Customer Reviews

Quantum Leap - The Complete Third Season

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

"Quantum Leap" hit its stride during the third season. The show had dramatic episodes just as powerful as season three but this was the most consistent season for this classic TV series. During the third season Sam leaps into a KISS type rock star (complete with dramatic make up and with Scott Bakula doing his own singing!); into himself at 16 where he must change an event in his own past; Sam also leaps into a Navy Seal in Vietnam serving under his older brother where Sam faces a unique dilemma. Is Sam there to save the life of his older brother (who is fated to die the next day), insure the success of the mission or for some other mysterious reason? The series at its best managed to convey the best elements of drama: Sam never knows why he's there and what he has to correct which leads to many emotionally powerful and genuine feeling moments during the third season. What brought the best episodes home were the performances by the series two mainstay performers the marvelous Scott Bakula ("Enterprise") and acerbic Dean Stockwell as Al who appears only as a hologram and must guide Sam with information from the future.

If Sam Beckett had been able to truly leap back through time during his life time he would have been able to foresee the licensing agreement issues that prevent his TV series from having the original music in it and prevented it from being replaced. Some of the original music survives but it depends on how instrumental it was to the episode. By the way, Bakula's nice performance of "Imagine" is intact for "The Leap Home Part I".

Aside from an occasionally grainy or soft episode, "Quantum Leap" looks exceptional here. While there are still analog flaws in the form of occasional dirt and irregularities in the prints used, the colors are bright, image quality sharp and vivid (with the exception of those episodes using stock footage). The 2.0 stereo soundtrack also sounds quite crisp and vivid. Dialogue is, for the most part, very clear and the music comes across with nice presence.

I was hoping that Sam would figure out how to hide some extras from the past for Universal to find when transferring this to DVD. We get an episode guide on disc three that lists which episodes are on which discs (which might be an extra if it served any useful purpose such as having trivia about each episode). We get an onscreen synopsis for each episode before playing the episode and a synopsis on the back of each slimline DVD holder. The big difference here is the redesigned packaging. Gone are the accordion holders which threatened to scratch the dual layered, dual sided discs for each season. Instead, we get individual slimline holders for each disc along with a synopsis on the back of the holder giving a brief description of each episode (much like the DVD version included as well). Missing, however, are some of the promo photos that adorned the accordion style holders. I miss them. It's a pity that Universal chose not to adorn the inside of the paper sleeves in each slim line holder with photos for the inside. It does appear that these are the uncut original episodes as they aired on NBC.

This is an area where Universal continues to lag behind just about every studio. Would it have hurt Universal to provide commentary by Scott Bakula (particularly since he recently filmed a cameo for the new "Quantum Leap" TV show), Dean Stockwell (he appears in the new show as a regular) or even creator Bellisario? "The Leap Home" parts 1 and 2 would have been a perfect set for commentary tracks.

"Quantum Leap" continues to look nice in its DVD transfer but it seems that Universal is rushing out "product" which really does a disservice to the fans. This particularly set was designed to coincide with the release of "Enterprise" on DVD and the last two episodes of "Enterprise" airing on UPN. Synergy can be everything but it can also add up to nothing particularly when "product" is rushed out to meet a predestined release date or tie in. Universal, please do it right for the last two sets of the series. This fine series and its fans deserve better.

I have a few issues with this set. First the discs are DVD-18 (i.e. dual-layer, double sided). I have four DVD players and the discs won't play in three of them. They will play on the fourth, but it "hiccups" and hangs for a minute or more on pause randomly. Sometimes it will just skip around 5-10 minutes randomly making them impossible to watch. I bought the set when it came out and have only made it through four episodes.

Second, the touchy subject of the music. I have to side with the "why bother" camp. If you aren't going to do the set right, I don't want it. I've been tivo'ing and DVR-ing season 4 & 5 off Sci-fi, just for this reason. They won't get anymore money off of me unless they release them right. It wouldn't be so bad if they subbed out lesser known bands/music from each era to save on money, the feel would still be the same, but the muzak pieces are an abomination. The biggest offender(from season 2) is Ray Charles's "Georgia." This song is integral to the character of Al and is even revisited in the finale. The scene in question is(was) very moving and touching. Now it is a hollow shell of its former self. Just an example of how music changes the show.

