(Oh, catchphrase!)
So, I really love this show a lot. I love the show, and I love the tiny but active fandom for it. I write a fair amount of fic for it (nothing posted yet because they aren't ready yet), and I read fic all the time. I have several good online friends in that fandom.
So, what about the show itself? Quantum Leap is a science fiction series that aired from 1989 to 1993 and had 5 seasons. It also had comics and novels as extended canon materials. Actually to call it just a "science fiction series" seems a bit misleading since a big part of the show's success came from the elements of other genres, such as comedy and drama that it contained.
The show is about a genius quantum physicist named Dr. Sam Beckett who becomes stuck "leaping" around in time and space. As the intro to the show (in most episodes) says, he had a theory that one could time travel within their own lifetime. He was part of a top secret project (named Project Quantum Leap) to actually develop this means of time travel, but when the project was threatened with shutdown unless they could prove Sam's theory was actually going to work, Sam stepped into the quantum leap accelerator to test it..."and vanished!" The next thing he knew he awoke in the past with amnesia, "facing mirror images that were not his own." Sam eventually starts to remember more things, but throughout the series he always suffers from some degree or another of memory issues.
Sam in the Quantum Leap accelerator
Sam, facing a mirror image that is not his own!
The other main character of the show is Admiral Al Calavicci, who is Sam's best friend and worked on the project with him. Al appears to Sam in the form of a hologram and provides him with help on his leaps. Al uses the project's super computer named Ziggy to obtain information on where Sam has leaped and what he probably needs to do to complete the leap and move on.
Al, with the handlink he uses to interface with Ziggy while in the Imaging Chamber helping Sam. Also, holding a cigar; he smokes a lot of those.
The basic plot of the show is that Sam "leaps" into people to help fix something in their lives or the lives of the people around them. When Sam puts "right what once went wrong" in time, he gets to move on (referred to as "leaping out".) No one knows how to get Sam back home, so every time he leaps they hope he will leap home. Of course, if he did, there would be no show.
Sam, leaping out
There's a lot of debate in the fandom (and there especially was back in the day when the show was airing) on whether it is Sam's mind or body leaping. Some feel the show is legitimately like a body swap, where Sam's mind leaps into the bodies of the people he leaps into while they are in his body in the future. Others feel that when Sam leaps in he is physically there. To be clear, whichever you believe is the case, everyone sees Sam as the person he leaped into, with the exception of small children, animals, and on some occasions those with some sort of psychic ability. Even Sam does, when he looks in the mirror the reflection he sees is that of the person he's leaped into. In some episodes, it seems like Al sees Sam as the "leapee" and in others it is clear that he sees Sam as Sam; this is also a subject of some debate, and it seems like, especially early in the show, the series creators didn't have a clear answer on any of this. For the record, I think there is evidence of both, but there is more evidence that it's physically Sam (especially later in the series), although some episodes blur this line a bit.
In the episode, "What Price Gloria?", Sam leaps into a woman for the first time, and it is explicitly stated that Al sees Sam as Samantha, the woman he leaped into. Later in the series, it is clear he sees Sam as Sam. We can only assume that the folks back at the Project worked to change it so that Al could see Sam as Sam, probably because seeing Sam as a hot woman caused him a lot of distress. lol
The show is really interesting because Sam can leap into any time within his own timeline (i.e. any time in the years that he has been alive), and he can leap into any kind of person (and even one time he leaped into a chimp! ...That episode and my feelings on it are a whole other story! lol) Something that a lot of people find amusing about the show is that he leaps into women, which means he wears women's clothes and is treated as a woman. Actually, the fact that he leaps into so many different kinds of people in so many different situations means that the show sometimes deals with social issues, and this is something else the show has received a lot of praise for. It actually does an amazing job of dealing with potentially sensitive topics in a very respectful way, and it does so (usually) without going too much into "very special episode" kind of territory.
I wasn't kidding about the chimp. Oh boy.
So, why do I love this show so much? Well, first of all, I find the concept very interesting, if sometimes not well-explained (the show creators have a sort of attitude of "don't overthink stuff!" which doesn't really work for supernerds like me. lol) It has elements of time travel and elements of body swap, and basically both of those things are things I've always found interesting. It also has a lot of heart. Some people, even fans, will say the show is cheesy or campy, and maybe it is a bit, but I think it is very charming. It has good drama and good comedy. It is generally well-written and well-acted.
Sam and Al. Yeah, Al's clothes are pretty much always that amazing. XD
Secondly, I love the characters. (Isn't that always the reason I end up in love with a show?) For a series that is mostly episodic in nature, there's a decent degree of character development. We get to know Sam and Al pretty well over the course of the series, learning about various events in their lives that helped make them the people they are. It's also great to see such a close friendship being one of the main focuses of a show. Some fans ship Sam and Al, but personally I don't; I love that they are such good friends and are so important to each other, and I think there should be more shows that feature friendships like that. That said, I've got nothing against them as a ship, and I even will occasionally read fic of it (usually if it's written by a friend), but I personally just don't ship it.
Also, like I said above, the show has a lot of heart, and it deals with various topics in ways that are respectful and well-written. It is an interesting mix of genres. When I try to describe the show, I refer to it as a science-fiction series, but I always want to mention that it is more than that. It can be a bit hard to describe it just in the confines of one genre.
I would definitely recommend anyone who's never watched this show to check it out! There's something in it for everyone to enjoy, whether you like sci-fi, comedy, drama, historical fiction/period pieces (hey, it is about time travel! He's in the fifties a lot!!), or just are generally a fan of stories that are very human or stories that deal with social issues. It's well-written for the most part, and well-acted, and over all, it is just a very good show. Despite receiving acclaim in its time, it's become something of a rarely discussed and underrated gem nowadays, and I really think that's a shame. I would recommend the show to anyone! So, if you've been reading this blog and think it sounds interesting then you should definitely check out Quantum Leap!