Theorizing that one could time-travel
within his own lifetime,
Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap Accelerator
and vanished.
He woke to find himself trapped in the past,
facing mirror images that were not his own,
and driven by an unknown force
to change history for the better.
His only guide on this journey is Al,
an observer from his own time,
who appears in the form of a hologram
that only Sam can see and hear.
And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life,
striving to put right what once went wrong,
and hoping each time that his next leap
will be the leap home.
Sam, you scared 10 years out of me.
Mom!
Last week on Quantum Leap.
I love you, Dad.
My brother, Tom, comes home for Thanksgiving
before shipping out to Vietnam.
Al, I can save Tom.
Tom?
Ah, hello, little brother.
I don't want to believe you.
I don't want to believe you know the future.
Because if you do, Tom is gonna die.
I don't want my brother to die in Vietnam.
What happened?
Sam told her Tom is going to die.
You are not changing anything.
Your father still dies in '72.
Tom still gets killed in Vietnam.
You are not changing their future, Sam.
All you're doing is making their present miserable.
But why can I save strangers and not the people I love?
Just give me one day.
A day?
April 8.
The day Tom is killed.
Find the deepest hole you can,
and crawl into it for 24 hours.
Oh, what the hell.
You win that basketball game tomorrow, and on April 8
I will crawl into the deepest, thickest, concrete bunker in Vietnam.
Hoo-yah!
Come on, Sam.
Bye, Dad.
My brother! What about my brother, Tom?
I'm sorry, Sam. He's still killed in Vietnam.
Sam!
Hoo-yah!
Tom!
We got him. Checking this one.
Tom?
Damn, Magic!
How'd you know they were there?
Oh, boy.
Yeah, even though I was only three,
it's just as clear as if it happened yesterday.
It was Saturday. I know it was Saturday 'cause
Dad always inspected the battalion on Saturday.
Mmm.
Grimwald. General Max Grimwald was your father?
Oh! Big shoes to fill, Colonel.
Mine are a size and a half bigger.
So, there I was this Saturday
on the reviewing stand with my dad.
The base photographer snapped my picture.
He caught me saluting the colors as they passed in review.
It was so damn cute they put it in the base newspaper.
That was 1938.
25 years later, another 3-year-old did the same thing.
I'll be damned.
Yeah, I know.
It just never seemed fair somehow.
I mean, I did it first, all I got was the base newspaper.
Hell, John-John's salute made the cover of LIFE.
It was unreal.
In the space of a leap, I'd gone from
the depths of despair to the summit of hope.
He was alive.
My brother Tom was still alive
and I was in Vietnam with him.
What?
I'm just glad that we're all alive.
Yeah, thanks to you.
Never seen anything like you, Magic.
I've been in this man's Navy 22 years.
Roger that. 11 missions and all I've had to patch is mosquito bites.
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord and Magic.
I'll be dammed.
Round eye. 12:00.
He's coming to you.
He's down.
Hi, boys.
Hi.
Lt. Beckett?
No, sir, I wouldn't say that.
I'm Beckett, sir.
Where do you think you are, Lieutenant?
Club Med?
Tom, he's drowning.
Who? The water-skier.
He hasn't come up, yet?
No.
It happens.
Not to Blaster.
He skied all the way to Saigon once.
On bare feet.
That's gospel.
Yeah.
This is your fault, ma'am.
My fault?
That's right.
Our pilot banked to see you.
That slacked the rope and wiped Blaster out.
Well, do something, Lieutenant.
Sir.
Go in after him.
Sir, the Mekong's thicker than mud pie.
We can't see six inches underwater.
Well, you're Navy SEALs. Hell, feel around.
Sir, we're five miles from the coast.
The tide's going out. That means there is a seven-knot current.
Eight, sir. Eight-knot current running, sir.
By now Blaster's nowhere near where he wiped out.
In fact, by now, Blaster's probably
right about...
...there.
I'd like a word with you, Lieutenant.
Ahem. Yes, sir.
Chief, let's get these weapons cleaned
and, uh, stand them down.
Aye, aye, sir. Let's move out, boys.
You're Maggie Dawson. Right?
Oh!
In the flesh.
First round of warm beers is on me.
Easy, boys.
I'm going to forget about that little joke,
because you're coming in off a hot mission.
He was in the water the whole time.
What is it, Magic?
Oh, well.
Nothing, I guess.
Like I was saying, I'm going to forget about that joke
because you're coming in off a hot mission,
because we're fraternity brothers.
