Quantum Leap 101
In the year 1995 in New-Mexico a top secret project called Quantum Leap was invented and constructed by a brilliant quantum physicist Dr. Sam Beckett. He managed to build a time machine that enables a person to leap into different times within his own lifetime. While testing this machine Sam prematurely steps into the project's accelerator and leaps into another time. The moment he leaps in to their life, someone else was leaping out to the year 1995. Looking in the mirror he sees the person he replaced other than himself. In his first leap Sam does not remember who he is at all. He leaps into a test pilot in 1956. Sam then discovers Al who worked with him on the project and now appears to him only as a hologram that only he can see and hear. They both realize that Sam has to right something that went wrong, in order to leap to another time hopefully his own time.

Why am I a Quantum Leap fan?
I started watching Quantum Leap during its original run shortly before it was cancelled - just enough for me to get hooked on the show. Since then, thanks to cable and DVDs, I've seen most of what I've missed. The show is still cited as one of the best examples of sci-fi, and I think that title is well-earned. QL took a new spin on the time travel theme, and played it out in a (mostly) consistent and (very) entertaining way.

With a million gigabyte capacity I'm quite capable of rubbing my tummy, patting my head, and doing a trillion floating point operations at once. - Ziggy from the ep The Leap Back

I think we need to take a trip to the little bank robber's room. - Al in the ep Promised Land

Don't be ridiculous, kids love violence. - Ben Harris, TV writer in the ep Future Boy

We're in the wrong-righting business. - Al in the ep Goodbye Norma Jean

You've got to reach for the stars, not for the ceiling. - Sam in the ep Memphis Melody

If I'd have known I'd have to do this much running, I would have worn my cross training shoes. - Al in the ep Unchained

Why do we even bother? Because that's what we do. We're professional botherers. - Sam and Al, {A Single Drop of Rain}

I'm not a doctor, I just play one on television. - Sam in the ep Moments to Live

You're the genius you know, use your head! - Al, before Sam goes head first through the window, in the ep Moments to Live

Al: I would love to fix that flat for you. But I can’t. I mean--
Lady with car trouble: It’s your only tux, and you’re late for your wedding.
Al: How could I be late? We’ve just met.

Gushie (on the phone): He’s leaping! Ziggy said no, but Sam’s leaping!
Al: He can’t leap. We’re not ready!

"We did it . . . Did what?" Sam, first thoughts during his first leap

Peg: I look awful. Most women bloom when they get pregnant; I shrivel. Tom, I look like a prune!
Sam: My name’s not Tom.
Peg: Honey, you’re supposed to say, "Peg, I love prunes." What do you mean your name’s not Tom?

Sam: As nightmares go, this one is taking a turn for the better.

Sam: Okay, it’s not a dream. It’s a nightmare. And if it’s a nightmare, sooner or later . . . there’s gonna be a boogieman.

Sam: Given enough time, you can get used to anything. Even a nightmare. All you have to do is relax and trust those around you.

Al: That’s a good one, Sam.
Sam: You know my name.
Al: I’m not that wasted.
Sam: Why do you know who I am when no one else does?

Sam: Ziggy. Little guy with bad breath.
Al: No, that’s Gushie. He programmed Ziggy.

Sam: What’s my last name?
Al: If you can’t remember, I can’t tell you.

Sam: Can’t you just fade in or something?
Al: You tell me how to "fade in" agitated carbon quarks, and I’ll make the scientific journals.
Sam: Just don’t sneak up on me!

Dr. Berger: Now you’re a doctor.
Sam (regaining his memory): Evidently.

"I’m in a real identity crisis here, Al." Sam, during his second leap

Sam: In other words, I could be bouncing around in time forever.
Al: No. Nobody lives forever.

Al: He isn’t saying.
Sam: What?
Al: He’s depressed.
Sam: He’s a computer!
Al: He’s got a big ego.

Sam: Maybe this quantum leaping isn’t such a bad deal after all.

Sam: The trouble with quantum leaping is that just about the time I start to enjoy being a hero, the Big Guy with the remote control switches channels on me.

"Great. Four of my least favorite clichés: headbands, bellbottoms, flower power and English Lit." Sam, upon finding himself to be a college professor in the early 1970s

Al: You’re breaking your own insider trading rule.
Sam: What?
Al: Quantum leap rule numero uno. The time traveler shall not take advantage of his position to improve or alter his life.

Sam: If I made the rule, I can rescind it. So ordered.
Al: Not without committee approval.

Sam (giving a jock advice about romance): Tell her how beautiful she is, how . . . her perfume drives you crazy, how you can’t get her eyes out of your mind.

