Customer Reviews

Quantum Leap - The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

I am reviewing this DVD set, not the series, which is one of my favorites.

I pre-ordered this DVD set as soon as I possibly could, so that I could replace my not-very-high-quality, copied-from-TV episodes on bulky VHS tapes with clean copies on a few DVD's. It had been a while since I had watched the episodes, so I didn't notice anything wrong until I reached "Good Morning, Peoria." When Chick and Rachel were dancing that romantic dance, all I could think was, "Huh? What the heck happened to the music? Wasn't there a *real* song there before?" So I did some digging on the Internet, to make sure my memory wasn't playing tricks on me, and was absolutely horrified to discover that the music in various episodes had been changed. Most especially I was flabbergasted that they messed with the soundtrack of "M.I.A." That is one of the best episodes in the series, and the music felt as much a part of the story as the words. I played the final scene from the DVD, and it was awful, dreadful; the music was no longer a presence, it was just some background noise. Thank heaven I was able to retrieve my old VHS tapes. I played the same scene from them. Even with a grainy, dark picture, the original packed more of a wallop. It wasn't just "Georgia On My Mind," it was also "Unchained Melody," with its wrenchingly appropriate lyrics - "My darling, I hunger for your touch; are you still mine?"

I cannot believe that Universal was unable to get permission to use the original music; so it must have been a question of money. It isn't as if this was a super-cheap set to begin with, but I would not have minded paying a few more dollars to cover the royalties for the songs, so that I could have the real show. I don't care about extras on the DVD's - I don't need interviews, or commentaries, or behind-the-scenes stories, but I do care about being able to watch the show that I loved. And for Universal to release these pitiably maimed things without warning of the changes is an outrage.

What's next? To save money on royalties, dub in the voice of little Johnny Doe from the high school drama club instead of Clark Gable's as Rhett Butler? "American Graffiti" with Muzak-type songs instead of the original classics?

This whole series is about time travel, and one of the most effective ways to evoke a particular time period is to play the music of that time. The unmemorable pap that replaced the classic songs on these DVD's does nothing, *nothing* to add to the show.

I might keep this set, simply because of the terrible reception my TV got when I originally taped the episodes, but I'm not sure; and I will think long and hard before I order the third season.

If you do an internet search with the words "Quantum Leap: The Definitive Music List" you can find a complete list of all the songs that have been removed, along with the episode they were originally in, and also the famous songs that were not removed. Here's a quick rundown of the songs that are missing:
DISCO INFERNO:
"That's the Way I Like It" by K.C. & The Sunshine Band; "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas; "Do The Hustle" by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony.
GOOD MORNING, PEORIA:
"All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley; "Maybe Baby" by Buddy Holly & The Crickets; "Yakkety Yak (Don't Talk Back)" by The Coasters; "Jail House Rock" by Elvis Presley; "Shout" by The Isley Brothers.
THOU SHALT NOT:
"Locomotion" by Little Eva; "Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack.
ANIMAL FRAT:
"Louie, Louie" by The Kingsmen (even though you can see characters mouthing the words in the episode); "Surfin' USA" by The Beach Boys; "I Can't Help Myself" by The Temptations.
ANOTHER MOTHER:
"Call Me" by Blondie; "Shake It Up" by The Cars; "He's So Shy" by The Pointer Sisters.
ALL-AMERICANS:
"Big Girls Don't Cry" by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons; "The Twist" by Chubby Checker.
LEAPING IN WITHOUT A NET:
"Tequila" by The Champs.
MAYBE BABY:
"Runaway" by Del Shannon; "Dancing In the Streets" by Martha and The Vandellas.
M.I.A.:
"Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding; "This Guy's In Love With You" by Herb Alpert and His Tijuana Brass Band; "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross & The Supremes; "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers; "Georgia On My Mind" by Ray Charles.

As some of the other reviewers have mentioned, this US release has replaced the original source music. But the Region 2 version has been released without these cuts, so for everyone with a multiregion player, I'd suggest using amazon.co.uk to buy a copy there instead!

