Kiss of the Sabre (5.11)

[Croix de Lorraine]

I think this episode gets too much stick. I see it a private joke. This is Magnum PI as Glen Larson initially conceived it - James Bond in Hawai'i.

[KingKC]

I am just not a fan of these silly, fantasy, campy, over the top, spoofs or whatever it was supposed to be. I always thought Cassie Yates was really cute but cast terribly in the MPI series. I new it was going to be a weak comedy after the first scene. (I'm not sure I want to think this was role Glen Larson envisioned for Magnum. Actually the role I thought he would be was something like the guy in the Big Chill that went on from college to be the perfectly handsome and smiley, toothy private detective that always got his man and the girl). I almost thought this was some kind of spoof on a possible Robin Masters' character or book. In any event it goes down close to the bottom of the barrel.

KingKC

[MaximRecoil]

The pistols Sabre, Winston, and Boris use to cooly dispatch their strangely enthusiastic assailants at the airstrip are suppressed Walther PPs (not PPKs).

I disagree, at least with regard to the one Hillerman was using:



The barrel looks too short to be a PP. The other ones may or may not have been PPs; I couldn't get a close enough look at them to say for sure.

Notice how Tom Selleck doesn't flinch or blink while firing, showing him to be an experienced shooter, while John Hillerman does. Since the suppressors aren't real, on the actual location they would have been firing full-power blanks (necessary for the actions to function), and the reports would have been quite loud.

Selleck often, if not always, blinks when firing the usual Colt Government Model prop. Just watch the end of Memories Are Forever for a good closeup of it, for example. Mosley wasn't blinking in this scene either, which suggests that the silencers were in fact real. A real silencer is a good thing when firing blanks in an auto, because they increase back-pressure, which helps cycling. The modifications made to pistols to allow them to cycle blanks usually involve restricting the barrel to increase back-pressure, and in the case of recoil-operated pistols, they usually remove the locking lugs. The Walther PP/PPK is straight-blowback, so it doesn't have locking lugs in the first place. A real silencer could serve the function of increasing back-pressure to allow the blanks to cycle properly, especially if it was designed with that goal in mind.

The square root of 18 is 4.242640687119285. It might have taken Sabre a second or two to call in those heat-seekers.

It would have taken him literally forever, because, like π, the square root of 18 is an irrational number, i.e., it never repeats nor ends. For example, here it is to 999 decimal places, and that's not even a spit in the ocean of infinity:

4.242640687119285146405066172629094235709015626130
84421953003921397219743538632111655116260298292471
82050415386927368910747745081675522116379323644912
99807494239667997782516778267399851503458346181714
41032867991481791082360379058604418555225592266759
58286569876914529261429643525192878108839857542239
69061760189638995426488921861845775057185164237250
86327988518950672566101259557103406312381022549654
14811606999120970144450916320833709493627434692054
78810755864741735389334790006139039046855706961711
70586552779458374849314626550026128570581804404741
62314307564622466971209032961160679456341047576404
86227542476797167800625675339956437519668183311277
97754009341647394044712478903017845761120095594410
26584691834871923135217910643941219565768351966120
73527368310068082338272088184148721432690251205510
96051053521773980941871822889908241414269644711869
91540980407423261887807374577156543013379526451773
36074832402518559443431741081011323192754860794413
05133350517497451806682592761497464563846885554654

That, of course, was the joke.

[thechickinthemiddle]

I don't hate this episode (much easier for me to tolerate than Faraday in "Photo Play"), but while the novel sequences had some funny moments, I think they've been done better in other episodes. (Though Higgins actually being Magnum's butler in these is hilarious alone). Also, I'm not sure if Betty stopped writing "Sabre" because she couldn't imagine a more elaborate version of Magnum simply turning the bad guys against each other, or if there was a possibility of her being sued had the book been published. And what the heck accent was T.C.'s character doing anyway?

[PickledEggPlease]

Hello!
I am writing Descriptive Video for Magnum (for blind and partially-sighted viewers - we provide the voice that says "A man sneaks up behind Magnum" etc.) and so I'm watching every episode very closely. This site has been SUPER helpful in identifying stuff, so thanks.

Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear

[thechickinthemiddle]

Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear

You can always email it to Steve as well.

[Sam]

Hello!
I am writing Descriptive Video for Magnum (for blind and partially-sighted viewers - we provide the voice that says "A man sneaks up behind Magnum" etc.) and so I'm watching every episode very closely. This site has been SUPER helpful in identifying stuff, so thanks.

