Magnum Mania!

Smaller Than Life

Episode ID: 66
Episode Number: 4.3
Air Date: 10/13/1983
Writer: J. Rickley Dumm
Director: Alan J. Levi
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Cork Hubbert (Waldo Norris), Lenore Kasdorf (Savannah), Blackie Dammett (William Skuler), Alika Chee (Lee)

Plot Outline

Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes when childhood friend Waldo Norris asks Rick to help him investigate an insurance claim for a priceless figurine. Rick then discovers that his friend isn't quite all he seems, but the truth of Waldo's identity may put an even higher price on finding the missing piece.

Rating

7.0 (14 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the third "Rick-centric" episode of the series. Rick will be "front-and-center" in the next episode as well.

2 The historic Walker Estate in Nuuanu Pali (2616 Pali Highway) is used as a filming location (referred to as the "Garth Braden Estate" in the episode). Several scenes, including the climax, were shot inside the main house of the estate. The Walker Estate was previously used in Season One's "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club" (1.11) and Season Three's "Of Sound Mind" (3.13).

3 Magnum breaks his shoulder in a hang gliding accident (not seen).

4 Rick and Waldo grew up together in Chicago and were best friends. Taylor Street is mentioned as a place they used to frequent.

5 The game console that Lee is using is an Atari 800 - with the Atari 850 Interface Module and Atari 830 Acoustic Coupler Modem add-ons! The games Lee plays are: Defender, Missile Command and Donkey Kong. In-episode screen shots of the games can be seen here.

6 Rick takes a trip to the "Hall of Records" (but we don't see Ms. Jones).

7 In 1942, Higgins was the only member of his unit to survive a flank attack by a German regiment. A lad in his unit tried to warn them of the Germans presence, but was ignored because he had lied often in the past.

Quotes

1
Magnum: My dad once told me that life is a trick done with mirrors. You look at something from one direction, it looks like one thing, you turn it over, it looks like something else. I guess he was right. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's a real friend, and who's just an illusion in glass. (Narration)

2
Savannah: I really wish you'd reconsider Thomas. I can show you excitement like you have never known in your life.
Magnum: Savannah...
Savannah: You can watch me until you are completely confident...and then we'll do it together.
Magnum: We are not going to do it together at all.
Savannah: I like to do it face-to-face. It is so wonderful to watch your partner's expression with the heart-pounding, the ears-ringing, falling together through space until that moment when you body is jerked upward and shudders, and your shute catches and you float gently to the ground.

Flubs

1
When Magnum hooks the phone up to the Atari 830 Acoustic Coupler Modem the analog TV turns itself on. This could never happen in real life.

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