The Taking of Dick McWilliams (2.10)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for The Taking of Dick McWilliams (2.10). 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: 12/3/1981
The Japanese wife of an old Navy buddy comes to Magnum for help when her husband is kidnapped and held for ransom. She asks Magnum to handle the ransom drop without telling her father, who never approved of the marriage in the first place. However, the deeper Magnum gets into the case, the more suspicious he becomes of the circumstances.

[J.J. Walters]

This is probably my least favorite episode of Season Two. Everything seems to be off, none of the pieces seem to fit. That flashback scene with Dick and Mitsu had some truly horrible dialog, almost painful to watch! Even Guy Stockwell and Moe Keale can't save this episode for me.

I do love the McGarrett reference and listening to Rick on the phone with "Shaky", however.

Still, there is work to be done with this one ..... rubber chicken, Sam, I know you guys have been working overtime of late, but let's see if we can get one more, shall we?

"The Beach Shack"

[Doc Ibold]

I agree.

This episode pretty much stunk. Every time it pops up on the elliptical rotation, I'm tempted to skip it.

My OCD side comes out and then I force myself through it. Makes the workout longer though!

[rubber chicken]

The Beach Shack - I won't say it was easy to find. I've been looking for the location of the beach shots in Operation: Silent Night (4.10) and when you posted the question about the beach shack, I realized that the two places were the same.

The place is on the north shore and is called Puaena Point - the northern tip of Waialua Bay. Here's the location of the beach shack. (Approximate but very close, within 20 feet or so - the vegetation has changed slightly.)

[Tralfaz]

That's right down the beach from where we were married in December.

[rubber chicken]

Very cool!

Also, the home of Mitsu McWilliams is located here.

I believe (not 100% sure) this house is now the William Twigg-Smith Gallery (pictured here?), part of The Contemporary Museum Honolulu. The main building of which is to the NNE with the large parking lot. So if you'd like to view art and visit a Magnum P.I. location at the same time this is the place to go.



And the aquafarm is located here.

[J.J. Walters]

Wow, 3 amazing location IDs RC!

After you zeroed in on the north shore, how did you find the beach location? I didn't notice any obvious "markers".

One other positive about this episode - the cool chopper/car chase, featuring the Pali Tunnels.

Because of all of the above, this episode is now elevated a bit for me.

[grundle]

"The Beach Shack"

Oooh! I bet if we all chipped in, we could buy that!

[SelleckLover]

Oooh! I bet if we all chipped in, we could buy that!

LMFAO James!

It probably would cost more than you would think! Here in southern California where I live, you'd pay about a half a million for a run-down 40 year old fixer-upper 1 bedroom condo in a crappy neighborhood. (I'm serious!) But I have an extra $800 I could chip in that I just got for my car that was totaled on January 22nd of this year! LOL

[J.J. Walters]

SL, that wasn't me. It was grundle.

The "shack" wouldn't be worth anything (I doubt if it's even still around - they may have even built it just for the episode), but the oceanfront property would be worth a fortune! I doubt we could afford it.

[SelleckLover]

You're probably right James. They most likely built it for the episode...but I till got a chuckle out of grundle's post!

[rubber chicken]

After you zeroed in on the north shore, how did you find the beach location? I didn't notice any obvious "markers".

Well I actually didn't zero in on the north shore, even with Roger Mosley saying they stayed at Turtle Bay for Operation: Silent Night. I looked at first on the north shore but just couldn't find the place (disappointed in myself now). Because of the mountain far in the background I ended up looking on the west coast of Maui towards the east coast of Molokai, because Molokai has mountains that gradually get lower and lower just like in the two episodes. (Since I couldn't find it on the north shore I was considering whether maybe Mr. Mosley was talking about the scenes filmed inland, because I just couldn't recognize the place - seems silly now).

I finally discovered that the mountains on the northwest of Oahu do just the same thing, and in comparing them to the episodes they fit exactly - each low and high spot matches perfectly. I just wasn't thinking that a view like that could work on the north shore (feel dumb now...)

It's a little hard to explain in words how the beach matches up, but I am positive it's the right place. I needed a point that looks out to open ocean one way, then when panning to the left is looking at the mountains. And also a beach which has the same curves, and the exposed rock with the sand matching up. And then the vegetation behind that. And for Operation: Silent Night there needed to be the beach down the coast where they launched the boat (you can even see the strange round black rock seen when launching the boat). Needless to say, this isn't as coincidental as my description might make it sound. There are numerous small and large matches that I made that can only work in the right place. It's just hard to describe all the visuals sometimes.

Here's the black rock on the right side of the picture.


Also, some history. The old airstrip just to the east and northeast was Haleiwa Airfield (or Haleiwa Fighter Strip) in WWII, where five fighters were able to take off during the attack on Pearl Harbor and then shot down seven enemy planes (according to that link).

On Wikimapia a post says "This is the small training field from which Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth Taylor took off in P-40Bs to engage the Japanese on December 7, 1941. They, along with three other Army Air Force pilots shot down nine of the attackers (confirmed), probably shot down four others and damaged at least two more."

[J.J. Walters]

Brilliant RC!

This is another great "off-the-beaten-path Magnum filming location". I must go here someday.

Any idea on the name of the aquafarm? I can't seem to find anything on it.

[rubber chicken]

The name of the aquafarm is Aquatic Farms, Ltd.
49-139 Kamehameha Highway
Kaneohe, HI 96744

"Aquatic Farms, Ltd., a private aquaculture and fisheries consulting company based in Kaneohe."
(Don't remember where I found that quote now.)

Third in this list...
"Expertise extends to a wide range of tropical aquaspecies. Consulting is offered worldwide."

It might also be associated with Kualoa Ranch which owns a lot of land in that area, but I'm not sure.

[J.J. Walters]

Cool, thanks RC!

One other interesting note about this episode - writer Diane Frolov will go on to write and produce some truly great episodes for Northern Exposure and The Sopranos. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for The Sopranos. She appears to have rebounded nicely from a rough start with "Dead Man's Channel" (her first screenplay) and this one.

Her husband, and frequent collaborator, is MPI producer/writer Andrew Schneider (who has also worked on NE and TS)!