Countdown (5 Feb. 1986)

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.

Director:

Stan Jolley

Writers:

Lee David Zlotoff (creator), David Ketchum,

Stars:

Richard Dean Anderson, Ellen Bry, Steven Williams

Cast

Episode credited 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:
Stephen Chang	...	The Beginning

Storyline

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.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama

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Details

Release Date:

5 February 1986 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Goofs

When MacGyver is disarming the second bomb, exterior shots looking into the bomb show his improvised vacuum sucking phosphorous from the dish, but interior shots looking out of the bomb at MacGyver show the dish of phosphorous untouched.

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Connections

References Juggernaut (1974)

User Reviews

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

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

;-)