This is the official MM thread for Memories Are Forever (1) (2.5). 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: 11/5/1981
While working on a routine case, Magnum believes he has spotted Michelle, the woman he married while he was serving in the Vietnam War and who he thought had been killed in a bombing raid. T.C. and Rick are suspicious of the sighting but Magnum begins a thorough search of the area to find her. However, his search for Michelle places him in uncomfortable political territory.
Memories Are Forever (1) (2.5)
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J.J. Walters
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Memories Are Forever (1) (2.5)
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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IslandHopper
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Additional Flubs for "Memories Are Forever."
These may include flubs for parts 1 and 2 (episodes 2.5 & 2.6). On my DVD set, these episodes are included as one complete episode, not two separate episodes, so I'm not sure exactly when 2.5 ends and 2.6 begins, so the flubs will be included here only.
1. When Magnum finishes his swim and is chased into Higgins' study by the lads, he is backed up against the bookshelf by the lads, and you can see that the circular scar on the left side of his chest that was there in the pilot and other episodes, is not there in this episode.
2. When Magnum flashes back to his wedding day in Saigon, he is with Michelle, Rick and TC at a restaurant. Magnum is in his dress whites and above his ribbons above his left breast pocket, you can see a gold badge, which is not a S.E.A.L. badge, it appears to be a "surface warfare" insignia/badge. This is the same one he had in the pilot. In the pilot he did not have a S.E.A.L. badge either. However, later when Mac tells Magnum he has been reactivated to testify about his old unit, and Mac delivers a kahaki uniform complete with ribbons and insignia, note that the "surface warfare" badge Magnum had in the pilot and when he flashed back during this episode is not on this uniform. In its place is the S.E.A.L. badge which should have been a part of Magnum's uniform from the start.
3. During the flashback scene with Magnum, Michelle, Rick and TC in the restaurant, Rick raises his glass to make a toast. He says, "and I got one more toast." After he says this, he says, "and this one is gonna kill ya." You can tell this last line was looped in post production, because the sound quality is totally different.
4. When Magnum exits the guest house to take a swim, he has an Aloha shirt on and is carrying a towel, and he IS NOT wearing a cap. He is met downstairs by the lads and is presumably being chased by them (exercising the lads). This is when Mac comes to the estate to tell Magnum about being reactivated. When Magnum and Mac enter the guest house, Magnum still has his Aloha shirt, but now is wearing his Detroit Tigers cap. He did not have this when he left the guest house, and I doubt he would have stopped to pick it up while being chased by the lads.
These may include flubs for parts 1 and 2 (episodes 2.5 & 2.6). On my DVD set, these episodes are included as one complete episode, not two separate episodes, so I'm not sure exactly when 2.5 ends and 2.6 begins, so the flubs will be included here only.
1. When Magnum finishes his swim and is chased into Higgins' study by the lads, he is backed up against the bookshelf by the lads, and you can see that the circular scar on the left side of his chest that was there in the pilot and other episodes, is not there in this episode.
2. When Magnum flashes back to his wedding day in Saigon, he is with Michelle, Rick and TC at a restaurant. Magnum is in his dress whites and above his ribbons above his left breast pocket, you can see a gold badge, which is not a S.E.A.L. badge, it appears to be a "surface warfare" insignia/badge. This is the same one he had in the pilot. In the pilot he did not have a S.E.A.L. badge either. However, later when Mac tells Magnum he has been reactivated to testify about his old unit, and Mac delivers a kahaki uniform complete with ribbons and insignia, note that the "surface warfare" badge Magnum had in the pilot and when he flashed back during this episode is not on this uniform. In its place is the S.E.A.L. badge which should have been a part of Magnum's uniform from the start.
3. During the flashback scene with Magnum, Michelle, Rick and TC in the restaurant, Rick raises his glass to make a toast. He says, "and I got one more toast." After he says this, he says, "and this one is gonna kill ya." You can tell this last line was looped in post production, because the sound quality is totally different.
