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Someone call Donald P. Bellisario, I’ve got an idea for him. It’s eluded me for a while as to why so many half-baked sci-fi shows get multiple spinoffs and movies, when one of the best, Quantum Leap, only got the one shot. Full disclosure time: I grew up watching the show, but I never saw the finale. All I know is everyone complains about it. Therefore, if anything here contradicts that, I don’t care, this is my blog and I do what I want.  One thing I know about the ending is that apparently Sam never made it home. That’s where my idea comes in.

QUANTUM ODYSSEY

This new show would take place years later. The story would center around a new leaper who goes on a quest to find Sam, his father. Yeah, that’s right. Sam’s son. Now, you’re going to be all like “But Sam didn’t have a son on the show.” Guess what, Sam had a WIFE on the show he didn’t know about until he came back on the episode “The Leap Back.” Al and the rest of the team decided to not tell Sam about his wife back home that he couldn’t remember to spare him the heartbreak.

It’s at that point I propose they had a child. When Sam leaps home and finds his wife, we all know what happened. Nine months later, when Sam is leaping around time again, Al never tells Sam about the son he’ll never see. In all probability they realized it was their last chance to have a child and may have done so intentionally. Either way, there is a Sam Jr. out there.

Now, years later, Sam’s son, Tom, named after his uncle, has reestablished the Quantum Leap program. Son of two super-geniuses, Tom is determined to find the father he has never met. Realizing that his father travels within his lifetime, Tom works out how to increase the range of his leaps so there will be a better chance of crossing over with Sam and returning him to present time.

Practically, this would allow the show to go further than the previous iteration. A story where Tom ends up in World War 2 for example. Or maybe he could go further into the near future also.

Tom’s support team would be made up of elder members of the original Quantum Leap project and some newer members also. Of course, this means Al would return. Having been an “uncle” to Tom growing up, he is a link to his father.

A new chaperone that appears in holographic form would probably be needed. Someone else from the project, a female doctor maybe. This could be a new dynamic that could provide a different take on the leaper/hologram relationship and set it apart from the previous show. There would also be opportunities for new story dynamics and humor that could arise from the situation. As Sam was sometimes in compromising positions, Tom would probably find himself is similar circumstances. Being walked in on by a woman hologram could present some funny moments on the show.

Over the course of the series, Tom would come across multiple people that he has to help before he leaps. Eventually finding traces of his father and maybe ending up in areas Sam has already been to. I envision the end of the first season taking place around the events of 9/11. As there would be ample opportunities here to help people, this would be the first time he comes across his father. They have both been brought there to perform different tasks, but eventually get separated and leap out individually. Being so close to his father though, Tom is even more determined to retrieve him and believes he can accomplish it.

Later on, maybe once a season, they come into direct contact again. Tom never tells Sam who he is, just that he is another leaper who is trying to bring him home. During the course of the last season, they cross over more and more until Tom predicts where they will cross paths next.

At the end, they meet and Tom confesses to Sam who he is and why he has been searching for him. Tom also admits that he has known all along that only one of them can return to the present. As Sam protests that Tom should be the one to return, Tom sends his father home. Now home, Sam is reunited with his wife Donna, Al, and the rest of the project team. Sam and the team are determined to find Tom and bring him home, but are put at ease by the knowledge that he is out the putting right what once went wrong.

Oh yeah, when he leaps, Tom says “Oh, boy” all the time.