4843: From the Network That Couldn't Be Bothered to Spell "Beckett" Correctly In The Closing Minutes

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From the Network That Couldn't Be Bothered to Spell "Beckett" Correctly In The Closing Minutes
4843.png
Made by: Crazy56U


Explanation[edit | edit source]

This strip transplants a gag from a Garfield strip into panels derived from a Quantum Leap episode; both the strip and episode involve mirrors. The author's notes themselves tend to explain the reasoning behind this strip's creation; indeed, the Square Root of Minus Garfield site search, which the author actually linked to within said author's notes, implies no Quantum Leap references prior to this strip.

In addition to the Innovation line mentioned in the author's notes, the author also threw a jab toward NBC, the network that aired Quantum Leap, in the strip's title, and also mentioned the incident in the original series's final episode "Mirror Image"--the episode depicted in this strip--where an end card misspelled the name of lead character Sam Beckett. It is likely that the author misblamed NBC for the end card flub, as all NBC really did at the time was air the show and determine whether or not it would have gotten a sixth season; although NBC did drop a cancellation order on Quantum Leap at the end of the fifth season thus necessitating the use of the end card, the end card flub itself was likely committed within one the production units of either Belisarius Productions (then as now not an NBC in-house unit) or Universal Television (was not co-owned with NBC at the time; the original series of Quantum Leap ended in 1993, Universal Televion didn't become co-owned with NBC until 2003).

The author writes:[edit | edit source]

This is mainly being done to ease my mind. For the longest time, I have been so sure that someone had already done a Quantum Leap reference comic for this site involving Garfield and a mirror, the one my mind keeps jumping towards being based on the one where Snoopy is his reflection.

However, for the life of me, I can't work up the effort of combing through the archive to confirm this potentially Mandela Effect-induced memory, so I went this route instead upon seeing the strip where Garfield decides a mirror is out of order after seeing his fat reflection.

But hey, at the very least, I still put more effort into this Quantum Leap comic than Innovation did for its Quantum Leap line.

Original Quantum Leap episode: 1993-05-05 (US).

Original strip: 2000-09-25.

Transcript[edit | edit source]

{Just as a warning, there is no dialogue in this strip, and I'm being extra descriptive. Buckle up}
{Sam Beckett is at a bar, enjoying a beer in the morning, proving he is currently in the past. The bartender is putting away some money in a cash register}
{Sam casually walks along the front of the bar's counter, happy}
{He pauses upon seeing his own reflection in the bar's mirror, and is taken aback}
{Sam grabs at his head in confusion}
{The bartender looks at Sam in concern}
{He then turns to the bar's mirror}
{As Sam still grabs at his head, the bartender has put an "Out of Order" sticky note on the glass}
{The transcript's author is now probably regretting doing an eight-panel comic with no dialogue}
{C'est la vie}