Quantum Leap, which ran on NBC from 1989-1993, is easy to mock. It wore its heart so prominently on its sleeves it was practically part of the fabric. It told the story of Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), just your average medical doctor/quantum physicist who also sang, danced, and karate kicked:
“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished… He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al (Dean Stockwell), an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.”
I was one of those fans who caught Quantum Leap in syndication on the Sci-Fi Channel (years before they changed their network name to Sy-Fy), and by “caught” I mean I obsessively taped every episode so I could revist them as often as I wanted. When the DVD box sets came around, of course I bought them, but at that point my enjoyment was partially tempered by the sad realization that practically every episode of Quantum Leap is a “very special episode.” This week, Sam leaps into an African-American man in segregation era South and learns how terrible racism is. Next week, Sam leaps into a woman and learns that sexism is wrong. The show walks a very fine line between endearing old-fashioned drama and eye-roll inducing saccharine schmaltz.
The fact that the show stayed on the right side of that line (most of the time) was down to its cast. Scott Bakula, fresh off a Tony nomination, ensures Sam remains interesting, despite having no real flaws. The show never loses sight of the tragedy of Sam’s life, separated from his family and friends, unable to really live his own life. He comes off as a pitably noble figure. Meanwhile, Dean Stockwell (who had been acting since childhood and has an Oscar nomination to his name for Married to the Mob) played Al as a womanizing scoundrel whose bad behavior concealed a wounded, damaged soul. Sam and Al were polar opposites as characters, at least in terms of timidity and life experience, but both were also inherently good and decent. The series had a likably eternal optimism that wrongs could be made right, because people were inherently good and decent. Their characters reemphasized the essential optimism and goodness at series’ heart. The fact that the show isn’t annoying beyond all measure speaks to endearingly old-fashioned storytelling that encompassed pretty much every episode, and the relatable watchability the two leads brought to its characters. Some episodes may be embarrassingly sappy, especially compared to more modern programming, but if you ever want to watch someone repair the past, week after week (after week ad infinitum), these 10 episodes are good places to start:
*This Is a Spoiler-Light List for the Benefit of Those Who May Be New to the Show*
10) Good Night, Dear Heart (Season 2, Episode 17)
Quantum Leap, for all of its surprisingly conservative viewpoints( See the episode where Jack Kerouac makes an appearance), was actually rather socially progressive. Gay rights, race relations, animal rights, and an examination of the “blame the victim” mentality that can accompany a rape case were all tackled during the series’ five season run, and it usually came down on the socially progressive side. This episode, whose title comes from a poem on Mark Twain’s daughter’s headstone, features Sam leaping into a coroner/ mortician and discovering a young, supposed suicide victim on his exam table. Sam finds himself driven to understand why the young girl committed suicide and concludes that she was, in fact, murdered. The episode features an abortion, a same-sex relationship, and a pretty well-crafted murder mystery. At the heart though, is Sam, the decent central figure who finds himself constantly surrounded by corruption and cruelty, yet remains as noble and steadfast as ever.
9) Future Boy (Season 3, Episode 13)
Here, Sam leaps into a young actor playing “Future Boy” on a local-access tv show called Captain Galaxy. His mission? Repair Captain Galaxy’s (or Moe Stein, the absent-minded professor at the center of Sam’s mission) relationship with his estranged daughter in order to prevent her from having him committed. It’s a charming, sweet-natured story that keeps its sentiment front and center, but never descends into mawkishness. The real reason I include it here, though, has to do the ironic twist at the episode’s end. If you know it, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, you deserve to hear it in the episode, unspoiled by me.
8) Double Identity (Season 1, Episode 6)
Quantum Leap’s brief first season appears more like an early cooking attempt of an eventually competent chef. The ingredients are there, and you know he’s on the right track, but he’s gotta practice in order to really hone his craft. This episode, however, has some delightful comedy (probably some of the series’ best) with its Godfather homages and some Sam Beckett song belting. He leaps into a mafia hit man, sleeping with the Godfather’s mistress, and that’s just the beginnings of his problems. As a first season episode, it features a B-plot in which Al and the unseen Quantum Leap team back home have a plan to get Sam back to their time (Remember when that was a thing?). The plan calls for Sam to recreate the circumstances surrounding him when he first leapt in. Bakula has a well-refined sense of comedic timing that was rarely showcased as prominently as it was here (he was usually relegated to Dean Stockwell’s straight man), and this episode was the earliest indication as to the versatility of their leading man.
