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Quantum Leap was a science fiction television program which ran from 1989 to 1993 on NBC. It followed the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant theoretical scientist who finds himself abruptly and uncontrollably jumping in time, temporarily switching places with diverse people at various times within his own lifetime, the second half of the 20th century.
Sam's unintended travels begin when his time travel experiment gets mysteriously co-opted by an unidentified higher power, which uses him (for unknown reasons) to avert tragedies in ordinary people's lives. Sam also suffers from an uneven amnesia, called swiss-cheesing or (as a technical term in the show's universe) magnafluxing, which prevents him from remembering most of the details of his own life. His only link to his own time is a holographic projection named "Al" (played by Dean Stockwell), who is usually visible only to Sam. The catch-phrase used at the beginning of every episode was typically: "Oh boy..." The show's ninety-seven episodes aired on NBC between March 1989 and May 1993.
The term holographic projection is taken from the program, although it is not the same as real holography. The show's "hologram" is a three dimensional projection; Al enters an Imaging Chamber in which the image of Al and anything he is touching, e.g., a person or cigar, are visible to Sam and Sam can hear Al speak, and correspondingly events in the past are visible and audible to Al.
The series very rarely addressed real historical events, though it often used its "ordinary people" plots to address particular social, political, and spiritual issues. Many episodes depicted Sam dealing with issues characteristic of particular periods, such as civil rights, racism, the Vietnam War, and the Cold WarThe Cold War (c. 1945- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. On one side was the Soviet Union and its allies, often referred to as the E. The series strongly favored messages of tolerance and understanding others, aided in large part by the story format, which had the protagonist literally walking in another man's (or woman's) shoes.
Only a few times did Sam "leap" into a known historical figure, the first being Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald ( October 18, 1939 November 24, 1963) was the assassin of U. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, according to the conclusions of two government investigations into the assassination. Critics of the official accounts have clai and the last being Elvis PresleyElvis Aron Presley ( January 8, 1935 August 16, 1977), known as The King of Rock and Roll, or as just "The King", was an American singer who had an immeasurable effect on world culture. He started his career under the name the Hillbilly Cat and was later. All these leaps were in the fifth (final) season and were widely believed to be efforts to boost the show's ratings and looked down upon by some fans. However, throughout the series it was common for Sam to leap into a character or situation based fairly obviously on a real person or event. Also common were so-called "brushes (or kisses) with history" where Sam would briefly encounter someone famous or a well-known event in a manner usually irrelevant to the story. [1]
The series (created by Donald BellisarioDonald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935 in North Charleroi, Pennsylvania) is an American television producer and scriptwriter. He has created several successful TV series, including Magnum, P. Airwolf Quantum Leap JAG and Navy NCIS''. Bellisario serve) was somewhat unusual in that it had a science fiction premise, but little science or fantasy oriented storytelling, instead focusing on the personal journeys of Sam Beckett and those he encounters. Even in its final episode, the show refused to resolve many of its own technical and holistic questions, choosing instead to leave things open-ended and focus tightly on what is arguably the series' overarching message: that a single person can change the world one life at a time.
The final episode was in fact intended to be an end-of-season cliffhangerThis article is about the 'cliffhanger' plot device in works of fiction. For the movie of the same name, see Cliffhanger (movie). A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in which a movie or novel contains an abrupt ending, often leaving the m, but after the series was not renewed by the network, it was re-edited to function as the final episode. This may account for some of its ambiguous nature. The original ending had Sam leaping to tell Al's first Wife ,Beth, that Al was coming home. His Vietnam-era picture begins to "leap" (This is were the final episode cuts off), and then we see a modern picture of Al sitting with Beth and their four daughters. This ending somehow made it out of the studio and has been circulated on the Internet.
The Sci-Fi ChannelThe name "Sci Fi" also is used by a British satellite television channel; see Sci Fi channel (United Kingdom). Sci Fi is an American cable television channel, launched in 1992 and currently owned by corporate conglomerate NBC Universal, specializing in sc is projected to begin airing a sequel series sometime in 2006.