Operation: Silent Night (4.10)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

Post Reply

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
23
18%
9.5 (One of the Best)
24
19%
9.0 (Excellent)
37
29%
8.5 (Very Good)
25
20%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
11
9%
7.5 (Decent)
4
3%
7.0 (Average at Best)
2
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 128

Message
Author
User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

Operation: Silent Night (4.10)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Operation: Silent Night (4.10). 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: 12/15/1983
Christmas Eve holds some unusual surprises when Magnum, T.C., Rick and Higgins find themselves stranded on a deserted island that the Navy uses for gunnery practice. As a Navy ship looking to do a little artillery work looms on the horizon, will the night end with peace and happiness for all?
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

stever
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:34 pm

#2 Post by stever »

One of my all time favorite episodes including one of the best quotes in the series by Higgins.

Higgins: I, of course, have spent many a Christmas away from home and family. More times than I care to remember, in more places than I care to remember; Forgotten battlefields, and sometimes even forgotten wars. I think BEING at war, makes Christmas all the more bittersweet - peace on earth, and goodwill to all men, and all that.

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#3 Post by N1095A »

I seem to have taken an interest in finding "flubs" lately.
Anyway here goes. When the chopper first crashes on the island, TC fixes it quickly by tightening a nut, and replacing a cotter pin. The tail rotor is red with two white stripes at each end. Later while Higgins is making his hat, and Magnum is removing his Santa suit, we see TC working on the chopper, and the tail rotor is white with two red stripes at each end. It appears to alternate between the two color schemes several times through out the ep.
When Magnum is sending his Mayday over the radio, there is a cut to a yacht at sea. That appears to be footage from the movie "The Final Countdown" starring Kirk Douglass, James Farentino (sp), and Martin Sheen.
When TC tries changing the frequency on the radio, the frequency digital display is dark, indicating the radio is turned off, yet we still hear radio transmissions.
When Higgins tells of his plan to sail the wrecked Japanease Zero off the island, TC does a pretty fair impression of Gary Coleman's "Arnold Drummand" from the TV show "Dif'rent Strokes". "Whatchu talkin' 'bout Higgins."
"But Higgins, I can explain."

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#4 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hey, great flub spotting N1095A! I've updated the episode guide.
N1095A wrote:When Magnum is sending his Mayday over the radio, there is a cut to a yacht at sea. That appears to be footage from the movie "The Final Countdown" starring Kirk Douglass, James Farentino (sp), and Martin Sheen.
This one is very interesting. Just out of curiosity, what makes you suspect it is from "The Final Countdown"?
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#5 Post by N1095A »

Sorry, Somehow I've double posted.
Last edited by N1095A on Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:57 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#6 Post by N1095A »

N1095A wrote:
James J. Walters wrote:Hey, great flub spotting N1095A! I've updated the episode guide.
N1095A wrote:When Magnum is sending his Mayday over the radio, there is a cut to a yacht at sea. That appears to be footage from the movie "The Final Countdown" starring Kirk Douglass, James Farentino (sp), and Martin Sheen.
This one is very interesting. Just out of curiosity, what makes you suspect it is from "The Final Countdown"?
My humble apologies! I found a clip of "The Final Countdown" yacht on Youtube, and it's clearly not the same one. It looks similar, but the one in MPI is larger. I should have confirmed my theory before posting.


One other note. The destroyer interior had drop ceiling panels. I've been on many Navy ships, and never saw any with drop ceiling tiles. I suspect those shots were not filmed onboard a ship. Imagine the havoc that falling panels would cause if the ship were attacked. If anyone has Navy experience and can confirn or deny the use of drop ceiling tiles on Navy ships, that would be helpful.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#7 Post by J.J. Walters »

No problem N1095A. Thanks for checking into it!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

User avatar
lutherhgillis
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 528
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:54 pm

#8 Post by lutherhgillis »

Curious dialogue choice: The commander of the ship says to the ensign, "...a whole generation of fighting men with no real experience..."

