Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Quantum Leap is on the far end of the bubble for a third season.  Universal Television's head just did an interview and they are basically waiting to see what NBC says, and NBC is going to weight it against other shows they want to maybe bring on fresh.     The ratings are slightly under the broadcast average for its time slot but not far off NBC's fall drama average. If it doesn't get a third season, I think it will be safe to say the reboot will be viewed as a moderate success at best (if that).

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 is a creative success. As someone who is not a fan of the original show, QL2.0 demonstrated the potent power of the show's peculiar blend of empathy, science fiction, social justice and its wit, charm, and humour. QUANTUM LEAP brought a 1989 concept into 2022 and onward with inventiveness, drive and vision: a diverse cast, a love story across time, gorgeous visual realizations of different periods and settings, superb performances, and scripts filled with daring and charm.

If Season 2 is indeed the end, QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 ends on a moment of triumph, relief, reunion and adventure. I would love to see more, but I do not think brevity is a reason to think poorly of a show that offered a strong note of closure. I would love to see a grand finale with more final notes on Ian, Jen, Magic and Janis and also Sam Beckett, but Season 2 leaves me very satisfied with both its conclusion and the way that last shot hints at so many wonderful adventures for Addison and Ben.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

ireactions wrote:

QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 is a creative success. As someone who is not a fan of the original show, QL2.0 demonstrated the potent power of the show's peculiar blend of empathy, science fiction, social justice and its wit, charm, and humour. QUANTUM LEAP brought a 1989 concept into 2022 and onward with inventiveness, drive and vision: a diverse cast, a love story across time, gorgeous visual realizations of different periods and settings, superb performances, and scripts filled with daring and charm.

If Season 2 is indeed the end, QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 ends on a moment of triumph, relief, reunion and adventure. I would love to see more, but I do not think brevity is a reason to think poorly of a show that offered a strong note of closure. I would love to see a grand finale with more final notes on Ian, Jen, Magic and Janis and also Sam Beckett, but Season 2 leaves me very satisfied with both its conclusion and the way that last shot hints at so many wonderful adventures for Addison and Ben.

Certainly, a good point.   I was coming from the perspective (fear) of QL not justifying the act of networks/studios reinvigorating properties.   For example, with X-Files (not to send us off on a tangent), the new 911 show did better than that (I believe X Files season 11).    It just demotivates networks that revivials or reboots work that well.   Another proxy is how John Wick franchise blew Blade Runner continuation out of the water from a business perspective.  I want QL to succeed because I don't like how networks and studios kill shows and then never give them life again.   It's rude to the consumer imo.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I'd certainly agree that no studio considers it a financial success for a show to only run two seasons. However, that's two seasons with a strong conclusion. If QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 is cancelled on Addison and Ben's joyful reunion and running off into a new adventure, then QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 joins a number of other short-lived shows that had an adequate and reasonably passable conclusion: FAKING IT, FREAKS AND GEEKS, TRINKETS, AWAKE, BRISCO COUNTY JR., MANTIS, LIFE UNEXPECTED, PUNKY BREWSTER REBORN and SAVED BY THE BELL REBORN.

It is a far more forgiving fate than being shot and blown up, being sent to a rape camp and being transformed into the jukebox machine from the movie BIG and being exploded, getting merged with another person and 'lost', and being sent into an unstable vortex, fate unknown, and ending on a cliffhanger.

If this is the end, I feel that the final scene is quite beautiful and perfect in its way. Addison and Ben are reunited. Then we see Addison's little smile as an explosion in the distance goes off, signaling threat and danger. Addison smiles because she isn't afraid, but instead delighted to be with Ben and to be adventuring with him now. They run off into this latest leap.

They have found their way back to each other. They are together. And they are going to be just fine.

If we compare QL2.0's "Against Time" to "The Exodus" and "Genesis" and "The Unstuck Man" and "Requiem" and "The Seer", I feel we should be grateful.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

SPOILERS FOR THE S2 FINALE OF QUANTUM LEAP

























I hope it's not the end, but if it is, it is lovely.

https://i.ibb.co/TPDm2RX/the-end.jpg

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I have a request for QuinnSlidr.

The first time I ever heard of QUANTUM LEAP was through Temporal Flux back on the old Sci-Fi Bboard. I suppose it makes sense as QL was TF's show before SLIDERS.

Temporal Flux posted about how the "Mirror Image" finale of QUANTUM LEAP had seen a mixed reception among fans. However, there was some news: the QUANTUM LEAP novels published after the show's cancellation (published at a rate of 2 - 4 a year) were coming to an end, but their 17th and final original installment would come in February 2000 with a novel called "Mirror's Edge":

Mirror's Edge, by Carol Davis with Esther D. Reese
The last leap... ?

It's 1999 -- five years after the Leap that started it all. It's 1999 -- for Sam Beckett who has leaped into Joe Powell, one of the richest men in America, a potential presidential candidate, and a man who is used to getting his way.

