The Pacific - DISCUSSION THREAD

[MortonMilo]

If it's half as good as Band of Brothers, I'll be hooked.

[Jack]

I watched the first episode yesterday on the HBO site, I loved it. Being someone who is training to be a Marine Corps Officer (PLC program), I love the Marine corps history and legends like Chesty Puller. With the Pacific, I don't think you should compare them, but rather take the for what they are. You don't compare Band of Brothers with Generation Kill, both were great (having read One Bullet Away and Generation kill), but not the same at all. Regardless, this is my opinion and from what I have seen, it looks to be an amazing show.

[AD720]

Originally Posted by Jack

I watched the first episode yesterday on the HBO site, I loved it. Being someone who is training to be a Marine Corps Officer (PLC program), I love the Marine corps history and legends like Chesty Puller. With the Pacific, I don't think you should compare them, but rather take the for what they are. You don't compare Band of Brothers with Generation Kill, both were great (having read One Bullet Away and Generation kill), but not the same at all. Regardless, this is my opinion and from what I have seen, it looks to be an amazing show.

Was about to type the same thing. After the first episode I think that Pacific can stand on it's own. I'm sure the series will be excellent.

[taltos]

Totally different of combat and a totally different type of combat force. This was a war designed for the mission of the Marine Corps just as Europe was better designed for the Army and Army Air Corps. All performed well and performed as trained. S/F Paul

[VirtualSmitty]

I enjoyed it. It started a little slow, but so did BoB. I'm def gonna watch it to the finish, the Pacific theater has always interested me more than the war in europe did.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by UFPowersmoker320

Love Band of Brothers, have the collection on DVD, watched it like 3 times. Don't have HBO but will by the box collection of The Pacific the day it comes out.

This is me. I have at least 12 complete view-throughs of BoB.
Took it to my Sister's for Christmas and they scratched disc 1.
Left it there and bought my another precious.
It is still the only thing I can watch anyday, anytime, no matter what.
I do not have cable of anykind, so I will avoid this like the plague and orgy it out
when the DVD set releases. I eat this kind of drama for lunch and would stick it in my
arm if I could fit it into a needle. Nothing gives me more pleasure cinematically than this
kind of presentation, and this type of production quality, this kind of lovingly produced
historic drama. BoB set a very high bar, though. Was David Schwimmer ever better or
could he ever be? Of course, in contrast, Is Jimmy Fallon the world's worst whatever he is?

[OLS]

Originally Posted by yourchoice

At first, after one episode, I thought the same thing. But I remembered BoB's first episode, while good, wasn't where the mini-series shined. I'm still holding out hope The Pacific will be nearly as moving as BoB was.

I am kind of the opposite, I think BoB WITHOUT Episode 1 would have been very.....
I can't even come up with the concept. It would still have been a war picture of sheer
intensity, but I thought the Toccoa stuff was priceless, and very well done. It also made the
concept come together in a way that cemented our view of the characters as a true
dysfuntional family that was ironically, super-functional. LOL.

I can't imagine watching live on HBO for the first time though, and having to wait a week or more
for "Day of Days" to actually run. They way it opens with "no jump tonight" then goes to Toccoa,
and you see that whole show and end up watching the end as Winters rides into history in the
jump door of the C-41, if I didn't have the DVD remote, I would have $hit!

I heard "they said" Ep 1 was a drag with all the hometown stuff before the men got to fighting,
but who knows. I am fine with it if the character development goes on to mean something later on. But as marked as these men were forever by it, I do loves da fightin', and want to see it now.

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by OLS

I am kind of the opposite, I think BoB WITHOUT Episode 1 would have been very.....
I can't even come up with the concept. It would still have been a war picture of sheer
intensity, but I thought the Toccoa stuff was priceless, and very well done. It also made the
concept come together in a way that cemented our view of the characters as a true
dysfuntional family that was ironically, super-functional. LOL.

