#this was for the 4077 mobile army surgical hospital
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very good powerpoint party last night
#this was from my slide where i rank fictional hospitals by annoying it would be to deal with their insurance departments#this was for the 4077 mobile army surgical hospital
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I made this edit of getting airlifted to the 4077 after getting wounded. I love audio
#audio#MASH#mash 4077#m.a.s.h#m*a*s*h#korea#korean war#mobile army surgical hospital#bell 47#Youtube
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I'm going to gush about a very old character (as in the original run of the show is very old, not the character himself).
Hello Tumblr! I remembered the finale of M*A*S*H the other day, as you do, and it just hit me as to why I fucking love Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce so much.
If you don't know this character/show, dw, I'm keeping things under the cut so you can scroll away :)
If you want to read on anyway, warning for infant death.
So, Hawkeye :)
My goodness, this man is SO well written. I need to explain to you why I find him so endearing.
He's a jokester, that much is obvious right off the bat, so he pranks others and can get a dig at others quite well, but he never does it maliciously. Well, sure, he's an ass to Frank and Charles most especially and will absolutely take any and every opportunity to fuck with them, but he's not out to actively harm anyone.
Which is nice, since he's the Head Surgeon. You'd like to think that your Head Surgeon isn't a serial killer.
He's a ladies man. A chronic ladies man. He makes a pass at almost every single nurse at camp - especially Houlihan - and that's iconic about him. But d'you wanna know what's even more iconic?
As soon as he finds out the girl he's seeing is married or in a relationship, he'll stop. Sometimes he's even outright asked if they're taken, then he'll make a joke and move on if they are.
Hawkeye isn't a marriage breaker.
And I love that about him. He doesn't want to come between couples; it doesn't matter if the marriage/relationship is a happy one or not, he's not about to go and break up a marriage/relationship for his own personal gain. He's just not that kind of guy.
Any time kids come into it, he's immediately protective. He's not going to show a child more pain and suffering when they've already been brought through a warzone and are probably orphaned now and also had to have major surgery.
I mean, that's his whole thing in the finale. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!
Quick reminder for context: in 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' we begin with Hawk away from the M*A*S*H and in a mental hospital for some reason. We (the audience) don't know why, but it's clear that everyone else (the characters) do know. Hawk doesn't think he should be there and seems pretty miserable about it, but then we learn why he's there - a baby died.
And here's the kicker: Hawk blames himself. He thinks it's his fault that the baby is dead. Why?
Well, at first he remembers the event as everyone having a fun day out for once and Hawk in the back calling out for a bottle of something alcoholic for a guy he's sat with.
Then it turns out it's not for fun. The guy he's with is bleeding out, he needs a bottle of either the clear stuff (idk what that would be, I'm not a medical student) or a bottle of blood for a quick transfusion.
What's great about how this scene is shot is that, at first, it stays with the upbeat and happy tone from Hawk, but then the deadly silent and morbid passing of the bottle, and then it shifts to the darker tone.
Now, that's not the baby scene.
Here comes the baby scene.
Hawkeye at first remembers a woman with a chicken when the bus ran into enemy territory and everyone had to be quiet. The chicken wasn't quiet and so he asked the woman if she could get the chicken to be quiet. And it was. It just stopped.
Sidney asks about it - "It stopped?"
"Yeah, it stopped."
Then we cut back to the woman at the back of the bus. The crying woman at the back of the bus. And the still bundle in her arms.
It was her baby. Her little baby that was also crying just a few seconds ago. The noise that Hawkeye wanted to make stop because they'd be caught with all these casualties and innocent people and he's stressed, ok?
That baby is dead. The mum had to smother her own child so they wouldn't be found. And Hawkeye is distraught over this, because he's the one that told her to.
Ugh. I can't even. This man has been through SO much and has seen death and destruction daily, so much so that he's basically numb to it at this point, but a baby dying is too much and he just breaks-
He's in a high stress situation 24/7, it makes sense that eventually the rock of the 4077th would crack. He couldn't say goodbye to Trapper, Henry died on his flight home, Radar left them to go back home to his mum - Hawk has the friends he still has, of course, but he's only human and a human can only take so much.
It's when Sidney deems him well enough to at least go back to the camp that Hawkeye gets his next challenge. Wounded have arrived and they really need him to help out, so he does and it's going pretty well for the most part (y'know, as well as meatball surgery can go) until a child comes across his table. A little girl, probably no older than 6 or 7. Everyone in the room goes quiet, though they're still working since they can't exactly pause while elbow deep in someone's guts, and Colonel Potter (or BJ, I can't remember which) asks if Hawk's ok. BJ (or Colonel Potter) says he can take her. Sidney watches on as Hawkeye takes a second, looks this girl over, then nods.
He can do it. Sidney smiles - his job is done.
Sure, it's hard, but Hawkeye can work, and that's all he needs to know.
Hawkeye, the man who loves a joke and loves messing around with his friends.
Hawkeye, the man who chases after every 'single' woman but not the ones in relationships.
Hawkeye, the man who plays pranks on the whole camp but is kind hearted enough to never cause actual harm because he believes in the Hippocratic Oath so. strongly.
Hawkeye, the man who cares for the children that come into the M*A*S*H despite having none of his own because those are children and they should be anywhere but a war.
