Returning to an old classic can be a mixed bag. Especially when the ideas a revival of a cult classic without any of the original stars returning. Quantum Leap was one of several of those shows to dip back into an old idea and give it a new life to modern audiences and in it’s first season it was a surprise hit thanks in part to being a next chapter for the government funded time travel project that mixed the old theme with new ideas.
In the original series Sam Beckett spearheaded a project to create the Quantum Leap accelerator as a way of travelling through time. With funds running low, he used himself as a test subject and found himself swapping places with people throughout recent history, course correcting time and making everyone’s life a little better. Guided by companion Al, a holographic projection from Sam’s time, the Quantum Leap project ended up being a weekly adventure series until the finale where it was revealed Sam was lost in time and never returned home.
Picking up on that idea, the revival had a new team behind the project and with it, new ideas on how to tell the Quantum Leap story. Retaining the adventure of the week style of the original, the sequel series mixed the adventures of a new leaper alongside the mystery of why he chose to make the leap as the team back home work to unravel their friends hidden motivations. Which oddly worked quite well by mixing a wider cast working in the background.
This time round it’s Ben Song that’s leaping through time and throughout the first season it was discovered his leaps were being coordinated for a purpose. By the end of the series, much like Sam, Ben never made it back home as he risked himself and some timey wimey shenanigans which culminated in a fight against another leaper from the future, the team lost him. It was a tough act to follow and season two opted to pick up where Ben left off. But not the rest of the team….
Whats fun about the Quantum Leap revival is the fact the teams back home. We always knew Sam has a team behind him, but with the revival we have the main players of the project trying to keep things on track. While everyone fought to keep the project running and to keep Ben safe in the first season, Ben had been lost for three years by the opening of the second. For Ben only one leap had passed. For the team, they’d moved on.
Even Ben’s holographic guide and fiance Addison had accepted Ben as dead after two years. Only the conscience of the group, Ian, was the one that never gave up, using shady new technology to track where Ben’s last leap took him and kick off a new series of problems with the time gap and the effects of losing Ben weighing heavy on the season.
With the first seasons mystery coming to an ending that saw the leap process being used in intriguing ways, the second season did feel a little flat in places. While there were good moments, from finding out how Ian found Ben and what that would cost the revived team and Magic showing how far he’d fallen while the project was shuttered, other elements damage the flow a little. Addison’s new fiance jumping into the team doesn’t mix as well. Partly because they gave him a ridiculously flat persona and partly because it forms a love triangle that doesn’t quite work.
Where the first season kicked off with a mystery that hell the show together, the season two arc focused far too much on that conflict between Ben and Addison which dragged the story down a little. Even with the ending showing the bigger picture, how long it took to get the ball rolling on the bad guy of the season made it all feel very rushed by the end which did let the season down as a whole.
But there’s still something quite nice about the season. Ben as the leaper makes for a more interesting character than he has any right to be. What could have been an easy by the numbers boring role gets lifted up by the confidence projected by Raymond Lee in the role. And continuing to play around with the concept, which includes encounters with the same person across multiple time periods, also helps uplift the concept overall sso that each of the story of the week adventures continues to build to a climax. Even if it did feel a little rushed and scattered a climax.
Each leap having it’s own theme and being unbound by the time limit of the original series does give the show plenty of variety, from the horrors of saving people form a burning building to witch trials in America’s early days. If anything the scope of the shows time travel antics increased with more variety in where Ben ended up, from one set pieces to racing around a 1980’s town.
But what makes it all really work though is the focus on two things; people and positivity. Sci fi is filled with drama and can often take a dark turn, so there’s something heart-warming about Ben’s deeply routed passion to making the world a better place and it often shows with more heart than the original story of the week style. The project back home adds to that in how they connect and support each other through the messiness of keeping the project – and Ben – alive through his journey.
In comparison to the first season, it did have the all too common curse of not quite living up to the first. But if anything it showed a willingness to try new things and use the theme to explore the very human impact of the mission in both Bens perspective as well as everyone coming together for him in the present. More importantly it’s one of a few rare shows that hangs on positivity, using it’s base concept to explore meaningful themes while still looking towards a happy ending.
There’s a lot of places Quantum Leap could have gone, and a cast that gel together extremely well. Alas the ending of Season 2 was all we’ll get from Quantum Leap as the series has been another to meet an early end.
