Title: Trumbo's World
Airdate: 11/10/85
My age at Airdate: 2 years, 3 months, 26 days
Episode Type: ANTS!
So, before I begin, I have to say that I couldn't have done this post without the very generous offer by my wife to go grocery shopping whilst I stayed at home and watched MacGyver. She is truly a wonderful woman.
Now, on with the episode. This episode is one that I remember being horrified by back when I was watching these when I was 7 or 8. If I've done my internetting right, I will have an image at the top of this review that at least contributed to a nightmare I would have years later. (UPDATE: No dice. I can't find the Infamous Glasses Picture. So I went with the badass picture, instead) Ants (henceforth known as ANTS!) scare the crap out of me when they're in quantities of more than like 2.
We start with Mac talking to us about the Pyrenees. Looks like we're looking at the resurgence of the....
OPENING GAMBIT
So I guess MacGyver has to rescue at least one American tourist who has been captured by like soldiers or something. So he swipes a towel and wanders into the camp, surveying potential weapons...WITH NO SHIRT ON (ow ow!)
The soldiers are leading either the prisoners or other soldiers through calisthenics. MacGyver pries the door to the barracks open and we find that he is rescuing a very attractive perhaps early-40's doctor (not clear whether it's PHd or MD (or DDS?)).
Ok, so she's a geologist. The soldiers have theoretically mistaken her for a physicist that could build them an atom bomb...
Mac's diversion comes in the form of placing the metal tube that sends water to the showers (remember, these soldiers are showering outside. I mean, I know that this kind of thing happens, but it kind of feels like a weird group of soldiers. Calisthenics and showers. It's a vicious cycle, really) over the fires that are keeping the stews cooking so that a particularly grumpy looking dude gets steam shot all over him instead of water. Instead of being horribly burned and in need of medical attention, he just looks angry and kind of starts like a brawl with the other shirtless soldiers. There is so much shirtless man in this opening gambit, you guys.
Mac and the Geologist run out of the barracks and are pursued by like 3 guards. Not terrible, actually. They're running over mountainous terrain. Looks like they're going to repel down a cliff to where there are some rafts. Mac hooks the Geologist up to the line, her stunt double (she's dressed in a soldier's uniform complete with black beret, so it's easy for the guy to do the stunt work. It really looks like he's wearing sunglasses, though and I mean, come on that's just lazy. But keep in mind this is an opening gambit and the budget can't have been much.) repels down the cliff, and she jumps down and waits for MacGyver's stunt double to follow suit. Actually, it kind of looks like he did his own stunts. Cool.
They burn the rope so the soldiers can't use it. The soldiers are shooting at them, but we know how that goes (Stormtrooper Aim).
Oh ok, so the soldiers happen to have some rope of their own. They all go down the cliff and into another of the rafts. MacGyver should have jettisoned the other ones before jumping into theirs, but oh well. Looks like we have a good old-fashioned whitewater raft chase on our hands, folks.
Well, not much of a chase, actually. Mac and the Geologist are off to the side tying up some wire, then going across the river to clothesline the soldiers. Oh, damn! It was barbed wire. The enemy raft pops and the bad guys all fall out. The triumphant music plays.
Geologist: MacGyver, are they still after us?
MacGyver: No, chances are those guys are all washed up
OPENING CREDITS
We're starting with some lovely nature shots of like a jungle or something? Maybe the Amazon. A seaplane lands.
MacGyver starts narrating and he confirms my estimation that it's the Amazon. You gotta see what's he's wearing. All khaki, red bandanna, Calgary Flames baseball hat. It's....certainly a fashion statement. He says he's there to help a friend with a very weird problem. Intriguing. Do go on, Mr. MacGyver.
He finds his friend (his glasses wearing friend.) sitting at a cafe drawing a bird. When asked if the bird is the cause of the problem, Charlie (the friend of MacGyver's) says that they've been seeing some strange phenomena. A dozen species of birds in desperate flight, terrified. So they're going to check it out.
And so there they are, descending into the Heart of Darkness. Charlie says that Mac is the only guy that calls him Charlie. They have a laugh. They get to the outpost and Charlie starts unloading the gear very frantically. He seems a little too eager, actually. Mac tells him to go find them a guide while he (much more calmly) unloads the stuff. Of course, what he means is "while he (much more calmly) lets the dockworkers unload the stuff, but that's beside the point. Charlie comes whining back to MacGyver and whines about how "they say that we can't HAVE a guide". God, this guy is such a whiner.
