QUANTUM LEAP Leaps into WonderCon 2023 – Interviews Pt 1 with Ernie Hudson and Deborah Pratt
Date: Saturday, March 25, 2023
Location: WonderCon 2023 – Anaheim, CA
At WonderCon 2023, day two, I spoke with the key cast of NBC’s newly updated QUANTUM LEAP. While many may use the term ‘reboot’ for this iteration, it’s a more modern and highly-tech savvy version fit for what’s happening with the world currently.
The cast in attendance includes Raymond Lee (who plays Ben Song), Caitlin Bassett (Addison Augustine), Mason Alexander Park (Dr. Ian Wright), Nanrisa Lee (Jenn Chu), and Ernie Hudson (Herbert ‘Magic’ Williams).
Along with the cast, executive producers Dean Georgaris and Deborah Pratt joined in on the fun. And if you didn’t know, Pratt was also a co-executive producer and writer on the original series of Quantum Leap which starred Scott Bakula. The press room preceded the panel, so it was very interesting to hear many of the questions asked during the roundtable interviews being addressed during the panel discussion in front of a live and energetic audience in the arena.
The first round of interviews are with actor Ernie Hudson, whose character ‘Magic’ was featured in the original 1989 series, and Executive Producer Deborah Pratt. Please see the video below and the full transcription is included.
QUANTUM LEAP – WonderCon 2023 – Pt 1 with Ernie Hudson, Deborah Pratt
Quantum Leap – Ernie Hudson and Deborah Pratt Interview – video transcription:
– OTHER OUTLET 1 – I think I’m in the same demographic as a whole bunch of people who are experiencing a lot of retro fatigue, as I’m calling it. So what would be your encouragement for people to check out quantum Leap who are so tired of like the reboot of the sequels and all the stuff from?
ERNIE: Since you’re all of it.
DEBORAH: Quantum Leap took a long time to come back, took a long time to come back for a reason; most of the time, I don’t understand, but the truth is the show is always about hope and it’s always about people and the fact that we experience universal stories all the time, and the keyword again, being hope.
There’s a lot of heart in the show we get through history; so it’s a really good, great family show to sit with your parents and your grandparents and your grandkids, and sit and talk about what happened in, you know, these various periods of time.
But again, we live in a time where there’s little hope and Quantum Leap brings that back. And we find that people that watch the show are moved by it, inspired by it [overlap] and that’s really exciting time to be in.
– OTHER OUTLET 1 – That’s a beautiful answer –
– OTHER OUTLET 2 – One more question for Deborah. I mean, what, since you were on both shows, what did Scott Bakula bring to the table and what does Raymond Lee bring to the table for their respective shows? –
DEBORAH: Both of them are amazingly universal characters. I mean, they’re every man in the sense that, and every woman when they get to leap into a woman, when they’re so graced and blessed to have that opportunity.
Um, Scott brought a…You know, it’s really funny because both of them have that same gift, they both have this honesty about who they are; they can translate from funny to drama to something dynamically important that you take you into fear.
So, they’re emotional wealth and wellspring of talent, I think really brings something to Quantum that has to be there, and both Scott and Raymond have that uniqueness.
You know, I think it’s just… the shows are different in the sense that there’s a love story in and this one; Scott got to fall in love rarely, um, but I wrote a couple of those episodes where he did and it was, I think, really important and…
We just got really lucky with incredibly talented people and now we’ve got… we can come to the present with with what’s happening, we couldn’t afford to do that on the original show but we can do that here.
And we’ve brought Magic back and that was a huge thing to bring that connection. We’ve got Ziggy, you know, so there’s there are enough elements so that if you saw the original show you felt like you were coming home; if you if you haven’t seen the original show, you feel like you’re on a new adventure.
– YEC/JUDY: And I wanted to say, um, in bringing back Magic, I love the episode where they incorporated how Scott had, you know, jumped into his body during the Vietnam War and did all these things; and I love that, you know, you’re incorporating a little bit of the previous show, the predecessor, into the new one; but I love the newer arc of this series.
It’s a little bit, not darker, but it’s a little edgier and it has a lot more relevant storylines, you know, that are being addressed.
What can you talk…say about the the upcoming episodes that are going to be addressing, especially since the finales coming up, yeah. —
DEBORAH and ERNIE: You want to lead into this? No, you’re right here. [overlap] You’re, you’re, you’re kind of…
YEC/JUDY: Yeah, because Magic on the back end, he’s doing a lot of back work. [overlap]
ERNIE: Yeah, and, you know, for me, because I love Quantum Leap the original show; me and my son, me and my kids would watch it. And it’s universal, you know, thing that you can share with your family, your kids, your parents, friends, whatever.
