M*A*S*H sequel/reunion?

[Will Dockery]

Seeing these clips of Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr speaking on the classic
ensemble, and rightly naming M*A*S*H as the masterpiece it is, and seeing
them both looking fine and fit, I ask, why not one last M*A*S*H?

A great number of the original cast (from both the tv series and movie) are
still with us and quite capable of performing... why not an adaptation of,
say, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, set 30 years later, say in the 1980s or 1990s
(30-40 years after the war, and likewise time since the series began &
ended), with Alda, Swit and so on reprising their roles as elders with "snow
on the roof but fire in the furnace"? Done right, it could be brilliant.

Of course, some tinkering with the opening and plot, with hopefully
additions of later characters Klinger, Hunnicut (filling the Duke role, of
course), Winchester and so on, pretty much any of the surviving cast. A
stretch, but Robert Duval /could/ even have an opening for Frank Burns to do
a cameo part if we mix movie cast in, although that isn't really the
greatest idea, just possible.

A crazy notion, but I feel like it just might work...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_Goes_to_Maine

Plot summary[edit]
Hawkeye Pierce returns to live in Crabapple Cove, Maine near the town of
Spruce Harbor. Having left the Army, Hawkeye is established to be working
for the Veterans Administration. In May 1954 he is laid off. At this point,
Hawkeye doesn’t have much money in the bank, is 31 years old, and has three
children: Billy, Stephen and Karen.

The day he’s released, Trapper John McIntyre comes to visit and sets Hawkeye’s
future in motion. Trapper John, a lieutenant in the Cardia Nostra medical
"family" (as Hawkeye refers to it) of "Don" Maxie Neville in New York City,
arranges for further thoracic training for Hawkeye, first in the East Orange
VA Hospital in New Jersey, then at St Lombard’s in Manhattan from July 1954.
After two years Hawkeye breezes through the Thoracic Boards. At the end of
his training in June 1956, two Spruce Harbor locals, Jocko Allcock (the man
who was responsible for Hawkeye being fired by the VA) and “Wooden Leg”
Wilcox (the local fish magnate) come to visit Hawkeye to set him up in
practice—by betting favorably on the outcome of his operations.

The first operation with Trapper John’s assistance (upon Pasquale Merlino)
is a success, and thanks to his superior training Hawkeye becomes the local
surgeon. As time goes by, Hawkeye is given more patients by the local
general practitioner of note, “Doggy” Moore; goes into private practice with
ex-Spitfire pilot Tony Holcombe and plots the eventual reuniting of the
Swamp Gang. By 1959 Hawkeye has lured Trapper John, Duke Forrest, and
Spearchucker Jones into his net, and thanks to the proceeds of the
“Allcock-Wilcox” syndicate, a new “Finestkind Fishmarket and Clinic” is set
up along with the new Spruce Harbor General Hospital.

Duke returns to Georgia from Korea, and takes a course in urology. Hawkeye
Pierce then invites him up to Spruce Harbor, Maine to join him and a new
friend, Tony Holcombe in private practice. Duke immediately turns up in
Maine with his bloodhound, Little Eva, and joins Hawkeye in persuading
Spearchucker to become the local neurosurgeon. Duke and his family move into
Crabapple Cove next to Hawkeye and Mary Pierce. Trapper John is lured to the
area by the possibility of becoming the Don of Spruce Harbor in the Cardia
Nostra and becomes romantically involved with Hawkeye's secretary, Lucinda
Lively, whom he eventually marries.