4. When Magnum exits the guest house to take a swim, he has an Aloha shirt on and is carrying a towel, and he IS NOT wearing a cap. He is met downstairs by the lads and is presumably being chased by them (exercising the lads). This is when Mac comes to the estate to tell Magnum about being reactivated. When Magnum and Mac enter the guest house, Magnum still has his Aloha shirt, but now is wearing his Detroit Tigers cap. He did not have this when he left the guest house, and I doubt he would have stopped to pick it up while being chased by the lads.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)
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J.J. Walters
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How about at the very beginning. He's taking pictures of the couple dancing, then decides to take the film out and throw it in the harbor. Almost immediately he picks up the camera and starts snapping pictures of Michelle on the yacht.
You could also see the microphone in a few shots. One when Col. Ki and the General were talking to Michele on the phone (when she was at the beach house) and a shadow of it in one of the chapel shots. These may have been in part two.
You could also see the microphone in a few shots. One when Col. Ki and the General were talking to Michele on the phone (when she was at the beach house) and a shadow of it in one of the chapel shots. These may have been in part two.
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IslandHopper
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The show never explained Magnum's transition from a S.E.A.L. into Naval Intelligence (NIA), but in the episode "Mac's Back" (Season 5) the Jim Bonnick/Neville Thompson character explained that he was an ex-fighter pilot who lost his pilot rating when his ear-drums burst and he got a medical discharge. While he waited for his medical discharge, the Navy assigned him to NIA. This is somewhat common in the military, at least on a temporary basis. You probably would not be placed in a sensitive position which required a security clearance, unless you were qualified in that MOS (military occupation), but it is possible on a short term basis.N1095A wrote:I always wondered how if he was with Naval Intellegence, he was also a SEAL.
I don't know if this was Magnum's situation as well, i.e., maybe he transitioned into NIA after being wounded and perhaps he couldn't be a member of a S.E.A.L. Team anymore. I do not think this applied to Magnum, however, because his response to the question of what he did in the Navy was always "Naval Intelligence." There is actually never any reference (that I recall) to him being a Navy Seal with the exception of his S.E.A.L. camouflage ball cap and S.E.A.L. badge on his uniform. He never says "I was a Navy S.E.A.L. In contrast, there are many references in several episodes where Magnum explains that he learned to pick locks, break into safes, etc., in NIA. Magnum could have gotten his S.E.A.L. qualification before going into NIA, or vice versa.
It is also quite common for a person to have more than one MOS.The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)
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J.J. Walters
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I always assumed Magnum simply transferred out of the SEALs when the war ended, because that was the end of the "action" as they say. With the war over, his talents would be better utilized in intelligence operations. Hence his switch over to ONI (NIA in the show).
As for direct references to the SEALs, I only know of two: 1) In All For One, Tyler specifically implies that Magnum was a SEAL, and 2) in Rapture, in the rarely seen Robin's Nest library, Magnum mentions training that he received as a SEAL.
As for direct references to the SEALs, I only know of two: 1) In All For One, Tyler specifically implies that Magnum was a SEAL, and 2) in Rapture, in the rarely seen Robin's Nest library, Magnum mentions training that he received as a SEAL.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!
Another flub I noticed on the DVD happens in the scene just after Ky is given magnums wallet. Magnum gets up after his second night without sleep and heads outside. When he reaches the bottom of the guest house stairs he is greeted by the lads who chase him back up the stairs. You can see the dog trainers hand in the upper right of the screen hitting the balcony calling the dogs up the stairs in pursuit.
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IslandHopper
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Jay-Firestorm
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Here is Thursday’s review; a LOT to say about this one!
[TV.com rating=9.5; A Very Special Episode]
Working on a routine case, Magnum catches sight of the woman that he is sure he married during the Vietnam War, and who he believed to have been killed in a bombing raid. As he searches for her, he walks into a political minefield. A key story of the series…
--
This review covers the first half of the episode, as shown in two-part format.
Well, where to begin… the feature-length / two-part ‘Memories Are Forever’ is a key ‘Magnum, p.i’ story, and in many ways, after the show’s early establishing episodes, the one that set the pace for much of the rest of the series.
I wonder why this story wasn’t used to kick off the second season, as most seasons of the series began with feature-length outings, and this story would have began the season much better than the disappointing ‘Billy Joe Bob’. Maybe it was down to a two-hour slot not being available at that time, or maybe the story simply wasn’t ready.
I like how the story unfolds. It is not fast paced, but does not sag either; instead allowing the viewer to soak up the atmosphere and appreciate the depth that the series had over some of the other detective / adventure shows of the day.
