The Pacific (TV Show)

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: JWE
That's what these mini-series are all about, really - people - and what they do in the face of 'duty'.

That's the only reason I watch them. I couldn't care less about the strategic viewpoint, I want to see men and how they cope with the horrors of war.

I marvel at the capacity of man and mankind to do unspeakable things to one another, sometimes flourishing in the act as men. I marvel at how men can EVER go back to 'normal' life after being so debased, so fouled and so violently treated. I don't know what combat is like and probably never will, but these graphic depictions of man, stripped of all pretense would come pretty close, I bet.

I appreciate when a show can take me on that tour as few films have ever done so. "The Pacific" did this, so did "BoB".

Different war, different people, different focuses for the series, different topography, different series. Both were well done.

[Terminus]

I liked the scene when Leckie gets out of the cab in front of his home and tries to pay the cab driver.

[LST Express]

For some reason that I'll have to think about, I liked the non-combat or mostly non-combat episodes better than the combat ones.  It did seem to get better as it went along.

[jomni]

I have also realized and appreciated the human aspect of the series.
It's not your typical war movie focused on the action and the fighting itself.

[m10bob]

ORIGINAL: jomni

I have also realized and appreciated the human aspect of the series.
It's not your typical war movie focused on the action and the fighting itself.

...and yet, it did not turn into "The film which shall not be named", (which was altogether fiction, fluff, annoying AND irritating.)

I am positive if people had not seen BoB (as a measuring stick), and had been limited to that other nasty piece of Ed Woodian nonsense, more people would rate The Pacific higher..Much Higher.[8D]

[morganbj]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

...and yet, it did not turn into "The film which shall not be named", (which was altogether fiction, fluff, annoying AND irritating.)

Sadly Ben Afleck has been signed to do the prequel about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor. Something about the RAF. [:'(]

[Grit]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: JWE
That's what these mini-series are all about, really - people - and what they do in the face of 'duty'.

That's the only reason I watch them. I couldn't care less about the strategic viewpoint, I want to see men and how they cope with the horrors of war.

I marvel at the capacity of man and mankind to do unspeakable things to one another, sometimes flourishing in the act as men. I marvel at how men can EVER go back to 'normal' life after being so debased, so fouled and so violently treated. I don't know what combat is like and probably never will, but these graphic depictions of man, stripped of all pretense would come pretty close, I bet.

I appreciate when a show can take me on that tour as few films have ever done so. "The Pacific" did this, so did "BoB".

Different war, different people, different focuses for the series, different topography, different series. Both were well done.

Deep and well written.

Many people would have us believe soldiers fight for their country, family, or hometown. They fight to stay alive and for the guys next to them. The series depicted that well.

[Capt Cliff]

It would have been a nice touch if at the end of each episode, like in BoB, there was a synopsis of what went down. Show how many MoH were given, Navy Crosses, etc. ... I believe the 1st Marine Div got it's Southern Cross Stars on it Blue Diamond shoulder badge for "the Canal". The story was also about the 1st Marine Division too ... from Guadacanal to Cape Glouscester to Peleliu to Okinawa. IMHO

[anarchyintheuk]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

ORIGINAL: jomni

I have also realized and appreciated the human aspect of the series.
It's not your typical war movie focused on the action and the fighting itself.

...and yet, it did not turn into "The film which shall not be named", (which was altogether fiction, fluff, annoying AND irritating.)

I am positive if people had not seen BoB (as a measuring stick), and had been limited to that other nasty piece of Ed Woodian nonsense, more people would rate The Pacific higher..Much Higher.[8D]

I don't think Michael Bay has much on Ed Wood. Bay just had a bigger budget.

[Ketza]

Heres a scene from that series:

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

...and yet, it did not turn into "The film which shall not be named", (which was altogether fiction, fluff, annoying AND irritating.)

But if you think about it, all of that in one movie (or whatever it was!) is actually quite an accomplishment. [:'(]


On a serious note:

I am positive if people had not seen BoB (as a measuring stick), and had been limited to that other nasty piece of Ed Woodian nonsense, more people would rate The Pacific higher..Much Higher.[8D]

The Pacific was quite good overall. It definitely got better as it went along, otherwise it could have come off only as 'fair to good'.

I found the early episodes very rough in continuity - "What the hell am I watching right now?" type of continuity. Nothing about a comparison to Band of Brothers - the producers of the series did a poor job with that in many places during the first few episodes. When they edited the thing they needed to pay more attention to helping the viewer keep up. More caption shots at the beginning of mini-segments would have been fine.

Some of the CGI - even at the train station - was weak enough that it stood out and took a bit away from the scenes, but only in the same sense as in old movies. Probably not what they intended!

Although I forget what they are, I remember taking issue with some things in some of Hanks' introductory narratives (some folks mentioned them in posts here IIRC), but still way better than much crap currently on the History Channel.

[m10bob]

ORIGINAL: Ketza

Heres a scene from that series:

Oh Gawd....I wanna hurl![:D]

[Capt Cliff]

*wipes mouth* I just did!! OMG how could any movie like that be made.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

I watched Episode 10 last night; we got to see where Robert Leckie had been spending his time since Pelieliu, but focused primarily on Sledge and his friends, Snafu and Burgin, as they mustered out of the Marines and returned to civilian life.  Basilone's wife was shown briefly as well, meeting his family.

