10 Times 'Quantum Leap' Leapt to the 1960s
One of the most enjoyable elements of Hulu’s new original series 11.22.63 is watching James Franco’s millennial time traveller, Jake Epping, adjust to life in ‘60s era America — before iPhones, protein bars, and streaming TV. But due to the specific logistics of his time portal, Franco’s English teacher-turned-would be JFK savior only gets to experience a small chunk of that tumultuous decade, specifically the three-year period between 1960 and 1963. That means he misses out on such major events as the Beatles’ first trip to America and the Summer of Love. Just contrast his experience with another famous TV time-skipper, Quantum Leap’s Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), who got to experience multiple leaps to the ‘60s — in multiple years and in multiple bodies — over his five-season run. The entire series is streaming on Netflix and Hulu, but here’s a 10-episode playlist of his visits to the 1960s, some of which even involve characters and social issues that play a major part in 11.22.63.
Double Identity (Season 1, Episode 6)
Leap Year: 1965
Sam learns a whole new definition of family loyalty when he jumps between the bodies of two Mafia types: assassin Frankie LaPalma and high-ranking Don, Geno Frascetti. As if that’s not Godfather enough for you, much of the action unfolds at a lavish Italian wedding.
Sign of the Times: The episode unfolds the night before the famous Northeast Blackout of ’65 when some 30 million people between New York and Ontario were deprived of power for 13 hours.
What Price Gloria (Season 2, Episode 4)
Leap Year: 1961
Decades before Mad Men, Quantum Leap addressed the subject of early ‘60s workplace sexism when Sam became Samantha, a secretary who — like Joan Holloway — has to tolerate the constant clumsy attention of the dudes in her office. She’s also tasked with helping her galpal Gloria, who is being led on by their married boss and plans to end her own life if she can’t share his.
Sign of the Times: Sam’s fashionable, form-fitting office dresses could have been taken right out of Joan’s closet.
Blind Faith (Season 2, Episode 5)
Leap Year: 1964
A few doors down from the Ed Sullivan Theatre — where the Fab Four will soon be serenading a roomful of screaming teens with “She Loves You” — Sam finds himself tickling the ivories in Carnegie Hall as a blind pianist. He’s also got to play crimefighter, saving the piano man’s girlfriend before she becomes another bullet point on a Central Park serial killer’s extensive resume.
Sign of the Times: The Beatles’ plane touches down at New York’s JFK Airport the day after Sam’s Carnegie Hall debut.
The Leap Home, Part 1 (Season 3, Episode 1)
Leap Year: 1969
Instead of pretending to be someone else, Sam gets to act as himself for once…albeit a much-younger version of himself. Leaping back into his own 16-year-old body, Sam intends to changes his family’s future for the better — much like Franco’s Jake seeks to rescue Harry Dunning from his psycho father. But his actual mission is to win a seemingly unimportant high school basketball game that has seismic consequences.
Sign of the Times: One of the futures that Sam wants to prevent is his brother’s impending death during the still-raging Vietnam War.
The Boogieman (Season 3, Episode 5)
Leap Year: 1964
Welcome to Quantum Leap’s hour-long homage to 11.22.63 author, Stephen King, starting with the episode’s title — a reference to the horror maestro’s 1973 short story. And the in-jokes don’t end there! There are also references to Carrie and Cujo, and an appearance by a young wanna-be writer named “Stevie,” who works as an assistant for the author that Sam’s currently inhabiting: Joshua Ray.
Sign of the Times: The real “Stevie” was 17 when this episode takes place; the following year, he published one of his earliest stories, “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber” in the fanzine Comics Review.
Black on White on Fire (Season 3, Episode 7)
Leap Year: 1965
11.22.63 deals tangentially with the Civil Rights movement, but Quantum Leap attacked it head on, inserting Sam into the body of Ray, an African American man enjoying a torrid (and highly frowned-upon) romance with his white girlfriend. In the eyes of Ray’s angry brother, at least, this “crime” has earned her a death sentence that only Sam can commute.
Sign of the Times: Ray’s personal story takes place against the larger backdrop of the Watts Riots, which engulfed Los Angeles for six days.
Nuclear Family (Season 3, Episode 21)
Leap Year: 1962
One of JFK’s signature accomplishments — steering the country through the Cuban Missile Crisis without launching nukes — is the jumping-off point for Sam’s mission to stop a very real shooting that occurs during a false air raid.
Sign of the Times: When he’s not looking for assassins, Sam is peddling bomb shelters to a nervous public whose minds are filled images of mushroom clouds and radioactive fallout.
Justice (Season 4, Episode 4)
Leap Year: 1965
Sam takes on another Civil Rights case, this time as the newest member of an Alabama-based Ku Klux Klan chapter that’s preparing to lynch a black activist. Getting into the mind of a racist, though, runs counter to everything he was raised to believe.
Sign of the Times: The Klan’s still-potent presence in the South at that time is a chilling reminder of the bad old days.
The Wrong Stuff (Season 4, Episode 7)
Leap Year: 1961
Quantum Leap literally makes a monkey out of Sam when he takes up residence inside a Space Age chimp. While fending off the advances of a neighboring female primate, he also has to clue scientists into the fact that their helmet-testing methods are severely inadequate.
Sign of the Times: Improving America’s standing in the Space Race was a major initiative of the Kennedy administration, even if the president didn’t live to see the fruits of his labor when Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface in 1968.
Lee Harvey Oswald Part 1 and 2 (Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2)
Leap Year(s): 1957-1963
In a special two-part season premiere, Sam encounters Lee Harvey Oswald in various years and places, instead of waiting for him to come to Dallas as Jake is forced to do. But Beckett’s journey inevitably ends in the Texas Schoolbook Depository, where he almost becomes the one who fires Oswald’s so-called “magic” bullet. You know, Jake really should have screened this episode before heading back to the past. It would have given him some ideas for what to do–and what not to do—on his own “Save Kennedy” mission.
Sign of the Times: Since they were both hanging around Dallas on the morning of November 23, 1963, it’s a shame that Jake and Sam didn’t team up.
Quantum Leap is available to stream on Netflix and Hulu
