Lest We Forget (1.10)

[Danny Lin]

On rubbish:

Not sure I should bring this up but since we have so many critique experts that point out the most intricate details I thought some may appreciate my latest encounter. So........... I did this for you.

During the opening 3 minutes of this EPISODE, LEST WE FORGET, there is a Beach Scene at Night, on a blanket that is a flashback to the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack. There is a guy and girl necking, kissing only, and they go from the ground to standing up. If you look closely, the guy has a full ERECTION inside his shorts as he is standing upright. I kid you not. Before you criticize my post, go view it for yourself and view it in slow motion and you will see for yourself.

According to the credits I have, it is the actor by the name of Miguel Ferrer [episode character name: Ensign Robert 'Bobby' Wickes (1941)]. It could be a substitute fill in but I doubt it, I think he just got aroused and the director ignored it.

Keep in mind I did not look for this bulge in the guy's pants, but it shocked me the director would include this footage thinking the public would not recognize it, likely because it was a nighttime scene.

How disgusting, I thought this was a clean show.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this episode.

I´m sorry but this post is rubbish in any respect...

Hi Danny Lin,
I'm a little confused, was Sisophous's post on this thread, I didn't see it here, or did I somehow miss it? But to the point, I don't think it's fair to criticize the director/editors for missing the bit actor's excited state, they would have been focused on making sure that particular shot advanced the story and was up to snuff quality wise.
However with the advance of technology the average schnook at home can catch things that weren't noticeable in the past. One of Imus's staff members on his radio show said people from President Kennedy(in a bathing suit) in a home movie shown on tv to Joe Flynn in his shorts on McHale's Navy had their wedding tackle exposed, when the shot was slowed down to frame by frame. My reaction to that is yeeecch, unless you are a Joe Flynn groupie(how many females could there be in that club?). In any event as hobbies go perhaps they'd be better off train spotting rather than naughty bits spotting.

Hi, Luther´s Nephew Dobie!
Yupp, Im afraid, you missed it. It was posted on this thread on Friday, Aug 31, 2012, 2:29 am (page 6, 5th post).

Well, there comes someone, using the slow motion to find something nobody would see without the use of slow motion and nobody would be searching for... Then they claim to have found what they were looking for. Then they claim to not have been "looking for this bulge in the guy´s pants", pretending to have found it by accident and finally they come up, commenting: "How disgusting, I thought this was a clean show." !!!??!!!!!

AS IF THIS WAS NOT A TOTALLY "CLEAN" SHOW !!!!!

That post was made in 2012. Since the 90ies everyone finds ANY thinkable sexual content on the internet! Since back then every twelve year old on the planet has seen ANYTHING about sex totally free and at no cost accessible on the web but here comes someone popping up directly from the stone age, giving ridiculous comments about one of the most entertaining TV shows ever made and drags it into the "dirt"!
As if sex wasn´t a part of life as much as eating and sleeping is... On what planet do they live?! That that person claims to be from New York and not even from the bible belt doesn´t make things better.

And finally: Wanting to know if there is anything behind this post, I certainly took my time to check! And...? Aaaaaand... ? Yah, exactly: There´s just simply nothing to find! At all! That sequence is in fact totally "clean"!!

Here´s the mission to anyone on the forum: If someone finds that bulge, screenshot and share it! I´m pretty sure that we all would survive that, wouldn´t we?

And even if it was there: Times of ridiculous prudery ARE OVER!!

...Give me a break...

[Danny Lin]

On an unmentioned flub:

When Magnum at the end of the episode enters the courtyard of the estate through the gate in the little white wall to join the bridge game you see him opening the gate and after he went through it, giving it a push with his right hand. Then you hear the sound the gate makes when it shuts. After a cut Magnum is seen, approaching the bridge round. Behind him the gate is magically as wide open as even possible.

[f14peter]

I just watched this ep last night and of course noticed the altered aspect ratio of the Tora! Tora! Tora! shots at the end. I'm at work right now and will check when I get home, but I really seem to remember that the T!T!T! scenes in the tease had the proper aspect ratio. I notice altered aspect ratios because it drives me frickin' nuts. I totally bailed after two eps on a potentially nice Viet Nam 10-ep documentary series (History or Discovery channel) because every scene from the war (90%+ of the material) was stretched to fill the modern 16x9 TV format.

Maybe flub: When Dutch (as chauffeur) takes the phone call from Maku, the sound of Maku's voice through the phone sounded like some scratchy sped-up gibberish, and didn't stop for Dutch to respond.

