Product Description

The perfect comic relief, the perfect holiday gift!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3017 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 502 minutes

Amazon.com
In M*A*S*H's ninth season, tears flow almost as freely as the blood and laughter, affording the decorated ensemble (Alan Alda, Harry Morgan. Loretta Swit, and David Ogden Stiers were all nominated for Emmys) ample dramatic license. Margaret (Swit) cries while reflecting on a patient to whom she became emotionally attached in "Letters." B.J. (Mike Farrell) tears up when Hawkeye (Alda) and company surprise him with a wedding-anniversary home movie of his wife in "Oh, How We Danced." And Winchester (Stiers) reveals that he's "human like the rest of us" in three of his finest half-hours (each was nominated for an Emmy). In "The Life You Save," he becomes obsessed with death after discovering a sniper's bullet grazed his head. In the moving Christmas episode, "Death Takes a Holiday," he struggles to uphold a family tradition of making an anonymous charitable gesture. In "No Laughing Matter," he is reunited with the colonel who exiled him to the 4077th, but will groveling and brass-kissing get him reassigned to Tokyo?

In its early years, M*A*S*H primarily prescribed laughter, with measured doses of sensitivity and compassion, to combat the tragedies and absurdities of war. By the ninth season, the good doctors of the 4077th were no longer content to be cut-ups, and this television institution began to overdose on self-righteousness. In the episode "Depressing News," Hawkeye builds a "monument" out of 500,000 tongue depressors mistakenly delivered to the camp. "We wouldn't have this supply if they didn't think there'd be a demand," he laments. "My God, hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough?" When, after much fanfare, he destroys his creation for the benefit of a confused Stars and Stripes reporter, he spells it out: "Senseless destruction; get the picture?" While there are no groundbreaking episodes on the order of "Point of View" (from season 7), season 9 finds cast and crew working at peak efficiency. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Season Nine brings the series back on track
In season 9 you see the series get back to its roots and you see again the return of the best that MASH has to offer. I loved the season, the first time I've been able to say that since season 6. My favorite episodes from this season:

Cementing Relationships
Letters
Death takes a holiday
No Sweat
Blood Brothers (Patrick Swayze is great in this episode)

My only concern in this season is the beginning of a trend that I'm not to happy about. In Season 9 you see Klinger taking on more of a leading role in the shows. You see him doing more and more, and while I like the Lebanese clerk he's beginning to get on my nerves. While Klinger makes a great supporting character he was never supposed to be a major character. Think about it, the more you see Klinger leading the less you see of Hawkeye, BJ, Charles, Potter, and the like.

Own ALL the seasons
I'm an unabashed M*A*S*H addict. I own the whole series. Having them around is like having a candy bar hidden in the freezer. Highly recommended for those who still miss that extraordinary series -- a flower amongst the usual garbage of commercial TV.

MASH 9
Season 9 of MASH 4077th is extremely well written and as quick witted as all the other seasons. I thoroughly loved it from beginning to end. It is certainly easy to see why this show enjoyed such high ratings while it was on the air...