History Trivia / MagnumPI

* CaliforniaDoubling: Generally averted (most notably in the sixth season premiere "Deja Vu", set and filmed in England).

** Creator/JackLord was approached several times to appear on the series, but he never did (in fact, once ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'' ended he never acted again[[note]]except for a cameo in ''M Station: Hawaii'', an unsold pilot which he also executive produced[[/note]]).

** Kenneth Mars as elderly caretaker Joseph in "The Woman on the Beach", before playing Magnum's former client Archie in "Fragments".

** Ina Balin plays Professor Martinez in "Dead Man's Channel" before coming back as Lila in "L.A.".

** In relation to Magnum's Vietnam storyline, Clyde Kusatsu played Colonel Ki in "Memories Are Forever" before playing Detective Gordon Katsumoto in "This Island Isn't Big Enough". Soon-Tek Oh played Michelle's husband General Hue in "Memories" before playing Dr. Bill Su in "Kiss of the Sabre". Later on, however, both actors' former characters reappeared (Colonel Ki via flashback), to the likely confusion of newer viewers.

** Lance [=LeGault=] as John W. Newton in "Missing in Action" before appearing as Colonel Buck Greene in "Memories Are Forever". [[BadassBaritone The voice]] helps.

* WrittenByCastMember: Roger E. Mosley co-wrote "Missing Melody," one of the few episodes of the series to focus on his character of T.C.

* TheOtherDarrin: D.A. Carol Baldwin was played by Patty [=McCormick=] in the character's first appearance and by Kathleen Lloyd in twenty episodes.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: The producers actually planned to reveal Creator/OrsonWelles as Robin Masters when the series ended. Unfortunately, though, Welles died in 1985 before the storyline could materialize.

** Higgins in "Photo Play" uses a Betamax recorder to tape his snooker games. Not only is the Beta format DeaderThanDisco now, but so is home tape recording. Of course now, even with TheInternet, Higgins might still have to contend with the time zone difference in hopes of seeing the games as soon as possible.

* BigNameFan: Music/FrankSinatra was a huge fan of the show before guest starring in the 1987 episode "Laura".

* CreatorCameo: Creator, writer, and producer Creator/DonaldPBellisario appears as the desk clerk of the Low Surf Hotel in "Faith and Begorrah".

* RetroactiveRecognition: Danny in "Murder 101" is played by future ''Film/AceVentura'' and ''Film/LiarLiar'' director Tom Shadyac.

* ActorAllusion:
** One episode is an AffectionateParody of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', a movie Creator/TomSelleck was considered to do the lead in, but gave up to do this show instead.
** The opening dream flashback in "Tigers Fan" has a character talk about how "Jim [[[Series/TheRockfordFiles Rockford]]] was being driven nuts by this pain-in-the-butt named Lance White". Lance White was played on that show by Tom Selleck.
** In "Luther Gillis: File #001", [[Creator/OrsonWelles Robin Masters]] leaves a message on Magnum's machine, telling him the personal access code needed for his next assignment's computer is [[Film/CitizenKane "Rosebud"]].
** In "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle", John Ratzenberger's character has a friend named [[Series/{{Cheers}} Norm]].
** In "Italian Ice", Magnum chokes (and is later choked back by) the Marchese's bodyguard, played by [[Characters/TheGodfather Lenny Montana]], whose most famous character was [[Film/TheGodfather garroted to death]].
** Creator/JamesDoohan plays a Scotsman ([[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries again]]) in "The Big Blow".
** "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club": When Magnum first meets Sidney Dollinger (Creator/LewAyres), we hear audio from Sidney's television of the 1948 film ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'', which starred Ayres.
* {{Blooper}}: The ending credits could never seem to spell poor Buck Greene's name right.
** When Magnum jumps and tackles Norm in "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle", you can clearly see his face is not of Tom Selleck but of [[http://magnum-mania.com/images/5_4_k_full.jpg his stunt double]], Tom Lupo.

** The producers actually planned to reveal Creator/OrsonWelles as Robin Masters when the series ended. Unfortunately, though, Welles died in 1985 before the storyline could materialize.

** Jack Lord was approached several times to appear on the series, but he never did (in fact, once ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'' ended he never acted again[[note]]except for a cameo in ''M Station: Hawaii'', an unsold pilot which he also executive produced[[/note]]).

* ParodyAssistance: Crossed with ActorAllusion, "A.A.P.I." opens with a full-on black and white dream of Magnum's similar to ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'', complete with Elisha Cook Jr. [[RoleReprisal reprising his role]] as Wilmer from the film.

* ParodyAssistance: Crossed with ActorAllusion, "A.A.P.I." opens with a full-on black and white dream of Magnum's similar to ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}'', complete with Elisha Cook Jr. [[RoleReprisal reprising his role]] as Wilmer from the film.

* ParodyAssistance: Crossed with ActorAllusion, "A.A.P.I." opens with a full-on black and white dream of Magnum's similar to ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'', complete with Elisha Cook Jr. [[RoleReprisal reprising his role]] as Wilmer from the film.

** Walter Chotzen played Icepick in his first appearance, before being replaced by Elisha Cook Jr. for the rest of the series.

** Elisha Cook Jr. played the [[spoiler: imposter]] Harold Farber in "Ghost Writer" before taking over the character of Icepick in "Distant Relative".

** In relation to Magnum's Vietnam storyline, Clyde Kusatsu played Colonel Ki in "Memories Are Forever" before playing Detective Gordon Katsumoto in "This Island Isn't Big Enough". Soon-Tek Oh played Michelle's husband General Hue in "Memories" before playing Dr. Bill Su in "Kiss of the Sabre". Later on, however, both actors' former characters reappeared via either flashback or photos, to the likely confusion of newer viewers.

* ScienceMarchesOn: "Wave Goodbye", while otherwise a [[ValuesResonance well-aged]] episode, is incredibly dated in that the police are unable to determine who had sex with Kacy before she was killed, as the episode aired in 1981, well before DNA forensic testing became the norm.

** NFL legend Dick Butkus as football player Clarence in "One More Summer".

** In "Italian Ice", Magnum is choked pretty badly by the Marchese's bodyguard, played by [[Characters/TheGodfather Lenny Montana]], whose most famous character was [[Film/TheGodfather garroted to death]].

** "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club": When Magnum first meets Sidney Dollinger (Creator/LewAyres), we hear from Sidney's television audio from the 1948 film ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'', which starred Ayres.