Adelaide (1.14)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Adelaide (1.14). 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: 3/19/1981
A woman hires Magnum to protect "Norman", who is facing kidnap unless she pays a ransom, but the case has some unexpected turns when Magnum finds that her uncle is an old Vietnam comrade who is against him being hired, and that Norman is none other than a prized racehorse.

[IslandHopper]

Additional Flubs for Adelaide:

1. After Adelaide is abducted by the goons on horses, Magnum and Charles Cathcart jump into the jeep to pursue, and as Charles gets in the Jeep you see him gripping the top of the windshield of the Jeep with his rubber hand. Here you can see his supposed rubber fingers moving to grasp the windshield.

2. As Magnum and Charles pursue the bad guys on horses, the left front tire of the Jeep gets shot out and you can even hear the air hiss out of the tire. However, as Magnum gets out of the Jeep, the left front tire is fully inflated and not damaged as shown seconds before.

3. (a) When the bad guys set fire to the stables at night, Magnum comes out of the stables with his .45 to confront them. As he cautiously moves toward the guys setting the fire, they shoot at him and he dives to the ground. As Magnum dives to the ground, he tries to return fire, you can see an elbow pad on his right arm protruding from the rolled-up sleeve of his shirt; (b) Magnum then gets to his feet and moves behind a horse trailer for cover and cocks his gun. At this point the camera cuts to a close-up of Magnum cocking the .45. However, you can tell this isn't Magnum in this close up, as the guy's (stunt double) hands and arms are hairless and a very pale complexion. You can also tell by the very good condition of the blue KKC tank top worn underneath a khaki shirt of the stunt double. These shirts worn by the stunt double are too neat and wrinkle free to be Magnum's. This close up looks like it was added in post production; (c) Before Magnum returns fire from behind the horse trailer, you can see him getting ready to fire and you can see the elbow pad under his left sleeve. And, as he fires, you can see the elbow pads on both arms.

4. When Higgins hands the Winner's Trophy to Charles Cathcart, Charles grasps the bottom of the trophy with his rubber (right) hand and again you can see him manipulate his fingers to grip the trophy.

5. When Magnum and Adelaide leave Robin's Nest and drive back to the stables to search for Norman (remember, Magnum was wearing Puma running shoes, which he propped up on Higgins' desk) they are interrupted by Charles Cathcart and his goons. Charles has Magnum remove his .45 from the small of his back and drop it on the ground. Just before the gun is dropped on the ground, the camera cuts to a close up of the legs and feet of Magnum and Adelaide. First, the gun that is dropped to the ground is not Magnum's .45. The barrell of this gun is to short, and the pistol grip is different. Second, the shoes that are shown in this shot supposedly worn by Magnum are canvas Nike's, not the Puma running shoes, that Magnum was wearing in Higgins' study and as he walked into Norman's stall just before being discovered by Charles and his goons.

6. As Magnum fights with the goons in the stable, he says "Adelaide get the gun," and then you see a woman's hand pick up the gun off of the ground. However, this isn't Adelaide that picks up the gun, because the sleeve of the woman picking up the gun does not match Adelaide's blouse. Then the shot goes wide and you see Adelaide holding Magnum's actual .45 on the bad guys. The close up shots of the legs and feet of Magnum and Adelaide as well as the woman picking the gun off of the floor look like they were added post production.

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[J.J. Walters]

Fantastic IslandHopper! Once again, thank you so much!

I've updated the episode guide.

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Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

[IslandHopper]

You're welcome James. It's my pleasure.

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[N1095A]

Several times while at the horse show a Tom Selleck look-alike is seen as an extra passing the cameras. This happens in other episodes as well, although it's not the same person. Sometimes the look-alike looks very much like TS, other times it's just a guy with a big moustache and a baseball cap. Season 4's "Squeeze Play" comes to mind. There is a guy on the softball team that looks too much like Selleck to be coincedence. In season 3's "...By It's Cover", it is a running gag through out the episode. It makes you wonder if this was an inside joke among the cast and crew.

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"But Higgins, I can explain."

[IslandHopper]

I don't know if it's a running gag or just their attempt to use as many extras as possible. In many of the episodes, especially those that take place in the Airport, you see many of the same extras wander about at different locations, seemingly at the same time, i.e., coming off of the airplane, entering the airport, etc. (see "All Roads Lead To Floyd"). This makes me believe that they simply did not have enough extras, which is hard to believe, but I guess many of the people in Hawaii at any given time are tourists, so it's probably difficult to find dependable extras.

TS's double is used in "Mr. White Death" (Season 3) as one of the bad guys looking for Earl. He and his partner arrive from Miami and you see him often in the car and at the Wrestling Arena when he and his partner think they are ambushing Earl, however, it is TC in Earl's costume. TS's double has a line too, as they walk in on who they believe is Earl (TC).

I remember seeing the guy you are referring to in "Adelaide", but it's been a while since I've seen that episode, so I don't recall if it's the same guy.

N1095A, what softball team are you referring to? The only softball team I recall is in "Squeeze Play" (Season 4), but I don't recall anyone looking like TS on that team. You mentioned "Jororo Farewell", but that involved a youth baseball team.

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[N1095A]

[golfmobile]

I watched this episode (again!) tonight on Sleuth, and it seemed very ironic/prophetic -- I'm not sure of the exact word to describe how I reacted to it, in light of what's going on with TS' life currently.

For example, WHEN did he "fall in love" with horses to the point that he wanted to own several of them? (Not the usual possession of most "Hollywood" stars, I would think.) During Quigley Down Under? Or did he get his first taste in this episode?

And now this show jumping, as done by Adelaide on Norman, is what his daughter is doing now!

However, I have a slight quibble with the jumping that was done in this episode. I have watched many hours of Grand Prix Show Jumping (with such champions as Frank Chapot, the Matz brothers, the Leone brothers, Leslie Burr Lenehan, Barney Ward, Joe Fargis, Greg Best [I LOVED him on Gem Twist] Article about Gem Twist and Greg Best, Margie Goldstein, etc.) and I think this is the kind of jumping Hannah is doing now. The jumping in THIS "Adelaide" episode was over little bitty fences (I've show-jumped over jumps this size) so I think it would hardly qualify as the First International Hawaii Show Jumping competition. Most big-bucks show jumping is over jumps at least five feet high and five feet wide and often larger -- rather like jumping your horse over the bed of your 4x4 pick-up truck. And there are wide jumps and vertically high jumps and over water and ones decorated with things to distract the horse's attention, e.g., Shamu the whale, and so on. The jumps in this episode were no more than you would expect in a little local show. HARDLY the type of skill that would bring a $250,000 price tag on a horse in the early 1980s. (Should that count as a "shocking flub" fact-wise?)

Anyway, back to TS. When did he appreciate horses enough to want to own them -- and finance his daughter's pursuit of showing jumping? Did it start with Norman in "Adelaide"?

golf

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"Portside, buddy."

[Carol the Dabbler]

When Magnum & Adelaide are settling down for the night in the stable at her ranch, he prompts her to remove her glasses. She takes them off and puts them into her shirt pocket. Does this make sense to anybody?

If she's going to sleep flat on her back all night, it wouldn't make any difference whether she took her glasses off or not. They'd be just fine either on her face or in her pocket.

If she tends to roll around in her sleep, so that she might damage her glasses if they were on her face, if would make sense to take them off. But in that case, they would be just as much at risk in her pocket!

[N1095A]