Ohhhh yeah. I found it. I found the mother lode. For forever I had people writing me to say that Magnum, P.I. was linked to Hawaii Five-O. Everyone kept saying that on Magnum, P.I. they would constantly reference Five-Oh and Steve McGarrett. I heard it so much I took it on faith to be true and listed it on this site.

   Then a short time ago I started into a madman's task. I had another page talking about a connection between Magnum, P.I. and Quantum Leap. I could swear I remembered it and decided I wanted to find the episode in question. Only I didn't remember which it was. So I set my Tivo up and started into watching every episode until I could find the Quantum Leap one. By the time I found the episode I had already waded through about a bazillion other episodes. So many in fact that I decided, what the hell, I might as well try and see them all.

   Now as I kept watching Magnum, my confidence in its connection to Hawaii Five-O dimmed. They did in fact refer to the police as Five-Oh quite a bit. But that didn't really prove anything. It could be that in in the Magnum, P.I. world Hawaii Five-O was a show and that they referred to the police as Five-Oh because of the show. The use of the term Five-Oh only didn't really prove diddly.

   Then I hit gold. The magic number was 13 episodes left to see. An episode called Skin Deep. Magnum investigates the apparent suicide of an actress. Actually a pretty twisty turny episode Starts off looking like a sucide. Then it turns out it is a murder. And then... well there's another pretty good freaky twist. Anyway, at one point Magnum's friend T.C. is flying Magnum out to a secluded island in this chopper to go look for someone Magnum believes is going to murder someone else. As they fly out T.C. radios another helicopter operation on the island to ask if they in fact flew anyone out to the island in question. Turns out they did. Wanting more info and apparently wanting to cut through any potential agruments Magnum gets on the radio pretending he's with the police. What he specifically says is, "Billy, this is McGarrett of Five-Oh. Is David Norman armed?"

   I about had a heart attack. Stupid but true. I wasn't watching with the intent of finding anything. I was just trying to get to the end of a whole lotta Magnum watching. And outta the blue a big honking crossover connection smacks me in the head. Calling the cops Five-Oh? Nothing. Impersonating a cop by saying you're McGarrett of Five-Oh? Well that's a whole bunch of something. I mean, I guess it's possible even in this case that Magnum is referencing the TV show but... that would be insane. It would mean Magnum would have to be retarded enough to think he could impersonate a cop by using a TV character's name without getting called on it. And it would also mean Billy would have to be an idiot for buying what Magnum was selling. Nope. The intent is pretty clear. Magnum was intending to name check a real guy. Hot damn!

   Sadly on the Quantum Leap front things are less happy. The episode I had remembered was Autmn Warrior. In it Higgins helps take three teenage ex-cons camping. With him off the estate Magnum and his friends decide to throw a huge party. Among the friends they contact to come over is a party animal named Al and another more... brainy friend named Sam. The names and descriptions do oddly parallel the names and character traits of Quantum Leap's Al Calavicci and Sam Beckett. But despite the similarities it's also obvious they are not intended to be the same Al and Sam. I don't even think it was meant as a reference joke. It's more just a weird coincidence.

   Damn damn damn. If only Quantum Leap had done the episode they intended to with time traveler Sam Beckett leaping into the life of Thomas Magnum I'd still have a legit crossover between the shows. Buuuut noooooo... They couldn't go do that. Well, I guess I'll have to be happy with McGarrett.

Other Magnum, P.I. Crossover Links
Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote
Magnum, P.I. and Simon And Simon

Other Hawaii Five-O Crossover Links
Hawaii Five-O and Hawaii Five-O (2010)

Click here to return to main Crossover List

Buy these shows on Amazon.com and support this site at the same time! Check out Magnum, P.I. and Hawaii Five-O on DVD! The crossover discussed on this page can be found on the Magnum, P.I. First Season DVD set!





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