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| MacGyver Online Forums > Episodes > 008 - Hellfire |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 2 November 2006 - 01:23 PM |
 Episode 008 - Hellfire Airdate: 27 November 1985 Teleplay: Stephen Kandel, James Schmerer, & Douglas Brooks West Story: Douglas Brooks West Director: Richard Colla Guest Cast: Cooper Huckabee as Bill Farren, Nana Visitor as Laura Farren, Rudy Ramos as Pete Torgut. MacGyvers friends strike oil, but an out-of-control fire threatens to destroy all they own. They turn to MacGyver as the only one who can extinguish the inferno and save the oil. |
| Posted by: Macs Lab Rat 8 November 2006 - 08:27 AM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Votes from 21 Feb 2006 Poor [ 0 ] [0.00%] Average [ 0 ] [0.00%] OK [ 1 ] [9.09%] Good [ 7 ] [63.64%] Excellent [ 3 ] [27.27%] Total Votes: 11 Archived posts Posted by: rockatteer Oct 11 2004, 12:18 PM
Posted by: MacGyver Oct 11 2004, 12:26 PM
Posted by: sonyab Oct 11 2004, 12:27 PM
Posted by: MacGyverGod Oct 12 2004, 03:27 AM
Posted by: Macsrose Oct 12 2004, 01:11 PM
Posted by: MacGyver Oct 13 2004, 05:22 AM
Posted by: rutejack Oct 15 2004, 07:12 AM
Posted by: rockatteer Oct 15 2004, 09:12 AM
Posted by: MacGyverGod Oct 15 2004, 09:55 AM
Posted by: Macsrose Oct 15 2004, 11:23 AM
Posted by: rockatteer Oct 15 2004, 12:02 PM
Posted by: thyla Oct 15 2004, 02:13 PM
Posted by: rockatteer Oct 15 2004, 02:49 PM
Posted by: thyla Oct 15 2004, 02:59 PM
Posted by: rutejack Oct 16 2004, 02:20 AM
Posted by: MacGyverGod Oct 16 2004, 03:28 AM
Posted by: rockatteer Oct 17 2004, 12:44 AM
Posted by: rutejack Oct 17 2004, 01:41 AM
Posted by: sonyab Oct 17 2004, 03:57 AM
Posted by: Macsrose Oct 17 2004, 07:43 PM
Posted by: Toni Apr 2 2006, 02:18 AM
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| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 25 August 2007 - 01:45 AM |
| This episode has some good moments, and gives us some background information about MacGyver... but over all I can't really give it more than an OK. |
| Posted by: Janet Marie 25 August 2007 - 07:19 AM |
| I find none of the episodes in MacGyver that Idon't enjoy. They are all interesting and I find myself watching them over and over again. Janet Marie |
| Posted by: MacGyver 25 August 2007 - 12:43 PM |
Ah- Janet Marie- a like-minded spirit!  YES! I love ALL the MacGyver episodes and would happily watch them repeatedly over anything on the networks today!     (By the way- welcome to the forums!) |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 August 2007 - 02:27 AM | ||
You wont find anyone who disagrees with you. We're not so much comparing these episodes with other shows as comparing them against each other. It's an inevitable fact of human nature that some episodes will appeal to us more than others and that, I think, is how most of us are rating the episodes... how did it rate against the rest of the show. |
| Posted by: j12752 31 August 2007 - 03:37 AM |
| Though this is my son's favorite episode, it only fares average to me. I did like the ending though, it seemed more "human" and Mac like than the rest of this 1st season episode. Mostly the 1st season was a gradual learning about MacGyver, and some of the writing and stuff just seemed too much like "they" were feeling their way about with the character. Which, I understand is pretty much what happens, but it was just too blatant in this episode for me. |
| Posted by: Stupid Little Genius 31 August 2007 - 04:00 AM |
| i liked the background infor this episode gave us about macs life, and the specail effects were good^^ so over all this episode gets a GOOD from me |
| Posted by: Sheepy 31 August 2007 - 06:41 AM |
| I voted good, I liked it a lot, but it wasn;t one of my favs. I didnt like the female character and I thought the shipment of the dynamite was a little cheesy. Very unstable explosives that don't go off while driving through those holes and over those bumps in the road? I did like the scene of the shack by the way and I loved the setting! |
| Posted by: trtlsoup 31 August 2007 - 08:42 AM |
I didn't like many episodes from season 1... this one: eh. (...and I call myself a fan)  First of all, I'm not too fond of Nana Visitor. But that's just me... And I can't help but compare it to "Hellfighters"; one of my favorite John Wayne flicks. But RDA puts in a good performance with what he had to work with. And season 1 has many MacGyverisms, unlike the later episodes. Season 1 eps (up 'til maybe Countdown) were just stretching their legs... IMO |
| Posted by: Lothithil 31 August 2007 - 11:05 AM | ||
 Heretic!  Just kidding there, Trtldove! *tickles you* |
| Posted by: trtlsoup 31 August 2007 - 03:37 PM | ||
 ...yer funny!Now I have the urge to see the episode... after the Stargate marathon, though... |
| Posted by: j12752 1 September 2007 - 03:02 AM |
| I watched it too, then the marathon. Window of Opportunity still makes me laugh! |
| Posted by: Macs Lab Rat 2 September 2007 - 12:49 AM |
