Sam Beckett
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Dr. Samuel John Beckett is a fictional character and the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
on the science fiction television series ''
Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physi ...
'', played by
Scott Bakula Scott Stewart Bakula (; born October 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on ''Quantum Leap'' and as Captain Jonathan Archer on ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. For ''Quantum L ...
. Initially, the audience knows very little about Sam, much as Sam knows little about himself due to holes in his
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
dubbed the "Swiss cheese effect"—a side effect from the time travel (and an effective trope to allow the writers to add to Sam's character as the show went on). Eventually, it turned out that Sam was a true
Renaissance Man A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
, equally good at math/science and the arts. His skills allow him to adapt to the various situations that he finds himself in, although many of those situations still take Sam off guard with comical results. Sam tends to fall in love easily, yet be naive about women; his traveling companion
Al Calavicci Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert Calavicci, USN, is a fictional character on the science fiction television series ''Quantum Leap'', played by Dean Stockwell. Biography Al was born on June 15, 1934. His father, who worked in construction, immigr ...
has playfully called him a "Boy Scout." Sam also learned painful things from his past that likely inspired him to travel through time in the first place. Sam tries to do the right thing no matter what, although when the leaps hit close to home, he tends to lose perspective and make irrational decisions; at those times, he requires Al to guide him back to the right path.


Backstory

Sam Beckett was born at 12:30 p.m. EST on August 8, 1953, in "fictional" Elk Ridge,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, to
dairy farmer Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history that ...
John Samuel Beckett and his wife, Thelma Louise Beckett. As a child, he had two cats, named Donner and Blitzen, but never had a dog. Sam was a
child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
, learning to read at age 2 and do advanced
calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...
in his head at age 5. By the time he was 10, he could beat a computer at
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
. Sam also played piano in a concert at
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
when he was 19, plays guitar, is a good dancer, sings
tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
, and his favorite song is
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
's "
Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
". Sam has a
photographic memory Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
, an IQ of 267, likes dry or light beer, and likes microwave popcorn. Sam also knows several kinds of martial arts and has been afraid of heights since he was 9 years old. In his teen years, Sam's family was dealt a hard blow when his older brother, Tom, was killed in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
on April 8, 1970, but Sam leaps into his brother's unit and saves him on that day. Tom (Thomas Andrew Beckett) was a good
athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
, an All-State
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player, an
Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
graduate, is a
Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
Commander, and has a wife named Mary. Sam has one sister named Katie (Katherine Elizabeth Beckett), born during a flood in 1957, whose first husband was an abusive alcoholic named Chuck. They divorced and she is now married to
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
Lt. Jim Bonnick. They have lived in Hawaii with Thelma Beckett since 1974. Sam's father suffered a fatal heart attack in 1974 while Sam was in college; the guilt of his absence during his family's time of need would stay with Sam for years. Sam graduated from high school at age 16 and, following his brother's advice, attended
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in the early 1970s. While at MIT, Sam and his mentor, Professor Sebastian LoNigro, developed a string theory of
time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
("Her Charm"; see below). Sam went through four years of MIT in two years, and continued through various colleges to eventually obtain seven doctoral degrees in music, medicine,
quantum physics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...
,
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
,
ancient languages An ancient language is any language originating in times that may be referred to as ancient. There are no formal criteria for deeming a language ancient, but a traditional convention is to demarcate as "ancient" those languages that existed prior t ...
,
chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, and
astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
, but not psychiatry or law. In the pilot episode, Sam is told he only has six doctorates; this was later
retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
ned to seven. He speaks six modern languages including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese, but not Italian or
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. He knows four
extinct languages An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...
, including Egyptian hieroglyphics. He's proficient in martial arts such as
Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
,
Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
,
Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...
, and
Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...
. He has won a Nobel Prize for physics, which he remembers during one leap ("Disco Inferno"). For this, ''TIME'' called him "the next
Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
". One of the few things that Sam cannot do is cook; two of his onscreen attempts at this, in the episodes "Another Mother" and "Good-bye, Norma Jean" failed humorously, as did his attempt at baking in "Liberation." He did, however, cook a meal for the colleagues of the husband of the woman he leaps into in "Liberation," and there was nothing to suggest that it was anything other than a normal meal that everybody ate with no problems. No one ate the breakfasts he made in "One Strobe Over the Line," "What Price Gloria?" or "Liberation." He was able to make
chitlins Chitterlings (), sometimes spelled chitlins or chittlins, are the small intestines of domestic animals. They are usually made from pigs' intestines. They may also be filled with a forcemeat to make sausage.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st editi ...
with Al's help in "The Color of Truth," but it isn't shown whether or not anyone ate them. As a young adult in the 1980s, Sam was a key member of the Starbright Project (details on the nature of the project were not revealed on the show), where he would meet some of his closest and most trusted friends:
Al Calavicci Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert Calavicci, USN, is a fictional character on the science fiction television series ''Quantum Leap'', played by Dean Stockwell. Biography Al was born on June 15, 1934. His father, who worked in construction, immigr ...
, a decorated
naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
officer; a brilliant computer programmer known simply as Gushie; and Dr. Donna Eleese, the love of Sam's life, whom he met in 1984. Five years after the Starbright Project, Sam and Donna were engaged, but Sam was jilted at the altar on June 5, 1989, and never saw Donna again. On Sam's third leap, he meets Donna years before their actual engagement. Realizing that Donna's damaged relationship with her father is the reason why she can never commit to a relationship (as her father left her, she subconsciously feels that any man she meets will inevitably abandon her and thus prevents them from doing so by leaving them first), Sam drives Donna out to reconcile with her father so that she might get some closure. We learn later in the episode "The Leap Back" that as a result of this, Donna never leaves Sam at the altar, and they are married to this day. However, before "The Leap Back" Sam has no current memory of Donna and his marriage. The reason for this is twofold. First, Sam's "Swiss cheesed" brain caused him amnesia in regard to his marriage. Second, Donna understood that in some cases, in order for Sam to successfully leap, it would be necessary for Sam to have romantic encounters with various women. In order to spare the "choir-boy" Sam mental anguish (it is established that, unlike Al, Sam takes vows of marriage very seriously) and to facilitate his leaping, Donna forbids Al or anyone else from alerting Sam that he is married. A few months later in 1989, Sam and Al spearheaded Project Quantum Leap, a
time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
experiment based on the string theory Sam had developed while at MIT. The PQL facility was located in Stallion's Gate,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, in a primarily underground complex. In 1995, after constructing the necessary machinery, including a
holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
imaging chamber and a supercomputer ("Ziggy") with access to vast historical databases, the project's funds were running thin. Eager to prove his theories, Sam prematurely stepped into the nuclear accelerator chamber and propelled himself back in time.


