Sam leaps into a young Elvis Presley, on the brink of his big break. He finds he has to help a young would-be singer Sue Anne Winters pursue her dream and avoid an abusive marriage, all while avoiding anything that would jeopardize Elvis’ musical career.
Written by Robin Bernheim. Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
Previous Episode: The Leap Between the States • Next Episode: Mirror Image
Comments:
I’ve had a bit of a negative view about this later “format stretching” episodes of Quantum Leap–the Marilyn Monroe one, the Civil War, and this Elvis Presley one. Having all of these come out in such quick succession feels like the producers are starting to struggle–either desperate for ratings or just out of ideas. For all I know this might have been true (the show was cancelled shortly afterwards, after all). But all three of those have been good, while the last “standard” episode (The Beast Within) does not hold up nearly as well.
Memphis Melody doesn’t have the depth of Goodbye Norma Jean, which really pushed into the humanity and pain of its celebrity guest character, but it is a whole lot of fun, and given that all that’s left is the much more serious (and divisive) series finale, it makes for a good story to give our heroes one last rollicking good time, which are anchored largely by some solid musical performances from Scott Bakula and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.
Sam’s “main” mission to help out Sue Anne works well enough, but it gets pretty sidelined for what is obviously the real reason for the episode–to give Sam a chance to let it rip as Elvis. Scott Bakula does a great job with these scenes, so that as goofy as his final impromptu concert in the diner is (complete with musicians ready to jump in and accompany him), you can’t help but to get swept up in energy of it all. It helps to make up for some of the weaknesses in the episode–such as Sue Anne’s inconsistent characterization, some oddities in pacing and the overuse of a dialogue motif about dreaming and reaching for the stars (see below).
On the whole, Memphis Melody is not a deep episode, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one.
Cast Notes:
• Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Sue Anne Winters) is a prolific voice-over artist, having just loads of credits as a voice actor and a voice director to her name.
• Gregory Itzin (Sam Phillips) appeared in an episode of Max Headroom (Dieties). He was also in a bunch of Star Trek episodes as different characters–a couple of episodes of Deep Space Nine (Dax & Who Mourns for Morn?), an episode of Voyager (Critical Care) and a couple of episodes of Enterprise (Shadows of P’Jem and In a Mirror Darkly, Part II). But I remember him best as the weak-willed and later-revealed-to-be-villainous Charles Logan in 24.
• Bob Harks (Violin Player) has got hundreds and hundreds of credits on IMDb (including all three episodes of V The Final Battle), nearly all of them uncredited, including this one. Maybe the only one that he is credited for is as a university dean in Forrest Gump.
• John Boyd West plays his own father, Red West, a character he also played in a 2005 miniseries called Elvis.
• Michael St. Gerard (Elvis Presley) has played Elvis before, including 1989’s Great Balls of Fire, 1989’s Heart of Dixie, and a 1990 TV series called Elvis (different from the miniseries mentioned above)
Who and Where is Dr. Sam Beckett?
Sam is Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee, from June 3-5, 1954.
What does Sam have to do?
Sam has to help Sue Anne Winters overcome her stage fright and chase her dream of becoming a singer, while also helping her to avoid a terrible marriage. As the leap continues, it also comes to include making sure that Elvis Presley goes on to have the singing career that Sam and Al know he is supposed to have.
What do we learn about Sam Beckett?
Sam seems to have loved Elvis Presley music. He programmed all his hits into Ziggy, knows them backwards and forwards, and would sing them for days in a row. He doesn’t remember all the songs on this leap, with his Swiss cheese memory, but he does know Amazing Grace, Dixie, Jingle Bells, Blue Christmas, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Will the Circle be Unbroken, That’s All Right Mama and Baby, Let’s Play House. Unfortunately he doesn’t remember My Happiness or That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.
What do we know about Al?
Al looks lovingly at apple pie, and knows that it is also Elvis’ favorite.
What about the experiment?
All of Elvis’ hits are programmed into Ziggy.
Ziggy is working at a diminished capacity on this leap, because she’s star-struck at the presence of Elvis!
