Who's been watching the Pacific

[brianw]

Did you notice the Gem when Leckey punched in the the Looney Bin ?? On a side note one of my clients supplied the water cooled's and Garands for the show... they are some nice Brownings...when they went off to the show they were set for Semi and when they returned they were also set for Semi... must have had some good gunsmiths in Hollywood

 

[The Nid Hog]

I've been watching "The Pacific" every week--in fact, I turned on HBO just for it. So far, I haven't been disappointed. Well, maybe we could have a little more Chesty Puller...

 

[brianw]

Gives a new outlook for all us other service vets as the "once a marine always a marine" slogan... I always thought my group was closely knit.. just not the same

 

[KarthVader]

I've been really drawn in by the series. Very different than the way BofB was done; the maps at the beginning every part helps me figure out where the characters are and the struggle to gain control of every single island, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Overall, very good show and not just a re-hash of BofB.

 

[raisindot]

I've been watching since the beginning and will continue through the end, although I guess I find it less gripping and compelling than BofB. The previous show used amazing cinema techniques--choppy editing, time adjusting, tinting--to really ramp up the tension. In this one, all the pre-battle setups seem to look the same. They sit there, hot and bored. Someone hears a noise. They all get out their guns. Bunch of faceless Japanese try to cross a river and get mowed down like flies. You rarely see any of the GIs getting killed the way you did in BofA, or the pain or the injuries.

Plus, the opening and closing titles are the longest in history--they must go on for six minutes or more. By the time you get through the opening interview and recaps, there's barely 46 minutes of actual show.

Jeff in Boston

 

[Matchgrade]

It's about to get really bad for the Marines as they push closer to Japan and have to land on well protected beaches.
I would have liked to watch it with my 14 year old son but the soft core porn and nudity has held me back from letting him view certain episodes.

 

[Tricky]

Nothing will ever hold a candle to Band of Brothers. As soon as I got over that fact and took The Pacific for what it was, I could enjoy it more. I wish we had more character development and got to meet more characters.

The real loss though gentlemen is the lack of veterans to interview. It has been the same two gentlemen in all the episodes. I fear Hanks and Spielburg waited too long to tell this story

 

[The Nid Hog]

Nothing will ever hold a candle to Band of Brothers. As soon as I got over that fact and took The Pacific for what it was, I could enjoy it more. I wish we had more character development and got to meet more characters.

The real loss though gentlemen is the lack of veterans to interview. It has been the same two gentlemen in all the episodes. I fear Hanks and Spielburg waited too long to tell this story

I think that I would have to disagree with you on this. Sheer quantity of interviews doesn't multiply the realism of the final product. I enjoyed Band of Brothers and I have a lot of respect for Stephen Ambrose's work. He's a perfectly respectable historian. However, the Pacific is based on arguably the most powerful war memoir ever written--certainly the best that I've ever read--"With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge (who we have only briefly met in the series). Leckie's "Helmet for my Pillow" is also an amazing first person account of one Marine's war. I think that the writers have done a pretty good job of telling the story from those limited perspectives. Plus we get Manila John Basilone and Chesty Puller as actual characters in the drama. That's like having both Achilles and Odysseus in the same scene. My only complaint is that, in a couple of weeks, the series is going to end. If Spielberg is smart, he'll keep William Sadler (the actor playing Chesty) under contract and go straight on to Korea.

 

[The Seeker]

Did you notice the Gem when Leckey punched in the the Looney Bin ??

 

[KarthVader]

Did not catch that! Nice job on the screen cap!

I think the difference here might be that the story is more focused on chronology, the long waits between battles and then depicting the ferocity of each battle. Whenever there is a battle in the dark, I have this sense of terror in being able to see what's on the screen and think it was the same for the Marines fighting: not being able to necessarily see your enemy in the dark jungle, but knowing he's there. As for character development, the so called "lack" of it might represent the notion that each Marine wasn't sure if he or his friend was going to make it through, so don't get too attached. B of B was very character driven and I don't remember it focusing too much on location, unless it was essential to the story (Bastogne, concentration camp, etc.).

