Solo Flight (7.16)

[J.J. Walters]

10-4. Thanks IH!

[justinvance007]

Aloha,

I live on Oahu. I have hiked the ridge that seperates Hawaii Kai and Waimanalo where many scenes from this episode appear to be filmed.

My question is, does anyone know where this crash site was? It looks to me like they may have doctored up an existing crash site (new paint, sheet metal etc.) somewhere on the island. It would not be practical to put a crash site up on one of these ridges as it is NOT easy to get up there. I wonder too if they shot a crash site up on a ridge and then recreated it somewhere easier to film.

Either way I think it is based on a real crash site. If no one knows on the forum, I will look into it further as I have some connections with the MIA Identification Lab here as well as some people who are into crash sites here as a hobby. Hundreds of thousands of planes were trans-shiped through Hawaii during WW II. Most of the hundreds of crashes on Oahu were from that, although there are still some Dec. 7 planes unaccounted for.

I don't know what the fighter aircraft was, maybe I can get more input on that as well. It looked like an F4F to me while rewatching the episode but it seems you and others have already determined that was not the case. Most of the fighter aircraft here on Dec. 7 were P-36 not P-40 like in the movies. Of course, P-36 are hard to come by which is why they don't use them and there were P-40s so it is still an accurate depiction. Another major difference you can use to dispel that it is clearly not a P-40 is P-40s had a liquid cooled V8 engine and the plane in Solo Flight had a radial probably air cooled engine.

However, the P-40s in Hawaii in 1941 would not have had sharks teeth painted (Flying Tigers in China started this tradition in late 1941 on their P-40s which are most famously depicted) on them but would have been green as is stated on the site.

Thanks for all you do with this site, Justin Vance

[J.J. Walters]

Hi Justin, welcome to the site!

I just checked with a former MPI crew member (a cat we call "Michael") and this is what he had to say about this:

The "Solo Flight" hiking scene & crashed plane were on the same ridge...right above the Anderson Estate. There is an access road on that ridge, there are buildings up on the ridge with flat areas to park the 5 ton trucks and motor homes, but on the ocean side of this road was a shear drop of a thousand feet, that's where Tom's Stunt Double, Tom Lupo hiked. There is also a flat plateau where they put the plane for his trapped like a rat scene.

Hope this helps...

[rubber chicken]

I found the exact location where the wreck was placed - it's right here. The photo below can be compared to this very helpful photo shot from the same location.




justinvance007 - if you go looking for the exact location where Magnum was trapped under the plane, you could use the rocks in the picture below as references. I suspect they would be under the foliage seen in the linked photo above.

[J.J. Walters]

2. After Magnum becomes trapped under the plane and he sees the spider web for the first time, you can tell the web is a prop, which looks to be made of fishing line or string. The web is very symmetrical and flawless in appearance. However, when you see the shot of fly struggling to escape and the shot of the spider in the web going after the fly, the web is very thin, barely visible, and its pattern seems to be random exhibiting no symmetry at all. The shot appears to be older stock footage.

It looks like it is indeed stock footage. Check out the end credits...



On an unrelated note, Dreamlight Images, Inc. (which only has a handful of credits listed on the IMDB) provided stock footage for one of the most notorious worst movies of all time (#48 on the IMDB Bottom 100), Troll 2 (1990), which oddly enough doesn't feature any Trolls (only Goblins). Heh! The child "star" of that movie, Michael Paul Stephenson, created a wonderful six-minute documentary trailer of that movie - called "The Best Worst Movie" - that has elevated the movie to mega cult status. Check it out if you want a good laugh! The movie, now almost 20 years old, has midnight screenings across the country and is a B-movie phenomenon. Oh, and to sort of tie this in with Magnum, one of the most famous lines from the movie is a teenager shouting out, "Oh My Goooodddd!!".

[IslandHopper]

2. After Magnum becomes trapped under the plane and he sees the spider web for the first time, you can tell the web is a prop, which looks to be made of fishing line or string. The web is very symmetrical and flawless in appearance. However, when you see the shot of fly struggling to escape and the shot of the spider in the web going after the fly, the web is very thin, barely visible, and its pattern seems to be random exhibiting no symmetry at all. The shot appears to be older stock footage.

It looks like it is indeed stock footage. Check out the end credits...



On an unrelated note, Dreamlight Images, Inc. (which only has a handful of credits listed on the IMDB) provided stock footage for one of the most notorious worst movies of all time (#48 on the IMDB Bottom 100), Troll 2 (1990), which oddly enough doesn't feature any Trolls (only Goblins). Heh! The child "star" of that movie, Michael Paul Stephenson, created a wonderful six-minute documentary trailer of that movie - called "The Best Worst Movie" - that has elevated the movie to mega cult status. Check it out if you want a good laugh! The movie, now almost 20 years old, has midnight screenings across the country and is a B-movie phenomenon. Oh, and to sort of tie this in with Magnum, one of the most famous lines from the movie is a teenager shouting out, "Oh My Goooodddd!!".

That's funny. I never noticed that credit before. I wonder if there is a similar credit at the end of "Paper War" for the stock footage of the rat supposedly seen by Magnum when he pokes his head through the escape hatch at the top of the elevator. That footage looked really old and grainy, like it was from Willard.

[Seaver41]

this site is amazing.............all these years I've never come across the Magnum fanatics.......but the episode breakdowns bring back memories all the time........I looked forward to 8pm est each and every Thursday......and this is one episode that always stayed with me. Was it the fly or the spider he called Herman?