If anything Quantum Leap was a much needed comfort show that kept you along for the ride will telling stories of struggle that leads to a happy ending every week. The second season may not have been as consistent as the first, but it’s still worth watching to see how even the end to Ben’s story as the leaper can put a smile on your face.
Quantum Leap is available exclusively to Paramount Plus in the UK & Europe. Season 1 & 2 are available now as part of the subscription alongside all of their Star Trek offerings including Strange NEw Worlds, Lower Decks & Picard.
About the author
Under Pressure: ‘Orders Of Magnitude’, Strange New Worlds S4E08
Boarding as a hero and legend, Admiral Joe Reeger arrives, take command and leaves Pike stranded as he leads the remaining Enterprise crew on an urgent mission. With a visiting (again!) James Kirk picked out as first officer, Reegers mission and motivations come into question and puts Kirk's leadership to task... Writers: Alan B McElroy Director: Sharon Lewis One thing about season four that's been a highlight through some uneven episodes is how it's guiding it's characters form our first contact with them in this series, and how we originally met them sixty years earlier. While it's been more obvious with Spock's pivot towards being closer to his logical side, we've had Chapel make the choice to become a permanent part of the Enterprise and Scotty's move towards being the 'miracle worker'. Even Pike seems to be on the […]
Days of Our Unreal Lives: ‘Like Chronitons Through The Hourglass’, Strange New Worlds S4E07
Waking up in sickbay with a comical bandage on his head following a shuttle accident, Pike quickly notices things are a bit off. The lights are too bright. The medical staff are behaving oddly with dramatic pauses aplenty. And he's fairly certain space madness isn't a genuine diagnosis. As the hour continues with devious secret siblings, dramatic feats of medicine and family drama aplenty, Pike is drawn further into the strangest of all worlds; the soap opera. Writers: Dana Horgan and Bill WolkoffDirector: Anna Dozoka Soap opera's are mental. And for a theme it's even more mental than it seems. But considering soap opera's are basically just overly dramatic premises with long lost relatives you'd never before heard of, absolutely insane scenario's that make Maggie Simpson shooting Mr Burns seem normal and plot twists so insane you genuinely have to […]
Star Trek Day 2026: Celebrating 60 Years of the Final Frontier!
Sixty years ago the world was introduced to a sci fi series that planted a seed of adventure, imagination and inspiration that would blossom into a juggernaut of media. After launching with the Man Trap on September 8th in the United States, the series would later grow into a pop culture icon spawning 9 Live Action Series, 3 Animated Series, 13 Feature Films & more including Streaming Events, Shorts and a huge amount of offshoot media across games, comics and books. With generations of fans discovering new era's and new adventures for decades, today we celebrate not only that first flight of the USS Enterprise and it's original crew, but an entire franchise that continued to grow, evolve, building a world of adventure, inspiration and hope for a better future! As we celebrate Star Trek at 60, we'd love to hear how […]
Away Team, Assemble! The USS Tesla Set To Beam Down to Epic Comic Con!
Returning to Glasgow this September, the Tesla Crew are once again in action at Fan Frontiers Epic Comic Con in the SEC Hosted by Fan Frontiers, Epic Comic Con has been one of the core places to meet the crew of the Tesla since it’s origins as Acme Comic Con and has become a firm part of the diverse and welcoming fan centric communities hosting everything from Rebel Legions to Ghostbusters! Taking their regular spot once again the Tesla crew will have Star Trek props and collectables on display as the team get ready to share the wonders of the final frontier! With possibly the biggest and most intriguing line ups to date, Epic will be hosting some surprises including Lord of the Rings' hobbit Duo Billy Boyd & Dominic Monaghan, What We Do in the Shadows Star Kayvan Novak, […]