Hawkeye, the man who sticks around the longest out of everyone (except Margaret since she's there as long as he is) and can always find something to smile at even though he's always wanting to leave and never does.
Hawkeye, the man who takes his job very seriously and gets angry when other doctors try to come in and flaunt their fancy-schmancy skills that mean nothing out there.
Hawkeye, the man who takes offense at generals who think they can change something when they don't know what the fuck goes on at all.
Hawkeye. The man I would love to be friends with.
I love him so much. I love the writing of him so much. He's just...he's Hawkeye. And I love him.
#long post#wel rambles#m*a*s*h#4077th#mash 4077#m*a*s*h 4077#benjamin franklin hawkeye pierce#hawkeye#(not the marvel character. sorry)#hawkeye pierce#btw. m*a*s*h means mobile army surgical hospital :)#tw infant death#cw infant death#i love him i love him i love him i love him#he's just so.#him#y'know?#fandom#old fandom#i love this show so much
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The M*A*S*H Time Loop
This was pretty much just a stream of consciousness writing. I haven't looked at it much since I wrote it a couple of days ago but I wanted to post it anyway.
The sitcom M*A*S*H ran from 1972 to 1983 and captured households around America. The series follows M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit 4077 through the Korean War. Knowledgable readers might have noticed that the Korean War lasted 3 years from June 1950 to July 1953 while the M*A*S*H series ran for 11 years from September 1972 to February 1983. This significant timeline difference created an interesting effect on M*A*S*H that led to many fans discussing the ‘M*A*S*H time loop theory.’ As the name would imply, this fan theory posits that the events of M*A*S*H do not take place during the Korean War as we know it, but instead that the show follows the 4077th as they are stuck in an endless time loop and are unable to escape the war.
Clearly, the timeline of M*A*S*H is a bit difficult to line up with the events of the actual Korean War due to the 8-year difference. Characters such as BJ Hunnicutt and Radar O’Riley were on the sitcom for 8 years but canonically it is difficult to say if they were meant to have spent the same amount of time in Korea. While the episodes were aired weekly, it is impossible to say if most of the episodes were meant to take place a week apart. There are several episodes for which we know this is not the case, for example, the season 9 episode ‘A War for All Seasons’ begins with the 4077th ringing in the new year and follows several key events throughout 1951 and ends on New Year’s Day 1952. This seems to imply that the previous 8 seasons all take place in 1950. It could also imply that subsequent episodes all take place in 1952 or later, though many assume that some episodes show events that were not seen in ‘A War for All Seasons.’ On the opposite end of the spectrum, several episodes take place over a matter of hours. The season 8 episode ‘Life Time’ happens essentially in real time as Hawkeye has only 20 minutes to complete an arterial graft on a wounded soldier. These and other episodes make creating a sensible timeline for the M*A*S*H series an incredibly complicated process. Trapper John leaves in the first episode of season 4, does this mean that he was only in Korea for 6 months? As mentioned earlier, Radar and BJ were on M*A*S*H for the same number of years, but Radar leaves before ‘A War for All Seasons,’ does this mean that Radar was enlisted for a year or less while BJ was present for 2 years? Does it matter how long any of these characters were engaged in the Korean War? The time loop theory certainly says no.
The nature of all sitcom television lends itself very well to the concept of a time loop. The show almost always resets itself at the end of every episode and it begins the next episode in essentially the same place. The order of the episodes often doesn’t matter. Everything is always happening, nothing happens, it doesn’t matter. In M*A*S*H specifically, one of the core themes of the show is the cyclical nature of war. It intentionally pokes fun at the repetition, the monotony with lines like ‘the future’s been canceled by the war department’ and ‘Father, what do you think of purgatory so far?’ as well as with aspects such as the omnipresent PA voice. Hawkeye Pierce becomes the main focus of the show and the audience's lens in many ways and as such is one of the easiest introductions to this concept. Hawkeye complains about being stuck nearly every episode and often phrases it as though he is not just stuck as a surgeon in a war zone, but as if his whole life is stuck, as if his past and future are all contained within the war. Another character giving credence to this theory is Radar O’Riley. Radar earned his nickname due to his uncanny ability to sense incoming wounded before anyone else and to predict what his commanding officers will ask for before they open their mouths. While this is certainly a fun gag for the show, many think it shows that Radar is aware, consciously or unconsciously, of the time loop. Radar is aware of when the choppers will arrive and when Henry needs files because it has all happened before and will happen again. Many fans also point out that this could be the reason for Radar’s reaction to Henry being sent home. It is more than just realizing that he will be left in Korea while the man he has come to see as a father figure goes home to his family. On some level, Radar remembers that Henry will not make it home; he knows he can not stop it. Of course one of the biggest pieces of evidence against the idea of a time loop is the fact that it does end. Everyone goes home in the end, however, this does not entirely disprove the theory. Many pieces of media that focus on the concept of time loops end with our protagonists escaping. But they can not escape entirely. Though all of our characters leave Korea by the end of the series, those who are still alive have not left completely. They will be stuck remembering this time forever.
While the original intention of M*A*S*H certainly was not to tell a story about a group of army doctors, nurses, and enlisted men trapped in a time loop, that is in many ways the story we got. It is the best showcase of the cycle, the monotonous horror of war in modern media. The only changes come with tragedy, death, or abandonment. It is a time loop in the only ways that matter.