7) Ghost Ship (Season 4, Episode 16)
Despite the show’s explicitly sci-fi backdrop and metaphysical implications, Quantum Leap didn’t go to a supernatural area very often. There are a handful of episodes, but they are few and far between. Here, though, Sam leaps into a pilot who must save the life of a woman whose appendix has ruptured. The problem? Their flying over the Bermuda Triangle, and their equipment continues to malfunction. It’s a clever, well-written episode of the series, with one of their best supernatural nods.
6) Honeymoon Express (Season 2, Episode 1)
One of the recurring plot devices of Quantum Leap’s first season revolved around continuing to secure project funding. Eventually, the series decided this was an unnecessary distraction to the whole “putting things right that once went wrong” thing and dropped it. Here, though it’s front and center, as Sam leaps into a man on his honeymoon who must prevent himself from being harmed by his new bride’s ex-husband. Al, however, desperate to prove to a committee of glowering politicians that Project: Quantum Leap is worthy of government funding (good luck trying that with our politicians today) attempts to convince them by trying to alter an event of historic importance. It also has a lot of fun with the chaste, boy scout Sam on a honeymoon with a woman who definitely wants to consummate her recent nuptials and yet another clever, playfully sly ending. What really makes this episode stand out for me most, though, is the relationship between Sam and Al and the way it’s presented here. They are one of many Odd Couple partnerships littering both film and television screens, but this episode marks one of the earliest indications that the two of them were legitimately good friends. There’s an emotional bond between the two and it becomes evident when Sam is confronted with the knowledge that project funding could be pulled and their interactions could come to an abrupt end. It’s a lovely moment that foreshadows how critical their relationship would be to the show’s cult following.
5) A Single Drop of Rain (Season 4, Episode 16)
There may be better episodes of Quantum Leap, but there are none as effortlessly delightful as this one. Sam leaps into a traveling con man, who claims he can make it rain. Well, what luck, he’s traveled to his home town, and they desperately need rain after a long drought. Sam’s there to keep his brother’s wife from running off with him, but Sam wants to make it rain too, something over which he really has no control. The show rarely presented Sam with an issue he couldn’t solve through the sheer force of his own innate goodness, and it’s interesting watching him struggle with a problem for which he has no real solution. It ends, of course, in the most sentimental fashion possible, but it’s such a charming episode, why would I ever bother to complain?
4) Leap Home: Pt. 1 & 2 (Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2)
Between Sam and Al, Project: Quantum Leap was a psychiatrist’s wet dream. Al had been abandoned by his mother, raised in an orphanage with his mentally challenged sister (who died in an institution) and was a recovering alcoholic, Vietnam POW who had been abandoned by his wife. Sam, meanwhile, was a shy, emotionally reserved genius, whose father died of an early heart attack, whose brother had been killed in Vietnam (that war was tough on QL employees), and whose sister had eloped with an abusive alcoholic. These two characters had more trauma than most psych wards’ patients combined. Here, though, Sam gets a brief respite, leaping into himself as a teenager. All he has to do is win the “big game,” but Sam decides he’d also like to save his father, brother, and sister. Al tries to caution him, but Sam remains determined until his plan collapses around him. Part II gives him a chance to right one of those wrongs, but it comes at a steep price. Quantum Leap usually ended on an optimistic, life-affirming note, but these two episodes are achingly poignant and bittersweet. They’re lovely and sentimental, but there’s an underlying melancholy that permeates them. Bakula gives an especially fine performance here (as Sam. Not as his father. That’s just strange.). reminding the audience how much he’s given up for the QL project and how little he’s been able to do to improve his own life.
