Quantum Leap was one of my favorite shows as a kid.
So when I heard that Hollywood was going to be rebooting the series, I was genuinely excited. The original Quantum Leap was about an experimental government program that would allow a person to leap through time and space. The program works, but not as planned. Sam Beckett leaps through time and space. But he leaps into another person's body. With the help of his handler, Al, Sam must figure out how to fix a major problem in the life of the person he leaps into. Once the problem is fixed, he can leap on, and hopefully leap home.
Last week was the premiere episode for the all new Quantum Leap and I couldn't wait. I sat down on my couch with the surround sound on, the lights turned off, and snacks at the ready. And, I'm sorry to say that it was complete disaster. The storyline was muffled, the characters were forgettable, the acting and directing was bad, the editing was ridiculous. This show had some of the worst green screen effects I've ever seen. It was a hot mess. We are introduced to the main character (Ben) and his fiancé (Addison) who are scientists in the Quantum Leap program as it getting started. They having an engagement party. The next minute he's leaping through time and no one knows why he has done this. The program isn't ready for testing yet and he went rogue and leaped on his own without anyone's knowledge. He ends up leaping into the eighties into the body of a get-away driver who is waiting for his fellow bank thieves. He has no memory of who is or how he got here. Addison (the fiancé) jumps in as his hologram handler. She tries to explain what's happened as the crooks jump in the van and they escape after some creative driving on Ben's part. After they escaped they meet up with the rest of the "baddies" and we find out that this was just a trial run for a bigger heist, a heist where a fancy party will be blown up and a very expensive jewel will be lifted. At one point during the jewel heist they are at the black tie event and one of the thugs is dressed in a tux looking super "menacing." He's carrying a long pipe used to "seal a door" as he just walks across the dance floor. AND NO ONE NOTICES. (sigh). Of course, Ben stops the heist by LITERALLY PICKING UP THE BOMB and throwing it into the sewer. (very Batman-esque)
So here’s how it should have gone.
The first episode should have introduced the new cast. 3-5 new characters that make up a new team of scientists who are looking to explore quantum phyics. Our lead character is Sam’s son (Let's just call him Scott for now). Sam had no idea that his wife was preggers before he took his first leap. Now, all these years later, Scott, who was told that his father died in an accident at work, followed in Sam's footsteps and became a quantum physicist as well. This new "best of the best" team of scientist has just begun their work when they are mysteriously delivered classified information on a previous quantum physics program called "Quantum Leap," which was shrouded in mystery and covered up by the government. The research from the Quantum Leap program is "leaps and bounds"ahead of their own research. A couple of the team members decide to begin looking into who sent these classified documents. Through some difficulty investigation, they find out that Admiral Albert Calavicci (better known as Al the hologram to us) has passed away. Upon his death he had arranged for these files to be delivered to Sam's son. Along with the classified files, Al left a single hand written note with the word "Ziggy–57P28F. After some more research this will lead them to a hologram video recording of Al with a message for Scott explaining who his father really was, how the government shut them down forced their silence about the program, where their pervious lab is located, that Sam Beckett was lost in the quantum field, leaping from time to time into a new life and may very well be still out there, leaping, and how he thought their was still hope to find his dad. Scott's new focus is to restart the Quantum Leap project, locate his father in time and bringing him home. He presents this to his team and they dive into the work. They move to Sam's old lab, where all of the equipment still stands. They dust everything off and begin reviewing all the previous data, learning algorithms, and other nerdy things. During this time a big bad government official discovers their research and is determined to shut them down at all costs. As the episode closes and our team frantically tries to deal with General "Badguy," who is literally trying to pound down their door, the nerdiest scientist (Harris) yells over all the shouting and says “Guys! I think I found him….” And that is how episode 1 would end.
In the following episodes I would eventually have them find Sam and bring him home, maybe not until the end of the first season. You have to build suspense with a good story. But the twist would be that his son would be stuck leaping. I would then make Sam the new Hologram that travels with his son.
That's what I would have done! I think this story feels like it pays homage to the previous show while establishing a new group to run with. What do you think? Did you enjoy the pilot? Am I way off on my pilot episode? Leave me a comment and let me know! I'm going to continue watch the new show. I want to see if it gets better. Here's hoping!