M*A*S*H (MASH)-Season 5 (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	596:43
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Gene Reynolds Alan Alda William Jurgensen Larry Gelbart
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Alan Alda Loretta Swit Larry Linville Larry Burghoff Jamie Farr Mike Farrell Harry Morgan William Christopher
Case	?
RPI	$44.95	Music	Johnny Mandel

    Those crazy military medicos at the 4077th M*A*S*H are back at it again, making fun of the Korean War in an attempt to preserve their sanity in a time of insanity. Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda) is slowly losing his grip, Captain “B.J.” Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) is trying to cope with his distance from his wife and daughter, Commanding Officer Colonel Sherman T. Potter (Harry Morgan) is playing peacekeeper between the various factions of the camp, Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) becomes even more self-centred and obnoxious, head nurse Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit) discovers love and respect, Colonel Potter’s aide Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff) starts growing up, base Chaplain Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) finally makes the credits as a regular cast member, and the man who wears ladies fashion looking for a Section 8 discharge, Corporal Klinger (Jamie Farr), finds new and more interesting ways to prove his insanity.

    Season 5 of M*A*S*H keeps on rolling with the following ...

Disc 1

1. Bug Out: Part I & II (48:02)

    As the frontlines of the war approach, the 4077th is called on to pull out. But Hawkeye, Margaret and Radar stay behind to look after a kid with a spinal injury who can’t be moved.

2. Margaret’s Engagement (23:35)

    Jealousy dominated Frank’s life when Margaret comes back from R’n’R in Tokyo with a fiancé.

3. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind (24:01)

    Hawkeye is blinded while trying to fix a heater in the middle of winter.

4. Lt. Radar O’Reilly (23:36)

    Radar gets promoted to Lt. after a bet at a card game but finds that the burdens of command aren’t all they are cracked up to be. (This is the 100th episode.)

5. The Nurses (24:05)

    The 4077th looks a little different from the nurses' perspective, particularly the relationship between Major Hoolihan and her subordinates.

6. The Abduction of Major Hoolihan (23:36)

    Klinger forgets to let the C/O know that Margaret has gone to help a lady give birth which sparks a camp-wide Major hunt with intelligence officer Colonel Flagg called in to investigate.

7. Dear Sigmund (24:05)

    In a time of self doubt, Dr. Freedman visits the camp for some unofficial R’n’R and to write a letter to Sigmund Freud expressing his concerns.

8. Mulcahy’s War (23:50)

    Father Mulcahy begins to doubt his ability to counsel the wounded when he has never been on the front lines himself.

Disc 2

9. The Korean Surgeon (24:04)

    A POW turns out to be a surgeon who Hawkeye and B.J. decide to make a valuable member of the 4077th.

10. Hawkeye Get Your Gun (24:06)

    Potter and Hawkeye are caught in enemy territory on their way back from helping out at a Korean hospital.

11. The Colonel’s Horse (23:33)

    When Potter goes to Tokyo on R’n’R, the surgeons have to perform some veterinary medicine after his horse develops colic.

12. Exorcism (24:04)

    A series of bad accidents at the 4077th leads some members to believe that the site is cursed.

13. Hawk’s Nightmare (23:34)

    Hawkeye is beginning to experience sleep walking and night terrors. Is he cracking up? Or can Dr Freedman help him?

14. The Most Unforgettable Characters (24:04)

    Radar has enrolled himself in a DIY writing school, much to the bemusement and frustration of others. At the same time, Hawkeye and B.J. stage a fight with each other as a birthday present to Frank.

15. 38 Across (23:33)

    In order to solve the last item of a crossword puzzle, Hawkeye inadvertently brings an Admiral to the base.

16. Ping Pong (23:51)

    The local 4077th ping-pong champion goes to Seoul to buy a ring for his fiancé with some money loaned from Hawkeye and B.J. and then just disappears. Meanwhile, an old friend of Colonel Potter wants to go back to the front to get his combat promotion.

Disc 3

17. End Run (24:05)

    A young black football all-star is wounded and must have his leg amputated. With his football career over, he insists that he wants to die.

18. Hanky Panky (24:00)

    B.J.’s relationship with his wife is put to the test when he tries to help a nurse friend who has just been dumped.

