39,327
edits
M*A*S*H (television): Difference between revisions
m
revise quote template spacing
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (→M*A*S*H provides examples of:: -> tropelist) |
m (revise quote template spacing) |
||
Line 33:
** Gary Burghoff renegotiated his contract to limit his appearances (as Radar) beginning in the fourth season. These absences became more frequent in the ensuing seasons, until practically every episode in season 7 (Burghoff's last with the show) seemed to have Radar "[[Written in Absence|away on R&R]]".
* [[Acronym Confusion]]: [[Invoked]] by Colonel Flagg.
{{quote|
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The movie itself [[Composite Character|combined two characters to create Major Burns]]. The show removed the character Duke Forest altogether, and Ugly John and Spearchucker Jones [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|disappear without explaination]] later on in the first season. Painless Pole, the camp dentist, seems to be an exception, since he shows up from time to time throughout the series.
** Painless is more of an [[Unseen Character]], being mentioned but rarely if ever actually appearing. The only dentist actually shown on screen who was stationed at the 4077 appears in one episode, completely paranoid about being injured in the last few hours before he goes home. (He does get injured, crashing the jeep as he's driving out of camp because he insisted on driving the jeep himself instead of allowing his assigned driver to do it.)
Line 81:
* [[Bluffing the Murderer]]: Hawkeye exposes a thief by tricking him into a revealing giveaway.
* [[Book-Burning]]: Done by Frank in preparation of Gen. MacArthur's visit in "Big Mac".
{{quote|
'''Trapper:''' Plato's ''Republic''? ''The Life of Red Grange''?
'''Hawkeye:''' Revolutionaries.
'''Frank:''' [[Sarcasm Blind|Right!]]<br />
'''Trapper:''' ''Robinson Crusoe''?<br />
Line 94:
* [[Breakout Character]]: In Season 1, Klinger showed up in a few episodes as "the guy trying to get a Section 8 discharge"; by the end of the series, he was part of the main cast.
* [[Break the Haughty]]: When they first meet, Col. Flagg condescendingly attempts to browbeat Col. Potter. Potter puts him in his place, and ''fast''. Flagg never treats Potter with anything less than respect again.
{{quote|
'''Potter:''' I'm not fond of personal abuse, Flagg. I was in this man's Army when the only thumb you cared about was the one in your ''mouth''. }}
* [[Briefer Than They Think]]: As mentioned above, you could fit three Korean Wars into the show's run.
Line 149:
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: "The Interview"
* [[Determinator]]: A rare comedic example with Klinger, who in the early seasons was never in an episode that didn't feature him trying ''some'' way to get that elusive Section 8.
{{quote|
'''Klinger:''' Yes sir. *''beat''* I don't deserve to be in the Army. }}
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Colonel Potter has a Good Conduct medal, which (as he points out to Radar at one point), only an enlisted man can receive. He also stated he started performing surgery in 1932. If he was still in the Army, he should have automatically been made a Captain at that point, a full 10 years before Good Conduct medals were instituted.
Line 159:
* [[Door Step Baby]]: "Yessir, That's Our Baby"
* [[Doesn't Like Guns]]: Hawkeye
{{quote|
** Invoked and played with a few seasons later when Hawkeye and Potter are away from the camp, stuck in a foxhole, and pinned down by an enemy soldier. After getting upbraided by Potter for being so mule-headed about his distaste for firearms, Hawkeye wastes the entire clip into the air and hands it back to his annoyed commanding officer... only to find the sudden fusillade had scared off the enemy.
* [[Downer Ending]]:
Line 171:
** Hawkeye generally prefers martinis, the drier the better.
** Radar's grape Nehi, Charles' cognac, Frank's Shirley Temples.
{{quote|
'''Bartender:''' Is that a drink, sir?
'''Henry:''' Oh, yeah. You just take some bananas and some rum and some cream and some crushed ice, and just put it in a blender.
'''Bartender:''' We've got no bananas, no rum, and no blender, sir. And only powdered cream.
'''Henry:''' Okay, gimme a beer. }}
* [[Dr. Jerk]]: Burns as an incompetent version and Winchester as a highly competent one.
Line 204:
* [[The Fifties]]
* [[Finger-Poke of Doom]]:
{{quote|
* [[Finger-Twitching Revival]]: In one episode, a soldier's "corpse" is shipped to the 4077th along with a bunch of wounded. For most of the episode, the viewers are the only ones who see the soldier try to move enough to call for help.
* [[First-Name Basis]]
Line 214:
** The early Radar was sly, far from naive, and a [[Psychic Powers|fully functioning telepath]]. (In one of the first episodes featuring Hawkeye writing a letter home, Radar reacts angrily to an insult that Hawkeye makes in his mental monologue/narration.) He did ''not'' own a teddy bear.
* [[Fox News Liberal]]: Winchester is a conservative version.
{{quote|
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Frank Burns apparently had an absolutely miserable childhood.
* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Radar has quite the menagerie.
Line 268:
* [[I Have This Friend]]: Klinger tries to use this with Potter once. Potter sees through it immediately (Probably because Klinger said the friend was serving in a MASH unit in Cleveland) and tells him to spit it out. Klinger admits that he'd found evidence that the camp's newest nurse had a serious drinking problem.