Along the way, the reader meets more of the local characters, including
"Wrong Way" Napolitano, who sometimes uses the transatlantic jets he flies
for a major airline to spot fish for his fisherman relatives in the Gulf of
Maine; Moose Lord, a longtime friend of Big Benjy Pierce who contracts a
rare and extremely nasty form of cancer that Hawkeye has to treat; Goofus
MacDuff, the Medical Director of Spruce Harbor General, whose ability to
summarize a case and reach the completely wrong conclusion is the stuff of
legend to the Swampmen; Doggy Moore, the previously mentioned general
practitioner whose adopted son Chip (short for Chipmunk) Moore was a high
school and college buddy of Hawkeye's; Half A Man Timberlake, who is not
overly bright but is sexually insatiable, and Wooden Leg's loyal henchman;
the three local hookers, Bang-Bang Betty, Mattress Mary, and Made Marion;
and Hawkeye's Uncle Lewis "Lew the Jew" Pierce, who is a fanatic golfer and
lives on an old fishing pier in The Solid Rust Cadillac.

Even by Down East standards, Spruce Harbor has more than its share of
colorful characters. But it's a solid community that comes together in a
crisis, as is shown when the beloved Doggy Moore becomes seriously ill and
it's up to the Swampmen to pull him through one medical crisis after
another, demonstrating they have not lost the touch that made them legends
back at the 4077th MASH.

[Will Dockery]

A better idea than a J.J. Abrams style reboot with all new actors in the original roles, in my opinion.

> practice--by betting favorably on the outcome of his operations.

[Ubiquitous]

In article <m6ocig$6ov$1...@dont-email.me>, will_d...@outlook.com wrote:

>Seeing these clips of Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr speaking on the
>classic ensemble, and rightly naming M*A*S*H as the masterpiece it
>is, and seeing them both looking fine and fit, I ask, why not one
>last M*A*S*H?

Perhaps they could call it "After-M*A*S*H"?

--
So to recap:
Iraq is imploding
Ebola is spreading
Russia is expanding
The US is being invaded
Vets are dying
IRS is lying
And Obama is giving seminars on perpetuating the Fergusen myth.

[anim8rFSK]

In article <m7p09b$75j$1...@dont-email.me>,

M*A*S*H The Next Generation!
Everybody's kids go to the 'Nam.
Of course the 'Nam was over by the time the M*A*S*H kids would be old
enough to go, but it's not like the show was exactly rooted in reality.

--
Wait - are you saying that ClodReamer was wrong, or lying?

[Michael Black]

I'm not sure those books like "MASH Goes to Maine" were that real either,
though I've never read them.

Michael

[anim8rFSK]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,

I read several of them, but it's been decades.

[A Friend]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

In the books, Henry Blake survived the war, so I wish them good luck
with that.

[Will Dockery]

On Tuesday, December 16, 2014 9:55:46 AM UTC-5, anim8rFSK wrote:
> In article <m7p09b$75j$1...@dont-email.me>,
> web...@polaris.net (Ubiquitous) wrote:
>
> > In article <m6ocig$6ov$1...@dont-email.me>, will_d...@outlook.com wrote:
> >
> > >Seeing these clips of Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr speaking on the
> > >classic ensemble, and rightly naming M*A*S*H as the masterpiece it
> > >is, and seeing them both looking fine and fit, I ask, why not one
> > >last M*A*S*H?
> >
> > Perhaps they could call it "After-M*A*S*H"?
>

> M*A*S*H The Next Generation!
> Everybody's kids go to the 'Nam.
> Of course the 'Nam was over by the time the M*A*S*H kids would be old
> enough to go, but it's not like the show was exactly rooted in reality.

Maybe the first or second Gulf War, except the M*A*S*H was discontinued sometime in the 1990s I read, I was actually working as a delivery driver at Fort Benning when I found that out, although my memory is dim about it, and as a civilian on Military turf I didn't feel the need to stop and ask questions over there, being a young, "hippie" looking sort of guy...

I see it more likely we'll get a J.J. Abrams kind of remake, with a young cast in the original roles, a period piece set in Korea again... and that might actually be pretty good if it goes back to and follows the original novel closely, there's plenty of materiual that never was explored:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH:_A_Novel_About_Three_Army_Doctors

Plot summary[edit]
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, commander of the MASH unit 4077, requests two new surgeons for his unit. Captains Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce share a jeep to the post, discovering that they share a taste for alcohol and similar views about many issues. Blake assigns them to the night shift, billeting them with Major Jonathan Hobson, a Midwestern preacher and surgeon.

