Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
4
5%
8.5 (Very Good)
12
15%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
18
22%
7.5 (Decent)
12
15%
7.0 (Average at Best)
6
7%
6.5 (Not So Good)
8
10%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
7
9%
5.0 (Just Awful)
12
15%
 
Total votes: 81

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SignGuyHPW
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#41 Post by SignGuyHPW »

I wasn't a huge fan of this one, but I didn't outright hate it either. I generally enjoyed the comedy episodes like this one. The only real problems I had were that it was a REAL stretch that Magnum solved the real life case by having read the rough draft of the book and the backhoe scene. It didn't make a lot of sense that with the Ferrari in use that Magnum couldn't have just used one of Robin's other vehicles especially since the girl didn't plan to leave the estate anyways. I thought that the fantasy sequences were pretty well done. It was classic Magnum comedy I thought. I thought it was slightly strange that Magnum had worked with the villians for so long and never suspected a thing yet some woman with no experience in the field had it figured out in a few hours, but that was part of the farce theme I think.

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Milton Collins
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#42 Post by Milton Collins »

I certainly have my top five but now I have to get to my worst five and this tops the list. Cassie Yates completely sucks and so does this episode!

marlboro
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#43 Post by marlboro »

Easily one of the series worst. Nothing worked. The acting was terrible by everyone involved - possibly intentional, but it didn't add to the comedy. The "real world" scenes were weak, but the fantasy sequences were absolutely abysmal. And as others have said, their is just something unappealing about the characters Cassie Yate's played on Magnum.

The low point for me was the backhoe scene. That masked man must have one souped up 'hoe if he can make it from a down town hospital to a "remote" section of the island without Magnum catching up to him in a Ferrari.

Why would the bad guys bring Magnum into the middle of their scheme? How was the hit and run guy's ex-wife involved in the plot? Did they steal her car?


FWIW, Yates was pretty hot when she was young:

Image

Dave Anderson
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#44 Post by Dave Anderson »

ConchRepublican wrote:
Doc Fred wrote:If this wasn't the worst episode in the entire series, I can't recall anything worse. I know it was supposed to be a farcial episode, but it didn't even succeed as a farce. No character development, no real plot, nothing..... Just a waste... :(

I agree . . . I should probably try it again but this is the only episode I ever turned off.
I have never made it through this whole episode either. I've tried a few times but just can't take it.

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Milton Collins
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#45 Post by Milton Collins »

Dave Anderson wrote:
ConchRepublican wrote:
Doc Fred wrote:If this wasn't the worst episode in the entire series, I can't recall anything worse. I know it was supposed to be a farcial episode, but it didn't even succeed as a farce. No character development, no real plot, nothing..... Just a waste... :(

I agree . . . I should probably try it again but this is the only episode I ever turned off.
I have never made it through this whole episode either. I've tried a few times but just can't take it.

You are both right! I've been contemplating my top ten episodes (which is REALLY tough) for the Top Ten Episode thread and I'm also throwing in my least fav. 5 episodes for good measure and this will top the list. Absolutely the worst of the entire series, not sure what the thought process on this one was. Ok, I feel bad bashing my all time favorite show so I'll leave it at that:)

Croix de Lorraine
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#46 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

I think this episode gets too much stick. I see it a private joke. This is Magnum PI as Glen Larson initially conceived it - James Bond in Hawai'i.

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KingKC
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#47 Post by KingKC »

I am just not a fan of these silly, fantasy, campy, over the top, spoofs or whatever it was supposed to be. I always thought Cassie Yates was really cute but cast terribly in the MPI series. I new it was going to be a weak comedy after the first scene. (I'm not sure I want to think this was role Glen Larson envisioned for Magnum. Actually the role I thought he would be was something like the guy in the Big Chill that went on from college to be the perfectly handsome and smiley, toothy private detective that always got his man and the girl). I almost thought this was some kind of spoof on a possible Robin Masters' character or book. In any event it goes down close to the bottom of the barrel.

