IvanTheTerrible wrote:
If we go with the assumption that the MPI team (in agreement with Eve) installed the MPI gates then I don't believe the RM crest was a prop. I would assume that the gate was created specifically for the show, with the RM crest. Why bother putting the prop up and taking it down all the time? It's not like Eve would mind, would she? RM could mean literally anything to a passer-by. It's not like it actually says "Robin Masters". I wouldn't be surprised if the RM stayed on the gate even when the show ended. Unless Eve was very particular about such trivial matters. I can't imagine the RM would attract any more visitors than no RM. If you're a hardcore fan you'll find the gate regardless. If you're not then the RM probably won't mean anything to you if you pass by.
Hi Ivan
I just noticed another reason to support my assumption that the RM crest is a prop put on/taken off.
In this pic you can see the RM is reversed because we're seeing the backside as viewed from inside the estate...
And in this publicity still, also taken from inside the estate, the RM is facing inward. They were apparently able to move it to have the RM facing inward or outward...
The second gate being to keep the animals in makes sense. I didn't know there were animals on the property. Anyone know what kind of animals Eve kept there? A kudu buck perhaps? When I was there last month the only animals there were chickens. They actually spooked me at first because as I was sneaking around I thought there was someone walking around on the premises (maybe Kenji?) and I'd be spotted. But it was just chickens.
If we go with the assumption that the MPI team (in agreement with Eve) installed the MPI gates then I don't believe the RM crest was a prop. I would assume that the gate was created specifically for the show, with the RM crest. Why bother putting the prop up and taking it down all the time? It's not like Eve would mind, would she? RM could mean literally anything to a passer-by. It's not like it actually says "Robin Masters". I wouldn't be surprised if the RM stayed on the gate even when the show ended. Unless Eve was very particular about such trivial matters. I can't imagine the RM would attract any more visitors than no RM. If you're a hardcore fan you'll find the gate regardless. If you're not then the RM probably won't mean anything to you if you pass by.
Hi Ivan,
I'll put money on it that the crest was a prop. It was probably attached with strong magnets so they could take it down after a day of shooting.....it would take two seconds to do so no hassle at all. I don't know Eve personally, but from what we know about her I can't see her agreeing to the crest staying on the gates at all. I agree many people passing by the place wouldn't know the RM crest from a street sign, but any true fan would value a pic more with the crest on the gate than off....it's a better shot.....without the crest it's not as true to the show. It didn't stop people from taking pics, but it may have reduced the numbers a bit.....just imagine if the 308 was parked at the gate ....now that's a pic I would stop for. Also agree that a true fan would find the place no matter what, but others did drive right by the place back in the day....why leave a MPI beacon out for everyone to see and want to take a pic in front of.....just pop it off and hope it helps. Another thing, I don't think the crest would've lasted a season attached to the gate.....it would've become a prized souvenir in the middle of the night if you know what I mean. RG's reversed pic also supports the theory that it was removable.
Eve did have dogs, chickens and we do know of a cow or two at one time.....I'm sure there were others as well. Sorry I missed you when you were sneaking around....I must've been on lunch.
I'm not sure I totally agree it was just a removable prop. In the shot from Dead Man's Channel, the vertical iron bars of the gate itself don't seem to continue behind the shield. If it was removed, there would be a gap in the bars. It's possible, of course, that the RM plaque replaced an existing one, but the gate likely wouldn't have been originally designed and constructed to have an easily removable plaque. Unless... the gate was created for the pilot to replace what was there (the wood gate?) because the gate is so critical to the opening scene and Magnum just escaping the rapidly closing gates. Would Eve have passed up a free new front gate? Maybe they promised to replace the plaques with something more appropriate if the series didn't get picked up. Just some thoughts.
I just noticed, the shot with the lads from the pilot seem to show a plaque facing both inward and outward on each gate. The shot from Dead Man's Channel shows the reverse of the outside casting because the one facing inward is not there. Odd? The shot of Selleck in the purple shirt shows the inward facing plaque on one gate, but the other gate is not seen. We need more photos showing the inside and outside of both gates to solve this important mystery!
Pahonu wrote:I'm not sure I totally agree it was just a removable prop. In the shot from Dead Man's Channel, the vertical iron bars of the gate itself don't seem to continue behind the shield. If it was removed, there would be a gap in the bars. It's possible, of course, that the RM plaque replaced an existing one, but the gate likely wouldn't have been originally designed and constructed to have an easily removable plaque. Unless... the gate was created for the pilot to replace what was there (the wood gate?) because the gate is so critical to the opening scene and Magnum just escaping the rapidly closing gates. Would Eve have passed up a free new front gate? Maybe they promised to replace the plaques with something more appropriate if the series didn't get picked up. Just some thoughts.