UPDATE 4/15: Checked my DVR last night and indeed, the T!T!T! scenes in the tease had original/proper aspect ratio cropped to fit in the 4x3 format ... and the scenes near the end of the ep were horizontally compressed to fit the entirety of the original frame into the 4x3. This is for the VOD version currently on the STARZ Encore channel.

I find this interesting, as the difference can only be either unintentional, or intentional. If unintentional, it wouldn't surprise me if the actual episode and the tease were edited by different people, who took different approaches to how to deal with the difference aspect ratios. If intentional, I suspect it was done to add a surrealistic distortion affect to the "flashback" scenes.

[karolis]

On how the lad came onto the slab:

Don't know if this would count as a flub, but in the early scene where Magnum is narrating that when he needs to think, he swims, he swims up to the big square stone slab in the tidal pool, and Zeus (or Apollo -- he doesn't know which one either) is waiting for him there -- and then does a very ungraceful leap into the water to follow Magnum to shore -- my question is: HOW did Z/A get UP on the slab? It looks too high for him to have leaped or scrambled/climbed up onto it from swimming in the water out to it. And it would be hard to believe that Higgins carried him out there and put him up on it, just to greet Thomas. It makes for a cute scene with Thomas and the dogs, but how did the dog get on the slab?

...

...

By the way, as far as the lad getting up on the slab, when I was there at low tide, the water was only just above my knees at that point. An easy leap for Zeus or Apollo.......

Steve
Chicago

What leads me to the question how the lad is supposed to have gotten onto the slab is in the first place the fact that the dog doesn´t seem to be wet! Possibly I just don´t get it right but the glance of the coat to me looks like the normal glance of a dry Doberman. No water seems to be dripping from the animal. Also the dog holds a paw up in the air, seemingly not wanting it to come into contact with the wet slab.

I believe Magnum did recognise that on the slab is Zeus and he asked him "where's Apollo?" and then he saw Apollo sitting on the beach with his slippers.
And speaking about how Zeus got on the slab - we all wonder how Zeus was dry getting on the slab. I wonder how the towel that Zeus bring to Magnum was dry

[K Hale]

Quite a mystery!

[Pahonu]

I just watched this episode today and noticed something odd. I've probably seen this one 20+ times over the years and enjoy it very much, but I never noticed it before. When Magnum and Kiki get run off the road after being shot at, TC shows up to help. He walks to the front of the car where TM is standing in a ditch of some kind. He looks under the front of the Ferrari and confirms, to Magnum's dismay, that it's a "busted transmission." The 308 is a mid-engine car with the transaxle under the transversely mounted engine behind the cabin. Even the transmission linkage would be only visible from the center of the car to the rear. It seems nearly impossible that TC or anyone could diagnose transmission damage from the nose of the car.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I just watched this episode again. One thing I noticed that I wouldn't have thought twice about the last time I watched this - it was how calmly the military police acted after the high-speed chase through the military base. They didn't even pull their guns, but held their hands on their holsters and calmly walked towards Magnum and Rick. If that chase happened today, the military police would have their weapons drawn and be shouting, "GET ON THE GROUND, NOW!!!! F-ING GET ON THE F-ING GROUND!!!!" then, they'd pile on top of Magnum and Rick, put their knees into their backs or step on their necks. Magnum and Rick would have their faces ground into the pavement and their arms nearly pulled out of their sockets, handcuffed, possibly tasered, as the military police shouted, "STOP RESISTING!!!!" Most likely, Magnum and Rick would have died in a hail of gunfire before they could even explain.

Back then, police and military had common sense, some intellect and common decency.

I just watched this episode today and noticed something odd. I've probably seen this one 20+ times over the years and enjoy it very much, but I never noticed it before. When Magnum and Kiki get run off the road after being shot at, TC shows up to help. He walks to the front of the car where TM is standing in a ditch of some kind. He looks under the front of the Ferrari and confirms, to Magnum's dismay, that it's a "busted transmission." The 308 is a mid-engine car with the transaxle under the transversely mounted engine behind the cabin. Even the transmission linkage would be only visible from the center of the car to the rear. It seems nearly impossible that TC or anyone could diagnose transmission damage from the nose of the car.

Good point. I never noticed that before. TC was definitely just checking the front of the Ferrari.

I believe Magnum did recognise that on the slab is Zeus and he asked him "where's Apollo?" and then he saw Apollo sitting on the beach with his slippers.
And speaking about how Zeus got on the slab - we all wonder how Zeus was dry getting on the slab. I wonder how the towel that Zeus bring to Magnum was dry

When I watched it, I couldn't really tell if the towel is completely dry or not. Maybe it's a bit wet.

My theory is that Zeus went out during low tide when the water wasn't so deep. Magnum was swimming for quite a while (to think) and the tide came in.

