Past Tense - S3-E4
Revealing mistake: TC kicks the boss villain in the face as he tries to climb back the hill; the kick misses by a mile. (00:24:00)
Past Tense - S3-E4
Continuity mistake: When Magnum speaks to Tanaka in front of the police station, he leans against his car; his hand is on the windshield in the close-ups on Kwan Hi Lim, but on the hood in Tom Selleck's. (00:27:25)
Past Tense - S3-E4
Continuity mistake: John Hillerman's shirt has a pronounced sweat stain all across his pecs when Floys leaves to go check on Jack. The stain is barely a hint 30 seconds and a couple cuts later when he hears the gunshot. (00:32:00)
Past Tense - S3-E4
Continuity mistake: Higgins' sweat on his khakis is inconsistent when Lyden ties him up, completely gone when he tells the honey story to TC in agony. (00:37:00)
Continuity mistake: In the first scene after the opening credits, when the woman approaches the very Londonian chap greeting him with "'allo ducks", extras in the background don't transition between one shot and its reverse. (00:02:30)
Revealing mistake: In the flashback of the massacre in Africa experienced by the man in the opening when he stares at the moon, one of the extras is supposed to fall struck down by a rifle shot, but she is blatantly using the arms to soften the fall, and then tries to adjust flat on the ground, making it all look like she just decided to start doing push-ups on the spot. (00:03:15)
Continuity mistake: Higgins is interrupted in his reading of Lord Byron's "So, we'll go no more a roving" by distinctly un-African music. As it happens, the book in his lap changes angle entirely in his lap. (00:06:15)
Audio problem: Higgins watches Magnum spit what he chewed on and gives him a "Magnum..." full of contempt. Magnum responds ever cheerful "Sorry, want a bite?" but the audio of the sentence is much lower than in the rest of the scene. (00:13:10)
Visible crew/equipment: After the chat on the intercom with Rick, Higgins storms back to the phone. Meanwhile Magnum approaches the window. On the wall on the left of the frame, the shadow of the boom mike appears. (00:18:30)
Continuity mistake: Higgins is still awake and Magnum sits on the couch with a glass of milk and a cookie. Between shots, the glass fills up - initially it was at the level of his middle finger, afterwards it moved up above his index. (00:29:20)
Continuity mistake: Rick gets KTFO by the mace being thrown at him. He collapses unconscious on the carpet that makes a noticeable hump, and his arm is past the pillar. Magnum comes to his rescue, and Rick is still out but the carpet straightened itself and Rick's arm is by his body. (00:32:30)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the episode, Thomas is sitting by Higgins that is playing Pac Man. TC arrives and Magnum stands up. There are two towels on the wall, and they are one on top of the other not overlapping by about 3 inches. By the time TC is in the water with Magnum, they are stacked perfectly. (00:46:30)
Audio problem: Magnum slips into the car in 1936 with his client out of the club. If you pay attention to the audio, there is sometimes a droning noise as if someone were using a leaf blower nearby (it's actually because in editing they cut out all sounds below a certain level - but some of it spiked enough to stay into the audible range). (00:11:20)
Factual error: Magnum gets to the airfield looking for TC the first time, at the very beginning of his drive you can see in the building in the background a modern window AC unit - that kind of device was available in 1936, but its cost certainly makes it unlikely, as it'd cost the equivalent of $8,000 today, not really something for the dingy shack it's mounted on. (00:16:55)
Continuity mistake: Marisa during the movie gives Thomas an appointment. When she says "That's where I hid the papers." the woman in the background is leaning against her left hand. The chat continues in the next shot but the woman's position is different and gone is the hand. (00:30:20)
Factual error: At the movies, Magnum is watching a movie with Bette Davis, the first one she played in, "The Bad Sister" and comments "Keep it up, old girl, you just might have a future as an actress." Funny, but the dream is set in 1936, not 1931 when that movie came out. Implausibility of finding it in theaters aside, by 1936 young Bette Davis had already won her first Oscar. (00:30:30)
