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March 29, 2024, 03:10:52 PM

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New Quantum Leap

Started by Shaky, January 15, 2022, 09:08:52 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

greenman

#60
"Just remember your not here to save Tupac!"

Quote from: mothman on January 17, 2022, 02:40:18 PMNope.

And also good luck finding a pair of leads with this degree of chemistry.

Really its the kind of thing that needs a quality production to be sucessful, two big name leads, writers who can come up with good one off drama and a lot of good guest actors. What it will most likely get is some kind of cheap serial story playing up some new detail about the lore to cover the otherwise lack of quality.

Replies From View

*SAM looks into the mirror.  He is JOEL SCHUMACHER on the set of Batman and Robin*

OH BOY

Mister Six

Quote from: mothman on January 17, 2022, 11:52:45 AMI'm demonstrating my staggering lack of taste yet again, but I quite liked the A-Team film. It bore only the vaguest resemblance to the original, but to try to seamlessly match the original would probably have seen it derailed into outright parody. I guess I'm just a sucker for a competent comedy action film.

The problem with the A-Team film was that another flick, The Losers, had done pretty much exactly the same thing a year or two before. I mean, I know the original show came before The Losers comic, but it did steal the thunder a bit in the world of fairly entertaining B-list action movies nobody asked for.

The other thing that struck me about the A-Team movie was how literally they had interpreted some of the characters' traits. Hannibal used to love it when a plan came together, but in this film he apparently has some magical ability to actually warp reality so that he lucks out all the time, while BA Baracus genuinely does feel pity for fools. It's weird.

Blumf

Ziggy says there's a 78.2% chance you're not supposed to give Timothy McVeigh a discount on that fertiliser.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Mister Six on January 17, 2022, 04:52:34 PMThe other thing that struck me about the A-Team movie was how literally they had interpreted some of the characters' traits. Hannibal used to love it when a plan came together, but in this film he apparently has some magical ability to actually warp reality so that he lucks out all the time, while BA Baracus genuinely does feel pity for fools. It's weird.
I don't know whether the timing allows for a direct influence, but it feels like it's cut from the same cloth as J.J. Abrams' Star Trek in that respect.

BA having "Pity" and "Fool" tattooed on his knuckles makes no sense on its own - if you're going to name your hands, you'd choose something hard sounding, like Pounder and Fister. It barely even works as a reference, since "I pity the fool" was from Rocky 3.

I don't know if it was the writing or the editing, but another naff bit that stuck in my head is lines being repeated in a short space of time. When the nasty PMC bloke is introduced, Hannibal says:
"They're not soldiers. They're fratboys with machine guns."
About a minute later, he says almost the same line to their faces. [let's just ignore that this also perfectly describes the A-team themselves]

Later on, BA gets in a standoff with PMC bloke:
BA "I don't want to hurt you."
HM "No, I'm going to hurt you"
...
BA "I don't want to kill you.
HM "No, I'm going to kill you"

Also, their mission to kill a Mexican general at the start of the film seemed very dodgy. Maybe that's what they should have been sent to a maximum security stockade for.

Also also, Murdock gets completely sidelined in the final act.

That aside, it was alright. It was better than The Expendables anyway.

Getting vaguely back on topic: The A-team's theme song also had a middle 8.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 17, 2022, 05:47:07 PMGetting vaguely back on topic: The A-team's theme song also had a middle 8.
If you mean the big electric guitar riff bit, I've always considered that bit to be one of the most testosterone-fuelled bits of music ever.

Mike Post certainly had a good run on the theme tune circuit, didn't he? With all the Law and Order stuff, even in just the UK, you probably can't go more than a few hours without one of his bits being on some channel.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on January 17, 2022, 06:52:04 PMIf you mean the big electric guitar riff bit, I've always considered that bit to be one of the most testosterone-fuelled bits of music ever.
Come to think of it, the tune has 2. The awesome guitar bit, then the the string section bit, followed by the reprise of the main theme.

Is that a middle 16?

Quote from: JamesTC on January 17, 2022, 01:42:02 PMThe religious stuff is much more overt in the first season or two.

It's pretty explicit in the final episode that the mysterious bartender is either God or some kind-of God-like entity who's been directing Sam's leaps since the start, couldn't get more overt than that really.

I'm quite glad they never got to do that sixth season, the ambiguity of the final scenes and the mystery of what actually happens to Sam after he changes history feels more poignant for being left on an unresolved note.

