Magnum P.I. The Complete First Season Review Score: 9/10 | Date Posted: September 11th 2004 In: DVD Reviews Magnum P.I. The Complete First Season Review by Vince D’Amato Starring: Tom Selleck, Roger E. Mosely, Larry Manetti, John Hillerman. Directed by: (Various). Released by: Universal. Magnum, P.I. was one of the most popular television series of the 1980’s – starring a younger and hunky Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living as hired security control on a rich pulp-novel author’s estate. On this estate, Magnum has consistent access to one of the show’s secondary stars – no, not John Hillerman (as “Higgins”) – but a high-end bright red Ferrari, which would become one of the show’s most famous mainstay mascots for the duration of the series. This DVD set offered up by Universal Studios is a true treat of re-discovery. On the first disc, there is the little-seen feature length pilot episode. Now, even as a young fan of the series when it originally aired, I was never privy (and probably didn’t care all that much) about the backstory of any of the recurring characters. In this feature pilot, we not only get backstory – and plenty of it – we get a pretty cool mystery, complexly-written characters and quite a bit of suspense (and not to mention sexy babes!) played out with a little film noir undercurrent. And the location shooting in Hawaii doesn’t hurt, either. The recurring characters include Roger Mosely as T. C., Magnum’s friend and a tourist helicopter pilot, and Larry Manetti as Rick, a well-off owner of a hot nightclub with underground crime connections (also one of Magnum’s good friends). Now, what I never knew was that all three of these characters (Magnum, T.C. and Rick) all served together in Vietnam in the same elite unit. This is one of the backstory sub-plots in the pilot show. Now (years later) they’re all vets living in Hawaii, and they all wear the same ring, a constant reminder of their bonded friendship. And I never noticed this before, but sure enough, every one of these character is always wearing the ring. Even in the later seasons, the producers never got lazy. In shows from the fifth season, every one of them is wearing their ring (the same one form the pilot) in every scene. I thought this was pretty cool. Anyway, season one of Magnum, P.I. was first produced and aired back in 1980 – no wonder these shows have a quazi-seventies feel to them - but unlike the abysmally cheesy Knight Rider (also released by Universal), this television series has aged pretty well. Not exactly fine wine, but not rancid cheese, either. In fact, far from it. Magnum P.I. retains a very appealing retro charm. The stories are still completely effective, a tribute to the team of writers, who I think were ahead of their time (or maybe just in the right time – you don’t see shows like this anymore). The scripts obviously revolve are a main character who is a private investigator. The writers have taken the premise and turned it on its ear, so to speak, creating a quirky – but not completely off-the-wall – environment for the main character through the show’s supporting characters and the use of location. The stories are also firmly rooted in good old-fashioned detective pulp style, which attributes to the time-resistance of the show. Basically, classic writing. The pilot episode is especially filled with funny lines of dialog. But the series can be pretty edgy, too. The show is not afraid to have Magnum defending his sexy client from a martial-arts assassin, or running through a Hawaiian grow-op so that he can protect his client – a miniature dog (yeah, you heard me) and then in another show, give us a completely serious story with a fully shocking conclusion. And that’s another thing – whatever episode you put on, it’s going to be something completely different. …Except for the bikini-clad beach babes and awesome Hawaiian locals, and of course, the Ferrari. The DVD supplements: Already season one takes up 3 double-sided DVDs, but Universal has included a fourth DVD, which includes four extra episodes. Two are from the third season (1982) as Magnum P.I. crosses over with another hit show of that same time period, Simon & Simon. The other two shows is actually a two-parter from season 5 (1984) which co-stars Sharon Stone. This I really enjoyed, though the first half is definitely more a romance-adventure, the conclusion pays off. For my money, this is the most worthy DVD resurrection I’ve seen for an old television series yet. (Speaking of worthy resurrections, where’s The Greatest American Hero???)

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