From Moscow to Maui (2.4)

[ENSHealy]

The Episode Guide says that this is the first episode that "directly indicates" that Magnum was a SEAL. I didn't catch that. Does anyone have any details on what was said and/or a timestamp?

I was intrigued enough by this to watch the episode again, and I still didn't catch anything that would directly indicate Magnum was a SEAL. Anyone know what the reference might be? As far as I know, the first actual reference is when the SEAL trident appears on his uniform in Memories are Forever. (Following the minutiae of Magnum's uniform and insignia was a big deal to me when I was a freshman midshipman in the Naval ROTC unit at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987-1988. It was an enlightening year. I was not on scholarship, and I ultimately decided I couldn't work for that corporation. Gunnery Sergeant Daniel E. Day, USMC, persuaded me that my lack of respect for authority and the Navy's need for it were not in alignment.)

Two other thoughts that popped up on this viewing:

- Thomas says to Kalugin that he saw Nina run in the last Olympics. Really? I wonder how he did that? Since we boycotted the 1980 Olympics, I don't believe they were broadcast here. He must have made the trip to Moscow...?

- The hotel detective really should have been fired, and for more than having a glass jaw. He's got a hotel full of Russian athletes in the middle of the Cold War, and he doesn't recognize Nina as one of them when Thomas is trying to sneak her out of the hotel? I'm pretty sure athlete escape was the number one security concern for any team traveling in the West in 1981. I'm thinking they might have mentioned as much to the hotel dick.

[J.J. Walters]

The Episode Guide says that this is the first episode that "directly indicates" that Magnum was a SEAL. I didn't catch that. Does anyone have any details on what was said and/or a timestamp?

Yes, you are right. That is a mistake! I don't have a clue as to why I put it in there. Anyway, I've removed it. Thanks for spotting it!

[K Hale]

Speaking of Higgins, I like how the character always dresses appropriately for every occasion. He always wears a suit when going to town. Every outfit has its purpose, as he would never wear, say, his Estate khakis into town or, God forbid, to the KKC.

Well, there was that time he wore his PJs and an overcoat to the KKC because Magnum seemed to be missing.... (S7 Out of Sync)

[ENSHealy]

2.4 FROM MOSCOW TO MAUI
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Island Hopper shirts:
Magnum Body Count:
Magnum gunshot wounds:
Shirtless: 1
Little Voice: 4
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
Higgins musings: 2 (Vienna after the war 1 Stainless Steel teeth)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 1
Famous guest stars:
Higgins Organizations: 1.5 Hawaiian Napoleonic Society, Honolulu Institute for Marxist Studies
Magnumometer: 11

Potential magnumania usernames: Olga, Kalugin

Thomas says he's trying to stay in "some kind of shape" during a quiet period with no cases...yet he comes directly from swimming in the tidal pool and grabs a bottle of Coops that he had with him on the beach.

The Coast Guard helicopter pilot from Thicker Than Blood apparently tired of plucking lost souls from the seas and joined the Air Force:



The Air Force really wants to get their message across: the sign on the wall and the sign on the door say exactly the same things, with the exception of the wall sign saying "Wheeler Air Force Base" and the door sign saying "Delmer Field Air Force Base." I guess one of those signs got relocated, or a sign painter was having a senior moment.



Best line: Mr. Magnum…please to put on your pants!

Sub-title confusion: pretty sure he said "pinko" unless Rick was confusing the Soviet agents with Billy Joe Bob.


CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS:

Higgins: Don't you think you've bungled this enough as it is?
Magnum: Higgins, he's my client. My responsibility! Besides that, I like him. He's imprudent. Besides that, I'm mad! Real mad.
T.C.: Hey, easy, man. When you get mad, you have a tendency to put us all in the soup.

[☨magnum.t]

Better than average episode for me mainly because of the briefing scene with the guys haha. T.C. falling asleep and them making fun of TM was exactly how it would have been if they were still on teams. Also of note when Yuri gives TM his ring you can see he is wearing TMs watch his Rolex watch lol so it made an appearance before home from the sea.

[K Hale]

Thomas says he's trying to stay in "some kind of shape" during a quiet period with no cases...yet he comes directly from swimming in the tidal pool and grabs a bottle of Coops that he had with him on the beach.

Well, he didn't say what kind of shape... just some kind.

The Coast Guard helicopter pilot from Thicker Than Blood apparently tired of plucking lost souls from the seas and joined the Air Force:

I can't tell but is this the same guy who was the air traffic controller in "On the Fly" who talked Magnum through landing the plane when Mac 2.0 was unconscious? The second photo sure looks like him.

Sub-title confusion: pretty sure he said "pinko" unless Rick was confusing the Soviet agents with Billy Joe Bob.

Pickle bimbo! HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

[K Hale]

Better than average episode for me mainly because of the briefing scene with the guys haha. T.C. falling asleep and them making fun of TM was exactly how it would have been if they were still on teams.

I loved the segue into the scene with Higgins.

TC: The way I figure it, that leaves us one man short.
MAGNUM: Funny you should mention short.

[Gorilla Mask]

An overall good episode but not much. I could remembered it well, because of the F4's during the prologue.

