Magnum Mania!

I was thinking about this last night. Although each season has its own 'feel', in some ways the series can be broken up into two halves - seasons 1-4, and seasons 5-8.

Seasons 1-4 had (IMO) a fresher feel to them, and T.M. was (generally) more easy going and carefree.

Seasons 5-8 had a more mixed variety, with T.M. maturing, and in many cases were more serious.

Personally, although I like all of the seasons in their own way, I would go for 1-4. The stories seem more polished, and there are more classic episodes in this group.

Which do you prefer?

Great question. Those who have been on this board for a while remember that we discussed it before. It is a tribute to this site that there is enough of a steady flow of new blood that topics continue to reappear.

I like seasons 1 - 4 for the same reasons Jay mentioned. They were fresh and carefree. Good and wholesome adventure with few gimmicks and nonsense. I do not believe MPI would have worked if they had tried to be gritty and hard edged like a Miami Vice type of show. It was a show about friendships and loyalty. About trying to find a new life to replace what was taken from them and their friends in Vietnam.

Seasons 5 - 8 were good but a little less so for me. Some great episodes were scattered among these seasons but some less quality ones as well. When TM began to grow up, it defeated the reason the show was successfult to begin with and the inevitable path to the end was cast. I know he had to eventually grow up but it is sad it had to happen...

Here's to high, wholesome adventure enjoyed by friends... Cheers!

If I had to pick, I'd go with 1-4 as well. Seemed more... focused, somehow. I agree that there were some great episodes in the latter seasons as well, but they just don't seem as consistent.

I'm writing to say that I'm not ready to choose. I haven't seen the whole series yet and being "in the middle" so to speak, I don't feel that I have an eye for the whole picture.

I WANT to say that I like seasons 5 - 8 best...even though I haven't seen all of Season 7 or any of Season 8. But that may be because I've owned Seasons 1 - 4 for SO long...and seen them SO many times that the later seasons feel fresh and new to me. Example: my "new" season is 5 and I REALLY like most of the episodes.

I also feel that, by the end of Season 4, Thomas's character was slipping. Lots of hysterical screaming...not as many serious cases, I don't know. It's like the episodes felt all the same. Then, in Season 5, we had Kapu which was TOTALLY different! The episodes were more complex again...Compulsion and Fragments...and All for One had us back "in the field" again. Feels like they completely revitalized the show.

I agree with luthergillis that they may not have been as consistently good and there were differences because the characters were maturing but it feels to me that the shows became more...hmmmm...solid, somehow as the relationships between the characters deepened and Thomas's range of operation broadened.

It will be a while before I can afford to own all of the seasons. And then it will probably be a while before I've seen those seasons often enough to make a decision about which "half" I like best. Maybe I'll be ready to decide by the next time this topic comes up for discussion.

I'm going for the 1-4 seasons. Couple of people already mentioned it, but ofcourse the other seasons have a lot of great episodes too. I think season 5-6 a bit less exciting and when season 7 started they made a very nice start again. But, season 5-6 also contain a lot of great episodes. If this option was open I would go for season 1-4 7-8.

1 - 4 hands down. Magnum at it's best.

5 - 8 = mopey, mid-life crisis Magnum.

without the quality of seasons 1-4...............5-8 never would have happened. They set the tone and sucked us in. They got us to care about a Vietnam Vet beach bum/PI and his buddies..............and as the series grew we learned of their more complex histories that added tremendous depth to the surface appeal.......for women the obvious-good looks...and for guys- he was a man's man.

I'd have to go with 1-4 as well because of the reasons already mentioned.

1-4 as well. The look of the show, TM's more relaxed, anti-authoritarian persona, prettier girls, less kowtowing to the Carol Burnett demographic, all are a few of many reasons I like better.

Well someone had to be the first, but I have to admit I prefe seasons 5-8 because I love serious Magnum, and the darker and grittier plots of the later seasons. Season 5 was a little disapointing, and probably is my least favorite season. Season 6 was new to me when I saw it for the first time in rerun this year. Season 7 contains many of my favorite episodes like Death and Taxes, and Laura, and season 8 is full of great episodes.

Like I said before, I`d watch Tom Selleck sitting on a bench for an hour, so there`s nothing really to choose for me. Love them all. - But in the earlier seasons we see more 'Swim-shirtless-or other sports-shots.... so - ahm - uh oh - how do I come out of this now? Would someone help me please?!

Do you mean that from a "sporting wear fashion" point of view you prefer the first four seasons?

I was in the fifth grade when I "discovered" MPI during its original run and it's those first four seasons I still like best. It's a lot more hit and miss after that, whether it was "bringing back" Mac, Higgins maybe being Robin Masters, literally going back to Viet Nam--a popular theme in the mid-eighties as we came to terms with the war--Magnum's "little voice" becoming more like psychic powers, the Murder, She Wrote intrusion, the overly-serious season eight where I sometimes felt I didn't know the characters anymore, the Miami Vice-ification, etc.

However, I'm not surprised that the top forty eps here includes a lot of latter-season shows. The show definitely matured, but I always like a show earlier in its run than later.

Little Garwood wrote:I was in the fifth grade when I "discovered" MPI during its original run and it's those first four seasons I still like best. It's a lot more hit and miss after that, whether it was "bringing back" Mac, Higgins maybe being Robin Masters, literally going back to Viet Nam--a popular theme in the mid-eighties as we came to terms with the war--Magnum's "little voice" becoming more like psychic powers, the Murder, She Wrote intrusion, the overly-serious season eight where I sometimes felt I didn't know the characters anymore, the Miami Vice-ification, etc.

However, I'm not surprised that the top forty eps here includes a lot of latter-season shows. The show definitely matured, but I always like a show earlier in its run than later.

Good post...couldn't have summed it up better myself...and too lazy to attempt it.