking to and as Donald says they're confused at being where they are: https://youtu.be/764KR3TVMgs?si=JULgkY2wN-j00eM3&t=40 (cued up).

[–] The_Rev (206) 6 months ago

That's because they use Raymond Lee's face to illustrate who "Ben" is leapt into. We only get a glimpse of what he really looks like when he looks in a mirror. My point is, the fact that we saw Sam during the vast majority of the series (except for certain situations which aren't relevant to this convo) was done so both for the benefit of the viewer, so we ALWAYS know which character on screen is our leaper (Sam in the OG series' case), and keep casting costs down. It would get REALLY confusing if we all saw a new character portraying the leapee every week. And it would cost a fortune, and wouldn't be beneficial to the story. Us (and possibly QL staff) seeing Ben as Ben is either a deliberate change in QL canon, or the QL 2.0 writers misread their notes on the "rules" of the QL universe established in the OG series when they wrote the reboot.

[–] [deleted] 6 months ago

[deleted]