Despite their dislike of authority and penchant for making wisecracks and pulling pranks, the new doctors exhibit exceptional surgical skills and commitment to their job, gaining the respect of their colleagues. They become annoyed by Maj. Hobson's religious fervor and insist that Blake have Maj. Hobson rebilleted. Friction mounts between the major and the new captains; when Major Hobson's prayers begin to annoy everyone, Col. Blake arranges to have him sent stateside.

Pierce and Forrest also request a chest surgeon for the unit. When the new man, Captain John McIntyre, arrives, he displays exceptional skill, but resists their attempts to draw him into their social circle. During a recreational football game, Hawkeye suddenly remembers playing football against McIntyre in college and introduces McIntyre to everyone as Trapper John.

The Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) tent occupied by the three surgeons, known as The Swamp, becomes a central gathering point. The surgeons enjoy the company of Father Mulcahy, the Catholic chaplain, although they are not strongly religious, but Duke (an avowed Protestant), wants to seek out a Protestant chaplain. A chaplain is found, but the "Swampmen" object to his habit of ghostwriting cheerful letters for soldiers without checking the seriousness of their wounds. After a patient dies the day after a letter saying "Everything is fine and I'll be home soon", the Swampmen lash him to a wooden cross and make him believe they intend to burn him alive.

Captain Waldowski is prone to regular fits of depression. When he announces his decision to commit suicide, the Swampmen stage a "Last Supper", summon everyone to bid him farewell and then give him a sedative. While he is sedated, they hook him to a harness and drop him from a helicopter, ending the depression

The Swampmen have frequent conflicts with Captain Frank Burns. Burns, even though he has never had surgical training, nonetheless considers his work infallible, and holds himself above the Swampmen. After one of his patients dies, he angrily blames an orderly. First Duke and then Trapper get into a fistfight with Burns.

When the new Chief Nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan arrives, she considers the well-groomed and courtly Burns to be the superior doctor. After Henry Blake names Trapper John as his Chief Surgeon (based on demonstrated ability), Burns and Houlihan get drunk and stay late in her tent, preparing a highly negative report for Gen. Hammond. The next day the Swampmen tease Burns and Houlihan. Trapper John calls Houlihan "Hot Lips"; Hawkeye provokes Burns into a fight. Henry is finally forced to send Burns stateside.

Ho-Jon, the Korean houseboy working in the Swamp, is drafted into the South Korean army. After being wounded, he arrives at the 4077th for treatment. After rehabilitation, he resumes his position as Swampboy and the Swampmen decide to send him to Hawkeye's old college. To raise funds, Trapper poses as Jesus Christ, selling autographed photos and making personal appearances.

A U.S. Congressman whose son is wounded in combat demands that Trapper and Hawkeye fly to Japan to perform an "emergency surgery." The surgery proves to be routine and the doctors spend much of the recovery period playing golf. Hawkeye reconnects with a friend, "Me Lay" Marston, who serves as an anesthesiologist for the Army but also helps a local doctor run a combination Pediatric Hospital and whorehouse. Me Lay asks the boys to look at a sick baby, who does require emergency surgery. Hawkeye and Trapper blackmail the hospital's commanding officer into permitting the operation and talk Me Lay into adopting the orphan baby.

Trapper and Hawkeye return to find the 4077th overwhelmed by casualties. A continuous flow of wounded pours into the hospital for two weeks. All personnel work around the clock performing operations. Everyone becomes exhausted and irritable; the Swampmen begin harassing Maj. Houlihan. She complains to Gen. Hammond, who begins an investigation of Col. Blake's conduct. The Swampmen intercede, smoothing matters over with the General.

