Flashback (3.7)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Flashback (3.7). 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: 11/4/1982
Time is not on his side when Magnum finds himself trapped in the year 1936 and working to clear the name of a union leader accused of murder.

[J.J. Walters]

This is one of my favorite episodes. The "fantasy/dream" plot here (transporting everything back to the 1930s) was truly ahead of its time for prime time TV. The opening scene, with Magnum confronting Higgins on the lawn, has to be one of funniest scenes (TV or Movie) I've ever seen in my entire life! "You short-seat my whole house and you wanna talk about croquet!!?" LOL! Loved the ending, too.

Also, T.C. gets quite a bit of screen time here (including a cool bar brawl scene). And "Bogie"-Rick returns!

[Shermy]

I love this episode, and it's one that made a big impression on me as a kid. The show was never afraid to mix reality and fantasy, and I like the way the two come together at the end. In some respects, it also serves as an interesting precursor to Quantum Leap.

[RJMasters]

I was watching it yesterday. At the end when Magnum is chased out of the cabin (in the present not the past I believe), there's this awful screeching sound like "mrrrawr". Did one of them step on a cat while they were filming this?

[rubber chicken]

I don't remember this well enough now to answer about the "mrrrawr" sound but I have a little bit of trivia. The houses and buildings on what is now the Anderson estate were built in 1933, so the happenings could have actually taken place when the property was just three years old.

This is a great episode, and I always like when TC gets more airtime.

[Tuan Vu]

Hi, RJMasters.

To answer your question, Drew Danforth almost steps on a cat as he chases Magnum out the back door. You can see the cat scurrying out of the way just in time.

[J.J. Walters]

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that that cat used up one of his/her "9 lives" on that one! A very close call! "Mmmrrrawr"!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The opening scene, with Magnum confronting Higgins on the lawn, has to be one of funniest scenes (TV or Movie) I've ever seen in my entire life! "You short-seat my whole house and you wanna talk about croquet!!?"

I was planning to post that very quote (or at least as near as I could remember it). Cracked me up!

But I believe what Magnum said was "short sheet" (rather than "short seat") -- comparing what he believes to be an elaborate practical joke to the traditional summer-camp prank (which I hear is also popular in school dorms and the military). You remove the pillow and blanket from the other kid's bunk (in his/her absence, of course), then tuck the edges of the top half of the top sheet under the mattress so that it looks like the top half of a bottom sheet. Then you untuck the bottom half of the same sheet and fold the sheet in half so that the bottom hem is near the head of the bed, and smooth it out to look like the normal top half of the top sheet. Finally, you put the blanket and pillow back on in the usual way. The bunk looks perfectly normal, but when the kid tries to get into it, his/her feet are abruptly stopped halfway down by the fold in the sheet -- thus the term "short sheet."

[Little Garwood]

Clearly one of the best episodes of the series and most likely in my all-time Top 10 which I'm actually scared to compile! Seems like a daunting task, especially since I could pick eight of that ten from the third season!

As for "Flashback", I can see, looking back now that perhaps Donald P. Bellisario had Raiders of the Lost Ark and the 1930s in general on the brain. Couple that with Tom Selleck's "Golden Age of Hollywood" looks and you have this episode, an absolute winner in every regard. I rated it a 9.5.

[Doc Ibold]

I actually really like this episode as well, and SHOULD be in my Top ones.

When it comes on, I think "Ho Hum", but then remember what a great ep it is as I get further in

I think my favorite part about it is when the maitre'd refused to let TC into the club, but Magnum conned him into thinking that TC was Joe Louis.

Classic!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Drew Danforth almost steps on a cat as he chases Magnum out the back door. You can see the cat scurrying out of the way just in time.

Some sidebars on that little incident:

1. Correct. There is a black-and-white cat in the back yard as Danforth comes running out of the door -- which spooks the cat, which runs off around the corner of the house, at which point there is a loud yowling sound (even though Danforth never gets closer to the cat than a pace or two).

2. The subtitle says [bird squawks] ...

3. ... which could be true, because it sure isn't any cat that makes the noise. Our six cats dozed right through that scene, but any time there's actually an angry cat heard on television, they panic: "omigosh, there's a strange cat in here!" Clearly, the cat's line was dubbed, presumably by a human -- poor fellow, his one chance at an acting career usurped!

[J.J. Walters]

But I believe what Magnum said was "short sheet" (rather than "short seat") -- comparing what he believes to be an elaborate practical joke to the traditional summer-camp prank (which I hear is also popular in school dorms and the military)

Yeah, it's supposed to be "short sheet", not "short seat". Not sure why I put down "seat". LOL!

"You 'short seat' my whole house and you wanna talk about croquet!?". Then Higgins says, "See, you did have too much cheap rye whiskey last night!".

3. ... which could be true, because it sure isn't any cat that makes the noise.

I don't know, it sounded real to me. I've heard feral cats make sounds similiar to that before. "Mmmmmraaawwwrrr!"

[Carol the Dabbler]

It sounded like a cat to me, too. But our six furry little experts dozed right through that scene. Ergo, not a cat. Any time there's a genuine angry cat yowling on the television, they're alert in an instant, looking for that intruder!

[SelleckLover]

My cat does the same thing, Carol! It's her apartment and she allows us to live here. LOL

[lutherhgillis]

This is a cool epi. Its sort of in the vein of Fantasy Island which was huge in the late 70s.

I think we have all had dreams that seemed very real but strange at the same time. I remember having dreams where I stop and say, "It's time to wake up; this dream is getting wierd".

Were there white people in Hawaii before WW2 ? Also, I don't think stucco and barrel tile roof construction (estate house) was available on Hawaii then but I may be wrong. Anyone know?