60 Year Mission Celebrations!
This month Star Trek celebrates 60 years since the continuing mission launched and this year we've decided.... one Star Trek Day isn't enough. We're having a whole month of celebration! With plans including virtual meets, Europa chats, competitions and more, we're inviting the whole fleet to jump on board, get involved and join the fun of celebrating sixty years othe final frontier! Virtual Meet Sunday September 6th 8pm Starbase Europa 60 YEAR MISSION Meet the Fleet in Celebration with an evening of catching up, sharing stories, maybe a few bad jokes and general shenanigans! As we open a month of celebrating one of sci fi's most enduring franchises, grab a drink, pull up a chair and have a few laughs to begin the month! Discussion Sunday September 6th All Day Starbase Europa STAR TREK DAY 2026 From dusk 'till dawn, […]
A Fistful of Undercover Operations
Occasionally when exploring the wonders of deep space, our heroes of Trek have been summoned to - or by sheer accident - become another person to fulfil their mission. Whether it's O'Brien mixing with gangsters or Picard becoming a mercenary, Star Trek's filled with episodes where our favourite explorers have to become someone else to save the day.... FACE OF THE ENEMY The Next Generation Season 6 Waking up on the Warbird Khazara, Deanna Troi finds herself in a bit of a pickle. Kidnapped and surgically altered to take the place of a Tal Shiar Commander she finds herself led by her handler, N'Vek, to lead a secret mission after the Commander had been killed. Out of her comfort zone, Troi has to convince the crew she's the real deal despite the ships skipper knowing something's not quite right.... In […]
Related
Relay Recap: July 2024
All Features Universe Categories Fleet Alert Comms GORN GIRL recap; july 2025 Picking up on the Season 2 cliff-hanger, Strange New Worlds returned to our screens this month to find Captain Pike and his crew on the edge of war with the Gorn as Season 3 was finally released!Exploring new worlds and new problems, the Enterprise crew are back in action on Paramount Plus and we're keeping ourselves up to date with weekly episode discussion threads on our FB Continuing Mission Group & Weekly episode reviews from Admin ! Explore... Episode Reviews Spoilers Group ACROSS THE UNIVERSE As we look back on Pike's adventures on the Enterprise in the prequel series, Paramount also gave us a look at whats to come next as Entertainment Weekly and SDCC's Star Trek Universe panel gave us a sneak peek at the reopening of […]
Sci Fi Spotlight: Foundation Returns For It’s Third Crisis
For over twelve thousand years the known galaxy has been ruled by the Galactic Empire, ruled for the past four hundred years by a constantly rotating series of clones of the last Emperor never to father an heir. With the Cleons at the centre of millions of worlds, one mathematician has developed anew science that predicts the Empires fall. Using socio-political history merged with a series of sophisticated equations, Hari Seldon has found a way to predict societies most likely future. Through developing a Quantum Computer, Seldon see's the fall of the Empire coming and where he see's science, other's see prophecy. Empire – a single ruling force consisting of three Cleon's at different ages – a young Brother Dawn as Emperor in Training, Brother Dusk as the retired guardian and Brother Day as the strong ruler – considers his […]
[Sci Fi Sunday] Twenty Years Waiting in the Winchester: Shaun Of The Dead
Back in the 90s we'd learn all about the cool, wacky lives of 20-something's through the adventures of a mysteriously close group of Friends; following the will they-won't they off Ross and Rachael, Joey's zany antics.... it was an ideal life filled with drama, joy, laughs and coffee!
[Retro Review] Everybody’s Dead, Dave. Red Dwarf (1988)
Some people have lofty ambitions. Become rich, famous, the best in your field. Others just want something simple. Like buying a small farm, getting a sheep and a cow and breeding horses. Red Dwarf was the story of the man with the simple dream. There's just one problem. Everybody's dead.
Sci Fi Sunday: The Matrix 20 Years Later…
Most people have had moments where they doubt their surroundings. Where they look all around them and wonder what they feel, what they experience is actually real. Or if it's all an illusion. What would we do if we learned that everything we know was a lie. The world we knew may not be perfect, but it's stable, reliable. Imagine being told that underneath that it was an illusion masking a future where the world was in ruins, where no hope was left? Sci Fi Sunday: The Matrix 20 Years Later... That was the basis of the Matrix. A films where the protagonist, Neo, was given a choice. Take a blue pill and return to his average, normal and safe life within a digital reality, or take the red pill and awaken from a slumber he never knew […]
Sci Fi Sunday: Get Ready For The OA Season 2 (Comms Highlights)
Appearing from nowhere without any promotional efforts, the OA was a weird experiment from Netflix to just drop a show into it's line up and see what happened. As people tuned in to scroll through their library, they'd stumble upon the supernatural sci fi mystery and as a young girl who'd been missing for years sat a group of strangers down to tell them her story, viewers were captivated by the weird tale of finding the space between life and death. After being missing for years, Prairie returned home a completely different person. She was seasoned, tough, and despite being blind when she vanished, she could now see perfectly. It's hard to get into specifics without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen the mystery, but as she returns to her home town under the careful supervision of her parents, […]
