Technical Errors

 

 

The Five-0 team didn't make all the errors. The writers, editors, and other technical personnel made their share. Here are a few goofs that we've noticed:

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Directions. This is probably the most agonizing of all the errors.

   

*  "He's going Makai (toward the sea) on Monserrat," when Monserrat runs Diamond Head and Ewa (east and west).

 

*  "He's going Diamond Head on Ala Wai," which, even in those days, was one-way in the opposite direction (toward town).

 

*  Taking unlikely and circuitous routes to reach a destination. The worst instance showed an ambulance speeding in the left lane on Beretania Street (the capitol building straight ahead), then on the H-1 freeway, and then back on Beretania (still in the left lane) en route to the Leahi Hospital, which is in Kaimuki. Interestingly, the Queen's Medical Center was across the street from the ambulance's Beretania Street location. Why didn’t the ambulance crew take their patient there?

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*  In "A Gun for McGarrett" (Season 7), McGarrett told his men to talk to business people throughout Waikiki in search of someone willing to help them move in on criminals who were running a protection racket. When Danno came from a store, the street signs over him revealed that he was at the corner of Hotel Street and Nuuanu Street. This intersection is located downtown, not in Waikiki.

 

Lack of Continuity (Inconsistencies)

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*  Inconsistent Biographical Data. Lack of continuity throughout Hawaii Five-0's twelve seasons is plentiful. Perhaps the most frustrating of the technical errors are the inconsistent biographical data for personnel, especially McGarrett. After seeing his birthday celebrated in December ("Blind Tiger," Season 2) and hearing the great detective claim he's a "Capricorn goat – very stubborn" on numerous occasions, we were told in "Death is a Company Policy" (Season 5) that he was born on March 10, 1927. A March birthday would make him a Pisces. A Pisces is described as being over-sensitive, indecisive, self-pitying, and lazy and needing a dominant partner. This is as far from the very stubborn Capricorn goat as one can get and is a person who couldn't run Five-0 if the governor handed it to him on a silver platter. McGarrett's grades were a sprinkling of A's, B's, and C's and included courses that were not exactly college preparatory. So how did he manage to gain acceptance to the Naval Academy? Also, how did he manage to gain acceptance with a history of polio ("Once Upon a Time,” Season 1)?

 

In "Death is a Company Policy" (Season 5), Duke Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer) and Asistant District Attorney Paul Drummond (Robert Witthans) were said to have the same telephone number. Chris Lahani (George Chakiris) was said to be a true genius; however, the grades shown for him by the iron brain were sprinkled with B's and C's.

 

*  Wardrobes. In the often-seen stock footage of McGarrett running down the palace steps and out to his car, he sometimes changed clothes on his way to his destination. In "One for the Money" (Season 1), for example, he left in the light blue suit and arrived at the site of the first murder wearing a dark blue suit.

 

In "The Ransom" (Season 3), the kidnapped Timmy Blake was taken home by McGarrett, who was wearing a grey suit after having left the office in a blue suit. In the following scene, which took place at the Blake home, at the end of the second act, he was seen wearing the blue suit again. At the beginning of the third act, Chin and Danno checked out the place where Timmy and Kono had been kept as hostages. Danno was wearing a dark suit and tie, yet after he broke through the door, he stepped into the bunker wearing a lighter suit with a matching tie.

 

In "Retire in Sunny Hawaii...Forever" (Season 8), when Danno and Chin Ho entered the state records building, Danno was wearing a tan suit; however, when he was inside, asking to see the deputy, he was wearing a dark blue suit.

 

In "A Gun for McGarrett" (Season 7), act 4, Marni Howard (Carol White) wore a reversible scarf turned to the white side while she was inside her house, yet turned to the red side when she was arrested and led out the front door. It seems highly unlikely that she would be concerned with reversing her scarf at the time of arrest or that the arresting officer would stand idly by while she reversed it.

