I watched it when I was younger, however, now I can't bear to watch it. It seems so sad and it evokes feelings of melancholy within me.
Anyone else feel this way?
I agree and can see why.
shareYes, I get it. I'm re-watching it with my daughter now, And I often end up in unexpected tears.
shareCan I ask why? I feel this somewhat, too, but I thought it was because I'm watching all the sad episodes. I'm skipping around on Netflix and not going straight through.
shareBecause it reminds you of your childhood or youth and fond memories which are forever in the past? I haven't rewatched it since my childhood and don't think I will. Nostalgia can be happy and sad in equal measures.
shareMaybe forever in your past - but I'm just going to step into this time accelerator, here, and *zap!*
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The show does have it's touching moments. I think it was the first episode where Sam calls home just to hear his dad's voice again. How many of us would like to do that? Go back in the past just to hear our loved ones talk again? I sure would. Then when he leaps back home into his own childhood that really gets to me. He is sure he is there to save his father or his brother. This is also something many people like to do. Stop a loved one from going to war or tells a loved one that smoking kills. It even makes me tear up at times.
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Quite a bit of it is sad, you are correct, but to quote Hawkeye Pierce "look for the good wherever you can find it" there is some humor (Al has some of the best one liners) and excellent music.
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I can see your point. The whole idea of poor Sam stuck in a time warp or something leaping from life to life with no real life of his own, well, you can't help but feel sorry for him at times. And a lot of the storylines were tragic and dealt with heavy issues. It did have its funny moments, of course, thank goodness, but the premise itself, if you cared anything about Sam, and which of us didn't, was kind of depressing. Still I was completely addicted to it for a long time around 20 years ago. I think Scott's wonderful acting and charisma had something to do with it.
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I really don't see that; I mean the whole purpose of most of his leaps are to change the outcome of events, but often to inspire changes in other people's lives. He's able to do that because he has a basic quality in him to see the potential in most people, even ones who seem otherwise hopeless.
It's like what Al the bartender tells him in the final episode, when Sam has a myopic view of the effect his leaps have had; and Al says that the lives he's effected have gone on to effect others, and those lives, others. "You've done a lot of good, Sam Beckett."
There's another element that I don't think gets as much appreciation as it should; and it's how it casts a reflection, quite literally, on history and the way our society may have changed, or more importantly ways in which we should change. Whether by design or by accident, they stumbled onto what I think is a brilliant format, by taking an adult, Anglo-Saxon/Caucasian male in his prime - the sort of person who, in the frame of relatively recent history has faced the least in social hardships and oppression - and they drop him into historical roles that are at times in stark contrast to what people would expect of him, if they could see him for who he was. And because the other characters can't see him that way, there's a juxtaposition of us seeing this man of erstwhile social advantage, being treated as others see him; with biases based largely on preconceived and shallow notions related to race and gender.
Sure, the show doesn't end on the on the note that most people hoped it would, but the major conceit of the show is that there is no such thing as an absolute like "never". History says he never leaped home, but it's a show about a time traveler who changes history; putting right what once went wrong, meaning this too can be changed.
"Our families are in there! Our, uh, mothers and... and tiny, tiny babies!"
Great comment. I agree that a lot of people don't necessarily appreciate or emphasize when discussing the show the element of Sam, a socially privileged person in almost every way, ending up in the shoes of people who aren't privileged and subject to oppression. I don't know whether it was by design or by accident, and I feel that at times they didn't get it completely right. Sam has never in his life been treated the way he's treated in 'The Color of Truth' -- and this is one of the episodes I like less than when I first watched it several years ago because here's white man Sam feeling like he needs to teach black people a lesson about standing up for their rights, with no thought for how the people he's ostensibly helping will have to live with the violent consequences of actions that don't have a cost for him. And the narrative takes his side, rather than portraying him as arrogant and thoughtless -- and not that Sam means to be like that -- he wants to help, not cause harm -- it's just his white privilege makes him clueless. 'Pool Hall Blues' is another one where this kind of thing happens. But overall it's interesting to re-watch the show now and appreciate this element from a current perspective.
I don't see the show as sad either, nor do I see Sam as a victim. Yes, there were some serious episodes that dealt with tougher issues, Sam had to deal with some difficult leaps, and of course there are episodes like 'The Leap Home' that are nostalgic and melancholy for Sam and where he had to learn to embrace and enjoy the good memories of the past but accept that it's the past, keep the good memories and let the past be the past and move on. Yes, it's sad and unfortunate that Sam's invention didn't work exactly the way he expected or hoped it would. And yes, the show didn't end the way many viewers hoped it would. But Sam chose this. He chose to step into the Accelerator in the first place, he chose to keep leaping and not go home, and although some of the leaps suck and he can't wait for them to end, overall he thrives on leaping and helping people. Sam has realized his ambition, his passion in life, his full potential -- he's wanted to travel in time since he's like six or seven years old, writing letters to Captain Galaxy. In the 'Ptah Ho-Tep' episode he talks about how he loved archaeology because it was like traveling in time (I forget the exact dialogue but it was something along the lines). Everything for Sam circles back to traveling in time and he's doing exactly that. And he's changing the world for the better, which was always his intention for inventing Project Quantum Leap even though he forgot. I don't find that sad at all. Plus, like you, I'm also of the opinion that since this is a time-travel show about changing the past nothing, including 'never', is permanent.