steveadl wrote:Just watched this one again. Can anyone read Magnum's lips in the final 20 secs - what's he's mouthing? Is it the price of the lens he just replaced needlessly?
that was my take on it....the price of the lens.
good episode. kept me interested and I always enjoy any Magnum episode when the spooks are part of the plot.
I quite like the episode.
Watching it again today, I found Higgie's behaviour very strange.
TM kissing Andres and then fights with the russian thugs and shoots the guy.
Higgins - alarmed by Andreas screaming arrives and seems to be very kind to TM.
Next scene TM is at the police station and Higgins starts mocking on him which is kind of strange and very inconsistent.
maggiepoole wrote:At the beginning of the show, when Magnum comes from the guest house to the main house (before he runs into the ballerinas). He comes down the guest house steps. Anyone notice a flash of some sort? It looks like lightning or a flash bulb. If it was lightning, he comes around the corner and it is sunny with fluffy clouds. Were the scenes shot on a different day or something? Or some sort of strange phenomena.......
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Quigley wrote:Maggie - I was watching this yesterday and noticed the same thing! I would not have remembered about it unless I'd read your comment. I thought it may have been a reflection of the sun off something. Weird!
Another interesting thing about this scene is how you see Magnum come down the guest house steps and then in the next scene he comes around the corner of the main house on the ocean side before running into the ballerinas (which of course makes no sense if you know the layout of the estate)!
Weird! I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a flash. It looks to me like the film itself is damaged...
Although in the second screen cap, it almost looks like there might be a reflection of some sort. Are those human legs on TM's back?
Or maybe it's the long-suspected, secret teleportation device that enables Magnum to quickly get from the guesthouse to areas around the main house, especially when you consider that in a split second after the above shots, we see this (as pointed out by Quigley)...
I'm wondering if that might be something from the editing process. Perhaps where the film overlapped from the previous scene and this one and a bad glueing process. Just a thought..............
There is no "flash" visible at all on the ITV4 (UK) broadcast of 02/09/2013.
SPOILER: Also, there's a minor flub which no-one has mentioned:- after the attacker has been shot in the estate's grounds, Higgins rolls him over to check his pulse. As he does so, the "dead" assailant seems to instinctively control the position of his right leg, probably to keep his balance.
I hadn't seen this one in quite some time and actually liked it more than I remembered. I actually hadn't seen much from season two in a while and it seems to be where the show really hit it's stride as there are several very good episodes from this season. TC's love for the balarina was quite entertaining! And poor TM having to cough up the $$$ for a lense that was already lost, had to feel bad for him there! I love how the silver haired CIA agent made one of his first of about six different character appearences throughout the whole series. I like trying to spot these recurring actors who play bit roles and it's surprising how much of that there is in MPI. Overall a good solid episode!!
I voted The Sixth Position a 7.0 (Average at Best).
The perfunctory love-hate romance wasn't so good and the pat ending with Thomas coming to save the day are the two things that earned this one the rating I gave it. However, the always-fine Andrea Marcovicci conveyed some convincing terror when the enemy agents threatened to cut her leg and ruin her ballet career. Good stuff there. She also had the upper body physique and could perform halfway convincingly in the dance sequences; I've seen plenty worse and Marcovicci's were leagues above other actors' attempts at same.
Good scene when Rick tells TM that he has the right to pay the latter's bar tab because of all the favors Rick does for him. That's the kind of Riot Act that we as fans scream at the TV every time Thomas pulls a fast one on his buddies. Larry Manetti gets some stick here for his acting deficiencies (but never from me) but I hope everyone would agree that he excels at light comedy. His reactions at the episode's end when Thomas and Higgins are talking about Robin Master's camera lens is good stuff.
I love TC's smooth and genuine way with a woman here. Great job from Roger E. Mosley.
Corinne Michaels was a "Peach" in her own right, as she is in my view a lovely woman whose many appearances on 1970s TV (Mannix; Kolchak; Six Million Dollar Man etc.) were always worth watching.
Dark episode. Not in terms of content but rather in the technical sense. The day for night filtering, voice overdubbing, and DVD quality all combine to make this one of the less technically accomplished episodes.
Funny bit when Magnum sits down in Mrs. Selmire's bed, it is clearly a water bed.
Good Thomas response to the gun-toting Selmire:
Selmire: [Points Gun at TM] "Magnum, this is a matter of national security!"
Magnum: [Sarcastically] "Isn't it always?"
This is the kind of exchange from the early seasons I've always liked. Thomas loves his country, but not the twisted way in which its operates, military officials, and politicians do business. I'll have to keep an ear open for this kind of commentary in the later seasons once I get there again, as I'm sure it declines dramatically as the Watergate-weary '70s have long become the staunchly conservative and jingoistic '80s.
Gave it a 9.0. Not as light as "From Moscow to Maui", but not "too" dark either, and set up the other way round (American goes Russia). In general, I enjoy watching episodes dealing with spies and agents, especially set in the Cold War (despite also having some roots on the "other side"). This episode also impressively shows the intrigues and shadow businesses run by U.S. government (and others, of course, I think administrations of every country in the world have their skeletons in their closet), a topic that is still present and highly discussed today, I think that's why episodes like these never go outdated. It's also one of those episodes that show why Magnum dropped out of the NIA.
