Quantum Leap: "The Boogieman"

Premiered October 26, 1990

"When I was growing up, Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. "Trick or treat", we used to say. Of course, back then we always expected a treat, and if we did play a trick, it was always funny and harmless. But tonight there were no treats. There were no tricks. There was only death."
-Dr. Sam Beckett

In this episode from Season 3 of the series,  it is October 31st, 1964 somewhere in New England.

"Unbelievable.  I've leaped into the Addams Family!"

Our time traveling hero, Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) leaps into the body of second rate gothic horror novelist, Joshua Ray.   He is getting his bearings in a creepy old house with all sorts of arcane trappings when he is surprised by some people in masks and falls down the stairs.

It turns out the two masked individuals are Ray's fiancee Mary Greely (Valerie Mahaffey) and a teenaged boy named Stevie (David Kriegel).  They're getting the house ready to be part of the Church Spook House for the local Halloween festivities.

Strange things begin to happen at Ray's house.

Sinister goat offs handyman!

Tully (Donald Hotton), the local handyman is on a ladder repairing windows when a goat arrives and knocks down the ladder.  Tully is killed instantly.  Ben Mathers (Paul Linke), the local sheriff, interviews Sam about the incident.  He tells them about the goat, but Mary points out that he doesn't own a goat and there is no farm for miles.  Masters, who also happens to be Mary's ex-boyfriend doesn't buy the goat story.

Usually, Sam leaps into people's lives to put right something that once went wrong with help from Al (in the form of a hologram) and Ziggy, the supercomputer that runs the Quantum Leap Project, but nobody can seem to figure out what is going on.  Sam presumes he leaped into Ray so he could save Tully.   Or maybe he is there to save Mary from being murdered and found in the Spook House on Halloween night?

Later that day, Dorothy Yeager (Fran Ryan), the town gossip brings over candle sticks for the spook house.  Dorothy is sad to hear about Tully's death, but not exactly surprised.

When Dorothy goes to the kitchen to get cider, she is suddenly killed by a black mamba snake!
Sam chases the snake away with a broom, but it slithers away.  Two people have died and Sam is furious.  He damands that Al get to the bottom of why he leaped into this tragic scenario.

The body count is mounting and strange things including, but not limited to, flying skulls and mysterious typewriter messages relating to recent events keep happening.  

Will Sam be able to save Mary so he can leap?  Or are more sinister forces at play here?   Is some primal evil trying to stop Sam from succeeding?

Note house number.  Oh dear!

RigbyMel says:

Full disclosure, I was/am a HUGE fan of Quantum Leap and remember watching this episode when it first aired and being thoroughly creeped out by it.  (At the time,  I was also rather smugly proud of figuring out a small "Kiss With History" surprise that occurs near the end of the episode before it was revealed.)   There is a great deal of spooky tension that is allowed to build and build and the solution to the mystery of the episode is genuinely unexpected.

Creepiest scarecrow ever?

The episode holds up pretty well generally, even if it comes off as perhaps a little overly dramatic in spots.  There are a lot of fun nods to horror movie/tv/book tropes as well that reward repeated viewing.

Joshua's young friend Stevie

There's also some rather creative staging as regards Al and the troubles with figuring out what exactly Sam's mission on this leap is.  I don't want to spoil too much of this episode for those that might not have seen it before, but watch closely in scenes featuring Al.  Speaking of Al,  Dean Stockwell gets to do some great unsettling work in this episode, hats off to him!

Interestingly, this episode of Quantum Leap has developed a bit of a reputation amongst fans.   Some believe the episode to be "cursed" and will not call the program by name, preferring instead to refer to it as "The Halloween Episode"  or "The Boogiem*n".    The episode is thought to have been responsible for weird mechanical failures of VCRs/cable boxes/TVs etc and apparently even uttering the name of the episode is thought to bring bad luck.   (Reminds me of theater people and superstitions about a certain Scottish Play by Shakespeare!)    

