A talk about Charles!

[Kay4077]

I've been asked by my friend Shirley (the lady who kindly loaned me the Region 2 DVD leaflet with that gorgestive pic of Charles) to do a 40 minute talk for her 'U3A' class (that's University of the Third Age for anyone who doesn't know). The theme for the term is 'Heroes and Villains' and she's asked me to talk about MASH and especially Charles.

That's what I call a fun challenge!

Anyways, I'm planning to do a brief introduction to the series and all the main characters, with reference to how characters got replaced and how some of them changed (eg Margaret), before introducing Charles himself.

I'll be "illustrating" the talk with clips from episodes, so any ideas on the best scenes to introduce each character would be much appreciated.

One of the points I'll be making is that even the 'heroes' were flawed. Any suggestions as to scenes with Trapper I might use here? (Hawkeye's no problem - he shouted at Radar didn't he? )

The talk is scheduled for October 7th, so at least I have a couple of months to prepare. Ideas and suggestions welcome! (And I'll let you know how I go on)

[ogiegirl]

Sounds exciting

[stanford9]

I'd cite "They Call the Wind Korea" at least, when Charles admits that yes, he's afraid. That's a big admission for him, after all.

He could be called a reluctant hero in that ep; I mean, look how he gripes and grumbles at the beginning, when they find the overturned convoy, but he still goes in and manages, esp when he has to improvise on the chest-tube the soldier needs. In the end, I think he even surprised himself that they got through the night, the windstorm and keeping the wounded alive; I think this was a great growing-time for Charles, as accustomed as he was to Boston life.

[Kay4077]

Thanks 1niner, yes, I'm planning to use clips from that eppy to illustrate the unlikely friendship between Charles and Klinger - as well as making the point that Charles is prepared to pitch in and help where he can.

Any suggestions on where I might find a clip of Trapper being uncharacteristically snappy or something? I've got Hawkeye yelling at Radar, but I need to find something similar for Trap - if I can!
And can anyone think of ANY examples of Frank actually being decent? I can't!

[stanford9]

For Trapper, I'd suggest the ep where he thinks he's going home because of his ulcer. He asks Hawkeye, "Do you know how long it's been since I've made love to my wife??" and Hawkeye says, "At least one daughter ago." I think Trapper punches Hawkeye in the episode.

Speaking of punching Hawkeye (heh), what about the one where BJ punches him, after Radar leaves and BJ's freaking over Erin calling Radar "Daddy"?

For Frank, all I can suggest is what Margaret says about him, "Well, in some ways, Donald Penobscott was no Frank Burns." Sadly, she didn't elucidate on that, but it actually showed Frank in a positive light and of course Hawkeye and BJ wanted details. I know there're at least a couple shots, more background than dialogue, of Frank jumping in and helping in triage and such and not being a butt about it, but yeah, I can't think of an actual scene with Frank talking where he's being decent.

Maybe the scene where he's talking to Sidney (while Frank's working on his air-raid shelter), and Frank mentions his wife, and the picture she sent of herself walking AWAY from the camera... Frank's concerned his wife's changing too much, almost daring (gasp!) to become more independent and expanding her horizons a little. While we know he and Margaret were having a fling (at least he considered it such), we know in the end Frank loves his wife.

OH OH, I've got it, Frank being decent: When he actually agrees to be Penobscott's Best Man at the wedding, at the 4077th! You know it's KILLING him inside, but he stands with him, and Margaret, and isn't being a snarky pest as is his normal behavior.

[Kay4077]

Those are great suggestions, 1niner, many thanks.

Trapper punching Hawkeye, yep, I like that. I like that a lot! ;D

[Louise]

Have you got one for Margaret yet Kay?

If not, perhaps you could use 'The Nurses' where she's upset that the other nurses are leaving her out.

[Kay4077]

louise said:

Have you got one for Margaret yet Kay?

If not, perhaps you could use 'The Nurses' where she's upset that the other nurses are leaving her out.

Good suggestion, Louise, but I'm already planning on using that one to illustrate how Margaret changed over time.
I remembered there's a scene where Margaret comes back from Tokyo and has a report on how the 4077th patients have been progressing there. One of them (Frank's patient, naturally) almost died and needed further surgery. That's a good scene to show Margaret's concern for the patients, I think - but I can't remember which episode it's from! Anyone??

Also - what's the episode where some Colonel or General or something is in post-op, recovering, and Charles starts to suck up to him by feeding him his lunch - then discovers the guy is going back to the Front, and leaves him to it? (or something like that)

[stanford9]

Margaret changing over time in the series isn't too surprising: she did the same thing in the movie. By the end of the movie, she's a lot more relaxed and less gung-ho and military than at the beginning of her appearance. I think it's apropos that they depicted something similar in the series.

[Kay4077]

kay4077 said:

What's the episode where some Colonel or General or something is in post-op, recovering, and Charles starts to suck up to him by feeding him his lunch - then discovers the guy is going back to the Front, and leaves him to it? (or something like that)

Still need help identifying which episode this came from, folks. Please?

(The rest of the talk is starting to come together quite nicely - have sorted out 90% of the clips I'm going to use, and worked out what I'm going to say and the order I'm going to say it in. Haven't recorded the clips and timed it yet though, so there might be some rewriting to do once I've got the "first draft" done.)

[Jenna]

kay4077 said:

kay4077 said:

What's the episode where some Colonel or General or something is in post-op, recovering, and Charles starts to suck up to him by feeding him his lunch - then discovers the guy is going back to the Front, and leaves him to it? (or something like that)

Still need help identifying which episode this came from, folks. Please?

It was 'BJ Papa San'

[Kay4077]

Thanks, CG. No wonder I couldn't remember which episode it was from. 'BJ Papa San' is not an episode that's very high on my list of "must watch" repeats!

I think all I need now is examples of Hawkeye boasting about what a fantastic surgeon he is. Got the one from 'Chief Surgeon Who' - can anyone remember the other eps where he says stuff like "I'm the best surgeon here"?? Ta!

[Jenna]

kay4077 said:

Thanks, CG. No wonder I couldn't remember which episode it was from. 'BJ Papa San' is not an episode that's very high on my list of "must watch" repeats!

Nor mine. That's why it took so long to find it.

I think all I need now is examples of Hawkeye boasting about what a fantastic surgeon he is. Got the one from 'Chief Surgeon Who' - can anyone remember the other eps where he says stuff like "I'm the best surgeon here"?? Ta!

I'll see what I can find as I'm taking lots of screen caps today.

[Jenna]

I've been through Season 6 briefly and couldn't find anything. I will continue to look through the episodes for you.

[stanford9]

I can't think of any specific ep where Hawkeye says that, but I know there're eps where LOGICALLY, a case would go to Charles as the thoracic surgeon, yet HAWKEYE would be the one operating. I wish I remember this one glaring example, when Hawkeye flat-out tells Charles that he (Hawkeye) was going to take it, because it was such a tough case (and it was a chest case, too). I was flabbergasted. What ego!

There's been at least one where Hawkeye told Charles that Charles was wrong about some technique, even though Charles was the specialist and was more recently trained than Hawkeye. (Trained, as in up on the latest techniques, not as in medical school.)