I was awed by the the action in the first episode but I feel there needs to be more character development, as in Band of Brothers.
I had mixed feelings about the first episode. I think this series may suffer by comparison with BoB. The racial animosity was on both sides and the Japanese certainly started the war. I did not find the portrayal offensive in the series and it is not like either side was throwing stones at the other. It's friggin war.
I have been eagerly anticipating this series for months, and, IMO, the first episode didn't disappoint. Let's not forget that Band of Brothers starts a little slowly out of the gates, too, following Easy Company through basic training. In fact, I thought BoB almost got side-tracked early in the feud between the men and the captain played by David Schwimmer. BTW, I love Hans Zimmer's soundtracks for both BoB and Pacific. IMO, his score really enhances the emotional intensity and complexity of the visuals.
Channel 101 on DirectTV had a couple of character profiles and the series looks like it will be top rate. I found the first episode a little disjointed, but it looks like it dramatically improves.
It looks like it is going to be tremendous. I have had a lot of relatives and friends who fought in the Pacific. Had a friend who was actually in Guadalcanal and in the book Greatest Generation. Now I have some idea what he went through. I know he spent something like three weeks in the trenches with really bad dysentery. They were afraid to get out because of the snipers so you had to do your business where you sat. From everything I have read the physical misery of the Pacific war was off the charts. If you think its a waste of time because these are actors, well, youre entitled to your thoughts but look around at the garbage that is on TV these days. This is a story worth telling.
I watched the first episode twice in fact, and I am still not entirely sure, once they moved to the Pacific, who are the main characters. The guy who gets promoted to corporal? Or the commander? Great first episode, but light on character development- as the others have noted. And I was really surprised when the episode ended, I was watching thinking we had a good 1hr 14 minutes of action to see- was surprised it ended after 50 minutes. With the talent that went into the production of this series- the only thing that should make it bad however are the comparisons and expectations as you can clearly see in this thread.
if you want a really good idea of how brutal this war really was just watch ken burns' mini series "the war". once you see the brutality of Okinawa and Bataan you will never look at the war the same way again. my father fought in the pacific, skippered LST's, my mother told me last night that when he came back he weighed around 135 pounds and was 6'-2". his hand shook for years, he died when i was 14 and he never talked about it once. my mother said he never talked about it with her either. i will post a photo of him in the pacific when i can find them at her house. awesome courage
The main characters are Robert "Lucky" Leicke (machine gunner), John Basiglone (sergeant who was in the army and then joined the marines), and Eugene Sledge (heart murmur guy who is going to join the marines later). Sidney Philips who is friends with Eugene Sledge from back home in Mobile and is in Robert Leicke's unit is also going to play an important role particularly with the difficulties he and Eugene had transitioning back to the US. The main character in the combat in episode one was Robert Leicke who was the guy on the machine gun at the Battle of the Tenaru. As you might be able to tell by the foreshadowing that followed, he is about to get really screwed up primarily from the miserable conditions not so much the war (although the war doesn't help any). Chanel 101 on DirectTV had profiles on Robert Liecke and Sidney Philips and their characters so I know a lot more about what it going to happen. I also highly reccomend the book by Eugene Sledge called "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa." I have purchased Leicke's book "A Helmet for My Pillow" but I have not read it yet. The weather made the Pacific another level of difficult (although the guys who fought in the Ardennes could certainly disagree).
The only thing I thought was missing the that battle lasted all night long. The fought off wave after wave of Japanese. All in all, good episodle.
I am disappointed I waited this long in life, but maybe I was waiting for a spark to complete this project. My grandfather was a Marine with the 1st Division and fought on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, and Okinawa. (He wasn't at Alligator Creek). He carried the flamethrower for most of these campaigns. So far he confirms these are some of the experiences he encountered. We are watching every episode as a family; my parents, grandmother, and some aunts and uncles. I am filming his reaction to scenes during the episodes and then conducting an interview following the show. Just like the 1st episode, the memories slowly trickled in about why he joined the Marines and how he met my grandmother with very little detail about battle. We have video of his experiences over the years, but due to his age I am guessing this might be one of the last times this could elevate his memory and this is the perfect tool to speak about experiences he may have forgotten.
Rowdy, I commend you. By the time I finally started to understand what my grandfather saw in WWII, and he began to share tthe photos with me, he was already in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. I know for a fact that the disease stole 75% of his recollections, and it saddens me greatly. I am just fortunate that the very nature of his job, combat photographer with the 4th ID, allows me to still have his photographs, even though he is gone.
