Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..., March 29, 2006
The best of times--Another leap forward for the series as we got a number of memorable episodes that played with the format of the show. Among the highlights of this season--In "The Leap Back" Sam and Al switch places when lightning hits just as Sam is about to make his leap. "Raped" is a memorable episode where Sam is thrown into the body of a woman who has been raped. No one wants to believe "her" because the person accused is the son of a prominent member of the community. In "Temptation Eyes" a serial murderer is at work and Sam becomes a TV reporter that must prevent the psychic helping the police from becoming the next victim. Sadly "I Want to Know What Love Is" is missing (if I'm correctly remembering it being int he episode)."It's a Wonderful Leap" has Sam as a New York cab driver trying to earn his medallion. He runs over a lady who claims to be an angel there to help Sam achieve his mission which makes it tough for Al because the two don't get along. "A Leap for Lisa" is a terrific episode in which Sam leaps into Al as a navy pilot facing rape and murder charges. Sam changes history by asking a key witness not to testify on his behalf and it becomes clear that Al may be put on trial.
The transfer looks pretty good. The images are occasionally soft and there's dirt and debris in some of the transfers (some more than others)but on the whole acceptable. Audio is solid throughout the set. Image quality varies depending upon the amount of optical effects as well and those scenes tend to be on the softer side with more debris and dirt noticeable.
It was the worst of times--There are songs that have been replaced in this set (it is at least noted on the box) but not in all the episodes. For those where the music issue looms large I'd wait for the Region 2 discs in the UK. It's sad that such a unique and terrific show should be the victim of greed (whether it is on Universal's end, the music publisher's end or both)or a lack of interest in securing the rights to important songs. Personally, I would think that the publishers would want additional exposure for their music (it can continue to lead to additional sales and with the music industry in a slump I would have thought they would see that as an important extra).
We get two extras. One is a preview of the season five episode "Liberation" where Sam leaps into the body of a mother who must prevent her daughter from being killed at a protest. The second is a featurette that was produced for Universal's 80's TV shows. It's pretty generic but does have some interesting comments from both newspaper and TV writers. None of the extras co-producer/writer Deborah Pratt had offered Universal are included. I'm not sure what Universal's issue is with this but it would be nice if Universal actually showed that they cared what the fans felt (although that's been pretty clear with every set after the first season). This generic focuses on "Quantum Leap" for about 5 or 6 minutes of its nearly 20 minute running time. I would gladly forgo expensive extras if Universal would secure the rights to music to key episodes (and let the original producers decide what is key to the scenes in the episodes).
Packaging is like the 3rd season with the individual slimline holders for each episode and the show is, once again, presented on dual sided DVD18 discs. Five stars for the show minus a star for the poor extras and the changes in music.
For the record the folllowing songs were replaced:
THE LEAP BACK
"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby"
PLAY BALL
"Traveling Man"
HURRICANE
"It's a Beautiful Morning"
RUNNING FOR HONOR
"Easier Said Than Done"
TEMPTATION EYES
"I Want to Know What Love Is"
IT'S A WONDERFUL LEAP
"Someone to Watch Over Me"
"Somewhere"
MOMENTS TO LIVE
"All I Have to Do Is Dream"
STAND-UP
"Orange Colored Sky"
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"
"World Is Brighter"
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60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The penultimate season at last!!!, December 14, 2005
Episode Synopsis:
The Leap Back
Play Ball
Hurricane
Justice
Permanent Wave
Raped
The Wrong Stuff
Dreams
A Single Drop of Rain
Unchained
The Play's the Thing
Running For Honor
Temptation Eyes
The Last Gunfighter
A Song for the Soul
Ghost Ship
Roberto!
It's A Wonderful Leap
Moments to Live
The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
Stand Up
A Leap For Lisa
Particularly good episodes are :
1. The Leap Back
2. Raped
3. It's a Wonderful Leap
4. The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
5. A Leap For Lisa
All episodes are good, the 5 I have listed, are probably the best of the season.
*** A lot of people have mentioned the music contained in the US version of these DVDs. They are right when they say the music in the UK version is unedited. I never noticed this until I bought the UK version of Season 2. The last episode - M.I.A. comes complete with the uncut "Georgia On My Mind". My point is, that if you can wait for the UK DVDs to be released, then do so - They are much more authentic and well worth the wait for die-hard fans.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Play It Again, Sam..., March 28, 2006
Just thought I would weigh in on the music controversy. I don't have a particularly strong positive or negative feeling about it, but wanted to add some logic to the equation. I can't help it; I'm an engineer.
I, too, felt that the stories seemed a little flat and did not know why until I started reading about the missing music in these reviews. One of the complaints stood out because of the glaring mathematical error.
One of the reviewers said he heard that the music companies wanted $10,000 a song. The reviewer stated that if they sold as few as 10,000 DVDs, they'd only have to charge an extra dollar each - a price nearly every fan would be willing to pay. The error is that that assumes there is only ONE SONG per season worth buying. These aren't single episode DVDs, but DVD sets - a complete season. What if (as is more likely) it is a song (or two) per episode? That changes the final cost significantly.
Even so, it would come down to how many copies of the season sets they could sell. If the price went up by $5, it would make a bigger difference in how many people would be willing to buy them. On the other hand, if they are selling a quarter million sets for each season, then the reviewer's extra dollar per DVD is back in play and that little amount should not have been an issue.
My other take on this situation is that we are griping to the wrong people. I think we ought to complain to the music companies for being so greedy and stupid. It's counter-productive anyway. They should let the music go for a song. (Sorry, I couldn't help that one.) When people hear this great music, they are tempted to buy more CDs. The music companies are missing a huge advertising opportunity. D'oh!!!
I'm buying the DVD sets anyway. The stories are still great!
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