Mr. Celtic Knot has Thomas Magnum’s laugh. I never heard Frank Reagan laugh like that.
I think I’ll just watch the DVDs.
…
Magnum is more than just competent and able, he can be lethally coldblooded: who here remembers the first time they saw the end of “Did You See the Sun Rise? Part II”?
[spoiler]At the end of the episode, Magnum has his old torturer from Vietnam and current bad guy of the episode at gunpoint. He asks the question “Did you see the sun rise?”. When the bad guy says “Yes”, just as the screen goes black, you see the muzzle flash of Magnum’s .45 and hear the gunshot.
Magnum just straight up executed him. (Bad guy had rigged the Ferrari with a bomb, but Mac had jumped in and asked the title question as he started the car and the bomb went off.)
YouTube[/spoiler]
IIRC, Lance was always impeccably dressed in suit and tie.
Extremely well done and shocking to me when I first saw it. One of those tv moments that will stick with me. Also redone perfectly on Archer.
I remember Magnum PI from when I was a fairly young child. It was something my parents watched, and I think I liked it because it had shiny cars and helicopters. Don’t really remember much more than that. I think at that time Airwolf was my fave. 
Reboot or not, is it something that would actually hold up to time, and be worth a re-watch (original series, I mean) to someone who only vaguely remembers it?
This is why Magnum has to carry the 45 auto. The idea of him shooting a 9mm (which by the way is my primary weapon of choice), or even a forty caliber is absurd. When Magnum fires his sidearm, it can be identified even if he is not on screen. You may see my long winded post above that addresses this.
I have additional comments to make, but must spend time with the kid right now. I do feel compelled to say however that I always believed he did it for Mac, not because of his own suffering.
I also believe that is why Magnum is so easy going and unconcerned about most matters (the immature clown Higgins resents having to babysit). He has two default settings, normal and combat and he doesn’t much care to be in combat mode ever again. When circumstance demands it, he switches to combat mode then get the hell of of his way! Nobody wants combat Magnum pissed at them, nobody!
But he still managed to get his ass kicked fairly often and shot a few times, too.
…
That may be part of the appeal–sure, he’s a former SEAL, but he’s not some unrealistic martial arts unbeatable bad ass like the protagonists many other shows are.
I think the very second show had the Chinese kung fu assassin kicking TC’s and Magnum’s asses. Magnum had to shoot that guy.
Are they going to deal with the issue of concussions? In the original series, Magnum was knocked out with the butt of a gun nearly every episode, or it at least seems like every episode. The accumulation of head injuries should have had repercussions at some point.
This was the first episode I saw, and it was instant addiction. Dad worked for NATO, and his company was trying out new technology to replace film. One new-fangled gadget was a VCR, and company employees back in the states tapes shows for us to watch. Our American neighbor loved Magnum, so she got someone to tape it for her. When it was our turn to have the VCR (it rotated among company families) she told us we needed to see this show. The episode was “Did You See the Sunrise?” It had a tremendous impact on my 8th-grade self.
When I was on my own after college, I tried to record every episode of Magnum PI I could find, and eventually had 21 video tapes that I dragged around with me until Mr. Celtic Knot gave me the DVD set for Christmas. It’s still my favorite show.
I’m rather leery of the reboot. How can it be as good?
It does seem as though character based shows are character based. There is a certain chemistry with the characters and actors who play them that cannot be replicated.
The setting in this case is not as important as the people in it.
That said, it may not do all that badly, as there are a few generations now that have not seen it at all, or only barely remember it, like me. In that case, to be honest, most shows that were made in the 80’s are pretty hard to watch. Shows tend to be better quality and less… 80’s these days, and that’s a plus.
I have no idea what exactly they are doing with it, but it seems it would be better to have it as a generational thing, and acknowledge the past history of the universe, than to try to recreate the characters from scratch.
I think the only really clear scene I remember was when Rick (I think) had won 2nd place in some contest, and was excited about the prize he was going to get. At the end of the show spoilers he finds that the first place winner was disqualified, and he won the grand prize: A trip to Hawaii.
Didn’t Sonny do basically the same thing with Liddy on Miami Vice? :dubious:
Oh My God, this made me laugh out loud!
Can you imagine a PC* reboot of “The Three Stooges”? 
Okay * I’m one “of those guys”. I played football, raced motorcycles, skateboarded and skied for years. Concussion? Suck it up, Wimp! 
I keep seeing the thread title as “Magnum P.I. robot”.
That’s the NYPD’s problem now.
I cannot believe that of all things, I am so invested in a thread about a POSSIBLE reboot of Magnum PI! That being said, if they do this they must do a good job. It was too good, too distinctive a series to be sullied with a stinker of a reboot. If they are going to try to put a modern stamp upon an 80’s detective show—RIPTIDE is where they need to go. No one remembers it anyway; they can reboot it and never make reference to the original. It is better for the times anyway. It was about three partners with military backgrounds who make a decent living (perhaps in San Diego) as detectives—and they have cool boats, cars, and an old ugly helicopter. The twist was that a nerdy computer guy does all the work in a dark room full of tech, then the two macho guys apply the info the nerd produces. The frail nerd is indispensible, but the muscle is just functionary. At various times the nerd guy turns out to outrank the two men of action, and has better contacts. He was also close buddies with some legendary badass admiral the other two guys feared and revered. That show could be remade without any danger of angering throngs of devout Magnum fans and it would be a perfect fit with modern tech dramas.