3) Mirror Image (Season 5, Episode 21)
Ah, the series finale. I know this episode wasn’t meant to be a series finale. It was supposed to be a transitional episode, signaling an end to the way Quantum Leap had been working and how it would function in future seasons. However, this episode, even without its tacked on coda, feels like a series finale. I’ll admit, when I first watched it, I hated it. It seemed to betray the series’ entire premise. However, now I think it’s a lovely, poignant send off.
Sam leaps into a mining town to find himself, exactly as he appears, staring back at him in the mirror. What follows are a series of vague revelations about the nature of “leapers” and who may be controlling Sam’s leaps into the past. It ends with Sam finally setting right an event from Al’s past, and the most soul crushing text ever to grace a television’s screen, but it celebrates everything that made Quantum Leap a journey worth taking.
2) Catch a Falling Star (Season 2, Episode 10)
Sam Beckett could have been a bland character. He’s pure and good to an almost Messianic extent, with a sense of morally superior lecturing that seemed hopelessly naive. Characters like that are difficult not to find grating. Credit really goes to Bakula for making the character work as well as he does. He made sure that the tragedy at the heart of Sam’s blindly optimistic journey was always a character undercurrent. Here, though, that tragedy is front and center as he plays an actor cast in an Off-Broadway production of Man of La Mancha and finds himself reunited with a former teenage crush. They begin a relationship, but of course Sam knows it’s relationship with a built-in ticking clock. Eventually, he’ll leap out, someone else will leap in, either building upon the relationship Sam has established or letting it crumble and disintegrate, and Sam’s life will have to start back over from scratch. Having Sam play a character like Don Quixote, with his absurd, “impossible dreams” and blindly optimistic quests may seem a bit in the nose, and the episode’s need to flat-out state the thematic connection is a bit unnecessary, but in the end, when Sam, as Cervantes/ Don Quixote exits the stage to a chorus of “The Impossible Dream,” it’s near-impossible to feel a bit misty-eyed.
1) MIA (Season 2, Episode 22)
Just before Sam leapt into himself as a teenager in “The Leap Home,” Al was confronted with the chance to change his life for the better, ignoring any possibility that Sam may have arrived on the scene for any other reason. Sam leaps into a vice cop, with a traumatized partner, but Al keeps telling Sam he’s there to stop a woman from leaving her MIA husband.
This isn’t the first time Quantum Leap presented our two leads with the temptation to change their own, personal histories. Sam faced that temptation in the show’s second episode (“Star-Crossed”) and dove in head-first, but it lacked any real emotional punch, because viewers hadn’t had time to form an attachment to its two main characters. However, by the time this episode rolled around, viewer’s protective affection for Sam and Al was front and center. We knew how dreadful their backgrounds were, and we wanted them to have a few, sporadic touches of happiness. This episode makes both Sam’s and Al’s opposing viewpoints seem alarmingly selfish and sympathetic. Al is ignoring the very thought that Sam may be there to save someone else (as in fact, he is), because all he can think of is the fact he can finally have back the wife he loves so much. He’s blinded by emotions, and it would be easy for him to come off as unsympathetic, but Stockwell ensures Al stays on the right side of emotional desperation. Meanwhile, Sam, who will face this same challenge in the next episode and be just as emotionally blinded, tries to take the rational, scientifically minded view that they cannot change their own fates– a view that could come off as horribly unyielding, but instead comes off as tragically rule-bound. Bakula makes Sam’s dilemma and sympathy for Al’s plight convincing. Really though, this episode all comes down to its final scene, in which Beth, Al’s wife, slowly dances to “Georgia on my Mind” as an unseen (by her) Al dances with her. It’s a perfect, devastating moment whose impact has not been dulled by time.
Quantum Leap is available to stream through Netflix and Hulu (with its original, still copyrighted music, no less) and available to purchase on DVD.
And, now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The horribly catchy opening credits of Quantum Leap:
So, what do you think, guys? Are there episodes I left out? Any here you think shouldn’t have been (I don’t care what you say, I’m not putting that chimp episode in my Top Ten. Sorry.) ? Let us know in the comments!
