The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii (1.8)

[KingKC]

Just plain goofy...but all MPI episodes were considered pretty good back in 1980-1981!!

KingKC

[eagle]

I just noticed a goof in this episode. In some scenes, the bad guys are driving a Ford LTD, and in other scenes they are driving a Mercury Grand Marquis. I know this, because my first car was a 1979 Ford LTD, and I always recognize the difference between the LTD and the Mercury.

You can see the Mercury in the scene at 22:28. Other scenes, like the gas station scene at 21:35, are of a Ford LTD. Among other things, note the different grille and headlights.

Obviously most of the driving scenes were filmed multiple times, because in the entire chase scene from ~16:30 to ~24:30 shows both the LTD and the Grand Marquis at nearly identical places in the chase.

[MagnumILWU]

This is one of those episodes where you either love it or hate it. I'm in the former. Sure, it's got kind of a goofy plot, but Michael V. Gazzo is great as the bumbling old school mobster. And that whole sequence with Magnum & the grad student being chased by the mobsters through a pot field and on the Makai Research Pier is a classic. The DVD version also contains some "blooper" footage at the end. This is the only episode to use this type of footage in the closing credits.

Just watched it on Encore! The bloopers at the end are great! Just funny and natural. Not forced, like so many blooper reels! Like other comments, I wish there were many more!

[Danny Lin]

On Algie being beamed aboard:

Hilarious episode! I especially love the part where Magnum randomly ran into the ganja fields!

There was flub that kind of brought a cheese factor to the episode though. The scene where Magnum gets into the jimmy. He calls to the dog to come into the car. The dog isn't filmed jumping into the car. The edited shot is cut and the dog just magically appears in the Jimmy. I know it was an error that the editors missed, but the effect is hilarious. It's like there's a transporter beam on the jimmy!

I don´t get that. The only sequence in which Magnum gets into the Jimmy and calls the dog to come into the car is the one in the parking lot of the Kaleawana Kennel. And the dog is clearly seen, jumping into the car through the right door!

Do I understand MACattack´s post wrong in any way?

[Danny Lin]

On the aspiring marine biologist:

The aspiring marine biologist was about as dry and boring as any female lead on the show........truly forgettable.

Dry, maybe. Forgettable, no way! She's drop dead gorgeous!

I really did not like her character at all. She is terrified of dogs and very emotional with mood swings. She reminds me of the female role played in Indiana Jones films where the girl is always on an emotional roller-coaster.

...

I really didn´t like her character either! I´m always really annoyed of overly emotional and helpless characters, especially if them being strenuous doesn´t add anything to the story. Since this episode once again is one that intends to be funny and easy entertainment it wouldn´t have been necessary at all to artificially add drama by adding an unstable "crybaby". Why not any kind of hilarious character, especially if it is a woman. Women were back then much too often used as unstable and unable little dolls that needed the help of a male main character. That was and is, if it happens today, just boring and annoying, or to speak with Seaver41: "Truly forgettable"!

[Danny Lin]

On some unmentioned flubs:

During the car chase there are some short sequences to find in which Algie is seen in front of chequered back seats that are not part of the interior of the Jimmy.

When Rick stops the pool cleaners van after he was run off the road by the bad guys the environment that can be seen through the passenger window is notably different from the environment that can be seen through the same window seconds later, when Mitch jumps into the van and threatens Rick with the gun.

[Danny Lin]

On the episode as such:

Another one of those episodes that clearly aim to offer some easy entertainment without real drama. Not bad but not as entertaining as "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too", I find.

Higgins, shouting: "Enough! Enough! The entire episode is absurd" underlines the aim of the episode very nicely.

Magnum talking himself out of the situation in the grass patch reminds of him talking himself out of the situation with Mano in "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too". But even that Mano sequence was wittier than the grass patch one.

TC wears the team ring upside down once more in the sequence with him and Magnum on the phone, when Magnum rings him from the gas station.

Michael Nader (Mitch) played Dex Dexter in "Dynasty" some years later.

[Danny Lin]

On an unmentioned flub according the helicopters position on the helipad on the pier:

...

Flub note for James:
While the old mobster shoots through the door on the pier, TC comes to the rescue. As the chopper lands, an empty concrete helipad is visible. Magnum and Sharon then board the chopper on an ashphalt section further up the pier. The copter in then seen taking off from the square concrete pad.

...

