Solo Flight (7.16)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the seventh season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
8
9%
9.5 (One of the Best)
13
14%
9.0 (Excellent)
21
23%
8.5 (Very Good)
19
20%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
14
15%
7.5 (Decent)
5
5%
7.0 (Average at Best)
2
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
6
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
5
5%
 
Total votes: 93

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AmandaByNight
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#41 Post by AmandaByNight »

I love Solo Flight, but not as much as Home From the Sea.

Still, this episode is a showcase of what a wonderful actor Tom Selleck is. Just the way his voice gets all crazy gravelly (sp?) as the situation progresses... it's really interesting to just watch him through the episode.

I really like these dark surreal episodes. My fiance watched it with me a couple of weeks ago and I think he didn't like it as much. He thought it was weird, but it sticks with me and the stuff about his dad is always compelling.

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nha trang
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First viewing struck me as average at best

#42 Post by nha trang »

Just caught this on TV, not in the episode-by-episode DVD viewing.

Seemed a bit forced and actually made me just a bit sad in contemplating the mortality of the Magnum PI...television series...

I hope the later episodes don't have this tone to them...I mean the episode probably has redeeming qualities, but it seems rushed and a rehash of the (sorry I forget the name) shark episode...come to think of it, this episode may be the "jump the shark" episode...just kidding it's still Magnum PI!

They could have put a bit more effort into the episode and the idea, rather than having Magnum get home on his own, a bit implausible, as well as getting completely trapped under the plane and getting out. With the plane rolled over on him with his pry bar, he would have 0 leverage.

Anyway, still my favorite TV show and even this episode is better than anything else on now.

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snp389
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#43 Post by snp389 »

Great Ep. One of my favourites. I love the stories where TM is the 'only' story.
I especially like the referance to TM's past, and his love and respect for his dad.

Croix de Lorraine
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#44 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

MPS wrote:Liked the episode, but it was a bit intense at times. It's one of a few that has stayed in my memory since viewing 20 years ago. Among all of the flubs found so far, it seems that no one has mentioned that the postion of the plane before Magnum is trapped and after he is trapped is exactly the same!

Image

Image

TSM couldn't have gotten into that postion unless a crane picked up the plane and put it on him.
:oops:

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#45 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

Carol the Dabbler wrote: Query: Was Magnum's hair shorter here because Selleck needed shorter hair for a role in some other show or movie? I assume there was some sort of real-life reason, so they worked the haircut into the episode as a gag, even though it served no plot purpose.
Maybe Three Men And A Baby?

In any case in this episode it's used as a metaphore for growing up. They actually overdo it a bit - It's just some minot trim but the other characters reacts as if he had had a sex change operation.

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#46 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

AmandaByNight wrote:I love Solo Flight, but not as much as Home From the Sea.

Still, this episode is a showcase of what a wonderful actor Tom Selleck is. Just the way his voice gets all crazy gravelly (sp?) as the situation progresses...
He seems to be channelling Clint Eastwood in this episode. Maybe that's his "grown up" voice. :)
Last edited by Croix de Lorraine on Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Croix de Lorraine
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#47 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

Carol the Dabbler wrote: Query: Was Magnum's hair shorter here because Selleck needed shorter hair for a role in some other show or movie? I assume there was some sort of real-life reason, so they worked the haircut into the episode as a gag, even though it served no plot purpose.
Maybe Three Men And A Baby?

In any case in this episode it's used as a metaphore for growing up. They actually overdo it a bit - It's just some minor trim but the other characters react as if he had had a sex change operation.

AmandaByNight
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#48 Post by AmandaByNight »

Croix de Lorraine wrote:
AmandaByNight wrote:I love Solo Flight, but not as much as Home From the Sea.

Still, this episode is a showcase of what a wonderful actor Tom Selleck is. Just the way his voice gets all crazy gravelly (sp?) as the situation progresses...
He seems to be channelling Clint Eastwood in this episode. Maybe that's his "grown up" voice. :)
haha! I does have an Eastwood feel to it, doesn't it?

Buck
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#49 Post by Buck »

This is one of the best episodes.

Flying Solo is unlike any episodes from season 1 or 2, there is no action, no girls, there is no comedy. I did not like this episode the first time I watched it 20 years ago. Today I rank it a 10.

This episode spoke strongly to me. It starts with Magnum saying winning is relative, failure is absolute. It cuts to Magnum in the ocean, we see failure is death.

I remembered the episode originally had TC save Magnum by flying to him with Higgins. My memory must be foggy. I did not remember Magnum climbing down. Even if Magnum climbed down, he had a broken leg, he was bleeding out. If he could make it down, why return to the estate and not a hospital?

The fly and Herman is a metaphore. The fly gets in trouble on its own. Magnum gets in trouble on his own. Magnum decides to "help" the fly, it is the same hand that helped protect the fly against Herman that kills the fly. The fly is responsible for itself. Contrast this with Magnum in the ocean and the shark. It spoke strongly to me about personal responsibility and personal accountability. Do not rely on anyone for help, because when you need it most you only have yourself. I think this is why Magnum climbed the mountain. Magnum does not want to get weak. Stregnth is something that must be achieved, it is can not be given and it does not last forever. Stregnth continually needs to be renewed.

I like to think this is TS way of giving back to all of us who enjoyed drinking beer and beautiful women on the beach. It is a wake up call to not grow weak. Find your mountain. Overcome. Challenge yourself.

TIGERS FAN
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#50 Post by TIGERS FAN »

Recently while planning my Magnum PI Oahu vacation I learned that there are giant centipedes. I hate bugs, and these damn things remind me of the "tingler"! I immediatly called bullsh*t, I never saw a single damn centipede on Magnum (not that that would mean there aren't any) so there. I obviously forgot about this episode. OH MY GOD!!! I'm gonna be hate'n those damn things!!!

Braddah Kimo
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#51 Post by Braddah Kimo »

I do hope that was sarcasm tigers fan, because there is much in Hawaii that exemplifies our daily life and culture, that has been happily ignored Through the magnum years. The Tingler is exactly what comes to mind on a weekly basis when one of dees buggahs makes his way toward my inviting ankle. And believe you me, they are big and disgusting And they are dangerous and they're damned near everywhere.

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ConchRepublican
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#52 Post by ConchRepublican »

TIGERS FAN wrote:Recently while planning my Magnum PI Oahu vacation I learned that there are giant centipedes. I hate bugs, and these damn things remind me of the "tingler"! I immediatly called bullsh*t, I never saw a single damn centipede on Magnum (not that that would mean there aren't any) so there. I obviously forgot about this episode. OH MY GOD!!! I'm gonna be hate'n those damn things!!!
Oh man ...... This is NOT cool! I'm no Indiana Jones, gimme snakes any day over these skeevies. Talk about heebie jeebie time!!!!!

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2010/0 ... centipede/
CoziTV Superfan spot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPTmsykLQ04

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Higgette
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Re: Solo Flight (7.16)

#53 Post by Higgette »

GADS those things are horrible. I get them in my raised 1st floor apartment - in Minnesota of all places! There are 2 kinds, the house kind which look like deformed daddy-long-legs and this, the jungle kind. I've had them both. Far prefer the house kind. The jungle kind are hard to kill - I've tried wacking them but they tend to jump and run like the dickens. But I suck it up and smoosh them if they are around my cats! Fortunately it's been a long time since I've seen one, fingers crossed.

Anyway, I rated this ep 8.5 - would have been higher but it was such an obvious re-imagining of Home from the Sea. Did like the concept of him saving himself after such a long-established pattern of relying on his buddies to come to the rescue..

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Doc Fred
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Re: Solo Flight (7.16)

#54 Post by Doc Fred »

8.5

Very enjoyable, and we see a transition in Thomas' life....

A couple of things didn't seem quite right to me....

As was noted, the sequence pinning him under the plane didn't seem that well done....

When he was trapped, he never attempted to dig himself out. Maybe there would have been too much rock and he couldn't have, but he didn't even start digging. With the vegetation on the ground, it seems to me that they should have at least written in an attempt to excavate himself from under the plane.

I wish they had showed how he actually got out from being trapped.

When he was heading down the mountain, it seems to me that the hunters would have made some effort to help him... "Hey, are you ok? What can we do to help you?"... or that he would have at least spoken to them asking for help. Very unrealistic sequence...

I very much liked the looking back into his life and the pain that went with it... showing where he really came from.
Woof, woof... thirty years uglier!... woof, woof...

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ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)
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Re: Solo Flight (7.16)

#55 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Man! What a wretched episode!

Easily the worst episode of the series! From what I've seen anyway...

Give me the season 2 stinker "One More Summer" any day over this one. Magnum having a conversation with a freakin' fly? :? Magnum seeing a vision of a dude who turns into a giant fly?? :shock:

Yeah, I'm sure all this is supposed to be some deep pseudo-psychological soul searching mumbo jumbo. But no thanks. I'll pass. Actually I didn't have a problem with the way it began. It held some promise. I liked the idea of Magnum going up on that mountain alone to "find himself". Sure, I'll go with it. I never minded a deeper story. In fact my favorite MAGNUM episodes are the deeper, more serious ones. Usually with some link back to 'Nam. But this just turned into some surreal mess with Magnum babbling to himself and "Herman" for the duration. Ugghhh!!

There is one thing that I liked - the very end. No, not the end credits (though seeing those was indeed a huge relief :wink:) but when Magnum kills "Herman" by slapping his neck. That was great! :D

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