grundle

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd

Magnum P.I. - The Complete Fourth Season

*

5 stars for the TV season. 1 star for the defective DVDs.

February 6, 2006

grundle2600 "grundle2600" (Pittsburgh, PA)

Magnum P.I is my favorite TV show of all time.

My original plan was to buy all 8 seasons on DVD.

However, with the releases of the first 3 seasons, Universal has repeatedly released DVDs with a very high rate of defects. Many people on many different internet message boards, including myself, have been complaining about lots of problems on these DVDs, such as pixelating, freezing, skipping, etc. Some of the episodes are unplayable. Even after multiple exchanges at the place of purchase, some people still can't get a set that plays properly. These are manufacturing defects. Universal has been repeatedly informed of these defects, but has chosen to do nothing about it.

I own the first 3 seasons. But I'm done buying this show on DVD. Withholding my money from Universal is the only real way to express my disappointment with the defective DVDs. I won't be buying seasons 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.

My 1 star rating is for the high rate of defects on these DVDs. If it weren't for the defects, I'd be giving this a 5 star rating.

Here are the episodes from season 4:

Home From The Sea - This is my #1 favorite episode of the entire series. I won't spoil it for you by revealing any of the plot. But I will say this: if you've ever seen the episode where Magnum treads water, this is it. This is a very emotionally intense episode. You know those big guys with the bulging muscles and the tattoos who claim they never cry? If you show them this episode, I bet they will cry. If you want to introduce the series to someone (of any size, age, or gender) who has never seen it before, this is the episode to show them. One thing that I love about this episode is the way that the dialogue at the end of every scene transitions into the dialogue at the beginning of the next scene, even though the two scenes are apparently totally unrelated. This episode is a masterpiece of writing, acting, directing, camera work, editing, and musical scoring. This episode is perfect. I think this may be the only G-rated episode of the series, as it has absolutely no violence, sex, or foul language. "You turkeys!!!"

Luther Gillis File 521 - Luther Gillis appeared in 5 episodes, and it's extremely easy to get them confused with each other. This is the first of those 5.

Smaller Than Life - An old friend of Rick's appears in this episode. But even Rick isn't completely sure as to his identity. Apparently, the friend may or may not be some kind of secret government agent. This episode has a really great scene of Rick, Higgins, and Rick's friend secretly entering a building.

Distant Relative - Rick talks Magnum into chaperoning his 22 year old sister. Rick isn't too pleased with the outcome, and he ends up punching Magnum in the jaw. This is one of the best episodes of this season.

Limited Engagement - Magnum works undercover to solve a string of robberies at a chain of grocery stores. Magnum also acts as a social worker to try to save some old people from being evicted from their retirement home. This episode is lighthearted and sappy, but it's not a totally bad episode. There are a few good scenes, such as T.C. repeatedly asking Magnum to fish pickled eggs out of a disgusting jar of brine, and then saying, "Oh dear me! I do believe that I've forgotten my wallet!"

Letter To A Duchess - A British woman is visiting the estate. Higgins writes her an anonymous love note. She mistakenly assumes the note is from Magnum. This episode is OK. But it's nowhere nearly as good as the brilliant "Tropical Madness" episode from season 2, which this episode kind of reminds me of.

Squeeze Play - Robin Masters makes a bet on a baseball game that Magnum is playing in. If Magnum's team loses, Robin has to give up the estate for a year to the owner of the other team. And that includes the guest house. So Magnum better win!

A Sense Of Debt - Several years before she played Brenda on "Beverly Hills 90210," Shannen Doherty appeared on this episode of Magnum P.I., where she brainwashed Zeus and Apollo into forgetting what their names are. Higgins is not amused.

The Look - Magnum visits a disc jockey in Hawaii that he knew from his time in Vietnam.

Operation Silent Night - On Christmas eve, Magnum, T.C., Rick, and Higgins are stranded on an island that the navy is planning to use for gunnery practice. This is one of my favorite episodes of this season.

Jororo Farewell - The season 2 episode "The Jororo Kill" is one of my favorite episodes of the series. This inferior season 4 episode brings back some of the same characters, but this time, the plot is pretty bad. A young prince runs away from home because he wants to be a regular boy instead of a prince. Another lame episode with Magnum as a social worker.

