From extremely silly dialogue to improbable plot twists, this remake of the 90s time-travel classic has a pointless feel to it. But it’s still a highly entertaining exercise in nostalgia
The great reboot train chugs on to the next station, picking up the most unlikely passengers on the way. Now that Gladiators and even Byker Grove are coming, the only show from the 90s that had not yet been remade was, seemingly, Quantum Leap. But here it is, with a new cast and a new-ish premise, although the concept remains the same: time travel is possible; and one man can “leap” into the bodies of other people, tasked with righting a grave wrong before he can jump into the body of someone else.
The original series, which ran from 1989 to 1993, ended with the first leaper, Dr Sam Beckett (played by Scott Bakula; to my shame, I have only just realised his name must be a nod to Samuel Beckett) going missing in time and space. Now, the original Quantum Leap programme has been abandoned. Yet the brilliant Dr Ben Song (Top Gun: Maverick’s Raymond Lee) has been working away in secret to revive it. Our new intrepid physicist-explorer is, apparently, more of a “punching out code in a T-shirt guy” than an action hero, but this Quantum Leap teases the action side out of him from the off.