I find this episode works best if you’ve seen a number of previous episodes; when I very first saw this episode, I had only seen about three or four episodes previously, and didn’t really fully appreciate the story. But when I came to watch it again, after watching the series from the Pilot, I understood the characters better, and really appreciated this story much more for it.
There are some great Magnum / Higgins moments in this story (Higgins is shown to be writing his memoirs for the first time, in what would become a recurring detail), and is a great example of how this truly Odd Couple deep down have great respect for each other.
There is also a great scene for Roger E. Mosley to get his teeth into, as T.C. tries to convince Michelle is no longer alive. I also like how the flashback to Vietnam leads on to the present, with T.C.’s ‘Nam chopper flying along the coast into the present day. The shot doesn’t really make sense when analysed, but works perfectly.
The plot of Magnum once having a bride, although an idea not conceived until this story, fits in to the history of the character perfectly, and is very believable. (As a side note, Magnum had previously commented in the first season’s ‘Beauty Knows No Pain’ that he had never been married; but this could be explained away by the fact that he simply did not want to talk about it then).
Marta DuBois is mesmerising as Michelle, and the part is cast perfectly. We also see General Hue (Soon-Tech Oh) for the first time, and, although we only hear is voice in Part 1, Lance LeGault as the tough Colonel Buck Greene. LeGault, who had previously played another character in the first season’s ‘Missing In Action’, would go on to play the recurring Colonel Decker in ‘The A-Team’; I like all of LeGault’s work, he has the deep-voiced by-any-means character down perfectly.
Paul Burke also appears as Admiral Kitchner; rather confusingly to the casual viewer, Burke played different Admirals in different later episodes of the series.
On thing I really like about this episode – and this one is very personal to me – is that we get to see a close-up of Magnum’s driving license. It gives his birthday as 1/05/46. Although this date would be contradicted in several later episodes, I like this date, as my birthday is also January 5th!
Review continued in Part 2.
-----
Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* The main episode guide page for this episode states that the names appear bottom-centre, not the usual bottom left. On my TV version, they appear bottom-left. However, Part II lists the names bottom-centre.
* Maybe it’s just me, but when Magnum runs in to the study after Zeus and Apollo chase him after his swim, his trunks don’t seem to be wet!
* As mentioned in my review, Higgins is seen to be writing his memoirs for the first of a number of times in the series
* In the flashback to Magnum and Michelle’s after-wedding drink with T.C. and Rick, Rick’s toast line “…And this one is gonna kill ya” just before the explosion is clearly rerecorded in post production – his lips don’t even sync up properly.
* When Higgins delivers the photographs to Magnum in the guesthouse, he says “I don’t know if you’re pulling my leg, as you yanks put it”. There is no need for him to add “as you yanks put it”, as ‘pulling my leg’ is a very common expression here in the UK.
* Channel 5’s “bloody” edit count – only one in this episode – Higgins’ “How bloody curious” after he notices the French Cross hanging around Michelle’s neck in the photo. 5 left this one in, but on the previous shown episode, ‘Tropical Madness’*, they made some very big edits around “bloody”. (* - they were showing the episodes in order, but broadcast ‘Tropical Madness’ before this story so that the two-parter would not be left open while the series took a brief break).
* As mentioned above, my birthday is the same as the one given for Magnum in this episode – albeit 22 years later.
* More abridged commercial breaks on the DVD version – Part I only has one break unabridged (but I lost count as to which one).
* Two-part version:
When Channel 5 broadcast this story in 2002, they showed the two-part version. For those with the DVD version wondering when the end of Part I falls, it is in the church, after Michelle talks to Buck in the confession box, and Colonel Ki gets up to follow her out.
Both parts I & II had the opening credits from a later season! This seems to be where the episodes were later split into two parts and the (then current) opening titles were added, replacing the originals; I have examples of ‘The Rockford Files’ and ‘Starsky & Hutch’ that also have this done.
There is about four minutes missing from Part I, though I am unsure if this is where the episode is split into two halves (many feature-length episodes of the era were shortened when adapted to two-parters) or Channel 5 made this edit themselves. After Magnum wakes up at the beginning from his dream about Michelle, skipped is him muttering “Michelle”, him going for a swim, the dogs chasing him, and the scene in the study, where Higgins is writing his memoirs and Magnum asks him for the camera. The story picks up again as Magnum is taking photos of the car salesman. As I say, I’m not sure if this was a ‘proper’ edit, or one done by Channel 5 (who very occasionally edited for time).
