Quantum Leap

[Mel]

I was wrong about a female leaping in Quantum Leap. I recorded the show, and my brother watched it with me. He loves it! We watch it every week. I enjoy the relationship with Ben and Addison, especially now that Ben can remember it too.

[CRAMBAM]

I figured I would start a new thread for this show.

So far, it's not bad. It's nowhere near as good as the original, but it's not bad on its own. Thing is, if they don't deliver Sam, the whole effort is a waste.

If it were me, I would have Ben leap into the same time period as Sam, but from Sam's point of view, it's like 2001ish. The episode would involve Sam ending up home, around that time period, where he can enjoy time with his wife and start a family. Of course, he could also enjoy being reunited with Al. They could de-age Bakula for this. Then, we pick it up in 2022, and Sam can be the normal age Bakula is and we can see him on occasion.

[Mel]

That would be a lovely scene. Maybe they can still do something like that. I'm very intrigued by the leaper that no one knows (at least, I think that's how we left it). Looking forward to January 2 when this starts again.

[CRAMBAM]

No doubt, but the show would be a total failure if they don't deliver a happy ending for Sam.

[Mel]

Dec 9, 2022 9:40:57 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

No doubt, but the show would be a total failure if they don't deliver a happy ending for Sam.

It said Sam never returned home, but I chose to not take that literally. I assumed that after a few more years of leaping, Sam would become self-aware again, and then choose to stop leaping to reunite with the love of his life.

I chose to think that because the idea of another show coming along to show him actually getting home didn't occur to me. Although that show now exists, I don't agree that this show has an obligation to show us a happy ending for Sam, and that lacking such a happy ending, the current show is doomed to be a failure. But that's me.

[CRAMBAM]

Me neither. And there's no reason to say that. First, that was just a title card, not something from the actual show. Second, they spelled BECKETT wrong. Why?

Third, it is absolutely awful that Sam didn't know he was married and because of that, couldn't make an informed decision. And we saw from the one time he was home (even though he was in Al's body), he would have chosen his wife. In fact, with Al's life on the line, he was ready to let his friend die to stay with Donna until Donna encouraged him to go. When faced with an impossible choice, Sam chose his wife.

So to not get him home after all the good he did was a terrible choice by the writers.

The new show can never truly step out of the shadow of the original until it addresses this problem.

The best part? Let's go with the finale and say he never got home. The whole premise of Quantum Leap is changing history and putting right what once went wrong. What better way to do that than to have Ben get Sam home on one of his leaps? That would be the ultimate example of putting right what once went wrong. But more important, Sam can't get home in 2022. He needs to get home no later than say, 2001. That way he can enjoy his life, and when we see the older Bakula on future episodes, he's BEEN home.

And yes, this can be done--Al's entire life was changed in the last episode yet he still was a part of Project Quantum Leap.

[Mel]

Wow, I hadn't thought about how QL puts right what went wrong.

Sam not reuniting with his wife permanently is wrong.

I'm on your side now. The show was approved for season two. I hope the writers have considered doing this. Have you heard anything like that?

[CRAMBAM]

One thing the original show did was NOT make a big deal out of timeline changes. I don't think it's possible for Sam to have changed Al's life more than he did in the finale. And Sam also changed his own life in the second episode. Al lied to him about it, and we didn't find out until the 4th season. But Sam still leaped. Al still was on the project. So why can't Sam be brought home in 2001 and all the lives he affected would still be better, and Project QL still happens with Ben leaping?

[TrekBeatTK]

Just watched the latest episode.

My biggest issue is there are too many commercial breaks for the show. And I know that’s the state of modern TV, but this show in particular doesn’t work at this clipped pace, especially when they are trying to shove in a B-plot in the future. A show like this needs breathing room and it isn’t getting it. It doesn’t help that they write it with too many irons in the fire. Ben never gets any time to deal with his surroundings. It’s just BAM! Where am I? Here’s what’s wrong, gotta fix it! Oh no, that made things worse! Nope, we fixed it, great! Leap! So we get very little development of Ben because there isn’t time. We get very little about the human drama he’s trying to fix because there isn’t time.

