All For One (1) (5.15)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
6
7%
9.5 (One of the Best)
15
18%
9.0 (Excellent)
16
19%
8.5 (Very Good)
16
19%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
13
15%
7.5 (Decent)
9
11%
7.0 (Average at Best)
4
5%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
3
4%
 
Total votes: 84

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J.J. Walters
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All For One (1) (5.15)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for All For One (1) (5.15). 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: 1/31/1985
In this thrilling two-part episode, Magnum, T.C., Rick and Higgins find themselves on dangerous foreign territory when they agree to help find an old Vietnam war buddy who is being held hostage in Cambodia.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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eegorr
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#2 Post by eegorr »

I just watched this episode (both parts) and have a few comments:

1) I think the reason why the title page for this episode makes no mention that it is part one is because it was originally aired as two one-hour episodes a week apart. They probably didn't want to let on that it was only the first of two parts when it was aired.

2) The only other episode that was originally aired as a two-parter is Echoes of the Mind, which was the season five opener (same season as All for One). All of the other two-part episodes were originally aired as two hour episodes on one night and were subsequently split into two parts for syndication.

3) I hadn't noticed this before, but it is Selleck who says "Last on part one of All for One" at the beginning of part two of this episode, where a different voice is heard saying the more generic "Last on Magnum" at the beginning of the episodes that were split for syndication. Presumably, this is true for Echoes of the Mind as well, but I don't remember.

4) My favorite quote from this episode is:
Magnum: Hey, Tyler, do you think you'll ever be able to cope with world peace?
Tyler: I doubt if I'll ever have to!


I guess that makes me quite the cynic, doesn't it? :lol:

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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hey thanks eegorr! I should have thought of that. I've updated the episode guide.

Your episode input in much, much appreciated!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#4 Post by J.J. Walters »

I just saw this episode again recently. This one seems to get better with repeated viewings. All for one and one for all! Tyler Peabody McKinney may be my all-time favorite "episode character" of the show. Robert Forster is just fantastic in this role! "Outasight!". :)

So, during the little "recreation" of the Battle of Salamanca at the estate, was Higgins really firing his cannon at Rick and T.C.?? At one point, Rick shouts out "Hey! That one almost hit me?". If so, why in the world would he do that? Seems a little dangerous, doesn't it? :?

Also, when Tyler says Magnum was "the best at bringing back scalps", what exactly does this mean? I've heard of guys bringing back ears and other "things" to prove their "hit count", but never scalps! Is it just a figure of speech?
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#5 Post by IslandHopper »

James J. Walters wrote:Also, when Tyler says Magnum was "the best at bringing back scalps", what exactly does this mean? I've heard of guys bringing back ears and other "things" to prove their "hit count", but never scalps! Is it just a figure of speech?
I always figured that was a figure of speech. That it simply meant he was the best at infiltrating enemy territory and eliminating the bad guys.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#6 Post by J.J. Walters »

I recently re-watched the opening "Battle of Salamanca" scene and you know what, it is strongly implied that he is firing his cannon! At first I thought maybe we are supposed to think they rigged up some small explosives around the ground, or something. But in re-viewing it, it's pretty clear - Higgins is seen loading and firing the cannon, Rick is shouting out, "Hey, that almost hit me!". Not only is this shocking from the standpoint of "it's dangerous as hell to shoot in the general direction of people with a cannon, no matter how old the cannon is!", but also because Higgins is destroying some of his beloved flora and lush lawn! Bizarre! :shock:
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#7 Post by AJL »

I just finished watching these 2 episodes, and I gotta say they are maybe the worst so far (I'm watching chronologically). I voted both of them just awful. This is just not what I'm looking for in a Magnum P.I. episode at all. Instead of good times, beatiful Hawaiian scenery, hot cars & girls etc., we get bad, generic, mediocre at best, vietnamese war action. Just terrible, and Higgins just felt so out of place. Just my 2 cents :)
Oh yeah, and I also found the whole recreation battle at the beginning quite bizarre, stupid, and again: out of character for Higgins.
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#8 Post by golfmobile »

Hey, Smakhouze,

Don't soft-soap it like that! Tell us what you REALLY think! :lol: :wink: :) :D

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#9 Post by AJL »

Hehe, I'll try not to! :)
Hope I didn't offend anybody who likes the 2 episodes, IMO they just sucked, but in the end we're all here because we love the show. :wink:
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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#10 Post by J.J. Walters »

I think it's great that the same episode can be rated both "Perfect" AND "Just Awful"! Everyone gets something different out of a Magnum episode*.