Did he forget about Vietnam? This was 1984 which was 10 years after 'nam. That does not constitute a generation.

Also, isn't the ensign a little old to hold such a rank. He appears to be late 30s at the least. Maybe he is in his 40s.

Great episode however. I love how the characters show their human nature and flaws. These were no supermen; they were just good, honest, humble guys with a sense of adventure and loads of character.

User avatar
IslandHopper
Master Flub Spotter
Posts: 729
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:08 am

#9 Post by IslandHopper »

lutherhgillis wrote:Curious dialogue choice: The commander of the ship says to the ensign, "...a whole generation of fighting men with no real experience..."

Did he forget about Vietnam? This was 1984 which was 10 years after 'nam. That does not constitute a generation.
When he says "no real experience" he may have been referring to the traditional "Battleship Navy" of World War II which engaged in numerous "ship to ship" battles against the Japanese Navy. Although the U.S. Navy played significant roles in the Korean and Vietnam Wars (carrier operations, recon, ground support operations, brown-water navy, etc.) there were no traditional naval battles because neither Korea or Vietnam had much of a navy. World War II proved the importance of the aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier was so successful it has taken the place of the traditional battleships.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

User avatar
lutherhgillis
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 528
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:54 pm

#10 Post by lutherhgillis »

IH:

I agree the commander was probably talking about ship to ship combat but in the dialog with the ensign it sounds like he is disgusted at his shipmen's lack of real fighting. There were several signs of the commander's gung-ho nature and this was probably another one. I guess blowing up fixed targets on the island gave the men a great deal of real fighting experience...

What about the ensign's age. Did you find him to be a little old to be an ensign? Thanks.

LHG

User avatar
IslandHopper
Master Flub Spotter
Posts: 729
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:08 am

#11 Post by IslandHopper »

LHG,

Yes, I had also noticed that the Ensign seemed to old, but I just figured that maybe he was previously an enlisted man who later went to Officer Candidate School (OCS). However, I think you are right, they should have had a younger man play that role to make it more believable.

The other quirky thing I noticed about the scene with the Captain and Ensign, is that the Captain is eating a catered dinner with wine in front of his sailors while they are busting their humps, on Christmas Eve, no less. :x This is not good leadership (bad for morale) and is not done.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

User avatar
golfmobile
Chopper Pilot Wannabe
Posts: 1203
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:47 pm
Location: Atlanta area
Contact:

#12 Post by golfmobile »

'Tis the season for watching this one!

So we watched this one last night, due to the current "season" and because Larry had never seen it (or couldn't remember ever seeing it).

First of all, I was horribly embarrassed for Rick. He was getting free transportation, and all he did was bitch and whine relentlessly! I wanted to slap him! He was NOT very likeable in this episode!

I thought it was cute when Rick and TM sneaked up on TC while he was singing and chimed in. I think this could have been "played" more as TC sang again later.

Also, from that scene, when they went running to try to flag down the Coast Guard chopper, Rick reasonably dropped his wood and went running for the beach. TM CARRIED his wood with him to the beach while running, then drops it on the beach. What was THAT all about? Looked sort of dumb.

Then Larry spotted this: While they were at the campfire that night, suddenly TM was wearing a camp/khaki shirt. He'd been in his tank-type tee shirt in all other scenes. Where did he get another shirt? Or did they all have luggage for an overnight stay wherever they were going? I wouldn't call this a "shocking flub," more a continuity issue, I think.

And on that note, TC was dropping them off then going back and going home to New Orleans. How were they going to get back to Oahu if TC was gone? If that were the case, wouldn't they all have gone to their destinations in the first place by local aircraft? Why would they have imposed on their good friend TC to fly them somewhere when he was trying to get home to the States? That seemed awfully selfish of them, at least to me it did.