Al: How could she know it was you when she doesn’t meet you for twelve years?
Sam: We’re star-crossed souls.
Al: Then uncross.

"You know those six doctorates that you hold? Not one of them is in psychiatry." Al, not impressed with one of Sam’s ideas

Sister Angela (to Sam): That surprise punch in the last inning? It was inspired.
Trainer Guy: "The last inning." Real good.

Sam: I’m not too good.
Sister Angela: Don’t be so modest, Cody. You won your last ten fights, all by a knockdown.

Al (about Sister Angela): Who does she remind you of?
Sam: Ingrid Bergman.
Al: No. You. You and me both, back in the old days, when we were trying to raise funding for the imaging chamber.

Al: Ziggy figures it’s just an … unscheduled stop.
Sam: Well, in case you and Ziggy haven’t noticed, they’re all unscheduled stops.

"Great. I’m on the take, wearing polyester clothes, and live above a bar in an apartment decorated like a gym. If I’ve got a roommate, he’s probably got cauliflower ears." Sam, just before meeting his roommate - the topless dancer

Sam: What "unknown variables"?
Al: Well, if we knew the unknown, the unknown wouldn’t be unknown.

Sister Angela: How did you ever get to be a prize fighter?
Sam: Just … kinda fell into it.

Sam: You’re not a tramp. You’re a stripper. That’s a profession.
Dixie: So’s hooking.

Sister Angela: I thought . . . that God sent me a champion. But He sent me a cheat.

Sister Angela: You’re telling me that you’re going to win tomorrow?
Sam: I’m damn well-- Excuse me. I’m gonna try.

Chance: It’s all my fault. I raised you to run this place like a man and now you don’t know how to be a woman.
Tess: That’s just fine with me. I never did take to sashayin’ and swoonin’.

"This is Texas, Son. We don’t kid about our land, or women. Or our livestock." Chance, explaining things to Sam

"Couldn’t you give ‘em nametags?" Sam, looking heavenward after calling a guy he’s supposed to know by the wrong name

Sam: Al, that raccoon can see you.
Al: Well, almost all animals can see me. But you know, there must be something weird-looking about me, because I seem to intimidate them.
Sam: Maybe it’s your clothes.

"Bonanza was never like this." Sam, learning much about life on a ranch

Sam: Fetch me a pan, wouldja?
[Buddy goes to get one.]
Sam (to himself): "Fetch." I’m talkin’ like them.

Sam: Thank you for trusting me.
Tess: I don’t trust you, Doc. I trust me.

Sam: It’s no sin bein’ afraid.
Tess: It is in Texas.

"If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'." Teresa's catchphrase

Sam: Whatever I was here to improve, it wasn't Frankie's looks.

Teresa: Who could I have? Everybody in Brooklyn knows you'll hit any man over fourteen who says hello to me.
Don Geno: Why don't I believe you?
Teresa: Why start now? You didn't believe me when I said we were through, either.

Al: Just sing the song, we'll go somewhere private, and these people won't see you talkin' to yourself like a lunatic.
Sam: Sing?
Al: Make a noise with your voice.
Sam: I can sing?
Al: Trust me.

Al: I'm sweatin' off pounds here I can't afford to lose.

[Sam gets Frankie's gun.]
Sam: What if I'm supposed to use this?
Al: Make sure you take the safety off.

"I had the sudden feeling that in sixty-five, men weren't having their hair styled by women. At least, not in South Brooklyn." Sam's thoughts as everyone in the salon looks at him when he enters.

"Maybe I'm here to start the unisex revolution." Sam, not even close to determining his goal for the leap

Al: My old man was Italian. From Abruzzi. Regular Hopalong Casadice.

Teresa: I didn't know you knew the stars.
Sam (after a brief pause): Neither did I.

Sam (thinking out loud about his current predicament): The trouble is, as soon as I put you two together, I'm out of here, and the old Geno is back, and you end up like Jimmy Hoffa.
Frankie (confused, but pleased): I'm in the Teamsters?

