IslandHopper wrote:It still looks real to me. I still can't get the perspective right, even with the photo of the wahine in the tidal pool. Maybe that explains why I can never see the hidden image in those "magic pictures/posters." I'm like Mr. Pitt of Seinfeld when it comes to those darn things.
"The explosion in "DYSTS" was great in of itself, but you can clearly see that the car that was blown up was not a Ferrari."
There was an episode of Starsky & Hutch were they blew up the Torino and it quite clearly weasn't a Torino. They duplicate paint job (the NIKE stripe) was really bad as well.
This is a terrible episode. I hate it when they try to pilot another show within a established shows framework. It barely worked on STAR TREK (although they really had to stretch the plot to make it work) and there was an episode of KNIGHT RIDER that was all about some other guy! If I'm watching Magnum I want to see Magnum!. Although the Magnum/Higgins stuff is comedy gold.
A P Leyland wrote:
This is a terrible episode. I hate it when they try to pilot another show within a established shows framework. It barely worked on STAR TREK (although they really had to stretch the plot to make it work) and there was an episode of KNIGHT RIDER that was all about some other guy! If I'm watching Magnum I want to see Magnum!. Although the Magnum/Higgins stuff is comedy gold.
lutherhgillis wrote:Is it true that this epi was planned to be a spin off for the texan pilot and his family to be on a show?
yessir!
He was supposed to be a treasure hunting pilot (which I assume would have some aspects of family). Never got picked up and Bellisario turned the concept into "Airwolf"
I guess I never minded this episode that much, granted it is not really a MPI episode. I would have certainly watched the show had it been sold. Heaven knows I was a big Airwolf fan when it was on!
Note that my username comes from this episode: it was TM's call sign during the Nam sequence.
James, the 'Birds' episode was my first speaking role. In the show, I played 'Pepe' -- the 'Nam' scene at the beginning of the show. I still have a light scar on my left forearm from a hot casing fired from Tom's M16.
The sequence was filmed out in Haleiwa (North Shore) at an old Naval training airport. I have seen some pictures of the area on Rick Romer's site. The site was used in numerous episodes for Nam among other stages.
Bill Lucking indeed was hoping to get a series out the special. On set, I met a special forces commander whom advised.
It took two readings for Don to accept me for the role. Virgil was actually pulling for me and he deserves the thanks for supporting me in getting my SAG card.
Frodoleader wrote:I guess I never minded this episode that much, granted it is not really a MPI episode. I would have certainly watched the show had it been sold. Heaven knows I was a big Airwolf fan when it was on!
Note that my username comes from this episode: it was TM's call sign during the Nam sequence.
Good point. I love all things aviation (especially helicopters) I like the concept of a treasure hunting pilot, and most likely would have watched a show about that had it ever come about. What I found most offensive about this was that it was forced on us through MPI. This was definately not an episode of MPI.
In a related note, as a 14 year old, I loved Airwolf, but I've watched a few episodes on hulu.com, and they just don't hold up. So so many reused shots, contrived plots, etc. But Airwolf has one shining redeeming quality, ERNEST BORGNINE. Man, who wouldn't love that guy?
Well, it was smart for Bellisario to make it into Airwolf, and not this dumb idea or it would never last more than three episodes. Airwolf was successful in its own way.
It’s Double Review Friday (TM), and here is the second review. I wonder what this episode would have been like if it made it to a series.
[rating=8.0]
Magnum meets pilot Sam Hunter, who he indirectly knew in Vietnam, when the plane Hunter is flying crashes into the Estate’s tidal pool, narrowly missing Magnum. But it turns out the crash was no simple accident. The pilot for a series that didn’t sell…
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‘Two Birds of a Feather’ is a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off series that did not sell.
William Lucking (who many will recognise as Colonel Lynch from ‘The A-Team’) had already played a very similar character, Grady Dancer, in two of Donald P. Bellisario’s one season wonder, ‘Tales of the Gold Monkey’ (1982-83), ‘Legends Are Forever’ (where the character met his demise), and ‘Honor Thy Brother’ (where Grady was seen in flashback).
Bellisario obviously liked the character enough to try and spin him off into his own series. The character was updated to the 1980s (‘Tales of the Gold Monkey’ was set in the late 1930s) and fleshed out, but is very much Grady Dancer mark II, complete with cowboy hat and interest in ancient ruins.
Anyway, this episode, being a pilot for a series revolving around Lucking as Sam Hunter, features very little of Magnum and co. The opening trailer features Magnum heavily, no doubt to try and hook the regular viewers who tuned in to see Thomas Sullivan, but the story itself more revolves around Hunter and his family and associates.
It is the first of just a few ‘Magnum-lite’ episodes of the series (in terms of the character), with Magnum and Higgins only seen in a few scenes. T.C. and Rick are only seen in flashback in the opening ‘Nam sequence (T.C. is mentioned in the present, but not seen).
The bulk of the episode sets about giving background to Hunter’s character. His boss is played by ‘Shaft’ actor Richard Roundtree (who deserved to be used in a better and more prominent MPI story).
The climatic jet chase is quite exciting and well shot, and is probably the highlight of the story.
Lucking is likable enough as Hunter, and one can only wonder what it would have been like if he got his own series, but people who tuned in to see Magnum, Higgins, T.C. and Rick may be disappointed.
The pilot for a series set around Sam Hunter did not sell, but Bellisario did take the very basic notion of an ace combat pilot, and worked it into ‘Airwolf’ (1984-86). As a fan of both ‘Tales of the Gold Monkey’ and ‘Airwolf’, I find these connections to MPI fascinating. One can only wonder what the series would have been like, if it had every emerged.
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Others notes, bloopers and misc.:
* Nothing else to note on this episode, except to say, N1095A, it very much depend what season of 'Airwolf' you are watching. I'd very much recommend the first season, which was dark and ahead of it's time. The quality slowly went down by the third season, and the TERRIBLE Canadian-produced fourth season is some of the worst television ever produced.
Jay, you're much too kind to this episode! MPI audiences were being snookered, hoodwinked, and just plain bamboozled by this bait and switch of an episode! It remains my most-despised MPI, though I can barely even think of "Birds of a Feather" as a Magnum, P.I. episode. Still, it would've been hugely improved by actually having TS and Lucking onscreen together and actively working on a case instead of Magnum literally phoning in his lines!
BTW, IIRC Lucking's Gold Monkey character was Gandy, not Grady.
I always enjoy your reviews, even when I disagree with them.
So this was an attempt at a pilot episode for another show? I sat there thinking just that. It was either a pilot episode or a "filler" episode that some seasons have. Either way, easily the worst episode of this season.
Magnum: Ivan... Ivan: Yes? Magnum: Did you see the sunrise this morning? Ivan: Yes... Why? *BANG*
Just want to echo what most have said about this episode . . . a real rip-off! It might not have been so bad if the pilot characters had been likeable, but they couldn't hold a candle to TM and Co. I give this episode a double karate chop!