The Good

This 8th Season really did its best to move this show in a new direction.

The Bad

Why isn't Selleck more involved with this? It's the final season!!Magnum P.I.: The Complete Eighth Season is very interesting in that it starts with Magnum (Tom Selleck) in a coma. From there he comes out of it but there is something off. In fact there is something off with all the characters and this includes Higgins (John Hillerman), TC (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti). Rick is attending ballets, Higgins is starting to lighten up and TC, well I guess he is still TC but there's something about it that just feels different. This whole season still brings Magnum up against bad guys, but I have the feeling that this show was striving for something different with this final season. It didn't want the episodes to be merely one offs every week. It seemed to want to make things more episodic in nature and nothing says that more than the final two episodes "Resolutions, Part 1 & 2."

Episodes like "Unfinished Business" and "The Love that Lies" still bring out the old Magnum P.I. that we all know and love, however I think that this 8th Season must be given a lot of credit for trying to change things up so late in the game.

Features

Episode Commentary Tracks

Jay Huguely and Chas. Floyd Johnson individually talk about various episodes over the course of this 3 disc set. I listened to Huguely talk about the episode, "Pleasure Principal." He discusses how Magnum was still "hung over" from being in a coma, and how there was a lot of talk (that Tom Selleck was on board with) of killing Magnum. Apparently, the money people behind the show didn't think that was a good idea. Huguely offers up a lot of character dissection and really brings something rich in his discussion of this episode.

Video

Full Frame - 1.33:1. I had expected these episodes to look better than they did. Magnum P.I. plays every day on my local station KDOC in Orange County. I was hoping that Universal would have cleaned up this release a little bit. Maybe they did but the image quality doesn't look too much different from the versions I can already see on my TV. Decide for yourself, but at this stage of the DVD game I expect a little more.

Audio

Language: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Subtitles: English SDH. The audio for this release was solid. Again, I don't know that there is too much difference between the sound on this release and the sound from the shows on KDOC, but I will say that every thing was crisp and sounded really listenable.

Package

This embossed slipcase packaging features Selleck on the front cover looking really angry about something or other. The back cover features the cast from this show waving "goodbye" to their faithful viewers. There is a description of what this season is about, a bonus features listing and technical specs. All three discs from this release pull out in one piece of artwork that features episode listings, descriptions, and more Magnum inflected artwork from the show.

Final Word

As I was watching this show I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't pay more attention to it when it was on the 1980s?

I recall that this show was on but for some reason I never paid it any mind. It wasn't for any specific reason, I was just younger and it didn't really resonate with me. Watching it now, maybe I am feeling really nostalgic, but it is one of those shows that I get a lot of comfort from watching. I also think that Tom Selleck's narration really makes this show work. It adds another layer to all the episodes that make it imminently relatable. It gives this show an extraordinary richness that makes what could just be pulp, detective stories set in the 1980s, something with greater depth.

If you have bought the other seasons then you certainly need to own this DVD release.

The Rockford Files was released .