Spoilers MacGYVER reboot review thread

[Romulan_spy]

Phrasing!?! Seriously, are we not doing phrasing anymore?

Sorry. Did not realize the innuendo when I was typing it.

 

[SAndrews10]

Wasn't left with a good first impression with the character. The actress always comes across as angry and resentful.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Wasn't left with a good first impression with the character. The actress always comes across as angry and resentful.

Was it Amy Acker?

 

[SAndrews10]

No Meredith Eaton's new character

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

No Meredith Eaton's new character

Oh her.

 

[Aragorn]

The JAG-verse just got bigger.

NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Hawaii Five-0, Scorpion and now... MacGyver.

 

[Christopher]

The JAG-verse just got bigger.

NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Hawaii Five-0, Scorpion and now... MacGyver.

You mean they're doing a crossover with one of those shows?

 

[Aragorn]

MacGyver and Five-0 are crossing over. Five-0 has already crossed over with NCIS: Los Angeles, which has crossed over with Scorpion.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

MacGyver and Five-0 are crossing over. Five-0 has already crossed over with NCIS: Los Angeles, which has crossed over with Scorpion.

That makes it all sound exciting.

In the old days of JAG Bellisario even considered Airwolf crossing with JAG

 

[Christopher]

It occurs to me it's a bit odd that the original MacGyver never crossed over with any other show, as far as I can tell. It attempted a backdoor pilot once, but nothing came of it.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

That makes it all sound exciting.

In the old days of JAG Bellisario even considered Airwolf crossing with JAG

How could that happen when Airwolf was off the air long before JAG started?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

How could that happen when Airwolf was off the air long before JAG started?

I know but that was what I read in an old issue of TV week many, many moons ago.. Both shows were years apart.

 

[Christopher]

How could that happen when Airwolf was off the air long before JAG started?

Presumably by reviving a character from Airwolf to do a guest appearance on JAG, thus retroactively putting them in the same continuity. Dick Van Dyke's Diagnosis: Murder did that a couple of times, bringing back Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter from Mission: Impossible and Mike Connors as Mannix (in an episode that was a sequel to a Mannix episode, resolving a lingering thread from its story 20 years later). The Fresh Prince of Bel Air had the Jeffersons show up a couple of times. A more recent and short-term example is Arrow bringing in John Constantine after his show was cancelled.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I actually liked that bit. It was presumably based on Sherlock's use of text and graphics to represent Sherlock's "mind palace" thought processes, though it was much simpler here. It was also reminiscent of Mythbusters's use of text labels in the final two seasons. It's a nice, efficient way of giving information and illustrating Mac's thoughts in a way that fits modern, fast-paced storytelling for the texting generation. The problem was that they also kept the vintage '80s-style voiceover narration that often relayed the exact same information as the text captions, so it was kind of redundant. (Heck, the original show dropped the narration after three or four seasons.)



No, not intentionally, and certainly not without remorse. He was your classic '70s/'80s-style action hero who had a strong ethical code and preferred non-violent solutions when possible, and of course he intensely hated guns. He made a lot of bombs, but only to blow up walls or doors or the like, not to target human beings. He got into fistfights fairly often, since it was an action show, but he never enjoyed it; in early seasons, Anderson made a point of showing how much it hurt Mac's fist when he had to hit someone, which was a touch of vulnerability (and realism) I always really liked. Certainly there were cases where villains got themselves killed or Mac failed to save them; his recurring nemesis Murdoc made a regular thing of appearing to die at the end of an episode only to inexplicably return later, much like the Joker or Doctor Who's Master. But it was rarely as a result of Mac's actions, and never his actual goal.

And that's good for a show like this. MacGyver has the potential to be educational, to incorporate interesting bits of science into its storytelling. So it should be accessible to younger viewers, and that means that, ideally, the violence should be limited.

Not to mention that the boat thing didn't even make sense. He made the boat turn by tying its wheel in that position, so it should've just kept on going in a circle. But it came straight at the bad guys' boat. Also, I have trouble believing a boat collision at that low speed would cause an explosion of that magnitude, or any magnitude, even with a busted fuel line. So it wasn't only gratuitously violent, it was completely implausible.

Oh, and I didn't like the bit with Jack beating and threatening to torture a prisoner, even if it was just a trick to get his voice print.




It was revealed in the eighth episode of the 14-episode final season, "Good Knight, MacGyver (Part 2)," and then referenced again in the series finale. But really, what would've been the point of hiding it? This is a remake. Mac's first name has been public knowledge for 25 years. His Wikipedia entry is under "Angus MacGyver." There'd be no point in the remake trying to keep it secret. Better just to get it out of the way and then just go on with people calling him "MacGyver" and "Mac" like they always did.

What surprised me more was that they named the traitor after Nikki Carpenter, Alyssa Davalos's recurring character who was introduced in season 3 as a partner and foil (and potential love interest?) for MaGyver. She didn't last long on the show, but I'm sure she has some fans, so having her namesake be a traitor doesn't seem like a move that would endear the fanbase (unless the fanbase has some deep-seated hatred for Nikki that I'm not aware of). Also, the actress is pretty weak. When Mac was confronting her at the end and she was saying nothing, that's the kind of situation where a performer needs to convey volumes with the eyes and body language, but she was just standing there like a mannequin.

A little reminder-they're NOT doing this show for you or anybody else that watched the original show, they're doing it to get new viewers.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

OK Yay its back on TV here.

We just had the episode where Riley's mum is kidnapped and they have to stop Chinese submarines from firing missiles because they got hacked.

 

[Romulan_spy]

OK Yay its back on TV here.

We just had the episode where Riley's mum is kidnapped and they have to stop Chinese submarines from firing missiles because they got hacked.

Looks like you are about 3 episodes behind the US.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I'm liking the new boss a lot. She does not mess around.

 

[Caretaker]

The crossover will be on the March 10 episode of MacGyver.

Minor spoilers, including which H50 characters will be involved:

Spoiler: MacGyver

The short of it - Jack and Mac go to Hawaii to help with some earthquake relief efforts, but must help Chin Ho, Kono and Kamekona rescue some scientists and stop bad guys from stealing weapons research.

It sounds like the other current H50 main characters (McGarrett, Danno, Jerry and Lou) won't be involved.

 

[Christopher]

Jack and Mac go to Hawaii to help with some earthquake relief efforts

Oh? That sounds like old-school MacGyver, where the Phoenix Foundation did charitable work rather than spy stuff. Have they retooled the show to broaden beyond the spy stuff? Or is this just a personal mission, maybe?

 

[sojourner]

"Retooled"? no. But they have introduced a few episodes that felt more like the classic MacGyver stories. They have also cut down on the killing too. Jack uses his fists more often than guns now.