I wasn't in a fraternity, sir, I went to Annapolis.
I went to West Point.
I like to think of us Academy men
as fraternity brothers. Don't you?
Not during the Army-Navy game, sir.
Yeah, right.
Lieutenant,
I need your help.
I've been escorting Miss Dawson
on an aerial tour of the delta.
Ouch, tough duty, sir.
You'll have a chance to find out for yourself.
How's that?
I've brought you some orders from MACV-SOG. Very special op.
And well,
I promised Miss Dawson, that she could go with you.
Oh.
They told me you had green faces,
webbed feet, and dripped.
Oh, yeah?
This, uh, this gyrene in Saigon told me that you got the biggest,
roundest... Hey... hey!
Sorry, ma'am. He's on his third tour, ma'am.
After three wars and five insurrections, I'm used to it.
I was just going to say
he told me you had the biggest,
roundest camera lens in Vietnam.
That's called a fisheye.
And if you boys are swapping stories about the size of my lenses,
I'm in trouble.
Now, you can't slide the barrel in
unless the cocking handle is cocked.
Oh, boy, combat survival parties. There's nothing like them.
Course we didn't have beer on board ship
and we didn't have anyone that looks like her either.
You know she's got the biggest, roundest...
Camera lens in Vietnam.
No. I know.
Oh, yeah, that... Yeah. Yeah.
Lens, too. Come on.
Magic, where you going?
Uh, well, I figured since we had a visitor, I ought to get a shower.
Shower?
Take a shower.
Hey, I'm going.
Beat you to it!
I already had my shower.
Want a beer?
Uh.
For starters.
Thank you, Lord. Thanks.
You'd think they'd never seen a woman before.
Well, they haven't seen anything like Maggie Dawson,
since they started this tour five months ago.
In December. Tom took a squad to Vietnam in December of '69.
I'm in Tom's squad, Al.
I'm in my brother's squad and he's still alive.
Five months ago?
This is April?
April 7.
Tom was killed on the eighth.
Tomorrow.
Don't wear any underwear.
And don't button the top button of your shorts.
SEALs never wear any underwear
and never button the top button of their shorts.
I'm just telling you, so at least you can look like a SEAL.
Whatever it takes to save my brother's life.
Technically, you're not here to save your brother.
Don't give me that crap, Al.
What, you want me to lie to you
or tell you the truth, so at least you know what you're up against?
Don't forget your gun, you got to wear that.
All right.
You are a signalman second class, Herbert Williams.
But your buddies all call you...
Magic. Why?
Well, because to the squad, you are magic.
Their first month in Nam, everything went wrong.
Missions failed. Casualties were high.
They thought they were jinxed.
And then you joined.
As you stepped off the chopper,
uh, Charlie started to mortar the compound.
Blew up the chopper and everything within 50 meters of it.
Everything, except you.
You didn't even get a scratch.
Then the next day in the jungle,
you tripped a booby trap.
Damn thing didn't even go off.
So, they started calling you Magic.
They think I'm their talisman?
You are. They haven't taken a casualty since you came aboard.
Till tomorrow.
Until tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Dempsey and Shamoo are wounded and, uh,
your brother Tom is killed.
And I'm not here to change that?
According to Ziggy, you're here to see that the mission succeeds.
What's the difference?
Well, some guys get killed on successful missions, Sam.
Not on this mission.
Now, just... just tell me what I have to do.
I don't know.
You don't know?
All Ziggy's come up with so far is a code name
Operation Lazarus and the casualty lists.
Uh, I don't even know the objective.
The SEALs operations were all classified top secret and...
You've got top secret clearance.
And they took place over 25 years ago.
All the battle records are buried in an old Pentagon computer
and Ziggy's having trouble interfacing with it.
It's like trying to get two members of the UN
to talk without a translator.
Well, you tell Ziggy he better interface
'cause I don't give a damn about the mission.
All I care about is my brother, Al.
And if I got to shoot him in the leg
to keep him from going and being killed, I'll do it.
What if he gets killed when the slick taking him
to the hospital to treat his leg wound gets shot down?
Until we know how Tom dies, we won't be able to save him.
Now listen, Lieutenant,
with all the press Maggie can give you,
we're talking about a Presidential citation here.
There might even be a Navy Cross for the Commanding Officer.
Colonel, you can hang a Medal of Honor around my neck,
I still wouldn't take a reporter on a mission.
Especially a female reporter.
If you gotta take one, we're the best kind.
She's got a point.
Well, fortunately, ma'am, I don't gotta take one.
