Angus MacGyver
Encyclopedia
Angus MacGyver, known as just MacGyver or Mac until the final season of the American spy
television series MacGyver
, is the highly intelligent, optimistic action hero
played by Richard Dean Anderson
. He prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible and refuses to carry or use a gun. MacGyver works as a problem solver for the fictional Phoenix Foundation in Los Angeles
. Educated as a scientist
and with a background from a fictional United States government agency, the Department of External Services (DXS), he is used as a resourceful secret agent
able to solve a range of problems. In addition to his scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items, he always carries a Swiss Army knife
and duct tape
.
, although the pilot episode shows MacGyver using a gun on a mission shown in the opening gambit. Even in cases where his improvised devices are used to attack hostile opponents, he is always doing so in self-defense
and, if possible, subduing or disabling rather than killing. He is often suspicious of militaristic attitudes within the government; he sees his Phoenix Foundation employer as an alternative to the more conventional (and violent) means of law enforcement.
MacGyver is also passionate about social causes, having on several occasions volunteered to help the less-privileged. For example, he conducts hearing research at a school for deaf children, and helps out in a mountain excursion for delinquent youths.
MacGyver's persistence and the improvisational nature of his plans make him difficult to thwart, as his nemesis Murdoc pointed out, because not even MacGyver himself knows what he's going to do next. Unlike stereotypical "macho" or stoic action heroes, MacGyver exhibits open fear in perilous situations and shows pain after a fight.
MacGyver is proficient to a greater or lesser extent in Russian
, German
, French
, Italian
and American Sign Language
, and knows how to use International maritime signal flags
and Morse code
. He is an active mountain climber and ice hockey player
, though his talents by far exceed these fields.
His (iconic) haircut is that of a "mullet
", in a clean-cut, lightly gelled variation on the classic hairstyle.
. In 1961, when he was a ten-year-old, his grandmother and father (James MacGyver played by actor Martin Sam Milner of ADAM 12 fame) in the MacGyver episode entitled, "Passages", were killed in a car accident
in which they both drowned, and MacGyver grew up with his mother. His grandfather, Harry Jackson
(who calls him "Bud"), played by actor John Anderson
, acted as his father, but moved away in 1967 when MacGyver was sixteen, worked for a period in Alaska
, sending money to MacGyver and his mother, and eventually settled down as a farmer
in Minnesota after MacGyver had left. When he was ten years old he got his first chemistry set. In his early teens MacGyver had a traumatic experience with the accidental death of friend Jesse by a bullet from a falling gun. Throughout his childhood, in his youth and in adult age, MacGyver is an active player of ice hockey
, having played in his local hockey leagues and coached for a minor league team; he is also a supporter of the Calgary Flames
. He feels that he could have made the National Hockey League
, but chose to give up before he was good enough. MacGyver also admitted to loving museum
s as a kid. In his childhood he meets Jack Dalton
. MacGyver's mother died of a stroke while he was in Afghanistan.
After high school MacGyver went to Western Tech where he graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's degree
in physics
and chemistry
, having studied under Julian Ryman, a man who also had an ability to fix things with everyday objects and was probably influential on MacGyver. After graduating from college he turns down an offer to work at the nearby nuclear power plant
and it is revealed that he had shortly served during the Vietnam War
in a bomb defusing
team. MacGyver has also been an enthusiastic race car driver and was quite successful before an accident put him out of the business. Eventually he moves to Los Angeles
where he has a number of scatter jobs, including working as a taxi driver for Jack, until 1979, when he accidentally meets Peter Thornton
, an agent at the Department of External Services (DXS). When MacGyver conveniently saves Thornton's life using a paper clip
, a wrench
and shoelaces
, MacGyver is also offered a job as a field agent at the DXS. He keeps this job until 1986 (season 2 pilot) when Pete is offered a job as Director of Operations
at the Phoenix Foundation. MacGyver follows him and works in a similar role for the Foundation for the next six years, finally leaving in 1992.
At the Foundation, MacGyver is hired as a "sort of troubleshooter," involved in a variety of tasks, usually field operations (conducting environmental surveys, testing security systems). In the fifth season Harry dies of a heart attack, at which point MacGyver believes he has no remaining relatives. In the final episode of the show, it turns out that MacGyver has a son, Sean Angus "Sam" Malloy. Sean's mother is the photojournalist Kate Malloy who MacGyver had met after college. Kate had been murdered in China several years prior to MacGyver meeting their son for the first time. After discovering and reuniting with Sean, MacGyver decides to resign from the Foundation, as he and his son have a lot of catching-up to do.