* [[I'll Take Two Beers, Too!]]: In "Divided We Stand", Henry offers a drink to a visiting psychiatrist who's evaluating the camp. The man declines, and Henry nervously hastens to add that he's not ordinarily much of a drinker. Then Radar enters with a couple glasses of brandy:
{{quote|
'''Radar:''' Oh, then I won't bring his glass in. }}
* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: North Korean and Chinese soldiers could never seem to hit any of the main characters when shot at on camera. A partularly jarring example was Hawkeye being air dropped to a pinned down foxhole to perform surgery on a wounded soldier, on Christmas, ''dressed as Santa'', slowly climbing down a rope to the foxhole, [[Hollywood Tactics|rather than the chopper landing then taking off, thus being exposed to enemy fire that much less]].
Line 288:
* [[Ivy League for Everyone]]: Charles graduated ''summa cum laude'' from Harvard and Trapper attended Dartmouth. BJ went to Stanford (non-Ivy, but of comparable prestige). According to "Adam's Ribs" Hawkeye seems to have graduated from the University of Chicago, a rather prestigious research school.
* [[Juggling Loaded Guns]]: gun fanatic Frank Burns. He frequently shot himself, and at one point, he accidentally shot BJ, for which he was relentlessly mocked.
{{quote|
'''Col. Potter:''' So, naturally, you shot Captain Hunnicutt. }}
** One incident involved him shooting himself in the foot after stealing a high-ranking officer's beautiful revolver, which leads to the [[Fridge Logic]] that not only did Frank assume it was unloaded, but that Radar had left it loaded. He also had a particularly entertaining scene where he pulled the pin on a grenade for no good reason, and about six seconds later realized he was waving around a live grenade. Cue frantic search for the dropped pin and fumbling attempt to return it to the grenade (it worked).
Line 310:
* [[Manly Tears]]: Several times.
* [[Mattress Tag Gag]]: Variant: In "The General Flipped at Dawn", Henry dons a new set of fatigues in anticipation of Gen. Steele's arrival. He asks Radar if there are any tags visible, and Radar tears one off from the back of the pants before reading: "Do not remove this tag under penalty of Federal Code 764-J."
{{quote|
* [[McLeaned]]: Col. Henry Blake, played by McLean Stevenson (the [[Trope Namer]])
* [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]]: Larry Linville (aka Frank Burns) has been described by his castmates as one of the sweetest men to walk this planet (Almost to the point of [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]). Even Frank's idiotic laugh was made up on the spot by Linville.
* [[Meaningful Echo]]: Provided by Sidney Freedman in the finale.
{{quote|
* [[Medal of Dishonor]]: BJ in "Bombshells".
* [[The Men First]]
Line 333:
** Maxwell Q. Klinger's middle name was [[Mysterious Middle Initial|never revealed]].
* [[Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep]]: Parodied by Father Mulcahy, of all people.
{{quote|
A bag of peanuts at my feet.
If I die before I wake,
Give them to my brother Jake. }}
* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: In one episode, Radar apparently hit an elderly Korean villager with a jeep. When the uninjured man demands $50 not to report Radar to the MPs, a visiting officer susses out that he's a well-known con man known as "Whiplash Wang".
Line 381:
* [[Really Gets Around]]: Hot-Lips, Hawkeye, Trapper
* [[Really Seventeen Years Old]]: There's a kid (played by Ron Howard) who lies about his age to get into the army; Hawkeye catches him and sends him home.
{{quote|
'''Hawkeye''': Let's hope it's a long and happy hate. }}
** Ironically, Ron Howard was actually 18 at the time of filming.
Line 398:
** For no readily apparent reason, every episode that features Colonel Flagg also features someone named Perkins - usually with the rank of Captain, and usually not their actual name. Also, not actually a gag.
** Throughout the first season:
{{quote|
(Everyone ignores him and keeps talking)
'''Radar:''' (Stands up) Quiet!
(Everyone shuts up)
'''Henry:''' Thank you, Radar. }}
** Tried out in a couple of episodes:
{{quote|
'''Hawkeye:''' (Interrupting and gesturing to Trapper) And these are Captains McIntyre. }}
** In the early seasons, the majors going to Henry's office to complain about something and Margaret doing all the talking for Frank, usually leading to a snarky comment from Henry.
Line 506:
** Hawkeye got one from Radar after he (Hawkeye) showed up for surgery too drunk to operate. He got another one from everyone after he laid into Radar for it.
* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?]]: BJ Hunnicutt's given name is, apparently, BJ. Leads to this exchange:
{{quote|
'''BJ''': My mother, ''Bea'' Hunnicutt, and my father, ''Jay'' Hunnicutt. }}
* [[Whole Costume Reference]]: Many of Klinger's dresses were from the studio's stock from other shows and films.
Line 512:
* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Klinger, of course. It was his plan to get home -- they'd think he was crazy and hence unfit for duty if he wore women's clothing. He was otherwise portrayed as a good soldier.
* [[Wildlife Commentary Spoof]]: Hawkeye describes an encounter between Frank and Margaret in this fashion:
{{quote|
* [[Will]]: Hawkeye makes one out while at an aid station under heavy shelling in "Where There's a Will, There's a War".
* [[Wire Dilemma]]: "The Army-Navy Game"
* [[Worlds Smallest Violin]]: Possibly the [[Trope Maker]]: Margaret does this in 1978 when Charles complains that an overflow of post-op patients has kicked him out of his tent.
{{quote|
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Winchester, for Hawkeye and BJ.
** Occasionally moved into the realm of [[Vitriolic Best Buds]], whenever Hawkeye or BJ would have an actual problem and Winchester's empathy would kick in, and likewise Hawkeye and BJ both admitted a respect and care for Charles they never displayed for his predecessor Frank.
| |||