Today, we see how the latest episode of Quantum Leap made a fun Stargate reference.
In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack’s term) “meta-messages.” A meta-message is where a creator comments on/references the work of another creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their work. Each time around, I’ll give you the context behind one such “meta-message.”
A way sooner return to Meta-Messages than I intended!
SPOILERS FOR THIS WEEK’S QUANTUM LEAP EPISODE, “LEAP. DIE. REPEAT.”
In this week’s Quantum Leap episode, “Leap. Die. Repeat,” Ben Song leaped into a temporary time loop, where he leaped into a a Colonel visiting nuclear reactor test facility right before an explosion wiped it out. He then leaped into the bodies of the four other people present at the time of the explosion. If he couldn’t stop the explosion before dying in the body of each of the five people present, he would die for good.
In any event, the head scientist at the facility was played by the great Robert Picardo, and his character was named Edwin Woolsey. As it turned out, he had sold out to the government and agreed to turn the facility that he intended to use for clean, reliable energy to instead be used to make nuclear weapons. His idealistic assistant chose to destroy the facility rather than let that happen. Ben stops him, though.
Fans of the Stargate universe of shows might recall that Picardo played a character on both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis called Richard P. Woolsey…
Martin Gero was a Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis (and Stargate: Universe) writer and executive producer, and he is currently the Quantum Leap showrunner, so it is nice to not only see him bring in a number of Stargate actor alums in recent episodes of Quantum Leap, but to go a step further with Picardo’s character’s name.
Does this perhaps tie the Quantum Leap universe to the Stargate universe? That’d be fun!
Thanks to reader Chuck S. for the suggestion! If anyone else has a suggestion for future Meta-Messages, drop me a line at my brand-new, much easier to type out, e-mail address of brian@poprefs.com!
The language in that episode really annoyed me. “Weapons of mass destruction” wasn’t how anyone in 1962 talked about nukes. And the scientist would have called himself an egghead or a square, not a geek — back then geeks were the weirdos in carnie sideshows who bit heads of chickens.
Is it a coincidence that a time-loop episode was released so close to Groundhog Day??
I also confused “Eugene” with Malvin from WarGames, because the actor that played Eugene in Grease was the actor who played Malvin in WarGames. In either event, the Eugene in this QL episode reminded me of Malvin.