The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

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)
17
15%
9.0 (Excellent)
13
12%
8.5 (Very Good)
31
28%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
27
24%
7.5 (Decent)
10
9%
7.0 (Average at Best)
7
6%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 111

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rubber chicken
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#11 Post by rubber chicken »

The rodeo takes place at New Town and Country Stables (couldn't find a website), which is in Waimanalo as Sam thought. (gm link)

Here's an article:
Rodeo! Hawaiian Style (about the 4th of July, 2002 rodeo at the stables)

This same location was used in Adelaide (1.14)
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And it was also used in Home From the Sea (4.1). The polo field used in that episode was the field just south east of the stables.
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Also as Sam thought, "The Belvedere Club" is actually a home in Kahala. The same which was used in Foiled Again ( 3.8 ) as the home of Velma Troubshaw. She must have moved in after The Belvedere Club went out of business due to that ugly scene with Marcella Ziller. ;)
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Foiled Again ( 3.8 )
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I actually found both of these previously, although I hadn't got around to posting. I'm still working on my google earth project, and it's still in an unfinished state. :( I was going to post it so that golf could use it for her trip, but now that she isn't going, I think I'll wait longer. Hope people understand, it's just hard for me to put it out when it isn't fully presentable. But it's coming along nicely and for the locations that I'm done with, I'm pretty happy with the look. In the pop-up window, the location info is provided with links to related web sites, and a collage of thumbs nails shows pictures from the scene. And of course the name of the location and the episode name and number is also displayed.
Last edited by rubber chicken on Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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J.J. Walters
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#12 Post by J.J. Walters »

The New Town and Country Stables and another Kahala mansion ...... fantastico RC! Much thanks! :)

Can't wait to see your filming locations project! I'm sure it's going to be great.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

AJL
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#13 Post by AJL »

What a great episode, one of my favourites. I remember watching this the first time, and just constantly changing my opinion regarding Higgins being Elmo or not. Great stuff
Was vaccinated with a phonograph needle one summer break
Same summer that I kissed her on her daddy's boat
And shot across the lake
Singing all the way...
Oh I say mama
Living Ain't a luxury
Oh I say mama
And a lil' ain't enough for me

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golfmobile
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#14 Post by golfmobile »

Don't forget MGI and Elmo Ziller (this was before MGI got his parrot shirt, which really got ruined on his trip to Mexico so I need to make him a new one):

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golf
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Agatha
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#15 Post by Agatha »

You're right about Icepick, James! I didn't recognize him with his clothes on!!

(I LOVE opportunities to say that!!)

:twisted:
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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Jay-Firestorm
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#16 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Friday’s first review; an enjoyable comedy this one. (Also, I accidentally got the wrong thread and just rated ‘Three Minus Two’ as 9.5, which is annoying me, ‘cos I’m not exactly a fan of that episode!!)

[rating=9.5]

Magnum thinks Higgins is pulling a trick when he supposedly meets Higgins’ illegitimate half-brother Elmo, a Texan rodeo owner. But it begins to seem as if Elmo may be real, and T.M. must find the people trying to murder him. Very silly but a lot of fun…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

I have a confession: When I first saw ‘The Elmo Ziller Story’, many moons ago now, I thought it was a bit stupid. But what was I thinking?! – the episode is great fun, and shows how well the show could switch between drama in some episodes, to all-out comedy in other eps such as this one.

The episode begins a trend in the series, of Hillerman doubling up as both Higgins and as a family relation (see also season three’s ‘Faith and Begorrah’ and season six’s ‘Who Is Don Luis Higgins… And Why Is He Doing These Terrible Things to Me?’, as well as the sixth season’s feature-length ‘Deja Vu’).

One touch I really like is how Higgins protests the innocence of his father, supposedly being taken advantage of by women in various situations. This is a nice little touch that would become recurring through the various ‘half-brother’ Higgins episodes.

It has been commented that native Texan Higgins has a better British accent as Higgins, than he does a Texas accent as Elmo. This may be true, but as it turns out that Higgins is posing as Elmo all along, it could be explained away.

A small character to look out for is the hotel receptionist, played by Gillian Dobb, who would become Agatha Chumley, the much recurring friend of Higgins, from the next season onwards.

The episode has a lot of amusing moments, and really leaves you guessing throughout as to whether Elmo is real, or simply Higgins putting it on. Kudos to Hillerman to being able to pull it off convincingly.

Then there is Rick and T.C. having to dress up as clowns, one of a number of episodes where the duo is collared into wearing fancy dress.

At the conclusion of the episode, I found it rather unclear is the real Elmo was alive or not; it was a bit ambiguous, although future episodes may suggest that Elmo is indeed still alive.

This episode would have made a perfect finale to the season in my opinion, and maybe it was originally intended as such, as ‘Three Minus Two’, produced much earlier in the season, seems a bit tacked on.

All-in-all, a really fun episode. Yes there are plotholes and inconstancies, but it’s very hard not to warm to the story.

