Out In The Cold

Episode:  038 (S2.E16)

Production  No.: 40192-038

Airdate: 16 February 1987

Writer: Stephen Kronish

Director: Cliff Bole

Nielsen Ratings:  17.5 rating / 24 share / 3rd (27th for the week)

PLOT

MacGyver is targeted by the mob after a man secretly plants microfilm on him while on a ski trip.

CAST

MACGYVERISMS

• Made signal parachute with zipper tag, ski pole, and bandana
• Squirted soy sauce in the eyes of bad guys
• Used a drop of water as magnifying lens on broken microscope
• Cut live power cable with axe and leans the cable against the wire cage holding Sam LeLand to electrify it

TRIVIA

• Most of the Avalanche and Skiing footage used in this episode is recycled stock footage from the feature film Meteor (1979). This required Richard Dean Anderson to be costumed in the all red skiing suit so he would match the skier’s appearance in the recycled footage.
• Though a common myth, loud sounds can not set off avalanches in real life.
• When MacGyver puts the bad guy into the dryer after knocking him out he appears to catch his thumb on the machinery as he closes the door and holds his thumb as he walks out of shot. In subsequent scenes he has a Band-Aid on that thumb.

QUOTES

• MacGyver: Steppin’ into a pair of skis and pointin’ ’em straight downhill may be as close as you can get to flyin’ – without completely leaving the ground.
• Pete: You know, one of us needs to have his head examined, and I’m sure it’s not you.
  MacGyver: Come on, Pete, admit it. You’re having the time of your life.
  Pete: Oh, sure. I love having two pounds of snow in my pants. “Let’s take a week off,” you said. “Go somewhere where we don’t know anyone.” “Fine,” I said, “What about Hawaii?” “Hawaii,” you said, “is boring.” Well, you know something? I think I like boring.
• Pete: I think I’m going to go home.
  MacGyver: I thought your house was being fumigated.
  Pete: Well, it is. But if I’m going to die anyway, I might as well be comfortable when I go.
• Pete: I’ll meet you at the midway house, and we’ll have a toddy for the body.
• MacGyver: There’s something special about the last run of the day. The slopes aren’t so crowded, the shadows are longer . . . and it’s sort of peaceful out there.
• Ski Patrol: Look, I hate to tell you this but only one out of twenty-five survives an avalanche.
  Pete: MacGyver will be the one.
• Pete: It’s just like Leo Durocher said, “Nice guys finish last.” Not only do they finish last, they finish last in a cast.
• Pete: Don’t you ever dust this place?
  MacGyver: Twice a year, like clockwork.
• Pete:  I cannot eat twelve hundred beans that have been battered beyond recognition.
• MacGyver: If you don’t have the right equipment for the job, you just have to make it yourself.
• Pete: They were gonna put me in that spin dryer.
  MacGyver: We couldn’t let ’em do that. You might shrink.

NIT-PICKS

• There’s no way MacGyver could have blown hard enough to send his rescue parachute as high as it went
• Sam Leland says he has “the sword of Socrates” hanging over his head, referring to his impending fate if he doesn’t get the microfilm back. The phrase is incorrect and should be “the sword of Damocles” instead of Socrates.
• The bad guys slam their gray van into the dumpster and send debris and a large cardboard box flying, yet when they pull away again, the pavement is clean around the dumpsters.
• Sam Leland keeps complaining about how he hates the cold, yet he’s sitting in his car with all the windows down.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Fong Loo’s Chinese Restaurant 940 North Highland Avenue Los Angeles California	Cleaning Plant Alsco Uniforms 940 North Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Van Crash Crest Digital Back Entrance 6769 Romaine Street, Los Angeles CA