Magnum Mania!

Operation: Silent Night

Episode ID: 73
Episode Number: 4.10
Air Date: 12/15/1983
Writer: Chris Abbott, Reuben Leder
Director: Mike Vejar
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Ed Lauter (Capt. Quintin), Bruce French (Ens. Jensen)

Plot Outline

Christmas Eve holds some unusual surprises when Magnum, T.C., Rick and Higgins find themselves stranded on a deserted island that the Navy uses for gunnery practice. As a Navy ship looking to do a little artillery work looms on the horizon, will the night end with peace and happiness for all?

Rating

9.0 (14 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the second of two "christmastime" episodes in the series, the other being the early first season episode "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too" (1.4).

2 "Frenchman's Island" is fictional. The island is an obvious reference to Kahoolawe, the "Target Isle", which is located 7 miles SW of Maui.

3 This episode has the fewest credited guest stars of any episode in the series - two.

4 Most of this episode was filmed on the north shore at Puaena Point, the northern tip of Waialua Bay [map]. This same location was used for the "beach shack" scenes in Season Two's "The Taking of Dick McWilliams" (2.10). (Noted by rubber chicken)

5 Larry Manetti is quoted as saying that this is his favorite episode of the entire series.

6 T.C. notes from this episode:

• New Orleans is his hometown and he still has family there.
• He observes the principles of Kwanzaa.
• He is a pretty good singer, as demonstrated by his partial renditions of "Under the Boardwalk" (The Drifters) and "Chain Gang" (Sam Cooke).
• For the first time, he refers to Higgins as something other than "Higgy-Baby" - He calls him "Jonathan".

7 Robin Masters owns a Banana Plantation on Molokai. (Noted by Mike Barnes)

8 A couple of fitting films are mentioned by Rick: The Island (1980) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).

9 T.C.'s quote "Whatcha talkin' 'bout Higgins?" is a take on Arnold's (Gary Coleman) catch phrase, "Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?" from the TV show Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986).

10 Higgins was once stranded on an island off the northern coast of Africa, wounded and unconscious, for a week. When he awoke, he rescued himself by turning an airplane fuselage into an outrigger canoe and sailing to safety. (Noted by Stephen Huntley)

Quotes

1
Higgins: I, of course, have spent many a Christmas away from home and family. More times than I care to remember, in more places than I care to remember; Forgotten battlefields, and sometimes even forgotten wars. I think BEING at war, makes Christmas all the more bittersweet - peace on earth, and goodwill to all men, and all that.

2
(Rick and Magnum are complaining about T.C.'s flying)
T.C.: You get what you paid for, and none of you paid!
Rick: Where is your holiday spirit?
T.C.: Back home in New Orleans, which is where I'm gonna be as soon as Captain Calvin's Charity Chopper dumps all you freeloaders off!

Flubs

1 The naval destroyer footage is from the USS Wren (DD-568). The ship was scrapped in 1975! This ship can also be seen in the film Operation Petticoat (1959).

2 In the scene where Higgins is writing his will, the second half of his monologue is an obvious, and distracting, post-production overdub.

3 When the chopper first crashes on the island, T.C. fixes it quickly by tightening a nut, and replacing a cotter pin. The tail rotor is red with two white stripes at each end. Later while Higgins is making his hat, and Magnum is removing his Santa suit, we see T.C. working on the chopper again, but the tail rotor is white with two red stripes at each end. It appears to alternate between the two color schemes several times through out the episode. (Noted by N1095A)

4 When T.C. tries changing the frequency on the radio, the frequency digital display is dark, indicating the radio is turned off, yet we still hear radio transmissions. (Noted by N1095A)

5 The destroyer interior has drop ceiling panels. Destroyer's do not have drop ceiling tiles. (Noted by N1095A)

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

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