Limbo Question

Message

Miss Q · #1 Post by **Miss Q** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:14 pm

I have to admit up front I have not watched season 7 pr 8 on DVD yet...

Here is my question:

In the episode of Limbo is it my imagination or did Michelle show up at the hospital to see TM but someone, either the doctor or Higgins, talked her out of it and she left???

I think it was cut when the episodes were re-run...

Or am I just crazy...

Italian Ice · #2 Post by **Italian Ice** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:35 am

I'm actually wondering if anyone saw this episode when it first aired...and what their expression was when they saw the ending.....

If anybody gets this message, I'm just curious. When I first saw this one a few years ago, I didn't know it was a season, let alone a possible series finale. I think if it was me, I would have just sat there, stunned for like 3 hours saying "no way, that can't be right."

Seaver41 · #3 Post by **Seaver41** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:01 am

Italian Ice wrote:I'm actually wondering if anyone saw this episode when it first aired...and what their expression was when they saw the ending.....

If anybody gets this message, I'm just curious. When I first saw this one a few years ago, I didn't know it was a season, let alone a possible series finale. I think if it was me, I would have just sat there, stunned for like 3 hours saying "no way, that can't be right."

I watched it first run..............but you have to understand it was already known this wasn't the last one.......and I beleive before the episode aired it was already edited to pave the way for Season 8. Me being 20 and in college at the time........with no internet around......I wasn't up to date on all the happenings surrounding the show........nightly shows like Entertainment Tonight were the showbiz info lifeline...and I wasn't a watcher much.........but it was either a small blurb in the newspapers or just a 20-30 spot on one of those shows informing of a Season 8. It was never a case of OH MY GOD THEY'VE KILLED MAGNUM.

I haven't watched the DVDs........so is the original intended ending of that episode on it or does it even exist? The one on Sleuth shows Michelle at the hospital......but to me the editing is evident as the episode speaks largely of him in the past tense and there is a scene at Robin's Nest where everyone is gathered and dressed in black.........in such a manner that it can only suggest a funeral had taken place.......but it never aired back then in any way other than the edited version.

#4 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:23 am

That's not how I remember it at all Seaver41. I remember it being promoted as the last episode of the series (and I remember hearing reports, somewhere, about Tom's seven-year contract being up). I remember being stunned beyond belief at the ending! I remember my girlfriend and I tossing pillows at the TV, shouting "Noooooo!" I didn't hear about Season 8 until well into the summer. I could very easily have missed an earlier announcement though, because, as you said, channels of communication were much more primitive back then. Plus, I was just finishing my junior year of high school when "Limbo" aired - between studying for the SAT and seeing Dead shows, the spring and summer of '87 is a giant blur for me.

MPS · #5 Post by **MPS** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:27 am

I remember Limbo as being the last MPI as well. I found two old VHS tapes last week, both labeled "Last Magnum, P.I." One was Limbo and the other Resolutions.

#6 Post by **ConchRepublican** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:22 pm

James J. Walters wrote:That's not how I remember it at all Seaver41. I remember it being promoted as the last episode of the series (and I remember hearing reports, somewhere, about Tom's seven-year contract being up). I remember being stunned beyond belief at the ending! I remember my girlfriend and I tossing pillows at the TV, shouting "Noooooo!" I didn't hear about Season 8 until well into the summer. I could very easily have missed an earlier announcement though, because, as you said, channels of communication were much more primitive back then. Plus, I was just finishing my junior year of high school when "Limbo" aired - between studying for the SAT and seeing Dead shows, the spring and summer of '87 is a giant blur for me.

Same here. I wasn't watching Magnum as religiously at the time, I think he was up against Metal Night at the local bar at the time. I was home that evening and watching it with my sister without any idea about what was to happen. About 15 minutes in we started yelling downstairs to our parents "put on Magnum! they're killing Magnum!!!". I was shocked and stunned.

I'm not ashamed to say I cried. Well, maybe a little . . .

Steve · #7 Post by **Steve** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:21 pm

As I recall, the news had already broke before Limbo aired that Tom had agreed to a 8th season. I'm not sure how widespead the news was, but I definitely remember discussing the show after it aired with a workmate and Magnum fan and we both agreed it would have been a sad way to end the series...........Now, it was over twenty years ago and my memory may be flawed, but I sure seem to remember things that way.........

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:13 pm

I can honestly say that at the time I did not remember watchingLimbo. I guess I was off doing things high school kids do. I do remember watching Resolutions though.

Seaver41 · #9 Post by **Seaver41** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:07 pm

as I remember it......season 7 was in the can before season 8 was announced........but before Limbo aired the deal was done.........

go watch Limbo........it was edited. Most of the episode treats it as him being dead without mentioning it.........because if he were on life support......TC wouldn't be taking a joy ride in his copter. Michelle would've already been to the hospital and the gang of Higgins, TC, Rick, Carol, the Dr, and Tanaka wouldn't be sitting in the den at Robin's Nest dressed in black speaking of him in the past tense.............

Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts opens with a recap and then the trio of Rick, TC, Carol 'rushing' into his room................that is in total contrast to how they were portrayed handling the situation in Limbo.

I stand by my memory........................beer didn't kill all my brain cells.

wdm · #10 Post by **wdm** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:10 pm

I remember watching Limbo and thinking at the end that once Higgins yelled, "Magnum I demand you come back" TS would turn around, shrug his shoulders, raise his eyebrows and come walking back. It had been announced a head of time that Magnum would be back on for an eighth season. Limbo has always been one of my favorite episodes. I would like to think that we do get a chance to say goodbye.

#11 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:17 pm

Well, if three people on Magnum Mania! say that the Eighth Season was announced before "Limbo" aired, well, that's good enough for me! I must have simply missed hearing about it back then.

So this leads to another question: What about all the references to "public outcry" and "massive letter writing campaign" (in regards to the ending of "Limbo") that supposedly was a driving force in bringing back the show for one more season? Did these people "miss the memo" also? Or maybe this happened before "Limbo" aired when everybody thought Season Seven was the last season? Or maybe it simply never happened?

wdm · #12 Post by **wdm** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:00 pm

I seem to remember there was a lot of speculation as to how they would bring Magnum "back". Would it be another Mac thing where there would be a look alike or was it just a dream?? Some worried if that happened it would make the show a joke like Dallas. For some reason I remember an interview TS did right before Limbo aired where he talked about the episode was supposted to be the last one until he was talked into coming back for an abbreviated eighth season.

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:24 pm

Thanks for the information wdm because all of that completly escapes me for some reason. I guess I just looked at the show back then instead of watching it. Kind of like Wesley Snipes tells Woody Harelson in White Men Can't Jump "You can listen to Jimi (Hendrix) but you can't hear him"

Seaver41 · #14 Post by **Seaver41** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:31 pm

James J. Walters wrote:Well, if three people on Magnum Mania! say that the Eighth Season was announced before "Limbo" aired, well, that's good enough for me! I must have simply missed hearing about it back then.

So this leads to another question: What about all the references to "public outcry" and "massive letter writing campaign" (in regards to the ending of "Limbo") that supposedly was a driving force in bringing back the show for one more season? Did these people "miss the memo" also? Or maybe this happened before "Limbo" aired when everybody thought Season Seven was the last season? Or maybe it simply never happened?

the outcry came when it was leaked to the press that Magnum was being killed off..........not that season 7 was the last one. Once word got out (and it had to be a short time after it was in the can) the complaints started. Limbo aired April 1987. Season 8 debuted Oct 1987. No way in that 6 months did a campaign get started, and not only shoot the episodes, but write them first. The timeline itself lends credence to the claims of an earlier resolution to bring back Magnum.

I'm sure there was a studio exec who floated the notion of a future movie/tv reunion that they could also milk.

You have to remember, Magnum was king at one time, but Cosby eventually took over. In the time that Cosby took over, the writing seemed to sag. Seasons 4-5-6 in many respects don't stand out as much and Selleck took Magnum and the character very seriously. I have to believe the improved writing for season 7 and the public outcry helped Selleck make his choice to bring his character back.

Watch Limbo now and see the edits and flow..............once you get past the tug on the heartstrings.....you can see how this was supposed to go in terms of killing him off.

I assume then that there is NOT a version of this episode on the DVD that was the original that never aired?

Steve · #15 Post by **Steve** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:54 pm

James J. Walters wrote:Well, if three people on Magnum Mania! say that the Eighth Season was announced before "Limbo" aired, well, that's good enough for me! I must have simply missed hearing about it back then.

So this leads to another question: What about all the references to "public outcry" and "massive letter writing campaign" (in regards to the ending of "Limbo") that supposedly was a driving force in bringing back the show for one more season? Did these people "miss the memo" also? Or maybe this happened before "Limbo" aired when everybody thought Season Seven was the last season? Or maybe it simply never happened?

Again, my memory is somewhat fuzzy as sometimes stories run together that I have read from various Magnum,pi forums and the actual events of 20 years ago. I'm not sure that it was so much a public outcry that brought the series back, but more that CBS didn't want the show to go away as it was still a top twenty show and TS also realized that the cast and crew would be out of work, especially the crew as it was a Hawaii based production. Being the magnanimous and generous man that he is, Selleck agreed to the abreviated 8th season so they all had more time to adjust. I actually do have Limbo on tape that I recorded at the time it originally aired and popped it in to see if I noticed any differences in the syndicated version airred....Alas, I got 2 minutes into the tape and it started to bind up. Marta DuBois does appear in the opening credits however, so Seaver is probaly correct that whatever changes and edits they made were before it originally aired.........