Talk:Abyssinia, Henry

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An entry from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on September 28, 2006.
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Contents

[edit] Passed GA

Congratulations on getting this fine article up to GA standards. Just when I was despairing that anyone was doing anything useful or encyclopedic with episode articles, I found this gem. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire | past ops) 17:32, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Agree completely. Fantastic use of sources. A model for other articles to follow.Michael DoroshTalk 21:21, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Failed GA

I have re-checked this article, and even though it is a GA in A Man In Black's view, it compares to the criteria in that way :

'1. Well written? Pass
2. Factually accurate? Pass
3. Broad in coverage? Pass
4. Neutral point of view? Pass
5. Article stability? Fail
6. Images? Fail

And for the reason that the article is not stable, it will fail the GA candidacy for now. Please re-nominate the article once the article has been present in WP for at least 1 week. Lincher 18:29, 26 September 2006 (UTC)


Okay, I will do so. In terms of images however, I do not think that there are many relevant images to this specific article that are not copyrighted. To compare, Pilot (House) is now a GA and only has the one image. I will, however, clarify the fair use rationale on the current image's page. Thanks, Hotstreets 20:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
WP rules specifically state only one screenshot per article, so using a lack of images in order to fail an article for GS status strikes me as a bit absurd. If ever there was a GA, it was this one. Especially since the criteria linked to on this page state specifically "(b) a lack of images does not in itself prevent an article from achieving Good Article status. "Michael DoroshTalk 21:39, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure it was failed because of the lack of a fair-use rationale on the single image, not because of a lack of more images. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire | past ops) 21:43, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I forgot about that until after I submitted to GA. The image now has a fair use rationale almost completely matching the one from Pilot (House), since that is the only other GA television episode that I know of. I think the other reason it failed was, as mentioned, the new status of the article... when I read the GA criteria though, I interpreted stability to mean no controversy or edit wars going on, not that the article had to be in Wikipedia for a week first. Hotstreets 21:51, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abyssinia?

Anyone have any knowledge about the show name? I'm at a loss at understanding what the "Abyssinia" in "Abyssinia, Henry" means. -- 19:22, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I believe it is a slang term for "I'll be seeing you", but I don't have a source right now for that. However, that might make for an interesting note in the article, so I will look that up. Hotstreets 21:12, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Abyssinia actually means Ethiopia. As to why the show is called Abyssinia, I don't know but perhaps it's just a word that sounds like it might mean 'In abscence' even if it doesn't?
I have added a link to Wiktionary on "Abyssinia", which has as a definition referring to the word as slang word of the 20s and 30s when used as an interjection. Hotstreets 06:55, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
During season 3, Henry Blake would often say 'Abyssinia' (meaning I'll be seeing you). The death of Henry, makes that statement more emotional. GoodDay 04:19, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vietnam war

This article claims the series was meant to critique the Vietnam War. However the MASH article says:

Some said the series seemed to be an allegory for the Vietnam War (still in progress when the series began) rather than just about the Korean War,[citation needed] though the show's producers have said it was about war in general

These are not consistent and I suspect the MASH article is right (some people think the show was meant to critique the Vietname war but the producers just say it's about war in general) Nil Einne 22:53, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I have removed that phrase for now; while the producers may have said that the show was about war in general, there were many comparisons or references to Vietnam on the show, and there are many sources that have come to the conclusion that the show was, for at least the first few years, a criticism of the Vietnam War and the American military at the time. I guess it all comes down to wording, though. Please let me know what you think. Hotstreets 23:40, 29 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] GA passed

1. Well written? Pass
2. Factually accurate? Pass
3. Broad in coverage? Pass
4. Neutral point of view? Pass
5. Article stability? Pass
6. Images? Pass


Additional comments :

May I add a little idea that would help the article, if the development or the filming or the producing of the show would be mentioned in the article. What led to the TV serie would also be a plus to the article, meaning what came before that episode if the serie is a continuous one. To dramatize the final OR scene it would be nice to have a screencapture of that scene. Lincher 13:56, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Digital remastering

Was the DVD release of M*A*S*H digitally remastered? It looks like the scene where they revealed Blake's death wasn't remastered on the DVD. --Kitch (Talk : Contrib) 16:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I can't say for sure whether they were remastered. However, I believe the DVDs were made from the original prints (which were far superior in quality to the syndication prints in circulation for a long while). One change of note that might be worth putting in the Welcome to Korea article, is that filming of M*A*S*H changed filming media... I cannot find a source right now, but I believe it was to full movie film quality... therefore, the episodes from season 4 on are much clearer. I will look into the remastered question though. Hotstreets 09:17, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FA

Bravo, this article is amazing. -- Zanimum 21:13, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Hell yes. The first episode ever to make it. Hopefully there will be many more. CanadianCaesar Et tu, Brute? 03:32, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "series anachronisms" redlink

The article contains the reference "see series anachronisms" which is a redlink. Where would I find this material? Thanks, Newyorkbrad 02:02, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removed from article

Per FAR, more reliable sourcing needed. CanadianCaesar Et tu, Brute? 02:39, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

The filming schedule for "Abyssinia, Henry" dictated that the final scenes taped for the episode were the ones which took place in the O.R.: the first scene of the episode in which Henry is informed of his discharge and the final scene in which the cast is informed of his death.<ref name="mash4077uk" />

Due to a technical problem, the non-rehearsed scene was shot twice; the sound of a dropping surgical instrument, while not scripted, was left in the final episode due to its dramatic effect.<ref name="mash4077uk">[http://www.mash4077.co.uk/classic/abyssinia.html Classic Episode — Abyssinia Henry]. ''mash4077.co.uk''. (Accessed September 25, 2006).</ref>

[edit] What probably needs to be removed

I have issue with these two sentences:

"Abyssinia, Henry" remains one of the most well-known and highest rated episodes of M*A*S*H, with a 9.8 out of 10 rating on the TV.com website (second only to the series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen"), as of September 2006.[8] Its events were famous enough to generate parody in the Family Guy episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" in 2000.

First is with TV.com. User ratings are not allowed on film pages, so I don't see why they would be allowed here. Reasons, possible vote stacking. With only 72 user votes, it only takes a few people to vote more than once to sway the number (and yes people do that if they can). Most importantly, they aren't used because they usually are not a representative sample of viewers of the show. They are usually people that frequent the site often. For films the creed is "let the money talk", this can't be done with television, but an equivalent would be "let the Nielsen Ratings" talk, because when episodes are poor their ratings are generally poor as well. I understand you are comparing it to another episode, but even the other episode only has 80 votes. Shows get millions of viewers (don't know if it was in the millions when MASH was on, but I'm sure they had well more than 80 viewers), so 80 people doesn't begin to speak like a representation of what viewers thought.

The other part of the sentence is the "It's events were famous enough to generate a parody in the Family Guy episode...". Now, my only problem with this is the wording. It's written like being parodies in The Family Guy is something that is rarely done, or that The Family Guy is so great that it takes real effort to get a parody done by them. I don't believe that is the case. I think it just needs to be rewritten to be more neutral in tone, just stating the facts. Could probably simply say "In 2000, The Family Guy parodied "Abyssinia, Henry" in the episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", where they ...." (and briefly explain how it was parodied). Bignole 00:10, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree and removed the TV.com reference and rewrote the part about the Family Guy.--Svetovid 14:04, 9 July 2007 (UTC)