We Minored in Film 
I just watched MIA on Hulu and it did NOT have the original music. Completely ruined the ending and makes the episode look stupid (Georgia on my Mind being the ONLY thing Al mentions Beth loves that now isn’t in the episode). I was showing this episode to my wife, who had never seen it. Needless to say, angry and disappointed. So, maybe it’s available with original music on HuluPLUS, but it ain’t on regular Hulu. Just FYI.
Sadly, you are not the first person to have been burned by this, either on Hulu or Netflix. This was discussed in the comments section to another Quantum Leap article on this site (https://weminoredinfilm.com/2013/08/16/5-sad-truths-you-realize-when-re-watching-quantum-leap/). What I wrote then was:
“It’s strange to think of it since I grew up on Quantum Leap, but I’ve encountered a lot of fans who have been burned by Netflix, having missed several important episodes (e.g., the series finale) because those ones are not on Netflix. Hulu actually has all of the episodes, including the ones that are missing on Netflix. However, Hulu has the DVD versions of the episodes meaning there is a lot of music replacement, most notably replacing Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” from the background of the final scene in “MIA” with muzak. The Netflix ones, on the other hand, appear to be the broadcast versions with all of the original music.”
Additionally, the first two seasons are available in their entirety on Amazon Prime, and they are the broadcast versions meaning “MIA” has “Georgia on My Mind” in the final scene.
So, to sum up: you can watch every single episode on Hulu but they are the DVD versions meaning most of the original music has been replaced with soundalike tracks or just straight up muzak, you can watch every episode of the first two seasons in their original “Georgia on My Mind” glory on Amazon Prime, or you can watch the broadcast versions on Netflix with the knowledge that incredibly important episodes are missing for no apparent reasons. The exact reasons for why it’s so needlessly complicated is not entirely clear, although many have pointed to the fact that Hulu is partially owned by NBCUniversal has a reason why a Universal-owned show like Quantum Leap would have episodes held back from Hulu competitors. I get that, but if Netflix has access to the broadcast version of the episodes I don’t get why Universal couldn’t also give those to Hulu instead of the crappy music-replacement versions.
Back when the show finally came out on DVD, there was quite an uproar from fans who felt cheated that Universal in no way acknowledging in their advertising or DVD packaging that due to music rights issues they had just replaced most of the music thinking fans wouldn’t care/notice.
So, I’ve been in your position, and getting to the end of “MIA” on DVD/Hulu and then not hearing “Georgia on My Mind” is insanely upsetting when you have no idea they’ve replaced the music. “Georgia” is not the only song excised from “MIA.” When Sam takes Beth on his “cheap date” there is supposed to be “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” playing in the background. However, that being gone is a lot easier to forgive than “Georgia,” which is so crucial to making that scene so heartbreaking.
You said that the hulu version of M.I.A was took from the dvd so does not have the original sound track. Well I got curious so rewatched my dvd and it had georgia on my mind still (l live in the UK so maybe hulu has the American dvds) either way my dvds have the original soundtrack.
Also my favourite episodes are:
M.i.a
The leap back
The leap home pt1 and 2
The evil leaper trilogy (even though the effects are terrible as she didn’t put enough pressure on her face to draw blood)
The boogieman
A project for trojian
Raped (the monologue in court was heart breaking)
The colour of truth
The one where he lept into a chimp
Another mother
I’m in the UK too and they’re currently showing Quantum Leap on Sci Fi. They showed M.I.A a few months ago.,I hadn’t seen it for a long time. before that. It is a good episode.
I’d suggest that if viewers in America have a PVR (personal video recorder) service then they wait till they show the MIA episode on TV and record it, so they can get the original music. 🙂
Just double-checked. The version of Hulu in the United states still does not have the ray Charles song during the ending of mia whereas netflix does. No need to double check my dvds since those obviously have not changed. I do not know if they re-released the dvd’s with the proper music, or if they made that change before releasing in certain regions, like the uk. But you have the real episodes on dvd. Kudos.