It's 1999 for Al Calavicci, for Donna Alessi-Beckett, for all the people at Project Quantum Leap who know that Sam is in their present, home but yet not home. But the holes in Sam's Swiss cheese memory are starting to fill, the man in the Waiting Room is strangely, disturbingly calm, and Ziggy is dispensing information that can hardly be believed. Something is about to happen.

Something that will change Sam's life and the lives of those who love him -- forever.

"Mirror's Edge": the conclusion to the thrilling adventures based on the hit TV series.

The novel hit the shops shortly after SLIDERS had aired its series non-finale. Some Slideheads who were also Leapers thought "Mirror's Edge" might take the sting off with a post-"Mirror Image" story.

In the many, many, many years since then, I have always remembered this posting about a media tie-in novel that I never read regarding a TV show that I never watched.

The reason I've always remembered it: "Mirror's Edge" was the first time I had ever seen an unresolved live action story being addressed in another format. That fascinated me, and I later discovered STAR TREK novels that resurrected Captain Kirk, DOCTOR WHO novels that resumed the TV show storyline during the DW hiatus from 1987 to 2005, and wrote my own tie-in stories for SLIDERS. "Mirror's Edge" remains a beacon of media tie-ins in my personal, anecdotal experience.

However, I later did learn: some QL fans expressed frustration with "Mirror's Edge" for what they called false advertising. Despite being billed as a "conclusion", that turned out to just be referring to how this 17th book was to be the last. "Mirror's Edge", like every QUANTUM LEAP novel before it, takes place before the series finale of QL1.0. It is not a sequel to "Mirror Image".

However. While "Mirror's Edge" is set before "Mirror Image"; it is set at the very edge of "Mirror Image"; it is in fact a prequel seeking to offer context to the series finale that is either new or retconned. It tries to make "Mirror Image" more of a finale, retroactively, by telling a story set before it that attempts to better explain it.

Some fans were furious with the publisher and the authors. Primary author Carol Davis spoke with fans on fan forums and explained: due to diminished sales, the publisher had elected to end the QL book series and commissioned a final story. However, the licensing agreement with Universal had a stipulation: the publishers were not allowed to produce any novels set after the QL series finale. The studio didn't want a novel to potentially step on any territory to be left open for a potential TV movie or series revival.

Davis and the publisher were caught between the need to produce a concluding novel and the studio declaring that Davis' typewriter wasn't to produce a single page set after "Mirror Image". Davis came up with a solution. Her solution -- a prequel to "Mirror Image" -- is either tactical brilliance that would make a lawyer weep with joy or a weak gesture that is grossly inadequate.

I've always wondered what a QL fan unhappy with "Mirror Image" would think of "Mirror's Edge". would think of it if they read the book. "Mirror's Edge" is out of print, but here is a PDF and an ePub from Archive.org:

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zTRVtW … sp=sharing
EPUB: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t32dIK … sp=sharing

Will you read it and tell me what you think of it?

I would have asked Tom of Rewatch Podcast, but Tom actually likes the finale story that is "Mirror Image". "I like it, it made me feel good with the series ending where it did," he told me. "I know a lot of people don't like it, but I do. I will die on that hill!" I didn't think him the right person to read "Mirror's Edge" and tell me if it resolves his dis-satisfactions with "Mirror Image" because he wasn't dis-satisfied.

667 (edited by QuinnSlidr 2024-03-06 04:20:52)

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

ireactions wrote:

I have a request for QuinnSlidr.

The first time I ever heard of QUANTUM LEAP was through Temporal Flux back on the old Sci-Fi Bboard. I suppose it makes sense as QL was TF's show before SLIDERS.

Temporal Flux posted about how the "Mirror Image" finale of QUANTUM LEAP had seen a mixed reception among fans. However, there was some news: the QUANTUM LEAP novels published after the show's cancellation (published at a rate of 2 - 4 a year) were coming to an end, but their 17th and final original installment would come in February 2000 with a novel called "Mirror's Edge":

Mirror's Edge, by Carol Davis with Esther D. Reese
The last leap... ?

It's 1999 -- five years after the Leap that started it all. It's 1999 -- for Sam Beckett who has leaped into Joe Powell, one of the richest men in America, a potential presidential candidate, and a man who is used to getting his way.

It's 1999 for Al Calavicci, for Donna Alessi-Beckett, for all the people at Project Quantum Leap who know that Sam is in their present, home but yet not home. But the holes in Sam's Swiss cheese memory are starting to fill, the man in the Waiting Room is strangely, disturbingly calm, and Ziggy is dispensing information that can hardly be believed. Something is about to happen.

Something that will change Sam's life and the lives of those who love him -- forever.

"Mirror's Edge": the conclusion to the thrilling adventures based on the hit TV series.

The novel hit the shops shortly after SLIDERS had aired its series non-finale. Some Slideheads who were also Leapers thought "Mirror's Edge" might take the sting off with a post-"Mirror Image" story.

