Magnum, P.I.

The Big Blow - S3-E21

Factual error: This episode is set during a party happening on the weekend of Spring equinox, which means end of March. but it's also happening during a devastating hurricane. No hurricane (not tropical storm) has ever occurred in Hawaii in that month or anytime close to that; hurricane season in the Pacific starts at its earliest in May, and used to begin towards July in the 1980s climate.

Sammo

...By Its Cover - S3-E20

Factual error: It is stated in the episode twice that Rod 'did time' in Camarillo, but Camarillo does not have a penitentiary, just a jail and (had at the time) a State mental hospital, neither compatible with his 18 months sentence for growing weed. (00:25:00)

Sammo

Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19

Factual error: When Sam climbs on the plane to give chase to the baddies, the tail number is N64CE. When he takes off though, the control tower announces the clearance for "Sixty-four Charlie Lima." Should have been Charlie Echo. (00:41:35 - 00:42:30)

Sammo

Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19

Factual error: No matter how good of a pilot Samuel is, he's chasing a Learjet 24 plane with a WWII design P-51 Mustang (that he does not even know how to start, but of course fictional pilots can just 'wing it' and do amazingly). Assuming that speed is not a factor since the bad guy is not flying at top speed just yet (but still he has a projected arrival time of 6 hours, meaning he'd fly around 700 kmh), they do the chase at high altitude (42,000 feet are mentioned), with Samuel not wearing a mask or anything in a non-pressurized plane! He'd have passed out.

Sammo

Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19

Factual error: Sam crashes the plane running out of gas, but just barely. His boss and the client are mad at him, but he actually worked some miracle, since from Van Nuys to Honolulu there's a distance of over 2,200 nautical miles, and even considering additional fuel tanks, that is over 3 times the range of the Cessna 172 plane he was flying, also considering it had headwind throughout the voyage (it's even a plot point).

Sammo

Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19

Factual error: In his 'Nam flashback at the beginning, Magnum has (another) fun encounter with a large macaw. Green macaws (or any macaw for that matter) are not something he would have found in a Vietnam war mission, unless he inadvertently crossed the Pacific Ocean and ended up in South America. (00:02:00)

Sammo

Birdman of Budapest - S3-E15

Factual error: Higgins frightens the parrot with his peregrine falcon call, and the parrot flies away. The sky is a fairly big place though, and TC's helicopter is far away, so the fact that it'd be sucked in (that's not how helicopters work), maimed and somehow explode in a puff of (clean) feathers that instantly and calmly float down is borderline cartoon slapstick. (00:45:20)

Sammo

Heal Thyself - S3-E11

Factual error: Magnum shows the news of Dr. Karen Harmon on the newspaper to TC and Rick and tells them "She was with the 71st Evac Hospital at Binh Thuy, remember?", but the 71st Evac was at Pleiku, over 600km up north. (00:07:00)

Sammo

Mr. White Death - S3-E8

Factual error: The episode opens with a caption "Miami, 1955." However, as Salvatore Marchese sits in the barber's chair, he picks up as his reading of choice a copy of the National Geographic...the April 1982 edition. (00:02:20)

Sammo

Flashback - S3-E6

Factual error: Magnum is checking out newspapers from year 1936...but they are copies of The Hawaii Herald, and that is impossible, since it started publications (with that name) only in 1942 as an Americanised version of the original Hawaii Hochi. (00:39:55)

Sammo

Flashback - S3-E6

Factual error: At the movies, Magnum is watching a movie with Bette Davis, the first one she played in, "The Bad Sister" and comments "Keep it up, old girl, you just might have a future as an actress." Funny, but the dream is set in 1936, not 1931 when that movie came out. Implausibility of finding it in theaters aside, by 1936 young Bette Davis had already won her first Oscar. (00:30:30)

Sammo

Flashback - S3-E6

Factual error: When Magnum offers popcorn to Irene Yah-Ling Sun, he is holding it in a box. In 1936, bags were the norm, and the design of the box is from at least a couple decades later. (00:29:00)

Sammo

Flashback - S3-E6

Factual error: The very first plane in the scene when Magnum goes where he'll meet TC is a Piper J-3 Cub. They enter production in 1938, but this episode is set in 1936. (00:16:55)

Sammo

Flashback - S3-E6

Factual error: Magnum gets to the airfield looking for TC the first time, at the very beginning of his drive you can see in the building in the background a modern window AC unit - that kind of device was available in 1936, but its cost certainly makes it unlikely, as it'd cost the equivalent of $8,000 today, not really something for the dingy shack it's mounted on. (00:16:55)

Sammo

More mistakes in Magnum, P.I.

Mac: Time has little to do with infinity and jelly donuts.

More quotes from Magnum, P.I.

A.A.P.I. - S7-E5

Trivia: At the awards ceremony, three men seated at a table together resemble three detectives from 1970s TV shows. Detective Mike Stone (played by Karl Malden) from ABC's Streets of San Francisco; Detective Frank Columbo (played by Peter Falk) from NBC's Columbo; and Detective Theo Kojak (played by Telly Savalas) from CBS's Kojak. (00:07:20)

Super Grover

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