MacGyver's cell phone?
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 01:12 AM                                    
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In the episode "The Negotiator" we see that MacGyver has a mobile phone in his jeep. We also see later on in the episode "Black Corsage" that he has a mobile phone with him in the truck.

This got me thinking why he never used either to call for help. especially with the jeep phone. There are a number of situations he was in which could have been safely resoved without endagering innocent peoples lives if he just went back to his jeep and called for help or just received important information.

It seems like a rather large oversight, or maybe plot hole. Then again maybe I'm looking back at it with a 2009 mindset instead of a 1988 mindset?

hmm.bmp








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aatgmac
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 01:20 AM                                    
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Hmm...could be the mindset, nowadays we are very dependant on phones for any situation, back then maybe it wasn't really thought of, or maybr the cell wasn't as reliable as they are now? Perhaps Mac not having a car phone for so many years didn't occur to him immediately to use it when he could have done. Also...boring the story a bit if MacGyver just used his car phone all the time?


hmm.bmp



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Beachbead
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 06:07 AM                                    
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At the time the cell phone wasn't a big thing as it is right now.



 
                                                                     
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MacGyverGod
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 10:55 AM                                    
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And probably as with everything when you need the thing the most it wouldn't work. Dead batteries, no service... and we just keep coughing hundreds of dollars (or for the European: euros) to have the coolest and expensive stuff.



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SMeeceymouse
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 01:55 PM                                    
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I remember that the cost of a charger for a cell phone back in the 80's would be what the cell phone would cost today.



 
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Beachbead
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 01:58 PM                                    
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QUOTE (SMeeceymouse @ 5 May 2009 - 09:55 AM)
I remember that the cost of a charger for a cell phone back in the 80's would be what the cell phone would cost today.

I also remember when they first came out they was high priced.



 
                                                                     
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 01:59 PM                                    
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QUOTE (aatgmac @ 4 May 2009 - 09:20 PM)
or maybr the cell wasn't as reliable as they are now?

Actually that's a good point. The coverage was probably very limited and the signal strength was probably pretty bad too.

And yeah, Cell phones weren't an every day thing back then.

Just goes to show how much they have become ingrained in our lives.



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SMeeceymouse
Posted: 4 May 2009 - 02:00 PM                                    
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They were high cost, hard to charge, and I remember them coming in bags that you carried on shoulder like you would your lap top case.



 
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dinoman
Posted: 7 May 2009 - 12:45 AM                                    
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Which type of cell do you think Mac would use today? iPhone? Blackberry? or just a simple 'phone'?



 
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 7 May 2009 - 02:49 AM                                    
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QUOTE
Which type of cell do you think Mac would use today? iPhone? Blackberry? or just a simple 'phone'?

user posted image

laugh.gif

But seriously... MacGyver wasn't really a gadget guy. He didn't carry stuff he didn't need, so I think if he were to have a cell phone, it would be a basic phone and would spend most of it's life in the glove compartment of his jeep.

I really can't see him with anything like an iPhone or other such gadget, unless he needed it for an assignment or something.



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SakLumberjack
Posted: 14 May 2009 - 09:38 AM                                    
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I also think if Mac were to have a cellphone now, it would be something simple. But do you know how hard it is to find a simple phone? Phone manufacturers, honestly mad.gif

When I had to replace my lost cell a few years ago, I got a good deal on my Nokia 3510i - it makes calls, it does texts, it does internet, it does polyphonic ring tones and has a colour screen!

Sorry, I'll stop being a salesman now biggrin.gif . But that was the simplest phone I could get at the time, without spending large sums of money.

Unfortunately, mine is dual-band (900 and 1800 MHz GSM), and wouldn't work in America and Canada (unless Nokia make a US-compatible version of it).



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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 02:13 AM                                    
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I watched Blow Out the other night and noticed for the first time that there's actually a scene where MacGyver calls Pete from his jeep cell-phone to tell him that he's followed the bad guy and tells Pete where their "hide-out" is.

Pete tells him that the police are on their way and MacGyver says he's going in to check the place out.

This actually got me thinking that this is probably how MacGyver would operate in today's world. Even if he had a cell-phone with him, help isn't going to appear instantly. He's still going to have to fend off the bad guys while he waits for help to arrive, so having a cell phone probably wouldn't be the show stopper I originally thought it might be.





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MacGyverGod
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 02:57 AM                                    
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Of course not. Besides checking the place out before the cops do, can't do no harm. Unless you step on a bomb. biggrin.gif



I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
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Beachbead
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 06:03 AM                                    
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I think MacGyver would have the latest in technology because Pete would have him use it when he is on his missions.



 
                                                                     
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 02:29 PM                                    
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Do you mean all the time?

He didn't do that in the show, apart from an occasional experiment type situation.