-----

Other notes, bloopers, and misc.:

* For a moment, I thought teetotaller T.C. was drinking beer with Magnum and Rick; but it seems to be Cola (the L and the A can be seen on the label).

* Magnum smokes his fifth cigar of the series.

* Most of the rodeo acts are noticeably made up from pre-existing stock footage.

* Tom Selleck does much of his own horse riding for this episode.
JAY FIRESTORM

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My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!

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J.J. Walters
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#17 Post by J.J. Walters »

This may be my favorite screen cap ever....

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:D
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

MaximRecoil
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#18 Post by MaximRecoil »

IKnowWhatYoureThinking wrote:I find it ironic that Hillermna, a native Texan, has a better British accent than he does a Texas one.
Well, Hillerman was playing a native Englishman who was faking a Texas accent, so he may have taken that into account.

Also, I've never heard his native accent, but it might be a somewhat neutral one that doesn't sound particularly "Texan" at all, and it could be that he's practiced the English accent far more than he has the stereotypically "Texan" accent.

As an example, I'm a native Mainer, yet I have a neutral accent rather than the stereotypical "Maine accent". My older sister, father, and mother all have the Maine accent, while my brother, younger sister, and I have a neutral accent that sounds like it could be from countless places throughout the USA and Canada; even though us kids were all raised together, with our parents that both have a Maine accent.

Now, I can't do a convincing fake Maine accent at all; though I can do it better than the horrible fake Maine accents on Murder, She Wrote (Tom Bosley's was especially bad).

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charybdis1966
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#19 Post by charybdis1966 »

Talking of accents, I emailed this site a while back to point out a flub – or at the very least an inconsistency – with John Hillerman’s English accent in this episode. When Higgins is about to leave the estate at the beginning of the episode he opens the window in his cab/limo and tells Magnum that “the details of the tasks…” for the estate are on a list. Hillerman puts emphasis on the second syllable of “details” which is not how an Englishman would say it. Hillerman says “duh-tails”(shortening the first syllable) whereas it should be “dee-tails.”
It’s one of the few accent mistakes I’ve noticed Hillerman make because I always thought he was English until I saw him in some other sitcom and heard him speak in his natural voice and thought “Wow, he does that American accent well.”
Finally, does anyone know why I can't vote on the rating poll for this episode?

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#20 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

I think you're right on him not having much of an accent with his natural voice. Most Hollywood types really don't have an accent when they speak, and maybe that is because they use their voices in a variety of ways in their jobs.

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robspace54
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#21 Post by robspace54 »

I had totally forgotten the details. Higgins pretending to be Elmo, pretending... oh never mind. It's like time travel - too confusing.

In the trailer scene, I guessed, wrongly, that Higgins was standing in for (well lying in for) Elmo to protect him. But all was revealed.

Must have been a fun episode to shoot and I can only imagine the fun the crew had with it. Did Elmo ever show up in Mexico and did that little cowgirl come back next summer? Probably a story out there somewhere.

Rob
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it.

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timm525
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#22 Post by timm525 »

My question was how can two babies born from different mothers end up being identical twins?

I've never heard of that one before?

I liked this ep. as it was sort of a fun one to watch.

I did wonder how Higgins could run from the guest house back to the estate and change that quickly and then come down the stairs and not at least be breathing hard?

I liked the line "round up breakfast". I was laughing almost as hard as TC when I first heard that one.

I think Higgins' father would have been in serious trouble today! How many times can a guy get "taken advantage of" by multiple women and still make it believable? :lol:

"No honest honey..."
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Coops
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#23 Post by Coops »

Sort of like 2 friends of mine that are brothers that I grew up with, same mother and father, yet they look NOTHING alike, I mean no similar features at all; one had straight honey blonde hair and fair eyes and tall. The other is short, wavy brown hair and freckles.

John really did act his rear-end off in this one.
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#24 Post by Milo Minderbinder »

I've finally been able to watch some more episodes - such fun!

I live in Austin, which is the very eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country. No one in town dresses or talks like that, but I'm sure that many of those stereotypes were a bit more closer to home back when this was filmed, especially out in the rural areas. There are still lots of ranches out there. The land out here generally has lots of trees, so my guess is that the producers tried to find a spot in Hawaii that looked like what they thought the hill country might look like.

My favorite line was in the beginning when Higgins is rushing off to the cab and says something about how being around Elmo is "intellectually life threatening" - loved that line!

A minor flub was in the first scene when the two bad guys ride up on horses to the crashed truck. One of them gets off his horse behind the truck and goes to the passenger side to light the tank on fire. When he's done and goes to get on his horse, it's over by the driver side door along with the other horse...

All in all, a fun episode. From the very beginning, I thought it was really Elmo and never suspected it was really Higgins.

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JT
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#25 Post by JT »

I found a flub. In the beginning of the episode Magnum is running on the beach, when he get's to the guest house his shirt is sweaty, when he enters the guest house the sweat is gone!
I really liked this episode, man is John hillerman an outstanding actor!

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