Korea, 1950... One Hundred Years Ago

Growing up in the late 1970's and early 1980's it was a ritual around our house for dad to turn the TV onto M*A*S*H every week and relive one of the darker periods of American military action through humor. This was a show that could make you cry and make you laugh in the same 30 minute period each week.

M*A*S*H was all about a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea during the Korean Conflict that ran from 1950-1954. It shows you what life was like thousands of miles away, and shows you how brave doctors and nurses -- most of which had never served in the Army before -- adapted to this hostile and dangerous environment. It also gives you a feeling for what it was like over there trying to operate under the cloud of war. Often refering to what they are doing as "Meatball Surgery" -- you get a glimpse of the innovations that came about by ingenious medical personnel trying to save wounded soldiers lives.

After much wait, FOX has finally started to release M*A*S*H episodes on DVD in original show order. Each collection (they are up to Season 3 as of this writing) contains 3 DVD's as well as a reference booklet giving you background on the entire show, as well as the episodes on the discs.

One could say that the DVD discs themselves are worth the price. The artwork is elegantly done with vivid color and a different M*A*S*H character on each of them. The storage case is made of sturdy plastic and an easy-release DVD grip to protect the discs.

The show quality is better than what we experienced on TV back in the 70s. The shows have been taken directly from the original tapes and converted to DVD format. Each DVD opens with a menu selector showing all the episodes as they originally aired, lets you see pictures of the scenes of each episode, and gives you a bit of background on the episode.

This is a wonderful show that today continues to enjoy success in syndication. Even though it ended in 1983 (with the most watched finale in broadcast history), you can still find it playing several times again. These collections let you do just that without commercial interruption and with the uncut episodes.

FOX is on a 6-month release schedule with the series as it stands now. Series 4 is due out this summer. Prices usually run about $29 per series.

A wonderful addition for fans libraries, and a good show that shows not only the humor, but the horror of one of America's darkest time periods.