Kylara Ingress (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kylaraingress) wrote2024-10-07 09:05 pm
kylaraingress) wrote2024-10-07 09:05 pm
Quantum Leap (1989) Re-watch - S1, E9
As previously mentioned, I'm doing a re-watch of Quantum Leap (1989) now that I've fallen back into writing slash for it. And as I watched, decided to write up my off-the-cuff/stream of consciousness thoughts as I watch them. (I'm also doing this on my Tumblr.)
Season 1, Episode 9: "Play it Again, Seymour"
Date of Leap: April 14, 1953
Written by: Scott Shepherd & Donald P. Bellisario
So, part of the reason there was so much time between this episode and the last one I wrote up is because my wife, Kate, is a fan of Claudia Christian and I had asked if she wanted to watch it with me. She did. (Add in that I had to cover Los Angeles Comic Con and then got sick to why it's even later.)
Ah, yes - the one that's an 'homage' to pulp fiction / noir / Humphrey Bogart films/writing.
"He was dead when I got here?" I mean, technically he ain't WRONG.
"I'm still in LA." / "LA. Yeah, sure. And Ebbets Field is in Hollywood." - As a now-resident of Los Angeles (moved in 2013), I had to look up how long the Dodgers have been here. 1958. (Wasn't that a 'sign' to Captain America he wasn't actually in the past any more at the end of The First Avenger?)
Hey - this is before Sam is born! (Canon? What canon?) (Although I do remember reading that some fans decided it was okay because he would've been 'in the womb' at the time.)
Just noticed that these opening credits have scenes from season 2. Am curious if these were the 'actual' credits at the time and QL already had a season 2, or if they 'retconned' them when they serialized them.
Even Sam's inner monologue has that 'hard-boiled'/noir style.
God bless Al in that fedora and those shades. (And the X collar links!) I've been joking about making a 'Bakula Scale of Hotness' where the X axis is how often/long he's shirtless and the Y axis being how often/long he's in denim. I also should make a rating scale for Al's outfits - on a 'this is actually something a man his age would've worn at the time' to 'this is obviously an outfit from 'the distant future: the year 2000'''.
Good god - I KNOW this is the 80s and there was NO WAY it was intended, but hearing Dean Stockwell say 'dick' is perfect.
Scott continues to do hilariously bad impressions. (And then the CAGNEY. And Dean/Al's REACTION.) (Had to look it up: Stockwell did NOT have a movie that came out in '53. He was in Kim in '50, Cattle Drive in '51, and then there's a gap until 1956.)
Al and Tina's 'friend who knows a guy who's got a kid that works for a trainer who happens to have a sure thing in the fourth race at Santa Anita.' That is one hell of a line of dialogue to memorize!
"In the decade I was born." (vs year) Again - canon? what canon?
And the drunk - god bless that actor who had to do that whole scene without acknowledging either of them until the one line!
HEY! I think that's the Bradbury Building. I'VE BEEN THERE! {looks up the episode on IMDB: 'The stairs and open area are the atrium of the Bradbury Building in L.A.' WOO HOO.}
I want to say I remember reading there's actually a difference (in terms of money and credit) between labeling writers as "person A and person B" and "person A & person B". It also means something different that it's a teleplay vs 'written by'.
SUDDENLY SEYMOUR.
Woo hoo - a SECOND 'Oh, boy!'
... "You know we slept in twin beds." And Sam/Scott's disbelieving 'Uh huh?' LOVE IT.
The kissing: Me: "I'm trying to decide who I'm more envious of: Scott Bakula or Claudia Christian." Kate: "The air molecules between them?"
Sam's 'thank you' to God after the first kiss: yep, this is definitely before they decided to make him a 'choirboy' about sex.
"I read this book." But ... but ... in "Star-Crossed", he says he hates English Lit. (Now - admittedly, the types of stories this episode is riffing off aren't exactly high literature.) (Looks up the transcript of "Star-Crossed": "Four of my least favorite cliches: headbands, bell bottoms, flower power and English Lit.")
"She was a flamer. A redhead who could make Father Flanagan forget Boys Town." Al's response is "My first wife was just like that." Obviously before even the IDEA of Beth had hit the writers. (Canon? What canon?)
Sam's reading, while Al's checking out the pin up girl on the wall. Al: I love you.
{Sam tries on hat - it doesn't fit} "Huh - must be Phil's." Score one in the 'it's Sam's AURA leaping around' column. (I know it fluctuates throughout the series.)
Oooh - obvious stunt double there hanging from the elevator cable.
And ANOTHER 'Oh, boy!' (Guess they were making up for the rest of the season?)
More 'great' ADR.
Scott Bakula in that white tux. Be still my heart.
Al 'conducting' the orchestra (with a CIGAR!). Dear lord, I love that strange little man.