NBC should partner with some company to just sponsor entire episodes with limited commercials (like Fox sometimes did). This show needs better pacing.

[CRAMBAM]

That's TV in 2023. It's annoying. So far, I find that the show is decent except for about one small piece of woke nonsense dialogue which I think came in the latest episode or the one before it. Definitely in one of the last 2 episodes. Like all woke nonsense, it had nothing to do with the show and was just a means to have a writer deliver a stupid line of dialogue.

The B plots are actually more interesting than the A plots, but they need to move it forward.

And they really need to find a way to get Bakula on board for a run.

[CRAMBAM]

So they are starting with the woke bullshit next week. The episode will be dealing with a transgender that wants to play sports. They are on the wrong side of that argument. Sickening. I may pass on the episode or just watch the parts that don't actually take place in the present.

[Mel]

I don't like the idea of transgenders playing on a team they weren't born for. If it's a guy who is now a female, it seems really unfair to the females playing.

DeSantis feels the same way; he introduced a new bill about it. I don't think of myself as conservative, just practical. Also, I'm not sure it needs to be legislated, but maybe that saves more grief for schools in the long run.

[CRAMBAM]

And Hollywood is so gone that they actually think this is wrong. Trans people have way too much representation on TV. Unfortunately, schools are just as liberal crazy as Hollywood.

They literally can't figure out which bathroom to use because they are too afraid of not being inclusive. Common sense has gone out the window, so governors like Desantis have to take action.

And think about this--wouldn't allowing transwomen to play women's sports, where they dominate, be considered anti-female?

The whole POINT of women's sports is to allow women a chance to be athletes too. But when transpeople take the glory, the scholarships, the medals, it defeats the whole purpose.

If a woman wants to try her luck in a men's sport, I say go for it. Let her win or lose on her own merits. But the reverse simply doesn't work. So I am not thrilled with QL taking the wrong side of this issue.

[Mel]

I agree.

(1) That women's sports were created to give them a chance to shine at athletics. Trans-males would ruin that opportunity, and that isn't fair to females. (2) From channel surfing the some of the newer programs, I agree that there's too much trans representation.

I recorded the QL episode from last week but haven't watched it yet. I haven't seen the ad for the upcoming episode. I'll try to catch up.

[CRAMBAM]

I sort of watched this week's episode. I just couldn't stomach the whole transgender theme. While I do believe that all people should be treated equal, I do not believe that a born male should compete in women's sports, and that dedicating that episode to that topic was just too much woke garbage to watch. The writers are completely on the wrong side of the issue.

If someone is trans, that's fine, but they are still biologically the gender that they were born, and no biological male should play girls/women's sports. As I didn't really want to watch a woke lecture that has it wrong, I just watched the scenes with Ernie Hudson that advanced the seasonal ark. Hopefully they are done with this woke bullshit.

[Mel]

I agree, and I'd apply the same standard to the use of public bathrooms as well.

I watched this episode. I was fascinated by it, trying to decide if it was a male or female in the role. Apparently it's an actor who was born male who transitioned to female. I found her attractive and believable in the role. I love how supportive her family and friends were.

But her actually playing on the team with females, and nearly everyone being supportive, didn't make sense, because of the collage scouts. If the plot hadn't included scouts, then most-everyone supporting her would have been great (it is just a story).

But sports are too competitive to believe that the characters would be okay with someone born male likely taking away opportunities for the born-females on the team.

I also enjoyed how this episode touched my heart about Ian, and almost immediately, gave me a reason to be suspicious of him as well!

I think it was a good episode. Do you think there was a reason they placed this in 2012 instead of closer to now?

[CRAMBAM]

What it does is take away opportunities for female athletes to shine. Look at the Lia Thomas situation. He was beating female olympians after competing 3 years as a man.

