M.A.S.H. inspired Wash by yarnzift

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M.A.S.H. inspired Wash

POSTED BY: YARNZIFT
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 05:47
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Saturday, February 18, 2006 2:00 PM

It seems like the character of Wash is strongly inspired by the character "Trapper" John Macintyre from the movie and series M.A.S.H. (and also the later character BJ Hunnicutt). He sports conspicuous print shirts and even a similarly-outlandish moustache when he is first hired. That is beside his dedpan humor and similar role (quipping sidekick with vital technical duties). Probably this has been commented on before, but I can't seem to search these threads. Has anyone looked for MASH references in the series, especially in Wash's lines? Sorry if this all very obvious and already covered. I'm new here!

yarnzift

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Saturday, February 18, 2006 2:22 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Wellcome fellow browncoat,

I must say I'd never thought of a Wash - Trapper connection before. Certainly Wash is just as informal as a MASH doctor in both dress and with regards to authority. But it's not an exact parallel as I doubt Mal really cares about uniform regulation and while Wash will talk back to Mal he does obey the actual orders. (With 2 fairly high drama exceptions.) It would not however surprise me if Joss had been thinking of MASH when he created Wash's character.

Funny you should ask now however as I recently put in an order with amazon for a few FF/Serenity items that I've been needing to track down and was a few dollars short to qualify for free shipping. I order the MASH novel. Coincidence or Not.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Saturday, February 18, 2006 7:59 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Welcome YarnZift, love your name.

I usually hand out a browncoat to the new folks, so here's yours....

*hands yarnzift a browncoat*

and glad you came aboard!

I think you could be onto something with the parrallels to MASH.

Recently my Mom ( big fan of Firefly) and I were discussing how much we loved Firefly and how this was the first time in a long time we'd felt connected like this to characters.... then we mentioned that it had been MASH that was the last group of characters we cared for so much.

" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal

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Saturday, February 18, 2006 8:01 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Ahhh, Dave it's eerie all this MASH stuff.

Deja vu? A ripple in the Matrix?

" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 6:11 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:
Ahhh, Dave it's eerie all this MASH stuff.

Deja vu? A ripple in the Matrix?

Teela having some fun with the TARDIS?

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 6:15 AM

FOLLOWMAL

Ok, unfamiliar with Dr. Who, but hope to make his acquaintance now that it is coming to SciFi.

Sorry......

Now, a Stargate ref, perhaps ( maybe?) I'd get I think....

" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 8:10 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

Ok, unfamiliar with Dr. Who, but hope to make his acquaintance now that it is coming to SciFi.

Sorry......

Now, a Stargate ref, perhaps ( maybe?) I'd get I think....

And would probably sail right over my head.

But hey back to MASH parallels. If Wash is Trapper then Mal would have to be Hawkeye and I'm thinking Inara as Lt. Dish. The whole Hawkeye chasing Dish rejecting thing is probably as close as we'll get to the unresolved sexual tension of Mal/Inara.

I'm having trouble placing Simon though. Maybe Radar. They both have the akward around females thing and the hypercompetent in their area. But Simon has the whole core planet city dweller thing as opposed to Radar's (rim world like) farm background. Both are out of their element however so that works.

At first glance Zoe doesn't fit in the MASH concept but I'm thinking later series Hoolihan is the best analog - good at what she does and with a respect for Hawk's abilities even if still not for his demeaner so much.

The Book/Mulcahy connection is fairly obvious even if again inexact. They both have the thing of not really belonging with their compatriots but are kind of stuck there and making the best of the situation. Even to the point of making genuine friendships with these people they have little in common with at first glance.

River? Klinger! Work with me here. River is crazy and can't go home while Klinger wants the army to think he's crazy so he can go home.

Jayne is another tricky one. My intial feeling would be Frank Burns. They both have the everybody else is smarter than them thing going but Jayne is good at his job and not so obviously an antagonist. This will require more cogitating.

Kaylee. I got nothing. I'm sorry I'm'a need some help on this one.

Which leaves us with Joss - our very own Henry Blake ostensibly in charge but really the pawn of characters and story that are actually pulling the strings.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 11:57 AM

FOLLOWMAL

To quote Zoe: "I don't disagree on any particular point."

Particularly-

"Which leaves us with Joss - our very own Henry Blake ostensibly in charge but really the pawn of characters and story that are actually pulling the strings."

Everything else, I'm right there with you. Kaylee, nope, me neither.

