rubber chicken wrote:James, at first that comment went right over my head, producing a faint but undeniable *whooshing* sound. I didn't know, or had forgotten that he played the butler in that show. I must have devoted my alloted butler watching time to Benson.
Maybe sometime I should get the Soap DVDs from the library though. Is it odd that instead of current TV shows, I'd rather watch what was playing 20 to 30 years ago?
In fact, here's an idea that I would love. All the major networks from 30 years ago should devote channels to exactly what was playing all day long in the late 70s and 80s. So say right now I could turn to a channel and it would be a a whole day re-run of what was shown on December 30, 1978, thirty years ago. For the next eleven years we could relive our 1979 through 1989 TV experiences in real time. This would of course include late night talk shows, and Saturday morning cartoons.
Sound good? Or should I stop posting at 5:00am?
They already have something like that on digital and satellite cable. It's called RTN (Retro Television Network). My digital cable service provider recently started carrying it. They run uncut Magnum, P.I. episodes every night at 9:00pm.
Thanks for pointing that out. I just discovered RTN a few days ago when looking at channels a friend gets over the air with a new digital to analog converter box. The kind people without cable or satellite need for the digital switchover after February 17th. I guess I've been spending too much time on HD channels when I do watch TV.
Where I live RTN is provided over the air by NBC, and it's also on cable. Some people here on the forums might want to check out whether they can get RTN. If you're able to get it over the air it's free obviously. If I didn't have cable I'd watch that more than NBC, CBS etc.
I see from the programming list they have many great shows. I don't sit down in front of the TV much anymore, but I'll have to check out this channel more often.
A friend of mine was able to receive at least half a dozen RTN networks on satellite recently. However, as of January 5th, there is only one RTN channel available nationwide due to certain legal issues between two communications companies. Hopefully, everything will get resolved fairly soon. NBC does carry the only RTN channel that is presently airing, but their were satellite stations located throughout the country that pick their own schedules in terms of which shows they wanted to air and when to air them.
It is RTN that I have seen some of our favorite shows on (i.e. Erin Gray on Buck Rogers). The problem I have noticed is that it seems to run alot of infomercials instead of classic TV.
...sorry, we seemed to have drifted off topic here...
"You are three months at Dak Wei and still you crack jokes?" - Ivan
Operation Chessboard wrote:However, as of January 5th, there is only one RTN channel available nationwide due to certain legal issues between two communications companies.
Well, obviously these companies appear to have several people who are not "Of Sound Mind"! [ba-dap-boom!] Thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waiter on the way out.
When a millionaire practical joker is killed when his bi-plane explodes, his will names Magnum – who had previously worked for him – as his heir, and also gives him the mission of finding which of the millionaire’s relatives killed him. Strange but fun…
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This review contains spoilers.
This is a very strange, off-beat ‘Magnum, p.i.’ episode. For the most part, it is a lot of fun, but it just has such an odd feel to it.
Star turn of the episode is Roscoe Lee Browne as manservant Carlton. He plays the role straight faced in what is essentially a comedy story, and has great presence.
For fans of Magnum’s little quirks, this is the first of a few episodes where we see him with his saxophone, which he has just bought from a pawn shop – even though he owes Higgins money for a telescope which got melted (!) on his previous case.
It comes as quite a turn when Magnum suddenly finds himself heir to dead millionaire MacLeash’s fortune. The only thing I would say, is that I would have liked to have seen MacLeash’s relations explored a little more – other than cousin Marina (Elaine Joyce), who tries to come on to Magnum, we never see all that much of them after the reading of the will.
The highlight of the episode is the characters in their various fancy dress costumes – Magnum clanking around as a knight in armor, T.C. as a French King with Rick as his Queen (read into that what you will!), and Higgins as Henry VIII.
The episode is also one that isn’t scared to make Magnum look like a buffoon – I love the sequence where, dressed as aforementioned knight, he is chasing the mysterious party guest dressed up as the Grim Reaper, and goes charging at the closed wooden door like a madman. …Okay, you need to see it to get what I mean!
I expected MacLeash not to really be dead, both because he was set up as a practical joker, and also because I had already seen the second season ‘Airwolf’ episode ‘Santini’s Millions’, which follows a similar plot. But either way, it is still a nice plot twist, and rounds off the story well, and the final scene sees MacLeash getting his just deserts.
I’m not sure how to sum up this story. It is funny in places, and I like it, but at the same time it doesn’t stand out as one of my all-time favourites. I give it a fair 8.5.
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* On the opening trailer, there is a shot of Magnum in the dark with some candles, which is not used in the actual episode. I think this comes from the scene where Magnum is in bed and the lights go out, and he gets up to investigate. In a shot just before he falls down the stairs, I think the candles can briefly be seen to the left of the picture.