In any case, your intrepid bloggers have not had any episode name related misfortunes (so far -- *touch wood* -- after I typed this, we started having problems loading images to this post.  Spooooooky!).  That being said, this particular installment of Quantum Leap is well worth adding to your Halloween festivities.  

RigbyMel's rating:

4 jack o'lanterns!

Yikes!

J.A. Morris says:

Unlike my co-blogger, I was more of a casual fan of Quantum Leap than a regular viewer.  I hadn't seen this episode until recent years, but it's become part of my yearly Halloween viewing.

It has plenty of seasonal trappings such as black cats, pumpkins, skulls and paranormal activity.

Bakula is good as usual and Stockwell...well let's just say he stretches his acting a little more than usual in "The Boogieman."

Stevie and his dog...Cujo!

It's worth noting that Mary Greely is played by Valerie Mahaffey.  She has appeared in dozens of tv series and movies.  Most notably, Mahaffey made an impression as Eve on Northern Exposure.

Mary hisses at Sam/Josh.

On a personal note, the "Dracula" decoration seen in this episode caught my eye.

My parents bought this Halloween decoration in the early 1980s and it was displayed in our home every October for many years.

Sheriff Masters suspects Sam is responsible for the suspicious deaths; Sam believes Masters is hiding something.

This episode can be found on the season 3 dvd set of Quantum Leap.  It also currently streams on Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.

"The Boogieman" is a fun Halloween episode and is recommended.  I lack the nostalgic attachment to this episode that RigbyMel brings, so I rate it slightly lower than she.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 and a half pumpkins.

Quantum Leap: "A Little Miracle"

Premiered 21 December 1990

Al: He's a real Scrooge.
Sam: Yeah, well, you can say that again.
Al: Scrooge! 
---
Sam: Absolutely. Michael is Scrooge, right? He's alone, he's miserable. It's like, uh, Charles, um...
Al: Dickens.
Sam: ...um, Dickens, it's like he created his character based on this guy.
Al: So?
Sam: So, we Scrooge him.

In this episode from Season 3 of the popular sci-fi tv series,  it is the 24th of December 1962 in New York City.  Our time traveling hero, Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) has quantum leaped into Reginald Pearson, valet to the mega-rich and mega-mean Michael Blake (Charles Rocket).

Sam's friend Al Calavicci  (Dean Stockwell), who appears as a hologram that (usually) only Sam can see and hear, says that Blake is a corporate raider type, who has "put more people out of work than the Great Depression."

Currently,  Blake's big project is a plan to raze a Salvation Army mission in order to build Blake Plaza, a gleaming skyscraper with his name vaingloriously emblazoned all over it.

Salvation Army Captain Laura Downey (Melinda McGraw) has been trying for months to talk Blake out of tearing down the building.   She has taken matters into her own hands and brought a Salvation Army band to play "Bringing In The Sheaves" in the vestibule of Blake's penthouse.

Downey tries to emphasize the important work that the mission does for homeless and destitute people in that area.   Blake is unimpressed by the mission, but might possibly be a little impressed with Captain Downey herself.  Sam likes her determination and is sympathetic to her cause.   He suggests that maybe they can talk Blake around, despite that fact that Blake has just threatened to fire him.

While cleaning out Blake's closet, Sam and Al discover a box of photos showing that Blake comes from a much humbler background than his current surroundings.  In fact,  he grew up in the neighborhood where the mission is located.   Sam  thinks they should "Scrooge" Blake in the interest of "saving his soul."

Sam brings Blake to the old neighborhood, doing a "Christmas past" bit.   He fakes having a flat tire to get Blake out of the limo and walking around the neighborhood -- many old memories are awakened.  They run into Downey who offers to let him use the mission's phone for help with the flat tire and encounters an old pal from his childhood who is selling chestnuts out on the street.

Blake seems very pensive and stares off into space drinking after his visit to "Christmas Past."  Sam thinks the plan isn't working,  Al thinks it is and suggests that they show him "Christmas Present" next.