"Quantum Leap" is about Dr. Sam Beckett, a genius who has built a time machine. Sam is sent into the past, finding that his mind is inside someone else's body. Each person has had something gone wrong in what is now the future, and Sam's mission is to prevent the tragedy. The only problem is that his memory is "swiss cheese", with lots of holes in it. His coworker, Al, appears to him as a hologram that only he can see and helps him. A series with a deeper message that small interventions can make a difference.

Here is a short episode guide:
1. Honeymoon Express - April 27, 1960: Sam leaps into an NYC cop on his honeymoon who is threatened by an ex-husband.
2. Disco Inferno - April 1, 1976: Sam is a stunt man trying to save his little brother's life.
3. The Americanization of Machiko - August 4, 1953: Sam, a sailor, brings home his Japanese wife.
4. What Price Gloria? - October 16, 1961: Sam, a beautiful female secretary, is sexually harassed by a boss.
5. Blind Faith - February 6, 1964: As a blind pianist, Sam needs to rescue his girlfriend from being murdered.
6. Good Morning, Peoria - September 9, 1959 gs: Chubby Checker (as himself): The radio station where Sam is a disc jockey is in danger of being shut down for playing Rock and Roll.
7. Thou Shalt Not... - February 2, 1974: Sam is a rabbi whose sister-in-law is falling for a sleazy author.
8. Jimmy - October 14, 1964: Sam leaps into a developmentally disabled youth who wants to get a job and fit in with his coworkers.
9. So Help Me God - July 29, 1957: Sam, an attorney, defends a young black woman charged with the murder of a powerful man's son.
10. Catch A Falling Star - May 21, 1979: Sam, the understudy for the role of Cervantes in "Man of La Mancha", tries to prevent the star from falling and hurting himself while drunk.
11. A Portrait for Troian - February 7, 1971: Sam is a parapsychologist. His mission to investigate a young widow's claim that her husband is speaking to her and to stop her from joining him.
12. Animal Frat - October 19, 1967: As a partying frat boy, Sam tries to stop the bombing of the chemistry department by campus radicals protesting the Vietnam war.
13.. Another Mother - September 30, 1981 gs: John Hillerman (Jonathan Higgins): Sam leaps into a divorced mother of three. His mission is to prevent his teenaged son from disappearing. Note: John Hillerman also played "Jonathan Higgins" on Magnum PI, Murder She Wrote, and Simon and Simon.
14. All Americans - November 6, 1962: Sam is a high school football player trying to stop his best friend from throwing the championship game and blowing a college scholarship.
15. Her Charm - September 26, 1973: Sam's mission is to protect a woman in the witness protection program from a hit man.
16. Freedom - November 22, 1970: Sam leaps into a Native American. His mission is to help his Grandfather go home to the reservation to die.
17. Good Night, Dear Heart - November 9, 1957 gs: Robert Duncan McNeill: Sam leaps into a coroner. A young woman is thought to have committed suicide, but Sam thinks she was murdered.
18. Pool Hall Blues - September 4, 1954: gs: Shari Headley: Sam leaps into Charlie "Black Magic" Walters, a well-known pool player. His mission is to help his daughter buy back the marker for her bar from a loan shark.
19. Leaping in Without a Net - November 18, 1958: Sam is a trapeze artist, whose sister wants them to do a dangerous stunt without a net.
20. Maybe Baby - March 11, 1963: Sam, a bouncer, is on the run with his girlfriend who has kidnapped a baby.
21. Sea Bride - June 3, 1954: Sam finds himself on board a cruise liner, where his ex-wife is about to marry a crook.
22. M.I.A. - April 1, 1969: Sam, as an undercover police officer, meets a Navy nurse whose husband is MIA in Vietnam. Al tells him that his mission is to stop her from marrying someone else.

*note: this review is for the DVD release, not the ORIGINAL television series.

The release of Quantum Leap Season 2 is a great example of why underground bootleggers get rich. YOU CANNOT CUT the original music from a series and expect fans not to notice. Universal should have, at the VERY LEAST, put a disclaimer on the outer DVD packaging..."EDITED"! True fans are the ones buying this DVD and I for one would rather have nothing at all, than this cheap, slapped together product.

