Magnum Rewatch 25 - Mad Buck Gibson

[Kathleen]

Magnum is tasked with babysitting the infuriatingly childish Mad Buck Gibson, famous author, adventure seeker and troublemaker. Meanwhile Graham and Kathleen find the episode hits a little too close to home.

[DaMage]

Okay, with a name like Mad Buck Gibson, and the antics at the start, I did not expect this to be a 'heavy' episode. I think what puts this apart from most magnum episodes, and most modern TV investigative shows, is that there is no 'bad guy' in this episode. I think the writing was a bit poor to hold it all together, but I happy they held back on throwing in 'bad guys' for suspence.

This podcast was significantly better to listen to, then this episode was to watch.

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Quick Count Update:
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Rating: F/10 (F toilets poop house)

Murder Count: 8 (+0)
That's Racist Count: 6.75 (+0)
Different Era Count: 9 (+1)
4th Wall Breaks: 18 (+1)

Dif Era: Gibson the womeniser.
4th Wall: Magnum has to deal with Mad Buck
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[The Martini]

Just to fix the ending, pretend that the end credits play for about 2 seconds, then put a big record scratch and have Magnum in a boat, watching a hang glider slowly hit the water and then grabbing MAD BUCK GIBSON and hauling him aboard.

[Trisha Lynn]

I'm only halfway through the podcast, but the notion that the person actually has to keep and maintain possession of the papers in order to be served is false. I don't know if it was "a different time" back then, but when I worked as an admin for a matrimonial law office, I had to serve process regarding a restraining order once and once I visually identified that the person matched the photo ID I was given, and I put the papers down on the floor inside the person's office door, process was served and the person was duly notified.

Also: In the state of New York, papers couldn't be served by one of the two parties. So, Mrs. Mad Buck Gibson should have had someone else there with her at the time in the bar.

Also: Why didn't you also mention that Vera Miles was Lila Crane in Hitchcock's Psycho? That's how I immediately knew her from when you mentioned her name, but was surprised that you didn't mention it.


Trisha Lynn
...no wonder Miles was awesome in this...

[Clypheous]

I wouldn't worry too much about the legal validity of Magnum P.I. We're already up to what on the murder without consequences tally?

You're basically correct though on service of process, parties don't do it, and them keeping the copy is immaterial, if you get in in their hands, them destroying it doesn't bother you a bit, it's still served. Heck, it's probably better for you if they do that as then they won't know what's going on, won't show up and you'll get a default judgment.

Also, Magnum probably wouldn't face any actual civil or criminal liability for his actions with Mad Buck Gibson and the hang glider, but I think I'd lose a little sleep if I was him, that's just kind of cold and out of character.

[Trisha Lynn]

I'm not so sure it's entirely out of character. I think that considering that Magnum had been to Vietnam and had been through things and also considering that there are more cancer breakthroughs now than there were in the past, I can see why he'd go, "Hey, this dude deserves to go out the way he wants to go out, and definitely sooner rather than later because CANCER."


Trisha Lynn
...IOW, fuck cancer...

[RoboNixon]

I think Mad Buck Gibson choose hang gliding specifically because when he failed, he'd have no safety net like with skydiving. If he's miles from shore, he's probably going to die. But if he's rich enough to pay for wrecking a Ferrari, he can probably afford excellent cancer treatment, right? So why not try that first?

P.S. Kathleen's reaction to finding out who wrote this is priceless. Sorry Kathleen

[7SecondsLeft]

I'm not so sure it's entirely out of character. I think that considering that Magnum had been to Vietnam and had been through things and also considering that there are more cancer breakthroughs now than there were in the past, I can see why he'd go, "Hey, this dude deserves to go out the way he wants to go out, and definitely sooner rather than later because CANCER.".

Agreed. Also Mad Buck showed he was so desperate to do what he wanted on his terms that he was prepared to drug Magnum to escape, so it would feel more out of character for TM to somehow lock him up regardless, and far too neat an ending for Mad Buck to go "You know you're right, I'll just sit here in a hospital and die quietly."

At least this way wouldn't involve risking people in the same way that letting Mad Buck run people off the road in a Ferrari would!

[Trisha Lynn]

He could have "Thelma and Louise"'d it, but a) that movie came out way after and b) I think that hang-gliding into oblivion makes more sense for the character because of the slim chance of hope.

"But that's the beauty of cancer treatments! They offer hope, too!"

Yeah, but undergoing chemotherapy is not Hemingway-esque; I'll betcha dollars to donuts that MBG was either a fan or contemporary of Hemingway and followed his credo.

[RoboNixon]

I think we may be giving Robert Hamilton too much credit for character depth where there probably is none. I can only base this on previous episodes he wrote.

Interestingly, Duff King (who flew hang gliders for Magnum PI) holds a Hawaiian distance record of 26.5 miles in Maui. This guy is a veteran glider without 2 broken limbs and didn't get 28 miles. Page 468 of Hawaii Sports: History, Facts and Statistics on Google.