#mash#m*a*s*h#mash 4077#m*a*s*h 4077#mash time loop#mash timeloop#time loop#timeloop#time loop theory#timeloop theory#hawkeye pierce#hawkeye#benjamin franklin pierce#bj hunnicutt#beej#radar o'reilly#walter o'reilly#trapper john mcintyre#trapper john#trapper mcintyre#trapper#mash writings#mash essay#mash theory#henry blake#sherman potter#margaret houlihan#mash analysis#m*a*s*h analysis
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Alright as promised, it's: Time, for my
KOREAN WAR F*CKING TIMELINE
This is something I've been working on off & on while watching M*A*S*H these past months. It began as just notes taken from the Wikipedia page "Korean War," then briefly served as a log for all the incongruous mentions of dates or time passage on the show, before I cheerfully abandoned that for something that interested me far more: the M*A*S*H AU where it's set in the Korean War [laugh track].
This is my vision:
June 25, 1950: The conflict known in the U.S. as The Korean War breaks out. First major U.S. troop engagement is in early July. By August, North Korea has taken Seoul, and South Korea and their allied United Nations forces have been pushed south and east nearly into the sea, holding just a small area being called the Pusan Perimeter.
Ten months before the first episode of M*A*S*H, in September, 1950, Army fanboy Frank Burns and draftee surgeon Benjamin Franklin Pierce, both stated to have been there “since almost the beginning” and dealing with each other “forever,” are dispatched to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to provide medical aid during the push back out of the Pusan Perimeter, under greatly increased tank and air support. They are under the command of a military doctor we don’t know, but definitely regular Army. It is basically a perpetual bug out: U.S. forces keep advancing north, north, north, take Seoul back and keep going on into North Korea, making it almost to the Yalu River bordering China. Then, on October 19th: China joins the war, and promptly starts bludgeoning them right back south again.
In mid-November, 1950, facing this transformed situation with the Chinese Army’s involvement, the previous CO is taken off to another unit, and I Corps sets up civilian doctor Henry Blake in charge of the floating MASH 4077 unit still being tossed around on the shores of the war, inheriting two very differently rattled surgeons, and packed by the Army in his carry-on luggage, a young clerk fresh out of high school named Walter O’Reilly. That December sees very heavy fighting. It’s a hard winter. On January 4th, 1951, Chinese & North Korean forces re-capture Seoul.
In the first few months of the new year, the 4077 is still mostly just trying to stay above water as the line swings back and forth, but are starting to settle somewhat, geographically, near the 38th parallel. I Corps starts further filling out the unit; in early February, 1951, Margaret Houlihan and Francis Mulcahy arrive together, as she mentions, a career Army head nurse and a volunteer chaplain. On March 14th, the South Korean allies re-take Seoul again, for the final time. In their joy, Margaret and Frank, instantly smitten, officially make it unofficial.
April, 1951: President Truman relieves General MacArthur, and John McIntyre and Maxwell Klinger arrive, with the wildflowers. After the long winter, Henry looks at Hawkeye's shadowed eyes brightening as he and Trapper grin worryingly at each other, and actually breathes a sigh of relief. The fighting is very active that spring, but the casualties are mostly on the North Korean side.
July, 1951, start of the two-year ‘stalemate’ period, in which both armies just kept shooting at each other on a line that hardly moved, and the beginning of the television show M*A*S*H.
Nine months later, another April, 1952: both Henry and Trapper are taken. Henry had been in Korea just under a year and a half; Trapper, as Hawkeye says, lived with him for a year. New (very new) doctor BJ Hunnicutt and two-war veteran CO Sherman T. Potter arrive on their heels. When baby BJ meets a bedraggled Hawkeye Pierce at the Kimpo airfield, he has been a surgeon in the 4077 for 19 months.
Three months later it’s July, 1952, and for Frank Burns, it’s finally the end of the line. He was there two months shy of two years. In the heat of the summer, Charles Emerson Winchester arrives to replace him, for the second half of the two-year period the show covers, and the final year of the war. Mapped onto this timeline, Margaret’s entire relationship with Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott lasts about two and a half months. I’m proud of many things in this timeline, but this might be funniest and most true.
The Korean War will end by the time we reach the next July. Halfway through, in January, 1953, Radar goes home. Corporal O’Reilly ran this MASH for 2 years and 2 months, and when he goes, it’s immediately clear he took half its heart with him. Klinger dons fatigues and takes on the role of company clerk for the 6 months that remain.
Armistice is signed on July 27, 1953. Charles would have been there one year, BJ and Potter 16 months, Klinger 2 years and 4 months, Margaret 2 years and 6, and Hawkeye: 2 years and 10.
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Trying to Make Peace With Strange New Worlds’ Controversial New Episode
Warning: This post will contain major spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2 episode 8, “Under the Cloak of War”, and will refer to the episode with the assumption that readers have already watched it.