MacGyver is a big flirt (or show-off,  I can’t decide) at the start of Hellfire! Maybe he’s just overexcited at seeing his friends or something. He's like this!  . I can’t imagine the MacGyver of the later seasons showing off his juggling and saying he has many, many talents. They all do a lot of shouting in this one. It kind of annoyed me, I know they had to shout over the roar of the fire but it made my throat hurt in sympathy. I bet the actors all went home a little hoarse after filming this. The whole drilling well makes me grimace. How can they be drilling by dangling pipe on the end of rope? And how are they removing their cuttings? You can’t just drill down 18,00 feet without a way to remove the rock you are drilling through. And then like when they hit a “gas pocket” and produce enough flammable gas for it too go boom they just leave it spewing out gas unchecked…if it hadn’t gone boom then MacGyver and his buddies could have been sitting around surrounded by flammable and toxic gas, especially since they were going to let all the gas bleed out before drilling further, and with the house so close to the well. There’s all sorts of nasties in produced gas. It’s just all too casual for someone with brains like MacGyver and someone like Bill who should know about well fires. And fragile little light bulbs right above the well ?Anyway, when I get over the drilling silliness there are bits I liked this episode. MacGyver is cheerful and smiles lots – I like the light cheerful, MacGyver, even if he is a flirt. Apart from the weird moment where they decide to roll about in the river for no reason I thought the relationship between Mac and Bill was great and I got the feeling they really knew and liked each other. They were like bestest pals but, as with a lot of MacGyver’s “best” friends, Bill was destined to never be mentioned again through the rest of the series. Overall this gets an Ok from me. |
| Posted by: MacGyversCrush 16 September 2007 - 08:44 AM |
| Well from all what's wrong with techo stuff with it.. I gave it an excellent vote.. for a first season episode I thought was I thought it was great. Showing Mac intro-acting with good friends, being more himself. So how much he cares for his friends, even risk his own life in place of theirs. We also see here that he doesn't know everything and has to rely on the knowledge of his friends to put out the fire. I love the shack scene.. "you are crazy, certifidable." "yeah, so what does it makes you." (I might be a little off. The quoting )I'm not a big Nana vistor fan either, but we're stuck with her here.  |
| Posted by: MacGirl 8 June 2008 - 03:01 PM |
| This was a pretty good eppy from S1. Love the banter between Mac and Bill, especially: Bill: You are crazy! I mean CERTIFIABLE! Mac: Yeah? What does that make you?! So funny! The suspense with the nitro is great, and that sequence was just long enough. Any longer, and it would have been too much. I also liked the tension between Laura and Bill, over Bill's "hellcatting." Laura clearly loves Bill, and wants him around a long time. But curiously enough, when Bill and Mac get into their fight over who's "going in" to fight the fire, Laura breaks it up by telling them they're BOTH doing it. I think she knew that Bill wouldn't be happy if he sat this one out, yet she wants someone watching his back, and there's no one she trusts more than Mac for that job. I also liked the MacGyverism of using the ballpoint pen to fix the truck. I don't think that would work with modern cars and trucks, though. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.) |
| Posted by: Miasma 4 March 2009 - 11:37 AM |
| This was the first episode I ever saw. I can't remember too much about it right now, but I guess it made a good enough impression, because ever since then, I made a point of watching every week. I ended up seeing it because I was planning to watch whatever came on after it (I think it was Dynasty), but due to some scheduling problem at the TV station, all the shows got delayed. So when I turned on at 9pm for Dynasty, I ended up seeing the last 15 minutes of this episode, and I thought it was really good. |
| Posted by: Beachbead 1 April 2009 - 06:02 PM |
| Loved the shack scene too where he runs out and a second later the chack goes boom. |
| Posted by: SMeeceymouse 29 April 2009 - 09:06 AM |
I voted good. There weren't alot of MacGyverisms. I just don't understand how a woman who is married thinks she has the right to tell her husband what he can and can't do. That is what really bothered me about the episode. And why did they have the lights so close to the derek? Kind of stupid in my way of thinking. Oh and where were the burn scars?   |
| Posted by: Traveller 20 July 2010 - 12:58 AM |
