The Leap Home (1) - November 25, 1969 - S3-E1
Factual error: The Post Raisin Bran cereal box sitting on the Beckett family breakfast table in 1969 has a 1990s box design. (00:18:00)
Disco Inferno - April 1, 1976 - S2-E2
Factual error: In this episode that takes place in April of 1976, everyone sits around watching an episode of Saturday Night Live with Bill Murray on it. Murray didn't join the cast until 1977.
Good Night, Dear Heart - November 9, 1957 - S2-E17
Factual error: At the end, Sam reads a poem from a Mark Twain book and says, "Twain wrote it when his daughter died." But the poem, famous because it was engraved on the daughter's headstone, isn't by Twain, but by poet Robert Richardson. Twain never claimed authorship, so Sam couldn't be reading it with Twain's byline from any of his books. (00:48:00)
The Americanization of Machiko - August 4, 1953 - S2-E3
Factual error: In the scene where the guy is telling Machiko about the major league teams that wanted him, he mentions the Indians, Yankees, and Orioles. The episode is set in 1953 and the story is from before World War II. While there had been a minor league team called the Orioles up to that point, there was no major league team called the Orioles until 1954.
M.I.A. - April 1, 1969 - S2-E22
Factual error: Though this episode takes place on April 1st, 1969, a freshly-painted sign in the park contradicts the date. In the scene with the hippies in which Sam is disguised as a meditating guru, the huge sign just behind him touts the San Diego Centennial Celebration - in 1968. (00:16:00)
So Help Me God - July 29, 1957 - S2-E9
Factual error: At one point when Sam is visiting Delilah in the courthouse he is hugging her and the Sheriff guarding the door comes in and sees them. As the sheriff is leaving, he has a patch on his arm that says "County Sheriff." As this episode took place in Louisiana, there would only be Parish Sheriffs, not a County Sheriff.
Blind Faith - February 6, 1964 - S2-E5
Factual error: In the opening scene it is 1964 in New York City. A shot through Brooklyn Bridge shows the World Trade Center towers in the background. The Trade Center was not started until 1968 and not completed until 1973.
The Wrong Stuff - January 24, 1961 - S4-E7
Factual error: Al says he was an astronaut and flew around the moon, describing a mission that sounds precisely like Apollo 8 (10 orbits around the moon, reading of Genesis, etc). In the season 2 finale episode 'MIA, ' set in 1969, Al says he was shot down in Vietnam two years earlier, in 1967, taken prisoner and not freed until 1973. The Apollo 8 mission flew in Dec. 1968, meaning Al would have been a POW at the time. Also, NASA astronauts aren't generally sent to serve as pilots in active war zones.
Double Identity - November 8, 1965 - S1-E6
Factual error: The episode takes place November 9, 1965. After the haircut incident they are seen moving away from a theater with Doctor Zhivago on the marquee, but the movie was released December 22, 1965, a month and a half after the scene is supposed to take place. (00:28:00)
Nowhere to Run - August 10, 1968 - S5-E4
Factual error: Twice in this episode, characters refer to the Vietnam war being over. But the setting is 1968. The Vietnam war didn't end until 1975. (00:34:20)
Blind Faith - February 6, 1964 - S2-E5
Factual error: The episode takes place in New York in February. During the scene with the Beatles arriving at the theater, we see a tree that has very green and full leaves on it. Trees with green leaves are visible in other parts of the episode as well.
The Americanization of Machiko - August 4, 1953 - S2-E3
Factual error: The episode takes place in rural Ohio, however several times in the distance, large mountains are visible. Ohio has hills, but not large mountains.
Private Dancer - October 6, 1979 - S3-E14
Factual error: When Sam knocks on Diana's door, she opens it. But we've just been told that she's completely deaf, so there's no way she could have heard him knocking. Though she dances to "vibrations in the air," this is with music played at volumes high enough to cause such vibrations. Sam is absolutely not banging on her door that loudly.
Maybe Baby - March 11, 1963 - S2-E20
Factual error: "Dancing in the Streets" by Martha and the Vandellas plays while the characters are driving. The problem is, the episode is set in 1963. That song was released in 1965.
A Portrait for Troian - February 7, 1971 - S2-E11
Factual error: When the second earthquake happens, certainly we would see evidence of the water shaking but the water is calm. In a real earthquake, the water would be sloshing around.
Maybe Baby - March 11, 1963 - S2-E20
Factual error: At the beginning when escaping, the song playing on the radio in the truck is "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels, which was released in July 1963, four months after the episode's date of March 1963. (00:04:00)
Her Charm - September 26, 1973 - S2-E15
Factual error: When they arrive at the Federal Building, an exterior shot shows a green Karmann Ghia exiting with California license plate 1MMW713, except 1XXX plates first were issued in 1980. A blue California plate for the time should have been just XXX. (00:06:20)
Her Charm - September 26, 1973 - S2-E15
Factual error: Sam is wearing a Casio calculator watch, which we are shown up close when he is driving the laundry van. The first calculator watch was made by Pulsar in 1975, and Casio's first calculator watch was released in the 1980s, long after this episode's 1973 date. (00:15:25)
Another Mother - September 30, 1981 - S2-E13
Factual error: When the boys are talking to Jackie to get her to cooperate with their plan, the song Shake It Up by The Cars is playing, except the show is set at September 30, 1981, and the song was released in November 1981. And it wasn't a pre-release demo version on the radio since the song was still being mixed at Syncro Sound Studios in early October. (00:23:00)
Animal Frat - October 19, 1967 - S2-E12
Factual error: When Sam is in the library, there are multiple book titles visible that were published after the show's date of 1967. The clearest is when Sam and Duck tussle, the book "Men How To Understand Your Symptoms" falls on Sam - this book was first published in 1986. (00:29:00)
Chosen answer: Per the Quantum leap page at http://www.scifi.com/quantum/episodes/season5.html. 8 August 1953: An enigmatic leap lands Sam in a Pennsylvania tavern, as his own grown self on the day of his birth. As Al and Gushie work frantically to locate him, Sam befriends a wise bartender (popular character actor McGill, who'd appeared in a different role in the very first "leap") and a group of coal miners. As a host of familiar-looking faces pass through the bar - with different identities than Sam remembers - Sam ponders his life of leaping with Al the bartender, who tells Sam he controls his own destiny. Pressed for more, Al the bartender simply shrugs and says, "Sometimes, 'that's the way it is' is the best explanation." Sam realizes he must right at least one more wrong before he can go home, and leaps back to tell Al Calvavicci's wife Beth (from "M.I.A.") to wait for Al, who will survive Vietnam and come home to her. The closing title cards state that Beth and Al have four daughters and will shortly celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary ... and that Sam Beckett never returned home.
Boobra