Product Description

From 1962 to 1966, McHale s Navy was a must see staple of ABC television. Still stationed on their naval base on the tiny island of Taratupa during World War II, Lt. Cdr. Quinton McHale,Ernest Borgnine, Ensign Parker,Tim Conway,and the rest of the scheming crew of PT73 are back in Season 2 with 36 all new hilarious adventures from the Pacific!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6586 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2007-09-11
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 930 minutes

Amazon.com
The ever-popular Ernest Borgnine, one of the all-time great "regular guy" stars, anchored McHale's Navy, a cheerful, rambunctious '60s sitcom set in the South Pacific during World War II. By its second season, the show had perfected its formula (a formula already lifted wholesale from The Phil Silvers Show): Lt. Commander McHale (Borgnine) and the scrappy crew of his PT boat (including Tim Conway, later of The Carol Burnett Show, as bumbling Ensign Parker and Gavin MacLeod, later to helm The Love Boat, as seaman "Happy" Haines) scheme, swindle, and romance their way through the war, avoiding the enemy whenever possible, and making life miserable for their petty, tyrannical commanding officer, Capt. Binghamton (Joe Flynn, later to appear in numerous Disney live-action movies like The Love Bug and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes). Though some episodes reflected real world issues of the 1960s (for example, Ensign Parker feels less of a man when a pretty nurse turns out to be better than him at pretty much everything), by and large the show existed in a bubble of slapstick and classic vaudeville schtick--and the show's fans wouldn't want it any other way. Despite the backdrop of WWII, McHale's Navy aimed young. McHale and his crew are basically a gang of rascally kids getting away with pranks and defying the adult authority figures around them. Though the guys routinely pursue nurses, their "dates" amount to little more than stolen kisses and light petting--compared to the leering Hogan's Heroes, McHale's Navy is strangely prepubescent. Of course, this innocence is much of the show's charm, and makes the occasional Asian and Pacific Islander stereotypes a little easier to take (though it's worth noting that the Japanese characters on the show were always played by Japanese actors, something not common at the time). In addition to the original 36 episodes aired in 1963-64, McHale's Navy: Season Two features brief interviews with Borgnine and Conway (regrettably, Flynn died in 1974). The fairly bland Borgnine interview has at least one good anecdote, but the Conway interview is charming throughout. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

"McHale And His Pirates" Return For Season Two!
Climb aboard and set a course for laughter as Lt. Commander McHale and the crew of PT 73 return with 36 more light-hearted romp on the Pacific episodes in McHale's Navy - Season Two!

Still at odds with authority, skipper McHale (Ernest Borgnine), Ensign Parker (Tim Conway), and the fun-lovin' crew of PT 73 continue to oppose blustery Capt. Binghamton (Joe Flynn) and his jittery aide Lt. Carpenter (Bob Hastings) with hilarious results. Whether helping one friend get a letter out to his girl from a Japanese compound ("A Letter for Fuji") or helping another to hear his child say her first words via ham radio using a confiscated enemy radio ("A Da-Da For Christy"), the team work and comraderie McHale and his men display in the episodes remain among my favorite aspects of the show.

Joining in on the schemes and hijinks this season in a recurring role is Ernest Borgnine's Dirty Dozen co-star George Kennedy as Big Frenchy, an old acquaintance of McHale who gives the crew a run for their money when it comes to running cons. Other guest stars include Ted Knight (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Arte Johnson (Laugh-In), Allan Melvin (The Brady Bunch), Olan Soule (The Adventures of Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder), and Mike Farrell of TV's other long-running military comedy M*A*S*H.

Digitally restored and remastered by Shout! Factory, McHale's Navy - Season Two is a 5-disc (930 min.) set featuring all 36 episodes in Full Frame (1.33:1) video and English mono, plus the following Special Features: "Ernest Borgnine Remembers" and "Tim Conway Remembers" - Featurettes have the actors reflecting on their roles in McHale's Navy and looking back at the real-life military careers that inspired their characters. Here are how the discs will be configured, plus original airdates:

Disc 1:
"The Day the War Stood Still" (9/17/1963)
"The Binghamton Murder Plot" (9/24/1963)
"McHale and his Schweinhunds" (10/1//1963)
"Is There a Doctor in the Hut" (10/8/1963)
"To Binghamton With Love" (10/15/1963)
"Have Kimono, Will Travel" (10/22/1963)
"Today I Am a Man!" (10/29/1963)

