China Doll (1.3)

[SelleckLover]

I think I can shed some light on the subject of flubs and continuity errors. Back in the early 1980's almost no one had a VCR. You watched an episode one time and maybe you might see it one more time in reruns during the summer. By the time you saw the rerun, most of the episode flubs were forgotten, if any were detected. After the summer was over and the new season started, you never saw the previous season's episodes....EVER! We didn't have video tapes and DVD's to watch over and over again. If you wanted to watch a certain TV show, you literally had to plan your life around it. Just thought I'd share! =)

[eegorr]

[Shermy]

[IslandHopper]

Oh, there are still plenty of flubs around today. I was watching Braveheart (1995) last night on TV and in the big battle scene with the English, Mel Gibson's character is leading a charge on the English forces running full speed. One clip shows him running full speed with his sword drawn ready to swing and then the scene immediately cuts to Mel Gibson running like a sprinter with no sword in his hand. I'm sure he didn't re-sheath his sword in a full sprint prior to engaging the English soldiers.

You can watch any movie or tv show and find flubs, especially in scenes where there are car chases and such, e.g., in one scene the car will be damaged severely on the left side after crashing into something, and then as it drives away there is no damage. If these flubs are caught by the editors, I'm sure they must decide from an economical stand point whether to re-shoot the scene or just let it go, as most people will never notice the flub.

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

[Shermy]

Not really a flub, but I always found this amusing:

When Magnum returns to the graveyard to search for the buried vase, pay attention to the soundtrack. For some reason, Magnum suddenly turns bionic! This may explain his ability to withstand Choi's attack.

[IslandHopper]

[J.J. Walters]

That's hysterical! The Six Million Dollar Man "bionic" sound in MPI! I never noticed it before, for some reason. And it occurs not once, but twice! During the second one, Magnum almost seems startled by it! You hear the "bionic" sound, then Magnum kind of looks in one direction with a strange look on his face, almost like he's thinking, "What the heck was that?" Hehe

IH, Yeah, SMDM is a Universal show. A show which, interestingly enough, has had the first two seasons released on DVD in Region 2, but nothing in Region 1. Strange. Glen A. Larson produced the first two SMDM movies.

One of my favorite 70s shows, for sure. You gotta love Lee Majors!

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

[golfmobile]

I saw the last half of this one tonight, and I was struck by how at the last scene in the cemetery, Magnum shoots Choi point-blank -- very similar to the later Ivan scene. So, in a way, TM was executing an "unarmed" man, though I'm sure Choi's martial arts skills would make his hands "lethal weapons."

On another note with respect to this scene, I believe that there is no way a skilled martial arts guy like Choi would let his attention be distracted away from TM, the potential enemy on the ground right in front of him, to look up at TC's chopper, and particularly not for the length of time his attention was distracted (about 3 full seconds). That looked really "set up" to me -- just to allow TM to get the .45.

And on this note also, TM was hit on his right hand with the flying star. So again, he had to use his left hand to fire the .45. Memories of bringing Ivan out of the limo with the gun in TM's left hand, but then he shoots Ivan with his right hand. Must be ambi-dextrous with hand guns!

As to the question here about the shirt: I have the one being sold currently as the Magnum shirt, along with some other pieces of clothing with the same fabric. Now that I look at it closely, it is NOT the same. It is DARNED close, but the one being sold these days does not have the same pattern of yellow/gold philodendron leaves on the shirt shown in these pictures (snapped of the show on TV tonight), and his gold/yellow leaves are more prevalent, while my shirt has more prevalent teal palm fronds, and HIS parrots seem to have white heads (with their wings extended) that my purple parrots are missing (NOT missing their heads, just that their heads aren't white) (and, I just noticed, on the back of his shirt, he seems to have some white antheriums that my shirt doesn't have):



My shirt:



As for the double-head turn, I think it's two different shots. The lighting looks different on each. Here they are side by side:



and a single one of the over-the-left-shoulder (the one not used in the intro -- and, boy, does he look drunk in this one -- I caught his eyes in a near-blink)



However, the more I study these in details, I could see how they MAY be mirror shots. The pattern on the shirt and most of the shadows look mirror. I don't know if a lighting change occurred when the film was flipped over, but, still, to me, his face looks "fuller" in the left shoulder shot, a little more double chin? Yet the same highlighting of lights on the SAME locks of hair on both sides? Near EXACT same head angle? Shoot, the more I study it, the more I go for the flipped film option. But the second shot was stopped in the middle of the eyebrow wiggle, so it looked different at the time. Sheesh, I don't know! But now looking at the shadows on the chin, I think not. Someone else vote here!

Also, on this one, the closing music is the "old" music, so this is one episode syndicated on TV that does not have the music changed (the intro does have the Mike Post music dubbed in).

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"Portside, buddy."

[J.J. Walters]

Wow, I never noticed the two different head-turning "look backs" in this episode! And in the same scene, no less!

Regarding Magnum's "execution" of Choi, in his defense, he was lying on his back, with Choi directly above him, fist clinched. And he only shot him after he blinked his eyes. Remember, he always blinks before he strikes!

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

[rubber chicken]

I found the cemetery used in this episode. It's the Manoa Chinese Cemetery or just Manoa Cemetery, located north east of Waikiki in the Manoa Valley. It was begun by Chinese immigrants in 1852, but people from any background can be buried there. It's the oldest and largest cemetery in Hawaii. (gm link)


Some info....

From this page: "In 1852, a Chinese immigrant named Lum Ching hiked up the valley with a friend and came to Akaka Peak. There they discovered a beautiful view from the valley to the sea. Lum Ching, with freshly acquired knowledge of an astronomy/ geology-based study called "kuni yee hok," had with him two instruments, a compass and a light reflecting mirror. He carefully placed the compass on a level surface and to his surprise, the compass pointed directly south. He did further calculations using his mirror and compass and then exclaimed to his friend, "We are at an extraordinary spot. It is the pulse of the watchful dragon of the valley. People from all directions will come from across the seas and gather here to pay homage. Birds, too, will come to sing and roost. It is a haven suitable for the living as well as the dead. The Chinese people must buy this area and keep it as sacred ground."

"The Chinese community did buy the "dragon's pulse." The land was purchased gradually, starting in 1852, from former land owners, Ahu, Kulani, Rice and the Bishop Estate. The present day cemetery encompasses thirty-four acres of Manoa Valley."

And from this page: "Notable grave sites include that of Chan Apana, the bullwhip-toting Honolulu policeman who was the model for fictional Charlie Chan [...]"

How fitting! The inspiration for one of the earliest pop culture Private Investigators lies buried where another great P.I. films a show 50 years later.

More about Chan Apana from this page (might want to turn off your sound): "He was the inspiration for the fictional sleuth Charlie Chan. The son of Chinese immigrants, he worked as a cowboy on Oahu before joining the new Honolulu Police Department in 1898. Carrying a whip instead of a gun, he often led the force in arrests and became Hawaii's most famous cop. During his 34-year career Apana was stabbed six times, thrown out of a second-story window, run over with a horse and buggy, attacked with machetes, and bludgeoned with an axe handle; on each occasion the wounded detective managed to apprehend his suspect." Here's his Wiki page.

Here's a virtual reality quicktime display of three parts of the cemetery.