HBO's The Pacific

[nik-]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I agree but the craziest part is that these are real stories. Crazy crazy stuff

Is The Pacific based on a true story? I was under the impression these were fictional characters.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by nik-

Is The Pacific based on a true story? I was under the impression these were fictional characters.

Nope its based on a true story, Eugene Sledge wrote some memoirs that were used in the Pacific IIRC.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by nik-

Is The Pacific based on a true story? I was under the impression these were fictional characters.

I thought so too, but today I saw something on HBO about the real soldiers the show is based on. This link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone#In_media

is about one of the real guys (the one who burnt his arm on the gun in episode 2).

[H2SO4(aq)]

Watched part 2 today.

I think is starting to gear up to be an excellent series.

Will be hard to match the success of BoB. Regardless, I will be impatiently waiting week by week to see more.

[NiklasSundblad]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

The first episode was tedious because it had "Ross" in it. I don't like Schwimmer at all.

Other than Friends, Schwimmer is always type-cast as an a-hole, even when he's playing himself.

[worth]

It's kind of odd how it's not a problem for Jennifer Aniston to play other characters, but for Schwimmer to play another character it's like "Hey! It's Ross!"

Maybe because all of anistons characters are kind of the same. And for Schwimmer to go from Friends to a Captain in WWII is a bit of a jump I guess.

Anyway, if you try to forget he's Ross and just watch him as Capt. Sobel, he does a pretty outstanding job IMO. He acts like a ###### and comes across as one, and plays the part perfectly.

By the way, so does Cobb. After re-watching, all the guy does is berate other people through the whole series, while not doing a whole lot himself in comparison to other people.

From Wiki:

Cobb had served in the army 9 years prior to enlisting in the Parachute Infantry.[2] During that time, he partook in an assault landing in Africa with the 1st Armored Division.[2] He survived a torpedo attack that sank the troop ship he was on when traveling back to the States.[2]
In World War II, during the drop into Normandy on June 6, 1944, he was wounded inside the plane and was unable to jump.[3] He parachuted into Holland during Operation Market Garden, also fought in the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne. And in January/February 1945, he was selected for a patrol at Haguenau under Jack Foley.[4]
Cobb was discharged from service after assaulting Jack E. Foley, his platoon commander, in Haguenau, after consuming a bottle of schnapps.[5] While handing the court-martial papers in, Robert Sink said, "Foley, you could have saved us all a lot of trouble.[5] You should have shot him."[5]
Cobb died in January 1990 at Niagara, New York.

He was portrayed in Band of Brothers as a very unfriendly, bitter, and at some moments a cowardly person. This is thought to be because he served so long in the army but was never promoted. However, he is described in Stephen E. Ambroses's book Band of Brothers as invariably good natured. One controversial note occurred during the episode "The Last Patrol", in which Cobb gets drunk after the patrol and is mildly scolded by Lieutenant Jones and SSG John Martin.
In reality, Cobb was being yelled at by Jack Foley and Cobb eventually charged at Foley. Two men had to restrain him and John Martin pulled out his M1911 pistol and pointed it at him.[citation needed] This moment was not portrayed in the series, but several other events depicting him as bitter were shown in the series but never mentioned in the book.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I thought so too, but today I saw something on HBO about the real soldiers the show is based on. This link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone#In_media

is about one of the real guys (the one who burnt his arm on the gun in episode 2).

As one poster already mentioned, Eugene Sledge wrote a memoir called "With the Old Breed." http://www.amazon.com/Old-Breed-E-B-...9396451&sr=8-1 I read it in one of my Military History classes 3 or 4 years ago and it was really interesting.

I am enjoying the series so far, but at the same time its hard not to throw out comparisons with Band of Brothers. I really have to stand back and think of them as 2 different shows even though they're made by the same people. The Pacific sure has had a great start though.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by cDnStealth

As one poster already mentioned, Eugene Sledge wrote a memoir called "With the Old Breed." http://www.amazon.com/Old-Breed-E-B-...9396451&sr=8-1 I read it in one of my Military History classes 3 or 4 years ago and it was really interesting.

I am enjoying the series so far, but at the same time its hard not to throw out comparisons with Band of Brothers. I really have to stand back and think of them as 2 different shows even though they're made by the same people. The Pacific sure has had a great start though.

The Pacific has been ok so far, I'll like it because I love WW2 shows. However, I really can say that in terms of story telling quality, The Pacific is getting murdered by Band of Brothers at this point.

[TSXCman]

It's great that its finally rolling but I am not enjoying it too much in alot of ways

huge fan of BOB still though. and i'll continue to watch pacific because of the involvement

[kmad]

This does not have the same depth as Band of Brothers. I'm not attached to any of the characters after two episodes.

I think it might be going up a different route though. This looks to be more like a straight up ten hour war movie, focusing on the hardship of battle and the terror of firefights rather than the forging of brotherhoods and development of young men as they save the world.

Really, it's not fair to compare ANYTHING to Band of Brothers. It's an unrealistic standard to attain, even for Spielberg.

[mykalberta]

I just watched the first episode last night.

It was ok. I guess the Marine Core has a more lax attitude toward hair length than the Army.

[worth]

It's Marine Corps.

Now that you mention it, you're right. I don't think you'd ever see a marine with that much hair. They have a saying " high and tight" and that's what all marines wear.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by worth

It's Marine Corps.

Now that you mention it, you're right. I don't think you'd ever see a marine with that much hair. They have a saying " high and tight" and that's what all marines wear.

Agreed. I was thinking that too.

[wooohooo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94et1Bb53mw

This is the making of the Pacific. It shows you some scenes and how they did everything. A pretty good watch and shows you the amount of time and effort they put into this behemoth.

[3 Justin 3]

^^^ They also have it on before each episode airs.

[wooohooo]

Interesting I didn't know that. I don't have HBO so I guess I don't get these benefits

[CaptainCrunch]

In the Marine Corp, its only mandatory to be high and tight through induction and basic. After that they have the same hair rules as the rest of the armed services.

Most however choose to keep it high and tight because its low maintenance.

[3 Justin 3]

Part 3 is on in just over an hour.

[3 Justin 3]

It's on in 5 minutes.

Edit: looking at the preview, it looks like today is going to be a VERY slow episode.

[3 Justin 3]

Well I'll be blunt, that episode sucked, not because it had no battles, it was just boring.

Curahhee had no battles but it was an amazing episode.