How would they have handled 9/11 on Magnum PI?

[ConchRepublican]

Today being the day it is, 15 years later, I was wondering as I strolled through the boards "what would Magnum do?"

The series always had a respectful tone towards sacrifice and while that was often focused on the military aspect of things, like Pearl Harbor in Lest We Forget and Almost Home or the Holocaust in Never Again .... Never Again, And while Thomas would butt heads with one branch of the civilian services, he did respect the police and I would think he'd also have the same feeling for the Fire Department. A brothers in arms camaraderie.

But what angle would the show take? Would it be a somber tone tying into a small personal connection? Helping someone find out about a family member?

Or would it be a bit more vengeful, like breaking up a terrorist cell or tracking down another set of hijackers who weren't able to follow through with their portion of the attack.

Maybe that's it . . . Buck has Intel but his hands are tied, he needs an unofficial proxy to track down a cell that was to fly two other planes, one into the Golden Gate Bridge and the other into something important in L.A., but couldn't make it work and are now on the Islands trying to make their way to Indonesia.

What do you think the show would do? If anything?

[Styles Bitchley]

Maybe that's it . . . Buck has Intel but his hands are tied, he needs an unofficial proxy to track down a cell that was to fly two other planes, one into the Golden Gate Bridge and the other into something important in L.A., but couldn't make it work and are now on the Islands trying to make their way to Indonesia.

This might have been an episode in a later season. I think if it were an earlier season it would be something like a woman who lost her husband in 9/11 sees him walk by on a news program street shot in Honolulu (maybe something about a nationally significant storm or some research out of the University. She's convinced it's him even though he was in one of the towers and never came home. Turns out he was working for a little known company that did classified government contracting. Mag would assure her that it was just someone who looks like him, but he'd look into it just to ease her mind. Things quickly pick up from there. The denouement would be sombre with Tom visiting the site on 9/11. You'll have to fill in what happens in between with your own plot!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Today being the day it is, 15 years later, I was wondering as I strolled through the boards "what would Magnum do?"

Hi Conch,
You might do a stand alone tv movie, with the jet that hit the Pentagon killing the now DC based Captain Magnum's co-workers.
Magnum later finds evidence linking several of the Saudi embassy officials who were also members of the royal family to the terrorists, but they are allowed to flee by callow politicians buckling under to geo-political Big Oil considerations.
Which almost certainly was the case in reality. Under tremendous pressure from the King of Saudi Arabia a special charter plane - the only non military plane in North America allowed in the air - was allowed to fly out suspect Saudi big wigs. Our noble Allies.
A truly shameful episode that the then powers that be never even attempted to explain. But hey when your family name of Saud is put in front of your own country's name indicating ownership, you get treated special.
But I digress.
Fast forward 10 years and we find a vacationing Magnum in London, meeting the retired Higgins in the fabled American Bar in the Savoy Hotel.
Across the bar is one of the Saudi royals Magnum had linked to 911.
Fast forward to Hyde Park at dawn, Magnum asking the Prince if he had seen the sunrise.
"Give my regards to Ivan" Magnum softly says.

[ConchRepublican]

Maybe that's it . . . Buck has Intel but his hands are tied, he needs an unofficial proxy to track down a cell that was to fly two other planes, one into the Golden Gate Bridge and the other into something important in L.A., but couldn't make it work and are now on the Islands trying to make their way to Indonesia.

This might have been an episode in a later season. I think if it were an earlier season it would be something like a woman who lost her husband in 9/11 sees him walk by on a news program street shot in Honolulu (maybe something about a nationally significant storm or some research out of the University. She's convinced it's him even though he was in one of the towers and never came home. Turns out he was working for a little known company that did classified government contracting. Mag would assure her that it was just someone who looks like him, but he'd look into it just to ease her mind. Things quickly pick up from there. The denouement would be sombre with Tom visiting the site on 9/11. You'll have to fill in what happens in between with your own plot!

I can absolutely see this!

[KingKC]

I really think MPI was too Vietnam/Southeast Asian oriented to even try to transition to Middle Eastern terrorism plot. Those are two completely different eras of American history and communism/cold war themes don't really mix with current war-like issues. JMHO

[Fr. Paddy McGuinness]

With all due respect, I have to disagree with you there. I was an Army Officer for 26 years. If I ever had a complaint about MPI it was that at times it undersold the professionalism and worldliness of a career Officer (and yes, Magnum's 10 years of active duty is career Officer). There were things that really rubbed me the wrong way. Silly things, like Magnum not knowing how to tie a Windsor knot. A Windsor knot is the regulation tie knot of the service academies. I think much of that was the result of Bellasario leaving the show. I'm wandering now, my point Is that we always focused on the thought that we did our nation's business. The enemy or the conflict did not matter, the threat was our focus. The men who trained and led me as a young Officer were all Vietnam veterans. They had served multiple tours there, yet they were laser focused on the Cold War. As a young Officer I spent a lot of time running around Germany in REFORGER exercises waiting for the Soviets to come through the Fulda Gap with 5,000 tanks. Yet I spent 10 of my last 13 years living in the Hindu Kush or the Diyala Province fighting an insurgent war with a rifle and a rucksack. The Army is already moving on from current operations and those young Officers I led are preparing for tomorrow's fight. An Officer goes where the fight takes him. It doesn't really matter who the enemy is or what the threat is. There were many times in the more introspective episodes where the Magnum character perfectly captured that ethos. The character as it was developed in the more serious episodes would have no problem adapting to today's fight.

[ConchRepublican]

With all due respect, I have to disagree with you there. I was an Army Officer for 26 years. If I ever had a complaint about MPI it was that at times it undersold the professionalism and worldliness of a career Officer (and yes, Magnum's 10 years of active duty is career Officer). There were things that really rubbed me the wrong way. Silly things, like Magnum not knowing how to tie a Windsor knot. A Windsor knot is the regulation tie knot of the service academies. I think much of that was the result of Bellasario leaving the show. I'm wandering now, my point Is that we always focused on the thought that we did our nation's business. The enemy or the conflict did not matter, the threat was our focus. The men who trained and led me as a young Officer were all Vietnam veterans. They had served multiple tours there, yet they were laser focused on the Cold War. As a young Officer I spent a lot of time running around Germany in REFORGER exercises waiting for the Soviets to come through the Fulda Gap with 5,000 tanks. Yet I spent 10 of my last 13 years living in the Hindu Kush or the Diyala Province fighting an insurgent war with a rifle and a rucksack. The Army is already moving on from current operations and those young Officers I led are preparing for tomorrow's fight. An Officer goes where the fight takes him. It doesn't really matter who the enemy is or what the threat is. There were many times in the more introspective episodes where the Magnum character perfectly captured that ethos. The character as it was developed in the more serious episodes would have no problem adapting to today's fight.

That's pretty much where I was going with the question and how would the writer's work it in.

Thank you for your service!!