Macgyver: ’80s Action TV at It’s Best
Actually, my brother and I had a discussion about a very important 80s matter regarding Macgyver: which show had the better theme song, Macgyver�¯�¿�½or The A-Team. The conversation went something like this:
ME: MacGyver, man, that’s the best theme song of all time.
HIM: Well, The A-Team is also pretty outstanding.
ME: I think MacGyver fits the show betterâÂ?¦No, you’re right, The A-Team is better.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Second-best theme song or not, several seasons of MacGyver, now on DVD, are sure to remind fans ofÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ why they loved the fun, actionyÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½show. And new generations will join in the Mac-praise. No relation to McPraise, which is probably copyrighted by McDonalds…Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The several seasonsÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½of Macgyver Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½now available are a source of happiness for fans, but also kind of on the weak side.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ They come oddly devoid of anything resembling special features. Macgyver was so into gizmos, gadgets and technology, you’d think the dvds would be the same. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s rush, rush, rush to release the shows, and who cares about quality a lot of time. Still, it’s disappoint Macgyver got less attention than Alf.
Not that I watched the Alf dvd.
To refresh your mind, or enlighten those who are in the Macdar, in the mid 1980s, into the early 90s, actually, the title character MacGyver (his first name was eventually revealed to be Angus) was the man. As a “former special forces agent” living in L.A. (of course) Macgyver went all over the globe fighting evil, saving the innocent and foiling bad guys.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Every time, he’d get caught in some tough predicament and have to concoct a gun-less way out. He’d use whatever was there: car parts, electrical wires, a magnifying glass,Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½gum wrappers.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½He couldÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½have turned the junkyard of Sanford and Son into a nuke, if he wanted to.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
In this way, Macgyver was an original- a guy, an upright, honest, compassionate guy, Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½who used his science knowledge to do his international crime fighting. Gil Grissom, Charlie Eppes, all your brainiac gun-free crimestoppers? Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½Macgyver’s the guy who got the party started in the ’80s. “His mind is the ultimate weapon”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½one of the dvdÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½boxes tells us. For the 80s, a decade that gave us Hunter, The A-Team and a p.i who shared a name with a gun (Magnum), that was quite an accomplishment.
Joining Macgyver for the ride was his boss-buddy at the Phoenix Foundation (the do-gooder think tank/world helper organization for which Macgyver worked.) Pete Thorton (Dana Elcar) assigned Macgyver cases or helped him from behind the scenes when Macgyver found himself dragged into a bur-ha-ha with the mob, drug lords, escaped convicts, mother nature, or whomever else in cartoony, 80s action hit style. He fought differently than they would on The A-Team, or say, Knight Rider, but the criminals weren’t so different.
On Macgyver on DVD, you can also find some other recurring characters like very pre-Housewives Terri Hatcher as Penny, a Season 2 recurring character, and Bruce McGill (Cinderella Man) as Jack Dalton, the con-artist buddy Macgyver had to help out on several occasion. Plus, there’s vengeful hit man Murdoc who shows up from time to time.
Personally, I could do without some of the buddy and backstory-oriented stuff and prefer episodes where it’s all about Mac taking care of business and doing something cool.
The show has aged. I had to keep reminding myself as I watched certain episodes that this is primarily a fun, 1980s adventure show, not a high end drama, and that the more-than-occasionally occuring horrible dialogue and stagey action were par for the course in that genre. When it came to the special effects, well, they weren’t too bad, but you have to wonder what havoc Macgyver could wreak with 2006 special effects behind him.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
If you focus on the fun and adventure, and the character of Macgyver, who has a good heart on top of everything else, then this is an entertaining hour. I personally prefer it to more violent or macho ’80s shows like the aforementioned A-Team, and more than some of the other action shows which could get a little serious, even maudlin sometimes, like Magnum, which I never really watched as a kid. Macgyver’s the action show from my youth I most enjoy going back to. And it’s got my vote as best action show of the 1980s.
Plus, it’s got the second best theme song.
