Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the third season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
10
11%
9.0 (Excellent)
22
24%
8.5 (Very Good)
25
27%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
17
19%
7.5 (Decent)
6
7%
7.0 (Average at Best)
8
9%
6.5 (Not So Good)
1
1%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 91

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No need to know!
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#21 Post by No need to know! »

wilko wrote:Anyone else notice that Magnum's closet under the steps has a light in it? When he runs into it to hide from Higgins and his scimitar you can see the inside is lit when he opens the door.
I did just now.
Onion´s extra?

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J.J. Walters
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#22 Post by J.J. Walters »

Jay-Firestorm wrote: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.
Keye Luke had a great 50+ year career in film and television, going all the way back to the 1930s. It's a real treat to have him appear in a MPI episode!

Charlie Chan's "No. 1" Son

Image

Master Po in Kung Fu

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Mr. Wing in Gremlins

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Saji Goto in Magnum P.I.

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

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rubber chicken
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#23 Post by rubber chicken »

I love the old Charile Chan movies, and it's great that Keye Luke was able to appear on Magnum. Here's a few lines of Keye Luke's dialog between his Lee Chan character and Lee's father Charlie Chan (from this page):

Lee Chan: [after being kicked in the seat from behind] "Oh, gee, Pop, how'd you know it was me?"
Charlie Chan: "Frequent spankings when young make rear view very familiar."

Lee Chan: "Gee, Pop, you sure missed a wonderful luncheon!"
Charlie Chan: [at the shiprail suffering from seasickness] "Contradiction, please. Not having eaten have missed nothing."
Lee Chan: "I had turtle soup, chicken a la king, and three cream puffs. Then I had some ice cream."
Charlie Chan: "Please stop! Mention of food more painful than surgeon's knife without anesthesia."
Lee Chan: "Shall I get you medicine, Pop?"
Charlie Chan: "Good dose of land only effective medicine."

:)

On this page I read that he "entered the film industry as a billboard designer and caricaturist". The page has an interesting few paragraphs about him starting under his picture about 1/3 down the page.

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All About the Stache
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#24 Post by All About the Stache »

Great moments between Magnum & Higgins in this one, which made me laugh for most of the episode. The revelation at the end felt a bit hasty though, and I had a hard time of swallowing it.
Magnum: Ivan...
Ivan: Yes?
Magnum: Did you see the sunrise this morning?
Ivan: Yes... Why?
*BANG*

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miltontheripper
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#25 Post by miltontheripper »

I really liked this episode. Am I incorrect or is Nancy Nakamura's father (the guy trimming the bonzai tree) also in another season 3 episode The Eighth Part of the Village as "Sato", in season 2 episode Texas Lightning as the guy who gets thrown off the boat to the sharks, and also in Karate Kid 2 as Sato? Maybe I'm wrong. Loved the back and forth between Magnum and Higgins about the Macho Taco and the wheelchair scene is priceless. Very well done episode.

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MaiTaiMan
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#26 Post by MaiTaiMan »

I really like this episode...excellent! :) I like the plot, that instead of Magnum it was supposedly Higgins that someone was trying to kill. Then it tied into WWII and how the Japanese were forced into prison-like camps.

I thought it really showed how the Japanese-Americans were treated after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the hardships they had to endure. The storyline of a particular suspicious death from 40 years before, then those suspected of being responsible getting murdered in present day, was awesome and action-packed!

This is one of my favorites from season 3, and love watching it everytime I go through the show! :D
"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"

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Doc Fred
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#27 Post by Doc Fred »

Great episode and lots of fun... AND Marilyn Tokuda!

I loved the interactions, but still don't understand why Enoka wanted to kill Higgy Baby.... Yeah, Enoka and Sorenson were "in business" together, but neither was going to inform on the other, and Higgy was concerned only with the conditions on Sand Island, not with anything beyond that.

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#28 Post by Seaver41 »

Normally i'm pretty damn lenient on rating episodes, but i've got a beef with this one. What exactly was the link to Higgins being the target? Late in the episode comes word that it was a faulty brake line, so Magnum tying the accident to some plot to get Higgins was bad. None of the guest stars seemed particularly believable. How about the end when the politician can't convince Goto to shoot Magnum, he tosses gun in water (just about threw himself in) and casually sits down for some tea?

The humor in the episode hides the weak plot. Gotta love the irony of the granddaughter following Magnum undetected in a red car.

What was Nakamura doing in that building all dressed up when it was lights out and everyone in their skivvies?

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.45caliber
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#29 Post by .45caliber »

I second everything Seaver41 said. Humor was great, but the plot was hard to believe and didn't make sense to me how it was tied together. And TM gets shot, but its like no big deal to anyone, that was weird.