The Case Of The Red Faced Thespian - This is a really cool episode with many pop culture references. This one's a lot of fun. Higgins is planning a party with a 1920s/Great Gatsby theme. In preparation, he uses miniature explosives to try to kill some rodents that have dug tunnels under the estate. But like Wyle E. Coyote trying to kill the Road Runner, Higgins ends up giving himself a concussion. When the party does take place, Magnum walks into one of the bedrooms, and sees a woman lying dead on the bed. Higgins is standing there, dressed in Shakespearean clothing, and reciting a confessional line from Othello, "Desdemona, Dead! I killed her!" Magnum has to prove that Higgins is innocent, and that his "confession" is the result of his concussion combined with his obsession with Shakespeare, and not from actually having committed the murder.

No More Mr. Nice Guy - Magnum tries to catch a drug dealer.

Rembrandt's Girl - Hooray for guest Carol Burnett, who is a phenomenally amazing actress, and always gives an absolutely brilliant performance! Boo for the lame, cliche, and unoriginal script, which has Magnum and Burnett getting locked inside a bank vault! Fortunately, Burnett would return to play the same character in the season 8 episode "A Girl Named Sue," which has a much better script than this one. In that season 8 episode, Burnett has gotten her own license as a private investigator, and she and Magnum unknowingly get into a shootout against each other!

Paradise Blues - A jazz/pop singer that T.C. had been infatuated with many years ago comes to visit. She has a beautiful voice, full of emotion, conviction, and style. It's a true joy to listen to her sing. There's lots of great music in this one. However, I really hate the way the episode ends. What were the writers thinking?

The Return Of Luther Gillis - Higgins gets kidnapped. He's held hostage in a trailer with a bomb that's set to go off.

Let The Punishment Fit The Crime- This is the episode with the performance from the Mikado of "Three Little Girls From School Are We."

Holmes Is Where The Heart Is - Higgins recalls events of his life before he met Magnum, with a touch of Sherlock Homes added for fun.

On Face Value - Usually, Magnum is the epitome of proper gun use and safety. But not in this episode. And an innocent person suffers serious consequences as a result of Magnum's irresponsible actions.

Dream A Little Dream - Magnum recalls his first case as a private investigator, before he moved into the estate. After T.C.'s chopper gets bullet holes for the first time, Magnum says, "I promise that that will never happen again."

I Witness - Great Roshomon type episode. After the King Kamehameha Club is robbed by masked men, Magnum listens to T.C., Rick, and Higgins each give their own unique account of what happened. Magnum has to piece their stories together to find a common element so he can catch the thief. This is a very humorous episode, as each teller of the story embellishes it to make himself out to be the hero, and to make the others out to be cowards.

speedy1961

Good Job man!

MovieExchange

Sadly, Universal doesn't care. They all but told me to piss off when I complained about the American Gothic DVD's.

Mr. Cinema

I've read that producing 2 discs is cheaper than making a 2-sided one. Is this true? If it is...why do they choose to go the more expensive route?

Michael Corvin

I left something similar on the Quantum Leap season 3 page. Details of what music was left out in which episodes. Hopefully it helps someone out there. Also mentioned the fact that I have tried the discs in four different brand DVD players and it only works* in one of them.

*if by works you can accept 1 minute random pauses, skipping both backwards and forwards 10 or so minutes in an episode. So more or less, one player reads the disc, but it is in no way watchable.

grundle

Thanks!

grundle

Yes, it is true. Because they make 2 discs and then glue them together.

I think they do it to reduce space, so stores will be more likley to stock them.

grundle

Universal doesn't care what people say.

But Universal does care about money.

ash69

Here's what I don't understand - MGM was sued over some sort of issue with wrong information printed on the packaging (I never looked into exactly what the suit was about, but it sounded relatively minor). Why has no one sued Universal over selling DVDs that are defective in manufacture and virtually unwatchable? I watched Sliders season 2 a few days back, and the episodes on the second layer would pause and skip so much it was not enjoyable at all.

MovieExchange

True... but since the vast majority of consumers refuse to be educated about DVD's (or anything else for that matter), Universal knows they can get away with this.

