Every week I will be posting a new topic titled "Episode Discussion". In this we will discuss an episode, what we liked about it, what we didn't like, etc.


Episode 114 - The Visitor

MacGyver tries to stop a rural couple from handing over their life savings to two “visitors” offering a perfect life on another planet.

I liked this one. It was in line with Ghost Ship--another unexplained phenomenon that MacGyver tries to explain through science, yet the ending still leaves you wondering. In both episodes, the unexplained is "faked," yet something happens at the end that makes you change your mind again and wonder if it is real. I liked Phil, the Vortex Vacuum guy. I really did wonder if he was an alien! In one of my fanfiction crossovers with Stargate, he was actually Thor!

I love "The Visitor" I thought this was a great episode. It is certainly reminiscent of "Ghost Ship" as it has MacGyver grappling with another unexplained phenomena- and those kind of storylines are always interesting... For a fairly reality-based show for the most part (especially with the scientific explanations behind the MacGyverisms and all)- MacGyver has its moments of "Twilight Zone" incidents. Which just makes it all the more mysterious and cool... (I guess I'm mainly thinking of "Ghost Ship", "The Visitor", "Serenity", "MacGyver's Women", "Good Knight, MacGyver", "Walking Dead" and maybe some others)

Anyway- I thought Phil the vacuum guy was great. There was a good amount of action- and the storyline was certainly pretty unique- desperate people getting ripped off by fake aliens! And MacGyver had some good science stuff going on- with explaining the blue light phenomena and all. And MacGyverisms- well, there's always the good old SAK lock pick trick! Overall- an excellent episode!

I voted excellent on this good episode. Phil was the cab driver from Legend of the Holy Rose, with him always showing up at the strangest moments and helping MacGyver like that in a way.
Also the kid from The Outsiders shows up again, little older now, seems like 12 years now.
One of my favourite moments is when MacGyver is almost caught when he's searches through the trailer. The look on his face is hilarious when he hears the car coming closer.
I like episodes starting overnight with immediate setting of action.

A name from Phoenix under Siege is used in this episode: 'What in the Sam Hill was that?'

You got a wonder!! One of my favourite lines.

Good episode! Lotsa fun and gadgets and MacGyverisms and flamethrowers!

I really liked this one. Like Loth said there was a lot going on with gadgets etc but also the story of the family so desperate to find a way to cure the mothers illness was heart breaking. They were so desperate they were willing to believe the unbelievable. That couple posing as the aliens were really evil to exploit them that way.

I loved how MacGyver looked for the facts behind the amazing light show and even though it must have been awful to break the news to the family, he told them what they had to hear.

I loved Phil who gave a little light relief to what was quite a heavy story line.

This is one that I am choosing to watch in the MacGyver marathon tonight.

The UFO stuff is a little cheesy to me. But a good episode.

I feel for the family-maybe having kids, and family, and family that have died, i just identify with the family's desperation to find a solution.

I am in agreement that Phil, the vacuum cleaner salesman is the comic relief. I love it when he makes Mac's bail. All because Mac's month old generator is caput, and he has to shell out $245 to the garage.

The stuff between Mac and the sheriff is good, Mac's being offered dinner by the sheriff's wife, and the stuff later in the garage, about checking out the Rygels. They are from Orion, Illinois. I have been to Orion, Illinois a couple of times, so that part is funny to me. Mac mispronounces the name, but I can forgive that.

Phil is the comic relief. Tommy is the heart. He tells Mac about his mom having cancer, and these people promising a better life on another planet. All I know is I hope that sheriff locked the Rygels up an threw away the key for trying to kill Mac and the Wylie family, Phil too.

The Rygels just give me the creeps.

Anyone notice the similarities of the Rygel women to Deborah from The Negotiator episode?

I wondered about that too when I watched the eppy last night but couldn't be so sure.

