Birdman of Budapest (3.16)

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Why does everybody hate this episode so much? Granted I've only watched it once, and usually skip over it when watching Season 3. I just don't have a solid opinion on it.

Is MACattack short for Macaw Attack???

[Mrs. Higgins]

I liked this episode. Made me laugh out loud several times. Plus, it's always fun to see the Robin3 in action too.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

This was a very good episode! I'd put it on par with "Of Sound Mind".

I mean what can one say about the macaw attack that hasn't been said already?? Or Higgins' peregrine falcon call that freaks out the "KGB macaw" ?? Or the macaw getting minced by TC's chopper blades?? That entire sequence alone raises the episode to an above average rating! It HAS to be the single oddest, most "out there", most hilarious scene in the history of the show!! When those odd sounds began to come out of Higgins' mouth I almost fell off my chair!! I had to rewind and watch that whole scene again. I tell ya that nothing could have prepared me for what I saw!! An absolute "never saw that coming" moment! But that's the beauty of this show - no matter how outrageous you can somehow buy all this. I mean we've had episodes with ghosts and Magnum waking up in the 1930s on this show! Somehow it all works!!

The KGB plot is pretty flimsy and not very well developed but what really makes this episode exciting and not dull is the interaction between Higgins and guest-star Sylvia Sidney! Any scene with the two of them together is a riot!! We've never seen Higgins so helpless before (except maybe in "Foiled Again" but those were different circumstances) - when was the last time you saw Higgins despising (or even disliking) one of Robin's guests?? Never!! A friend of Robin's is a friend of Higgins' - that's his motto. So you can imagine what it would take for Higgins to so strongly despise a guest of Robin's. It sure was a treat to see Higgins become an ally of Magnum's - he was willing to do ANYTHING to escape that woman from hell! Lest he go irretrievably, irrevocably mad.

Joseph Wiseman as Dr. Tessa was a special treat for me (as a die-hard Bond fan) because he played the very first 007 villain Dr. No in 1962's DR. NO - that was my introduction to the world of 007 back in the summer of 2001 when I rented out these movies from my local library and watched them in order. Ah, great memories! Wiseman was so cold and cool and composed as the title villain - you could tell he was a great theater actor (which he was).

I agree that this episode proves that Higgins is NOT Robin Masters. I haven't seen the later episodes but it just seems to me really dumb to suspect that they would be one and the same. The early season episodes do so much to negate this theory. Especially this episode! If Higgins is Robin then why doesn't he realize that "Elizabeth" is not his teacher??? He just decides to go along with this charade?! Yeah right!!

Funny thing about Jacqueline Selleck (Tom's ex-wife) is that in the season 1 episode "J. Digger Doyle" (when she was still married to Tom) she was credited as Jacqueline Ray. In this episode (after they got divorced) she is credited as Jacqueline Selleck. Weird, huh? By the way, I thought she was pretty hot and I really liked her performance here and that whole subplot which T.C. and Rick also got involved in. When she blew a giant hole in the Ferrari's windshield I thought Higgins would hit the roof. Nope, not a word of protest. That's when you knew the poor old chap was on the verge of losing his sanity. What's a hole in a windshield compared to the old bat occupying his study (with an assassin macaw)??

If there wasn't already plenty of humor we get another hilarious scene at the Honolulu Zoo with Fritz Feld playing the absent-minded zookeeper Lars!! Great stuff there complete with the "mouth pop". I love Magnum breaking the 4th wall after Lars tells him that the old guy living in the Haiku Valley (Dr. Tessa) is a weird guy.

I have to point out that the Byodo-In Temple was not featured anywhere in this episode, despite being listed as #5 in the Notes section on this episode's main page. Byodo-In was featured in "The Arrow That is Not Aimed" two episodes earlier. I think J.J. should correct this.

[Milton Collins]

This was a very good episode! I'd put it on par with "Of Sound Mind".

I mean what can one say about the macaw attack that hasn't been said already?? Or Higgins' peregrine falcon call that freaks out the "KGB macaw" ?? Or the macaw getting minced by TC's chopper blades?? That entire sequence alone raises the episode to an above average rating! It HAS to be the single oddest, most "out there", most hilarious scene in the history of the show!! When those odd sounds began to come out of Higgins' mouth I almost fell off my chair!! I had to rewind and watch that whole scene again. I tell ya that nothing could have prepared me for what I saw!! An absolute "never saw that coming" moment! But that's the beauty of this show - no matter how outrageous you can somehow buy all this. I mean we've had episodes with ghosts and Magnum waking up in the 1930s on this show! Somehow it all works!!

