M*A*S*Hish 20: M-U-S-H Animation Cel & VHS

M*A*S*H spawned several well known shows including Trapper John, M.D. and AfterMASH, and there was also a failed pilot for a series starring Gary Burghoff as Radar called W*A*L*T*E*R. Trapper John, M.D. had seven successful seasons, and AfterMASH was cancelled after a season and a half. But there is a little known cartoon series that was less of a spin-off of M*A*S*H and more of a spoof. Called M-U-S-H, the cartoon aired on Saturday mornings during the Uncle Croc’s Block hour mix of live action comedy and cartoons. M-U-S-H shamelessly borrowed from M*A*S*H, and it was part of a series of cartoons by Filmation that spoofed popular television shows of the 1960s and 1970s. While Uncle Croc’s Block and M-U-S-H were not a success and were cancelled in the middle of their first season, Filmation did have some success with some of its cartoons including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Ghostbusters. In this week’s post, we will look closer at Uncle Croc’s Block and M-U-S-H, review an animation cel from M-U-S-H, and look at a VHS copy of some M-U-S-H cartoons.

Uncle Croc’s Block and M-U-S-H

Filmation Associates was a studio based in the United States that was founded by Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer. The studio was in business from 1962 to 1989, and they produced some cartoons that were fairly successful because they were based on established franchises, such as the ones I mentioned in the introduction. But they also produced cartoons that were spoofs of popular TV shows that were not well received. Uncle Croc’s Block and M-U-S-H fall into the later. The Saturday morning series, Uncle Croc’s Block, aired on ABC from September 6, 1975 through February 14, 1976. It contained a mix of live action comedy bits and cartoons. The cartoons in the block included M-U-S-H, Fraidy Cat, Wacky and Packy, and eventually, The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty. The primary block of shows starred Charles Nelson Reilly as Uncle Croc, and he played through a series of live action skits as a host that didn’t want to host a kids’ show. Needless to say, the premise of a children’s show host playing a character who didn’t like his job didn’t go over well, and the ratings showed it. Uncle Croc’s Block was the lowest rated show on ABC’s Saturday morning block, and would often lose to reruns of The Jetsons on CBS. ABC executives were not happy with Uncle Croc’s Block, and they shortened the series from an hour to only a half hour before cancelling it in February 1976. That was considered mid season for a Saturday morning program. ABC was so unhappy with Filmation for Uncle Croc’s Block that they never ordered a program from them again.

M-U-S-H did not fare any better in the ratings or reviews. It was a blatant parody of M*A*S*H with M-U-S-H also being an acronym that stood for “Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes.” It followed a group of sled dogs at a medical post in the frozen tundra of Upper Saboonia. The main characters of the series included Bullseye and his buddy Trooper Joe, Major Sideburns and head nurse Cold Lips, and commanding officer Colonel Flake with his clerk, Sonar. Those names might sound a little familiar to M*A*S*H fans, and the characters’ personalities would as well! Most episodes pit Bullseye and Trooper Joe against Major Sideburns and Cold Lips with Colonel Flake being along for the ride. Each of the cartoons were short at around five minutes. Just like Uncle Croc’s Block, M-U-S-H received poor reviews for its predictable storylines and it not being as clever as the show it spoofed. Interestingly, the series was originally going to be titled “MUSH Puppies,” but they chose M-U-S-H to more closely align itself with M*A*S*H. It is a strange footnote in the history of M*A*S*H, and it is worth checking out an episode or two (see the video embedded at the bottom of the post).

Animation Cel

If you have ever handled animation cels, you know how complex they are. There is a painted background that is solid, and then there are several clear layers with various elements of the character painted on them. Animation was captured frame by frame, and if the cartoon was filmed at 24-frames per second, then over 7,000 frames were needed to create a five minute cartoon. The use of transparency layers to easily manipulate facial features, arms, legs, and the body of characters made the process go more quickly. This cel from M-U-S-H contains images of Cold Lips and Trooper Joe. They are each on their own transparency, but not all of their body is on each layer. Cold Lips has several layers including her eyes, mouth, torso, and lower body. The same is true for Trooper Joe. This made it easier for the animators to create mouth movements for words and the blinking of eyes without having to change the position of the body. One layer of transparency could be moved and reused to capture each frame of the animation. Each layer of transparency has holes along the bottom to help line them up in the machines used to capture each frame of the animation. Once a frame was captured, a transparent layer (or multiple layers) would be swapped out for the next frame. Animation by hand was a tedious process!

