Never Again ... Never Again (1.7)

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Good ep. Just watched it on Cozi tv this morning. They cut out Magnum shooting Lena. I hate that and not sure why they did this. It takes away a lot from the conclusion. Its a big reason TM was so distraught on tbe beach talking to Higgins.

This is the sort of thing people would find interesting if Selleck addresses it in his upcoming book. Dey Street Books, an imprint of Harper Collins is publishing it.
If anyone here can please share with us it's snail mail or better yet online address, it would be appreciated. We might then politely suggest to them to
have Selleck explain the missing gunshots. Or any other burning questions we Magnum Maniacs have wondered about over the years. If they get a number of "letters"
on a subject they might pay attention, figuring X amount of inquiries = a whole lot of people who are likely future customers.
By the way, writing a star in care of his publisher is just about the best way I know to get a autograph once the book is published. First off you are
putting money in Selleck's pocket. Second it is a big ego stroke for anyone that the buyer is so interested in their life.
Third you are doing a end run around all the layers of "people" and corporate entities that surround a huge TV star.
Publishers send the fan mail direct to the author's agent or his own home office/personnel, there is no TV network or production companies running interference
as publishers don't deal with them to begin with.
Getting to that inner ring of people around the star is 99% of the battle.
At the Route 66 Group I am in, every year some 25 of us send George Maharis a birthday card on September 1 in care of his agent. George never fails to respond
with hand written notes and photos. He also makes a point of phoning 2 or 3 those who sent artfully customized and humorous cards.
Nice guy, and though it was a long time ago he was a huge star in 1963 and considered one of the finest actors of his generation.

[308GUY]

I'll be watching for that address to TS's publisher.

Great story about Maharis! Fantastic that he takes the time to respond at all...let alone hand written notes and photos...and a phone call??? Unheard of!! But why not...Very reassuring to hear that a "star" realizes he's people just like the rest of us....well....maybe not "JUST" like the rest of us...but none-the-less..."people" Obviously, he knows without the fans...he nor anybody else could ever BE a "star". Nice to know he appreciates his fans as much as they appreciate him and his work.

"People are people...no matter where you go
no matter how much money they make/have
no matter where they live, what they drive
what they wear what they eat, smoke or drink...
people are people."

We are all more alike than we are different...when more of us accept that, maybe we will all get along better....but...I ain't gonna hold MY breath!LOL!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I'll be watching for that address to TS's publisher.

Great story about Maharis! Fantastic that he takes the time to respond at all...let alone hand written notes and photos...and a phone call??? Unheard of!! But why not...Very reassuring to hear that a "star" realizes he's people just like the rest of us....well....maybe not "JUST" like the rest of us...but none-the-less..."people" Obviously, he knows without the fans...he nor anybody else could ever BE a "star". Nice to know he appreciates his fans as much as they appreciate him and his work.
"People are people...no matter where you go
no matter how much money they make/have
no matter where they live, what they drive
what they wear what they eat, smoke or drink...
people are people."
We are all more alike than we are different...when more of us accept that, maybe we will all get along better....but...I ain't gonna hold MY breath!
LOL!

Hi 308 GUY,
Nice sentiments, good for you.
I began to feel guilty about my 4 autographed photos/letters from Maharis, I felt like wishing him Happy Birthday again
and then saying "but you don't have to bother sending me another autographed photo" might not sound very nice.
But back to Selleck's upcoming bio for Dey Street Books, which is located on a very, very short street. I couldn't find a
building number but I don't think the postman would have a problem with:
Tom Selleck
(author of "whatever he is going to name his Bio")
Dey Street Books
Dey Street
New York, NY 10007

However I am 100% sure if you wrote to him via Harper Collins, of which Dey Street Books is an imprint of, it will get to him/his people.
If he replies is another thing, it's up to him but your chances are far better than writing CBS.
But wait till the book is published, so you can say you bought the book, thus putting money in Selleck's pocket/ego stroking.
Tom Selleck
Author of " ? "
Dey Street Books
c/o Author Mail, Floor 22
Harper Collins Publishers
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007

Good luck Magnum Maniacs.

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I watched this one last night for the first time in probably 8 or 9 years. I remembered there was a twist, but had forgotten exactly what it was. It's a good episode, but it seems really choppy like they left half of it in the editing room. It should have been a two parter. I find it hard to believe that they cut out a gunshot, but that seems to be the consensus here. Wonder why it hasn't been restored? It's not like it would be all that shocking today.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I watched this one last night for the first time in probably 8 or 9 years. I remembered there was a twist, but had forgotten exactly what it was. It's a good episode, but it seems really choppy like they left half of it in the editing room. It should have been a two parter. I find it hard to believe that they cut out a gunshot, but that seems to be the consensus here. Wonder why it hasn't been restored? It's not like it would be all that shocking today.