Some Authority Figure guy comes over and says that actually there aren't any guides. They're all refusing to go any further into the jungle because they've been having dreams of demons.
They ask the Authority Figure about a cocoa farmer named Trumbo. He's a loose cannon and he's two days up the river. Authority Figure doesn't like him, but Mac and Charlie have a green screen to run their boat in front of. So they're gonna go find this guy. This is a lot like Heart of Darkness, you know? At least for now....
They are going through some low hanging branches and encounter a scary mask on a stick. Maybe a warning?
They're approaching a dock when all of a sudden someone shoots at them! (it made me jump. good surprise, MacGyver.) Trumbo introduces himself and informs them that they are trespassing. He looks like he'd be more in place policing chain gangs in Cool Hand Luke. He has a cowboy hat on and he's on a horse. But no Southern Accent. So I guess he's just supposed to be "American" as opposed to "Amazonian". His tie is tucked into his shirt.
Charlie is SUCH A NERD. Even his voice is nerdy.
MacGyver offers to fix the pump that is "the key to the whole irrigation system" in exchange for a guide. Trumbo refuses. Mac does the right thing and offers to fix the pump anyway. He's kind of like Christ, you know? Self sacrificing. Super handsome.
MacGyver pulls the faulty part out of the pump and talks to the guy who shot at them while they walk into Trumbo's...Town. MacGyver tells Trumbo the the piston is busted (as he predicted) but luckily they found both pieces. Trumbo has a little temper tantrum because the acetylene from the welding equipment is gone.
Mac's going to teach him a lesson about not giving up and then find a way to weld the pieces together. Watch. Or...you know, I'll watch and tell you if it happens.
MacGyver: Well, maybe we can whip up something out of what you got around here.
--MacGyver in a nutshell
Mac puts a coin in the teeth of a jumper cable. Apparently Trumbo recognizes that as "electric arc welding" and it works like gangbusters. Trumbo offers him a job, MacGyver refuses and insinuates that Trumbo isn't working hard enough or something. Trumbo takes offense and talks about what a self-made man he is.
He's putting up a big fight against giving them a guide. He lost his wife and I guess is haunted by that.
Haha Charlie is like a fat Radar O'Reilly.
Because MacGyver fixed the pump, Trumbo agrees to guide them himself. So they're on their way.
They're walking along and the animals are going completely nuts. MacGyver hear's something. It's a high pitched noise. And here's where the episode becomes AMAZING.
Soldier ANTS! Mountains of them. Billions. So that's why the animals are going crazy. Apparently, they live peacefully for 50 years and then all of a sudden erupt and eat everything in their path.
This episode gives me the heebie-freaking-jeebies. The village that they were approaching is under attach by the ANTS! There's a woman trapped under a super heavy canoe. She's gonna get eaten by the ANTS! if they don't help her, so Mac's just gonna work up a simple pulley system.
But where's Charlie? Taking pictures of the ANTS! of course. He's gonna go off by himself and check the other side of the village.
They get the woman free.
And now, Charlie is eagerly taking pictures of the ANTS!......they're on him......but he doesn't notice......he suddenly notices and freaks out and GETS FREAKIN EATEN BY THE ANTS!!!!!! BLACH. They're on him, and there's his hat...and his glasses. Overrun by ANTS!
So, now we're back at Trumbo's place and they're going to build a wall of fire to try to keep the ANTS! out.
The Guy Who Shot At Them comes and tells them that all of Trumbo's workers are leaving and taking all the boats. Trumbo makes a rousing speech and no one's buying it. So Trumbo goes nuts and shoots a hole in one of the boats. Mac and Trumbo duke it out.
Can I say Trumbo is a dumb name? It's just silly sounding.
Trumbo goes off and says he doesn't need anybody.
So it's just going to be Guy Who Shot at Them, Trumbo, and MacGyver vs. Billions of ANTS! Trumbo is touched by their willingness to help.
MacGyver is talking about flooding the irrigation ditches and treating them like moats.
MacGyver (regarding his plan): What do you think?
Trumbo: I think that is one HELL of an idea......What if it fails?
--No one ever has faith in MacGyver
So MacGyver says in the case of the moat plan failing, they'll do a fire. Trumbo asks, well what if THAT fails too?
Well, then they'll burst the dam, but it probably won't come to that.
