All For One (1) (5.15)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
6
7%
9.5 (One of the Best)
15
18%
9.0 (Excellent)
16
19%
8.5 (Very Good)
16
19%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
13
15%
7.5 (Decent)
9
11%
7.0 (Average at Best)
4
5%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
3
4%
 
Total votes: 84

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Lt. Cook
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#21 Post by Lt. Cook »

Used to hate it, now love it.

For me:

Cons:
-A bit cheesy Rambo/Chuck Norris-ish. There were a slew of "Private group of vets goes back to rescue POW's" films in the 80's and this was hopping on the bandwagon. Especially cheesy: Higgins after the final firefight, with cigar clenched in teeth.

Pro:
-Shows the bond of debt these guys felt for each other.
-I like the nod to the idea of starting to realize you are aging - as rtyler said "you don't have to be creeping up on middle age to feel old." I'm starting to have an uncomfortable understanding of that!
-The first time where TS is overtly referred to as a SEAL.
- The Bangcock bar scene does a great job with creating atmosphere.
-Tyler P. McKenna.

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Carmen
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#22 Post by Carmen »

You sure about Tyler being "pro"?!
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

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Ice_Pick
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#23 Post by Ice_Pick »

James J. Walters wrote:I think it's great that the same episode can be rated both "Perfect" AND "Just Awful"! Everyone gets something different out of a Magnum episode*.
That's a good point, James! I guess it all depends on what satisfies the veiwer...

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Jay-Firestorm
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#24 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Like others, I couldn’t fully make my mind up about this one. Some good elements, some not so good.

[rating=9.0]

An old war acquaintance of Magnum’s arrives at the Estate, and asks Magnum, Rick and T.C. to help him rescue a comrade who has been captured. Soon, the gang and Higgins are making a dangerous trail into Cambodia. Mixed but decent opener to this two-parter…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

This story gets a mixed response from fans – some like it, some don’t. And ‘mixed’ is generally how I would sum it up – on the whole, I like the plot, but there are certain elements that don’t completely work for me.

Being a two-parter (the second of only two stories originally shown in two-part format, after ‘Echoes of the Mind’ at the start of the season), the pacing is noticeably much slower than normal (even the opening trailer is much longer than the norm), and this really slows the story down; as much as I liked the added ‘depth’, at a couple of points I was thinking “come on, get on with it”.

This would have worked better as a more compact standard-length episode in opinion, but deciding factors, such as budget, probably deemed that this one was worked into a two-parter.

One thing I did notice, particularly in the (overlong) bar scene, was the stock covers of various songs used (such as Jimi Hendrix), in an era when standard TV episode budgets used song covers instead of the originals to save money. And these covers are HORRIBLE sounding; I’m glad it’s a practice that has generally faded away in more recent times.

Once the story does finally hit its stride, we have the great action sequence of the ambush on the gang’s boat; in a season where real action has been missing for a number of episodes, it is a welcome inclusion – even if it does feel like it drifts into ‘The A-Team’ territory at times (and I say that as a fan of ‘The A-Team’!).

The scene of Higgins giving the injured Rick a blood transfusion via a bamboo shoot is enough to make me feel queasy.

As the story requires a number of ethnic actors, old MPI guest star stalwarts such as Seth Sakai and Clyde Kusatsu are called into play yet again – those guys must have made a packet from all of their guest appearances!

All-in-all, this is a reasonable opener to this two-parter, and certainly better than some of the weak stories of the fifth season. Although it is dragged out in places, it does build up well to Part II.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* The main page for this episode is slightly incorrect – it says that the episode title appears at the bottom-centre; actually, it appears centre screen.

* The inclusion of this story in the fifth season makes it the only season to have more than one two-hour / two-part stories.

* Further to Mark Seaman’s flub note regarding Rick’s pants changing design when the cannon is fired at them, if you look carefully, the shot where Rick, T.C. and Magnum are sent sprawling by the blast, they are actually their three stunt doubles.

