The Sixth Position

Episode Number: 29
Season Number: 2.11
Air Date: 12/17/1981
Writer: Babs Greyhosky
Director: Sidney Hayers
Producers: Rick Weaver, Andrew Schneider
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Jeff MacKay (Lt. MacReynolds)

Guest Stars

Andrea Marcovicci (Kendall Chase), Corinne Camacho (Elaine Selmire), Signe Hasso (Lucia Prince), Bob Fimiani (Kelsey), Devon Guard (Martina Orsatti), David Palmer (KGB Agent), Robert Silva (Jailer)

Episode Brief

As a favor to Robin Masters, Magnum finds himself acting as bodyguard to a famous ballerina after she's had several attempts made on her life, and T.C.'s previously undeclared love of ballet comes in handy, with him more than willing to help Magnum out on a case for once. Meanwhile, Rick accepts a job on Magnum's behalf to investigate a woman's husband, but Magnum becomes suspicious that the timing of the job is rather too coincidental and comes to suspect that he's been hired for another reason.

Rating

7.6

(53 votes)

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Notes

¹ The original script for this episode was titled "Old Fashioned Square Dance".

² The "sixth position" refers to one of the six standard positions of the feet in ballet dancing. The "sixth position" (also called the "neutral" position) is where the feet are parallel and adjacent, with no rotation.

³ The Neal S. Blaisdell Center (in Honolulu) and the Waikiki Shell (in Kapiolani Park) are used as filming locations for several scenes.

⁴ Andrea Marcovicci (Kendall Chase) previously guest starred in Season One's "Don't Say Goodbye" (1.15).

⁵ Swedish star (and Hollywood starlet of the '40s) Signe Hasso (Lucia Prince) appeared in a 1976 episode of Ellery Queen (1975-1976) with John Hillerman.

⁶ The ballet seen at the beginning of the episode is Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

⁷ As Magnum runs around the corner of the estate house just before bumping into Kendall Chase, a spectacular view of Manana Island (aka Rabbit Island) is visible.

⁸ The scenes involving Elaine Selmire's house were shot at a private residence on Portlock Road near Maunalua Bay. This same house will be used in Season Five's "Torah, Torah, Torah" (5.21). (Noted by rubber chicken)

⁹ T.C.'s love for ballet is mentioned for the first time. It will also be mentioned in several later episodes.

¹⁰ Rick drives the Ferrari for the second time. He drove it several episodes earlier in "Wave Goodbye" (2.8).

¹¹ Just after completing her dinner with Magnum, Kendall Chase tells Higgins she needs to "walk off" her meal. Magnum gets up from the table, and tells Higgins he's going with her so "...she's not attacked by some wild beast like the Kudu buck..." This statement is a reference to the domestic goat in "Dead Man's Channel" (2.2) that wandered about the estate eating Higgins' prized shrubs and flowers. Elusive as it was, the goat's distant bleating had Higgins convinced he was hearing a Kudu buck, a woodland antelope he saw in Africa during his military service.

Quotes

¹
T.C.: Kendall Chase? Hey, T.M., you're not pullin' my leg or nothin'? I mean, just tryin' to get back at me because of that volleyball madness?
Magnum: No.
Rick: So, who's this guy Kendall Chase?
T.C.: She is only one of the world's prima ballerinas! She was a principal dancer with the Giroux Ballet Company. Before that she was with the New York under Balanchine. She also danced with the Royal, the Bolshoi, the Kirov, and she was the first American to win the International Competition in Leningrad. Kendall Chase! Oh!
Rick: T.C., since when did you become a dance maniac?
T.C.: Aficionado, aficionado. I've always loved the ballet.

²
(regarding T.C.'s newly announced love of ballet)
Rick: It's 'Nam. He cracked. We just never realised it.

³
Magnum: If this had been a regular hire, I would have told Ms. Chase where to stick her toe shoe, but, since it came through Robin, I had to take a deep breath, count to ten, and remember my blessings.

⁴
Elaine Selmire: (Points gun at Magnum) Magnum, this is a matter of national security!
Magnum: (Sarcastically) Isn't it always?

Flubs

¹ An unusual flash of light (a camera flash perhaps) is noticeable while Magnum descends the guesthouse steps just before he meets Kendall Chase practicing on the estate lawn with her ballet troop. (Noted by J.G.)

² When Magnum visits an exercising Kendall Chase at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center just before her next show, Kendall's sleeved camisole top is shown hanging at the end of an exercise beam by a mirror. When Kendall turns from Magnum to pick it up, the camisole top is still hanging over the beam, but a foot or two to the right in and in a different way. (Noted by J.G.)

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