Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
2
2%
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
8
10%
8.5 (Very Good)
15
18%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
14
17%
7.5 (Decent)
21
25%
7.0 (Average at Best)
11
13%
6.5 (Not So Good)
5
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
3
4%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 83

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J.J. Walters
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Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.


Original Air Date: 1/10/1985
It's marriage and other forms of mayhem when Magnum investigates a shady investment scheme and Higgins must make a Cinderella out of his punk-rock cousin before she marries the heir of an old Hawaiian family.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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IslandHopper
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#2 Post by IslandHopper »

I didn't remember seeing this episode prior to watching it on DVD, however, it is one of my favorites from season 5. TC does another one of his over-acting bits while posing as an IRS agent. He seems to do this whenever he is playing a role in one of Magnum's schemes. I'm sure this is intentional, but I wonder why the writers and directors had TC overact in this way during these situations. It's funny, but it is often so unrealistic, you know there is no way he's going to pull off the ruse. The Kramer character in Seinfeld would act in a similar manner when he would try to pull a con on someone, i.e., A.J. Pennypacker, Dr. VanNostren, etc.

Flubs for Professor Jonathan Higgins:

1. After Sally arrives she, Higgins and Agatha go into the Study. Sally is wearing very heavy make-up and fairly dark lipstick. As Higgins is explaining to Sally that Timothy's family will never accept her as she is, she is wearing the dark lipstick. Magnum comes barging into the Study and when Sally gets out of her chair to talk to Magnum she does not appear to be wearing the dark lipstick anymore.

2. When Magum is searching through Frank Ohmar's files and papers on his desk, the guy in the light blue sports coat catches Magnum and wrestles with him and they make their way out of the office and into the parking lot where the guy in the sports coat fires at Magnum several times and the gun sounds as if there is a silencer attached to it, however, the gun does not actually have a silencer. Later, when the same guy fires at TC as he is posing as an IRS agent, the gun which appears to be the same gun as before, sounds like a typical unsilenced gun firing.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

Ah, more good flubs! Thanks IH!

Below average episode for me, but I like the attempt at a Pygmalion tie-in, with Jonathan Higgins playing Henry Higgins. It's also amusing to watch Jillie Mack (TS's wife) play an English punk rocker!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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N1095A
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#4 Post by N1095A »

The second time TM picks the lock on on the building which houses Frank Ohmar's office, he appears to do it correctly. He uses two hands, with what appears to be a pick and a tension wrench. Ususlly when he picks locks, he works the cylinder with one hand and just a pick, which in reality is impossible.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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#5 Post by J.J. Walters »

That is a GREAT note N1095A!

So there's Magnum, picking locks incorrectly year after year, until one day, out of the blue, we see him working a lock correctly, with a tension wrench! :shock:

"How bizarre, how bizarre"
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#6 Post by N1095A »

I'll have to pay extra attention to later episodes to see how he does it. I thought it was weird too.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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Magnum92
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#7 Post by Magnum92 »

This is a good episode!
The opening scene where Magnum collects the mail is one of my favourite scenes! :lol:
Magnum: So far this case had cost me my right to the wine cellar, the last cash in my pocket, and nearly my life. If that clerk was lying to me, I was gonna come back down here and shove that Robin Masters paperback in his ear!

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#8 Post by J.J. Walters »

I simply must know what kind of car Agatha drives...

Image

8)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#9 Post by SelleckLover »

If my memory serves me correctly, I think Agatha's car might be a Rambler, made by American Motors.

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#10 Post by golfmobile »

The Studebaker Lark also had that rather squarish shape. Can you post any more pictures, James?

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#11 Post by J.J. Walters »

golfmobile wrote:The Studebaker Lark also had that rather squarish shape. Can you post any more pictures, James?
This is the only other look you get at the car...

Image

I didn't notice it before, but the car actually "disappears". Agatha pulls up and then goes inside the main house with Higgins. A short while later, when Sally arrives, they go outside to meet her and Agatha's car is nowhere to be seen! Maybe Kenji the gardner moved it? ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#12 Post by golfmobile »

Right now, I can't find a picture of an AMC Rambler or a Studebaker that has both the right shape and the right grill (or more accurately, the grill shown and the shape shown). The American Motors "American" of around 1963 comes closest with the grill, but that car is not as "rounded" around the doors as Agatha's car. Also, its name (metal script) is toward the front on the side, in front of the wheel well, not behind it, as shown in your first picture. Can you take a higher resolution picture of the side view so we can zoom in on the name? It appears to be just in front of the driver's door. But when I zoom with the current picture, it blurs too much.

The shape of the car looks like an early 1950s car before the cars all started looking pointed like rocket ships. That rounded look is the look of the Studebaker Lark, which I thought it might be. But the Lark has a small, enclosed grill, not extending all the way across the front from headlight to headlight.

What's baffling me is the 1950s "swollen" body look with the sleek 1960s grill. All I can think of is trying to get a close-up of the name on the side or a close-up of the hood ornament.

Image

I can't find any American cars that still have that "rounded" look beyond the early 1950s. Were any British cars still looking like that? Wouldn't Agatha have a British-make vehicle? I know the British cars still looked more rounded than American cars by the 1950s-1960s. But I don't know the names of that many British make cars to look them up on Google Images.

??? I'm stumped.

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Last edited by golfmobile on Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SelleckLover
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#13 Post by SelleckLover »

Here's a link to a picture of a 1960 Studebaker Lark. It looks like it to me, but without seeing the back of the car it's impossible to tell.

http://www.tocmp.com/brochures/Studebak ... 04_JPG.htm

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#14 Post by golfmobile »

Hey, SL,

That's what I thought initially too, but the Lark doesn't have the long, car-wide grill (as shown in James' second picture showing the front of the car), and the vent wing is not the right triangular shape. I really wanted it to be that car, but I think it's not.

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#15 Post by SelleckLover »

Perhaps it is the Rambler American? Click on the link below and scroll down to the 1961-1963 Second Generation red convertible...maybe that's it(??).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambler_American

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