Visible crew/equipment: When Magnum complains to Higgins about the security personnel, just as they both walk down the stairs, lighting equipment is visible at the top, left side of the screen. (00:06:15)
Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too - S1-E4
Visible crew/equipment: When Higgins tries to phone 5-0, TC lifts him up and places him out on the hotel balcony then locks the sliding glass door. The top of the camera and the bottom of the reflector screen are reflected on the glass door. (00:42:04)
Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too - S1-E4
Revealing mistake: When Higgins threatens to phone the police to report Linda, Lesli stands up beside Linda and asserts, "If she goes, we go," but in this shot the person wearing Linda's clothes is actually the body double, who quickly shifts her face offscreen. (00:26:30)
Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too - S1-E4
Visible crew/equipment: At the start, when Apollo and Zeus surprise Magnum in the wine cellar it cuts to Higgins smiling at Magnum's scream, and in this shot we can see lighting equipment at the right side of the screen, which is again visible when both Higgins and Magnum return from the wine cellar. Then when Higgins walks over to answer the phone, a bit more equipment is visible at the left side of the screen. (00:02:50)
China Doll - S1-E3
Visible crew/equipment: After Magnum reads the note he kneels down in front of Han to console him, and as the next long shot zooms out in front of the beautiful scarlet macaw parrot, a piece of lighting equipment becomes visible in the background, at the left side of the screen. (00:34:20)
China Doll - S1-E3
Revealing mistake: During the drive to Uncle Han, when Magnum asks about the vase's worth there's something with duct tape on the Ferrari door near Magnum's left shoulder, where the camera is located at this particular angle. (00:27:05)
China Doll - S1-E3
Visible crew/equipment: When Magnum enters the store he dings the bell then walks toward the vase, and just as Magnum calls out for Mai Ling, the actor's white T-mark is visible taped to the rug. (00:09:35)
China Doll - S1-E3
Continuity mistake: When Magnum and TC are in the chopper headed to Kauai with the passengers in the back, Magnum's microphone is attached to the helmet on his left side, but in a couple of closeups from behind Magnum his mic is attached to the right side (not flipped shots). (00:07:25)
Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: After Magnum just barely gets into the Ferrari before Higgins' beauties get hold of him, when the alarm goes off Magnum punches in a code. In the next shot, at the left side of the screen, we can see a crew member (presumably the dog trainer) wearing a dark shirt standing beside the dogs, before Higgins or the two women are anywhere near the car. (00:05:30)
Other mistake: With episode 11, "Thicker Than Blood", the opening changes to the truly iconic version associated with the series, with a large overhaul of footage. There must have been some hiccup making it though, because the title of the series appears as "Magnum PI", no punctuation. There's a version of the opening that includes the correct "P.I." title card.
Revealing mistake: When the guy tricked by Magnum gets out of the car, check out of the very right side of the frame. You can actually see the hand of one crew member releasing the garage jack's lock, so that, when the car is kicked, the relatively light impact is enough to release the hydraulic lift and make the car comically bounce back on the ground. (00:15:25)
Revealing mistake: Magnum manages to shake off the 'government guy' by putting his car on a jack while Babs provides a distraction. But if you check the moment when the guy gets on the car, the back wheels are in frame and not at all off the ground as the clever ruse needs them to be. (00:14:40)
Continuity mistake: When Rick is helping Magnum after the swim session, he's putting the sock on him twice (although he did not finish the first) and the shoes on the ground are in radically different positions between shots. (00:39:45)
Continuity mistake: When Magnum protests that TC is "killing him" with his too much vigorous toweling, TC is wearing his baseball hat backwards, while it's worn normally in the previous and following shot. (00:39:20)
Other mistake: The TV report about Magnum doing a Ready Player One backwards race, is shot from a perspective that would have required the cameraman to practically sit on Magnum's bike hitching a ride, in particular at the end. (00:48:25)
Revealing mistake: During the jogging phase, which may not be hazardous but surely is defatigating, Tom Selleck is replaced consistently and noticeably (except the close-ups, of course) by his stunt double Tom Lupo. (00:40:35)
Continuity mistake: Magnum leaves the first checkpoint with the number on his back that covers entirely TC's sponsor logo - later in the race though he wears a different race bib that puts the logo on display. (00:40:15)
Continuity mistake: At the checkpoint after the swimming section, Magnum has to get out of the speedo and put on dry running shorts. He does so, but in the shot where Rick is powdering his feet and putting socks on him, he's still wearing the wet speedo. (00:39:40)
Continuity mistake: Barbara Terranova is biking behind Magnum when the golden teeth man and his buddy stop her. She screams "Magnum!"; look at the sweatstain on his back. When a few moments later he runs in to beat up the aggressors, the stain got smaller, or rather, oddly narrower, not being as wide on the neck of the shirt as before. (00:23:00)
Continuity mistake: TC is trying to convince Magnum at the beginning of the episode, and tells him "Bet you can do it." Ten seconds pass and there's a new reaction shot on him laughing at Rick's little Higgins impression. Thing is, those few seconds a large ship that was present in all the other previous shots disappeared at the horizon all of a sudden, and there are fresh slipstreams showing that it is a much earlier or later take. (00:03:05)
