HBO's The Pacific

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

I think he's been getting his hands dirty lately. But its not so much what he does, but rather just how he takes everything in, especially the first couple episodes when it was overwhelming. On his first action episode when they stormed the beach you were basically seeing it all from his eyes, I just felt it was the first time I was actually able to put myself in one of the character's shoes and relate to them.

I don't mind some of the other characters, but they kinda came off to me as too Hollywoodish: Leckie's some brooding stud all the girls wanna f***, Basilone's a smooth war hero all the girls wanna f***, etc. But the way they portrayed Sledge is just as some regular, young, green, intelligent but naive kid from a good home who has no idea what he's getting himself into.

Picture of Eugene Sledge at Okinowa in 1945 along side the actor in the series.

[Sainters7]

Wow! Good casting.

[worth]

I really like sledge.

He's a character I can relate to for sure.

Wanted to go and fight for his country. Finally got out there and it was nothing like he expected.

He was troubled at first from the things he had seen, but as time goes on, he becomes desensitized to it. He is naive in the beginning and disgusted by peoples actions both American and Japanese.

Over time he changes, as any man does in war. We see an almost savage side of him, saying how he just wants to kill japs and hopes that they get to kill them all.

And then an eventual reversal on this by seeing wounded civilians.

This past episode was fantastic for sledge. he goes through such an emotional swing.

I think he is by far the best character out of the three.

[worth]

One other thing i'll add is i'm glad this series was made.

For my generation, we got to see a ton of stuff about the European Theater of war and it was always portrayed as a very valiant and noble war. A way where the allies are fighting to defend Europe from a tyrant country. A war to save many civilians for terror. A war that many of us would probably volunteer to fight in based on its portrayal.

The Pacific Theater has been portrayed in the exact opposite light. This is a war for pieces of useless rocks against a fanatical enemy that would do anything to kill you. Sheet terror, always wet and muddy and always miserable. Life not worth living almost.

I find the differences interesting.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by worth

One other thing i'll add is i'm glad this series was made.

For my generation, we got to see a ton of stuff about the European Theater of war and it was always portrayed as a very valiant and noble war. A way where the allies are fighting to defend Europe from a tyrant country. A war to save many civilians for terror. A war that many of us would probably volunteer to fight in based on its portrayal.

The Pacific Theater has been portrayed in the exact opposite light. This is a war for pieces of useless rocks against a fanatical enemy that would do anything to kill you. Sheet terror, always wet and muddy and always miserable. Life not worth living almost.

I find the differences interesting.

There was a hatred for the Japanese by the Americans that goes far beyond Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese didn't respect the American's at all.

The first thing that Bull Halsey said when he returned to Pearl Harbor after the attack was that after this was all over the Japanese language would be spoken exclusively in hell.

The Imperial Japanese Military did not have a good record as far as battlefield conduct went, I remember reading that the first thing that the Japanese did after the fall of the Canadian's in China was to enter the hospital with wounded soldiers and bayanet them to death.

The Japanese refused for the most part to give up. When American's tried to rescue pilots in the water the Japanese pilot would wait until they got close enough then they would detonate a grenade.

The use of Kamikaze tactics terrified the American's and angered them.

We learned about how the Japanese treated prisoners of war during the Island hopping campaign and then more so after the war.

At the end of the day, the Japanese belief in their superiority and their brutal treatment of civilians and POW's doomed them.

Nobody wanted to surrender to the Japanese, they knew it meant a long and painful death at the hands of brutal monsters. It created a fanatism in the American GI. It also created an atmosphere of not taking chances to save a Japanese soldier or accept his surrender.

A pilot in the water was machine gunned. A wounded Japanese soldier was either shot or left to die.

This was really a war that was on a personal level. The european war was on a professional level.

[Roof-Daddy]

Personally, I really enjoyed Band of Brothers, and I have also enjoyed The Pacific.......well as much as you can enjoy a mini-series that depicts real events that took place amidst the brutality of World War II.

I wonder if the same group (Spielberg and Hanks) will ever do a mini-series based on events and battles that occured during the Naval Battle over the Pacific.

With today's technology that would be an amazing show.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Personally, I really enjoyed Band of Brothers, and I have also enjoyed The Pacific.......well as much as you can enjoy a mini-series that depicts real events that took place amidst the brutality of World War II.

I wonder if the same group (Spielberg and Hanks) will ever do a mini-series based on events and battles that occured during the Naval Battle over the Pacific.

With today's technology that would be an amazing show.

Go rent Midway, it holds up really well.

And of course Tora Tora Tora

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Go rent Midway, it holds up really well.

And of course Tora Tora Tora

I've seen Midway and I did enjoy it. However, that's just one battle (albeit the most pivotal one). It would be interesting to see all the major Naval battles captured in a miniseries....and of course to see it done with today's technology would be epic.

