002 - The Golden Triangle

Airdate: Oct 6, 1985
Writers: Dennis Foley
Director: Paul Stanley
Opening Gambit Writer: Terry Nation
Opening Gambit Director: Donald Petrie

Guest Cast: Joan Chen as Lin, George Lee Cheung as General Narai, Clyde Kusatsu as Anek, Keye Luke as Prasert, Benjamin Lum as Truang, Bryan Price as Chan, James Saito as Ming.


Opening Gambit: The Crusher
MacGyver tracks down stolen documents and captures the criminals as they exchange the documents in an old car-wrecking yard.

Main Episode
While retrieving a poison-filled canister from a crash site in Burma, MacGyver is forced to take on a powerful drug lord when he is mistaken for a narcotics agent.

Votes from 10 Oct 2006

1 - Poor [ 0 ] [0.00%]
2 - Average [ 0 ] [0.00%]
3 - OK [ 2 ] [11.76%]
4 - Good [ 7 ] [41.18%]
5 - Excellent [ 8 ] [47.06%]
Total Votes: 17
Archived comments

um.... actually not quite. In most fights (unless it's an organized sports event with certain rules) there is no eveness whatsoever. You don't punch and then wait for the other guy to punch back. There is nothing realistic about that. Go in first, go in fast, get as many hits in as possible and don't stop until you are sure the other guy won't get up.

Actually, you can get hit really hard and still fight back. Of course, there are several factors that are usually present:
- you are trained to be able to take hits. Most people never get hit so when it happens they usually freeze up.
- the attack doesn't catch you in a vital area. Again, it helps to be trained to know which areas to protect and how to protect them.
- don't ever discount the effects of good ol' adrenalin. Police officers can tell you cases where they shot a man several times and he still kept coming at them.

As far as fights in movies. They all follow a certain pattern. The good guy always gets kicked around first, the bad guy uses unfair tactics, but at the end the good guy prevails. Yes it's cliche, but hey, nobody wants to see the hero lose, right?
Also, people have to train to do movie fights. First of all you do not want to hurt the other guy. Second, you have to fight with the camera in mind. The moves have to be slowed down. You have to make sure you do not block the camera angles. The fight is choreographed, etc, etc. There are certain moves that look good on camera (such as spinning back kicks or the infamous swinging hook, otherwise known as the sucker punch) but you would never use them in real life 'cause they are too slow and you'd have your bum handed to you if you'd try to use one of those on the street.


Now look what you've done! Ok, I get off my soap box.

Ever been hit really hard in the face MG?

I currently account for 100% of the votes on this poll!

Ratty...you're great for finding and working on restoring the comments!

I voted excellent! So many in the first season are because they are classics! MacGyver goes on an important assignment (were there any that weren't important?) and in typical style finds a side cause...I love it when Mac works with people to change how they view themselves...he helps them find it in themselves to be free and fight for it. And of course, you've got the little kid factor...I love the scene too where he thinks Mac is leaving. And I love the tongue in cheek humor when he's asked what he's doing there...

"Tourist?"

I voted Ok but it was a mistake! I thought I was in the "Thief of Budapest" discussion!

I would have voted good, if not excellent if I knew I was in here.

I loved the traps and how he and the villagers managed to defeat several jeeps full of armed soldiers.

It deserves so much better than an OK! I might cry!

Awwwww! Well we know how you feel!

Amy, ya gotta let me borrow some episodes sometime!!

Ah, it's this one. A lot of people seem to just hate this episode, mostly because they find it boring, overwrought, dramatic and lame. It is. But it has its good points, to be sure. However, this isn't exactly the best way to follow up a series pilot.

The main problem with this episode is probably the performances. Anderson is good, but he's not up to his standard. I liked George Cheung as Narai, and Keye Luke turns in exactly the performance that his fans would expect, but the rest aren't quite as good. In particular, Benjamin Lum as Truang has some major problems, mostly with being extremely dramatic and idiotic. These may have been character flaws, but Lum certainly had his part in the character's failure. As well, the story is a little boring- generic and weak.

The direction is fine, about up to the typical standard. The opening gambit is probably better than everything else- you could have flipped it with the episode, developing its story and reducing the episode's, and I think everything would have been better. There are a couple of impressive moments, but nothing for the record books. Overall, this is a missable episode.