The sad part of this episode is that at that time, no one understood what PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) was and how it affected long term combat veterans like Sledge.  While Leckie appeared to reintegrate himself right back into his old pre-war career, Sledge had some serious survivor's guilt and couldn't see how he fit into civilian life now.  Perhaps it was because he didn't have an established career prior to the war, and as he told the woman trying to find out if he had any useful training in the military, all the Marines had done was taught him how to kill Japs, and they did a good job of that.

I liked at the end where they showed the actor as the real life person, and then showed his wartime photograph.  Nearly all of them had remarkably striking similarities, and they also briefly mentioned what they did after the war.  Snafu, for example, never spoke to any other Marine for 35 years until reading Sledge's book "With the Old Breed on Pelieliu and Okinawa"; Sledge was one of his pallbearers at his funeral.  Leckie and Sledge both died in 2001, but Burgin and a couple others of the secondary characters are still alive.

Good wrapup of the series, IMO.

I think that whole series earned at least 85%... I liked it very much...

BTW, the last episode "At Home" was nice touch that we didn't have with "Band of Brothers"!


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S.
I also saw 20+ minutes long "The Pacific - Making the Pacific"...

[AcePylut]

Well I'm a little late, but just watched Okinawa. 

Man that was some powerful stuff.  The lady with the baby that had explosives. 
 
I've read about using human shields and have imagined it from those words, never experienced it personally, but dayyum the attack by the Japs using Okinawa civvies was brutal.  My friend watching it with me (not a WW2 grog at all, basically doesn't know anything about WW2 except that it was a war, and I've been giving him the historical run-down for each episode) - shouted out "man that's f***ing evil".  It was very good stuff.  Far better than anything in BoB, though the Dutch collobarator head-shaving is pretty disturbing, the Pacific would have shown "the men being taken out back and shot". 

[Kwik E Mart]

Overall, great series. I don't really see the point of comparing with BoB, but where comparisons are possible, I guess they will always be made...human nature and all.

There have been some comments on this thread re: lack of continuity and not knowing exactly what was going on or when. I'm tempted to speculate that this was intentional. I'm sure the average jarhead back then was thoroughly confused about where they were going or what exactly was going on. Most places they couldn't even pronounce. I felt it added to the theme of the series.

2 cents worth

[m10bob]

ORIGINAL: Kwik E Mart

Overall, great series. I don't really see the point of comparing with BoB, but where comparisons are possible, I guess they will always be made...human nature and all.

There have been some comments on this thread re: lack of continuity and not knowing exactly what was going on or when. I'm tempted to speculate that this was intentional. I'm sure the average jarhead back then was thoroughly confused about where they were going or what exactly was going on. Most places they couldn't even pronounce. I felt it added to the theme of the series.

2 cents worth

Interesting perspective. I agree totally. My uncle Jim could not tell you anything in accurate detail about the strategic history of WW2, but (if you were a vet and a relative) he COULD tell you about Guadalcanal, the Russells, New Guinea, etc., having served there during the worst of it.

[Swayin]

I agree with many of the folks here that this series got stronger as it went along; whereas the last two or three episodes (post-Bastogne) of BoB were, IMO, the weakest, The Pacific really seemed to gain steam as it reached its finale. I don't mind saying that that a few parts of that last episode really touched me emotionally - Lena Basilone and john's mother in Raritan; Eugene coming home and silently watching his mother in the kitchen; Eugene's inability to find peace and "move on" after his return and his train ride home, with his buddies departing along the way. In the end, Sledge was the most interesting character to me, I think - he hovered on the precipice in Okinawa of becoming just what his father had most feared - a man who returns from war with his very soul torn out by the horrors of conflict.

[JagdFlanker]

ORIGINAL: Kwik E Mart

Overall, great series. I don't really see the point of comparing with BoB, but where comparisons are possible, I guess they will always be made...human nature and all.

There have been some comments on this thread re: lack of continuity and not knowing exactly what was going on or when. I'm tempted to speculate that this was intentional. I'm sure the average jarhead back then was thoroughly confused about where they were going or what exactly was going on. Most places they couldn't even pronounce. I felt it added to the theme of the series.

2 cents worth

the lack of continuity is likely because we havn't seen the final cut yet - both SPR and BOB had scenes added on subsequent releases after the initial DVD release. admittedly i only watched the BOB battle scenes after i saw the entire series a couple times in the initial TV showing, but the carantan battle for sure had a fair amount of scenes added in a later release, and the SPR final battle eventually had quite a few scenes added that really added to showing the full picture of the battle

the series seemed to start off slow, but the last half was really intense and the ending just turned this series into something truly great. it is easily as great as BOB in a very different way

[wwengr]

ORIGINAL: AcePylut

In Hugh Ambrose's companion book "The Pacific", he states that Basilone died from being shot three times, and cites his source as Graves Registration.  I'll take that over Wiki.

I watched Winds of War and War and Rememberance.  Loved Winds of War, thought it was extremely well done... but War and Remembrance sucked horribly.  I thought it was extrememly disgusting how they changed the focus of the story from the Henry's to the Jastrows, and seemed more interesting in making sure that every viewer sees every aspect of Jewish Culture and Life.  Winds of War:  Awesome.  War and Remembrance: Waste of time and space.

From the Official Arlington National Cemetery narrative about John Basilone:

...Under heavy artillery fire on February 19, 1945, he singlehandedly took out an enemy blockhouse. Minutes later, he and four others in his platoon died in an artillery blast. Sergeant Basilone was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart, making him the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive all three medals.