The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the first season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
5
4%
9.0 (Excellent)
9
8%
8.5 (Very Good)
20
17%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
34
29%
7.5 (Decent)
18
15%
7.0 (Average at Best)
13
11%
6.5 (Not So Good)
9
8%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
5
4%
5.0 (Just Awful)
5
4%
 
Total votes: 119

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Estate resident
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Re:

#71 Post by Estate resident »

J.J. Walters wrote:This is one of those episodes where you either love it or hate it. I'm in the former. Sure, it's got kind of a goofy plot, but Michael V. Gazzo is great as the bumbling old school mobster. And that whole sequence with Magnum & the grad student being chased by the mobsters through a pot field and on the Makai Research Pier is a classic. The DVD version also contains some "blooper" footage at the end. This is the only episode to use this type of footage in the closing credits.
The blooper w/ Hig & Mag breaking into laughter is priceless. Imagine how incredible it must have been to worked on that show in that time in that location!!! Even the PA's had the best job in the world...then.

marlboro
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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#72 Post by marlboro »

Coincidence?

The old mobster, Victor DiGorgio, is referred to as a "mustache" in this episode. "Mustache Pete" was a term for old guard Sicilian mobsters in the early 1900s.

The dog's name is "Sir Algernon Farnsworth." The name "Algernon" is French for "with mustaches" or "having mustaches."

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Doc Ibold
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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#73 Post by Doc Ibold »

marlboro wrote:Coincidence?

The old mobster, Victor DiGorgio, is referred to as a "mustache" in this episode. "Mustache Pete" was a term for old guard Sicilian mobsters in the early 1900s.

The dog's name is "Sir Algernon Farnsworth." The name "Algernon" is French for "with mustaches" or "having mustaches."

Hmm, it seems unlikely. If the verbal reference wasn't in there and you just had the trivia to link to the name, I'd say sure. But with the reference in there multiple times, it seems like a slight nod.

Kind of clever if you think about it.

Great point out!

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#74 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

Kalai-pahoa wrote:
Pahonu wrote: I assumed he was just making stuff up to occupy these guys. Did he know they were from New York because Magnum mentioned it? The "mustache's" thick accent also could have tipped him off.
hmmm hard to say. I don't think so. No one knew for sure that DiGiorgio was involved in the plan. And Rick recognized him only after he got out of the van. Rick seemed really surprised to see DiGiorgio, in fact he exclaimed "Victor DiGiorgio! I thought you died in the pen years ago."
and so on...
Rick was definitely supposed to be from Brooklyn in the earlier seasons. There is another episode where he tells the Asian gangster of the week "If you ever need anything in Brooklyn let me know" or something to that effect as a thank-you for some information he gave him.

I think it's not until the Icepick back story comes into play that he suddenly becomes a Chicagoan. It's quite a gross continuity error. You should at least be consistent with the birthplace of the main characters.

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#75 Post by Milton Collins »

Had to give this one a 6.5, just too silly overall for me. Not by any means a terrible episode but not a plot of magnum caliber. But, as I've seen it several times (as I have all of them) I knew what to expect going in and tried to focus on the positives. I LOVE near the end when Rick is in the tanktop and is talking to the old gangsta (from the Godfather Part 2!) and asks him if he remembers "Mister C" and says that they called him (Rick) "Little O" ha ha ha ha totally cracked up. The banana chase didn't do a whole lot for me or the fight at the warehouse where they are miraculously saved by TC. Hasn't that warehouse/pier been used as TC's business and several other locations in different episodes? As always, I did enjoy early and very angry Higgins lol. Anyway, certainly not one of the worst Magnum's but not a very good one in my opinion.

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#76 Post by KingKC »

Just plain goofy...but all MPI episodes were considered pretty good back in 1980-1981!!

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#77 Post by eagle »

I just noticed a goof in this episode. In some scenes, the bad guys are driving a Ford LTD, and in other scenes they are driving a Mercury Grand Marquis. I know this, because my first car was a 1979 Ford LTD, and I always recognize the difference between the LTD and the Mercury.

You can see the Mercury in the scene at 22:28. Other scenes, like the gas station scene at 21:35, are of a Ford LTD. Among other things, note the different grille and headlights.

Obviously most of the driving scenes were filmed multiple times, because in the entire chase scene from ~16:30 to ~24:30 shows both the LTD and the Grand Marquis at nearly identical places in the chase.

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Re:

#78 Post by MagnumILWU »

J.J. Walters wrote:This is one of those episodes where you either love it or hate it. I'm in the former. Sure, it's got kind of a goofy plot, but Michael V. Gazzo is great as the bumbling old school mobster. And that whole sequence with Magnum & the grad student being chased by the mobsters through a pot field and on the Makai Research Pier is a classic. The DVD version also contains some "blooper" footage at the end. This is the only episode to use this type of footage in the closing credits.
Just watched it on Encore! The bloopers at the end are great! Just funny and natural. Not forced, like so many blooper reels! Like other comments, I wish there were many more!
"pickled egg please"

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Re:

#79 Post by Danny Lin »

On Algie being beamed aboard:
MACattack wrote:Hilarious episode! I especially love the part where Magnum randomly ran into the ganja fields!

