Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii (1) (1.1)

[brianw]

I was only seven in 1980, but the entire first scene, with TM breaking into the estate and stealing the Ferrari, absolutely hooked me. I remember wanting to dress like TM, wearing shorts and polo shirts, and I wanted a pair of those low top Pumas sooooooo bad. The show was a huge part of my childhood. I love the early episodes just because they were more "cool", that is about the only way I can explain it. Its funny seeing Pamela Susan Shoop in there, as the only thing I knew her from for many years was Halloween 2 (1981).

[Gorilla Mask]

Hello to Everyone,

The first remembrance i had of this in 1981 (in France Magnum Pi was broadcasted with one year delay) was the the close up on Dan's ring, hung fingers on the grating and Magnum's 308 passing along in the background. Great sighting !

This Prologue presents some good and inspired contents for the success of the serie:

- rich bacgkground for main characters (especially with US Vietnam conflict in mind);
- Some nice lines of dialogue between them, Always sharing a good drop of sense of humour;
- some glamourous sights (the twin stewardess, the ferrari, the seaside estate…);
- A jazzy and disco soundtrack (while somewhat too 'seventies' for a few).

However, the plot had issues and seems streched in some ways. The script a bit slow paced and some transitions could have been more worked out, from my point of view.

Finally a good introduction for an emblematic serie that , afterwards, would only get higher and higher !

I have questions about two "french related" contents:

- the big villain is named "Philippe" or the french nickname "La Bulle". Did someone fond some explaination of these choices ? Is it related to French 1946-1954 French Indochine war ? The nickname "La bulle" (The Bubble in english) do not seems to refer to anything relevant for me.

- The "Croix de Lorraine", as you surely know, is the French Resistance symbol and is attached to General de Gaulle: why such a (good ) choice ?

thanks.

[Pahonu]

Hello to Everyone,

The first remembrance i had of this in 1981 (in France Magnum Pi was broadcasted with one year delay) was the the close up on Dan's ring, hung fingers on the grating and Magnum's 308 passing along in the background. Great sighting !

This Prologue presents some good and inspired contents for the success of the serie:

- rich bacgkground for main characters (especially with US Vietnam conflict in mind);
- Some nice lines of dialogue between them, Always sharing a good drop of sense of humour;
- some glamourous sights (the twin stewardess, the ferrari, the seaside estate…);
- A jazzy and disco soundtrack (while somewhat too 'seventies' for a few).

However, the plot had issues and seems streched in some ways. The script a bit slow paced and some transitions could have been more worked out, from my point of view.

Finally a good introduction for an emblematic serie that , afterwards, would only get higher and higher !

I have questions about two "french related" contents:

- the big villain is named "Philippe" or the french nickname "La Bulle". Did someone fond some explaination of these choices ? Is it related to French 1946-1954 French Indochine war ? The nickname "La bulle" (The Bubble in english) do not seems to refer to anything relevant for me.

- The "Croix de Lorraine", as you surely know, is the French Resistance symbol and is attached to General de Gaulle: why such a (good ) choice ?

thanks.

Welcome,

I don’t believe there’s any definitive explanation that has been uncovered about your questions. There are some possibilities that seem to fit. Philippe appears older than the others on “the team” so he may have participated in the French Indochina War when younger, presumably for the French. “The team” is not a regular unit in the military as explained by Magnum’s military intelligence role, and it includes non-American individuals. There were Americans participating in the French Indochina War indirectly under US Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, so why not French citizens participating in the Vietnam War. Australians were there in small numbers. If I had to guess, I’d say the character was written as a French soldier by Bellisario simply because it was a former French colony. I would say the same about choosing the croix. It’s a stylistic choice mostly but with a known connection to France. I’ve no idea about choosing the names La Bulle or Philippe other than they are French. There’s a thread somewhere here discussing the name La Bulle.

[Gorilla Mask]

Thanks a lot Pahonu for answering and your welcoming !

Well of course since TM was active member of "Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG)" (accordingly to the data on MM website), i should have figured out that Philippe and some others were french special forces acting as 'scouts' for americans A-teams in Cambodge ("Daniel Boone" opérations around 1967) or Laos after 1969.

From that point of view, the pilot would have gain in realism explaining a bit more all of this background. Of course that is difficult withing an 45 minutes episode. however, It would have been feasible in the span of the nearly two hours pilot.

The "Croix de Lorraine" is a very stylistic and meaningfull symbol however. very good point choosing it.

Concerning "La bulle topic" i've omitted, my apologies. i will search the forum for it. I am new, so i've not 'embraced' yet all the great data of it !

Best regards.

[txz045]

I'd like to say thanks for the website, this forum, the contributor's to all the episode discussions, all the devoted fans. I'm a long time reader here. Magnum P.I. forever!

[Tuan Vu from Hawaii]

Wonderful beginning to the Magnum, P.I. series, but I don't understand something. How did Philippe get back from Vietnam, and why didn't he try to contact his team when he returned? And so Philippe comes back from Vietnam and turns to a life of crime and it just so happens he gets involved in a crime that Dan Cook just coincidentally found out about?

In the ending scene, Magnum says that Alice promised she would be back and he said the time would be right for them to be together. However, I think Alice never comes back during the entire Magnum, P.I. series.