For those that think it is only a couple minutes of music, think again. Here is a complete listing of the replaced music:

THE LEAP HOME PART II - VIETNAM
"Wild Thing" Performed by: The Troggs (OMITTED)
"Raindrops" Performed by: Dee Clark (OMITTED)
"Someday We'll Be Together" Performed by: Diana Ross & The Supremes (OMITTED)
"I Wish That It Would Rain" Performed by: The Temptations (OMITTED)

ONE STROBE OVER THE LINE
"Stop in the Name of Love" Performed by: Diana Ross & The Supremes (OMITTED)
"You Really Got Me" Performed by: The Kinks (OMITTED)
"Locomotion" Performed by: Little Eva (OMITTED)

MISS DEEP SOUTH
"I'm Walkin'" Performed by: Fats Domino (OMITTED)
"Splish Splash" Peformed by: Bobby Darin (OMITTED)

BLACK ON WHITE ON FIRE
"My Girl" Performed by: The Temptations (OMITTED)
"Ooo Baby Baby" Performed by: Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (OMITTED)
"Tracks of My Tears" Performed by: Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (OMITTED)
"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" Performed by: James Brown (OMITTED)
"Baby, I Need Your Lovin'" Performed by: The Four Tops (OMITTED)

REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE
"Jailhouse Rock" Performed by: Elvis Presley (OMITTED)
"The Great Pretender" Performed by: Freddie Mercury (OMITTED)
"Be-Bop-A-Lula" Performed by: Gene Vincent (OMITTED)

RUNAWAY
"Crazy" Performed by: Patsy Cline (OMITTED)
"Our Day Will Come" Performed by: Ruby & The Romantics (OMITTED)
"Moon River" Performed by: Audrey Hepburn (?) (OMITTED)
"Walk Like a Man" Performed by: Frankie Valle and The Four Seasons (OMITTED)

PRIVATE DANCER
"Ladies' Night" Performed by: Kool & The Gang
(OMITTED in the leap ending from "Future Boy")
"For the Love of Money" Performed by: The O'Jays (OMITTED)

The US version is cut. I ordered the UK Region 2 version and it is NOT CUT!!! All music content is correct!!!! Most DVD players now play any region DVDs. If you dont have a region free player just Decrypt and burn them without a region and that works to.

Television at its best is an artform, not just, as a previous viewer put it, "virtually mindless" entertainment. And to make it that way takes the work of a LOT of people; the biggies, like the actors and the writers and the producers and the directors, and the lesser known but just as hard-working people in charge of lighting, and sound effects, and set-design. It's the directors job to, well, "direct" all of that effort into what will only be, in the end, a single 45 minute episode. What's my point, you ask?

My point is simply this: it DOES matter, a great deal, when even a single element is out of place. In the case of the last DVD set of QL it was the music that was sacrificed. And it made a huge amount of difference. Did it destroy everybody's work? No. But it made it less than it was originally. And, frankly, I don't want to pay the price of a box set for art work that's been defaced.

If the DVD producers really didn't have the money to pay for it, that's one thing. But the songs would have paid for themselves with the profits from the DVD sales. It's nothing but greed that keeps them from remaining true to the show by leaving in the original music. I hope they've decided to do better for the 3rd season, and keep to what was aired on TV. If they have, then I'll gladly remove this review and change my rating to five stars, and happily gush about the incredible quality of this show.

Somehow, though, I have a feeling I won't get a chance to do that.

This review is for Universal, not Quantum Leap which I give 5 stars for with or without the original music. My issue is this: I too have had problems with DVD-18s made by Universal, most notably 'Casino' & 'Schindler's List'... the kicker is that the stores will not refund the movie because of copyright laws... they tell you to get another one which freeze and skip also. So due to these problems and Universal's refusal to spend an extra few cents to make another disc(for Ray, Blues Brothers, Cinderella Man, Schindler's List, American Gothic, QL, etc infinity), I am BOYCOTTING Universal DVDs. Warner Bros. stopped making doubled sided disc with 'E.R.' & 'West Wing', why can't Universe-smell do the same thing? simple: MONEY. PROFIT. Send them a message, folks. Because this will be the only way they will listen. I shouldn't have to wonder if a movie is gonna play right when I buy it... simply pathetic. And this is not even getting into the music copyright problems with 'Quantum Leap', which I quit buying cos of the double sided disc. Universal suck. I hope they are reading this. more info at video business dot com.

Some have wrote, the music doesn't matter, I disagree, and have wrote Universal about it, if they change the music again, I will not buy it, I even resold the second season on eBay. I have every episode on video, all the original NBC telecast, therefore uncut, with the original music, which is a lot better, than the crap, Universal is trying to pawn off on us!

