Quantum leap revival/reboot

PhiloCypher · 07-10-2021 9:19pm #1

https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadline.com/2021/09/scott-bakula-quantum-leap-bob-saget-significant-conversations-reboot-1234841229/amp/

What do we all make of this , I'd Be in favour of a revival over a reboot personally. The original is perfect, to try and reboot it would be folly. A revival on the other hand could work , it could feature Sam's Son or Daughter leaping through time trying to find him. They could get Al back as the UnPC guide as he'd be as eager as him/her to find Sam. As you can only leap within your own lifetime it would likely cover the nineties ,Noughties, and whatever the last decade is called, so there's plenty of cultural touchstones to touch on. Scott Backula would turn up every so often as Sam before one or the other would leap away.

What do people think. Would Quantums leaps feelgood "putting things right that once went wrong" schtick fly with modern audiences or would it just be shot down as virtue signalling if it attempted the sort of episodes it did in the original about race and sexism.

CastorTroy · 07-10-2021 9:34pm

There's been talk for years about a follow up with his daughter, Samantha looking for him. But it will be interesting to see how they do it. She can't leap into white women every episode.

Agent Coulson · 07-10-2021 9:46pm

This comes up once a year or whenever Scott gets interviewed.

Shakyfan · 07-10-2021 10:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990492#Comment_117990492

It's 2021, she'll be mixed race!

CastorTroy · 07-10-2021 10:58pm

I was just going by the fact his wife was white from what I remember. Not that that ever stopped changes being made, I suppose.

Didn't Sam father a child while in someone else's body as well? I seem to remember something about the kid inheriting Sam's genes rather than the host's.

JP Liz V1 · 08-10-2021 5:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990654#Comment_117990654

Or trans

pixelburp · 08-10-2021 6:30pm

Well that didn't take long for the usual hilarious casting jokes.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990561#Comment_117990561

Yeah I dunno. This thread could be read as simply an aging actor hoping the burgeoning 90s revival comes his way. I'm sure at any given moment there are 100s of treatment floating around the desks of executives.

CastorTroy · 08-10-2021 6:53pm

Dean Stockwell is 85 now. Looking at IMDb he hasn't been in anything since 2015.

08-10-2021 7:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994504#Comment_117994504

Bakula hasn't ever been short of work

pixelburp · 08-10-2021 7:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994618#Comment_117994618

No but long time since he headlined a mainstream network show; wouldn't blame him if he saw the 90s revivals and went "yes please".

08-10-2021 7:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994633#Comment_117994633

Is he not still tied up with NCIS anyway?

JP Liz V1 · 08-10-2021 7:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994633#Comment_117994633

NCIS New Orleans

fritzelly · 08-10-2021 7:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994633#Comment_117994633

Eh? NCIS?

pixelburp · 08-10-2021 8:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994666#Comment_117994666

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994676#Comment_117994676

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994668#Comment_117994668

This might sound a bit snobbish, but I've literally never watched an episode of those shows, let alone know the cast of any. Fair enough if he has a regular TV gig though.

CastorTroy · 08-10-2021 8:39pm

That one is cancelled which is probably why he's talking about this again to get himself more work

Agent Coulson · 08-10-2021 10:32pm

Maybe Sam can leap into the Sliders reboot Jerry O'Connell & John Rhys-Davies have been pitching for the last few years.

CastorTroy · 08-10-2021 10:52pm

At least Sam is still alive the last we saw him. Quinn and the Professor were written out

Mr.Nice Guy · 09-10-2021 12:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117995763#Comment_117995763

Wasn't it hinted at the end of one episode that the real Professor had been left on a world? It was the one where he and his double where both battling one another to slide. Always thought they should have gone back and explored that for a future reboot.

As regards Quantum Leap, I'd be keen on a reboot. Loved that show as a kid. Intro theme would need to be kept, however.

CastorTroy · 09-10-2021 12:41am

Yeah that was hinted but it seemed like they forgot it in later episodes from the episodes I saw. And they'll probably find a way to save Quinn or use an alternate Quinn.

But yeah I would like more Quantum Leap. As long as they don't feel the need to make it more action packed or something.

pixelburp · 09-10-2021 8:58am

The concept of Quantum Leap is still sound and all snark about 90s revivals aside, I'm surprised there hasn't been a reboot of some kind. If I had to guess, it's probably because a series where a white man possesses (say) a black man in the 1950s would be extremely hard to get right in this day and age. Heck I doubt those old episodes were ever that great beyond their status as Very Special Episodes, beloved of that era. We're now going to learn about racism, viewers.

