Echoes of the Mind (1) (5.1)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
10
9%
9.5 (One of the Best)
31
29%
9.0 (Excellent)
21
20%
8.5 (Very Good)
26
24%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
10
9%
7.5 (Decent)
2
2%
7.0 (Average at Best)
1
1%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 107

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Tom_Magnum
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#31 Post by Tom_Magnum »

Gee, this episode doesn't seem to be enjoyed by some Magnum fans. I thought it was interesting but Magnum going crazy in the beginning of "Mac's Back" was quite unnecessary. And I am new to this forum, so hi.

AJL
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#32 Post by AJL »

This is my favourite MPI episode (both of them, though I still haven't watched season 8, because I didn't like the more serious approach the series took in season 6 & 7. I know I seem to be the only one of that opinion on these boards :D , but I will come around to watch it eventually, when I get tired of rewatching season 1-5 ). Anyway, so much greatness in these episodes, I don't even now where to begin. Just the side plot alone with Higgins getting married is better than the main plot in most of the other episodes! Better than the main plot in most other tv series! Sharon Stone is smoking hot, so many genuinly funny moments and yet the ending is still powerfull, and I could go on and on. Yes it has its share of illogical and silly moments (the "she's in danger" scene especially comes to mind), but honestly, which MPI episode doesn't?? Its a part of the 80's charm of the show, when standards in tv series wasn't what they have become since with series like the Sopranos etc.
I just love this one

@James, I have been wondering this for a while; is there any reason why the 2 part episodes have two different threads? I just think it would be much more convenient with just one, but maybe thats just me :D
Was vaccinated with a phonograph needle one summer break
Same summer that I kissed her on her daddy's boat
And shot across the lake
Singing all the way...
Oh I say mama
Living Ain't a luxury
Oh I say mama
And a lil' ain't enough for me

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Agatha
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#33 Post by Agatha »

I HATE this episode...these episodes! My Season 1 DVDs have Echoes of the Mind as Bonus episodes. I watched them ONCE and swore that I'd NEVER watch them again!

It isn't that they're not well written. The plot is strong and Sharon Stone is great and the Higgins sub-plot is wonderful and the interactions between Thomas and Higgins are grand. But I didn't watch them again until I got my Season 5 DVDs. Even then, I wasn't going to watch them until I remembered that I was missing out on one of the best and warmest interactions between Higgins and Agatha. So I've sorted through my head to figure out why I don't like them and now I feel that I can watch them periodically...not as often as other episodes but every once in a while.

Because...I don't like the Blade Runner music at the beginning. It feels ominous to me. The dual personality thing creeps me out. I HATE it when specific breeds of dogs are portrayed as vicious...especially Rottweilers. (One of my dog's best friends is a sweet, sweet Rottweiler.) I don't like it that Thomas seems to always fall for "unattainable" women.

What is it that they say about actors that we hate? They have to be very good to evoke an intense emotion like hate? Well, if that's true of episodes, then this one (these two) must be very good!

:)
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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Agatha
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#34 Post by Agatha »

OK...so I watched it (them) again today.

There's a place where Higgins is trying to explain to Agatha that he didn't actually ask her to marry him. He, of course, falls back on a story...about Lt. Smythe. But when he asks Agatha if he's told her about him, she thinks he's talking about a man who was eaten by a tiger.

No, Higgins says...that was Lt Freebairn-Smith. Isn't that the name of the composer of the original Magnum theme?

Interesting little tidbit, if it is....

:)
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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Doc Ibold
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#35 Post by Doc Ibold »

Agatha wrote:OK...so I watched it (them) again today.

There's a place where Higgins is trying to explain to Agatha that he didn't actually ask her to marry him. He, of course, falls back on a story...about Lt. Smythe. But when he asks Agatha if he's told her about him, she thinks he's talking about a man who was eaten by a tiger.

No, Higgins says...that was Lt Freebairn-Smith. Isn't that the name of the composer of the original Magnum theme?

Interesting little tidbit, if it is....

:)
See Agatha, you ARE starting to pick up on little nuances

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Agatha
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#36 Post by Agatha »

I think you're right, Doc! Now...is that a good thing or a bad thing???

:)
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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Carmen
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#37 Post by Carmen »

The best, Agatha :D That`s one reason I never get tired of watching MPI - the other one is the big guy himself of course :wink:
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

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Agatha
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#38 Post by Agatha »

OF COURSE!!

:wink:
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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SelleckLover
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#39 Post by SelleckLover »

I think that the Baroness of Oahu needs to come out of her shell and tell us what she really thinks! :D :D

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Agatha
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#40 Post by Agatha »

Do you like it, SelleckLover?