I like that your top 10 list has some actual episodes titles and some simple descriptions of the episodes. That’s how I tend to remember the episodes as well. When you say the one where he leapt into a chimp we know exactly which one you are talking about. That episode is pretty divisive, a crazy too far for some, but I actually quite like it. There really is not an episode in your list that I do not like, although I oddly giggle at certain parts of boogieman and a project for trojian now whereas I used to take them very seriously.
“Here, though it’s front and center, as Sam leaps into a man on his honeymoon who must prevent himself from being harmed by his **new bride’s ex-wife.**”
They really did tackle the same sex marriage thing, huh?
That would have certainly been incredibly progressive on their part, huh? Alas, it was just a spelling error in the article which has now been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out to us.
I used to watch Quantum Leap when I was a little girl and still like it now. My favourites are the ones you mentioned in your other article, the Trilogy and Evil Leaper episodes. I also like Blood Moon, lol.
A Project for Troian is good as well and Another Mother. There are quite a few I like but I can’t think of them all now, lol. I agree that Ghost Ship and Mirror Image are good ones but it’s a shame the way that Mirror Image ended. 😦 After reading what you wrote, I see that the series was meant to carry on but didn’t.
There was another episode where Sam fell in love with a psychic who saw him as he really was but I can’t remember the title. The woman was Asian and I think maybe a journalist? Might have got it a bit wrong because it’s ages since I saw it.
The title is “Temptation Eyes” 🙂
My favorite episode!! Loved it!!💝💝😁
The Trilogy episodes are the only ones that come close to MIA. Although I have a soft spot for Lee Harvey Oswald (eh, the episode not the person!).
Great top 10 list. I would agree with most of it, our top 20 would probably match up exactly. 😀
I agree, great top 10. I might have tried to sneak the Vietnam episode in, when they show what happened to Al.
The Vietnam episode is certainly one of my all-time favorites.
I would have the Trilogy in there – you have everything in those three episodes: horror, murder, eerieness, passion, prejudice… A Project For Troian just for the little spooky twist at the end and the Halloween episode – very scary the first time I saw it!
The one thing about the Trilogy that throws a lot of people is the potential ickiness of Sam first being the father to a little girl, then being her lover when she’s a teenager, and then being her defense lawyer when she’s an adult, at which point he discovers he’s the father of her daughter who’s played -if I recall correctly – by the same actress who played the mother as a little girl in the first part of the trilogy. Personally, I’ve always liked the first part of the trilogy the best, though, come to think of it, I’ve actually only seen the other two parts once or twice.
1. MIA
2. Leap for Al
3. Leap home Part 1 & 2
4. What price Gloria ? (Samantha)
5. Raped
6. The Color of Truth
7. Genesis
8. Jimmy and Evil Leaper (as about a Jimmy too)
9. The Boogieman (Halloween episode scared the shit out of me . Was 12 years old at the time and reading Stephen King !!!)
10. Shock Theater
“9. The Boogieman (Halloween episode scared the shit out of me . Was 12 years old at the time and reading Stephen King !!!)”
That’s actually almost my same exact experience with that episode. I was young and obsessed with Stephen King when I first saw “Boogieman.” It scared the crap out of me. Now when I watch it, though, I tend to chuckle just a little bit when Dean Stockwell goes really big with his voice at the end, “Well, you’re not going to make it!” I still like it, of course, but with time it seems more fun than scary to me now.
Having religiously watched the show every week when it was on TV, I was also 12 when the Halloween Boogieman episode aired, and I remember being so shit scared that I literally frozen in my spot!!! I hated Devil Al! I was also reading Stephen King (and Dean R Koontz) books at the time…aaa the good old days when I had to get my parents to mail order the books for me haha.
Isn’t it funny how people have such similar experiences in their own little houses in their own little lives, and then end up writing about them here 25 years later!! These comments made me feel warm and fuzzy 🙂
HEY You forgot Glitter Rock
“Forgot” might be the wrong word there.
Even though I am pretty young (19) I absolutely love Qauntum leap. Every single episode is enjoyable. That’s one of the best tv series of all time if you ask me.
