THE MOVIE

Season 4 of the popular television series M*A*S*H sees the introduction of two new characters at the 4077th, after the tragic departure of Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson) and the rather sudden leaving of Hawkeye’s closest friend Trapper John (Wayne Rogers). Preoccupied with the sudden departure of Trapper, and disappointed that he was unable to say goodbye to him personally, Hawkeye doesn’t take much notice of Hunnicutt’s arrival, but it’s not long before they both hit it off, and Mike Farrell fits into the show so perfectly that it’s as if BJ had always been there.

Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) takes over as camp commander and upon arrival is taken aback at the lack of discipline in the camp. He immediately begins laying down the ground rules on how he expects the camp to run and the conduct of his officers, however when he observes the way the unit operates and the exceptional medical skills of both Hawkeye and BJ, he discovers that the troop functions very effectively when the circumstances call for mutual support and encouragement towards one another and their numerous wounded patients.

Click the following links to check out my previous reviews of Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3.

Yet another excellent season of M*A*S*H which progressively follows the development of two new characters in an assortment of amusing and poignant episodes.

Disc 1

Welcome to Korea
Change of Command
It Happened One Night
The Late Captain Pierce
Hey, Doc
The Bus
Dear Mildred
The Kids

Disc 2

Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler
Dear Peggy
Of Moose and Men
Soldier of the Month
The Gun
Mail Call Again
The Price of Tomato Juice
Dear Ma

Disc 3

Der Tag
Hawkeye
Some 38th Parallels
The Novocaine Mutiny
Smilin' Jack
The More I See You
Deluge
The Interview

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The series is presented in 1.33:1 full screen format.

As I have mentioned in my reviews for the previous 3 seasons of the series, the video quality does vary quite considerably and is directly due to the quality of the source material.

It may start to sound like I am repeating myself when it comes to the quality of the video transfer, however there really isn’t much difference in picture quality between this season and the previous two or three. The image is always generally pretty clear, with colours rendered quite naturally with only a few scenes looking a little washed out. Film to video artefacts are frequent, and film grain is evident throughout the series..but hey, that’s M*A*S*H!

Audio:

The audio is presented in both Dolby Digital English and French mono.

The audio presented here is pretty much the same as was on offer in the season 1,2 and 3 sets.

Not really much to say here. The transfer serves it’s purpose by delivering adequate audio to tell each story. The dialogue is generally pretty comprehensible, with all other sounds sufficiently distinct.

THE EXTRAS

The option to watch each episode without a laugh track is the only extra included on these discs.

SUMMARY

Another season of this landmark television series that just gets better and better.