From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
6
6%
8.5 (Very Good)
19
19%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
41
41%
7.5 (Decent)
18
18%
7.0 (Average at Best)
4
4%
6.5 (Not So Good)
6
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
1
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 99

Message
Author
User avatar
Styles Bitchley
Magnum Wristwatch Aficionado / Deputy SpamHammer
Posts: 2674
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:15 pm
Location: Canada

#61 Post by Styles Bitchley »

J.J. Walters wrote:
Styles Bitchley wrote:Hmm I wonder if it's unhealthy to look back fondly on the Cold War days???
Not at all. USA v USSR, 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York. :)
True. But being a Canadian, the '72 Canada Russia Summit hockey series is a little more up my alley...even though it took place before I was born. A pivotal moment in Canadian history.
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."

- J.Q.H.

User avatar
MaiTaiMan
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 12:43 am
Location: Mid-West

#62 Post by MaiTaiMan »

Styles Bitchley wrote:
J.J. Walters wrote:
Styles Bitchley wrote:Hmm I wonder if it's unhealthy to look back fondly on the Cold War days???
Not at all. USA v USSR, 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York. :)
True. But being a Canadian, the '72 Canada Russia Summit hockey series is a little more up my alley...even though it took place before I was born. A pivotal moment in Canadian history.
LOL! :lol: Yeah...the old Cold War--episodes of TV shows or movies that are about that definitely date themselves now. I remember some of it growing up in the 80's...but by the mid 90's it seemed like it was pretty much gone, or didn't seem as much of a threat anymore.
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"

User avatar
TheLads
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:49 am

#63 Post by TheLads »

It was nice to see TM, Rick, T.C. and Higgins work as a team, kind of like a precursor to what we'd see the following year with The A-Team.

Loved the tag at the end and another one of TM's raise of the eyebrows to the camera. Though, they never addressed the two bullets he popped off in the guesthouse earlier. They went right through the wicker chair and looked to break some furniture in the background.

Seaver41
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:46 pm

#64 Post by Seaver41 »

MaiTaiMan wrote:This one was okay...not bad, but not great either. Every show in the 70's and 80's seemed to have to do one or 2 episodes about Russian atheletes or ballet dancers. In turn there's always KGB and bad spies.

These episodes are usually predictable, and this one was no different. It was a decent episode, and I rated it as such. But, I don't know...it just doesn't captivate me much. :? Not one of the worst ones, but not one of the best ones either.
LOL........dead on about the theme.......made me think of a Six Million Dollar Man type feel or some other cheesy show back then harping on the Cold War.

Episode was run of the mill........though was it even shown how the bodies were switched? I found that a stretch.

User avatar
Magnum T.
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 323
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:57 pm
Location: Robin's Nest

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#65 Post by Magnum T. »

Magnum is hired by a hot-tempered Soviet MiG pilot (who defected a year before) to help his girlfriend (an Olympic athlete) to escape from KGB agents and rejoin with him.
Rick, T.C. and Higgins are involved in the getaway plan too.

That's it, a very simple plot for a below-average episode.
Just after the good "The woman on the beach" here it is what is probably the worst episode so far (imho).
Sure it has some moments (the scene with Higgins and the KGB agent, the one with Magnum showing slides, the one with the KGB agent on the wicker chair) but it's overall boring.
The plot is weak, the characters flat.
I would have rated it 6 but two Magnum-Higgins scenes save the day:
- Higgins staging the Battle of Austerlitz with toy-soldiers
- Magnum fooling Higgins with the Army-Navy game story

Plus: as said, a couple of good Magnum-Higgins scenes.
Minus: again as said, a weak plot and poor acting.
Best line:
Magnum: Well, all this talk about strategy, it's made me think a skirmish I was in.
(and all the subsequent dialogue with Higgins).

