Magnum Mania!

Ms. Jones

Episode ID: 103
Episode Number: 5.19
Air Date: 3/7/1985
Writer: Phil Combest
Director: Ray Austin
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Margie Impert (Ms. Jones), Lance LeGault (Col. Buck Greene), Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka)

Guest Stars

Marcia Wolf (Lt. Karen Summers), Sam Anderson (Ray Jones), Robert F. Hoy (Mark Phelps), Ray Austin (Nigel Hucksby), Harry Endo (Mr. Matsuda), Kim Bevers (Allison)

Plot Outline

After a tedious trip to the Hall of Records, Magnum is somewhat reluctant to help one of the impertinent clerks find her missing husband. But when he discovers that the missing man has top-secret artificial intelligence knowledge, he's on the case in record time.

Rating

8.0 (12 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 Similiar to Keoki in Season Four's "I Witness" (4.21), Ms. Jones, the "Hall of Records" clerk (a minor recurring character), is suddenly pushed center stage and receives considerable screen time. What's also interesting is that for both, this would be their last appearance on the show!

2 Ms. Jones' first name is Madeline. Her boyfriend Ray was mentioned by Ms. Jones in the two previous episodes that she appeared in - "Mr. White Death" (3.9) & "Blind Justice" (5.7). He was the one who kept breaking up with her over the phone!

3 Episode director Ray Austin has a small role as Nigel Hucksby in this story. He can also be seen briefly in "The Black Orchid" (1.16), which he also directed.

4 Magnum's opening narrative at the Hall of Records is exactly the same as when we first met Ms. Jones in "Mr. White Death" 3.9. (Noted by N1095A)

5 Twenty years after this episode first aired, Sam Anderson (Ray Jones) will appear as a semi-regular cast member of another popular TV show filmed in Hawaii, Lost. He plays one of the crash survivors, Bernard Nadler.

6 Magnum mentions "Aunt Phoebe" for the first time. We will meet her in "The Aunt Who Came to Dinner" (7.20). (Noted by Mike Barnes)

7 The polo scenes with Higgins use some recycled footage from "Home From the Sea" (4.1).

8 Stock cover versions of two hit songs from the 80s can be heard in the "ladies club" scene - "Run To You" (1984) by Bryan Adams and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (1980) by Pat Benatar. This is the first time in the series that a truly contemporary song (with vocals) has been used as in-episode music. All of the previous songs used were at least ten years or older. "Echoes of the Mind (1)" (5.1) used the "Blade Runner Theme" (1982) in the opening scene, but it is a soundtrack cut (with no vocals), not a "song". More and more, future episodes will use contemporary songs, some even by the original artists.

9 The 1920's Russian chess grandmaster that Higgins mentions, "Roskilanovich" [sp], is fictional.

10 Briefly on a computer screen, and in a shot of a computer print out, you can clearly see some software code written in FORTRAN. [pic]

11 Kenji the gardener is seen assisting Higgins with trimming coconut trees.

Quotes

1
Magnum: Here in paradise, there are at least three different ways of looking at time: There's the traditional mainland kind of time – people say "let's meet at eight o'clock", and that's more or less what they mean. Then there's Hawaiian time, which is a lot more... flexible – eight o'clock may mean seven, or nine, or not at all, depending on an infinite variety of factors. However, even in paradise, there's also a time frame which seems to operate on a mysterious circadian rhythm all it's own – bureaucratic time; Roughly, that translates into "stand in line until we're ready for you, and then do it our way, or not at all. (Narration)

2
Madeline: This one over here. It's an experimental model, two years from production. Fortunately, Ray fed me the program information one night over dinner. It's very sexy data.
Magnum: Sexy?
Madeline: You have to know Ray.

Flubs

1 The spelling of the last name of Lance LeGault's character in the on-screen credits ("Green") differs from the spelling on his name badge ("Greene"), which is the correct spelling.

2 Madeline can solve complex chess problems, but she doesn't know how to play chess?! Come on now, you have to know how the pieces move in order to solve chess problems!

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

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