* When Magnum arrives at Tyler’s plane, Tyler refers to him as “T.S. Magnum”. This is quite unusual. Early press promotion for the series said that Magnum was often called “T.S.”, but this was never really used in the series proper; the closest it came was when T.C. often referred to him as “T.M.”.

* During the bar scene, Magnum smokes his eleventh cigar of the series.

* I didn’t realise it when I first watched this episode, but it has no narration by Magnum. Unless I am much mistaken, the only other two stories without any narration are the third season’s ‘The Big Blow’, and the series finale, season eight’s ‘Resolutions’.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2002… well, no comment on this one, because I can’t currently find the videocassette that I recorded it on. I think it’s got packed away with a load of old tapes I put in the attic but couldn’t bear to get rid of. I’ll try and find it to check if any of the boat raid or blood transfusion scenes were altered.
JAY FIRESTORM

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#25 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

Jay great review, and I would love to know what Magnum's final tally is on cigars. Being a huge cigar aficionado I have always loved the fact that Magnum was a cigar smoker.

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Jay-Firestorm
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#26 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

IKnowWhatYoureThinking wrote:Jay great review, and I would love to know what Magnum's final tally is on cigars. Being a huge cigar aficionado I have always loved the fact that Magnum was a cigar smoker.
I'm counting as I review the episodes, so I'll get a final tally eventually :)
I just have a nagging feeling that I forgot to count one somewhere in the fourth season.
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Frodoleader
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#27 Post by Frodoleader »

Noticed a flub: at the beginning of the episode, when McKinney and Quincannon are at the refugee village, McKinney looks at the soldiers that have captured Quincannon, through the scope of his rifle. His rifle had no scope.
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Danno
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#28 Post by Danno »

This episode is an odd one for me.

I like some parts of it- Higgins standing at the door of the plane in his coat is a compelling image. Hillerman suddenly evokes Casablanca or some other noir film...

The refugee camp is hardly believable!

As others have stated- the A-Team seems to be what was in the back of the writers minds. As a teenager, I would have loved this episode, that's for sure... now, not so much. Repeated viewings might change this though.
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J.J. Walters
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#29 Post by J.J. Walters »

Another entry for the "Rubber Chicken Guide":

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No. 1 Capital District Building in downtown Honolulu. Built in 1872, this building was the home of the original Royal Hawaiian Hotel and later served as the YMCA. Since 2002, it has been the home of the Hawaii State Art Museum. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Properties.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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miltontheripper
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#30 Post by miltontheripper »

Interesting episodes, definitely not my favorites but still entertaining.

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nha trang
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#31 Post by nha trang »

I rated part 1 and 2 as "decent" only. To me, it seems like the show is copying Rambo mixed with the A-team (jeeps flipping over, anyone?) Also, I find the premise to be far fetched, that the team would return to SE Asia to conduct some unauthorized rescue operation with a guy who Magnum was already pissed off enough about to deck at first sight.

Adding to the cheese factor were scenes like taking cover inside the boat when they get ambushed from the shore. I can tell you I wouldn't have been inside the boat, relying on the side of the boat for cover. When the boat broke down, they should have got out and done recon, but I don't know, maybe they were supposed to be in "safe" Vietnam at that point and not Cambodia.

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Kifaru
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#32 Post by Kifaru »

Spotted a flub:

When they are on the boat and going through the weapons crate, Tyler picks up a 5.56 mm HK33 (or the identical civilian semi-auto version HK93) and throws it to TC, but in the next shot TC clearly catches a 7.62 mm HK91 (semi-auto version of the military G3). Tyler also identifies the weapon he's picking up as a '91', indicating that he is indeed picking up the wrong weapon.