* Doc taught me that with "Birdman of Budapest". ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#11 Post by Doc Ibold »

James J. Walters wrote:I think it's great that the same episode can be rated both "Perfect" AND "Just Awful"! Everyone gets something different out of a Magnum episode*.

* Doc taught me that with "Birdman of Budapest". ;)
Thanks buddy!

And, just to show that it goes both ways, I watched "One More Summer" recently and thought to myself "James was right, this really isn't THAT good"

:D

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#12 Post by golfmobile »

These two were on Sleuth today. It is SO nice to have Sleuth now running, apparently, all the seasons (as "Laura" [Season 7] was shown just before these two).

I liked these. Perhaps because the Vietnam Era was my high school/college era, it is of more interest to me. I like the serious shows. I like the humorous ones too (e.g., "Innocence: A Broad"), but I like the toughness of the serious shows a little better. I just like the way it allows the guys to be macho men instead of the spoiled little boys they frequently seem to be when "at home" in Hawaii. (Though I confess I am getting a little tired of the way TM and Higgins are always YELLING at each other. For example, in this episode, in the scene of assisting Higgins in recreating the Battle of Salamanca, why did they participate if they weren't going to do it right [can you imagine Civil War re-enactments where the participants make up their own battle plans?], and then when they couldn't do it "their way," they threw down the rifles and quit -- "take my ball and go home." How terribly childish!!)

Anyway, as to the serious shows about Vietnam, I like the way that, even though there always seem to be some American "bad guy" in the Vietnam-centric shows, there's almost always a "twist" ending as to who is really the good guy and who is really the bad guy. And these shows also highlight, again, the teamwork and loyalty of the group of guys, even to including (and appreciating) Higgins when he wasn't in that war with our boys.

To sum it up, it's very nice to have an "action" show do such a good job of some light humor and still be able to mix the characters into serious drama too.

Now, a couple of nitpicks: The helicopter that TC "restores" and gets flying again in the jungle is the T-tailed 500D. I thought that version was not made until 1977, so it couldn't have been abandoned in the jungle in 1975 (roughly, the characters said it had been there for around ten years and this was in the 1985 season of the show). Technically, I would have thought any heli that was left there, abandoned, would have been the old Huey, a Kiowa, or, if it had to be a "fighter," then the OH-6.

Is this important enough to be a flub?

Also, with the fire fight at the end when Tyler dies, from what I have heard recently with regard to "falling on a hand grenade," (particularly with respect to the Iraq war hero who was "medaled" just this week, I think) falling on the grenade does not prevent ALL damage -- i.e., there is only damage to the faller-oner, as happened in this show. Tyler falls on the grenade to save the kids, there's a minor explosion and the interior of the shack, the kids, etc., don't get damaged at all! Thomas walks in and carries the kids out, after killing the bad guy. And also, right then, conveniently, ALL the fighting stops! I thought that was very strange. There were dozens of Viets fighting all over the camp and then suddenly they all just stop?? As in, did all the bad guys get killed at the same time?

Secondly, just "of interest," the closing credits show a still of TC in that helicopter, apparently flying above the village people. He was grinning with his thumb up. But in the show, all he did was test the heli to see if it would fly, and "Joe" was the only one there to see him test it and find out that it would fly - a quick up and down, and then the rest of the guys arrived. So this must have been a scene that was filmed but not shown in the final cut.

Sorry to be so picky, but, boy, have all you guys taught me to be observant!!

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#13 Post by Trptpaladin »

I saw this one today for the first time, kinda of an odd one. Chuck Norris meets the A-team....

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#14 Post by A P Leyland »

I'm on the fence with this one also. The Vietnam situation is far too complex a question to be answered in episode of an action adventure TV show. I always liked it better when the guys acknowledged their roots in the war but then moved on. It's always going to be a part of them but again, the show has neither the time or the money to really do the subject justice. It's not as bad a similar episodes of The A-Team or Airwolf (both of which did plots similar to this) but as I say it seems a simplistic way of handling a very weighty subject.

However, most Magnum episodes have moments of enjoyment and this is no different. The characterisation is still fun (although TSM is childish at the beginning but isn't that a part of his character?) and the actors do a good job. Pretty predictable stuff though and not a top 10 episode in my book.

Andy

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#15 Post by MACattack »

Seems like everybody is hatin' on this episode! I actually enjoyed it a lot more than episode with Luther Gillis .

The gunfight with the Thai bandits is reminiscent of the riverboat scene in 'Apocalypse Now'.
I just don't give a damn!

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