Magnum Mania!

One thing I wish MPI did, was bring in recurring villains. Unless I'm mistaken, I didn't noticed this, but other shows of the time did bring back villains for more showdowns. "Did You See The Sunrise" kinda did this but it was all in 1 episode. Maybe something could be said for "Unfinished Business", but I wish this was done on MPI.

MacGyver had to deal with Murdoc several times, and this guy just wouldn't die!

A-Team dealt with Colonel Decker (Lance LeGault) many times, among other people who were chasing them.

Remington Steele set the tone for Major Descoigne to return with his daughter to plot revenge. They also bought back one of the 3 "Santas" that held up a banquet in a later season.



Also, I was wondering how you people felt about the same actor returning to play a "different" part. It's been done a lot of times, but unless they play the same character in a later episode, I don't know, just seems weird. I'm not sure how actors were/are selected.

For me the best part of the show was the relationships between the regulars, and how those relationships grew and changed over eight seasons. TM and JQH for example started off as sort of adversaries, but by the end they were what I consider friends. They had a deep respect for each other, and showed many times that they were willing to risk their lives for each other. I really liked the idea that when one of the group was in danger the others could "feel" it almost in a supernatural way, I.E. "Home From The Sea". MPI had it's recurring antagonists. Only in a lighter way. Ms. Jones, Susan Johnson, Buck Green, Tracy Spencer, Jim Bonnig/Bonnick (whatever), Michelle (the most diabolical villan of the entire show), Luther Gillis. etc. With the exception of Michelle, these characters weren't really villans, but certainly antaginosts. Often through the series the main characters would become antagonistic with TM depending on the story line.

I was a little put off when actors who were well established would return as different characters, Soon-Teck Oh, and Clyde Kusatsu for example, I thought should have only played Hue, and Ki. At the time, you only got to see the shows once, and maybe in rerun. There were no DVDs to analyze, and an actor from season 3 coming back as a different character in season 5 wouldn't have been noticed.

Italian Ice wrote:

One thing I wish MPI did, was bring in recurring villains.

I'm not trying to knock what you like, II, but I think the fact that they did not bring back recurring villains was the reason why the show was one of the few TV shows that never "jumped the shark." I consider Colonel Green(e?) kind of a villain, but not in the true sense of the word. His actions were, in a way, bound by military and spy protocol. But other than him, I think it was a good thing that they didn't do that. Sometimes the episodes with recurring characters can get contrived and cheesy and I think Bellisario tried to avoid that at all costs. JMHO!!

Michelle (the most diabolical villan of the entire show),




Just curious if I'm missing something...why would you consider Michelle a villain?

Because she plays with and breaks TM's heart many times.

Uh, nevermind. I found the answer by reading a post on a previous thread. Interesting...I never thought of the Michele character as 'using and manipulating' TM. It seemed to me that she genuinely cared for him. Sort of puts her character in a whole new perspective.

I guess you could say that in the 'Unfinished Business' episode Karma finally pays her a visit.

I agree with N,

This show used the antagonist very effectively. Luther, for example, was so darned likeable even though he was a somewhat disgusting character. And don't get me started about Ms. Jones...

I do agree that a once or twice per season villan would have been an interesting twist for the show. I suppose the threat that Michelle faced from the North Vietnamese would qualify since that took several years to come to a head. Maybe Ivan should have lurked in the shadows for a few seasons before being dealt with.

Buck Greene definitely fit the description of a villan. He contributed greatly as a foil for Magnum.

This is an interesting thread. More opinons, please...

Artie Canoe wrote:Because she plays with and breaks TM's heart many times.

For no other reason than that she chooses to.

N1095A wrote:

Artie Canoe wrote:Because she plays with and breaks TM's heart many times.

For no other reason than that she chooses to.

Agreed

I agree with what many others have stated, I love the show because they only brought back comical adversaries like Luther H. Gillis, Ms. Jones, Jime Bonnick/Mack, etc. I would have hated if they had recurring stories with Ivan, which they could have lazily done, but instead kept a very powerfull ending intact. In fact, two of the most powerfull endings had us guessing, did Magnum actually shoot and kill Ivan and who exactly was Milton "The Ripper" Collins from Death and Taxes.........

Steve wrote:I agree with what many others have stated, I love the show because they only brought back comical adversaries like Luther H. Gillis, Ms. Jones, Jime Bonnick/Mack, etc. I would have hated if they had recurring stories with Ivan, which they could have lazily done, but instead kept a very powerfull ending intact. In fact, two of the most powerfull endings had us guessing, did Magnum actually shoot and kill Ivan and who exactly was Milton "The Ripper" Collins from Death and Taxes.........

I like that we never saw an episode where Milton Collins hired TM to see if his wife was cheating on him, and TM didn't charge him. It gave us the story from TM's point of view. If we'd known the story of Collins before TM's ending explanition of his first meeting with him, it would have lost some of it's power. TM forgot Milton Collins, just like everyone else who ever met him. That in part was why he killed. I only wonder what happened to the wife.

Italian Ice wrote:Also, I was wondering how you people felt about the same actor returning to play a "different" part. It's been done a lot of times, but unless they play the same character in a later episode, I don't know, just seems weird. I'm not sure how actors were/are selected.

A lot of the minor roles were played by local (Hawaii-based) actors. The pool of actors to choose from is much smaller than almost every other show (in L.A.), so this is one of the reasons why you see some of the same people playing different characters in different episodes.

For the guest starring roles, Bellisario had a "troop" of actors that he liked to use in many of his shows - Jean Bruce Scott, Jeff MacKay, W.K. Stratton, John Calvin, Deborah Pratt to name a few.

I would have liked to have seen TM sing more karaoke! Did they really use cassettes back then? Now they have rockband and guitar hero! Never mind the karaoke machines.

I also would have liked to have an episode where we see TM running into the guesthouse with a bag that says Macho Taco on it! That would have made me laugh! Personally his diet wasn't the best though......

I would have liked to seen an episode where the guys take a fishing excursion and maybe something can happen to make a story out of it. It would have been curious to see Magnum have a steady girlfriend for a few episodes in a row. I could see her hanging out in the guest house, and annoying Higgins with her presence on the estate.