Sam leaps into himself as a 16-year-old boy to help his high school basketball team win the championship. He also tries to help the other members of his family including his father who died from ...
Sam leaps into a bar with a bartender that's more than he appears. When Sam looks into a mirror, he sees his own reflection. In the future, they realize that Sam has leaped into himself, they search ...
Still involved in his brother Tom's life, Sam leaps into Vietnam to either save his brother or ensure the success of the team's mission.
How Jaws set the standard for the summer blockbuster, and how Hollywood perfected a formula that has endured for decades.
Related lists from IMDb users
Title: Quantum Leap (1989–1993)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
| Complete series cast summary: | |||
| Scott Bakula | ... | Dr. Sam Beckett / ... 97 episodes, 1989-1993 | |
| Dean Stockwell | ... | Admiral Al Calavicci 97 episodes, 1989-1993 | |
| Deborah Pratt | ... | Narrator / ... 65 episodes, 1989-1993 | |
Theorising That One Could Time Travel Within His Own Life Time, Dr Sam Beckett Stepped Into the Quantum Leap Accelerator, and Vanished. He Awoke and Found Himself Trapped in the Past, Facing Mirror Images That Were Not His Own. and Driven by an Unknown Force to Change History for the Better. His Only Guide On This Journey is Al, An.observer from His Own Time, Who Appears in the Form of a Hologram, That Only Sam Can See and Hear. and So Dr Beckett Finds Himself Leaping from Life to Life, Striving to Put Right, What Once Went Wrong, and Hoping Each Time, That His Next Leap, Will Be the Leap Home
As a moviegoer, I don't have a great esteem for television. Sure, it has spawned many good shows, and cult characters. But I rarely felt the need to watch EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, afraid of missing even one. And believe me, I'm no short-sighted elitist.
But Quantum Leap is an absolute classic. It's got Heart, great characters, ambitious stories, and it's both accessible and clever. It may not be the strongest Sci-fi concept, but it's the most likely to reconcile the fans of Star Trek AND Magnum P.I. Who could've imagined that?
Donald Bellisario created a true gem of a show, centered around Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) a scientist whose time-travelling theories are backed up by the military, represented by the retired Navy Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell). The experiment goes wrong, and Sam is sent in the past, with most of his scientific knowledge and memories temporarily erased. His body vanished, his mind now trapped in other's bodies, and Sam soon discovers that a "superior authority" can transfer his mind from time to time, only if he manages to "fix what's broken" and give his "host" a better life. Al can communicate with him through holographic form (only noticeable by children, animals - "and blondes, too") in order to help Sam to complete his mission, whether it's to inspire a song to an artist, defend the case of a young Black in a Southern State court during the segregation days, or help a journalist to obtain a Pulitzer Prize while covering the war in Vietnam.
The variety and humanity of the show is what makes it stand above the others. Some episodes are light and humorous, when others are darker, even tragic. Some conclusions are bittersweet, and help the main characters to evolve slightly, but regularly throughout the show. What helps even more is the fantastic chemistry between the two main characters. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell have found the role of their lives, delivering touching, funny, overwhelming performances, sometimes in the course of only one episode! They're brilliant, as well as the writing, and art direction who recreates every decade from the 50's to the 80's (and sometimes beyond!) perfectly.
As for the ending... without spoiling it, it's by far the most astounding, bold and emotionally charged episode ever produced in the TV history, as far as I know. So many TV shows end up in disappointment (while so many don't even bother to give us a finale, at all...). "Quantum Leap" ending is rewarding, and intriguing. It's ambitious, happy and sad. It's both on the human scale, and larger than life.
Oh boy, what a show.