***

6:17pm on Friday, December 28, 2001

A man named Andrew posted a message that said the following (some irrelevant parts omitted):

"There is talk of a movie and I think that the studios are listening. Im sure that you'll see a Quantum Leap Movie at a theater near you very soon. I have sources from Don Bellisario's camp that say that the script is coming together and that location and shooting could start as early as Feb 2002. So, be on the lookout for the movie."

***

11:41pm on Sunday, December 30, 2001

Andrew replied to my message asking for proof that this rumor was fact. He said:

"Yes, according to Don Bellisario there are things being worked out and locations and shooting should start soon."

***

6:03pm on Monday, December 31, 2001

In reply to an inquiry about when the official announcement would come, Andrew wrote:

"From what Don said, the official announcement could come as early as the end of January.  That is if there are no kinks in the project."

~~~Note from Webmistress: Adding to the rumor is the fact that Scott Bakula is not listed to attend ANY Star Trek conventions that are currently being planned for the next few months.

There is one convention in particular taking place in Pasadena at the end of March for which five of the seven cast members are listed for attending. Scott is one of the cast not attending.

This might possibly mean that Scott has freed up his time for working on a Quantum Leap movie. This is just speculation, but it could very well be true.~~~

***

Thursday, January 3, 2002

I received the following e-mail from my good friend Dermot (AKA Ziggy_the_Ego), the Webmaster of the Quantum Leaping website:

"I have just heard the news. Scott Bakula went to Paramount Studios with the idea of reviving Quantum Leap. The name they were toying with was Quantum Leap - The New Generation. It was still to star Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Paramount was very interested in the idea, but first they had an idea they wanted to run by Scott. How would he feel about being the first Captain in the new Star Trek Presquel series? This is why Scott took so long to come to his decision. Quantum Leap or Star Trek. In the end Star Trek win.

Paramount also stated if Scott Bakula so wished the Quantum Leap revival could be shelf for a short while and Scott could film it inbetween Star Treks. This offer still stands.

Here is the links I found for it :
http://www.trektoday.com/news/030102_05.shtml
and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,626886,00.html

Read this and PLEASE get back to me as to what we should do now.

Please forward this to other Leapers on your list. We must act now!

Leap On!

===================================================================== =
Website  : http://zap.to/quantumleap
ICQ No   : 69661033
AOL IM   : ZiggytheEgo
Yahoo IM : ziggy_the_ego
=============================================================== ======="

***

Everyone became extremely excited at the news Dermot had found. Could it possibly be? Could there still be hope for a "Quantum Leap" revival in the near future? We Leapers danced for joy and celebrated. This may just be our big break!!!

But then it happened. TV Guide decided to find out from Donald Bellisario himself if the movie rumors circulating the 'Net had any truth to them...

***

Tuesday, January 8, 2002

TV Guide Online posts an article discussing the "Quantum Leap" rumors. This article also included quotes from an interview they held with Donald Bellisario about the possibility that "Quantum Leap" would be revived soon. Bellisario answered by saying, "In the back of my mind I had always hoped that I could get that one going again somehow, [but] Universal, who truly owns the rights to it, has never shown an interest."

You can read the entire article by going here:

"Another Quantum Leap?"

***

Of course, our hopes were shattered. That article was as much confirmation as we needed to know the rumors were not true. I became extremely angry at being duped. I posted the link to the article, but decided not to say anything further. I decided to wait it out and see what others would say...

***

5:53pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2002

Andrew posted the following message in reply to my posting the link to the article:

"Don't worry Joy, Im sure that it will happen even if Universal is being a butt about it believe me, they can do anything believe me. Just give it time."

6:56pm

I posted a really terse reply to Andrew... I was angry:

"Yeah, but you made it sound as though Bellisario was working on it right at this moment."

9:31pm

Andrew decided to set me straight and posted a rather long message:

"Yeah well, I don't know where TV guide gets their info but, Bellisario is working on it and its going through litigation now too. So, that's holding things as far as production. I phoned Don about this and he said that He didn't want to widely publicize doing QL because of Universal. But, he did say that he created the series and that he should have the right to make the movie. I think that the judge would agree with him on this and award Don the rights because it was done by Belisarius productions and it should be his baby. Scott tried to do another QL series and tried to make it happen and the reason that it hasn't is because Paramount cant buy the rights from Universal right now. Because if they could Scott's production company would have done it. Don is working on the screen play and stuff like that until the litigation is done. 

Thanks
Andrew [last name edited]"

10:21pm

In response to Andrew's message, my friend Angie stepped into the conversation for the first time, in an attempt to set EVERYONE straight:

"Andrew:

I've stayed out of this so far, because I believe fully in the first amendment, even when it's misused, because once we start making lines in the grass as to what can and can't be said, there's no end.

