World Famous Comics: M*A*S*H - Season Four (Collector's Edition)
M*A*S*H - Season Four (Collector's Edition)
Directed By: Gene Reynolds, Larry Gelbart, Alan Alda, William Jurgensen, Burt Metcalfe Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC Number of Discs: 3 Region Code: 1 Release Date: July 15, 2003 Running Time: 632 minutes Studio: Fox Home Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: September 17, 1972
Amazon.com: One of M*A*S*H's best and must-own seasons marked a turning point for this Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning series. It would be the last for peerless comedy writer Larry Gelbart (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Tootsie), who developed M*A*S*H for television and served as the series' comic voice, conscience, and beating heart. But this old soldier did not just fade away. He concluded his tour with "The Interview," the stunning season finale and a series benchmark. This black-and-white episode, which he wrote and directed, features Clete Roberts interviewing the members of the 4077th (with the notable exception of Loretta Swit's Major Houlihan) about life and death at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (a special citation to William Christopher as Father Mulcahy, who provides the episode's most dramatic moment reflecting on how the doctors warm themselves on the steam that rises from the patients' open wounds).
Reporting for duty in season 4 is Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicutt, a welcome replacement for the departed Wayne Rogers. In the Emmy-winning season opener, "Welcome to Korea," Hawkeye (Alan Alda) takes the overwhelmed B.J. under his wing. By episode's end, he is drunk and addressing the insufferable "head twerp" Major Burns (Larry Linville) as "ferret face." The second episode brings a "Change of Command" with the arrival of Henry Morgan as Col. Potter, "regular Army," but compassionate and capable. The Gelbart years were distinguished by the deft balancing of comedy and drama (M*A*S*H is that rare comedy series that plays better without a laugh track, which this set offers as a viewing option). In the Gelbart-directed episode "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?," a wounded bomber pilot identifies himself as Jesus Christ. Gelbart also directed and co-wrote "Hawkeye," an Alda tour de force in which Hawkeye takes refuge with a non-English-speaking South Korean family after overturning his jeep and sustaining a concussion, requiring him to talk nonstop to keep from losing consciousness. The departure of key creative and ensemble personnel would be enough to fatally wound a lesser series, but M*A*S*H would solider on. --Donald Liebenson
Description: As the fourth season opens, Hawkeye returns from a 3-day R&R pass in Tokyo to find Trapper has been sent Stateside. Hawkeye races to the airport but arrives just as TrapperÂ's plane takes off. Too late to tell his friend good-bye, he in nevertheless just in time to welcome TrapperÂ's replacement, Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. Once Hawkeye gets over his anger and disappointment, he realizes B.J. is a worthy ally and takes the newcomer under his wing. Â"The first thing you learn here, B.J., is that insanity is no worse than the common cold. YouÂ've heard of a military post? Ours is a compost. Only the wounded are new. The tedium is relieved only by the boredom. So pitch in, muddle through, pip-pip. Never mind the reason why, ours is but to do and not let Â'em die.Â"
Then Colonel Sherman T. Potter arrives to take over command of the 4077. Not only are Frank and Hot Lips outraged that Frank has lost his command so quickly, but Hawkeye and B.J. know that a Â"liferÂ" Army commander could spell big trouble for them. But then a single reminiscence from Potter puts the docs at ease: Â"Had a still on Guam in World War II. One night it blew up. ThatÂ's how I got my Purple Heart.Â"
MASH review ^ I LOVE MASH!! I have had the VCR tapes of the complete series. I now am collecting the DVD'S. This one came to me defective and by the time I realized it I'd already thrown away all the information,etc to do a return. What a disappointment!!!
The fourth season of "MASH" succeeds brilliantly, laying important groundwork for the series' eventual legacy ^ The fourth season of "MASH" is the first one that sees huge changes in casting and in tone. The departure of McLean Stevenson was addressed by the show's creative staff in the third season finale, but Wayne Rogers' leaving was a more sudden decision that provoked a different way to look at the series as a whole. Out of this undesirable situation comes "Welcome to Korea," the triumphant hour-long fourth season premiere that galvanized the show in the wake of significant change.
"Welcome to Korea" is a landmark show for the series, being the first of four hour-long premieres in the show's eleven year run(the fifth, sixth, and tenth season premieres also had an extra thirty minutes). The extra time wouldn't mean anything if there weren't a good story to tell, and as the fourth season opens, Hawkeye's on R&R while Trapper has suddenly gone home. The escalating setup features a stunned Hawkeye racing to say goodbye to Trapper with Radar in tow to welcome Trapper's replacement, Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. Played by Mike Farrell, B.J. is a very different sort of character than Trapper, but a wise alteration to keep the show fresh. An easygoing family man, he is a gentle counterpoint to Trapper's playboy. On the way back to the 4077th, Hawkeye, Radar, and B.J. travel through gritty situations that bond them and indoctrinate the fresh-faced newcomer.
Though he is only in the episode as a tease at the end, Harry Morgan's Colonel Sherman Potter is immediately intriguing. In his character's proper introductory episode "Change of Command," Mr. Morgan proves an able replacement for McLean Stevenson. I give Larry Gelbart and his creative staff credit for trying something new. Potter is not Henry Blake. Strict and competent, Potter is also humane, sensible and kind. He is the best of Henry while adding his own gifts to the equation. An Army lifer, he is doing his job the best way he can. An essentially peaceful man with a strong sense of discipline and duty, Col. Sherman Potter is one of the best characters ever created on "MASH" and television as a whole.
The fourth season of "MASH" is the beginning of the maturation of the series. It is the birth of a creative steeliness that helped make "MASH" an all-time television classic.
The Season that Changed Everything ^ Season four introduced two cast members who would become integral to the show. BJ Hunnicutt, and Colonel Potter.
The first episode "Welcome to Korea" was the first hour length MASH episode and rightly so, showing BJ's introduction to war and to Hawkeye Pierce, particularly poignant was the scene in the field after BJ witnessed his first real carnage. The writing was understated and the acting was as perfect as MASH ever got.
I think my favorite other episode was "Deluge" which was a collection of fluffy stateside shorts interspersed with some of the most gripping and gut wrenching MASH scenes ever shot on a night when everything goes wrong and the Chinese are pouring over the borders...this was Larry Gelbart's last season and has some of his finest work.
Some think that MASH ended after season three I felt it just got started 4-8 were a golden era in the show in my opinion...an opinion shared by many.
I hope this helps.
It's M*A*S*H...so it rocks! ^ No downsides, just thoroughly awesome. There are 3 disks in the set along with an episode guide and some advertisments (threw those away). The case is aproximatly an inch and a quarter wide so it is not a space saving case.
First 3 seasons- 5 stars, the rest- 2 stars ^ Since the early '70s, I still watch the first 3 seasons religiously. It was what we wanted. Laughs. HUGE LAUGHS! Then someone decided they wanted to make a statement and turn it into a laughless "award winner." I'll take the laughs everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.
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