Birthday

Episode:  036 (S2.E14)

Production  No.: 40192-036

Airdate: 02 February 1987

Writer: Rob Hedden

Director: James L. Conway

Nielsen Ratings:  14.8 rating / 22 share / 3rd (42nd for the week)

PLOT

MacGyver is trapped inside an abandoned factory with a pregnant woman who’s being chased by her murderous husband.

CAST

MACGYVERISMS

• Used old boat to block alley way.
• Used high pressure water pipe as a water cannon to knock out bad guy.
• Made ramp to get jeep out of pit with boards & barrels.
• Lifted Jeep with boat crane.
• Used bits of old cars and junk to camouflage and hide his jeep.
• Soaked bag in some water sitting in an old tire to stop the helium from escaping through the bag material.
• Made signal balloon with a bag, helium and signal flags.
• Used fishing line tied across doorway to knock bad guy off his bike.

TRIVIA

• MacGyver still has the same messenger bag we see in the pilot  episode.
• The scene where MacGyver lowers his jeep down left a dent on the front fender from where the strap pushed against it. This dent can be seen through out the rest of the series when they used that jeep in a scene.

QUOTES

• MacGyver: There’s a pretty simple reason why fishermen get up at the crack of dawn: that’s when the fish get up.
• Elaine: Something tells me I finally met the right man at the right time.
• Elaine: Do you believe in fate, MacGyver? Well, I do. Whenever I do anything good, it turns out bad. And whenever I do anything bad, it turns out worse.
• Elaine: Can’t wait to see how you’ll get us out of this pit.
  MacGyver: Me, too.
• MacGyver: I think if you try hard enough and make the best of a situation, the situation won’t get the best of you.
• Elaine: Are you ever wrong about anything?
  MacGyver: Never – well, once. Maybe twice.
• Elaine: You just never give up, do you.
  MacGyver: No, ma’am, I don’t.
• MacGyver: Good thing about boats: some of the stuff you find on ’em work just as well on land as they do on sea.
• MacGyver: Desperation tends to make one sort of . . . flexible.
• Elaine: I suppose I could keep her on a trial basis. You know, for a week or two?  (talking about the newborn baby)
  MacGyver: Yeah. A lot of people do that.

NIT-PICKS

• When MacGyver is driving into the warehouse area we can see his left break light is not working. In later scenes it’s working again.
• In the scene where MacGyver makes a ramp to get out of the pit in the warehouse we can see the dent in the left fender made by the crane left scene later in the episode – indicating the scenes were filmed our of order

FILMING LOCATIONS

Gas Station No longer exists 600 N Avalon Blvd, Wilmington, CA	Abandoned Factory Building No Longer Exists S Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach CA