Notes:
- team ring on right hand

Rate: 6.5
"Zeus, Apollo, get out of my Ferrari!"
"Mr. Masters' Ferrari"

User avatar
charybdis1966
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:56 am
Location: Buckinghamshire, England
Contact:

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#66 Post by charybdis1966 »

This is one of those episodes where I remember some of the story from when I saw it originally in the 80's but as the story progressed I found myself forgetting what happened next.

On the face of it, it's one of those stories that easy to mock as being very dated with it's cold war back drop, but it is "of it's time" and you have to make allowances when judging it 30 plus years on.

At least there was a twist of sorts to save it from total predictability.

SignGuyHPW
Admiral
Posts: 191
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 5:58 pm

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#67 Post by SignGuyHPW »

I thought that this was classic Magnum, p.i. You had Magnum on a case with a less than cooperatvie client, references to Magnum's military background come into play, TC's chopper gets shot at when he has to get Thomas out of a jam, Magnum manipulates the usual crew into helping him without benefit of getting paid, some fight scenes, some comedy, and Rick getting roughed up during the mission.

They didn't seem to capture what a Russian plane carrying a defector would've really been like, but that didn't seem to hurt the overall story. It's also odd how Magnum was able to get so close to the athletes. I'd think they'd have it more secure than that. Magnum also made a couple of miscalculations in his briefing. He thought that the one guy was probably the lead Russian security man when he was, in fact, just the house detective for the hotel. He also blasted Yuri's plan for having them be out in the open and then composed a plan that called for them to be out in the open. I also thought it was strange for TC to be using, apparently, a failed POW rescue mission to poke fun at Thomas. I also was at a loss when the bodies were switched without any explanation as to how. It was almost like they had cut a scene from the show that would've made the explanation.

The main characters were all at their best as far as displaying the characteristics they were most known for in the overall series. I'd have liked to have seen maybe one or two more follow ups with dealing with the Russians maybe. Maybe Yuri hiring Magnum again to find out if someone in Russia had found out where he was would've been a fun episode.

Scotophor
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:15 am

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#68 Post by Scotophor »

I see the discussion of the "MiG" fighter jet ended a while ago but I wanted to add my opinion here that I regard the use of an F-4 Phantom to portray the "Mig" while being escorted by U.S. fighters that are also F-4 Phantoms as a serious flub. The episode guide here currently only mentions this as a Note. While the different markings on the "escorts" seen in different bits of stock footage might go unnoticed by many people, the distinctive shape of the F-4 makes it glaringly obvious to anyone watching, once the interception takes place, that all three planes are the same basic type. I realize that a genuine Eastern Bloc plane would not have been available at the time, but of the dozens of aircraft types in U.S. military inventory at any given time, practically any other fighter or trainer jet than another F-4 would have been a far superior choice (A-4, F-5/T-38, etc.).
This signature intentionally left blank.

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#69 Post by Little Garwood »

I voted From Moscow to Maui an 8.0 (Pretty Good)

This is an episode I haven't watched all that much but it's one I always enjoy whenever I see it. Now that I don't cherry pick the series, I will run into it on a comparatively regular basis.

The extended (padded?) opening with all the military aircraft reminds me of what will come some five years later with Top Gun. It's a slow start to the story, but once Thomas and the gang get involved, the episode becomes a lot of fun. I'm glad the romance angle between Yuri and Nina wasn't emphasized, except as the reason Thomas was on the case. That way, we get to see more of The Big Four in action. This and the next episode, Memories are Forever, both show Higgins, T.C., and Rick working together to help Thomas solve a case and that is what makes the episode for me.

In the car scene with TM and Yuri, Yuri's back is noticeably wet from perspiration as he sits directly in the sun, but Thomas is cool and dry. Can't have the star working in adverse conditions! :wink:

Higgins talking the ears off of the KGB agent was great and his responses showed both the ignorance and the paranoia that afflicted the Soviet Union. Loved his dead fish handshake with Higgins, too. A fine comedic performance from Alan Rich (Kalugin).

