M*A*S*H Season 10 DVD

Starring: Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, Loretta Switt, David Ogden Stiers, Jamie Farr, & William Christopher

Executive Producer: Burt Metcalfe

Supervising Producer: John Rappaport

Easily one of the greatest television series of all time, M*A*S*H was groundbreaking as well as being way ahead of its time. With unparalleled writing, M*A*S*H forced viewers to take a look at the horrors of war, and mixed those with side splitting humor. It made us laugh and cry, often in the same episode. Season ten of the series, the next to last, was as powerful as ever, and those episodes are showcased nicely in this three disc DVD collector's edition set.

The three disc set contains all twenty-one episodes of season ten including such favorites as "Where There's a Will, There's a War" and "Heroes". It also includes one of my personal favorites, "Follies of the Living - Concerns for the Dead" which allows the viewer to see the 4077 through the eyes of the spirit of a dead soldier, Private Weston (Kario Salem). This particular episode was written and directed by Alan Alda and the ending where the recently deceased Private Weston joins the other U.S and Korean soldiers who have been killed in action as they walk to an unknown destination, is remarkably poignant. It makes the viewer really think about the great unknown that is Death. This was the beauty of M*A*S*H, and why it was and still is such an important television series.

One of the fun things about revisiting the M*A*S*H episodes is spotting some of the actors who appear in each episode. It is like watching a who's who of Hollywood before they were stars. Season ten is no different with such prominent actors like Laurence Fishburne who appeared in "The Tooth Shall Set You Free" and Joe Pantolliano who appeared in the episode "Identity Crisis". It almost becomes a game to see how many future stars you can find.

The one problem I had with the Season 10 Collector's Set is the absolute lack of special features. You have the option of changing languages to either French or Spanish, but that is it. It would have been nice to have included some cast commentaries and behind the scenes looks, but this set offers neither. The episodes speak for themselves however, so as a fan I cannot really complain.

M*A*S*H will forever go down in television history as probably one of the top five greatest series of all time. This is evident by the many Emmy, Writer's Guild, and Director's Guild Awards the show earned in its eleven season. It originally aired from 1972-1983, but the humor and powerful messages the series is known for are timeless. The Season 10 Collector's Edition fits those standards, and would be a welcome addition to anyone's private collection.

Features:

Available Languages: English, French, and Spanish

Available Subtitles: French and Spanish