This week’s episode of SNW has already proved very divisive. Some people are calling it the best episode yet, others are calling it the worst. It tackles a difficult subject and doesn’t pull its punches. I’ve seen people crying “character assassination”, and others suggesting that its “character development”. And in all honesty, both parties are right. We’re used to seeing main characters in Trek be virtuous paragons, especially medical practitioner characters, and we’ve had fifty-five years to build up our own headcanons and ideals about Dr. M’Benga. But at the same time, in terms of actual canon content, M’Benga got nothing substantial in his Original Series episode and only one aspect of his character was focused on in season 1 of Strange New Worlds; you can’t contradict a character that hasn’t been developed yet. And I’m saying this as someone who was on the “character assassination” side when I first watched the episode!
It reminds me of M*A*S*H, and bear with me, because its probably not for the reasons you’re thinking, although this episode of SNW has a lot of scenes set in a popup medical camp in a warzone, that’s not it; there’s a specific episode of M*A*S*H its reminding me of. For the uninitiated, M*A*S*H was a show that ran from 1972-1983, following up from a movie in 1970. Set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, M*A*S*H started out as a sitcom. As the years passed though, it became a lot more sombre, dealing with heavier subjects, even though it never fully lost its comedic origins.
In season 7, there’s an episode (“Preventative Medicine”), where the hospital is flooded with tons of new patients, apparently a Colonel by the name of Lacy has been getting reckless and wilfully endangering his troops. Lacy even drops by the 4077 MASH unit to give his men purple hearts and hollow platitudes, neither of which his men want from him. The worst part is that Lacy isn’t even done. Once his men are recovered, he plans on sending them on a mission with a projected casualty rate of 30%, equating to one-hundred soldiers. And all for a hill with no strategic importance other than bragging rights. Nobody in the 4077 likes Lacy, but our main character, Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce decides to take it into his own hands. With the help of his buddy Captain BeeJay Hunnicut, he spikes Lacy’s drink to trick him into thinking he needs his appendix out, with the intention of actually removing his appendix so that he’d be unable to send his troops on that suicidal hill mission; he’d pulled a similar trick back in a season 3 episode (“White Gold”) with Hunnicut’s predecessor, Captain “Trapper” McIntyre. This time though, Trapper’s long gone, and Hunnicut’s having none of it. He lambasts Pierce, telling him:
“That man is crazy, but that doesn’t make this right. Some things are wrong and they’re always wrong.”
But Pierce can only see the troops he’ll be saving and goes ahead with deliberate malpractice anyway. Afterwards, wounded keep coming in. There’s a war on, after all. Colonel Lacy being out of the picture doesn’t stop the rest of the war.
The bottom line there is that Hawkeye did a very bad thing, and the episode doesn’t have any last-minute resolution or remedy for that. The audience are just left to contemplate that maybe the funny, charismatic Pierce isn’t the hero he makes himself out to be. And that’s kind of what “Under the Cloak of War” is doing for Strange New Worlds. Doctor M’Benga does a very bad thing, and the episode smartly ends on that note, leaving the audience to contemplate. The difference is, back in the M*A*S*H days, the landscape of TV was different - Continuity was rare. Whilst SNW isn’t as serialised as the other modern Star Trek shows, there’s still though-lines and ongoing stories for the main characters. Even if there were no immediate consequences at the end of this episode, that’s not to say M’Benga will never face consequences.
Its not a perfect episode. There’s certainly a number of things I’d do differently. And yes, that ending was absolutely a shock, one that makes us perceive one of the main characters differently, but that’s the point. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to agree with what M’Benga did – on the contrary, if you you’re disgusted at what M’Benga seemingly got away with, the episode did its job. That’s not to say you have to like or agree with Ambassador Rah either. Like with “Preventative Medicine”, “Under the Cloak of War” is (in my opinion,) very much about the risk that in our attempts to stop heinous people, we can allow ourselves to sink to their levels. Colonel Lacy and Ambassador Rah were both very nasty people in their own ways. But that doesn’t mean medical malpractice or murder are okay, and sometimes, on rare occasions, we need to see heroes become villains for a story to send its message.
I hated “Under the Cloak of War” when I first watched it on Thursday. I watched it again in preparation for writing this. I still don’t “like” the episode, but I can make peace with what I think it was trying to do, and I look forward to seeing how it shapes M’Benga’s character arc going forward.
#opinion post#star trek#star trek strange new worlds#star trek snw#doctor m'benga#spoilers#strange new worlds
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M*A*S*H (An 11-year series about a 3-year war)
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(Thanks to Lathan Luu)
[All images are owned by 20th Century Fox Disney. Please don’t sue or draft me]
It’s always weird when war is played for laughs. WWI had Blackadder Goes Forth, WWII had McHale’s Navy and Hogan’s Heroes, Vietman had Good Morning Vietnam, and Korea had M*A*S*H...twice.
(Thanks to Pixels)
M*A*S*H was originally a movie made in 1970 (starring Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould) about a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit designated the 4077th doing whatever they have to in order to stay sane during the Korean War. The film was rated R for good reason (some of the gags were NOT kid-friendly, such as the one where the doctors tore away a shower curtain, allowing the entire camp to see the head nurse bathing herself)
For whatever reason, CBS thought this was a great idea for a sitcom, and M*A*S*H debuted in 1974 (without shower gags, I’m sure) All of the characters were reprised (though all but one was recast), with one new role added. The series lasted 11 seasons, which displays the show’s popularity since the Korean War (which was the backdrop of the series) only lasted 3.