Speaking of Higgins, I like how the character always dresses appropriately for every occasion. He always wears a suit when going to town. Every outfit has its purpose, as he would never wear, say, his Estate khakis into town or, God forbid, to the KKC.

The scene with T.C. and the mortician was the kind of goofy action thing my friends and I would do when we played. Is the scene goofy? A little, but it was what 1980s action TV was all about.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

Higgy's Baby
Ensign
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:41 am

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#70 Post by Higgy's Baby »

I have a few fun facts to share about this episode:

My great-uncle, John Dullaghan, played Col. Mark Halver in this episode.

I know "great-uncle" doesn't sound like a close family member, but he was considered "famous" to our family, the only actor we knew in real life, and we always watched for him on t.v. and in movies. He mostly got bit parts.

It was the coolest thing to see Uncle John appear out of nowhere as I was just getting into Magnum P.I.--I hadn't known before that he had starred in what became my favorite show of all time.

We would watch for Uncle John on t.v. series all the time, and incidentally, in 1979, Uncle John also starred as Dr. Wilker in Battlestar Galactica, which in 1978, featured our beloved Larry Manetti!

I love how my own family history is entangled with Magnum's!

User avatar
Tesza
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 2:13 pm

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#71 Post by Tesza »

I gave it an 8.5. This is definitely a classic. It deals with the Cold War in quite a light way (in comparison to e.g. "Did You See the Sunrise?"), just a little agent & spy game as well as very funny Higgins scenes you laugh about when just thinking of them. Despite having watched it only twice, with almost ten years in between, it always stuck in my memory with every single detail. :)

(I admit this plot is not as elaborate and dense as others, but how did people in here manage to find it "bad" or even "just awful"? :?: )

User avatar
KingKC
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 571
Joined: Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:16 pm
Location: Third World Country of Arkansas

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#72 Post by KingKC »

I think this episode was the obligatory cold war episode that was so prevalent in the eighties and I accept it for that. The plot was thin and almost predictable at times. The best part was Higgins railing on about communism and socialism to the Soviet Agent. What a perfect role for Higgins! When I get around to rating all the episodes this will be in the bottom of the barrel. I doubt if it will go to bad or awful since I doubt many episodes will but it sure won't go over 7 - 7.5.

KingKC

eagle
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 804
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:55 pm

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#73 Post by eagle »

Anybody know if the pier used for the sea burial the same one that is used for TC's office/helipad? Looks the same to me, but I don't see any previous discussion on this point.

User avatar
Kalai-pahoa
Captain
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:51 pm
Location: Rome, Italy

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#74 Post by Kalai-pahoa »

eagle wrote:Anybody know if the pier used for the sea burial the same one that is used for TC's office/helipad? Looks the same to me, but I don't see any previous discussion on this point.
Yes, it is the same location, the Makai Pier.
I know what you're thinking, but this time you're wrong.

User avatar
ENSHealy
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 639
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:00 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#75 Post by ENSHealy »

The Episode Guide says that this is the first episode that "directly indicates" that Magnum was a SEAL. I didn't catch that. Does anyone have any details on what was said and/or a timestamp?

The uniforms that the Soviet athletes were wearing were hilarious. This wasn't too long before the 84 games, and I think the producers went cheap on the unis. They don't look like something anybody was competing in in the 80s, although I have to say I'm not an expert on Soviet-bloc track and field uniforms from the early 80s. But they looked like the stuff we wore in gym class at the time, not something you'd see on world class athletes.

On the "Mig-30" issue, I don't see that as a flub. I think it's a nice touch to use a number that actually didn't exist, since clearly they had to use a plane that wasn't a MIG, so why not give it a fake model number too. Works perfect for me. I also didn't like the fact the footage was of three F-4s, but the producers probably didn't have lots of choices, especially when they needed 3 planes in the shot.

I also loved how the enlisted man shakes his head when the Colonel lets the MIG land. I guess he thinks they should have shot him down!
Last edited by ENSHealy on Mon Apr 01, 2019 2:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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."

Post Reply