In the many, many, many years since then, I have always remembered this posting about a media tie-in novel that I never read regarding a TV show that I never watched.

The reason I've always remembered it: "Mirror's Edge" was the first time I had ever seen an unresolved live action story being addressed in another format. That fascinated me, and I later discovered STAR TREK novels that resurrected Captain Kirk, DOCTOR WHO novels that resumed the TV show storyline during the DW hiatus from 1987 to 2005, and wrote my own tie-in stories for SLIDERS. "Mirror's Edge" remains a beacon of media tie-ins in my personal, anecdotal experience.

However, I later did learn: some QL fans expressed frustration with "Mirror's Edge" for what they called false advertising. Despite being billed as a "conclusion", that turned out to just be referring to how this 17th book was to be the last. "Mirror's Edge", like every QUANTUM LEAP novel before it, takes place before the series finale of QL1.0. It is not a sequel to "Mirror Image".

However. While "Mirror's Edge" is set before "Mirror Image"; it is set at the very edge of "Mirror Image"; it is in fact a prequel seeking to offer context to the series finale that is either new or retconned. It tries to make "Mirror Image" more of a finale, retroactively, by telling a story set before it that attempts to better explain it.

Some fans were furious with the publisher and the authors. Primary author Carol Davis spoke with fans on fan forums and explained: due to diminished sales, the publisher had elected to end the QL book series and commissioned a final story. However, the licensing agreement with Universal had a stipulation: the publishers were not allowed to produce any novels set after the QL series finale. The studio didn't want a novel to potentially step on any territory to be left open for a potential TV movie or series revival.

Davis and the publisher were caught between the need to produce a concluding novel and the studio declaring that Davis' typewriter wasn't to produce a single page set after "Mirror Image". Davis came up with a solution. Her solution -- a prequel to "Mirror Image" -- is either tactical brilliance that would make a lawyer weep with joy or a weak gesture that is grossly inadequate.

I've always wondered what a QL fan unhappy with "Mirror Image" would think of "Mirror's Edge". would think of it if they read the book. "Mirror's Edge" is out of print, but here is a PDF and an ePub from Archive.org:

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zTRVtW … sp=sharing
EPUB: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t32dIK … sp=sharing

Will you read it and tell me what you think of it?

I would have asked Tom of Rewatch Podcast, but Tom actually likes the finale story that is "Mirror Image". "I like it, it made me feel good with the series ending where it did," he told me. "I know a lot of people don't like it, but I do. I will die on that hill!" I didn't think him the right person to read "Mirror's Edge" and tell me if it resolves his dis-satisfactions with "Mirror Image" because he wasn't dis-satisfied.

@ireactions - Absolutely. I will take a look and give this a read soon! I've always thought that Mirror Image did not resolve anything and was too open-ended of a cliffhanger for QL for me to ever be satisfied with it. I felt down-right ripped off and felt like there should have been a much better finale for an otherwise amazing series.

Back then, of course, you had to wait for the rerun of the show starting back at S01E01 to tape it on bulky VHS tapes (I had a library of shows I taped on VHS to watch over and over again until I lost interest and the VHS tapes were eventually thrown away - only to be picked up again years later via DVDs then via streaming). And yes, that included Sliders on tape. None of us back then had any inkling of the technology we would have access to nowadays with streaming every single show we have ever loved at our fingertips.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

QuinnSlidr wrote:
ireactions wrote:

I have a request for QuinnSlidr.

The first time I ever heard of QUANTUM LEAP was through Temporal Flux back on the old Sci-Fi Bboard. I suppose it makes sense as QL was TF's show before SLIDERS.

Temporal Flux posted about how the "Mirror Image" finale of QUANTUM LEAP had seen a mixed reception among fans. However, there was some news: the QUANTUM LEAP novels published after the show's cancellation (published at a rate of 2 - 4 a year) were coming to an end, but their 17th and final original installment would come in February 2000 with a novel called "Mirror's Edge":

Mirror's Edge, by Carol Davis with Esther D. Reese
The last leap... ?

It's 1999 -- five years after the Leap that started it all. It's 1999 -- for Sam Beckett who has leaped into Joe Powell, one of the richest men in America, a potential presidential candidate, and a man who is used to getting his way.

It's 1999 for Al Calavicci, for Donna Alessi-Beckett, for all the people at Project Quantum Leap who know that Sam is in their present, home but yet not home. But the holes in Sam's Swiss cheese memory are starting to fill, the man in the Waiting Room is strangely, disturbingly calm, and Ziggy is dispensing information that can hardly be believed. Something is about to happen.

Something that will change Sam's life and the lives of those who love him -- forever.

"Mirror's Edge": the conclusion to the thrilling adventures based on the hit TV series.

The novel hit the shops shortly after SLIDERS had aired its series non-finale. Some Slideheads who were also Leapers thought "Mirror's Edge" might take the sting off with a post-"Mirror Image" story.

In the many, many, many years since then, I have always remembered this posting about a media tie-in novel that I never read regarding a TV show that I never watched.