I will agree that this series is not B of B, but I think I appreciate it in a different way.

 

[professorchaos]

I've been watching since the beginning and will continue through the end, although I guess I find it less gripping and compelling than BofB. The previous show used amazing cinema techniques--choppy editing, time adjusting, tinting--to really ramp up the tension. In this one, all the pre-battle setups seem to look the same. They sit there, hot and bored. Someone hears a noise. They all get out their guns. Bunch of faceless Japanese try to cross a river and get mowed down like flies. You rarely see any of the GIs getting killed the way you did in BofA, or the pain or the injuries.

Plus, the opening and closing titles are the longest in history--they must go on for six minutes or more. By the time you get through the opening interview and recaps, there's barely 46 minutes of actual show.

Jeff in Boston

Pretty close to my take on the series thus far. I'd add that the storyline is...well what story line?

 

[Walter Sobchak]

I like it. Yeah, it's not B of B, but still, it beats the snot outta The Biggest Loser....which is my Wife's go to show.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Pretty close to my take on the series thus far. I'd add that the storyline is...well what story line?

The story is the Marine Corps saves Western Civilization.

 

[raisindot]

I've been watching since the beginning and will continue through the end, although I guess I find it less gripping and compelling than BofB. The previous show used amazing cinema techniques--choppy editing, time adjusting, tinting--to really ramp up the tension.

I'm going to amend my comments are last night's episode. The scene of the Marines storming the beach was the first battle footage in the series that matched the intensity of the best BofB footage. Choatic, intense, violent, savage--it also reminds one of the amazing first 30 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan," which it was clearly modelled after (how can it not be, with Hanks and Spielberg as executive producers?)

Jeff in Boston

 

[raisindot]

I I think that the writers have done a pretty good job of telling the story from those limited perspectives. Plus we get Manila John Basilone and Chesty Puller as actual characters in the drama. That's like having both Achilles and Odysseus in the same scene.

To be honest, other than Lackey, Eugene, and the sergeant who got sent back to the states to raise war bonds, I can't tell any of these characters apart and have no idea what their names are. Same thing happened in BofB.

Jeff in Boston

 

[rfm2]

I've been watching from the beginning, too, and I'm not as drawn in as I was with BoB, but that's probably because I lived in Germany for 3 years, had been to most of the places depicted in that series, and had read the Ambrose book before watching the show (holy run-on sentence Batman...). I will pick up Leckie's and Sledge's memoirs. The characters in Pacific are growing on me, and I'm anticipating Sledge's perspective as the weeks continue.

What a hellish campaign over the many islands that had to be taken. Thank you, Marines.

 

[Sterling Cooper]

Started slow. They really didn't invest the time to flesh out the characters the way BoB did, which I think was unfortunate. Since then, the series has gained a lot of strength and momentum. Not sure whether it will match BoB in the end, but it's pretty good so far.

BTW, I loved the old grizzled gunny last night. He reminded me of a couple that I knew who were winding down their careers on embassy duty.

 

[professorchaos]

The story is the Marine Corps saves Western Civilization.

But of course. I wouldn't complain if there were a few details were included. Perhaps some character development to emotionally invest the viewer in the show.

 

[JoeH]

The scene of the Marines storming the beach was the first battle footage in the series that matched the intensity of the best BofB footage. Choatic, intense, violent, savage

We're in for more of the same next week.

Like "Saving Private Ryan", "Pacific" gives me a good taste of the chaos and terror of the war--as much as I figure any movie could. It makes me appreciate what those guys did.

 

[Fortitudo Dei]

I agree that character development is lacking. Also a shame that a minute wasn't taken during the briefing scene in episode 1 to explain why Japan expanded into the Pacific and occupied the countries they did. Many people's knowledge of the war in the Pacific starts with Pearl Harbour but remarkably few are aware of the reasons behind Japan's actions. That said I am enjoying the quality of the production but over here it is sliced up with advertisement breaks which makes it frustrating viewing. As such I'm probably going to cease viewing it from this point and wait for the DVD to be released so I can watch it uninterrupted.