Magnum Mania!

Old Acquaintance

Episode ID: 109
Episode Number: 6.3
Air Date: 10/3/1985
Writer: Jill Donner
Director: Ivan Dixon
Producer: Chris Abbott
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Lee Purcell (Goldie Morris), Brock Peters (Pres. Kole), Keone Young (Makini), Lee de Broux (Rodney Radcliff), Hari Rhoades (Mr. Wanda), Fred Lerner (Smith), Michael Adams (Jones), Art Kimbro (Lt. Kimbro)

Plot Outline

An old friend has Magnum and T.C. in a political conundrum by chasing after a well-trained dolphin that has been loaded down with explosives.

Rating

7.5 (14 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 Many scenes from this episode were shot on location at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, including all of the dolphin scenes (both above and below water).

2 This episode has an almost identical plot to the 1973 movie The Day of the Dolphin, starring George C. Scott, Paul Sorvino and Fritz Weaver. George C. Scott plays a marine biologist who trains two dolphins and teaches them to communicate with humans using signs, etc. Corporate-backed bad guys steal the dolphins and try to get them to blow up the president's yacht. (Noted by IslandHopper)

3 Look out for a real life high school photograph of Tom Selleck, seen in Magnum's high school book near the beginning of the episode. T.C. and Rick have much amusement about his haircut. This same photo is also seen a few episodes later, in "Going Home" (6.7).

4 Ala Wai Yacht Harbor is used as a filming location.

5 Magnum was captain of his high school football team and won a Virginia State Championship in his senior year.

6 Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" can be heard almost in its' entirety in the background at Rodney Radcliff's garage.

7 Emily Dickenson is quoted several times and is name-checked by Higgins and Magnum. Goldie also quoted one of her poems in the High School yearbook.

8 T.C.'s friend Rodney Radcliff designed the Island Hoppers logo and did the custom paint jobs on the chopper and van.

9 The scene at Rodney Radcliff's garage was filmed at Paki Hale in Kapiolani Park [map]. Several killer hot rods can be seen at the garage, including a mini-monster truck. (Noted by rubber chicken)

Quotes

1
T.C.: Well, if you hadn't have dragged Magnum threw that English class, he wouldn't have gotten into Annapolis, he wouldn't have been in the Navy, he wouldn't have been in Vietnam, and if he hadn't been in Vietnam, I probably wouldn't have been alive to give you the shirt off my back.
Magnum: Thanks T.C., that's very nice. (smiles)
T.C.: Of course, on the other hand, I wouldn't be replacing chopper parts every other week. Speaking of which, we're gonna have to stop on the way out, to get an estimate on this fuel line, which I'm sure you'll wanna take a look at it!

2
Goldie Morris: Remember back in High School when I campaigned to outlaw football games? Remember?
Magnum: Yes, I remember. You felt that football was uncivilized, that it encouraged students to acts of violence, rather than rational, intellectual discussions, so at halftime, during the Homecoming game, you ... burned down the goalposts.
Goldie Morris: It was a symbolic act.
Magnum: We had to forfeit the game!!
Goldie Morris: I couldn't get them to listen any other way!
[audio]

Flubs

1 Makini tells us that "Unless we find Kalea [sp], it's only a matter of days before she'll [the other dolphin] be dead". Come on, do you expect the average viewer to believe that?! A dolphin won't die in days after losing its mate! A borderline flub, but glaring none the less.

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

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