Though the series was technically a sitcom, it debuted during the Vietnam War, so there was a “War Is Bad” theme throughout the series (with one glaring exception)
Stationed less than 10 miles from the front lines, it is said several times in the series that the 4077 specializes in “meatball surgery” (pretty much patching up and stabilizing wounded enough that they can be either safely shipped off to an actual hospital or returned to the front lines) and has one of the best records of any MASH units in terms of survival among the dozens of casualties that are brought in daily, and it’s all due to the skilled surgical team (well...most of them are skilled anyway)
Commanding the 4077 is Lt. Colonel Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson in probably the only series he ever starred in that wasn’t cancelled during the first season), who mainly got his rank because he had administrative experience when he was drafted.
Henry barely manages to keep any semblance of control over the unit (which, when you consider most of his staff was also drafted and wants to be there even less than he does, says a lot about his administrative skills that he can keep most of them from openly revolting as they steamroll over him though sheer force of personality)
Henry’s second in command (and the only member of the unit that is so Army gung-ho that he actually wants to be there) is Major Frank Burns. Now, I’m not saying that Frank’s a bad surgeon, but there’s a joke that goes “What do you call someone who barely makes it out of med school?” “Dr. Burns”. I’m fairly certain the only reason he made Major involved lip balm and mouthwash.
Frank pretty much sums up the definition of ‘Murica: he’s racist, small-minded, and not that competent at his job. As such, he’s the butt of half the gags on the show.
The Chief Surgeon is NOT Frank (thank god!), but Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce (played by Alan Alda), who is the best surgeon in the unit and the Chief Loony in this bin. If there is any sort of chicanery happening in the camp, you can bet that Hawkeye has some sort of hand in it (usually against Frank, whom he has the misfortune of bunking with) He is also a bit of a womanizer, having slept with most of the company nurses.
Hawkeye is also the most compassionate among the surgeons (certainly better than Frank, who has the bedside manner of a two-by-four to the head) and does what he can to wage his little protests against the war, including inducing stomach pains on a unit’s bloodthirsty CO to fake an appendicitis diagnosis in order to send him home before he gets any more of his men killed.
The Head Nurse is Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (the nickname is a holdover from the film and is thankfully only referenced in the first season), a career military woman devoted to her duty (and unfortunately to Frank, who she has a not-so-secret relationship with. Just two problems: He’s married, and he obviously doesn’t plan on leaving said wife, despite making future plans with Margaret)
Margaret is a hard-nosed officer who respects discipline doesn’t take BS from anyone (though she’s also had to put up with a lot of Hawkeye’s shenanigans), especially male soldiers who can’t seem to hear her over the sound of her ovaries. She has been known to put men who disrespect her in their place, either dressing them down or punching them out, depending on the situation. Honestly, I would have a lot more respect for her if she didn’t let herself be the doormat of a weasel like Frank.
Hawkeye’s other bunkmate, as well as his co-conspirator, is Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre.
Sadly, the writers didn’t expand on his personality more than “Harpo to Hawkeye’s Groucho”
Lieutenant (later Captain) Father Francis Mulkahy is the spiritual advisor for the 4077.
Given the nature of the unit he shepherds, he understands the need to “blow off steam” and is a bit lenient when it comes to a few of the Commandments, but he is steadfast in his faith and his mission, and can be a badass in his own way (he stared down a soldier who had him at gunpoint, disarmed the man, then embraced him as the soldier begged forgiveness)
Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (played by Gary Burghoff, the only member of the film’s cast that was also in the series) is the company clerk and assistant to Henry. He also seems to have a “sixth sense”, often knowing things (such as incoming wounded) before anyone could know.
Radar is at once naive/innocent and the shrewdest member of the unit. If he was less honest, he’d be running the 4077 within a week (he once tricked Henry into signing several blank pages so he could send through memos without his knowledge...in an effort to be more efficient, of course)
Corporal (later Sargent) Max Klinger (the only main character not from the film, played by Jamie Farr) is an orderly doing his damnedest to find any excuse to be shipped home and out of the Army.
ANY EXCUSE!
This lineup lasted for 5 seasons (remember what I said earlier about the length of the Korean War?) before casting changes started.
The first to be replaced was Henry Blake in the finale to Season 5. He received his discharge papers and was sent home (leaving Frank in charge) However, the writers weren’t content with that and, in a controversial move that pissed off a lot of viewers, gave Blake a sendoff that would be a metaphor for McLean Stevenson’s career after M*A*S*H...
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(Thanks to jaslefty)
However, Frank’s power trip command would be short-lived, as a new CO would be quickly assigned shortly after Season 6 began.
Colonel Sherman Potter is career military and has been a field surgeon since WWII after serving in the cavalry (yes, the Army had Cavalry divisions as late as 1939. Not entirely sure why)
Potter brings a sense of discipline and gravitas Henry lacked (for starters, he’s not on a first-name basis with anyone in the unit) While he still tolerates Hawkeye’s (and Klinger’s) shenanigans, he’s just as likely to put a stop to them.
In the time between the end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6, Trapper was shipped home off-camera. Don’t worry though. He made it home safely...
...and wound up in a spin-off medical drama.
However, that left Hawkeye without a sidekick.
