Operation: Silent Night (4.10)

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Saw "Operation: Silent Night" on Christmas Eve, for the first time. NOW we're talking!! Back to form after "Letter to a Duchess". Plus it's Christmas with the entire gang... stranded on a deserted island!! I rated this 8.5 - very good.

Loved everything here! Higgy's plane-raft, Rick's fears of the island, TM as Santa Claus, TC's tinkering with the copter. Everyone has something to do and all the interactions are great! The quicksand scene was hilarious - "stand up, Rick" LOL! Also loved Rick trying to confess a secret about his sister (not cousin), something that he's ashamed of, and never being able to tell it. BTW, it appears to be a different sister, not the one that was killed a few episodes before this (Wendy). He calls her by a different name. I thought he only had one. Flub?? Also what's the deal with the ship commander (Ed Lauter) proceeding to bomb the hell out of the island even after being told that someone is on the island? I didn't get this part. Is it because they felt that every episode needed a "bad guy"? Just seemed completely random. If they wanted to go the "bad guy" route they could have come up with something on the island that would have incriminated the commander (possible court-martial?), hence giving him a real reason to want to proceed with the shelling to destroy some evidence. But as it stands it's bizarre because it's just an exercise and yet when he finds out about people on the island it's like "oh well, human targets are good too".

But overall, a great Christmas episode and I especially love the ending of the copter in the night sky with the Christmas star shining brightly as the guys sing "Holy Night". This is what I love about shows from long ago! They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Makes me pine for the good old days and takes me back to my childhood - a more innocent time.

Mele Kalikimaka to everyone who lurks here!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Saw "Operation: Silent Night" on Christmas Eve, for the first time. NOW we're talking!! Back to form after "Letter to a Duchess". Plus it's Christmas with the entire gang... stranded on a deserted island!! I rated this 8.5 - very good.
Loved everything here! Higgy's plane-raft, Rick's fears of the island, TM as Santa Claus, TC's tinkering with the copter. Everyone has something to do and all the interactions are great! The quicksand scene was hilarious - "stand up, Rick" LOL! Also loved Rick trying to confess a secret about his sister (not cousin), something that he's ashamed of, and never being able to tell it. BTW, it appears to be a different sister, not the one that was killed a few episodes before this (Wendy). He calls her by a different name. I thought he only had one. Flub?? Also what's the deal with the ship commander (Ed Lauter) proceeding to bomb the hell out of the island even after being told that someone is on the island? I didn't get this part. Is it because they felt that every episode needed a "bad guy"? Just seemed completely random. If they wanted to go the "bad guy" route they could have come up with something on the island that would have incriminated the commander (possible court-martial?), hence giving him a real reason to want to proceed with the shelling to destroy some evidence. But as it stands it's bizarre because it's just an exercise and yet when he finds out about people on the island it's like "oh well, human targets are good too".
But overall, a great Christmas episode and I especially love the ending of the copter in the night sky with the Christmas star shining brightly as the guys sing "Holy Night". This is what I love about shows from long ago! They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Makes me pine for the good old days and takes me back to my childhood - a more innocent time.
Mele Kalikimaka to everyone who lurks here!