MacGyver is going to make a flamethrower while GWSAT makes the moats. Trumbo's going to consider how such a small creature can threaten everything he's worked for. Typical rich plantation owner, you know?
So the ditches are full and the horses are freaking out. The ANTS! are here, y'all.
GWSAT is getting overrun with ants but he's faithfully manning the lever that keeps the moats full. But the ANTS! are crossing on leaves. Damn resourceful ANTS! Oh and um....GWSAT is kind of...being eaten by ANTS! So that plan is kind of dead. I guess it's time for fire.
There's MacGyver with his flame thrower. HOLY CRAP THAT'S AWESOME. MacGyver looks really badass with that flamethrower, but I'm worried they don't have enough fuel. Trumbo egotistically says he feels like Nero burning Rome.
....aaaaaand crap. They're out of fuel. So....I guess it's come to bursting the dam.
Trumbo seems to have forgotten that MacGyver had that 3rd plan. Maybe when he said it probably wouldn't come to that, he just forgot that it was ever on the table?
Trumbo: We're out of gasoline and we're out of miracles
MacGyver: So, it's time to start thinking.
They whip up some homemade Nitroglycerin (Nitromannite, a "kind of chemical kissing cousin") to blow the dam and MacGyver makes a suit of armor out of plastic and, like paint or something? Looks pretty airtight. So I guess they're going to have MacGyver walk out to the dam with his armor protecting him from the ANTS! and then he'll put the Nitromannite on the dam and blow it. Easy peasy.
Very dramatically, he whips off the armor because he doesn't have the dexterity with the armor on to light the fuse. RUN MACGYVER!!!!!! The ANTS! are on him and he's running and BOOOOM the stock footage of an explosion says that the dam is burst. It's flooding everything and MacGyver is getting carried along with the drowning ANTS!
Trumbo loses sight of MacGyver. He's surely drowned with the ANTS! Wait! There he is! Yay!
The whole plantation is ruined, but they're alive. Trumbo is full of vigor. He'll rebuild. Better than ever.
He asks MacGyver to come back in a year and see what he helped build. MacGyver says "You Bet." And we'll just assume that he did sometime in the middle of Season Two......
And that's it! I was worried this one was going to be a week late, but it wasn't. So that was awesome. And I hope you enjoyed reading about it.
See you next week!
NEXT WEEK: LAST STAND
So, before I begin, I have to say that I couldn't have done this post without the very generous offer by my wife to go grocery shopping whilst I stayed at home and watched MacGyver. She is truly a wonderful woman.
Now, on with the episode. This episode is one that I remember being horrified by back when I was watching these when I was 7 or 8. If I've done my internetting right, I will have an image at the top of this review that at least contributed to a nightmare I would have years later. (UPDATE: No dice. I can't find the Infamous Glasses Picture. So I went with the badass picture, instead) Ants (henceforth known as ANTS!) scare the crap out of me when they're in quantities of more than like 2.
We start with Mac talking to us about the Pyrenees. Looks like we're looking at the resurgence of the....
OPENING GAMBIT
So I guess MacGyver has to rescue at least one American tourist who has been captured by like soldiers or something. So he swipes a towel and wanders into the camp, surveying potential weapons...WITH NO SHIRT ON (ow ow!)
The soldiers are leading either the prisoners or other soldiers through calisthenics. MacGyver pries the door to the barracks open and we find that he is rescuing a very attractive perhaps early-40's doctor (not clear whether it's PHd or MD (or DDS?)).
Ok, so she's a geologist. The soldiers have theoretically mistaken her for a physicist that could build them an atom bomb...
Mac's diversion comes in the form of placing the metal tube that sends water to the showers (remember, these soldiers are showering outside. I mean, I know that this kind of thing happens, but it kind of feels like a weird group of soldiers. Calisthenics and showers. It's a vicious cycle, really) over the fires that are keeping the stews cooking so that a particularly grumpy looking dude gets steam shot all over him instead of water. Instead of being horribly burned and in need of medical attention, he just looks angry and kind of starts like a brawl with the other shirtless soldiers. There is so much shirtless man in this opening gambit, you guys.
Mac and the Geologist run out of the barracks and are pursued by like 3 guards. Not terrible, actually. They're running over mountainous terrain. Looks like they're going to repel down a cliff to where there are some rafts. Mac hooks the Geologist up to the line, her stunt double (she's dressed in a soldier's uniform complete with black beret, so it's easy for the guy to do the stunt work. It really looks like he's wearing sunglasses, though and I mean, come on that's just lazy. But keep in mind this is an opening gambit and the budget can't have been much.) repels down the cliff, and she jumps down and waits for MacGyver's stunt double to follow suit. Actually, it kind of looks like he did his own stunts. Cool.
