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David McK (3425 KP) rated Quantum Leap: Too Close for Comfort in Books

Sep 22, 2024 (Updated Sep 22, 2024)  
Quantum Leap: Too Close for Comfort
Quantum Leap: Too Close for Comfort
Ashley McConnell | 1993 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
"Theorising that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home…”

That's the intro from the original, 1990s, show (as opposed to the more modern 2020 reincarnation).

Why am I posting the above?

Because this novel itself is from the 90s, long before Dr Raymond Song or any of the newer bunch, and so focuses on the original Leaper Sam, and his hologrammatic observer Al.

It was also obviously written whilst the show was still on air (or, at the very least, not long after it ended), and very much could have been a episode of that original show, which was far more episodic in nature than the newer version.

Here, Sam finds himself in the body of a college graduate in what-I-believe-to-be the early 1990s, leasing a room from a college professor who is very much into the whole Men movement of the era, so much so that said professor does not even realize when his family life is falling down around him.

Being the early 1990s, this is far too close to the timeline from which Sam leaps (1999), with Al Calvacci also involved here both as Sam's hologram, and as an actual person who Sam encounters as a member of Dr Wales encounter group. Hence the title 'Too Close for Comfort', which can be construed in multiple different ways!
  
Captain Underpants (2017)
Captain Underpants (2017)
2017 | Animation, Comedy
This rating is based on the general consensus of my family (me, my wife and my three children).
We were already somewhat aware of Captain Underpants before we saw the movie - I bought my eldest the boxset of books which are admittedly still in their shrinkwrap.
The film is obviously aimed at children, probably aged 3 to 7. The potty humour got a bit stale for my 9 year old, but the 3 and 6 year olds were still amused throughout. I normally expect a few more clever jokes for the parents from a film like this, but was sadly disappointed that there weren't any. The humour really is restricted to a man in his pants and the name Professor Poopypants. There really isn't much more to it than that.
I liked the idea of the storyline, but would have liked more levels of humour.
I think we were all a bit bored of it by the end.
  
Lila Maclean is excited to be teaching her first semester as a professor. She’s not so happy with her department chair, however, especially after he shoots down her idea for a course on mysteries and basically tells her to sit down and observe. Walking into a department meeting a couple of hours later, she finds him stabbed to death on a table. With rumors that she knows more than she is saying, she decides to find the killer herself.

This is a fun debut. The college came alive for me, and I really enjoyed the setting. Now that Lila’s co-workers won’t be suspects, I’m looking forward to seeing them grow more as well since I liked most of them. While the book starts out quickly, I did feel the pace lagged a little in the middle before things came together for a logical end.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/03/book-review-semester-of-our-discontent.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.