Quantum Leap: Season 1, Episode 1: Genesis

LEAP INTO: September 13, 1956

Sam: I can’t fly!
Al: I’ll help you!
Sam: You’re a hologram!
Al: I’m also an ex-astronaut.

Sam Beckett – on his first quantum leap – finds himself in the body of Tom Stratton, a test pilot in 1956.

UPDATE: I have naturally gone overboard. Here’s part 1 of my re-cap. Part 2 to follow. I have it written up, just need to get it together.

So enjoy the NOVEL that is Part 1!!

EPISODE 1: GENESIS

The episode opens on a dark desert landscape, with towering dark mesas, and a starry sky overhead, a nod to Close Encounters. We see a road stretching off into the night. Then we see headlights in the distance, and in what feels like a VERY short time (dude is driving way too fast) – the car zips into the foreground. This is our introduction to Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell). We get a closeup of him at the wheel. He is wearing a tuxedo, a silk scarf, and a glow in the dark blue pin on his lapel in the shape of a star. He’s listening to music and zoning out to the beat. He’s obviously coming from some function, dressed like that. Or, knowing Al’s wardrobe choices from the rest of the series, perhaps not. Perhaps he just saw the tux in his closet and thought, “You know what? I look damn good in that. I’m wearing it to the movies tonight.” Then you can see him get a glimpse of something coming up on the road. And the eyebrows – the thick eyebrows – raise, and the eyes go flat and focused. Like a snake. Or a shark. Whatever: like a predator who has spotted its prey.

We see what he sees. I love Tommy’s point about how funny it is, sometimes, to see interpretations of the future. We know, later (it’s not revealed in this first episode) – that the present day date in the show is 1999. The show was filmed in 1989, so this is their interpretation of what life/fashion/cars might be like 10 years in the future. Women, (who are not strippers, I mean), will wear stilettoes with flashing lights in the heels, apparently.

Now I want to talk a bit about this female character. She is a babealicious woman, wearing a tight pink dress, and she stands by her car on an empty desert road. Al ends up picking her up, and they have some sexy chatter about Al’s car (“It’s an experimental model,” Al tells her) – and then, at some point, as they drive – she notices billowing white “clouds” off in the distance. She wonders what is going on. He lies and says, “It’s sheet lightning.” She doesn’t buy it. “I can still see the stars. Thats not lightning.” She begins to wonder, “That’s near where they let off the first atomic bomb … Apparently there’s still some top secret program being run out there …” Al, looking at those white strange clouds, starts to get nervous and calls the office. Gushie (the technician running the thing) is screaming that Sam has decided to “leap” ahead of schedule, and he’s already in the accelerating chamber. Al is shouting into his phone: “WE’RE NOT READY!” Etc. Finally, it’s too urgent, so he says, “I’ll be there in 2 minutes” – and off the car goes, towards the white clouds.

Now Pink Lady gets a lot of “chatter” on the Quantum Leap airwaves. Throughout the entire series, Al is dating (and cheating on, and getting back together with, and obsessing over) a woman named “Tina”. He’s always popping back into Sam’s world saying, “Tina’s mad at me …” or “I should have stayed in bed with Tina” … Like: Sam is dealing with some life or death stuff, he’s quantum leaping through time, and Al appears, all upset over some relationship drama he’s having in the present. It’s hysterical. In, I think, Season 3 – when we finally get to see what the “offices” of Project Quantum Leap look like – and we get to meet Gushie and the rest of the staff – we meet Tina. She is just what you have pictured, from how Al talks about her: she has a high squeaky voice, a Brooklyn accent, and she wears clothes so tight that you could read the date on a dime in her back pocket. She also wears bright flashing earrings and heels, like the dame in Episode 1. If you check it on IMDB – the dame we see in Episode 1 is named “Tina”. So. Hmmm. There’s a bit of a mystery here, for us obsessives. Is this THE Tina? Even though it’s not the same actress we see a couple seasons later? By putting her in flashing light accessories, aren’t they telling us: Same gal? But it appears in Episode 1 that Al is meeting Tina for the first time. So there are some theories that this “ooh, I have a flat, I’m so scared in the desert, and you’re a guy in a tux who picks me up” is a sex-game that they’re playing, where they take on roles and act stuff out. You know, Tina drove ahead, punctured her tire, and posed by her car, waiting for Al, the “scary stranger” to come get her. And if you watch the scene that way, it does work. (Kind of.) The two of them immediately leap to the sex innuendo and double entendre – it’s not just him. But then a couple seconds later, as they drive off together, and she sees the “quantum leap” clouds on the horizon and starts to ask questions about it … it really seems like they have just met. So there is also a theory that this is the first time Al picked Tina up, this is their first meeting – and because of the emergency situation with Sam leaping ahead of time – Al had to involve her in the top-secret project, which gave her high classification, and so she went on staff. This doesn’t QUITE hold water, though – because in a couple of episodes, Al mentions that he and Tina met “over a poker table in Vegas” – and he also, in that same episode, talks about Tina’s tattoo – and he asks Sam, “Have you ever seen her tattoo?” which means that Sam and Tina have met – which means that Al had to be dating Tina BEFORE Sam leapt. Ahhhhhh, tis one of life’s most enduring mysteries! Is the woman in pink with the flashing heels THE Tina? Her name is never mentioned … but she is listed in the cast as being “Tina”. If Sam HAS met Tina, then we have to go with the theory that Al and Tina are already dating, and they are doing a role-playing game: “Okay, you be the damsel in distress on the dark highway. And I’ll be the guy in the tux who picks you up.” Which would totally make sense in terms of what we know about Al, and his kinky-ness.