Blake thinks his present is just fine.  He brags about having everything that money can buy and how he is the "living embodiment of the American dream."    Sam bets a month's rent that Blake doesn't have everything he really wants and takes him back downtown.

He tries to show that human interaction is better than some cold monument to Blake's ego.

They hear caroling which leads them to the mission where people are singing.  Blake and Sam join in and Blake admits he thinks Capt. Downey is beautiful (!).  He also has a moment with a Tiny Tim-esque moppet who offers him a toy horse named Sheldon.

Things don't go quite according to plan and Blake winds up feeling angry and manipulated, and more determined than ever to go through with the construction of Blake Plaza.

The "Scrooging" continues thanks to a fluke of brain chemistry which allows Blake to see and hear Al (who is normally only visible to Sam).   Sam enlists Al to act as the "Ghost of Christmas Future" to wake Blake up to the error of his ways.

Will Sam and Al be able to redeem Blake so that Sam can leap? Or will additional help from God/Fate/Time/Whatever be needed?

RigbyMel says:

As an impressionable teenager back in the mists of the late '80s/early '90s,  I was a big fan of Quantum Leap, so I remember watching and enjoying this episode when it first aired.   It holds up pretty well today.   The Dickensian overtones are quite strong.

Sam sees who he has leaped into in a mirror - a trope on the show 

Sam leaps into a very put upon Bob Cratchit type servant and we get a plot revolving around showing the Blake/Scrooge character his past, present and future in hopes of redeeming him.  There is an additional objective for Sam though,  he also wants to "put right what once went wrong" so he can leap home.

As with some other tv variations on A Christmas Carol,  the plot centers on characters using any means at their disposal to drag the character in need of transformation on his spiritual journey.  In this take on the story, the technological/brain wave fluke that allows Blake to see Al is key.  Dean Stockwell seems to particularly relish his "Ghost of Christmas Future" role,  hamming it up in quite an amusing fashion.

Al in Ghost of Christmas Future mode shows Blake his potential fate

Some fun trivia:   Melinda McGraw who plays the ingenue Salvation Army captain has gone on to play a major role in ANOTHER show set in the early 1960s --  she plays the rather harder-nosed character of Bobbie Barrett on AMC's Mad Men.  

Melinda McGraw as Bobbie Barrett in Mad Men ... 

 ... and as Capt. Downey in Quantum Leap

The redemption of  Blake doesn't come easily.  In fact, he backslides a lot in this episode before the end and there does seem to be some supernatural rather than technological help that occurs before all is said and done.

The titular "little miracle"? -  The star is NOT one of Al's holographic projections! 

All in all, this is an endearing variation on the themes of A Christmas Carol that is well worth a look or a re-visit.

RigbyMel's rating:

4 candy canes

J.A. Morris says:

Quantum Leap was a show I enjoyed, but I hadn't seen "A Little Miracle" until recently.  It's a very good adaptation of A Christmas Carol. 

As RigbyMel mentioned, Sam's ultimate goal in this series is to leap home to his own time.  He must redeem Blake's soul to continue his journey homeward.  This makes Sam's role here somewhat similar to that of Clarence the angel in It's A Wonderful Life.

Blake sees his future self, bankrupt in the 1970s.

And Sam when says he feels sorry for Blake, he echoes the sentiments of Scrooge's nephew Fred.

The fact that "A Little Miracle" takes place in a more recent time shows us that many never got the message of A Christmas Carol.  There were still Scrooges in the world of 1962 as well as in 1990 (the year the episode was produced) and today.  Since historical allegories are often used to critique the present, it's possible that this episode was meant to be a commentary on the "Merger Mania" that raged on Wall Street in the 1980s and early 90s.

Blake cowers before the Ghost of Christmas Future (aka Al).

In short, "A Little Miracle" is another example of the timeless relevance of Dickens' story.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 candy canes!