OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews

[jomni]

Take a look at the comments posed in the "The Pacific" thead in WITP forums.
Looks like most people there like the series.  These people who play WITP and are very knowledgable about the PTO seems to find the series good enough.

[Capt Cliff]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

None of the guff I've heard here surprises me, as it seems that some of you expect the real-life experiences of these Marines to play out like a DAR of one of your wargames.

Whoah!! These are slices of history and need to be told correctly. Minor technical glitches like ramped higgin's boats vs. non-ramped higgins boat or whether they had their arms slung or not when behind the lines is bunk. The history needs to be correct. Episode 8 should have ended with Mrs. John Basilone recieving the Navy Cross postumously for her husband then the cut to the beach scene. These shows are also cut to 45 or 50 min each. Anybody guess why? So they can play on regular TV with commericals added to make 60 min. BoB didn't do that. Sounds like KG is watching only for the blood and gore scenes, and dam the history. BLEH! [:-]

[Capt Cliff]

ORIGINAL: jomni

Take a look at the comments posed in the "The Pacific" thead in WITP forums.
Looks like most people there like the series.  These people who play WITP and are very knowledgable about the PTO seems to find the series good enough.

Some people play complex games to play complex games. Others play for the historical feel cause they know the history. Man I really liked Zombieland ... and for sure dude that was real cause I played Diabalo!! [>:]

Sorry if I offended, didn't mean too. But because people play a wargame simulation don't make the David Chandler.

[Doggie]

ORIGINAL: jomni

These people who play WITP and are very knowledgable about the PTO seems to find the series good enough.

[8|]

Oh yeah, a bunch of college boy axis fans are very knowledgeable about the PTO. Those would be the same guys who think the A6M2 was the terror of the skies and every German tank claimed as destroyed by American fighter bombers actually ran out of gas.

[Sarge]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

None of the guff I've heard here surprises me, as it seems that some of you expect the real-life experiences of these Marines to play out like a DAR of one of your wargames.

[8|].........here we go



OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews

[planner 3]

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[KG Erwin]

Ah, this is nothing compared to the complaints I've read on the "Pacific" fan forum. Stuff about nudity ("gasp! the Marines make love to girls, and they SHOW it!") , the Marines doing "bad" things ("John Wayne never dug a gold tooth out of a dead Japanese!"), and various other nonsense.

Frankly, THIS forum has been pretty well behaved.

I think most of you have grown into the series as it has progressed. Just as BoB, it takes a while to know who's who. Of course, it also helps that HBO On Demand keeps older episodes in view, so one can watch them again.

Oh, for the record, I love the series and have no major gripes with it. Besides, I have the books, so I wasn't expecting a chapter and verse recital. Just like BoB, some of the factual occurrences are changed and characters are composited. It's HBO, not a documentary.

[Doggie]

K.G., it aint like this is the movie that dare not speak it's name. That was a travesty, and an insult to the American armed forces. Pacific has it's moments, but there are some valid criticisms. My number one gripe is the episodes have been cut down to forty minutes so Hanks and Spielburg can whore it out to TBS and A&E.

Some historical inacuracies are glaring. Gunny Basilone was killed by a mortar shell while he was huddled up with three other marines. He lingered for about an hour and a half before he died. Yeah, it's not a documentary, but these were real people who did real things. It should be told the way it was.

BoB covered six months in the lives of one company of paratroopers. These guys overreached by trying to cover three years and three major campaigns. Guadalcanal was worth ten episodes of it's own. It was a complex campaign with thousands of individual untold stories. The Goettge patrol was a moment of truth for the marines which revealed the nature of the enemy they were up against. It was a pivitol point in the pacific war and deserved at least a mention.

If somebody re-edits this thing, does an Apocolyse Now Redux[ style job on it, it could be a contender. Right now it's destined to be shilling for Sham wow on TBS memorial day marathons.

[KG Erwin]

"Band of Brothers" is now available in a beautifully packaged DVD set, and is familiar. Once "The Pacific" is released on DVD, it will be viewed differently. Will we see extra scenes? I doubt it. Will we have extras like the segments on individual Marines and the "making of" sequence? I hope so, because they add perspective to the series.