Hi MagnumsLeftShoulder,
You said it seemed "really choppy like they left half of it in the editing room". As a rule the networks are going to run around 18 minutes of commercials.
Am I correct that the unedited Magnum episodes on DVD run 48 minutes? So they have to chop out 6 more minutes of content. Plus you hope the editor CARES
about doing justice to the vision of the people who created the episode he is slicing up. Channel 11 in NYC set the standard for butchering a work when they ran
"It's a Wonderful Life". They showed a distraught George Bailey about to jump off the bridge, then cut out the entire sequence where George Bailey is rescued
by the angel who then shows him what life in his town would be like over time if George had never been born. Instead George gazes at the water, then the next
second he is running thru Bedford Falls yelling how much he loves the town.
The COZI channel - where I watch Magnum - for one can be pretty iffy with editing. On Adam-12 they ignore the natural pauses meant for commercials and instead
jarringly insert ads smack in the middle of the most intense drama, ruining the moment. They also cut out most of the amusing patter between the two
leads which gave the show it's charm and separated it from other cop shows. Instead they will leave in filler bits such as the boys handing out a
traffic ticket. The station manager either doesn't know his stuff or just cares about fitting in the most commercials anywhere.
I agree with you about restoring the gunshot, as stated earlier in this thread it would explain why Magnum was so upset at episodes end, prompting
Higgins to console him. As the years roll on I am afraid this episode will lose even more impact as kids aren't really taught any serious history any
more before college, or even then. That dimwit Congresswoman from NY earlier this year revealed she didn't even know who the sides were in
WW2, who we fought and who was on our side. You can't understand the world today and how/why it works without a deep knowledge of the war.

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"If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up some place else"...Yogi Berra

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I was watching it on Amazon Prime where there are no commercials so it was the full episode at around 49 minutes, I think it was such a meaty story that it could have filled two episodes. The pacing of it is just weird like the scene breaks seemed sort of truncated or something. Plus, there were a lot of unanswered questions about the Nazi couple and Kessler and the Mossad guys, but then I again I sometimes like that the show is sort of ambiguous. I love the final scene on the beach.

Unfortunately, I don't get COZI. Adam-12 is a show I've been wanting to watch for a while now, but it's not on any channel I get and I haven't found it on any streaming sites either.

That dimwit Congresswoman from NY

Ugh...don't get me started on her!

[davko]

Second viewing and this episode is even more interesting when you know the twist. so cleverly written, there are clues all the way through that the couple are actually the villains. particularly the wife's behaviour early in the episode at the hospital, if you watch carefully and her aware of the twist she is acting in a very odd way. And it really sent a shiver down my neck when she makes her final monologue on the boat. I also noticed the dramatic score when Magnum is storming the boat is very menacing, a little bit like a Hitchcock movie theme. Don't think we saw scoring like that in any other episodes.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Second viewing and this episode is even more interesting when you know the twist. so cleverly written, there are clues all the way through that the couple are actually the villains. particularly the wife's behaviour early in the episode at the hospital, if you watch carefully and her aware of the twist she is acting in a very odd way. And it really sent a shiver down my neck when she makes her final monologue on the boat. I also noticed the dramatic score when Magnum is storming the boat is very menacing, a little bit like a Hitchcock movie theme. Don't think we saw scoring like that in any other episodes.

Davko,
Good point about the scoring. I hope you post more often.

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"When Shemp pours on the charm, no dame can resist him"...Moe Howard

[Little Garwood]

For all her wailing and weeping, Lena never once sheds an actual tear!

[charybdis1966]

Just watched this episode today and it looks so much like the final confrontation scene with TM and Lena is leading up to her suicide.
When TM says “it’s over” and Lena straightens as if to do something significant and replies “I guess it finally is” suggests to me that she slit her own throat.
TM’s upset demeanour the following morning tied up with someone who has seen suicide by throat slit. IMHO you can rule out TM shooting her.
All I can suggest to explain this lack of clarity is that the director may have originally shot the scene with Lena killing herself but the network’s didn’t like that and forced an edit to make it ambiguous.

[Pahonu]

Many years ago, perhaps 8-10, I posted my confusion at people’s uncertainty about the ending. As I said then, I clearly remember a gunshot in viewing the episode finale in the 80’s. Other forum members recalled it as well. It seems to have been subsequently removed, clearly, and speculation about the ending followed, but it wasn’t really ambiguous at all when viewed originally.

[charybdis1966]

I don’t remember hearing a gunshot first time round but then the UK screenings weren’t shown at the same time as the US so I probably saw the syndicated version with the gunshot removed.
Having scrolled back through previous posts it confirms that the original US screening retained the gun shot. Guess I got lulled into thinking the scalpel was more involved in the climax to the scene than it actually was.

[80s Big Hair]

That is interesting and I was unaware of the cutout gunshot. It would have been when they cut to an exterior shot of the boat. Why would the director decide on that shot unless something like a gunshot was happening off camera? So a part of the episode that no longer exists is "suicide by Magnum." Lena attacked Magnum with the scalpel in order to force him to shoot her.

[Pahonu]

That is interesting and I was unaware of the cutout gunshot. It would have been when they cut to an exterior shot of the boat. Why would the director decide on that shot unless something like a gunshot was happening off camera? So a part of the episode that no longer exists is "suicide by Magnum." Lena attacked Magnum with the scalpel in order to force him to shoot her.

The gunshot did happen after the cut to the exterior of the boat. I had never thought of it as you describe, but it would indeed have been an odd choice to cut to the exterior of the boat otherwise. I suppose I never gave it much thought because it was quite clear what happened as originally broadcast.

[charybdis1966]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but I noticed something while I was showing this episode to the family last night (it was my turn to choose what we saw).

What I noticed was that for about around an hour or two of screen time (from the breaching of Robin's Nest till after the discovery of Kessler's body) we saw various scenes that looked to be set at dusk. What bothered me was that dusk only usually lasts about twenty minutes to half an hour so to have the agents abducting Lena, Rick and TM at Kessler's place and then a few scenes after it in a constant dusk it didn't make sense.

I suspect that those scenes were shot at daytime and some kind of optical effect/filter was used to make it look like near darkness.

That has to be it; anyone else agree or can disprove my theory?