They burn the rope so the soldiers can't use it. The soldiers are shooting at them, but we know how that goes (Stormtrooper Aim).
Oh ok, so the soldiers happen to have some rope of their own. They all go down the cliff and into another of the rafts. MacGyver should have jettisoned the other ones before jumping into theirs, but oh well. Looks like we have a good old-fashioned whitewater raft chase on our hands, folks.
Well, not much of a chase, actually. Mac and the Geologist are off to the side tying up some wire, then going across the river to clothesline the soldiers. Oh, damn! It was barbed wire. The enemy raft pops and the bad guys all fall out. The triumphant music plays.
Geologist: MacGyver, are they still after us?
MacGyver: No, chances are those guys are all washed up
OPENING CREDITS
We're starting with some lovely nature shots of like a jungle or something? Maybe the Amazon. A seaplane lands.
MacGyver starts narrating and he confirms my estimation that it's the Amazon. You gotta see what's he's wearing. All khaki, red bandanna, Calgary Flames baseball hat. It's....certainly a fashion statement. He says he's there to help a friend with a very weird problem. Intriguing. Do go on, Mr. MacGyver.
He finds his friend (his glasses wearing friend.) sitting at a cafe drawing a bird. When asked if the bird is the cause of the problem, Charlie (the friend of MacGyver's) says that they've been seeing some strange phenomena. A dozen species of birds in desperate flight, terrified. So they're going to check it out.
And so there they are, descending into the Heart of Darkness. Charlie says that Mac is the only guy that calls him Charlie. They have a laugh. They get to the outpost and Charlie starts unloading the gear very frantically. He seems a little too eager, actually. Mac tells him to go find them a guide while he (much more calmly) unloads the stuff. Of course, what he means is "while he (much more calmly) lets the dockworkers unload the stuff, but that's beside the point. Charlie comes whining back to MacGyver and whines about how "they say that we can't HAVE a guide". God, this guy is such a whiner.
Some Authority Figure guy comes over and says that actually there aren't any guides. They're all refusing to go any further into the jungle because they've been having dreams of demons.
They ask the Authority Figure about a cocoa farmer named Trumbo. He's a loose cannon and he's two days up the river. Authority Figure doesn't like him, but Mac and Charlie have a green screen to run their boat in front of. So they're gonna go find this guy. This is a lot like Heart of Darkness, you know? At least for now....
They are going through some low hanging branches and encounter a scary mask on a stick. Maybe a warning?
They're approaching a dock when all of a sudden someone shoots at them! (it made me jump. good surprise, MacGyver.) Trumbo introduces himself and informs them that they are trespassing. He looks like he'd be more in place policing chain gangs in Cool Hand Luke. He has a cowboy hat on and he's on a horse. But no Southern Accent. So I guess he's just supposed to be "American" as opposed to "Amazonian". His tie is tucked into his shirt.
Charlie is SUCH A NERD. Even his voice is nerdy.
MacGyver offers to fix the pump that is "the key to the whole irrigation system" in exchange for a guide. Trumbo refuses. Mac does the right thing and offers to fix the pump anyway. He's kind of like Christ, you know? Self sacrificing. Super handsome.
MacGyver pulls the faulty part out of the pump and talks to the guy who shot at them while they walk into Trumbo's...Town. MacGyver tells Trumbo the the piston is busted (as he predicted) but luckily they found both pieces. Trumbo has a little temper tantrum because the acetylene from the welding equipment is gone.
Mac's going to teach him a lesson about not giving up and then find a way to weld the pieces together. Watch. Or...you know, I'll watch and tell you if it happens.
MacGyver: Well, maybe we can whip up something out of what you got around here.
--MacGyver in a nutshell
Mac puts a coin in the teeth of a jumper cable. Apparently Trumbo recognizes that as "electric arc welding" and it works like gangbusters. Trumbo offers him a job, MacGyver refuses and insinuates that Trumbo isn't working hard enough or something. Trumbo takes offense and talks about what a self-made man he is.
He's putting up a big fight against giving them a guide. He lost his wife and I guess is haunted by that.
Haha Charlie is like a fat Radar O'Reilly.