[ilovestrategy]

I know that I'm gonna get so flamed for saying this but I have really enjoyed the series and I will be buying the DVD when it comes out.  So it's not historically accurate. So what? I don't care. I like it and I'm gonna buy it.

Do I think the Basilone episode was rushed? Yes, I do. But I like the battle scene at the end.

And I love Sledge's progression into a battle hardened Marine. Good stuff.

I also like Wind Talkers. I like Saving Private Ryan. And I LOVE Enemy at the Gates!

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy
...I also like Wind Talkers. I like Saving Private Ryan. And I LOVE Enemy at the Gates!

Please, PLEASE tell me I smell sarcasm? [:-]

I'll give you Saving Private Ryan because at the very least it had visceral combat scenes...but the other two? Enemy at the Gates showed some promise in the first 3 1/2 seconds, then fell apart - and Windtalkers???I'd rather scoop my eyes out and pickle them in vinegar before I ever set my eyes on that load of touche again! [:D]

[Goblin]

[:D][:D][:D]

[Adam Parker]

Man this thread died suddenly.

My .02 on the series so far - we just got episode 9 Down Under:

1. Before I buy the DVD remove the all the love scenes. What a waste of time (I've been fast forwarding them - taped it on cable).

2. Our local free to air Channel 7 went overtime this week so I have no idea how episode 9 ended! - (taped it on cable).

3. Who in their right mind at our dear Channel 7 decided to put the series on the same night as Lotto? Just as the suspense builds half the screen fills with colored balls THAT I HAVE NOT CHOSEN and therefore leaves me doubly mad. Why not put them over the freaking loves scenes at least? - (taped it on cable).

4. Why all the freaking love scenes? I get it, I get it - this is where the Baby Boomers come from but sheesh! [:'(] - (taped it on cable).

[Adam Parker]

Btw if anyone owns HPS's Proud and the Few / Pacific War, these are great companions to the series. Here's the river scene at the Canal. I've just been Banzai'd in the south for the loss of a 10VP hex - like I once said, in Squad Battles, the AI loves the close-in terrain!

[Adam Parker]

SPOILER ALERT
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For those who have seen the series to part 9, I found something via Wiki that just touched my heart. Maybe they can leave all the "freaking love scenes" in afterall:

[Josans]

My 2 cents:

I expected more from The Pacific. 20 millions per chapter! Only compare the last chapter of Band of Brothers with The Pacific last one. No combat action at all but I think BoB finished better the history, IMO.
Btw, now Im old to go to combat but I think all we will happy to go under Winters command[;)]

[JudgeDredd]

Very touching piece Adam.

Meant to say Adam, you might want to remove the pic embedded and just put it as an attachment - even though you've put Spoiler, it's VERY visible in BIG BOLD writing what happens [:D]

just a suggestion mate

[KG Erwin]

Amazon has the DVD ($52) & BluRay ($69) sets available for pre-order. However, no release dates have been announced. HBO On Demand has the episodes available until June 14.

[Adam Parker]

Oh well Judge, suppose its been there long enough now but yeah the headline shows with the newer posts huh - [:D]

Anyway, I noticed something interesting the other day. GMT games hasn't made an operational level war game of the Pacific since 1990. Their "Empire of the Sun" and "Asia Engulfed" strategic games are their flag ships for the theatre. I recall someone making a game of Saiapan but I can't remember who now. But Iwo, Okinawa and any of the island campaigns would make interesting battalion and company sized gaming experiences.

I tell you what though, as disjointed as "The Pacific" has been, it's awoken me to a bloody arena of WW2 that I scant knew existed in its intensity. And this despite decades of World at War and other books and b&w documentary fare.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

"Band of Brothers" is now available in a beautifully packaged DVD set, and is familiar. Once "The Pacific" is released on DVD, it will be viewed differently ...

IMO, BoB is to Saving Pvt Ryan as The Pacific is to the Thin Red Line.

As it only involved one company, technically BoB had better continuity than Pac, whose portrayal of jungle warfare was understandably grittier and darker than ETO action.