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In this weeks Quantum Leap Rewatch, Cory and Tom enjoy the horrors of paint on canvas and chug more than they hold down as they discuss season 2 episodes 11 & 12 “A Portrait for Troian” and “Animal Frat.”
A Portrait for Troian:
Sam leaps into Dr. Timothy Mintz, a ghost hunter helping a woman named Troian deal with the death of her husband Julian who drowned in the lake near their house. Claiming to hear Julian’s voice, Troian finds herself drawn to their various locations of their estate, trying to communicate with what she believes to be his spirit. Her brother Jimmy firmly states that he does not believe in ghosts and resents Mintz’s presence, seeing as he has been trying to get Troian cured of her depression. Also working at the estate is the housekeeper Ms Stoltz, who further creates a spooky air with her melodramatic way of speaking and cold demeanor towards Mintz.
Prompted by more voices and a painting she had destroyed, suddenly returning to her room, Troian finds herself falling further into her belief that Julian is trying to contact her and goes to their mausoleum only to be hurt during an earthquake there before Sam comes to her rescue.
It’s soon revealed that Mintz’s ghost hunting equipment picks up Al’s voice and allows people nearby to hear him. This comes in handy when once again Troian hears Julian’s voice and rushes down to the lake, believing that she must join him in drowning. Al tries to use Mintz’s machines to his advantage, impersonating Julian, but her brother Jimmy shows up and destroys the machine, revealing that he was the one behind the voices in an attempt to drive her insane so he could inherit the estates money to pay off his gambling debts. He pushes her into the lake but Sam arrives, throwing Jimmy in to the lake and proceeds to save Troian.
Later as the police are called, they find the bodies of several family members who died drowning as well a hundred years earlier, their bodies resurfacing due to the earthquake. One body turns out to be the spitting image of the house keeper Ms Stoltz, which causes Sam and Troian to stare in shock, while back at the house, Ms Stoltz is seen looking out a window before vanishing, as Sam himself, leaps out.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
This weeks not so unsung hero was Don Bellisario himself!
Deborah Pratt plays Troian.
-She also starred in “A Leap To Di For” a Quantum Leap fan film about Princess Diana. It has different actors in the Sam and Al roles. No pic for Sam actor, and has a different actor for a character we don’t want to spoil. You can watch it here
-She acted in various dramas and sitcoms of the 80’s including “Exit to Eden” a movie with Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd, “Airwolf” and “Tequila and Bonetti.”
-She’s still working today as an actor, although she took a break from about 1994-2006
Carolyn Seymour plays Priscilla Stoltz. We’ve seen her before as Tina’s mother in “The Flash”. She also appeared in Star Trek.
Robert Torti plays Jimmy. He was Freddy Fredrickson in “That Thing You Do!”
Hot Toddy is from Scotland, it’s typically a mixed drink made of liquor and water with honey (or, in some recipes, sugar), herbs (such as tea) and spices, and served hot. Hot toddy recipes vary and are traditionally drunk before retiring for the night, or in wet or cold weather. Some believe the drink relieves the symptoms of the cold and flu.
Sam is vision in the water when Troian almost faints on dock, it’s taken from footage later in the episode when Sam emerges from the lake.
Kiss with History:
California’s Sylmar quake. It was the worst recorded quake in the city’s history. Heaviest death toll was in San Fernando Valley, epicenter of the jolting. Scientists at California Institute of Technology said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was 10 miles east of Newhall. The quake was the worst in the Southland since the Long Beach disaster of 1933. Gov. Ronald Reagan declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County.
Al’s Fashion of the Week:
Red is out! This season’s fashion is all about Pink, but pink is nothing without the bold and beautiful pops of polka-dots! Bring the ensemble together with a half length tie, white blazer and drooping belt and you have a look that will save you from insanity. It’s the “Whispering Saviour” Collection.
Animal Frat:
Sam leaps into a frat house hero named Newt Wild Thing Wildeton with the task of stopping a fellow classmate named Elizabeth Spokane from planting a bomb at a school chemistry lab as part of a protest and accidentally killing a student.
Sam’s attempts to get close to Elizabeth are made harder due to Newt’s reputation as a member of a party frat, causing Elizabeth’s fellow protest group member, Duck, to step in between the two, believing that Sam is there just to get a date with her.
Sam makes several attempts to convince Elizabeth of his wanting to truly help, but it’s not until he lets slip that his brother died in the war that she begins to really soften towards him, agreeing to go to a luau with him on the night the bomb was supposed to be planted. However, once at the luau, Sam learns that Duck has planted the bomb anyway and that one of their fraternity pledges is in danger of getting killed, having gone to the lab to steal a test.
Sam and Elizabeth rush over and manage to defuse one bomb, but duck appears, having set a second bomb as backup. A struggle ensues with Sam getting the better of Duck, holding him down, and when he realizes that he will be killed in the explosion as well, the would be Bomber reveals where it is. Sam and his frat bros send the bomb flying out until he night sky where no one can be hurt, and Elizabeth and Sam discuss her real reasons for protesting: trying to get her parents to notice her efforts, and in turn, focus away from their busy lives and notice her again.
Before Sam can leap however, he needs to make a dive into a swimming pool as part of a fraternity ritual and survive without becoming paralyzed, something that Newt did not do originally, but Sam does easily, enabling him to leap out.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Loosely based on a bombing at University of Wisconsin-Madison on August 24, 1970. It was committed by four young people as a protest against the university’s research connections with the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The bombing resulted in the death of a university physics researcher and injuries to three other people.
Stuart Fratkin plays Hags in this episode. He’s credited as Instructor in Slider’s episode “Season’s Greedings.” He also played Stiles in “Teen Wolf and Teen Wolf Too.”
Raphael Sbarge plays Will. He also played Doctor Hopper on “Once Upon a Time.”
Brian Haley plays the crew cut guy, he guest stars a lot.
This episodes unsung hero is Jeff Benson. You may recognise him from “American Gladiator.” Most of his roles are football or athletic types.
Kiss with History:
October 20, several hundred people marched to the Justice Department in Washington DC to turn in a thousand draft cards. On October 21, thousands of people demonstrate against the Vietnam war in Washington DC. The coordinator was Jerry Rubin (co-founder with Abbie Hoffman of the anarchist radical ‘Youth International Party’). Sam Beckett refers to Hoffman in the show.
Whats Next?
Next weeks episode discussions are “Another Mother” and “All-Americans”
Thanks:
We give thanks to some dedicated fan sights. For more information on Quantum Leap, please take the time to check out The Quantum Leap Wiki and Al’s Place.
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