Anyway, still a great episode with so many iconic moments, like Magnum looking at the camera and driving onto the road and the chopper flying turning and flying away from the camera over the ocean.

[Tuan Vu from Hawaii]

I'd like to say thanks for the website, this forum, the contributor's to all the episode discussions, all the devoted fans. I'm a long time reader here. Magnum P.I. forever!

This is the best fan website I have ever seen! I like how easy it is to go to other posts, and how it updates episode ratings when someone rates an episode, and how you are notified when someone responds to your comments. I don't know who set up this website, but it is fantastic!

[steveadl]

Wonderful beginning to the Magnum, P.I. series, but I don't understand something. How did Philippe get back from Vietnam, and why didn't he try to contact his team when he returned? And so Philippe comes back from Vietnam and turns to a life of crime and it just so happens he gets involved in a crime that Dan Cook just coincidentally found out about?

In the ending scene, Magnum says that Alice promised she would be back and he said the time would be right for them to be together. However, I think Alice never comes back during the entire Magnum, P.I. series.

Anyway, still a great episode with so many iconic moments, like Magnum looking at the camera and driving onto the road and the chopper flying turning and flying away from the camera over the ocean.

I take it more as Philippe was captured but made it out at some point, then started a new life in Vietnam with contacts developed there, becoming a drug lord who then exported to the US etc. I didn't take the episode as him being based in US. Dan stumbled upon Philippe's organization when doing the routine investigation into an MIA.

The one thing I never got about this episode was the thugs took Dan straight from the airport and beat him, then killed him. Yet before that, they somehow managed to get him to swallow bags of cocaine before, yet there was no bruising evident in the autopsy etc...

[Aloha Friday]

If you can only have one episode of Magnum PI, this one would be my pick. The opening is great...would have been better to show the thugs stuffing the drugs down LT Cook's throat, but that might have been too much for 1980 TV. Great introduction to the various characters and you can see how many have changed over the years.

[Pahonu]

I just watched the opening of the pilot for perhaps the twentieth time tonight and I still found some interesting things to comment on. I find it to be such a tightly edited, well done sequence, and a great introduction to the show. I’ll attach photos below to go along with my comments. First, the Ferrari backing out at high speed down the long and twisty entrance drive is impressive by any stretch. It comes very close to the fence by the entrance drive at the gate house, before changing from reverse into forward. A small mistake would have damaged a very expensive automobile!

https://ibb.co/crcVXNY
https://ibb.co/NjxCnRH
https://ibb.co/RpF3CdC
https://ibb.co/4VCD102

Then, the scene continues with the Ferrari going through the entrance gates. It is much closer than it appears and is also in the one continuous shot with one of the lads getting held up by the closing of the gates. The timing for such a single shot is amazing!

https://ibb.co/DbRh7J2
https://ibb.co/6YxJLqP

Finally, when TM arrives at the estate later after missing picking up Dan Cook, the stewardesses “subdue” the lads and invite him into the tidal pool. I never noticed that they actually took the lads on their leashes into the tidal pool with them!

https://ibb.co/DQ6D35c

[Pahonu]

Something else I noticed in the final minutes of part one of the pilot in the guesthouse, are all these fan-shaped lights. There must be at least six, possibly seven. I recall the one by the front door and it appeared in several early episodes of season one before the hat rack debuted, but I don’t recall all the others throughout the space, in the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. They all disappeared pretty quickly it seems.

https://ibb.co/CJ8zmPp
https://ibb.co/frXNzFV
https://ibb.co/FXmN0p6
https://ibb.co/r0KKbzj
https://ibb.co/BNQFjwk
https://ibb.co/C8cZBjw

[Elroy]

The opening is great...would have been better to show the thugs stuffing the drugs down LT Cook's throat, but that might have been too much for 1980 TV.

This already happened in 1978 with the film “The Wild Geese”. That's where Roger Moore did it. but it would definitely have been too early for television.

[Nikita70]

Revisited this one last night. The Blu-ray looks great. As mentioned elsewhere, he is wearing the Chronosport without numbers on the dial. I wonder when they switched to the Chronosport with numbers, and why.
I also really wish Millcreek had kept the original opening credits with the original theme.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Revisited this one last night. The Blu-ray looks great. As mentioned elsewhere, he is wearing the Chronosport without numbers on the dial. I wonder when they switched to the Chronosport with numbers, and why.
I also really wish Millcreek had kept the original opening credits with the original theme.

What do you mean about original theme? You're saying the Mill Creek Blu-Rays are using the Mike Post theme for the pilot episode? If so that's really shoddy. That's something you expect to see on TV in reruns, not on an official Blu-Ray release.

[Pahonu]

Revisited this one last night. The Blu-ray looks great. As mentioned elsewhere, he is wearing the Chronosport without numbers on the dial. I wonder when they switched to the Chronosport with numbers, and why.
I also really wish Millcreek had kept the original opening credits with the original theme.

What do you mean about original theme? You're saying the Mill Creek Blu-Rays are using the Mike Post theme for the pilot episode? If so that's really shoddy. That's something you expect to see on TV in reruns, not on an official Blu-Ray release.

To add, the original jazzy theme wasn’t just from the pilot. A shortened version was used in the first eight or so episodes, following the revving Ferrari.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JumPsCbB7rQ

I always enjoyed the original theme in the pilot, particularly because the credits very creatively included the croix motif in the visuals.