Shocking Flubs!

[eeyore]

Thanks everyone! As you can tell, Sophia, I tend to notice the cars too!
One thing I have noticed in terms of cars is how often that powder blue VW shows up in the background. It may have been the same one as Magnum's in the flashback in Dream A Little Dream? I've always wondered if it belonged someone on the crew and they used it as needed to fill in when they needed an extra car.

[J.J. Walters]

Also on Ghost Writer, near the end when the bad guys are following magnum and company and entering the room where the real Harold Farber is frozen, the writing on the door is backwards, they flipped the film!

I dropped a line to our friend Pete Ishkanian, Universal film editor and former MPI film editor, about this pic. He said in the industry this is called a "flop-over", and they are almost always intentional (usually to "cheat" shots). He said it is VERY difficult to have something like this (i.e. film getting flipped, or reversed) happen by accident. He also said it is very unusual for a shot to be "flopped-over" that has visible letters in it (for obvious reasons). He couldn't think of one logical reason as to why this particular shot was flipped!

So there you have it.

[Tralfaz]

Could it simply have been flipped so that the door 'Hinging' matched the shot inside the room?

Guessing, as I don't have the ep. handy.


T

[rubber chicken]

Nice inside information!

[eeyore]

Interesting, but confusing!

[eeyore]

Didn't this flopping incident also happen on the famous shot of Magnum wiggling his eyebrows in the opening credits (from the China Doll epsidode?) Some one posted about it here?

[eeyore]

When TC flies Tyler to the island where the rich "mogul"
lives, as they take off there is a sign on the fence behind them that says Island Hoppers. The chopper flies off and the view lowers enough that the fence comes back into sight. The sign now reads Ali Wai Heliport, or something to that effect.

[Vanity]

Today I was watching a rerun on TV of the episode "Who is Don Luis Higgins, and Why is He Doing These Terrible Things to Me?" (funny feeling watching it in French again).

To my big surprise, on the end credits, they put the one from the episode Operation: Silent Night .

As I hardly watch MPI on TV runs but pretty much only on DVD, I was wondering whether this is a flub that happens often.

Second question; who’s to blame ? Did we, French, buy it with the mistaken credit pics or did we blow it while editing it (if edited). Not even the same season.

[MPS]

Looking at the quotes from Transitions, Season 8

Magnum: I guess the earliest memory I have of my grandfather Sullivan is the kind of heart-to-heart talk we had while walking by the Rappahannock River when I was six years old. We used to hunt for wild asparagus down by the river to take home to my mom to cook for dinner.

Why does Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV have a grandfather Sullivan? Unless his mother's maiden name was Sullivan this doesn't work. If his dad is TSM III, this suggests that one grandfather was TSM II ,and that the Sullivan came from the paternal side of the old family tree.

Throw a grandfather named Everett into the mix and it becomes quite confusing.

[Doc Ibold]

Looking at the quotes from Transitions, Season 8

Magnum: I guess the earliest memory I have of my grandfather Sullivan is the kind of heart-to-heart talk we had while walking by the Rappahannock River when I was six years old. We used to hunt for wild asparagus down by the river to take home to my mom to cook for dinner.

Why does Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV have a grandfather Sullivan? Unless his mother's maiden name was Sullivan this doesn't work. If his dad is TSM III, this suggests that one grandfather was TSM II ,and that the Sullivan came from the paternal side of the old family tree.

Throw a grandfather named Everett into the mix and it becomes quite confusing.

Magnum does have a tangled family tree, but let me try to decipher it.

The Sullivan side is the maternal side.
Grandpa Everett was a Sullivan
Phoebe Sullivan married into the family to some relation to Magnum's Mom (Uncle Sully - I guess because his name was "Sullivan")



The grandfather we see in "Resolutions" is Thomas Sullivan Magnum II, Magnum's dad is the III, and Magnum himself is the IV, which is odd because on some episodes, his license says the III.

And to further muck everything up Thomas Sullivan Magnum the III married a woman whos last name was Sullivan!

[higgybaby1]

Ive noticed this same mix up after finishing season eight and its simply a mistake from all that I can gather. Pretty bad continuity editing!

[IslandHopper]

Magnum does have a tangled family tree, but let me try to decipher it.

The Sullivan side is the maternal side.
Grandpa Everett was a Sullivan
Phoebe Sullivan married into the family to some relation to Magnum's Mom (Uncle Sully - I guess because his name was "Sullivan")



The grandfather we see in "Resolutions" is Thomas Sullivan Magnum II, Magnum's dad is the III, and Magnum himself is the IV, which is odd because on some episodes, his license says the III.

And to further muck everything up Thomas Sullivan Magnum the III married a woman whos last name was Sullivan!

Hey Doc,

I guess you can add Magnum's Uncle Tom to the mix. This is the uncle who is the elevator repairman from "Paper War." Obviously, he must be Magnum's mother's brother since Magnum's dad is also named Tom.

[Doc Ibold]

Magnum does have a tangled family tree, but let me try to decipher it.

The Sullivan side is the maternal side.
Grandpa Everett was a Sullivan
Phoebe Sullivan married into the family to some relation to Magnum's Mom (Uncle Sully - I guess because his name was "Sullivan")



The grandfather we see in "Resolutions" is Thomas Sullivan Magnum II, Magnum's dad is the III, and Magnum himself is the IV, which is odd because on some episodes, his license says the III.