My rating: 3/10

Like I said about 3 years ago now, this is one of the first episodes of MacGyver I remember seeing as a child. "The Golden Triangle" is one of my all time favorites!!! There were lots of great traps he helps the people set up and I particularly love the scene where Mac ropes down the helicopter!!! Cool!
And it's one of the earliest expressions of MacGyver's disgust for guns when he refuses to teach the people how to shoot weapons, but shows them a better way to fight.
And I still definitely get misty-eyed at the scene where the kid thinks MacGyver's about to leave, but then is elated when he finds that MacGyver has in fact stayed to help them.
And the opening gambit in the junkyard was great too, of course. The whole episode was really great- with lots of iconic scenes culled from this episode that are used in the opening credits a lot- MacGyver pole vaulting onto that guy in the jeep, MacGyver blowing up the flare, diving under the jeep as the helicopter swoops by and pulling down the helicopter. Overall, this is an excellent episode!

Yeah I would say this would be one of those episodes that any newcomer to MacGyver needs to watch, just to get some basic character understanding.

Well, if he really disgusts guns, why would he then use the weapons in this other way? Shooting is shooting, and somebody easily could have get hurt or even killed by this arrangement either. All it needs is one wrong touch, and if then somebody was standing in the line of fire... very dangerous, in my opinion! Especially for people that shortly before didn't even know which end the bullets go in.

I asked Rocky last night. Why do they need "months of training" if he's not going to let them point the guns in the first place?

Love the helicopter stunt scene. That was kewl.

The rest was 80's television. *shrugs* What can you do?

I voted "Okay" because of all the incredibly bad acting. And I hate it when they dub the kids.

I voted Good. This was actually the first episode I remember seeing. I missed the pilot the first time it aired and caught it on a summer rebroadcast.

The Golden Triangle was the reason I kept watching MacGyver. some of the "acting" was way over the top, and the writing could have been tighter, but for the second episode of a new series, it wasn't too bad.

I can remember that there was some controversy over the show because of the level of violence in this episode. There were some family watchdog groups pitching a fit becasue this particualr episode was considered very violent and aired during primetime family hour.

Its funny now, comparing the level of violence in MacGyver to the shows that air on primetime on network and cable TV. When taken in context of today's TV offerings and the violence in them, MacGyver becomes remarkably tame. I guess 20 years changes a lot.

Overall, its a pretty good episode.

I really like this ep. I mean the acting isn't great, but the MacGyverisms make up for it. I voted excellent.

very good episode loved it.

Just wanted to mention something I heard Mac say in this episode. He said that he had a cousin that adopted a dog that had been beaten. Every time that someone went to pet the dog, she would cower; and that it is sad to see in animals and humans. Don't know if anyone else caught on to that statement. But it perked my ears up. Maybe that is how Young MacGyver came to be.

I think that point as been thrown into the argument once before, but it was decided that you can't get a nephew from a cousin, because nephews are children of your brother or sister, and I think we also agreed that because this was a very early episode, the characters background hadn't been worked out yet.. i.e. Shooting the gun in the first episode.

Thats not to say that the original idea of a nephew didn't' come from that statement, it could very well be that the research for Young MacGyver was simply watching the first few episodes of the show.. in fact I'd go so far as to say it probably was the research.

Mac may have been an older cousin, and used the "uncle" has term of endearment. And if he had a cousin his grandfather on the Mac side had to have a son or a daughter. That would've made them cousins.

Yeah, but it's made pretty clear in later episodes that he has no family of any kind. So the producers of the Young MacGyver obviously didn't do very much, if any homework on the character.

There was no explanation given in the pilot episode of the show to explain any unusual circumstances... i.e. an unknown family member etc, so they took no steps to explain how MacGyver suddenly has a family member, which indicates, again, that the producers of that show didn't know what they where doing. So it's probably just as well the show wasn't picked up, who knows what other sacrilege's they might have pulled.

It happens all the time in the Soap opera world. The lost the history of the script that was first written. Shame on them.

Didn't like this episode. I couldn't get past the horrendous acting by everyone involved.

Plus, I don't know if it's just me, but I have a hard time seeing Season 1 episodes as being part of the same series that we see in seasons 2-7. It just feels like a different character. There are things Mac does in Season 1 that I really couldn't see him doing later on. That's not really a criticism, but it does make it harder to watch some season 1 episodes.

There is only one thing about this episode I dont like so much and that is Truang comes across as too much of an idiot (I think someone else already said something similar). Other than that, one great thing that sticks out for me in this episode is right at the end when a villager (Ming?) says "now we are free", Mac says "yeah", and then we hear the sound of synthesizer and drum play as the helicopter rotors turn. For some reason I find that such a powerful and cool ending.