Summer arrives and Col. Blake is sent to Tokyo for three weeks, Colonel DeLong fills in. Col. DeLong is unfamiliar with the type of high-volume, high-speed surgery used at the 4077th; after an angry confrontation with Hawkeye, DeLong gains respect for the work. Eventually the Swampmen get bored and decide to convince DeLong they need psychiatric evaluation. When he sends them to a diagnostic unit, they escape custody and visit a brothel.

General Hammond's unit has a football team. Because he has stocked it with professional players who were drafted, he makes a tidy profit playing other units and betting on the results. The Swampmen organize their own team and tell Col. Blake to ask Hammond to assign neurosurgeon Oliver Wendell Jones to the 4077. Jones, unbeknownst to Hammond, is a former star known as Spearchucker.

In the game, the Swampmen incapacitate one of Hammond's pros by injecting him with a sedative during a pileup. They use Corporal Radar O'Reilly ESP abilities to detect upcoming plays and employ a trick play to win the game 28-24 and make an enormous profit.

As Duke and Hawkeye wait for their deployments to expire, they become bored. To keep them busy, Henry Blake has them teach two new doctors their short-cuts. One learns capably, but the other needs to be sent home. On the journey back from Korea, they feign battle fatigue to get favorable treatment and impersonate chaplains to avoid work. They say goodbye when they reach the US; each rejoins his family.
------

Of course, all this is pretty much just another Cosmic Christmas daydream...

[Will Dockery]

M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, the first sequel, was pretty good, it came out right after the movie and seemed like a pretty valid continuation (the original novel's timeline wasn't 11 years). I've read mentions that an attempted film sequel to the movie from it was attempted, but failed. that's all I've been able to find out about that, though, and I've looked, so it may be one of those Wikipedia aside that really kind of didn't happen. The television series was said to then have become the sequel of sorts, although of course such "big names" like Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland would have refused to do television at that point... so, as with other sitcoms, it was recast, and recast so well that to millions of people, the M*A*S*H film seems forgotten.

I was just struck over the last few days at how well Hot Lips and Klinger, even B.J. mostly, have aged from watching them in their little voice over spots on MEtv, or rather the actors playing them and though to myself, yeah, I'd watch a "where are they now" Made-for-TV movie or even just another documentary reunion special... they still look good and can still tell a good tale, so why not>

The later M*A*SH sequels, by the way, do get pretty terrible, but Goes to Maine isn't so bad at all.

I have read Mash Mania is also good, but never seem to be able to find that one.

[ncrdbl1]

Best idea it to kill off any attempt to remake the series in any way. Remakes do not produce quality products.

[Will Dockery]

On Wednesday, December 17, 2014 7:42:50 PM UTC-5, ncrdbl1 wrote:
> Best idea it to kill off any attempt to remake the series in any way. Remakes do not produce quality products.

In reality, I suspect you're right.

You can't really go back.

[Wiseguy]

ncrdbl1 <mphsr...@aol.com> wrote in
news:6cf17a58-9273-4d9f...@googlegroups.com:

> Best idea it to kill off any attempt to remake the series in any way.
> Remakes do not produce quality products.

You'd rather watch the 1925 "The Wizard of Oz" than the 1939 version
starring Judy Garland?

[ncrdbl1]

Not so fast grasshopper. Korean war ended in 1953 given a year from the time they got home you can see children born in late 1954. The Vietnam War ended in 1975. With the US pulling out in 1973. Which mean Korea era kids could have been drafted among the last groups to fight in Vietnam.

[Will Dockery]

Good point...

[ncrdbl1]

asinine comment trying to equate a successful TV series to a silent film with very limited release.

[Will Dockery]

His point seemed to be that remakes/reboots can sometimes transcend the originals.

I'm watching some of the later episodes on MeTV now, and though they are almost nothing like the book or movie, they're some really good television... Winchester, Hunnicutt, Potter, Klinger, all original to the TV version, and the more relaxed and friendly Hawkeye and Hot Lips, as I now watch with an open mind, are quite enjoyable.