The reason I've always remembered it: "Mirror's Edge" was the first time I had ever seen an unresolved live action story being addressed in another format. That fascinated me, and I later discovered STAR TREK novels that resurrected Captain Kirk, DOCTOR WHO novels that resumed the TV show storyline during the DW hiatus from 1987 to 2005, and wrote my own tie-in stories for SLIDERS. "Mirror's Edge" remains a beacon of media tie-ins in my personal, anecdotal experience.

However, I later did learn: some QL fans expressed frustration with "Mirror's Edge" for what they called false advertising. Despite being billed as a "conclusion", that turned out to just be referring to how this 17th book was to be the last. "Mirror's Edge", like every QUANTUM LEAP novel before it, takes place before the series finale of QL1.0. It is not a sequel to "Mirror Image".

However. While "Mirror's Edge" is set before "Mirror Image"; it is set at the very edge of "Mirror Image"; it is in fact a prequel seeking to offer context to the series finale that is either new or retconned. It tries to make "Mirror Image" more of a finale, retroactively, by telling a story set before it that attempts to better explain it.

Some fans were furious with the publisher and the authors. Primary author Carol Davis spoke with fans on fan forums and explained: due to diminished sales, the publisher had elected to end the QL book series and commissioned a final story. However, the licensing agreement with Universal had a stipulation: the publishers were not allowed to produce any novels set after the QL series finale. The studio didn't want a novel to potentially step on any territory to be left open for a potential TV movie or series revival.

Davis and the publisher were caught between the need to produce a concluding novel and the studio declaring that Davis' typewriter wasn't to produce a single page set after "Mirror Image". Davis came up with a solution. Her solution -- a prequel to "Mirror Image" -- is either tactical brilliance that would make a lawyer weep with joy or a weak gesture that is grossly inadequate.

I've always wondered what a QL fan unhappy with "Mirror Image" would think of "Mirror's Edge". would think of it if they read the book. "Mirror's Edge" is out of print, but here is a PDF and an ePub from Archive.org:

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zTRVtW … sp=sharing
EPUB: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t32dIK … sp=sharing

Will you read it and tell me what you think of it?

I would have asked Tom of Rewatch Podcast, but Tom actually likes the finale story that is "Mirror Image". "I like it, it made me feel good with the series ending where it did," he told me. "I know a lot of people don't like it, but I do. I will die on that hill!" I didn't think him the right person to read "Mirror's Edge" and tell me if it resolves his dis-satisfactions with "Mirror Image" because he wasn't dis-satisfied.

@ireactions - Absolutely. I will take a look and give this a read soon! I've always thought that Mirror Image did not resolve anything and was too open-ended of a cliffhanger for QL for me to ever be satisfied with it. I felt down-right ripped off and felt like there should have been a much better finale for an otherwise amazing series.

Back then, of course, you had to wait for the rerun of the show starting back at S01E01 to tape it on bulky VHS tapes (I had a library of shows I taped on VHS to watch over and over again until I lost interest and the VHS tapes were eventually thrown away - only to be picked up again years later via DVDs then via streaming). And yes, that included Sliders on tape. None of us back then had any inkling of the technology we would have access to nowadays with streaming every single show we have ever loved at our fingertips.

@ireactions - I just downloaded it and I will be reading through it this weekend. Looks like this will be a fun read based on what I have heard!!

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

When you finish it, my questions will be this:

  • How well did the writing capture the speech patterns and narrative tone of the show?

  • Did the descriptions capture the visual storytelling language of the show? Or did they offer an analogous storytelling language within the format of prose?

  • Did the writing change the show, characters or style in order to fit the format of prose or the writer's own preferences? How?

  • Did the story address "Mirror Image" and make it more acceptable? Or did it fail? How?

  • Considering the studio constraint of being only permitted to write a prequel to "Mirror Image", how well or poorly do you feel the writer told the story with that handicap?

  • If the restriction on post-"Mirror Image" stories had not been in place, would this story have been served by post-"Mirror Image" content or best replaced with a different story entirely?

  • Is "Mirror's Edge" a strong story regardless of its QUANTUM LEAP connections?

  • Is "Mirror's Edge" a strong QUANTUM LEAP story?

  • Is "Mirror's Edge" a satisfying conclusion?

These are all the things I have wondered since Temporal Flux wrote about it in 2000.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

well this is not the type of stories I want to see:

https://tvgrimreaper.substack.com/p/wee … -likely-to

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Well, that's just speculation. QL2.0's renewal will be dependent on NBC's schedule and if they have pilots they think might do better than QL2.0.

