ORIGINAL AIRDATE: January 19th, 1987 —

Penny interrupts an assassination being planned by an FBI mole [SPECIAL GUEST: Michael Ensign!]

MISSION: Using accidental intelligence gathered by Penny Parker, MacGyver must prevent the assassination of an informant in a major drug trial.

This week’s highlights include:

Michael Ensign has played some of your favorite snooty film characters. Not the least of which was a popular turn as the hotel manager in Ghostbusters pictured above. He also played the self-sacrificing Guggenheim in James Cameron’s Titanic. We’ll chat about how he got started acting and the Ghostbusters role he initially auditioned for.

Estevez family (Pop Culture)

The Estevez family (also known by the stage surname Sheen) is an American acting family of Spanish and Irish descent.

Check out the article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estevez_family

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: January 12th, 1987 —

Mac heads to the bayou to help rescue Pete’s estranged ex-wife and son from terrorists.

MISSION: Pete’s family is held ransom by a figure from his past and MacGyver enlists himself to join the rescue mission.

This week’s highlights include:

Dead reckoning (Navigation)

In navigation, dead reckoning or dead-reckoning (also ded for deduced reckoning or DR) is the process of calculating one’s current position by using a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time and course. The corresponding term in biology, used to describe the processes by which animals update their estimates of position or heading, is path integration.

Check out the article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_reckoning

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: January 5th, 1987 —

Mac and Harry encounter a Die Hard situation on the way to a hockey game

MISSION: When a team of terrorists set their sites on the Phoenix Foundation building, MacGyver and Harry throw a wrench into their plans by showing up in search of missing hockey tickets.

This week’s highlights include:

Sam Hill (Etymology)

Sam Hill is an American English slang phrase, a euphemism or minced oath for “the devil” or “hell” personified (as in, “What in the Sam Hill is that?”). Etymologist Michael Quinion and others date the expression back to the late 1830s; they and others consider the expression to have been a simple bowdlerization, with, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, an unknown origin.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hill_(euphemism)

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: December 15th, 1986 —

MacGyver hitches a ride with an old Hollywood couple being pursued by angry counterfeiters

MISSION: When his contact is suddenly killed, MacGyver is left clueless and carless somewhere in the American southwest. After hitching a ride with a retired actor and his wife, an unexpected chase ensues.

This week’s highlights include:

Here’s another link to The MacGyver Project’s interview with Kerry Lenhart.

Brodie knob (Automotive)

A brodie knob (alternate spelling brody knob) is a knob that attaches to the steering wheel of an automobile. The knob swivels, and is intended to make steering with one hand less difficult. Brodie knobs are also known as “necker knobs”, because they allow steering with one hand while necking with the passenger. One disadvantage of the knob is that after letting go of the steering wheel after going around a corner, the steering wheel spins rapidly and the knob can hit the user’s forearm or elbow. Other names include suicide knob (a reference to Steve Brodie, after whom the knob is said to be named), granny knob, and steering wheel spinner.

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

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: November 24th, 1986 —

MacGyver prevents the theft of military equipment that benefits a school for the deaf

MISSION: MacGyver helps perfect a voice-activated tracking system, which quickly becomes the prize of a team of terrorists. A teacher at a school for the deaf describes her surprisingly psychic dreams to help Mac track down the culprits.

This week’s highlights include:

Here’s that trailer we mentioned for Evald Johnson’s High and Outside…

And I was wrong about those submarine ashtrays. They cost $400.

2GAT123 (Automotive)

2GAT123 is a fictional license plate number that has appeared in a number of television shows and movies. It is used to prevent difficulties for a real person who might coincidentally have the same license plate number as one appearing in a movie.

Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2GAT123

In this week’s Twofer Tuesday edition of Phoenix Foundation, we chat with MacGyver’s Little Brother, Reggie! [SPECIAL GUEST: Shavar Ross!]

This week, we chat with Shavar Ross, Reggie from the Pilot episode. He tells us all about his work helping to pitch the series with Richard Dean Anderson and Henry Winkler. Mr. Ross can also be seen as Reggie (I have decided, the SAME Reggie) in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, also from 1985. His acting career spans decades including major roles on the 1982 Little Rascals reboot, Diff’rent Strokes, Magnum P.I. and Family Matters!

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: November 17th, 1986 —

The eagle has landed. MacGyver saves a pair of protected birds from evil poachers

MISSION: While checking on a pair of protected golden eagles, MacGyver encounters a team of poachers and joins forces with a young boy to sneak the birds to safety.

This week’s highlights include:

Golden eagle (Ornithology)

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and massive, sharp talons to snatch up a variety of prey (mainly hares, rabbits, marmots and other ground squirrels).

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

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: November 10th, 1986 —

Mac and Pete escort lost loves from the path of a foreign armed force

MISSION: When an army in Southeast Asia takes aim at a nun and a pack of orphans MacGyver and Pete step in to rescue them. Pete’s potentially romantic history with nun is further complicated when they find an old flame of MacGyver’s working there as a missionary.

This week’s highlights include:

Please enjoy this episode of The Super Mario Brothers Super Show featuring Arsenio ‘Sonny’ Trinidad as Obi-Wan Cannoli.

Also if you haven’t had a chance, take a listen to our appearance on the Dudes Brunch podcast, where we preach the word of MacGyver to some new converts. (P.S. I get my microphone issues under control around 3:45).

The Anarchist Cookbook (Literature)

The Anarchist Cookbook, first published in 1971, is a book that contains instructions for the manufacture of explosives, rudimentary telecommunications phreaking devices, and other items. The book also includes instructions for home manufacturing of illicit drugs, including LSD. It was written by William Powell at the apex of the counterculture era in order to protest against United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

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

In this week’s Twofer Tuesday edition of Phoenix Foundation, we chat with teen hacker Kate Lafferty! [SPECIAL GUEST: Darcy Marta!]

This week, we chat with Darcy Marta who played Kate Lafferty in this episode. Since her MacGyver days, Darcy has taught acting for stage and screen. In this podcast, she’ll share her many entertaining memories of the shoot.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: November 3rd, 1986 —

Jack Dalton shows up out of the blue to drag MacGyver into harm’s way

MISSION: MacGyver is lured to Dinoto in Central America, to rescue a team of botanists held captive by terrorists, or so he is led to believe by lifelong friend and pathological liar Jack Dalton.

This week’s highlights include:

Bruce McGill as D-Day in Animal House.

The MacGyver Project interview I mentioned with Kerry Lenhart can be found here.

Phragmipedium besseae (Botany)

Phragmipedium besseae (Pronunciation:fraig-mi-PEE-dee-um BESS-ee-ay) is an orchid species of the genus Phragmipedium. It is a terrestrial orchid native to the wet montane forests on the eastern slope of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Typically orange, not purple as they appear in this episode.

Check out the article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmipedium_besseae