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By
WAYNE KLEIN
"Quantum Leap" hit its
stride during the third season. The show had
dramatic episodes just as powerful as season three
but this was the most consistent season for this
classic TV series. During the third season Sam
leaps into a KISS type rock star (complete with
dramatic make up and with Scott Bakula doing his
own singing!); into himself at 16 where he must
change an event in his own past; Sam also leaps
into a Navy Seal in Vietnam serving under his
older brother where Sam faces a unique dilemma. Is
Sam there to save the life of his older brother
(who is fated to die the next day), insure the
success of the mission or for some other
mysterious reason? The series at its best managed
to convey the best elements of drama: Sam never
knows why he's there and what he has to correct
which leads to many emotionally powerful and
genuine feeling moments during the third season.
What brought the best episodes home were the
performances by the series two mainstay performers
the marvelous Scott Bakula ("Enterprise") and
acerbic Dean Stockwell as Al who appears only as a
hologram and must guide Sam with information from
the future.
If Sam Beckett had been able to truly leap back
through time during his life time he would have
been able to foresee the licensing agreement
issues that prevent his TV series from having the
original music in it and prevented it from being
replaced. Luckily, most of the music survives
intact (unlike the season two set). This is a
distinct improvement. By the way, Bakula's nice
performance of "Imagine" is intact for "The Leap
Home Part I."
Aside from an occasionally grainy or soft episode,
"Quantum Leap" looks exceptional here. While there
are still analog flaws in the form of occasional
dirt and irregularities in the prints used, the
colors are bright, image quality sharp and vivid
(with the exception of those episodes using stock
footage). The 2.0 stereo soundtrack also sounds
quite crisp and vivid. Dialogue is, for the most
part, very clear and the music comes across with
nice presence.
I was hoping that Sam would figure out how to hide
some extras from the past for Universal to find
when transferring this to DVD. We get an episode
guide on disc three that lists which episodes are
on which discs (which might be an extra if it
served any useful purpose such as having trivia
about each episode). We get an onscreen synopsis
for each episode before playing the episode and a
synopsis on the back of each slimline DVD holder.
The big difference here is the redesigned
packaging. Gone are the accordion holders, which
threatened to scratch the dual layered, dual sided
discs for each season. Instead, we get individual
slimline holders for each disc along with a
synopsis on the back of the holder giving a brief
description of each episode (much like the DVD
version included as well). Missing, however, are
some of the promo photos that adorned the
accordion style holders. I miss them. It's a pity
that Universal chose not to adorn the inside of
the paper sleeves in each slim line holder with
photos for the inside. It does appear that these
are the uncut original episodes as they aired on
NBC.
This is an area where Universal continues to lag
behind just about every studio. Would it have hurt
Universal to provide commentary by Scott Bakula
(particularly since he recently filmed a cameo for
the new "Quantum Leap" TV show), Dean Stockwell
(he appears in the new show as a regular) or even
creator Bellisario? "The Leap Home" parts 1 and 2
would have been a perfect set for commentary
tracks.
"Quantum Leap" continues to look nice in its DVD
transfer but it seems that Universal is rushing
out "product" which really does a disservice to
the fans. This particularly set was designed to
coincide with the release of "Enterprise" on DVD
and the last two episodes of "Enterprise" airing
on UPN. Synergy can be everything but it can also
add up to nothing particularly when "product" is
rushed out to meet a predestined release date or
tie in. Universal, please do it right for the last
two sets of the series. This fine series and its
fans deserve better. |
