Phoenix Foundation - A MacGyver Podcast

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: October 31st, 1988 —

Penny Parker inherits her aunt’s haunted mansion but MacGyver aint afraid of no ghosts.

MISSION: Penny Parker enlists MacGyver’s help tracking down her loony aunt’s mansion on Halloween night. Right away it’s clear there is more going on in this small town than meets the eye and MacGyver the cynic sets out disproving all the paranormal disturbances.

This week’s highlights include:

You like a the juice?

Aberthau House (Residence)

Aberthau House (previously known as Rear House) is a spacious heritage mansion in Tudor Revival style, located at the intersection of West 2nd Avenue and Trimble Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, which currently serves as a facility of the neighbourhood’s community centre. Situated on the highlands of the Point Grey neighbourhood, it overlooks English Bay, the Gulf of Georgia, and the City of Vancouver.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberthau_House.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: May 9th, 1988 —

MacGyver protects the young heir to an international shipping company after his estranged grandfather’s assassination

MISSION: When a shipping magnate is assassinated, a competing company sets their targets on his defenseless grandson in an effort to force a profitable merger.

This week’s highlights include:

Typo in the opening credits (possibly confusing Luke Chung with S2E4’s “Wish Child” Paul Chen).

Acupressure (Alternative medicine)

Acupressure [from Latin acus “needle” (see acuity) + pressure (n.)] is an alternative medicine technique similar in principle to acupuncture. It is based on the concept of life energy which flows through “meridians” in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points with the aim of clearing blockages in these meridians. Pressure may be applied by hand, by elbow, or with various devices.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupressure.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: May 2nd, 1988 —

After a near(?)-death experience, MacGyver interrupts an illegal poaching plot to win back an ex-girlfriend.

MISSION: MacGyver visits an old flame, hoping to rekindle things, only to find her romantically involved and fending of poachers on a nature reserve.

This week’s highlights include:

Distributor cap (Automotive)

A distributor cap is used in an automobile’s engine to cover the distributor and its internal rotor.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributor.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: April 18th, 1988 —

Mac and Jack play father to a baby caught up in a counterfeiting scheme

MISSION: When it’s mother is forced into hiding by counterfeiters, a young baby is left in Jack Dalton’s care. MacGyver, Jack, and Pete do their best to solve the funny money problem while keeping the kid safe.

This week’s highlights include:

Money laundering (Crime)

Money laundering is the process of transforming the proceeds of crime into ostensibly legitimate money or other assets. However, in a number of legal and regulatory systems, the term money laundering has become conflated with other forms of financial crime, and sometimes used more generally to include misuse of the financial system (involving things such as securities, digital currencies, credit cards, and traditional currency), including terrorism financing and evasion of international sanctions. Most anti-money laundering laws openly conflate money laundering (which is concerned with source of funds) with terrorism financing (which is concerned with destination of funds) when regulating the financial system.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: March 28th, 1988 —

Finally someone ropes Dalton into a treasure hunt, seeking out a legendary Native American artifact

MISSION: Jack’s elderly Native American roommate sets him on a quest to locate the legendary Mask of the Wolf, and is subsequently kidnapped. Jack recruits MacGyver to rescue the “old man.”

This week’s highlights include:

Pictorgram (Language)

A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance. A pictogram may also be used in subjects such as leisure, tourism and geography.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictogram.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: March 14th, 1988 —

MacGyver must convince the witness to an illegal chemical dump to testify in court

MISSION: An illegal chemical dump kills the dog of Vietnam vet “Earthquake” Toberman. MacGyver recruits Earthquake to present what he has seen in court, but his military past calls his testimony into question.

This week’s highlights include:

The Secret World of Alex Mack (Television)

The Secret World of Alex Mack is an American television series that ran on Nickelodeon from October 8, 1994 to January 15, 1998, replacing Clarissa Explains It All on the SNICK line-up. It also aired on YTV in Canada, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and NHK in Japan, and was a staple in the children’s weekday line-up for much of the mid-to-late 1990s on the ABC. Repeats of the series aired in 2003 on The N, but it was soon replaced there. The series was produced by Thomas Lynch and John Lynch of Lynch Entertainment, produced by RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, and Nickelodeon Productions and was co-created by Tom Lynch and Ken Lipman.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_World_of_Alex_Mack.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: March 7th, 1988 —

MacGyver is blinded by love when he refuses to play ball with corrupt developers

MISSION: After turning down bribes and ignoring death threats, MacGyver finds himself in the crosshairs of an assassin turned girlfriend.

This week’s highlights include:

Watch this scene to understand this week’s MacGruber references.

Ericofon (Communication)

The Ericofon is a one-piece plastic telephone created by the Ericsson Company of Sweden and marketed through the second half of the 20th century. It was the first commercially marketed telephone to incorporate the dial and handset into a single unit. Because of its styling and its influence on future telephone design, the Ericofon is considered one of the most significant industrial designs of the 20th century.It is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In Sweden, the Ericofon is known as the cobra telephone for its resemblance to a coiled snake.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ericofon.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: February 29th, 1988 —

MacGyver’s reeled into another one of Jack’s get-rich-quick schemes, only this time Pete follows.

MISSION: MacGyver agrees, reluctantly, to co-pilot a jewel delivery with Jack’s fledgling airline Dalton Air. As usual, Jack hasn’t done his homework and the land themselves in Toulon, France and a great deal of trouble. Pete is recruited to help bust them out.

This week’s highlights include:

It appears I was mistaken. It wasn’t the Hope Diamond. It was the Cullinan Diamond.

Cessna Citation I (Aeronautics)

The Cessna 500 Citation I is a turbofan-powered small-sized business jet that was built by the Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas. The Citation line of business jets encompasses several distinct aircraft families, and the Citation I was the basis for the first of those. The Citation I/SP aircraft is another member of this family.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_I.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: February 1st, 1988 —

MacGyver must coach a local hockey team through the championships in a friend’s absence.

MISSION: When Mac’s old coach is hospitalized, MacGyver is tracked down to waste valuable Phoenix Foundation time coaching a minor league hockey team. Team leader Kirby has some lessons to learn about fair play if he intends to make the Olympic team.

This week’s highlights include:

Chekhov’s gun (Literature theory)

Chekhov’s gun is a dramatic principle that requires every element in a narrative to be irreplaceable, with anything else removed.

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: January 18th, 1988 —

A deadly accident is falsely pinned on Pete and MacGyver must prove his innocence.

MISSION: A nuclear disarmament goes wrong and several Phoenix Foundation employees are killed. When Pete is blamed for the mistake, MacGyver must prove the accident was sabotage before Pete’s nefarious replacement hatches an evil plan.

This week’s highlights include:

Shrunken head (History)

A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.

Headhunting has occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest, and the only tribes known to have shrunken human heads are of the Jivaroan tribes. These include the Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa and Aguaruna tribes, found in Ecuador and Peru. The Shuar call a shrunken head a tsantsa, also transliterated tzantza.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrunken_head.