Central Dispatch

THE HAWAII FIVE-0 NEWSLETTER

Volume 5 July, 2008 Issue 3

********************************************************

The ‘Eyes’ Have It

By Terri Whitman

Many of us have probably heard the statement - ‘The eyes are the windows to the soul’. Most people will probably agree with this statement but I feel a person’s eyes are also the mirrors to our emotional being. Through our eyes, we show many emotions such as our anger, caring, fear, humor, intensity, seriousness and many other expressions. Even those who cannot see express these feelings through their eyes, or at least through their eyelids and brows.

All good actors or actresses are experts in using their eyes, as well as their other facial expressions, to make us believe in their roles. They are, after all, the ones who make the stories come to life for us.

The eyes of our favorite Hawaii Five-0 characters allow us to absorb ourselves into each episode. Many times, I will read in one of the Yahoo Egroups how a fan loved the eyes of their favorite character. Be it the seriousness of Steve McGarrett, the witty humor of Danny Williams, the smiling Kono Kalakaua or the sage wisdom of Chin Ho Kelly, even in the villains like Wo Fat, just to mention a few of our beloved characters. Even in the Fan Fiction stories, the authors love to include bits and pieces of their character’s eyes.

Steve McGarrett - Jack Lord did a masterful job in using his eyes to make us believe the complexities of his character. Here is a man whose duty demands he stick to the letter of the law while dealing with villains who, for the most, do not care about their victims. You ask, ‘What does this have to do with his eyes?’ A whole lot.

Look at almost any of the episodes and you will see what I mean. Right there in the opening shot, Steve McGarrett turns giving you a wry smile and a very serious look. His hard facial expression is rigid enough you can almost see his cheek muscles ripple with the intensity of a dedicated officer.

Jack Lord (aka Steve McGarrett) is supposed to have blue eyes. However, there are episodes where those ‘blue’ eyes change color. They range from a piercing gray-blue frequently referred to as a steel blue color when McGarrett is hot on the trail of a criminal or about to solve a case to a dark blue when McGarrett is relaxed and happy like when he is visiting his sister. You have to admit, those eyes change their shade of blue a lot in the show. I do not know if it is Jack’s ability to really bring the full emotion of the character he is doing or if it was from contacts but I do know those eyes change color frequently.

James MacArthur (aka Danny Williams or Danno, if you want) was also a master at using his eyes in the show. Though the color of his eyes does not change as much, it is the way he uses them. I have seen them sparkle a lot especially when he smiles. On the opposite side, when he has to portray emotions such as extreme stress, you can see hardness to those bright blue eyes. The one thing I have noticed is a maturity James MacArthur brought about to his character. From the first episode we saw him in, ‘Full Fathom Five’ to the last one, ‘The Year Of The Horse’, his character of Danny Williams matured and it showed so much in his eyes.

Zulu (aka Kono Kalakaua) always seemed to have a proverbial joke of some sort to them. Zulu could make those eyes of his widen so much you could see the whites of his eyeballs all around the iris, especially when his character seemed to be surprised by some good or bad. On the opposite side, he could make those eyes dance with pleasure. Zulu’s eye color never did change color; his trademark to me was how he could make you look directly into those eyes, which told you how serious his character’s demeanor was at that time.

Kam Fong (aka Chin Ho Kelly). I do not know of any other person who you could always say that their eyes had a smile to them. I loved the way those eyes could show what a thoughtful, caring and dedicated person his character was. The steady one of the group even in the face of adversity, Chin Ho Kelly’s eyes was always bright and alert. It was easy to see by those eyes he enjoyed doing what he was doing.

I am sure you have your own versions of those eyes. Each one of us sees things differently. Some will say their favorite actor/character did other things with their eyes, but in the end, I am sure you will agree the eyes have it.

********************************************************

Hawaii Five-0 turns 40 Update

Well, after many months of working on what I had hoped would happen this year, it does not look like there will be a gathering to celebrate this special occasion - at least not this year. This does not mean we have stopped planning for it, but it just will not be happening in 2008. One of the major problems we encountered was not finding someone to spearhead this event for us in Hawaii.

Thankfully John Nordlum has chosen to help us with a decided union spin (I/A, Teamsters, SAG etc.). It will be going to go forward, but not until some date to be announced later in 2009. This is when the desired venue at the Diamond Head studio should be vacated by LOST, and when he and our silent partner will have more time to develop it. John has promised to keep us in the loop as things move along.

********************************************************

Signs of Hawaii Five-0

I received an email from Theresa Sidinger on June 26^th letting me know of a Hawaii Five-0 sighting she had on her vacation this year. They were in Galway, Ireland where they enjoyed a meal at a restaurant called ‘Couch Potatas”. Their meal consisted of a deliciously stuffed baked potato. She said the menu had a 50 connection. The Hawaii 5-0 was a baked potato filled with ham, onion, pineapple, peppers and melted cheddar cheese. The Book-em Dano was a baked potato filled with tuna, mushrooms, peppers and melted cheddar cheese. She also sent a note saying she had used their exact spelling and punctuation. Thank you Theresa for sharing this information with us about this Hawaii Five-0 connection.