(There's a rock on the beach in front of my house, that I like to call "the Magnum rock" that is easily accessible during low tide, but surrounded by water at high tide.)

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I just watched this ep last night and of course noticed the altered aspect ratio of the Tora! Tora! Tora! shots at the end. I'm at work right now and will check when I get home, but I really seem to remember that the T!T!T! scenes in the tease had the proper aspect ratio. I notice altered aspect ratios because it drives me frickin' nuts. I totally bailed after two eps on a potentially nice Viet Nam 10-ep documentary series (History or Discovery channel) because every scene from the war (90%+ of the material) was stretched to fill the modern 16x9 TV format.

They should have used the pan & scan version instead so it would fit the episode better, but maybe they didn't have the rights to that version or they were just quickly slapping the footage in there and didn't care.

Back in the 70's/80's I used to like the occasional squashed aspect ratio. It meant that there was quality film footage there. Now, of course, it does drive me nuts. Apparently, in some countries, they used to play entire Hollywood movies in that squashed format. Here, in the west, it was mostly just title and end sequences and clips.

[Kevster]

I just watched this ep last night and of course noticed the altered aspect ratio of the Tora! Tora! Tora! shots at the end. I'm at work right now and will check when I get home, but I really seem to remember that the T!T!T! scenes in the tease had the proper aspect ratio. I notice altered aspect ratios because it drives me frickin' nuts. I totally bailed after two eps on a potentially nice Viet Nam 10-ep documentary series (History or Discovery channel) because every scene from the war (90%+ of the material) was stretched to fill the modern 16x9 TV format.

They should have used the pan & scan version instead so it would fit the episode better, but maybe they didn't have the rights to that version or they were just quickly slapping the footage in there and didn't care.

Back in the 70's/80's I used to like the occasional squashed aspect ratio. It meant that there was quality film footage there. Now, of course, it does drive me nuts. Apparently, in some countries, they used to play entire Hollywood movies in that squashed format. Here, in the west, it was mostly just title and end sequences and clips.

Are you talking about the letterbox format? Where they use the full width of the image and there is the black bands of no picture at the top and bottom?

You can still get letterbox format for many old movies. With that term, you'll be able to find them.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

They should have used the pan & scan version instead so it would fit the episode better, but maybe they didn't have the rights to that version or they were just quickly slapping the footage in there and didn't care.

Back in the 70's/80's I used to like the occasional squashed aspect ratio. It meant that there was quality film footage there. Now, of course, it does drive me nuts. Apparently, in some countries, they used to play entire Hollywood movies in that squashed format. Here, in the west, it was mostly just title and end sequences and clips.

Are you talking about the letterbox format? Where they use the full width of the image and there is the black bands of no picture at the top and bottom?

You can still get letterbox format for many old movies. With that term, you'll be able to find them.

No, I wasn't talking about letterbox format. I was talking about pan & scan - the image is cut horizontally to fit 4:3 - in correct aspect ratio, but the image is occasionally panned (left or right) to avoid missing important bits of the widescreen image that would be cut off. The squashed aspect ratio format I was talking about was the other (cheaper) pre-letterbox method of fitting widescreen into 4:3, where they just squashed the image horizontally to fit.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

quote="Mad Kudu Buck"]. I was talking about pan & scan - the image is cut horizontally to fit 4:3 - in correct aspect ratio, but the image is occasionally panned (left or right) to avoid missing important bits of the widescreen image that would be cut off. The squashed aspect ratio format I was talking about was the other (cheaper) pre-letterbox method of fitting widescreen into 4:3, where they just squashed the image horizontally to fit.[/quote]

Hi Mad,
I was confused too till you posted the above. Now that I understand your meaning, I would like to point out the absolute worst example of it, in one of the great all time movies no less. At the end of the Great Escape, Hilts(Steve McQueen) is led back to the cooler, where he again starts bouncing a baseball off the walls as a guard looks at him and walks away, cue music rising. You have to have seen the movie to understand how this scene both brings a smile to the viewer as well as showing how the prisoners are still unbowed and defiant, Hilts in a particularly American way that I can envision Magnum doing as well.
The scene is ruined, the guard elongated as the King Hell Squash of all Squashes is used here, it takes away from the ambiance and good feeling that the entire previous length of the movie has led up to. You are jolted out of the movie's reality in a harsh way.
I would say every time since the 1970's I have viewed this flick, the Squash at the end was used. Hopefully this isn't the case anymore, has anyone seen it of late?
I'd really like to know, thank you.