Obsessive ramblings over.

I love their dialogue in their first interaction. He leans out the car window, looking at her like she is DINNER. Muses, looking her up and down: “Do you know what I would love to do? … I would loooove to …. fix that flat for you. But I can’t.” He makes a gesture at his tux, like: I can’t grease up my fine digs. What a gentleman! She says, cool, sexy, “Let me guess. You’re late for your wedding.” And Al replies, suave, “How could I be late? We’ve only just met.”

HA. I mean: the CHEESE of the guy!! But he says it with such confidence and unselfconsciousness – it somehow isn’t gross, but funny and honest. Love it.

More importantly, what the first scene tells us is: Sam (whoever he is) has “leapt” ahead of time. The project is not “ready” yet. And Sam, against the advice of everyone, has jumped into the accelerating chamber (the famous blue-lit Leonardo DaVinci pose in the post below) – and “leapt”.

A couple things that are very interesting about the pilot episode (and sorry, I know I’m all over the place here):

— Throughout the rest of the series, it becomes a convention that the “leaps” “Swiss-Cheese” Sam’s brain. Yes, “swiss-cheese” becomes a verb on this show. There are holes in Sam’s memory. He forgets (for example) that he knows how to play the piano … until a very crucial moment when it comes back to him. It helps a lot in terms of the charm of the show – because he’s not strolling around in a state of expertise, thinking, “Oh! I know how to fix this! Piece of cake! I’m a doctor in my ‘real’ life – this will be no problem!” No – he just has chunks of his memory, chunks of his old personality … and suddenly, in an improvisational urgent moment … he’ll remember. Wait a second … I know how to do this. (Or he just relies on Al, who has lived a wide life, with many different experiences, and can say, “Hey, I was a trapeze artist once … here’s what you do …”) Etc.

But in the pilot episode: Sam wakes up in a bed. There is a voiceover (which they use, as a convention, much more in the first season than in others … they’re filling us in, they’re finding their way … ) Sam opens his eyes, looks around. “Who am I?” says the voiceover. He can’t even remember his own name. How disorienting and frightening that would be! He realizes he is in bed with a woman. Voiceover: “I have no memory of going to bed with this woman …” She gets up and goes to the door … murmuring, “I’ll put the coffee on …” and Sam sees then that she is about 6 months pregnant. He is stunned. WHO THE HELL IS THAT? Did I just have a drunken one-night stand with a pregnant lady? She is calling him “Tom”. Poor Sam. “Is my name Tom? Why don’t I remember anything?” He doesn’t remember Project Quantum Leap. He remembers NOTHING. She comes over to him and hugs him. He hugs her back, but he is scared. Of her stomach, of his amnesia … he doesn’t know why she knows him!

By the second episode of Quantum Leap, Sam gets the hang of things. He may not know why he is “there”, and he may not know how to, oh, drag-race, or disco dance … but he knows the rules of the game. Meaning: pretend you ARE the person you’ve leapt into, just go with it, and information will come, if you sit back and let it. Don’t tell anyone, “I’m not this guy – my name is Sam!” Don’t reveal the project. Don’t reveal who you are. As far as the world is concerned, you are the person you’ve leapt into. But in the pilot episode, Sam Beckett has not learned all of those rules yet. He wanders around, at first, like a sleepwalker – and then throughout the episode, he keeps telling people – his wife, his co-pilot, his buddies, “I’m not Tom.” “I can’t fly.” The script has it set up that Tom Stratton, the character, is a big practical joker – and that he also is trying to hoodwink the military doctor on the project – just as a joke. The test pilots are all breaking records, flying faster than any man has ever flown before – and, just to bust on the overly serious doctor, they’ll report back, “You know, after I broke Mach-2, I forgot where I parked my car.” It’s in the script that Tom Stratton is the ringleader of all of this, so SOME of his “I can’t fly” stuff makes sense to those around him. “Are you setting up a gag or something??” his wife asks him.

