Autumn Warrior

Episode Number: 140
Season Number: 7.13
Air Date: 12/17/1986
Writer: Jay Huguely
Director: Tony Wharmby
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Dennis Haskins (Del Haynes), Peter Kowanko (Doug), Reginald T. Dorsey (Clint), Warren Fabro (Moki), Greg Monaghan (Al Cleary), Pamela Jean Bryant (Marge), Marla Scott (Donna), Bernie Pock (Higgins, 1943)

Episode Brief

Higgins goes on a survivalist trip on an island with a small group of young offenders as part of a program aimed at improving their self-esteem. But he has to call upon his survival skills much more than expected when a planned escape by the boys doesn't go as intended and sees the leader of the trip shot dead, leaving Higgins being hunted down on the island by the three young convicts. Back on the Estate, Magnum, with Rick and T.C., plans to take advantage of Higgins' absence by holding a big party, but the get-together seems ill-fated from the start.

Rating

8.2

(30 votes)

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Notes

¹ This is the twelfth "Higgins-centric" episode of the series, following "Tropical Madness" (2.7), "The Elmo Ziller Story" (2.21), "Black on White" (3.6), "Foiled Again" (3.8), "Faith and Begorrah" (3.23), "Letter to a Duchess" (4.6), "The Case of the Red Faced Thespian" (4.12), "Holmes Is Where the Heart Is" (4.18), "Luther Gillis: File #001" (5.10), "Professor Jonathan Higgins" (5.13) and "Who is Don Luis Higgins?..." (6.19).

² This episode opens with a Higgins WWII flashback to Malaysia, 1943. Jonathan was separated from his unit in a skirmish and spent 9 days alone, hunted by the Japanese. In the flashback scene, we see him, alone, fighting the Japanese with traps and a knife (we even see one of the soldiers impaled by a spear trap).

³ Dennis Haskins (Del Haynes) will later become famous for his role as principal Mr. Belding in the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell (1989-2000).

⁴ Local kid Warren Fabro (Moki) makes his second appearance on the show. He had a small role in Season Six's "Round and Around" (6.6).

⁵ N6DBZ replaces WP6RNA* as Higgins' shortwave call sign.

⁶ Magnum plays part of "Somewhere in the Night" on his saxophone. The ballad was made famous in seperate hits for Barry Manilow and Helen Reddy in the 1970s.

⁷ This is the last episode to feature the Robin's Nest kitchen set. (Noted by Mike Barnes)

⁸ Pamela Jean Bryant (Marge) is a former Playboy "Playmate of the Month" (April 1978). Marla Scott (Al's girlfriend, Donna) was not, but she should have been!

⁹ Higgins was in the Fiji islands (date unknown) where he watched an old man successfully troll the sea with just one long strain of "monkey vine".

¹⁰ In a time and place unspecified, Higgins made the mistake of cooking fish for his host, Abdul ben Bashi. Bashi, raised in the desert, didn't recognize the fish and thought Higgins had cooked his pet iguanas. He ordered Higgins to be stripped and staked out in the sun to bake until dead. In the face of this punishment, Higgins had the wit to request wryly that in deference to the modesty of Bashi's wives, he not be stripped. (Noted by Steve Huntley)

* "The Big Blow" (3.22)

Quotes

¹
(Malaysia 1943, a young Higgins is perched in a jungle tree holding a knife)
Higgins: I had become seperated from my unit during a skirmish and I spent nine days alone in the jungle, sustaining myself on the small creatures that I was able to entrap, ever mindful of the fact that I was the "hunted", as well as the "hunter". On this particular morning, my predators had moved to within a few yards of my camp and I knew that an unfortunate member of the enemy patrol had tripped on one of my many spring-trap devices. As they moved ever closer to me, I plotted my last attempt at survival knowing that cunning rarely prevails over firepower.
(Higgins jumps out of tree onto Japanese soldier and is shot in the process)
Fortunately, I was not wounded seriously and....
(Magnum enters the room)
Magnum: .... and you overpowered the patrol leader and held the three men captive until Allied forces took the area. I'm sorry Higgins, I really have to run and I REALLY didn't want to miss that story.

²
Rick: Marge... Marge, honey, I'm sorry that I made you wait so long.
Marge: Oh, that's ok Rick. Al Cleary's been keeping me and everyone else entertained.
Donna: Yeah, did you know that he can balance a bottle on his nose.
Al Cleary: Only when I'm happy, which I'm not. We've got big problems. Plenty of beer, there's no ice.
Rick: Ice? That is the biggest worry of your life? Ice?
Al Cleary: Well, yeah. It's Saturday... What's happened to you, man?

³
(to Magnum, Rick and T.C.)
Higgins: "Quick thinking" is a trait that I have often admired in all of you.

⁴
Magnum: Higgins, I can explain.

Flubs

¹ During the party scene at the Estate, Al Cleary's girlfriend is seen opening the kitchen refrigerator. The camera angle allows us to briefly see into the fridge, but instead of beer and food, all we see is wood panelling, and what appears to be a TV set off into the distance! (Noted by Jackie Lawless)

² One of the three escapees, Moki (Warren Fabro), gets two large gashs/scraps on his left cheek (23:25). In the next scene his face is unscathed, but then later it returns (24:30) and is seen for the rest of the scenes. (Noted by Bern-Christian Schulze)


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