Erin Underhill, President, Universal TV:

The way that they wrapped that up is it could be a satisfying ending but they also could continue on so I think we’re going to be waiting to hear feedback from NBC as we approach the May upfront as to what the status is. Like always, I think it’s going to depend on their development and how they’re feeling about the pilots that come in and where Quantum would potentially go on the schedule. But I think everyone has a lot of support for that show and big fan base in terms of that being a major library title for us. So we’re optimistic but we won’t know anything with certainty until I think probably April.
https://deadline.com/2024/02/universal- … 235838979/

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

QL2.0 cancelled

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv … 235867776/

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I'm sad to see this. But I'm grateful that we got two great seasons, and a happy ending for Ben and Addison.

I'd be curious to see if there's any effort to see QL2.0 picked up on Peacock or another streaming service, if only for an extra-length series finale like ZOE'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Unfortunate.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Never saw it, but I'm still upset to lose any kind of quality science fiction TV.  There's simply almost none of it anymore.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Sad to see. Like Grizzlor said, I don't like losing any quality science fiction TV. And I loved QL 2.0.

Sigh.

I still need to read that PDF from ireactions. I'm getting to it, ireactions!! Just been busy as of late more than I thought that I would be.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I am sad that QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 is cancelled, but I feel heartened to know that somewhere out there, Ben and Addison are together and on the adventure of a lifetime. The limitless possibilities of that happy non-ending ending inspire and comfort me.

I wished, for so very long, that SLIDERS had, if cancelled, ended with Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo simply still out there, together, exploring, travelling, having wonderful adventures, searching for home, while at the same time recognizing that home is, as Temporal Flux and Tracy Torme both said, not just a place but the people with whom you belong, and so long as Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo are together, they are home. I think that's why every fanfic I ever wrote for SLIDERS, both "Slide Effects" and SLIDES REBORN, end on the sliders eagerly leaping into the vortex together.

I'm glad that Ben and Addison got to have that. They are lost in time. But they're together and they are happy. And they are going to be just fine.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I'm about to do a rewatch of the 2021 original-cast iCARLY revival which unfortunately got cancelled after its third season and on a bit of a cliffhanger. However, I have seen most of it, and on the whole, I thought it was a fun, good-natured, pleasant show that poked fun at the loose continuity and cheery absurdities of the original.

In case you've forgotten or never watched it, the original iCARLY was a 2007 - 2012 show about two Seattle high school girls (Carly and Sam) and their friend Freddie who start a webcast of absurd sketch comedy while growing up together. It was a lively, low-budget Nickelodeon multicamera sitcom with mostly interior filming but a highly colourful and dynamic visual style.

in 2021, iCARLY came back to TV with a revival series and original actress Miranda Cosgrove (Carly) as series lead and associate showrunner, replacing original series creator Dan Schneider (who was ousted from the iCARLY franchise due to abusive behaviour). Aside from Sam's actress, Jennette McCurdy, declined to return, the original cast all signed on as regulars, and iCARLY made a bold return as a return as a single camera drama about troubled twentysomethings.

In the years since the original, Carly worked in new media and had disastrous boyfriend after boyfriend; Freddie is twice-divorced and has an adopted daughter. And as they cope with numerous failures in life, they turn back to something that always gave them comfort and joy: their start their webcast anew and the adventure begins again.

"You can't stop someone from making an okay web show," someone remarks, a delightful moment of the franchise criticizing itself. In some ways, the new iCARLY was better than the original, having had nearly a decade in which TV had advanced in the areas of diversity, social justice and inclusion for minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, and the environment, and the new iCARLY had a warmly welcoming, compassionate presence in contrast to the original series which was often lewd or uncaring. The wacky hijinks had a softer tone, while the show was as harsh as ever in exploring its characters' flaws and failings.

In some ways, the revived iCARLY was only as good as the original, which is to say that a lot of the stories involved struggling to navigate a crush or worrying about their social status or organizing a birthday party -- stories that were fine for 13 - 18 year old characters but a bit embarrassing when the characters were now grown-ass adults. However, I will concede that the show often highlighted the comically low stakes of its stories and the juvenile conflicts at hand.

The iCARLY revival ended on a cliffhanger, and I never actually got around to watching the Season 3 finale and will soon. However, given that iCARLY was by its nature a very low-conflict, low-crisis show... I feel like any cliffhanger on this show is probably not a big deal.

And given that iCARLY has been off the air before and come back, I feel like it's not a cancellation as much as another long commercial break, and we'll probably see Carly and Freddy again someday.

That said, the cancellation of iCARLY, SAVED BY THE BELL, PUNKY BREWSTER and QUANTUM LEAP makes me wonder about the viability of revivals and what is and isn't working.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Looks like we could see a return to slightly askew projects that play off nostalgia.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/a … uture.html

As mentioned in the article, J J Abram’s homage to Spielberg’s E.T. with his film Super 8 could be an example.  Looks like Abrams may be attempting the same thing with Back to the Future.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

TemporalFlux wrote:

Looks like we could see a return to slightly askew projects that play off nostalgia.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/a … uture.html

As mentioned in the article, J J Abram’s homage to Spielberg’s E.T. with his film Super 8 could be an example.  Looks like Abrams may be attempting the same thing with Back to the Future.

