Frequently Asked Questions

by Seth Argabright

What is Quantum Leap?

Quantum Leap was a science fiction/drama that ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993. It was created by Donald P. Belisario and starred Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. The show was about the adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett (Bakula) as he time-traveled back and forth in recent history "putting right what once went wrong."

What is Project Quantum Leap?

On the show, Project Quantum Leap was a top secret government project created by physicist Dr. Sam Beckett. Based on a string theory of time, the project theorized that a person could travel to any point in his lifetime. Forced to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely initiated the experiment in 1995 and became stuck in the past, leaping back and forth in recent history.

What happens on a quantum leap?

When one quantum leaps, he or she trades places with a person who exists in another space and time. The aura of the replaced person remains behind and engulfs the leaper, creating the external illusion that the leaper is the person he or she replaced.

What is an aura?

Webster defines aura as "...a distinctive atmosphere surrounding a given source." Aura, as it applies on Quantum Leap, is a projection of a person's essence and what we see and hear when we look at and listen to someone. When Sam views his reflection in a mirror, he sees the person he replaced...or, technically speaking, he sees that person's aura. If he were to play back a tape of himself talking, he would most likely hear that person. Other stimuli such as scent, taste, and touch could probably also be applied to this concept but were never explored on the show.

What happens to the people that Sam leaps into?

As mentioned above, when Sam quantum leaps into someone, they take his place in space-time. That means they end up at Project Quantum Leap in the future. For security purposes, these people are detained in a large chamber called "The Waiting Room." The Waiting Room is almost entirely blue and has only one known exit that is locked electronically. The only piece of furniture we see in the Waiting Room during the series is a table with a mirrored surface by which the leapees can see Dr. Beckett's reflection and witness firsthand what has happened to them.

What makes Sam leap?

After numerous attempts to retrieve Sam failed, both he and Al agreed that some unknown force (often referred to as "God, Fate, Time, or Whatever") had taken control of the project and was using Sam as a tool to correct mistakes in history. Now, whenever Sam does the work that G.F.T.W. needs him to do, he is leaped on to a new situation. He continues to do G.F.T.W.'s work hoping that when he has completed all the tasks expected of him, he will be leaped home. Ziggy, the computer that runs the project, often makes a hypothesis as to what Sam's mission is, based on information in her databanks about the time period and location. However, Sam usually trusts his gut more than the computer and often disagrees with Ziggy's assessment.

How does the project remain in contact with Sam?

Al Calavicci, the project observer, communicates with Sam through the process of holographic projection. When he stands in the Imaging Chamber at the project, Ziggy can create a holographic representation of him and broadcast it back in time. This transmission is tuned directly into Sam's brainwaves so, except for the occasional fluke, Sam is the only one who can see him. In turn, data about Sam and his surroundings is relayed to Ziggy so she can create a holographic atmosphere in the Imaging Chamber for Al to observe what is happening to Sam. They can never physically interact as long as they are separated by time.

What are some of the "flukes" that have allowed others to see Al?

  • All animals can see Al. (cf "How the Tess Was Won")
  • Children can see Al because they are still innocent. (cf "Another Mother")
  • Mentally unbalanced people can see Al. (cf "Shock Theater")
  • People with extra-sensory or heightened perception of some sort or another have felt Al's presence or even seen him. (cf "Temptation Eyes")
  • Once, a man on a similar brainwave pattern as Sam saw Al. (cf "A Little Miracle")
  • In a dream Sam had at Halloween, the Devil could see Al. (cf "The Boogieman")

Does Sam's whole body leap or is it just his mind/soul/spirit?

This has been the subject of much debate among fans. Different episodes of the show seem to support the different sides. I am of the opinion that the evidence is much stronger for whole body leaping:
  • In the episode "8 1/2 Months," Sam leaps into a pregnant woman. Al tells Sam that it is impossible for him to bear the child because he is a man.
  • In the episode "Nowhere to Run," Sam leaps into a Vietnam veteran who lost his legs in the war. Yet he is able to get up and walk across the room.
  • In the episode "The Wrong Stuff," Sam leaps into a chimpanaut in the Mercury program. The doctors have a discussion about chimps having too little body fat to stay afloat in water, yet Sam is able to rescue a drowning man. He also walks errect. In all fairness to the mind-leaping camp, Sam does say, "I'm in the body of a chimp!" but this could be attributed to careless exaggeration on Sam's part.
  • In the pilot episode (among others), we are told that the holographic communication between Sam and Al is based around brain particles known as neurons and mesons. Although microscopic, these particles do indeed have mass and physical presence.

In an on-line chat with creator Donald P. Bellisario, someone asked, which is it? At first, Don said the mind. Then he retracted it and said it was definitely the body. It seems as if even he doesn't know. Although the most likely answer in all of this is that Don never took a firm position on it and fudged it as neccessary on an episode-by-episode basis.

What is mind merging?

