Rueben's Ramblings

For the first time ever, the Paley Center for Media partnered with Comic Con to bring attendees a panel honoring the cult-favorite series Quantum Leap during this year’s annual fete. With Craig Tomashoff from TV Guide as the moderator the panel got started with watching the opening credits of the show. As the memorable words and scenes played out on the big screen, the audience was transported back in time along with Dr. Sam Beckett:

“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator, and vanished. He awoke to find 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.”

Scott Bakula talks Quantum Leap at Comic Con

The man himself – Scott Bakula (who portrayed Dr. Sam Beckett for the 4 ½ years that the series aired) – was introduced to the stage to thunderous applause from the packed panel room. The first and most obvious question was asked by the moderator: Will there be a movie version of Quantum Leap?

“Everybody talks about doing a movie and Don (Donald Bellisario, the creator of the series) is working on a script,” stated Bakula to a very enthusiastic crowd. He went on to state that he and Dean Stockwell, who co-starred in the series with him, will “be in the movie, but (probably) not in the roles that (the audience) thinks.” He also stated that there is “lots of money (behind the potential film) and a big-time producer who wants to do (the film).”

Tomashoff then commented that the show introduced certain “catch-phrases” to the lexicon of American pop culture, including the infamous “Oh, boy!” that Sam uttered at the beginning and ending of every episode; and “leaping,” which, of course, references to the time travel aspect of the series.

As the panel proceeded, Bakula mentioned the following:

• He would be happy if there were only five people in the audience (not surprisingly the panel room was packed with well over 1,000 people);
• He gets recognized in public the most because of his role in Quantum Leap (despite all the other TV and movies roles he has had since the show went off the air); and,
• The over-riding themes behind all of Don Bellisario’s shows are heart, emotions and family relationships.

When asked to talk about what brought him to the project in the first place and to reminisce about the first day of filming, Scott stated that he the script was phenomenal and the first scene filmed was the opening moments when they were in the desert. The only problems were that it was December and it was freezing cold. Don Bellisario flew in via helicopter, made a short statement to the cast and crew and flew off. He also mentioned that both Dean Stockwell and Malcolm McDowell had to audition for their roles, but that Dean knew his scenes cold.

Scott then joked that he felt certain the writers were out to hurt him at the end of one episode, leading into the next episode because he never really knew where he was going to end up; each character and/or situation was so unpredictable. This lead into the next clip that was run on the big screen, from the Paley Center’s library, of Sam as a woman in the 1950’s. Once the clip ended, he said how merciless the crew was on him – as that particular clip was the first time Sam leaped into the life of a woman – and how he felt “we were the inspiration for Mad Men.”

The upcoming Quantum Leap movie will include Bakula and Dean Stockwell.

This discussion lead into a talk about some of the groundbreaking stories the show depicted on a regular basis. Bakula would, of course, train for specific roles ahead of time; but there were many times where he would get the script right before filming would start. “It was an actor’s dream of playing different characters,” stated Bakula. He also stated that while the schedule was crazy he didn’t mind because, “it was so good, so fun” to be a part of the show.

Then talk turned to all of the great guest stars who were featured in the show with Bakula explaining, “that we would get the new kids off the bus who are big names now.” He threw out names like Jennifer Aniston, Teri Hatcher, Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Priestley. He even joked that he spoke to George Clooney recently who gave him a hard time about auditioning three times for Quantum Leap, but never getting on the show.

Bakula was then asked about his favorite episode from the 4 ½ years of the show, and he stated it would have to be “The Leap Home,” which featured Sam leaping back into his own life at the age of 16, living on the family farm; Bakula got to play not only his character’s aged father but his own character at a younger age. The challenge at the time was doing the split screen filming, which was the most modern form of filming at the time, which required 12 hours of prosthetics and make-up for Bakula to be turned into an older man.

Talk soon turned to the end of the series, which was not expected to be the end of the series at the time, of course. The final scene from the last episode was then shown on the big screen. It was not only a bittersweet moment for the cast and crew at the time of filming but also in the panel room, as the retrospective was coming to an end.

As final notes to the panel, Bakula mentioned filming for his current series Men of a Certain Age would begin the week after Comic Con ended and with one audience member telling Bakula he watched the show with his grandmother and as a kid he would always ask, “What Would Sam Beckett Do?” in any situation for which he would find himself. This brought about a lot of laughter from the panel room as well as the panelists, and which seemed a fitting ending for the retrospective.

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