HURL!  Abrams has no shame.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Speaking of the slightly askew homage, AppleTV is set to debut Dark Matter on May 8:

https://www.theverge.com/24127236/dark- … le-tv-plus

The first trailer looks appropriately trippy and follows a physicist played by Joel Edgerton who is “abducted into an alternate version of his life.” The show involves him trying to get home while navigating this new multiversal reality, which is powered by a big black box that he invented.

Based on a 2016 novel, there are shades of Sliders in there

https://youtu.be/j6ucGt_Xp14

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Looks very dreary.  I thoroughly enjoyed the highly Canadian scifi series Dark Matter from about 10 years ago, though.  Unrelated.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

One show that doesn't get much respect but which I enjoyed a lot: RIVERDALE, a dark, film noir version of Archie comic books. And something I enjoyed in its fifth season: they basically cancelled their own show and mounted a revival. In the early fifth season episodes, Archie and the gang graduate from high school (which was meant for the end of Season 4 but delayed due to pandemic).

Then the very next episode is set seven years later: Archie and friends return to their hometown after a long absence and the actors, now playing characters closer to their actual ages instead of high school students, discover that their home is in a dire situation and is in urgent need of saving.

I really liked all of this. I liked seeing the kids we knew in high school become adults. I liked them moving past adolescent issues and battling for the soul and life of their hometown. I liked seeing them become teachers and mentors instead of students. It was wonderful to see their potential achieved and realized.

Season 6 also took another turn: the first half of the season was set in a dark, paranormal reality and the show's title changed to RIVERVALE. And when we returned to the 'main' reality, Archie and friends now had superpowers: superstrength, psychic abilities, telepathic gifts -- the show took a bizarre and joyfully ridiculous turn into becoming an eerie CW superhero drama.

Season 7, for better or for worse, did a hard reboot and all the characters were now 1950s high school students. The writing was as strong as ever (but even RIVERDALE's most ardent fans will argue it was always poor). I understood that, as the creators knew it to be the final season, a 1950s setting was a way to engage where Archie comic books had solidified, and deal with the actual social realities of bigotry and inequality and prejudice that the Archie comics of the era had never addressed at all.

But I really loved the revival-style adult seasons of RIVERDALE. I would have loved to see the show do four years of high school and four years of adulthood.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

ireactions wrote:

One show that doesn't get much respect but which I enjoyed a lot: RIVERDALE

I too have experienced the epic highs and lows of high school football.

It was an incredibly fun show to watch. It swung for the fences, often losing. I loved it.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Well, winning or losing for RIVERDALE would depend on examining RIVERDALE's goals. RIVERDALE was a TV exploration of putting the Archie characters in different genres. While the Archie brand is associated with children's teen comedy, ever since 2010 (if not earlier), the comic publisher had been experimenting with turning the ARCHIE publishing line into SLIDERS with some genre-hopping and some titles that were more adult and serious.

LIFE WITH ARCHIE was about adult versions of the characters. 2013's AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE put Archie in a post-apocalyptic zombie horror story. The 2015 ARCHIE relaunch changed Archie's genre from teen comedy to dramedy, with a bit more stakes, while still very funny. JUGHEAD: THE HUNGER explored Jughead's werewolf heritage. VAMPIRONICA made Veronica a vampire.

All of these were in separate continuities, so Archie could die in LIFE WITH ARCHIE and Riverdale could be destroyed in AFTERLIFE and other titles were free to ignore it. The JUGHEAD: TIME POLICE series had Jughead encountering some of these parallel realities. All these comics were an exercise in exploring how far the Archie cast could go in genre and setting while still remaining themselves. RIVERDALE was the distillation of this exploration, with a teen soap meets rural film noir situation for Seasons 1 - 4, a darkly operatic civic crime thriller in Season 5 with the gang now adults, a shift into TWILIGHT ZONE science fiction and mysticism in Season 6A followed by moving into the superhero genre in Season 6B.

One very strong ARCHIE comic was ARCHE: 1941 which was set in a historically realistic 1941 where Archie and Riverdale were facing World War II, the boys joining the army, war rationing, bigotry, nationalism and fear that Nazis were nearing American shores. The seventh season of RIVERDALE was a loose adaptation of ARCHIE: 1941, choosing the 1950s where the post-war ARCHIE comics had solidified into teen comedy over war propaganda, and exploring the civil rights movement that the actual 1950s comics had ignored.

Did RIVERDALE lose? I mean, the show was absurd, but I don't think it was ever trying to be a Serious Drama as much as a melodramatic, exaggerated, heightened, self-aware fantasy. I don't think it lost at being exactly what it set out to be, although as actress Vanessa Morgan (Toni) noted: it severely underserved its people of colour, never giving Toni any storylines once she was established as Cheryl's love interest and only using her to give Cheryl a black friend and lover.

Vanessa Morgan called the writers out on this in public in social media, and interestingly, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa responded on social media with: "We hear Vanessa. We love Vanessa. She’s right. We’re sorry and we make the same promise to you that we did to her. We will do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color."

