Eagles

Episode:  030 (S2.E08)

Production  No.: 40192-025

Airdate: 17 November 1986

Writer: George Lee Marshall

Director: Paul Krasny

Nielsen Ratings:  14.6 rating / 22 share / 3rd (40th for the week)

PLOT

MacGyver heads to the mountains to find two rare golden eagles on the verge of extinction. But his tracking mission turns into a rescue mission when both eagles are wounded by hunters who are now after him.

CAST

MACGYVERISMS

• Used mirror to distract helicopter pilot
• Cooking oil & furniture stuffing to incubate eagle eggs
• Used dog leash clips as extra carabiners
• Used tent pegs as extra pitons (climbing pegs)
• Used bicycle tire’s inner tube attached to bicycle handlebars as sling shot
• Used Ball bearing, propane stove & grinder blew up shed

TRIVIA

• After originally being scheduled to air on October 13, 1986, but getting preempted due to a news special, “Eagles” was eventually broadcast on November 17, 1986. It was repeated on April 13, 1987.
• The eagle screeches heard in this episode are actually a red tailed hawk. These calls are routinely used by Hollywood because real eagle’s vocalizations are chirps similar to small birds.
• The climbing scenes in this episode intersplices footage from 1971 climbing movie ‘Solo’. MacGyver is dressed in identical clothing to the climber in this movie so they cold switch seamlessly between closeups of MacGyver and wider shots from the movie.

QUOTES

• The golden eagle’s not just a bird; it’s a natural wonder.  ~MacGyver
• When you’re hang-gliding, you feel like you’re part of the sky . . . Maybe that’s why I can fly hundreds of feet off the ground without the sweaty palms I get when I look down from a stepladder.  ~MacGyver
• I guess the way you look at the world depends on where you are. From up here it looked like a pretty nice place.  ~MacGyver
• Well, I had a parakeet one time that went ten rounds with a cat. I patched him up, and he lived to fight again.  ~MacGyver
• You know, the only arguments I ever had with my mother were about bed time . . . I finally had to let her stay up ’til ten.  ~MacGyver
• I found out in a hurry the things a climber really needs: a pair of strong hands, a set of steady nerves . . . and a paid-up insurance policy.  ~MacGyver
• There’s only one kind of climber who tries to get down a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm – the kind you never hear from again.  ~MacGyver
• That grindstone looked like a pretty easy target – until I tried to hit it.  ~MacGyver

NIT-PICKS

• When the bad guy get’s up to go outside to see what the noise on the roof is, he’s limping from where Darren hit him, but when we see him outside, his limp is suddenly gone.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Darin’s Rock 69M4+64W West Hills Woolsey Canyon Los Angeles, CA	Phoenix Foundation Park Entrance Malibu Creek State Park Agoura Hills, CA
Eagle Nest The Totem Pole Oljato-Monument Valley Arizona