Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Quantum Leap -- Episode 85: Blood Moon


Sam Leaps Into:
Lord Nigel Corrington, an artist and (possible) vampire.

Objective:
Stop his wife from being murdered in a ritualistic ceremony honoring the blood moon.

Date:
3-10-75

Location:
near London, England

Memorable Quote:
Vampires are not merely blood seekers.  They are sexually obsessed, and many of them possess insatiable carnal urges beyond the grave.  Now what does that tell you?  ~Al
It tells me that vampires and holograms have a lot in common. ~Sam

Highlight:
I didn't recognize the actor who played Drake (his name is Ian Buchanan), but he was awesome - great voice and commanding presence.

Lowlight:
Normally Sam only leaps within his own lifetime (a rule which will be broken in a future episode), and it would have made more sense to break the rule here and claim the time period to be the 18th or 19th century because it's hard to imagine people acting and dressing like this in 1975.

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
  • Claudia is played by Deborah Moore who is former 007 Roger Moore's daughter. 
  • Odd and unnecessary scene where one minute Sam is talking to Al in the mansion and then the next minute he's outside opening a grave.
  • Not one of Sam's smarter moves to take the drink that Drake offers him.
  • Nice use of Bach's Toccata and Fugue on the dramatic rooftop scene.
     
Final Analysis:
I'm not into vampire stuff, and you know by now that I'm not a huge fan of "spooky."  That said, I like this one more than I originally thought I would.  It's an interesting departure from your typical Quantum Leap (whatever that is), and Buchanan and Moore played memorable villains. Ranking it 68th out of 85.

2 comments:

  1. Most of this episode was pretty dry. Pretty bad when the highlights from the first 30 minutes of the episode came from Al's usual superstitious buffoonery in any episode that hints at the supernatural, but there were a couple of clever quips there. Most of the episode was as boring to me as "How the Tess was Won", although like that episode they did do a good job with the atmosphere. The actor Ian Buchanan was on "General Hospital" for several years in the 80s and 90s. My mom watched that off and on and I remember him from that...and I agree he was well cast for a vampire-themed show. The last 10 minutes were at least interesting but still didn't do much for me. It was light years better than "Dr. Ruth" but then the same could be said about a hangnail. I'll rank this one near the bottom between "It's a Wonderful Leap" and "Good Night, Dear Heart".

    I'm not a huge fan of vampire stuff but some of it is kind of fun. Curious if you're aware that before Alex O'Loughlin was on "Hawaii Five-O", he was in the one-season CBS vampire drama "Moonlight" which aired 2007-2008. THat was a moderately entertaining vampire show.

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    1. I hadn't heard of Moonlight before -- I like Alex O. but I think I'll pass on that one.

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