It is unclear what MacGyver did for a living after leaving the Phoenix Foundation. However, he has clearly kept current with the world of action, as he appears in at least two more adventures. In the first one ("MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis"), MacGyver teams up with his old teacher, Professor Atticus, to help him prove his theories about ancient Atlantis while dodging the bullets of genocidal Yugoslav troops, a Greek revolutionary and a ruthless treasure hunter. Soon thereafter (in "MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday"), he investigates the murder of a friend in Britain, and eventually traces it to an unscrupulous businessman who sells nuclear arms research for profit. Both adventures occurred in 1994. No mention is made of MacGyver's son, nor of Pete Thornton, Jack Dalton or any of the show's regulars.
. In addition to it, MacGyver often carried a roll of duct tape in his back pocket, flattened out to make it fit. Other items he often seemed to have on hand were: an ID card, a watch, strike-anywhere matches, a few paper clips, and a flashlight. It was shown that he also carried a toolbox in his Jeep
.
The term "MacGyver" has now become part of the colloquial American English lexicon. When one "MacGyvers" a solution to a problem, one finds a simple yet elegant solution to something using existing resources. This is in contrast to a kludge
, or a Rube Goldberg
, which is generally complicated and problematic.
Spy fiction
Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War , when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century...
television series MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
, is the highly intelligent, optimistic action hero
Action hero
An action hero is a character, usually a protagonist, in an action-adventure novel, film, television show, or game.-Further reading:*Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.*Tasker, Yvonne. Action and...
played by Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson is an American television and film actor, producer and composer. He began his television career in 1976 as Dr. Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver...
. He prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible and refuses to carry or use a gun. MacGyver works as a problem solver for the fictional Phoenix Foundation in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Educated as a scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
and with a background from a fictional United States government agency, the Department of External Services (DXS), he is used as a resourceful secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
able to solve a range of problems. In addition to his scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items, he always carries a Swiss Army knife
Swiss Army knife
The Swiss Army knife is a brand of pocket knife or multi-tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing the German name....
and duct tape
Duct tape
Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of and is generally silver or black...
.
Personality
The character is portrayed as an outspoken advocate of gun controlGun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
, although the pilot episode shows MacGyver using a gun on a mission shown in the opening gambit. Even in cases where his improvised devices are used to attack hostile opponents, he is always doing so in self-defense
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
and, if possible, subduing or disabling rather than killing. He is often suspicious of militaristic attitudes within the government; he sees his Phoenix Foundation employer as an alternative to the more conventional (and violent) means of law enforcement.
MacGyver is also passionate about social causes, having on several occasions volunteered to help the less-privileged. For example, he conducts hearing research at a school for deaf children, and helps out in a mountain excursion for delinquent youths.
MacGyver's persistence and the improvisational nature of his plans make him difficult to thwart, as his nemesis Murdoc pointed out, because not even MacGyver himself knows what he's going to do next. Unlike stereotypical "macho" or stoic action heroes, MacGyver exhibits open fear in perilous situations and shows pain after a fight.
MacGyver is proficient to a greater or lesser extent in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
, and knows how to use International maritime signal flags
International maritime signal flags
The system of international maritime signal flags is one system of flag signals representing individual letters of the alphabet in signals to or from ships...
and Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
. He is an active mountain climber and ice hockey player
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, though his talents by far exceed these fields.
His (iconic) haircut is that of a "mullet
Mullet (haircut)
The mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. . The mullet began to appear in popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not become generally well-known until the early 1980s...
", in a clean-cut, lightly gelled variation on the classic hairstyle.
First name
MacGyver's first name remained a mystery until the final season; whenever he is asked about it, he says he dislikes his first name and quickly changes the subject. His grandfather, Harry Jackson, calls him "Bud" or "Buddy". Consequently, most of his friends and colleagues call him by his last name or simply "Mac". His first name is finally canonically revealed in "Good Knight, MacGyver", in which he learns of a 7th-century man named Angus Mac'Iver ("son of Ingmarr") and admits that they share their first name. This revelation is repeated in the series finale, which introduces MacGyver's son as having the middle name Angus, as well as on the packaging of the MacGyver DVD season sets.Biography
He was born on March 23, 1951, and raised in Mission City, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. In 1961, when he was a ten-year-old, his grandmother and father (James MacGyver played by actor Martin Sam Milner of ADAM 12 fame) in the MacGyver episode entitled, "Passages", were killed in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
in which they both drowned, and MacGyver grew up with his mother. His grandfather, Harry Jackson
Harry Jackson (MacGyver)
Harry Jackson is a fictional character portrayed by John Anderson in four episodes of the MacGyver television series. Harry is the grandfather of Angus MacGyver and a farmer that lives in rural Minnesota. He calls MacGyver "Bud" or "Buddy"....
(who calls him "Bud"), played by actor John Anderson
John Anderson (actor)
-Biography:Born in Clayton, John Anderson grew up in Quincy and Adams County, Illinois.Prior to a prolific acting career, Anderson served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II where he met artist Orazio Fumagalli who became one of his best lifelong friends.He was known for several...