But I feel obligated to take issue with this. First of all, Mr. Bellisario HAS no rights where Quantum Leap is concerned. He lost all intellectual properties to it the minute he sold the idea to Universal. [this came from a lawyer friend] Second, if such a major deal was in the works, don't you think word would be in such items as Variety, Entertainment Weekly, or Sci Fi Magazine (who is even reporting on the RUMORS of the revived Time Tunnel series)? Such a major undertaking would require not only actors, but screenwriters, production, and other crew. Even with it just being in screenplay [one word] form and Bellisario trying to get the rights back from Universal would show up on the worksheets. 

I also find it odd that with all the projects that Mr. Bellisario has in the fire already, he would have time to try a revival of a show where the main actor (who's
already contracted for a show that has a standing of 5 - 7 years) would be 75% involved in the project. Yeah, a movie could possibly be done during Bakula's
down-time, but even he has admitted in interviews that Quantum Leap had left him with little or no time for anything else due to the structure of the series. 

Like I said, I didn't want to get involved with this. But I remember a time when the rumors of a "Dr. Who" telemovie were flying rampant (hey, at one time,
SPIELBERG was supposed to direct), and the end results were ... let's face, crap. 

As much as I'd like to see a revival as the next person, there are times you have to sit and decide whether it would be better in the long run to just have it as it was.... Hindsight is 20/20, but a telemovie goes direct-to-video...."

***

5:12pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2002

It was after Angie's post that I got completely confused. I didn't know whether to believe a man who only had proof in words or to believe TV Guide, an entertainment magazine that is as legit as they come. So, I posted the following message:

"I automatically want to believe TV Guide, because it's not like they're a tabloid or something. If they say they talked to Bellisario, then I believe that they did. If they quoted him saying there aren't any plans for a Quantum Leap movie, I believe he said it.

But Andrew sounds so certain in what he says. I deep down REALLY want to believe him, simply because it would mean that a revival of Quantum Leap was closer than we thought. But I want to see proof that what he's saying is legit.... What can I say? I'm from Missouri--AKA the SHOW ME STATE.

Please, Andrew, is there ANY way that you can visibly confirm that what you're telling us is true? 'Cause I really, really want to believe you."

***

11:01am on Thursday, January 10, 2002

Andrew replied to my confused post with this thought-provoking (to say the least) message:

"Joy, You have the right to believe what you wish, I'll give you an example of what Im talking about. Last night I watched behind the scenes of the new Star Trek movie on ET but, they have been known to talk about "new" movies coming out for years but, you never saw them! My experience has been the same with TV Guide they tell you certain things and remember that TV guide is written by humans!  That's right, we are all HUMAN and they are going to say certain things that may or may not be legit. As for someone else pointing out that Belisario would get sued by Universal for going ahead with QL in part he was right. But, he cant be sued for writing a screenplay and casting and thats what he's doing so he's not in violation of any laws and if lawyers were to look very closely as to who created the series then they wouldnt have a problem.

Joy, all I can say to you is keep your eyes peeled I think we'll prove all the skeptics wrong!"

2:21pm

Angie replied to Andrew's message with her own set of arguments:

"--- ac30165@a... wrote:
> As for someone else pointing out that Belisario would get sued by Universal for going ahead with QL in part he was right. But, he cant be sued for writing a 
> screenplay and casting and thats what he's doing so he's not in violation of any laws and if lawyers were to look very closely as to who created the series then 
> they wouldnt have a problem. 

Uh, Andrew - yes, he could. Once he sold the rights to QL (remember, this was back in late 80s, early 90s, when writers sold ALL rights), he sold all CREATIVE
rights as well - which means that all Don could feasibly do (outside of rebuying the rights back from them) is a glorified fan-film. They could sue him for breach of contract, if anything else."

***

Needless to say, that ended the entire discussion... There was no more talk about the rumors until....

***

6:14am on Thursday, January 24, 2002

I got a surprising and AWESOME e-mail from Dermot, and I HAD to post the news to ALL the "Quantum Leap" groups. So, I posted the following on the quantumleap group:

"Andrew, my friend, I had begun to doubt you, but no longer. I just got an e-mail from a friend (the same who broke the Guardian interview news), and this time it's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD NEWS coming from TV Guide online!!!!!

Here's the e-mail:

I have just read on TV Guide Online, that Universal have finally come around to the idea of making a new Quantum Leap. They haven't confirmed that they are making a new Quantum Leap, but that they are thinking of it. Now is the time for our letters!!!

Please all who get this email, please reply to let me know you are going to write a letter. Those who get this email as a forward, please email me at webmaster@quantumleaping.com to let me know you are going to write a letter.

I will tally up the number that writes the letters to see what order of impact we can make. I will announce the number that writes letters on my website.

Leap On!
Dermot
aka
Ziggy the Ego

***

Here's the URL for the page he found it on (scroll down... it's under the paragraph about Rudy Giuliani):

http://tvguide.com/newsgossip/inthenews/ <<Note from Webmistress: this page no longer contains the bit of information Dermot found. You can find the URL to the news at the end of this page>>

It says Universal is "exploring" the idea of a reunion TV movie.... So, we still need to send TONS of letters to Universal... I'm talking thousands upon thousands!!!

We WILL Keep the Leap Alive!!!"

***

That's pretty much the last we heard until near the middle of February, but that has been discussed on the main Movie News page.

~~ R. Joy Helvie