Time traveller

In the pilot episode, Sam awoke in 1956, having exchanged places in time with an
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
test pilot. He is startled to see a stranger in the mirror as he prepares to shave. Others also see Sam as the person he displaced. As Sam would soon discover, quantum-leaping had an unforeseen side-effect: He was struck with partial
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
; he describes his own situation with the analogy of his brain being like a hunk of
Swiss cheese Swiss cheese may refer to: Cheese * List of Swiss cheeses (from Switzerland) * Swiss-type cheeses or Alpine cheeses, a class of cooked pressed cheeses now made in many countries * Swiss cheese (North America), any of several related varieties o ...
, with his memory full of holes and lacking some personal information about his past, the most consistently absent detail being his marriage to Donna (with Donna preferring that Sam not be reminded of their marriage so that he can more easily commit to the people his hosts are in love with and thus solve whatever he is there to accomplish, consoling herself about Sam's 'cheating' by reasoning that his amnesia means that he isn't technically cheating on her but is the equivalent of a man unaware that someone else is in love with him). To lead Sam and the audience from this confusion comes Al, an observer from Sam's own time, except Al has to convince Sam he is not a
hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...
but a
hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...
tuned to Sam's
brainwaves Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by ...
that only Sam can see and hear, but convincing an amnesiac he is real is difficult. Al conveys to Sam a theory to return Sam to the present: that an unknown influence (God,
Fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...
, or Time) was using Sam to correct a mistake in the past — in this case, saving the life of the pilot Sam had displaced, who was killed in an experimental aircraft in the original history. When Sam corrected the timeline, he leaped forward, but not all the way home; this time, he found himself assuming the identity of a minor-league professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
player named Tim Fox. For the rest of his life (an
epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...
in the
series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...
tells us Sam never gets home, but in our terms, it was for the next four years/five seasons, the duration of the show) that Sam would continue to travel back and forth through time, swapping identities with various people and as a tagline for the show reiterated, "setting right what once went wrong."