Speaking of the flubs......this may not be a flub, but I still to this day remember that the 'escape' from under the plane seemed a bit of a stretch.......as if he could have gotten out at any time. Maybe my memory is fuzzy.

this site has now created a monster.............because now I can see that it's time I relive the series.........I feel many episodes that didn't excite a high school/college kid back then may have new meaning and perspective now...............

what my memory forgot was how good season 7 was..........my last memories were of a very forced season 8 with minimal good episodes........but #7 was chock full of good writing.

.........even a teenager could get watery eyes watching thsi show back in teh day......and the few episodes I came across in December still draw out that emotion..........I'm committed now to making the collection a constant request at birthdays/Father's Day/Christmas.

[MyGod!]

Rewatched this, thought iwas just so-so. A pla imitation of Home from the Sea. This and Murder by Night and the Death of the Flowers are the weakest for season 7 thus far.

[Rutledal]

I re-watched this episode today and noticed that Magnum has a scar on the left of his throat/neck, as seen on the picture belowe. Any idea when he recived this particular scar?

[Doc Ibold]

I re-watched this episode today and noticed that Magnum has a scar on the left of his throat/neck, as seen on the picture belowe. Any idea when he recived this particular scar?

I think its the swelling from the centipede bite

[Rutledal]

I missed the begining, didn't know Magnum got bit by centipede. Thanks Doc.

[Jaybird]

A later version of "Home From the Sea", season four.
This time the ending was more plausible. Magnum gets himself out of the jam and all the while I was expecting TC and Rick to be looking for him. Plus, TM reveals a side of himself that all or most of us possess. We age, in this case about 40, and we start to realize that what we are isn't what we had hoped. We start getting a bit down on ourselves, the pity party thing. So, this is an episode that most can identify with.

[A P Leyland]

I thought this one was a corker, I really did. A thematic sequal to HOME FROM THE SEA but with a surrealism and dream-like qaulity to it to make it more than just a remake. Loved the ending.

Also, this seems to be a culmination to the season's underlying metaphor - ageing and maturing. 10 years before most TV shows were doing 'story arcs' MAGNUM ws doing them, albeit in a subtle way.

Andy

[Jay-Firestorm]

Although in some ways a retread of the classic ‘Home From the Sea’, this one is well executed enough to be really good!

[rating=10]

In the middle of a run of bad luck which has included being fired from a case, without telling anyone Magnum decides to climb a remote mountain. But, already suffering a centipede bite, he becomes trapped under the wreckage of a WWII plane. Very good…

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This review contains spoilers.

‘Solo Flight’ is in many ways a remake of the classic fourth season opener ‘Home From the Sea’ (my all-time favourite episode of the series). But thankfully, instead of being a simple retread, ‘Solo Flight’ adds enough new elements and good moments for it to rank as an excellent episode in its own right.

The story could have ended up as a ‘flashback episode’ – a staple TV device, especially during the 1970s and ‘80s, where most of the story is made up of flashbacks to previous episodes. However, here, whilst there are indeed a wide range of flashbacks (most prominently from the aforementioned ‘Home From the Sea’), they serve to illustrate the story, instead of getting in the way of the overall plot.

There are some very good moments in this story – one of my favourites is even before Magnum has become trapped under the wreckage, when he first finds the plane, and feels compelled to salute. It doesn’t sound much reading it, but on-screen, it comes across as a very powerful moment.

The music for the story is also very good – slow and dramatic and vaguely menacing, it fits perfectly into the episode.

Another good element of the story is how Magnum ‘remotely’ solves the case from which he has been fired.
Most of the story is simply Magnum laying trapped under the wreckage talking to himself – in lesser capable hands, this would have come across as very dull, but with Tom Selleck, it comes off as immensely watchable.

As I say, this is in many ways a remake of ‘Home From the Sea’. In that episode, Magnum was stuck out at sea treading water, with no-one knowing he was there; this one is similar in that he is again in great peril, with no-one realising where he is. There are a lot of references to the former episode – Magnum even names a spider he is watching ‘Herman’, a name he also dubbed a shark in ‘Home…’ (which in turn is a name that he gave the monster under his bed as a kid). But more of a blatant rip-off, ‘Solo Flight’ comes across merely as a story in the same vein.

In ‘Home…’, Magnum’s psychic abilities with his friends alerts them to his peril; they could have used the same device again here, but then I think the story really would feel like a rip-off. Instead, Magnum works his own way out of this one – which some may argue is ultimately more satisfying.

Then there is the nice ending – after trying to save a fly from ‘Herman’ while on the mountain, at the end of the story, Magnum subconsciously swats a fly on the back of his neck, before realising what he has done!

All-in-all, this is a really good story. It could have come across as a blatant remake / rip-off, but thankfully it works really well. I give it a 10.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Once again, the DVD version has no opening trailer. However, I think this is another case where the original broadcast version may not have had one, so as not to spoil the story.

* Sort of blooper: on the way to the crash site, we see Magnum climbing up part of the side of the mountain. Considering that he’s badly hurt his legs under the plane wreckage and needs a stick to help him walk… how does he climb down again? One can only assume that he found another path.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2003, on the flashbacks to the third season’s ‘Did You See the Sunrise?’, they showed a few shots that they edited out of their broadcast of ‘Sunrise’. In their version of ‘Sunrise’, the scene cuts to an end just as Ivan shoots Cookie, but here they showed the rest of the scene, with Cookie screaming, and Magnum telling him to cover the wound with his finger. However, they still edited out several shots of the blood spurting out of the hole.

* Like their broadcast of ‘Sunrise’, they edited out Ivan asking T.C. if he is "what is called a tough nigger”.

[J.J. Walters]

The inspiration for the Sleepy-Time Gal logo that is on the plane that traps Magnum...

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/pfau/detail/ ... alCAF.html (on a B-24)

Sleepy-Time Gal logo in the episode...