"MacGyver" Countdown (1986)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Stan Jolley

Writers:

Lee David Zlotoff (creator)
David Ketchum (writer) ...

TV Series:

"MacGyver" (1985)

Original Air Date:

5 February 1986 (Season 1, Episode 14)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime

Plot:

A cruise ship is the target of a terrorist attack and has three bombs hidden aboard. MacGyver and a friend from the agency are asked to dismantle the bombs before it's too late for the crew and passengers. |

Plot Keywords:

Science | Gadget | Terrorist | Famous Opening Theme | Hero

Cast

Richard Dean Anderson	...	MacGyver
Ellen Bry	...	Carole Tanner
Steven Williams	...	Charlie Robinson
Dana Elcar	...	Pete Thornton
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Michael Donahue
Robin Pearson Rose	...	Suzanne
Burke Byrnes	...	Captain Howard
J. Michael Flynn	...	Carlysle
Jeff Abbott	...	Officer Atkins
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Everett

Movie Connections:

References Juggernaut (1974)

MacGyver Countdown is the same plot as "Speed" 8 years earlier

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I happen to be watching MacGyver 1st season and Countdown is so similar to speed I just had to check to see which came first. Surprise, MacGyver did!

Let see, ex-bomb squad guy gone psycho, check large group of people at risk on moving vehicle, check partner get's blown away, check ransom money disappears through false back, check

Of course here, since this is MacGyver, instead of fooling the mad bomber with fake video and letting it blow, he psyches the bomber out and defuses the bomb.

of course that's not really an option with a cruise ship, the mad bomber was just SO lucky that they were heading into a typhoon named Henry so they could not clear the ship.

I do think that having the mad bomber right there, working the investigation was far better then speed.

Apparently we should be mining MacGyver episodes for plot lines... your next action movie, the hero will not use guns, just a swiss army knife

;-)