Murder 101 (5.8)

[LZeitgeist]

* I’m not certain about this one either, but on Magnum’s license (which reverts to stating his birthday as 5th January, which I love, as this is also my birthdate!), the photo of him to me looks like it was taken from the common early promotional shot of him kneeling down by one of the Ferrari’s wheels. I’ll have to try and find a scan of this shot and compare them.

The photo is definitely different, but in the prop department's defense, what we were shown previously was TM's Hawaii Driver's License - what we are shown in this episode is his PI License. (It is his driver's license with a white sticker over 'State of Hawaii Driver's Licence' and text on the sticker that says, 'Private Investigator'.)

I have photos to compare but no hosting space online to which I can upload them.

[80s Big Hair]

I never understood why Mr. Gaylord was hell-bent on cancelling the class.

[nha trang]

I never understood why Mr. Gaylord was hell-bent on cancelling the class.

His wife, Mrs. Gaylord had her metaphysics class cancelled and replaced by murder 101 I believe?

Also, this episode wasnt quite as bad as I thought years ago, I think I became more forgiving over the past decade!

Nha Trang

[ENSHealy]

I appreciate what SL said about Vietnam and the value of friends. That would explain a great deal and TM, TC, and Rick.

I love this campy episode. We get to laugh at Magnum's flaws. The book he wants to write gets another mention. His inability to teach a class is amusing. The sterotypical class members are hilarious.

I hate to be a quibbler (OK, I love it, but I can't admit that, can I?) but the book (How To Be A World Class Private Investigator) doesn't actually get a mention. Unless I missed it, but I searched the subtitles text too and didn't find any of the key words. It's one of the things I track for the Magnumometer, so I think my ears would have perked up, but I know I've missed things before as well.

[ENSHealy]

EPISODE: 5.8 MURDER 101

Famous guest stars:

Hawaiian shirts: 1
Tigers Cap:
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG:
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings: 1
Negotiations: 1
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections: 3
4th wall breaks: 1
Magnumometer: 8
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/543615087

Potential magnumania usernames: Mildred Gaylord, Dave Gibson

Entertaining enough, but as others have pointed out, pseudo-Spicoli is dreadful and the plot is a bit tangled.

[charybdis1966]

My run through Season 5 continues and on second viewing this is a fairly goofy and enjoyable story.

Admittedly the plot isn't so great and there are no real plot twists however after the sombre tone of the previous episode (Blind Justice) this is exactly the right type of frothy story to counterbalance Blind Justice.

I don't know why but the sight of Kiana Dau posing as a hooker late on in the episode is my main memory from watching this back in the 2010's on rerun. Is she in "Hawaiian Peaches" ?

If not she should be.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Entertaining enough, but as others have pointed out, pseudo-Spicoli is dreadful.

I'm sorry but this statement doesn't compute. Pseudo-Spicoli was the best part of this episode! Tom Shadyac as Danny was the most memorable of all the students, no contest. And for what it's worth I never cared for Sean Penn's Spicoli schtick but here in this episode I love Danny!!

[Pahonu]

Sean Penn effectively created the character type that is Jeff Spicoli. All others that followed were imitations. He and several other young actors in the film were praised at the time for their new and unique portrayals of high school students in that generation.

The film was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U S National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Sean Penn effectively created the character type that is Jeff Spicoli. All others that followed were imitations. He and several other young actors in the film were praised at the time for their new and unique portrayals of high school students in that generation.

Yeah I know that Penn created that "stoner surfer" type and the role basically made Penn a star. And yet despite this I didn't really care for him when I saw it, or the film for that matter. But Tom Shadyac (who's not even an actor, really - he became a major comedy director and launched Jim Carrey's career with ACE VENTURA) for some reason just really nailed that stoner type and I really enjoyed him playing it in this MPI episode. Different strokes for different folks I guess...

The film was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U S National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.

Now, this TOTALLY doesn't compute! I'm sorry but I can't see it as anything more than a silly 80s comedy. I'd rather watch SPIES LIKE US or THREE AMIGOS! than this one. And I'm sure neither of those are listed for preservation by the Library of Congress. I can see films like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD or BEN-HUR preserved for posterity... but FAST TIMES???? I'd rather see something like a classic Bond film (maybe GOLDFINGER is?) or a rip-roaring adventure like WHERE EAGLES DARE preserved. They sure don't make 'em like they used to.

[Pahonu]

It was the first film to really depict teen culture of that time and was based on Cameron Crowe’s magazine article where he went undercover in a SoCal high school. Its depiction of teens in that era is similar to Rebel Without a Cause in its era, several decades earlier. Rebel is also a film selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

[metalmoose]

I love this episode. It's totally funny, there's a decent plot and Stacy is not too shabby (if you know what I mean)! Magnum's reaction to the beer guzzling guy is classic.

[Pahonu]

Magnum's reaction to the beer guzzling guy is classic.

It is a great scene!