Al peeping at Allison's ... assets through binoculars. Again - this shows how damn good of an actor Dean was, because this SHOULD piss me off, and yet I find it incredibly endearing.
"Well, Sam, you know ... there's sleaze and there's sleaze, please." God, I love Al Calavicci.
Huh - Al's in the same outfit.
"Some women have kinky taste in men ... thank God." Man, they're just pulling out ALL the stops on Al's character on this one.
Woo hoo - canon FIVE WIVES in this one.
"And I don't cloud my judgement with a bottle." Ouch, Sam. That hurt ME. And Al looks so GOD-DAMNED HURT!
No 'woosh' of a door when Al leaves. No door? (Al just walks to where Sam can't see him?)
"Why do we hurt people for telling us the truth?" Why do I want to think that was he actually wanted to say "Why do we hurt the ones we love?"
The building the 'Blue Island' is in: I think I've been THERE as well?
"Nerdy?"
"Or Thomas Magnum." / "Magnum?" Ah, the first reference to Magnum, P.I.. (Insert trivia about how they were wanting to do a crossover at some time, which makes you wonder how Sam knew him here, but hey - canon? What canon?)
"If I'm lucky, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life leaping around from one place to another ... instead of face down in a pool of blood." Aw, poor Sam.
"I already hurt one friend tonight: I can't hurt two." AW, SAM!
Sam SMOKING?
"Oh, God - I understood you." His ... frustration? with the lingo throughout this episode is hilarious.
"Who's Al?" / "A friend. A real good friend." DAW. (Followed by Al not wanting to get mushy about it. YAY CANON MOMENT!) And SAM'S SMILE at that! Oh, my GOD!
Oh - Al's wearing medals. ... with a white suit. ... the hell?
"Main squeeze?" {later} "Oh, I understood you. I'm just wondering how in 20 years... 'main squeeze' gets from Seymour to black slang." LOVE this.
"I'm going to check the ladies' room." / "Al!" / "Somebody's gotta do it." - Oh, Al. You are such a cad.
Oh, god. This 'kiss with history' with Woody Allen. (Weird: when I initially watched the show, I loved all the kisses with history. Now I hate them.) Something tells me this was the whole reason they had Sam's host look like Bogart. Just for this 'joke'.
"Don't you ever clean your mustache? You got gunk in there. It's yucky." I know, I KNOW this is what acting is all about, but that Paul Linke (Lionel) can just stand there looking frazzled the whole time Dean is saying this shit is SO GOOD.
Edward G. Robinson!
"How could I have turned Lionel on and not realized it?" The LOOK Sam/Scott gives in response. Great 'are you fucking kidding me?' energy there.
Al's 'coughs' during Sam and Allison's kiss are so adorable! And he closes his eyes in ... frustration? when she says "It's a sleeper flight."
"I've seen the picture, Sam." / "Oh, well good - then you know how it ends." Yes - WITH THE LEAD AND THE SIDEKICK GOING OFF INTO THE FOG TOGETHER! (Which: I want to say when I first got into slash in the early 2000s, I read a Rick/Captain Renault fic or two. Checked on AO3: there are 19! fics with that pairing. Not surprisingly, most of the fics on AO3 are Rick/Laslo with a few Rick/Laslo/Ilsa threesomes thrown in there.)
And another 'Oh, boy!' - this one with AL!
"Sam, I think..." / "Don't say it, Al." / "This is the start of a wonderful friendship." / "You couldn't resist, could you?" DAW. This is so adorable!
Huh - the leap 'outro' is "What Price, Gloria", but that ends up being episode 4 in season 2. I wonder if it was initially intended to be the first episode and got moved?
Final thoughts: This one is hard to judge. It's such an OBVIOUS 'homage' to pulp fiction and noir films that I have to kind of step back when evaluating. I definitely still liked it, even if it IS filled with clichés out the wazoo, but it works BECAUSE it's a take on noir and that makes the clichés work, if that makes sense? This is one of those episodes where you feel like everyone just wanted to have fun, to hell with the canon.
They really go to town on Al being a horndog in this one, and Sam apparently doesn't have the same issues of being with a married woman he has in the VERY NEXT episode. (Canon? What canon?) Sam being so 'into' Allison and then snapping at Al is such a great slashy moment. Claudia plays the 'black widow' so very well, and Scott obviously had a field day pretending to be a Bogey look-alike.
It's a fun episode, and I've gotten to the point in my life where that mostly tends to be better than a 'faithful' episode, if that makes sense. Well worth watching again, even if it IS just to watch Bakula and Christian kiss.
