Theorizing that one can time
travel within one's own lifetime, Dr. Beckett finds himself
leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went
wrong and hoping each time that his next leap would be the leap
home. Those are the words more or less that began each episode
of the time traveling TV show Quantum Leap. Each episode
featured a different date within the life time of Sam Beckett
who found himself taking the form of another person while having
to fix whatever problem of the week was. The person with whom he
had traded places with would be in the future at Sam Beckett's
lab waiting for the return trip home. Of course Sam would never
make it home. To help Sam out was his friend Al from his own
time who appeared in the form of a hologram.
Quantum Leap has to go down in my mind as one of the best shows
of all time. It takes time travel and mixes it with real human
drama and excellent story telling. After all what makes the
concept of time travel so fascinating is what it might or could
do for us on a personal level. Sam goes back in time for all of
us, and fixes the problems that forever change the lives of the
poor soul of the week. Most of Sam's leaps into time weren't
major points of history although he did toward the end leap into
some famous people from history like
Elvis Presley,
and even Lee Harvey Oswald. Most of his leaps were about helping
the average guy, or the average lady.
When creating
Time-Rider
I had Quantum Leap in mind from the start even though on the
surface there aren't a whole lot of similarities other than time
travel, but maybe if Sam Beckett were a superhero he'd wear a
costume something like Time-Rider, and instead of Al his best
friend would be an alien named Max.
for
more on Quantum Leap.
Quantum Leap Episode Guide
Super Fan Site -
Al's Place |