The first season released on DVD looked promising, but this edition is just worthless. It's 22 episodes on 3 double-sided discs (COME ON!), with no special features (although the package states "Bonus Material" on Disc 3, Side B) and the classic music of the series is replaced throughout. The most disturbing deletion was Ray Charles' "Georgia on Mind". That song was so important to the emotional impact of that scene. Without it...the scene barely pulls a heartstring.

Music was such an integral part of Quantum Leap because the show revolved around time travel. When Sam leaped back to the 60's the music helped create the atmosphere of being in a different place and time. To give you an example of the negative of effect of music replacement, there is a scene in "All Americans" with people doing the trademark dance "the twist", YET they're dancing to generic music. In the same episode, the crowd yells "tequila!" at a party after some generic music plays. Well the original song there was "Tequila" - the crowd was singing the ending to that song. In this edited version, the average viewer will sit there and ask, "Why is everyone yelling tequila for no reason?" It's just so hard to watch.

Also, the intro to each episode, "Theorizing that one could time travel..." is much louder than the actual episodes. It's annoying. I have to keep turning the volume down at the beginning of an episode. The picture is okay. They didn't clean it up too much, but it's better than VHS.

Lastly, on several leaps out, the leaps are out of order. Yes, this is the way they originally aired due to repeats, etc., but since they're EDITING EVERYTHING ALREADY, they should have put the leap-outs in episodic order, not the order of the original airing.

All in all, I'm EXTREMELY disappointed. I guess I'll go online and spend $150 bucks on the complete unedited bootleg version. The quality might not be as great, but at least it's the ORIGINAL.

These movie companies better watch out. I'm sure these bootleggers, seeing that the music issue is a problem (if not now, I guarantee it WILL BE SOON), will start selling the studios' high quality picture versions, replacing the generic music with the ORIGINAL MUSIC and selling THAT online. These movie studios are so stupid. They are not in touch with what fans really want. I KNOW for a FACT that people would dish out more money for the UNEDITED VERSIONS, especially fans of Quantum Leap. I alone would be wiling to spend $200 a season for original episodes, and I am not wealthy by any means.

I'm just very depressed about this...my favorite show...butchered. I only cringe to think of what they'll do to Season 3. No more "Imagine" by John Lennon in the "Leap Home: Part 1" -- they'll have to cut the whole scene. Oh, and just think of other series..."The Wonder Years" is IN TROUBLE!

I give this season 2 DVD one star...I added another star because it's QL and the episodes are still worth watching.

Dear me, where do I start? So much to complain about. :(

First thing I noticed was that the box image is obviously faked. Scott B.'s and Dean S.'s heads are pasted on the bodies of models. Just inspect Sam's neck and you'll see the joins! One must ask: WHY?!?!

Next, I opened the box, and frowned at the photo of Al, which is not even from Season 2! Unfortunately, my disappointment grew as I open the foldout further. The pocket for the booklet is just an advertisement for other Universal box sets, which if they get the same shoddy treatment as QL then I will be steering way clear of.

And what's this? Only three DVDs? Can Universal get any cheaper than this, to give us 3 x double sided DVDs instead of the usual 6 x single discs?

The actual video transfer is something of a disappointment too. Not only do we have the "cut original music", as mentioned by others (WHICH IS HUGE! see below), but there are numerous visual crackles and pops from the original film present throughout. Absolutely no cleanup was done here. I realize this series was filmed before digital recording came into vogue, but so was my Abbott and Costello box set, and they cleaned up nicely! No one put any effort in here. That said, the transfer is of good color and is fairly crisp, although with a few sequences looking a little grainy. It still looks better than VHS.

The back of the digi pack states "Bonus Material" on the B Side of Disc 3. Well, it ain't there! Nada, as Al would say.

Now... The Music: This is the biggest disappointment of them all, esp for longtime fans. It's not just "Georgia On My Mind" that has been removed, which you might think because other reviews focus on mentioning this song. Fans should be aware that the ENTIRE SEASON has been edited to remove virtually all of the original soundtrack. This is unforgivable. To me, the music was the heart and soul of the era Sam was in. It immersed the viewer in that time period, as was as important to the show in this respect as, say, clothes of the period. Without it, things just fall flat.

