M*A*S*H - Season Seven (Collector's Edition)

Rating:
Summary: This is a very good season
Review: Here, in Season Seven, the quality is beginning to fall a bit. Season Six is the last really great season.

Episodes "written and directed by Alan Alda" aren't hurting the show much here yet, but they will in the seasons after this one. The Alda shows seem to be made more for Emmy voters than for the show's regular viewers.

The show is starting to show it's age at this point and it's obvious that they are starting to have to stretch to give the characters something to do. There are still lots of good episodes at this point, but the show is past it's peak where every episode was great.

Some fans insist that the show just got stronger in it's last few seasons, though.

Rating:
Summary: D*E*J*A* V*U*
Review: I'm a season 1-3 guy, but I found most of these Season 7 episodes very amusing -- and I guess they should be, seeing how most of the plots and one-liners had, by this point, started to be recycled (i.e.; I liked "Preventative Medicine" a lot, especially when I saw it several years earlier as "The Ringbanger".)

Rating:
Summary: I'm not a TV program on DVD fan, but this show is excellent!
Review: Issues the 4077th face are timeless. War, separation and divorce, finding the simple comforts on the front line, and keeping your sanity with grace and humor. Alan Alda's Hawkeye, Harry Morgan's Colonel Potter and the rest of the crew are compelling characters whose lives you want to follow. For example, this is the season Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan is getting a divorce from her Lt. Colonel husband. Hawkeye Pierce also loses it when he learns the Peace Talks have been stalled and heads to the front in a 'appropriated' Jeep to give the delegates a piece of his mind. All in all, a very enjoyable viewing experience.

Rating:
Summary: What MASH was becoming at this point of season seven
Review: It was slowly moving away from Alan Alda's ultra-hit Hawkeye characterization and a very funny, intelligent show to one much less funny show and an ensemble of fine supporting players wrongly being given the lead storylines of the show. In otherwords, say, Klinger was great as a transvestite coming in and out of eps, fine enough as the new comopany clerk but when the show got to be more than one quarter about him it was too much in a downward direction.

Rating:
Summary: The Decline and Fall of the M*A*S*H Empire
Review: Sadly, the seventh season of M*A*S*H is where this series really starts taking a nosedive. One could argue that it was in decline before this season, but as a certified (or is it certifiable?) M*A*S*H addict since elementary school my opinion is that this is when some of the episodes become nearly unwatchable. Granted, it's not nearly as bad as the four seasons Radar did not appear in (seasons 8-11), but there's a reason why, when M*A*S*H is televised in syndication, you'll see far more episodes from the first six seasons than you will from this point on. Although there are still some good episodes in season 7, this is where things start tilting too far (in my opinion, anyway) away from comedy and toward sentimentality. It's also where the attempts at comedy start getting awfully lame. I'm saving the one- and two-star ratings for seasons 8 and on: That's when things REALLY became unbearable.

Rating:
Summary: Keep 'em comin' FOX!
Review: Season seven includes some of my favorites from the Winchester-Potter era like Our Finest Hour Part 1 & 2, Point of View(A very interesting episode where everything is scene from the point of view of a wounded soldier who has undergone a tracheotomy), Dear Sis(A good Christmas episode), Hot Lips is Back in Town, and a Night at Rosies. The attempt, here, was to find some new scenery for the show's faithful viewers to look at. Two fine examples of this are the excellent episodes "C*A*V*E" and "A Night at Rosie's". By this time, the relations between the character of Hot Lips and Hawkeye had evolved far away from the season 1 period. Remember in season 6 the two had a romantic interlude in the abandoned hut under fire! This is also the last full season that featured Radar.

Rating:
Summary: A Final Season for Walter "Radar" O'Reilly
Review: Season Seven was Gary Burghoff's last full season, although there are a few in this season that he does not appear in. For his last season, none of the episodes really focus on Radar. The next episode to really feature him is his early season eight departure in the two-parter "Goodbye Radar". The rest of the case gets great material this season; Klinger especially gets the focus in some of these seasons episodes.

As to the packaging, the discs are still the boring "army green" color. That was OK for maybe one set, but they now done for seasons 4 to 7. The first three seasons were packaged far more attractively, which have the beautiful color photographic artwork. I liked these better because, not only were they more attractive, but it made it easy to instantly identify which disc was which.

The packaging itself could use some work. For example, the outside of the case should list what episodes are on each disc; this would make it much easier and faster to locate a favorite episode. The booklet is good, and somewhat better than previous ones in its content and episode synopsis, but could still be better. Some more information would be nice. For example, a little more spotlights on guest stars and other tidbits of trivia would add to its value.

As in all previous seasons, there are no extras at all. I hope Fox adds this to future releases. I'd like to see cast interviews, bloopers, and some behind the seasons content. You still have the option of watching sans laugh track, which is nice (Alan Alda hated laugh tracks!).

M*A*S*H itself is great! The picture and sound are better than ever, and what a joy it is to see scenes that for years have been edited out for syndication! This season, Dr. Winchester's character is expanded upon in some classic episodes like "They
Call the Wind Korea", and "Major Ego". This season also has the outstanding episodes "Point of View", in which all the action is seen through the eyes of a wounded soldier, and the season finale "The Party" where the gang's families get together in NYC for a reunion to talk about those whom they love and miss. Also included here is "Our finest Hour" parts 1 and 2. You have the option of watching it as one hour-long episode, as it originally aired on October 9, 1978. Unfortunately, the original masters of this episode had apparently deteriorated to the point of making them unsuitable for conversion to DVD, so this episode was done using the copies that had originally been used for use by syndicated stations. I don't think this episode is completely intact, but it doesn't seem to be missing more than perhaps a minute or so. It has flash backs of both Henry and Trapper, the only episode that has the entire cast represented.

