The Pop Ninja Blog: '80s TV Remakes Part Three

Howdy Ninjas! 

Continuing our look at current television remakes of ‘80s classics, this time we check out the new “Quantum Leap”. 

'80s TV Remakes: Part Three

The TV series "Quantum Leap" has captivated audiences with its unique time-travel concept and compelling storytelling. In this blog post, we will delve into the similarities and differences between the 1989 and 2022 versions. 

Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell in the original series

The ’80s series featured actor Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a time travelling scientist who is jumping, or “leaping” rather, through different time periods. 

It is presumed that God himself overtakes the time travel experiment and sends Dr. Beckett to places he wants him to go.

 In each time period, Beckett must fix something that is wrong and set the timeline back on its correct course. Once the mission is complete, God “leaps” Dr. Becket into another time period and a new mission begins. 

Dr. Beckett hopes that one day he will finally make the leap home back to his own time period, family, and friends.

One aspect of the time travel element that was different than most genre outings is that when Dr. Beckett leaps into a time period, he inhabits the body of someone in that time. He completely takes over that person’s body like a possession. He must figure out who’s body he is in, where he is, and who the people are he must interact with in order to reset whatever has gone wrong in that point in history.

He’s not completely alone though… somehow a colleague from his experiment project, Al Calavicci (played by Dean Stockwell) is able to show up to him as a hologram and with the help of a handheld super

computer called “Ziggy”, they can help Dr. Beckett figure out his mission and speed things up so that he can make his next leap. 

Deborah Pratt with actor Alex Cord on Airwolf

I want to make mention of the beautiful Deborah Pratt. She narrated the classic series. She was married to the series creator, Donald P. Bellisario. She’s a writer, director, producer, actress, singer, dancer, and much more. You might remember her from her role on Airwolf as Archangel’s beautiful assistant dressed in all white. Bringing her up is a good segway to talk about new “Quantum Leap” since she is the producer on the new series. 

The all-new "Quantum Leap" (2022-Present)

One thing that really works for me in this new series is that they didn’t try to “remake” the series, instead it is a sequel series. They didn’t recast the characters; this series has all new characters following in the footsteps of the work Al, Ziggy, and Dr. Beckett did in the original series. This was a brilliant way to bring Q-Leap back, if you ask me. The new “Quantum Leap” began on NBC in 2022 and is already on its 2nd season. Like I mentioned earlier, instead of a remake, it is a sequel. 

In the new series, a new team of scientists pick up the experiment that Dr. Sam Beckett started decades ago. Dr. Beckett is missing and presumed dead. His buddy, Al, who would appear to him in hologram form has passed away.

Raymond Lee and Caitlin Bassett in the new "Quantum Leap"

The new scientist doing the leaps is Dr. Ben Song, played by Raymond Lee. His fiancée Addison, played by Caitlin Bassett, is his partner in crime appearing to him as a hologram much like Al did for Dr. Beckett. There’s also an updated Ziggy who helps them figure out what they must do to fix the timeline. One cool thing tying the two series together is Magic Williams, a character played by Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters) who is supposed to be an aged version of a character from the original series, a Vietnam veteran that Beckett leaped into and possessed on one of the leap missions. This led the character in a search for answers as to what happened to him and eventually worked his way up the chain of command and is now the project director of the new Quantum Leap project. 

Ernie Hudson as Magic Williams

Another character tying the two series together is Janis, the daughter of Al Calavicci, played by actress Georgina Reilly, who for some reason is also leaping, trying to stop Dr. Ben Song. The new series tackles a lot of social issues we are faced with in modern times, such as racism, LGBT acceptance, gender equality, etc. This new series is very reminiscent of the old series and just as fun. Given the significant time gap between the two series, the 2022 version benefits from advancements in technology. The production quality, special effects, and overall visual experience are noticeably superior, enhancing the viewer's immersion in the story. Just check out the videos of both of the series opening credits that I've included on this blog and you will see the amazing quality difference I'm speaking of.

I hope you give the new series a look and tell us what you think about it. I would love to see a “Quantum Leap” feature film some day. Maybe the story could have Dr. Ben Song meet up with Dr. Sam Beckett somewhere in the time line and they have to work together to save the world from destruction. That would be cool. 

Thanks for checking out this blog post. Give the PopNinja podcast a listen for movie, tv, music and pop culture reviews from the '70s & '80s. You can find it and more on www.PopNinja.net

- Patrick Bennett

   Resident Ninja

www.PopNinja.net