MacGyver: The Golden Triangle (Season 1, Episode 2)

In the first production episode, MacGyver frees villagers in Burma from a druglord.

The Plot (spoilers):

MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is watching a man with a briefcase in an auto salvage yard. Another car arrives and two men get out and look over a file from the briefcase. MacGyver's voiceover reveals the file contains missile launch codes stolen from the Pentagon. Mac tips a stack of tires as a distraction, and uses the electromagnet crane to snatch the briefcase (with magnetic hinges, apparently) and gun from the first man. Mac tosses the gun in a wrecked car and takes off with the briefcase, with the 3 men in pursuit (the first man recovers his gun). Mac gets punched out and wakes up tied up in the back seat of the first man's car. The 3 men are outside. A forklift picks up the car and puts in on the crusher. As the crusher comes down, Mac pulls apart the back of the seat and escapes through the trunk at the last minute, unnoticed by the men. They get in their other car to leave, but Mac intercepts them with the forklift, lifts up their car and pins it against a pole. The opening gambit ends 6 minutes into the episode.

Need a lift?

General Hawkins (Angus Duncan) drops in on MacGyver as he relaxes on the beach. He's sending him to Burma to recover a canister of dangerous toxin from a crashed cargo plane. A chopper will pick him up after 24 hours. MacGyver arrives to find villagers being used as slaves to harvest opium. One of the villagers is a boy (Bryan Price) with a red hat with an Air Force insignia on it. Mac rescues him from a guy named Truang (Benjamin Lum).

MacGyver meets Chan

The boy's name is Chan and he leads MacGyver to the plane wreck, and says that Truang works for a General Narai. (Though Chan's hat looks almost new, the wreckage of the plane appears to have been there a long time). The canister is gone. MacGyver turns to see Truang just in time to be knocked out.

The wrecked plane

MacGyver is taken to the village. Truang suspects MacGyver is a narcotics agent. A black helicopter flys over: General Narai (George Lee Cheung) has arrived: dressed almost entirely in black, with a beret and carrying a riding crop. Only half the opium harvest is complete, but they have the plane's cargo (though there seems to be lot more cargo then could have fit in the small plane at the crash site) including heavy machine guns and the canister. General Narai intends to mount the guns on his helicopter and make it a gunship. MacGyver claims to be a tourist, which entertains Narai and Truang. They don't believe him.

General Narai and Truang are amused

Narai gives the villagers five days to finish the harvest, and has MacGyver tied up in the sun until he returns with no food or water, as an example to the villagers. Narai leaves with the guns for the chopper, leaving the rest of the plane's cargo behind until he comes back with his convoy for the opium. MacGyver is tied up in the sun.

Catchin' some rays

Chan arrives with his sister Lin (Joan Chen), who cleans MacGyver's wound from when Truang hit him. Chan reveals he has stolen MacGyver's Swiss Army Knife from the guardhouse and returns it to MacGyver to he can cut himself loose. MacGyver takes out a couple of guards, then releases some of the village's pigs as a distraction to get under the tarp covering the cargo. He improvises a bomb from the cargo and causes enough other chaos and destruction that Truang runs off to get the convoy while the villagers overpower the guards. Chan's sister Lin and brother Ming (James Saito) thank him, but the headmaster (Clyde Kusatsu) says MacGyver has put them at risk of Narai's vengeance. MacGyver goes to meet his rescue chopper and delivers the canister, but stays behind to help the villagers set a series of traps for the convoy.

Chan and his family: Prasert, Lin and Ming

Truang is returning with the convoy. MacGyver warns them, giving them a chance to turn back, but they don't take it. Going forward despite MacGyver's capturing one Jeep and taking out most of the other Jeeps through a hole trap and a blown-out tires. Truang calls General Narai for backup. Truang and company arrive in the village on foot, walking right into Mac's tear-gas trap, and the villagers take care of them. Suddenly, General Narai arrives in his helicopter gunship and opens fire. Mac feeds a cable into the Jeep's winch and on one of Narai's passes he loops the other end of the cable around one of the helicopter’s skids and reels it in, forcing Narai to land. Narai gets out of the helicopter gun in hand but Mac is quick and knocks it out of his hand. Narai pulls a sword from his riding crop but trips over the helicopter's skid and impales himself with his own sword. The villagers are now free.