Season eight arrives in June 2005, and season nine likely in December 2005. At this pace, the series should be complete by December 2006 with the release of season 11. I don't know about you, but this release schedule of a season every six months is much too slow for me. I'd prefer to see it changed to every four months, but it doesn't seem like that will happen.

Season seven it a definite winner with not a bad episode in the bunch! Great comedy mixed with poignant drama. No show ever did it better nor is likely to be repeated as well in the future.


Rating:
Summary: An enduring treat ...
Review: So many of the old comedies are now dated and the humor is harder for current audiences to appreciate but MASH is one of the rare exceptions to this. It's a show that people can watch over and over again and enjoy for its humor, its drama and the occasional statements that the shows made. Often, historical pieces suffer when modern values are written into the dialogue and MASH certainly had its share of this but, for the most part, this is what made the characters of the show so enjoyable. Over the 12 seasons it ran, we were able to watch the members of the 4077th grow and change as they faced their own personal trials mixed with the hardships of war. The writers didn't hit the reset button after every episode. The continuity was maintained well.

MASH is now one of only two shows that I continue to buy on DVD as the seasons become available. It's an affordable collection that I know I will enjoy again and again. Season 7 is a great addition to the collection. While it's lacking in the extra features that other DVD collections offer, this seems fitting somehow. The show can stand on its own and I doubt many of the original cast would be interested in doing the volume of commentaries that this show would require. David Ogden Stiers (Winchester) is particularly known for not wanting to talk about MASH and often refers to it as "the green show". After 20 years of hearing the same questions again and again, an accomplished actor can be forgiven for wanting to move on.

This season continues to offer the fine quality remastering of the original episodes with one glaring exception. "Our Finest Hour" was a flashback episode in which Clete Roberts returns to the 4077th to interview the staff. The flashback scenes are almost painful to watch because of their poor quality. The intro screen offers a disclaimer that the original masters had degraded to the point where they were unwatchable and other means were used to restore them. This explanation doesn't cover it, though, because these same scenes appear in other episodes on the previous DVD sets in excellent condition. I would have hoped that Fox would have been a bit more resourceful in reconstructing this episode.

Otherwise, it's another fine season of MASH on DVD and I look forward to seeing the rest of the seasons as they become available.



Rating:
Summary: Same as Seasons One thru Six--Magnificent!!
Review: There is little to add to any previous praises for this set, but that never stopped me before. MASH is without a doubt my favorite TV series ever. I put it above "The Andy Griffith Show" and "All in the Family" (other personal favorites), as one the finest sitcoms ever put on TV, and there are many fine ones.

The movie was a tremendous picture, IMHO, and the TV series was even better. Why? Many reasons including cast, writing, chance to expand on the characters more each week, and overall just plain great TV. I won't list all the characters and bore you with stuff you probably know better than I, but it suffices to say, the series was put together with complimenting, professional personalities. I have seen every episode, in reruns--several times over, even before this series of DVDs began to come out. Each time I watch one, I almost feel as if I am back in very familiar surroundings with close friends. Weird?? I suppose, but each time I watch any episode, even though I have seen it several times before, I enjoy it more.

My only complaint is, and many others have said the same thing, it is taking a very long time to get the series out--almost six months or more between each of the seasons. I am an old man and would like to get them all before I am gone. Please! I hope they don't discontinue this series before completion, as sometimes happens.

Guess no one paid any attention to to my plea for getting these out sooner in my previous reviews of this series. I imagine my plea will go unheeded this time too. Didn't really expect they would, but worth a try. This is a great series--go for it!

Rating:
Summary: MASH Season 7
Review: This is one of the best ever. All the seasons are good quality because of new technology, and last almost forever. I enjoy DVDs very ,uch and they have these great built in features. Never ever have to rewind first and forwarding is really simple. OK, so DVDs are they way tp go, but back to the series. I enjoyed this year because of the new actors. I like BJ over Frank Burns, and CCol. Potter over Lt. Col. Blake. I also realized when making the DVDs that when you advance the chapters, each one may not always start at the beginning of the scene, but rather at a point of special interest, and lets admit it, we don't want to see credits, or waste 2 minutes of someone walking up a hill before they start talking. Each chapter marker, using the example above shows him walking 5 seconds and then starts talking. I have all seven seasons and love them all. My concern is the last two years. There will be one disk less, as there are fewer shows those years. I hope they DO NOT put both seasons together as one. Though cost effective, it would be a little ,ore money, maybe 40 dollars, but a few buying for the first time may not buy them, and also I enjoy keeping thing in order, and catagorized. If you Like MASH then buy them all. It is something that will last can be past down to children and grandchildren. If you love MASH you will love the DVDs and they are much better then from the television. Those that have sound systems hooked up, close your eyes and listen, the sound of shells going off, is amazing. Like being there. One last thing, You are here at Amazon, reading this of course, and you may be tempted from going else ware to buy this, or anything for that matter, I want to say DON'T!!! Amazon has been a wonderful company, and I have had 2 orders with problems. I have ordered over 1000 times from them for work and pleaseure so 2 times are really great odds. The 2 orders were damaged in transit and not there fault, but they took care of me right away. They sent new Items to me next day air at no charge and also gave me a 5 dollar credit for my trubles. I am not saying they will always do this, but if a company care that much, pay the extra buck or two. If you ever need to return or have a question, they will be there for you. I ordered once from a company, that we will call B & N. Took 3 months for a credit on a lost item. I had to wait 30 days before I could call them. They had to investagate, and they told me they had issued a credit that day but it took 45 days from the credit date to show up at my bank, as I checked evey day. (I work at the bank) Please, please, buy MASH, you will enjoy it, and since your here, buy it from Amazon..You wont regret it.