I liked this one. The doctor is definitely channelling Tom Baker, the train makes a good setting for the episode, Mac is a pillar of strength in a crisis situation and the bad guy wasn't all bad. What's not to like?
Also, I'd always guessed that Mac would be a morning person, so its nice to have it confirmed
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Is it me or does Mac's voice sound lower than usual? He sounds like he had a big party the night before and had plenty of smokes and drinks or was he recovering from a sore throat or something? And it's as well with the voice overs, or did they just mess up in post-production?
And why does Andy keep reminding me of Bill of Hellfire? Each time I think it's him. I think that's what you get if you hire an actor that has sort of a resemblance even if it's just in age. Early to mid thirties.
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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QUOTE (Walter @ 2 December 2014 - 01:29 AM)
This one is better than I remembered to be honest.
Love the line about knowing where to find a dragon.
I found the story about how the doctor lost his arm to be pretty weak and unbelievable, but still gets a good vote from me.
It does seem more likely that he would have been in an operating theatre ... but I go by the rule "if it might have happened, let's accept it". It's only physically impossible things that make me roll my eyes.
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QUOTE (MacGyverOnline @ 29 April 2009 - 02:30 PM)
Why do they make up their own names for the episodes instead of just using the real episode name?
By which I mean translate the real name into the German equivalent so Slow Death would be (and please forgive my German here) Langsam Tod?
The German episode title is "Halt auf freier Strecke", meaning "Stopped Between Stations".
It's maybe because "Halt auf freier Strecke" would make more sense to a German audience that "Langsam Tod" or it's based on that they are stopped in the middle of nowhere. It may also depend on how all the dialogue translated from English to German.
"He always used to say, 'There are no great things to be accomplished in? this life, just small things done with great love.'" Rachel, remembering Father Jim
"Primitive working conditions. Lowsy hours. Monster workload. No pay. What a deal!"-MacGyver Slow Death about the clinic for Hassan's people.
"...but our lives aren't just measured in years. They're measured in the lives of people we touch around us." Peeta Mellark in Catching Fire.
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QUOTE (MacGyverGod @ 10 October 2015 - 03:25 PM)
Is it me or does Mac's voice sound lower than usual? He sounds like he had a big party the night before and had plenty of smokes and drinks or was he recovering from a sore throat or something? And it's as well with the voice overs, or did they just mess up in post-production?
And why does Andy keep reminding me of Bill of Hellfire? Each time I think it's him. I think that's what you get if you hire an actor that has sort of a resemblance even if it's just in age. Early to mid thirties.
This is the web address for the article about this episode. Read the last couple of paragraphs. Read the whole thing. Very interesting. It may answer your question.
"He always used to say, 'There are no great things to be accomplished in? this life, just small things done with great love.'" Rachel, remembering Father Jim
"Primitive working conditions. Lowsy hours. Monster workload. No pay. What a deal!"-MacGyver Slow Death about the clinic for Hassan's people.
"...but our lives aren't just measured in years. They're measured in the lives of people we touch around us." Peeta Mellark in Catching Fire.
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The scene where Mac makes a doll for the little girl remains one of the most beautiful moments of the series, that's Macgyver, creates something instantaneously, in thinking immediately and giving pleasure ... This kind of moment cannot be found elsewhere ...
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QUOTE (AmigaDeVenezuela @ 9 July 2018 - 05:34 PM)
QUOTE (MacGyverOnline @ 29 April 2009 - 02:30 PM)
Why do they make up their own names for the episodes instead of just using the real episode name?
By which I mean translate the real name into the German equivalent so Slow Death would be (and please forgive my German here) Langsam Tod?
The German episode title is "Halt auf freier Strecke", meaning "Stopped Between Stations".
It's maybe because "Halt auf freier Strecke" would make more sense to a German audience that "Langsam Tod" or it's based on that they are stopped in the middle of nowhere. It may also depend on how all the dialogue translated from English to German.
It's always interesting to know the titles in other countries to know how it is renowned, in France it is entitled "Juste Vengeance", "Just revenge"
Here's the only thing I don't like about this eppy:
The lie detector drives me crazy!
Here's why. Lie detectors (technically called "polygraphs") don't really detect lies or truth. They detect stress, which is why they use a blood pressure cuff. However, an innocent person who's nervous about being questioned will set it off, while someone who doesn't care about lying and will not show any physical reaction (in other words, a psychopath) will "pass". This is why polygraph results are not admissible as evidence in American courts.
So I'm a little surprised that one was used in this eppy. Then again, they were on a train, and Mac didn't have many options or much time.
Came here to say that. I've had a job application sunk by a polygraph that, effectively, was lying about whether I was lying, which post-polygraph googling revealed was an insanely common event because those things are only slightly more scientific than reading animal entrails. (In a "falling from the twenty-first floor is slightly more deadly than falling from the twentieth floor" kind of way).
It's made it impossible for me not to groan when I see polygraphs in pop culture, although I admit that the narrative convenience is so great it's hard to blame writers for using them. (The episode of "Community" where they all get hooked up to them still has me in stitches).
At least MacGyver includes a nod to the iffy nature of the science when the guy triggers it through strong emotion because of his girlfriend and not because he's lying.
I can also actually see the polygraph in this episode working out realistically in one way: even if MacGyver's polygraph didn't work, the simple fact that the bad guy thinks it works or is afraid that it might work is enough to drive his stress levels and blood pressure to where he triggers it. And then, of course, he just runs for it and admits guilt. Instead of simply sitting still and bluffing it out. I'm told that using a polygraph as a prop that way and playing on the suspect's beliefs is in fact a trick cops and investigators use in real life - though that comes with its own set of problems.
Yes the polygraph can definitely be wrong. To be honest I get stressed out just by getting hooked up to one!! 😂
On the other hand, funny anecdote I've read in a CIA guy's biography:
The man was posted in Beirut during the eighties, and at one point the home office sent out a polygrapher to interview one of his Lebanese sources and verify the guy's reliability. A minute into the interview, a huge bomb blast goes off fairly close to the embassy. The Lebanese guy, desensitized by years of living in a war zone, doesn't even flinch. The polygrapher picks up his stuff and storms out, shouting that there's NO WAY he'll be able to get a proper reading on somebody like that.