And plus if they had carried on as planned, it clearly would've been a total mess. You'd think Donald Bellisario would've learnt from his old mentors Glen A Larson and Stephen J Cannell that implementing those kind-of radical format changes basically never works. E.g the second season of Buck Rogers where it was relaunched as a Star Trek knock-off, or the final season of The A-Team where they end up running missions for the government. Both complete disasters that killed off their respective shows.

Having Sam go off into space or into the far future probably wouldn't have worked, because at it's heart QL wasn't really a sci-fi show, that was pretty much just a loose framing device to introduce a new story location each week. And whenever they leant into the sci-fi side of things they were always at risk of exposing how flimsy that part of the premise was.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

What would happen if Sam was killed during a leap? Does he die, leaving the displaced soul trapped in his body in the future, or does the person die and Sam leaps into a new one?

JamesTC

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on January 17, 2022, 07:09:11 PMIt's pretty explicit in the final episode that the mysterious bartender is either God or some kind-of God-like entity who's been directing Sam's leaps since the start, couldn't get more overt than that really.

Yeah, but that feels very much a throwback. They reference "him" a lot in the early seasons and discuss it pretty explicitly before it doesn't really become a thing for Season 3-5 aside from the finale. At times, the first couple of seasons verge into preachy.

JaDanketies

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 17, 2022, 07:17:32 PMWhat would happen if Sam was killed during a leap? Does he die, leaving the displaced soul trapped in his body in the future, or does the person die and Sam leaps into a new one?

I kinda think it's impossible for Sam to die. Otherwise God wouldn't leap him into the mind of a guy who's in the middle of a gunfight. Especially if the guy was otherwise going to survive the gunfight and involve himself in some historically-important event in a way that displeases God.

JamesTC

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 17, 2022, 07:17:32 PMWhat would happen if Sam was killed during a leap? Does he die, leaving the displaced soul trapped in his body in the future, or does the person die and Sam leaps into a new one?

His body leaps with an aura of the person who used to be there (hence why he can walk when he has leaped into a person with no legs). If he dies, it is him who dies.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Replies From View on January 17, 2022, 04:42:40 PM*SAM looks into the mirror.  He is JOEL SCHUMACHER on the set of Batman and Robin*

OH BOY
*SAM leaps into the driver's seat of a speeding car. He hears police cars and helicopters chasing him and looks in the rear-view mirror. He is O.J. SIMPSON*

OH BOY

mothman

If you want to get really bleak, Sam changing Al's past (so his wife never remarried but waited for him to return from Vietnam) might have meant Al never got involved in PQL. Meaning... what? Roddy MacDowell was his guide throughout, with lesser success?

... Presumably not, as Al The Bartender (Al 2) would presumably not have encouraged Sam to proceed if it was going to alter what had already happened. Al 2 said the Leaps would get harder but (I think) that San would have more control - by improving Al 1's life, changing "what had once gone wrong" for him specifically, it's like a training AND graduation exercise for Sam.

Quote from: mothman on January 17, 2022, 07:43:08 PMIf you want to get really bleak, Sam changing Al's past (so his wife never remarried but waited for him to return from Vietnam) might have meant Al never got involved in PQL. Meaning... what? Roddy MacDowell was his guide throughout, with lesser success?

... Presumably not, as Al The Bartender (Al 2) would presumably not have encouraged Sam to proceed if it was going to alter what had already happened. Al 2 said the Leaps would get harder but (I think) that San would have more control - by improving Al 1's life, changing "what had once gone wrong" for him specifically, it's like a training AND graduation exercise for Sam.

My personal headcanon is that after Sam changes Al's past, he "ascends" and is now like some sort of angelic being forever leaping about writing wrongs under Al 2's guidance. That would tie-in with Sam's realisation that he can to some extent control where he leaps to (and notably when he visits Beth at the end he's himself, not in someone else's body)

If you accept the deleted scene filmed for the original ending as canonical, Al still knows about Sam and the project and is working to try and get him back again, but of course, that never happened...

Psybro

*SAM stumbles out of a bar wearing a chauffeur's uniform to find a limousine parked with the Eiffel Tower illuminated in the background.  He climbs into the driver's seat and adjusts the rear view mirror, catching a glimpse of his passengers*

OH BOY

Icehaven

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 17, 2022, 07:17:32 PMWhat would happen if Sam was killed during a leap? Does he die, leaving the displaced soul trapped in his body in the future, or does the person die and Sam leaps into a new one?

