Did You See the Sunrise? (1) (3.1)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the third season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
60
41%
9.5 (One of the Best)
59
40%
9.0 (Excellent)
11
8%
8.5 (Very Good)
11
8%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
3
2%
7.5 (Decent)
0
No votes
7.0 (Average at Best)
1
1%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 146

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Carol the Dabbler
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#21 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

Doc Ibold wrote:What if the goal of killing the japanese ambassador was to strain relations between the US and Japan?
Either that, or the Soviets had some specific reason for wanting the Japanese prince out of the way (he was anti-Soviet, perhaps), and making it look like an American was responsible for his death was just icing on the cake.

We just watched this episode last night, and I'm all but certain that the intended victim was the Japanese prince, not the Japanese ambassador. After all, ambassadors can be replaced -- just appoint a new one -- but it may take a while to grow a new prince.

By the way, does anyone know who played the prince? He had no lines, so was presumably not credited (and is not listed in IMDb). Every time I see this episode, I think how non-Japapese he looks, reminiscent of how they used to just put a lot of make-up on a caucasian actor.

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Little Garwood
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#22 Post by Little Garwood »

"Did You See the Sunrise" is quite simply my all-time favorite MPI episode. It was when I first saw it as an elevn-year old back in 1982, and it remains so today. I've since recognized the "Manchurian Candidate" aspect of this one, something I didn't know about 26(!) years ago. Bo Svenson is chillingly brilliant as Ivan and the extensive Vietnam flashbacks in the story were fascinating. I believe this was the first time I realized just how close a band our heroes really had with one another. I loved it, and it moved me. Mac's fate was shocking, but the end of part two left my friends and I slackjawed. I have yet to see anything in episodic television that tops it for an ending...(Of course, I watch virtually no new TV, so that's not surprising.)

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Carol the Dabbler
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#23 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

golfmobile wrote:I think it was "Way of the Stalking Horse" ... when my spouse pointed out that TM was batting left-handed. Maybe he's right-handed for everything but batting.
Could well be. There are all sorts of reasons why a person might do a particular thing with "the other hand." My father was a natural leftie, but he batted right-handed because that's how the other kids had showed him. It occurs to me that as a kid, Magnum might have idolized a big-league player who was either a southpaw or a switch-hitter, and so made a point of learning to bat left-handed. (Apparently someone before Al Kaline -- according to Wikipedia, he's a rightie.)

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Carol the Dabbler
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#24 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

IslandHopper wrote:
golfmobile wrote:It's very rewarding that he took Ivan out, but ... [w]hat did they do with the body?
I've often wondered the same thing. Did they shoot the limo driver too? And, don't you think that the State Department would be more than a little peeved....

I was also surprised that Magnum used his own gun....
Hubby and I were just discussing this question, and we both figure that Buck had given Magnum the (unofficial) impression that -- although his hands were tied -- he sure wouldn't mind if someone else took care of Ivan. And so Magnum deduced (apparently correctly) that the military and the State Department would be more than willing/able to sweep things under the rug afterwards.

The Soviets couldn't very well raise a stink, since Ivan was officially -- what? a Bulgarian? -- and the Bulgarians wouldn't much care, since he wasn't really one of theirs.

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It was no Ferrari..........

#25 Post by IslandHopper76 »

I always wondered about the car -explosion in which Mac dies.
Have you ever noticed that he car which explodes is not a Ferrari 308GTS, but a Lotus Excel / Elite?


If you take a closer look, you wil find out, that the burning car is no convertible but has a nearly identical front-bumper.

I think it was cheaper to burn a Lotus than a Ferrari ;-)


Greets, Morten

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golfmobile
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#26 Post by golfmobile »

IH76,

Welcome to the forum! You have some catching up to do!! But I hope you enjoy reading EVERYTHING. It will just take a while!

But I'm glad to see another "detail" observer! (since I'm so poor at that skill)

golf
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IslandHopper76
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Thanks....

#27 Post by IslandHopper76 »

I will do my very best, I promise. How can I upload a pic of that car ?

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Doc Ibold
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Re: Thanks....

