I was watching this episode, and was wondering, "Why isn't Ben singing?" And that to me is the essence is the issue of why I am not quite enthralled with the new version.
The story is happening to someone else. Not always, but I think the stronger episodes are the ones where Ben is trying to help the person he's in, or a single person he grows close to, not someone his person is next to. "Travelers" is a good example. In the original series, Sam would have leaped into Carly, and Sam would be singing, and Sam would be trying to figure out who is trying to kill Carly.
Here, Ben is a bodyguard. He's dealing with his own issues, and Addison is giving him a hard time. And a couple of times they cut away to Jenn and Janis in Belize. Guess what? I and from the reviews and comments at the time, folks didn't watch the original series to watch Sam, Al, and the QL team unravel the mystery of why Sam Leaped. He did it to help people. Even after he put Al's life right, he kept Leaping to help people.
Ben by comparison is kinda selfish. He Leaps to help Addison, in the future presumably. The rest of the team is trying to unravel a mystery. Sure, Ben helps people along the way, but that seems more incidental than anything. "Collateral help" rather than "collateral damage", if you will. Sure Ben wouldn't hinder people's lives because it's American TV and he's a hero and whatever or whoever is Leaping him is putting him in the way of people that need help. But at least I get the impression that Ben would do whatever he needs to to make his next Leap, so he can build up momentum to help Addison. If he had to hinder someone's life to Leap, he'd do that.
That's the difference between Scott Bakula and Raymond Lee, and the earlier writers and the modern-day ones. The earlier writers had... well, heart, for lack of a better term. And Bakula wasn't necessarily a better actor, but he was a more versatile one. He could play a singer, and a woman, or a teenager, or an old man. Lee plays a bodyguard, or a bounty hunter, and he does it well. But it doesn't require a lot of versatility, or varying talent, or whatever.
As far as this episode, it was okay. I've never been a big fan of Deborah Ann Wahl, on 'Daredevil' or 'Punisher' or whatever. So she didn't do much for me here. It seemed like very much a by-the-numbers plot. There were some parts that seemed kinda ironic (like Trevor loving the woman he was using, and being separated from her for using her), but the writers didn't really spend any time on that. And while the real killer was briefly spotlighted, my thoughts were kinda "Who??" rather than "Of course it was them!", when I got the impression the production staff was aiming for more the latter.
There's also a few other differences. In the original if Sam wasn't Carly, he would have become romantically involved with Carly. But in the new version, Ben can't "cheat" with a female guest star of the week. Kinda puts a damper on things. How about a story where Ben has to become romantically involved with someone so he can Leap. And all Addison can do is sit around and observe. But I don't get the idea the production staff is going to go that route. And it's American TV, so making the protagonist essentially a bigamist... nah.
I've seen both versions of QL, and I like the original one better. If you like the newer one, more power to you. Me, if they wanted to do a time-travel show, then they should have done their own and not glom onto something else.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do yout hink?
The story is happening to someone else. Not always, but I think the stronger episodes are the ones where Ben is trying to help the person he's in, or a single person he grows close to, not someone his person is next to. "Travelers" is a good example. In the original series, Sam would have leaped into Carly, and Sam would be singing, and Sam would be trying to figure out who is trying to kill Carly.
Here, Ben is a bodyguard. He's dealing with his own issues, and Addison is giving him a hard time. And a couple of times they cut away to Jenn and Janis in Belize. Guess what? I and from the reviews and comments at the time, folks didn't watch the original series to watch Sam, Al, and the QL team unravel the mystery of why Sam Leaped. He did it to help people. Even after he put Al's life right, he kept Leaping to help people.
Ben by comparison is kinda selfish. He Leaps to help Addison, in the future presumably. The rest of the team is trying to unravel a mystery. Sure, Ben helps people along the way, but that seems more incidental than anything. "Collateral help" rather than "collateral damage", if you will. Sure Ben wouldn't hinder people's lives because it's American TV and he's a hero and whatever or whoever is Leaping him is putting him in the way of people that need help. But at least I get the impression that Ben would do whatever he needs to to make his next Leap, so he can build up momentum to help Addison. If he had to hinder someone's life to Leap, he'd do that.
That's the difference between Scott Bakula and Raymond Lee, and the earlier writers and the modern-day ones. The earlier writers had... well, heart, for lack of a better term. And Bakula wasn't necessarily a better actor, but he was a more versatile one. He could play a singer, and a woman, or a teenager, or an old man. Lee plays a bodyguard, or a bounty hunter, and he does it well. But it doesn't require a lot of versatility, or varying talent, or whatever.
As far as this episode, it was okay. I've never been a big fan of Deborah Ann Wahl, on 'Daredevil' or 'Punisher' or whatever. So she didn't do much for me here. It seemed like very much a by-the-numbers plot. There were some parts that seemed kinda ironic (like Trevor loving the woman he was using, and being separated from her for using her), but the writers didn't really spend any time on that. And while the real killer was briefly spotlighted, my thoughts were kinda "Who??" rather than "Of course it was them!", when I got the impression the production staff was aiming for more the latter.
There's also a few other differences. In the original if Sam wasn't Carly, he would have become romantically involved with Carly. But in the new version, Ben can't "cheat" with a female guest star of the week. Kinda puts a damper on things. How about a story where Ben has to become romantically involved with someone so he can Leap. And all Addison can do is sit around and observe. But I don't get the idea the production staff is going to go that route. And it's American TV, so making the protagonist essentially a bigamist... nah.
I've seen both versions of QL, and I like the original one better. If you like the newer one, more power to you. Me, if they wanted to do a time-travel show, then they should have done their own and not glom onto something else.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do yout hink?