In later episodes, no matter how dire the situation gets – Sam never “breaks character” and pleads: “I can’t do this – I don’t know how to do this – I’m Sam Beckett!” He figures stuff out, he accepts the rules of the Quantum Leap.

But when he wakes up in bed with a pregnant woman, he doesn’t know the rules.

And when he gets into the shower (wearing his underwear – his wife thinks he’s lost it) and sees himself in the mirror for the first time, he is terrified. I mean, just imagine the freakout. You look – and it’s not you! Later on in the series, Sam knows the drill. He leaps in – and after getting the lay of the land, figuring out the situation – he does his best to find a mirror or some reflective surface so he can see what other people see when they look at him. But in “Episode 1”, Sam looks in the mirror, and sees another guy. Scott Bakula does a great job with all of this. You want to shake him and say, “Just go with it – it’s gonna be okay …” but that’s part of the effectiveness of those first couple scenes – Sam’s complete disorientation. He’s trying to deal with the information as it comes to him. His wife mentions something about how if he’s feeling sick he “won’t fly today …” The horror begins to dawn: “Fly?” Sam realizes he has a son. “I’m a daddy?” says the voiceover.

The voiceover keeps saying, like a mantra, “This is a dream … it’s just a dream … you’ll wake up soon … this is just a dream …” Bakula has a really nice acting moment around here: He’s in the shower, just standing there, and the voiceover is saying, “This is a dream …” Sam, moving on autopilot, gets some shaving cream and rubs it on his chin – and in that moment, that sensory moment of smelling the shaving cream, of feeling it on his face – the reality of it … it starts to dawn on him that this really doesn’t feel like a dream. This seems REAL. It’s all in how Bakula smells that shaving cream – and I, in the audience, can practically smell it myself from how he plays that moment.

Sam begins to realize that he has gone back in time. Howdy Doody is on the damn television. Out of the blue, the phone # to the Quantum Leap offices comes into his head and he tries to call it – but obviously cannot get through. He asks, “What’s the area code?” and his wife says, confused, “Area code??” He runs outside to take a look around and sees all the 1950s jalopies parked about. A jet zooms by overhead and Sam watches it pass, the shaving cream still on his face, whipping off in the wind. (Apparently that was an effect Bellisario wanted: the bits of shaving cream flying off his face. So they had enormous fans pointed at poor Scott Bakula, and he was half naked, and freezing to death – but it just goes to show you the level of detail Bellisario had in his mind, and the moment truly helps, in the larger context of the story: If this were a DREAM, would you have bits of shaving cream flying off in the blast from the jet? Isn’t this too REAL to be a dream?)

In the next scene: Sam (with little pieces of Kleenex on his face from where he obviously cut himself shaving – nice detail. Sam would obviously be used to an electric razor, so in trying to shave using Tom Stratton’s razor, he cut his face up) is in the car with Captain Birdell (or “Birddog”) – a good friend, and also a test pilot. It’s all very Right Stuff-ish, their dynamic. Those dudes were tough. And wild. I’ll also say this: There’s a HUGE nod to Only Angels Have Wings in Episode 1 of Quantum Leap. Donald Bellisario was a pilot. And anyone who was a pilot and who has any love for aviation has seen Only Angels Have Wings. There’s a moment a couple of scenes later when two of the test pilots are bantering about a blonde girl they’re going to fight over later – once they land their plane. This is a direct nod to Only Angels Have Wings – and the rivalry between two pilots for Jean Arthur, and Cary Grant, the boss, shouting into the microphone up to his pilot, “JUST KEEP YOUR MIND ON THE JOB AND FORGET ABOUT THAT BLONDE!”