Concerning that point:

-Yes there were two type of F'4 shown: F-4C (probably from the ANG or USAF reserve squadrons ?) and F-4 J from the Marines. Definitively not the same.
- Any the russian fighters that were commissioned in 1980 did have the (direct) range to reach Hawaii from the Kamchatka Peninsula. I read earlier in this topic that only one russian defected pilot succeded in defecting to the West that way. That is right. If my memory serves me right, it was in 1976 at Hakodate, Japan and the plane was a MiG-25 Foxbat.
- Yuri was surely very impatient (yes, he is an hot blooded man fo sure ! ) to get to his plane and take off, since he did not wear neither a G-suit, nor a Mae-West or other survival equipement…

The plot is a bit simplistic and TM plan for Nina's escape not very elaborate ( a mere draft, that is to say !). The dialogue were quite good anyway and personnaly i liked much Yuri and his stormy temper ! I like also the music during the coffin's rapture: somme fairly good chords.

Last comment: luckily for the Russian KGB local chief, TM is a damn marskman at drawn shooting !

[mcballs]

I noticed something with this episode in the opening sequence but the someone beat me to it, they say they are intercepting a "mig30" but the USSR used odd numbers for fighters and even numbers for bombers. If anyone is interested the documentary series "wings of the red star" is pretty cool, they have all the episodes on YouTube... wings of the Luftwaffe is on there too also really good, the guy who narrates it has a super relaxing voice I put on an episode before I go to sleep sometimes...lol

[Gorilla Mask]

Hi Mcballs and welcome aboard !

You're right noticing Soviet numbering for fighters/bombers is sometimes a bit confusing... I should be wrong but, IMO,the military aircraft were designed by specific experimental engineering offices (called 'OKB') that were directly controlled by the soviet administration which allocated them studies and projects. The system was highly centralized since, once the aircraft was designed, the soviet administration dispatched the manufacturing building works between state owned factories, often led/directed by soviet administration apparatchiks. So useless rivalties were common law at that time ans shall deserved the whole project... ... But i am a bit off-topic there !

However, i remember that (except for experimental or preseries wich are mainly appointed with the 'Ye' prefix or... by its designer own classification...) serie aircrafts were allocated with letters that indicated his designer and numbers. It was common to use 'uneven' number for fighters as opposed to bomber or assault aircrafts wich were registred with 'even' numbers... However, that doesn't seem to have been carefully observed and that added probably confusion, especially for the West (Su-25 was an assault aircraft as the Su-7; Tu-128 was a long range interceptor, yak-28P was an interceptor too ...). By the 70's, Multirole assignation for new planes discredited this classification (the 1967 Su-17 was a fighter/bomber, often classified as 20/22 for its export versions...).

Whatever, you're right pointing out that intercepting a 'Mig-30' is questionable, since Mikoyan-Gurevitch never used any 'even' number for production aircrafts.

Edit: Sorry for my mistake concerning 'odd' for 'uneven' Numbers. i fixed it. I am french, you know…

[80s Big Hair]

- Any the russian fighters that were commissioned in 1980 did have the (direct) range to reach Hawaii from the Kamchatka Peninsula. I read earlier in this topic that only one russian defected pilot succeded in defecting to the West that way. That is right. If my memory serves me right, it was in 1976 at Hakodate, Japan and the plane was a MiG-25 Foxbat.
- Yuri was surely very impatient (yes, he is an hot blooded man fo sure ! ) to get to his plane and take off, since he did not wear neither a G-suit, nor a Mae-West or other survival equipement…

Are you sure of that my friend? The MiG of that time (I could be wrong) with the longest range was the MiG-29. With tanks it had a ferry range of 2,100 miles. Kyuchi Air Base is 3,357.63 miles from Hawaii. Did they have a closer air base, perhaps in a non-Soviet, but friendly country?

Of the many things that bother me about this episode, this always bothered me most. I always thought, "Where the hell would that come from (ignoring that it was an American Phantom)?" I would even accept if the show claimed that it was carrier based, even though the Soviets had no carriers.

Edit: Of course there is also no reason to assume that the west had accurate information on the ranges of Soviet aircraft.

[Gorilla Mask]

Hi Friend , it was so long since i wrote here !

'ouille' !!... How could i passed aside this and mixed up !!! My sentence was truncated...

I was meant to write "not any russian fighter of the time has the range of action"... This sentence was unnecessarily complicated however... Change "any" by "no" ant that's it !

You are absolutely right about this, mate. Whatever in the case of the MIG-29, 23, SU-15 or Mig-25... They would have drank salt water long before reaching Oahu approaches and defense zone...

Sorry for the misleading and typo... However, that is a good odd for me to get back in touch

[Gorilla Mask]

I'm annoyed by this range thing. It's one of the most obvious flaws in the script. So I watched the introduction of the episode again.

The best at the time (the MiG-29 only entered service a few years later) seems to be the MiG-25 with a range of just over 1000 nautical miles (1 600 nm ferry range at best).

It would have been easy to make Yuri land in Elmendorf AFB or Eielson in Alaska or Misawa or Yokota AFB in Japan... Hickam (as it seems to be the case in the map at the radar control center) is absolutely not a logical case.

The scriptwriters do not care about historical credibility. Especially if we consider that Yuri stayed in Hawaii for a year before meeting Magnum!