I never read the book or watched the movie, so the TV series is all I know.
Radar changed pretty severely in the first few seasons. There's an episode where Hot Lips is fed up with everything and wants a transfer, so she storms over to Colonel Blake's office. Radar is at his normal post in with all the radio equipment smoking a cigar and drinking whisky, and is outright disrespectful to/dismissive of Hot Lips until she completely flips her shit. That Radar is a completely different creature than the one that mentions his family farm in Iowa every episode later in the show's run.
M*A*S*H really feels like two separate shows to me. The Blake/Trapper/Burns era was a lot more biting in terms of its criticism of military bureaucracy and the attitudes that lead to war. Frank Burns' morally bankrupt and Dunning-Kruger incompetent chickenhawk persona is especially relevant today (see: GOP). That said, the characters were largely one dimensional.
The Potter/BJ/Winchester era had better, more nuanced characters, but the show lacked a clear antagonistic view point to satirize. Winchester was an upper crust snob, but he hated being in Korea just as much as everyone else. The show became more about the relationships between the characters with a more homogeneous "war sucks" message.
Radar changed pretty severely in the first few seasons. There's an episode where Hot Lips is fed up with everything and wants a transfer, so she storms over to Colonel Blake's office. Radar is at his normal post in with all the radio equipment smoking a cigar and drinking whisky, and is outright disrespectful to/dismissive of Hot Lips until she completely flips her shit. That Radar is a completely different creature than the one that mentions his family farm in Iowa every episode later in the show's run.
M*A*S*H really feels like two separate shows to me. The Blake/Trapper/Burns era was a lot more biting in terms of its criticism of military bureaucracy and the attitudes that lead to war. Frank Burns' morally bankrupt and Dunning-Kruger incompetent chickenhawk persona is especially relevant today (see: GOP). That said, the characters were largely one dimensional.
The Potter/BJ/Winchester era had better, more nuanced characters, but the show lacked a clear antagonistic view point to satirize. Winchester was an upper crust snob, but he hated being in Korea just as much as everyone else. The show became more about the relationships between the characters with a more homogeneous "war sucks" message.
"I was thirsty for everything, but blood wasn't my style" - Live, "Voodoo Lady"
