MacGyver - Series 2 - Complete (DVD)

MacGyver was a popular American television series first on between 1985 and 1992. I was a bit too young to appreciate it when it was first on. I started watching it towards the end with my cousins and I was immediately hooked. Luckily, it was shown again afterwards.

BACKGROUND

MacGyver is extremely intelligent. He initially worked as a secret agent on highly classified missions assigned by the government in Season 1. ...
...within minutes. We rarely see MacGyver have the luxury of high tech totally unavailable or unknown to ordinary people like Jack or James! MacGyver's a perfect example of 'thinking on your feet'. In one of the episodes, MacGyver told the person he was helping that he prefers not to plan things too perfectly because he believes that the more one plans, the bigger the problem is going to be when things don't go according to plan.

The ... more

MacGyver was a popular American television series first on between 1985 and 1992. I was a bit too young to appreciate it when it was first on. I started watching it towards the end with my cousins and I was immediately hooked. Luckily, it was shown again afterwards.

BACKGROUND

MacGyver is extremely intelligent. He initially worked as a secret agent on highly classified missions assigned by the government in Season 1. In Season 2, he joins the Phoenix Foundation, an independent think tank often commissioned by the government for high tech missions.

Although this is an American show, the majority of it was actually shot in Canada. The main feature of the show is MacGyver's extraordinary knowledge about science (physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, medicine, physiology… everything) and its applications in every situation, even life and death situations. He is able to use anything around him to improvise devises usually under extreme time constraint, sometimes within minutes. We rarely see MacGyver have the luxury of high tech totally unavailable or unknown to ordinary people like Jack or James! MacGyver's a perfect example of 'thinking on your feet'. In one of the episodes, MacGyver told the person he was helping that he prefers not to plan things too perfectly because he believes that the more one plans, the bigger the problem is going to be when things don't go according to plan.

The big fascination for me and all the fans out there is to see how he makes crucial devises out of ordinary household objects or substances. Significant items he often uses are Swiss Army Knife and duct tape. It was claimed that the methods he used have all been carefully monitored to be based on scientific principles. However, there are still too many lucky coincidences for MacGyver's ideas to work because 1) he is usually stuck in places full of items - always the right things at the right time; 2) he has to be able to always get the right amount of everything, apply the exactly correct amount of force at the perfect angle for everything he's supposed to come up with or achieve. Of course, the production team was aware of the danger of showing him making explosives or weapons or how to start a car without a key, so some procedures were deliberately made vague to prevent it being copied.

CHARACTERS

MacGyver played by Richard Dean Anderson

As I said, MacGyver is a one man band. He is very funny, laid back and very loyal to friends. His first name remains unknown until much later in the show (so I'm not telling you now). He told everyone to call him MacGyver and good friends call him Mac because he doesn't like his first name. One thing about him is that he never carries a gun and never uses it on living creatures because he lost a friend to it in a gun accident. The maximum he would do with a gun is probably to scare villains away or use the parts for something else he tries to put together.

Anderson is an American actor. His acting got better in this season of this show. He seemed to have ‘grown’ into this character and become more natural. Besides, it's quite a job to learn all the science stuff and physically able to pull them off. Apparently, Anderson is very sporty himself so that he could do those actions and adventure scenes relatively easily without any clumsiness. So far, we got to see him playing ice hockey, mountain climbing and hang gliding.

Pete Thornton played by Dana Elcar

Pete is MacGyver's boss at the Phoenix Foundation and best friend. He was an operative at the Department of External Services (DXS) and became Director of Operation. He came across MacGyver in Season 1 while working on his own project and was impressed by MacGyver's ingenuity. He got MacGyver to join him at the Phoenix Foundation after he changed his job. As time goes on, he gradually becomes a brotherly or even fatherly figure to MacGyver.

PLOT AND PRESENTATION

In this season, MacGyver started working with the Phoenix Foundation. His missions were not limited to counter terrorism or secret assignments anymore. For example, he has been called on to save endangered species and assist in developing and testing technology that helps with hearing impairment. As expected, he has also helped out personal friends who got themselves in a sticky spot.

The plots are still pretty straightforward because the main thing is to show MacGyver's ability to apply his scientific and technical know-how but the stories are entertaining enough. Stories did get more complex and interesting in later seasons but I’m afraid there are a few daft episodes in this season. Nevertheless, the acting improved and the dialogue and narratives are more witty and funny. Like Season 1, stories for each episode are pretty much independent of one another. So you can pick up any disc and get into it without following the order.

The earlier seasons now do look old and not the most sophisticated and realistic judging by today's production quality and technology. It looks obvious that it was shot in the 80s and the early 90s in every single aspect. I suspect that the budget was not the highest, as there are quite a few places that look quite familiar (i.e. shot in the same place), e.g. a plantation in an episode of Season 1 seems to look like a monastery in an early episode of Season 2 and then a Far Eastern orphanage in a later episode of Season 2. So don't expect it to look real and high tech like Alias or 24. Nevertheless, MacGyver is such a unique character. I haven't seen any show quite like this one but mind you… I think they've pretty much exhausted all the ideas in this set up over the 7 year course.

Overall, it's an entertaining and feel good show. However silly it is, when I watch the show, I like the security of knowing that however dangerous it is, MacGyver will always save the day. The plots aren't too fast and complicated, so it's good for weekend viewing. Plus, you pick up some knowledge that one day may become handy!

I'll just list the episodes here for information at the end. I'm not describing stories for every episode because you can find those in numerous websites such as this one:

http://www.tv.com/macgyver/show/706/episode_listings.html

1 The Human Factor
2 The Eraser
3 Twice Stung
4 The Wish Child
5 Final Approach
6 Jack of Lies
7 The Road Not Taken
8 Eagles
9 Silent World
10 Three For the Road
11 Phoenix Under Siege
12 Family Matter
13 Soft Touch
14 Birth Day
15 Pirates
16 Out in the Cold
17 Dalton, Jack of Spies
18 Partners
19 Bushmaster
20 Friends
21 D.O.A.: MacGyver
22 For Love or Money 

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