ABOUT THE EPISODE
A new team assembles
to restart the Quantum Leap project. Lead physicist Ben Song takes an
unauthorized leap into 1985 as the team scrambles to figure out what
happened and how to get him back.
TV-PG L, V
VIDEOS
MY REVIEW
I need to foreshadow this review by letting you know that I never got into, or watched the original 1989 TV series starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. The original premise for the first reiteration was simple:
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about or hear the words "Quantum Leap?" Ziggy? Al, Sam Beckett? You would be wrong ... and right after watching this first episode of the new NBC show, Quantum Leap.
Theorizing that time travel inside one's own lifetime is feasible in the not-too-distant future, physicist
Dr. Sam Beckett (Bakula)
gets government funding to create his "Quantum Leap" project. After
several years and $43 billion dollars later, the government threatens to
cancel funding the project because no progress has been made. Sam
chooses to test the project accelerator alone before anybody can stop
him in order to rescue the project. In addition to having partial
amnesia regarding his own identity, he is sent back in time and
discovers upon recovering consciousness that although he physically
exists in the past, he appears to everyone else as someone into whom he
had "leapt."
Sam is the only one who can see and hear a hologram of his friend Admiral Al Calavicci (Stockwell), who helps to explain to him why he must utilize the resources of the project's supercomputer, Ziggy, to correct something that went wrong in the past even though once that is corrected, he should be able to go return home. Sam continues to irregularly jump to a new place and time in the second half of the 20th century even after successfully fixing the past, "putting right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home," he explains.
The premise stays the same -- except for that we get a short explanation about Sam Beckett (and how he ever returned home, easily seen on a title card before the episode starts, and during the episode itself - this would bring everyone up to speed about the show itself.
In the first episode of Quantum Leap, Raymond Lee's protagonist, Ben Song,
made an illegal leap and wound up in the 1985 body of a would-be
diamond thief. Even though the exact reason he jumped remains unclear,
we now know that Al's daughter Janice Calavicci
is somehow involved. With the help of his future wife (for whom he has
no idea of as he has lost his memory), they were able to fix things and
get history back on track...allowing him, to what we thought, wpould be
his jump home....NOPE -- he ends up on the Space Shuttle Atlantis --
launching into space!
Herbert "Magic" Williams (Ernie Hudson)
stated at the end of the episode that Janice wants to participate in the
current Quantum Leap project the same as her father. However, the
Department of Defense rejected her due to concerns about her emotional
ties to Sam (Scott Bakula), who was not able to return home, and Al
(Dean Stockwell), who passed away last year. Ben got an urgent message
from Janice the night of his jump.
The show itself was well written with the same ingredients as the original show: humor, romance, action, drama. The characters that have been included are well written and thought-out. For an ensemble cast, it all seems well-oiled and we have two stories happening for each episode: 1) Ben's leaping and fixing history, and his team back in 2022 unraveling the mystery about why he HAD to jump. Hopefully, this part of the program will not be solved immediately, but I dont think they can solve it too fast as we have 4 more characters to write for:
- Raymond Lee stars as Dr. Ben Song.
Ben is a brilliant quantum physicist leaping through time to put right
what once went wrong. Raymond plays the part very convincingly as a time
traveler who not only traveled back in time, but jumps in a new
body...and has to deal with the circumstances that surround this person.
- Caitlin Bassett stars as Addison Augustine; she is an ex-Army intelligence Officer who works in the Quantum Leap program. She is Ben Song’s guide (and fiance) in the past and, during his leaps, appears in a hologram that only he can see and hear. And is this is her FIRST acting gig on television. Maybe I'm wriong, but as this is the 1st episode, she looks a bit nervous, but she STILL makes acting her part look easy. She SO wants to tell Ben they are a couple, but you can see it in her eyes and hear it in he voice --- that now is not the time.
- Factoid from her press release: A military veteran, she spent 7 years in U.S. Army Intelligence and the National Security Agency, with two combat tours to Afghanistan and a third abroad. After completing her service with multiple accolades, she began studying law in New York while moonlighting in theater classes. After being asked to audition, she was accepted full time at the Stella Adler Conservatory and later trained with Bob Krakow.
- Ernie Hudson stars as Herbert “Magic” Williams;
he is the head of the Quantum Leap project and juggles taking care of
his team while also answering to his bosses at the Pentagon. Ernie is a
season veteran from TV and movies. I last saw him on TV as the love
interest to Lily Tomlin's Frankie from Netflix's Grace and Frankie. But of course, you may know him from Ghostbusters
as Winston Zeddemore. He's a great boss to work for from what I saw
already in this first ep; but he has to juggle working with the team to
unravel Ben's urgent leap and getting him him along with reporting to
the government about the project. Somehow, I suspect there are rough
times ahead for Herbert.
- Mason Alexander Park stars as Ian Wright; he is the lead programmer on the confidential program that has rebuilt “Ziggy,” the Artificial Intelligence unit which provides important information on Ben’s leaps. So after reading this description, perhaps he is responsible for the most recent programming -- as he would have been a baby if he was the ORIGINAL creator of the Ziggy programming. When I first saw him fighting with a DJ to play a song, I immediately thought, "Oh that's nice, NBC/QL is adding an openly gay character to the show. Well, I stand corrected. According to the press release doc for Mason: Park is a nonbinary artist who will next be seen as Desire in Netflix's highly anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman.” Previous TV roles include Netflix’s “Cowboy Bebop.” No idea how they will play the character ultimately, but let's see how Mason plays this out.
- Nanrisa Lee stars as Jenn Chou; she is the head of digital security and works alongside Herbert in hopes of solving why Ben Song leaped in hopes of bringing him home. She seems somewhat no-nonsense as she is security head -- but I suspect she has a snippy side, perhaps, but in a good way. When she made her appearance, she reminded me of Ming-na Wen in her mannerisms. I think she'd going to be a fun character.
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