I like the sequel/legacyquel format for the new Quantum Leap and I will be shocked if Bakula isn't lying through his teeth about his lack of involvement. I do think that introducing a big mystery / master plot right out of the gate comes with some risks; QL was the quintessential story of the week show and now they have the burden of marking progress towards the fireworks factory every week rather than just letting us enjoy the trip. And while it's always nice to see Ernie Hudson, I'm not sure about the bigger cast yet.
Real talk though: Did they think we weren't going to notice the retcon of how Project Quantum Leap works? What about the waiting room? If we're going to be spending so much time in the present, the leapees ought to play a bigger role.
The waiting room is what interests me the most here. Completely agree that more time in the present should in theory mean more time fleshing out the leapee. Not only were Ryan and the crew completely flat, but there was almost zero connection created to Nick/Matt. It's such an easy win here too - but it looks like the present is more about the mythology than the case. It's super interesting and a bit weird for me to root for the procedural elements over longterm serialization, but Quantum Leap offers such an interesting set of procedural options and I just don't want them to drop the ball on what could be really effective emotional connections.
The other potential weird retcon effect is Magic's role in the story. Already an odd choice of connective tissue to the original series, since we didn't actually get to know him (just Sam in his skin)... why not let his experience in the waiting room help character build AND connect the series together? Hopefully they just lost track of the waiting room in the pilot? Maybe?
When I was a kid, Quantum Leap was a show I'd occasionally watch, and I was really excited to see what was in store for the series finale... and, woof, that end title card they tacked on made it one heck of a gut punch. In terms of "TV finales that weren't written and filmed as finales and, therefore, end up emotionally devastating," I always associate it with Alf, weirdly enough!
I think I must have been 13 when I saw the series finale. I was both too young and not at all up on television production practices to have any inkling that it wasn't planned. I think I eventually found some obscure early 00s forums with more information, but I felt at the time that the ending worked really well. Sam had put something right that made such a significant change to his own timeline that I imagined he had became some kind of Unstuck Godlike Timeless Being, just leaping and helping people forever. I was also really into bittersweet endings (still am I suppose), so it all just really worked for me even in retrospect. Even realizing it was tacked on change didn't that, but yeah, interesting how surprise cancellations can (hrm... could? used to?) lead to this kind of emotional devastation!
My take on this is to pause the DVR and YouTube Scott Bakula in It’s Always Sunny, “Ziggy! Leap me far, far from here..”. My immediate and foremost want is to love this connection to the source material but the relation is only just. This sequel/boot takes the tried and true procedural framework and lashes the remains of the Bakula original to plot beats that still ring true. This time we get an ensemble, and I’m all for giving Ernie Hudson (looking fantastic here) more to do. This, Fringe, Criminal Minds, Sleepy Hollow team up allows this Leap to have a mystery built in that I’m not yet sold on. I’m willing to stick with this one for a moment but I need to know if it’s worth exhuming Sam’s lost presumed dead body for yet another procedural.
Your experience with Quantum Leap and your feelings about the reboot really resonate with me too. And, please, armchair showrun away! I like to imagine it more as an expression of corrective fan fiction/head-canoning anyway. Regardless, I think your idea would have worked super well, placing us more directly in Ben's POV and having the mystery of his situation, their relationship, and his decision to Leap drive the episode (and the season).
This all feels like a problem stemming from the decision to expand the cast (which is unfortunate because I really liked Mason Alexander Park's Dr. Ian Wright). For example, that engagement party scene also established the five series regulars. Unless they had been willing to slow down the expansion and introduction of the cast over several episodes, I'm not sure what their options really were in a pilot like this. All things considered, they had to balance introducing the premise, the mythology, the characters, and the case of the week - the last of which they definitely fumbled (seriously, who thought 'dropping the C4 in the sewers to save the day and, later, offscreen, to save Ryan' was the right choice here). I can't help but wish it had been a two-part premiere to give each of these elements more room to breathe.
