OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (Full Version)

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KG Erwin -> OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/12/2010 11:10:09 PM)

At the start, let me say that I've studied the USMC for several years, and helped out a few SPWaW teams in getting the Marines TOEs correct. Other than that, I'm just an interested civilian. It's been 9 years since "Band of Brothers" was released, and the world has changed considerably since then. So, keep the forum rules in mind, and hopefully we can get a few non-politicized reviews of the series.

From the trailers I've seen, this promises to be a much-discussed series, with deeply-felt opinions on how it plays out. Thus, it will be difficult to keep an even keel on the emotional content. Nevertheless, guys, let's try not to get this thread locked.



johnnycanuck1944 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/13/2010 5:26:27 PM)

watching episode one right now on HBO stream,just have to register,enjoy !



PunkReaper -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/13/2010 5:28:19 PM)

Not out until Easter over here on Sky..... hope its a good one.... Enjoy



KG Erwin -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/13/2010 6:20:49 PM)

Yep, the entire first episode was online for a short time, but HBO has since pulled the video. I missed it!



Poopyhead -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 5:37:29 PM)

It sucked.
The battle for Alligator Creek was totally misrepresented and trivialized. They could have easily spent the whole hour on just this battle. Instead, I guess they needed the time to show one Marine go into “battlefield fatigue” after just two minutes of gunfire and then show the whole unit shoot one unarmed Japanese soldier to death. What a waste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tenaru




vonRocko -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 6:49:15 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

It sucked.




I agree. It was very rushed. They tell very little about the three men it is suppose to follow. Battle scenes are just too chaotic, with the camera rarely on a scene for more than a second, always moving.
If you don't know the history of the battle, then you will not even know what is happenning. I know they have to cover 4 years of war in a few episodes but this is crazy. You don't know the where and why the soldiers are doing what they are. They just appear and fight.
Band of Brothers Pacific version this is not.[:(]



Grim.Reaper -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 6:58:54 PM)

I know this might sound trivial, but the thing that bothered me the most was the length of the episode. It seemed by the time they got done with introductions and then cast/credits, 10 minutes was already wasted. Then, the actual episode ended around 9:50. Seems like a waste of 20 minutes that could have been used for telling the story. I hope each week isn't like this, I could be wrong, but don't remember Band of Brothers wasting time like this.

To me the first episode was Ok, nothing to go crazy over but wasn't bad neither. Too early for me to write this off yet since still 9 episodes to go and I have high hopes:)



Sarge -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 7:23:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

It sucked.
The battle for Alligator Creek was totally misrepresented and trivialized. They could have easily spent the whole hour on just this battle. Instead, I guess they needed the time to show one Marine go into “battlefield fatigue” after just two minutes of gunfire and then show the whole unit shoot one unarmed Japanese soldier to death. What a waste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tenaru



Ditto,

I didn’t make it to the battle scene , turned it off after I seen the 30cal team walking point.
Seeing the tripod man hugging the pod like a baby was just to much to watch, never mind the rest of the platoon on patrol with slung/shouldered weapons

Terribly disappointing but not surprised.


PS: OK guys ! time to un-slig your weapons we're in Indian country.........[8|]




Zakhal -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 8:25:15 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sarge
Ditto,

I didn’t make it to the battle scene , turned it off after I seen the 30cal team walking point.

Noticed that too. I got angry in the beach landing allready when they just stopped there and crowded close together in groups instead of spreading out instantly and moving inland. No one shouted orders even.

If this is preview of what is to come in the next episodes I will propably watch the series through once and then forget it.



SuluSea -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 11:36:58 PM)

I thought it was okay. I agree with the 10 minutes on either side of the program was ridiculous. After the battle of Savo I thought they really missed an opportunity , to me the scene would have been much better if they would have shown some casualties coming ashore the next morning.

I believe it will get better.



victor semensi -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 11:50:26 PM)

I'm trying to figure out why Iceland was colored red on the big map early in the show. It looked like red was used to show Axis occupied territory elsewhere.



Warfare1 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/15/2010 11:59:01 PM)

Haven't seen any episodes yet, but here is a review (this reviewer gives the first episode 4.5/5.0):

http://war-films.suite101.com/article.cfm/review-hbos-the-pacific-mini-series-episode-1



Reviews for the first episode are quite good over at DVD Talk Forum:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/570796-pacific-part-one-hbo-mini-series-3-14-10-9pm.html



The Pacific will be available on dvd and Blu-ray in June, 2010:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Pacific-DVD-and-BlurayDisc-Plans/13465



Stele -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 12:14:40 AM)

I think the audience should take into consideration that its only following some of the characters as numerous events happen around them. I think it would have been slightly impossible for a person to be at all of the above events, granted I would like to have seen more of the airfield and sea battle.