Because MacGyver fixed the pump, Trumbo agrees to guide them himself. So they're on their way.
They're walking along and the animals are going completely nuts. MacGyver hear's something. It's a high pitched noise. And here's where the episode becomes AMAZING.
Soldier ANTS! Mountains of them. Billions. So that's why the animals are going crazy. Apparently, they live peacefully for 50 years and then all of a sudden erupt and eat everything in their path.
This episode gives me the heebie-freaking-jeebies. The village that they were approaching is under attach by the ANTS! There's a woman trapped under a super heavy canoe. She's gonna get eaten by the ANTS! if they don't help her, so Mac's just gonna work up a simple pulley system.
But where's Charlie? Taking pictures of the ANTS! of course. He's gonna go off by himself and check the other side of the village.
They get the woman free.
And now, Charlie is eagerly taking pictures of the ANTS!......they're on him......but he doesn't notice......he suddenly notices and freaks out and GETS FREAKIN EATEN BY THE ANTS!!!!!! BLACH. They're on him, and there's his hat...and his glasses. Overrun by ANTS!
So, now we're back at Trumbo's place and they're going to build a wall of fire to try to keep the ANTS! out.
The Guy Who Shot At Them comes and tells them that all of Trumbo's workers are leaving and taking all the boats. Trumbo makes a rousing speech and no one's buying it. So Trumbo goes nuts and shoots a hole in one of the boats. Mac and Trumbo duke it out.
Can I say Trumbo is a dumb name? It's just silly sounding.
Trumbo goes off and says he doesn't need anybody.
So it's just going to be Guy Who Shot at Them, Trumbo, and MacGyver vs. Billions of ANTS! Trumbo is touched by their willingness to help.
MacGyver is talking about flooding the irrigation ditches and treating them like moats.
MacGyver (regarding his plan): What do you think?
Trumbo: I think that is one HELL of an idea......What if it fails?
--No one ever has faith in MacGyver
So MacGyver says in the case of the moat plan failing, they'll do a fire. Trumbo asks, well what if THAT fails too?
Well, then they'll burst the dam, but it probably won't come to that.
MacGyver is going to make a flamethrower while GWSAT makes the moats. Trumbo's going to consider how such a small creature can threaten everything he's worked for. Typical rich plantation owner, you know?
So the ditches are full and the horses are freaking out. The ANTS! are here, y'all.
GWSAT is getting overrun with ants but he's faithfully manning the lever that keeps the moats full. But the ANTS! are crossing on leaves. Damn resourceful ANTS! Oh and um....GWSAT is kind of...being eaten by ANTS! So that plan is kind of dead. I guess it's time for fire.
There's MacGyver with his flame thrower. HOLY CRAP THAT'S AWESOME. MacGyver looks really badass with that flamethrower, but I'm worried they don't have enough fuel. Trumbo egotistically says he feels like Nero burning Rome.
....aaaaaand crap. They're out of fuel. So....I guess it's come to bursting the dam.
Trumbo seems to have forgotten that MacGyver had that 3rd plan. Maybe when he said it probably wouldn't come to that, he just forgot that it was ever on the table?
Trumbo: We're out of gasoline and we're out of miracles
MacGyver: So, it's time to start thinking.
They whip up some homemade Nitroglycerin (Nitromannite, a "kind of chemical kissing cousin") to blow the dam and MacGyver makes a suit of armor out of plastic and, like paint or something? Looks pretty airtight. So I guess they're going to have MacGyver walk out to the dam with his armor protecting him from the ANTS! and then he'll put the Nitromannite on the dam and blow it. Easy peasy.
Very dramatically, he whips off the armor because he doesn't have the dexterity with the armor on to light the fuse. RUN MACGYVER!!!!!! The ANTS! are on him and he's running and BOOOOM the stock footage of an explosion says that the dam is burst. It's flooding everything and MacGyver is getting carried along with the drowning ANTS!
Trumbo loses sight of MacGyver. He's surely drowned with the ANTS! Wait! There he is! Yay!
The whole plantation is ruined, but they're alive. Trumbo is full of vigor. He'll rebuild. Better than ever.
He asks MacGyver to come back in a year and see what he helped build. MacGyver says "You Bet." And we'll just assume that he did sometime in the middle of Season Two......
And that's it! I was worried this one was going to be a week late, but it wasn't. So that was awesome. And I hope you enjoyed reading about it.
See you next week!
NEXT WEEK: LAST STAND
No comments:
Post a Comment