I always wondered that, but presumed the displaced soul would have the option of staying in Sam's body given the alternative is ceasing to exist/going into a dead body somehow. Not really on for them to go "Oops sozzy, Sam killed you, bye."

mothman

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on January 17, 2022, 08:15:03 PMMy personal headcanon is that after Sam changes Al's past, he "ascends" and is now like some sort of angelic being forever leaping about writing wrongs under Al 2's guidance. That would tie-in with Sam's realisation that he can to some extent control where he leaps to (and notably when he visits Beth at the end he's himself, not in someone else's body)

If you accept the deleted scene filmed for the original ending as canonical, Al still knows about Sam and the project and is working to try and get him back again, but of course, that never happened...

Yeah that deleted scene just feels out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the episode.

Hmm... Bruce McGill is 71, he could take on an Al-type role... Nah. Probably not...

Das Reboot

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on January 17, 2022, 07:09:11 PM... or the final season of The A-Team where they end up running missions for the government.

And completely bolloxed up the brilliant theme tune with a bad 80s synth rehash.

thr0b

Quote from: Das Reboot on January 18, 2022, 09:28:56 AMAnd completely bolloxed up the brilliant theme tune with a bad 80s synth rehash.


Best version is the French one. Of it.

A-Team via Muskehounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnlQWAJ_YJ0

JamesTC

Quantum Leap also got a new theme for the final season in yet another vain attempt to win over viewers. They realised it wasn't working and went back to the old theme for the finale.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: JamesTC on January 18, 2022, 02:36:55 PMQuantum Leap also got a new theme for the final season in yet another vain attempt to win over viewers. They realised it wasn't working and went back to the old theme for the finale.

Hollyoakes did that when they killed off Max.

mothman

Has any attempted theme tune change ever succeeded? Didn't for Eastenders or Channel 4 News either...

(Excluding obvious examples like The Leftovers which had a different one each season, and each episode in the last season, or The Wire...)

Replies From View

Quote from: JamesTC on January 18, 2022, 02:36:55 PMQuantum Leap also got a new theme for the final season in yet another vain attempt to win over viewers. They realised it wasn't working and went back to the old theme for the finale.

I'm not sure they realised it wasn't working, so much as identified - when the show wasn't being renewed - that the old theme would be better for the final episode than a theme that looked towards a non-existent future of the show.

Replies From View

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on January 18, 2022, 03:03:39 PMHollyoakes did that when they killed off Max.

And Adric had no closing titles music at all, poor bastard

JaDanketies

Quote from: mothman on January 18, 2022, 03:17:49 PM(Excluding obvious examples like The Leftovers which had a different one each season, and each episode in the last season, or The Wire...)

Archer

The Bill?

DrGreggles

Quote from: mothman on January 18, 2022, 03:17:49 PMHas any attempted theme tune change ever succeeded? Didn't for Eastenders or Channel 4 News either...

Only Fools And Horses

They've tried to wipe the original theme from history.

Replies From View

Quote from: mothman on January 18, 2022, 03:17:49 PMHas any attempted theme tune change ever succeeded? Didn't for Eastenders or Channel 4 News either...

(Excluding obvious examples like The Leftovers which had a different one each season, and each episode in the last season, or The Wire...)

Well, the 1980s set in motion routine updates to the Doctor Who theme tune.  Grange Hill had a new version of the Chicken Man theme for 1988 and 1989 before 1990 brought an entirely different theme tune that it stuck with thereafter.

Red Dwarf changed its theme tune for series 3 and never looked back.  Peep Show had a new theme tune for series 2 and onwards.


There must be loads of examples surely.  It's not change that fails, but shitty efforts.

beanheadmcginty

Quote from: thr0b on January 18, 2022, 01:49:46 PMBest version is the French one. Of it.

A-Team via Muskehounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnlQWAJ_YJ0

This has genuinely shocked me.

JamesTC

Quote from: Replies From View on January 18, 2022, 03:21:41 PMI'm not sure they realised it wasn't working, so much as identified - when the show wasn't being renewed - that the old theme would be better for the final episode than a theme that looked towards a non-existent future of the show.

The book Beyond the Mirror Image says that Bellisario took a poll at Leapcon 93 on the new theme and vowed to return from the finale onwards (which he had just finished writing). So if they had been renewed, it would have reverted back to the old theme permanently.