M*A*S*H - The Martinis & Medicine Collection [DVD] [2008]

A fantastic series and it’s sold at a fantastically low price. Fully recommend if you’ve never seen it

Seems a good quality transfer to DVD but beware of the order the disks are stacked in the (large) case.The one at the top is season 5 !!!And, yes, I watched it wondering why BJ was in it as he didn't join until series 4 and then found season 1 is at the bottom of the box....

The Martinis and Medicine box set collects the entire, epic experience of the anti-war sit-com that famously ran twice as long as the Korean war in which it's set, from ropey movie to the legendary, final, most-watched-ever TV episode.Broadly speaking, it’s a decent UK DVD transfer. Technically, there’s the higher audio pitch due to acceleration from 24 frames per second to 25 you get with all legacy US TV. But there's also UK PAL video’s slightly higher resolution from what I’m guessing/trusting is a digital remaster from film not fuzzy upscaled OG US NTSC. The picture is generally clear and sharp, but occasional episodes just aren’t very crisp. There are obvious video jaggies in the titles to season 4 or 5. There’s a strange, double length clip show which the US network presumably dropped into series 7 to remind viewers that the sentimental dramedy they’ve been watching for a year used to be a straight-up sit-com, that must have survived Doctor Who style as an off-air US TV tape recording.The biggest plus is the dual English soundtrack, with and without the US broadcast version’s fake laugh track. Legend says the no laughs version was a slip-up in the overseas transfer of series 1 to the UK that they had to keep up due to viewer preference, and has become the fans' gold standard.M*A*S*H is probably the template for every great single-camera and multiple camera, ensemble US sit-com since. Often imitated and occasionally creatively surpassed, it’s still one of those can’t-really-put-your-finger-on-why hits that William Goldman called a non-recurring phenomenon.It's easy to find fault.It's totally American. It's a product of its times. It's generally funny, but occasionally a car crash. It's almost crushed under the weight of the ego of its only full-term-serving star. It's a game of two halves, "before Frank quit" and "after Frank quit".It starts out not giving a hoot(er) about any of the institutional "isms" it relies on for laughs, and despite lip-service from the sudden change of gear and regime halfway through it never really evolves, just sinks into soap opera bathos. It careers between vaudeville slapstick, celebrity liberal hand-wringing anti-war outrage, and barrel-scraping melodrama.Loretta Swit.But why would you want to criticise?It's mythological. A classic.

I have decided to write this review as I often see reviews which are clearly unhelpful since they appear to be reviewing the wrong product. This gives a completely wrong expectation of what you are about to receive. I have purchased from Amazon what is advertised as“ M.A.S.H. DVD The Martinis & Medicine Collection 2008”.Firstly :-•The DVD quality is better than some content transfers to Bluray. I have a 65” Plasma quality TV. It was not possible to buy “Mash” on Bluray, so it’s brilliant that the DVDs look really good picture quality on this modern tv.• yes, as some people have reviewed - the first 4 of 11 seasons you cannot choose “play all” on the menu which therefore means you have to choose the next episodes from the “as broadcast” list in the menu.However from seasons five onwards you can choose “play all”.• The DVD collection as written on all the individual boxset boxes are advertised as“Collectors Edition”. This is really important as what’s on the inside DVDs includes all episodes, from the Pilot episode and including the last 2 hr episode “Goodbye Farewell and Amen” BUT ALSO included is the “Mash - The Movie” which is not mentioned at all in the reviews or In Amazons own advertising. In other word for £39:95( 26th August 2019 ) In Amazon UK, you are buying the Complete Mash boxset Collection. Everything in one place. ( Also includes 2 discs of Special Features ).• It is true that the boxset is old style size (more bulky than modern boxsets) but really !• yes it is also true that you can select to hear or block out the American laughter track. You do this by clicking audio selection on your remote control. (I could see no way of doing so via the menu process.)• If you have a quality amplifier you can also pump up the digital mono sound ( it’s a old tv program - they were mostly mono in the old days ), you can pump up the mono sound to come at you from all your 7.1 surround sound, quality sound system- if you have it.So I would say :- Definitely buy this boxset while it is available since it is amazing value for money, the picture quality ( although a DVD ) is better than some transfers to Bluray that I have seen in the past on other content and the sound can be configured to get the most out of it.I hope that this is helpful, sit back and enjoy.Brian. UK

I had been after getting the complete M*A*S*H tv series for years. The price either online or in shops I had always found excessive! £75.00 - £125.00However @ £34.99 the price is right. This Complete set that includes the "Specials" and the Original Film. This is a Fantastic addition to anyones collection of must view classic TV.All Disks and episodes in Broadcast order.Well worth the Wait and Money.Thanks Amazon.

The picture quality is not great, but OK