M*A*S*H: Season Three has the same virtues and flaws as the preceding and succeeding discs in Fox's DVD release cycle -- well-nigh perfect transfers of uncut episodes, each with five chapter breaks (corresponding to the broadcast segment breaks), eight shows to a disc, and each accessible individually (there is no "play all" option). The transfers are all spot-on perfect in the standard full-screen 1.33:1 television aspect ratio. This set is a little different from the others in one respect, having to do with the special attributes of that particular season. The third season of M*A*S*H was unique -- at least in three episodes -- for its peculiar use of music and the related presence of singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III in the role of Captain Calvin Spaulding for three episodes. Virtually every network series ends up getting cut in syndicated reruns in order to take advantage of the greater allowable time for commercials, and these cuts create problems while watching this set. Two of Wainwright's shows, Rainbow Bridge and There's Nothing Like a Nurse, as broadcast in syndication leave his work intact, as his scenes in the latter all involve stars Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers, as well as a song sung over a montage of the doctors' antics with the absent nurses; and in the former, his performance of "South Korea Blues" bridges the sections of the episode. Those shows demonstrate how special his contribution was in helping to expand the series' narrative structure, and point up what we're missing in the syndicated version of his third show, Big Mac. The latter is a revelation here, for the two scenes with Wainwright are usually cut out of syndicated version. (The episode involves an announced inspection of the MASH 4077th by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the preparations therein.) On the DVD, it's delightful to see Wainwright's Captain Spaulding singing a snide, derisive tribute to the five-star general and also providing the coda to the non-event of the general's visit. It restored a piercing satirical quality that is missing from the syndicated version of the episode. Those moments coupled with the overall quality of the season make this volume an especially attractive purchase.

The first season of the monumentally successful M*A*S*H takes place in Korea circa 1950, where a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit a mere three miles from the front attempt to balance the brutalities of war playing out before them with friendship, camaraderie, and humor.