My Review:

I am not a fan of this particular episode. The premise is OK and the actors do fine, but the characters have no depth. And there are some other problems. In the opening gambit, MacGyver manages to get out of the car in the crusher... WITHOUT BEING SEEN! And in Burma, there should be a language barrier. I can buy that General Narai and maybe even Truang might know English, but the poor villagers? I doubt it. And I don't think MacGyver speaks Burmese, though seeing as how this is only episode #2, there hasn't been anything to say he doesn't, but the exchange with General Hawkins strongly implies that MacGyver's never been to Burma, so it doesn't seem likely that he'd have learned the language, and the original plan (retrieve a canister from a crashed plane) wouldn't have needed someone who could talk to the locals. Some of MacGyver's traps are pretty clever, though the episode doesn't spend enough time on them, and it doesn't seem like they've yet decided that MacGyver will never use a gun, as his only objection is that they don't have time for the villagers to learn to use them. On the other hand, he doesn't carry a gun himself either. And, couldn't the writers come up with better names than the generic-sounding Chan, Lin and Ming?

After the high bar set by the pilot, The Golden Triangle falls short.

MacGyver: Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)

Richard Dean Anderson stars in the first-ever episode of MacGyver, where the title character has to rescue scientists from an underground laboratory and stop a dangerour acid leak.

Our first-ever look at MacGyver

The Plot (spoilers):

Somewhere in Central Asia, Present Day, MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is seen climbing a steep rockface. His voiceover tells a boyhood story about riding Old Man McGinney's Golden Palomino, as the visual reveals a crashed American fighter plane on top of the mountain, surrounded by tents and foreign soldiers. Parts of MacGyver's voiceover story align with his mission, such as when recalls Old Man McGinney's dog Hector who guarded the Golden Palomino as he knocks out a solder and takes his coat and hat as a disguise. MacGyver takes a flare gun from the crashed plane and puts it in his bag. Then he notices the plane's pilot survived, and is in a hanging wood cage. MacGyver gives him his Swiss Army Knife to free himself and ask which tent has the missile. Inside the appropriate tent, MacGyver removes a panel from a large missile. Using some special tools he has in his bag, he removes a component from the missile, and the missile starts a 30 second countdown. MacGyver cuts a wire to no effect. MacGyver pulls a paper clip from his bag, unbends it and uses it to complete the circuit that was broken when he removed the component. (That's right, the first ever MacGyver-ism was using a paper clip to defuse a missile!) Back outside, MacGyver rigs an automatic rifle with tree branch, string and a lit matchbook, then goes to get the pilot. The rifle goes off, causing a distraction, and MacGyver and the pilot make their escape. Mac knocks out soldier with the butt of the soldier's own rifle, & takes rifle with him. MacGyver and the pilot reach the edge of the mountain. "God, I hate heights," says MacGyver. He uses the rifle briefly to lay down cover before handing it to the pilot. MacGyver pulls a parachute from his bag and puts it on. He pulls out the flare gun from his bag and smashes end of it with a rock to make a "rocket thruster." MacGyver grabs the pilot and fires the flare gun, throwing them off the cliff. The parachute opens and they glide to safety. The opening gambit ends almost 10 minutes into the episode.

MacGyver fires a gun!

In New Mexico, a limousine pulls into the Cendrex Corporation's Kiva Laboratory, which is disguised as a radio station in middle of nowhere. The limo's passenger is a British scientist, Dr. Sidney Marlowe (Olaf Pooley), who is visiting his colleague, Dr. Carl Stubens (Paul Stewart). Dr. Marlowe is met by Dr. Stubens' assistant, Dr. Barbara Spencer (Darlanne Fluegel), who says Dr. Stubens is waiting on the Third Level and takes Marlowe to him. Marlow and Stubens play a game of chess. Meanwhile there's a bomb counting down. Stubens makes a move and tells Marlow he's sorry. He looks at the clock and just as it his 11:00, the bomb goes off. Explosions go off throughout the Kiva Lab.

