FAQ

Q: What is Quantum Leap?

A: Quantum Leap was a Sci-Fi drama programme created in 1989 by Donald P. Bellisario, the man behind JAG, Magnum PI. It was about a scientist named Dr. Sam Beckett who was working an experiment called Project Quantum Leap. Project Quantum Leap was a time travel experiment. Sam was losing his Government Funding for the project, so he stepped into the Accelerator and vanished. This is where to programme picks up from.

Now Sam is stuck in time, but unlike any time travel programmes or films before. Sam leaps into the bodies of people in the past. Usually these people are your average Joe's, but of no importances to the world history. Sam maintains contact with his own time through the aid of a hologram of his best friend, and co-worker, Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci. Al is linked to Sam's brainwaves via the project's hybrid computer - Ziggy. Sam's memory is Swiss Cheesed so he only only remember small portions of his own life due to the leaping.

Within each leap Sam has to fix something that went wrong with the original history. Sam finds out what he needs to do from Al, who gets his information from the predictions that Ziggy has made. At the end of each leap, Sam leaps out of the body he is inhabitating and enters someone else's body. No one is sure who it is that is really leaping Sam, but it is referred to GTFW.

Q: What is Swiss Cheesed?

A: Swiss Cheesed was a term that Al used to describle Sam's memory as a result of Quantum Leaping. Using this metaphor the holes in his memory are similar to that of swiss cheese. The larger holes in the memory represent big things in his life such as Mother and Father. The smaller holes represent small things in his life.

Q: What is GTFW?

A: Basically GTFW stands for God, Time, Fate or Whoever. These are one of the four explanations that Sam and everyone back at Project Quantum Leap think that the experiment went a little ca-ca. Everyone is sure that something else "grabbed" Sam when he made his first leap and that he now works from someone else putting right that once went wrong. Although the mostly likely answer is God on this one, according to a recent poll here at Quantum Leaping.

Q: Who or what is Ziggy?

A: Ziggy is a hybrid computer that Sam created as part of Project Quantum Leap. The big break throught with this computer was that Sam was able to give Ziggy an ego, hence my name Ziggy the Ego, unfortunately Sam give Ziggy the ego of Barbara Streisand, which caused a few problems. Ziggy would not accept responibility for not being able to retrieve Sam and shut down all non-essential items at the project. With the Ziggy's ego, she would not allow for change of mind.

At the start Ziggy was referred to as "he", but when Sam leaped home during The Leap Back, Ziggy had a female voice and flirted with Sam. From here on in was referred to as she. Donald P. Bellisario said he just decided that Ziggy should be female and that was all it was. Many Leapers like to think that because Al was not allowed to give Sam any information about the project or his own life, he could not correct Sam when he referred Ziggy as he. This is what I also like to believe.

Q: What year does the 'present' take place in Quantum Leap?

A: The 'present' on Quantum Leap at the time of Sam's first leap was 1995. The first episode, Genesis aired in 1989 so that meant the programme was set five years in the future. At final episode of Quantum Leap, Mirror Image aired in 1993, but the present year was 1999.

Q: What is the string theory?

A: Sam used the metaphor of a string to explain his theory of time travel in lay-man's terms. He says that if you imagine that a piece of string presents your life, and one end of the string presents your birth and the other end presents your death. You can tie each end together and your life is a loop. Ball the loop and each day of you life touch each other out of sequence. Therefore leaping from one point to another on the string would move you backwards and forwards within your own lifetime.

Q: Can Sam leap outside his own lifetime?

A: Sam designed Project Quantum Leap to be able to leap whoever is in the Accelerator. This means that you cannot leap outside of your own lifetime, but on certain occasions Sam did leap outside of his lifetime. They were Play it Again Seymour, The Americanisation of Machiko and The Leap Between the States. Of course there are reasons how these were possible. In the cases of Play it Again Seymour and The Americanisation of Machiko, they both were outside of his birth date, but not of his conception date, so it was possible for Sam to leap to then. In the case of Leaping Between the State, the year Sam leaped into was 1862 into the middle of the American Civil War. Not matter what you do, you cannot to the maths to make this within Sam's lifetime! But Sam did leap into his Great-Grandfather and they both share a similar genetic trait, which enabled Sam to leap into him and out of his lifetime.

** Please note ** In the episode The Leap Back the leap date was 1945, which is outside of Sam's lifetime. Technically Al was the leaper in this episode and 1945 was within Al's lifetime.

Q: Is Sam married?

A: The answer is yes and no. When Sam first leaped he was unmarried. He was supposed to marry Donna Eleese, but she left him at the alter and Sam didn't marry anyone after this. Early on in Sam's leaping experience's he leaped Lawerance College in the episode Star Crossed. This was the college that Donna attended and sure enough Donna was a student here at this time. Sam took this chance to right a wrong his life and help Donna get incontact with her father again as he left this was why Donna didn't turn to their wedding. Al warned Sam that Donna was supposed to married another man before Sam and if he changes history she could end up marrying this other bozo and he never would have met her. Sam was prepared to take that chance. Once Sam reunited Donna with her father he leaped and didn't get to ask Al what had happened.

In the episode The Leap Back, Sam and Al switched places with each other. Al was now the leaper and Sam was now the hologram back in his own time. As the holes began to fill in on Sam's swiss cheesed mind, he suddenly realised that he was married to Donna Eleese and she now works at Project Quantum Leap.

Q: What is a Kiss With History?

A: This is when Sam interacts with a real person or real event in the world. For instance in the episode How the Tess Was Won Sam give Buddy Holly a helping hand with the lyrics to Peggy Sue.