Quantum Leap: The Complete Series

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

As any true fan knows, Quantum Leap has had a tumultuous history on home video ever since NBC Universal began releasing seasons on DVD starting in 2004. Not only was much of the original music replaced by generic elevator music, but the episodes were also issued on double-sided discs, which were easily prone to scratches and fingerprints. In 2014, the Quantum Leap: The Complete Series DVD collection was released, this time on single sided discs, but the music omissions remained. In 2017, Mill Creek Entertainment debuted the Quantum Leap: The Complete Series blu-ray collection with the promise that “the vast majority of the original music has been restored.” Having watched all the episodes on this blu-ray release, and also checking with other fan sites, it’s been confirmed that ALL of the music is intact! The final scene of the classic M.I.A. episode now has the “Georgia On My Mind” song reinstated in all its glory. It’s quite telling that a small company like Mill Creek was willing to pay the hefty music licensing fees while a giant corporation like NBC Universal was not. This shouldn’t be too surprising since they also didn’t appreciate the series during its original broadcast run, having almost canceled it after season 3 until a letter writing campaign brought it back for two more seasons.

As far as the technical aspects of the release, the picture is in its original full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio while the audio is in DTS-HD 2.0. There are 18 discs total spanning all 5 seasons of 97 episodes with 2 discs for season 1 and 4 discs for each of the remaining seasons. This collection comes in a cardboard outer slipcover housing five standard sized hard plastic blu-ray cases. Unfortunately, the discs are stacked one on top of the other with 2 discs on each side of the case. It’s a shame that Mill Creek did not go with the standard flip tray cases instead as that is far more convenient when removing discs. The picture quality, while not remastered, is still the best this series has ever looked and is a definite upgrade from the previous DVD releases. There are no bonus features, but having all of the original music back more than makes up for this omission.

While it might sound cliché, Quantum Leap was indeed a show ahead of its time. It was willing to take chances with every aspect of its storytelling while providing heart warming stories with love, humor, tragedy, and more. At the forefront, of course, were the brilliant performances by Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. No other actors could possibly have endeared themselves to the fans as easily and as quickly as these two. In a time when Hollywood seems to be running thin on original ideas, one wonders why this classic series has yet to be revisited in some capacity. Perhaps it’s for the best, since few of these remakes ever manage to capture the splendor of the original. In closing, despite not receiving the V.I.P. treatment of some other big name shows, Mill Creek’s budget-friendly blu-ray release should still appeal to fans wanting to relive these timeless stories.

-S. R.

Pay no attention to those claiming that the transfer to HD for Blu-ray is lousy or inferior in some way. These episodes were transferred from the only copies of these episodes available. And they were authored very professionally. There is astonishing detail here and a wonderful color pallet. And while there is film grain in some shots (and even occasionally entire scenes,) this was caused by the reality of what you see here being the best materials currently available for authoring. These ARE the Universal masters of these episodes. Many people may not believe that, but I confirmed it with both Universal and Mill Creek. Also, the buyer/viewer should be aware that second and even third generation prints often evidence a film grain that was occasionally seen of some TV shows of this era. And this is the case with the Mill Creek Quantum Leap Blu-Ray Set. No amount of remastering will change that. It’s still going to be there. The photographic style chosen on any television show, often produces effects sometimes attributed to a badly mastered image. And while this show does not look as good as CBS’s release of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it is important for you to take note of the vast distance in the style of the cinematography used here, as opposed to the completely different look of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A show photographed mostly with more expensive film grains, as the budget was higher. With Quantum Leap, what you see is termed ‘guerrilla filmmaking.’ i.e. they photographed this show by the seat of their pants, and on slightly cheaper film stock, knowing fully well that the image would never be perfect; but that it would be offset by the a certain artistic integrity. So please keep this in mind when considering your purchase here, because A) this is the best these episodes are ever going to look, and B) they look very, very good. Even magical.

Also, I quickly went through various episodes which are infamous for having music replaced, which completely altered the wonderful mood created with the use of those original songs … and I can report that all of those original songs appear to be in evidence here. Please note: none of the special features from the Universal DVD sets are ported over here. But even without any special features to speak of, this is going to turn out to be one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year. I heartily recommend it. Especially to longtime fans of the show.

– Amazon Customer

I won’t go into too much detail about the show itself as it’s definitely a classic, with strong actors and great writing. This review is more to let others know if it’s worth an upgrade from previous sets. I prefer this set as each season comes in an actual hard case and there are NO flip discs. I hate flip discs and they were the worse thing that ever happened to complete season sets since the thick cardboard flip out cases. So you get neither of those annoying things with this set. So I would suggest the upgrade if for no other reason than they will fit better in your collection and they are all on single sided discs. The episodes are listed inside each of the see-through plastic (standard sized) dvd cases.

– C. Gregory

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell
Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Color, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles: French, Spanish
Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 27
Rated: NR – Not Rated
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: November 4, 2014
Run Time: 4598 minutes