I can't find the love-hate-whatever-romance made up this badly. At least you have to admit, that gives us some quite funny scenes.
The revelation of T.C.'s admiration for ballet is nice-done. I guess people who have watched it when it originally aired must have thought, "Wow. That came unexpected."
The actors' performance in general contains nothing to complain about in my opinion. I seriously miss Andrea Marcovicci in this forum's hottest babe recruit list.
Little Garwood wrote:Dark episode. Not in terms of content but rather in the technical sense. The day for night filtering, voice overdubbing, and DVD quality all combine to make this one of the less technically accomplished episodes.
That's awful, and this is not the only time they did it. I know we cannot expect the same quality we see in cable series today, but shooting a simple night scene can't be that complicated. It looks really cheap and it spoils the enjoyment.
I also agree on MPI becoming slightly more jingoistic in later seasons. I remember when they return to SE Asia (I can't remember the name of the episode right now) there's quite a lot of high-fallutin' talk about freedom that could have perfectly been written by the Pentagon. The whole military thing was more nuanced in the beginning.
Am I the only one who kept thinking of this Steven Sanders?
I really thought it was a little soon to bring back Andrea Marcovicci as a different character but she performed well. Andrea/Kendall showed just enough attitude to make it realistic. I also thought it was a little soon to have another Russian-centric episode after Moscow to Maui. This obviously played to the stereotypical aspects of Russia with MIGS, Track and Field and Ballet. Somewhat of a recognition of Mikhail Baryshnikov. That said I liked it. TC's love of ballet from a chopper pilot was pretty unusual and slightly overplayed and it was a little dig at TM that some people have some class. A little cynicism from TM about everything being "national security." The cold war was a big topic in the eighties. A show like Magnum had to recognize that as well.
rubber chicken wrote:Found the home of Elaine Selmire. (gm link)
It's in Portlock on Portlock Road, just a short drive north of the house used in Ghost Writer (2.12) & All Roads Lead to Floyd (1.13). And also a short drive south east of Rick's home.
Bondtoys.de wrote:I quite like the episode.
Watching it again today, I found Higgie's behaviour very strange.
TM kissing Andres and then fights with the russian thugs and shoots the guy.
Higgins - alarmed by Andreas screaming arrives and seems to be very kind to TM.
Next scene TM is at the police station and Higgins starts mocking on him which is kind of strange and very inconsistent.
He was there to bring Magnum home, and he doesn't like Magnum thinking he's gone out of his way to do something nice without expecting anything in return, which he can't ask for because Rick was also there and could have driven Magnum home. With no bargaining power, the only other alternative is to bust on him. Only after Higgins mellows with age over several years does it become acceptable to obviously do something for Magnum just for the sake of doing it... maybe.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool. It's not pool. Billiards. Snooker! Snucker. SNOOKER!
especially because he never consummates anything with either of those women himself.
I'm not so sure about that...the scene in the driveway just before Kendall drives off in the brown Benz, it has a very "morning after" feel. The kiss Thomas gives her had me wondering if they hadn't spent the night together after the big denouement at the theater.
steveadl wrote:Just watched this one again. Can anyone read Magnum's lips in the final 20 secs - what's he's mouthing? Is it the price of the lens he just replaced needlessly?
He's mouthing "Seventeen hundred dollars"
I find it amusing that I'm responding to questions posed 7 years ago. I wish there was a way to restore all the broken image links in the older posts. I feel like I'm missing a lot.
One last point: what kind of CIA agent leaves an unlocked briefcase sticking out from underneath the bed, with her plane ticket and Langley's phone number in it?
Ensign Healy
Scholar in Residence
The Institute for Advanced Magnum Studies
"I woke up one day at 53 and realized I'd never been 23."
maggiepoole wrote:At the beginning of the show, when Magnum comes from the guest house to the main house (before he runs into the ballerinas). He comes down the guest house steps. Anyone notice a flash of some sort? It looks like lightning or a flash bulb. If it was lightning, he comes around the corner and it is sunny with fluffy clouds. Were the scenes shot on a different day or something? Or some sort of strange phenomena.......
Quigley wrote:Maggie - I was watching this yesterday and noticed the same thing! I would not have remembered about it unless I'd read your comment. I thought it may have been a reflection of the sun off something. Weird!
Another interesting thing about this scene is how you see Magnum come down the guest house steps and then in the next scene he comes around the corner of the main house on the ocean side before running into the ballerinas (which of course makes no sense if you know the layout of the estate)!
Weird! I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a flash. It looks to me like the film itself is damaged...
Although in the second screen cap, it almost looks like there might be a reflection of some sort. Are those human legs on TM's back?
Or maybe it's the long-suspected, secret teleportation device that enables Magnum to quickly get from the guesthouse to areas around the main house, especially when you consider that in a split second after the above shots, we see this (as pointed out by Quigley)...
I just watched this on BluRay - there's no such flash, it most definitely had to do something with the quality of the recording.
I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a flash. It looks to me like the film itself is damaged...