Dr. Beckett's string theory

Sam's theory of
time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
, developed with Professor LoNigro, is based on an expanding, but finite,
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
. A person's life is like a length of string; one end represents birth, the other represents death. If one were to tie the ends of the string together, their life becomes a loop. Next, by balling the loop together, the days in one's life would touch one another out of sequence. Therefore, jumping from one part of the string to another would allow someone to travel back and forth within his own lifetime, thus making a "quantum leap" between each time period. (How exactly these things are accomplished is never explained, but it has been suggested that this theory borrowed heavily from van Strickum's
closed timelike curve In mathematical physics, a closed timelike curve (CTC) is a world line in a Lorentzian manifold, of a material particle in spacetime, that is "closed", returning to its starting point. This possibility was first discovered by Willem Jacob van Sto ...
.) Keeping this principle in mind, Sam's leaps were generally limited to periods within his own lifetime; he could not leap to a date prior to his birth or into his own future. There were, however, a few exceptions. In "The Leap Back," Sam switched places with Al, who leaped back into 1945, and later in the episode was able to leap himself back into Al's place in the past. The explanation was that the simo-leap with Al had left Sam with enough of Al's genetic coding that he could leap back past his own lifetime (since it was still within Al's). In "The Leap Between the States," Sam was able to leap outside of his own lifetime and found himself in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
in the life of his great-grandfather; the explanation was that Sam's close genetic link with his ancestor allowed him to do this. This was also partly due to an "error" that was referenced and then corrected by Ziggy, implying that Sam would not be able to pull off a similar feat again and was once more limited to his own timeline. Two early episodes, "Play It Again, Seymour" (which took place on April 14, 1953) and "The Americanization of Machiko" (which took place on August 4, 1953) had Sam leaping into dates prior to the date later given as his birthday, August 8, 1953. Although these would appear to be
continuity error In fiction, continuity is a consistency of the characteristics of people, plot, objects, and places seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time. It is relevant to several media. Continuity is particularly a concern in the production of ...
s on the part of the show, creator
Donald P. Bellisario Donald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980), ''Tales of the Gold Monkey'' (1982), ''Airwolf'' (1984), ''Quan ...
has proffered the explanation that Sam's life dates from his conception rather than his actual birth, and thus dates such as these which are less than nine months prior to August 8, 1953, would be valid leap dates. However, once Sam's proper birthday is established, there are no further leaps prior to that date aside from the exceptions mentioned above. Al explains the string theory in the pilot episode, and Sam, recovering his memory of the theory, explains it to Donna in the second episode, "Star-Crossed." This theory is later revealed to have been relayed to by the leaped Sam Beckett to an actor and would-be time traveller Moe Stein in "Future Boy" (whose original theory was simply connect the beginning and end of one's life) who explains the full version on his television show in response to a viewer question from young Sam Beckett who, at that time, was still a child living in
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
; only his own lack of resources prevented Moe from creating Project Quantum Leap decades before Sam.


