Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the third season

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22
24%
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25
27%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
17
19%
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7%
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9%
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1%
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J.J. Walters
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Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.


Original Air Date: 2/24/1983
There's no stopping Magnum as he races to find the person who tampered with the brakes of the Ferrari that Higgins was driving.

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IslandHopper
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#2 Post by IslandHopper »

I enjoy this episode for several reasons, most of which have to do with the frequent banter between Magnum and Higgins. Higgins berates Magnum for drinking a bordeaux with a Macho-Taco. We see Higgins threaten Magnum with a sword, and Magnum retreat into the closet. Magnum visits Higgins in the hospital and the nurse hands him a bouquet of flowers to hold for her, and Higgins, touched, that Magnum has brought him flowers, quickly becomes deflated when the nurse comes back in and takes the flowers from Higgins to give to another patient. Then there is the scene where Magnum visits Higgins at the hospital and wheels him outside, and while Magnum is not paying attention, Higgins’ wheel chair rolls downhill with him still in it and he gives one of the most memorable “Oh My God” cries of the entire series. :lol:

Although I do like this episode, I was surprised that the guards who were supposed to be civilians (in the episode anyway) were wearing U.S. Army uniforms with rank and a 25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lighting) patch. The problem I have with this is that in the opening scene, two guards are shown beating Kira Nakamura to death. In reality, Sand Island was run by the U.S. Army and very possibly the 25th Infantry Division. However, unless a murder of this type actually took place and was perpetrated by actual members of the 25th I.D., then I don't believe they should have used this unit insignia in this episode. The 25th I.D. is actually stationed in Hawaii and was formed in October 1941 and quartered at Schofield Barracks. That scene would have been just as effective if the two guards didn’t have any unit patch. Maybe I'm making too much of the use of the 25th I.D. unit patch, but if I was a soldier in the 25th I.D., stationed on Oahu at the time this episode aired, I wouldn't be too happy.

I could not find any information on deaths at Sand Island during the war. However, it appears to be well documented that the internees at Sand Island were treated poorly. There are many resources about the various internment camps throughout Hawaii and the U.S. during WWII. There were incidents of internees dying from natural causes, but I didn’t find to much about deaths caused by guards. At Camp Topaz, in Delta, Utah, one man, James Wakasa, was shot and killed by a guard on April 11, 1943. However, because of outcries of the camp population following the incident, guard procedures at the camp changed. Another interesting note about Camp Topaz is that one of its internees was Goro Suzuki, a/k/a Jack Soo, of Barney Miller fame. Pat Morita (The Karate Kid) was an internee at age 11 at Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. George Takei (Star Trek) was an internee along with his family at Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. Robert Ito, a Canadian born Japanese (Quincy, M.E., Magnum, P.I.-Jororo Farewell) was also an internee during WWII. In addition to starring in "The War Between Us" (1995), a movie about the internment of Japanese-Canadians in Canada during WWII, Robert Ito's IMDB profile also credits him as a "story consultant" for the movie.

This was a good episode about a difficult time in U.S. history. I really enjoy reading about the history and incredible achievements of the U.S. Army units comprised of Japanese-Americans during WWII, i.e., 442nd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division; 100th Infantry Battalion, 34th Infantry Division.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

Great review IH! That's very interesting about the 25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lighting) patch. I'm all for paying attention to detail in the show, but this was probably a case where they should have made something up!

I really like this episode, too. Great story and execution. And it features a good ensemble Asian-American cast, lead by James Shigeta. I could watch the Higgins "runaway wheelchair" scene a thousand times and never get tired of it!

In the denouement, Magnum says to T.C., "Jay Rickley Schneider is letting his daughter marry an orchid grower?" This has to be a not so thinly veiled reference to former MPI producers J. Rickley Dumm and Andrew Schneider. Pretty cool.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#4 Post by IslandHopper »

James J. Walters wrote:In the denouement, Magnum says to T.C., "Jay Rickley Schneider is letting his daughter marry an orchid grower?" This has to be a not so thinly veiled reference to former MPI producers J. Rickley Dumm and Andrew Schneider. Pretty cool.
Thanks James. Nice spot on the Jay Rickley Schneider name. I never would have caught that. I have noticed that some of the guest character names are taken from crew members, i.e., Doug Ibold = Doc Ibold. There are some others to, but I can't think of them at the moment.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#5 Post by Doc Ibold »

I find its one of lifes little quirks that if you asked me a couple of days ago, I probably could have rattled off all of these character/cast member names, and now am drawing a COMPLETE blank, aside from the 2 you mentioned.