Good post Ivan-hoe!
As for Rick having another sister? Maybe the order in which the episodes were filmed isn't the same as when they were shown. Especially as this was a X-mas episode.
The Dick Van Dyke Show ended with Rob selling his book about life as a comedy writer to a TV network, which was a in joke of course as that is what Carl Reiner did in real life, completing the circle
as it were. But another episode was filmed after that, with Rob dreaming he was a sheriff in the Old West, and sometimes networks will run the cowboy show last instead of the intended wrap up show.
Series also have character Bibles describing everything that occurred to the character to date, but Magnum PI was a little sloppy about that. I detailed somewhere else on these Boards a few years back how
Higgins bouncing about the Empire, from one theater to another in all sorts of roles in short time periods didn't make any sense, timeline wise and in actual British Army practice.
I think the writers, only then dealing with the advent of the VCR, didn't realize how much more informed and astute we viewers were going to get via the VCR and then the computer, screen grabs etc.
Anyway, Higgins many adventures were fun and it is entertainment, not a documentary.
Ivan, you said you miss the shows from back when? Me-TV just showed episode one of the Andy Griffith Show, ending with Opie rushing up and hugging Aunt Bee, begging her to stay after spending the
episode trying to get rid of her. It was funny and warm at the same time, a human moment. I contrasted that with Ted Danson's new series, Mr. Mayor. Every line is either a joke or a set up to a punchline
which gets tedious fast.
All the characters are damaged people, they all operate on the level of The Slob. No character development, not a whiff of humanity, no "cornball" stuff like love or friendship or doing the right thing.
It's from the same people that brought you The Veep, both series a one tick pony. I'll take Toody and Muldoon on "Car 54 Where Are You", any day over such junk.
I guess that makes me an official geezer. I have to go now, gotta go out and yell "hey you kids get off my lawn" at the neighborhood urchins.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Saw "Operation: Silent Night" on Christmas Eve, for the first time. NOW we're talking!! Back to form after "Letter to a Duchess". Plus it's Christmas with the entire gang... stranded on a deserted island!! I rated this 8.5 - very good.
Loved everything here! Higgy's plane-raft, Rick's fears of the island, TM as Santa Claus, TC's tinkering with the copter. Everyone has something to do and all the interactions are great! The quicksand scene was hilarious - "stand up, Rick" LOL! Also loved Rick trying to confess a secret about his sister (not cousin), something that he's ashamed of, and never being able to tell it. BTW, it appears to be a different sister, not the one that was killed a few episodes before this (Wendy). He calls her by a different name. I thought he only had one. Flub?? Also what's the deal with the ship commander (Ed Lauter) proceeding to bomb the hell out of the island even after being told that someone is on the island? I didn't get this part. Is it because they felt that every episode needed a "bad guy"? Just seemed completely random. If they wanted to go the "bad guy" route they could have come up with something on the island that would have incriminated the commander (possible court-martial?), hence giving him a real reason to want to proceed with the shelling to destroy some evidence. But as it stands it's bizarre because it's just an exercise and yet when he finds out about people on the island it's like "oh well, human targets are good too".
But overall, a great Christmas episode and I especially love the ending of the copter in the night sky with the Christmas star shining brightly as the guys sing "Holy Night". This is what I love about shows from long ago! They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Makes me pine for the good old days and takes me back to my childhood - a more innocent time.
Mele Kalikimaka to everyone who lurks here!

Good post Ivan-hoe!
As for Rick having another sister? Maybe the order in which the episodes were filmed isn't the same as when they were shown. Especially as this was a X-mas episode.
The Dick Van Dyke Show ended with Rob selling his book about life as a comedy writer to a TV network, which was a in joke of course as that is what Carl Reiner did in real life, completing the circle
as it were. But another episode was filmed after that, with Rob dreaming he was a sheriff in the Old West, and sometimes networks will run the cowboy show last instead of the intended wrap up show.
Series also have character Bibles describing everything that occurred to the character to date, but Magnum PI was a little sloppy about that. I detailed somewhere else on these Boards a few years back how
Higgins bouncing about the Empire, from one theater to another in all sorts of roles in short time periods didn't make any sense, timeline wise and in actual British Army practice.
I think the writers, only then dealing with the advent of the VCR, didn't realize how much more informed and astute we viewers were going to get via the VCR and then the computer, screen grabs etc.
Anyway, Higgins many adventures were fun and it is entertainment, not a documentary.
Ivan, you said you miss the shows from back when? Me-TV just showed episode one of the Andy Griffith Show, ending with Opie rushing up and hugging Aunt Bee, begging her to stay after spending the
episode trying to get rid of her. It was funny and warm at the same time, a human moment. I contrasted that with Ted Danson's new series, Mr. Mayor. Every line is either a joke or a set up to a punchline
which gets tedious fast.
All the characters are damaged people, they all operate on the level of The Slob. No character development, not a whiff of humanity, no "cornball" stuff like love or friendship or doing the right thing.
It's from the same people that brought you The Veep, both series a one tick pony. I'll take Toody and Muldoon on "Car 54 Where Are You", any day over such junk.
I guess that makes me an official geezer. I have to go now, gotta go out and yell "hey you kids get off my lawn" at the neighborhood urchins.

Yep, "The New Housekeeper" was the title of the very first TAGS episode. It's a classic! The show hit the ground running from the get-go. Sure, Andy may have been a bit of a yokel during the first season and became more of the "straight man" in the second season, but the show had heart and emotion right from the very first episode! The ending when we find out why Opie wants Aunt Bee to stay is both funny and touching at the same time. "Who will teach her to play baseball?"

Don't get me started on modern shows and sitcoms. Ted Danson had one great show and that was CHEERS back in the 80s. I never watched BECKER so can't comment on that. And his new show I wouldn't even bother tuning in. There isn't a single comedy show out there that is even remotely watchable. The last sitcom that I could watch was probably EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND or KING OF QUEENS and that was how long ago? 15 years ago? And I wouldn't even place those on my list of favorites. With every year sitcoms became more and more unwatchable. No heart, no soul, cheap laughs. Brain-dead on arrival.