Changes in his own life

Though explicitly forbidden by his own guidelines to alter the past for his own benefit, Sam did alter his own history and those of his loved ones on a number of occasions: * In the second episode of the series, "
Star-Crossed "Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers who, for some external reason, cannot be together. The term also has other meanings, but originally means that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or ...
", Sam reunited the 19-year-old version of his future fiancée, Donna, with her estranged father (while unknowingly exposing the
Watergate Scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
). Sam will later learn (season four, see below) that Donna's fears of being abandoned by the people she cared for never became an issue, resulting in her not leaving Sam at the altar, and the couple was married. This change combines with the changes in the season two premiere (see below) to save Project Quantum Leap (PQL). Sam's marriage to Donna brings her onto PQL and, through her father's military connections, assures government funding, thus replacing the Project's private funding oversight committee with a government oversight committee. * In the second-season premiere "
Honeymoon Express ''Honeymoon Express'' is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language comedy film directed by Nagendra Magadi Pandu and starring Jaggesh, S. Narayan, Santhoshi and Deepu. The film's script was reportedly inspired by a Marathi story. Cast * Jaggesh as Jaggi ...
", the government oversight committee tried to shut down PQL by rejecting its multibillion-dollar annual budget. In an attempt to prove that Sam had leaped, Al tried to get Sam to prevent the downing of the U-2 since he leaped in two days before the event. Sam was unable to prevent the U-2 mission, but by saving the life of a young woman and subsequently helping her pass her legal exams, he saved the PQL when the same woman becomes the Senator leading the government oversight committee that now approves the Project's budget. * In the second season closing episode " M.I.A.", Al tried to get Sam, who leaps into a San Diego police detective in 1969, to save Al's first marriage (to Beth) by stopping Beth from remarrying when she thinks Al has died in Vietnam. This nearly costs the life of the man Sam was really there to save, the partner of his leapee, since Al had missed running other scenarios through Ziggy to confirm Sam's true mission. In the end, Sam leaped, but was unable to save Al's marriage (until later—see final bullet below). * In the third-season premiere " The Leap Home (Part 1)", Sam leaped into himself as a teenager in his hometown Elk Ridge,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, in 1969 to win a basketball game his team originally lost (the victory will allow his coach to go on to become a professional coach while also giving two of his teammates the chance to go to college on the subsequent scholarships). While there, he tried unsuccessfully to save the lives of his father and brother (his father being destined to die of a heart attack by 1974 and his brother during a mission in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
), but Al suggested that, in the end, he was only there to have an opportunity to say goodbye to them. On Sam's very next leap (" The Leap Home (Part 2)"), he found himself in his brother Tom's
SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
unit in Vietnam. While there, Sam saved his brother's life. Sam missed a chance to free a young Al and two other
POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
from their
Viet-Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
captors, although Al assured him that he understood due to Sam ensuring that photo evidence proving Al was still alive would come back to the government. * In the fourth-season premiere " The Leap Back", Sam and Al exchanged places as Leaper and Observer, leaving Al in 1945, apparently on the very day of his birth, and finally returning Sam to PQL's laboratory. The leap back allows Sam to realize (leaping keeps some facts muddled for him) that he and Donna (see first bullet in this section) are married. When Al is incapacitated in the past, Sam once again enters his time machine to exchange places with Al. * In the fifth-season episode " Trilogy (Part 2)," Sam fathers a child who proves to be his true genetic child, not the child of his Leapee. Samantha Josephine 'Sammy Jo' Fuller, like Sam, is a
child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
with an
eidetic memory Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
. She would grow up to join the staff of PQL, never knowing that Sam is her true father. * In the series finale "
Mirror Image A mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical effect it results from reflection off from substances ...
", Sam learned the truth that he was, and had always been, the one in control of his journey through time (albeit only via his
subconscious mind In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. Scholarly use of the term The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...
up to this point). Sam then returned to a specific point in time, to reveal his true self to Al's first wife, Beth, while assuring her that Al was alive as a POW in Vietnam who would return to her.


Finale

As stated above, in the final episode of the show Sam learned from a bartender named Al (played by
Bruce McGill Bruce Travis McGill (born July 11, 1950) is an American actor. He worked with director Michael Mann in the movies '' The Insider'' (1999), ''Ali'' (2001), and '' Collateral'' (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-Da ...
, who also appeared in the first episode as a different character) that Sam was in control of his leaps and could have returned home whenever he wanted. The bartender reminded Sam that he created Project Quantum Leap to help the world, and that in each leap he changed people and events for the better. Although Sam wanted to go home, he instead chose to return and inform Beth that Al was still alive. The final caption of the show tells the audience that, in the end, Sam never returned home; with the title card at the end somewhat unceremoniously announcing it, and also with his last name misspelled: "Dr. Sam Becket never returned home."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Sam Quantum Leap characters Fictional characters from Indiana Fictional engineers Fictional farmers Fictional linguists Fictional Nobel laureates Fictional physicians Fictional scientists Television characters introduced in 1989 Time travelers