| The more I see this one, the more I like it. And I think Nana Visitor is okay - what do people have against her, I wonder. She looks nice, is a good actress and there is absolutely some chemistry between RDA and her. What fascinates me most is the fire. It is real, not a special effect. How did they do this? Did they go to a place where this fire was on? Did they make it themselves? And the actors are real close to it. No stunt doubles. I like that. It makes it more real. For me the fire is an extra persona. It's the bad guy that has to be beaten. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 20 July 2010 - 02:50 AM | ||
Pyrotechnics. Usually done with gas jets so they can control when, where and how much of a fire they get. I'd hate to think how much gas they used to run that fire.  Hmmm now I'm wondering if they did use gas for that, or maybe some sort of fire liquid being pumped out under pressure so it shots up to the right height? Because it would be pretty hard to pump a propane gas out under that much pressure wouldn't it? |
| Posted by: Mac'sIrishColleen 5 December 2010 - 11:04 AM |
| I'm watching this now...shouldn't Laura be using gloves when she is squeezing out the nitro? |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 5 December 2010 - 08:35 PM |
| In this over protected, cotton wool wrapped world, yes; but back in the 80s when this was made people didn't worry about such trivial matters as getting a bit of Nitro on your hand, if you get it on your hand you wipe it off and carry on. |
| Posted by: Traveller 27 April 2012 - 07:20 AM |
| Yep, that's the spirit. Great episode, from beginning to end. Adventure, in the wild, rough country, pioneer atmosphere, plenty macygverisms, nice underlying storyline, and to top it all off: gorgeous, dangerous, spectacular fire. Love it! |
| Posted by: Mary-Kate 22 July 2012 - 11:26 AM |
Liked it, the inferno looked real (probably was?)... Scene showing Mac and Bill carrying explosives was really tense, I just waited for the moment when those explosives go off... Somehow knew it was gonna happen.  And they would survive of course.  Dunno if I'm the first to notice this actor resemblance... Bill from this episode looks exactly like Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis) from The Vampire Diaries! When I first saw him, I really thought it was Matthew... but then I remembered - MacGyver was filmed in 1985 and The Vampire Diaries (not a fan of this show, I just know that it features some hot guys and Matthew Davis is one of them  ) is being filmed since 2009... I found out on imdb that Cooper Huckabee starred Bill... Here are the pictures of both men: This is Bill from MacGyver:  And this is Alaric from V.D.:  They even smile the same way! Kinda creepy. What do you guys think? |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 24 July 2012 - 12:25 AM |
| Like father, like son? I read an article a while ago about Hollywood actors looking a like. This is indeed an interesting find. |
| Posted by: NightTinkerer 1 August 2012 - 02:36 PM | ||
Exactly my thoughts about this episode. Of course, these people are very good friends of MacGyver... but I was still thinking "show-off" big time. I know that they were still "trying out" the character for a bit at this point, but I must say I do prefer the more laid back Mac of the later seasons.  (That said--it's wonderful to see a more lighthearted side of him as well, at times.) I thought about the shouting too--I usually watch MacGyver late at night, so I have to keep it down a bit and respect my poor neighbors. It was rather hard to hear the dialogue at times! I actually do like Nana Visitor; I was a great fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the 90's, so I might be a little biased, though. A friend, who's currently re-watching MacGyver as well, pointed out that the plastic cap of the thermos probably would have melted way before they released it into the fire. She might have a point. This wasn't one of my favorites, though--but not one of my worst either. I'm voting "good", but it's a rather weak "good" this time. |
| Posted by: MacManx 28 March 2013 - 06:10 AM |
| Rewatched this one last night. I do like how lighthearted and happy Mac seems at the beginning. Watching him juggle was fun. Really careless where that light bulb was. Picking up the nitro was nerve racking. And of course the day was saved. Watching I couldn't help but think about the air pollution from that fire. made me think about about the Hussein burning the oil in Iraq. Did notice the one night time driving shot when they are returning with the nitro. They were only going 54 miles, but they were driving slow to avoid a big bang. But nothing else hinted that they were gone overnight. |
| Posted by: Scwilson 1 August 2013 - 08:16 PM |
 pretty good one that left you wondering if Mac could pull it of. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 14 February 2014 - 02:06 PM |
