Quantum Leap Reboot Official Trailer
By the time Quantum Leap skips back to the airwaves with its Sept. 19 debut, all the above-mentioned awesomeness will have arrived in the span of just a single month — which is pretty mind-boggling, when you think about it. But before the excitement fades our brain, it’s probably a good idea to take a deep breath and break down just what we really do know about NBC’s new adventures in time travel.
IS IT A REBOOT? A SEQUEL? A PREQUEL?
This one’s easy: NBC describes the new Quantum Leap as a “sequel series” that’s set 30 years after the original show. Expect a mix of new storylines, as well as a tug or two at threads that the original left dangling: “Fans of the original Quantum Leap are in for a few surprises, including the return of some original characters and the continuation of the most popular plot points,” the network teases.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
If you’re a fan of the original series, feel free to skip ahead: This section covers the basics of the old-school Quantum Leap — you know, the big-picture stuff about the show’s premise and setting that should still apply in its new 2022 incarnation.
Both the original Quantum Leap and NBC’s new series are sci-fi shows set in their respective present-day, real-world trappings. They’re based on the idea that technology’s just a little farther ahead than we think it is…especially if you’ve got the government’s super-secret science resources at your disposal.
In both series, the key hero is an accomplished physicist who “leaps” through spacetime into different eras from humanity’s past, courtesy of Project Quantum Leap — an insanely sophisticated (and expensive) R&D program tucked away in a remote, hush-hush lab. Scott Bakula played the now-iconic role of Dr. Sam Beckett in the original series as the hero who gets himself stuck in an unending sequence of time leaps. In the new show, the stranded-hero honors fall to new star Raymond Lee in the role of physicist Dr. Ben Song.
Time travel isn’t the only big twist, though: For one thing, the “leaper” in each series, well…they sort of, kind of go rogue to make their initial jump in the first place. That’s a polite way of saying that the government in no way, shape, or form gave them permission to take its fancy particle machine for a free spin, and losing a star scientist to the invisible ether of spacetime leaves the project’s suit-wearing overseers with plenty of stern questions (and probably a touch of high blood pressure).
For another thing, there’s no way to control (or even predict) where in humanity’s past Project Quantum Leap will spit our hero out, as original series scientist Dr. Sam Beckett learned the hard way in the show’s very first 1989 episode. If that’s not enough, our hero doesn’t even get to inhabit their own flesh and blood once they’ve made the jump: Instead, they emerge in the body of a completely different person native to the particular time and place where their latest leap has taken them.
Most importantly, there’s no known escape — at least, not one that Project Quantum Leap has the advanced technology to devise. Taking that first-episode time dive sets off an endless cycle of leap after leap, with the only real reprieve coming not by going “home” to the present — but to another place (and another body) where the entire process resets while our hero waits…you guessed it, for the next leap.
In order to even do that, they’ve got to identify and solve some kind of pivotal problem unique to their temporary human host — one that typically changes the course of that person’s life for the better. When that key quandary has finally been fixed, the mysteries of physics kick in and it’s off to another new time… and another new host.
Thankfully, Quantum Leap offers its stranded, time-drifting scientist one emotional lifeline that preserves their ties to the home they know and love. Thanks to a sweet piece of lab tech known as the Imaging Chamber, a human back in our own time is able to see and talk to the leaper via holographic image. In the original series, that honor went to Sam Beckett’s friend Al Calavicci (the late Dean Stockwell), a colorful character whom only Sam could see and hear (a twist that served up endless opportunities for cool plot twists and tons of comic relief). NBC’s new Quantum Leap similarly features a new holographic companion character…but we’ll get to that in a moment.