[TV.com rating=9.5; A Very Special Episode]
Working on a routine case, Magnum catches sight of the woman that he is sure he married during the Vietnam War, and who he believed to have been killed in a bombing raid. As he searches for her, he walks into a political minefield. A key story of the series…
--
This review covers the first half of the episode, as shown in two-part format.
Well, where to begin… the feature-length / two-part ‘Memories Are Forever’ is a key ‘Magnum, p.i’ story, and in many ways, after the show’s early establishing episodes, the one that set the pace for much of the rest of the series.
I wonder why this story wasn’t used to kick off the second season, as most seasons of the series began with feature-length outings, and this story would have began the season much better than the disappointing ‘Billy Joe Bob’. Maybe it was down to a two-hour slot not being available at that time, or maybe the story simply wasn’t ready.
I like how the story unfolds. It is not fast paced, but does not sag either; instead allowing the viewer to soak up the atmosphere and appreciate the depth that the series had over some of the other detective / adventure shows of the day.
I find this episode works best if you’ve seen a number of previous episodes; when I very first saw this episode, I had only seen about three or four episodes previously, and didn’t really fully appreciate the story. But when I came to watch it again, after watching the series from the Pilot, I understood the characters better, and really appreciated this story much more for it.
There are some great Magnum / Higgins moments in this story (Higgins is shown to be writing his memoirs for the first time, in what would become a recurring detail), and is a great example of how this truly Odd Couple deep down have great respect for each other.
There is also a great scene for Roger E. Mosley to get his teeth into, as T.C. tries to convince Michelle is no longer alive. I also like how the flashback to Vietnam leads on to the present, with T.C.’s ‘Nam chopper flying along the coast into the present day. The shot doesn’t really make sense when analysed, but works perfectly.
The plot of Magnum once having a bride, although an idea not conceived until this story, fits in to the history of the character perfectly, and is very believable. (As a side note, Magnum had previously commented in the first season’s ‘Beauty Knows No Pain’ that he had never been married; but this could be explained away by the fact that he simply did not want to talk about it then).
Marta DuBois is mesmerising as Michelle, and the part is cast perfectly. We also see General Hue (Soon-Tech Oh) for the first time, and, although we only hear is voice in Part 1, Lance LeGault as the tough Colonel Buck Greene. LeGault, who had previously played another character in the first season’s ‘Missing In Action’, would go on to play the recurring Colonel Decker in ‘The A-Team’; I like all of LeGault’s work, he has the deep-voiced by-any-means character down perfectly.
Paul Burke also appears as Admiral Kitchner; rather confusingly to the casual viewer, Burke played different Admirals in different later episodes of the series.
On thing I really like about this episode – and this one is very personal to me – is that we get to see a close-up of Magnum’s driving license. It gives his birthday as 1/05/46. Although this date would be contradicted in several later episodes, I like this date, as my birthday is also January 5th!
Review continued in Part 2.
-----
Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* The main episode guide page for this episode states that the names appear bottom-centre, not the usual bottom left. On my TV version, they appear bottom-left. However, Part II lists the names bottom-centre.
* Maybe it’s just me, but when Magnum runs in to the study after Zeus and Apollo chase him after his swim, his trunks don’t seem to be wet!
* As mentioned in my review, Higgins is seen to be writing his memoirs for the first of a number of times in the series
* In the flashback to Magnum and Michelle’s after-wedding drink with T.C. and Rick, Rick’s toast line “…And this one is gonna kill ya” just before the explosion is clearly rerecorded in post production – his lips don’t even sync up properly.
* When Higgins delivers the photographs to Magnum in the guesthouse, he says “I don’t know if you’re pulling my leg, as you yanks put it”. There is no need for him to add “as you yanks put it”, as ‘pulling my leg’ is a very common expression here in the UK.
* Channel 5’s “bloody” edit count – only one in this episode – Higgins’ “How bloody curious” after he notices the French Cross hanging around Michelle’s neck in the photo. 5 left this one in, but on the previous shown episode, ‘Tropical Madness’*, they made some very big edits around “bloody”. (* - they were showing the episodes in order, but broadcast ‘Tropical Madness’ before this story so that the two-parter would not be left open while the series took a brief break).