| I just found http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-03-25/news/how-to-fight-a-hellfire/full/ about real Hellfighters. It's quite interesting and talks about some of the techniques they use to combat the fires. Hellfighters measured the temperature at the core of one of the 600 blazing oil wells during the first U.S. war against Iraq at 3,051 degrees, twice the heat needed to melt steel. Fifty feet away, the temperature on the ground was still a toasty 950 degrees, hot enough to sap most of the strength from steel. But according to veteran Asger "Boots" Hansen, oil-well firefighters save their own strength for the most dangerous moment: when the fire goes out. http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-03-25/news/how-to-fight-a-hellfire/full/ |
| Posted by: denizen 16 February 2014 - 10:40 PM |
| Scary stuff! Its one profession I prefer to avoid. |
| Posted by: YopeGyver 18 February 2014 - 05:40 PM | ||
Same here! We sure owe a lot to the men and women who risk their lives and put their lives on the line everyday to protect us and this glorious land that we live in. |
| Posted by: blondmama 29 May 2014 - 11:17 AM |
| This is another show that also loved it seems I watched them growing up and brought back memories of the show when I watch them again I am glad I got my son liking these DVD because he can never get enough of them plus the things I like he do curse and it not like some shows you have to worry about what your kids are watching you know Macgyver uses his head and comes up with things you never dream of but you know the things he does they do work and I have done my own Macgyverism when we don't have stuff that cost but I love it when you can think of things and I always say WHAT WOULD MACGYVER DO? and then spring into action with an idea like Macgyver Love the shows I can never get enough I don't mind watching them over and over |
| Posted by: macgybl 21 January 2015 - 03:59 PM |
| Bill always reminded me of Kurt Russell. As stated, Mac and Bill seemed like great old friends...seemed very real. |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 5 October 2015 - 01:38 AM |
| I just watched this episode again. It was always one of my favorites of the first season. It's so different of all the other episodes. This episode shows that there doesn't always have to be bad guys and guns to spice things up. Explosions will do just fine. Now I think it's rather a shame they didn't make more of this kind of episodes. Mac vs. the elements of nature or something. I know he rather preserves nature than to battle it but you known battling it to preserve it. I also really like this episode because of it's ending. When they are actually hellfighting. Mac and Bill are on the jeep trying to get the explosives into the well, Laura is spraying them with the hose and Torgut is cranking the water. There's a lot of noise, the fire is blazing and the background music is over it. It's a very loud scene and than when the final explosion hits total silence. Than you know they succeeded in battling the fire. |
| Posted by: Maclover 5 October 2015 - 01:56 PM |
| I've watched this one a couple of times and think that due credit must goto the special effects guys. For something made pretty much pre-cgi I thought the initial explosion and resulting fire looked about as good as they could and I thought very much mimicked a real well fire. If it was done with gas jets it was done very well imo. I didn't mind Nana in it, I think it's kind of nice that stars from other progs all made an appearance, After all we got both Devon Miles and Bonnie from KR in there so why not Kira Nereis? |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 5 October 2015 - 05:22 PM | ||
Of course this episode was very pre DS9. |
| Posted by: Maclover 7 October 2015 - 12:31 AM |
| Of course. What I do find interesting though is that some of these actors/actresses seem to pick up a number of roles within a certain genre of entertainment which appeals to a certain mindset. When I look at what I enjoy/have enjoyed on TV its amazing how often the same names crop up. |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 7 November 2016 - 12:49 PM | ||
I'd say he was flirting a bit with Laura, although clearly not with the intention of trying anything on. Did they have a TV or radio out there? If not, the juggling made sense (something to do). |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 7 November 2016 - 01:08 PM |
These early episodes are very slow-moving. CBS Action in the UK even gives them a 65 minute slot rather than an hour one (squishing DS9 into 55 minutes - nice to see Nana Visitor in that also).  is like a slightly subdued version of his later self. His hair is not quite long enough to be distinctively mullet-y. I don't know why he described the colour as "stuff on a stick" (in one of the interviews on this site) though, it's a perfectly acceptable shade of brown. His taste in clothes is also subdued - I'm rather missing the lurid shirts from Season 7. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 27 August 2019 - 01:40 AM |
| I just noticed that at the end of this scene after Pete walks away Laura can be seen saying something but it's muted. It looks like part of the scene has been edited out. |
| Posted by: sylvain1888 20 November 2020 - 03:45 PM |
.