Tuan Vu wrote:Also, does anyone know if that was Rell Sunn at 47:12? I am pretty sure that it was. By the way, a friend and I were there the day they scattered her ashes out in Makaha. It's hard to believe that was 10 years ago.
Wow, great find Tuan! It's very brief, but it is indeed women's surfing pioneer, and Hawaiian legend, Rell Sunn (the "Queen of Makaha")!
In reading up on him, Randy Rarick is a longtime Hawaiian resident and a bona fide surfing legend!
Rarick is featured as having surfed in more countries than anyone on Earth (more than 60 different countries). He is quoted as describing the Congo thusly: "Except for the dead body floating down the river, this West African country is the kind of place you want to see at least once."
As for Yugoslavia, he said: "Another of those strange surfs when you least expect it, in probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen."
How cool is that final scene now. Not one, but two uncredited surfing legends (with no lines, however) in the same scene!
I happened to find that quite by accident.I was flipping through On Demand when I noticed a 4 minute piece on surfing Oahu.Randy's contribution was an 8 sec comment.By the time I realized he looked familiar his spot was over.I rewound and paused to get his name and a better look.
I wonder how many people went uncredited after having some role in the show?
I think this episode's storyline would be fairly blah without the flashbacks to what the characters were like in 1979, but I guess that was the intent. It also gives the writers an opportunity to show TM dealing with Michelle that we didn't see in season 1 and a scene of him being "daddy," that foreshadows the Lily relationship. Its interesting to me that he enjoys the role, but in this case doesn't seriously consider taking it on permanantly.
Christopher Anderson's Article, "Reflections on Magnum PI", spends a considerable amount of space dealing with this episode.
James J. Walters wrote:I thought maybe it went by a different name when the GMC went to smaller size. I see now that it's officially called the GMC S-15 Jimmy.
Thanks Doc
No problem!
The Jimmy nameplate was around until the mid-to late 90's when GM just took the Jimmy name and renamed it "Envoy". Same thing with Blazer to "TrailBlazer"
[quote="VM02"]I think this episode's storyline would be fairly blah without the flashbacks to what the characters were like in 1979, but I guess that was the intent. [quote]
I agree. It's a very pedestrian episode without the flashbacks. Maybe the script was a bit 'blah' and they added the flashbacks to add a little spice? However, I don't ever remember seeing this episode before so to all intent's and purposes it was a new episode. Groovy.
I had hoped, upon watching the pre-credit teaser that we would find out exactly how Magnum ended up at Robin's Nest but, alas it was not to be.
Tuan Vu wrote:Also, does anyone know if that was Rell Sunn at 47:12? I am pretty sure that it was. By the way, a friend and I were there the day they scattered her ashes out in Makaha. It's hard to believe that was 10 years ago.
Wow, great find Tuan! It's very brief, but it is indeed women's surfing pioneer, and Hawaiian legend, Rell Sunn (the "Queen of Makaha")! !
It was totally awesome to see Magnum looking alot like a hippie!
Alas, the opening sequence was the best part of the episode, and the story winds down to sheer boredom. I think I passed out while watching this episode once on a drunken night!
I was watching this episode again, and I cant stop thinking about Magnum blackmailing T.C. until flying him to the other side of the island.
Who the heck is the Lizard Lady?
Thursdays’ review. It’s interesting to see Magnum’s life five years previously, but I found the actual plot rather dull.
[rating=8.0]
As he visits her in the present, Magnum recalls his first case in 1979, where he helped a surfing champion who was being threatened. But things in the present day look set to parallel those of 1979. A so-so story saved by its interesting flashbacks…
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This review contains mild spoilers.
This episode, dealing with Magnum’s first real case as a Private Investigator in 1979, comes just two episodes after the excellent ‘Holmes Is Where the Heart Is’, which dealt with an event in Higgins’ life in 1976. As such, I find it hard not to compare the two stories.
The episode is directed by Roger E. Mosley, otherwise known as T.C. It is the only episode of the series he will direct, although he will go on to co-write the seventh season episode ‘Missing Melody’.
Of most interest in this episode is how different Magnum’s life was five years previously – one year before the series started. He had long hair, drove a beaten up Volkswagen Beetle convertible, worked out of a small office, and we see the first instances of preferring the term “Private Investigator”, and his first time of asking Rick to run down a license plate, as well as the first bullet in T.C.’s helicopter (and T.C. doesn’t even own this one)!
We also see Rick in his ‘Humphrey Bogart’ phase, tying in nicely with the Pilot, where he was seen as such. (This idea was dropped from the series itself, and I’m glad, as I find it rather silly and grating).
There are some nice ‘time shifts’, as the present merges into the past within the same shot (okay, you probably need to see it to get what I mean!).
The episode also has some fair action, namely the sequence with the Jimmy (updated to a new, later model here) chasing the motorbike along the beach.
But I have to say, beyond the novelty of the flashbacks themselves, I find the bulk of this story rather dull. I wasn’t all that interested in Magnum’s relationship with Karen, and felt that it really dragged in places.
‘Holmes Is Where the Heart Is’ was a perfectly crafted and immensely watchable story; ‘Dream a Little Dream’ is just more of a novelty, and once you look past the flashbacks, it isn’t really one of the greatest. To be fair, it is perfectly watchable (and is by no means the weakest offering of the season – personally I’d give that title to ‘Paradise Blues’), but at best it comes off as one of those episodes that I only watch very occasionally, and is far from being one of my favourite stories.
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* Rick and T.C. only appear in flashback in this episode.
* On the opening trailer, Rick is seen standing opposite Magnum as he says the line (in Bogey style) “You see, the one trick of staying alive in this crazy, cockeyed world, is to know when you’re licked”. In the episode itself, he is seen walking towards Magnum across the beach.
* I noticed T.C.’s headset changing within the same sequence, but this had already been spotted!
* The DVD version of this episode has all of the commercial breaks abridged.
* The version of this episode that Five broadcast in 2002 did not have the Beach Boys song at the beginning, instead having the same instrumental that the DVD version would use.