I do know Higgins talks about Lt. Fairborn-Smith being eaten by a tiger or something in an episode.

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#6 Post by rubber chicken »

The Nakamura residence is located here.
Image

Saichi Goto's boat is moored here in Kewalo Basin, not very far from Sand Island actually. (pic) (The dock configuration has changed.)
Image

Located here, "Hanaloa Country Club," where Fred Sorenson is shot, is actually Pali Golf Course (and has been renovated somewhat). (Was this location noted somewhere before?)
Image

And Higgins loses the brakes in the Ferrari on this road (the main one twisting up the ridge). He's seen driving up the road here, then losing his brakes here. I couldn't find where he crashed, but it *may* have been at the bottom of the road.
Last edited by rubber chicken on Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

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#7 Post by J.J. Walters »

Great work as usual, RC!
rubber chicken wrote:(Was this location noted somewhere before?)
Yep, "All Roads Lead to Floyd".
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#8 Post by rubber chicken »

I found "Canyon Hospital" where Higgins rolls down the hill in his wheelchair. Here's where he was sitting before rolling southwest down the hill.

"Oh...My...GOD!"
Image

The location is actually the Windward (Hawaii Loa) campus of Hawaii Pacific University, and the building is the "Amos Starr & Juliette Montague Cooke Memorial Academic Ctr." (or just HPU Loa Academic Center). It's just across the street from the golf course where Fred Sorenson was shot in this same episode (shown above).

I couldn't find a picture of that exact part of the hill but this picture is just to the left of it, and the "Amos Starr..." link above shows the hill just to the right of where Higgins took his trip.
Last edited by rubber chicken on Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#9 Post by J.J. Walters »

Nice find RC!

The Amos Starr & Juliette Montague Cooke Memorial Academic Center? Wow, that's a mouth full!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#10 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

From episode note 7:
Higgins hurts his right leg, right arm, head, neck, and back in his wheelchair wreck.
Higgins was in the hospital with his right arm in a sling, a bandage on his forehead, and a wrenched back (as well as assorted other injuring that I don't recall precisely), apparently as a result of the Ferrari's brake failure, before the runaway wheelchair incident.

Oh, and Sorenson's name is missing the final "n" in the Guest Stars list.

(Picky, isn't she?)
Last edited by Carol the Dabbler on Mon May 05, 2008 2:55 am, edited 3 times in total.
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#11 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

This episode has several red herrings:

1 -- the two young fellows that Magnum suspects of being pakalolo growers see him drive away in the Ferrari shortly before its brakes fail for Higgins, and

2 -- Nancy Nakamura's father is just sort of there, with a motive. (And Nancy shares his motive.) Also,

3 -- we "know" that Goto is innocent, because we were looking right at him when Sorenson was shot.

Very nicely handled.
Carol

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#12 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

I'm pondering whether this could be considered a flub (if so, a minor one):

Magnum asks Higgins if he knows anything about Kirin Nakamura (pronouncing his name more-or-less correctly), and Higgins repeats the name but pronounces it Nakamyura, which is a very common mispronunciation among Americans. I don't know if it's also common with Brits in general, but my impression has been that Higgins is generally quite knowledgeable about foreign languages and names, and careful about their pronunciation.

Comments?

As an aside, I'm wondering whether "Kirin" is a normal Japanese given name (and as I understand it, the Japanese are very careful to use only "normal" given names) -- or whether the writers named that unfortunate gentleman after a bottle of beer!
Carol

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#13 Post by A P Leyland »

Good episode with some interesting lightweight stuff for the characters amidst a pretty dark theme. The show was really good at balancing the dark stuff with the lighter character story arcs and this is why I think the show still stands up. The themes of the show are most unusual for a US Primetime PI show of the time. I don't recall TJ HOOKER dealing with this kind of thing!