KingKC

MaximRecoil
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Re:

#48 Post by MaximRecoil »

RamblerReb wrote:The pistols Sabre, Winston, and Boris use to cooly dispatch their strangely enthusiastic assailants at the airstrip are suppressed Walther PPs (not PPKs).
I disagree, at least with regard to the one Hillerman was using:

Image

The barrel looks too short to be a PP. The other ones may or may not have been PPs; I couldn't get a close enough look at them to say for sure.
Notice how Tom Selleck doesn't flinch or blink while firing, showing him to be an experienced shooter, while John Hillerman does. Since the suppressors aren't real, on the actual location they would have been firing full-power blanks (necessary for the actions to function), and the reports would have been quite loud.
Selleck often, if not always, blinks when firing the usual Colt Government Model prop. Just watch the end of Memories Are Forever for a good closeup of it, for example. Mosley wasn't blinking in this scene either, which suggests that the silencers were in fact real. A real silencer is a good thing when firing blanks in an auto, because they increase back-pressure, which helps cycling. The modifications made to pistols to allow them to cycle blanks usually involve restricting the barrel to increase back-pressure, and in the case of recoil-operated pistols, they usually remove the locking lugs. The Walther PP/PPK is straight-blowback, so it doesn't have locking lugs in the first place. A real silencer could serve the function of increasing back-pressure to allow the blanks to cycle properly, especially if it was designed with that goal in mind.
The square root of 18 is 4.242640687119285. It might have taken Sabre a second or two to call in those heat-seekers.
It would have taken him literally forever, because, like π, the square root of 18 is an irrational number, i.e., it never repeats nor ends. For example, here it is to 999 decimal places, and that's not even a spit in the ocean of infinity:
4.242640687119285146405066172629094235709015626130
84421953003921397219743538632111655116260298292471
82050415386927368910747745081675522116379323644912
99807494239667997782516778267399851503458346181714
41032867991481791082360379058604418555225592266759
58286569876914529261429643525192878108839857542239
69061760189638995426488921861845775057185164237250
86327988518950672566101259557103406312381022549654
14811606999120970144450916320833709493627434692054
78810755864741735389334790006139039046855706961711
70586552779458374849314626550026128570581804404741
62314307564622466971209032961160679456341047576404
86227542476797167800625675339956437519668183311277
97754009341647394044712478903017845761120095594410
26584691834871923135217910643941219565768351966120
73527368310068082338272088184148721432690251205510
96051053521773980941871822889908241414269644711869
91540980407423261887807374577156543013379526451773
36074832402518559443431741081011323192754860794413
05133350517497451806682592761497464563846885554654
That, of course, was the joke.

thechickinthemiddle
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#49 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

I don't hate this episode (much easier for me to tolerate than Faraday in "Photo Play"), but while the novel sequences had some funny moments, I think they've been done better in other episodes. (Though Higgins actually being Magnum's butler in these is hilarious alone). Also, I'm not sure if Betty stopped writing "Sabre" because she couldn't imagine a more elaborate version of Magnum simply turning the bad guys against each other, or if there was a possibility of her being sued had the book been published. :P And what the heck accent was T.C.'s character doing anyway? :lol:

PickledEggPlease
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#50 Post by PickledEggPlease »

Hello!
I am writing Descriptive Video for Magnum (for blind and partially-sighted viewers - we provide the voice that says "A man sneaks up behind Magnum" etc.) and so I'm watching every episode very closely. This site has been SUPER helpful in identifying stuff, so thanks.

Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear :)

thechickinthemiddle
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#51 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

PickledEggPlease wrote:Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear :)

You can always email it to Steve as well. :)

Sam
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#52 Post by Sam »

PickledEggPlease wrote:Hello!
I am writing Descriptive Video for Magnum (for blind and partially-sighted viewers - we provide the voice that says "A man sneaks up behind Magnum" etc.) and so I'm watching every episode very closely. This site has been SUPER helpful in identifying stuff, so thanks.

Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear :)

Welcome aboard,

I don't know if this would be helpful or not but here is a link with the episodes dialogue.I haven't checked the accuracy.

http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk ... m-p-i-1980

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308GUY
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#53 Post by 308GUY »

Welcome PEP!

Sounds like an interesting project.
"C'mon TC...nothing can go wrong!"

PickledEggPlease
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#54 Post by PickledEggPlease »

Thanks for the kind welcome! And the link to the dialogue - very helpful indeed!

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K Hale
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Re: Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

#55 Post by K Hale »

I realize everyone hates this episode, but... well... I find it amusing. I got a big kick out of the fictional characters. As someone said upthread, it's like a Robin Masters novel come to life.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
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Billiards.
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