Madness and Mayhem

They were a mobile Army surgical hospital (MASH) unit three miles from the front during the Korean War. The 4077th boasted some odd bod characters, whose personality peculiarities were to blossom in this pressure cooker environment. Sadly, all was not fiction, as this was a very real war, with very real casualties, and the unit loosely based on the very real MASH unit 8055, as well as the stories taken from other Korean and Vietnam War eras MASH unit doctors and front line medics. The laughs were real ones, always bittersweet, as was the tragedy. It was smile and laugh, or go crazy, which some did.

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You've gotta understand I'm not working on sick people here. I'm working on hurt young people, with essentially healthy bodies that have been insulted by ammunition. -- BJ Hunnicutt
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Season five followed up the trend towards changes we encountered as viewers of season four. As in real life , time moved on and different people came into the lives of the unit staff. This was not done merely to introduce new characters, but was also to give us a fresh look into these now familiar faces. We were previously acquainted with these people, now we were to get to really know them like never before.We gain an insight into them personally, with stories that was remove us from passive, casual viewer, to a more personal, up close comraderie that made us feel like we were their buddies too, facing the war with them side by side.

Up until this season, Hot Lips Houlihan's role was usually confined to that of the snarky and officious major who was head of the nurses, and it was one that seemed to be played for laughs. A main feature of that role was her illicit affair with Major Frank Burns, who was a pathetic little man who loved bossy women, whether it be his wife (called Mommy by him), or Houlihan. Both of these characters bloomed during this season, as we, along with facetious Hawkeye and BJ, got to see the pathos that lay behind the facade of these two, and see them as more than just irritating people they knew. Frank Burns' need to be loved and his deep rooted insecurities from a childhood marred by authoritarian cruelties came to be exposed, and Margaret's secret desire to marry and become a mother as a career Army wife are more fully also explored. Both of these come to light as Houlihan returns from leave a happily engaged woman, and it's not Frank.


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There are so many things I was sure I'd have in my life by now. Every birthday reminds me of what's still not there. This just turned out to be another day in the middle of nowhere. -- Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan
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Likewise sweet Father Mulcahy, up until now a rather small time background character that was just more or less here, comes to the fore. He struggles to understand just what these young men have suffered through, never having actually been to the front, and forbidden to do so. He is very discontent, as until he can truly know what it is they have endured, his words are mere sentiments. He decides to stand up and be counted, and so, he too, goes through transformation as the horrors of war hit him more fully.

Hawkeye himself is of course a major player in the ensemble this season. he is after all, more or less the central character, along with BJ Hunnicutt. Usually its his drinking and womanising, and his desire to go home. His desire to go home has always been that he wants to war itself to end, as he feels violence is never the answer. Enough has been enough, and his pacifist views cause major meltdown in the camp, with wider repercussions for those within the camp and even those outside of it.

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PA ANNOUNCEMENT:
Attention all personnel . Due to a lack of casualties, today's midnight movie will be shown at 9:00 in the morning... And midnight has been cancelled.
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With stories that reached past the surface, and yet maintained the integrity of the feel of the show, the script writers truly struck gold with this season. The fine capabilities of the ensemble cast really shone through it became much more than a comedy drama featuring an Army doctor and his camp mates, but truly about the entire 4077th and those whose lives passed through it. It is a pivotal season, becoming literally the bridge between the series that was and what it was to become in following seasons. This is very fitting, as it is halfway through its production run of ten seasons, and shows it is very much on top of its game.

The quality of the scripts and overall production is a testament to the talent that was to hand, as it continued despite this season's departure of developer Larry Gelbart. Don Reo and Allan Katz could have so easily gotten it wrong, but instead led it towards yet another prime times ratings smash that led to its long held ratings record. Production values continued to be high, with the sets ever more detailed, keeping in step with the more in depth stories of the personnel. Indeed, though the Swamp and the OR still were prominent, we began to see more of the camp and the surrounding make shift village that sprung up about it, and it was all very three dimensional. No mere facades, this was a full scale set, and it shows.

************************************************ *****[adressing Klinger] You're a tribute to man's endurance. A monument to hope in size 12 pumps. I hope you do get out someday. There would be a battalion of men in hoop skirts right behind you. - Dr Sidney Freedman
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Once again, 20th Century Fox did an excellent job transferring these to DVD. We get the unedited versions that first aired, and in the correct order. The prints are nice and clean, without any jerkiness or odd fading. Likewise the mono sound has been digitised, so it too is crisp and clear. Being mono though, those of us with modern TVs and even perhaps with surround sound systems will need to turn the volume up slightly as it will only come through one speaker, so it sounds a bit faint unless you compensate. Likewise, being in its original broadcast form, the laugh track is present, but a quick click at the menu allows you to turn this off, which is a godsend as I find those laugh tracks ruin the timing of the jokes, and often seem inappropriate when irony is in play.

Sadly, the only form of extras is in the form of the little paper insert inside the case, which has little bits trivia, a brief cast list of the major players for this season, and plot synopsis of the 24 episodes that comprised this season. A few cast interviews would be nice, but those were to follow as a special DVD to be purchased after all ten seasons were released on DVD, so no freebies here. I suppose, though, the fact that the case is high quality being made of plastic and not a paper slipcase is supposed to appease us. Well, that and they did not use double sided discs. Whoopee! This is not to say buying it is not worth it. It most definitely is some of the best money you may ever spend on a DVD, being 24 1 hour episodes of pure gold.

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PA ANNOUNCEMENT:
Attention, all personnel... the wounded you've all been waiting for has finally arrived in person... report to the Big Top immediately; the circus is about to begin.
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