Quantum Leap

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)

Jean G

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)

Jean G

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.

Joel Amos Gordon

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.

Vader47000

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.

manthabeat

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.

Jean G

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)

jimba

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)

jimba

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)

jimba

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)

jimba

More mistakes in Quantum Leap

Sam: Leaping about in time, I've found that there are some things in life that I can't change, and there are some things that I can. To save a life, to change a heart, to make the right choice. I guess that's what life's about, making the right choice at the right time.

More quotes from Quantum LeapMore trivia for Quantum Leap

Star-Crossed - June 15, 1972 - S1-E3

Question: Al tells Sam that he's there to prevent the professor and his undergraduate student from having a shotgun wedding and ruining both their lives. That implies she got pregnant. Sam succeeds in keeping them apart. Um, does that mean he prevented someone from being born?

Brian Katcher

Answer: He means he's there to prevent there ever being the need for a shotgun wedding-that is, to stop the affair before there is a possibility of the girl getting pregnant.

raywest

Which would erase the child from history. That's my point.

Brian Katcher

Not if there was never any pregnancy to begin with. There was only the chance of one.

raywest

Answer: Not necessarily; it could also mean that someone such as Jamie Lee's (the student) father discovered that the professor was having a sexual relationship with her and coerced the two into getting married.

zendaddy621

This doesn't answer the question. You just described what a shotgun wedding is.

Bishop73

I think their point is that the "shotgun" aspect might not be due to a pregnancy, simply a forced attempt to legitimise an otherwise scandalous relationship.

My point was that a "shotgun wedding" doesn't always happen because an unmarried girl becomes pregnant; it can also happen because someone "stole her virtue", i.e had sex with her without being married or at least engaged to her. There's no reason to believe that Jamie Lee was, or would become, pregnant as a result of the affair or subsequent marriage.

zendaddy621

The term "shotgun wedding" means a forced marriage due to unexpected pregnancy. It's sometimes even used when the woman is pregnant but it's planned or the wedding isn't "forced." In common colloquialism (especially in the 80's when the script was written), it doesn't refer to a force marriage just because of premarital sex (which the term "make an honest woman" is used for).

Bishop73

No, in the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel 'Elmer Gantry', they talk about shotgun weddings, when a groom is forced to marry a woman because he took her virginity. Obviously, the term usually refers to a pregnant bride, but I see zendaddys point.

Brian Katcher

More questions & answers from Quantum Leap

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