8.7/10671 votes#1 - The Leap Back
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1991
June 15, 1945: Struck by lightning, Sam and Al find their roles reversed, as Sam returns to the future, and to a long-lost love, while Al leaps back to 1945 to prevent the death of a returning World War II hero and his former girl friend.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Donald P. Bellisario
7.3/10454 votes#2 - Play Ball
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1991
August 6, 1961: A pitcher on a minor league baseball team, Sam must decide if he's there to help a fellow team member, get his host back into the major leagues, or baby-sit the porcine team mascot, all while resisting the amorous advances of the women in his life.
Director: Joe Napolitano
Writer: Tommy Thompson
7.2/10452 votes#3 - Hurricane
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1991
August 17, 1969: Sam meets Camille, and possibly a killer, when he leaps into a deputy sheriff in a small Mississippi town, lying in the path of a deadly hurricane.
Director: Michael W. Watkins
Writer: Chris Ruppenthal
8.2/10487 votes#4 - Justice
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1991
May 11, 1965: Sam must don the robe of a Ku Klux Klansman in order to save the life of an ambitious young civil rights leader, who is trying to register black voters.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Toni Graphia
7.3/10457 votes#5 - Permanent Wave
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1991
June 2, 1983: Sam leaps into Frank Bianca, a hairstylist in leather pants, to prevent the death of a young murder witness and his mother.
Director: Scott Bakula
Writer: Beverly Bridges
8.2/10510 votes#6 - Raped
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1991
June 20, 1980: It's up to Sam to try to bring a rapist to justice when he leaps into the perp's victim, a young woman who may have been unwilling to press charges against the young man - the son of the pillar of the community.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Beverly Bridges
7.6/10483 votes#7 - The Wrong Stuff
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/6/1991
January 24, 1961: The fates make a monkey out of Sam when he leaps into Bobo, an astro-chimp who must avoid succumbing to the experiments of an Air Force neurologist.
Director: Joe Napolitano
Writer: Paul Brown
7.1/10458 votes#8 - Dreams
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1991
February 28, 1979: It's more like a nightmare when Sam leaps into a detective, investigating a gruesome murder. He may be next if he doesn't find out who eviscerated the victim and his only hope is the victim's catatonic son and her husband's psychiatrist. The horrific flashbacks he's experiencing don't help matters much either.
Director: Anita W. Addison
Writer: Deborah Pratt
7.4/10441 votes#9 - A Single Drop of Rain
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/20/1991
September 7, 1953: A devastating drought will be the ruin of a small town unless Sam, as Billy Beaumont, "purveyor of precipitation and maker of rain," can find a way to make it rain, while keeping his family together in the process.
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Writer: Richard C. Okie
7.2/10437 votes#10 - Unchained
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1991
November 2, 1956: Sam and a fellow convict named Boone are the defiant ones when Sam has to rescue his companion from a fifteen-year sentence on a chain gang.
Director: Michael W. Watkins
Writer: Paris Qualles
6.9/10431 votes#11 - The Play's the Thing
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 1/8/1992
September 9, 1969: May meets December when Sam leaps into a young actor in love with an older woman, who is also an aspiring singer. If he can't boost her confidence and help her get her career on track, she will face a "fate worse than death," returning with her son to Cleveland.
Director: Eric Laneuville
Writer: Beverly Bridges
7.8/10481 votes#12 - Running for Honor
Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 1/15/1992
June 11, 1964: As a track star in a Navy college, Sam must prevent the death of his ex- roommate, who was expelled because he was gay, and who is slated to die at the hands of a group of bigoted cadets.
Director: Bob Hulme
Writer: Bobby Duncan
7.8/10477 votes#13 - Temptation Eyes
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 1/22/1992
February 1, 1985: A serial killer stalks San Francisco while Sam as Dillion Powell, a TV reporter, protects a beautiful psychic who's working on the case, from becoming the next victim. The young lady is very clear of sight, as Sam and Al soon discover.