And to further muck everything up Thomas Sullivan Magnum the III married a woman whos last name was Sullivan!

Hey Doc,

I guess you can add Magnum's Uncle Tom to the mix. This is the uncle who is the elevator repairman from "Paper War." Obviously, he must be Magnum's mother's brother since Magnum's dad is also named Tom.

IH, I think your sig says it all

[SelleckLover]

If memory serves me correctly, regarding Magnum's Uncle Otis that was the elevator repair man...doesn't Higgins ask TM if he really had an uncle named Otis that repaired elevators? And doesn't Magnum say "No."? (I could be wrong ) So doesn't that make Uncle Otis fictional?

[MaximRecoil]

I saw in an earlier post about weapons flubs. Well I've got a major flub about Magnums handgun, the M1911A1, .45ACP.

Magnum's gun was a Colt Government Model, probably a Series 70.

Starting in 1911, the US military adopted the Colt M1911A1 .45ACP as their standard sidearm.

The M1911 was adopted in 1911. The M1911A1 was adopted in or around 1926 (hard to pin down an exact date because there was a transitional period).

The gun that the military issued to it's soldiers and sailors had a "parkerized" finish (a dull greenish color with no shine to it at all). Magnums gun has a "blued" finish(a nice pretty shiny gun).

Military parkerized finishes on M1911A1s (and refinished M1911s or M1911/M1911A1 hybrids) range from nearly black to grey to greenish-grey, depending on the manufacturer and the date of manufacture.

There were 3 types of original finishes for the military .45s. All M1911s were blued. Most M1911A1s were parkerized. A few M1911A1s were blued or had the "Du-Lite" finish.

Few M1911A1s were produced for the military from the time the 'A1 changes were adopted in the mid '20s until 1941. The few 'A1s that were produced for the military during this time were blued the same as the M1911s had been. Production of 'A1s went into high gear in 1941 due to the U.S. involvement in WWII, and it was also at this time that they were parkerized (or given the similar Du-Lite finish which is also a matte finish). That's why most military .45s you see are parkerized, because the bulk of them were produced between '41 and '45, and ones made earlier than that were often refinished by military armorers, and so ended up being parkerized as well.

On the subject of Magnum's gun, he DEFINITELY used a millitary spec 1911.

Incorrect. He used a commercial Colt Government Model.

There are four basic types of 1911 pistols. The millitary spec 1911, the civilian series 70, the civilian series 80, and the civilian spec 1991. The millitary spec 1911 is just what it implies, the millitary version of the pistol. However the millitary version wasn't only available in the "parkerized" as shown by this photo, and no, their is no way that the "parkerized" finish wore off the entire gun;

The series 70 guns were made from the early 70's until 1983. The series 80 gun was then made from '83-'88, the 1991 from '91 until now. There is no way Magnum ever (at least from the episodes I've seen and assuming the same gun was used through out the series) used a series 70 or 80 series gun as the front sight was SUBSTANTIALLY taller than the millitary spec. There's just no way, it would stick out like a sore thumb. Also, clearly he didn't use the 1991 as it wasn't made until the show had ended.

Basically my point is that TM used a millitary spec 1911. From what I've seen there's no way it was ever a series 70 or 80.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it !

First of all, the "M1991A1" really isn't a distinct type of gun. It was simply a budget version of the Colt Government Model Series 80 (it was indeed a Series 80 mechanically). It had a matte blue finish, and a mixture of M1911 and M1911A1 type elements (namely a long trigger and flat mainspring housing ala M1911 with the rest being M1911A1 type).

The current M1991A1 is only named that in the Colt catalog; you won't find it anywhere on the gun. They've done away with the "budget" aspect of it and it is simply marked as a Series 80 Government Model, essentially the same as the ones produced prior to the "enhanced" Government Models (now called the "XSE" series) which came out in the mid-'90s.

Now you are correct that a military .45 can be found in both blued and parkerized finishes (as well as "Du-Lite"), as I spoke about in response to the other poster.

However, you are wrong about the sights. Colt Government Models used mil-spec sights from the time of their introduction in 1912 right up until the early/mid '90s, at which time the Government Model and newly introduced "M1991A1" (dumb name BTW) received larger sights, and got the 3 white dot treatment.

All standard Colt Government Models manufactured during or before the Magnum P.I. series had the small mil-spec sights the same as a military-issue .45 did. My Series 80 Colt Government Model which I bought new in '91 also has mil-spec sights. The Colt Government Model that replaced it on the shelf after I bought mine had larger 3-dot sights, as this was around the time of the changeover.

Now, here is why Magnum's gun was a Colt Government Model (probably a Series 70) rather than a military-issue M1911A1:

- Lowered ejection port

- No lanyard loop on the bottom of the mainspring housing

- Full-shelf thumb safety (half-shelf thumb safety on M1911A1s)

- Silver-colored trigger in the manner of '60s and '70s manufactured Colt Government Models (blued or parkerized triggers on military .45s)

- Polished blued finish with matte radiuses (matte parkerized finish on most M1911A1s; no military .45 ever had the commercial Colt-style polished flats/matte radiuses treatment)

- Blued barrel with chamber hood left "in the white" (completely blued
barrel and chamber hood on M1911A1s)

- Blued hammer with the sides left "in the white" (completely parkerized or blued hammer on M1911A1s)