The Kiva Lab

MacGyver lives in the Griffith Observatory and has a "little brother" (an underprivileged child he hangs out with) named Reggie (Shavar Ross). A helicopter arrives, bringing MacGyver's state department contact: Ed Gantner (Michael Lerner). He explains the situation at the Kiva Lab. Stubens and Marlowe are important Nobel-nominated scientists. They are alive, but the odds of rescuing them are "not great." MacGyver asks Gantner to define "not great" on a scale of one to ten, and is told "minus three." MacGyver agrees.

MacGyver hears the mission

MacGyver and Gantner arrive at the Kiva Lab and meet with the director of the lab, Dr. Charlie Burke (Michael C. Gwynne). MacGyver asks if the explosion could have been caused by Dr. Stubens's research, but Burke doubts it as Stubens was researching magnetic fields in the ozone layer for "rainmaking." The explosions have caused a sulfuric acid leak. If the acid reaches the aquifer it will flow into the Rio Grande and poison New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. The acid can be neutralized by flooding the complex with sodium hydroxide, which Mac points out is used to clean the flesh off of skeletons. There is a little under 5 hours left before they have to neutralize the acid. MacGyver is introduced to Andy Colson (Dana Elcar) who explains how hard it will be to enter the lab's lower level. The elevator shaft is protected by 10,000 watt CO2 gas discharge lasers. MacGyver asks Colson for a cigarette, takes the whole pack and puts them in his bag. Colson says MacGyver will need more than he can fit in the bag to get into the lab. MacGyver replies, "The bag's not for what I take, Colson, it’s for what I find along the way."

Burke, MacGyver, Colson and Gantner

In a maintenance conduit connecting the elevator shaft, and wired with a 2-way radio, MacGyver uses the cigarettes to make smoke so he can see the laser, and then smashes his binoculars and uses a prism to reflect the laser back on its source, destroying it.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

On the way to the biolab, MacGyver finds the corridor collapsed but hears tapping on the other side. There is a wedged steel girder blocking his way, but if he could raise it a few inches, he might be able to move it. On the other end of the radio he hears Gantner take a sip of water, which gives him an idea. He fetches a fire hose, cuts off the nozzle and ties a knot in the end and stuffs it under girder. Then he turns on the water, raising the girder enough for MacGyver to move it. On the other side he finds a large group of survivors, including Barbara Spencer, who knows where Marlowe and Stubens were and insisted on going with MacGyver to show him.

Spencer

With 3 hours 27 minutes to go, MacGyver and Spencer have found that her route is blocked by fire, and they instead have to go through the "gas chamber." On the way, they come across a toppled vending machine with its chocolate candy bars strewn across the floor. He picks up a few, saying they might a well "store up on a little energy." Spencer is a little annoyed that MacGyver is thinking about candy at a time like this. As they walk along, with MacGyver eating a candy bar, Spencer is surprised that none of the airlocks have closed like they should have. Of course, at that moment they suddenly kick in. Mac and Spencer run and barely make it through to the "gas chamber," which they find filled with toxic gas. Meanwhile the tankers of sodium hydroxide have arrived, and will be ready to flood the lab in 55 minutes. On the surface, Colson and his team try to get the airlocks to reopen, but they can't, leaving MacGyver and Spencer trapped. With limited air, MacGyver decides to risk going through the gas lab to activate the vacuum pumps and clear the air. MacGyver tears his shirt in half for he and Spencer to cover their mouth and nose, which "might help a little." Spencer gives him a kiss. MacGyver gets to the pump panel. The pumps don't initially work, but MacGyver gets into the panel and "hot-wires" them, and continues on his way. Meanwhile on the surface, Burke tells Gantner that they aren't sure that the sodium hydroxide will be enough to stop the acid, so they are going to shoot an underground missile into the foundation to "fuse the substratum rock" above the aquifer to stop the acid. This will also destroy the lower levels of the Kiva lab. Gantner tries to warn MacGyver over the radio, but MacGyver accidently lost it in the gas lab. There is 31:30 before the missile launch.