I agree that this episode proves that Higgins is NOT Robin Masters. I haven't seen the later episodes but it just seems to me really dumb to suspect that they would be one and the same. The early season episodes do so much to negate this theory. Especially this episode! If Higgins is Robin then why doesn't he realize that "Elizabeth" is not his teacher??? He just decides to go along with this charade?! Yeah right!!

Funny thing about Jacqueline Selleck (Tom's ex-wife) is that in the season 1 episode "J. Digger Doyle" (when she was still married to Tom) she was credited as Jacqueline Ray. In this episode (after they got divorced) she is credited as Jacqueline Selleck. Weird, huh? By the way, I thought she was pretty hot and I really liked her performance here and that whole subplot which T.C. and Rick also got involved in. When she blew a giant hole in the Ferrari's windshield I thought Higgins would hit the roof. Nope, not a word of protest. That's when you knew the poor old chap was on the verge of losing his sanity. What's a hole in a windshield compared to the old bat occupying his study (with an assassin macaw)??

If there wasn't already plenty of humor we get another hilarious scene at the Honolulu Zoo with Fritz Feld playing the absent-minded zookeeper Lars!! Great stuff there complete with the "mouth pop". I love Magnum breaking the 4th wall after Lars tells him that the old guy living in the Haiku Valley (Dr. Tessa) is a weird guy.

Great points Ivan!

-Totally the funniest scene ever when the bird gets chopped due to Higgins insane bird call lol. I totally love this episode for it's humor, just hilarious.

-It's funny to me as the more I watch Magnum, the more I HATE the whole Higgins is Robin thing. It just bugs me more and more as it arose in the later seasons as episodes such as this one CLEARLY disprove it. Just took away from the reality of the show for me and I liked the Robin and Higgins characters as seperate entitites.

- And Jaqueline Selleck/Ray is absolutely stunning!! Wonder what happened there with Tom Selleck, guess we'll never know. I read he was awesome to her son and maintained contact after the divorce which just shows what a cool guy Selleck really is!

[KingKC]

Even after reading the synopsis and some forum postings all I really remember about this episode was a windshield getting shot out and bird getting chopped up. Not exactly memorable for me. Just another episode of MPI

KingKC

[eagle]

I'm up to 3.16 on my current run through the series, and I find that I really liked this episode.

Great comment, KingKC.

[Stelth]

I'm up to 3.16 on my current run through the series, and I find that I really liked this episode.

Great comment, KingKC.

I think it's a good one, too.

[thechickinthemiddle]

Probably the best part for me in this episode was Higgins' run of bad luck, capped with having to deal with Elizabeth. It's downright criminal how that level of irritation for him mostly happened this one time in the series.

I can only wonder just what was going through T.C.'s head when he saw those feathers cascade past his chopper.

[Milton Collins]

Love love LOVE this episode! Higgins being tortured by the fake Ms. Barrett was hilarious! When he tied Merlin the Macaw down and she started screaming yelling at him and he told her he had taken enough of her abuse and she raised her fist to him and said "You're right, it's time things get physical!" I was crying laughing.

On the flipside I thought it was also funny how well her and Magnum seemed to get along, other than the ending of course. It displays one of the fun themes of the show, some guest characters brought the best or worst out in both Higgins and Magnum. And many times just like Ms. Barrett, Magnum and Higgins varied greatly on what type of people they got along. That aspect made the show fun for me, that the two main characters had similarities like the military but were polar opposites in personalities and most other things.

And almost in the entire series NOTHING is funnier to me than Higgins bird call I just loved both times it was used lol. And poor Merlin biting the dust at TC's chopper blades and the exchange from Elizabeth and Higgins "I hate you!" with his reply of "The feeling madam, is mutual!"

Ahh, such a classic fun and silly Magnum episode!

[K Hale]

One of the funniest episodes in the series. Sylvia Sydney was a hoot. The whole KGB thing is a little silly but that just adds to the wonderful absurdity. Everything has already been said about the macaw attack scene that needs to be said, but no one has mentioned what to me is even funnier. The fake Mrs. Barrett and Higgins are jogging (well, she's jogging, he's shuffling) and he grabs onto a tree in exhaustion. They have a brief conversation including the peregrine falcon call and then she says, "Last one back is a rotten egg!!" and runs gaily off. He stays motionless still clutching the tree for support for maybe 5 seconds, then mutters defeatedly, "So be it."