If you are a child of the 1990s, you probably remember the bottles of acrylic finger paints, and if you’re like me, you can still smell that paint! That is exactly what this animation cel smells like. Each layer was hand painted in reverse on the transparency. In addition to the smell, this cel is very heavy. Since there is the weight of the backboard, each layer of the transparency, and the paint, it adds up quickly. As a part of the collection, this object can be challenging to store. It is in an archive box, stored flat and wrapped in acid free tissue paper. This protects the cel from future deterioration because there has been some damage to the cel over the last fifty years. The cel is a unique piece of M*A*S*H history because it helps tell the story of a failed M*A*S*H spoof series, and it also illustrates the detailed process that hand drawn animation required.

VHS (United Kingdom Release)

In the 1980s, Filmation released a selection of nine M-U-S-H cartoons on VHS in the United Kingdom. I have not seen a version of this VHS released in the United States. The nine episodes listed on this VHS are outlined on the back cover, but the episode titles do not appear to match what the company released. The book Animation by Filmation lists 28 episodes of M-U-S-H (see the episode guide below), but none of the titles listed in the book match the titles listed on the VHS. Comparing the two sets of titles, it might be possible to match up the the differences, but I have not found a full list of episodes of M-U-S-H outside of Animation by Filmation. Not even IMDb has an episode guide. The VHS is a great way to watch some of the cartoons, however. And it appears that the M-U-S-H cartoons I have seen online and on YouTube are from this VHS. Unfortunately, I assume that the majority of this series would be classified as “lost media” since it has never been released and the studio is now defunct.

Series Details

M-U-S-H broadcast on ABC on Saturday mornings at 10am ET during the Uncle Croc’s Block half hour of cartoons. This series only ran for half of a season from September 6, 1975 to February 14, 1976.

Characters & Cast

Character Art

Episode List (VHS)

These are the nine episodes and descriptions listed on the back cover of the VHS, but they do not match the episode list from the book Animation by Filmation.

1. Major Minor – Bullseye and trooper are left in charge of the General’s pet minor bird, but Cold lips and Sideburns are out to get them in trouble.
2. Snow Olympics – General Upheaval volunteers Major Sideburns to be M.U.S.H.’s representative in the Snow Olympics.
3. Who’s the Fairest – The new organizational manager is wooing all the guys. Not to be outdone, Cold Lips and Hilda embark on a beauty and fitness campaign.
4. Mr. Nice Guy – Major Sideburns doesn’t seem himself at all, he’s actually being nice to everyone.
5. Top Secret – Henry Kissyface has instructed the General to find him a 100% guaranteed supersafe place for his international peace conference.
6. Mind Over Matter – Sigfield Fraud the world famous psychologist is paying a visit to M.U.S.H. Sideburns and Cold Lips make excellent guinea pigs for his experiments.
7. Attention! – General Upheaval has been left in charge while the Colonel is away and he’s making sure everyone knows who’s boss.
8. Touchdown – M.U.S.H. are challenged to a football match – but Sonar, Trooper plus Bullseye aren’t the ideal defensive line.
9. Love at First Bite – A rare flee is plaguing the members of M.U.S.H. with bizarre consequences.

Episode List (Animation by Filmation)

The book only provided a list of the episode titles and does not include any descriptions.

Episode #	Episode Title
1	I am Commanding Officer
2	The Camp Show
3	Cat on a Cold Tin Roof
4	The Big Budget Cut
5	The Moose Who came to Dinner
6	Make Room for Candi
7	The Crash Diet
8	Man Cannot Live on Ice Alone
9	Home Sweet Haunt
10	Hi-Brow Menace
11	No Talent Show
12	Major Maynah
13	More Power to Ya
14	Cowering in the Corner
15	The Iceman Meltath
16	The Great Gold Mush
17	Sideburns’ Surprise Party
18	The Mushiest Athlete
19	Love Makes the World go Around…
20	Will the Real Sideburns Please Stand Up?
21	I’m Okay, You’re Nuts
22	Toying Around with the General
23	Room and Bored
24	Cinema Weirdate
25	The Six Zillion Dollar Dog
26	Gridiron Grief
27	To Flea or Not to Flea
28	The Calms Caper

Episode Collection on YouTube

There are several versions of M-U-S-H that have been uploaded to YouTube. These are the episodes from the VHS.

Sources & Further Reading

Erickson, Hal. Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003: Volume 2: The Shows M – Z, 2nd Edition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2005.

IMDb – “M-U-S-H“

MASH4077TV.com – “M-U-S-H“

Screenrant – “MASH’s Animated TV Parody Series Explained (& Why It Failed)“

Swanigan, Michael and Darrell McNeil. Animation by Filmation. Simi Valley, CA: Black Bear Press, 1993.