MacGyver realized he lost the radio, but he and Spencer keep going in search of the acid leak, which they find. Spencer stands on MacGyver's shoulders to reach the leak and seals it using the chocolate bars, which are Lactose and Sucrose, C12-H22-O11, disaccharides, which react with the sulfuric acid to form a residue that seals the crack. On the surface, the clock on the wall is counting down from 18:31:30, but the characters say there's 9:30 to launch.

MacGyver and Spencer are almost to Marlowe and Stubens, but there's too much debris blocking the door. While Spencer tries to contact them on the intercom, MacGyver finds plastique residue on the debris. Now he knows it was a bomb. Spencer makes contact with Marlowe. Stubens sounds concerned that they are so close. MacGyver tells them to build a barricade because they are going to try to blast through the wall.

Spencer: "Don't tell me you know how to make a bomb out of a stick of chewing gum"
MacGyver: "Why, you got some?"

Spencer tells MacGyver they're in a metallurgy lab, and MacGyver realizes there should be sodium metal. He decides they only need a few grams but they need something water-soluble to put it is. Spencer has cold capsules. Meanwhile, 6 minutes to missile launch. The cold capsule of sodium in a glass jar of water with a stopper manages to blow a hole in the wall. MacGyver tells Spencer to wait outside while he goes in alone for Marlowe and Stubens. MacGyver gets in, and Stubens pulls a gun on him and Marlowe. Spencer then comes through the hole too, annoying Mac who just told her not to do that. Stubens revealed he set the bomb, hoping to kill himself and Marlowe, the only experts in their field, because their research had revealed a way to create a doomsday weapon that could destroy the ozone layer, killing everything on earth, and Stubens couldn't let that happen.

Stubens pulls a gun

With only 2 minutes to launch, Spencer charges Stubens and gets herself shot, but MacGyver gets the gun. Burke tells Colson to start flooding the lab with sodium hydroxide. MacGyver takes off to find the circuit breaker for the lights, and by turning on and off the lights in the entire Kiva lab in Morse code, sends a message. Fortunately one of the lab techs on the surface realizes it and takes down the message: "Acid Stopped. All Safe. Mac" and the launch is aborted with seconds to spare. Spencer's gunshot wound was apparently minor and as the medics wheel here out she has time for a goodbye kiss with MacGyver. MacGyver goes home to the observatory to play basketball with his "little brother." (MacGyver is wearing the same shirt he was before; the one he tore up in the lab.)

MacGyver plays basketball with his little brother

My Review:

I've always liked the MacGyver pilot episode. Both the opening gambit and the main episode have interesting stories and are well produced, with good casting and mostly-convincing special effects. As this is the pilot episode, there are some interesting aspects to this episode that didn't continue into the rest of the series. Most notably is the fact that MacGyver fires a gun in the opening gambit. The idea to have MacGyver refure to use guns as weapons apparently hadn't been developed yet. Michael Lerner, who playes Ed Gantner, is listed (but not shown) in the opening credits and may have been intended as a regular character. It's not clear if MacGyver's "little brother" was intended as a recurring character or not. MacGyver also carries a bag "for what he finds along the way" that isn't in the main series where MacGyver finds what he needs as he needs it. Dana Elcar, who would later become a series regular as Pete Thornton, plays unrelated character Andy Colson in the pilot. Elcar's Colson is different enough and Elcar is talented enough that he's easily acceptable in this episode as Colson, even knowing his future role.

Overall, this is an enjoyable episode that started MacGyver off on the right foot.