Enter Captain B.J. (his full name is never given) Hunnicutt. Unlike Trapper, B.J. didn’t blindly follow Hawkeye’s lead (in the faked appendicitis stunt earlier I mentioned earlier, B.J. tried to talk him out of it)
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(Thanks to the martini kid)
B.J. is a very passionate surgeon (one Christmas, a fatally wounded soldier is brought in. B.J., knowing the man was going to die, refused to give up until after midnight so his family wouldn’t have bad memories associated with Christmas)
With the addition of Potter and B.J. (as well as Alan Alda’s growing influence about the direction of the show), the show began to morph from a sitcom to a dramedy, with the gags (while still a major part of the show) often taking a backseat to the horrors of war. Additionally, Margaret had moved on from a surrogate wife for Frank to an actual wife, marrying another career military man
...not that it kept her from doing her job.
With all of this, Larry Linville (who played Frank Burns) was getting frustrated as his character was becoming even more of a caricature. His departure (much like Trapper’s) was done off-camera. He pretty much disappeared with little fanfare. His official status at the end of the series was AWOL. I’d like to think that somewhere in South Korea, an ancient Frank Burns is moping in the tattered remains of his uniform and wondering where it all went wrong.
But without Frank to kick around, Hawkeye and B.J. needed a new target for their antics.
Fortunately, Potter managed to trick a visiting surgeon, Major Charles Winchester (played by David Ogden Stiers), into remaining with the unit. While he is the target of many of Hawkeye’s and B.J.’s antics (fairly easy since he got Frank’s old bed), he is able to dish it out as well (including collapsing their tent on his bunkmates as they slept)
Winchester obviously comes from Old Status and tries to bring a bit of culture to the chaos. He has a similar bedside manner as Frank (though much less abusive), but he cares about his patients (when he found out a soldier who lost the full use of a hand was a concert pianist, he found the soldier a number of pieces that could be played one-handed) and, though he hides it, is a compassionate soul (he had a case of chocolate shipped from his home in Massachusetts so he could anonymously give it to a Korean orphanage for Christmas)
This casting change was the final piece for the version of the cast most fondly remembered.
However, it was not the final change in the cast. Radar left the series at the beginning of Season 8. Unlike the other cast members, his spot was not replaced. Rather, Klinger was slotted in as the new company clerk.
There is a very good reason the series has often been touted as one of the greatest of all time. It tackles very weighty subjects in the middle of the antics, doesn’t shy away from how bleak the setting is, and (with the exception of Frank) the characters are allowed to grow, evolve, and most importantly, be human beings doing what they can to stay sane in the middle of hell.
If you would like to see the series, it’s available on Hulu.
I’ll review an episode if you want, but as will all comedies, my jokes are likely going to fall flat in comparison.
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“Well I can help you a little with that sir,” the kid takes a glance back at the page on the clipboard. “Your name is BJ. Doctor BJ H., captain, US army. You’ve been assigned to the 4077 MASH, that's mobile army surgical hospital, one of the few severed medical operations in the current conflict.” The kid seemed to shift back into interviewer mode. It looked like he knew most of the script by heart but he still flipped a page and continued to read off of it.
The new information shook the man- BJ’s stomach. It was just that, information. None of it triggered any recognition or comfort in him. He felt the prickling make itself known again with the added hot urge for some sort of action. Something else stirred in him but he couldn’t put a name to it yet.
“I understand that you’re confused about the Severance procedure. Before we hop on that, let’s chat about something I bet you have heard of: shell shock.”
Inexplicably, a chuckle erupted from the man’s mouth. This was ridiculous. He couldn’t remember who he was, had no idea how he came to be in this room and this kid was reading him a script about traumatic disorders.
He stood up and walked toward the door.
“I’m leaving.”
“I’m sorry I can’t let you do that sir.”
He spun around to face the kid and he watched him flinch. It was the first time BJ had seen him show anything but a sort of optimistic neutrality to the situation.
“Oh yeah, and who are you exactly?”
“My name’s Walter O. But everyone calls me Radar. I’m the clerk down at the 4077, so I do all the paper work and other stuff like getting things where they need to go and to who they need to get to. Also being the only communication from the folks on the inside to the folks on the outside and all that. That includes new hires, so to speak.”
BJ felt the hotness inside him turn white. How was this kid talking about this so calmly, like the fact that they had no memories was a completely normal everyday thing that happened. Maybe it did. But how would he know? He didn’t know and it was starting to drive him crazy. He pushed the anger down, but the heat still stuck to his tongue as he spoke.
“Alright, Radar, this Severance procedure, I assume that’s why I can’t remember anything.”
“Yes, sir, that’s right.”
“But you said I was a doctor.”
“Also yes, sir. And I know you’ll-“
“But how am I-“
“-be wondering how you’re supposed to be a doctor when-“
“-supposed to be a doctor when-“
“-you can’t remember anything. But you’ll remember that sir. I know it seems pretty crazy right now but it’ll all come back to you when you need it. I don’t know how it happens but I’ve seen it, honest!”
“And you’re also Severed?” BJ asked after he gave up trying to speak as the kid took the words right out of his mouth.
“Oh yes sir, they’re pretty clear on the rules that only mostly Severed people are supposed to work with other Severed people.”
“And when they blocked off your memory did they also make you telepathic?” Radar smiled up at him, any notion of fear he may have felt earlier at BJ’s flighty movements gone.