Altimus Prime

How can you put up a review about Magnum S4 when it doesn't come out until April 4? Or did you get a very early copy somehow?

I have the Quantum Leap and Knight Rider sets, S1-3 for both, and have not had a problem.

The music replacements on Leap are annoying, but little more. I guess it's good that for KR they did covers of the popular songs. Must not be any clearance issues since they're still there.

rfduncan

Sounds more like an issue for the Better Business Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission?

grundle

I don't own season 4.

I've seen all the episodes on TV many times.

Tracer Bullet

I think you're right, but they need to look at the X-Files re-releases. They are single-sided discs that take up as little room as double-sided releases.

slop101

My guess is that the person at Universal who has decided on DVD-18s for these sets get a nice little kick-back from the manufacurer of the DVD-18s.

Why would he go with DVD-9s when he gets no extra cash from them?

You'd be surprised by how much this sort of thing goes on in all aspects of business - even the government.

clckworang

I had a friend over the other night and we were all set to watch Vertigo, not the recent DVD reissue (which I haven't bought) but the original DVD from when it was first released. It was the first instance where an old DVD (and I've been collecting since the format first came out) wouldn't play. It wouldn't play in my regular DVD player, my all-region player or my portable player. In a way, I'm not too upset because now I can buy the anamorphic version, but it still pisses me off.

ThatGuamGuy

The anamorphic version isn't standalone yet, just so you know. But that old 'Vertigo' disc is one I've seen listed a lot as a disc which eventually falls apart.

I tend to think it's difficult to prove that the discs are 100% defective in all players (I'm not even sure they truly are, since I've avoided buying them for various reasons); if Universal were able to prove, in court, that they work on any player, I don't know how much further the case would go.

But i'd love to hear legal opinions on the subject.

sracer

What does "refusing to be educated" have to do with the supposed high-rate of defects on Universals discs? Pop a disc in, it either works (and nothing to be "educated" on) or it doesn't and the disc goes back to the store for an exchange.

I have purchased the Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Dracula Legacy sets (from Costco) all have repeatedly played fine.

I have purchased the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 1 set (again from Costco)... repeated playbacks have been fine.

I have purchased the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece boxset (yes... again from Costco) and all discs play flawlessly too.

So either I'm the luckiest man on the planet (which would NOT surprise me. ) or the problems are not as widespread as some claim it is.

I do remember when reports came in about the Legacy sets, that those purchased from Costco seemed to have little if any instances of defective discs. (that's why I mentioned where they were purchased)

MovieExchange

What I mean is that people do not know the difference between DVD 9 and DVD 18, and the majority of complaints seem to be about brief pauses. I believe that the average consumer doesn't care about this problem, and they don't care that it would be fixed if Universal would use a better quality of disc.

JeremyM

Is the WrestleMania DVD set made up of some DVD 18s? I only have problems with the double-sided sets which I think someone said is because of that reason. If so, I don't get why they use that crap, unless it's for the reason someone mentioned above.

emhello

There needs to be a class action lawsuit against Universal. Then maybe they'll care once it hits their pocketbooks.

darkside

This probably has a lot more to do with your DVD players ability to handle these errors than it does with the discs being perfect. I have 3 Sony players and none of them can handle these discs without issues. I went through 5-6 copies of Columbo Season 3, 1-2 copies each of Orgasmo, Bela Lugosi and the Hammer Collection and never was able to get through the discs without some kind of freeze ups or skipping. Universal may have worked out the problems with some of the new DVD-18 sets, but I will never take a chance again. There is definitely a problem and its very widespread, but most people probably just deal with the skips and freeze ups and never say anything.

darkside

In some cases yes, but in some cases like Columbo the sets are the exact same size just with 2 DVD 18s instead of 4 DVD9s.

codecomplete

I've been sort of lucky, haven't had problems with Monk S1-S3 nor Rockford Files, although I'll be getting Magnum S1-S2 shortly so we'll see how it goes. for nice summary of the problems and the statement about withholding money from Universal rather than buying bootlegs instead, unlike some of our more "sensitive" brethen DVDTalkers.

grundle

Thanks!