Magnum Mania!

Two Birds of a Feather

Episode ID: 60
Episode Number: 3.20
Air Date: 3/17/1983
Writer: Donald P. Bellisario
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Producer: Chas. Floyd Johnson
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

William Lucking (Sam Houston Hunter), Joanna Kerns (Jenny Hunter), Richard Roundtree (Peter Jordan), John Calvin (Nick), John DiSanti (Gargoyle), Soon-Tek Oh (Sato), Chad Sheets (Kip Hunter), Ann Doran (Sam's Mother), Matthew Faison (Lee), Dean Wein (Mark)

Plot Outline

After meeting a pilot who seems vaguely familiar, Magnum soon finds himself dealing with the wreckage of a sabotaged plane, drug dealers, and his own past.

Rating

7.0 (14 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This episode was used as the pilot for a TV series about treasure hunter and ace combat pilot Sam Hunter and his family. The score heard when Sam comes home (and in the closing credits) was to be used as the theme song [audio]. The pilot went unsold. After the pilot failed to attract any interest, Donald P. Bellisario took the bare bones of the concept and eventually developed it into Airwolf (1984-1986).

2 William Lucking played a very similiar character in a 1982 episode of Tales of the Gold Monkey ("Legends Are Forever"), another Bellisario show. He played Gandy Dancer, a 1930s treasure-seeking pilot, complete with cowboy hat and moustache! [pic]

3 Chad Sheets was nominated for the 1984 Best Young Actor, Guest in a Television Series Young Artist Award for his performance as Kip Hunter in this episode.

4 Honolulu International Airport is used as a filming location for several scenes.

5 The radio handle for Magnum's team in Cambodia is Frodo!

6 The aircraft that Sam pilots at the end of the episode is "Miss Van Nuys", a P-51 Mustang. Earlier in the episode, Sam flew a historic Boeing/Hughes Super Stearman. [pic]

7 Magnum mentions that he served three Tours of Duty in Vietnam. Sam Hunter did two.

8 Higgins (and Alex Clutterbuck) were in Northern India together (date unknown) looking for a lost Heathen Temple. The stone temple was said to be over 1,000 years old, and housed a statue of a Tibetan monkey and a sacred cow "engaged in a most obscene act".

Quotes

1
T.C.: Damn!
Rick: What? Where did they [Magnum's Seal team] go?
T.C.: Cambodia!
Rick: Cambodia? We ain't supposed to be going there!
T.C.: Yeah, we ain't supposed to die young either.

Flubs

1 When Magnum is running on the beach (with Sam's plane coming in behind him), for a couple of seconds you can see two straight tracks in the sand, just to the left of Magnum, which were made by the wheels of the camera dolly.

2 There are two flubs regarding the airplane crash in the tidal pool (the plane is, of course, a model, not a real airplane). As the plane crashes it dips its left wing into the water and cartwheels on its left wing and lands on the other side (ocean side) of the tidal pool on its belly (wheels down). The camera cuts to Magnum looking at the plane and then running into the water to rescue the pilot. However, as he runs out into the water you can see the plane is now belly up (wheels up) and now on the other side (beach side) of the tidal pool. So, the first flub is that the plane is now on its back (inverted) rather than on its belly, and the second flub is that the plane is now inside the tidal pool. I don't believe the plane could have rolled over onto its back after landing in the water as the water is much too shallow. Nor do I believe it's possible that the plane was washed over the wall into the tidal pool by a wave. (Noted by IslandHopper)

Wish to add something? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

---

---