Season 5 and on ward saw a larger role for Vanessa Morgan's Toni Topaz: she was treated as equally as Betty, Veronica and Cheryl, and Archie told her that she had always been an important part of his friend group, which was a huge part of why Seasons 5 - 7 were so pleasing to me. So even in that area of failure, RIVERDALE found a way to do better and succeed.

That said, there is a ton of disdain for RIVERDALE's absurdity and exaggeration and lunacy, from Season 2's hunt for the Black Hood killer to Season 4's insanity with an organ harvesting cult where the leader tries to escape in a rocketship and Season 5 where the FBI sets up an office in Riverdale because the town is a nexus point for any number of criminal enterprises.

And for anyone wanting a sensible teen dramedy like DAWSON's CREEK, RIVERDALE was probably not a winner. But I would argue we should review the show they set out to make and not the show anyone else wanted them to make. We wouldn't judge SLIDERS for being an absurdist comedy over an action series.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

RussianCabbie pondered how QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 would be remembered, if it'd be considered a success or failure, if cancelled after two seasons (which it was).

I thought it was, creatively, a very successful show. But I confess: I will never watch it again.

It's not because it wasn't good -- it was very good and sometimes great -- but it didn't have a climactic, conclusive finale. It was a set of strong episodes that ended in another strong episode that offered a nice note of grace. But that note wasn't an ending as much as a new beginning.

QL2.0 is a story with a beginning, a middle, and a pause, as opposed to a beginning, a middle, and an end. Given how many cancelled shows just cut off (SLIDERS), a pause is admirable and a high achievement. It was the best the creators could do in the situation they were in with the resources they had to hand.

It just wouldn't be worthwhile for me to go on that journey again because the journey didn't go somewhere wholly satisfying. But I'm glad and grateful for the time I had with QUANTUM LEAP 2.0.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

From a business perspective, in hindsight I wonder if having Scott Bakula and leaning more into the old series would have better served the number of episodes that got green lit.  I have no idea though.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I mean, Scott Bakula is a Name Actor. He's not Tom Cruise, but he has a following and he brings importance to a project. If Bakula had been in the revival, it would have been an additional point of marketing, a new avenue of publicity, and more attention that could have led to higher ratings.

Did Scott Bakula kill QL2.0 by starving it of his participation?

That said, iCARLY 2.0 and WILL AND GRACE REBORN only made it three seasons, THE X-FILES REBORN and SAVED BY THE BELL REBORN made it two seasons, and PUNKY BREWSTER REBORN only got one.

**

I guess, the thing that makes QL2.0 kind of disappointing for ending where it did: it retroactively presented Dr. Sam Beckett's disappearance in a really bleak and tragic way. Sam was lost and never returned home. Project Quantum Leap was ultimately a failure. Sam was a failure. Al was a failure.

I don't think that's where they would have left Sam and Al's stories, with or without Bakula's involvement, if they'd had more time. Certainly, the Season 2 finale of Addison and Ben joyfully reunited was meant to be a reversal: Ben is still lost, but he and Addison are together. They would have found something kinder for Sam and Al too, if they had not been cancelled.

As Dr. Ben would say, time steals from us all.

And I will say this: the slow demise and cancellation of SLIDERS really damaged my ability to connect with people. It destroyed me in so many ways. It made me bitter. It made me angry. It made it hard for me to trust again. It became too easy for me to lose hope and faith in human beings and TV shows.

QUANTUM LEAP 2.0 was cancelled, but the unplanned finale it provided made me feel glad and grateful for the time I had with it, and made me feel like cancellation was something I could move through without feeling defeated by it. For that, I thank Martin Gero and his team.

689 (edited by Grizzlor 2024-09-07 13:44:48)

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

https://x.com/MrJerryOC/status/18324981 … g&s=19

Getting the team back together...

https://i.postimg.cc/Mvg3rPWc/Screenshot-20240907-154252.png

How cool is that?

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Grizzlor wrote:

https://x.com/MrJerryOC/status/18324981 … g&s=19

Getting the team back together...

https://i.postimg.cc/Mvg3rPWc/Screenshot-20240907-154252.png

How cool is that?


INCREDIBLE (to see these two guys together again)

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:
Grizzlor wrote:

https://x.com/MrJerryOC/status/18324981 … g&s=19

Getting the team back together...

https://i.postimg.cc/Mvg3rPWc/Screenshot-20240907-154252.png

How cool is that?


INCREDIBLE (to see these two guys together again)


It really is INCREDIBLE. And to see the words "Getting the team back together..."

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

QuinnSlidr wrote:
RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

INCREDIBLE (to see these two guys together again)


It really is INCREDIBLE. And to see the words "Getting the team back together..."

based on how JRD is dressed (he normally wears an outfit like that for conventions) and the credential necklace around jerry's neck, i am assuming they were both at the same fan convention.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

based on how JRD is dressed (he normally wears an outfit like that for conventions) and the credential necklace around jerry's neck, i am assuming they were both at the same fan convention.

