Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
1
1%
9.0 (Excellent)
2
3%
8.5 (Very Good)
20
26%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
22
28%
7.5 (Decent)
13
17%
7.0 (Average at Best)
9
12%
6.5 (Not So Good)
4
5%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
3
4%
5.0 (Just Awful)
4
5%
 
Total votes: 78

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terryfromkerry
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#46 Post by terryfromkerry »

magnum1911 wrote:My wife is a huge horror movie buff and goes to the conventions. I tagged along one time and was able to meet Terry Kiser. He plays Dennis Redfield the assistant to Hasley in the episode. His most notable role is the ever lifeless Bernie in the film series Weekend at Bernie's. Everybody there was to meet him for some horror movie role he had made. I walked up to him and said the words Tran Quoc Jones. He grinned and told me I was the only person he ever remembered wanting to see him due to that role. He told me all about how they put him up in some fancy hotel in Hawaii and about all the cast and crew. I got the feeling that he actually enjoyed the conversation. Anyways heres a pic with me and Terry. So now I make my wife try to find out any of her horror movie actors that had Magnum appearances no matter how tiny the role.

Image
Welcome aboard magnum1911 great picture. I would love to ask him how he managed to keep a straight face ( I mean without laughing out loud) during the filming of " Weekend At Bernie's". :lol:
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J.J. Walters
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#47 Post by J.J. Walters »

That's cool, magnum1911! Terry Kiser was in a boat load of TV shows over the years, particularly in the 70's and 80's. He was probably at the horror convention because of his appearance in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
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Tesza
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#48 Post by Tesza »

A linguistic detail that could be added to the "fun fact" list: Tran Quoc in Vietnamese would actually be pronounced like "chan-quook" and means "defense of the homeland". There is also a pagoda called Tran Quoc in Hanoi. I don't know if this is a coincidence ("let's just make up a name sounding typically Vietnamese") or if there is a special intention. :)

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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#49 Post by Big Kahuna »

Does anyone think that this is more or less the back story of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom..?

The kid looks identical, is about the same age and of American/Asian decent and he's grown up on the streets pulling scams to survive.

Add to which the air date of this episode is November 1984 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in the summer of 1984...and we know that Magnum P.I. and the Indiana Jones movies have links...
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#50 Post by marlboro »

That's a pretty interesting theory, BK.

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K Hale
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#51 Post by K Hale »

Agatha wrote:This episode is another great example of the show's committment to the Viet Nam war...and the issues surrounding it. It also includes one of my MOST FAVORITE lines!!

Thomas doesn't think Higgins will be happy to have Tran Quoc stay on the estate and...he knows that he's missed meeting with Higgins about Robin's fundraiser so...they sneak onto the estate so Thomas can hide Tran Quoc in the guest house. Just before they go inside, Thomas checks to see if Higgins has seen them and then...

TQ: Where's your HoTe statue?

TM: What?

TQ: Your Good Luck statue. You know. The short, round little man? Don't you keep one outside your door?

Door opens. Higgins steps out of the guest house.

TQ: Uuuuuuuh. Some people keep them inside.

I LOVE IT!!

:)
This was an awesome moment. And I did look up Ho Tai statues, and the short, round little man is way rounder than Higgins. LOL
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T.Q.
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#52 Post by T.Q. »

Not a lot of love for me. :?

:lol:
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#53 Post by J.J. Walters »

What? This was YOUR episode Tran Quoc! :)

Higgins: This lad, this mere child, is your client?
Magnum: Well, in a manner of speaking, yes.
Higgins: How on earth do they find you?
Tran Quoc: The Yellow Pages.
Higgins: Of course, I should have guessed.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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K Hale
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#54 Post by K Hale »

Forgot to mention what I actually thought of this ep, lol. I found it dreadfully sappy and preachy. The scene towards the end of Tran Quoc giving the guys their gifts was unbearably saccharine. The idea that they would not look for him after he ran away was utterly unbelievable.

It had its moments, and the boy himself did a good job, but overall... meh.
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#55 Post by J.J. Walters »

I know, it's so bizarre. They were just like, "Oh well, good luck Tran Quoc!" No call to social services, no hoping in the car to try and find him. The kid was like 10 years old and T.C. was in tears. I guess with him being a street kid and all, they just trusted that he could take care of himself. :shock:
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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T.Q.
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#56 Post by T.Q. »

J.J. Walters wrote:I know, it's so bizarre. They were just like, "Oh well, good luck Tran Quoc!" No call to social services, no hoping in the car to try and find him. The kid was like 10 years old and T.C. was in tears. I guess with him being a street kid and all, they just trusted that he could take care of himself. :shock:
The story left it that way. It’s just an assumption they didn’t try to find him again to no avail.

I’m a street-smart slippery little bugger afterall. :P

Signed.

T.Q. :D
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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#57 Post by KingKC »

Got to watch it again last night after I pushed away from the Thanksgiving table and turned off the football games. It was one of the sad Magnum episodes, like several others, where not everything ends well. But it made no sense that they let the kid just walk away, In any event it had a lot of the MPI staples. Higgins v. Magnum, TC being touched by a child, the Vietnam theme, Rick, and this time Mac, doing the legwork for the investigation, a planned event at the estate, the comedy when Mac cons everyone and a fairly decent mystery. Not all that great but tolerable from a routine standpoint.

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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#58 Post by brianw »

magnum1911 wrote:My wife is a huge horror movie buff and goes to the conventions. I tagged along one time and was able to meet Terry Kiser. He plays Dennis Redfield the assistant to Hasley in the episode. His most notable role is the ever lifeless Bernie in the film series Weekend at Bernie's. Everybody there was to meet him for some horror movie role he had made. I walked up to him and said the words Tran Quoc Jones. He grinned and told me I was the only person he ever remembered wanting to see him due to that role. He told me all about how they put him up in some fancy hotel in Hawaii and about all the cast and crew. I got the feeling that he actually enjoyed the conversation. Anyways heres a pic with me and Terry. So now I make my wife try to find out any of her horror movie actors that had Magnum appearances no matter how tiny the role.

Image

That's great. He was in Friday the 13th Part 7, I believe.

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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#59 Post by brianw »

Big Kahuna wrote:Does anyone think that this is more or less the back story of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom..?

The kid looks identical, is about the same age and of American/Asian decent and he's grown up on the streets pulling scams to survive.

Add to which the air date of this episode is November 1984 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in the summer of 1984...and we know that Magnum P.I. and the Indiana Jones movies have links...

That's funny, because I just watched this last night. My wife saw him and said hey, is that the kid from Indiana Jones?

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Re: Tran Quoc Jones (5.9)

#60 Post by T.Q. »

brianw wrote:
Big Kahuna wrote:Does anyone think that this is more or less the back story of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom..?

The kid looks identical, is about the same age and of American/Asian decent and he's grown up on the streets pulling scams to survive.

Add to which the air date of this episode is November 1984 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in the summer of 1984...and we know that Magnum P.I. and the Indiana Jones movies have links...

That's funny, because I just watched this last night. My wife saw him and said hey, is that the kid from Indiana Jones?
So all of us Oriental ( :wink: ) kids look the same?

How racist!!! :P
Knocking my rubber chicken or my sloppy habits is within the rules, but you're attacking my character. I would like to think you don't mean that.

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