19. Hepatitis (23:50)

    When Father Mulcahy is found to have hepatitis, the whole camp must be checked out. At the same time, Hawkeye is incensed by the news that his only medical competition from his hometown in Maine is now a highly successful surgeon.

20. The General’s Practitioner (23:35)

    A three-star general is looking for a private practitioner and has set his eye on Hawkeye.

21. Movie Tonight (24:04)

    While trying to watch My Darling Clementine, the screening is constantly interrupted when the film tears. To fill in the time while Klinger fixes the film, the crew of the 4077th make up their own fun.

22. Souvenirs (24:04)

    Hawkeye and B.J. decide to take action when too many of the wounded are found to have accidents relating to souvenir hunting.

23. Post Op (23:51)

    The 4077th is running out of blood, and with a new offensive underway and casualties beginning to mount, the situation is getting out of control.

24. Margaret’s Marriage (23:38)

    Margaret’s fiancé shows up in camp and insists they get married immediately. While the boys throw a buck’s night, Frank must come to terms with losing Margaret forever and covering up his own relationship.
 

    Season 5 is not part of the champagne early seasons, and not quite the midpoint crossover. However, where it stands out is in its episodes allowing for character development rather than the often ludicrous but sometimes cheap gags of previous seasons. The characters other than Hawkeye are given opportunities to discover their humanity, and some episodes – such as The Nurses, and Hanky Panky – were more serious than they were funny.

    If there is one fault in this season it is the persistent interrelation between Frank and Margaret in the middle episodes where they just seem to walk through the same tired shtick like a couple of wheels caught in the mud. It was only towards the end that the writers managed to give even Frank a personality beyond the expected, and Larry Linville’s last few episodes were fantastic.

    Despite this shortcoming, M*A*S*H – Season 5 is definitely a worthy addition to the collection.

Video

    Presented in its original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1, Full Frame, this transfer is not bad considering its age, but is not especially good either. Anyone who has caught a couple of the reruns on Channel 7 lately will have seen how clean the image is now that they are not using the same old tapes. However, for some reason the same clarity has not been brought to the DVD transfer.

    The image is very grainy, but at least it is sharp and fairly clear. Shadow detail is acceptable, but night shots are even worse grain-wise and the dark shadows sometimes have a tendency to go a bit bluish. Colour is not greatly saturated, and could have done with a bit more intensity, but the balance was good.

    As with previous seasons, there is dot-crawl in the credits and the background, a little background aliasing that is not too bad, and some minor cross colouration.

    There were less film artefacts than in the Season 4 transfer and the credits sequences were again the major offenders, with flecks of dirt and dust and the odd hair being quite noticeable.

    Subtitles are available in English and French. They are white with a grey border, and do not substantially deviate from the dialogue.

    The dual-layer pause is between the episodes, with four episodes per layer.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in French 2.0 Dolby Mono with the laugh track, English 2.0 Dolby Mono with the laugh track, and English 2.0 Mono with the laugh track off.

    My own preference was to watch the episodes without the laugh track, but this is likely to be subjective. I checked both tracks thoroughly, though.

    The reason I prefer the laugh track off option is because the laugh track often interferes with the dialogue. Although dialogue is always clear, with the mono soundfield limitations, another element added in there tends to drown out the soundfield.

    With the laugh track off, the dialogue comes through nice and clearly, with only a few source-related sync issues.

    The monaural source tends to create a hollow or ‘tinny’ sound field sometimes, particularly where sound effects were involved.

    There is no surround information or subwoofer use. Given what can be done even with mono origins, as evidenced by the recent remixes of the soundtrack for Star Trek: The Original Series, this is a little disappointing.

    The French track is very dialogue heavy due to the dubbing process.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    All menus are presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, and are silent.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The R1 version is coded to R1, and is formatted in NTSC colour format. Other than that, these sets are identical.

    M*A*S*H – Season 5 is one of the better character-driven seasons of the show, and the final for Frank ‘Ferret Face’ Burns.

    Video is good but a little disappointing in light of some fantastic remasters that have been done of shows even older than this.

    The audio track is clear but still mired in its monaural origins.

    With a complete lack of extras, here’s hoping the final season has something really special.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall