The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company (8.9)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the eighth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
1
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
4
6%
8.5 (Very Good)
7
11%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
15
23%
7.5 (Decent)
14
22%
7.0 (Average at Best)
9
14%
6.5 (Not So Good)
5
8%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
4
6%
5.0 (Just Awful)
6
9%
 
Total votes: 65

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lutherhgillis
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#11 Post by lutherhgillis »

My reaction to this entire episode is :shock: :shock: :shock: .

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#12 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

Doc, you bring up a great point about laying the ground work for Resolutions. I think, in a way, they tried to do much of that with season 8.

MACattack
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#13 Post by MACattack »

I think that writers could have taken the subject matter a little more seriously. This fictional street gang 'The Shivs' don't act like biker gangs or street gangs in Hawai'i or anywhere else in the world. And this was the same year "Colors" came out in the theaters!
In past episodes, the drama was more intense, making the storyline seem almost real.
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N1095A
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#14 Post by N1095A »

I just noticed this episode might have been shown out of sequence. My reasoning for this conclusion is a bit flimsy, but TM is wearing the MIA bracelet in this episode after he threw it away in 8.8 "Unfinished Business".
I'm going to go back and look at the rest of season 8, but I don't think he wore it in any of the remaining episodes.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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#15 Post by MACattack »

I was watching this episode again last night for a few laughs, and I couldn't believe how trite the plot was. It was like an afterschool special on TV.

In real life, if some gangstas thought T.C.'s son was a snitch, he wouldn't be walking around and talking to people, that's for sure! The second rate actors playing the "Shivs" are so cornball. It's possible they were picked right off the street.
I just don't give a damn!

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gmt16750
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#16 Post by gmt16750 »

It was hard to understand why they wanted to finish the serie with season 7. But after viewing this episode and the next one ("the lost art") i do know why. It isn't at the level of the other seasons, at least these two episodes are too much campy, playing to the gallery of fans and seem to mean: well we are Magnum, p.i.'s crew, that's enough for making a good serie.
Agatha: Why does he always do that, Jonathan?
Higgins: I don't know, Agatha. I think sometimes our creator is testing me. Indeed it could be for no other reason. If i thought otherwise i believe i truly would go irrevocably irretrievably mad!

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Frodoleader
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#17 Post by Frodoleader »

While watching this the other day, I kept thinking to myself that starting the Great Hawaiin Adveture Co. was a great idea! But then I thought, how many other adventure tourism-like companies are in Hawai'i? Probably alot!
"You are three months at Dak Wei and still you crack jokes?" - Ivan

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lutherhgillis
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#18 Post by lutherhgillis »

It seemed to me like the writers were past deadline and needed to write an episode very quickly. Someone said, "Here's and idea" and 15 minutes later they had the adventure company episode...
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?

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#19 Post by MACattack »

This is Bellisario's idea of a "Gangsta" story. I'd rather watch the Tom Selleck movie "An Innocent Man". That movie had a grittier theme and seemed so "Magnumesque"!
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Jay-Firestorm
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#20 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

What a strange episode. Not bottom-of-the-barrel, but very odd.

[rating=8.0]

The rest of the gang are too busy with their own endeavours when Thomas tries to get them interested in a potentially lucrative business venture, particularly T.C., whose son Bryant falls in with a juvenile biker gang, landing him in trouble with the Police. A strange ep…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

Although most of the episodes in the final season follow on from each other, ‘The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company’ (working title: ‘Taking Stock’) seems to be set quite a time after the events of the previous ‘Unfinished Business’. Far from the traumas he experienced in that episode, Magnum here is back to his old self, and Higgins, T.C. and Rick are also in the middle of various changes to their lives.

As I say, time seems to have passed since the events of ‘Unfinished Business’, most noticeably son Bryant (introduced in the sixth season’s ‘Missing Melody’) staying with T.C., which feels to have been in place a few weeks by the time of this story. Rick is also moving on, dating Cleo (from season five’s ‘The Hotel Dick’ and season six’s ‘Straight and Narrow’), and Higgins is taking a different tact on the writing of his memoirs at suggestion of a publishing company.

With all of the change in the air, this episode really has feel of being very near to the end of the show’s run. Coupled with that, the story also has feel that they were starting to run out of steam, and – as much as I would have liked to have seen another season – maybe wisely decided to call it a day.

Although the eighth season has some good episodes, one of my main complaints is that there are few real cases for Magnum to really get his teeth into. To me, the title of this one, ‘The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company’, conjured up maybe a daredevil band of tricksters up to no good or suchlike; but as it turns out, it is just the name of a lucrative business venture that Magnum is trying to get people interested in.

The episode is very much character-driven, and for the most part, very little of note really happens in the plot department. I’m all for episodes that dare to go with the leads (who are all very strong on-screen) instead of being more story-based, but on this one, it very much feels like a late-in-the-day half-hearted effort.