And not even colonels from MACV-SOG can change that.
Lieutenant, I've been on night patrol with the Marines,
in a tank with the Israelis, even flew on a bombing raid over Haiphong.
I can take it.
I will bet you can, but we can't.
This is the SEAL squad, ma'am.
We're so in tune with each other that
when Magic gets gas, I break wind.
Not eloquently put, Lieutenant, but I get the point.
So that I, uh, I don't waste the trip,
can I stick around a few days
and take some pics of you guys in camp?
I don't see why that wouldn't be acceptable.
Good. Where do I bunk?
My place?
Magic.
Fix Miss Dawson a cot in the communications bunker.
Oh, okay.
Aye, aye, sir. Aye, aye, sir.
Communications bunker?
Uh, look for a bunker with a bunch
of whip antennas on the top of it.
Magic, I got a chieu hoi waiting for me by my chopper.
Chieu hoi?
Chieu hoi is a VC guerrilla that joined our side.
Personally, I never trust them.
Yeah, send her in, please.
Unless they're cute.
Her?
Do you repeat everything?
Do I repeat everything?
Magic, are your ears still ringing from that firefight?
Yes, yes, a... a little.
Have Doc check them out.
Okay.
Aye, aye, sir.
Aye, aye... Aye, sir.
I envy you, Lieutenant.
Maggie wants to go on that mission so bad,
she'll make a dog in heat look like a nun.
Oh, boy. What's the mission, Colonel?
It's a beaut.
I wasn't kidding about those citations and medals, either.
MACV-SOG calls it Operation Lazarus.
The target is 10 clicks upriver. Mai Choi.
You send for me, Colonel?
Titi, this is Lt. Beckett.
He'll lead the SEAL team that you take to the village tomorrow.
43, 44,
45, 46, 47...
Tom never talked about what SEALs did off duty.
And after a few hours with Bravo squad, I knew why.
Mom would have had a cow.
You lose, Choo Choo.
Green face not human.
Never bet a thirsty SEAL he can't do something.
That was inspirational.
You think that was something, Miss Dawson,
you should see what Magic can do.
Yeah, Magic's truly inhuman.
Magic double-jointed.
Double-jointed?
There's no such thing as double-jointed, Choo Choo.
You double-jointed? Ask any of my girls.
This is getting interesting.
What is this thing you can do?
Show her, Magic.
Shamoo, you know he can't.
- Why? - It's classified, top secret.
Bet she's got security clearance, don't you?
Signed by Westmoreland, twice.
I guess it'll be all right.
You just do your good morning darlings, first.
Good morning darlings?
Yeah, you know, to stretch his groin muscles.
Okay.
Physiological necessity.
These good morning darlings wouldn't by any chance
be a two man exercise, would they?
You know, they do require two consenting adults.
One of which is a female.
She knows the exercise.
I should. I've had enough practice.
Ziggy bypassed the old Pentagon computer
and went to data fusion with The New York Times library.
That's great. Thanks.
I thought it was rather humorous myself.
He dug up a photo story that Maggie did
on a sapper attack here tonight.
Sappers?
They slipped in from the river around midnight.
They blew up the ammo dump and they get
Deke's helicopter just as it lifts off.
Killed him instantly.
Now wait... wait, before you say anything.
I had Ziggy run some numbers.
There's a 52 percent chance that that's what you're here to do.
To save Col. Deke Grimwald.
But if that's true,
then right after the attack, you're gonna leap out.
And you won't be around tomorrow to save Tom.
Dempsey.
Yeah?
Sappers are coming in from the river at midnight.
Tough decision, kid.
Sappers!
How could he know?
That's why we call him Magic.
I'm gonna make three fake insertions.
I'll make one before and two after I drop your team.
Titi says the road is booby-trapped,
so you're gonna have to use the river,
and the rice paddies when you approach the village.
How long to get there, Titi?
Two, maybe three hour.
Okay. Now, can't we insert any closer?
Maj. Quan most vigilant.
Leave village if he hear American helicopter.
Sir, Magic says sappers are crossing the river.
How the hell does he know that?
Magic's got a sixth sense.
Yeah, you could call me that.
If he says sappers are coming, Colonel, sappers are coming.
All right fire up the Dragon, I'll contact you on TAC 2.
No, sir. I want to set up an ambush.
If they see you flying up, they'll know we're on to them.
Doc, alert the Marines.
Tell them I'm setting up an ambush. Slip into the bunkers.
Chief, set them. Preacher,
take the trench by the communications bunker.
Blaster, cover the north side of the river.
