Episode 6: What a Disaster
(Promoted also as It’s a Disaster, Like an Earthquake and What a Disaster!)

Airdate: 24th Oct 2022
Leapdate: 17th Oct 1989

Ben and Addison find themselves in San Francisco during the historic 1989 earthquake; as the city continues to crumble with aftershocks, Ben must try to mend a family in chaos. Jenn and Ian search for clues to an unsettling mystery,

This was the originally filmed pilot, produced in Vancouver early-2022. Following re-shoots and re-edits it was shifted back to later in the run.

Teleplay: Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt and Martin Gero
Story: Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt
Director: Helen Shaver, Chris Grismer
Guest starring: Jewel Staite (Naomi), Walter Perez (Richard Martinez), Colleen Foy (Magda*), Elyse Levesque (Lola*), Everett Andres (Jason Harvey), Jarrett John (Bartender), Cameron Dent (Truck Driver), Mihye Jung (Ben’s Mom), Rochelle Okoye (Trapped Mother), Farah Atri-Rami (Dazed Family Tourist 2, Uncredited), Rebecca Ferdowski (Dazed Family Tourist 3, Uncredited), Shahrokh Ferdowski (Dazed Family Tourist 1, Uncredited), Leandro Guedes (Jason’s Friend, Uncredited)

*credited for appearance in final scene, 107 preview

Publicity Stills released mid-May

Publicity Stills released 21st October 2022

Plot, summarised by Fates Wide Wheel podcast

• “Unlike the original pilot (…) we are going to see Ben leap into the middle of an historical event in the late 80s. Ben is not there to change anything about the outcome (…) but that historical event is the backdrop of the episode”
• “the heart of this show is exactly the same in so many ways. And the domestic quality, if you will, of the leaps, I think is going to be something that we continue to see that that these are real people, everyday people”
• The Project will be shown just as much as the past
• It’s an ensemble show – “everyone has a pretty heavy role to play”
• “being lost in time is going to be a result of [Ben] leaping prematurely”
• Ziggy is in the pilot: “they are offline at the beginning of the pilot, but we won’t go into any detail… eventually, Ziggy boots up” and will be providing information: “we can confirm that there are some some lines of dialogue that involve percentages of chances.” (
• “Ian [Wright] will probably have a lot to do with Ziggy.” – pointing out what the character description says he ‘prefers the company of computers to that of other people.’
• There is going to be a handlink: “It was described to us by the observer as a smartphone on steroids. And it’s colorful”
• Sam and Al are part of the story: “they are going to establish in the pilot that Al passed away a few months before the events of the pilot.” Sam, meanwhile, is mentioned “numerous times”, and the new pilot “is absolutely a sequel.”
• About Magic: “it’ll be really interesting to see the direction that they take that character, because obviously, there’s only so much that he’s going to get to do in the pilot (…) in future episodes there’s there’s a lot of stuff they could explore”
• “You, you fan of the classic series, you’re in good hands, because the producers love, love the old show. And while they are branching off, and they’re doing something new, they are going to treat our old characters and the old feel of the show with love.”

Production Gallery

Behind the Scenes Videos

Production Info (pilot)

Budget: Over $5M (2)

Filming: Bridge Studios, Vancouver, March 12th – 29th 2022. Prod office 3rd Floor, Building 8 (2, with prod date changed in source 16 and 20)

Also at Bridge during this period: The Fall of the House of Usher, Prom Pact, The Good Doctor Season 5 (2)

Stage 8 is 16,500 sq foot (3), constructed late-2019/early-2020 (4). By comparison, the final day’s shooting on the original series (4th March 1993) took place on Universal Stage 21, 19,700 sq foot

Photos from the official Bridge Studios website of Stage 8:

Stage 7 and 8 share a three-storey set of offices. Quantum Leap will be based on the third storey. Below are official photos of the Stage 8 offices, which may or may not include the offices destined to be used by this production team, and shared costume facilities.

One of the filming locations is OneUnder; although it’s unlikely we’ll see any filming photos, below is a professional photo of the bar from 2014.

According to Steven Lilien’s Twitter feed on 10th March, he held the original series handlink shortly before production began. Bryan Wynbrandt posted a photo around that time which showed it clearly to be the model auctioned in 2006 and described at the time as a ‘season one prop’, but appears to be some sort of prototype or fake that was not used onscreen.

Martin Gero’s instagram on the first day of shooting shows monitors displaying footage at 23.976 fps (standard NTSC speed; this is hardly surprising but still worth noting they are not shooting at a higher speed eg 60fps).

Date	Filming	Filming Day
12th March	Scene 8B, appears to include interior of an 80s house with plates smashed on the floor.	1*
13th March	Scene V8H, appears to include interior of a more modern apartment, maybe from ‘present day’.	2*
14th March	Unknown, but crew are working, evidenced by staff room video.	3
15th March	A significant set, hinted at by Lilien’s tweet “We may or may not be filming in the …… today. But we are…”	4
16th March	Possibly filming at PQL HQ, hinted at by Lilien’s tweet “Ziggy. #quantumleap”	5
17th March	Unknown	6?
18th March	Unknown	6?
19th-20th March	Night shoot at Mt Pleasant	7
20th-21st March	Night shoot in Chinatown, inc Scene 19D	8*
21st-22nd March	Night shooting	9
22nd-23rd March	Night shooting in a tunnel (note, this could just be daytime shooting on the 22nd alone but we believe they’re still on nights as they’ve had no ‘off-day’ to adjust)	10
23rd-24th March	Shooting involving some sort of technical map. Also final scenes for Ian?	10*
25th March	No filming known, but lots of conversion of Vancouver into 1989 San Fransisco in prep for the next three days
26th March	7am-8pm: earthquake, around the Canada Line Waterfront Station and the full 400 and 300 blocks of Granville St; Deborah Pratt visits filming	11*
27th March	7am-8pm: earthquake, around the Canada Line Waterfront Station and the full 400 and 300 blocks of Granville St	12
28th March	8am-9pm: earthquake, around the Canada Line Waterfront Station and the full 400 and 300 blocks of Granville St, inc inside One Under 476 Granville St 1-9pm.	13
29th March	Unknown, final production day	14

*specifically labelled as such on social media posts; the rest are deductions. Note that in the early hours of March 21st Wynbrandt posted ‘Day 8’, and then on the 24th he posted ‘Day 10’, with filming also happening the two days in between. So even the labelled dates are in debate!

On 23rd March a Reddit user by the name ‘astudentiguess’ posted a photo of Chinatown, noting fake businesses by the name Evee’s Records and T&K Music and Pawn, plus a black and white San Fransico Police Department car, referring to the production taking place “all week, at least 5 blocks being used” (https://www.reddit.com/r/QuantumLeap/comments/tkpyhn/theyve_been_filming_in_chinatown_vancouver_bc_all)

The 26th-28th March filming info comes from a public notice photographed and added to Twitter by NewWestBoy (https://twitter.com/CaptCanuck66 (26th March 2022)