undefined
Dr. Beckett is a quantum physicist with endless degrees in languages, science, mathematics, physics, almost everything. He has a photographic memory, knows martial arts and is an accomplished concert pianist. He grew up in Indiana, one of three children, on a farm. He has a brother, Tom, and a little sister, Katie. His mother lives with Katie in Hawaii. In Tom's original history he was a casualty of the Vietnam war. But Sam was able to save him due to a "leap" into one of Tom's platoon members. Sam worked on government projects. Only one other besides "Project Quantum Leap" is referred to in the series, that is the "Starlight Project". That is where Sam meet Donna Alesei, his wife. The project was threatened at one point, causing Sam to prematurely step into the accelerator chamber and "try it out". The result was he found himself trapped in the past. Only the holographic image of Al is his only contact with his own time. A fact Sam had to be convinced of. The after effects of "leaping" leave him with a kind of amnesia and his memory is vague at best. During one of the first few leaps, Sam comes across Donna and is able to reunite her with her estranged father. Apparently in Sam's original history Donna left him standing at the altar. But as the series progresses and Sam is able to "leap back", Donna is at the project waiting for him. Sam has one child, a daughter, Sammy-Jo. She is not Donna's child. Sam shares her with Abigail, a woman he saves on three separate occasions. During the last episode of Quantum Leap, entitled Mirror Image, Sam is able to "put right" what went wrong for Al. At the very end of the episode we are told that Dr. Samuel Beckett never returned home. This simple sentence has frustrated many fans the world over, spawning a fan fiction phenomena regarding "leaps" and Sam's return home. The majority of fans want some kind of "closure", a movie or t.v. movie that will conclude Sam Beckett's quest to return to his own time once and for all. The richness and humanity of the central characters of this television show have reached out to many people the world over. There are not may programs that match Quantum Leap's high quality. Sam and Al live on through syndication. |
 |