I couldn't help it!

Although Season 2 was edited beyond belief I still went out and purchased Season 3 on DVD. I know, I know. I should fight "the man" that is Universal, but I was jonesing for some QL.

After reviewing many of the arguments here on Amazon.com, I can sympathize with both sides. One, it truly is a shame that the original music was cut out and to me the show just isn't the same without the intended tunes. On the other hand, it's this or nothing. When I watch these episodes with the dubbed muzak, I occasionally lean towards the "Well, I'd rather have nothing" attitude. When I watch great episodes like "Glitter Rock" and "Future Boy" I smile that I am able to watch these episodes commercial free on DVD.

The fact is Quantum Leap is a great show without music. It's a brilliant show with the original music in tact. Unfortunately, we will not get what we want and we have to come to terms with that. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. We're Quantum Leap geeks and purists that want to relive the leaping experience, uncut in all its glory. Well, Universal doesn't seem to care. QL is just another show to them and another source of funds for their Home Entertainment department (if that's what you want to call it). That's why they just plop it out on shelves with zero TLC. They changed the packaging to slim line cases -- which would have been cool if they had done it in the first place. They botched up the artwork with cutout heads of Sam and Al on bodies from different pictures and included photos in Season 2 taken from Season 4. They gave us double-sided discs for pete's sake and didn't even bother to clean up the picture quality!!! We have a lot to be ticked off about!

But what can we do? We've written our letters, voiced our complaints and unless someone knows how to break in and become the Head of Home Entertainment at Universal...we're SOL.

I give this season 3 stars instead of 2 (as was given for the 2nd Season) for one reason. On the back on the packaging, there is a disclaimer "music may differ from televised version". Thanks for the heads up, Universal. It only took you 3 seasons to tell us, you bunch of jerks! Well fellow leapers, at least it proves that they heard us, even if it came across as a faint whisper.

If the producers don't bring in the original music for this DVD set, I'm stopping right at the first two seasons. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED with the season two DVD set because "Georgia on my Mind" is absolutely CRITICAL to the flow of that story and the music they replaced it with was terrible!!!!!

They have a lot of nerve pulling this crap on us. They are doing the same stuff with the NORTHERN EXPOSURE dvd's, and it is just a cheap way of shaving money off of their production costs because nobody wants to spend money to reacquire the rights to the music of these fine shows.

If they don't have the original program AS IT WAS AIRED, they should not call it the "COMPLETE" season of Quantum Leap. Just grab it off of morpheus, Grokster, or Kazaa. Go to Bit Torrent, and download away! =)

Why Universal has to torture us with the commercials that are at the beginning of the disc - & difficult to avoid on some DVD players AND having to sit through 2.5 minutes of the same introduction for every episode - is beyond me. If they at least would put a track change at the beginning of each episode it would be tolerable, but no, when you hit the "next" button during the intro you're taken a couple of minutes into the beginning. Then there's the Universal "musical" (using the term loosely) Logo which quickly gets on one's nerves after one hearing. Then again music, is not a Hollywood strong point to begin with. The double-sided discs probably enhances the bottom line a bit but does nothing in the reliability dept. especially on older DVD players.
It's really too bad Universal has to be the one to have its claws in this series - as well as a host of others - because after getting through the opening dreck the shows are really quite good. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell carry the show beautifully. The sheer variety of subject matter is a joy to behold, especially if you take the shows in order. I'd give it 4.5 - 5 stars for the series if it weren't for the aggravation that Universal subjects us to.

I was a fan of this series from the first aired episode. Yes as a collector of TV series the alteration of the broadcasted episodes to fit in a DVD set is disconcerting to diehard fans. And since the MPAA and cohorts don't want us to copy episodes for even our own personal use anymore, its gonna get harder for collectors and fans to get the complete stuff " legally". Sure, I don't like the alterations from the broadcast version of the episodes. And yes in some of these assorted TV DVD series the company acts as if we should thank them for releasing any episodes at all, no extras.

I will still buy the series because even altered, its still good. I highly doubt the production company will make " specical versions" of the series, but if they do, I might buy those as well.

To the companies that release these DVD sets, do you understand why we WANT complete episodes and bonuses? Why do we have to resort to scrounging for tapes and personal dvds and you folks make us feel like criminals for doing it? The demand and interest is there for complete episodes. Maybe in a decade or so all TV episodes will be on DVD, even the cruddy series. But we don't have that yet. And some of us don't have that patience.