Season 1, Episode 9: "Play it Again, Seymour"
Date of Leap: April 14, 1953
Written by: Scott Shepherd & Donald P. Bellisario
So, part of the reason there was so much time between this episode and the last one I wrote up is because my wife, Kate, is a fan of Claudia Christian and I had asked if she wanted to watch it with me. She did. (Add in that I had to cover Los Angeles Comic Con and then got sick to why it's even later.)
Ah, yes - the one that's an 'homage' to pulp fiction / noir / Humphrey Bogart films/writing.
"He was dead when I got here?" I mean, technically he ain't WRONG.
"I'm still in LA." / "LA. Yeah, sure. And Ebbets Field is in Hollywood." - As a now-resident of Los Angeles (moved in 2013), I had to look up how long the Dodgers have been here. 1958. (Wasn't that a 'sign' to Captain America he wasn't actually in the past any more at the end of The First Avenger?)
Hey - this is before Sam is born! (Canon? What canon?) (Although I do remember reading that some fans decided it was okay because he would've been 'in the womb' at the time.)
Just noticed that these opening credits have scenes from season 2. Am curious if these were the 'actual' credits at the time and QL already had a season 2, or if they 'retconned' them when they serialized them.
Even Sam's inner monologue has that 'hard-boiled'/noir style.
God bless Al in that fedora and those shades. (And the X collar links!) I've been joking about making a 'Bakula Scale of Hotness' where the X axis is how often/long he's shirtless and the Y axis being how often/long he's in denim. I also should make a rating scale for Al's outfits - on a 'this is actually something a man his age would've worn at the time' to 'this is obviously an outfit from 'the distant future: the year 2000'''.
Good god - I KNOW this is the 80s and there was NO WAY it was intended, but hearing Dean Stockwell say 'dick' is perfect.
Scott continues to do hilariously bad impressions. (And then the CAGNEY. And Dean/Al's REACTION.) (Had to look it up: Stockwell did NOT have a movie that came out in '53. He was in Kim in '50, Cattle Drive in '51, and then there's a gap until 1956.)
Al and Tina's 'friend who knows a guy who's got a kid that works for a trainer who happens to have a sure thing in the fourth race at Santa Anita.' That is one hell of a line of dialogue to memorize!
"In the decade I was born." (vs year) Again - canon? what canon?
And the drunk - god bless that actor who had to do that whole scene without acknowledging either of them until the one line!
HEY! I think that's the Bradbury Building. I'VE BEEN THERE! {looks up the episode on IMDB: 'The stairs and open area are the atrium of the Bradbury Building in L.A.' WOO HOO.}
I want to say I remember reading there's actually a difference (in terms of money and credit) between labeling writers as "person A and person B" and "person A & person B". It also means something different that it's a teleplay vs 'written by'.
SUDDENLY SEYMOUR.
Woo hoo - a SECOND 'Oh, boy!'
... "You know we slept in twin beds." And Sam/Scott's disbelieving 'Uh huh?' LOVE IT.
The kissing: Me: "I'm trying to decide who I'm more envious of: Scott Bakula or Claudia Christian." Kate: "The air molecules between them?"
Sam's 'thank you' to God after the first kiss: yep, this is definitely before they decided to make him a 'choirboy' about sex.
"I read this book." But ... but ... in "Star-Crossed", he says he hates English Lit. (Now - admittedly, the types of stories this episode is riffing off aren't exactly high literature.) (Looks up the transcript of "Star-Crossed": "Four of my least favorite cliches: headbands, bell bottoms, flower power and English Lit.")
"She was a flamer. A redhead who could make Father Flanagan forget Boys Town." Al's response is "My first wife was just like that." Obviously before even the IDEA of Beth had hit the writers. (Canon? What canon?)
Sam's reading, while Al's checking out the pin up girl on the wall. Al: I love you.
{Sam tries on hat - it doesn't fit} "Huh - must be Phil's." Score one in the 'it's Sam's AURA leaping around' column. (I know it fluctuates throughout the series.)
Oooh - obvious stunt double there hanging from the elevator cable.
And ANOTHER 'Oh, boy!' (Guess they were making up for the rest of the season?)
More 'great' ADR.
Scott Bakula in that white tux. Be still my heart.
Al 'conducting' the orchestra (with a CIGAR!). Dear lord, I love that strange little man.
Al peeping at Allison's ... assets through binoculars. Again - this shows how damn good of an actor Dean was, because this SHOULD piss me off, and yet I find it incredibly endearing.
"Well, Sam, you know ... there's sleaze and there's sleaze, please." God, I love Al Calavicci.
Huh - Al's in the same outfit.
"Some women have kinky taste in men ... thank God." Man, they're just pulling out ALL the stops on Al's character on this one.
Woo hoo - canon FIVE WIVES in this one.
