Both Sam and Daniel have been placed in situations where they have risked their life, beginning with their initial journey into the unknown. As neither the Quantum Leap Accelerator nor the Stargate had been successfully tested before we meet our heroes, in both cases it took a "leap" of faith and extraordinary courage for these characters to, literally, take that first step on the hero's path. Neither character had any prior knowledge of what might await them, nor whether they would even emerge alive, but both possessed the insatiable curiosity common to most explorers, and held an unshakable belief in the benefit for the greater good their exploration might provide - and there is hardly a more noble purpose than to serve the needs of the many at the expense of the needs of the few. Additionally, Sam's whole purpose in the Quantum Leap series - leaping through time - is, in itself, an inherently dangerous and risky one, as is Daniel's travelling to other planets via the Stargate, as each journey carries with it the very real possibility that our heroes may not return home, if only due to technological problems. Furthermore, the fact that Sam and Daniel continue their respective heroic journey, despite the physical perils in which it places them time and time again, once more highlights their nobility and courage. For instance, Sam's very first "mission" was to successfully fly the experimental military aircraft that had killed the leapee in the original history, and, since then, Sam has found himself in such perilous circumstances as the midst of the Watts Riots ("Black on White On Fire"), high above the ground on a trapeze ("Leaping in Without a Net") and about to be executed via the electric chair ("Last Dance Before An Execution"). Likewise, Daniel has been shot at with staff weapons and zat guns, and been burned with an alien hand device too many times to recount; in relation to the latter, he even quips in one episode "I think I'm getting used to that thing". They have, also, both been required to risk emotional, as well as physical pain: Sam, most notably in the two-part episode "The Leap Home" (when he leaps into his own childhood only to be forbidden from changing his family's lives for the better, and is then cruelly torn away when he leaps into his beloved older brother's platoon in Vietnam just before his brother's death) and Daniel, most notably, in the episodes "The Gamekeeper" (when he is forced to re-live witnessing the death of his parents) and "Forever in a Day" (when he, at last, finds his kidnapped wife Sha're, only to see her die at the hands of one of his teammates). In true heroic fashion, both, too, have made the ultimate sacrifice for their cause - Daniel in the episode "Meridian" (when we see him succumb to radiation poisoning after saving the people of the planet Kelowna from an unstable nuclear weapon) and Sam in "Mirror Image" (when we are told that "Sam Beckett never returned home", the implication being that he either was killed during one of his leaps, became lost in time or continued leaping until he died of natural causes).

Sam and Daniel revisit their childhood

One may ask why, in the face of such pain, do both Sam and Daniel continue travelling through time and space respectively. It is clear that their unquenchable desire to know and learn more, without which neither would have reached their respective paths in the first instance, nor have taken that first step into the unknown, continues to be a motivating factor for both men, Daniel in particular. In both cases it also seems to be the hope that, on the next stop of their travels, they will find something they long for (in Sam's case, home, and in Daniel's, Sha're and, following her death, the child that, with her dying breath, she asks Daniel to find) that drives both men onto further adventures. However, perhaps more importantly, both characters also appear to possess what Al Calavicci refers to as a "boy scout" complex, ultimately driven by an intrinsic desire to remain faithful to the noble purpose of the quest to which they have been called: to serve the greater good, and show compassion to those in need. In "Mirror Image" Sam, himself, admits that he first began Project Quantum Leap "to make the world a better place", and Daniel's desperate frustration at being unable to help the dying aliens in "One False Step" is just one sign of his belief in using the Stargate for the same noble purpose. Even upon his death in "Meridian", Daniel chooses to continue his journey on a higher plane of existence, as he believes he can "do more this way". Whilst, at times, both characters have expressed a desire to discontinue their travels (Sam in the episode "Mirror Image", Daniel in "Forever in a Day"), both men return to the hero's journey after they are reminded (in Sam's case by an enigmatic bartender named Al, and in Daniel's case by Jack) of how much they have already benefited mankind, and how much they can still achieve:

MIRROR IMAGE:
BARTENDER AL: The lives you touched touched others, and those lives, others. You've done a lotta good Sam Beckett, and you can do a lot more.
(transcribed by me)

FOREVER IN A DAY:
DANIEL: Up until now, every time I set foot through that 'Gate I was thinking about my wife. Maybe I'll see her this time, maybe this is the one… Now every time I go through, it'd just be some… place. Where that hope used to be. (tearing up) That's why I can't do it any more. I hope you understand that.
JACK: 'The SGC may be the single most important human endeavour for the future of mankind'. Not bad, huh? You said that.
(http://www.moon-catchin.net/transcripts/s3/310%20forever%20in%20a%20day.htm)

Perhaps, then, what makes these two characters particularly endearing as heroes is their fallibility - neither of them are perfect and they do occasionally put their own personal feelings ahead of the needs of others. We see this in the Quantum Leap episode "The Leap Home" when Sam is willing to risk his "mission" in order to remain in the past with his family:

SAM: Why can I save strangers and not the people I love?
AL: I don't know
SAM: Well I'm not gonna do it anymore Al. I'm not gonna do it. (to sky) You hear that?! Whoever you are, wherever you are, I'm not doing it anymore! I quit! (tearing up) I quit
(transcribed by me)

Likewise, in the Stargate episode "Thor's Hammer", Daniel allows his feelings about having found a possible means of returning Sha're to him, momentarily cloud his judgment when he is forced to choose between, potentially, being able to save Sha're, and saving the life of his new friend and teammate, Teal'c:

DANIEL: The Hammer works! Do you know what this means?
JACK: It's the only way out of here, Daniel.
DANIEL: What this thing can do for Sha're and Skaara?
JACK: Teal'c's here now.
TEAL'C: And here I will remain. I was with those who took the ones you love.
JACK: No, you're part of this family now. We're not leaving you behind.
(Daniel looks as if he's going to say something but thinks better of it.)
JACK: This thing won't work in here, try it from out there.
(Jack hands Daniel the staff weapon. Daniel leaves the others and walks onto the exit side of the Hammer. He reluctantly raises the staff and shoots the Hammer.)
(http://www.moon-catchin.net/transcripts/ s1/109%20thor%27s%20hammer.htm)

Far from detracting from the heroism of these two characters, these examples serve to further enhance it. A flawless hero is far less endearing than one with flaws and foibles. We can relate to the fallible hero - he falters, just as we all do. He is somebody we can all aspire to be rather than someone so virtuous he would be impossible to emulate (although the fact that both Sam and Daniel are able to put aside their misgivings and personal feelings, to eventually do what is "right" in the two given examples, serves to illustrate the extraordinary courage and strength of spirit possessed by these two characters: Sam does carry out the "mission" he was given, and Daniel does free his friend Teal'c from the confines of Thor's Hammer).

Sam and Al, and Daniel and Jack: best friends to the end

Home

My Blog

Due South

Stargate SG-1

Music Vids

Links

Email me