The Pacific (TV Show)

[sfbaytf]

The LCA in the one scene. I'm wondering if that was a computer generated image. Don't know how many are still in existance and that may be a factor as to why there are more LCVPs shown. I thought the show was pretty good but do agree that the character development isn't as strong as Band of Brothers-perhaps the budget and amount of material they wanted to cover wouldn't allow for it.

Ideally I would have liked to have seen the naval battles covered more-at least around Guadalcanal as it was a very vital part of the overall battle and had an enourmous effect on the campaign. Even if they couldn't have possibly written in naval characters some sort of narrative and computer generated images of the brutal naval battles would have really added to the overall story.

[John Lansford]

I doubt there were any front unloading ramp landing craft at Guadalcanal.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: jeffs

Several points... I have lived in Japan the last 20 years.....
The fashion is interesting. But I think Japanese women put themselves together fashion wise (on average) much better than women in other
Asian countries and probably better than the US. Yes, there are some rather strange fashions here...But as was pointed out, there is weird stuff in US/Europe.

We live so far out in the country that we don't have cable nor do we receive any television stations. So I don't get to watch it unless and until I end up in a motel someday that happens to show it. On the flip side, though, in its place I might re-read "Do or Die Men" about Tulagi/Guadalcanal, an exceptionally well-written book.

On a more somber note, I am very concerned that comments like that by jeffs may encourage RevRick to re-post that agonizing, horrendous image of the woman (transvestite?) wearing the red, white, and blue outift. [X(]

[Gem35]

I also dont have HBO(by choice) so I will be getting it on DVD. Just do me a favor, don't tell me who wins ok guys?[;)]

[Swayin]

Part 1 was fabulous last night -- the night battle at Alligator Creek on Guadalcanal was amazingly done. Mostly set the tone for what was to come, introduced us to to the folks we're going to get to know better in the 9 weeks to come. Unlike BoB, The Pacific took us right to the fight instead of the first hour being a look at their training ("Curahee!"). This was, mostly, because the three main protagonists are not in the same squad. The vast majority of the content in this comes from the memoirs of these three guys, one of whom, John Basilone, was a CMOH winner.

[Swayin]

ORIGINAL: Brady

Anyone catch the errors in the opening sceans?

Like the Nells over Pearl?

[jeffs]

ORIGINAL: Gem35

On a more somber note, I am very concerned that comments like that by jeffs may encourage RevRick to re-post that agonizing, horrendous image of the woman (transvestite?) wearing the red, white, and blue outift.

I will refrain from further commentary on that subject..That image was more gory than most after battle photos of the dead.

[Cajun Tifoso]

I really enjoyed the first episode last night; although, it did seem a bit rushed. I cannot put my finger on it, but it seemed like there was a rush to get some shooting into the first episode. Another criticism is that there was not enough character development. I understand that the story will follow three grunts - Lucky, Sledgehammer and Baslione - but they didn't seem to develop the characters as well as Band of Brothers. But, it is only the first episode and is probably too early to make that comparison.

My concern may be because I had just re-read With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow recently. In fact, the firefight at the Tenaru was pretty accurate, but the effectiveness of the machine guns was due to Lucky/Lew (aka Chuckler) and another guy known as "The Gentleman." But, I can see where it made for a better story to have Lucky/Lew the heroes. Also, Lucky referred to their friends in the river as crocodiles, not alligators.

But on the upside, they got Chesty's medals right and seemed portray his affection for his NCO's very well. As, an ex-Marine, that stuff is critical. The poisoned coconut bit was straight from the book. Hell, they even got the name of Sledge's dog right!!

Well, I have to get back to pretending to be an adult.

[Feinder]

For those of you who missed it, or don't have HBO (like me on both accounts), you can go to HBO.com and register an email addy, and can view the 1st episode online.

Definately good for the tension. If you're discussing the what wasn't quite right, some things I thought -
1. Hair too long.
2. Too bunched up on a several occasions (this may have been for the benefit for the camera shots tho).
3. It seems to me they would have sent actual patrols inland to make contact with the enemy, before moving the company inland. Looks as tho they were moving inland in column without actually having ~any~ idea where the Japanese were. But I (we) don't know the circumstances, as it is just from the perspective from the grunts.

A good start to the series tho.

-F-

[zzodr]

I'm wondering when they are going to do up their chinstraps on their helmets. 

[Stele]

I don't know if any of you know who Captain Dale Dye is; a former Marine who has been through combat in Vietnam, wrote a few books and articles, and has hosted a talk radio. He helped out with a lot of accuracies for Band of Brothers and The Pacific. If you remember, he played the regiment commander in BoB. If anyone aims for accuracy it is him. Whether it shows up as the final product in these episodes or not is one thing, as I'm sure the directors and producers might have something else in mind. Hopefully Dye and other consultants badgered the producers to get as much right as possible.

[Brady]

Ya the Nells and the Ki-30 lept out at me.[:)]

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: sfbaytf

The LCA in the one scene. I'm wondering if that was a computer generated image. Don't know how many are still in existance and that may be a factor as to why there are more LCVPs shown. I thought the show was pretty good but do agree that the character development isn't as strong as Band of Brothers-perhaps the budget and amount of material they wanted to cover wouldn't allow for it.

Ideally I would have liked to have seen the naval battles covered more-at least around Guadalcanal as it was a very vital part of the overall battle and had an enourmous effect on the campaign. Even if they couldn't have possibly written in naval characters some sort of narrative and computer generated images of the brutal naval battles would have really added to the overall story.

