McHale's Navy [TV series] (DVD)
Season 2
APPROX. 930 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1962 - MPA RATING: G
" The second season was as solid as the first for McHale and the men of the PT-73.
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12) "The Happy Sleepwalker." What is it with this crew and women? Now Happy is sleepwalking, and McHale thinks it's because of his fear of women.
13) "A Letter for Fuji." And now Fuji is lovesick for his girlfriend, and the crew plots to mail a letter to her from him.
14) "My Ensign, the Lawyer." Ensign Parker defends Tinker at a court martial when he's caught with Binghamton's missing printing press.
15) "Orange Blossom for McHale." Binghamton is inspired to use a beautiful con artist to get rid of McHale. Joyce Jameson guest stars.
16) "Creature from McHale's Lagoon." Gruber plants phony pearls in the island's oysters and then rents out pearl-diving equipment. Even Binghamton and Carpenter fall for it.
17) "A Medal for Parker." Another girlfriend leaves for another fighter pilot. This time Parker is the victim, and the crew plants a story of his heroism to impress her.
18) "The Balloon Goes Up." Binghamton finally gets transferred to Admiral Rogers' staff, but the one hitch is that he has to make up a $150,000 inventory deficit caused by you know whom.
19) "Who'll Buy My Sarongs." A sarong sale divides the crew, with Gruber and Tinker at odds.
20) "Evil-Eye Parker." A talent show to raise money for a local orphanage is squashed because a U.S. Senator decides to visit.
21) The Great Impersonation." Parker is chosen to imitate a British general to act as a decoy for would-be assassins.
22) "Urulu's Paradise West." The local chieftain (Jacques Abuchon) is in the driver's seat when Binghamton is ordered to buy one of Urulu's islands for a new radar station.
23) "Dear Diary." Binghamton gets hold of Parker's diary and finally gets proof of all the shady dealings McHale and his men have been up to.
24) "Babette Go Home." Negotiations for the Navy's purchase of an island for a new supply depot get complicated when the owner's daughter stows away aboard the PT-73 to be close to Virgil.
25) "The Novocain Mutiny." Fuji's toothache proves another complication for the gang, who plot to secretly get him to a dentist.
26) "Stars over Taratupa." A famous director arrives to film a documentary about PT boats, and naturally McHale and his men want to be the stars.
27) "Comrades of PT-73." A Russian officer comes to the base looking to take a PT boat and crew with him back to Murmansk, and Binghamton thinks he's finally found a way to get rid of McHale and his crew.
28) "Return of Big Frenchy." Kennedy is back as a French con man who takes Binghamton to the cleaners, with Parker unwittingly helping him. But of course McHale and the rest of the crew make things right.
29) "Alias PT-73." A visiting admiral gives Binghamton a reason to restrict McHale and his men to base, but things get complicated when they need to help rebuild a native village and decide they need a decoy boat.
30) "The Rage of Taratupa." A rock star serviceman temporarily assigned to Taratupa gets captured by the Japanese, and McHale and his men have to come to the rescue . . . again.
31) "Ensign Parker, E.S.P." Parker has a premonition that Binghamton is going to be blown up in an air raid, so of course he tries to prevent this, with predictable results.
32) "The McHale Mob." After Urulu sees a mobster movie he's inspired to play tough guy during treaty negotiations, and it gets everyone playing gangster--even Admiral Rogers.
33) "Carpenter in Command." When Binghamton breaks his leg, it leaves Elroy in charge and the power goes straight to his head.
34) "Marryin' Chuck." Gruber acquires a priceless antique stolen from a Philippine museum, but discovers this only after it's been given to the admiral's daughter for a wedding present. Naturally, McHale and his gang have to get it back.
35) "The Dart Gun Wedding." When Binghamton's stateside boss wants him to take his ne'er-do-well "playboy" son under his wing, the captain joins forces with his nemeses to get rid of the kid.
36) "A Da-Da for Christy." Christy's little girl is about to say her first words, and his wife has fixed it so it can be broadcast live via ham radio. But trouble ensues when McHale and the crew try to catch the broadcast on a captured Japanese radio.
Video:
The black-and-white picture quality varies considerably from episode to episode. Many are washed out because of too much light, while others have a slight graininess and flickers of dirt and imperfections. There are also isolated moments when the picture pinches together in distortion, the way a film would look when it got caught briefly in the sprocket as it was being played. It's certainly not of the same quality as "The Dick Van Dyke Show" or other sitcoms from the era, though "McHale's Navy Season Two" isn't so bad that it detracts too much. But you do notice it from time to time, especially when the uniforms look bright, as if there was too much flash used on a still photograph. "McHale's Navy" is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
Audio:
The audio is also no great shakes, and like the video, it varies, sometimes within an episode. There's modulation in the mono soundtrack's tone and volume, with moments where it sounds muffled, and other times when the sound seems flat or brassy. At least one episode seemed ever-so-slightly out of synch, with the lips moving just a little bit off of the sound. Not much, mind you, but it did seem noticeable. There obviously wasn't much clean-up work done, but like the video it's not so bad that it makes the show unwatchable.
Extras:
Two interviews are included, one with Conway reminiscing and the other with Borgnine. Though there's some overlapping with what they had to say about Season One, it's still good to have these two on-camera talking up the show. One curious "throw-in," quite literally, is a Quinton McHale dog tag. I can't picture anyone wearing it, or putting it on a key chain, so what's the point? Wouldn't it have been better to have Seaman 1st class or something generic, rather than Quint's tags? Makes it seem like we stole it.
Bottom Line:
"McHale's Navy" and "Hogan's Heroes" were funny comedies that were set in the middle of war but never drew much blood. By removing that subject as a comedy taboo, they paved the way for the seriocomic "M*A*S*H," and the second season was as solid as the first for McHale and the men of the PT-73.
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