Magnum, P.I.

Luther Gillis: File #521 - S4-E2

Other mistake: For the first 2/3 of the episode (up until their second prison visit) Magnum is wearing the same watch he had been wearing for the previous three seasons, with a leather strap. For the last part of the episode he wears the pepsi bezel watch with a metal bracelet that he inherited from his father and was the focus of the previous episode and will be his regular watch for the rest of the show, in kind of a retcon.

Sammo

Luther Gillis: File #521 - S4-E2

Other mistake: The policeman opens the closet door in the most transparent "a corpse is going to fall off from here and I know it" way, stepping away from it and even looking down where the body will drop. (00:05:45)

Sammo

Home from the Sea - S4-E1

Other mistake: Magnum is 5 years old when his dad leaves for Korea, and is 6 by the time he's dead, coming back in a coffin on July 4th 1951. That does not work with the birthdate that appeared on the driver license in Memories Are Forever, episode 2-5, which is even abundantly referenced here with footage being re-used (Magnum's wedding party with bombs, and making love to his wife years later in the guest house). He was born January 5th 1946 in the document shown in close-up there.

Sammo

Home from the Sea - S4-E1

Other mistake: Rick breaks off his hot date and goes searching for Magnum driving his boat for a long while -before- contacting Higgins to see if Magnum is missing at all. It also is the middle of the night and close to dawn (Magnum has to wait just one hour before the sun comes up) but Rick is still drinking wine (but not drunk) and hasn't even touched second base with the girl despite the fact that they were mixing wine and going below when the sun was still up.

Sammo

Home from the Sea - S4-E1

Other mistake: Higgins says he hasn't seen Magnum (or his surf ski) "for two days", but Magnum left on the morning of the 4th, and has been in the ocean for 20 hours total. He spends the 4th on his own, but on the 3rd his friends and the ever-seeing majordomo of the estate should have gotten any sign of his presence.

Sammo

Home from the Sea - S4-E1

Other mistake: Rick mentions "It'll take us half the night to limp home and I don't want to go through the reef in the dark with one engine." He's lying because he wants to spend the night with her, but even considering that, the fact that there are islands behind him as he speaks, but through all the rest of the scene both act as if they were in the middle of the ocean (she does not object, he looks out to sea with his binoculars), is a spoiler. (00:30:30)

Sammo

Three Minus Two - S2-E21

Other mistake: A plastic bag with a wallet and a watch, placed right next to a claymore mine when it explodes with a whole car, would hardly stay perfectly intact, and completely untouched by the police when they already towed the car to the impound lot.

Sammo

Three Minus Two - S2-E21

Other mistake: Magnum spots a patrol car inside the impound lot. He and TC duck down, and they are at the side of the car. The same side the camera is at, when it gives us a view of the patrol car passing by. It's plain daylight, and they officers have to be completely blind to Miss those two big dudes lying by the side of the car in a spot they have a clean eyesight on. (00:36:20)

Sammo

Three Minus Two - S2-E21

Other mistake: This episode is the season 2 finale, but was obviously produced early, with numerous shots from it appearing in the opening. A big deal is made out of Magnum borrowing "the Rolls Royce of cameras", but he has used routinely the camera throughout the season. Higgins even asks him if he needs instructions about the various lenses, when one of the previous episodes involved as sub-plot replacing one of the priciest ones, and the feature-length episode had a bit about it as well.

Sammo

The Elmo Ziller Story - S2-E20

Other mistake: There are spotty areas in the plot of the episode; in particular, it's never explained how can Elmo make an appearance at the newspaper office - but at the same time also be considered dead, and Higgins be at the hotel - and who would be riding his bronco leading others to believe he's around.

Sammo

Double Jeopardy - S2-E18

Other mistake: Olivia Ross crushes in anger the paper cup she was drinking coffee from - and she does not wet her hand or stain her perfect white dress doing so. (00:23:25)

Sammo

Texas Lightning - S2-E17

Other mistake: Magnum lights up a signal fire for TC. It is supposed then to raise significant smoke (which Rick spots) in a short time, but when we see the fire, it's not generating visible smoke. Moreover, Magnum uses fuel to light it up, but they are supposedly out of gas and had to paddle for a long while before getting to the island, so it's odd that they'd suddenly have spare fuel for that predicament the day after. (00:38:45)

Sammo

One More Summer - S2-E16

Other mistake: Someone shoots in the dark at the trio in front of the sandal king's house. Former Navy Seal Magnum must have read the script and know that the assailant was only gonna shoot once, because he jumps up from his sitting position and just stands there looking pensive at the bushes like a complete fool, taking no cover, nor trying to protect his client while the wife is dead. (00:33:20)

Sammo

One More Summer - S2-E16

Other mistake: Mrs. Greeley mentions the sandal king's wife putting the hooks on the quarterback "yesterday at the party." That would mean that every previous event - Magnum showing up to the first day of practice, going back to the estate where Higgins annoys him, being 'hired' to practise with the team - all happens in a day. TC actually mentions the practice "the other day" which contradicts it explicitly, but even without that, all of it is patently absurd - including TC showing up independently from him. (00:19:10 - 00:30:30)

Sammo

Italian Ice - S2-E15

Other mistake: During the climactic scene at the acting class, the students are shown in several panning shots. If you go back to the first scene at the same location, when the students were walking away at the end of the lesson you can notice that every extra a day after wears the exact same clothes as they were the day before. (00:22:00 - 00:43:00)

Sammo

Try to Remember - S2-E14

Other mistake: Higgins hypnotizes Magnum using as pendulum a medallion, which is a reused prop from the very previous episode; Paulo, the "travelling companion" aka boytoy of his ex fiancée, was wearing it in the finale. It makes no sense for him to have it - unless you want to write your own dark fanfiction about it. It was just a throwaway prop, on screen for a second or two, and reutilized for another brief scene here. (00:31:50 - 00:47:25)

Sammo

More mistakes in Magnum, P.I.

Of Sound Mind - S3-E12

Higgins: How fiendishly deceptive of you, Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent. To my great surprise, I see the sounds are emanating from what I thought was a harmless musical instrument.
Magnum: Cute Higgins, real cute.
Higgins: Why Magnum? Why do this terrible thing?
Magnum: Higgins, I'll have you know I used to be very good. I was the second best sax player in my High School band!
Higgins: Well, how many sax players were there?!
Magnum: ...Anyway. I just saw this in a pawn shop window and thought I'd like to try and get my chops back.
Higgins: May I suggest that your "chops" are irretrievable.
Magnum: Higgins, did you come here just to abuse me!?
(00:05:25)

Sammo

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

More trivia for Magnum, P.I.

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