Alternate Pilot Print?

[Big Daddy O'Reilly]

This is something I've been curious about for quite some time, maybe some how we can figure it out...

I've often wondered if there was possibly an alternate print of the pilot that we never saw aired on television, yet the producers or editors or whoever had access to during production of the show... I wonder this, because there's a few differences between the actual pilot episode itself, and the clips from the pilot that were used as flashbacks in "Our Finest Hour, Parts 1 and 2" (7x04/05), such as: no music score when Hawkeye first tries to proposition Dish into doing a favorite for him, a longer cut of Frank and Margaret spying on them where Frank manages to get in another, "Animals..." as he starts nibbling on Margaret's neck, and the laughs used from the laugh track in the clips don't match the laughs used in the actual scenes from the pilot.

I mean it really makes you think, doesn't it?

[RJ]

I have actually been working on gathering evidence supporting the existence of an alternate version of the pilot. I have no proof other than a few odd scenes here and there that appear to be from the pilot but are not in the broadcast version. It could be they were just cut scenes which I am sure a lot of episodes had or it could mean there was an extended/alternate version of the pilot as sometimes happens. I will look into comparing clips from "Our Finest Hour."

[Big Daddy O'Reilly]

I know there was at least a different version of the opening sequence for "Welcome to Korea", because it's partly featured at the beginning of the syndicated print of "Welcome to Korea, Part 2"... it's basically the same as the original version, but some of the cuts are from different camera angles, particularly as Radar is putting his fatigues on while Frank looks for his bugle.

[Chuck]

Your post got me thinking (that's dangerous). Anyway, I'm sure there's tones of footage out there we've never seen and probably never will. It's probably locked away in a vault somewhere and in 500 years it will be found and placed in some museum as "ancient films". What I really started to think about were plots I wanted to see, but never happened. I would have loved to see an episode where Frank came back to the unit for an official visit. We know he was reassigned and promoted, so why not.

[chippertheripper]

On the AfterMASH blog,there is an old commercial which shows a quick scene of someone getting a tooth pulled in front of a tent marked 'Dentist' which,asa far as I know,doesn't appear in any episode.I can only imagine whats collecting dust on a shelf somewhere!