The Technodrome Forums - Quantum Leap: The Lost Ending

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The quality is rough, but long-lost alternate ending footage for the classic sci-fi series Quantum Leap has suddenly surfaced online after 26 years. For five seasons, from 1989 to 1993, NBC played host to Quantum Leap, which told the tale of the brilliant Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) and his journey through history after a time travel experiment went awry. Guiding Sam on his travels was Al (Dean Stockwell), a friend and colleague from Sam's own time that appeared to him in the form of a hologram.

As passionate as Quantum Leap's fanbase was (and still is), and as much as critics loved it, the show was never a huge ratings hit. Quantum Leap came close to being canceled multiple times before it finally got the axe abruptly after season 5's finale had already been shot. This led producers to refashion what had been intended as a mere season finale into a permanent ending to the series, an ending which infamously revealed via onscreen text that Sam never returned homE

Of course, it was originally planned that Sam's meeting with a god-like bartender would indeed set up a sixth season of adventures, this time with Sam leaping through time as himself instead of taking the place of another person. Now, a long-lost alternate ending scene designed to set up Quantum Leap season 6 has stunned fans by surfacing online, thanks to a Redditor using the handle Leaper1953. The scene features Al and his wife Beth - following Sam going back in time to save their marriage in the now series finale - discussing Project Quantum Leap's continued search for its leader. The audio is quite rough, but enough is audible to confirm that this ending matches an alternate ending script that surfaced previously on the Quantum Leap fan site Al's Place.