I just noticed, the shot with the lads from the pilot seem to show a plaque facing both inward and outward on each gate. The shot from Dead Man's Channel shows the reverse of the outside casting because the one facing inward is not there. Odd? The shot of Selleck in the purple shirt shows the inward facing plaque on one gate, but the other gate is not seen. We need more photos showing the inside and outside of both gates to solve this important mystery!
Hi Pahonu,
I don't have the shot from Dead Man's Channel in front of me, but the other pics of the gate/plaques line up with the vertical bars.....that or my eyes are playing tricks on me (again ). Also , if you look closer to the pic RG posted on page 156 with the dogs at the gate you can see the spacing between the sandwiched crests that you mentioned.....it shows a vertical bar width gap between the front and back crests so there are bars behind them. The honu gate is closer to being a flush mount without the vertical bars that you mentioned,where this one definitely has front and back crest/plaques and a gap between them.
I agree, this is an important mystery to solve!
I bet Romer could easily answer this one for us!
Pahonu wrote:I'm not sure I totally agree it was just a removable prop. In the shot from Dead Man's Channel, the vertical iron bars of the gate itself don't seem to continue behind the shield. If it was removed, there would be a gap in the bars. It's possible, of course, that the RM plaque replaced an existing one, but the gate likely wouldn't have been originally designed and constructed to have an easily removable plaque. Unless... the gate was created for the pilot to replace what was there (the wood gate?) because the gate is so critical to the opening scene and Magnum just escaping the rapidly closing gates. Would Eve have passed up a free new front gate? Maybe they promised to replace the plaques with something more appropriate if the series didn't get picked up. Just some thoughts.
I just noticed, the shot with the lads from the pilot seem to show a plaque facing both inward and outward on each gate. The shot from Dead Man's Channel shows the reverse of the outside casting because the one facing inward is not there. Odd? The shot of Selleck in the purple shirt shows the inward facing plaque on one gate, but the other gate is not seen. We need more photos showing the inside and outside of both gates to solve this important mystery!
Hi Pahonu,
I don't have the shot from Dead Man's Channel in front of me, but the other pics of the gate/plaques line up with the vertical bars.....that or my eyes are playing tricks on me (again ). Also , if you look closer to the pic RG posted on page 156 with the dogs at the gate you can see the spacing between the sandwiched crests that you mentioned.....it shows a vertical bar width gap between the front and back crests so there are bars behind them. The honu gate is closer to being a flush mount without the vertical bars that you mentioned,where this one definitely has front and back crest/plaques and a gap between them.
I agree, this is an important mystery to solve!
I bet Romer could easily answer this one for us!
Good to hear from you Kenji!
The picture from Dead Man's Channel I was referring to is right above the one with TM's purple aloha shirt, a couple of posts above. The one with the reversed RM on the plaque. It is indeed a mystery!
I sent RG some updates of the model, especially the gate lodge, if you're interested.
The model has gotten so large now that I can't find a free hosting service to upload it to. So I've just been sending her screen captures of various new additions I've made.
Update... I got that screen cap of Dean Man's Channel from stupid daily motion because I was too lazy to pull out my dvds. Well, I just popped my dvd in and learned that the daily motion video is REVERSED?! So the "backwards" RM we're seeing isn't the backside. There is an RM crest on the inside as well as the outside of the gate, and it just looked like the backside because the video was reversed. Go figure.
Rembrandt's Girl wrote:Update... I got that screen cap of Dean Man's Channel from stupid daily motion because I was too lazy to pull out my dvds. Well, I just popped my dvd in and learned that the daily motion video is REVERSED?! So the "backwards" RM we're seeing isn't the backside. There is an RM crest on the inside as well as the outside of the gate, and it just looked like the backside because the video was reversed. Go figure.
Pahonu wrote:
KENJI wrote:
Pahonu wrote:I'm not sure I totally agree it was just a removable prop. In the shot from Dead Man's Channel, the vertical iron bars of the gate itself don't seem to continue behind the shield. If it was removed, there would be a gap in the bars. It's possible, of course, that the RM plaque replaced an existing one, but the gate likely wouldn't have been originally designed and constructed to have an easily removable plaque. Unless... the gate was created for the pilot to replace what was there (the wood gate?) because the gate is so critical to the opening scene and Magnum just escaping the rapidly closing gates. Would Eve have passed up a free new front gate? Maybe they promised to replace the plaques with something more appropriate if the series didn't get picked up. Just some thoughts.
I just noticed, the shot with the lads from the pilot seem to show a plaque facing both inward and outward on each gate. The shot from Dead Man's Channel shows the reverse of the outside casting because the one facing inward is not there. Odd? The shot of Selleck in the purple shirt shows the inward facing plaque on one gate, but the other gate is not seen. We need more photos showing the inside and outside of both gates to solve this important mystery!
