Project Quantum Leap
Encyclopedia
Project Quantum Leap is a fictional, top-secret, government-run science project involving time travel
on the sci-fi/drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald Bellisario
.
, Project Quantum Leap is rooted in the scientific theories of project head Dr. Samuel Beckett
, whose string theory
of linear time forms the basis of time travel—but only within the period of one's own life. Thus, according to Sam's theory, a time traveller cannot travel further back in time than the moment of one's own birth, and he cannot travel beyond the point he began leaping or 'died'. (However, in 'Play It Again, Seymour,' the leap date is April 14, 1953 - just under 4 months before he was born. Also in the episode 'The Americanization of Machiko,' the leap date is given as August 4, 1953 – 4 days before he was born. So it is possible his 'lifetime' includes time periods after his conception and prior to his birth). Another exception to the rule is when he leaped into his ancestor during the Civil War
"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator—and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time that appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home."
In the beginning, the project was funded on the private level. However, subsequent events; specifically Sam changing history and reuniting his future wife with her estranged father set off a chain of events that caused the project to be funded by the government. The government's rationale for doing this i.e strategic gain have never been discussed. To prove his theory to private sponsors who were about to cut funding for the project, Sam tested the experiment on himself and found himself stuck in the past, with amnesia
as an unexpected side-effect of the time travel. Furthermore, he found himself inhabiting other people's "physical aura," meaning he retains the illusion of their physical appearance, form and even voice. Whether this aspect of time travel is expected or (as the show strongly suggests) unexpected is never explicitly revealed. Sam soon discovers that the only way to "leap" from one point in time to the next is to correct mistakes in the lives of the people he inhabits. For the next four years, Sam would continue to travel back and forth through time in a continuing effort to leap home (to his proper time and identity), swapping identities with various people, and putting things right that once went wrong.
The project is run by Sam until his "disappearance" into the Accelerating Chamber. After Sam's disappearance (depicted in the first scene of the pilot episode), the project is ostensibly run by Sam's best friend, Albert 'Al' Calavicci
, a former Navy Admiral, who seems to operate with a great deal of autonomy but occasionally must answer to such government authorities as The Pentagon
or a United States Senate
committee (the latter depicted in the season two premiere, "Honeymoon Express"). Despite government funding, the extent of actual government involvement in the project (at least as depicted in the series) seems more or less limited to security (provided by U.S. Marines) and intelligence (since the project's computer seems to have nearly unlimited access to government records).
The Imaging Chamber is Sam's means of communication with the project during his travels. From Al's perspective, the Imaging Chamber is a large, cavernous room that takes the form of Sam's surroundings. However, this form is just a holographic projection; Al can't physically interact with these surroundings in any way, other than to converse with Sam (and, in rare circumstances, other people; see the entry on Albert Calavicci
for the examples of this). Sam, in turn, can hear and see Al as a holographic projection (which remains invisible to everyone else). To Al, Sam looks like the person whose life he is inhabiting.
The Waiting Room is the room where Project Quantum Leap keeps the people Sam leaps into; they are held here (sometimes against their will) until they can only again trade places with Sam and return to their lives in their proper time period. As Sam appears to all, even Al, as the form of the person he leaped into, the person in the waiting room supposedly appears in Sam's form; this causes psychological issues with Al if Sam leaps into the body of an attractive female, as Al has trouble coming to terms with his best friend's goal to leap and being a heterosexual male in truth and Al's naturally high sex drive and Sam's visual appearance. However, in one episode, when Sam leaps into the body of real-life radio psychologist Dr. Ruth, Al confers with Dr. Ruth in the Waiting Room and she nonetheless appears in her actual form, contradicting the show's canon (however, this may match the internal logic of the show: as Sam appears to the viewer with his own form, so people in whom he leap into should appear with his/her own appearance to the show's viewer).
Ziggy is a sentient supercomputer
designed by Sam and programmed mostly by Gushie. It controls many of the functions at the Project Quantum Leap complex, has access to countless databases and sources of public records, and seems to specialize in calculating probability based on enormous amounts of data; during Sam's travels through time, Ziggy uses these abilities to postulate the "mission" Sam must complete in order to make his next leap in time.
Dr. Samuel Beckett
is the project manager of Project Quantum Leap. Notably, he is both the designer of Ziggy and the creator of the string theory of linear time that makes time travel possible. A brilliant scientist with multiple doctoral degrees (including Music
, Medicine
, Physics
, Archeology, Ancient Languages
, Chemistry
and Astronomy
), Sam specializes in quantum physics. Sam is played on the show by Scott Bakula
.