Also, if you look closely, when they crash-land, you can see one of the struts break, or crack at least, right at the juncture with the fuselage (James, can you get a screenshot of this?). I would think this would be a major problem for lifting off again, with these pretty solid four guys in the aircraft. That isn't touched on. As for the frequency display lighted numerals on the radio, frankly, if the sun were shining on it at the right angle (and it appeared to be in the sunlight), you probably couldn't see a lighted display -- you'd have to shade it with your hand to see the numbers anyway. So I think they can get away with not showing any display in this circumstance.

And on what little island did they crash? I Google-Earthed it to check my thoughts, and there's nothing between Oahu and Molokai

Also, I'm not the expert in this area -- I'm sure someone else here can help me with this, but for the idea of the crash itself, why wouldn't TC have cut power and done an autorotation, over which he would have pretty good control, if he's as good a heli pilot as he is indicated as being, instead of trying to come in and land with the power still running and being compromised by the ineffective tail rotor? Helicopter experts here, does this make sense?

Don't mean to pick on the episode since what I'm picking on is the basis for the entire scenario of the episode. And I did love TM's coming up with a little Christmas tree (correctly a Cook pine, usually called a Norfolk Island pine, which is really isn't, it's a Cook -- and these trees are prolific all over the Hawaiian islands), but where did he get the silver/aluminum star he put on top of it?

I just wish in eight years the show had done more Christmas shows, even if Hawaii doesn't really have the weather for it, as discussed by TM in the introductory narrative to this episode.

And with Higgins trying to use the Japanese airplane as a boat -- that sure reminded me anachronistically of "Six Days, Seven Nights," where the floats on the plane in that movie DID work. But then Harrison Ford was doing the "construction," not JQH!

Then their lifiting off just as the bombing starts -- after working all day on the heli, suddenly after dark, TC gets it conveniently fixed? This episode across the board was just a little TOO contrived for me, just one of them that was "trying too hard." Sorry, guys!

Now don't shoot me, this is all just my opinion.

golf
"Portside, buddy."

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#13 Post by J.J. Walters »

golfmobile wrote:And on what little island did they crash? I Google-Earthed it to check my thoughts, and there's nothing between Oahu and Molokai
In "Magnum World" it's "Frenchman's Island". In the real world they filmed it at Kahoolawe Island ("The Target Isle"), which is located 7 miles SW of Maui.

The show also imagined three fictional islands just north of Maui (complete with a map shot) in "Kapu". ;)

I think your other observations can be explained - They had luggage, T.C. was available for a one-way flight (so why not), the star was made out of tin foil. A good heli pilot/mechanic always carries some tin foil on board. Not sure about the landing. ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

User avatar
Frodoleader
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 441
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:47 pm
Location: Central Ohio

#14 Post by Frodoleader »

This episode has become a Christmas tradition for my family. We watched it again on Christmas Eve.
Is it just me, or has anyone noticed that the bridge or command center on the Navy ship, does not look like any type of naval vessel at all. In fact it looks more like a poorly prepared set, complete with curtains. Although I never was in the Navy, did they use curtains on their ships? Were they color coordinated with the carpeting?
Also, I agree about the captain eating & drinking wine in front of his crew.

User avatar
golfmobile
Chopper Pilot Wannabe
Posts: 1203
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:47 pm
Location: Atlanta area
Contact:

#15 Post by golfmobile »

Just found this on another site. If this is correct, then this should be a "shocking flub"?
In episode #70, "Operation: Silent Night", footage is used which shows the Navy destroyer, "U.S.S. Wren". That episode aired in 1983 and the "Wren" was scrapped in 1975! Oops!
The site where I got the above also lists all the episodes with the date each originally aired. I don't know if James has that information here, so I apologize if this is "old news." But if we need it here, it can be found here:

Another Small MPI Site with some good information

I found it by looking for the answer to Tral's good trivia question -- was looking for an episode that aired on 12/29/86 (there wasn't one on that date, if you're wondering).

golf
"Portside, buddy."

Post Reply