HBO's THE PACIFIC

[Buckylovesbeer]

In my humble opinion, as a WWII loving freak and avid reader on the topic...It has been ok The series has its good points and its bad points. The first Marine Division's major battles (which the series tries to follow) were in Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo, and Okinawa. So you get a very choppy veiw of the war...but one that has not really been told before on TV. As far as a series, I cannot say that it has been great. Entertaining, yes, but a must have like BOB, I am not sure. The Peleliu stuff has been very good......but they do a lot of bouncing around between stories and it is very difficult to become attached to any one or few characters. You go from intense battle scene to home front, to love story, to battle, etc. Kind of hard to get into it. I have enjoyed it overall, because I am a war buff and love any and everything involving WWII. But to a casual veiwer, I am not sure if they would like it. I find myself always upset that they stoped the episode where they did, and I always feel like I am left at a point where they dont finish the little stories they started. From a casual standpoint, I think Band of Brothers blows it away. I would watch it before you buy it!

 

A few things to explore......

 

If you have HBO, check out the on demand - making of and behind the scenes shorts on The Pacific. They are actually really good and informative. They do a little background on the main characters and the four main battles. Its cool to see how they made the scenes that they did.

 

The book "The Pacific" that the story is based on is very, very, good! I finished it last week and after the intros, its hard to put down. You learn a lot more about the characters and the story. What is interesting is the book follows John Basalone much more closely, (I would argue he is the main character) and it also follows a dive bomber pilot, which has not been mentioned in the tv version at all. It also describes characters a little differently than the series does.....for example, they characters do have flaws! It is a great read and I recommend it 100%.

 

Another book to read on this story is called Islands of the Damned, by R.V. Burgin. It follows the same division and story, told thru a motar squad commander. The author tells in vivid detail the destruction of a bunker on Peleliu, which was shown in the TV series. (I believe the author helped with this episode, and is shown giving commands to Eugene Sledge in the episode) Very good read, I read the 200+ pages in one weekend. I couldnt put it down.

 

These two books make the story and the TV series a lot easier to understand. Hope this helps.....good luck and enjoy!

[TheCrew07]

I agree with Robert in that the multiple narratives coming together doesn't really give us time to get attached to the characters in the same way we did with Band of Brothers. With Band of Brothers we followed a single company of soldiers from training through the end of the war, with the The Pacific and the intersecting story lines, I just don't feel the same attachment to the characters that I did, I think the telling of each episode from a different soldier's perspective added to that sense of attachment in Band of Brothers. With Band of Brothers, every time I hear the theme it conjures up a strong emotional response, that's carried through for me personally from the first episode to the current day, any time I stumble across an episode on one of the HBOs I will watch it, even though I know them all by heart. It just hasn't been the same for me with The Pacific, I'm interested to see how the stories finish at Okinawa, but this series hasn't grabbed me as powerfully as band of brothers did.

 

I was wrong initially, a simple Google search would have refreshed my memory, I haven't studied the Pacific in detail since I did a Pacific Air War presentation for speech class in high school. The 1st didn't fight on Tarawa or Iwo Jima... I was combining the 1st and 2nd divisions, the 2nd division eventually became the 3rd... it's all pretty confusing and I had it straight for a long time by I digress. The 1st was too battered after Peleliu to fight at Iwo, and I should have remembered immediately given that the fighting was barely finished on Iwo when the fighting started on Okinawa. The fighting at Peleliu was exactly like the fighting on Iwo despite dissimilar terrain and lasted nearly as long, 3 full episodes of the horrors Peleliu and Okinawa should be powerful to say the least.

 

I think The Pacific has been very well done from a historical perspective, you saw the shoddy equipment the Marines initially fought with (bolt action rifles) to the more advanced equipment as the war progressed (carbines and such), the story has been compelling, the fighting has been fierce, the ferocity of the Japanese soldier has been conveyed very well, the visuals have been stunning, and I would highly recommend it. However I don't think it's as compelling on screen as Band of Brothers was, even though the fighting was much more ferocious in the Pacific. I would have struggled to put my finger on it but I think Robert nailed it.

 

edit. Bucky beat me to it but I'm glad we share a similar view of the series.

[pitchleague]

that's very nice to hear some good honest "reviews" of it. Much better than the "OMG that show is SOOOOOO awesomez!!!11!!!" that I find online in many places.

 

Thanks for, perhaps, saving me a purchase. Sounds like a good rental when it is released and then decide if I want it or not.

[RobertR]

I kind of think that there's also a bit of redundancy to the narratives. Introducing characters to the horrors of war and then, midway through the series, introducing a new set of characters to the horrors of war.

 

I also think that they've been flat out terrible at making the secondary characters distinct and interesting. Sledge's childhood friend Phillips is still a cipher to me. And I actually remember his name. It kind of undercuts the emotion when the characters get all worked up about a character getting wounded/killed when I don't even know who they are.

 

But the leads have been pretty good. The period detail and production show that no expense was spared. There's a very good sense of geography and climate to every location. And the action has been appropriately exciting and brutal. It's definitely worth at least a rental if you're a fan of Band of Brothers, but I doubt it's going to be a perennial in the same way.

 

Robert

[TheCrew07]

Wow they followed Basilone to Iwo Jima, but I was sure Hanks said that they committed 3 full episodes to Okinawa during the behind the scenes. I guess I heard him wrong.

[Buckylovesbeer]

I agree.....I thought he said the same thing. Basilone is such a huge character in the book, that I think they felt they had to dedicate another episode to him......the short battle scene was cool.

 

This whole series seems to be rushed. I wish they had more episodes.....

[dannyjnoonan]

I think it's been amazing so far. I almost like it better than Band of Brothers, but that's probably because my grandpa was in the 1st Marines and fought in most of the battles they cover. He volunteered for the Marines after Pearl Harbor. After training in San Diego, he joined the 1st Marine division as a replacement towards the end of the battle of Guadalcanal. He went on to fight in three major battles; Cape Gloucester New Britain, Peleliu and Okinawa. In between battles, he had "R&R" in Melbourne Australia and the Island of Pavuvu. After the Battle of Okinawa, he was probably headed for the invasion of the Japanese mainland which obviously never happened. If it had, there is a very good chance that I wouldn't be around to write this. Instead, he spent five months in China after the Japanese surrender and didn't return home until January 1946.

 

So in this series, they cover all these battles and places. The detail really strikes me. I remember him talking about the rats running over him, while he tried to sleep on Pavuvu (one of the rest and relaxation places). This detail is mentioned in the series. There are two areas where the series differs from my grandpa's itinerary. It covers the battle of Iwo Jima, which he (and, I believe, the 1st Marines) did not participate in. And it does not include his stint in China.

[TheCrew07]

Basilone didn't fight on Iwo Jima with the 1st Marines, he was actually part of the 5th Marines for the invasion of Iwo. In this case stuck with the solider and not the original unit.

[Buckylovesbeer]

Thats because of the stories they used to make this series.....Basilone was a key character that they followed in the book "The Pacific." After his war bond tour, when he returned, it was not with the first marines anymore.

 

Good Job Crew 07!

 

Danny, you should read the books they used to make it, including the two mentioned above. If you like the tv series, you will definately love the books.

[dannyjnoonan]

I just started With the Old Breed. Yeah, it's awesome.