Albert Calavicci
serves as Sam's contact with the project (and also as the acting project manager) while Sam travels through time. Al is a Rear Admiral
in the United States Navy
and had previously worked with Sam on another top-secret government science project, known only as "the Starbright Project" (the nature of which is never revealed on the show). Al is played by Dean Stockwell
.
Donna Eleese is Sam's wife, an astrophysicist who clearly has top security clearance but whose actual involvement with the project is never clarified. Like Al and Gushie, Donna worked with Sam on the Starbright Project. Donna appears only twice on the show; she is played by Teri Hatcher
in the season one episode "Star-Crossed" and by Mimi Kuzyk in the season four premiere "The Leap Back." When the show began, Sam was not married to Donna nor was she a part of the project, as she had left him at the altar many years previously due to her own abandonment issues with her father. However, in the second episode of the entire series, "Star-Crossed", Sam uses his leap to help Donna resolve her father's abandonment issues and subsequently changes his own personal history; as a result of this leap, Donna does not leave Sam at the altar and they are happily married when Sam begins leaping, both of them working on the project together.
Dr. Verbeena Beeks is the staff psychiatrist
; she is sometimes referred to by Al, but is seen in only two episodes, the season three finale "Shock Theater" and the season four premiere "The Leap Back."
Gooshie, often referred to as "a little guy with bad breath," serves as both a general technician and Ziggy's head programmer. Portrayed by stand-up comedian Dennis Wolfberg
, Gushie appeared in five episodes—more than any other recurring character (besides Sam and Al, of course).
Tina Martinez, despite possessing the appearance, mannerisms, and voice of a stereotypical air-head, is a brilliant computer programmer, introduced into the project by her sometime boyfriend, Al Calavicci. Despite many references in the show, she appears in only one episode, "The Leap Back."
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
on the sci-fi/drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald Bellisario
Donald Bellisario
Donald Paul Bellisario is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I., Airwolf, Quantum Leap, JAG, and NCIS...
.
Overview
Located in a largely underground complex in the desert mountains of Stallion's Gate, New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Project Quantum Leap is rooted in the scientific theories of project head Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dr. Samuel "Sam" Beckett is a fictional character and the protagonist on the science fiction television series Quantum Leap, played by Scott Bakula....
, whose string theory
String theory
String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system...
of linear time forms the basis of time travel—but only within the period of one's own life. Thus, according to Sam's theory, a time traveller cannot travel further back in time than the moment of one's own birth, and he cannot travel beyond the point he began leaping or 'died'. (However, in 'Play It Again, Seymour,' the leap date is April 14, 1953 - just under 4 months before he was born. Also in the episode 'The Americanization of Machiko,' the leap date is given as August 4, 1953 – 4 days before he was born. So it is possible his 'lifetime' includes time periods after his conception and prior to his birth). Another exception to the rule is when he leaped into his ancestor during the Civil War
"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator—and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time that appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home."
In the beginning, the project was funded on the private level. However, subsequent events; specifically Sam changing history and reuniting his future wife with her estranged father set off a chain of events that caused the project to be funded by the government. The government's rationale for doing this i.e strategic gain have never been discussed. To prove his theory to private sponsors who were about to cut funding for the project, Sam tested the experiment on himself and found himself stuck in the past, with amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
as an unexpected side-effect of the time travel. Furthermore, he found himself inhabiting other people's "physical aura," meaning he retains the illusion of their physical appearance, form and even voice. Whether this aspect of time travel is expected or (as the show strongly suggests) unexpected is never explicitly revealed. Sam soon discovers that the only way to "leap" from one point in time to the next is to correct mistakes in the lives of the people he inhabits. For the next four years, Sam would continue to travel back and forth through time in a continuing effort to leap home (to his proper time and identity), swapping identities with various people, and putting things right that once went wrong.
The project is run by Sam until his "disappearance" into the Accelerating Chamber. After Sam's disappearance (depicted in the first scene of the pilot episode), the project is ostensibly run by Sam's best friend, Albert 'Al' Calavicci
Al Calavicci
Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert “Al” Calavicci USN is a fictional character on the science fiction drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald P. Bellisario and played by Dean Stockwell.-Biography:...
, a former Navy Admiral, who seems to operate with a great deal of autonomy but occasionally must answer to such government authorities as The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
or a United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
committee (the latter depicted in the season two premiere, "Honeymoon Express"). Despite government funding, the extent of actual government involvement in the project (at least as depicted in the series) seems more or less limited to security (provided by U.S. Marines) and intelligence (since the project's computer seems to have nearly unlimited access to government records).