I also like that vacuum guy and what he said 'A good salesman always manages to be where he's needed the most' should be the motto for all sales people! (although he was unsuccessful in selling any cleaner to either Wylie, Rigels and Mac)

I wondered about that too when I watched the eppy last night but couldn't be so sure.

I wonder---did Mac notice the similarity between Mrs Rygel and Deborah in look and even voice tone? She was as cold and uncaring as Deborah too--just creepy.

Watching this made me wonder if the way Mac replicates de UFO in his garage-barn-lab really works the way they played it. Obviously a little license for the scale of the big thing over the land is OK but I wondered if in miniscale it really works. Anyone?

I wonder if it would really work at all, regardless of size.

I would expect you would have more chance of making it work on a small scale, where you can control the exact amounts and quantities of the required ingredients than on a large scale out in a field where you have outside factors messing things up for you.

Voted excellent. Liked the vaccum cleaner salesman, and how he and Mac worked together to proctec the family from giving away their life savings.

Isn't it funny that the same things are still happening in todays world? I wish we had more Phil the vaccum cleaner salesman and MacGyvers around.

Episode was good, but the ufo in the end was little bit too much, but anyway good episode. The vacuum cleaner salesman was also mysterious and the neighbourhood too.

I knew there was something odd about the vacuum cleaner salesman: His name, Sternwise, tipped me off. ("Stern"="star" in German)

Cool episode, MacGyver trying to explain a flying saucer through science and succedeing in doing so, but the ending still leaves you wondering.

I also loved Phil, the mysterious guy showing up in front of MacGyver when he needed him most. I liked the way he always introduced him. ''Phil Sternwise. Vortex vacuums.'' (gives a card)

Comparing this episode to Ghost Ship for me is not quite there.

Yes, both of these episodes focused on the paranormal / unknown which is great but The Visitor was too campy compared to the tone of Ghost Ship.

I did like how Mac went about investigating the phenomenon but felt a bit of a loss of intensity on how the episode should have been portrayed. I guess that's because I have too much of the X-Files in my head and thought it could have been done like that. I actually even felt that way when it originally aired back in 1990 I think.

I was going to write, "Oh, not another dodgy English accent". But now I realise it was not a new dodgy English accent but one I had heard before.

Did the Canadian unions not allow English actors to play English characters whilst in Canada?

Comparing this episode to Ghost Ship for me is not quite there.

Yes, both of these episodes focused on the paranormal / unknown which is great but The Visitor was too campy compared to the tone of Ghost Ship.

I did like how Mac went about investigating the phenomenon but felt a bit of a loss of intensity on how the episode should have been portrayed. I guess that's because I have too much of the X-Files in my head and thought it could have been done like that. I actually even felt that way when it originally aired back in 1990 I think.

Oh, don't, now I am thinking about how wonderful it would have been had there been an "X-Files"/"MacGyver" crossover. Until 5 minutes, the thought of this had never crossed my mind. Now I am sad that it never happened.

I was going to write, "Oh, not another dodgy English accent". But now I realise it was not a new dodgy English accent but one I had heard before.

Did the Canadian unions not allow English actors to play English characters whilst in Canada?

According to IMDB Christopher Gaze is from Surrey. (England, not BC.) I think he was doing a "generic textbook" English accent. Either for fun, or a Coconut Effect thing.

It's been years since I watched this episode. Try 28 years.
I go to my mom's house once or twice a week. This week I told her that we are going to watch the episode with the aliens from Illinois.

I watched it a couple of days ago to point out things that are important to the plot. I.e. the vacuum cleaner salesman(i really like that character), the circles within the big circle caused by the alien spacecraft and the napalm and uranium left by the alien craft.

I don't if it would work in mini scale. I had a cool science teacher in the 6th grade(in 1992). If I could remember his name I would look him up in phonebook. He most likely tried. Not all his in-class experiments worked the first. It was fun trying to figure out why and figure out a way to get them to work.

me, she has similarities indeed.

Also