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This is my first review ever. I usually have thoughts about shows I watch, but I thought I would put them in writing. The idea is if I write down my analysis, it'll help me be a better storyteller

Review

This is the Quantum Leap pilot episode. It starts by telling us how Sam Beckette is the inventor of the Quantum Leap Project. He leapt before the project was ready; got stuck in the past putting right what once went wrong and never came back home.

Then we're introduced to the main Characters. Ben Song, his girlfriend, a security lady, the head honcho and some weird dude who dresses in weird cloths; guess they wanted a non-binary guy or something

But here is my point, beside Ben Song I don't remember any of the other characters' names. Keep in mind, I watched the pilot episode twice. That's a bad thing. I gotta ask myself, why can't I remember their names? It's cause they aren't really pivotal to the story so far. I don't really care about them as people. I don't know anything about them.

Let's compare this to the pilot of the original show. First person we meet is Al. We immediately like the guy. He has this mischievous way about him. Helping a stranded lady on the side of the road. Save the cat moment right there. From this incident we learn a key aspect about his personality. Al likes women.

Afterwards we're introduced to Sam as he leaps. We spend a lot of time with Sam, listening to his inner thoughts. We right away like him. We encounter his child like innocence, which becomes Sam's hallmark personality trait throughout the series. We always root for him, cause he's the boy scout. In the pilot episode we also learn how Sam misses his home and how he misses his dad whom he lost and his brother. We learn a ton about Sam. Makes him a real person we can all relate to. Who of us didn't lose a relative whom we love?

Shifting back to current day Quantum Leap, The first episode doesn't tell us anything about Ben or the other characters, except that Ben was about to marry his hologram guide, and then decided to leave her for a mysterious reason.

Now I like the Ben actor. He makes me like the character, but from a story perspective we're not really introduced to any driving force in Ben's life. Why is he going to keep going? Why does he want to help people? There isn't enough time for us to really get to know Ben the same way we got to know Sam. Especially, they keep wasting episode minutes going back to the current time to chase down this mystery woman who turns out to be Al's daughter.

Now don't get me wrong, having the mystery might be good. But if in every episode we're going to be wasting a quarter of it chasing the mystery down, it takes away from the primary story, which is Ben's leap. Remember, each episode we're introduced to a new set of characters and a new wrong which needs to be set right. So we need every minute to make sure we don't rush the leap story. We really need to feel for these characters so we can cheer Ben on as he helps them. But this leap felt rushed, because they simply didn't have enough time to really establish the characters.

The main character, whom Ben is suppose to help has a sick wife and a child. But we only see them in one scene, and the writers rely on exposition to tell us how he's robbing banks because he's in trouble and has no money to pay for his wife's medication.

It would've been a lot better if they showed that. Maybe he had to rush to her because she's having an episode and he needed to help her and help his panicking child. This could've been an opportunity for Ben to show case his knowledge as a genius of sorts. Maybe he saves the day by doing something to help the guy's wife. Maybe the situation reminds Ben of something in his childhood, which makes him relate to the guy whom he has to help. Maybe even the guy loving his wife, reminds Ben of his love for his hologram fiance. But none of that happens and it's a wasted opportunity, because it would've made us like Ben even more.

Why didn't they do that? Because of all the time they had to spend with the other characters.

This brings me to my last point. Too many damned characters. In the original show, we only had Sam and Al. And the guest characters we meet in every leap. The focus on Sam and Al built up their relationship in such a way which made the audience fall in love with these two friends. They made us wish we had a friend like Sam or a friend like Al.

The new Quantum Leap, chooses to spend so much time chasing this MacGuffin reason which pushed Ben to leap before the technology was ready, while they could've been spending this time with Ben and his hologram developing them. The other characters aren't really the focus. I have to admit, they don't add anything to the story, except chasing the MacGuffin.

You know, maybe it would be better, if they have one episode every 3 or 4 episodes to address the MacGuffin mystery, instead of having to revisit it every single episode. Or maybe the writers should get smart and integrate the MacGuffin in the leap, instead of having the leap and the mystery story lines be two different story lines.

Well, that's it from me. Over and out.