P.S. We should move this to the Other TV Shows section, if we choose to continue. This thread is strictly for "Operation: Silent Night".

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

IvanTheTerrible -
Yep, "The New Housekeeper" was the title of the very first TAGS episode. It's a classic! The show hit the ground running from the get-go. Sure, Andy may have been a bit of a yokel during the first season and became more of the "straight man" in the second season, but the show had heart and emotion right from the very first episode! The ending when we find out why Opie wants Aunt Bee to stay is both funny and touching at the same time. "Who will teach her to play baseball?"
Don't get me started on modern shows and sitcoms. Ted Danson had one great show and that was CHEERS back in the 80s. I never watched BECKER so can't comment on that. And his new show I wouldn't even bother tuning in. There isn't a single comedy show out there that is even remotely watchable. The last sitcom that I could watch was probably EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND or KING OF QUEENS and that was how long ago? 15 years ago? And I wouldn't even place those on my list of favorites. With every year sitcoms became more and more unwatchable. No heart, no soul, cheap laughs. Brain-dead on arrival.
P.S. We should move this to the Other TV Shows section, if we choose to continue. This thread is strictly for "Operation: Silent Night".
[/quote]

Good point Ivan, I have a habit of going off on a tangent, this is the"Silent Night" thread after all.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

With every year sitcoms became more and more unwatchable. No heart, no soul, cheap laughs. Brain-dead on arrival.

The only sitcoms I could watch in the last few decades were British sitcoms - and even they died off around 2005. Coupling and The IT Crowd were funny. (though Coupling could be a bit too risqué at times)

Back to Operation Silent Night - aside from the lame military side story (do they actually bomb islands without checking them over first??), I thought the "Higgins making a boat out of a plane" was pretty dumb. I don't think Higgins would be that stupid. Yes, I've seen Flight of the Phoenix (original and remake), but it just doesn't work with boats - in Hawaii, with huge waves.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

With every year sitcoms became more and more unwatchable. No heart, no soul, cheap laughs. Brain-dead on arrival.

The only sitcoms I could watch in the last few decades were British sitcoms - and even they died off around 2005. Coupling and The IT Crowd were funny. (though Coupling could be a bit too risqué at times)

Back to Operation Silent Night - aside from the lame military side story (do they actually bomb islands without checking them over first??), I thought the "Higgins making a boat out of a plane" was pretty dumb. I don't think Higgins would be that stupid. Yes, I've seen Flight of the Phoenix (original and remake), but it just doesn't work with boats - in Hawaii, with huge waves.

I loved the original FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX from 1965. Jimmy Stewart and Hardy Kruger - those 2 especially were very good, butting heads with each other. Never bothered with the remake. Don't like 'em, don't want to waste time on 'em. But as much as I loved Higgins here with his determination to build that plane-boat and his boy scout enthusiasm, I do have to echo the sentiments of others here who pointed out that Higgins' behavior is actually VERY unlike his usual self. He's always such an anal voice of reason that it's almost nauseating. He will cross every "t", dot every "i". Think and plan 5 steps in advance. The man simply doesn't know how to have fun or be worry-free. But here he seems to have regressed to a school boy, a REAL "boy scout". Even under threat of artillery shelling he acts as if it's no big deal. He seems to have thrown caution to the wind in this episode and just said "What the heck? You only live once. Let's have fun!" Which is VERY unlike Higgins. But regardless I still find him extremely enjoyable here.

[eagle]

A couple weeks ago, I introduced my sons to “Thank Heaven For Little Girls…” and introduced them to this episode this week. It’s one of my favorites, and some of the reasons were outlined by Ivan a few comments back. The non-confession, Rick’s fear of the island. TC and his singing, TM in the Santa suit, Higgins and the plane-boat. The quicksand.

After seeing it, my 9-year-old said, “that wasn’t really a case.” I explained that not all episodes included a case. Anyway, I do really like this one.

[Little Voice in Your Head]

I just watched this episode a couple of days ago. The team of Bellisario and Larson weren't known for being sticklers for detail on matters military or (especially in the case of MPI) continuity, but despite it all Magnum, P.I. turned out to be one of the greatest programs in television history.

Except for this episode.

I find it disconcerting that so many people liked this episode - or so it seems from my quick perusal of fifteen years worth of posts. Aside from TC's singing, dealing with the dead Japanese pilot, and Higgins' soliloquy regarding Christmases spent away from home, there was no redeeming value to this episode.