As regards the episodes, to me, each one is my favorite (yeah, basic answer ;))!
But the ones I love most and wouldn’t mind watching them over and over again would certainly be:
Private Dancer (the one with the deaf girl)
Star crossed (when he meets his future wife)
The Color of Truth
Good morning peoria
MIA
The Leap home (part 1 and two) (definitely one of my favorites)
The Boogieman (so weird but great)
Shock theater
The leap back
Dreams
A leap for Lisa
…and pretty much all the ones from the last season.
You may say that I don’t have high standards regarding this tv show but I love it so much I can’t choose! haha 😀
I love Quantum leap since the 1st season I am 34yrs old now and still do to this day I just made my daughter and wife sit down and watch it too and there now just as hooked as I am… My top episodes are
#1 The Leap home Pt1 & 2
#2 Pool Hall Episode
#3 Color of Truth
#4 MIA
#5 Genesis
#6 Heart of a Champion
#7 Mirror Image
#8 Jimmy
#9 Camikazi Kid
#10 Play it again Seymour
Off the top of my head I might have missed a few
Quantum leap was a great show- still watch the re-runs on FETV. I liked the episode Kami Kazi I believe where he leaps into a teenage boy and stops his sister from marrying her abusive boyfriend. So many more it is hard to name – always left with a good feeling after watching the show and that is what is still appealing I believe.
I’ve just finished reading your piece. I know you missed a few episodes, how about the one that could be named “Expecting” about the pregnant teen who chooses to keep her baby, because in her future she looks for her child thru her later life. And how about “Piano Man”? when during the show Scott Bakula Sings beautifully. I’ve read somewhere Else that Scott actually wrote this himself. He sings Beautifully! Of course in the one with the Bard of performance on stage, he sings great too. Yes, most are so Good. Good Morning, Peoria” makes me get up & dance. Loved the songs & the story line. Fun ones are my favorites. Bless you for writing this piece about “Quantum Leap”. I am still watching some repeats on Cozi TV where I live in CA.
i liked Temptation Eyes
I love the over-the-top idealism and naivete of this show. As a preteen QL, along with Star Trek (original and TNG) shaped my worldview and continue to do so even today. Compassion, social justice, humanity, faith, hope and agency…it’s all there. I recently rewatched “Black on white on fire” and found it incredibly powerful, and sickeningly still timely. When Sam asks, “Is it enough, Al? Is it enough?” it broke my heart. Clearly not. I was surprised that this episode predated the Rodney King riots by almost 2 years. It felt like a response. Love this show and agree with the episodes on your list!
I’m with you there on the Rodney King episode. I watched the show first-run, but I more remember it from the SyFy re-runs. Viewing it so far after the fact, whenever I got to “Black on White on Fire” I always assumed it was a response to the Rodney King race riots. It’s interesting to remember that it actually predated them.
Camikazi Kid, great episode.
Since in Mirror Image the last ever episode of Quantum Leap ended with Sam never making the leap home
does this give Quantum Leap a open ending?
Since Mirror Image ended with Sam never making the leap home does this give Quantum Leap a open ending?
I don’t understand why in Mirror Image Sam didn’t leap home after telling Beth that Al was still alive and be coming home.
Whatever happened to Alia after being reformed by Sam and leaving the evil leapers?
Became a leaping angel of God?
I thought “A little miracle” was a top ten episode
So here’s my question: what episodes are missing on Netflix, that Hulu isn’t missing? I just finished binge watching (again) the whole series on Netflix, but if I’ve missed some episodes, I want to know which ones I missed! Has anyone made a comparison list between the two streaming services? I also have the complete DVD set somewhere, but with my iPad it’s just easier to stream, especially when I should be doing more responsible things than binge watching Quantum Leap again.
There used to be a discrepancy between services, including Amazon Prime as well. However, at last check Netflix and Hulu now have all of the episodes. The difference is that Hulu has the music-replacement versions whereas Netflix has the versions with the original songs. Well, I can’t say that for sure, but I always check the end of “MIA” when Al and Beth dance to “Georgia” by Ray Charles. On Hulu, their dancing to crappy muzak; on Netflix, Ray Charles is underscoring their heartbreak, as he always has and always should.