We still have 9 more episodes and plenty of popcorn left.



kentcol -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 12:40:59 AM)

I notice the little things! How come the guys had the same haircuts in combat they had before they joined the service? No haicut requirements for the military back then?



CheddarLover74 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 2:45:41 AM)

I was slightly disappointed mainly because the first episode felt so disjointed.

One minute its shortly after pearl harbor and you get several minutes of each of the 3 main characters and the next its the invasion of Guadacanal.I guess i was hoping that they would use the 1st episode to introduce the audience better to the 3 main protaganists.Band of brothers did a better job of at least introducing the main characters.In the Pacific unless you already know about them you don't get a very good sense of who they are.

Now comparing the episode to Helmet for my Pillow which most of it was based on,even with all the skipping foward the scenes seemed to match with the book until the aftermath of the battle and the letter from Sledge.Thats artistic liscense though.

I can't remember if the naval shelling and aerial bombings take place before or after the Tenaru,but if before then it would have been better for them to have been included to give a better sense of what was endured until relief came.Its just hard to keep track becauseof the skipping foward.

I'm withholding judgement on if it is on par with BoB,but i have a feeling it is going to be a bit more broad with less details since it is following three individuals instead of an entire unit.

The local TV critic though liked that aspect as he wouldn't get confused of trying to tell characters apart as he did with BOB.



D.Ilse -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 3:39:18 AM)

DVD and Blu-Ray sets will be out June 15,2010 for Father's Day



diablo1 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 3:48:25 AM)

quote:

and then show the whole unit shoot one unarmed Japanese soldier to death.


I thought this was great and most likely probably happened especially after that one jap blew up the doc when he was trying to help him. I'm sure many deviate things happened during the war by all involved. Overall I thought the episode was great and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Felt sorry for the guy with the heart murmur but expect he will find a way into the war anyway. Can't wait for episode 2.



CheddarLover74 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 4:48:48 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: diablo1

quote:

and then show the whole unit shoot one unarmed Japanese soldier to death.


I thought this was great and most likely probably happened especially after that one jap blew up the doc when he was trying to help him. I'm sure many deviate things happened during the war by all involved. Overall I thought the episode was great and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Felt sorry for the guy with the heart murmur but expect he will find a way into the war anyway. Can't wait for episode 2.


That incident never happened though.Leckie went into some detail after his trial by fire...The Jap tanks burnt out on the otherside of the river,the souviener hunters,watching some of the surviving enemy trying to swim for safety and being shot,the bodies piled up along the sandbar,how he felt no emotion when someone told him who had all been killed during the nights battle.As i recall the mutilated marines,shown shortly after their landing,were also from a latter chapter of the book maybe New Guinea..where the Japanese had castrated them and cut off their globe and anchor tatoos..where he gave a brief description of "the Frenchman" and a fight that involved Japs,natives,dogs,and even bows and arrows.

I'll have to pull out the book though but i'm certain it never mentioned the incident of a corpsman being blown up by a wounded Japanese soldier at tenaru.Like i said artistic licsence.The producers are trying to convey something in only a few scenes.



ilovestrategy -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 7:38:04 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

It sucked.





I pretty much have to agree with this. Not only that, I've had the impression that Tom Hanks is on some sort of PC trip. I'll watch the series at least once but I hope he doesn't try to make the Japanese seem like the victims. I'll be mad if he does.



CheddarLover74 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 8:01:50 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy


quote:

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

It sucked.





I pretty much have to agree with this. Not only that, I've had the impression that Tom Hanks is on some sort of PC trip. I'll watch the series at least once but I hope he doesn't try to make the Japanese seem like the victims. I'll be mad if he does.


They already Pc'ed it with the fictional Japanese soldier being toyed with by the marines..which never happened in the book by Leckie.Did it ever happen who knows...

Thats one thing that always bothered me with depictions of WWII...

German soldiers are cannon fodder but everyone tries to humanize the average Japanese soldier when they were more unforgiving and brutal than even the most indoctrinated SS trooper..i guess it has to do with the bomb and western guilt.

This isn't a political statement.but something that has cropped up in movies,books,and the media.

The Japanese were victims according to all modern media..they even go out of their way to show them as such..witness the brief scene of marines mutilated by them and the protracted,and make believe scene,of the Japanese soldier at the Tenaru being tormented by the marines.

One happened and one didn't.

The one that didn't happen make the marines seem sadistic..though it was also after a make believe scene of a wounded Japanese soldier blowing himself up and killing a corpsman..which somehow forgives the next scene.