*** *** Update *** ***

Here's a list of what's missing:

"Disco Inferno" - 3 songs deleted
"Good Morning Peoria" - 7 songs deleted
"Thou Shalt Not" - 2 songs deleted
"Animal Frat" - 3 songs deleted
"Another Mother" - 4 songs deleted
"All-Americans" - 4 songs deleted
"Leaping in Without a Net" - 1 song deleted
"Maybe Baby" - 2 songs deleted
"MIA" - 5 songs deleted

Total = 31 of the original songs have been deleted and replaced by generic musak.

*** *** *** *** ***
Someone at Universal should be fired for making this decision. At the very least, making mention of these edits should be noted somewhere on the outside packaging. Instead, we are misled and told it is the "Complete" season.

All in all, this box set is a huge disappointment. I bought it (along with season 1) to replace my aging, fuzzy, VHS TV copies. To this end, I must conclude that while they are better visual quality than my VHS tapes, this set is in no way "complete" or even a valid replacement. I was expecting a lot more from something I intend to keep and enjoy forever. I guess I'm just going to have to keep my VHS tapes a while longer.

I was thrilled whn I first saw that this show was available on dvd. However, my excitement turned to disappointment when viewing the episode, "MIA." I remember being so moved by that episode when it origianlly aired. The ending was especially powerful. The chills that mounted when Al and Beth danced to "Georgia on my Mind." What a let down to discover that for this dvd release, an instrumental piece of generic music was used in its place. I am so glad that Glen Gordon Caron would not stand for this on the "Moonlighting" dvd release. At least some people care about the consumer and the quality of the final product that's sold to them. Hopefully, I'll still be able to watch "Quantum Leap" on tv, the way it was intended to be seen, with all the original music intact! Truly a less than perfect dvd set.

Thrilled to see another of my all-time favourite series make it to dvd!

Disappointed (more like horrified and disgusted) that they didn't bother to keep the original material - the music was an integral part of the series. My favourite scene was Al dancing with his wife to "Georgia on my Mind". If that's been edited, there's no point in buying it.

Disappointed that this is what the studio chose to release - all 3 seasons of Due South I've purchased came with the original tracks (I also own the music cd's - that has to have been expensive for a small Canadian series to track down, but they did it). The price was higher, but I'll pay full price for the real thing.

Unfortunately, I won't be buying this one - I'll be looking for someone to record it for me instead.

(To the marketing wiz who decided this: lots of people may watch the show, but only FANS will BUY a series on dvd - fans expect to get the real goods!)

As a fan of Quantum Leap who came late to the table (I missed many of the early episodes) I've antipicated the release of the show on DVD. But that desire to view the show (including episodes I missed) doesn't cloud my judgement. I'm not some mindless zombie chanting "I need my Quantum Leap." I want to watch the _original_ as it was broadcast.

Like most people, I work hard for my money. I don't go around spending it friviously. And I certainly don't buy something just so the manufacturer will keep selling that specific product. The TV and movie studios are not a charity. And we consumers are not obligated to buy when they offer us lousy products.

Quantum Leap will always have its fans. It will outlast the life of the DVD format. By the time they get to last season we might not even be using DVDs! The point is, the studios know the show has its fans. They want to make money. Let's not just hand it to them like orphans and say, "Please, may I have another?" Give us what we want or you don't get our money.

I was going to buy this DVD set but, thanks to the reviews here, I will pass. Maybe I'll rent the show at my local independent video store. But I won't reward the ineptness of the studios by giving them more of my money.

Season 1 was fantastic, just as we fans remembered it - this wonderful series was finally ours in all its DVD glory. Oh what a disappointment season 2 was! It should have been wonderful, the second and third season of QL are, in my opinion, some of the best television ever made but the fans who have waited so long and so patiently have been deceived. Double sided disk - for shame! No bonus material although it was advertised on the case (the episode intros by Scott Bakula on season 1 were inspired) and worst of all, a lot of the original music has been omitted. The generic musak that has been dubbed is insulting to the fans. Did the PTB think we wouldn't notice? The omission of the original music in the last episode is a travesty. If this were a school report I would have to end by saying "could do better."