I can't imagine watching live on HBO for the first time though, and having to wait a week or more
for "Day of Days" to actually run. They way it opens with "no jump tonight" then goes to Toccoa,
and you see that whole show and end up watching the end as Winters rides into history in the
jump door of the C-41, if I didn't have the DVD remote, I would have $hit!

I heard "they said" Ep 1 was a drag with all the hometown stuff before the men got to fighting,
but who knows. I am fine with it if the character development goes on to mean something later on. But as marked as these men were forever by it, I do loves da fightin', and want to see it now.

Glad I'm not the only one that feels this. IMO Episode 1 MADE Band of Brothers as good as it was.

[forgop]

Band of Brothers episode 1 > The Pacific episode 1

Just watched it and was disappointed. Maybe it's because I was expecting something at the level BoB finished with.

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by OLS

I heard "they said" Ep 1 was a drag with all the hometown stuff before the men got to fighting, but who knows. I am fine with it if the character development goes on to mean something later on. But as marked as these men were forever by it, I do loves da fightin', and want to see it now.

This series is likely to be quite different since it's primarily based on the memoirs of 2 men instead of the combined recollections compiled by a 3rd party so the point of view is likely to be much narrower and intense in a personal sense than BoB was. As much as I loved BoB, Stephen Ambrose was known more for being a populist story telling historian than a classical historian and that certainly came across in the series.

All in all I've been looking foward to this series since mid last year when it was announced and thought the first episode was very well done. It's going to be quite interesting since the PTO doesn't get nearly the same amount of press up here in Canada as the ETO since we were really only significantly involved in the initial portion of that war and had little to do with the remainder after Hong Kong fell other than as PoW's.

Besides, my parents-in-law live in Vanuatu (called the New Hebrides at the time) which as all the military historian's here know was the proverbial line in the sand drawn by the Navy and Marines as well as the primary staging point for the Battle of the Coral Sea and a major base afterwards. The airstrip built for the B-25's is still in active use as Port Vila's international airport, Bauerfield, named after Lt. Col. Harold W Bauer who won the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal. Been through that airport several times so the history's interesting on a personal level as well.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

All in all I've been looking foward to this series since mid last year when it was announced.

Haha, not to get into a contest, but I have been waiting for this for 5 years, back to when it was just a whisper of a possibility and Spielberg was scouting locations. That was the only shred of a hope my friend and I had about this possibility. What happened with me was my friend and co-worker brought his set in to work one day, and this was the first I had ever HEARD of BoB. I took em home for the weekend and was HOOKED. I watched them through 2wice over the weekend. I was like an addict wanting more. A few months later came this rumour about a similar series for the Pacific, cause S.S. was MOST interested in DOING something with the Pacific Theater to start with, but the BoB deal manifested first. As they say in boring Oscar speeches, "this has been a burning dream of mine for a long time", lol. It WILL be murder waiting for the series to wrap up ad the Boxrd set to be available. That's the first I will watch.

Nice job with the OLYMPICS, by the way!

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by OLS

Haha, not to get into a contest, but I have been waiting for this for 5 years, back to when it was just a whisper of a possibility and Spielberg was scouting locations. That was the only shred of a hope my friend and I had about this possibility. What happened with me was my friend and co-worker brought his set in to work one day, and this was the first I had ever HEARD of BoB. I took em home for the weekend and was HOOKED. I watched them through 2wice over the weekend. I was like an addict wanting more. A few months later came this rumour about a similar series for the Pacific, cause S.S. was MOST interested in DOING something with the Pacific Theater to start with, but the BoB deal manifested first. As they say in boring Oscar speeches, "this has been a burning dream of mine for a long time", lol.

No contest here, the first I heard of the series was last summer/fall when they posted the first trailer online. I also sorta stumbled across Band of Brothers. I was channel surfing on night and stumbled across Day of Days and thought "Cool, Saving Private Ryan's on the telly. Wait a minute, that's not Saving Private Ryan..... what the hell is this?!?!?". Loved it then, bought the DVD set when it was released and then the Bluray last fall.

