The Pilot (aka Genesis)

Summary:

1995: Afraid that the committee might cut funding for his project, Dr. Sam Beckett activates his quantum accelerator before it is properly tested and leaps back in time.

Waking up, he finds himself in a stranger's life. It's 1956, he is married to a woman named Peg whom he's never seen before, everyone calls him Tom and thinks he was an Air Force test pilot.

Having lost his memory during the leap, Sam believes he was dreaming, until he meets project observer Albert Calavicci. Al is being projected into the past via a neurological holographic system, and reports that Sam was part of a timetravel experiment that went awry. According to Ziggy, the project's hybrid computer, Sam must correct history to leap out again. Originally, Tom died during a test flight in trying to break Mach 3 ...

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Episode Number: #1.01 & #1.02 / #1

German Title: Start ins Ungewisse

Italian Title: Progetto Quantum Leap

French Title: Pilote

Personal Review:

Exciting and funny; there are some indifferences with later episodes, though.

Original Air Date: Sunday, March 26, 1989

Acknowledgments given:

With grateful appreciation to the Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base.

Writer: Donald P. Bellisario

Director: David Hemmings

Co-Producer: Deborah Pratt

Producer: Harker Wade

Regular Cast:

Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett
Dean Stockwell as Al Calavicci

Guest Cast:

Jennifer Runyon as Peg Stratton
John Allen Nelson as Capt. Bill "Bird Dog" Birdell
W.K. Stratton as Dr. Berger
Larry Poindexter as Capt. Tony LaMott
Bruce McGill as Dr. Ernst (aka Weird Ernie)
David Trent as Captain Doug Walker
Dennis Wolfberg as Gooshie
Christian Van Dorn as Mikey Stratton
Ken Martin as Tim Fox/mirror
Layne Beamer as Tom Stratton/mirror

Also Starring:

Barbra Horan as Tina
James F. Dean as Dr. Berry Blaustein
Lela Ivey as Lucy
Lydia Cornell as Sally
Christine Poor as Jeanie
Doug Cox as sportscaster
Hana Rubison as umpire
Patrick Cranshaw as old man
Brent Chalem as bat boy
Adam Affonso as young Sam
Newell Alexander as John Beckett
Mike Greenwood as Matt
Dave Duensing as Clyde
David Dawson as Barnes
Kevin Johnson as Pepper
Lee DeBroux as Coach

Guest Cast Notes:

Bruce McGill portrayed Jack Dalton in MacGyver. He was born July 11, 1950 in San Antonio, Texas as Bruce Travis McGill.

Dennis Wolfberg was born March 29, 1946 and died of cancer on October 3, 1994.

Jennifer Runyon was born April 1, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois.

John Allen Nelson was born August 28, 1959 in San Antonio, Texas.

Guest Cast who appeared in other Belisarius productions:

Jennifer Runyon portrayed Christine Maxfield Bentley in the Magnum P.I. episode Murder by Night.

W.K. Stratton appeared in various episodes of Airwolf, Magnum P.I. and had a recurring role as Comdr. Ted Lindsay on J.A.G.

Lee DeBroux had various different roles on Magnum P.I.

Larry Poindexter had a recurring role as Dalton Lowne on J.A.G.

Guest Cast who appeared in other QL episodes:

W.K. Stratton also played Lawrence Stanton III in the Trilogy (#5.08 - #5.10) and Lyle in Good Night, Dear Heart (#2.17)

Bruce McGill also played Bartender Albert in Mirror Image (#5.22)

Lela Ivey also played Chloe in Permanent Wave (#4.06)

Adam Affonso could also be seen as young Sam's mirror image in The Leap Home, pt. 1 (#3.1)

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Place:

Edwards Air Force Base, Blockfield, California
Waco, Texas

Leap-date:

Thursday, September 13, 1956, 4:59 a.m.
Summer 1968

Leapee's Name:

Captain Tom Stratton, USAF
Tim Fox

Date at the Project: 1995

Project Trivia:

Al was driving to the project when Gooshie called him and reported that Sam was leaping.

Activating the accelerator causes the sky over the project to shine neon blue. Interfering into the leaping process might kill the leaper.

They tried to retrieve Sam, but it didn't work.

Al said that to the people at the project, Tom looked like Sam.

