PatD

I've always had a soft spot for Quantum Leap since I was a kid (during its initial broadcast) because with QL and The Wonder Years, I learned more about my parent's generation than an Oliver Stone film festival.

But, I've been revisiting the much reviled final season, to see if some of the ratings grabber/gimmick episodes were of any value for the series. I'm kind of torn. I thought, in some ways, a few extra wrinkles to the shows mythos would be a good thing, however, I just got done watching the season 5 opener "Lee Harvey Oswald" where the series broke one of their standing rules about no "famous leaps"; but what hurts it is that it's just plain dull (not to mention it offers no solid indication that Oswald was a lone nut). The Evil Leaper Trilogy had promise, but it was just too rushed into turning Alia (the renegade leaper) from a murdering antagonist, to a broken victim character. (However it was cool to see Neil Patrick Harris as a villainous greaser punk in the trilogy's middle chapter) And then there's the series finale, "Mirror Image" that is such a depressing way to close the show--Sam saves Al's marriage, but because of his swiss-cheesed mind, doesn't realize that he has a wife (from season 4's "The Leap Back") waiting for him in the future--who will never see him again.

But, for all the problems the show had--and it was a case of a show being less than the sum of it's parts/episodes--it's still a memorable, quality program.

Michael Corvin

One of my favorite shows growing up but haven't revisited in years because of the bastardized DVDs.

Wasn't a fan of the Oswald stuff for exactly the reason you stated, it was just boring, IIRC. I did like the twist of Jackie O being the original target we never knew about. I always loved the Evil Leaper concept. Don't recall much of the actual episodes though.

I have revisited the finale a few times though. Loved the return of previous characters, Al the bartender and the ending is just bittersweet and perfect. Putting Al before himself at the end after Al did the same for him for 5 years was a testament to the character we grew to love. I like the idea of Sam still out there setting things right even if we aren't a part of that world anymore.

PatD

I'd also like to add that Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell's on screen chemistry was pure magic. They were one of the best TV duo's of all time. I especially liked the episodes where Al was given more to do beyond advising Sam.
And it was such a shame that Bakula's talent wasn't better utilized on Star Trek Enterprise. The Archer character was such a wet fish.

With the smashing success of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late 80s/early 90s (and with its subsequent spin-offs) there was this glut of sci-fi shows from the same era trying to get in on the action (like Time Trax and SeaQuest). Ultimately, the only three shows with any lasting power outside of the different Star Trek spin-offs were The X-Files, Babylon 5, and Quantum Leap.

I also found this on YouTube:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k5FGS8Rbm50" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Michael Corvin

Awesome.

Meglos

This x1000

islandclaws

I haven't gotten to S5 yet, but I've had the first 3 seasons on DVD for ages, and I saw S4 and S5 have finally gotten a price drop over at Amazon. I need to finish the series off one day, but I'll agree that it was a fantastic show with some great chemistry. Bakula was perfect for the role, and Stockwell is equally as well cast, although every time I see him I hear "In Dreams" playing...

Shannon Nutt

I know people hated that finale, but I thought it was great. Of course, part of my love for it was Bellisario set it in his hometown, which is right down the road from where I grew up.

Meglos

Who hated the finale? I will fight them.

PatD

^^
If you watch the season 4 opener, "The Leap Back", you'll understand all the antagonism towards the finale.

Michael Corvin

I remember it wasn't received well at all. Probably for two reasons. One, it wasn't a proper finale I think they expected to be back for season 6. Two, the tacked on closure (or lack thereof) once they knew it was over.

Speaking of gimmicks, one I LOVED was Sam giving Dr. Heimlich the Heimlich maneuver before it existed. Not sure if that was season 5 though, but I think it was.

It's been many years since I read them, but I recommend the QL novels. There's probably 12-18 of them. I enjoyed most, if not all of them. Of course they're long out of print but Amazon, ebay, Half-Price Books should still have 'em. I still have most of them. Once they went out of print though I remember selling 3-4 of them for about $40 a pop. Hard to pass that up.

Obi-Wanma

How long ago was this? I have maybe 6 or 7 of them, and I looked into selling them last year, and they were going for pennies on Amazon.