[ncrdbl1]

The 1939 movies was NOT a remake of the 1925 film. The 1925 film told the story from the view of the scarecrow and lion. The closest the 1939 came to be a remake would be a remake of the animated 1933 film. The 1925 film didn't even follow the book in many ways.

[ncrdbl1]

Just like Tim Hines 2005 movie War of the Worlds is NOT a remake of the 1953 Paramont Sci-Fi classic

[Paul Gadzikowski]

There are two kinds of novels in the collection of M*A*S*H novels.

Richard Hooker alone (or, I've occasionally read, with a ghost writer) wrote 'M*A*S*H', 'M*A*S*H Goes to Maine', and 'M*A*S*H Mania'. These are episodic tales of madcap medical mayhem with quasi-technical surgery scenes. 'M*A*S*H' is set in the Korean War, and was published in the sixties. The other two are set in Hooker's beloved rural Maine as Hawkeye and his three army bunkmates practice surgery together from the 50s through the mid-70s; 'Maine' and 'Mania' were published at either end of the 70s respectively.

Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth (a pseudonym for W.E.B. Griffin, or vice versa) co-wrote about a dozen novels published and set in the mid-70s. Some readers question whether Hooker was really involved in them but at least one has a quasi-technical surgery scene. They're all titled 'M*A*S*H Goes To [some exotic location, often overseas]', and are all non-episodic farces featuring mistaken identities, intercontinental airliner chases, and contemporary public figures made to look foolish.

Hawkeye and Trapper John appear in each of them, and all feature reunions with past personnel or patients of the 4077th: Hot Lips (now Reverend Mother Emeritus Margaret Houlihan Wauchauf Wilson, R.N., Lt. Col., USA Ret., of the God Is Love In All Forms Christian Church, Inc.) and Father Mulcahy (now an archbishop and the Pope's chess and beer buddy) appear in almost all. Henry Blake is a general and C.O. of Walter Reed Army Hospital. Radar is CEO of his own fast-food empire. Frank Burns is still a small doctor in a small town.

Both the Hooker and the Hooker/Butterworth novels took occasional jabs at the tv series, especially for killing off Henry Blake; Hooker didn't like the tv series because it offended his conservatism. On the last page of 'M*A*S*H Mania', General Henry Blake appears in Spruce Harbor on or about the air date of 'Abyssinia Henry'.


Paul Gadzikowski, scar...@iglou.com
http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/3faces/aaaa.htm Fanfiction cartoons
http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/creative process/120203.htm Journal cartoons weekly
http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0001.htm concluded King Arthur story

"Go away. Beverly is busy."

[markone...@gmail.com]

...I'm not even sure how I ended up here (which, I'm sure is how many MASH characters felt in Korea), as I thought I'd removed myself from this group, years ago. But, having caught this thread, I'll reply;
...To me, the perfect MASH reunion created itself, when Gelbart, Linville, Stiers and others went to Korea in the late 90's, for the ceremonial closing of the final MASH unit. I wrote to Gelbart, God Bless him, many times, urging him to write a reunion...where, as in real life, those who served at the 4077th were invited back for it's ceremonial closing. Apparently, though tents were taken down at the war's end, structures were left up...and the Army decided to keep using the base. In what would have probably been depicted as the late 70's or more, the 4077th would look largely the same (mostly for fans), and the joy of the reunion movie wouldn't be so much of any plot, but of that classic Gelbart dialogue that required no majot plot. Plus, we would see everyone again.
...With some main and secondary cast members and, now, Gelbart gone, I'd have no interest in seeing such a reunion. And, let the chips fall where they may and darts head in my direction, but Henry/McLean would be there...having been rescued, afterall (assuming this was filmed befoe he actually passed). To this day, I won't watch Abyssinia, Henry. But, that's another thread.