* Just a thought, but there are several ways the final scene with Carlton and the gun can be read.
It could be taken that Carlton had finally having enough of his selfish master, and was holding a gun to him. Magnum persuades him to put it down, only for it to turn out that it contains custard (or whatever) anyway.
The other way that the scene can be read, and the one that I go by, is that the whole thing was set up by Magnum and Carlton, and Magnum knew all along that it was a prank.
* As mentioned in my review, this story has a similar plot to the second season ‘Airwolf’ episode ‘Santini’s Millions’ (1985). It’s not as close as MPI’s second season’s ‘Italian Ice’ was with ‘Airwolf’s ‘The Truth About Holly’, but there are parallels. In ‘Santini’s Millions’, Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine) stops in Airwolf to help a stranded millionaire, but insists on completing an urgent mission before dropping him off, despite the money that the millionaire offers him. Soon after, the millionaire dies, and, impressed by Dom’s honesty, leaves him his fortune, much to the annoyance of the man’s family. At the end of the story, the millionaire is revealed to still be alive, and that it was all a test.
Does anybody happen to know what kind of gun this is?
Magnum calls it a "17th Century duelling pistol" (which seems to be correct). Carlton further adds that it is a "Lipscomb". I can't seem to find anything online about a "Lipscomb" duelling pistol.
Great, great fun episode. Way back in 1984 when it first aired I taped it of course and along with Woman On The Beach it was the most viewed episode in my household. I must have watched it at least 10 times during that summer! Excellent and easily one of my favs.
Arun
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"The only thing that's going to touch you is a 10ft pole"
James J. Walters wrote:Does anybody happen to know what kind of gun this is?
Magnum calls it a "17th Century duelling pistol" (which seems to be correct). Carlton further adds that it is a "Lipscomb". I can't seem to find anything online about a "Lipscomb" duelling pistol.
I have no idea what that gun is, other than its basic type; which is a flintlock (you can tell by the flashpan). They made flintlocks for like 200 years, most of which looked roughly the same, and most of which were made by companies or individual gunsmiths, that few people these days have ever even heard of. I'm sure there are people out there who could identify an old flintlock pistol by sight, but I'm not one of them. That particular one is probably a modern replica too; and it may not even be a replica of anything specific; kind of like if you buy a muzzle loader from Cabela's; it looks like something that could have been around a couple hundred years ago, but it's just a generic "old-fashioned" design.
Regarding the "Colt .45 vintage 1860" that is mentioned by Carlton in that same scene; well that's a screwup. The gun Carlton is holding is a Colt Model P revolver, AKA: Colt Single Action Army (SAA). This gun was introduced in 1873, and if you've ever watched old westerns, you'll be very familiar with this gun.
There was a Colt 1860 "Army" revolver, but it was an open-top cap & ball revolver, plus it was a .44. The funny thing is, there were some open top cap & ball revolvers in the case which could have been Colt 1860 Army revolvers (or at least could have passed for them in non-closeup shots); but Carton didn't decide to pick one of them up; he picked up the unmistakeable Colt SAA; perhaps the most famous gun in the world. If you're going to get something wrong, it is better to do it on something obscure, like that "Lipscomb", than with something like an SAA (the only gun which rivals the SAA's fame is the 1911).
Dang, you are the man Max! Very interesting! Thanks!
And here I thought "Of Sound Mind" was one of the few "flubless" episodes. Not any more!
308GTS wrote:Great, great fun episode. Way back in 1984 when it first aired I taped it of course and along with Woman On The Beach it was the most viewed episode in my household. I must have watched it at least 10 times during that summer! Excellent and easily one of my favs.
Yeah, this is one my favorites, too! I probably should have included it in my Top 10.
The "will reading" scene (always cracks me up), the Ball, the Walker Estate, and that GREAT denouement! I remember when this episode originally aired; I really thought Magnum was going to shoot Wilson! LOL!
James J. Walters wrote:The "will reading" scene (always cracks me up), the Ball, the Walker Estate, and that GREAT denouement! I remember when this episode originally aired; I really thought Magnum was going to shoot Wilson! LOL!
BTW, the gun that Carlton, and then Magnum, is holding on Wilson at the end is also a Colt SAA; possibly the same one that Carlton took out of the gun cabinet earlier when incorrectly referring to it as "vintage 1860"; given that they both had 4-3/4" barrels.
The gun was real, and loaded with dummy bullets (not to be confused with blanks). However, during the closeup shot of the gun squirting Wilson, it is a fake gun; the bore is mostly plugged aside from the tiny hole for the water to come out, and the chambers in the cylinder are too small, and the gun is of course, not loaded with anything but water (because it is not a real gun). It is quite realistic looking for a squirt gun however. As soon as it cuts back to Magnum holding the gun after the closeup of the squirting, it is the real Colt SAA again.
