DVD Review: M*A*S*H: Martinis and Medicine Collection

 

MASH was a long-running series set during the Korean war. It was based on a book and adapted from a movie and starred Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce, and a very strong ensemble cast that changed over the years and included Mike Farrell, Larry Linville, David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan, Loretta Switt, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Gary Burghoff (who was the only cast member that appeared in the movie). It started out as a pretty standard sitcom, and then over the course of time as it became even more of an anti-Vietnam war show than it started out as, became a dramedy. It was mainly a procedural story-of-the-week type show but did occasionally have multi-part episodes or refer back to prior episodes. As most know, it started off as a show that was on the brink of cancellation in its first couple of seasons (saved only because the wife of the President of the network liked it) to having its series finale be the highest-rated television show in history, rivaled only in ratings by the Superbowl.

The DVD set contains the entire series on DVD and then bonus discs that include the movie and a ton of behind the scenes and making-of features, as well as the TV specials that were made after the show had been off the air. So, if you like going through bonus material this has a lot of it.

The big drawback to this set, as others have noted, is the god-awful packaging. Each disc is inserted in a very tight slot/notch that is very hard to get discs out without tearing the slot and/or scratching the disc. So, unless you are extremely lucky, one or more of the discs is going to get scratched up, and it is just a matter of will the scratch be bad enough to make at least a portion of the disc unplayable. That is why I give it three stars. If the packaging was better it would easily be a five-star set.

Overall, the show was very good (even if it got a bit preachy in the later seasons). It was well-written and acted. It is getting harder and harder to find the show in syndication now that it has been off the air for getting close to forty years, and even when you can find it in syndication, it is impossible to watch it from the first episode to the last in broadcast order. So, for those of us who were too young to see most of the episodes when they originally ran on TV, and only watched it in syndication, getting the DVDs or streaming the show is really the only way to see all of the episodes in order. The DVDs are the only place (as far as I know) to find all of the bonus material (although some of it may be on YouTube). I would really only recommend this set for die-hard fans of the show, and make sure to test the discs right away in case you get some unplayable discs.

Book Review: Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane)

 

This is the first book in a trilogy of novels by the same author detailing Darth Bane's rise to power and the institution of the "rule of two" that is still canon (although often violated) based on the Star Wars movies, video games, and animated series. Bane starts out as a coal miner named Dessel in what is essentially a forced labor colony on a planet called Apatros. After a deadly encounter, he is on the run from Republic authorities and winds up at a Sith academy where he is a standout student. He quickly realizes that the Sith as they are currently constituted will end up destroying themselves and he manipulates events that allow him to institute the rule of two, one master to have power and one apprentice to crave power.

The story is very well-paced, intertwining action sequences with drama and intrigue. It is set well before the events of the prequel series (about 1000 years), so there are no "recognizable" characters in the novel, but it really does not suffer from that like some of the newer canon novels do. Even though this book has been relegated to Legends status after the takeover of Lucasfilm by Disney, the character of Darth Bane is canon from the Clone Wars series, and of course, the rule of two was mentioned in The Phantom Menace. And, because it is set so far in the past, it does not impact the stories that are currently canon, and at least parts of it could be brought into canon via new movies or tv series.

Overall, it is a very good book, telling a good story. And, it is one of the better stories outside of the Skywalker saga that there is. Hopefully, the book will be brought back into canon sometime down the line (or a new book that incorporates some of what is in this novel, such as has been the case with the new canon novels set around the character Grand Admiral Thrawn). It is definitely worth the read.

Workout Update: P90X Day 64

Day 64 was the phase 3 return to the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout. My feelings about the workout have not changed. It is my least favorite of the resistance workouts, but I managed to get through it and did hit the 10 rep max on a few exercises. I also did ab-ripper as the warm-up and hit 23 reps for each of the exercises. So, overall it was fine, but I was glad to be done with this one. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 63

Day 63 was yoga-x again. I again went up through the balance poses. I am getting better at the moving asana portion, especially the last handful of moves with warrior three, and half-moon. Although I still have to use a chair for that portion, I do not have to rely on it as much. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 62

Day 62 was the Legs and Back workout with ab-ripper x as the warmup. Overall, both went well. On the ab-ripper workout, I was able to hit 22 reps for each, and then in Legs and Back, I used 105 lbs of resistance for the pull-down moves and hit at least 10 reps on each of those (although that was hard).