This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Silent Hunter: (21 March 2009): New Line has The Movie in early-stage development. You may react.
Silent Hunter: Firstly, I'd like to thank my fellow Tropers for introducing me to a very enjoyable 1980s series (it's currently on FX, a UK cable network, a number of times a day).
Secondly, I'd like clarification on the precise nature of the Phoenix Foundation for Research. Is it a CIA front company, an actual think-tank that does a little spying on the side, or a private spy organisation like a good version of SD-6?
Thirdly, I've taken the liberty of reorganising this entry along that of Saved By The Bell. It makes it easier to read.
Red Shoe: Close as I can tell, the Phoenix Foundation is one of those non-government but government-associated Foundations for Generally Doing Good Stuff, a la the Knight Foundation/FLAG in Knight Rider. Some of the confusion probably comes from the fact that Mac and Pete don't start working for the Phoenix Foundation until later in the series. Initially, they work for the DXS, which is a secret spy organization.
BT The P: I propose a split here. Leave this entry as a series page, and split off the verb form "To Mac Gyver" as a separate page. I think of MacGyvering as an action more than a character type, perhaps the new page should be called MacGyverism?
Thomas The Rhymer: That sounds reasonable *but* it's not a trope I'm very familiar with, so others should decide. I've never seen it, but would the Professor in Gilligans Island be/provide example(s) of this trope? I know about him through parodies.
Gus: MacGyvering goes more directly to the verb. The Professor's Bamboo Technology seems related but is fairly distinct in that the Prof's stuff cobbled up from whatever was at hand only occasionally worked as intended, and only briefly, in that case.
Ununnilium: Vote for MacGyvering.
BT The P: This has been open long enough, I'm fixin' it.