Also, it's the third season I've noticed the show developing its underlying text. For most of years 1 & 2 the show dealt with interesting topics and delivered entertainment amidst a feeling that these plots had all been done before (the rodeo episode, my girlfriend's a bunny boiler, amnesia etc) but is all over and done in one hour (or two if it was a two-parter) and it was the camaraderie of the cast that really held the show together.

By year 3 however, the writers are stretching more. They use more Hawaii-specific storylines that they can't just take off other shows, the recurring characters are mentioned more, giving a real feeling of this all happening in a 'real' location and the characters backstories are starting to be more consistant. There are still mistakes and inconsistancies (Magnum shakes off a bullet wound in this episode so easily Clark Kent would be proud and he seems to make no effort to get it seen to by a doctor!) but for the most part events in the past start to inform the characters and have repercussions down the line.

Nice to see TC pull one over on Thomas for change as well.

Andy

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#14 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Thursday’s review. A pretty good episode.

[rating=9.0]

After Higgins is nearly killed when the breaks fail on the Ferrari, Magnum believes that it is connected to Higgins doing research on a World War II internment camp, where a Japanese prisoner was murdered by a civilian guard. A sophisticated feeling episode…

-----

This review contains moderate spoilers.

‘Forty Years From Sand Island’ comes after a run of third season episodes that were quite watchable, but not really outstanding; ‘Forty Years…’ outshines them for being a sophisticated feeling episode, with a good case for T.M. to solve, and bolstered by several great Higgins moments.

The episode is very much a straightforward detective case, with less action than many episodes. Although I typically enjoy a bit more action, I can take a change now-and-again, and quite like this episode for it.

There are also some good guest performances, including Keye Luke, a Chinese actor with a varied film career, before becoming a regular 1980s American TV guest star (he was in ‘The A-Team’s second season episode ‘The Maltese Cow’ (1983) amongst others, and did a lot of animation voice work). These performers bring some gravitas to the episode.

As mentioned above, there are also some great Higgins moments, including him mistakenly believing that Magnum has brought him some flowers at the hospital; somehow knowing over the phone that Magnum is drinking his cognac and smoking his cigars, and – most memorable of all – his wheelchair rolling down the hill in the hospital grounds, furthering to his injuries!

There are also two intertwining subplots to the story, involving T.C. covering for Magnum on the case that Magnum was investigating before Higgins’ crash, and Rick owing betting money to Ice Pick. These scenes add some nice cushioning to the episode and add more humour.
The final scene, with no-one caring that Magnum has been shot in the shoulder, is also amusing, as is Higgins forgetting that he supposedly can hardly move, when he goes to chase after Magnum.

All-in-all, this is a polished feeling episode. Even though it lacks the action that some might like, it has an interesting plot and some great moments.

-----

Other notes, bloopers, and misc.:

* On the opening trailer, when Nancy is slicing the raw fish on Saji’s boat, Magnum comments “I don’t think I’d like to meet you in a dark alley”, to which Nancy replies “Don’t be too sure”. In the episode itself, when Magnum says this to her, she does not reply.

* I can’t decide about this one: In the opening scene of the WWII prison camp, a shot looking over the huts and buildings looks as if it may be made of miniaturised models, to save building such a vast set.

* I thought I’d spotted a great one here: J. Rickley Schneider, who Magnum is investigating before Higgins’ accident, is a name made up from producers J. Rickley Dumm and Andrew Schneider; but it’s already been spotted. D’oh!

* Magnum smokes his seventh cigar of the series.

* Maybe surprisingly, when Five (formerly Channel 5) broadcast this episode in their 11 a.m. slot in 2002, they did not edit down the scene of the Japanese prisoner being violently beaten and killed. Yet other, less violent things in other episodes, they edited! It seemed to depend very much on who was editing the episode in question, and how generous they were feeling!
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#15 Post by N1095A »

Jay-Firestorm wrote: * I can’t decide about this one: In the opening scene of the WWII prison camp, a shot looking over the huts and buildings looks as if it may be made of miniaturised models, to save building such a vast set.
I believe you're right. I've built dozens of dioramas over the years, and spent hundreds of hours researching photos of dioramas built by others online. The first impression I got when viewing this episode was that the camp was a miniature. I'm positive of it.

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