Smaller Than Life (4.3)

[J.J. Walters]

Both this episode and the previous one "Luther Gillis: File #521", contain scenes where a dead body, standing upright, falls flat on the floor after a door has been opened.

That's hilarious! Never made the connection before, despite the fact that the episodes are back-to-back!

[SignGuyHPW]

I wasn't a big fan of this one. I thought the comedic parts with Magnum and Savanah were gold. I also liked the thought of Rick getting some shine instead of getting beaten up for a change.

I thought the Waldo character was horrible. It just didn't seem well written. The fact that Rick was able to just pick up the phone and get the president with no huge effort at all was beyond rediculous. Higgins sudden change from wanting to have Waldo arrested to being so convinced by one of the most outlandish stories ever was hard to accept as well.

[Scotophor]

Apologies to those who hate posts only about flubs, here's another:

Member Jay-Firestorm mentioned:

One thing I did find, was that there were several blatant ‘convenient’ plot points in the story; Lee (the boy who Magnum is sharing a hospital room with), just happens to have a modem on his computer, is excusable enough (although very dubious and dated), but what stuck out to me more was that Higgins ‘just happened’ to be hosting a showing of sketches of various building layouts – one of which just happens to be the one Waldo needs!

Another "too convenient" moment was when Magnum was attempting to check CIA files on "William Shuler", from a written note. In a moment of desperation which is somewhat brilliant, Thomas tries again, changing the first name to "Billy" (which really shouldn't have worked at all) but also inadvertently misspelling the last name as "Skuler" ... and gets exactly the info he's looking for! What are the odds?!? I groaned out loud at this horrible bit of writing.

[Stelth]

Upon further reflection, I hate this episode. It is the only one I won't watch again. 1 1/3 viewings was enough.

[Milton Collins]

Upon further reflection, I hate this episode. It is the only one I won't watch again. 1 1/3 viewings was enough.

While I agree with most of you who feel its a pretty dumb episode I have to say I don't think it's the worst of all time (for me nothing could be worse than season 5's Kiss of the Saber with Shelly Faraday, YUK!!!) . I sort of like this one just for comedic value alone (the fight where Waldo turns into a crazed staff wielding black belt ninja is nothing short of hilarious.) But I will say it's a pretty awful plot and Waldo may be the worst actor to ever appear in the whole series. Good for a few laughs but that's about it in my humble opinion.

[KingKC]

Pretty darn low on the totem pole after you look back at all 150+ episodes. I mostly remember the mimicked voice of President Reagan at the end. Overall it was one of the episodes we tolerated back in 1983-1984 because we only got one per week. I know I have said that before but it is different looking at them recently when they came on in reruns 5 times a week and you can just skip the bad ones (as you can with DVD) and another one will pop up tomorrow and hopefully be better. Would I rate it pretty good? No, but I would not have rated it lower than 7.5 then but might give it less than 7 now.

KingKC

[TSM308]

Both this episode and the previous one "Luther Gillis: File #521", contain scenes where a dead body, standing upright, falls flat on the floor after a door has been opened.

My son even commented on that as it happened!

Definitely not my favorite episode. That said I'd still choose a bad episode of Magnum over just about anything else currently on TV. I did get a kick out of the whole skydiving double entendre. Reminded me of Three's Company.

[Milton Collins]

Ok I watched this one again even though its not very good (clearly MPI is a bit of an obsession for me lol). And yet again it is not good but I can't help but laugh at Rick and Waldo running around together and plotting for Waldo's big theft lol. Totally silly but that's the great thing about Magnum PI, even in the bad ones I usually can find humor and still enjoy it! The only ones I literally hate and will never watch again are By It's Cover (season 3) and Kiss of the Saber (season 5). So for me Smaller Than Life is not as bad as some think it is but to each their own, we all love Magnum:)

[MaximRecoil]

There are several episodes of MPI that I can vividly remember watching as a kid in the '80s, and this is one of them. I was fascinated by the computer and especially the modem. My older brother confirmed that modems were a real thing, and that he had used them before, much to the amazement of my father and me. I was also envious of the video games that kid had, i.e., Defender, Missile Command, and Donkey Kong; they were much better ports of those games than the ones I had for my Atari 2600 at the time.

By the way, that computer was an Atari 400 with an add-on full-stroke keyboard (they came with a built-in keyboard, but it was a crappy flat membrane type like so - link), which is a far more powerful machine than an Atari 2600. It is more or less on par with a ColecoVision in terms of graphics and sound capability, but had the bonus of being a home computer rather than just a video game console.

The episode guide on this site for this episode says it was an Atari 800, which is wrong. Not only is the Atari 800 shaped differently, but it comes with a built-in full-stroke keyboard to begin with.

I was also fascinated by the "Mission Impossible" type elements, such as the "double mirror device" that Higgins used.

In addition to this one, the episodes I vividly remember watching as a kid are:

Memories Are Forever
The Big Blow
Flashback
Foiled Again
Of Sound Mind
Home From The Sea
I Witness
Solo Flight
Paper War
Limbo
Resolutions

[MagnumILWU]

http://www.starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=250 Guest star, Cork Hubbert is from my hometown, Portland Oregon.

[marlboro]

http://www.starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=250 Guest star, Cork Hubbert is from my hometown, Portland Oregon.

Small world, isn't it?

[Algernon Farnsworth]

This seems like a Magnum fever-dream; really not sure what to make of it... I mean, I've often thought it would be interesting to view the show through the lens of Magnum being like Nick Frangakis the shell-shocked vet from "Wave Goodbye", unable to determine fantasy from reality, but this episode is really pushing it.

[K Hale]

Like others before me I started to find the Waldo character annoying after quite a short time. even the way he said "figurine" I found annoying.

Plus points were that Rick comes across as quite a likeable, decent guy and TM's rather silly attempt to impress the thrill junkie girlfriend although Higgin's appears to behave out of character in agreeing to assist in a breaking and entering felony.

Yeah but he's only doing it because the president is under threat. This is probably the kind of hoohah he did back when he was with MI6 (or was it MI5?). It's not like they were breaking in just for the hell of it. The whole commando raid on the house was full of win and clearly the best thing about this pretty silly episode. Mark me down as one of those who found Norris irritating. I did get a kick out of the retro computer stuff though! God, those stone age modems!!

[Magnum T.]

After two good episodes (each in its own way) this "Smaller than life" is one of the less memorable of the entire series probably, of the season for sure.
Waldo isn't the most likeable character, seems fishy.

Nonetheless there's one very good reason to watch it, the gorgeous Lenore Kasdorf who already caught my attention in "The Six Million Dollar Man" episode "Act of Piracy".
I see she was in a large number of classic TV shows, including some that I own like the mentioned "Six Mil'", "Starsky & Hutch" and "The A-Team".
Gotta watch them again, sooner or later.

6.5

[Little Garwood]

Nonetheless there's one very good reason to watch it, the gorgeous Lenore Kasdorf who already caught my attention in "The Six Million Dollar Man" episode "Act of Piracy".
I see she was in a large number of classic TV shows, including some that I own like the mentioned "Six Mil'", "Starsky & Hutch" and "The A-Team".
Gotta watch them again, sooner or later.

You're a man of taste, Magnum T! I raise a Coops in your honor.

Lenore Kasdorf--a forgotten goddess if there ever was one--will definitely catch your attention in the season four Simon & Simon episode, What Goes Around Comes Around.

Her most famous role is in the Chuck Norris masterpiece, Missing in Action (1984).