Quantum Leap (2022)
Season 1, Episode 1:
July 13th, 1985
Written by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt
Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Original air date: 9/19/2022
At a party celebrating his engagement to Addison Augustine, Dr. Ben Song receives a series of texts from a mystery woman telling him that "their window is closing". Ben rushes to the revived Project Quantum Leap without telling anyone and makes an unauthorized leap. He finds himself in July 13th, 1985 (the same day as Live Aid) as Nick Rounder, the alias of an undercover cop trying to stop a plot to steal the Hope Diamond.
Tropes:
- As You Know: Ian explains the Project's goals to Addison, and she immediately lampshades it.Ian: The past five years, we've been trying to figure out how to send someone to a single point in time and then bring them right back, to take the work of Sam Beckett and make it so that you don't get stuck in the past.
Addison: Yeah, Ian, I know. I've been here since the beginning. - Been There, Shaped History: A variation; in the original history, the Hope Diamond was successfully stolen in the heist and replaced by a counterfeit, and the United States government covered it up. Ben changes this in the new history so that the diamond was never stolen.
- Driving Stick: Ben never learned how to drive a stick shift (it can't just be his Swiss-cheesed memory, as Addison tells him immediately that he doesn't know how before he starts driving).
- The '80s: Specifically, July 13, 1985.
- Introdump: We're introduced to all of the main Project characters at the engagement party at the very beginning.
- "Mister Sandman" Sequence: Right after leaping in, Ben steps out of the leapee's van and is immediately treated to a scene of '70s and '80s model vehicles driving around, loud clothing, people listening to cassettes on Walkmans, people waiting to use a phone booth, a movie theater marquee listing a double feature of The Goonies and St. Elmo's Fire, and a poster for Live Aid, all while "Let's Dance" by David Bowie plays in the background, not to mention the Live Aid broadcast on a portable TV in the van Ben is driving.
- Myth Prologue: The episode opens up with text and narration (read by Deborah Pratt) about Dr. Sam Beckett and the original Project Quantum Leap.In 1995, theorizing that one could time travel within their own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap Accelerator and vanished.
After years of attempting to bring him home, the project was abandoned...
Until now... - No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Ben asks Addison if they can ask "this guy Beckett" why quantum leaping works the way it does. Addison tells him that they can't, because Dr. Beckett never made it home.
- This also explains why some of the new PQL technology functions differently than before. Without Sam and Al, the people with the best understanding of how it worked, much of the new hardware had to be reverse engineered or rebuilt from scratch.
- Nothing but Hits: The episode uses "Let's Dance" and "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie, "Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung, "Take on Me" by a-ha, and "Blue Monday" by New Order to establish 1985. It also uses "Juice" by Lizzo in the opening scene to set up the Present Day of 2022.
- Resigned in Disgrace: Jenn attempts to do this after Ben breaches security and uses the accelerator. However, Magic refuses to accept her resignation, and puts her in charge of figuring out how it happened.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Discussed by Ben and Addison; he needs to do this in order to leap, because that's how it worked for Sam Beckett.Ben: What the hell kind of time travel project is this?! How does helping someone cause me to leap?
- Spot the Thread: Jenn is quickly able to identify the mystery woman's ring as one that had been worn by Al Calavicci, and uses this to figure out that his daughter Janis Calavicci is the person who helped Ben leap.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Ian likens Ben's situation to a bad mushroom trip...then clarifies that they wouldn't know anything about tripping on mushrooms, being an employee of the United States military and all.
- Unusual Euphemism: From Ian: "It's a cluster-cuss."
- When Things Spin, Science Happens: The new Quantum Leap Accelerator has a series of giant rings that rotate around the leaper at the center of the chamber.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: Ben is just a minute or two into the leap when Addison finds him and says that the team has been looking for him for several hours.
