Quantum Leap
Season 4, Episode 7:
The Wrong Stuff
Al: What about the Quantum rules? You have to at least pretend that you are who you leap into.
Sam: That’s if I’m a human. I’m not a human, I’m a chimp! We don’t have rules for chimps, do we?
Al: You can’t get off on a technicality.
Sam: Okay, wise guy, then what am I here to do?
Al: Join the circus.
Sam: That’s if I’m a human. I’m not a human, I’m a chimp! We don’t have rules for chimps, do we?
Al: You can’t get off on a technicality.
Sam: Okay, wise guy, then what am I here to do?
Al: Join the circus.
Written by Paul Brown
Directed by Joe Napolitano
Airdate: November 6, 1991
January 24, 1961
Sam launches into the early stages of the Mercury Space Program, not as Alan Shepard or John Glenn, but as a chimpanzee test subject. There he must help uncover the mystery of unexplained deaths among the other chimpanzee test subjects.
Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: Dr. Winger is conducting head-impact studies on chimps to develop better crash helmets. While his intentions are good, Dr. Ashton points out that his research can’t be applied to humans because a chimp’s skull is thicker than a human’s.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: After being given a banana, Sam asks Al what he's supposed to do while he waits for him to get back with more info from Ziggy.Al: Why don't you take the banana... and peel it?
- Ass Shove: At one point, Sam has to get his temperature taken. And as Sam and Al quickly learn, it won't be done via the mouth...
- Babies Ever After: After changing history, Bobo and Cory had a baby. Sam is grateful that he won't have to be around for that.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: One jerk airman at the base hassles the chimps for his own amusement.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Downplayed: after barely managing to avoid getting killed by 5000 lbs. in a head trauma experiment, Sam is instructed by Al to grab a tranquilizer gun.
- Breather Episode: Given the episodes that precedednote and followednote this, the episode that sees Sam leap into a chimpanzee and has to save another is considerably lighter in tone.
- Exact Words: Al points out that the rules of the Project state that Sam has to pretend to be whoever he has leapt into. Sam counters that the rule only applies to humans, prompting Al to state that Sam can't get out of this leap on a technicality.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: This is the only episode of the series where Sam leaps into an animal.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Sam is given a raspberry-pineapple juice cocktail and he enjoys it until Dr. Ashton mentions that it contains mashed-up caterpillars. Later, when trying to wash down unpalatable chimp food, he ends up getting the same cocktail again.
- Lab Pet: Sam's experimenter gets attached to him, and complains when he's transferred to helmet testing - which is basically "put a helmet on a chimp and bash its head with a giant hammer."
- Laser-Guided Karma: After spending the episode hassling the chimps, Cory picks up a discarded tranq gun and darts the jerk airman in right in the butt.Al: They should do an impact study on that ape.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Upon learning from Ziggy about the cocktails the scientists give to the chimpsnote , Al rushes to Sam to warn him... only to learn Sam already found out what's in them.
- Miming the Cues: In order to tell Dr. Ashton that Cory was taken by Dr. Winger for head-impact studies, Sam has to more or less play Charades to get her to understand: pointing towards an open doornote , grabbing her name tagnote and wedding ringnote , and (when Dr. Ashton asks why Cory was taken) slapping his headnote , then banging it against his cagenote .
- Mood Whiplash: After the montage of Sam trying and failing to successfully complete experiments to determine if he can be sent into space, we have Dr. Winger informing Dr. Ashton that Bobo and Cory are being cut from the program... and Al informing Sam that Ziggy discovered an autopsy report concerning Bobo's death...
- Oh, Crap!:
- Sam leaps in thinking he’s about to be shot into space. Luckily, it was just a simulator.
- After it turns out that Sam (and Cory) were being cut from the program, Al reluctantly informs Sam that Ziggy managed to get a hold of some information: an autopsy report concerning "Chimp #52" dying from massive head trauma. And then Sam recognizes he's wearing a "#52" dog tag.
- Race Against the Clock: After getting hit with a tranquilizer dart, Sam is strapped into Dr. Winger's head-impact test, and (with Al's prodding to get him to wake back up) only has almost a minute to get out of the seat before he is struck with 5000 lbs. of force.
- Real Award, Fictional Character: Sam mentions winning the Nobel Prize for Physics.
- Shout-Out: The jerk airman jokes that Dr. Ashton’s ability to communicate with chimps is like Dr. Dolittle.
- Silly Simian: Discussed. Between the two of them, only Al sees any humor in Sam leaping into a monkey.
- Talking Animal: Averted: People can’t hear Sam speaking English, they only hear Bobo’s vocalization of grunts and primate chattering. In fact, Sam at one point is forced to do charades to get someone to understand him.
- They Would Cut You Up: Discussed: Al points out that if Sam shows the researchers that he can write, he’s likely to get his brain dissected. Ultimately defied as, when Sam gives the researchers the note he made, they assume it is part of a prank.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: "CATERPILLARS AGAIN?!"
Sam: How did I get here like this?
Al: Well, we know that chimps are our closest relatives. That genetically, they’re 99% identical to us. As a matter of fact, they’re so close that you could even share your blood with a chimp.
Sam: I’m in the body of a chimp. That’s too close!
Al: Well, we know that chimps are our closest relatives. That genetically, they’re 99% identical to us. As a matter of fact, they’re so close that you could even share your blood with a chimp.
Sam: I’m in the body of a chimp. That’s too close!