Hi Pahonu,
I don't have the shot from Dead Man's Channel in front of me, but the other pics of the gate/plaques line up with the vertical bars.....that or my eyes are playing tricks on me (again ). Also , if you look closer to the pic RG posted on page 156 with the dogs at the gate you can see the spacing between the sandwiched crests that you mentioned.....it shows a vertical bar width gap between the front and back crests so there are bars behind them. The honu gate is closer to being a flush mount without the vertical bars that you mentioned,where this one definitely has front and back crest/plaques and a gap between them.
I agree, this is an important mystery to solve!
I bet Romer could easily answer this one for us!
Good to hear from you Kenji!
The picture from Dead Man's Channel I was referring to is right above the one with TM's purple aloha shirt, a couple of posts above. The one with the reversed RM on the plaque. It is indeed a mystery!
I sent RG some updates of the model, especially the gate lodge, if you're interested.
The model has gotten so large now that I can't find a free hosting service to upload it to. So I've just been sending her screen captures of various new additions I've made.
Nice to hear from you too Pahonu!
I was going to send you a reply regarding the gate mystery, but RG appears to have solved the back part of the crest/plaque-thanks RG. I still think the crests just popped off after each shoot at the estate and stored in the prop truck until the next visit to the estate. I'm sure Romer would know for sure....anyways, always fun to work on a mystery with you Pahonu!
I'm very interested in the model updates!!!!!!!
I'll put my order in with RG and wait for delivery - can't wait!
Thanks again P for taking the time to create the model - a true masterpiece!
Yep that's why I hate checking MPI scenes on Dailymotion. I always keep forgetting that all their episodes are reversed (just look at the opening credits). Like you, RG, I tend to be lazy to get out the DVDs. So much easier to just pull up the episode on Dailymotion if I just want to check something really quick. Obviously if I want to watch a full episode I get out the DVDs for that. But that's Dailymotion for ya - just need to keep that in mind when checking something on it. Other shows on Dailymotion are fine (like FIVE-O) and not reversed. I know a lot of episodes on YouTube are reversed or sped-up due to copyright issues (so that the episodes don't get taken down) but I didn't think the same copyright issues applied to Dailymotion. Most of the shows I've seen on there are typically in their original form.
So what did we decide on the RM crest? I say it's either: a) a prop or b) not a prop.
Kenji, those bushes at the estate need some trimming. Especially around the tidal pool gate. I had a hard time viewing the entire premises.
Ya, I had no idea Dailymotion was reversed and I didn't look at the opening credits because I knew what scene I was looking for so I just skipped ahead right away. The reason I popped my dvd in was because Pahonu said he couldn't see the bars on the back of the crest so I thought my dvd would be clearer. Oops.
My vote is a) a prop. How many seconds/minutes of screen time did the RM crest get over 8 seasons? I just can't imagine that it would have been a permanent fixture on Eve's gate for such little screen time. That's my guess.
However, I've been meaning to send Rick Romer an email about something else so I sent him an email just now. Fingers crossed he'll reply and be able to solve the mystery!
Visited the tidal pool today. Incredible experience. Will never forget my first glimpse of Rabbit Island as we drove along Kalanianaole Hwy. -- chills. Got shots of the area and of the boathouse/guesthouse. Did not go up to the gate leading from the beach to the lawn to see the old house site because there was a man sleeping in a hammock strung directly in front of the gate.
I'm still in Hawaii, so photos will be up probably next weekend.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool. It's not pool. Billiards. Snooker! Snucker. SNOOKER!
IvanTheTerrible wrote:Who is this Rick Romer and how is he familiar with the crest?
EDIT: Sounds like a certain MPI episodes doesn't it?
Haha, yes!
Rick was the Set Director for Season 4, 5, 6 and Assistant Decorator for Season 7.
From his blog... I built many items from Higgin's bridge on the River Kwai to crashed jet tail sections to battle axes at the theatre up the hill from the studio where I was the resident lighting and set designer. I have done most of the shows from Hawaii since Magnum including the pilot and first 60 episodes of "LOST" and the pilot and first 12 episodes of the new "5-0."
So that's why we're hoping he remembers the RM crest.
When I was there last month the only animals there were chickens. They actually spooked me at first because as I was sneaking around I thought there was someone walking around on the premises (maybe Kenji?) and I'd be spotted. But it was just chickens. 
....now that's a pic I would stop for. Also agree that a true fan would find the place no matter what, but others did drive right by the place back in the day....why leave a MPI beacon out for everyone to see and want to take a pic in front of.....just pop it off and hope it helps. Another thing, I don't think the crest would've lasted a season attached to the gate.....it would've become a prized souvenir in the middle of the night if you know what I mean. 
So I've just been sending her screen captures of various new additions I've made.
