Quantum Leap Field Trips with Pug and Zero: Spin Cycle--Quantum Leap to a Music Recording Studio

Borrowing (?) scientific/plot device concepts from the prime-time Quantum Leap show, this series, hosted by "quantum surfers" Pug and Zero (a pair of puppets) and their teen-age connection to the real world (and time machine inventor), Charlotte Wells, provides kids with video field trips to a number of interesting workplaces through a time-travel portal. In Spin Cycle: Quantum Leap to a Music Recording Studio, Pug and Zero find themselves enlisted as backup singers in a recording studio where a band is about to record. Although presented clearly and simply, nothing in the process is oversimplified here (including the details of a multiple-microphone setup to capture the sounds of a kick drum set) and a good deal of time is given for each person in the process (from the bass player to the recording engineer) to talk about his or her role. One unnecessary joke involves the hackneyed cliché of record-manager-as-world-class jerk, but aside from this lame stereotype, this is a quality production with a resourceful study guide featuring a useful curriculum and good suggestions for further activities. Other titles in the 10-part series (series price: $379.50, including study guide) include: Fired Up: Quantum Leap to the Compton, California Fire Department; Ice Cream: Quantum Leap to the Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Factory and Wild Guess: Quantum Leap to the Wildlife Waystation. Aud: J, P. (C. Block)