Carol the Dabbler wrote:The first "flub" isn't quite accurate as listed. As IslandHopper pointed out above, T.C. was caught (and charged with) smuggling a *person* into the islands, not drugs. Magnum, Rick, & T.C. found dope in Joey's room later on, but apparently didn't tell the authorities about it -- flushed it, maybe?
Still, it does seems odd that "they" didn't give the copter a thorough going-over -- and, as IH pointed out, the dope wasn't even really hidden, just stored in some obvious compartments! Stuff like this drives me nuts, but I think I've figured out a plausible scenario.
OK, Hawaii has to be a hot spot for smuggling. Some guy is caught flying under radar with a suspicious passenger and fless when confronted by the coastguard. The coastguard would go to the effort of calling out a military attack helicopter in order to bring him into custody but they would fail to lift the floor board covers to check for drugs?
This is one of my ALL TIME favorites! I hear you about Sarah and about the Coast Guard not searching confiscated helicopters but…for me…this episode is all about giving me a chance to get better acquainted with TC. There has been some discussion about how Roger E Mosley influenced the evolvement of the TC character. He drinks in the first few episodes but then it’s very clear that he’s not a drinker. In China Doll, he’s a small business and refunding that poor tourist couple’s return fare will be hard for him but then it starts to look like Island Hopper is a fairly successful business. He’s pretty physical in Thank Heavens for Little Girls but then we see that he’s a gentle man with artistic and altruistic sensibilities. I think this is the episode that allows us to know TC well enough for that evolution to take place and I love it.
The BIG #1 with TC is his loyalty. Yes, it’s paramount in this episode where he’s willing to lose everything to help Joey because Joey pulled him out of a burning chopper in Vietnam. And it shows up again in Sense of Debt where he fights for the Delta vet who he injures in an accident. But really…TC’s loyalty shows up in EVERY episode. He’s ALWAYS “there” for Thomas, Rick and even Higgins when they need him. He complains a lot about Thomas’s “crazy cases” and about gas money and about how many times Rick falls in love and about Higgins’s “mangy pot hounds” and …and…and…but he ALWAYS comes through for them.
This episode is one of the few times that Rick and Thomas repay that loyalty. They know him well enough to know that “something’s wrong with this picture” and even though he tries to keep them out of it so they aren’t liable, they stick by him until they figure it out. And then they stick by him until HE figures it out! That he doesn’t have to ruin his life or give up the things and people that he loves. I almost cried when Thomas pulls TC off of Renault (sp-?). Not because he doesn’t think the drug dealer deserves to die but because he doesn’t want TC to be “hurt” by killing him.
I think it’s great that we’re allowed to see the vulnerability of this character. It’s really cute (sorry, guys!) to see how protective TC is of his “bird” after it’s all over and he’s got it back…his helicopter AND his life! This speaks volumes to me about TC’s character and about how much he trusts Thomas and Rick because it’s not the kind of thing that men are often willing to reveal.
And, of course, the icing on the cake is when Higgins shows off a bit of his own character by figuring out how to nullify the “deal” that would force Thomas to move out of the guest house. This is the single most obvious indication so far that Higgins is beginning to have some respect Thomas and, I think, is one of the first times that it’s transparent enough for Thomas to recognize.
Nice! VERY nice!
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!
My second review of this week. I know some people love this episode, and I do like it, but it’s not one of my outstanding favourites.
[TV.com rating=8.5, Character development]
After T.C. is arrested for making a late night flight to a tanker and smuggling a man back onto the islands, he refuses to say anything in his defence. Magnum and Rick try to find out what is going on to clear his name. A good episode although not one of my favourites…
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‘Thicker than Blood’ is another episode penned by series co-creator Donald P. Bellisario, so straight off it’s destined to be a good story. And it certainly has its good moments. That said, it’s not one of my favourites of the first season for some reason.
From this episode on, the original Ian Fairbairn-Smith theme is completely replaced by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter’s more recognised theme for the series. It also kind of marks how the series has progressed through its early experimental (but very good) episodes and it’s becoming settled as a series.
The story is notable for how long it takes for Magnum himself to be seen – a great chunk at the beginning is filled up with T.C.’s late night flight to the tanker and trying to sneak his old comrade Joey back into Hawaii.
Joey is played very well by Vincent Caristi, who perfectly captures the child-like young man who should never have been thrown into Vietnam in the first place.
A notable scene of the episode is when Magnum wakes up to find the unseen ‘Sarah’ – who we are to presume he has been dating – gone, leaving a tape recording in her place. Although this sequence is initially well-written by Bellisario, and Selleck is more than capable of carrying it, the whole scene ends up coming off too over cutesy, not to mention that ‘Sarah’s voice is rather annoying.
The episode plays out well, with Magnum and Rick trying to find why T.C. won’t defend himself in court, but I don’t find it as gripping as some of the other first season greats.
The obligatory fight between Magnum and T.C., although on the face of it well done, seems just to be thrown in for the sake of it, and I didn’t really buy it.
[Spoiler] And the explanation that the villains on the tanker wanted to use T.C.’s chopper to sneak a mass stash of cocaine back on the islands, and plan to get their hands on it by buying the chopper at Police auction… Do the Police never check any vehicle before they sell it on?! I just didn’t buy this at all and felt that it let down the episode. I also felt the unclear outcome, with T.C. given a suspended sentence, was brushed over too quickly. [End of spoiler]
A good moment comes when Magnum has enough of Higgins’ “rules” and says that he’ll move out. At the ends, Higgins makes up some flimsy excuse so that Magnum can stay – a nice sign that Higgins can’t really live without Magnum; an Odd Couple indeed.