Key aspects of the project
The Accelerating Chamber, also known as the Quantum Accelerator, is a nuclear-powered device that acts as the project's time machine. It is able to send someone into the past, but apparently unable to retrieve them again, despite repeated attempts by various members of the project to design a "retrieval program."The Imaging Chamber is Sam's means of communication with the project during his travels. From Al's perspective, the Imaging Chamber is a large, cavernous room that takes the form of Sam's surroundings. However, this form is just a holographic projection; Al can't physically interact with these surroundings in any way, other than to converse with Sam (and, in rare circumstances, other people; see the entry on Albert Calavicci
Al Calavicci
Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert “Al” Calavicci USN is a fictional character on the science fiction drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald P. Bellisario and played by Dean Stockwell.-Biography:...
for the examples of this). Sam, in turn, can hear and see Al as a holographic projection (which remains invisible to everyone else). To Al, Sam looks like the person whose life he is inhabiting.
The Waiting Room is the room where Project Quantum Leap keeps the people Sam leaps into; they are held here (sometimes against their will) until they can only again trade places with Sam and return to their lives in their proper time period. As Sam appears to all, even Al, as the form of the person he leaped into, the person in the waiting room supposedly appears in Sam's form; this causes psychological issues with Al if Sam leaps into the body of an attractive female, as Al has trouble coming to terms with his best friend's goal to leap and being a heterosexual male in truth and Al's naturally high sex drive and Sam's visual appearance. However, in one episode, when Sam leaps into the body of real-life radio psychologist Dr. Ruth, Al confers with Dr. Ruth in the Waiting Room and she nonetheless appears in her actual form, contradicting the show's canon (however, this may match the internal logic of the show: as Sam appears to the viewer with his own form, so people in whom he leap into should appear with his/her own appearance to the show's viewer).
Ziggy is a sentient supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
designed by Sam and programmed mostly by Gushie. It controls many of the functions at the Project Quantum Leap complex, has access to countless databases and sources of public records, and seems to specialize in calculating probability based on enormous amounts of data; during Sam's travels through time, Ziggy uses these abilities to postulate the "mission" Sam must complete in order to make his next leap in time.
Key personnel
Some episodes of the final season reveal that security for the project is provided by armed U.S. Marines; other episodes in the series hint that a whole team of scientists work at Project Quantum Leap, but of those scientists, only the ones below are ever mentioned.Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dr. Samuel "Sam" Beckett is a fictional character and the protagonist on the science fiction television series Quantum Leap, played by Scott Bakula....
is the project manager of Project Quantum Leap. Notably, he is both the designer of Ziggy and the creator of the string theory of linear time that makes time travel possible. A brilliant scientist with multiple doctoral degrees (including Music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, Archeology, Ancient Languages
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
), Sam specializes in quantum physics. Sam is played on the show by Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
.
Albert Calavicci
Al Calavicci
Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert “Al” Calavicci USN is a fictional character on the science fiction drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald P. Bellisario and played by Dean Stockwell.-Biography:...
serves as Sam's contact with the project (and also as the acting project manager) while Sam travels through time. Al is a Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and had previously worked with Sam on another top-secret government science project, known only as "the Starbright Project" (the nature of which is never revealed on the show). Al is played by Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
.
Donna Eleese is Sam's wife, an astrophysicist who clearly has top security clearance but whose actual involvement with the project is never clarified. Like Al and Gushie, Donna worked with Sam on the Starbright Project. Donna appears only twice on the show; she is played by Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
in the season one episode "Star-Crossed" and by Mimi Kuzyk in the season four premiere "The Leap Back." When the show began, Sam was not married to Donna nor was she a part of the project, as she had left him at the altar many years previously due to her own abandonment issues with her father. However, in the second episode of the entire series, "Star-Crossed", Sam uses his leap to help Donna resolve her father's abandonment issues and subsequently changes his own personal history; as a result of this leap, Donna does not leave Sam at the altar and they are happily married when Sam begins leaping, both of them working on the project together.
Dr. Verbeena Beeks is the staff psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
; she is sometimes referred to by Al, but is seen in only two episodes, the season three finale "Shock Theater" and the season four premiere "The Leap Back."
Gooshie, often referred to as "a little guy with bad breath," serves as both a general technician and Ziggy's head programmer. Portrayed by stand-up comedian Dennis Wolfberg
Dennis Wolfberg
Dennis Wolfberg was an American stand up comedian and actor.Wolfberg became a fixture on "The Tonight Show" and starred in an HBO special in early 1992...
, Gushie appeared in five episodes—more than any other recurring character (besides Sam and Al, of course).
Tina Martinez, despite possessing the appearance, mannerisms, and voice of a stereotypical air-head, is a brilliant computer programmer, introduced into the project by her sometime boyfriend, Al Calavicci. Despite many references in the show, she appears in only one episode, "The Leap Back."