Don [Bellisario] worked this convention of me being swiss cheesed each time I leapt. My desire as Sam to get back home didn’t build necessarily … It didn’t keep building in frustration, or “I hate this” – especially in the first season.
— Scott Bakula – he makes an important point here, I think, about one of the appeals of the show. If Sam Beckett had constantly been in a state of frustration that he couldn’t get back home – then much of the compassion he had for the characters he leapt into would not be there. The show wouldn’t have worked. Go, Don.
I had always assumed the swiss cheese memory thing was for the writers of future episodes. If they had a script that required him to be able to read hieroglyphics, they could just write “Sam remembers he can read hieroglyphics.”
Mark – I like that theory as well. You’re right – it wouldn’t have been interesting if Sam had been a complete man with his full memory intact every episode … Because then we wouldn’t have had the improvisational feel of so much of the show, Sam making crap up as he goes … and it would also lessen the importance of Al – who could remind Sam, “You know music. You were a prodigy.” “I do???”
Much more fun that way, I think!