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*  The Triple-Black Mercurys. The use of stock footage sometimes resulted in McGarrett's leaving the Palace in one car and arriving at his destination in another. The worst occurrence we've noticed was in "Hit Gun for Sale" (Season 7), when he was shown speeding along Ala Moana Boulevard in the 1967 Mercury Marquis (two-door), turning off Waialae in the 1968 Mercury Park Lane (four-door), and arriving at the Maunakea Hale in the 1974 Mercury Marquis Brougham. O-kay! Most of us manage to reach our destinations using a single vehicle, but if it took McGarrett three, that's fine. After all, as hard as he was on brakes and tires, two of the three cars were bound to be in the shop for service at any given time.

 

*  Props. In "Here Today, Gone Tonight" (Season 5), when Danno stepped into the helicopter to be flown to Maui to meet with Barry Dean (Monte Markham), he was empty handed; however, when he arrived, the chopper pilot handed him an attaché case. Later, when Danno returned to Honolulu, he left the helicopter empty handed; however, when he entered McGarrett's office, his arms were loaded with documents relative to what Barry Dean had said during their meeting. 

 

Scientific Improbability

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In "The Singapore File" (Season 2), McGarrett managed to get more shots from a six-shooter than most men get out of a .09 mm Beretta. He fired at least nine shots at Victor (Dick Brady) at a temple near Santa Cristina in the Philippines (actually, the Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii). This happened many times throughout the series.

 

In "6,000 Deadly Tickets" (Season 7), the number of shots required to hit the targets was astounding, both on Five-0's part and on the part of the suspects. There must be a couple of hundred spent shells laying on the bottom of the Ala Wai Canal, between the McCully Street Bridge and Ala Moana Boulevard. Of those, only one bullet hit its intended target. The Five-0 team needed desperately to head out to the firing range for hours and hours of practice.

 

Conflict of Interest

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Sometimes, law enforcement ran headlong into different points of view. Sometimes, the point of view related to court interpretations of the law. Other times, the point of view conflicted with the standards of another industry. In any case, a conflict was left to be resolved. Here are some of the instances we noticed.

 

* Legal Responsibility. In "Bored, She Hung Herself" (Season 2), a girl hung herself, and her boyfriend was held responsible, since he was teaching her a means of hanging for relaxation and meditation purposes. The question was raised, "If someone bought a car, then used it to drive off a cliff, would the person who sold him the car be legally responsible?" Interpretation in this situation would change according to the mood of the times. Presently, it seems likely that the boyfriend would be held responsible, since he encouraged her to engage in a dangerous pastime. In times past, however, he would not, since the girl was of legal majority and fully capable of thinking for herself.

 

* First Amendment Freedom. In "Cop on the Cover" (Season 10) and "The Skyline Killer" (Season 11), a novelist who wrote about colorful crimes had a run-in with McGarrett over the first amendment. According to the writer in each episode, she/he could withhold information based on the principles of freedom of the press. According to McGarrett, such constituted withholding evidence and interfering in a police investigation. It should be noted that this was a very big issue in the 1970s and led to a court decision stating that reporters could not be forced to name their sources. Whether the decision went so far as to allow reporters and writers to withhold evidence is another matter. It seems likely that the interpretation would be shallower today after the experiences of 9/11 and the heightened emphasis on security. In 1979, when this episode aired, however, reporters were enjoying a heyday of post-Watergate literary freedom.

 

* Rules of Evidence. In "Bored, She Hung Herself" (Season 2), the bereaved father, who was a psychiatrist, extracted a confession from the dead girl's boyfriend. He recorded it and took the tape to McGarrett, insisting that it was proof that the boyfriend did the deed. McGarrett insisted that the tape was inadmissible, because it was not obtained legally. Good thing, too. The boyfriend turned out not to be the murderer!

 

* Media Issues. Earlier in the series, the newspapers and television reporters seemed to work with Five-0. An example was seen in "Rest in Peace, Somebody" (Season 4), when Eddie Sherman honored McGarrett's request not to print a story about "Mona" to help the investigation. By Season 9, however, the media had taken on the role of Big Brother as witnessed by their criticism of McGarrett's leading the investigation to clear his name in "Man in a Steel Frame." Times changed with Watergate, and Hawaii Five-0 reflected the fact.

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