Now, what I came back to say: there are problems with changing the characters of Rick and T.C. Serious problems! As others have stated, this show was character driven and when you change characters – it changes the dynamic. Higgins can be a woman, but she must be in authority over Magnum. She must be a stickler for rule following, she must be persnickety, she must admire Thomas - - - but reluctantly, and perhaps only occasionally. (They must respect each other, but must also both be trying to get the better of the other.) That is the essence of their relationship- can’t change it, so the characters have to be drawn to facilitate that dynamic. I believe the ensemble can use another character- add a few more dynamics and not diminish the impact of all the other relationship dynamics. Robin Masters should be a slightly bigger character than in the original, she should be a powerful, wealthy woman, and she should be smarter than all the other characters (who all have very valuable technical knowledge of minutia she cannot be bothered about, for good reason of course, she is operating on a higher plain and has a bigger scope than any of the others). That can be a major nod toward upsetting the paradigm of the wealthy, womanizing playboy Robin was in the original. (She should be what the presidential character was meant to be on WEST WING, a seldom seen person of great influence and power who swoops in and adds drama—then jets off for dinner with the Ewing’s or Carrington’s. She should wear a hat, but not a fedora- one of those Kentucky Derby hats, and instead of a cane, seven inch stilettos.)
But I need to put in my (slightly more than) two cents on T.C. and Rick. They both have extensive back stories and that is why they are friends with Magnum. If you think about it you know exactly what their back stories are, you just never had any reason to examine them or articulate them. Rick is a small man with a full size heart and ego. Always the runt of the litter, he admires and longs to be equal to big powerful, masculine men (like T.M. and T.C.). That is why he became a Marine, that is why he admires Bogart, that is why he befriends Ice Pick, he wants to be a tough guy. Partly it is proximity, they all ended up on the same island, but mostly those two big dudes accept him as one of their own. That is why he wants the job running the club, back home the guys who ran clubs were powerful men of clout, and had connections if they were mobbed up or not. Rick wanted to be Tony Soprano before Tony existed (except he did exist in Youngstown Ohio or Jolliet or wherever Rick is actually from, and he made his bones smuggling booze during prohibition and Rick admired him as a kid). Rick can’t be gay, and he can’t be transgendered, because his insecurity and his desire to prove himself will not allow it. Rick needs to be one of the guys—and with his service buddies, he is. But that is still not enough, he has to be powerful (runs the whole club- has juice, check), has to have access to secret info (friends with Ice Pick- in the know, check), has to be able to deliver special favors (tickets to events at the club, connections to British heraldry through Higgins, Navy intel through Thomas, and in the most extreme cases—a three man assault team in a helo- firepower, check)
T.C. is a little tougher for me to pinpoint, but some things are obvious. He is a good natured guy who just wants to make a profit and enjoy life, and it is never—ever that simple. Fortunately he is big, and smart, and tough, and brave- that gets him through and always has. Can’t tell where he grew up, but mostly racism was not the major concern—it did come up however. He likes the military because they are about as colorblind as they can be. He is accepted for who he is and has the opportunity to make something of himself he is proud of. He gets out and starts a small business, not enough to pull him back to where he came from, maybe he has relatives who would mooch off him (like Magnum occasionally does). Explains why he loves Magnum but is often frustrated by him, back in his childhood neighborhood is a guy who is even worse, a brother or cousin or even just a close friend. I guess there is no reason he couldn’t be gay or transgendered, except I can’t see him upping for military service if that was the case. Too comfortable with whom he is to lie or hide anything that fundamental, and frankly, I am not sure what the rules were when he would have served in the new reboot (or now for that matter). In the original run of the show, he would have had to expressly lie to serve and to get into flight school. He is a tough guy who never wants to fight and a smart guy who knows it is best to work hard and keep your head down and never volunteer. I guess my strongest objection to T.C. being anything other than a red blooded American boy interested in women is that he needs to be a rival to Magnum, and an alternative for female guest stars. Making him anything else changes who he is/was and that will change how he interacts with Magnum.
Besides T.C. needs to be part of a never realized love triangle with Rick and the new female Higgins. It could be a minor subplot that need only come out about every third or fourth episode; one of them always looking for an excuse to visit the estate to make advances toward Higgins, the other always trying to avoid the estate to rebuff advances from Higgins. All of this adding to the frustration of Higgins and the amusement of Magnum, and all on an extremely innocent level that never changes any other dynamic. This would be a nice little piece of human drama that can be dropped after the first season when characters are more established, unless it grows wings and flies of its own accord
It was Magnum in that one. He spent the entire time finagling plane tickets to go on his second-prize trip, until he finally solved the case, and was already to go when he got the news.
Aside from how much I hate what I call plot slapstick elements like that, I always figured the company with the prize was short of money, so they figured giving an all expenses paid trip to the same town the winner lived in was their idea of wheedling out of spending any. It’s definitely underhanded and probably illegal.
That episode also featured Selleck’s real life wife.
Speaking of Lance White, remember the episode where Lt Tanaka got murdered (Tigers Fan)? There was a flashback scene from the 70s where the cop played by Joe Santos was talking to the other cops about watching Rockford, and they all were laughing at that character Lance White. Double meta reference!
Hmm, I’ve been looking for a new user name.
Now all we need is a Quantum Leap reboot and we can finally get that awesomest crossover ever we were promised.
[Moderating]
I’m charitably assuming that you didn’t know that “trannie” is considered an offensive slur, and so I won’t be issuing you a Warning for this. This time.