We went riding around this morning ( bear with me, there is a point) to pick up a few things and to go get the mail. It's treacherous driving conditions here today, with freezing rain. My husband drives well in this stuff, especially when we take our 4 by 4. But he doesn't like a whole lotta talkin', he likes to concentrate. Let's me have time to muse about Firefly and Mal... so I don't mind.

Anyway, I was sort of thinking the same thing you said above. I was looking off over our hilly terrain down into our valley and thinking of Serenity Valley and how Joss came up with the story after reading "Killer Angels" ( an excellent read, by the way) and how it just must have consumed him.
And that maybe that is why it has addicted us. It was written with such passion and it all just came together like a.... I don't know. Gestalt moment. Therefore we tap into that too.

I think sometimes the story is literally alive.
Thus our art, our stories too and our deep love for the characters.

Okay, now I'm gonna frighten everybody with my looniness... I'll hush.

" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 1:02 PM

DC4BS

What was the guys name from the motor pool? Rizzo? I can't remember. Anyway, he could fix anything and complained about how people treated "his" equipment.

Anyway, there's your Kaylee counterpart.

------------------------------------------
dc4bs

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Sunday, February 19, 2006 1:09 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by dc4bs:

What was the guys name from the motor pool? Rizzo? I can't remember. Anyway, he could fix anything and complained about how people treated "his" equipment.

Anyway, there's your Kaylee counterpart.

Maybe. But I think there is a prety big disconnect on the sunny outlook of Kaylee vs the, "what's in it for me?" ethos of Rizzo front.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Monday, February 20, 2006 2:30 PM

YARNZIFT

This is cool. I think Kaylee and Simon each relates with Radar, in a way. Kaylee and Radar both display a form of ESP. Radar preconceives his boss's needs and Kaylee intuits her boat's needs.

yarnzift

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Monday, February 20, 2006 2:38 PM

YARNZIFT

Oh, and I love the River-Klinger connection. Also, Mulcahy-Book both have some unexpected fighting skills. (Although Mulcahy's boxing experience is not quite as impressive.)

yarnzift

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Monday, February 20, 2006 2:40 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by yarnzift:
This is cool. I think Kaylee and Simon each relates with Radar, in a way. Kaylee and Radar both display a form of ESP. Radar preconceives his boss's needs and Kaylee intuits her boat's needs.

yarnzift

Truth. Though now that you mention the Radar ESP I'm all of a sudden thinking River again. Who'd have thought that Iowa farm boy would be so complicated. Nah River/Klinger is still to good a concordance.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Monday, February 20, 2006 7:52 PM

MISSTRESSAHARA

Well, this has gotten as strange as The Muppets thread, which I love. I really see no connection with the whole MASH thing so I won't comment on that.

I will however welcome yet another recruit to the fold. You 'll love our Verse Yarnzift. As someone said, Welcome, we weird.

Have a pint; Mudders Milk; All the carbs and protiens of your mothers best turkey dinner.... plus 15% alchohol.

Mind the carpet.

If I'm a bitch, then life just got interesting

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Monday, February 20, 2006 8:02 PM

NOAHINHISCUPS

good to know there's other MASH fans around, although I hope we're refering to the Altman movie and not the show?

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006 4:00 AM

WEREALLJUSTFLOATING

This is so weird - ages ago I was thinking how the two shows are kinda similar. Has anyone read the last script Dead Or Alive, it never got filmed but it's a great read.

Spoiler ahead if you haven't read it:

Select to view spoiler:

In it, the crew are staying on a small border planet that gets bombed, and they have to help out with the casualties. A makeshift medical tent is set up and Simon goes about tending to the victims of the bomb.

There's no real obvious MASH references in it that I can think of but it made me think of that show nevertheless. Later on I was considering ways in which Joss could do a spin-off of Firefly and I thought it would be great if they did a 'MASH-in-space' type show - maybe set in the war, or in a new war that breaks out post BDM. Simon would work as a trauma surgeon again in one of the Independant's camps, out on a border planet safe from the Alliance, possibly with the help of Kaylee, Inara, River. And Mal, Zoe, and Jayne would go off on their campaigns with the newly reformed Independants to try and take down the Alliance. I include Jayne as he seems to have developed an urge to fight for a good cause since the movie.

Anyway, I loved this idea and thought it would be a great basis for a show. I loved MASH, it was one of those great comedies that could be silly, but was really well acted and wasn't afraid to go to dark places too. Just like our show.

We're still flying.

That's not much.

It's enough.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006 5:47 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by noahinhiscups:
good to know there's other MASH fans around, although I hope we're refering to the Altman movie and not the show?

Well I am a fan of both. Wanna make something of it?

Edit to add apropriate 'moticon

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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