M*A*S*H

Dreams - S8-E22

Corrected entry: When she comes down the steps in BJ's dream, the backdrop behind where she's standing at the top of the stairs is white. When BJ goes back to work, the OR doors open, and the top of the stairs is now black.

Movie Nut

Correction: What you're noting is BJ's dream (more a nightmare) with his wife Peg. She first appears at the top of a phantom stairway with a white backdrop, at the OR's outer doors - where stairs don't actually exist. When Peg leaves she walks up the phantom stairway with a black backdrop, which has moved and changed direction, and is now at the OR's inner doors - where stairs don't really exist either. During the dream BJ's dressed in a white tuxedo and they're dancing through the OR - where dancing never occurs. When Potter hands BJ the scalpel, BJ performs surgery in his tuxedo - which would never happen. This is a dream sequence involving a non-existent stairway with a non-existent backdrop, and formal attire and dancing in the OR. The significance of a stairway becomes clear in 9x14 "Oh, How We Danced" when BJ reveals to Hawkeye his dream of an evening with Peg. And even within this episode's dream we can infer that to BJ, seeing Peg with the white background at the top of the stairs of the outer room, is as if she's heaven-sent, and to him it represents life, joy, and being home with his wife, but later when they're in the OR Peg's forced to leave on the stairs which are now at the OR's doors, and within BJ's dream it's as if the OR is his personal hell and the black backdrop represents his reality of war, death, and BJ being away from his wife and family.

Super Grover

Good-Bye Radar: Part 1 - S8-E4

Corrected entry: Hawkeye gives the nurse an order of one quarter gram of morphine (250mg) for a soldier. That dose if given by IV, which is almost always how drugs were dispensed in MASH units and specifically on that show, would almost certainly kill him. There is no way Hawkeye with his talent and expertise wouldn't make absolutely certain that he would have made clear it was to be given orally, and more relevant is he simply would not order morphine, "by the gram."

Correction: Hawkeye does not order one quarter GRAM of morphine but one quarter GRAIN, being 19.2 milligrams, which is a perfectly logical dosage: "5-20 mg every four hours as needed" according to some medical almanac I had lying around. Also, wikipedia states 200 mg as "the minimum lethal dose" unless a person is oversensitive and goes on to explain that persons with a high tolerance (especially addicts and regular users) can take up to 3000mg per day, so this mistake is wrong in more than one way, as it wouldn't "almost certainly kill him" either.

Doc

Good-Bye Radar: Part 1 - S8-E4

Corrected entry: When talking to Klinger, Radar tells him that "Nobody helped me when I took this job." Yet later on, when Potter is among those complaining about Klinger, Mulcahy tells him about "a real Bozo" that had trouble with the simplest of tasks. And that Col. Blake took the guy under his wing, and helped him grow into the job.

Movie Nut

Correction: This error is taking the dialogue too literally. Radar isn't implying that nobody taught him, just that he had to work his way into the job himself, and without having anyone to fall back on if he dropped the ball. He is saying that Klinger should stop whining and make the effort, just like he had to back then.

Old Soldiers - S8-E18

Corrected entry: When the Col. is explaining the circumstances, he says "1918 to be exact". When they begin to drink the cognac, he says "As I recall, it was smooth in 17".

Correction: Potter says "1917, to be exact" and "it was mighty smooth in '17".

Good-Bye Radar: Part 2 - S8-E5

Corrected entry: Radar tells Klinger that "nobody helped me when I took the job." However, when Potter complains about Klinger's performance, Mulcahy tells him about Blake taking Radar under his wing and helping him grow into the job.

Movie Nut

Correction: This is a clear case of taking the dialog too literally. When Radar says "nobody helped him" he doesn't imply that he learned it all by himself with literally no help, but that he too was thrown into the deep end.

Doc

I stand corrected Doc.

Movie Nut

Correction: It is made clear that Colonel Blake was inept and had very little understanding of Radar's job. While Blake may have been supportive of Radar, Radar still had to learn the job on his own.

If he had little understanding of the clerk's job, then Mulcahy's statement that "Henry took Radar under his wing and helped him grow into the job" is moot.

Movie Nut

Not necessarily as such. Both "taking under one's wing" and "growing into the job" are rather generic statements after all. Blake may very well have just kept his back while he learned the job, even though he may not have been such a great source of topical information on company-clerking in particular. For the question at hand however one should keep in mind that neither Radar nor Mulcahy are laying down historic facts when they make their respective statements, but try to make their points, which are, to wit: Radar thinks Klinger should stop bitching and try to find his feet, and Mulcahy thinks Potter needs to be supportive of Klinger.

Doc

M*A*S*H mistake picture

Divided We Stand - S2-E1

Visible crew/equipment: In the opening scene where General Clayton is explaining the 4077 to the psychiatrist, the scene changes to the outdoor set and the camera pans to the right. As the camera pans past the hospital, a white 1970s era shuttle van can be seen driving into the set in the upper right corner of the screen. (00:01:35)

John Hunt

More mistakes in M*A*S*H

Sometimes You Hear the Bullet - S1-E17

Henry Blake: All I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules about a war, and rule number one is that young men die. And rule number two is that doctors can't change rule number one.

More quotes from M*A*S*H

Abyssinia, Henry - S3-E24

Trivia: There were no American planes shot down over the Sea of Japan during the Korean conflict. It is rumoured that producer/director Larry Gelbart knew that, but wrote Henry Blake's death scene as he was very unhappy with the way Mclean Stevenson had left the show, and was determined to make it clear that there was no way he would be coming back.

More trivia for M*A*S*H

That's Show Biz - S10-E1

Question: Talking with stripper Candy Doyle, Potter remarks that he still remembers how she used to spin her tassels and that he is reminded of this every time he sees a C 42 revving up. On the net I do find references to a C40A, a C47 and others, but no reference to an aircraft of the time called a C 42. What would he have been referring to?

Answer: The C-42 was a military variant of the Douglas DC-2. Very few C-42's were built, so it's questionable that Potter would specifically have seen that particular model, but, given his military background, it's not entirely unreasonable that he might use the military designation even when the aircraft in question is actually a civilian DC-2.

Tailkinker

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