, acted as his father, but moved away in 1967 when MacGyver was sixteen, worked for a period in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, sending money to MacGyver and his mother, and eventually settled down as a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
in Minnesota after MacGyver had left. When he was ten years old he got his first chemistry set. In his early teens MacGyver had a traumatic experience with the accidental death of friend Jesse by a bullet from a falling gun. Throughout his childhood, in his youth and in adult age, MacGyver is an active player of ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, having played in his local hockey leagues and coached for a minor league team; he is also a supporter of the Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...
. He feels that he could have made the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
, but chose to give up before he was good enough. MacGyver also admitted to loving museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s as a kid. In his childhood he meets Jack Dalton
Jack Dalton (MacGyver)
Jack Dalton is a fictional character from the television show MacGyver. The character was played by Bruce McGill and was in 19 episodes. He is usually responsible for getting both himself, and thus MacGyver into trouble, often due to his frequent get-rich-quick schemes...
. MacGyver's mother died of a stroke while he was in Afghanistan.
After high school MacGyver went to Western Tech where he graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, having studied under Julian Ryman, a man who also had an ability to fix things with everyday objects and was probably influential on MacGyver. After graduating from college he turns down an offer to work at the nearby nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
and it is revealed that he had shortly served during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
in a bomb defusing
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
team. MacGyver has also been an enthusiastic race car driver and was quite successful before an accident put him out of the business. Eventually he moves to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
where he has a number of scatter jobs, including working as a taxi driver for Jack, until 1979, when he accidentally meets Peter Thornton
Peter Thornton (MacGyver)
Pete Thornton is a fictional character in the MacGyver television series played by Dana Elcar. He is Angus MacGyver's best friend and boss at both the Department of External Services and the Phoenix Foundation...
, an agent at the Department of External Services (DXS). When MacGyver conveniently saves Thornton's life using a paper clip
Paper Clip
"Paper Clip" is a 1995 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the second episode broadcast in the show's third season. Paper Clip concludes the story regarding the agents' possession of a digital tape containing government secrets on extraterrestrials.- Plot :Continuing from the previous...
, a wrench
Wrench
A wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide grip and mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn objects—usually rotary fasteners, such as nuts and bolts—or keep them from turning....
and shoelaces
Shoelaces
Shoelaces, which are also called shoe-strings, shoe laces, or boot laces, are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both ends with stiff sections, known as aglets...
, MacGyver is also offered a job as a field agent at the DXS. He keeps this job until 1986 (season 2 pilot) when Pete is offered a job as Director of Operations
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
at the Phoenix Foundation. MacGyver follows him and works in a similar role for the Foundation for the next six years, finally leaving in 1992.
At the Foundation, MacGyver is hired as a "sort of troubleshooter," involved in a variety of tasks, usually field operations (conducting environmental surveys, testing security systems). In the fifth season Harry dies of a heart attack, at which point MacGyver believes he has no remaining relatives. In the final episode of the show, it turns out that MacGyver has a son, Sean Angus "Sam" Malloy. Sean's mother is the photojournalist Kate Malloy who MacGyver had met after college. Kate had been murdered in China several years prior to MacGyver meeting their son for the first time. After discovering and reuniting with Sean, MacGyver decides to resign from the Foundation, as he and his son have a lot of catching-up to do.
It is unclear what MacGyver did for a living after leaving the Phoenix Foundation. However, he has clearly kept current with the world of action, as he appears in at least two more adventures. In the first one ("MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis"), MacGyver teams up with his old teacher, Professor Atticus, to help him prove his theories about ancient Atlantis while dodging the bullets of genocidal Yugoslav troops, a Greek revolutionary and a ruthless treasure hunter. Soon thereafter (in "MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday"), he investigates the murder of a friend in Britain, and eventually traces it to an unscrupulous businessman who sells nuclear arms research for profit. Both adventures occurred in 1994. No mention is made of MacGyver's son, nor of Pete Thornton, Jack Dalton or any of the show's regulars.
MacGyver's gear
MacGyver's most used item was his Swiss Army KnifeSwiss Army knife
The Swiss Army knife is a brand of pocket knife or multi-tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing the German name....
. In addition to it, MacGyver often carried a roll of duct tape in his back pocket, flattened out to make it fit. Other items he often seemed to have on hand were: an ID card, a watch, strike-anywhere matches, a few paper clips, and a flashlight. It was shown that he also carried a toolbox in his Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
.
Cultural Impact
- Main article: MacGyver in popular cultureMacGyver in popular cultureMacGyver is an American television series that ran from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.- MacGyverisms :MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He creates inventions from simple...
The term "MacGyver" has now become part of the colloquial American English lexicon. When one "MacGyvers" a solution to a problem, one finds a simple yet elegant solution to something using existing resources. This is in contrast to a kludge
Kludge
A kludge is a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together...
, or a Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
, which is generally complicated and problematic.