From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

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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

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Tesza
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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"? :?: )

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KingKC
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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.

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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.

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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.

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ENSHealy
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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.
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#76 Post by ENSHealy »

ENSHealy wrote: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?
I was intrigued enough by this to watch the episode again, and I still didn't catch anything that would directly indicate Magnum was a SEAL. Anyone know what the reference might be? As far as I know, the first actual reference is when the SEAL trident appears on his uniform in Memories are Forever. (Following the minutiae of Magnum's uniform and insignia was a big deal to me when I was a freshman midshipman in the Naval ROTC unit at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987-1988. It was an enlightening year. I was not on scholarship, and I ultimately decided I couldn't work for that corporation. Gunnery Sergeant Daniel E. Day, USMC, persuaded me that my lack of respect for authority and the Navy's need for it were not in alignment.)

Two other thoughts that popped up on this viewing:

- Thomas says to Kalugin that he saw Nina run in the last Olympics. Really? I wonder how he did that? Since we boycotted the 1980 Olympics, I don't believe they were broadcast here. He must have made the trip to Moscow...?

- The hotel detective really should have been fired, and for more than having a glass jaw. He's got a hotel full of Russian athletes in the middle of the Cold War, and he doesn't recognize Nina as one of them when Thomas is trying to sneak her out of the hotel? I'm pretty sure athlete escape was the number one security concern for any team traveling in the West in 1981. I'm thinking they might have mentioned as much to the hotel dick.
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#77 Post by J.J. Walters »

ENSHealy wrote: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?
Yes, you are right. That is a mistake! I don't have a clue as to why I put it in there. Anyway, I've removed it. Thanks for spotting it!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#78 Post by K Hale »

Little Garwood wrote: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.
Well, there was that time he wore his PJs and an overcoat to the KKC because Magnum seemed to be missing.... (S7 Out of Sync)

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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#79 Post by ENSHealy »

2.4 FROM MOSCOW TO MAUI
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Island Hopper shirts:
Magnum Body Count:
Magnum gunshot wounds:
Shirtless: 1
Little Voice: 4
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
Higgins musings: 2 (Vienna after the war 1 Stainless Steel teeth)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 1
Famous guest stars:
Higgins Organizations: 1.5 Hawaiian Napoleonic Society, Honolulu Institute for Marxist Studies
Magnumometer: 11

Potential magnumania usernames: Olga, Kalugin

Thomas says he's trying to stay in "some kind of shape" during a quiet period with no cases...yet he comes directly from swimming in the tidal pool and grabs a bottle of Coops that he had with him on the beach.

The Coast Guard helicopter pilot from Thicker Than Blood apparently tired of plucking lost souls from the seas and joined the Air Force:
Image
Image

The Air Force really wants to get their message across: the sign on the wall and the sign on the door say exactly the same things, with the exception of the wall sign saying "Wheeler Air Force Base" and the door sign saying "Delmer Field Air Force Base." I guess one of those signs got relocated, or a sign painter was having a senior moment.
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Best line: Mr. Magnum…please to put on your pants!

Sub-title confusion: pretty sure he said "pinko" unless Rick was confusing the Soviet agents with Billy Joe Bob.
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CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS
:

Higgins: Don't you think you've bungled this enough as it is?
Magnum: Higgins, he's my client. My responsibility! Besides that, I like him. He's imprudent. Besides that, I'm mad! Real mad.
T.C.: Hey, easy, man. When you get mad, you have a tendency to put us all in the soup.
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#80 Post by ☨magnum.t »

Better than average episode for me mainly because of the briefing scene with the guys haha. T.C. falling asleep and them making fun of TM was exactly how it would have been if they were still on teams. Also of note when Yuri gives TM his ring you can see he is wearing TMs watch his Rolex watch lol so it made an appearance before home from the sea.
That reminds me of the time....

