Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)"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.
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Item Name: Quantum Leap - The Complete Third Season; Studio:Universal Studios
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