“Oh no, I just usually know what folks is gonna say before they say it. That’s why they call me Radar.”
“Hello! You there, in the cot. I know you’re feeling sleepy, but I wonder if you’d mind taking a brief survey. I’m sure it will make you feel right as rain. Five questions.”
There’s a crackling over the speaker. Or maybe it’s in his head. Everything feels at once itchy and gloopy. He tries to sit up as the speaker fizzes, there’s mumbling on the other side but it’s indistinguishable as language.
“Where am I?” The man asks, pushing up from the bare cot, looking around the room which seems to be made up of concrete walls and little else.
“Close, the first question is actually: who are you?”
Where was it coming from? The voice seemed to echo off all of the walls, its source at the moment unknowable. The man jumps off the cot, barely that - it’s only some green canvas stretched over a metal frame, an intense prickling filling his brain and sinking down his spine. What was that called? Anxiety. This wasn’t right.
“What is this place, where am I?” He asks again, pacing the room. There’s one exit. A metal door set into the concrete walls. Beside it a black panel with dozens of tiny holes. The speaker. Beside the cot he woke up on there’s a chair made of metal. Florescent lights beam from the ceiling causing the man to squint as he zeros in on the speaker grill. He nearly trips over his feet reaching for the door. He tries the handle, it doesn’t budge. He pulls. Nothing. Pushes. More of the same. Not even any give in the hinges or lock. Whatever was holding it in place wasn’t something he could get past.
“Who are you?”
Calm down, breathe. The man tries to order his thoughts into rationality, fighting the building rage and stress that's filling his entire body. Find out what they want, if you can give it to them then you may make it out alive. If you can’t�� convince them you can. The man analyses the voice. Young, most likely male, tone what could be called chipper. It doesn’t seem threatening, or deceptive. Still best to be cautious.
“Who are you?” The voice comes once more, some of the cheerful edge is dulled this time, like it expected an answer by now and doesn’t know why it’s not getting a response. Like turning on the radio and expecting a song but only getting static when everything seems to be in working order.
Play along for now, the man thinks. He goes to answer, only to find out he can’t. Nothing’s physically stopping him, there’s air in his lungs and his lips are free to move. But he can’t answer. The simplest of questions, he reaches for the information in his brain and it’s just- gone. He clamps his jaw shut, teeth clicking together. His veins turn to ice.
What the hell is going on here.
“If you can’t answer, feel free to say unknown.”
He needs to get out. He needs to get to- Make sure- Is safe- It’s his job to- Home is-
There’s only one way out of this room, built of concrete and smelling of freshly printed pages and antiseptic (how does he know that?) and it’s through that door. Whoever is talking through the speaker can open it. He picks up his hat and runs a hand through his sandy blonde hair.
“I don’t know.” The man says, voice floating out of him like it doesn’t even belong to him. Maybe it doesn’t, how would he know?
“Unknown. Okay. Second question, in which US state or territory were you born?” He reaches for it. Nothing again. The ice in his veins spreads again, as the anxiety builds. His breath speeds up and his fists clench. He takes a step back from the door. Stay calm. He shakes his head. They must be watching him because the voice goes on.
“Unknown! Great.” Some of the chipperness has returned. He didn’t notice the round black bump above the door before, like a beady eye staring him down. How does he know that it’s a camera? He’s never seen one before, but he knows exactly what it is and what it does. The urge to run begins to overwhelm him the longer this goes on. His stomach twists with nausea. Commonly caused by motion sickness, intense pain, early pregnancy, food poisoning, various enteroviruses or in this case emotional distress.
“Question three, please name any US state or territory.”
“Uh- I don’t know… Delaware.” Delaware? Where did that come from? What else? Georgia. Iowa. Alaska.
“Delaware.”
New York, California, Virginia, New Mexico.
“Question four, what is Mr. Eagan’s favourite breakfast?”
Illinois, Rhode Island, Texas, Idaho. There’s another voice in the background, one he hasn’t heard up until now. It’s deeper, exasperated. God, he thinks it says. The chipper voice ignores it. So there’s someone else there. Maybe someone higher up, someone in charge?
“I don’t know who that is.” He reaches for the handle of the door again and jiggles it futilely. “Maybe we can have a conversation and you can tell me face to face.”
“I’d love to chat with you, after we finish the survey.”
He lets out a terse laugh, a smile tightening his lips - but not with amusement. The action feels familiar.
“And would you look at that, we’re on the final question! To the best of your memory, what is or was the colour of your mother’s eyes?” Does he even have a mother? He must. Everyone has a mother. The nausea threatens to take over and the man turns around looking for a bucket or a trash can. There’s nothing but the cot and the chair. He stumbles towards them.
“I don’t remember.”
“Unknown! Wow!”
“What the hell is this?”
“Unknown, unknown, Delaware, unknown and unknown right?”
“Look if you don’t tell me what the hell I’m doing here I-“
The door swings open and out of it comes a kid who can’t be older than 17, holding a clipboard and grinning behind large circular glasses.
“Gee sir, you got a perfect score! And quicker than most too, that first question is usually what really trips people up but you done it just swell.”
