Trivia for
"Quantum Leap" (1989) More at IMDbPro »

• "Quantum Leap" (1989) has several references to producer Donald P. Bellisario's previous series, "Tales of the Gold Monkey" (1982), including a character named "Gushie". "Quantum Leap: Ghost Ship - August 13, 1956 (#4.16)" (1992) featured Captain Cutter, who was the main character in "Tales of the Gold Monkey" (1982),
  
  
• Sam has leaped into nine women.
  
  
• Sam Beckett and show creator Donald P. Bellisario both share the same birthday of August 8.
  
  
• Sam has leaped out of the United States seven times: Egypt, Vietnam, a plane over the Bermuda Triangle, Japan, the Soviet Union, a raft in international waters, and England.
  
  
• Sam leaped into the year 1958 eight different times, which made it the most leaped into year during Quantum Leap's entire run.
  
  
• Sam leaped into every year from 1953 through 1987 at least once, except the years 1977, 1984, and 1986. Sam has leaped into the years 1862 and 1945, the only times that he has leaped out of his lifetime.
  
  
• "Quantum Leap" (1989) came close to being canceled in its third season due to low ratings. However, a letter writing campaign helped save the series and enabled it to continue for two more years.
  
  
• Throughout the series, Sam meets many "future" famous people including: Buddy Holly; Michael Jackson; Marilyn Monroe and Bill Clinton, as well as leaping into Ruth Westheimer,Lee Harvey Oswald, and Elvis Presley.
  
  
• Dean Stockwell was the first to "Leap" through time on an episode of the "The Twilight Zone: A Quality of Mercy (#3.15)" (1961), playing a war-hungry US Lt. in August, 1945.
  
  
• Sam Beckett is revealed to have attended MIT, and his friend and guide Al Calavicci is mentioned to have also spent some time there.
  
  
• Al Calavicci drives two different Ferarris in the series: in _"Quantum Leap" (1989) {Genesis: Part 1 - September 13, 1956 (#1.1)}_, he is in a red Testarossa (which is shown from very low angles so as to keep the identity of the car hidden), and in _"Quantum Leap" (1992) {Killin' Time - June 18, 1958 (#5.5)}_, he is driving a Mondial Cabriolet.
  
  
• Ranked #15 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!" (30 May 2004 issue).
  
  
• The character 'Sam Beckett' was ranked #12 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
  
  
• Season One's cliffhanger into Season Two was the teaser for "Quantum Leap: What Price Gloria? - October 16, 1961 (#2.4)" (1989). The next season, three other episodes premiered before "What Price Gloria?" aired.
  
  
• There were several ideas for episodes which ultimately were never used. One had Sam leaping in as Robert F. Kennedy. Another idea would involve an animated episode. The producers even toyed with the idea of leaping Sam in as a baby. Also, Donald P. Bellisario wanted to do an episode where Sam leaps in as Thomas Magnum (from "Magnum, P.I." (1980)). It is unclear why that episode never materialized, although in an earlier episode, a character is seen watching "Magnum, P.I.", thus establishing that show as fiction within the Quantum Leap "universe".
  
  
• Al's cigar was the idea of actor Dean Stockwell, who said it was "a good way to get free cigars for five years".
  
  
• Donald P. Bellisario's favorite of all his TV shows.
  
  
• Scott Bakula ad libbed the line "Oh boy!" at the end of an episode. The producer liked it so much that it became the signature final line of each episode, as Sam finds himself in a new body.
  
  
• Al's call-sign (pilot nickname) is "Bingo".
  
  
• Bruce McGill is the only other actor besides Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell to appear in both the first and last episodes. In the pilot, "Genesis", McGill plays "Weird Ernie" the Air Force engineer. And in the last episode, "Mirror Image", he plays "Al the Bartender".
  
  
• In the first few episodes of the series, Al exited the Imaging Chamber by an unseen door which opened like a regular door with a turning knob. By the middle of the first season, the effect was changed to the standard rising door with the blue light shining beyond it.
  
  
• In the first season, the prologues explaining what Quantum Leap was about were done by Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett. By the time season two began, the narrations were done by Deborah Pratt as the voice of Ziggy.
  
  

• SPOILER: Sam leaped outside his life a total of four times. Two of the leaps were explained. In "The Leap Back - June 15, 1945" Al and Sam traded places due to an accident, which allowed for leaping withing Al's life. "The Leap Between the States - September 20, 1862" revealed that Sam's great-grandfather had a very similar genetic profile and blood type. Two unexplained leaps before his life were "Play It Again, Seymour - April 14, 1953" and "The Americanization of Machiko - August 4, 1953", as the series finale revealed Sam's birth-date as August 8, 1953.
  
  

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