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Beachbead
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 03:07 PM                                    
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True he didn't do that in the show but in this time of age he could if Pete pushed him hard enough.



 
                                                                     
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 3 July 2009 - 03:25 PM                                    
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I guess my question is why would Pete do that now when he didn't in the past.

I suppose one way around that would be to say that in today's world, Pete is no longer with us, and someone else is running the show with different ideas.

I do still think though that MacGyver would only carry and use gadgets under duress.



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MacDriver
Posted: 6 July 2009 - 12:06 PM                                    
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Yeah, I agree, on rare occasion he would be taking some sort of state of the art thing with him, and I can't remember if the "latest greatest" stuff ever failed, but he still seemed to prefer simplicity. Perhaps it was the writer of the week syndrome, but he was pretty pushy about that door buster device he used in Deadly Dreams. That's the only time I can recall him being pumped about a complex gadget.

Back to cell phones, yeah I would buy that the thinking of the day, even for the writers, was that cell phones had bad signal etc. as everyone has said, I mean now they can even track the call and get help there without directions, but then I don't know if you dialed 911 if it even was networked well enough to direct a 911 call to the right place. Meaning you call someone, then they call 911, or something like that.



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Bubba Ho-Tep
Posted: 10 July 2009 - 07:09 AM                                    
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Didn't Mac have a cell phone in season 7? I think it was in Obsessed, but I'm not sure.



 
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 10 July 2009 - 02:41 PM                                    
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Hmmm. I know he had a cordless phone in his lounge. He used it to talk to Murdoc, don't recall a mobile at the moment though.

Can you remember what scene at all?




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Bubba Ho-Tep
Posted: 10 July 2009 - 04:43 PM                                    
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i just ran through the episode Obsessed real quick and he does use a cell phone a couple times (I thought I remembered him using one) but they are not his phones. You never see him pull one out, he is always using someone else's phone.

You can see him using one at about 10:30 and at about 19:00 minutes in.



 
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 10 July 2009 - 06:28 PM                                    
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ahh..

Does that count?




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MacGyverGod
Posted: 11 July 2009 - 09:20 AM                                    
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That's not a cell phone that's a portable phone. Just like the one Zack Morris had in Saved By The Bell. Despite the fact of being available with portables and cells does this count? Not sure. As cell phone probably no, because with the portables you could only make calls.

I think the question was, you think MacGyver would have a cell phone nowadays? Can you see him sending text messages? I think Mac sees a cell phone either as a cute toy to have or as a big annoyance.



I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.

 
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MacsChick
Posted: 11 July 2009 - 10:18 AM                                    
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He'd probably dismantle one and use it for some other purpose. wink.gif sak.gif



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MacGyverGod
Posted: 12 July 2009 - 09:19 AM                                    
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Like I said: cute toy to have.



I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.

 
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MacsChick
Posted: 12 July 2009 - 10:08 AM                                    
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Yep, he would probably see it as a useful tool to have in emergencies--just not in the way that we would use it! wink.gif sak.gif



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Posted: 16 July 2009 - 11:53 AM                                    
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QUOTE (MacsChick @ 12 July 2009 - 06:18 AM)
He'd probably dismantle one and use it for some other purpose. wink.gif sak.gif

Yep, that's how I always imagine it. Except, it wouldn't be his. He'd be stuck with some younger woman throughout the episode, and she would be very proud of her elaborate iPhone. Throughout the whole episode, she'd be trying to convince him that he "really ought to get one," and he'd keep pushing the idea aside. Then, when they find themselves in a jam, he'd ask for her phone. "Oh, sure, NOW you want it," she'd reply, handing it to him. Then he'd dismantle it (while she looks on in horror) and he'd use the parts inside it for some completely unintended purpose. When he hands the broken phone back to her, he'd make some crack like, "I guess you were right... these things DO come in handy." And she'd still have a look of horror on her face, while uttering, "My phone... what have you done to my phone?"
Then, as a throwback to the first season, he could use his bonus to get her a new phone.




 
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 11 August 2009 - 02:32 AM                                    
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And here's another cell phone scene. This time with a smaller phone. From the episode Twenty Questions, where he rings Mike Kiley at the hunting club.


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MacGyverGod
Posted: 11 August 2009 - 03:21 AM                                    
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And he has a portable phone in Squeeze Play too in the Nomad.

'Next time I go in and you answer the phone.'
'We'll see.'

Seen for the second time when he imitates the button sounds. And in Off The Wall we see the Jeep's phone again. I think that about does it for the phones.



I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.

 
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MacGyverOnline
Posted: 11 August 2009 - 01:39 PM                                    
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Which all kinda blows my original theory about it being an oversight, because he does use the phone. And it's probably in line with how they were used back then too, because they weren't the everyday, cant' do without item they are these days.




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