Not too surprised that the Pacific was what SS really wanted to film. He'd already done a huge piece on the ETO with Saving Private Ryan and it's been a long time since a PTO based movie or series has been attempted.

You've watched the PBS documentary Ken Burn's The War I assume? If not, you need to do yourself a favour and grab that from your local video store or library. Actually grab any Ken Burn's work as they're all amazing, but the The War ties in nicely to this whole series, especially since his primary references for the Pacific campaign are Sledge and Leckie's diary biography's.

Originally Posted by OLS

It WILL be murder waiting for the series to wrap up ad the Boxrd set to be available. That's the first I will watch.

Why not get a buddy to PVR the series for you and then do a Pacific marathon herf?

Originally Posted by OLS

Nice job with the OLYMPICS, by the way!

Thanks! I like to pretend it was all me but I guess I have to give a small amount of the credit to VANOC and the cities of Vancouver and Whistler

It's kind of funny, almost everyone I know, myself included, was so sick and tired of hearing the word "Olympics" (plus all the protesters and nay-sayers whinging on about teh cost and social housing and health care and anything else they could complain about) that a couple days before the Games we were all just wanting it done and over. Then it turned out to be the most fun 2 weeks I think I've ever had, truely an amazing amazing experience.

And the street party after the men's gold medal hockey game...... UNREAL!!! I think the only way you could possibly top that would be if you were in somewhere like London, Paris, Rome or San Paolo if their national soccer teams won a World Cup at home. Or in Auckland when the All Blacks win the real World Cup next year

[OLS]

I think Spielberg's Dad was also in the PTO, which might have made him a bit biased. I am not sure on that one. I am just glad it got here finally.

As far as "the War" I was not all that impressed. It was a big thing to get done, but it might
be a lot closer to "the Pacific" than we yet know. All these references back to the same 4 towns,
or in this case, two people. It all remains to be seen. I WATCHED The War, but did not come away
overly impressed. It was a unique way to view a giant war, but for me, not the best way. Or even
what I thought the "burns way" would be.

NO I can wait until it is released. To let you know how long, one night I am watching the Emmys WAY back when, and DEADWOOD was winning all these awards. I said ONE DAY I am going to pick that set up. Finally got to it yesterday. All this talk of war and blood got me lusting after some new gore. I heard you all talking about Generation Kill, so I picked that up at Best Buy, which is a misnomer. Target is Best Buy. Best Buy is 20 dollars more on everything, just like a freaking tax. But Deadwood was 59 bucks a season. And there, off in a corner of the rack, marked down 30 bucks to 119 was The Complete Deadwood box. So I walked out of BB with bruised nuts to say the least. But at least I have a war weekend ahead.

The OLYs. Oly fatigue or not, it was an event you can all be proud of nationally. How you conquered the weather and still made it happen was monumental. How you allowed Catherine O'Hara to talk about Peeing one's name in the snow in the Closing Ceremonies was amazing. Alot of beer swilling talk. And isn't Bill Shatner dead? I heard he was upset that they wouldn't let him play Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek. (no I didn't)

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Not too surprised that the Pacific was what SS really wanted to film. He'd already done a huge piece on the ETO with Saving Private Ryan and it's been a long time since a PTO based movie or series has been attempted.

You should checkout Letters from Iwo Jima. Shot from the Japanese perspective though, but I found it to be an amazing movie.

[mithrilG60]

I found The War to be a very interesting take on the WWII simply because it didn't deal with the major strategy's and events from a top level perspective like most historical documentaries. To see it presented from a common soldier's point of view was very refreshing and the point of focusing on just 4 towns really drove home the concept that every town was intimately involved in every major campaign in all theatres in one way or another. Obviously The War was the American perspective but it also reflects the way that many of the other countries who were directly involved but never actually invaded or attacked in a sustained manner would have experienced it.