Al at one point tells Sam he has helped with Sue Anne, but he still hasn’t leapt because he’s now got to help Elvis. But at that point, he hadn’t helped Sue Anne, at least not in any meaningful way.
“Driven by an unknown force…” (God or Time or Something)
There’s no reference to this, though there is a bit where Sam equates either Al or Ziggy with “the good Lord”, just by way of explanation of how he knows things about the future.
“Oh Boy”
The catchphrase is heard in its usual place, at the start of the episode when Sam realizes who he is, and at the end as Sam looks into a mirror to see his own face (in the teaser for the next episode). But it’s also heard a couple of times said by Al as he stresses out over Sam’s bad lacklustre performance at the talent show.
Sam’s Complicated Love Life
Sue Anne kisses Sam as Elvis, though it’s not clear how seriously attracted she is to him (she could just be swept up in the moment). But Sam does consider whether he should arrange things for Elvis to marry her instead of Priscilla Presley.
The Many Loves of Al Calavicci
Nothing is mentioned in this one.
Other Observations
• Right near the start of the story, someone says something about being “all shook up.” I realized we were going to be in for a whole bunch of Elvis Presley-references in this episode, but luckily I don’t really know Elvis very well so I’m sure I didn’t recognise most of them.
• Red has a funny line near the start: “Well, we gotta get out there and… comb that hair. It looks like a chicken scratched in it.”
• Funny moment when Sam swaps from talking to Al to pretending that he’s warming up.
• There’s a nice exchange between Sue Anne and Sam about dreaming. “Look, everybody should be a dreamer. You gotta reach for the stars, not for the ceiling,” says Sam. Sue Anne replies, “But the ceiling keeps you outta the rain.” But then they keep calling back to it, as I mentioned above. The first time is still okay: Sam tells Sue Anne that she has a lot of talent. She says, “Well, then the good Lord must’ve been smilin’ down on me,” and Sam says, “You must’ve been reachin’ for the stars, ’cause I don’t think he could see you through the ceiling.” But after that the idea repeats another time or two and it becomes tiresome.
• We learn that the real Elvis is giving a private concert for Al and the others back at the project–standing room only! Does that mean that to everybody else, it looks and sounds like Sam is singing?
• The whole recording session is pretty funny, and include some of Sam’s most awkward attempts to hide the fact that he’s talking to Al
• “Little Billy C” from Arkansas is playing the sax at the talent show. This is supposed to be a young Bill Clinton, apparently. He was president of the United States at the time the episode aired, and would have been not quite eight years old at the time the episode takes place.
• When Sam goes to rescue Sue Anne on stage, it’s another good performance, and Sam for the first time starts to sound something like Elvis.
• Sam struggles in his fight with Frank, which is one of the only times we’ve seen him really challenged in this way.
• Elvis’ mother has a good line which I assumed was an “Elvis reference”, but in researching it I can’t find any connection. When Sam says he’ll find a job, she replies, Doin’ what? Sweepin’ sunshine off the sidewalk?”
• One of the cuter bits where Al is having trouble getting clear information from his handlink. “He’s at a dinner having diner.”
• I like Mr. Phillips’ replay to Sam telling him that he’s Elvis Presley. “Well, that and a nickel’ll get you a phone call.”
• Frank shows a surprising amount of nuance at the end of the episode. “What I see…is a fine young lady who wants somethin’ from life that I can’t give her. Maybe some man can, but I can’t.” And then he actually apologizes to Sam!
Sam Leaps To
Mirror Image
Favorite Dialogue
My favorite line is probably the goofy revelation of what the world turns out like when Sam ruins Elvis’ chance of being discovered, as shared by Dean Stockwell as Al:
Well, Ziggy says now Elvis doesn’t even get discovered. And Heartbreak Hotel is recorded by the Monkees….And Jailhouse Rock is recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Gag me with a spoon.
It’s silly but fits the episode really well.
Special thanks, by the way, to this site for the episode transcriptions.
The Best Moment
Undoubtedly it’s the climactic performance of Baby, Let’s Play House in the diner at the end, with all the dancing on the counter-top and spinning on the barstool. Really so much fun.
Previous Episode: The Leap Between the States • Next Episode: Mirror Image
