HBO's The Pacific

[Bunker]

I really need to stop forgetting this show is on.

 

[Superfreak]

bah, Iwo Jima was good... but they waste so much time on the homefront. Of course it needs to be shown and explored. And last night's behind the lines episode was certainly an improvement over the last...

I think the problem is that the individual episodes lack internal balance between action and melodrama.



Lastly, the more I watch this show, the more I feel they dropped the ball. The exclusion of the naval perspective, and the outright focus on the marines is good'n'all, but I don't think it's a good idea to call your show 'The Pacific', and skip 90% of what that part of the war was about (not to take away from the ground battles in the Pacific, but they never explain in this show how the marines are able to get to each island so 'easily'). Simply put, it was the naval battles that allowed the marines to move from one island to another. The exclusion of these, leaves extremely large knowledge gaps in what is going on... and as far as the marine perspective of the show, there must have been Marines with the US fleets in their multiple battles in the pacific

 

[RetroNaz]

I agree with everything you said Super Freak.

And ofcourse, I still feel that since I had such a high expectation due to the sheer win of Band of Brothers, it was never going to be as good.

 

[Bunker]

I really hope that wasn't all of the Iwo Jima battle because that was ****ing pathetic. It lasted what, 15 or minutes? It was the most important battle of the entire campaign. Srsly, I'd really like to see the thought processes of the producers when they shove in a bunch of sappy romance ********, but skimp on the reason why people are tuning in in the first place...THE BATTLES.

 

[Golgo-13]

Sad what happened to Sgt.Basilone.

 

[Superfreak]

I really hope that wasn't all of the Iwo Jima battle because that was ****ing pathetic. It lasted what, 15 or minutes? It was the most important battle of the entire campaign. Srsly, I'd really like to see the thought processes of the producers when they shove in a bunch of sappy romance ********, but skimp on the reason why people are tuning in in the first place...THE BATTLES.

it actually wasn't that important in the end... though it was the bloodiest battle in the Pacific.

I'd rather they devote the last 2 episodes to Okinawa, which is actually important

 

[Superfreak]

ok, now I think I can officially say I am dissappointed. The quality of this show is beyond compare, but for pete's sake, they've totally ruined this show, through lack of effort, unified vision, continuity, information delivery.

really, this show should have been delivered in 3 installments, which followed each character. (ie. episode 1-4: based on Lecki, episode 5-7: based on Basilone, episode 8-10 on Sledge)... with continuity maintained within each 'section' (ie. the Lecki segement would go from the beginning of the war, to his departure... then the Basilone section would go back to beginning of the war, and tell the story over from his perspective, and then again with Sledges story).

By trying to integrate all these unrelated stories together, all they've managed to do is make a very pretty collage of the Pacific war... without any kind of continual narrative.


basically what I'm saying: Everybody, it seems, put an amazing amount of effort into this show: EXCEPT FOR THE EDITORS. Everything about this show is mint, except for whoever put the f'n thing together. They should be ashamed of themselves.


Yet another good episode last night, apart from the above series wide theme

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

It's not as good as Band of Brothers, but I've stopped comparing it and am just enjoying it on its own merits. Plus, there was no sick puppy like Snafu in BoB.

Whoever said this:

i have a feeling this will be much more popular among americans than the rest of the world. to the rest of us the pacific side of things is almost like a footnote at the end of the war whereas its a big deal in the states. i have a feeling that unless they do something really amazing Band of Brothers will be more liked universally

has a depressingly euro-centric point of view. "Footnote"? Yeah, I'm sure the millions living in Australia, Philippines, New Guinea, Japan and the billion-plus living in China feel that way. Plus, Korea and Taiwan, while no battle was waged there, were both liberated from a brutal decades-long Japanese occupation as a consequence of the war ending. So yeah, that guy has no idea.

 

[Superfreak]

Didn't post about the finale episode. Home was an awesome episode. I'd even go so far to say it was the best episode of the miniseries. Leckie's attempt to win over his hussy, and Sledge's post traumatic stress were very well portrayed and delivered.

The train ride home that Burgee, Snafu and Sledge took was a great way to follow the ending of the war.

Joe Mazello is set for life, if he can pick up a solid role in a new 'good' movie or show. He really proved himself on Pacific, and was the best part of the series. It's always nice to see a child star make a proper transition to adult roles. I'm excited to see more from him in the future.

 

[Superfreak]

It's not as good as Band of Brothers, but I've stopped comparing it and am just enjoying it on its own merits. Plus, there was no sick puppy like Snafu in BoB.

Whoever said this:



has a depressingly euro-centric point of view. "Footnote"? Yeah, I'm sure the millions living in Australia, Philippines, New Guinea, Japan and the billion-plus living in China feel that way. Plus, Korea and Taiwan, while no battle was waged there, were both liberated from a brutal decades-long Japanese occupation as a consequence of the war ending. So yeah, that guy has no idea.

lets be serious here, liberation from the Japanese, in exchange for an even more brutal dictatorship under Mao, or threat thereof in reference to south Korea.

Taiwan didn't become Taiwan until after the war... and the end of the Chinese civil war. And here things are even more complicated. It was under Chiang Ki Shek(spelling) that the Japanese finally removed themselves from China... but he was as corrupt, if not more so than Mao, who came into power after booting the nationalist off the mainland and onto Taiwan.

 

[X-Ray]

Leckie's owning of that recent Westpoint grad was hilarious.

Leckie: "Army, huh Charlie? Where'd you serve?"

Charlie: "I just graduated from West Point."

Leckie: "Oh. Too bad you missed the whole show."

 

[Superfreak]

yes, to have that kind of street credit would be sick. Earning it would suck though

 

[stlblues84]

I think this series should have just been about Eugene the whole time. He was the most intriguing character and was also the most affected by the events of the series.

The problem that Spielberg and Hanks had here was that in Band of Brothers, Easy Company participated in every major campaign of the war. In the Pacific, a lot of divisions only fought in portions and with so many casualties, many units were split and moved around so much that you never knew who was who.

 

[X-Ray]

The scene of Sledge's father standing outside his room as he's going through nightmares was touching.

Snafu leaving Sledge without saying goodbye was another. Not wanting to disrupt his buddy who looked at peace while he slept.

Ms. Basilone not remarrying is the true definition of Semper Fidelis. Sucks to hear that she and John's family never got along.