Dead Man's Channel (2.2)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
2
2%
9.5 (One of the Best)
12
11%
9.0 (Excellent)
19
17%
8.5 (Very Good)
23
20%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
29
25%
7.5 (Decent)
11
10%
7.0 (Average at Best)
8
7%
6.5 (Not So Good)
7
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 114

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J.J. Walters
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Dead Man's Channel (2.2)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Dead Man's Channel (2.2). 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: 10/15/1981
Magnum is hired by a young woman to locate her archaeologist father, whose boat was found deserted in the Nihoa Channel. Although locals claim the channel is cursed, Magnum takes on the assignment to find the missing scientist.

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J.J. Walters
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#2 Post by J.J. Walters »

This may be my least favorite episode of the entire series. The plot is weak. The pacing is off. There are no memorable scenes or quotes (except for maybe Magnum carrying the goat). Even the great Ina Balin can't save this one!

But hey, it's Magnum right. As I've said before, the worst Magnum episodes are still better than 90% of the stuff on TV! ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Shermy
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#3 Post by Shermy »

Two things make this filler episode stand out for me. The first is Higgins' hunt for the infamous "Kudu Buck". The second is the (intentional?) nod to Raiders of the Lost Ark, as a brunette named Marion hires Magnum to find her missing archaeologist father.

On a side note, it also serves as an early version of Season 7's Kapu, as Magnum clashes with traditional Hawaiian culture.

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J.J. Walters
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#4 Post by J.J. Walters »

Yeah, the "Kudu Buck" scene is a great, almost surreal, "Higgins moment". Higgins hears "Baa-Baa"-type sounds on the estate grounds and immediately thinks it's a large African antelope (the Greater Kudu) crying out to its doe! Even though he apparently studied the Kudu at close range during a trip to the Zambezi river, he somehow mistook it for a common goat! Not to mention the fact, why on earth would a Kudu Buck be roaming around on the estate lawn?! LOL! Too funny!

See, this kind of thing can only be seen on MPI. You won't see this kind of stuff anywhere else. ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#5 Post by Lt. Cook »

I actually really liked this one. First, it adds to Ts's repetoire of manly pursuits we see, diving. The Kudu Buck is absolutely classic. I thought Marion was beautiful and seems she'd be a great TM girlfirend for future episodes - strong, smart and outdoorsy. Pretty good scenes bet TM and Rick as well.

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#6 Post by IKnowWhatYoureThinking »

I like Marion as well. Very attractive and intelligent woman. Excellent point on making a great girlfriend from TM is they had chosen to explore that avenue in future episodes.

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#7 Post by tidal pool »

This episode has a great scene when TM says he will give up the tennis courts if the goat can stay a little longer. Higgins' expression and delivery of, "But you don't have the tennis courts" is just flat out funny. :lol:

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TS or NO MOVIE!

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#8 Post by Frodoleader »

Just watched this one this past weekend. I thought it was a pretty good episode. I liked the Marion character too. According to the IMDB, Wendy Girard (Marion) doesn't do much acting now. Her last credit appears to be around 1999. I liked her though in this episode. Found her attractive and believable.

My 2 cents...
"You are three months at Dak Wei and still you crack jokes?" - Ivan

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#9 Post by Frodoleader »

Even the great Ina Balin can't save this one!

I just saw that Ina Balin passed away in 1990 at the age of 52.
"You are three months at Dak Wei and still you crack jokes?" - Ivan

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#10 Post by Operation Chessboard »

Watched this one again and noticed a flub. When TM dives in the channel for the first time searching for treasure, he's wearing his team ring on his left ring finger. However, when he reaches the surface after finding the artifact, the team ring is now on his right ring finger. The underwater scenes and the 'kudubuck' are the highlights of this episode for me. James, I'm a little suprised you dislike this episode so much. IMHO, this one is brilliant compared to some of the stuff in seasons 5 and 6.