Ravenous

One of the greatest shows and I finally saw S5 a few months back after getting the set cheap. I wouldnt call the last season a gimmick, but the big episodes bored the hell out of me. Oswald had great moments but was way too long. Same with that 3 oart episode, and evil leaper had promise. The normal episodes were gold though with that Aniston episode and with the Old guy playing Hendrix lol

PatD

^^Another good one from season 5 is "Killin' Time". A leapee escapes the "waiting room" in 1999 (Sam Beckett's future time, heh). And it's up to Al to get him back--otherwise Sam will be lost. Meanwhile Gooshie comes to Sam's aid!

Meglos

I've watched both several times but I don't understand the connection. Unless you're saying viewers were just upset that Sam wasn't reunited with his wife, in which case it's not a dealbreaker for me.

Meglos

Season 2. I don't recall the title of the ep, but its where Sam was a rabbi.

PatD

It would be like the final episode of the 60s series, The Fugitive end *on purpose* with Dr. Richard Kimble not apprehending the one-armed man and getting hauled away by Lt. Gerard in the final scene. It would be like the crew of the Starship Voyager continued to be stuck in the Delta Quadrant in the final episode.

The ending of Quantum Leap was kind of an unintentional "screw you" to the audience who tuned in for five years hoping that this character with whom they sympathized with would reach his treasured goal.

[Also of note: in "The Leap Back", Sam mentions to his wife and his associates (before he leaps to 1945 to save Al) that he believed that his subconscious mind was leaping him from place to place in time. This hypothesis is confirmed in "Mirror Image", but his swiss-cheesed mind doesn't know he had already kind of knew it previously.]

Alvis

Put this in my Netflix queue, but haven't started watching it since several episodes are missing, including, I think, the first. Pisses me off.

The Valeyard

I loved the series finale! It was a bittersweet ending to a great series. And I still believe it tied into that episode where Sam met that angel who helped him solve a problem then vanished with Sam not remembering anything about her (but Al did). Somewhere across time, I think that's what Sam is doing now. He moved on to the next level.

I have about 8 of the novels but stopped collecting them because they got a bit bland. I've been meaning to pick them up off of Amazon since most of them are pennies apiece.

Michael Corvin

Wow, that's not what I took away from it AT ALL. Al gave up his life to help Sam which resulted in all the failed mariages. Sam choosing to help Al for once instead of helping himself was completely in character. It's the one big thing his "swiss cheese" brain remembered. He could have fixed Al's life during a previous leap but didn't and wanted to put it right. It was bittersweet and a perfect ending.

jmanlakerfan

Agree 100%

movielib

I disagree completely with the OP. I will grant there were gimmicks galore and the Elvis, Marilyn and Dr Ruth episodes were not very good. Some others were forgettable. But the season was filled with some of the best episodes of the series, including Oswald, the Trilogy, the Evil Leaper, the Civil War episode and the Finale. And I agree that Sam's saving Al's marriage at the end was the perfect ending.

iggystar

I haven't seen the finale in years, but I remember hating it. Perhaps I should revisit it now.

Michael Corvin

Now that Battlestar and Stargate have run their course, I'd love to see SyFy move forward on the QL spin-off with Sammy Jo.

Years ago when half.com was just starting out. It was only certain novels though. Maybe they had smaller print runs? I dunno. I liked owning them, but the profit for selling was too high to justify keeping them on a bookshelf.

movielib

The American DVDs have all or (possibly) almost all of the original music in Seasons 1 and 5. The British DVDs have all or (possibly) almost all of the original music in Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5. I'm not sure why the British Season 4 was the only one that was massacred.

jmanlakerfan

I'm usually a completist when it comes to most things but I couldn't wait on these. I bought all of them on release dates and probably burned through the discs within a couple days. There were a couple songs changed that I of course noticed but it wasn't anything that was a deal breaker for me at that time.

Back when the show was on the USA network I had most episodes taped to VHS. I had a list that I wrote by hand with the VHS tape number, all episode titles and leap dates that they showed at the beginning of every episode. This was way before the internet. I was a geek for this show.