It’s like it… it just has that that appeal and Magic, you know, his whole life was basically, his life was saved you know, by what what Sam did…and um, and so as he moves forward, it’s so important for him to get this running and to make it work and because he knows how powerful it is to make it happen.
But of course, he has his issues with, I mean it, it didn’t go, this didn’t happen without it having a huge impact on him, some positive and some not so positive in his life.
And I loved the show because we get to see that and as we get deeper into it, the characters are revealing themselves, so it’s not just about the leaps; even though it’s the center of it; it’s also about where we are now, and I think it comments a lot on society and how we’re impacted.
The things that I enjoy the most is when they’re character driven, we get to you know, we’re all in this and I think it reflects the diversity of where we are now as a society, but um, but there’s a lot going on.
I think the show really, really addressing that in a way kind of uniquely, in a way that nobody else is really doing, not sure if that answers the question, but I had to keep talking while she was looking at me…. [overlap]
YEC/JUDY: No, that was great. Thank you. –
– OTHER OUTLET 3 – I was a huge Quantum Leap fan. Growing up, it was must-see TV with my dad and my brothers and so I love that the new version of it does have a connectivity with characters like your yours to the original mythology of the series.
What would you tell fans of the original who haven’t given the new version of the show a look yet, what would you tell them are the reasons that they should jump in? –
ERNIE: Well, I think it’s the show really you know, it’s just, it’s exciting but it’s there’s, it’s a rollercoaster ride. I mean it’s there’s a lot going on and it moves, it’s fun to watch.
But also I think it gives us a lot to process and to think about when we look at different periods, we think it’s all the same but when you really go back ten years, 20 years, 30 years, things have changed a lot and we don’t always realize how it’s impacted us and the show gives us a chance to do that.
And the whole thing of walking in someone else’s shoes, too, you know, I mean, I love when he leaps, it’s not just leaping into guys, it’s… he leaps…it’s all over the place.
And so that that thing that ties us all together, male, female…
DEBORAH: Humanity…
ERNIE: Humanity…it’s very much and you asked about the difference between… Raymond Lee has…
When I was asked to do the show, and I met Raymond, I knew the show was it’s going to be a success because he has that quality about him that he’s just [unitelligible] you know.
I don’t want to say empathetic, but I could see him…he brings that to it and it’s just… and I think it’s what the show does he sort of personifies that like… Yeah, it’s, yeah, I think it’s just right now there’s so much going on, I’m sort of burnout on a lot of the going to war. You know, there’s sort of a drum roll around the country right now and I feel like at any moment somebody gonna do something really stupid. But this sort of reminds us that there’s hope and there’s possibility that we can make other choices.
DEBORAH: And I think it also brings up something that has been lost, which is our ability to communicate with each other so that there’s not an instant I judge you. There’s really, oh, I didn’t think about this side of the story, what it was like for someone over here.
Wow. I want to talk to somebody about how that feels. That’s never happened to me.
I get to see what it feels like for someone who was not a person of color, not a woman, you know, not a trans, not all those various characters that that Ben is leaping into and it brings up the old school water cooler conversation. We need to all be happy about everything so we don’t judge each other, we just listen.
And I think if this show can elevate us to that, we can do a lot of lot of good entertainment and we can do a lot of lot of good.
– OUTLET 2- How painful of a hiatus are we going to have like that, that end of the finale, are fans going to be like, well, we need season 2 right now. –
DEBORAH: Oh yeah.
ERNIE: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think I’m, I mean, I’m on the show and I’m excited about it. And I think the finale is um, yes, great launching for moving forward and it unfolds in ways that even I; you know I I get the scripts and I’m sort of discovering and you know so it’s, yeah, but I think you know the thing, going back to the judgment thing, I think we, a lot of times I know I’m so quick to think I know and um, and it does open up that, like, you know, there’s things happening with you that I really may not consider just sitting across from you that uh…
So, this new season’s really, really exciting. It’s certainly for Magic. I’m like, I’m, you know.
DEBORAH: Yeah, Magic’s got some good stuff. OK, in season two so you gotta tune back in once you get through season one…
– OUTLET 1 – I think they’re gonna wanna drag you out. Thank you.
– OUTLET 2 – Thank you.
– OUTLET 3 – Thank you.
– YEC/JUDY – Thank you so much.
—- END —
Tune in for the QUANTUM LEAP season one finale on Monday, April 3, 2023 at 10/9c on NBC and next day Peacock
Follow on Social: @NBC #QuantumLeap and you can follow the Writers at @QuantumWriters
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