50 years of The Ninety Second War

Fifty years ago tonight, CBS aired "The Ninety-Second War, Part I".

Wo Fat (Khigh Dheigh) is back and has framed McGarrett! It's a plot years in the making but the two adversaries aren't the only ones involved.

Ben Jalor is killed outright after a flipped car begins the episode. The two officers (one is later series regular Herman Wedemeyer!) recognize McGarrett right away and call Five-O at o-dark thirty. Danno is immediately on scene and is just as confused as anyone else as to why McGarrett is in the flipped. Did I mention that McGarrett has no feeling in his body!? To Danno's credit, he keeps the scene under control and secured.

Once the car is flipped over (it's excruciating to watch, btw), McGarrett is then cut out of the vehicle. When he's lifted, an attache case is found loaded with thousands of dollars!

After some medical mumbo jumbo and a miraculous recovery on McGarrett's part, Five-O gets to work. They call in a Navy friend (Bob Whitthans) of McGarrett's who deciphers a black book found in the case. It's a list of deposits made, presumably by McGarrett, over the last couple of years. The deposits are encrypted with an old Navy code.

McGarrett and Danno brief the governor (Richard Denning) about what has transpired and who they believe is behind it. McGarrett then goes to Switzerland to "withdraw" his money. One problem: a gentleman has beat him to it! That man is an exact twin of McGarrett! Luther Holbrook (Jack Lord in a dual role but the voice belongs to Paul Frees) has been a pawn used by Wo Fat to complete the frame.

McGarrett and Holbrook meet in the lobby of the bank (by accident, of course) where Holbrook tries to run for it. A bank guard shoots him but he doesn't die right away. Luther is taken to the hospital where his girlfriend (Dana Wynter) explains what's happened on their end. She soon walks out and Part 1 ends.

Mr. Mike explains things so much better on his page with both parts: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log4.htm#88

This is an interesting concept for an episode and shows the series wasn't afraid to push some things.

Every time I watch the beginning with the flipped car, I can't help but think of the original airing of this episode. If it had aired a year later, we may have had a more realistic righting of the car. "Emergency!" began airing in January 1972 and was created by R.A. Cinader along with Harold Bloom and Jack Webb. Webb was a stickler for being as accurate as possible. This could explain how McGarrett is treated in this episode (he just flops around the car and is paralyzed!) versus Johnny Noah in S11E04 "Small Potatoes" where he's put into a neck brace. The latter episode aired 10-26-1978, after "Emergency!" ended its regular series original run (there were several movies afterward). It's kinda fun to think about that time capsule bit.

Another scene I like in this episode is when Doc Bergman (Al Eben) and another physician are examining McGarrett and Bergman tells Danno to stand back. James MacArthur was obviously still in the room because the pair talk back and forth with the camera staying on the action of the examination. From a photography/filming perspective, that's pretty neat. It's not something you see too often, even today.

Happy 50th, "The Ninety-Second War, Part I"!! :cool:

The Ninety-Second War Part I has always been 1 of my FAV episodes. It has so many creative and interesting scenes. The overturned car with McG and the way it is turned over. Danno peeking through the broken window and McG's medical tests. My sister and I enjoyed the 2 McGarretts. It was good writing to have the fake McGarrett stay alive long enough to tell them information. Claudine was excellent in her short appearance. From start to finish, 1 of the best episodes of the series. It's also 1 of my FAV Wo Fat episodes. JC

I figured it's better to do this: 50 years tonight Part 2 aired for "The Ninety-Second War".

Wo Fat is full-steam ahead in his convoluted plan. Of course, he has an inside man in Hans Vogler (Donald Pleasance). This man goes through hell in this episode only to discover Wo has had Vogler under his thumb for awhile. Vogler has even attacked his own daughter! Granted, it was via an air-conditioning unit to kick in her allergies. What's worse, Wo has kidnapped the girl to ensure Vogler holds up his end of the deal.

China has a missile they want no one to know about and Wo is about to shut down US radar for 90 seconds, thus the title. However, in part 2, McGarrett and Jonathan Kaye (Tim O'Connor) have not been sitting idle. They've been meeting in a super secret base in Diamond Head including Soviet Colonel Mischa Toptegan (Roger C. Carmel). We met him in F.O.B. Honolulu last season. It turns out to be int he best interest of USSR to know what China is up to as well.

It comes down to a rocket launch and Kaye yelling at "Harley" who is probably in Florida or Texas in Mission Control and watching the rocket. Meantime, poor Danno has the unenviable task to make sure Vogler doesn't shut the system down too soon. The rocket has the ability to view the China missile launch and it needs to be in position before the radar system stops. Vogler nearly blows it and Danno has to stop him with a gun to the man's head!

In the end, the radar stops, both rockets launch, Wo is happy and disappears (again!), Vogler goes home and his daughter is returned. The parting shot has McGarrett and Danno discussing where everyone wound up and putting the $2.2 million to good use - the widow and orphan fund for fallen officers.

Happy 50th, "The Ninety-Second War, Part 2"!!! :cool:

Just finished watching this for the first time I think since the DVDs came out. I can now see why I didn't revisit this often because it has a great Part 1 that fails to deliver in terms of a solid Part 2. There seemed to be a greater emphasis on getting more "names" for the overall story (hence the rather pointless one scene cameo of Dana Wynter near the end of Part 1) then developing a good through-line overall. Things happen *much* too fast in Part 2 and we're just getting information dumped on us without being invited into the overall "process" of things unfolding at a more interesting pace. At the very least, the Donald Pleasance character of Vogler should have been introduced or referred to in Part 1 to set things up more properly (but then I guess that would have meant a more exorbitant budget if Donald Pleasance had appeared in both parts!) and we should have seen what was happening regarding his daughter (and BTW, does his daughter get released?_

Yes, McGarrett and Danno discuss her release in the final scene. We don't see it on screen.

Valid points - the scenes in 'Europe' were almost pointless and Vogler is never mentioned until Part 2. Part 2 is very rushed. Also, it proves to be a weaker episode because it's mostly McGarrett that we follow around. The team isn't seen except Danno who has to baby-sit Vogler (by pulling his gun!). The better episodes include the whole team throughout. At least in my opinion. :)