After watching the first 2 parts, I think this mini-series will take a different approach to character development. It looks like they will frequently go back to life back in the U.S., which wasn't done in the BofB series. Sure, they got to the action much more quickly, but this one will give us a better feel for how it was on the home front. Another thing about the racist attitudes. The fact that we referred to the Japanese as "Japs" or "Nips" is no different than calling the Germans "Krauts." It's just a nickname, unlike calling them "yellow ********" or "yellow monkeys." If anyone thinks the Japanese were any less predjudice than anyone else needs to go read books like Prisoners of the Japanese, Last Man Out or Ship of Ghosts. Or, you can read books on "comfort women" or the Bataan death march or the Rape of Nanking. The Japanese were brutal, and they had a sense of superiority that was unsurpassed, even by the Nazis.
why is everyone so concerned about there being some racism in a time where it was commonplace? I haven't thought about it once while watching and wouldn't expect anything different from both sides.
A couple of minor complaints and one suggestion-- (1) It is hard to tell what is going on during the night fighting. Too dark. I switched televisions, went from HD to regular and it made no difference. I get the point (or think I do at least), but still.......a black screen with audio only is crossing the border from film to art. (2) In Episode One, the fighting closed with the wail of the machine gun shooting over Alligator Creek, then faded to black. Then the sun rose and the carnage revealed, except that they were now pointing at the beach. It was a very dramatic scene, but I thought it would have been better had they been pointing at the same area when light returned, across that creek. Maybe the idea was to suggest that the platoon had to keep moving all night long? (3) Although Episode One did have one example of the cruelty of the Japanese soldier, I fear this is something that might get toned down in this series (like in the two Eastwood films), which is too bad. Those folks did some terrible things to alot of people and had been doing so long before Pearl Harbor. If modern PC-sensibilities call for that behavior to be minimized, then that is too bad. That's a story that should be told, not swept under the rug of history. The evilness of the Nazis is a theme that seems to have no outer boundary in Hollywood, not so the evilness of Imperial Japan. (3) It's not fair to criticize posters for commenting on the racism charges. Tom Hanks was the one who brought it up. Blame him. (4) Those must be the longest credits for any television series ever. But, like I said, minor points. I watched the intros/extras again, which are available (on ATT, and probably other systems too) to see anytime and found them useful. They are not long. The related website also has some good stuff if you have the time. I plan on going to Half-Priced Books for the books mentioned above and in the credits but fear I may have waited too long. Despite the items mentioned above, this series is terrific. I can't help but think about my uncle Rudolph. I so wish he was still here so we could discuss it. I am greatful those involved went to the time, effort and expense to put together such a thoughtful and thorough production. This one and BOB should stand the test of time. These guys deserved to have their story told. That gallows humor scene of the one Marine hunched over with diarreah while the other puked up canned peaches had me laughing so hard the dog came to check if I was okay. What a well-filmed little moment of real life. I think I will remember that one for awhile. Ditto for the final scene back on the ship when they got their cups of coffee. Well-done HBO/Dreamworks/PlayTone.
######spoiler########## boy, that japanese soldier who just gave up and comitted suicide was surely pissed off.
The poor civilians in the path of the Japanese. They were in Korea, for example, for over 30 years prior to Pearl Harbor. This is from Wiki.....
Any good suggestions for places to download the Pacific? I believe HBO only allowed download on Episode 1.
I only got to see part 1 as well, sort of pissed me off that they teased me like that, will have to wait for the DVD. Will not pay money to HBO thinking anything goes to Bill Maher.
I am a longtime subscriber to HBO and don't consider it supporting Bill Maher, because I never watch the show. If I want to see a talking penis, I'll just watch Taxi Cab Confessions.
I found the ending of episode 2, where the guy on the ship brings them coffee, very moving and well done. Not a lot of dialogue, great case of less being more. Saw some book notes above, and would really recommend Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking". She made a good point about Germany facing up to their past (WWII and holocaust is taught in schools) where as Japan has not (WWII atrocities are not taught). Sady, while the author was working on another book, she should took her own life.
it's hard to wait week to week for the shows so we are recording them all on our DVR so we can watch them all at the same time but we have to wait for at least 3 before we start lol can't wait
Here are the next few paragraphs in that book review I listed above which addresses somewhat the issue mentioned by snow leopard and others. The review is very long, so hopefully I can get away with quoting this many paragraphs. It's a interesting narrative he lays out regarding what happened to all the loot the Japaennse stole. But these few intro paragraphs are the only exactly relevant to this issue. Was written back in 2003.
Best episode of the series so far IMO. I think they've set the stage for a great final 6 episodes. Just good ole fashioned character development, was badly needed.
I'm gonna have to disagree, Pacific has sucked thus far and this episode was by far the suckiest. BoB was more of a team game and this is just bits and pieces of a few guys that none of us know all that well except they like banging Aussies girls. They have a helluva lot of ground to make up in the last 6 episodes before they can even consider this to be in the same genre as BoB, otherwise I'm filing it with Windtalkers.
I liked it. It gave me a better understanding of Leicke. I thought this episode would show Sledge at bootcamp though. Maybe next week will show it.