With Bryant mixed up with the teenage biker gang (who I couldn’t help but find unintentionally amusing, and very unmenacing), I thought we might be headed towards an exciting big biker showdown (maybe in the style of ‘The A-Team’s classic first season episode ‘Black Day at Bad Rock’, or ‘Knight Rider’s similar first season ep ‘Good Day at White Rock’), but at the end, the whole biker element just petered out, and never feels anywhere near concluded.

Then there is the climax of the story, with Bryant racing off in the small boat to get away from the bikers (…huh?) and naturally needing rescuing at sea. This came totally out of nowhere, and felt to be stuck on by the writers / producers at the last moment just to try and add some danger to the storyline. It doesn’t work, and as I say above, the whole biker plot is never satisfactorily resolved and just disappears.

For all that is wrong with it, I wouldn’t quite rank this episode as bottom-of-the barrel – I like that it deals more with a slice of the character’s everyday lives, and I can think of *far* worse episodes. It begins to sow the seeds for the series finale, and with the sense of change in the air, really has signs of being a very late episode. But I just expected it to be so much more exciting!

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* The working title of this episode, ‘Taking Stock’, is actually quite clever with its double meaning – in one sense, the four main characters are taking stock of their lives and making changes; but it can also refer to Bryant stealing the car parts from T.C.’s delivery.
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Carol the Dabbler
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#21 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

Magnum makes an obvious effort to engage his friends' egos in his Adventure Company scheme (presumably in order to facilitate engaging their pocketbooks). Higgins is asked to share his knowledge of Hawaiian history and T.C. is needed for his chopper expertise.

But where does Rick fit in? All that I recall hearing was that he would "fly" the tourists to the camp in the Koolaus -- presumably meaning that he would escort them, since T.C. would obviously do the actual flying. I'm thinking that T.C.'s chopper holds maybe half a dozen people (does anyone know exactly?), so it would make more sense for T.C. to be the escort as well as the pilot (he already does that sort of thing for a living), with Magnum and Rick both meeting them at the camp. That way, they could accommodate more tourists per expedition.

Is Magnum assuming that all three of them will stay with the tourists until T.C. flies them back to the Estate? Isn't that a pretty high guide-to-tourist ratio? T.C. would be useful as the cook -- he brews up a mean pot of chili. Magnum clearly sees himself as the leader. But again, where does Rick fit in? All I can figure is, Magnum wants him to feel needed so he'll chip in some money!
Carol

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J.J. Walters
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#22 Post by J.J. Walters »

Jay-Firestorm wrote:With Bryant mixed up with the teenage biker gang (who I couldn’t help but find unintentionally amusing, and very unmenacing), I thought we might be headed towards an exciting big biker showdown (maybe in the style of ‘The A-Team’s classic first season episode ‘Black Day at Bad Rock’, or ‘Knight Rider’s similar first season ep ‘Good Day at White Rock’), but at the end, the whole biker element just petered out, and never feels anywhere near concluded.
The Shivs! *chuckles*

ImageImage
ImageImage

The guy standing with a helmet on kind of looks like a young Kevin Bacon.

Watch out Black Rebels Motorcycle Club! Move out of the way Jets and Sharks! Here comes the Shivs! LOL

:)
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Carol the Dabbler
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#23 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

Jay-Firestorm wrote:... I thought we might be headed towards an exciting big biker showdown (maybe in the style of ‘The A-Team’s classic first season episode ‘Black Day at Bad Rock’, or ‘Knight Rider’s similar first season ep ‘Good Day at White Rock’) ....
Just in case anyone is wondering why the two episode titles that Jay mentions sound so similar, even though they come from different series -- they're both a take-off on Bad Day at Black Rock, a 1955 movie starring Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, and a bunch of other highly recognizable folks. But the main reason I wouldn't mind seeing it someday is because I hear that one of the baddies is played by DeForest Kelley (later Doctor McCoy of the original Star Trek series).
Last edited by Carol the Dabbler on Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Carol

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steveadl
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#24 Post by steveadl »

Have to agree, the whole 'bikie' side story was a bit weak. They could have come up with something better.

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#25 Post by Little Garwood »

Voted this a [7.0]

I didn't mind the episode being split into four character pieces, with Bryant's rescue being the obligatory "action" sequence. I thought he went out there to distract T.C. and Magnum so that his not-so-dangerous '80s thugs could swoop in and steal the equipment.

I disliked Thomas' business venture shtick as well as the obligatory romantic overtones with Sarah. About the only thing that sort of redeems the oddness of Thomas' behavior was when T.C. said something to the effect of "You're changing." If there had been an admission on Thomas' part, we may have had a pretty good response from TM.

Higgins' storyline could have been better and it would have been nice to see more from that, as well as Rick's sub plot, because it's always nice to see Cleo.
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