The idea of "mind merging" surfaced in the fifth season. The theory purported that when Sam leaps into someone, remnants of that person's knowledge or personality could stay behind and influence him. Taking this theory a step further, people on the Quantum Leap newsgroup have even suggested that when Sam leaps into someone, he temporarily has attributes of both bodies. This theory is an attempt to explain why the leapee's clothes always fit and people always look at him at eye level even though he leaps into people of various heights and builds.

Who is Ziggy?

Ziggy is the parallel hybrid computer that Sam designed to run Project Quantum Leap. It is a remarkable piece of technology that not only calculates mission scenarios and probabilities based on limited data but also utilizes artificial intelligence, has its own ego, and described itself by saying, "With a million gigabyte capacity, I am quite capable of rubbing my tummy, patting my head, and doing a trillion floating point operations at once." Early in the series, Ziggy was referred to by both Sam and Al as a "he." In later episodes, Ziggy is a "she" and has a female voice. In one episode, they really slipped up and referred to her as both "he" and "she" in the same conversation! Although Don hasn't said anything to my knowledge about this matter, fans speculate that Sam's history changing could account for the switch(es).

Who is Gooshie?

The usually unseen Gooshie (portrayed in a handful of episodes by the late Dennis Wolfberg) is the head computer programmer on Project Quantum Leap. Al often calls to him from the Imaging Chamber when he needs a little something extra from Ziggy. Gooshie has chronic halitosis and Sam and Al often make reference to his bad breath when talking about him. The spelling "Gushie" has also been used and it is uncertain as to which is the official spelling.

Who is Tina?

Tina is Al's girlfriend (prior to Sam restoring Al's first marriage in the finale) who works on PQL as a pulse communications technician. The show insinuates on more than one occasion that she is having an affair with Gooshie. There has been some debate as to whether this Tina is supposed to be the same Tina that Al met on the night Sam first leaped.

Who is Dr. Beeks? a.k.a. Who is Verbeena?

Dr. Verbeena Beeks is the project's psychiatrist who often offers counseling to those in the Waiting Room who can't deal with the psychological trauma of quantum leaping into the future. On occasion, she also helps Sam or Al deal with some of the detrimental effects that leaping has had on their psyches.

What is the handlink?

The handlink is exactly what it sounds like--an electronic, hand-held device linked to Ziggy that Al uses in the Imaging Chamber to receive data and relay commands. It opens the Imaging Chamber door and is sometimes used to recenter Al's image.

Isn't there supposed to be an episode that's cursed?

Many QL fans believe that the episode "The Boogieman" (commonly referred to as "The Halloween Episode" to get around mentioning the name), which deals with a series of suspicious deaths and evil supernatural forces, is cursed. Reportedly, it has caused cable outages during airing, VCR failure when people try to record it, and computer crashing when people mention it by name on the newsgroup. Despite what some people may tell you, it's all a load of bunk. I've never had a problem watching it, taping it, or discussing it.

Because the episode "The Curse of Ptah-Hotep" deals with ancient Egyptian mummy lore and has the word "curse" in its title, some fans believe it is also cursed. But "The Boogieman" is the episode that really strikes fear into the hearts of superstitious leapers.

Does Sam ever change history for his own benefit?

Going against the cardinal rule he established before ever stepping foot in the accelerator chamber, Sam has, on a number of occasions, taken advantage of his position to alter his personal history. On other occassions, however, he sacrificed the opportunity to change history for his benefit in order to complete his mission. And, sometimes, he has changed his personal history unintentionally. Some changes he has made that have affected him or people close to him include:
  • Helping his intended wife get over her fear of abandonment so she would marry him when she met him. ("Star-Crossed")
  • Helping a young woman pass her bar exam. She went on to become a judiciary on a Senate Committee and renewed an expensive funding request for Project Quantum Leap that would otherwise have been denied. ("Honeymoon Express")
  • Preventing his brother Tom from dying in Vietnam. ("The Leap Home part II")
  • Fathering a child in the past who grew up to work on Project Quantum Leap. ("Trilogy")
  • Keeping Al's first wife from remarrying while Al was M.I.A. in Vietnam. ("Mirror Image")

What's this I keep hearing about an alternate ending to the final episode?

See this page.

Is there a technical or scientific explanation behind Sam's experiment?

It involves super string theory and an expanding but finite universe. The layperson's explanation that was given on the show goes as follows: Imagine that your life is represented by a piece of string. One end of the string represents your birth, the other your death. If you tie the ends together, your life is a loop. Ball the loop and the days of your life touch each other out of sequence, thereby leaping from one point to another would move you back and forth within your own lifetime.

Where can I find the Quantum Leap newsgroup?

rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap Your e-mail application has to be set up to subscribe to newsgroups and your provider has to offer that group (most do). In all fairness, I haven't read it in over a year so I don't know what's happening with it.

I heard someone mention the (alternate) "Saga Sell." What is that?

Merely a fancy term for the opening monolgue of the show. There is a slightly tweaked version of the one that ran with the bulk of the series. It goes as follows:

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project known as "Quantum Leap." Pressured to prove his theories or loose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brainwave transmissions with Al, the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home...