KG Erwin -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/16/2010 9:59:37 PM)

I thought Part 1 was fine, but yeah, the sudden jumps in time aren't explained very well. For someone who knows the course of the campaign, it's no problem. Of course, the cure to this would be to read Leckie's and Sledge's books.

Part 2 will deal with Basilone's winning of the MOH.

As for the seeming rushing through Guadalcanal, this will be offset by the inclusion of three episodes on Peleliu. This is obviously the centerpiece of the entire miniseries, as the suicidal charges by the Japanese will be replaced by the tenacious defense in depth that characterized the last battles of the war in late 1944-summer 1945.




Gil R. -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 3:35:58 AM)

Okay, as an ignoramus on such matters, what was wrong with the way the guys were carrying their tripods and other equipment?

When growing up I had a barber who had been stationed in Iceland during the war, so I agree that it wasn't Axis territory...



Hartley -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 7:03:57 AM)

The most egregious part about the map was that it predicts Fall Blau and Stalingrad 6 months in advance.



JudgeDredd -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 8:23:18 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin
...As for the seeming rushing through Guadalcanal, this will be offset by the inclusion of three episodes on Peleliu...

Oh - well that's Ok then. Erm, I thought (from my admittedly very limited knowledge of the Pacific Theatre) that Guadalcanal was a monster of a task and a tough fight? Seems like a sin to rush it in the mini series.

From what I'm reading here, it seems my initial thoughts months ago about this series were correct - it doesn't touch Band of Brothers.

I take no pleasure from saying that though, and will be rushing to post here when I see it and I'm proved wrong...any good miniseries about the Second World War should be relished...



GoodGuy -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 12:12:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

Okay, as an ignoramus on such matters, what was wrong with the way the guys were carrying their tripods and other equipment?

Well I'll have to wait 'til the series will be available here, but Sarge probably criticized it because it looked unrealistic, I guess. A .30 cals tripod wasn't as clunky as a MG42 tripod, but I can't imagine they hugged these pods. I checked out one of the trailers again, and there's a scene where you can see them shouldering their 30 cals, indeed, that looks authentic though. There is original footage from the Philippines where you can see soldiers walking around like that too, means rather relaxed, even though they walked through Jap territory. Maybe that comes with the tropic environment. [:D]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

When growing up I had a barber who had been stationed in Iceland during the war, so I agree that it wasn't Axis territory...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hartley

The most egregious part about the map was that it predicts Fall Blau and Stalingrad 6 months in advance.


I find these 2 details to be more disturbing, tbh. Considering the budget and effort behind the series, one would think that the funding should have been sufficient to hire qualified historians. I guess their accountants found a sector where they thought they could save some money and that it wouldn't do any harm to the project, eh? [:D] [;)]



NefariousKoel -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 6:18:46 PM)

Also, I'm pretty sure those water-cooled .30 cal machineguns weren't exactly lightweight.  Carrying one at the ready to fire from the hip was probably not only very tiresome but impractical. [;)]



GoodGuy -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 7:09:06 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: NefariousKoel

Also, I'm pretty sure those water-cooled .30 cal machineguns weren't exactly lightweight.


What if they removed the water? [:D]



Poopyhead -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 7:49:19 PM)

The tripod actually weighs more than the weapon:
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/30calhv.htm#compare
The tripod has a vest carryall that you can strap it to for going long distances. For moving at combat speed, you can collapse the rear two legs and loosen the forward leg to make an inverted “V” shape and then hang it over your shoulder.
There is a thread at the HBO forum about how people are disappointed with the first episode (actually several threads), pretty much for the same reasons mentioned here.



Sarge -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/17/2010 11:14:05 PM)

Here is a good example how to hump a tripod in Indian country, never folded.......NEVER !

Two reasons, quick deployment or easily dropped when things get dicey . Its probably trivial to most but glaring to anyone that’s been in the field, guess its like seeing modern tanks in an WWII film .

[image]http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7126/leatherneckwwii072804.jpg[/image]

note the secondary carbine........[;)]



Titanwarrior89 -> RE: OT "The Pacific": Your Reviews (3/18/2010 1:08:35 AM)

"Thats a fact, jack"[;)]
quote:

ORIGINAL: Sarge

Here is a good example how to hump a tripod in Indian country, never folded.......NEVER !

Two reasons, quick deployment or easily dropped when things get dicey . Its probably trivial to most but glaring to anyone that’s been in the field, guess its like seeing modern tanks in an WWII film .

[image]http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7126/leatherneckwwii072804.jpg[/image]

note the secondary carbine........[;)]




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