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snp389
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#30 Post by snp389 »

A great show this one!!!
The quick wit and quibbles between TSM & JQH was excellent. And I know it has been stated before, but the wheelchair "OH MY GOD !!!..." scene has to be one of the most righteous MPI moments ever.
As a retired Australian Army Soldier I have spent a lot of time in Hawaii on military exchanges, RIMPAC Exercises, cross training and readiness deployments with the USMC at Kaneohe bay (K-Bay).
During such deployments, I never tired of visiting the U.S. Military historical sites & memorials that are present in Hawaii.
I have been to Sand Island, which is now mostly industrial but with a recreational area on the southern side. When being shown around the area, our guide informed us that not only Japanese were interred there, but Germans and Italians were held on the Island as well.

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Doc Ibold
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Re: Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#31 Post by Doc Ibold »

I think this was one of my favorite Magnum episodes, as I watch it right now. Lots of inside jokes (Jay Rickley Schnieder), a great cast, and Higgins flying down a hill in a wheelchair. Plus TCs private investigator garb straight out of Flashback. Ricks identification of Sorensen simply by hearing he's left handed is also pretty funny.

The most interesting part of the episode is that none of this (save for the orchid growing case) ever would have happened if the Ferraris brakes hadn't failed. Had they not failed, Magnum would never have investigated and never found the link between Enoka and Sorenson.

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Re: Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#32 Post by charybdis1966 »

Doc Ibold wrote:The most interesting part of the episode is that none of this (save for the orchid growing case) ever would have happened if the Ferraris brakes hadn't failed. Had they not failed, Magnum would never have investigated and never found the link between Enoka and Sorenson.
You're right there Doc, but then leads me onto think that the fact the brakes failed means that Hiiggins was right and it WAS Magnum's fault for not getting the car serviced properly that the accident happened.

I'd imagine TM would have had to forego some estate privileges to pay for that gaff, unless in all the commotion Higgins forgot, but knowing JQH I doubt that.

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Re: Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#33 Post by marlboro »

I liked this one. A good mystery, some nice Magnum/Higgins interaction, and a guest appearance by the great Keye Luke.

There were a ton of red herrings in this episode. Everyone looked guilty.

For those that are confused, I think it boils down to this:

The guard, Sorenson, kills an internee

The killing is witnessed by Goto and Enoka

Enoka blackmails Sorenson for decades to further his business and political interests. Goto knows nothing of this.

Magnum incorrectly assumes (just like with his matchstick/cannon deduction) that Higgins accident is related to Higgins research into sand island.

Once Magnum gets Goto to ID Sorenson, Enoka knows that his political future is likely doomed. He kills Sorenson to prevent that from happening.

He plans to kill Magnum too, and believes that Goto will go along with it due to their lifelong friendship. He is wrong.


So Magnum was completely wrong about absolutely everything in the episode but still managed to come out on top. Higgins' accident, the girl and her father, the kid growing "pot," Goto being out for revenge - they were all just red herrings. Magnum's "little voice" must have taken the week off or something.

"Oh - my - Goooooooood!"

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Milton Collins
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Re: Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#34 Post by Milton Collins »

This was a good solid 8 for me. Some interesting Hawiian culture about sand island and an incredibley funny scene with higgins taking a "ride" down the hill in the wheelchair, outstanding!! I see Nancy Nakamura for the first time and I believe she will be back with us in season 5's "Love for Sale Boat". Cute girl!

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Re: Forty Years From Sand Island (3.18)

#35 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

I enjoyed this episode but I was torn between giving it a 8.0 and 8.5 - between Pretty Good and Very Good. I went with Pretty Good but now I'm leaning towards Very Good. It's better than "Basket Case" (which I rated Pretty Good) but not quite as good as "The Arrow That is Not Aimed" (which I rated Very Good). So it's somewhere in the middle between those two. Can I give it a 8.3? :wink:

The Japanese/WWII connection is definitely a plus (I love history, like Higgins) and there are some really funny moments between Magnum and Higgins. James Shigeta and Keye Luke are also great to watch in whatever they appear in. Shigeta of course is best remembered by modern audiences as the ill-fated president of Nakatomi Corporation in the action classic DIE HARD. I personally thought he was fantastic as mobster Joe Matsukino (alongside Nehemiah Persoff) in the classic season 1 episode of HAWAII FIVE-O "Deathwatch" back in 1968.

There is one thing I don't understand about the very beginning - when the internees are being led into the camp and the gates close behind them there are 3 Japanese men in suits standing before the internees. These 3 men then tell the newcomers "Welcome to Sand Island, we are your friends" and bow down before them. What was that all about?? Were these Japanese some higher-ups in the camp? Were they some go-betweens between the American guards in charge of the camp and the Japanese internees? Maybe I missed something.

Milton Collins mentions that this is the first he sees the actress playing Nancy Nakamura and that she returns in another episode. The actress (Marilyn Tokuda) actually first appeared earlier this season in "The Eighth Part of the Village".

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