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J.J. Walters
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#33 Post by J.J. Walters »

Ah, good flub spot there Kifaru!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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MaiTaiMan
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#34 Post by MaiTaiMan »

J.J. Walters wrote:Also, when Tyler says Magnum was "the best at bringing back scalps", what exactly does this mean? I've heard of guys bringing back ears and other "things" to prove their "hit count", but never scalps! Is it just a figure of speech?

I recently re-watched the opening "Battle of Salamanca" scene and you know what, it is strongly implied that he is firing his cannon! At first I thought maybe we are supposed to think they rigged up some small explosives around the ground, or something. But in re-viewing it, it's pretty clear - Higgins is seen loading and firing the cannon, Rick is shouting out, "Hey, that almost hit me!". Not only is this shocking from the standpoint of "it's dangerous as hell to shoot in the general direction of people with a cannon, no matter how old the cannon is!", but also because Higgins is destroying some of his beloved flora and lush lawn! Bizarre! :shock:
I think that the "scalps" term was just a figure of speech...and meant that Magnum could take out the enemy pretty good as they invaded certain territories in Vietnam. But, I'll be honest and say that phrase has always somewhat had me stumped too...I'm not really sure what it meant? :?: I'm just guessing. But, I don't really think Magnum literally brought back scalps of dead Vietnamese soldiers. :shock:

Anyway, yeah the cannon thing with Higgins at the beginning was humorous...but very unrealistic and out of character for Higgins to fire his cannon on flowers/plants/lawn of the Robin Masters' Estate! :o I'm sure Higgy Baby had no problem firing it at Rick and T.C.--but he would've chosen a better area that would not have put any of the lush and beautiful landscaping in jeapordy. :wink:

However...leaving out the couple relatively unimportant issues mentioned...I really have grown to love this 2-part episode! If I'm to be honest, the part or aspect I love the most is that everyone helps and takes part in the mission....even Higgins!! Dang...Higgins can fire a machine gun with no problem! That was awesome! I also enjoyed the fact that this time he was helping and being involved with a military operation that wasn't his own...or tied to one of his old stories.

This is a very heart-felt and somewhat sad episode...but captivating and action-packed just the same! I had great respect for all the characters in this one and (like the 2-part "Did You See the Sunrise?") really showed what those guys had to go through in Vietnam. The care, love, and bravery that everyone showed was amazing!

Even though this is a somewhat "dark" 2-parter...I still enjoy viewing it and it "touches" me everytime! Excellent...and I rated it as such.

(I put this same review for Part 2)
"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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#35 Post by RamblerReb »

Some technical notes:
  • McKinney hands Magnum a large rotary weapon on the boat and correctly says it holds 18 rounds, but then says those rounds are "armor-piercing." What he hands him is a Manville Projectile Launcher (familiar to anyone who has seen Dogs of War with Christopher Walken), originally designed as a rotary 12-gauge shotgun but then turned into a 25mm tear gas or flare launcher. Though prototypes were made during WWII which could fire grenades, none were ever sold, and the one in this show could fire nothing but gas or flares.
  • In the shootout on the river with the bandits, Selleck again shows his real-life weapons experience by firing his MP5 in short, controlled, aimed bursts with the extended stock firmly against his shoulder, no flinching or blinking to be seen. Hillerman again shows his relative inexperience by "spraying and praying" into the jungle, stock retracted, closing his eyes every time he pulls the trigger. Moseley alternates between halfway decent technique in long shots and awful weapons handling in the closeups, failing to pull the butt into his shoulder and spraying rounds at random. Manetti doesn't get enough trigger time to accurately assess his abilities with the '60, but the long burst he fires into the tree to get his man is riding the edge of firing for too long. The M60 was known for the difficulty of changing overheated barrels.
  • The fat-barreled submachineguns Magnum and McKinney are carrying when they are caught are H&K MP5SDs, a suppressed variant of the MP5. The fat barrel is actually an integral suppressor, one of the most effective around. I have personally fired one and the sound of the action cycling is louder than the report of the shot.

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