Just noticed today that in this episode, when we see Betty's hands typing on the typewriter, her nails are long and red, but when we pull back, they're short and a more neutral color. Nobody but this forum would appreciate my flub-spotting, I fear

Welcome aboard,

I don't know if this would be helpful or not but here is a link with the episodes dialogue.I haven't checked the accuracy.

http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk ... m-p-i-1980

[308GUY]

Welcome PEP!

Sounds like an interesting project.

[PickledEggPlease]

Thanks for the kind welcome! And the link to the dialogue - very helpful indeed!

[K Hale]

I realize everyone hates this episode, but... well... I find it amusing. I got a big kick out of the fictional characters. As someone said upthread, it's like a Robin Masters novel come to life.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I think of this episode as similar to "Romancing the Stone" - where a female writer has fantasies that are totally unrelated to real life. That's why the actors are doing obviously fake (bad) acting.

The writer, Jay Huguely did quite a few stories that ripped off.. or were an homage to.. existing stories. (actually, I think Jay Huguely was a big part of the reason why later seasons sucked)

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Yates was pretty hot when she was young:

Typical - once again, a well-known "blonde" turns out to be not blonde at all - just like Jean Harlow, Marylin Monroe, Farrah Fawcett, Susanne Sommers, Loni Anderson, Madonna, etc.. Are there any famous blondes that were actually blonde?

[RamblerReb]

The pistols Sabre, Winston, and Boris use to cooly dispatch their strangely enthusiastic assailants at the airstrip are suppressed Walther PPs (not PPKs).

I disagree, at least with regard to the one Hillerman was using:



The barrel looks too short to be a PP. The other ones may or may not have been PPs; I couldn't get a close enough look at them to say for sure.

Notice how Tom Selleck doesn't flinch or blink while firing, showing him to be an experienced shooter, while John Hillerman does. Since the suppressors aren't real, on the actual location they would have been firing full-power blanks (necessary for the actions to function), and the reports would have been quite loud.

Selleck often, if not always, blinks when firing the usual Colt Government Model prop. Just watch the end of Memories Are Forever for a good closeup of it, for example. Mosley wasn't blinking in this scene either, which suggests that the silencers were in fact real. A real silencer is a good thing when firing blanks in an auto, because they increase back-pressure, which helps cycling. The modifications made to pistols to allow them to cycle blanks usually involve restricting the barrel to increase back-pressure, and in the case of recoil-operated pistols, they usually remove the locking lugs. The Walther PP/PPK is straight-blowback, so it doesn't have locking lugs in the first place. A real silencer could serve the function of increasing back-pressure to allow the blanks to cycle properly, especially if it was designed with that goal in mind.

The square root of 18 is 4.242640687119285. It might have taken Sabre a second or two to call in those heat-seekers.

It would have taken him literally forever, because, like π, the square root of 18 is an irrational number, i.e., it never repeats nor ends. For example, here it is to 999 decimal places, and that's not even a spit in the ocean of infinity:

4.242640687119285146405066172629094235709015626130
84421953003921397219743538632111655116260298292471
82050415386927368910747745081675522116379323644912
99807494239667997782516778267399851503458346181714
41032867991481791082360379058604418555225592266759
58286569876914529261429643525192878108839857542239
69061760189638995426488921861845775057185164237250
86327988518950672566101259557103406312381022549654
14811606999120970144450916320833709493627434692054
78810755864741735389334790006139039046855706961711
70586552779458374849314626550026128570581804404741
62314307564622466971209032961160679456341047576404
86227542476797167800625675339956437519668183311277
97754009341647394044712478903017845761120095594410
26584691834871923135217910643941219565768351966120
73527368310068082338272088184148721432690251205510
96051053521773980941871822889908241414269644711869
91540980407423261887807374577156543013379526451773
36074832402518559443431741081011323192754860794413
05133350517497451806682592761497464563846885554654

That, of course, was the joke.

As far as Higgins' Walther, I maintain that it is a PP based on my own experience of having owned both. Foreshortening would account for the barrel length appearing shorter than it is.

I agree that real suppressors would aid in blank function, but in the '80s, as today, a real suppressor would have been an NFA-restricted item, and I have to admit to being dubious as to their utility when the barrels of the prop guns would have already been permanently restricted. I also submit that the can is too short to be a real suppressor.

Here is a pic of a real PPK/S and can:


I understand that cans can be of different lengths, but I still do not believe the armorer would have needlessly brought three valuable and attractive-to-thieves suppressors to a location.

As far as the square root of 18, I freely admit I rounded it off out of sheer laziness.

[brianw]

Meh, not much to say here. Not a good episode. Had a few funny moments, but overall not much to see here.

[T.Q.]

Cringeworthy episode.

One of the few.