Quantum Leap 2022 (NBC)

[Famine]

Anyone caught any of this yet?

It very much appears to be a continuation of the original series, with a new Project Quantum Leap, a new scientist leaping through time (Dr. Ben Song), but the same old Ziggy trying to guess what the purpose of each Leap is. Scott Bakula says he passed on the series (yeah, like Maguire and Garfield passed on No Way Home).

There's quite a few nods - Ziggy aside - to the original series, with the opening splash directly addressing the original Quantum Leap and backing up the final card of the final episode in stating that Sam Beckett never leaped home - and Sam's final televised leap reuniting his hologram, Al Calavicci, with his first wife Beth appears to have had consequences 30 years down the line. The project head of PQL is now Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson), who you might recall is a leapee from a two-part episode in which Sam tried to save his brother.

However there's also something else strange going on, as Ben appears to be able to exceed the original project's limits and time travel beyond his own lifetime...

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Six episodes have broadcast so far, and NBC ordered six more to the original run so it's going to 18 episodes in season one - each time with Ben trying to right what once went wrong and hoping that the next leap will be the leap home...

I'm not sure if Dr. Song will meet either the devil or god as Dr. Beckett did, but since Martin Gero (Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis) is the executive producer, if he does meet either he'll probably kill them.

 

[EngieDiesel]

I watched a couple episodes, and they're trying way too hard to force the 1980's feel of the original, which makes it feel very insincere unlike Stranger Things where you know the '80s feel is more a homage than a direct copy. The first few episodes have a slow start, and that's to be expected since they basically have to re-explain the show's premise to a generation whose exposure to the original series is probably limited to the Simpsons meme, but they just kinda do a plot dump right off the bat which takes a lot of the focus away from the "righting wrongs" part, which was the point of the original series. The original series actually touched very little on the how and why behind the leaping process, but they really seem to want to push the science aspect here to the point where it just kept getting in the way.

Maybe it'll get better as they figure out where they're doing, but so far it's landed with a real wet thud for me and it's not making me really want to go out of my way to watch more of it.

 

[Famine]

I watched a couple episodes, and they're trying way too hard to force the 1980's feel of the original, which makes it feel very insincere unlike Stranger Things where you know the '80s feel is more a homage than a direct copy. The first few episodes have a slow start, and that's to be expected since they basically have to re-explain the show's premise to a generation whose exposure to the original series is probably limited to the Simpsons meme, but they just kinda do a plot dump right off the bat which takes a lot of the focus away from the "righting wrongs" part, which was the point of the original series. The original series actually touched very little on the how and why behind the leaping process, but they really seem to want to push the science aspect here to the point where it just kept getting in the way.

Maybe it'll get better as they figure out where they're doing, but so far it's landed with a real wet thud for me and it's not making me really want to go out of my way to watch more of it.

Seems to me that where the original was entirely set in whatever time period Sam was in, with only very brief glimpses of the "present day" in only a handful of episodes, this one is as much about the project as it is about the leaper.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Having watched a couple more episodes, I think I figured out why it's just not clicking with me: nobody really seems to be having any fun.

In the original, Dean Stockwell and Scott Bakula play off each other really well and it gives you the feeling that their characters are closely connected, so you get the feeling that even though they're in a serious situation they're still comfortable with it and not afraid to take it a bit less seriously to break the tension. In the remake, at times the actors seem like they're just saying their lines in each other's general direction and not really trying to interact with each other, and that makes their scenes just feel very stiff and hard to get into.

I've also heard rumors that there was some kind of backstage drama going on early in the show's production, and I can't confirm that but it would explain why things feel the way they do in the first episodes. I hope the show getting an extension means they managed to actually get past it, if it is true.