555 2231 is the project's phone number.

Ziggy is a hybrid computer that is programmed by Gooshie, whom Sam described as 'little guy with bad breath'.

The holographic image is created by a subatomic agitation of carbon quarks that's tuned to the mesons of Sam's optic and otic neurons so that only Sam can see it.

When Sam leaped, the project wasn't quite ready. They had one hell of a party after finding out Sam hadn't killed himself when he stepped into the accelerator.

The leapee has a Swiss-cheesed memory just like Sam.

The project is located at a site in the desert where they set up the first atomic bomb. A cavern somewhere in New Mexico.

There is a rumor about a top secret project, but they think it had something to do with the deep space program.

When Gooshie spoke to Al over the comm, he addressed both, Sam and Al, by their first names. But in later episodes, he only addressed them by their last names and titles.

While Al is a hologram to Sam, Sam and everything around him are a hologram to Al when he's in the Imaging Chamber.

Between Sam's leap-out and next leap-in a week - or, more precisely, 6 days - passed.

Ziggy is referred to as 'he'.

Al didn't use a handlink at all times and the IC door was manually opened.

Sam accused Al of being a vampire because neurological holograms don't reflect in mirrors.

Ziggy has a big ego and can be depressed. She refused to say why Sam was there because she was afraid to be wrong.

Sam is the genius behind PQL. It's his project.

They are not supposed to give Sam information he does not remember.

Dogs are able to see Sam as well as Al.

Future Trivia:

The women wear color-flashing earrings and matching high-heels.

Sam Trivia:

Sam doesn't know how to fly a plane.

He is a medical doctor, which is only one among his six doctorates. His specialty, though, is quantum physics. Time Magazine called him the next Einstein.

Sam is a good dancer.

He uses an electric razor.

Raised on a dairy farm in Elk Ridge, Indiana, Sam used to milk the cows in the morning. When he was 18, he went to collage.

He has a sister named Kate, who married Navy officer Lt. Jim Bonick. Sam's mother has lived with them in Hawaii ever since his father died in 1974.

Sam was born August 8, 1953.

Sam has no clue about fishing.

When feeling lonely, Sam loves renting a video and microwave some popcorn.

Obstetrics isn't his specialty.

John taught him to face wild dogs down.

Sam's paternal grandfather had a brother named John, who moved to Australia when Sam's dad was just a kid.

Sam loves his father and misses him, but he's never told him how he feels.

Sam's mother's pumpkin pie won the blue ribbon at the Elk Ridge county fair for ten years in a row.

Al Trivia:

Al has a red sports car that he called an 'experimental model'.

Be-bob-a-lula got him through some long, cold nights at MIT.

He seems to know a lot about fishing.

Al is an ex-astronaut and has to give Dick and Jane explanations about PQL to the president.

Al seems to like ball games.

He had a hangover.

Miscellaneous Trivia:

The String theory on which PQL is based:
One end of the string is birth, the other represents death. Tie the ends together and your life is a loop. Ball the loop and the days of your life touch each other out of sequence. Therefore, leaping from one end of the string to another would move you backward or forward within your own lifetime.

Hardest part about flying is taking off and landing.

Songs:

- Qué sera, sera -- Doris Day
- Howdy Doody Theme
- Hound Dog -- Elvis Presley
- Picnic/Moonglow -- William Inge -- 1955
- Thee I Love -- Pat Boone
- Ooby Dooby -- Roy Orbison
- Yellow Rose of Texas -- Mitch Miller (sung by Bird Dog)

Predicted Outcome:

In the original history, Tom Stratton died while trying to break Mach 3 in the X-2. Upon that, Peg went into premature labor.

The Waco Bombers ended another season in the cellar and Tim Fox opened up a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise and married a girl named Sue.

Altered History:

Tom lives, Peg births a healthy baby girl they name Samantha.

The Waco bombers win the game.

Kiss With History:

Sam tells Peg of white stripes along the road and uses the words 'nerd' and 'Trivial Pursuit'.

He shows Peg how to breathe to make labor more bearable.

When Peg goes into premature labor, he tells the doctor to stop it by using beta sympathomimetic, then realizes that it didn't come out till the late seventies. He then suggests giving her a 5% solution of ethanol alcohol in dextrose and water intravenously administered instead. This technique was developed in the 1960's.