He was changing in the locker room with them, without their consent, exposing his genitalia, and the NCAA supported this. There was one event where he tied with a woman, an all American woman, and they gave the trophy to HIM for optics. He took spots away from people who could have been All Americans. It was sick.

[CRAMBAM]

Here is a great video of some moving testimony from a woman All American competitor and how wokeness screwed her over:

[Mel]

You're preaching to the choir. I agree with you. And her.

Absolute shame what happened to her and her team. And giving him the trophy for a photo op was not just wrong; it was disgusting. Worse, they did nothing about him displaying his genitals in from of them. Wrong all around and very sad.

I'm not sure I've ever disagreed with the ACLU (of course, with my memory, who really knows). But I read an article about how trans females aren't unfair to born-females (apparently called cisgender females). I read it and completely disagree. The ACLU is wrong about this.

www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/four-myths-about-trans-athletes-debunked

[CRAMBAM]

This is radical extremism and it really sucks that the young are being taught this garbage.

[Mel]

Feb 11, 2023 10:41:01 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

This is radical extremism and it really sucks that the young are being taught this garbage.

Dunno about you, but among my large extended family, the people are more conservative than liberal. Their kids aren't being taught this stuff. In the small town and county I live in, liberal ideas are not being taught in the schools. The liberal stuff is in the news, but is it really being promoted on a large scale across the country, where it seems conservatives are more in control than libs? I dunno, but I doubt it.

Los Angeles? New York? Yeah, probably. But the rest? Is it really being taught??

[CRAMBAM]

You should see college campuses. It's disgusting. They buy into all this lunacy.

[Mel]

We should be so lucky if this is mostly limited to colleges. College is different. Those "kids" are likely adults, or soon would be, within months of starting college. College has traditionally been a time for exploration, experimentation, and making mistakes.

As a former paralegal who prepared all manner of documents, I think about paperwork. Rather than go nuts trying to add all the possible gender-fluid terms, I like this: Birth certificates have a box for BF (born female) and BM (born male), with a third box to be filled in after age of 18: CM (chosen male), or CF (chosen female), or CO (chosen other).

That's plenty of information for forms. It could work on driver's licenses too. (My state of Washington has proposed M,F, and X! Works for me.)

More details aren't needed. Health professionals can ask questions if they need specifics. I think this would be enough for the military as well, as I doubt they'd have a lot of placement opportunities for those who identify with CO (chosen other).

[CRAMBAM]

Yeah, but these kids are brainwashed into believing this stupidity, and they vote. There are 2 genders. You can act like you want, but you can't change biology and you can't change reality. A man who wants to dress like a woman is still a man, even if he mutilates himself. I think there should be bathrooms for trans people to feel comfortable whenever possible, but the world can't cater to their needs at the expense of everyone else.

[Mel]

I agree about trans restrooms.

I suppose you're right, that technically, in biology, there are just two genders.

But I've met people (adults) who didn't feel right in their bodies (gender dysphoria is the term, I think). They felt like they were in the wrong body. After all these decades (I'm in my 70s) that never changed for them. It wasn't a phase. I believe that they truly have something else going on the physical level which affects them mentally, something that prevents them from feeling at home in their own bodies. IMO, this is real.

[Mel]

Going back to other posts, you said that this QL needs to bring Sam home to reunite him with his wife. Did you know that Scott Bakula has been repeatedly approached about appearing on the new QL and he refuses to consider it?

Too bad you can't persuade him. You persuaded me!

[CRAMBAM]

The people who don't feel right in their bodies have issues, but they can't be catered to. It's their problem, and the world can't change to cater to such a small amount.

As for Bakula, last I heard, he was approached, but that was before the show started. Nothing recently.

[Mel]

Ah. Thanks for the info.

[CRAMBAM]

The show does have a woke problem, and there was an episode that was so wrong that I only watched the scenes that took place in the present. Worst episode by far. But the premise is strong enough to overcome the woke issue so far. A lot will depend on where they go.