The Pacific on HBO

[Pat Carry]

Now that the miniseries has concluded, what did everyone think about it? Myself, I thought it was very well done. Looking forward to it coming out on DVD.

[the330thbg]

Should of done this version of 'Band of Brother's' on airmen or Navy.., vs. ground pounders again!

[Jesse C.]

Should of done this version of 'Band of Brother's' on airmen or Navy.., vs. ground pounders again!

I think the Pacific was properly done to show that Europe was not the only front and the Army did not fight it all by themselves! It gave a good contrast to the war in europe.

I think now they will move on to the Front in the air and then the sea.

[Mudge]

Didn't see it 'cause I don't subscribe to HBO. Is it worth buying the DVD for $56.00.

Mudge the interested

[RMAllnutt]

Didn't see it 'cause I don't subscribe to HBO. Is it worth buying the DVD for $56.00.

Mudge the interested

It's a totally different kettle of fish to Band of Brothers, and, while I haven't seen all of it, I'd say it was worth seeing. It will be 10 hours of film, plus a bunch of DVD add-ons, so I'd say it is well worth the $56 price tag. It's a very unsettling thing to watch though... a lot bloodier, and more merciless than BoB. Not something I will watch again without a large gap of time in between, but very high quality work.

Richard

[gary]

We turned HBO on just to watch this. I was not disappointed. My wife also watched and came away with a feeling that "we", the generations that followed owe so much to all veterans. I have long felt that such productions should be mandatory viewing to high school history courses throughout the land.
My gratitude towards Hanks/Spielberg for their willingness to use their medium to tell the stories of people and times that we should as a society not allow to fade from our collective conscience.
TWO BIG THUMBS UP
Gary

[fotobass]

I enjoyed the last episode about the veterans returning home FAR more than I expected, and was moved to tears by one of the scenes involving Eugene Sldege (I'll keep the details out for anyone who hasn't seen it since Jack Cook got beat up on FB for letting slip that John Basilone died!)

Pretty outstanding.

[John Dupre]

My only gripe about The Pacific is that they did not spend enough time developing some of the minor characters and the gaps between some of the main characters appearances was too long. That said I don't know how they could have perfected those problems without making the show an extra two episodes long, though frankly I would have watched another two episodes gladly.

The difference in the brutality between TP and BoB is stark. I gather from reading With the Old Breed and everything else I have read over the years that this was very true to life. Most Germans would surrender when it was hopeless and didn't engage in senseless atrocity. Fighting the Japanese was a much more elementally brutal proposition. Nowadays revisionists like to attribute that to American racism but I think that is just so much BS. Racism was a much more widely believed and held theory then and the Japanese were just as racist against occidentals as we were if not more so.

As brutally honest as TP was it pales when you read some of the source material like With the Old Breed and even then you know that E.B. Sledge just couldn't bring himself to fully relate some of the more horrific events he witnessed. You come away from the last episode really understanding why so many veterans took years to even speak about what they did and witnessed if they ever did.

[groundpounder]

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Last edited by groundpounder on Thu May 27, 2010 3:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

[ww2John]

Groundpounder - with all due respect, and not trying to start any trouble, have you read the source material for this series?
Primarily from Helmet for my Pillow and With the Old Breed. Both books have some philosophical discussions (especially Sledge's book) and the producers of The Pacific might have thought they were worth including since this may be the only "history" of the PTO many folks will ever see.
I honestly don't know why the material you object to was included, just offering a possible explanation that might have nothing to do with "Hollywoodization".
Just a thought.
Enjoy the series and enjoy the books.

[Django]

I thought it was excellent although I too still have the last 2 episodes to watch. And the "romantic angles" are just as important if we are to get a sense of their lives, and not just dry facts from a history book. I wish it was a bit more personal like BoB. But with the greater time span covered, I understand why they went in that direction. I too would watch more episodes. It could be 20 episodes and still just scratch the surface.

[Jarink1]

I thought it was just OK, at least when compared to BoB.

While the combat scenes were pretty well done, it didn't seem like much time was devoted to developing the characters, even the three main ones. BoB did this very well in comparison while retaining top-notch realism. In TP, I never felt very engaged by any of the characters. I thought the actor who played Snafu stole the show.

I think they would have done better if they had left out the Basilone story. I'm not saying it's not a story worth telling, but I think his exploits and life would be better served as it's own movie. However, there was virtually no crossover with the other characters other than he and Leckie both being on Guadalcanal. The time saved could have done wonders for fleshing out the rest of the stories (3 months of Okinawa in one episode??)

Another thing that really bugged me was that it wasn't 10 60 minute episodes as advertised. They all ended around the 54 minute mark and that isn't even accounting for the annoying 3 minutes of credits at the start of each one. I'm sure the DVD set with bonus material will exceed 10 hours, but actual run time is closer to 8 1/2 hours.

Overall, I liked it and watched every episode with my 9 year old boy. Based on things he's said about it, he really learned a lot from it.

[groundpounder]

Well, watched episode 8 yesterday, pretty good i must say ! Although i cant put it in chronilogical order, the cliches' are definately there in the earlier episodes, no doubt about it. I guess i might just be a bit more sensitive to it than others. Each to his own. I would have liked a bit more cohesiveness in the storylines. I thought they spent too long on some battles and subjects, and completely skipped over others. Tarawa ? Barely heard a mention of it. Its shaping up to be a pretty good series overall, but it doesnt really compare to the quality of BOB at all in my eyes. Good, but a different kettle of fish all together. It would be good to see a series done on the navy and the air force, that would complete the whole picture for all to see in the future. Overall... well worth watching.

Last edited by groundpounder on Tue May 25, 2010 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

The author (he was there): Red Blood, Black Sand

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... F100319945

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... F100319944

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... F100319941

http://www.marineswwii.com/index.php

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_1507 ... ck_check=1

[groundpounder]

The rest was not only as good... but much better. Forget what i said before, the last 4 episodes really hit home, Well done.