Who else grew up with Magnum P.I.?

This was among one of my all time favourite shows during my teenage years. I can still remember, every Friday night at 7:30pm, I would have my dinner ready, and I'd dine while watching every single episode. It wasn't so much Tom Selleck that attracted me but the show's witty contents that made it enjoyable.

And who could forget the way Thomas Magnum always greet his friends ... "Hi guys!!" The one element that separated Magnum P.I. from the other detective series during those days was the incorporation of the 4th Dimension. No, I'm not talking Twilight Zone, but the 4th Dimension on TV refers to the way the actors/actress would look at the camera as though they're looking at the audience. Tom Selleck really captured those qualities well. And that soundtrack ... who would not know its Magnum.

I know Magnum P.I. isn't exactly an appropriate Sci Fi Topic, but it was something that really helped shaped my youth. And no, I'm not talking about Tom Selleck again, but his Ferrari 308 GTS QuatroValvole. Yup, I became a huge Ferrari fanatic because of Magnum, loved the car and ... spent a lot of my time trying to take pictures of a real Ferrari 308 that I find at parking lots. Ahh .. those were the days when there was no Internet, and if you want reference materials, you had to go buy the book, beg for the brochures and spend bucko bucks on car magazines.

You could say I was really crazy over the Ferrari 308 than I was over a girl. I still remember finding the Revell Magnum model kit of the Ferrari 308 GTS by accident, bought her and spent like days just staring at the box. I was a little disappointed though that the kit wasn't exactly accurate. For one, the Targa Top wasn't a separate piece. The roof was molded as an entire piece attached to the frame, and I was only given a decal to simulate the Targa roof. It wasn't until Hasegawa came out with the 328 GTS and GTB kit that I was playing with the idea of cutting the roof.

Of course then I didn't have much tools to work with, so the kit still stayed in its box until this very day.

And here's an eye opener. While I was surfing for some pictures of the Revell Magnum Ferrari, I also found these. I didn't know they had kits for TC's van and helicopter?

So why the sudden interest in a TV show that lasted eight successful seasons a long time ago. You see, by accident-again, I found a distributor who was able to obtain the original box set for the entire eight seasons, something I had been trying to get for a while now, but wasn't able to as very few distributors were willing to bring Magnum P.I. into Malaysia. And I actually gave up looking.

Now thanks to Tower Records, I've got all eight full seasons to re-live my youth, and I plan to watch a couple of episodes per day.

And here's something interesting. They also carry the full set for the entire Battlestar Galactica genre, covering the original classics from 1978, the two classic movies, Galactica 1980 and the new series which includes Razor and The Plan. Guess its another 2-3 months wait but I'm hoping I can get that right after I'm done watching Magnum. And then there's Babylon 5, and Stargate Atlantis, and ...... yikes. Better stop there for the moment before I get carried away again.

Ok, time for me go salivate at my favourite Ferrari. Later dudes.