Quantum Leap was a show that could always serve as a common-ground point of bonding for my girlfriend at the time and I. It was the facile entertainment value of the series that was its initial draw, but I suppose if I had to examine it deeper, there was something oddly comforting about its correlative juxtaposition with a long distance, phone-driven relationship.

Running from 1989 to ’93, Quantum Leap centered around the time-traveling adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) and his striking chin and handsome coif. Having put his six doctorates to good use in postulating that time travel within one’s own lifetime was possible, and having built a contraption to test those theories, the story goes, Beckett was forced to prematurely step into said time machine or face losing important funding. He then awoke to find himself trapped in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and ping-ponging randomly from one period to another. His only contact with the “present” comes in the form of a holographic apparition of project observer Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), and in turn his oft-befuddled interactions with a handheld computer named Ziggy (voiced by Deborah Pratt).

Trapped in the past, Beckett would in each episode leap from one life to another, putting right simple things that once went wrong and hoping that each next leap would be his leap home. Apart from the inherently beautiful structure this fantastical “mission-based” storyline provided (and the manner the end of each show could thus tease the following week’s episode), Quantum Leap also did a great job mixing poignancy with frivolity. As the series wore on, there were some fascinatingly mind-bending episodes (including Beckett’s jump back into his own body as a teen), but Bakula always struck just the right blend of mind-racing, adroit charm and occasional pathos to make things interesting.

Highlights from this set include “It’s a Wonderful Leap,” in which Beckett leaps into a cabbie who accidentally hits a woman who claims to be his guardian angel; “Raped,” in which Beckett leaps into a date-rape victim; “Hurricane,” which tests Beckett’s powers of persuasion as a small town sheriff in the path of an incoming storm; and the Bermuda Triangle-focused “Ghost Ship.” The season finale, meanwhile, finds Beckett leaping into the body of a younger Al, as a Navy pilot, and on trial for the murder of the wife of his commanding officer.

Housed in a regular Amray case, Quantum Leap is presented in 1.33 fullscreen, with an English Dolby digital 2.0 audio track and optional subtitles in English and Spanish. The transfer is only so-so, with stock footage noticeably different and scratches and grain persistent throughout. The first season of the show on DVD included a 20-minute retrospective documentary with all-new interviews and episodic introductions by Bakula. Unfortunately, none of the principals return here for anything of that nature, and the only true supplemental extra is the inclusion of the catch-all, half-hour special The Great ’80s TV Flashback, which collects interviews with The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond, producer Stephen J. Cannell, reporter Alex Ben Block and many others. As a bonus, though, there is a fifth season episode, “Liberation,” in which Beckett leaps into the body of a housewife during the struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment. B+ (Show) C (Disc)