Never heard of Tora Tora Tora, I'll look for it, thanks.

[CaptainCrunch]

You should also watch Battle 360 on the History Channel.

The reason why a Pacific Sea War battle would be difficult is that there would be next to no consistancy of characters.

In fact the only ship that participated in all of those battles was the Enterprise.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

You should also watch Battle 360 on the History Channel.

The reason why a Pacific Sea War battle would be difficult is that there would be next to no consistancy of characters.

In fact the only ship that participated in all of those battles was the Enterprise.

I love Battle 360. That's sort of what got me thinking about this.

You're right though, it would be nearly impossible to develop characters.

[Hemi-Cuda]

i'd love to see the movie Patton realized in a miniseries like this. starting in the massive tank battles of Africa, fighting up through Italy and then into the heart of the European campaign, all while following one of the most interesting generals of the war. while the movie is good, 2 hours isn't nearly enough to properly capture everything

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

You should also watch Battle 360 on the History Channel.

The reason why a Pacific Sea War battle would be difficult is that there would be next to no consistancy of characters.

In fact the only ship that participated in all of those battles was the Enterprise.

. . . . . and some of the Dogfights series.

Referencing Eugene Sledge, his post-war history is fascinating and worth googling or looking at on Wikipedia if anyone is interested. It might be a spoiler as I have no idea how The Pacific will wrap up.

Cowperson

[You Need a Thneed]

The series hasn't been exactly what I imagined it to be, but it's been entertaining, and pretty good.

I think I was imagining it to be all encompassing of the war in the pacific. Obviously, it's not.

I'd like to see a miniseries on the naval battles and the rest of the pacific theatre yet, with a good budget.

[mac_82]

Nice way to tie up the series with the finale, soldiers coming home and trying to adapt to normal life again. The character roll-call before the credits was a nice touch, see what happened to everyone after the war. The pallbearer part brought a tear to my eye.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I've seen Midway and I did enjoy it. However, that's just one battle (albeit the most pivotal one). It would be interesting to see all the major Naval battles captured in a miniseries....and of course to see it done with today's technology would be epic.

Never heard of Tora Tora Tora, I'll look for it, thanks.

Tora Tora Tora is my absolute favourite war movie, and I love war movies. I've seen it at least 10 times, and I rarely watch a movie more than once.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by mac_82

Nice way to tie up the series with the finale, soldiers coming home and trying to adapt to normal life again. The character roll-call before the credits was a nice touch, see what happened to everyone after the war. The pallbearer part brought a tear to my eye.

I thought it was a nice wrap up. Only thing I was disapointed about or had me wondering was what happened to Gunny Henny. I guess I'm assuming he was killed some time during Okinowa, if he was in fact a real character. One thing is for certain, I will be reading With The Old Breed and Helmet For My Pillow in the near future.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by worth

One other thing i'll add is i'm glad this series was made.

For my generation, we got to see a ton of stuff about the European Theater of war and it was always portrayed as a very valiant and noble war. A way where the allies are fighting to defend Europe from a tyrant country. A war to save many civilians for terror. A war that many of us would probably volunteer to fight in based on its portrayal.

The Pacific Theater has been portrayed in the exact opposite light. This is a war for pieces of useless rocks against a fanatical enemy that would do anything to kill you. Sheet terror, always wet and muddy and always miserable. Life not worth living almost.

I find the differences interesting.

They also pointed out the accolades the solders on the European Theater received upon liberating European cities in last nights episode. Not to mention the fact that the solders in Europe got to fraternize with the local woman. For Eugene Sledge it was just hopping from hell hole to hell hole.

[Sliver]

Just watched the last episode. Sooo boring (except for the part where Sledge stared at a flower and rolled around in the meadow...that was a highlight of this series for sure).

I have to say, I think Hanks and Spielberg missed a great opportunity to educate us on the war in the Pacific while entertaining us. In the end, all I really got out of this war was it was brutal, unrelenting, violent and miserable. Except I knew all that going in. Add to that the incoherent timeline, hollow characters and lack of chemistry and you have some really bad television.

I know some of you guys liked this, but I think this series will be forgotten fairly quickly whereas BoB will live on as a classic for at least our whole lives.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'd love to see the movie Patton realized in a miniseries like this. starting in the massive tank battles of Africa, fighting up through Italy and then into the heart of the European campaign, all while following one of the most interesting generals of the war. while the movie is good, 2 hours isn't nearly enough to properly capture everything

It would only be as good if the same guy could act Patton.

I don't know who could possibly replace him now.

[worth]

I thought it was a great wrap up episode. I'm excited to eventually rewatch the series knowing now what happens to the characters. I'm betting watching it a second time is going to be more enjoyable than the first time through. There is always a bunch of extra stuff you can pick up.

I definetly felt for Sledgehammer. He went away to prove he was a man, and he comes back and he still doesn't fit in even after all he went through.