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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#81 Post by K Hale »

ENSHealy wrote: Thomas says he's trying to stay in "some kind of shape" during a quiet period with no cases...yet he comes directly from swimming in the tidal pool and grabs a bottle of Coops that he had with him on the beach.
Well, he didn't say what kind of shape... just some kind.
The Coast Guard helicopter pilot from Thicker Than Blood apparently tired of plucking lost souls from the seas and joined the Air Force:
Image
Image
I can't tell but is this the same guy who was the air traffic controller in "On the Fly" who talked Magnum through landing the plane when Mac 2.0 was unconscious? The second photo sure looks like him.
Sub-title confusion: pretty sure he said "pinko" unless Rick was confusing the Soviet agents with Billy Joe Bob.
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#82 Post by K Hale »

☨magnum.t wrote:Better than average episode for me mainly because of the briefing scene with the guys haha. T.C. falling asleep and them making fun of TM was exactly how it would have been if they were still on teams.
I loved the segue into the scene with Higgins.

TC: The way I figure it, that leaves us one man short.
MAGNUM: Funny you should mention short.
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#83 Post by Gorilla Mask »

An overall good episode but not much. I could remembered it well, because of the F4's during the prologue.

Concerning that point:

-Yes there were two type of F'4 shown: F-4C (probably from the ANG or USAF reserve squadrons ?) and F-4 J from the Marines. Definitively not the same.
- Any the russian fighters that were commissioned in 1980 did have the (direct) range to reach Hawaii from the Kamchatka Peninsula. I read earlier in this topic that only one russian defected pilot succeded in defecting to the West that way. That is right. If my memory serves me right, it was in 1976 at Hakodate, Japan and the plane was a MiG-25 Foxbat.
- Yuri was surely very impatient (yes, he is an hot blooded man fo sure ! :P ) to get to his plane and take off, since he did not wear neither a G-suit, nor a Mae-West or other survival equipement…

The plot is a bit simplistic and TM plan for Nina's escape not very elaborate ( a mere draft, that is to say !). The dialogue were quite good anyway and personnaly i liked much Yuri and his stormy temper ! I like also the music during the coffin's rapture: somme fairly good chords.

Last comment: luckily for the Russian KGB local chief, TM is a damn marskman at drawn shooting !
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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#84 Post by mcballs »

I noticed something with this episode in the opening sequence but the someone beat me to it, they say they are intercepting a "mig30" but the USSR used odd numbers for fighters and even numbers for bombers. If anyone is interested the documentary series "wings of the red star" is pretty cool, they have all the episodes on YouTube... wings of the Luftwaffe is on there too also really good, the guy who narrates it has a super relaxing voice I put on an episode before I go to sleep sometimes...lol

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Re: From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

#85 Post by Gorilla Mask »

Hi Mcballs and welcome aboard !

You're right noticing Soviet numbering for fighters/bombers is sometimes a bit confusing... I should be wrong but, IMO,the military aircraft were designed by specific experimental engineering offices (called 'OKB') that were directly controlled by the soviet administration which allocated them studies and projects. The system was highly centralized since, once the aircraft was designed, the soviet administration dispatched the manufacturing building works between state owned factories, often led/directed by soviet administration apparatchiks. So useless rivalties were common law at that time ans shall deserved the whole project... :roll: ... But i am a bit off-topic there ! :)

However, i remember that (except for experimental or preseries wich are mainly appointed with the 'Ye' prefix or... by its designer own classification...) serie aircrafts were allocated with letters that indicated his designer and numbers. It was common to use 'uneven' number for fighters as opposed to bomber or assault aircrafts wich were registred with 'even' numbers... However, that doesn't seem to have been carefully observed and that added probably confusion, especially for the West (Su-25 was an assault aircraft as the Su-7; Tu-128 was a long range interceptor, yak-28P was an interceptor too ...). By the 70's, Multirole assignation for new planes discredited this classification (the 1967 Su-17 was a fighter/bomber, often classified as 20/22 for its export versions...).

Whatever, you're right pointing out that intercepting a 'Mig-30' is questionable, since Mikoyan-Gurevitch never used any 'even' number for production aircrafts.

Edit: Sorry for my mistake concerning 'odd' for 'uneven' Numbers. i fixed it. :? I am french, you know… :oops:
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