The Christmas episodes
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crockett_john — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 05:15 AM)
I always thought the episodes were generally in chronological order, except that in the first season, they already had events take place out of order. Ho-John (whatever kind of Korean name that might be) went to the states in the first episode, but then he's in several of the remaining episodes of the first season.
I think the arrival of new characters and the departure of old characters is supposed to follow a chronology, except that there's one episode that covers an entire year. Also, the writers had to back-track on the timeline during Potter's tenure as CO. Then, there are things that happen in entirely the wrong order, and the 4077th seems to spend the entire war in Uijonbu, which would have been impossible the way the front lines moved back and forth, so I'm not sure about the intent of the four Christmases or just three.
I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas. -
dawnbaxter34 — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 02:20 PM)
MASH would have spent most of the war in Uijonbu when the front line stabilized in 1951.
It didn't quite make sense that there was a Christmas episode with Henry and Trapper and then the 'A War for All Seasons' ep. where Colonel Potter and the gang are celebrating the end of 1950. -
crockett_john — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 05:15 PM)
Yeah, that's part of them back-tracking on the timeline. I would blame the writers for this, but I don't know how else they could have handled the timeline at that point.
Also, about 10 years after the show went off the air, I was stationed near Uijongbu, so that was kind of fun, being a Mash fan.
I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas. -
brad_filippone — 9 years ago(December 13, 2016 07:56 PM)
They backtracked on the timeline in "A War For All Seasons" because they needed the year to be 1951. That's when Bobby Thomson's home run happened, which was the climax of the Klinger/Winchester baseball betting story.
Brad -
indy_go_blue44 — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 07:13 PM)
I never looked for any kind of chronology from MASH. Time's out of whack from 0:01 of S1E1 when it opens with "Korea 1950: A Hundred Years Ago" and the guys are driving golf balls. Summer 1950 the American-UN/SK forces were in retreat and fighting for their lives down in the Pusan Perimeter, no where near Uijonbu.
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wordsatplaytoday — 9 years ago(December 14, 2016 08:15 AM)
I never looked for any kind of chronology from MASH. Time's out of whack from 0:01 of S1E1 when it opens with "Korea 1950: A Hundred Years Ago" and the guys are driving golf balls. Summer 1950 the American-UN/SK forces were in retreat and fighting for their lives down in the Pusan Perimeter, no where near Uijonbu.
So we just take it that MASH is historical fiction with a really big emphasis on the fiction part.
They just base the show on a real war and then throw any accuracy of the war out the window as well as any linear timeline to go with it.
What makes it even more odd is that they get rid of Spearchucker because there were no black doctors in a MASH unit and yet they will go ahead and give them more christmases than the real troops went through at the time.
And based on your example, does that mean that a MASH unit in the area would have been Mobile, also in retreat?
Let me know if I'm on your ignore list.
Thanx! -
Doug-Oh — 9 years ago(December 16, 2016 04:51 PM)
What makes it even more odd is that they get rid of Spearchucker because there were no black doctors in a MASH unit and yet they will go ahead and give them more christmases than the real troops went through at the time.
Yeah, the Spearchucker removal was unwarranted, as they broke all the other rules of reality.
People would disappear all the time. -
louiseculmer — 9 years ago(December 15, 2016 10:37 PM)
the only one i like is the first one. the others i hate, they are far too sentimental, especially the one where they are trying to keep the man alive until boxing day, so his family won't be upset about him dying on Christmas day. that is really bizarre. they should be concentrating on the patients they can save, not wasting precious time on someone who is dying.
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indy_go_blue44 — 9 years ago(January 31, 2017 09:41 PM)
There's an irony in that show. Although I assume they were able to date his death certificate as 12/26, at home he still died on 12/25, and being that close to Christmas I doubt it would've emotionally made a difference to them anyway.
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louiseculmer — 9 years ago(February 01, 2017 02:39 AM)
exactly. how can a few hours make a difference to how you feel about someone dying? They would know that, even if not dead, he was dying on christmas day. the day would still have that association for them. the implication hat somehow it's less sad to have your husband/father or whoever die on Boxing day rather than Christmas day is just silly. whether he dies on Christmas day, Boxing day, new year's d ay, easter, 4th july, August bank holiday, what difference can it make? he's still dead.