Corrected entry: Trapper John and Hawkeye have a gin still in the Swamp. Distilling gin requires a constant supply of freshwater, large amounts of juniper berries, coriander (and other flavourings), magnesium carbonate, and potassium carbonate. Burnt alum and pipe clay are needed for filtering. Where do they manage to find these things in war-torn Korea in the Fifties?
Corrected entry: Unless the regulations for the time period were different, the belt buckles seen with the regular fatigues is incorrect. They should be the same color as the belt and/or uniform. The brass buckles seen were used with the dress uniforms only. Also, any rank insignia worn by officers would have been dull in color so that they would be less of a target to snipers.
Correction: There were no dull insignias in the Korean war.
If so, then I stand corrected.
Corrected entry: Both Klinger and Radar are far too old for their rank.
Correction: Though the TV show M*A*S*H was on the air for 11 years, the real Korean War lasted 3 years. Radar is a corporal and states in season 2 "As You Were" that his age is 19. We don't know Corporal Klinger's age, but Max is promoted to sergeant in season 10, which in "real" time would be somewhere between the end of the second year and the third year of the real war.
Corrected entry: Radar is seen reading Marvel Comics that were weren't published until the mid 60s.
Correction: The problems with Radar's comics are already noted in the specific episodes.
Corrected entry: Many references to films mentioned appeared well after the Korean War.
Correction: A few movie anachronisms are already listed individually for the episodes, which include "McLintock!" and "The Ten Commandments." Also already listed are variations of "Godzilla" movies. If you watch an episode with an unlisted anachronistic film, submit it for that episode.
Corrected entry: I don't know the episode number; I have seen it a few times. Hawkeye is in the Col office with a few of the boys, they have a discussion and Hawkeye says "here's to 1984". Seeing the Korean war ended in 1953.
Correction: He is making a sarcastic toast to the political and social situation in Korea during the war, comparing to the dystopian world of Orwell's "1984".
Corrected entry: Throughout the series, several PA announcements are heard around camp, voiced by Sal Viscuso or Todd Susman. However, we never see anyone but Radar or Klinger manning the PA system, and as it is based in the clerk's office, it would seem odd for someone else to come in to make the announcements.
Correction: Too much of an assumption. I think this unknown soldier falls into the category I call "Invisible Characters": those people on some TV shows who are nearby, but are never seen. Among such characters are Pete's wife Gladys on December Bride, Carlton, the doorman on Rhoda, Norm's wife Vera on Cheers and, of course, Niles' wife Maris on Frasier.
Corrected entry: Between season 2 and season 3, the interior decoration of the officers' club changes radically. Up to season 2, it's furnished with wicker chairs and tables and has a picture of General MacArthur at the wall, from season 3 on, it has the familiar look with the tables made from tires and the unit insignia on the wall.
Correction: As you say, it happens in-between seasons. Given the 4077th's successful track record, the higher-ups may reward them with better equipment for the Officers' Club. (At one point, they save the life of an officer's son, and he gives them an upgrade to the club as well. Who's to say that hasn't happened more than once?).
Actually, it isn't so much an UPgrade as a DOWNgrade. In the 2nd season, it had nice wicker chairs and tables and even local bartenders. In the 3rd season and on, both the decoration and the furniture have a much more home-brew/scrounged air to them. I think it's more likely the producers or production designers noticed the officers' club was out of whack with the rest of the production design and adjusted it.
Again, the officer gave them the upgrade, he'd get to pick the decor and they'd just have to learn to like it. What you call an upgrade and what he calls an upgrade might be two separate things.
The basic problem with what you say is always the same however: There is exactly nothing in the dialog to support any of your theories.
There's also nothing but your own personal flair for design to say that the officer's idea of "That's what I call an upgrade" was, in fact, a downgrade. The taste of the officer who's giving them the upgrade is what decides if it is or isn't, and if his "upgrade" sucks, there's not a lot that the 4077th can do but say "Gee... thanks... sir..." and learn to like it.
"In reward for your dedicated service, I decided to replace your barkeeper with no barkeeper. You also won't have to look at the ugly mug of MacArthur any more, I've found you some nice random unit insignia instead! What's not to love, eh?"
Yeah, it sucks. I hear it's this thing called The Army.
Corrected entry: Major Houlihan is frequently shown with very long fingernails. This is against Army regulations and highly impractical in the Operating Room.
Correction: Margaret herself is the highest ranked nurse. As such, only the commanding officer of the unit would be able to put her on report. Neither Blake nor Potter seem to care about such things when they do not affect the stability of the unit. As well, Margaret herself is very well connected among the local generals and as such would be able to get away with minor details like that.
Corrected entry: It seems Colonel Potter has a love hate relationship with artillery/guns at the MASH. First, Potter orders Hawkeye to get rid of an artillery piece he received in lieu of payment of a gambling debt, for fear it will attract fire. In "Hey Doc", however, he loves the idea of having a tank in the compound to scare off snipers, with no concern that it too may attract fire. By the final episode, however, he again has an aversion to guns as he tires desperately to get a tank, left in the compound by a wounded member of the tank crew, removed as it is drawing fire.
Correction: The circumstances of the listed occasions are quite different. In case of Hawkeye's gun and the damaged tank, Colonel Potter does not want the camp to appear to be armed for fear of becoming a "valid military target" despite the red cross. In The Sniper episode however, the camp already IS under fire, so Potter tries to find a remedy. A tank as a countermeasure to snipers actually makes sense from a military Point of View: They can't hurt it, but it can hurt them. In my opinion, Potter is balancing risk against profit here. This is not a plot hole.
Corrected entry: Wouldn't Col. Flagg arouse suspicion to his superiors by regularly visiting an American medical unit? He wouldn't have been given orders on every occasion to check it out, and both Blake and Potter would likely have complained about his attitude towards their doctors (especially Hawkeye).
Correction: Because Flagg was supposed to be an intelligence officer and only appeared in 6 episodes between 1974-1979 it is likely his visits may not have gained much attention from superiors and he would probably often work unsupervised and somewhat undirected. As for Blake and Potter, as well as the rest of the MASH unit, Flagg was largely considered a joke and hardly worth the effort to seriously bother over.
Corrected entry: In the opening title sequence the two helicopters go in front of the mountain. If you watch the lead helicopter very carefully when it first goes in front of the mountain it disappears for a split second and reappears.
Correction: This is not correct. It is merely the angle and the cropping of the shot. The two helicopters do come together, then the shot changes for a split second, and in later episodes/series the cropping of the shot shows only one helicopter. However, in earlier episodes/series the shot is not cropped so tightly, and when it changes the second helicopter is very close to screen right and disappears off screen almost instantaneously.
Correction: They are in a MASH unit. They could probably order most of the stuff as medical supplies. Some of the flavorings could be from the black market or sent from home. Also, they CALL it gin - but everyone pretty much agrees that it is mostly rotgut hootch - therefore, there are a lot of things that can be used for flavoring.
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