Shamoo, south trench.
With the Lieutenant's permission, I'll man the minigun.
No, I need you on the claymores.
Magic, you man the minigun.
Don't shoot until you hear the claymores blow.
It's showtime.
Aye, aye, sir.
Shh.
Should be coming any minute.
You better turn the battery on, plug it in.
When you fire, shoot in short bursts.
This thing shoots 6,000 rounds a minute.
Too dark for picture.
Honey, this film can get exposure where the sun don't shine.
I can't see a damn thing.
Stand by, south side.
What do you got, Chief?
Damn.
Round eyes.
If she tries to leave again, shoot.
They should hit any sec.
That's what you said two minutes ago.
I'm telling you, there's nothing out there
except Magic's imagination.
Hoo-Yah!
I can't believe it,
you saved that ungrateful nozzle's life and he mocks you.
Who cares, Al? I'm still here.
I changed history and I didn't leap.
You did change history.
But I'm dammed if I know how you did it.
Well, maybe the sappers saw us and... and they called off the attack.
It's too dark for them to see you. It had to be something else.
What difference does it make? We did it.
If we can save Deke, we can save Tom.
Thank God!
Tell Madame Diem to lighten up.
Is over?
Is over.
I'll bet you a month's per diem,
she would have shot me if I tried to leave.
No bet.
Uh,
listen, I'll... I'll only be a minute.
Uh, Tom, the lieutenant asked me to
secure the radio net. So I gotta...
There's nothing to it, Sam.
SEAL One is monitoring a tactical frequency on that transmitter.
So you just call them up, and... and you say
you're securing from battle stations.
SEAL One this...
Bravo.
This is Bravo. Over.
I hope my getting ready for bed
doesn't bother you.
Uh, no, no, no, not at all.
Ahem.
Ha-ha, no, no, no, I don't think so.
SEAL One, this is Bravo. Over.
Oh, wow!
Al. Huh?
Al?
Uh, yeah, it's a code name,
um, and they don't seem to be answering to it.
Huh?
They don't?
Let me see. 47.30. That doesn't seem right.
Try 41.15.
Oh, shoot!
She put her jammies on.
SEAL One this is Bravo. Over.
Bravo, SEAL One. What's shaking, baby?
Those sappers hit?
Uh, no. Uh, negative.
Um, we're securing from battle stations.
Sleep tight and don't let Charlie bite.
SEAL One, out.
Okay, over, out.
Here.
To those poor, magnificent bastards you're going after.
I don't follow you.
The Air Cav earache.
He must have told her the mission.
The guy deserves to be court-martialed.
Col. Grimwald brief you on tomorrow's mission?
Mr. West Point? No way.
It was someone higher up.
But how I got the info isn't important.
What I do with it is.
I'm a photojournalist, Magic.
A damn good one.
And there's not a good journalist
who wouldn't sell their soul for a Pulitzer.
Since your mission tomorrow is Pulitzer material,
I want you to tell your Lt. Beckett
that you've got that magic feeling about me.
You think you'll bring us luck on the mission?
Uh-huh.
In exchange for what?
Your soul?
Not just my soul, baby.
Ah,
woman, you're picking the wrong man.
What do you say?
Deal.
Sam, I am the one who thinks with his glands. Not you.
Why... How'd you get the info on the sappers?
Uh, how'd I get... Well, it was... it was very simple.
Uh, Maggie filed a story in the newspaper.
So Maggie goes on this mission, she's gonna do a story
and then Ziggy can pull it out of the newspaper files.
Hey, that's brilliant, Sam. That's brilliant.
It's stupid. It's really stupid.
I thought you were smarter than that, Magic.
I swear to you, Tom. Maggie is vital
to the success of this mission.
I can't explain how I know. I just do.
You sound like my brother.
I do?
He gets these feelings about the future.
When I was home last Thanksgiving,
he scared the hell out of my folks.
Kept telling us that I was going to die over here
on April 8.
Made me promise to crawl into the deepest, darkest hole I could find
until that day was over.
Today is, um,
April 8.
I know.
But, any hole around here over three feet deep fills with water.
You know, you made a promise.
Don't you think you ought to try and keep it?
I got a mission to lead.
Now, are you sure about Maggie?
I'd stake my life on it.
Good, because that's what you'll be doing.
Staking your life on it, Magic, and ours.
Once we were in the air, I expected history to change.
For Al to appear with Maggie's story on the mission
so I'd know how to make it a success and save Tom.
But we'd made the fake insertion
and there was still no sign of Al.