Military history tends to have a very top down perspective so seeing a major documentary from another angle is a very value tool towards understanding the conflict as a whole.

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by JE3146

You should checkout Letters from Iwo Jima. Shot from the Japanese perspective though, but I found it to be an amazing movie.

I've seen both Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, both were excellent films.

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by OLS

The OLYs. Oly fatigue or not, it was an event you can all be proud of nationally. How you conquered the weather and still made it happen was monumental. How you allowed Catherine O'Hara to talk about Peeing one's name in the snow in the Closing Ceremonies was amazing. Alot of beer swilling talk. And isn't Bill Shatner dead? I heard he was upset that they wouldn't let him play Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek. (no I didn't)

The Oly fatigue was really more of a pre-hangover and I'm sure most host cities experience the same thing. The media spends so much time hyping the coming event that by the time it finally draws near you're a bit sick of hearing about it. Once it's on it all changes though, and honestly I've never seen anything like it in my life. Wearing our patriotism on the outside for all to see is a stereotypically un-Canadian thing to do, so seeing such an outburst was frankly unbelievable.

A lot more was made out of the weather issues than really needed to be, and I predict you'll see more of the same with Sochi since their climate is almost identical to ours. There were some challenges with snow up on Cypress, but that really boiled down to a stupid decision about 8 years before (ie. wanting the freestyle events on Cypress so tourism shots of the mountain looking down onto Vancouver would be possible). Anyone that's spent any time at all in Vancouver knows that those conditions are par for the course on the local mountains (Cypress is only 1 of 3 resorts that immediately ring the city) and that about every 3rd years is a total write-off for snow. Because of that they should have always planned to hold all the alpine events up at Whistler IMHO. Would have saved a lot of last minute scrambling and expense. The effort to get the courses setup was amazing, just never should have had to be done. The ironic thing is they were paid for out of the snow clearing budget which had been doubled the year before as in Jan 2009 we got very uncharacteristically heavy snow fall which would have caused a total shutdown of the Olympics if they'd been held a year earlier.

Other than the snow issues what you saw on the TV was really just standard Vancouver "winter". Admittedly a this year was little warmer than average, but only by about 4 degrees C. We're not exactly a winter paradise here on the Left Coast; palm trees grow year round, the nude beach is open and in use every day of the year, a killing frost is an anomaly instead of a yearly event and most places in the US get far more snow than we ever see in the city proper...... we've just trained the snow to (usually) fall where it's useful, in the mountains Just think of us as the California of Canada

[yourchoice]

Originally Posted by OLS

I am kind of the opposite, I think BoB WITHOUT Episode 1 would have been very.....
I can't even come up with the concept. It would still have been a war picture of sheer
intensity, but I thought the Toccoa stuff was priceless, and very well done. It also made the
concept come together in a way that cemented our view of the characters as a true
dysfuntional family that was ironically, super-functional. LOL.
..

..

..

I heard "they said" Ep 1 was a drag with all the hometown stuff before the men got to fighting,
but who knows. I am fine with it if the character development goes on to mean something later on. But as marked as these men were forever by it, I do loves da fightin', and want to see it now.

I agree BoB Ep. 1 set the stage (built charachter development) and without it the story of BoB wouldn't have been as great as it was. BUT, it wasn't as intense and engrossing as later episodes. Important to the series? No doubt! One of the its best episodes? No way. IMHO

[forgop]

Saw on Good Morning America this morning to hear them talk about how much of a ratings bomb The Pacific was compared to BoB. Seems to me like it had 1/3 of the viewers BoB had.

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by forgop

Saw on Good Morning America this morning to hear them talk about how much of a ratings bomb The Pacific was compared to BoB. Seems to me like it had 1/3 of the viewers BoB had.

HBO is a luxury not many people (want to)/(can) pay for, including myself.