* People die.
* Sometimes underneath all the booze and anger is a pretty terrific person.
* It's never too late. Not if you want something bad enough.
* A terrifying prospect? The first alien contact on Earth and it's a lawyer.
* As Al would say, "Timing is everything."
* Old women get old because they're smart.
* Zippers were a brilliant invention.
* It's bad luck to kill someone before your wedding, except in Brooklyn.
* It may have four letters, but love is not a dirty word.
* Sayin' ain't doin'.
* Never track a psychotic killer without a bullet proof vest.
* On some people morals are the only thing that sag.
* Don't do anything that I wouldn't do, but if you do - take pictures.
* Sometimes you feel like a scientist in the middle of an experiment that no one else believes in.
* As for anyone who would disturb the tomb of King Ptah Hotep, death will swallow him.
* If someone sings like an angel, that doesn't mean she is one.
* When you're a triple A, superduper, overachiever type personality, unless you're reinventing the wheel every 33 seconds you're not happy.
* Springtime is wonderful. Sunsets are wonderful. Babies are wonderful.
* Nehru jackets are so sexy!
* Things are not always as they appear.
* When you're a kid, nobody listens to you.
* If I want to see violence, I'll watch the news.
* Honesty would be the best policy - for boy scouts, not bigamists.
* Between love and the noblest cause, there should be no contest.
* Love is life’s only true satisfaction.
* Bunsen burners are the common denominator that make all science departments equal.
* Maybe all winning is is having the right person believe in you.
* Don’t believe everything a bad guy tells you.

In the episode Genesis, the scene of Sam "arriving" in his first leap really does a good job of showing how disorienting it would be to suddenly find yourself in someone else's life.

Also in the episode Genesis, after tragedy is averted the drunken Peg (long story) sings "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be." That's a clever choice of song. On one hand, you could argue that whatever will be doesn't have to be, since Sam changed what originally happened. Or you could say that now that Sam is in action, leaping around in time to right wrongs, what was truly supposed to be will finally be.

In the episode, The Right Hand of God, Sam arrives at the home of the guy he’s leapt into, and the guy’s girlfriend tells him that she made his favorite for dinner. Of course, Sam has no idea what food that would be, but he tries to play along, thanking her and saying, "I really like my favorite. It’s my fav-- It’s one of my favorites."

In that same episode, Sam is at a bar. As boxer Kid Cody, Sam is trying to convince Cody’s former trainer to train him again. Believing that Cody will take a dive in the fight, the trainer refuses. Sam insists that he won’t take a dive, but the trainer dismisses that, saying, "It’s the booze talking." With a comically stern look at the nasty drink he had just been served, Sam turns back to the trainer and says confidently that it isn’t the booze.

In How The Tess Was Won, Al talks of his own liaison, but in the same breath complains that he suspects his girlfriend of cheating on him. Sam asks, "Tina’s cheating on you?" Not seeing the irony, Al sulks, "Can you believe it?" With exaggerated sympathy, Sam continues, "Boggles the mind."

In the episode Double Identity, at the wedding, Don Geno talks with his bodyguard about Teresa cheating on him. The minute Geno says that he wants the cheating man "singin' soprano", Sam (who is the cheating guy) hits and holds a high note as he's on stage performing Volare.

Also in Double Identity, holding a razor to Sam's throat, Don Geno demands to know why Sam is getting a haircut from Don Geno's lovely ex-girlfriend. Unfortunately, Don Geno asks his questions in Italian, leaving Sam with no idea what he's saying. To reply in Italian, the nervous Sam decides to try a word from the song he'd sang earlier. "Volare," he says. Having just arrived, Al explains that Sam just told the don to fly away.

In Nuclear Family, Sam leaps into south Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and he finds the residents extremely concerned about the situation. Being from the future, Sam knows that everything turns out alright, but he can’t seem to convince the others. Finally, while trying to console a little boy, Sam asks if the boy has ever worried about something that didn't happen. The boy shares that he has. Sam continues by suggesting that they pretend they're in the future, looking back at the missile scare and seeing that everything turned out fine. (Maybe we should all try this tactic when we’re tempted to fret over something!)

Sam was telling a child a bedtime story about "Future Boy" and about "Al, Future Boy's best friend." At that part, Al - who was there but couldn't be seen by the child - said, "Best friend? Sam, I'm touched."

In another episode, Sam was onstage trying to tell a joke as a stand-up comic. The scene opens with him telling the punchline to his attempt at humor: "It's sheep season." The audience doesn't react at all, so he tries to tell the punch line again. Again, no reaction from the audience. Scott does a great job of conveying the awkwardness of the situation.

In one episode, Sam was a soap opera star who'd been taken hostage by a crazed fan. She had him chained to a bed; he'd just regained consciousness from being knocked out. She was casually trying to serve him tea. Tactfully trying to explain why it was wrong for her to keep him there he ventured, "Don't you think this is all a bit ... unusual?" She smiled and replied, "I like unusual." He muttered, "This is crazy." She flung the tea tray against the wall shrieking, "DON'T SAY THAT! DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT!" He stared in horror, but the next instant she was calm again and went to go fix more tea.