Sam calls his father on the phone.

I think the pitcher is supposed to be the young Tom Seaver.

Al's Outfits:

1. black tux; white shirt; black bow tie; blue neon star on right lapel; white socks and silver shoes; white scarf

2. he later wore a white coat over the tux

3. white dressing gown with dark stripes and dots; red pajamas; black watch with blue front

4. forest green slacks; black belt; red shirt; narrow black tie and black fedora

5. light green striped jacket; light yellow shirt

1. silver jacket; blue shirt; narrow black tie; black slacks; silver shoes

Sam's Outfits:

1. the Fermi suit

2. white boxer shorts

3. pilot leather jacket over green flight suit; blue baseball cap

4. white T-shirt; white shirt with some blue parts; dark slacks

5. fishing outfit with khaki vest; black fishing trousers; white T-shirt under green checkered shirt and a fishing cap with flies on it

6. brown pants and belt which has a big silver buckle; light shirt with brown checks and brown parts around the shoulders; brown shoes

1. tricot of the Waco Bombers, which is white with green flares; black belt and green baseball cap

Al's Women:

Tina, whom he picks up on the street because her car had a flat.

Danessa, a Lithuanian girl he knew at MIT. She was doing research in the chemistry lab.

Tina, pulse communicator technician at PQL.

Martha, whom Al met at a party after the Lakers play-off game. He spend the night with her.

Brenda, a redhead from coding.

Quotes:

"Ain't that a kick in the butt?" (Al)

"We did it. Did what?" (Sam)

"The sooner you shave, the sooner you wake up." (Sam)

"It seems the faster I fly, the less I remember about it."

"Well, I've experienced that. And I'm startin' to forget things, like my wife's birthday. I never forgot Lucy's birthday until I flew Mach 2.5."

"Yeah, last time I busted Mach two I forgot where I parked my car."

Sam: "Am I dead?"
Al: "What?"
Sam: "Dead. Am I dead? It would explain a lot. I could be in a reverse reincarnation that entered in mid-life."
Al: "That's a good one, Sam."
Sam: "You know my name!"
Al: "I'm not that wasted."

Al: "Are you serious?"
Sam: "Dead serious. No pun intended."

Why is it that when you try to pass the guy in front goes twice as fast - Burma Shave. (little signs next to the road)

"Is that a Ginger Quill spentwing? Or maybe a Blue Dunn? I don't know. I got such a damn hangover; it could be Coors pop-top." (Al)

Sam: "Hybrid computers and neurological holograms didn't exist in 1956."
Al: "Only in theory."
Sam: "But this is '56."
Al: "Well, it is for you. It is not for me."

Al: "So it would be easier for us if you don't ask a lot of questions."
Sam: "What are you?"
Al: "That's a question, Sam."

Sam: "Tuesday? Tuesday's gonna be a little late. I'm scheduled to test-fly the X-2 on Monday.
Al: "Did you ever think of taking flying lessons?"

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 Journal.

Al: "Your best shot is freezing the brain until all electrical activity has ceased."
Sam: "That's called 'death'."
Al: "I never said it would be easy."

"I'm in a real identity crisis here, Al." (Sam)

"When it comes to quantum physics, you're still a mental slug." (Al)

Comments on Leaping:

You know, maybe this quantum leaping isn't such a bad deal after all. Getting a second chance to put things right, to make the world a better place. Who knows what I can accomplish before I'm done. (Sam)

Open Questions and Logic Flaws:

The way Sam filled out this Trivial Pursuit sort of test doesn't correspond with Sam's personality as we get to know him later in the series. I can't imagine Sam being expelled from College for streaking, for example.

Sam remembers having gone to College at age 18, but it was later said that he was only 16. (e.g. Animal Frat)

He also stated his father's death to have occurred in 1974, but in The Leap Home he said he died in 1972.

According to Genesis, Katie married Jim Bonick and moved to Hawaii in 1974. But in Camikazi Kid, Sam claimed that she married an abusive alcoholic named Chuck at age 17. Since she was born in '57, that would be 1974 as well.

The wing of the X-2 cast a shadow on Al's trousers. Which it shouldn't, him being a hologram and all.