This must be one of the few episodes which doesn't end on a face shot of MacGyver.

This is quite an enjoyable and fun episode to watch. I love the whole scene when Truang tells Narai that he made MacGyver talk. The way Narai turns to look at him completely unimpressed and then looks back at MacGyver who gives him that shrug. It's almost like both MacGyver and Narai are thinking the same thing. Makes me laugh every time.

As with the previous episode, some of the things that I thought of have already been discussed. I have some reflections though:

I love this opening gambit as well. I know, it's been said many times, but the "hit in the face" line always cracks me up. We're starting to get a grip on MacGyver's sense of humor!

I find it very interesting that the episode starts with the sunbathing scene, where we find Mac conveniently stretched out, relaxing in the sun on the beach--and just a few scenes later he's tied up in a stretched out position, exposed to extreme heat and sunlight and left to die!

The scene when Mac returns from the chopper after returning the canister, just to help the people, is indeed heartwarming, and also shows what a sympathetic character he is--always willing to risk his life to help others!

Me too.
Another great example of his sarcastic sense of humor.

It was also touching to watch that despite the fact that the people were freed from their slave labor for the general, Mac was still saddened that the general had to die. Maybe that was why they didn't show his face at the end--it wasn't after all a 100% happy ending when someone had to get killed...

A "good" rating from me.

Yeah that scene chokes me up a little every time. The boy thought his only hope of freedom and getting out of the horrible slave situation he was in had just left him there without a thought. And then when the smoke clears and you see that MacGyver hasn't left at all - very heartwarming indeed.

I agree Kiwi, plus Mac's comment to the boy. I don't remember exactly what it was right now but something like, "It's ok, I'm not going anywhere" or something similar. I really liked that!!

I watched this episode again last night and noticed something as the ending credits were rolling (I think it was this episode)...there was a person with the first name of Angus listed in the credits!! I'm not sure if they had decided upon Mac's first name when this episode was shot, but I thought it was interesting to see.

I really like the opening gambit in this episode as well. The "Hit in the face" line always cracks me up. Just another early example of Mac's sense of humor. Some of the acting was way over the top. And the writing could have been a lot tighter, but for the second episode of a new series, it wasn't that bad. I love the scene when Truang tells Narai that he made MacGyver talk. The way Narai turns to look at him completely unimpressed and then looks back at MacGyver who gives him a shrug. It's almost like MacGyver and Narai are thinking the same thing. Another example of Mac's sarcastic sense of humor. The scene when Mac returns from the chopper after returning the canister, just to help the people, is very kind and heartwarming, and this scene also shows what a sympathetic character he is. Because Mac is always willing to risk his life to help others! I also really liked the scene were one of the villagers says "Now we are free", And Mac says "Yeah" and then and then we hear the sound of synthesizer and drum play as the helicopter rotors turn. For some reason I find that such a powerful and very cool scene. And I also felt that Mac was kid of sad that the general had to die in the end. They didn't show it on his face at the end. But it isn't a happy ending if someone had to die... Not a great episode, but still a good episode.

Overall Rating: 8/10

I love the high-stakes-adventure episodes

I particularly like the way Mac ropes the whole village into the plan, kids and all! I like the way he gives the bad guys loads of opportunities to give it up and the way the villagers rally round when they see there is hope.

I gave it an excellent

I wondered that, too. But I explain this so, that MacGyver freed himself with the knife, he knocked out this guy and then he laid down again and only pretended to be tied up, so he could easily eliminate the next guy.

I agree, that MacGyver's character was quite different in season 1 or, at least, in the first half of season 1. It was much lighter and careless and there was some James Bond-like twist in him. But the first season is what I remember best from my childhood and for that reason it's very important for me. So, I love the season 1 very much.

About that fighting thing: I like this part of MacGyver's character, that he wasn't a very good fighter. He was clumsy and won the fights rather by lucky accidents or using his cleverness than with brutal force. RDA was very athletic and could be much better fighter than MacGyver , although this clumsiness was definitely the quality, that RDA himself brought in MacGyver's character. And it was a good idea, 'cause it adds the reality and convincingness of the character. And, because of his background as a mime and because of the qualities of his own personality, RDA acted this clumsiness perfectly.

But, what is far away from reality, and particularly in this episode, is this eternal enigma of language. But, as we saw in Stargate SG-1, the WHOLE UNIVERSE speak english, so this problem is solved