#mash#fanfiction#bj hunnicutt#radar o'reilly#so close to being finished this chapter#also found other people who have brainstormed a mash/severance au and its put vigour into me to work on this#yay!#mine
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I love episodes of MASH where Sidney Freedman shows up just to check in on his blorbos
#sidney: theyre my dr blorbos. from my mobile army surgical hospital.#mash#mash 4077#sidney freedman
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Posted a new sticker on Etsy!
Potter is my favorite character in MASH and I'm really happy with the way it turned out (:
#MASH#Mobile Army Surgical Hospital#mash 4077#Potter#Colonel potter#art#drawing#artists on tumblr#etsy#sticker#illustration#MASH tv#MASH art#art collective
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nobody:
not a single soul:
me when the M*A*S*H theme starts playing:
#a depressing song but vibey nonetheless#m*a*s*h#m*a*s*h 4077#mobile army surgical hospital#4077th#mash 4077
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Mentally I am there:
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*slaps roof of 4077* this mobile army surgical hospital can hold so many gays
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BJ’s been looking forward to this particular mail call for some time now, and the wait has been well worth it.
“Listen to this, Beej — Listen! ‘The Crabapple Cove Courier has learned that one of her native sons, Captain Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce, M.D., son of Daniel Pierce, M.D., has been serving tirelessly in Korea as the Chief Surgeon of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Unit 4077, which holds the record of having the highest survival rate of any such unit in the Pacific. Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Purple Heart recipient Willie Brees, of Bangor, credited Captain Pierce with not only successfully saving his leg after a grueling firefight, but going so far as to show off his a trademark Pierce besides manner with Brees during his recovery, often reading to him from his most recent issues of this very paper!’”
Hawkeye steps up onto Charles’ cot like it’s little more than a soapbox, snapping open the newspaper wide.
“Beej! This is unbelievable — I’m on the front page! Me! This says Mayor Tillet’s planning to give me the key to the city when I get home! ‘He’s doing Maine proud, and everyone should know how lucky we are to have someone like Ben Pierce looking after our boys’. Beej!”
BJ tries to keep his grin in check, but Hawkeye clocks his reaction immediately. “What? What is it?”
“Nothing — Nothing! I’m just happy for you,” BJ shrugs, palming the skein of yarn in his hands like a football to hide his delight. “Happy Brees followed through.”
“Followed through on what?”
“Brees asked me how he could thank you, I told him your birthday was coming up and I’d appreciate it if when he got home he could make sure Maine knew what a swell guy they’d leant us.”
BJ turns his attention to the yarn to keep from showing too much of his own delight, realizing a half-second too late he’s also missing Hawkeye’s reaction. When he does look up from the wool in his hands, Hawkeye is staring at him with an inscrutable expression.
“Beej,” Hawkeye crosses the tent with the paper still delicately held in his hands. “You did this?”
“I mean, not me,” BJ backtracks, “Brees did the leg work and you did the surgery, but I, well . . .”
“You told him about me.” Hawkeye finishes softly, handing over the paper; BJ’s eyes track immediately to the photo of younger, darker-haired Hawkeye in his Class A’s, standing with a beaming Daniel Pierce in front of what must be the elder Pierce’s practice. “You asked him to do this?”
“. . . I did.” BJ apologizes. “I’m sorry, Hawk, I don’t know if I overstepped, here. He just really wanted to — ”
BJ’s fully ready to beat a retreat from the Swamp, certain he’s pulled the wind from Hawkeye’s sails, when he finds himself wrapped up tightly in the man’s arms, Hawkeye’s face buried in the hollow of BJ’s neck.
“This is the best birthday present anyone’s ever given me,” Hawkeye whispers, lips catching on the stubble of BJ’s throat. “I’m including the bike my dad gave me for my ninth birthday and the record player Carlye stole from her brother.”
“Everyone should know who you are, Hawk,” BJ returns the hug, unable to keep himself from burying his face in Hawkeye’s hair. “Everyone should know how amazing you are.”
“You’re amazing,” Hawkeye sniffs, hands still clutching at BJ’s back. “God, what my life would have been like if your sorry face hadn’t shown up.”
“Horrible, I know.”
It occurs to BJ that they’ve been hugging for longer than might be strictly appropriate when Hawkeye shuffles slightly but still doesn’t release him. BJ, in turn, stays put, though he does tempt fate when he slides his hands low to rest them on the Hawkeye’s waist, a move that does not go unnoticed if the hitch in Hawkeye‘s breathing is anything to go by.
“Happy Birthday, Benjamin Franklin Pierce,” BJ whispers against Hawkeye’s ear. “To this one and many, many more.”
#Beejhawk#hunnihawk#mash#my fic#My stuff#BJ’s birthday shenanigans#short fic#BJ plans a birthday surprise#Hawkeye likes it a lot#Crabapple cove courier
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@thirtnth liked for a starter!
“with an outfit like yours, I think it’s safe to assume you must be from out of town. that, or you’ve been borrowing corporal klinger’s sears catalogs!“ francis adjusted his glasses and, with a shy, quirky grin, held out his hand. “in either case, it’s my pleasure to welcome you to the 4077 mash - mobile army surgical hospital, if you will.“ he glanced around the empty compound. “we, ah. well, we aren’t really expecting any wounded anytime soon, so if you’re a reporter, I’m afraid we’re all out of interesting heroic tales for the moment, but I’d be happy to show you around! where are you from, if you don’t mind my asking?“
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