The first time I saw this on the DVD I had to play that scene over and over, laughing the whole time.

[J.J. Walters]

Indeed! LOL!

Welcome K Hale! Love your posts!

[jeffran]

Continuing with season 3: I was prepared to _not_ like this episode. I recall not enjoying it the last viewing. But, I really liked it this time ( gave it an 8 ). Some silliness, but fun nonetheless. Lots of screen time for the Jimmy, which I still think is a cool SUV (although I don't think they were called SUVs back then). Plenty of Higgins screen time and his peregrine falcon call. Rick and TC figure prominently in the episode as well, making it almost a classic season 3 episode.

[K Hale]

The Jimmy was referred to as a "pickup" by both Magnum and Higgins. Naturally it isn't what I think of as a pickup, a concept that in my mind includes an open bed.

[karolis]

Just rewatched this, and I noticed that Magnum has a Sherlock Holmes style "deerstalker" hat hanging on his hat rack; it's visible in the scene where Higgins knocks and asks politely to come in.

I did a quick search and saw that Jay-Firestorm spotted the hat in "Luther Gillis: File #001." Are these the only two appearances of the hat, or is it always there and I have just missed it?

Screenshot:




Coops present: check




Three white dots (left) seems to be following the Robin-3, like they would be attached to the car itself:

The handheld TomyTronic Pac-Man game returns. Rick plays it this time. It was first seen in "Black on White" (3.6).

- from Episode Guide

Screenshot:




Magnum's watch with dark watch face during the Macaw attack:



Magnum's watch with white watch face after the Macaw attack:

Continuing with season 3: I was prepared to _not_ like this episode. I recall not enjoying it the last viewing. But, I really liked it this time ( gave it an 8 ). Some silliness, but fun nonetheless. Lots of screen time for the Jimmy, which I still think is a cool SUV (although I don't think they were called SUVs back then). Plenty of Higgins screen time and his peregrine falcon call. Rick and TC figure prominently in the episode as well, making it almost a classic season 3 episode.

Yeah, i was prepared not to like it too, but i enjoyed it very much. I like diversity of Magnum episodes, i like cheesiness, that's why i love 80s!


Season 3 Top up to this episode:

1. Black on White
2-3. Did You See the Sunrise?
4. Flashback
5. Off Sound Mind
6. The Eighth Part of the Village
7. The Arrow That is Not Aimed
8. Past Tense
9. Almost Home
10. Heal Thyself
11. Birdman of Budapest
12. Basket Case
13. Ki'i's Don't Lie
14. Mixed Doubles
15. Mr. White Death
16. Foiled Again

[MaximRecoil]

I agree that this episode proves that Higgins is NOT Robin Masters. I haven't seen the later episodes but it just seems to me really dumb to suspect that they would be one and the same.

Magnum never claimed that they were one and the same. He describes Robin as a guy with a voice like Orson Welles and a body like Truman Capote. The guy known as Robin Masters is a real person who has his own history. The gist of Magnum's claim in Paper War is that Higgins is effectively Robin Masters, i.e., Higgins is the one who actually writes the novels and pulls the strings.

The early season episodes do so much to negate this theory. Especially this episode! If Higgins is Robin then why doesn't he realize that "Elizabeth" is not his teacher??? He just decides to go along with this charade?! Yeah right!!

Because Higgins isn't the guy with a voice like Orson Welles and a body like Truman Capote who is named Robin Masters. Just because Robin Masters, by the time of season 7, according to Magnum, doesn't really write the novels or call the shots, doesn't mean he never had any teachers.

My take on it is that it was a gradual thing. Robin Masters was a real writer, and that was his real name. He may have had one or two successful novels but then was washed up. Higgins started helping him with his writing until eventually, by season 7, he was doing all of the writing, and had worked out a mutually beneficial arrangement with Masters behind the scenes to continue to pose as the writer of all the novels. Of course, Higgins would be getting the lion's share of the profits by that time. There's evidence of this gradual transition of power between Masters and Higgins prior to Paper War. For example, Higgins has "Power of Attorney" over Masters' affairs, which is a huge step above simply being the "majordomo" of the estate (for example, he can withdraw money, $300,000 in one episode, from Masters' account without needing his consent).