* As mentioned above, my birthday is the same as the one given for Magnum in this episode – albeit 22 years later.
* More abridged commercial breaks on the DVD version – Part I only has one break unabridged (but I lost count as to which one).
* Two-part version:
When Channel 5 broadcast this story in 2002, they showed the two-part version. For those with the DVD version wondering when the end of Part I falls, it is in the church, after Michelle talks to Buck in the confession box, and Colonel Ki gets up to follow her out.
Both parts I & II had the opening credits from a later season! This seems to be where the episodes were later split into two parts and the (then current) opening titles were added, replacing the originals; I have examples of ‘The Rockford Files’ and ‘Starsky & Hutch’ that also have this done.
There is about four minutes missing from Part I, though I am unsure if this is where the episode is split into two halves (many feature-length episodes of the era were shortened when adapted to two-parters) or Channel 5 made this edit themselves. After Magnum wakes up at the beginning from his dream about Michelle, skipped is him muttering “Michelle”, him going for a swim, the dogs chasing him, and the scene in the study, where Higgins is writing his memoirs and Magnum asks him for the camera. The story picks up again as Magnum is taking photos of the car salesman. As I say, I’m not sure if this was a ‘proper’ edit, or one done by Channel 5 (who very occasionally edited for time).
Last edited by Jay-Firestorm on Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/
My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!
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J.J. Walters
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lutherhgillis
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Jay Huguely said TS brougt up the idea that Higgins is the real Robin back in the first or second season. Along that line of thinking, isn't it hilarious that someone who could write pulp romance novels and be wildly successful could not get his personal memoirs published! Too cool...
The fact they kept the characters real and not larger than life is an element that helped the show be successful.
The fact they kept the characters real and not larger than life is an element that helped the show be successful.
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?
Just watched this last night and have a few questions:
Do we know how Magnum, a Navy SEAL, was not at least investigated for marrying the widow of an NVA Officer? That seems a bit hazardous, no? Sort of "sleeping with the enemy"? Particularly as we are now of the consensus (which settles the issue for me) that Michelle was at least half Vietnamese? Were members of the US military allowed to marry women with close, familial ties to the North Vietnamese?
Sorry for the length, but this is my first post here. Great board.
Do we know how Magnum, a Navy SEAL, was not at least investigated for marrying the widow of an NVA Officer? That seems a bit hazardous, no? Sort of "sleeping with the enemy"? Particularly as we are now of the consensus (which settles the issue for me) that Michelle was at least half Vietnamese? Were members of the US military allowed to marry women with close, familial ties to the North Vietnamese?
Sorry for the length, but this is my first post here. Great board.
Ok, time to de-flub this one.Near the beginning of the episode, Magnum is taking photos while on a divorce case. After taking several shots, he has second thoughts about the case and chucks the film into the harbor! Suddenly, he sees Michelle on a boat and starts snapping pictures of her. Of course, there would have been no film in the camera! (Noted by CliffW)
In the shot of Magnum after he takes photos of "Romeo & Juliet", he finishes the roll, rolls it back into the film cartridge, opens the back of the camera, and then puts that exposed roll of film in his shirt pocket. He immediately bends down, grabs another roll of film, opens the rubberized plastic tube, and just starts to pull out a small length of the film for feeding into the spooler, then the camera cuts away back to "Romeo & Juliet". While we did not see him specifically load the film, his actions prior to the cut away are exactly what one does when reloading a 35mm SLR camera. So, yes, Magnum DID have film in his camera before he shot the photos of Michelle on the yacht. Boy, now do I feel old...
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IKnowWhatYoureThinking
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You bring up a good point. Maybe it was something that happened and they didn't go into detail on it, or it could've been something that was just ignored by the writers.Xenos wrote:Just watched this last night and have a few questions:
Do we know how Magnum, a Navy SEAL, was not at least investigated for marrying the widow of an NVA Officer? That seems a bit hazardous, no? Sort of "sleeping with the enemy"? Particularly as we are now of the consensus (which settles the issue for me) that Michelle was at least half Vietnamese? Were members of the US military allowed to marry women with close, familial ties to the North Vietnamese?
Sorry for the length, but this is my first post here. Great board.