I was starting to sweat and it wasn't the humidity.
We're coming up on the LZ. One minute.
One minute. Last time.
Preacher and I go for Maj. Quan's hooch.
Take out his bodyguards and capture him alive if possible.
If not, praise the Lord and...
Blaster and I neutralize the guards at the target hooch.
Magic and I cover the rear and call in the 7th Cavalry if needed.
Roger.
And you, Miss Dawson, are free to cover
this mission any way you see fit,
as long as you do not leave the chopper.
Aye, aye, sir.
Skipper, don't you think it's about time you told us what's in that hooch?
I've kind of been saving that.
Yeah, we noticed.
Two, maybe three American POWs.
All right.
I told you it was Pulitzer material.
But not for her.
POWs, Al.
Who do not get rescued.
What went wrong?
We still don't know.
Find Maggie's story?
She never filed it.
She was killed on this mission.
It was happening again.
But not like it did the first time.
Then only Tom was killed.
Now, Maggie was joining him and only God knew how many others.
Maybe everyone on the chopper.
Maybe I'd killed them all.
I know you want to scream.
I know you want to tell Tom to call off the mission.
But he's not gonna do it.
Even if he believed you, he's gonna push on.
He'll get Doc to sedate you and he'll leave you behind.
You don't want that to happen, do you?
Just remember you've got an ace in the hole.
Me.
All right. Move out. Come on.
Move!
LZ 3 coming up in one minute.
Colonel, does this bird have a potty?
We just go out the door, Maggie.
Yeah, well, I'm not equipped to do that.
Uh, how about a minute on the ground at this next LZ?
I can't do that.
Come on, Colonel.
Where's your sense of chivalry?
I gotta go and I sure as hell don't want
to do it in front of these kids back here.
I can't believe I'm doing this.
MK-26s.
Must have stolen from the ARVNs.
Or bought it.
Sappers, sir.
Probably going out on a mission.
Take the weapons. Leave the rest.
- You know her? - No.
We gotta make that next insertion, Colonel.
Maggie!
Damn! She ain't coming, Colonel.
She ain't coming.
Village close.
Magic. Doc.
Deploy here.
Tom.
What?
This is stupid, Maggie. Stupid.
But it's how you win a Pulitzer.
Sam! I found the POWs.
The VC are leading them down a trail right over there.
Al, look at this.
Sam, there's only two guards. You and Doc can free them.
This radio is tuned to 47.30.
That's the same frequency the radio
in the bunker was tuned to last night.
We took this radio off the sappers, Al.
47.30 is the frequency they were using.
The chieu hoi.
She must have radioed them right after Maggie left the bunker.
She's leading them straight into an ambush.
I got to go warn Tom.
You'll never catch him in time.
You've flipped Magic, I'm going to sedate you.
Al, help me.
Get off my back, Charlie.
We're gonna cut a booby trap.
No, we won't.
Trap! One right there.
I've got a sixth sense.
Village.
Taking this road got us here ahead
of the squad, but not by much.
Charlie's laying for them on this side of the river and in the village.
So you better get on the horn to Col. Custer
'cause we're gonna need the cavalry.
What'll I say?
Help!
Hoo-Yah!
Ambush! Ambush! Pull back! Pull back!
Get down.
Ugh.
She was going to kill you.
Booby trap, Sam. Step over.
Come on, Magic.
Magic! Maggie, no!
Maggie, stop!
Pulitzer.
She can see me.
You didn't kill her, Magic.
She sure as hell didn't die the first time April 8, 1970 rolled around.
What are you talking about?
No, but Tom did.
Well, there it is, isn't it?
I traded a life for a life.
You are one weird dude, Magic.
I was the one that led you back to save your brother.
So if anyone's responsible, it's me.
48,
49,
50!
51!
That one's for you, Maggie.
Can a soldier get a drink around here?
Maggie's last photographs.
Preacher, give me a beer.
She was one hell of a photographer.
She was one hell of a woman.
And I killed her.
No, I did.
Oh, stop it, both of you.
What did she say to you that time in the bunker?
She said she'd sell her soul for a Pulitzer.
Not just her soul.
Yeah, well, I wish she'd got it.
She did.
What?
The Pulitzer.
I wish she'd won the Pulitzer Prize.
She did, for her last photograph.
What the hell, I get repatriated in five years.
You could have been free.
I was free.
Up here, I was always free.
Hey, hey, it's midnight.
It's April 9 and I'm still alive.
Thanks to you, little brother.
Oh, boy.