There was flub that kind of brought a cheese factor to the episode though. The scene where Magnum gets into the jimmy. He calls to the dog to come into the car. The dog isn't filmed jumping into the car. The edited shot is cut and the dog just magically appears in the Jimmy. I know it was an error that the editors missed, but the effect is hilarious. It's like there's a transporter beam on the jimmy!
I don´t get that. The only sequence in which Magnum gets into the Jimmy and calls the dog to come into the car is the one in the parking lot of the Kaleawana Kennel. And the dog is clearly seen, jumping into the car through the right door!

Do I understand MACattack´s post wrong in any way?
Last edited by Danny Lin on Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re:

#80 Post by Danny Lin »

On the aspiring marine biologist:
Sisophous wrote:
J.J. Walters wrote:
Seaver41 wrote:The aspiring marine biologist was about as dry and boring as any female lead on the show........truly forgettable.
Dry, maybe. Forgettable, no way! She's drop dead gorgeous! ;)

Image

I really did not like her character at all. She is terrified of dogs and very emotional with mood swings. She reminds me of the female role played in Indiana Jones films where the girl is always on an emotional roller-coaster.

...
I really didn´t like her character either! I´m always really annoyed of overly emotional and helpless characters, especially if them being strenuous doesn´t add anything to the story. Since this episode once again is one that intends to be funny and easy entertainment it wouldn´t have been necessary at all to artificially add drama by adding an unstable "crybaby". Why not any kind of hilarious character, especially if it is a woman. Women were back then much too often used as unstable and unable little dolls that needed the help of a male main character. That was and is, if it happens today, just boring and annoying, or to speak with Seaver41: "Truly forgettable"!
... Then I'm history... Walking history... I'll be just another chapter in one of those dumb books Louise Peardon makes me read: "Prince Danny Lin, assassinated July." ...

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#81 Post by Danny Lin »

On some unmentioned flubs:

During the car chase there are some short sequences to find in which Algie is seen in front of chequered back seats that are not part of the interior of the Jimmy.

When Rick stops the pool cleaners van after he was run off the road by the bad guys the environment that can be seen through the passenger window is notably different from the environment that can be seen through the same window seconds later, when Mitch jumps into the van and threatens Rick with the gun.
... Then I'm history... Walking history... I'll be just another chapter in one of those dumb books Louise Peardon makes me read: "Prince Danny Lin, assassinated July." ...

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#82 Post by Danny Lin »

On the episode as such:

Another one of those episodes that clearly aim to offer some easy entertainment without real drama. Not bad but not as entertaining as "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too", I find.

Higgins, shouting: "Enough! Enough! The entire episode is absurd" underlines the aim of the episode very nicely. :)

Magnum talking himself out of the situation in the grass patch reminds of him talking himself out of the situation with Mano in "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too". But even that Mano sequence was wittier than the grass patch one.

TC wears the team ring upside down once more in the sequence with him and Magnum on the phone, when Magnum rings him from the gas station.

Michael Nader (Mitch) played Dex Dexter in "Dynasty" some years later.
... Then I'm history... Walking history... I'll be just another chapter in one of those dumb books Louise Peardon makes me read: "Prince Danny Lin, assassinated July." ...

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Re:

#83 Post by Danny Lin »

On an unmentioned flub according the helicopters position on the helipad on the pier:
Higgy_baby wrote:
...

Flub note for James:
While the old mobster shoots through the door on the pier, TC comes to the rescue. As the chopper lands, an empty concrete helipad is visible. Magnum and Sharon then board the chopper on an ashphalt section further up the pier. The copter in then seen taking off from the square concrete pad.

...
When I searched for this flub I found that there´s another flub in direct connection with the above mentioned one:
It occurs between the two sequences directly before the one in which the biologist and Thomas enter the shopper on the asphalt section.
In the first sequence you see the two running towards the shopper out of the background. The shopper is positioned on the helipad with the front ends of the skids hanging over the edge of the pad. In the next sequence you see the two from behind while running towards the shopper. In this sequence the shopper suddenly is positioned on the helipad with the front ends of the skids not hanging over the edge.
... Then I'm history... Walking history... I'll be just another chapter in one of those dumb books Louise Peardon makes me read: "Prince Danny Lin, assassinated July." ...

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Re: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

#84 Post by K Hale »

Flub!

In the scene in the study where Magnum and Higgins are looking at Algie's X-rays, Higgins is wearing long pants.

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T.C. drives up and Magnum lets him in. Higgins heads out the door and has suddenly changed into shorts.

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Re: Re:

#85 Post by ENSHealy »

Danny Lin wrote:On Algie being beamed aboard:
MACattack wrote:Hilarious episode! I especially love the part where Magnum randomly ran into the ganja fields!

There was flub that kind of brought a cheese factor to the episode though. The scene where Magnum gets into the jimmy. He calls to the dog to come into the car. The dog isn't filmed jumping into the car. The edited shot is cut and the dog just magically appears in the Jimmy. I know it was an error that the editors missed, but the effect is hilarious. It's like there's a transporter beam on the jimmy!
I don´t get that. The only sequence in which Magnum gets into the Jimmy and calls the dog to come into the car is the one in the parking lot of the Kaleawana Kennel. And the dog is clearly seen, jumping into the car through the right door!

Do I understand MACattack´s post wrong in any way?
I'm with you Danny, I think MACattack's off base on this one, although not entirely. Clearly as shown in the photos below, Algie can be seen jumping into the Jimmy. However, there is a very strange sound effect added in when he does it, a weird "whooshing" sound, and I can see where MACattack might have gotten the idea of a transporter beam from that sound effect. Especially if he was sampling some of the grass from his patch while he watched the episode!

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