#28 Post by Doc Ibold »

IslandHopper76 wrote:I will do my very best, I promise. How can I upload a pic of that car ?
3 words (sorta)
James. J. Walters.


:lol:

(He'll be able to tell you)

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N1095A
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Stalag 17

#29 Post by N1095A »

Just watched TM's favorite movie tonight. I thought it was pretty good although maybe some of the scenes seemed far fetched. Not a bad movie at all. I was suprised to see how much it resembled one of my other favorite shows Hogan's Heroes. Until tonight I didn't know just how much that show was based on the movie. It even has a Sgt. Shultz. The difference is that the Stalag 17 Shultz pretended to be friendly with the POWs but was way more sinister. At one point he even had one of the POWs hold his rifle just like the TV Shultz. On Hogan's Heroes Shultz was actually friendly with the POWs, and knew what they were really up to from the first episode. He wanted to avoid getting into trouble at all costs so he kept his mouth shut.
Last edited by N1095A on Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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N1095A
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Re: It was no Ferrari..........

#30 Post by N1095A »

IslandHopper76 wrote:I always wondered about the car -explosion in which Mac dies.
Have you ever noticed that he car which explodes is not a Ferrari 308GTS, but a Lotus Excel / Elite?


If you take a closer look, you wil find out, that the burning car is no convertible but has a nearly identical front-bumper.

I think it was cheaper to burn a Lotus than a Ferrari ;-)


Greets, Morten
I always thought it looked like a Pontiac Fiero, but according to Jeff MacKay it was a Camaro.
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the apprentice
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#31 Post by the apprentice »

that is the best episode based on his past.imo
magnum, i do say

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Jay-Firestorm
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#32 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Third season already. And it kicks off with this terrific feature-length / two-parter.

[rating=9.5]

An old war comrade that Magnum and T.C. were once captured and tortured with, arrives in Hawaii to warn T.C. that the Russian agent who captured them is after them to finish the job. Meanwhile, Mac resigns from the Navy. First half of an excellent story..

-----

This review contains spoilers.

Although the second season’s phenomenal ‘Memories Are Forever’ might be regarded as the best of the show’s feature-length / two-parters, ‘Did You See the Sunrise’ (sometimes billed as ‘Reunion’, the story’s working title) is also a strong contender for that position.

The opening credits are revamped, with a new font, some new shots, and a re-recorded version of the theme (that would remain, bar the fifth season’s ‘Mac’s Back’, until the end of the show). And beyond that, the series is slowly maturing. After many of the ‘carefree’ stories of the first and second season, Magnum – both as a show and a character – are gradually growing up.
The third and fourth season are often considered by many fans to be the best seasons of the show’s run, and going on the quality of this story, they may well be right.
With the third season, many details and touches were added that would stay with the series, and things just felt so polished and rounded.

Anyway, the story itself is a very good one. It has lots of flashbacks to ‘Nam, and some very good performances. Ivan is one of the show’s best and most memorable villains.

The plot also serves to kill of Mac. Part of this was actually to free up Jeff MacKay from the series to go and play the character of Corky in another Donald P. Bellisario show, ‘Tales of the Golden Monkey’ (1982-3). Whatever the reasoning, it comes as a real shock.

Lance LeGault makes his first of a number of return appearances as Buck Green after ‘Memories Are Forever’, and Paul Burke also returns – but while to the casual viewer Burke may seem to be playing the same character, it is actually a different Admiral, Hawkes (in ‘Memories Are Forever’ he played an Admiral Kitchner). Yes, it’s all very confusing!

I also like the story in that it gives T.C. a lot to do. Although I had grown to like Rick, I always really enjoyed Magnum and T.C.’s rapport, and it really shows up in this episode.

In some respects, the story – particularly this first half – is very padded. But for the most part, this doesn’t really matter; as the show was maturing, we got to see more of Magnum’s life, where things weren’t always governed by being on an adventure, but stories just slowed down a bit to study the characters more deeply.

A aforementioned ‘Nam flashbacks are very good. One scene in particular features several racist words, which was a real rarity on TV in 1982 and still is somewhat today, and are sometimes edited out on repeat showings (the original recording that I had of this episode indeed edited them out).