I like the sequel/legacyquel format for the new Quantum Leap and I will be shocked if Bakula isn't lying through his teeth about his lack of involvement. I do think that introducing a big mystery / master plot right out of the gate comes with some risks; QL was the quintessential story of the week show and now they have the burden of marking progress towards the fireworks factory every week rather than just letting us enjoy the trip. And while it's always nice to see Ernie Hudson, I'm not sure about the bigger cast yet.
Real talk though: Did they think we weren't going to notice the retcon of how Project Quantum Leap works? What about the waiting room? If we're going to be spending so much time in the present, the leapees ought to play a bigger role.
The waiting room is what interests me the most here. Completely agree that more time in the present should in theory mean more time fleshing out the leapee. Not only were Ryan and the crew completely flat, but there was almost zero connection created to Nick/Matt. It's such an easy win here too - but it looks like the present is more about the mythology than the case. It's super interesting and a bit weird for me to root for the procedural elements over longterm serialization, but Quantum Leap offers such an interesting set of procedural options and I just don't want them to drop the ball on what could be really effective emotional connections.
The other potential weird retcon effect is Magic's role in the story. Already an odd choice of connective tissue to the original series, since we didn't actually get to know him (just Sam in his skin)... why not let his experience in the waiting room help character build AND connect the series together? Hopefully they just lost track of the waiting room in the pilot? Maybe?
When I was a kid, Quantum Leap was a show I'd occasionally watch, and I was really excited to see what was in store for the series finale... and, woof, that end title card they tacked on made it one heck of a gut punch. In terms of "TV finales that weren't written and filmed as finales and, therefore, end up emotionally devastating," I always associate it with Alf, weirdly enough!
I think I must have been 13 when I saw the series finale. I was both too young and not at all up on television production practices to have any inkling that it wasn't planned. I think I eventually found some obscure early 00s forums with more information, but I felt at the time that the ending worked really well. Sam had put something right that made such a significant change to his own timeline that I imagined he had became some kind of Unstuck Godlike Timeless Being, just leaping and helping people forever. I was also really into bittersweet endings (still am I suppose), so it all just really worked for me even in retrospect. Even realizing it was tacked on change didn't that, but yeah, interesting how surprise cancellations can (hrm... could? used to?) lead to this kind of emotional devastation!
My take on this is to pause the DVR and YouTube Scott Bakula in It’s Always Sunny, “Ziggy! Leap me far, far from here..”. My immediate and foremost want is to love this connection to the source material but the relation is only just. This sequel/boot takes the tried and true procedural framework and lashes the remains of the Bakula original to plot beats that still ring true. This time we get an ensemble, and I’m all for giving Ernie Hudson (looking fantastic here) more to do. This, Fringe, Criminal Minds, Sleepy Hollow team up allows this Leap to have a mystery built in that I’m not yet sold on. I’m willing to stick with this one for a moment but I need to know if it’s worth exhuming Sam’s lost presumed dead body for yet another procedural.
Your experience with Quantum Leap and your feelings about the reboot really resonate with me too. And, please, armchair showrun away! I like to imagine it more as an expression of corrective fan fiction/head-canoning anyway. Regardless, I think your idea would have worked super well, placing us more directly in Ben's POV and having the mystery of his situation, their relationship, and his decision to Leap drive the episode (and the season).
This all feels like a problem stemming from the decision to expand the cast (which is unfortunate because I really liked Mason Alexander Park's Dr. Ian Wright). For example, that engagement party scene also established the five series regulars. Unless they had been willing to slow down the expansion and introduction of the cast over several episodes, I'm not sure what their options really were in a pilot like this. All things considered, they had to balance introducing the premise, the mythology, the characters, and the case of the week - the last of which they definitely fumbled (seriously, who thought 'dropping the C4 in the sewers to save the day and, later, offscreen, to save Ryan' was the right choice here). I can't help but wish it had been a two-part premiere to give each of these elements more room to breathe.