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#11 Post by J.J. Walters »

Operation Chessboard wrote:Watched this one again and noticed a flub. When TM dives in the channel for the first time searching for treasure, he's wearing his team ring on his left ring finger. However, when he reaches the surface after finding the artifact, the team ring is now on his right ring finger. The underwater scenes and the 'kudubuck' are the highlights of this episode for me. James, I'm a little suprised you dislike this episode so much. IMHO, this one is brilliant compared to some of the stuff in seasons 5 and 6.
Hey, nice flub spot OC!

I'm kind of surprised I don't like this one more myself, as it has several good things going for it - the Kudu Buck scene, Marion, Ina Balin, scuba diving. I don't know. I probably like it better than I think I do!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#12 Post by Carmen »

:lol:
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

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#13 Post by Doc Ibold »

James HAS been known to have been swayed a few times...


:wink:

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#14 Post by TankTop44 »

Just finished this one and I have to say I enjoyed it. I liked the goat-buck scenes between Higgins and Thomas, funny stuff! I also enjoy the episodes that get into the culture, I find that very interesting. Women seem to fall hard for Magnum and this episode was no exception, she seemed to want to stay with him. I do wonder why he was so busy that he could not drive her to the airport??

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#15 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

It’s becoming a tradition with me – Friday is double review day! I’m surprised you don’t like this one James – it’s not a classic, but a nice episode IMO.

[TV.com rating=9.5, Adventurous]

After her father's boat is found deserted at sea, a young marine biology student hires Magnum to find out what happened. Soon, they find themselves investigating a supposedly 'cursed' channel in the ocean. Not a classic, but a fun episode...

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The season got off to a weak start with ‘Billy Joe Bob’ in my opinion, but things really pick up here with this enjoyable if lightweight adventure.

This episode is notable for not featuring T.C., the first of just a few occasions from the show’s run where one of the main for characters is not present. Of the main four stars, Roger E. Mosley misses the most episodes, but only three. I wonder if T.C. was in the original draft for the episode. Other than one mention (when Rick comments that “Maybe it was T.C.” that gets heartburn from warm beer), we are given no clue as to where he is. Maybe he was just away flying tourists around the islands!

I really like Wendy Girard as the young Marion. (I wonder if Marion is a nod to that other great treasure hunt story, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’?). Deep voiced and pretty, she plays Marion as likable and believable. She is definitely on my list of characters that I would like to have seen pop up again in the series – sadly, she never did.

Magnum looking after ‘a friend’s goat’ (!) is a brief but amusing b-plot, and provides the ‘Higgins’ moments of the episode.
We also see Rick’s yacht, the King Kamehameha I, for the first time; it would go on to feature in a handful of episodes throughout the series.

It is nice to see Hawaiian locals and Hawaiian tradition being woven into the story. This had been used in the first season’s ‘The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club’ and would go on to be used a couple more times, but is one area of the series that could maybe have been made more of.

The underwater sequences are well shot for a measly TV episode budget; I know he did some close-ups, but I wonder how much of the diving Tom Selleck actually did himself.

Another thing I really like about this episode is the music. From the opening, to the scene of Magnum arriving with the goat in the Ferrari, to the great closing score, it is classic Post & Carpenter.

The story is common of the second season in that it has some interesting ingredients but ends up rather lightweight; this could be said for many of the season’s instalments (with a few exceptions, such as the feature-length / two-part ‘Memories Are Forever’ in a few episodes time).
All-in-all, it doesn’t come off as a ‘Magnum’ classic, but it is one of the second season’s better episodes. I give it a generous 9.5. Other than the lack of T.C., it would have made a far more satisfying season opener than ‘Billy Joe Bob’ in my opinion.

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Other notes, bloopers, and misc.:

* Is it me, or is the deserted boat that the Coast Guard find at the beginning a completely different boat to the one we see Marion and Magnum on later in the story? I assume they’re supposed to be the same, unless I missed something!

* The First Season DVD trend of abridged commercial breaks continues in to the second season – in this story, the second ad break plays right through to the next act without a gap.

* When Higgins goes to look up about Antelopes in the study, watch the books carefully – as he takes one out, three others fall over; but in the close-ups of Higgins, only one has fallen.
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