Mongfinder General · 09-10-2021 9:22am

Quantum Leap covered a lot of ground during the four years it ran for. A number of episodes touched on sensitive issues such as racism, rape, sexual harassment, war, etc. Rebooting and broaching any of those issues today will be very difficult in the current climate, as even more moderate commentators are reticent to talk never mind write screen plays.

I really hope that they bring back the evil leapers. Then again, both of these leapers were women so you can see how this factor is likely to draw ire from some quarters.

JP Liz V1 · 09-10-2021 1:28pm

https://youtu.be/DVBugoysjrw

No Emmy for Scott

iguana · 09-10-2021 1:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990906#Comment_117990906

By the end of Trilogy III, Sam's daughter, Samantha, is confirmed to have grown up, become a scientist as accomplished as Sam and is working at Project Quantum Leap, trying to get the man she now knows is her father, back home. It's also more than possible that Donna conceived a child in the episode where Sam and Al switched. We know that Al was generally very sparing with the truth about Sam's personal life. In fact in that episode, we/Sam learned that he never told him that the earlier changes he'd made in Donna's life had resulted in them getting married and Donna working at PQL. So it's more than possible that Sam had a child in his own time that he never knew about. For all we know, Donna/Al wasn't telling him that in this timeline, they had 10 kids at home before he leapt.

A Quantum Leap revival with Samantha as the main character has been suggested quite a few times. But has been prevented, mainly due to rights issues. There is also the very valid point that the main hook of Quantum Leap, just doesn't work in this era. The race and gender/sex switches would be impossible to get right. The leaper would have to only ever jump into the bodies of physically similar people. (Though I'm pretty sure Sam did jump into white men far more than anyone else put together.) I think if it did happen it would have to have a heavier sci-fi theme rather than the sci-fi being a vessel for a social history show. And a lot more focus on the Evil Leapers, who I think would have to be determined to not be evil but rather just scientists who believe that going back in time and changing things is dangerous and leads to bad unintended consequences.

pixelburp · 09-11-2021 11:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994591#Comment_117994591

Sadly, he passed away on Sunday;

https://www.avclub.com/r-i-p-quantum-leap-and-battlestar-galactica-star-dean-1848021050

AMKC · 09-11-2021 11:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118140074#Comment_118140074

Well no hope of Dean Stockwell coming back in the Quantum Leap revival so when it happens. May he Rest in Peace.

09-11-2021 12:34pm

He had a good run from 70 years on screen from child actor to hollywood legend and I guess it was fitting that his last role was alongside Scott in NCIS. RIP.

Agent Coulson · 13-01-2022 11:20pm

Pilot order given by NBC

Written/executive produced by La Brea co-showrunners Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt and executive produced by Blindspot creator Martin Gero as well as Quantum Leap creator/EP Don Bellisario and EP/co-narrator Deborah Pratt, the followup series is set in present time. It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett (Bakula) stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.

Bakula is not currently attached to the new Quantum Leap to reprise his role or produce but is aware of the reboot and has had conversations about getting potentially involved. Bakula’s co-lead on the original series, Stockwell, died in November at age 85.

The pilot is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, with Lilien and Wynbrandt exec producing for their I Have an Idea! Entertainment, Bellisario for his Belisarius Productions and Gero via his Quinn’s House Productions.

https://deadline.com/2022/01/quantum-leap-reboot-nbc-pilot-order-sequel-scott-bakula-steven-lilien-and-bryan-wynbrandt-1234912430/

CastorTroy · 13-01-2022 11:28pm

I was just randomly watching this interview with Bellisario yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=764KR3TVMgs

fritzelly · 13-01-2022 11:34pm

Yay but I fear it will be ultra woke and miss the message of the original series

CastorTroy · 14-01-2022 12:04am

It makes more sense practically for the leaper to be a man. Anyone else involved like the hologram can be any gender they want.

From the sound of it they're going to make things a bit more complicated from the mention of "a new team". The original worked with just Sam and Al. Had the occasional glimpse of the team and the only time we saw interaction outside of those times was Al hitting his pad to get info from Ziggy.

GSPfan · 14-01-2022 12:29am

Let’s be honest they won’t and can’t replicate the format of the show for a 2022+ audience. It doesn’t work. Stand alone episode’s don’t capture the attention these days. Audiences want 6-12 episodes of a single story per season.

The best thing they could do would be to do a limited series that focuses on his son or daughter or whoever trying to find him and for every leap to get them closer to him. Then Bakula could appear in the final episode or two. It wouldn’t work if they just had someone new jumping around time with a swiss cheese memory. It would feel like a poor imitation very quick.

Quantum leap revival/reboot

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