Sci-Fi Comfort Food
Happy Saturday!
We're just over two weeks away from the first day of Spring! It was unseasonably warm in this neck of the woods this week, and even though the warm temperatures came with some rain, it felt nice to go outside in just a light jacket.
This week I've got a deliberately vague review of Quantum Leap, a War of the Worlds poll update, slimy spying stuff, and info about free sci-fi books. (Not just my book this time.)
Quantum Leap 2.0 Season Two
Quantum Leap 2.0 finished its second season last week with a two episode finale. I wrote about how much I enjoyed the first season last year, and the new season didn't disappoint.
The original series stuck to an episodic format with little continuity between stories. This worked for the late 1980's and early '90s, but wouldn't cut it if the new show wanted to expand its audience beyond nostalgia fans.
Last year the new show wove Ben's "missions" helping people in the past into the the events occurring between him and his team in the "present." They did a fantastic job, especially with his relationship with his hologram, who also happened to be his fiancee.
Ben and Addison in Quantum Leap
But another season of that would have made the show feel like an old-fashioned show that refused to alter its status quo. So, in the second season the missions either took a back seat, or instead being woven into the overarching story, became a key part of them. The showrunners knew they had to change things up to keep the show interesting, so they did.
And it worked.
I'm not going to spoil the last two episodes, and I'm not going to get too specific, but if you like surprises, scroll past the spoiler headers, read the rest of the newsletter, and watch the show. It's on NBC.com.
(Watch it even if you don't like surprises.)
Spoiler Warning
This season opens with Ben having been missing for more than two years. Everyone, including his fiancee, have moved on. Then the one person that refused to give up (not his fiancee—awkward!) finally finds him.
Soon after, Ben meets someone on a leap. Then he meets them again and they recognize him, even though he's "in" a different person's body. Ben leaping into this person's life happens several times as if something, or someone, wants them to be together.
I'll admit that at one point I felt that it was getting too much like a soap-opera, but I stuck with it and the pay off was worth it. In addition to benefitting from the more modern format, Quantum Leap is also better off as 13 episode show than the old-school 20+. That would have been too long to keep this story going.
The old show had frequent references to someone ("the big guy," if memory serves) guiding Sam's leaps. This new version is a bit more nebulous (and less sexist), referring to people and events being "entangled."
The pay off at the end of this season is related to that, and it's delightful. Regardless of the why, Ben's entanglement fuels not one, but two paradoxes and ultimately leads to another status quo for season three, assuming that happens.
End Spoiler Warning
I called Quantum Leap "scifi comfort food" last time. It still is. Do yourself a favor and don't read anything else about it. Just binge it on NBC.com.
Enjoy it with some Haagen Dazs.
War of the Worlds Poll Results
The poll is over, and so ae the weekly WOTW emails. (I missed cancelling this week's. Sorry about that.)
You can finish reading it here.
Scumbag Spies
Are you use Avast Antivirus or Privacy protection? If you are, stop. They're selling your browsing data.
One of the downsides of living in the worst timeline is all the spying. Like the facial recognition cameras hidden in vending machines. I don't know about you but Invenda's assurance that the machine only "approximates basic demographic attributes unidentifiably" does not make me feel better.
Free Science Fiction!
One of the big advantages of this platform is tighter integration with BookFunnel, so a lot of my attention has been over there.
Here's a promotion I've joined with a bunch of science fiction authors.
As of the time I'm writing this, the promo has about 40 free ebooks, so it's worth a look!
All you need to do is supply an email address for the book(s) you're interested in. It's not one of those promotions where you end up with folder full of ebooks to sort through. You can download what you're interested in, for free. You'll join an authors email list, but you can unsubscribe any time you wish, so there's no risk.
See you soon!
Refer a subscriber to my list from this link, to get a free ebook copy of Shadows of the Past!
Eric Goebelbecker
Trick of the Tale LLC
25 Veterans Plaza #5276
Bergenfield, NJ 07621-9998