1997 Hawaii Five-O Pilot
The following is a summary of the 1997 pilot episode for a "new" Hawaii Five-O series. The original script, which underwent major renovations (see bottom of the page) is linked here:
• TEASER • ACT ONE • ACT TWO • ACT THREE • ACT FOUR • TAG (Finale) According to a source at CBS at the time: "The pilot was produced and given limited viewing amongst CBS exectives and staff in TV City. It was considered unairable (completely missing the point and flavor of the original)." Karen Rhodes, author of a book on Five-O, also gives some insight into why the pilot was never shown.
TEASER
At the "Lolani Palace" McGarrett, who is now Governor, is giving a speech commending Danny Williams and Five-O on their efficient performance. McGarrett talks about his granddaughter being kidnapped and held for ransom and how a friend of his from the FBI, Nick Irons (Russell Wong), helped get her back. He is about to present a medal to Irons when a mysterious black car drives over the grass and showers the crowd with bullets. McGarrett is seriously wounded, Danno is killed. [In the final version, there is no McGarrett. It is Williams who is Governor and makes the speech and is wounded.]
ACT ONE
Irons and Jimmy Xavier Berk (Gary Busey), a Hawaiian who was second in command at Five-O after Danno, have to deal with members of the old Five-O team who arrive at the office to help find the assassins -- Chin Ho (!!), Kono and Truck. Lt.-Governor Oka (Esmond Chung) appoints both Berk and Irons to be co-directors of Five-O. A slug taken from Danno is revealed to be of Russian manufacture. An anonymous phone call directs the team to check out the house of Napoleon DeCastro (Branscombe Richmond), head of the local mob.
ACT TWO
The Five-O team, which includes Nick, Jimmy, Rellica Sun (Elsie Sniffen, later Kayla Blake) and Ken Vassey (Steven Flynn), arrive at DeCastro's palatial estate. They find the gun that fired the bullet in a drawer beside his bed. DeCastro is grilled at headquarters, while Jimmy talks to Shana Dennis (Natasha Pavlovich), tutor to DeCastro's son. Nick and Jimmy are skeptical that DeCastro is responsible for the assassinations. DeCastro is released.
ACT THREE
Chin Ho, Kono, Truck, Che Fong and Ben (the latter two in voice-overs) all help tail DeCastro to a meeting of local gangsters. Jimmy gets the lab to check Shana's fingerprints. They discover she is a Russian operative working with a renegade KGB Colonel. McGarrett takes a turn for the worse in the hospital.
ACT FOUR
Nick and Jimmy meet with DeCastro and tell him that he's being set up by the Russians. They do a "break-57-varieties-of- civil-rights" number on Shana to get her to cooperate. She reveals where her boss, Colonel Yodin (Achilles Gacis), is hiding -- in a deserted sugar plantation [shades of one of the worst Five-O episodes from the original series ever -- A Bird in Hand]. Five-O arrives at this location and with the help of 15 HPD cops, overcomes resistance by Yodin and his men.
TAG (Finale)
Lt.-Governor Oka appoints Nick to be director of Five-O while McGarrett recovers (which could be quite some time). Nick later tells Jimmy that he wants Jimmy to work with him as unofficial co-head of Five-O.
Click here to watch the entire show.