July 13th, 1985

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July 13th, 1985
Season	1x1
Episode No.	1
Episode Information
Original Broadcast Date	September 19, 2022
Network	NBC-TV
IMDb	July 13th, 1985
Written by	Steven Lilien Bryan Wynbrandt
Directed by	Thor Freudenthal
Leap Information
Leap Date	July 13th, 1985
Place	Philadelphia, PA
Leapee	Nick Rounder
Chronological Information
Followed by	"Atlantis"

July 13th, 1985 is the first episode of the first season of Quantum Leap, and the first episode of the series overall. It first aired on September 19, 2022.

Summary

A new team assembles to restart the Quantum Leap project. Lead physicist Dr. Ben Song takes an unauthorized leap into 1985 as the team scrambles to figure out what happened and how to get him back.

Synopsis

July 13th, 1985: At a party celebrating his engagement to Addison, Dr. Ben Song receives a series of texts from a mystery woman telling him that their window is closing. Ben rushes to the revived Project Quantum Leap without informing his colleagues and makes an unauthorized leap.

He finds himself in 1985 as "Nick Rounder", sitting in a van with a colleague, Ryan. Addison appears as his hologram, wondering why he leapt; but Ben has lost all his memories: who he is, who Addison is, and why he leapt. Ryan finishes a robbery, Addison gives a very brief summary of who he is, and Ben has to drive the getaway van. Addison helps him evade the police in a car chase, and takes them to Ryan's restaurant, where the rest of the conspirators are waiting.

Addison starts to explain more, but because Ziggy goes offline, she fades out due to an imaging chamber failure. Ian explains that Ben uploaded a lot of new code just before he leapt, which will take time to understand. It might be the solution to their attempts to perform a leap and leap right back. Magic tells the Pentagon that the power surge is just a routine test. Ian then gets the imaging chamber back online.

Addison explains to Ben the basics of leaping, before he discovers the robbery yielded a large crate of C4. The group's leader, Cole, questions Ben's competence based on the way the getaway went. Ryan vouches for him.

Jenn uncovers that on this day in 1985, there was an explosion at the Museum of Modern Art where no one was hurt. Ziggy comes online. Ben discovers that Ryan's restaurant is facing foreclosure, and his wife has a life-threatening illness for which they cannot afford treatment. Addison tells Ben that Ryan is shot dead in the job tonight.

Ben tries to talk Ryan out of participating, but Ryan needs to help his family. They go to a man named Horace to pick up a fake of the Hope Diamond to swap with the real one at the Museum, but he wants to renegotiate the deal. Ben threatens Horace by proving he understands his earlier conversation in Romanian, and that he knows all about Horace's other illegal dealings (provided by Addison).

Jenn recovers some erased security footage, and the mystery woman with a military ring broke into PQL as Ben's accomplice. She offers her resignation but Magic refuses. Ben tries to dissuade Ryan again by saying he'll be shot that night. Cole has discovered that Ben/Nick is actually undercover cop Matt Shaw. They lock him in a store room as a bargaining chip for later.

Magic explains that the Hope Diamond actually was stolen in 1985, but the loss was covered up. Addison tells Ben that in the original timeline, Matt Shaw didn't save Ryan and resigned from the force. She also tells Ben that she was supposed to be the leaper, and Ben the hologram. She helps him escape from the store room. She wants Ben to call 911, but Ben won't because the police will arrest Ryan. He apologizes for the deception he can't remember, but still refuses to take the easy way out of the leap.

Ben goes to the museum to rescue Ryan and break up the robbery. One of the thieves fires a gun to drive the crowd out of the museum and towards the museum. Ben takes the bomb and throws it in a manhole, avoiding casualties. Addison explains that the police arrested the thieves, Ryan cooperated with the authorities to recover the diamond and his community rallies around him, paying for his wife's treatment. Ben thanks Addison for her help, and they share a moment. He leaps, but Ziggy can't find him.

Jenn and Magic use the ring to deducee that Ben's mystery partner is Janis, the daughter of the late Al Calavicci, who was turned down from joining the project. At home, Addison discovers a video message left for her on Ben's phone where Ben states that he is on a mission "bigger than both of them" but promises to return to her as soon as possible.

Note: The episode is dedicated to Dean Stockwell, who played Al in the original series and passed away on November 7, 2021. Both Stockwell and Scott Bakula, who played Sam Beckett, appear in the episode via archive photos.

Cast

Starring Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song Caitlin Bassett as Addison Augustine Mason Alexander Park as Ian Wright Nanrisa Lee as Jenn Chou Ernie Hudson as Herbert "Magic" Williams

Guest Starring Georgina Reilly as Janis Calavicci Michael Malarkey as Cole Michael Welch as Ryan Enajite Esegine as Charlie Dan Istrate as Horace Deborah Pratt as Ziggy Co-Starring Michael J. Craven as Pete Stefanie Brown as Katie Maile Dudeck as Caroline Wil J. Jackson as Police Captain Dax Campbell as Nick Rounder Soomin Chun as Wife Leo Seo as Husband

Trivia

• This is the first episode of Quantum Leap in which neither Scott Bakula nor Dean Stockwell appear, though photos of Sam and Al are featured briefly. The photo of Al is actually taken from the film McHale's Navy in which Stockwell played Captain Wallace B. Binghamton. The original pilot script did include a brief scene that reveals Sam has leapt into a young man in 2022 and is collaborating with Janis Calavicci but the cameo was dropped when Bakula declined to participate.
• Magic was one of the people Sam leaped into, in the episode "The Leap Home, Part II".
• The "Philadelphia Times" newspaper shown on a display panel is fictional, as is The Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art where the heist is supposed to occur.
• July 13, 1985 is the date that Live Aid (multi-venue benefit concert) was held.
• The original pilot script had several alternate endings, including one that would have had Ben leaping into the mysterious highjacker known as D.B. Cooper.
• The movie theater shows a double feature of The Goonies and St. Elmo's Fire. As well as a poster of Mask.

Podcast Recap/Reviews

• Fate's Wide Wheel: A Quantum Leap Podcast - Episode 1x01 - "July 13, 1985"

Gallery

Promotional Images

Promotional Videos

Quantum Leap (NBC) "Los Angeles, 1986" Teaser Promo HD