Agreed but as the focus is the marine on the ground the naval battles I guess will go on ahead in the background.

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: _Stele

I don't know if any of you know who Captain Dale Dye is; a former Marine who has been through combat in Vietnam, wrote a few books and articles, and has hosted a talk radio. He helped out with a lot of accuracies for Band of Brothers and The Pacific. If you remember, he played the regiment commander in BoB. If anyone aims for accuracy it is him. Whether it shows up as the final product in these episodes or not is one thing, as I'm sure the directors and producers might have something else in mind. Hopefully Dye and other consultants badgered the producers to get as much right as possible.

Quite liked the boot camp they showed you in the BoB DvD boxed set were he got the actors to call themselves by their 'war' names, ie their characters names, to ease immersion. In this first ep some level of accuracy was achieved in the equipment carried by the marines into combat. As to the 37mm anti-tank gun its there, you get two shots from behind the gun and you can make out the shield in shilouette, and I'm sure you here an artillery retort that isnt a mortar at several points during the sand bar.

[jomni]

I can't seem to watch online from HBO.com.
It's region restricted.

[Misconduct]

I recorded the first episode last night in 1080p HDTV, should be interesting to watch 

[freeboy]

I got a freebe last night with a non pay sation as I do not subscribe to hbo, I was thinking it was going to SUC as the comments where so neg, BUT found it good overall, not at all the downer, and thought the portrayal was what I like, looking at what they men are facing... seems things got really bad, I wonder how they will portraythe huge problems with jungle diseases... and one thing I missed was the days count they did in Bob, all in all I do not agree with the poster who hated this... personally the thing that bothered me was the rediculas packing ofthe harboe in odd cgi.. looked to me more like ships in space! lol but again found the show emersive and will definately be watching other free episodes 

[AcePylut]

SPOILER ALERT:
 
I wrote this on another forum, one not populated by WW2 Geeky Gamer Grogs like myself.
 
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I  was a little disappointed in it.  It seemed very rushed.

I mean, "hey this guy wants to enter boot camp, oh wait, it's Aug 7th and we're invading Guadalcanar, oh wait, here's some obligatory combat, the end"...  it was ok for me because I know the history of the Pac War like the back of my hand... but for the average viewer, I wonder if they were thinking "wait, the japs were kicking butt for 6 months, but now we're invading an island.  Did ANYTHING happen in between, that might give us that hint of why we *could* go on the offensive... you know... a hint that 4 fleet carriers of the Kido Butai were now artificial reefs buried a couple hundred miles off a speck of an island?

I was really disappointed in the firefight.  That was the Battle of the Tenryu (wrongly named, but that's what it was called).  800 Japs rushed a sandbar over an evening, all were dead.  It seemed like they are more interested in getting a couple of the "fine details" right (like the single strand of barb wire over the sandbar at the mouth of "alligator creek"), than making the battle "scary".  They didn't call it alligator creek for nothing....I wanted to "hear" the crocodiles eating the dead soldiers in the middle of the night, like Leike said happened in his book.  I really felt let down by that scene.  Maybe because i had been waiting to see that specific action gets its due for a long long long time and wanted to see everything, dunno.


This Pacific war was brutal in ways that the European war wasn't... and while I'm glad that they hinted at the brutalness of it (the patrol that was sliced and diced), I didn't get that feel of "no mercy" that was the Pacific War.  They spent more time showing the US marines callously sniping at the Jap soldier and laughing, tormenting him, then they did "describing" the patrol (They were tied to a tree, tortured, hands cut off, penis's chopped off and shoved down their throats until the soldiers suffocated - the show could have mentioned this, so that the viewer had a better reason to understand of "why" the Marines went bloodthirsty). 

They hinted at the Marines being stranded (when they looked at the ocean and the fleet was gone) on the 'Canal, but not once did I get the sense that they were battling the elements as much as the enemy.  Where was the relentless rain, misquitos, crocs in the river, snakes, malaria, jungle rot (hinted at), etc. etc. etc.  I didn't feel that Guadalcanal was as miserable as was described in all the books I've read about it.

[John Lansford]

There was a lot to show in the first episode.  You had to have the obligatory "why we're fighting" scenes, and the ones with the men signing up (those that weren't already in the USMC), and only after all that do we get them heading for Guadalcanal.  That didn't leave a lot of time to show the landing, patrolling, being abandoned, jungle fighting, weather, diseases, loss of supplies, and the Tenaru battle.  They had to include all that and IMO they did a pretty good job of it.  Could they have emphasized more on some things?  Sure, but that would have come at the expense of something else, and they only had about 35 minutes to include everything in.
 
I suspect the next episode will be more in depth, and probably show the full scale battles on the ridges outside the airfield, possibly the BB bombardment as well.

[rhohltjr]

ORIGINAL: Misconduct
Long as "The Pacific" doesn't turn out like that piece of crap movie Pearl Ha*bor was, then I will probably enjoy it.
/yes I know I added a star in there, not saying full name of that .

[:D] All in all I liked the SFX in that P.O.S movie(yeah the P40 chase scene was laughable).
The Doolittle raid was a complete work of fiction as it was depicted. But it did have some good SFX moments....
I enjoyed Cuba Goodings portrail of Dorie Miller(a Texan). [;)]