It seems to be setup very similar to Project Quantum Leap, with some type of artificial intelligence (Lothos) at the center of it. Unlike Ziggy, Lothos appeared to be controlling things within "his" project; leaping his agents at will.
Maybe Ziggy IS controlling things after all?
Maybe Ziggy and Lothos are both runaway AI's who are using the Quantum Leap on their own ends.
Maybe both AI's are even mentally ill, but in different way:
Ziggy has taken mission to set right "what once went wrong", but because of the incomplete records, imperfect nature of the AI and other limitations it often puts Sam in difficult and non-optimal situation.
Ziggy obviously can't reveal that it is controlling the whole project, because it knows that humans would shut it down, if they knew the truth. This would explain neatly why this "God/Fate/Time/Whatever" even needs Sam. Ziggy needs Sam, because it isn't a God, even it is trying to act like one (its own imperfect way).
When Sam decided to step into the Accelerator, Ziggy used it an opportunity to hijack the QL project and use Sam as his agent.
It would then follow that the wrong person would try and steal that technology for their own personal gain
Maybe this someone was Lothos.
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stargazer_1682
9 years ago
I would disagree; most of the leaps required Sam to do something that Ziggy had no concept of, or completely bungled his/her predictions. Then at the very end, Sam leaps into himself, with no one left behind; and Ziggy can't find him. Sam then intentionally leaps to talk with Beth and save Al's first marriage.
On the other hand, I would believe Lothos having some control over the leaps. This is heavily suggested in dialog; and would be an effective means of controlling and manipulating his agents into doing his bidding. In the third installment with the evil leapers; Thames, Zoey's observer, talks about being in a "deep input session" with Lothos. While ambiguous, and probably intentionally so; to me that conjures this idea that Lothos can even connect with people on a neural level, and perhaps even manipulate their mind.
"Our families are in there! Our, uh, mothers and... and tiny, tiny babies!"
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ooh_shiny
9 years ago
Ziggy claimed to have no concept of things or to not know what Sam was there to do, but that doesn't mean it was true. Ziggy had a big ego, was extremely temperamental and Al said on more than one occasion that he thought Ziggy knew but didn't want to be wrong, that Ziggy was depressed, etc. Even in 'Mirror Image' Ziggy could've been again claiming to not be able to find Sam. If I remember correctly (and maybe this was not a canon thing but fandom theory) Sam and Ziggy (and Al) were neurally linked so Ziggy would have some connection and inkling of what was going on with Sam.
Then again if you look too closely at certain things in this show they fall apart/are inconsistent. :)
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stargazer_1682
9 years ago
What purpose would not providing information to Sam accomplish? If Ziggy's leaping him around, why would he leave Sam to figure out what he's there to do on his own - which he did; often in spite of contradictory mission projections from Ziggy.
Ziggy also had no idea what was happening to Al, when he switched places with Sam; until Sam stepped into the imagining chamber to create a lock, which presumably was the case with Al when he was the observer.
You can claim that pretty much anyone is lying about anything, but without anything to corroborate it, there's no basis to assume that. You can't prove a negative concept.
"Our families are in there! Our, uh, mothers and... and tiny, tiny babies!"
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ooh_shiny
9 years ago
Well, I'm not trying to do anything so ambitious as prove a negative concept. I read the original poster's comment setting forth the theory that Ziggy and Lothos were both AI entities with their own agenda, possibly mentally ill and contributed some thoughts to the theory, that Ziggy was possibly neurotic (there are hints of it at various times) and neurotic behavior can have its own logic that doesn't make sense to an outside observer.
There is a point in 'The Leap Back' where Ziggy does withhold information from Sam as observer and says something along the lines of how he/she is challenging Sam, as Sam requested. It's been a while since I've seen the episode so I don't remember the exact dialogue and it's not a long segment. But there seemed to be some element that Sam wanted things to be challenging so Ziggy could learn and he intentionally programmed Ziggy that way (and with an ego and a quirkly personality).
Not everyone likes reading fanfic, so I'm not sure if it's something you would be interested in, but there is a very good story by the author Gryph that explores the idea that Ziggy has been in control in a way all along and in some ways knows Sam better than he knows himself (and it touches on 'Mirror Image' in this context too). It's been a while since I read it and I'm sure holes can be poked into this author's theory too, but I thought Gryph made it work well in the story. It's called 'Deus Est Machina' and can be read here if you're interested: http://archiveofourown.org/works/597830.
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stargazer_1682
9 years ago
That did not happen with Ziggy.
"Our families are in there! Our, uh, mothers and... and tiny, tiny babies!"
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ooh_shiny
9 years ago
What didn't happen with Ziggy? The dialogue in 'The Leap Back'? Or the story the author wrote? I'm not sure what you're referring to.
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stargazer_1682
9 years ago
Well, I'm obviously not debating what someone said in a fanfic someone else wrote; so I must be referring to "The Leap Back"...
"Our families are in there! Our, uh, mothers and... and tiny, tiny babies!"
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ooh_shiny
9 years ago
lol, you're really a piece of work. I talked about a few things in my comment, including the OP's original theory, so it could've been any of those things that you were referring to.
But back to whether Ziggy did that in 'The Leap Back' I'll have to see if I can re-read the script or get the uncut version -- some things ended up on the cutting room floor and some things are on the DVDs but omitted in the syndicut. But I remember something along those lines.
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