MASH Pilot. (1 Viewer)

I feel I need to address this... why has Fox released the pilot episode on season one as the syndicated version? It's not entirely edited... just one scene... I think... the scene isn't entirely missing just a part of it. And I'd like to know why.

Could you please provide some more details? Which scene, which part is missing. etc...

Jimmy!

The only difference i noticed was that once upon a time the pilot (and only the pilot) had the theme song with words, as in the movie. Guess they didnt want to pay the rights to use it.

Count me among those curious to find out what Scene. I never saw the original pilot and have vague memories of sindication.

Okay... it's the scene where Frank and Hot Lips are making out and Hot Lips is watching Hawkeye and Lt. Dish make out with her binoculars... and Frank claims them to be "animals." and he kisses her neck... he's suppose to repeat that... but he never does.

They paid for the music, but were too cheap to p[ay for the lyrics? Seems unlikely to me. More likely that the lyrics, with lines about suicide, may have been considered inappropriate for TV?

ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY THEY EDITED THAT SCENE? Is that too much to ask for? Apparently so, since no one has ANSWERED why. I come to this board for educated intelligent opinions.

The running time on that episode is almost exactly the same as the other episodes (down to almost the second).

And... exhale.

While a lot of us are geeks in our own unique ways, we don't always know everything (like whether or not this episode is even edited, as you say it is). I think the diehard M*A*S*H faithful might have brought it up by now if there was something wrong with it.

I've got to agree with Dane on this one, besides why is it not ok for this thread to stray towards a discussion of the theme music, when it was perfectly alright for a Brady Bunch thread to turn in to a discussion of Happy Days?

Regarding the question at hand, I think that best your going to get for an answer is an I don't know. Unless you get official word from Fox or an article quoting an official of Fox, any answer you get will be just a guess that we venture at. Sorry we can't help, but sometimes it happens.

The TV series M*A*S*H never used the words to "Suicide is Painless," partly because those lyrics have specific meaning to a plot point in the film involving a character who is only mentioned a couple of times in the entire series.

About the bit you say is missing on the DVD, I have no idea. I didn't even notice if there was something missing from that scene! I must have been too interested in finally seeing the opening and closing scenes that are always cut for syndication.

You might find an explaination at the MASH Talk discussion forums if no one can answer here.

I tried to join them but those f***ers just don't accept me at MASHtalk.

Somehow I'm not surprised

Neither am I.

I just found that forum and registerd and posted my first post here:
http://www.mashtalk.com/forums/showt...&threadid=5968

The only reason i brought up the music is because THAT was the only change i saw. When i watched the show in reruns in the 70s and 80s the pilot was the only episode that used the words to the song, and the opening credits ran longer than they would as a series. I cant say i remember any other change, or missing scene to the pilot. Sorry that we dont know Chris, and sorry that we stressed you so much!

I can vouch for the edit, Chris, specifically the edit involving Frank and Hot Lips. On the DVD of the pilot episode, as with its syndicated counterpart, Frank only says, "Animals!" once. However, in a later "Interview" episode with Clete Roberts (the hour-long follow-up, not the first "Interview" segment), it does indeed show Frank saying "Animals!", then kissing Margaret's neck, then saying "Animals!" a second time. So the scene was definitely filmed if it appeared intact in the second "Interview" segment.

Editing it out from the syndicated broadcast is understandable, since a number of clips were edited to fit the pilot into a 30-minute run time to allow for more commercials. But on the DVD it's clearly edited to where Frank says "Animals!" only once and not twice.

Maybe you remember the additional scene from that follow-up episode. It would not make sense to edit it for the DVD, not when the running time is equal to the rest of the episodes..it is not a syndicated cut, or its running time would be shorter.