Director: Christopher Hibler
Writer: Paul Brown
7.0/10421 votes#14 - The Last Gunfighter
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 1/29/1992
November 28, 1957: Sam finds himself in the life of Tyler Meanes, a teller of tall tales who faces death at the hand of an old friend in a shootout at high noon.
Director: Joe Napolitano
Writer: Chris Ruppenthal, Sam Rolfe
7.1/10445 votes#15 - A Song for the Soul
Season 4 Episode 15 - Aired 2/26/1992
April 7, 1963: As a backup singer in a black, amateur girl group Sam finds between the fifteen year-old lead singer and her father as he attempts to rescue the girl from a sleazy night club owner's clutches.
Director: Michael W. Watkins
Writer: Deborah Pratt
7.6/10458 votes#16 - Ghost Ship
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 3/4/1992
August 13, 1956: Flying over the Bermuda Triangle, Sam, as the co-pilot, must prevent the flight from returning to Virginia, to get a seriously ill passenger to a doctor before she dies. Flying through the triangle is riskier than it seems, and Sam, deprived of Al's help when the hologram fades out, must get them through alive.
Director: Anita W. Addison
Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Paris Qualles
7.4/10422 votes#17 - Roberto!
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 3/11/1992
January 27, 1982: Sam, as "Roberto!" is a tabloid talk show host a la Geraldo who, with an asthmatic rival and co-worker, tries to uncover a mystery at a local chemical plant, a mystery, which may prove to be deadly for his co-worker.
Director: Scott Bakula
Writer: Chris Ruppenthal
8.3/10488 votes#18 - It's A Wonderful Leap
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 4/1/1992
May 10, 1958: Sam finds himself behind the wheel of a New York taxicab, in the life of Max Greenman, a driver striving to win his own tag, a license to drive his own cab. His mission is aided with the help of a woman who claims to be a guardian angel.
Director: Paul Brown
Writer: Danielle Alexandra
6.8/10426 votes#19 - Moments to Live
Season 4 Episode 19 - Aired 4/8/1992
May 4, 1985: Sam is a soap opera heart surgeon and the obsession of a love-struck, if somewhat deranged fan. He must escape from the woman and her husband who kidnap him for reproductive purposes
Director: Joe Napolitano
Writer: Tommy Thompson
7.4/10444 votes#20 - The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
Season 4 Episode 20 - Aired 4/22/1992
March 2, 1957: It's almost as though Sam were on vacation when, as Egyptologist Dale Conway, he gets to read hieroglyphics, search lost tombs, and, of course, visit Egypt. But between an encroaching sandstorm, computer glitches back at the Project, the suspicious deaths of the guides, and a 3000-year-old curse to round things off, Sam has very little time to play in the sand.
Director: Joe Napolitano
Writer: Chris Ruppenthal
6.8/10444 votes#21 - Stand Up
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 5/13/1992
April 30, 1959: Sam, as the singing half of a comedy team, soon finds that trying to convince two people that they're truly in love is no laughing matter, especially when one of them is the object of a sleazy casino owner's desire.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Deborah Pratt
8.5/10537 votes#22 - A Leap for Lisa
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 5/20/1992
June 25, 1957: Sam leaps into Al Calavicci to prevent the death of his married lover. But when Sam accidentally alters history, and finds out too late about her untimely demise, it could mean the gas chamber for Al and disturbingly a whole new situation at Project Quantum Leap.
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Writer: Donald P. Bellisario
The Best Episodes of Quantum Leap Season 4
Every episode of Quantum Leap Season 4 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Quantum Leap Season 4!
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find...
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureDrama
Network:NBC
Season 4 Ratings Summary
"The Leap Back" is the best rated episode of "Quantum Leap" season 4. It scored 8.7/10 based on 671 votes. Directed by Michael Zinberg and written by Donald P. Bellisario, it aired on 9/18/1991. This episode is rated 1.4 points higher than the second-best, "Play Ball".