On the web, “NBC.com/classic-tv/quantum-leap” has all episodes except “Disco Inferno”. (If you tack on a “/video” at the end, you get a better interface, IMO.) Their “M.I.A.” has Ray Charles’ “Georgia”, mercifully. I can’t tell whether some of the later-season episodes have replacement music, but several of them don’t seem to contain any recognizable songs. The earlier seasons, though, are littered with well known tunes, so they’re probably okay.
Though “The Boogieman” is one of my favorite episodes, the Evil Leaper episodes made me quit the show. Luckily I heard the final episode was airing and watched it live. I can admit that I shed a tear and still get misty whenever I watch that end card.
I also love, The Leap Home 1&2, The Leap Back, Vietnam, The Leap for Lisa, MIA (big Al fan here). I also disliked the whole Oswald shenanigans with Bellisario shoving his JFK theory down our throats. The show was best when it just brushed past history.
Still in my top 10 favorite shows.
“when Sam, as Cervantes/ Don Quixote exits the stage to a chorus of “The Impossible Dream,” it’s near-impossible to feel a bit misty-eyed.”<<
Did you mean to write it's near-impossible to NOT feel a bit misty-eyed? Or did you not like the way they ended that one?
I concur
Animal Frat is one of my favorite episodes…Sam as Wild Thing is phenomenal.
I really enjoy the leap effect.
Quantum Leap is one of my all time favorite tv shows. I usually can’t describe an episode without crying…..
Narrowing down to top 10 is hard, especially when Trilogy (all 3 episodes) and Evil Leaper (all 3 episodes) are included with Leap Home (2 episodes).
I agree with many others above (Jimmy, private dancer, M.I.A., raped, mirror image, color of truth, camikaze kid), but didn’t see two other favorites listed: It’s a wonderful leap and Leap between the states
The reality is that most were great.
I own the dvd set since it became available and rewatch about once a year.
Doing it know if you hadn’t guesse!
Quantum Leap is one of my all time favorite tv shows. I usually can’t describe an episode without crying…..
Narrowing down to top 10 is hard, especially when Trilogy (all 3 episodes) and Evil Leaper (all 3 episodes) are included with Leap Home (2 episodes).
I agree with many others above (Jimmy, private dancer, M.I.A., raped, mirror image, color of truth, camikaze kid), but didn’t see two other favorites listed: It’s a wonderful leap and Leap between the states
The reality is that most were great.
I own the dvd set since it became available and rewatch about once a year.
Doing it now if you hadn’t guessed!
The spooky Halloween episode! I remember it having some rare paranormal elements to it.
I know no one believes me so far and also I believe it is a Mandela effect, but I believe one episode is missing from season 1. That episode is when Sam leaps into a dog, the first animal in the entire series. I swear I have seen that episode when the series was broadcast on TV here in New Zealand. When Sam leapt, he found himself on the floor of a kitchen. He slowly stands up, looking around, then suddenly he notices he is naked! and at that point he said: “Oh.. Boy!” A moment or so later Al arrives and Sam says: “Al, I’m naked!” and Al says: “You shouldn’t be standing up, Sam” Sam asks why and Al says: “Because you are a dog!”. Suddenly Sam is back on the floor when he and Al hear the owner approaching. At this point I am unable to remember what happened in the episode after that, but I do know that somewhere along the line, Sam as the dog saves the life of someone (maybe the owner) and then eventually leaps. I have tried elsewhere to say the same thing, but some people think I am referring to the Chimpanzee episode in season 4 or it was a book or I had imagined it. But I am telling you the truth as that episode is definitely missing! and the number of episodes of all 5 seasons is actually 98! not 97 as it is claimed to be. I know that for a fact when I read somewhere not long after Quantum Leap was finished that 98 episodes was made, and I said to myself: “that is 2 episodes shy of 100. Anyway, I leave it up to you if you believe me or not and maybe you can remember that episode too. Many thanks for your time.