Higgins and company would not have made a boat that doesn't float. The thing was being filmed in Hawaii -- didn't anyone involved in the making of Magnum, PI know a sailing vessel needs a keel of some sort (a centerboard, lee board, etc) to function? And Rick in the bog? That was just embarrassing to think about. Gilligan's Island would have done it better.

A halfway decent lawnmower repair person could have come up with a better reason for why the helicopter wouldn't start after being shut down long enough to replace a cotter pin. And let's not even talk about the radio - my blood pressure can't take it.

Then there's Rick's confession about his cousin -- was this episode written by a couple of 12 year old boys? But at least they were mature enough to leave out an overabundance of scatological humor - which I guess I should list as another redeeming thing about this episode. God knows it needs all the help it can get.

They obviously failed to consult anyone who could even spell Navy, much less point out all the errors they were making. While there are circumstances in which a Captain might be in command of a lone destroyer, it's not bloody likely. And this captain referred to his previous duty on an icebreaker - which the U.S. Coast Guard operates, not the Navy. The dialogue between the Captain and the Ensign was possibly the most poorly written dialogue in history - and that includes pornographic films. Even before I went in the Navy I knew the difference between "leave" and "liberty". And the captain was having his dinner (complete with a glass of wine!) in C-I-C? Absurd! I'm sure there are dozens of other irregularities, but it's giving me a headache to try to remember.

Bottom line: An episode can't possibly be this bad on accident -- it had to be intentional.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I just watched this episode a couple of days ago. The team of Bellisario and Larson weren't known for being sticklers for detail on matters military or (especially in the case of MPI) continuity, but despite it all Magnum, P.I. turned out to be one of the greatest programs in television history.

Except for this episode.

I find it disconcerting that so many people liked this episode - or so it seems from my quick perusal of fifteen years worth of posts. Aside from TC's singing, dealing with the dead Japanese pilot, and Higgins' soliloquy regarding Christmases spent away from home, there was no redeeming value to this episode.

Higgins and company would not have made a boat that doesn't float. The thing was being filmed in Hawaii -- didn't anyone involved in the making of Magnum, PI know a sailing vessel needs a keel of some sort (a centerboard, lee board, etc) to function? And Rick in the bog? That was just embarrassing to think about. Gilligan's Island would have done it better.

A halfway decent lawnmower repair person could have come up with a better reason for why the helicopter wouldn't start after being shut down long enough to replace a cotter pin. And let's not even talk about the radio - my blood pressure can't take it.

Then there's Rick's confession about his cousin -- was this episode written by a couple of 12 year old boys? But at least they were mature enough to leave out an overabundance of scatological humor - which I guess I should list as another redeeming thing about this episode. God knows it needs all the help it can get.

They obviously failed to consult anyone who could even spell Navy, much less point out all the errors they were making. While there are circumstances in which a Captain might be in command of a lone destroyer, it's not bloody likely. And this captain referred to his previous duty on an icebreaker - which the U.S. Coast Guard operates, not the Navy. The dialogue between the Captain and the Ensign was possibly the most poorly written dialogue in history - and that includes pornographic films. Even before I went in the Navy I knew the difference between "leave" and "liberty". And the captain was having his dinner (complete with a glass of wine!) in C-I-C? Absurd! I'm sure there are dozens of other irregularities, but it's giving me a headache to try to remember.

Bottom line: An episode can't possibly be this bad on accident -- it had to be intentional.

I'm not sure why you singled out this episode. The things you complain about here could apply to a few dozen episodes of the show. It's not like they got things accurate about the Navy and other things in all the other episodes. In fact every episode on this site has a flubs section where these types of errors get pointed out. This applies to both serious and comical episodes. This one is definitely a comical episode - not to be taken too seriously. You just gotta roll with it, otherwise you'll complain about almost every episode.

[Little Voice in Your Head]

I agree with you, Ivan, that most episodes contain annoying little mistakes which could have easily been avoided by asking the average Sea Cadet to look over the script. I singled this one out because it was so phenomenally bad (as opposed to frustratingly annoying) and I had to say something. Plus, I'm 10 or 15 years behind everyone else here and sorry I missed out on all the lively discussions back in the day.

Since I'm watching the entire series in order, it's possible I'll make a similar post or two at some point down the road, but from what I can remember from the original run there were no other episodes that came close to being this awful. Then again, I might have missed the one where the Captain takes command of an icebreaker on the Nile River and has it in for Magnum because there's no ice on the Nile so he can't distinguish himself and instead of making Admiral, gets busted to Lieutenant Commander.