Yes I think it was Fanboy Expo Orlando, JRD and Rebecca Romijn were booked.  Jerry usually (not always) accompanies his wife, and this was the first time both he and John were at the same one.  I have implored Jerry to take convention bookings, people would line up for him.  Then you could have things like dual photo ops with him and John, probably a Sliders panel, etc.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Why doesn't he listen to you? Are you not good friends and lifelong companions anymore?

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Grizzlor wrote:
RussianCabbie_Lotteryfan wrote:

based on how JRD is dressed (he normally wears an outfit like that for conventions) and the credential necklace around jerry's neck, i am assuming they were both at the same fan convention.

Yes I think it was Fanboy Expo Orlando, JRD and Rebecca Romijn were booked.  Jerry usually (not always) accompanies his wife, and this was the first time both he and John were at the same one.  I have implored Jerry to take convention bookings, people would line up for him.  Then you could have things like dual photo ops with him and John, probably a Sliders panel, etc.


Yea, that's wonderful you are encouraging that.  My guess is maybe he has some insecurity, but you'd think the conventions would be able to assess demand and offer him enough financial incentive as a result.  Most of these people are paid fee plus travel expenses, plus share of autograph revenue, correct?   I assumed they basically get offers through their agent & manager and if it's the right price, they go.  For the lesser stars, I would assume there's no guarnateed payment beyond travel expenses.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

I guess, taking this more seriously, one factor would be whether or not Jerry O'Connell needs the money and if doing more panels and signing autographs for fans is how he wants to spend his time.

Actors like Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster (Jody and Donna on SUPERNATURAL) earn a lot of income from convention appearances and maintaining a fan-directed persona. Fans love them. Wil Wheaton made a living from convention appearances for a time, many former DOCTOR WHO and STAR TREK actors do the same.

DOCTOR WHO actor Sylvester McCoy remarked that when he was cast as the Seventh Doctor, he didn't realize that this moderately well-paying and brief job would also come with a pension -- by pension, he means the convention appearances (and audioplays).

In Wil Wheaton's biography, he describes how, as a young teenager, he attended a STAR TREK cruise and saw some of THE ORIGINAL SERIES cast greeting fans in the morning, all clearly hungover or drunk, and Wil details how, as a boy, he thought those actors were such pathetic losers: they were wasted in the morning, they were trading on work that was decades in the past to earn money now, and Wil decided to quit STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION before he ended up like them.

Wil then writes that as an adult, he is ashamed of his thoughts and choices: he says that he now feels it is not a big deal to enjoy alcohol on what is really a paid vacation; that those actors were probably very happy to keep revisiting their time aboard the USS Enterprise and earning a decent living; that he should have been more grateful for his TREK opportunities and stuck with the show to build up some savings for the post-TREK future.

Also, he too as an adult was trying to earn a living off conventions, having steered into the very fate he sought to avoid -- and worse, he wasn't earning any income from conventions as not many wanted his autograph (at least not until his writing career took off).

I don't think Jerry is as caustic as Wil, but the main thing to take away from Wil's thoughts is this: conventions are a way for actors to earn money between acting roles or after an acting career has ceased to produce any new acting credits.

Jerry O'Connell isn't a big star who is above conventions, but because he worked so much as a lead on so many shows, he has a level of income from residuals and new & well-paid roles that mean convention-income isn't as central for him as it is for others. As a result, he may prefer to devote the time he might have for conventions to his family and especially his children.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Excellect points ireactions.  But also doesn't completely explain why jerry has been known to go to these conventions as a 'civilian' while his wife is a vip.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Jerry enjoys science fiction, but I imagine he's mostly there to be with his wife after she's done her panels and signed her photos.

My image of Jerry from the 1990s and from Melissa Joan Hart's autobiography is that Jerry was a philanderer, so it's really weird for me to say this now, but Jerry O'Connell is head over heels in love with Rebecca Romijn. But also: he's at the cons for leisure, not for work.

Re: Reboots: The Return of Sliders (?), Quantum Leap, and Other Properties

Jerry is kind of a goofball, which is part of it.  When I mentioned to Rebecca that he'd be a hit at conventions, she just laughed hard, and said, "I don't even think he has an agent!"  It's not that important to him, I guess, and trust me the man has ZERO insecurity about meeting fans all day.  Quite the opposite, as he is a long-time talk show and game show host.  What I do find odd is that he promotes a lot of stuff, which I think he might be involved in (comics on tour), and his own jobs, all over social media.  Appearing at conventions is often a pretty good way to promote your own stuff too.  I mean, he was at Star Trek Las Vegas (the big con) with Rebecca, but he's a main cast member on Lower Decks, but really didn't participate in the programming for that.  Odd.

Anywho, I was happy to see he got a few minutes to catch up with Rhys-Davies, if anything.  I do not expect anything Sliders-related to come from that, of course.