"Sit tight, live right and leave the lamp in the window"...Kookie (77 Sunset Strip)

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Hi Mad,
I was confused too till you posted the above. Now that I understand your meaning, I would like to point out the absolute worst example of it, in one of the great all time movies no less. At the end of the Great Escape, Hilts(Steve McQueen) is led back to the cooler, where he again starts bouncing a baseball off the walls as a guard looks at him and walks away, cue music rising. You have to have seen the movie to understand how this scene both brings a smile to the viewer as well as showing how the prisoners are still unbowed and defiant, Hilts in a particularly American way that I can envision Magnum doing as well.
The scene is ruined, the guard elongated as the King Hell Squash of all Squashes is used here, it takes away from the ambiance and good feeling that the entire previous length of the movie has led up to. You are jolted out of the movie's reality in a harsh way.
I would say every time since the 1970's I have viewed this flick, the Squash at the end was used. Hopefully this isn't the case anymore, has anyone seen it of late?
I'd really like to know, thank you.

"Sit tight, live right and leave the lamp in the window"...Kookie (77 Sunset Strip)

I have "The Great Escape" on VHS and at the beginning and end it's letterboxed and squashed slightly (the rest of the movie is 4:3 pan & scan). It's a 1988 tape and must have been near the beginning of the letterbox format because they foolishly decided to colour the black bars at top and bottom - probably so people didn't think there was something wrong with their TV. It's annoying. I think I would have preferred the "King Hell Squash of all Squashes". The most squashed movie titles on a tape I own are probably my "Cool Hand Luke" tape. The beginning and end look pretty freakish.

Some pan & scan is beautifully done - like my tape of "Nicholas and Alexandra". I always loved the super-smooth pan in some scenes. I was disappointed when I realized that the widescreen version wouldn't have those lovely camera moves. However, 90's digital pan & scan is generally crap - jerky, and quickly done just to get the movie out, without the care given to earlier releases.

[#1 Buzzettes Fan]

This is a superb episode. It was great to see the beach at Bellows Air Force Station appropriately used considering the context of the story. I really appreciate the Pearl Harbor tribute here as my grandfather was stationed on the USS Honolulu that fateful day. He survived and lived a good long life with a loving family.
He was even Exalted Ruler at his local Elks Lodge back in the day which I often think about when I see the early scenes of the KKC bar. RIP Grandpa and to all of the sailors who lost their lives God Bless You.

On a lighter note...
Elizabeth Lindsey is one of my favorite beauties from the entire series.

[ENSHealy]

And finally: Wanting to know if there is anything behind this post, I certainly took my time to check! And...? Aaaaaand... ? Yah, exactly: There´s just simply nothing to find! At all! That sequence is in fact totally "clean"!!

Here´s the mission to anyone on the forum: If someone finds that bulge, screenshot and share it! I´m pretty sure that we all would survive that, wouldn´t we?

And even if it was there: Times of ridiculous prudery ARE OVER!!

...Give me a break...

Danny, I agree that it was a silly post, but in the spirit of scientific inquiry, I checked it out. I think it is partially an optical illusion created by the shadow of her arm across his shorts. However, if you compare the line of his stomach and the line of his leg, and where his swimming trunks "should be"...well, maybe the laundry put a little too much starch in his trunks...yeah, that's the ticket.

[ENSHealy]

A couple corrections to the Episode Guide:

1. Judge Caine mentions looking at Magnum's 201 File (Official Military Personnel File) and he states the follow facts - Magnum graduated from the Naval Academy in 1967, served three tours in Vietnam and was thrice wounded.

Actually, I believe it is twice wounded, not thrice. I went back and listened and I'm pretty sure he says twice, and the subtitles agree.

2. After the knife fight, Bobby tells Diane "C'mon get in the car, c'mon". If you look at Bobby's lips when he says that, they are not even moving. (Noted by Mark S.)

Although the line was clearly added in post production, Bobby is quickly turning his head while the line is spoken. It cannot be said with certainty whether his mouth is or isn't moving. The action is moving fast enough that we do not get a clear look at his mouth. He could be saying something.

3. At the climax of the story, two of Rick's lines, "Now what's he trying to do" and "I thought I'm supposed to be the driver", are noticeably added in post-production. On the former, his mouth doesn't move in time with the dialog.

Again, the lines are clearly added in post production, but the flub note says his mouth isn't moving in time with the dialogue "on the former", meaning the first, statement. If you watch, Rick goes off screen to the left before he says "Now what's he trying to do." On the latter line, Rick is in the process of getting in the car, and to me, it does look as if his mouth is moving. As with Bobby's line after the fight, the action is moving too fast to really tell if it's plausible he's actually saying that line.