Enter Bruce McGill. And I’m with Tommy: he’s never been “that guy” to me, even though he’s one of our best character actors. He is ALWAYS memorable, and one of my favorite actors, period. The scene where he blows up in The Insider? “WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE.” Seriously, you can see the other actor in the scene suddenly get frightened. He’s SO good. So so good. Now: sorry, I know these posts are gonna be all over the place, but I figure it’s my party and I’ll ramble if I want to: The mysterious and haunting final episode of Quantum Leap – which I won’t talk about yet – also features Bruce McGill, in a very very important role. Way more important than the one he has here in Episode 1. Now I know that when they filmed the “last” episode, they were not aware that it would be the last … but still; there is a beautiful symmetry at having Bruce McGill in both the first and the last episodes (especially considering the character he plays in the LAST episode.) I love Bruce McGill. He’s my kind of actor. A journeyman, basically. Just damn good at what he does. Makes the “stars” look better than they are, just by supporting them so well. And never (or rarely) gets the glory. A fine actor. So. Here he is! Bruce McGill plays “Weird Ernie”, the “boss” of the project. The test pilots have all gathered together before their next run, to go over some things. Bruce McGill, in his soft-spoken utterly real way, rules the scene. Sam (as Tom) sits back, trying to smile, trying to look as cocksure and nonchalant as the other guys (and failing miserably). He already tried to tell Birddog that he “can’t fly” and Birddog laughed it off.

And it is in this scene that we first see Al – the hologram – appear. Sam, with the Swiss-Cheese effect, does not remember anything about anything – so he thinks it’s just some weird guy wearing a white doctor’s coat OVER a tuxedo (hilarious – Al is still wearing the tuxedo from the first scene) smiling at him like he knows him. Who is that guy? Why is he staring at me when I’m not talking?? He’s creeping me out. Totally. Does he know me? But how could he? Why is he looking at me like that??? Al tries to talk to Sam, and Sam, confused, keeps walking on. He has to go, uhm, fly a PLANE now … he can’t be bothered with crazy tux-wearing doctors who act all cozy and familiar with him.

Now just a few words about production design because it MUST be said. The production designer, the art director, and the cinematographer – worked so well here (and in other episodes) to create an entire look and feel. This does not feel thrown together. It does not feel like it is filmed on a backlot at a studio. It has a feeling of reality to it. Like a mini-movie. The attention to detail, first of all: check out the kitchen. Everything in that kitchen is “period”. And there’s the detail, too, that when the planes take off – the vibrations are so strong that the little round washing machine in the corner shuffles across the room, like a little R2D2, and she, as she pours a cup of coffee, pushes it back into its corner with her foot. THAT is “detail”. THAT makes you realize that you are not looking just at a ‘set’ – but at somebody’s home. They live there. It is 1956. The wife (played by the wonderful Jennifer Runyon, now retired – Ghostbusters fans will recognize her immediately) kicks the washing machine back in a casual “Oh, you again?” manner that breathes life into the “set”, into the “period”. She doesn’t seem to be an actress wearing a “period” costume. She seems to actually live in that house. And that takes a group effort, not just a good actress. That takes an art director to give her a kitchen that looks like that, that feels lived in … and a writer/producer/director who knows that when jets took off in those earlier days of aviation – houses would shake, and appliances would dance across the floor. DETAIL. Art Direction by Cameron Birnie (was nominated for an Emmy 4 times for Quantum Leap) and Peg McClellan, Set Decoration by Robert L. Zilliox (see the clock on the shelf? The little salt shakers? that’s Zilliox) and the cinematographer was Roy H. Wagner. So Wagner is responsible for the look of the following spectacular shots:

This is not your regular “television” cinematography. This is high-level artistry. These shots feel real. Not only do they feel real – but never for a moment do I not believe that we AREN’T in the desert in 1956, with a bunch of test pilots. They use some stock footage of jets – which also gives a documentary feel to the episode … but shots like those above were generated by the Quantum Leap team. No wonder the show was a hit. Look at that. Let us not forget David Hemmings, the director of the whole episode, for keeping this all a somewhat coherent whole.

Sam must now face the music, the thing he has been dreading. He has to get into that huge jet … and … fly? But … nobody seems to be listening to him when he says he can’t fly! However, much to his relief – it appears that Birddog is the pilot, and he just has to sit in the co-pilot seat and relax. Until Birddog says the fateful words, “I gotta take care of Mother Nature – could you bring her up to 25?” and leaves the cockpit … with nary another word! Sam is now at the controls. The nightmare has begun. I love hearing Bakula basically just start screaming, as the plane tilts to one side. The scream starts low, and then builds: “ahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….” Like: seriously, dude. His co-workers and the guys on the ground must be like: what the HELL is he screaming about????

Part 2 to come …. almost done!!