Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is finally delivering on a long promised franchise. Both the Academy Award winning film and the long running television series of M*A*S*H will be arriving in January.

November, 1951. The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is shaken up by the arrival of Captains Hawkeye Pierce and Duke Forrest… crack surgeons but lousy soldiers. Joined by renowned chest-cutter Trapper John McIntyre, the surgeons set about dealing with the daily carnage of the war by raising hell. From getting rid of the idiotic Major Burns, to helping the camp dentist commit “suicide”, there’s no lengths the Swampmen won’t go to distract themselves from the horrors of war. Of course the story of the film was merely a launching point for the show that lasted eleven years and ended with the most viewed episode in television history.

The film will be packaged as a two-disc set, most likely part of the “Five Star Collection”. The film will boast a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, and audio in both Dolby 2.0 Stereo and Mono. An additional audio track will contain an audio commentary with director Robert Altman. The set will include several featurettes including “AMC Backstory”, “The Story of M*A*S*H”, “M*A*S*H: History Through the Lens” and “M*A*S*H Reunion”. Also included is a film restoration demo, theatrical trailers and a still gallery.

The first season of “M*A*S*H” will be presented in the same manner that exsisting Fox sets including “The X-Files” and “The Simpsons” have been released. The first set; M*A*S*H The Complete First Season will contain all twenty-four episodes of the first season on several discs. No information concerning extras with the box are available, but the episodes will be presented with an interesting audio option allowing the viewers to not only watch the episodes with their original English and French soundtracks, but also in English without the laugh track. Certainly an interesting option.

Both the film and the first season will be available on January 8th, 2002. The film will be priced at $29.95, and the series at $39.95, and you can take or leave it if you please.