Agatha would have been the Baroness of Perth if Higgins had ever gotten off his @*% and married her. So I wanted her to have the same title...Baroness...but since it couldn't be "of Perth", I decided to go with "of Oahu"...for obvious reasons!

:)

PS - I'm USUALLY nicer to episodes than this...really!
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#41 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

Agatha, I just now noticed your title and love it! Great job!

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Agatha
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#42 Post by Agatha »

Thank, IKnowWhatYoureThinking! I've been thinking about it for a while...even watched Echoes of the Mind a couple of extra times to get Higgins's title straight in my mind.

Pretty fun!!

:)
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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#43 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

Your research really paid off! I love the creativity of the people on this forum!

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Jay-Firestorm
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#44 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

The first story of the fifth season, and this is the point where the series started to change a bit in my eyes. Incidentally, I just got through watching this episode, went back to TV, where Sharon Stone is in a movie, ‘The Quick and the Dead’. She sure gets about!

[rating=8.5]

Magnum is hired by attractive socialite Diane Dupres, once kidnapped as a child with her twin sister, and who now is experiencing a series of strange occurrences. Magnum and Diane quickly get very close. The tone of the series changes somewhat from here on…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

The fifth season opens with this two-part story (working title: ‘Sister, Sister’). Although previous feature-length stories also exist in two-part format for syndication and various overseas packages, etc., this is the show’s first story to originally be shown in two instalments.

And with the arrival of the fifth season, there is a notable change in tone for the show. In the first four seasons, the plots were typically more investigation and adventure led, albeit with many character moments thrown in. But by the fifth season, things were changing – things generally started to become very much more character led, with less emphasis on action and adventure.

The story is written by Donald P. Bellisario, and while I don’t dislike it, it lacks the classy feel and clever moments of some of his previous works on the series. The only touches I do like, is of Magnum ‘expecting someone’ to come into his life (even mistaking Diane for his once-wife Michelle for a moment).

Sharon Stone, then on the verge of making the big-time, puts in a fair role as Diane / Deidre. From the off, I kind of guessed what her ‘secret’ was, but it still plays out very well.

The more light-hearted moments of the plot comes as Higgins plans to marry Lady Ashley (here appearing rather unexplainedly different from her appearance at the end of the second season episode ‘Computer Date’, where she was played by a different actress), but, due to a misunderstanding, leaves Agatha thinking that he intends to marry her instead!

Even knowing what the twist and outcome of the story regarding Diane / Deidre is, the story is still a reasonable watch, if a little stretched to become a two-parter. But it for me just sums up how the series was starting to take a different direction, and leaves the fifth and sixth seasons as my least favourite of the show’s run. These two seasons, and this two-parter in particular, just don’t feel like the show that MPI once was in my opinion. (Thankfully, things would pick up again in the last couple of seasons).

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* As mentioned in my review (or ramble, as I’ve come to term them), this is the first story to originally air as a two-parter.

* The opening trailer features a shot looking up from the ground as one of the Rottweiler attacks Magnum. This particular shot was not used in the actual episode.

* Maybe someone can confirm / deny this: is the Club’s beach bar location different from this season? It looks different to me.

* Rick only appears in one scene in this half of the story.

* The site’s main page for this episode is incorrect: It says Deborah Pratt makes her first appearance as T.C.’s girlfriend Gloria in this episode. In fact, she was first seen in the fourth season episode ‘Rembrandt’s Girl’.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2002, they made two slight edits:
1. The sequence where Magnum is mauled by the Rottweiler is trimmed down. In the Five version, they lead at him, knocking him to the ground, before it cuts to Diane firing the gun.
2. The scene in the hospital where Magnum is being stitched up is shortened slightly. When Diane arrives with clothes for Magnum, the end of the scene is cut off – presumably to remove a graphic shot of Magnum’s mauled leg.
JAY FIRESTORM

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J.J. Walters
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#45 Post by J.J. Walters »

Jay-Firestorm wrote:* Maybe someone can confirm / deny this: is the Club’s beach bar location different from this season? It looks different to me.
Yes, the KKC was temporarily moved to the Kahala Hilton, a short distance up the beach from the normal spot (Waialae Beach Park). The last episode to feature the Kahala Hilton is "Little Games".
Jay-Firestorm wrote:* The site’s main page for this episode is incorrect: It says Deborah Pratt makes her first appearance as T.C.’s girlfriend Gloria in this episode. In fact, she was first seen in the fourth season episode ‘Rembrandt’s Girl’.
Doh! :oops:

Thanks for the correction!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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