"And I don't cloud my judgement with a bottle." Ouch, Sam. That hurt ME. And Al looks so GOD-DAMNED HURT!
No 'woosh' of a door when Al leaves. No door? (Al just walks to where Sam can't see him?)
"Why do we hurt people for telling us the truth?" Why do I want to think that was he actually wanted to say "Why do we hurt the ones we love?"
The building the 'Blue Island' is in: I think I've been THERE as well?
"Nerdy?"
"Or Thomas Magnum." / "Magnum?" Ah, the first reference to Magnum, P.I.. (Insert trivia about how they were wanting to do a crossover at some time, which makes you wonder how Sam knew him here, but hey - canon? What canon?)
"If I'm lucky, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life leaping around from one place to another ... instead of face down in a pool of blood." Aw, poor Sam.
"I already hurt one friend tonight: I can't hurt two." AW, SAM!
Sam SMOKING?
"Oh, God - I understood you." His ... frustration? with the lingo throughout this episode is hilarious.
"Who's Al?" / "A friend. A real good friend." DAW. (Followed by Al not wanting to get mushy about it. YAY CANON MOMENT!) And SAM'S SMILE at that! Oh, my GOD!
Oh - Al's wearing medals. ... with a white suit. ... the hell?
"Main squeeze?" {later} "Oh, I understood you. I'm just wondering how in 20 years... 'main squeeze' gets from Seymour to black slang." LOVE this.
"I'm going to check the ladies' room." / "Al!" / "Somebody's gotta do it." - Oh, Al. You are such a cad.
Oh, god. This 'kiss with history' with Woody Allen. (Weird: when I initially watched the show, I loved all the kisses with history. Now I hate them.) Something tells me this was the whole reason they had Sam's host look like Bogart. Just for this 'joke'.
"Don't you ever clean your mustache? You got gunk in there. It's yucky." I know, I KNOW this is what acting is all about, but that Paul Linke (Lionel) can just stand there looking frazzled the whole time Dean is saying this shit is SO GOOD.
Edward G. Robinson!
"How could I have turned Lionel on and not realized it?" The LOOK Sam/Scott gives in response. Great 'are you fucking kidding me?' energy there.
Al's 'coughs' during Sam and Allison's kiss are so adorable! And he closes his eyes in ... frustration? when she says "It's a sleeper flight."
"I've seen the picture, Sam." / "Oh, well good - then you know how it ends." Yes - WITH THE LEAD AND THE SIDEKICK GOING OFF INTO THE FOG TOGETHER! (Which: I want to say when I first got into slash in the early 2000s, I read a Rick/Captain Renault fic or two. Checked on AO3: there are 19! fics with that pairing. Not surprisingly, most of the fics on AO3 are Rick/Laslo with a few Rick/Laslo/Ilsa threesomes thrown in there.)
And another 'Oh, boy!' - this one with AL!
"Sam, I think..." / "Don't say it, Al." / "This is the start of a wonderful friendship." / "You couldn't resist, could you?" DAW. This is so adorable!
Huh - the leap 'outro' is "What Price, Gloria", but that ends up being episode 4 in season 2. I wonder if it was initially intended to be the first episode and got moved?
Final thoughts: This one is hard to judge. It's such an OBVIOUS 'homage' to pulp fiction and noir films that I have to kind of step back when evaluating. I definitely still liked it, even if it IS filled with clichés out the wazoo, but it works BECAUSE it's a take on noir and that makes the clichés work, if that makes sense? This is one of those episodes where you feel like everyone just wanted to have fun, to hell with the canon.
They really go to town on Al being a horndog in this one, and Sam apparently doesn't have the same issues of being with a married woman he has in the VERY NEXT episode. (Canon? What canon?) Sam being so 'into' Allison and then snapping at Al is such a great slashy moment. Claudia plays the 'black widow' so very well, and Scott obviously had a field day pretending to be a Bogey look-alike.
It's a fun episode, and I've gotten to the point in my life where that mostly tends to be better than a 'faithful' episode, if that makes sense. Well worth watching again, even if it IS just to watch Bakula and Christian kiss.
no subject
The opening credits being for another season are something that happened during the repeats. I think the leap-ins also got mixed up in syndication. It's a mess.
Well, QL really doesn't need to pay attention to canon since they can use the same 'excuse' as we fanfic writers do -- Sam changed the timeline!
In Sam's defense: I've always loved reading but was not a fan of the "classics" that one can imagine being forced to read in "English Lit." There's a missing scene fic waiting to happen there. Where and when did Sam read that pulp paperback?
Nope, I see that as evidence of nothing. I was and always shall remain a staunch body-leap proponent. 😉
no subject
"There's a missing scene fic waiting to happen there. Where and when did Sam read that pulp paperback?" - hmmm. Maybe it was a gift. ;-)
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