Legend of the Lost Art (8.10)

[Jay-Firestorm]

A nice fun episode – can’t believe I’ve only got a couple more to go now!

[rating=9.0]

Higgins wants Magnum to find the ‘Lost Art of the Ancients’, a priceless ancient scroll created by an ancient advanced culture, but the search turns dangerous thanks to several other parties who are also determined to get their hands on the scroll. Great fun…

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‘Legend of the Lost Art’… one of the most well known and best remembered stories of the final season of ‘Magnum, p.i.’.

For those who don’t know the story, Tom Selleck was originally to have played Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (filmed 1980, released 1981). However, filming conflicted with the beginning of ‘Magnum’, and he had to choose between the two. Of course, he chose MPI, but ironically, the filming of MPI was delayed until late 1980 due to a writer’s strike, which meant that he would have been free to play Indy anyway!
By way of compensation, and to have fun with what might have been, with the end of the series nigh, this spoof episode was made.

I have heard (or read) some who consider this to be the single greatest episode of MPI. While it is very good, I wouldn’t personally consider it the best ever – it is great fun, but personally I can think of other episodes that appeal to me even more.

At the same time, I think a few people misunderstand this episode, and that it is a deliberate spoof of ‘Raiders…’. Maybe you need to know the story of Selleck *almost* being Indiana Jones to fully appreciate it.

That said, there are some great set pieces. Although I don’t watch the series simply for episode after episode of gun-toting action, one of the things I did feel was missing from later in the show’s run was action and adventure; thankfully, this episode redresses that gripe somewhat.

Amusingly, a number of movies are mentioned within the episode, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is never referenced by name once. A humorous running gag throughout the story is the ‘Lost Art’ continually being wrongly referred to as the ‘Lost Ark’.

I do like this episode; I like it a lot. The only two things I would say against it are that it takes its time to really find it’s footing, and at a couple of points, the plot seems to be shoehorned around the action set pieces. I wonder if it had come from the ‘golden age’ of MPI (third / fourth season) whether it would then be my single favourite episode? (No, I have a feeling the fourth season’s classic opener ‘Home From the Sea’ would still rank as number one in my book).

All-in-all, this is a really fun episode, and I’m glad they made it. Part of me feels that my 9.0 rating is slightly harsh; but I still think it is a fair rating for a very good story.

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* Despite Pete Carpenters death, both he and partner Mike Post are still credited as providing the music. It’s weird – from memory, I remembered only Mike Post being credited on the last few episodes; I guess both of their names still remained.

* More abridged act breaks on the DVD version – one in particular crashes into the next act really clumsily!

* When the boat explodes out of the, the initial far off shot clearly has an explosion effect placed over the top of the film. Cut to close up, which is presumably a smaller scale model.

* If I may mention that other favourite show of mine for a moment, after Tom Selleck being initial choice for Indiana Jones, and Harrison Ford second, I’ve heard rumour that third choice was Dirk “The Faceman” Benedict. Just how true it is, I don’t know.

[Bes]

I love Magnum and enjoy nearly all of the episodes except for a few and I thought this was one of the worst episodes of the series; it's in my bottom 5 actually.

[MACattack]

Every time I watch this episode, I pretend it's an alternate universe and Selleck really is Indiana Jones. But, its very hard to imagine Harrison Ford as Magnum!

[Little Garwood]

"Legend of the Lost Art" is just too much fun for me not to vote it as "Perfect"! It's an eighth season free-for-all, with enough sly asides and goofy jokes to keep me smiling throughout. Every time I see it I'm reminded that Tom was "The Man Who Would Be Indiana Jones." I love how he tosses the jacket and asks Higgins why he had to wear the hat, to which Higgins--in typically brilliant JH delivery--quickly says, "to kep the sun out of your eyes." The slightest hesitation in Hillerman's delivery of the line is hilarious!

I was inspired to watch this episode because I recently picked up an omnibus of Marvel Comics' 1980s Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, which are being reprinted by Dark Horse Comics. Fond memories of these childhood favorites.

[MACattack]

I think the Detroit Tigers hat looks better on Tom instead of the Indiana Jones hat! Just a fashion sense, Selleck could have done the role just as well as Harrison Ford. But, there's no way anybody else could ever play Magnum half as well as TS!

[Carol the Dabbler]

[from Episode Note 1] The episode of commonly referred to as "The Raiders of the Lost Ark Episode".

I think that's a typo, James -- the first "of" should probably be "is" or "was."

[from Episode Note 3] In attempting to figure out Peter Ridley-Smythe's plan, several classic movies are mentioned [including] ... Perils of Nyoka, aka "Nyoka and the Lost Secrets of Hippocrates" (1942).

I believe I've spotted a flub here, though I'll admit it's only a technicality. Magnum says that when he and his fourth-grade classmates watched Nyoka and the Lost Secrets of Hippocrates, they all thought Nyoka had died at the end of Chapter Four -- until it was revealed the following Saturday that she had actually jumped out of the chariot just before it went over the cliff. Clearly, they were watching the 1942 Republic serial. The only problem is, the title of the serial was Perils of Nyoka. According to Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide (I have the 1993 edition), the Hippocrates title was used for a feature-length version re-edited from the serial.

But it just now occurred to me that I can let Magnum (and the writers!) off the hook -- we had already seen him watching what could well have been Hippocrates on his tv. Maybe he said to himself, "Hey, I remember this -- I saw it in fourth grade!" Since he had forgotten the title of the serial, he assumed that it was the same as on his feature-length copy.

[from Episode Note 4] The scroll ... was created by a highly advanced prehistoric group of people ("of small size & gargantuan intellect") called "The Ancients".

This is apparently a reference to the Menuhune.

[from Episode Note 8] Out of the blue "Bogie Rick" returns, complete with white tux and cigarette.

