Saturday, August 31, 2013

Answer to map of Robin's Nest Question


Aloha,
I think I addressed this once in an earlier blog posting.  I know we had a fairly crude (by today's standards) framed drawing or painting of the Robin's Nest Compound.  It was one of the many "meaningless" remains of the show that was kicked around for years in the set dressing area and finally either eaten by termites or dumped when cleaning out the space--I know, what a waste when there is still so much interest in the show.  
Any reference to floor plans would have been more of a writer's issue for any episode that needed one and would have then become a working prop item rather than set dressing.  I think they mostly made things up as they went along although there was a Magnum "Bible" that did keep track of things that were invented so they didn't make a big mistake or repeat something.
I would say the door-to-banister measurement was probably 4' as you have guessed--based more on a standard sheet of plywood being 4' than any artistic reason.  There wasn't a lot of room up there as I recall.  As i have repeated several times, I joined the show 30 years ago this August for season 4 and all of the permanent sets (except for the later, seldom used living room) were done by then.  There probably were plans that were kept for awhile on the permanent sets, but Universal eventually bulldozed the remains of not only Magnum sets, but all of the original Hawaii 5-0 sets that were still stored under tarps in the back lot around 1987 when the show shut down.
So at this point, your guess is as good as anyone else's!
FYI, with the new "Hawaii 5-0" filming at the State Film Studio again, the old 5-0 / Magnum soundstage has been refurbished with new air conditioning and is again being used for filming rather than storage as it has been for the past 14 years or so.
Thanks for your continued interest!  Original blog comment / question below for reference. 
Rick


Hey Rick! Did you guys have a reference floor plan or blueprints of Robins nest when you were working on the show? And if you did can we (the fans) see it? I am currently trying to construct a formal and real floor plan of robins nest and Magnums guest house from scenes compiled from the show. I know the rooms where not in real time as they were really just studio sets and locations filmed at different residences to make up the imaginary Robins nest. All of my dimensions are guessed based on visuals... for example the stair landing when you walk in the entrance of magnums guest house looks like its about 4 to 5 feet wide from door to banister. Do you still have the dimensions for the interior settings? Just in case we fans want to reproduce them?
August 26, 2013 at 4:01 PM
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Blogger lamond jack said...
Believe it or not I am currently trying to make formal blue prints of the entire Robins Nest estate and could really use your historical knowledge of the different sets dimensions and measurements. I know the guest house was located behind Robins main house in TV land but they actually filmed and used the boat house located past the tennis courts in real time as the gust house. I want to blue print everything about Robin's Nest in its TV land make believe interpretation. So far I have had to slightly enlarge the houses structure width wise and height wise to accommodate some of the rooms depicted on the show. I also had to add three basements... LOL. We all know the double doors that are suppose to be the entrance to Robins nest actually lead out to the court yard. Hence the reason why I had to widen the house to fit the shows central hallway in comfortably. LOL I know, I know, I'm a Magnum PI NUT! Sorry but I can't help it!
August 26, 2013 at 4:19 PM
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