Mac's Back (5.3)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
14
12%
9.5 (One of the Best)
18
15%
9.0 (Excellent)
49
42%
8.5 (Very Good)
17
15%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
8
7%
7.5 (Decent)
5
4%
7.0 (Average at Best)
2
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
3
3%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 117

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#11 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

I've never noticed that. I'll have to go back and watch it for the theme song.

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Doc Ibold
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#12 Post by Doc Ibold »

James J. Walters wrote:Yep, it's an alternate version of the theme song. The drums and guitar are very different and the horns sound more up front in the mix.

That's the kind of show MPI was. A guy like Mike Post will throw in a different version of the theme song, for one episode only, just to mix things up a bit, just for fun! :)

http://magnum-mania.com/Audio/Theme_Son ... rnate.html
Allright, I was thinking the drink or two I had beforehand was steering me wrong.

I heard a lot more cymbals on this one.

We should do the Magnum theme in cowbell!

:twisted:

Thanks y'all!

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Carmen
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#13 Post by Carmen »

We should do the Magnum theme in cowbell!

LMAO, very good idea
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

A P Leyland
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#14 Post by A P Leyland »

In retrospect ECHOES OF THE MIND doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny - memorable more for Sharon Stone and the ending than the plotline which meanders, has an out of sorts Magnum at the centre of it and a funnier (and oddly more heartfelt) Higgins subplot. But this? this is why I enjoy this show and truly believe it is an underated masterpiece of 80's TV.

Other 80's shows would have had a humourous tag at the end of ECHOES part 2 in which Higgins did something silly, Magnum smiled and everything went back to normal. MAC'S BACK showed the true consequences of what had just happened to TM and the first 15 minutes are just marvelous. It becomes 'just another episode' a bit in the middle but the nifty, supernatural ending redeems it. Terrific stuff.

Andy

Tuan Vu
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#15 Post by Tuan Vu »

Here is Jade Moon (who played one of the women at the gambling scene) in a commercial that ran in Hawaii in the 1980s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTgZppV_HaM

The commercial was rather well-known at the time.

It's interesting that she did not have a speaking part in either the commercial or the Magnum episode, but then she later went on to become a popular news reporter in Hawaii.

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Little Garwood
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Some personal reflections, too...

#16 Post by Little Garwood »

In light of the fact that Jeff MacKay has died (and on Aug 22; my birthday) I can still remember the night I saw "Mac's Back" when it first aired back in 1984. This then-thirteen-year-old waited anxiously to see how they would bring the character back. I wasn't big on resurrection storylines, having just been burned by one in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock*, but I was a longtime Jeff fan, dating back to his Baa Baa Black Sheep and Tales of the Gold Monkey days. I did like the "ghostly" aspect used in this episode and the episode was embedded in my memory ever since. Having watched it a few months ago, I appreciated the episode on an adult level as the second half of Magnum's "double whammy" of emotional devastation was something that happened to me six years ago (I handled it better than Thomas, I'm happy to say). Funny how the best of art and entertainment stays with you and takes on new meanings as you get older.

Sorry for going on and on, but Jeff's passing got me thinking...

I rank "Mac's Back" as "one of the best."












*Which I refused to go and see at the time, even though I was and am a big Trek fan.

MACattack
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#17 Post by MACattack »

This episode rocks! Not only does it show the serious side of post traumatic stress disorder, we get to watch Magnum lose it for awhile. A couple of times in my life I have felt like Magnum did in this episode.
Higgins was right in telling Magnum 'to buck up and get on with his life!'.
Life goes on, so drink another beer and watch another episode of Magnum!
I just don't give a damn!

MACattack
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#18 Post by MACattack »

I was sad when I heard of Jeff McKay's untimely death.
It makes me wonder who the producers are going to find to play Mac's ghost in the new MPI movie! :D
I just don't give a damn!

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Estate resident
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Location?

#19 Post by Estate resident »

Anyone know the location of where magnum had lunch the morning after his binge while looking for Mack?

Ski
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Flub?

#20 Post by Ski »

At the ice cream parlor, when Magnum is looking for "Mac," the menu lists "Fudge Chunks Chips" behind and to the right of the clerk, at the top of menu. Down towards the bottom of the menu, "Fudge Chunks 'n' Chips" can be seen. I don't think the place would either a) list the same item twice or b) have two different items with almost exactly the same name.

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rubber chicken
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Re: Location?

#21 Post by rubber chicken »

Estate resident wrote:Anyone know the location of where magnum had lunch the morning after his binge while looking for Mack?
That's the C. Brewer Building, built in 1929 and located here on Fort Street Mall.

Image

From my google earth popup (included in the next release):
C. Brewer & Co. was one of the Big Five group of Territory of Hawaii sugarcane corporations founded in the 1800s, which grew to hold vast political and economic power in the islands. C. Brewer & Co. was the oldest of these, being founded in Massachusetts in 1826, originally trading sandalwood with China, then supplying whaling ships, and later turning to Hawaiian sugarcane in 1863. Shareholders voted to liquidate the company in 2001, including 70,000 acres of land in the state of Hawaii.

The C. Brewer Building was also seen in Novel Connection (7.9), from across the street:
Image
Last edited by rubber chicken on Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Italian Ice
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#22 Post by Italian Ice »

Possible Flub, as discovered by Agatha

Thought this should be mentioned here, but Agatha put it in another thread

In the credits, the guy who played a "sailor", it's spelled "salior"

Shall we give one flub spot to Agatha?
Higgins: " Dispatch the pig!!! "

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Doc Ibold
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#23 Post by Doc Ibold »

I personally wouldn't call it a "flub".... but its definitely an error.

Oh heck... lets call it a flub!

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Tom_Magnum
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#24 Post by Tom_Magnum »

Good episode. I really enjoyed it.

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Zudobug
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#25 Post by Zudobug »

A nice episode and one I watched first time around as a bonus episode on the season 4 boxset. It's nice to see that Magnum is just a normal human being and not an invincible television PI when he is first seen wasting away his life after witnessing the death of somebody he loved. Him seeing Mac again also makes his friends believe that he has finally flipped as well and this makes him wake up from his depression just to prove everybody wrong.

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