When I searched for this flub I found that there´s another flub in direct connection with the above mentioned one:
It occurs between the two sequences directly before the one in which the biologist and Thomas enter the shopper on the asphalt section.
In the first sequence you see the two running towards the shopper out of the background. The shopper is positioned on the helipad with the front ends of the skids hanging over the edge of the pad. In the next sequence you see the two from behind while running towards the shopper. In this sequence the shopper suddenly is positioned on the helipad with the front ends of the skids not hanging over the edge.

[K Hale]

Flub!

In the scene in the study where Magnum and Higgins are looking at Algie's X-rays, Higgins is wearing long pants.



T.C. drives up and Magnum lets him in. Higgins heads out the door and has suddenly changed into shorts.

[ENSHealy]

On Algie being beamed aboard:

Hilarious episode! I especially love the part where Magnum randomly ran into the ganja fields!

There was flub that kind of brought a cheese factor to the episode though. The scene where Magnum gets into the jimmy. He calls to the dog to come into the car. The dog isn't filmed jumping into the car. The edited shot is cut and the dog just magically appears in the Jimmy. I know it was an error that the editors missed, but the effect is hilarious. It's like there's a transporter beam on the jimmy!

I don´t get that. The only sequence in which Magnum gets into the Jimmy and calls the dog to come into the car is the one in the parking lot of the Kaleawana Kennel. And the dog is clearly seen, jumping into the car through the right door!

Do I understand MACattack´s post wrong in any way?

I'm with you Danny, I think MACattack's off base on this one, although not entirely. Clearly as shown in the photos below, Algie can be seen jumping into the Jimmy. However, there is a very strange sound effect added in when he does it, a weird "whooshing" sound, and I can see where MACattack might have gotten the idea of a transporter beam from that sound effect. Especially if he was sampling some of the grass from his patch while he watched the episode!

[ENSHealy]

1.8 THE UGLIEST DOG IN HAWAII
Hawaiian shirts: 1 green with white orchids
Island Hopper shirts: 2 dark blue logo on baby blue, white logo on dark gray
Body Count: 0
Shirtless: 1
Little Voice: 0
I know what you’re thinking: 0
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Investigator corrections: 0
Magnum injuries: 0
Higgins musings: 0
4th wall breaks: 1 Magnum, 1 Higgins
Negotiations: 1 Tennis courts for protecting Algie
Famous guest stars: 1 Michael Gazzo – The Godfather Part II
Magnumometer: 8

Potential magnumania usernames: Sir Algernon Farnsworth, The Old Moustache

Best line of the episode, from Victor DiGiorgio: You're lucky she didn't have the rest of the girls from the mah-jongg club. Maybe you wouldn't have gotten out alive.

Questions:
1. Did Algie arrive on the ship by himself? Mrs. Marston appears to have already been in Hawaii?
2. What good does telling T.C. the password over the intercom do? When T.C. arrives with the materials for the dog run and the boys to assemble it, Thomas tells him the password, “Shag it.” Why? Is the gate suddenly voice activated based on the correct password? The gate does seem to open right as Sharon repeats the phrase “Shag it.” Very odd, doesn’t Higgins usually push a button on the phone to open the gate?
3. Revolving debt? TC states that Thomas owes him $1013.59 for materials (the dog run), bullet holes in the chopper, and two rides in the chopper. TM must pay that down at some point, because in Season 3’s Mr. White Death, the balance of Thomas’ debt to TC is $875.67
4. Airport or Seaport? The same location appears to have been used for both the seaport in this episode, and the airport in Little Girl Who:

Little Girl Who:



Ugliest Dog:

[K Hale]

I always thought Magnum was kidding about the gate password. There’s never a password. Especially since the password translates to “hurry up and get in here”... unless you are British... in which case it means something else entirely.

[ENSHealy]

But if there's no password, why does Higgins get indignant about a breach of security when TM does it?

[K Hale]

But if there's no password, why does Higgins get indignant about a breach of security when TM does it?

I thought the breach of security was letting someone in who hadn’t properly identified himself. TM tells TC “Shag it,” meaning hurry up and get in here with the fencing stuff. TC replies “Shag it?!” and TM jokes, “Security password,” thus teasing Higgins about expecting a friend to ID himself.

[T.Q.]

Just a plain fun all-around episode this one.

Sir Algernon Farnsworth is the cutest mutt.

He actually made me always want an “ugly” little dog.