Quantum Leap TV Review

Plot: It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project in hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.

Review: The original Quantum Leap aired from 1989 to 1993 and ushered in a unique blend of television series that combined science-fiction, hopeful stories about fate and destiny, and a sense of humor that catapulted Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell to celebrity. After thirty years, Quantum Leap is back for a reboot that serves as the sixth season of the series and an all-new take on the formula. With direct references to Bakula and his exploits traveling through time in the guise of many different people, the new Quantum Leap feels incredibly familiar and safe while still mining nostalgia for TV shows of a bygone era. Overwhelmingly safe, this Quantum Leap is barely a hop, skip, and jump away from the original version.

Opening with a title card that refreshes our memory of the titular project that sent Sam Beckett back in time for just under one hundred episodes, Quantum Leap introduces us to Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee), Beckett’s replacement on the revived Project Quantum Leap. Engaged to colleague Addison (Caitlin Bassett), Ben mysteriously places himself into the quantum generator and sends himself off to the same fate as his predecessor. Awaking with no memory, Ben is aided by a holographic version of Addison. The latter helps him navigate the person he has leaped into so that he can help his avatar fix their life and enable himself to jump to another time period. There is very little difference in this new version from the original Quantum Leap down to the schmaltzy plots designed to tug at the heartstrings.

While each episode will focus on Ben dealing with a new situation and year, the story is also split with his team back home, who are desperately trying to bring him back safe. Aside from Addison, we also spend a good deal with Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park), a non-binary programmer who works on the project A.I. known as Ziggy. We also have Ernie Hudson as Herbert “Magic” Williams, the military head of the project. Hudson takes over the role from Christopher Kirby, who played the character in the third season. We also have Nanrisa Lee as Jenn, the project’s security specialist. The PQL team all works together to uncover why Ben leaped without telling anyone, which sets the series on a narrative path involving a conspiracy directly related to the show’s original run.

Only the first episode was made available for this review which left me wondering if NBC has reservations about the reception of this revival. With Dean Stockwell passing away in 2021 and Scott Bakula deciding not to participate, I still feel that showrunners Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt are holding out hope that this show will be a hit and incorporate more of Donald P. Bellisario’s mythology from the original run. The premiere episode, titled “July 13, 1985”, is set during the famous Live Aid concert and features many iconic songs from the era. Ben’s first mission involves a jewel heist as he orients himself to how this time travel works and his interactions with forgotten fiance Addison. The dynamic between Ben and Addison changes what Sam and Al had going on in the original show. Still, it doesn’t have the chemistry that Bakula and Stockwell shared, making the original a fan favorite.

None of the performances in Quantum Leap are inherently bad, but they feel very cheesy in their delivery. Mason Alexander Park, who stole scenes in Cowboy Bebop and this year’s Sandman, is the most interesting character as the non-binary Ian. Yet, the writers still manage to reduce the character to the stock tech nerd from every other network series. The budget in the first episode is very lacking, with an explosion at the end of the episode looking and feeling very anticlimactic. The overall special effects are not that great, even if they are a step up from the early 90s technology available for the first five seasons. Music seems to be a key ingredient for this series that relies very heavily on nostalgia and period specifics rather than telling stories that deviate at all from the tried and true formula of Quantum Leap.

Quantum Leap looks and feels like it has plans for an expansive overall story that will link together Ben Song’s adventures with those of Sam Beckett, but based on the first episode; there is a long way to go for this series to reach the balance that made the original a classic. Raymond Lee certainly has the charisma to lead a series like this, but he needs help from an ensemble cast willing to have fun with the material rather than revere the seasons that came before it. I would not be shocked if Quantum Leap found itself a new lease on NBC, and I hope that affords the writers the chance to develop these adventures past the one-note themes present in this pilot.

Quantum Leap premieres on September 19th on NBC.

Quantum Leap

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