Magnum Mania!

Novel Connection

Episode ID: 136
Episode Number: 7.9
Air Date: 11/19/1986
Writer: Jay Huguely
Director: Harry Harris
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Glenn Cannon (Doc Ibold - voice only), Frank Atienza (Sgt. Puna)

Guest Stars

Angela Lansbury (Jessica Fletcher), Dorothy Loudon (Pamela Bates), Jessica Walter (Joan Fulton), Stephanie Faracy (Amy Salyer), Jared Martin (Arthur Houston), John McMartin (Jason Bryan), Ramon Bieri (Capt. Frank Browning), Don Matheson (Paul Mayfield)

Plot Outline

It's a case of he said-she said when Magnum must deal with Murder, She Wrote's Super Sleuth Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) after an attempt is made on the life of one of Robin Masters' guests.

Rating

8.0 (9 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the second and final crossover episode of the series. The first one was a Simon and Simon (1981-1988) crossover in Season Three. This story will continue in the Murder, She Wrote episode "Magnum on Ice", where Magnum is framed for murder. As with the Simon and Simon episode, a new ending was filmed for syndication to make it a single, stand alone, episode. The Magnum P.I. - Complete Seventh Season DVD includes only the original version (along with Murder, She Wrote "Magnum on Ice" crossover episode), not the syndicated version.

2 The Complete Seventh Season DVD features a six-minute mini-documentary on the MPI-Murder, She Wrote crossover story called "Inside the Ultimate Crime Crossover" (Disc 2). It features commentary from Angela Lansbury, Robert Swanson (MSW executive producer), Chas. Floyd Johnson (MPI producer) and Jay Huguely (MPI producer/writer).

3 Like the season opener "L.A." (7.1 & 7.2), the guest cast is billed in alphabetical order, with the exception of Angela Lansbury who is billed as a 'Special Guest Star'.

4 Angela Lansbury doesn't make an appearance until the second half of the episode, some 25 minutes in.

5 Two Robin Masters novels are named - Echoes of Ecstasy and Serpent's Whisper. Pamela Bates was an editor for Robin who worked on several of his early novels.

6 Jason Bryan's house (where the murder takes place) is located in Kahala, on Kahala Avenue [map]. The house is called "Sunhala", and it was previously used in at least two Hawaii Five-O episodes, "V for Vashon: The Son" and "V for Vashon: The Father" (both from Season Five). (Noted by rubber chicken & Sam)

7 One episode after it was blown up by Magnum, Higgins' River Kwai Bridge model has apparently been rebuilt and is back in its normal spot on a shelf in the study.

8 Timecapsule moment: T.C. is seen using a first generation (1G) mobile phone [pic]. This is the first time the show has featured a mobile phone.

9 The Audi is muscled off the road by a pickup truck and is banged up pretty good.

10 Magnum mentions his Aunt Mildred again. "She is a master of reverse psychology".

Quotes

1
(T.C.'s chopper lands on the estate lawn)
Higgins: (sigh) T.C. is landing here AGAIN without my permission!

2
Magnum: Everybody, deep down inside, thinks he, or she, are a private investigator. Jessica Fletcher was no exception. Despite her denials, I was sure that she fancied herself as the consummate crime solver. I had to admit that she had good instincts, but "diamonds" and "tan lines", while interesting observations, were not germane to the case and it's ok for a novelist to use germane clues in the literary process, but the criminologist has to have clues with a relativity to the relative. Well, you know what I mean. (Narration)

3
Jessica: If you don't mind I making a suggestion, I have a hunch that it's Amy who might be in some kind of trouble, and not Joan.
Magnum: Uh, I don't play "hunches". I stick to logic and deductive reasoning.

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