But in this campy episode, it fits so well that I didn't even notice it!

... while paying homage to Raiders they go out of their way to show Magnum clearly never thinking of it as the obvious film being emulated by Ridley-Smythe

Actually, I believe that he does, he just "isn't allowed" to say it. When Connie asks how come he's making the torch out of her clothes instead of his own, he says, "Because I've seen the movie." And just before that, he had said that he had figured out which movie it was. He had mentioned the titles of all his previous guesses -- but not that final one.

Would TS have made a great Indiana Jones? .... Could Harrison Ford have made a great TM? .... I would say TS could have been a huge star in the Indy films and that HF could have been huge in MPI.

I think they could each have been excellent in the other role -- but each of the characters would have changed considerably.

*************

At the beginning of the episode, when TM is going through various parts of the tunnel on his way to the burial chamber, he enters a small room with bats in it. One or more bats fly out past him, but one is left circling in the room. It sure looks to me like it's a fake bat (duh!) tied to a string, being whirled in a circle by a propman on a ladder!


As the chopper approaches the camp by air, we can very clearly see a clearing with a number of structures in it. But once Magnum & Co. are walking around within the camp, everything seems to be covered with camouflage netting. Is that a discrepancy-type flub -- or did the baddies simply do a lousy job with the netting?

[J.J. Walters]

[from Episode Note 4] The scroll ... was created by a highly advanced prehistoric group of people ("of small size & gargantuan intellect") called "The Ancients".

This is apparently a reference to the Menuhune.

Interesting!

In the experimental 1970s Aloha network developed at the University of Hawaii, the packet controllers were called Menehune, a pun on the equivalent IMP (Interface Message Processor) in the early ARPAnet.

The IT guy in me is screaming with laughter!

[timm525]

This was a kinda silly but yet a very fun ep.

I too have/had the Indy game on my Atari 64. I have to go up in the attic and dig that sucker out and see if it still works.

The girl was hot!!! Too bad she wasn't in more eps. I think she would have made a great mommy for Lilly.

Loved the Higgins' "hi-ya" as he gives his "love tap" to the bad guy at the King Kam club. I bust a gut every time I see him do that. And his expression is so serious like he actually believes that "tap" will be anything more than a mosquito attack.

At the estate when TM and Connie kiss, notice that their heads are almost evenly aligned with her slightly lower. My first thought was wow! He's 6'4" and not even bending down to kiss her, she must be a giant! Then in the next scene you see them walking arm in arm on the beach and you can see his chin is over the top of her head. Obviously she was standing on quite a platform to meet his height or else they dug a hole for him!

The shoot out at the estate was good in that TC actually had the forethought to raise the shot gun up instead of crossing TM's body with it after Higgins was shot. You don't always see that detail with guns in TV. Especially back then.

Also got a kick out of TM dropping Riddley Smythe in the tent. Smythe puts up his dukes and TM pops him with a left. That was too funny.

Loved how TM tries to get the guy with the whip but it is too short and he missed and TC shoots the guy instead. Loved the look TC had, rolled his eyes and shook his head as TM says "worked before".

Higgins: "That's it. We've found it. The Ark..."
TM: "Art...Don't you mean Art, Higgins? The lost Art?"
Higgins: "Of course I do. The lost Art is in the Ark."

The match sticks in Higgin's toes was too much not to mention TM's machine gun was empty.

All in all this was a very comical ep. I really enjoyed it. It is in my top 10.

[steveadl]

Had it's funny parts, but not a huge fan of this episode.

Very contrived and movie like in parts - which is fine, I know that's what they were going for. But then to me it would have made more sense to make it all a dream sequence or some other sort of alternate realityy for the episodes sake. So much of the episode was too outlandish to have supposed to be really taking place in the actual lives/Magnum universe of the characters.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You're right, Steve -- it would have been much more "believable" as a dream!

Maybe it was a dream, and they simply neglected to show us the part where Magnum wakes up. (Or Higgins, or whoever's dream it was.)




Or maybe the entire series was just a TV show.

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

The ending elevates this ep a whole lot for me. TS/TM wearing his iconic jungle bird shirt and putting on his Tigers cap is a nod to the fans of the show that Selleck has no regrets about the Indy vs Magnum issue. One of the reasons I love the show so much is that Selleck and the entire cast appear to be having a blast in every episode. He seems to absolutely love this character. Besides, TS probably realized that Thomas Magnum was a much meatier role than Indy anyway. I haven't seen the Indy movies in a long time, but I don't remember them being very thought provoking and MPI often was.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... Thomas Magnum was a much meatier role than Indy anyway. I haven't seen the Indy movies in a long time, but I don't remember them being very thought provoking and MPI often was.

True, the Indiana Jones movies seemed to have no intention of provoking much thought. They were pure action-adventure. However, I always thought that the role of Jones had a fair amount of depth in the first film. I loved the contrast between his shy professor persona and his ruthless soldier of fortune persona. But the subsequent movies not only failed to expand on that, they dropped it entirely. I am intrigued by the thought of what Tom Selleck's Indiana Jones might have been.

[mandolabar]

Higgins is clearly breaking the fourth wall here--is this the only time he does it? Magnum does it all the time, but I can't recall seeing Higgins do it before.

[steveadl]

Higgins is clearly breaking the fourth wall here--is this the only time he does it? Magnum does it all the time, but I can't recall seeing Higgins do it before.

Yeah Higgins has done it a few times, though actual episodes escape me at the moment. Think there is a thread on here somewhere regarding characters other than TM breaking the fourth wall.

[J.J. Walters]

By my count, this was the fourth and final time he broke the fourth wall, following "China Doll", "Never Again ... Never Again" and "The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii". He did it in Seasons One and Eight, with nothing in between! Odd.