********************************************************

While looking for another old article from the THE IOLANI PALACE IRREGULARS newsletters, I came across this article, which fits in so well with Theresa’s donation.

PATCH ME THROUGH TO...

THE IOLANI PALACE IRREGULARS

Issue No. 30 November, 1995

DID YOU KNOW?

That there's a town in Oregon named Aloha?

UBIQUITOUS FIVE-0

Lately there have been several manifestations of references to Hawaii Five-0 in daily life. Member Anne Malcolm informs us that there is a greeting card on the subject of "the big Five-0" (50th birthday) which bears a photo of McGarrett. It’s a Hallmark, so check your local Hallmark store. Flipping channels a few weeks ago, I came across Bill Nye the Science Guy talking about wave propagation. The visual was a surfer (on some pretty puny surf, lemme tell ya) and the background musk was the Five-0 theme.

Member Reg Jones sent a Dave Barry column about channel surfing which aimed a few zingers, at "the Boss", to wit. "I strongly recommend Hawaii Five-0, starring Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, a man with the emotional range of Formica, who, on the basis of owning more suits than anybody else, has been given the job of fighting all the crime in the Hawaiian Islands. This is not easy, because Steve's entire police force consists of just three men (two of whom are named "Chin") who mostly just stand around, cowlike, unable to blow their own noses without explicit instructions from Steve. This means that Steve just about always ends up capturing the bad guys himself, usually after a shootout, which Steve always wins because he can deflect bullets with his hair."

Oh, well - it's a humor column.

Member Christine Sato sent me a copy of some particularly Island humor aimed at Five-0, which also more pointedly takes a few shots at the fact that the top dog in the show was a haole "Book Off, McGarrett" bears a headlined teaser that reads: "Between us guys - what I really wanted to say at Steve McGarrett's retirement party - by Chin Ho Kelly, as told to Jeffrey Higa". (Sorry, Dave Barry this one's funnier and it even comes with a rather saucy caricature. Unfortunately, its length prevents putting it in the newsletter.)

In the Dell "Variety Puzzle Spectacular" (crosswords and other puzzles) number 32, there is a page of crypto quizzes, with one category of "Top TV Theme Songs." Unfortunately, I didn't get to decode my favorite; it was the example!

And browsing the Worldwide Web, my husband came across this: "If you long to visit the land of Thomas Magnum, Steve McGarrett, and Don Ho... you can now fly the blue skies above the blue Pacific on your computer, thanks to the Microsoft Hawaii scenery collection for Microsoft Flight Simulator v5."

We're still collecting these instances of "ubiquitous Five-0" and welcome any and all that you can come across.

********************************************************

A word from our sponsors:

2008 Hawaii Five-0 calendars are now available

The 2008 Calendars will be ready for mailing by November 1, 2007. Once again, we have two to chose from. Hawaii Five-0, the seventh season has screen captures from 12 different episodes from that season. The Jack Lord calendar has pictures of Jack from magazines, photos and screen captures. The cost for each calendar is $11.00 in US funds. The cost for non-US residents is $15.00 for each calendar. Payment can be made through Paypal momh50@aol.com or by sending a check or money order to Debbie Fitzgerald, 682 Durham Road, Adams, TN 37010. As in the past, all proceeds will be sent to charity.

*****

Anyone interested in copies of Hawaii Five-0 episodes (mostly all full versions) can contact Barbara Brindle at 105 Warren Road, Sparta, NJ 07871. Barbara does not have an email address so you’ll need to phone her at 973-729-9232. Her rates are reasonable and she’s very reliable.

*****

Ron Evans, owner of e/p Partners, www.networksplus.net/caseyguy/epPartners.htm, also offer VCR tapes of Hawaii Five-0, Jack Lord and James MacArthur, among others. His email is caseyguy@networksplus.net.

*****

Karen Rhodes, author of Booking Hawaii Five-0, would like contact from anyone who has purchased the unauthorized DVD set being sold on the internet by dvdavenue.tv or anyone else. She says she is specifically interested in getting a look at the episode guide they advertise to go with the DVD set, to check for possible copyright infringement. Contact Karen at bitbucket001@comcast.net

Hard copies of the newsletter are available.

The Hawaii Five-0 Newsletter is available in print form. Membership is $10 per year for four issues (foreign subscriptions are $14.00 US funds). Checks for membership may be made out to Annette Nixon/H50FC. You can contact Annette at Spinkick@colint.net and ask her for her mailing address. Any additional financial contributions are always welcome. The newsletter will be available on the 15th of January, April, July and October.

Submissions, which are always welcomed, to the newsletter can be emailed to me at tw1151@comcast.net. Deadlines are one month before each issue. You can find the Central Dispatch on Terri’s Jack Lord Connection located at www.thejacklordconnection.com.

See you in October, 2008

Be There! Aloha!