(And as Magnum is sorting through his stuff, we see for the first time his gorilla mask, which would be seen a number of times in later episodes).
All-in-all, a perfectly watchable episode; but compared to some of the other examples in the season, it just doesn’t stand out to me. I give it a very reasonable but not excellent 8.5.
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* With the new opening comes two things to note:
In the opening shots of T.C.’s helicopter swooping down, the tail rotor flips sides between shots
The shot of the car exploding and going over the side of the cliff seems to be taken from filming of the Pilot; if you look closely, you can see ropes underneath that were used to keep the car in the right position as it exploded
* The shot looking from inside of one of the coastguard’s helicopters is clearly pre-existing stock footage
* As already mentioned by others, the editing of the scene of T.C. in handcuffs in the opening trailer, has some different dialogue to seen in the actual episode
* A rather trivial note, but Joey’s surname, Santino, is very similar to Santini, which Donald P. Bellisario would later use (for Ernest Borgnine’s Dominic Santini) in ‘Airwolf’.
* Also as mentioned above, this is the first time that we see T.M.'s gorilla mask.
Jay I see you mention that " The shot looking from inside of one of the coastguard’s helicopters is clearly pre-existing stock footage". This is painfully obvious when sollid ground actually can be spotted trough the window of the chopper, in the bottom right, even though their supposed to be above the middle of the ocean.
I'll see if I can post a screencap of that later.
So I made a Topic Page about Magnum, P.I. Check it out here.
Hey rubber chicken, I got something for you for the next release of the filming location guide...
The fight scene (at T.C.'s hanger) was filmed on location at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point (Kapolei), in the General Service Vehicle Shop (otherwise known as the "GSA building").
A retired USCG sent me this information. He said he was present at all of CG filming and was used as the Coast Guard Helicopter Air Crewman that gave T.C. the hand signals (in the Coast Guard Helicopter’s door).
Very neat James, that's a location which would likely be impossible to find any other way. I'm unable to find a map of the air station though, so I'm unsure which building is the General Service Vehicle Shop. I'd like place a marker on the particular building if possible.
I wonder if this gentleman was also present during the segment at the end of Past Tense (3.5) where a coast Guard helicopter lands next to the WWII pillbox on Nimitz Beach, immediately south of Barbers Point Air Station.
Also in Past Tense, I wonder if he knows the location of the revetment that's used in the show as the "back entrance" to the beach pillbox. I've thought that it might be around here where there are a number of revetments, but that's only a slightly educated guess. Here's more info on that area (you'll probably want to mute your computer speakers before clicking that link).
Last edited by rubber chicken on Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
He's not sure where the revetment in "Past Tense" is from, sorry.
He also added the following regarding "Thicker than Blood":
Regarding scenes filmed at Barbers Point CGAS, the scene in the operations room (big Earth Map in the back ground (Neil Lipe discussing the the matter ) was in the actual operations room. The scene as the crew enters the Air Station Building, where the phase " the Coast Guard make the best coffee in the world" is stated.
TC's helicopter was never at the Air Station during this filming as far as I know.
The Filming sequence for the CG Helo intercept , followed by the escape, followed by the Cobra face to face ("you guy's don't play fare") was done at Haleiwa, at the old air strip; west of Kamehameha Hwy, and north of Kahalewai Pl, west of Ukoa Pond (google map shows it well).
Cool, I see TC's chopper came across the shore at this point, the dirt (or sand) road is still there, as well as the beach cabins. It's harder to pinpoint where TC landed, but since there's only trees there I may not have been able to confirm even the general location of that spot. So it's great that we now have that information. Thanks to the retired USCG gentleman for getting in touch with you!
I wonder if the name of the building is actually "Air Station Building". I wouldn't know, I'm not able to find much info online about the station, I'll label it as Air Station Building for now. It's neat that filming took place in authentic Coast Guard facilities.
Thoroughly enjoyable episode with quite a few memorable moments.
First, the new intro theme happens but not in it's final form. Still, it is much better than the earlier intro.
Gorilla mask, Groucho nose and glasses, all firsts. We get to know TC better and start to see the depths of the friendships that exist between the four. I think this is a major appeal of this series....the depth of character development. The guys have fun, goof around, etc., the show is entertaining but there is substance underneath that isn't seen too much in a detective series.
Regarding the issue of drugs, both with the addict character and the Coast Guard, let's remember that this was almost 30 years ago and the government wasn't nearly as sophisticated and concerned about drugs as they are now. Miami Vice wasn't even a show yet. For example, I was just watching a show on CNBC about the marijuana trade in the late 70s. They interviewed a guy who ran a huge racket in SF and he selected SF because the government then focused on border cities for likely intervention sites. The guy even owned his own pier in SF for off-loading pot. Anyway, times have changed is my point.
The same thing can be said about the addict - most people know a lot more about drug addicts than back then.
Jaybird wrote:Gorilla mask, Groucho nose and glasses, all firsts. We get to know TC better and start to see the depths of the friendships that exist between the four. I think this is a major appeal of this series....the depth of character development. The guys have fun, goof around, etc., the show is entertaining but there is substance underneath that isn't seen too much in a detective series.