[Pahonu]

I would add two points to this discussion, both are based on the idea that we often hold older TV series to the standards of today and that can lead to real frustration for many, as witnessed. The first is that the internet has made access to detailed information about the minutia of any topic, from navy language to helicopter mechanics, unbelievably easy. In that era it would have been much more of a search to confirm those details, and taken extra time. Which leads me to the second point, which is that the production schedule was very fast for these shows as demanded by the network. They were expected to film for seven days and create 22 episodes in half a year. That’s almost unheard of today for hour-long series, even on the networks. Most of these series today don’t approach 22 episodes. Including pre and post production, they were producing a half of a feature film in a fraction of the time. So if the details of dialogue in a scene might be off, there was no time to fix it and next to no one would notice anyway, because no will be watching and rewatching, and dissecting the show 40 years in the future on an internet, right?

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I agree with you, Ivan, that most episodes contain annoying little mistakes which could have easily been avoided by asking the average Sea Cadet to look over the script. I singled this one out because it was so phenomenally bad (as opposed to frustratingly annoying) and I had to say something. Plus, I'm 10 or 15 years behind everyone else here and sorry I missed out on all the lively discussions back in the day.

Since I'm watching the entire series in order, it's possible I'll make a similar post or two at some point down the road, but from what I can remember from the original run there were no other episodes that came close to being this awful. Then again, I might have missed the one where the Captain takes command of an icebreaker on the Nile River and has it in for Magnum because there's no ice on the Nile so he can't distinguish himself and instead of making Admiral, gets busted to Lieutenant Commander.

I have to be honest that many of these "mistakes" fly right over my head. I don't know much about helicopters (other than I like 'em and got a chance to fly in a MPI helicopter over Oahu!!) nor Army or Navy regulations. I suppose those who are familiar with those things might find it a tad annoying. But I like the show too much to be bothered by these things (even if I were to notice them). Shows back then just didn't focus as much on accuracy, as Pahonu pointed out. Tight shooting schedule, lack of verifiable info on set, etc. Not like someone could just whip out their smartphone and google things on the spot. I suppose the onus is on the writer to write things accurately in the writer's room. But again even the writer didn't have access to the kind of info back then that we do today. Yes, there were books and "technical consultants" but we don't know how tight the writing schedule was too.

So for me this episode didn't stand out anymore than any other, honestly. Aside from the hokey-ness, which I think was the point of this more comical episode. I already mentioned that Higgy seems to act out of character here - seems to have transformed from the pedantic, overly logical character we know to a care-free and adventure-seeking boy scout. But I still enjoyed him here, as always. But the technical stuff I wouldn't notice. Heck, I even miss obvious flubs like different kinds of skids on TC's chopper from one scene to the next. People here seem to be really good at picking up on flubs. Not me. I can always notice the stunt doubles though. Those are easy. I suppose if someone in the show said "Helsinki, Sweden" I'd pick up on that. But then I'm a geography nut.

[Surf Ski]

Saw "Operation: Silent Night" ...Also loved Rick trying to confess a secret about his sister (not cousin), something that he's ashamed of, and never being able to tell it. BTW, it appears to be a different sister, not the one that was killed a few episodes before this (Wendy). He calls her by a different name. I thought he only had one. Flub??...

I suppose if someone in the show said "Helsinki, Sweden" I'd pick up on that. But then I'm a geography nut.

Just watched Silent Night again. Without a doubt, Rick refers to his "cousin Jenny."

100%

Wonder if they changed something for a different broadcast market?

I do love the Die Hard reference though!

I did think Higgins was a bit out of character in this episode. While I could definitely see him taking a calm attitude about their predicament, even making the choice to enjoy it, this went further than that, almost a Pleasure Principle twist.

A question I had was, when they raised a Japanese commercial vessel, why didn't Higgins handle it? We see in the Eighth Part of the Village, The Arrow That Is Not Aimed, and, The Love For Sale Boat that he is fluent in Japanese.

In that vein, does anyone know what Higgins was saying (or if he was really saying anything at all) during their burial service for the IJN pilot?

[ENSHealy]

Yep this is classic TV at it’s best ! Gilligan , Ops I mean Rick just stand up there is no quick sand in Hawaii .

This may have been addressed previously and/or elsewhere, but I found myself wondering whether this was true, and if so why. I hate to rely on AI...but I was too lazy to look through the source articles:

[ENSHealy]

...but from what I can remember from the original run there were no other episodes that came close to being this awful.

Wait until you get to Birds of A Feather.