Disc 2:
"Jolly Wally" (11/5/1963)
"Scuttlebutt" (11/12/1963)
"The August Teahouse of Quint McHale" (11/19/1963)
"French Leave For McHale" (11/26/1963)
"The Happy Sleepwalker" (12/3/1963)
"A Letter For Fuji" (12/10/1963)
"My Ensign, The Lawyer" (12/17/1963)

Disc 3:
"Orange Blossom For McHale" (12/24/1963)
"Creature From McHale's Lagoon" (12/31/1963)
"A Medal For Parker" (1/7/1964)
"The Balloon Goes Up" (1/14/1964)
"Who'll Buy My Sarongs?" (1/21/1964)
"Evil-Eye Parker" (1/28/1964)
"The Great Impersonation" (2/4/1964)
"Urulu's Paradise West" (2/11/1964)

Disc 4:
"Dear Diary" (2/18/1964)
"Babette Go Home" (2/25/1964)
"The Novocain Mutiny (3/3/1964)
"Stars Over Taratupa" (3/10/1964)
"Comrades of PT-73" (3/17/1964)
"Return of Big Frenchy" (3/24/1964)
"Alias PT-73" (3/31/1964)

Disc 5:
"The Rage of Taratupa" (4/7/1964)
"Ensign Parker, E.S.P." (4/14/1964)
"The McHale Mob" (4/21/1964)
"Carpenter in Command" (4/28/1964)
"Marryin' Chuck" (5/5/1964)
"The Dart Gun Wedding" (5/12/1964)
"A Da-Da For Christy" (5/19/1964)

Applause for Shout! Factory quality transfers
I picked up the first season of the series because I had never seen it but had enjoyed seeing the McHale's Navy movies time after time in syndication while growing up. The series started a little slowly (I guess they all do, though, with the actors finding their characters...), but after the fourth episode I didn't see Tim Conway, Earnest Borgnine, or any of the actors anymore. Instead I saw Ensign Parker, Quentin McHale, Gruber, Christy, Tinker, Vern, and all the rest of them. The sweet art of farce is certainly missing from much of today's TV (except for perhaps Arrested Development and one or two other notable modern comedies) and it was nice to sit back and laugh at some good old fashioned schtick!

I panicked a little when I realized that, after zipping through four of the five discs, I had only one DVD of joy left before I ran out of episodes. I hadn't realized that the 1st season set I'd picked up was the ONLY season released thus far!!! For the last few months I've been doing random searches for "McHale's Navy" in hopes that news would break that the second season would be released soon. What a relief that the next season will soon be out!

Shout Factory's transfers of these episodes are among the most clear and defined I have seen. I have a CRT projector tv that creates a 96" diagonal picture (fed by a VGA video cable from a HTPC) and as far as I could see, there was NO grain, no washed out areas, and quite a range of brightness in the images. I'm sure Shout did some luminance and contrast correction on the digital files after the transfer. What is really nice, however, is that they seem to have used a light touch and done just enough to sharpen the image without going overboard with filters or superfluous manipulations.

In short, I have loved every episode of every disc of the first season. It has nearly killed me to ration my viewing of new episodes to one a week or one every two weeks in order to draw out the pleasure of the newness until the next season is released (I still have not viewed the last two episodes...but have nearly gone mad!). Rest assured, however, I will be in line to be the first to get the Season Two set and every set that Shout Factory releases thereafter!

Hilarious!
In the second season, the producers of this show figured out where success for the show was to be found--and it shows in the opening credits: Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn) and Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) are featured right after McHale. Even though McHale is supposedly the star character, it's really Parker who carries this show. Binghamton is only slightly less important. The interplay between these two makes for a very funny show. I've almost busted a gut several times watching these two idiots! The others of McHale's group are now assigned a pecking order, with Gruber, who probaby could have carried the show by himself, becoming the lead navy-man. Happy (Gavin MacLeod) is mercifully relegated to low man on the totem pole (doesn't he leave the show in a year or two?). This is good, clean family fun and it's a riot. Get it and enjoy.
BTW, I have had no problems with the production value. Sound and picture have been great. Can hardly wait for season three.