Review continued in Part II.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* The episode does not begin with an opening trailer. I’m not sure if it was like this originally, or if it was removed from the DVD versions (a number of ‘A-Team’ and ‘Knight Rider’ DVD episodes had opening trailers removed for no apparent reason). When Channel 5 ran the series in the UK, the opening trailers were always skipped, so I can’t compare with those recordings.

* T.C. sings for the first of several times in the series. I’m not sure if I imagined it or not, but I’m sure I heard that at one point, Roger E. Mosley was trying to launch a singing side-career.

* After T.C. drops Magnum and his surf ski out to sea and is flying back (above mentioned singing scene), the tail rotor on his helicopter flips sides several times, due to the film being reversed.

* I may be mistaken, but I think this is the first time in the series that Thomas’ middle name is confirmed on-screen as Sullivan.

* Although he had been seen on a surf-ski in several previous episodes, this is the first story to really imply that Magnum’s ongoing hobby/sport interest is surf-skiing. We also hear about a race in which he was beaten by a twelve year old girl for the first of a number of times in the series!

* Also, I only noticed this for the first time when watching the episode last night – on the back section of his surf-ski, a Cross of Lorraine is painted.

* We also see T.C.’s house for the first of a handful of times in the series. What a view!

* On the DVD version, the second commercial break is abridged.

* Several things on the episode’s main pages could do with flipping around – Higgins is seen building the model River Kwai Bridge from Part I, and the Rolling Stones ‘Satisfaction’ cover does not appear until Part II.

* When Channel 5 broadcast the episode in 2002, they took the feature-length version and edited it themselves into two parts (as opposed to ‘Memories Are Forever’, where they had the ‘official two-part version). As such, several edits were made for time:

* When T.C. drops Magnum and his surf-ski out at sea, the scene of him flying back to Island Hoppers, singing, is edited out. About 2:28 is lost.

* The scene of Magnum, Julie and Mac at the Hawaiian restaurant, is shortened. After Julie comments on the pineapple in her drink, and Mac says about getting high from it, it fades to later in the scene, when Julie is dancing. Around 2:20 is lost.

* Also, the racist language and violence in the ‘Nam flashback are edited out. Removed are the N-word, T.C. saying “honkey”, and Magnum saying “jungle bunny”. Also, the sequence ends as Ivan shoots Cookie – the shot, with blood coming out, and all moments until the end of the scene, are removed.


...And so ends my longest review / notes yet. Phew! Second half tomorrow. :)
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#33 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

All that, and I still forgot something. The recollections that Magnum has of Mac are:

* Conning him with jelly rolls, from the second season’s ‘The Sixth Position’
* Another con to use the computer, from the first season’s ‘Missing In Action’
* Meeting Mac at the ice cream vendor, from the second season’s ‘Dead Man’s Channel’
* A scene with Mac and Buck from ‘Memories Are Forever’
JAY FIRESTORM

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#34 Post by robspace54 »

I had forgotten most of this episode but the line by TM - "Put your finger in it!" in the camp brought some of it back.

A very well crafted and enjoyable story - danger, mystery, murder, espionage, bit of romance, the first appearance of Maggie Poole, Vietnam, and retribution. The scene between Buck, the Admiral, Maggie and Magnum really showed Magnum's strength of personality and conviction.

I wonder how many VM vets choked up at the scenes in this drama? And yes I do beleive that TM would really shoot Ivan. There are some things that TM would apply 'eye for an eye.' And of course he had lost Mac Reynolds too.

And flubs - Rick and TM switched sides in the chopper between TM remembering their old call signs and the hovering next to the Loach outside the temple. And the side shot of TC "flying" the Island Hoppers chopper from the back seat is so obvious.

Rob
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J.J. Walters
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#35 Post by J.J. Walters »

Anybody ever notice the camera/cameraman strapped to the side of the chopper as it lands on the estate? I didn't either. This is the camera that's filming Mosley/T.C. "flying" the chopper from the back seat.

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