Magnum Mania!

Hold on to your seat folks. This is a big one!

I've been corresponding with a former MPI crew member recently who wishes to remain anonymous. This crew member ("CM") started out as a P.A. and moved through many different departments - grip, electric, set dressing, props and wardrobe. Anyway, "CM" is going to be moving from Hawaii at some point in the future and would like to offload some of the "Magnum Stuff" he/she has in storage. "CM" would like to know if anybody is interested in some of the following memorabilia:

- Hundreds of hours of dailies ("CM" may be able to transfer to DVD!)
- "Behind the Scenes" video (including Cast & Crew "home movies")
- Numerous scripts
- Production stills
- Ferrari "Robin 1" Hawaii License Plate
- Hawaiian Tiki Statue ("All Thieves on Deck")
- Hockey Mask ("I Never Wanted... France Anyway")
- Magnum's Aloha Shirt ("Memories are Forever")
- Magum's Airplane Strut Pipe, He used to lift plane off legs ("Solo Flight")
- Magnum's Broken Ray Ban Sunglasses ("Solo Flight")
- Magnum's Glass AAPI Award Plaque ("Transitions")
- Magnum's Rubber Chicken!
- Magnum's Paperback Book ("Treasure of Kalaniopu'u")

"CM" says there is even more, but he/she needs to go through the storage to make a complete inventory!

Now, I know what you are thinking (!) and you may be right. It's all too good to be true, right? "CM" is just jerking my chain, right? Well, that COULD be the case. I can only tell you this - (1) I've been corresponding with "CM" via email for a little while now. I'm not getting any "scam vibes" from him/her. (2) "CM" is indeed in Hawaii and has a "legitimate" email account (which can be spoofed, but with difficulty). (3) Certain things have been said by "CM" which lead me to believe he/she is legitimate. But again, I can't say with 100% certainly that "CM" is legit at this point.

So, how does one go about obtaining some of these items? What are the prices? "CM" doesn't have any pricepoints yet. To quote "CM", he/she wasn't sure if anybody would be interested! "CM" will be creating a web-based email account to open up lines of communication. I'll let you know what that is as soon as I get it. "CM" would send the stuff via USPS Registered & Insured. "CM" also mentioned MAYBE putting some of the stuff up on eBay, as well.

I'm in, I would love the 'behind the scenes' stuff!!!! I would gladly run copies for anyone as well.

I hope they decide against ebay, it could get quite expensive to buy these item if they decide to list them.

Sounds pretty good!

Must agree with Miss Q, putting the items on ebay may cause prices to go way up.

Please keep us posted, James.

Wow. That would be fantastic James!!!

All of those items are all priceless IMO! My favorites on the list would be viewing the dailies and the behind the scenes videos.

That sounds like a great idea. I see a fw items there that I wouldn't mind owning!

Oh

My

GOD!!!!!

I'd love to see the $ amount slapped on these. Copies of behinds the scenes stuff would be sweet as well. The kicker for me? The Tiki Statue. I'm thinking that would be a nice addition to my backyard tiki bar!

Thanks for the info James!!!!

Maybe we can do the footage as a 'group' purchase and each pay for a portion... that would keep the cost down, then we can just burn copies...

that wasy we wont bid against each other as well...

Holy Schnikeys!

Keep me posted on this!

Man!!! Sounds too good to be true!! Behind the scenes stuff!!!

Maybe we can do the footage as a 'group' purchase and each pay for a portion... that would keep the cost down, then we can just burn copies...

Good idea, Miss Q
For me,I` d love to have stuff like this, but surely it would be too expensive.

Yes, yes, and yes!

Also, all items are to have a proof of provenance from the studio.

Holy cow. If that guy is for real, some of that stuff is worth a small fortune if it could be authenticated. For example, the Aloha shirt, one of those is in the Smithsonian; I can only imagine what one would go for on the open market. I can see the ROBIN 1 license plate and the rubber chicken going for big money too, because they are so closely associated with Magnum PI (I wonder if the rubber chicken is decapitated with its head taped back on?)

The dailies, behind the scenes footage, and home movies would be very interesting to watch. I can see the originals of those going for a lot of money too, though copies would be relatively cheap. However, "hundreds" of hours? That would be a lot of work to transfer to DVD, given that you can only fit a few hours of decent quality video on a single DVD, and they would need to be captured, encoded, and authored to DVD format if they are on video tape (most likely they are on Betacam), or telecined and authored if they are on film (not just any ham n' egger has access to a telecine machine). Magnum PI was shot on film (unlike some of the cheaper production shows of the era which were shot on Betacam 1/2" video tape), but I don't know if they would have used film for the dailies, behind the scenes footage, and home movies.

So even if someone does go through the time, effort, and expense (expense would be an issue if the footage was on film and a telecine machine was needed), you're still talking lots and lots of DVDs to contain it all (more time and expense, especially if done with factory pressed DVDs—at the very least, a multi-burner "burning station" would be needed because one-at-a-time would take forever just to make copies for one person).

Wow, I'm really anxious to find out more about these items. It's a treasure trove of Magnum Memorabilia!


--Sammy

I would be VERY intrested in this !!!

Hi guys!

"CM" has sent me some pics of a couple of items. I can't say what they are, but it certainly looks legit. These would be items that would be very difficult and timeconsuming to forge. But again, it's possible.

I talked to "CM" about the authenticity issue and he/she understands the concerns we have. It appears that the studio is "out of the loop" on all of this stuff as far as what remains in Oahu from the show. It's just sitting in storage. "CM" says the studio won't be much help as far as "Certificate of Authenticity" goes.

Regarding the film transfers to DVD, "CM" says that he/she can do it, so I assume he/she has access to the proper equipment. I don't he/she will transfer ALL of the dailies, just a sampling of them, but I don't really know for sure.

So, here's the situation - "CM" is going to go through the remaining stuff that is in storage soon. He/she is going to get a final inventory and a bunch of pics of the stuff. I think "CM" may actually post them in here him/her self, but I'm not 100% sure. At that point, people will be open to correspond with him/her via email about inquiring products. It still seems like he/she is open to direct transactions vs. the eBay route. There is no time frame on this, but it appears that it will happen in the very near future. I'll keep you posted.

Just my observation, and I hope I'm wrong, but every MPI prop I've seen come across ebay, or most of them, have had a studio tag on them indicating that the item was at one time the respective studio's property. If it's too good to be true, I fear, it is.

Again, I hope I'm wrong.