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
Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
Sixty Year Mission…
It's been a really weird year already for the world of Star Trek fans. We started 2026 with a new venture into a strange new future with Starfleet Academy. Then just as the show had won people over, we found out it's the latest in a long list of recent productions to get a cancellation order, is a bit of a weird way to start the 60th anniversary of a legendary franchise. The past few years we've kind of spoiled. Growing up it was exciting to have Deep Space Nine run alongside the Next Generation. In modern times we had multiple shows going at once with Discovery's launch spawning a new world of story telling from revisiting Picard in his post-Starfleet years, to animated comedy with Lower Decks, to finally telling the story of Captain Pike and even a peek […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
[Treknology] The Holodeck
An immersive experience in itself, the Holodeck is one of the many creature comforts that help bring comfort and entertainment within the life of a starship years from home that not only acts in creating a live action gaming environment, but as a useful tool for educational simulations, experiments and the occasional Hirogen nightmare! The holodeck is a complex device. Essentially a simulated environment generator, the holodeck is usually a vast room that used a combination of forcefields, matter replication and visually manipulative holographic systems to create an immersive environment that one or multiple people can use to not only see and hear, but physically interact with. Able to replicate anything from historical settings to an entirely original landscape, the holodeck ios Knightmare in ultra high resolution without a headset or guide, but a physical interaction with a created world […]
A Fistful of Sisko
In the past few years, Star Trek has made several nods to it's past. But while The NExt Generation and Voyager had their continuations, Deep Space Nine continued to 'black sheep' of the family with it's history and name drops being few and far between. Until Academy when we had an entire episode based around the legend of Starfleet's most complex captains. Starting his show as a widower and single parent, Benjamin Sisko started his time in Star Trek as a reluctant hero turned religious icon who's become a prime figure in Bajoran history, the Federation-Dominion war and much more. If you missed his series, first of.... why?! And also, if you want a quick intro - here's our Sisko top five to see what the fuss is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzBkvzPoofQ IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Season 6, Episode 13 Lets […]
Starfleet Academy to end with with Season 2
Announced first by Variety, it's been announced that Starfleet Academy will end with Season 2. Having just launches in January with the first season finale receiving positive reactions, and it's second season now in post-production following the completion of filming, the announcement comes at an unsurprising time with Paramount undergoing new ownership under Skydance and more business shenanigans with further consolidation in the works with plans to absorb Warner Brothers into the mix. Set in the 32nd century and using Discovery's season 3 'Burn' storyline as a reset point, Starfleet Academy was focused on new original characters who had signed up to be the new stewards of Starfleet's future to rebuild the strength and vision of the Federation. Opening strong, Academy improved throughout it's first season and used it's setting to help strengthen the hopeful vision of the future and […]
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, […]
