"The Pacific" on HBO

[vmbplayer]

LOL - read mine above. :wink:

I agree that some of the personal stuff was too drawn out. Basilone at home, Leckie in Melbourne, Leckie at the hospital and his enuresis, alot of Sledge prior to enlistment. Some was good - particularly Basilone and his commitment to the war and other Marines, and the guilt he felt being home while the rest were still fighting. But it got to be too much.

I see your angle too. I just think a lot of average folks who know NOTHING of ww2 would see that and something would click for them to relate to. You're average american who doesn't know any ww2 facts has probably heard of Pearl, Midway, Iwo, the flag raising, hiroshima, and maybe nagasaki. And all they know are the names of those places, they know nothing more about any of what happened in the pacific theater. For those types a tie in on Iwo to make them realize what is going on is all tied in is a nice touch. Of course those people probably won't watch this series so it may not matter.

Either way though the flag raising was VERY important to the war effort. In terms of that photograph and what it did state side for bonds/morale etc was huge. Even if they would have just looked up to see the flag from the beach or something. Just an in passing kind of notice like the mention of the 'new bomb' getting dropped in Japan.

 

[DaddyMac]

I guess I didn't realize it until you guys brought it up here.... but they pretty much skipped over Iwo Jima almost completely, didn't they?

Just that last little bit with Basilone getting killed, then it was on to Okinawa, right?

Edit: I knew that Sledge (Joseph Mazzello) looked familar. He's Timmy from the Jurassic Park movies.

 

[Knownothing]

Yeah they avoided the whole airfield part of Iwo and moving up. Mostly because Leckie and Sledge did not write about it. A lot of people don't relize that when they reached the top of Surabachi that they went over to the air field and cleaned up the rest of the Japanese.
For the record My Grandfather was a Pearl Harbour survivor. He was in the Navy for 4 years. Pretty cool story's he could tell.

Here are some cool recent photo's of Iwo To. The Japanese recently renamed that Island due to the *** whipping we put on them.

http://www.pbase.com/henryt/iwojima

 

[weR138]

I'm not going to watch this until I can see it all the way through but I'm curious if they show the Betio (Tarawa), Saipan or Tinian campaigns? I was with 3/6 and 6th Marines was at these battles along with Guadalcanal which I assume is part of the series.

 

[DaddyMac]

Starts with Guadalcanal. Pretty much goes to relief in Melbourne, Cape Gloustecer, Pelileu, about 2 minutes of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

I don't recall anything of the above.

 

[Knownothing]

I'm not going to watch this until I can see it all the way through but I'm curious if they show the Betio (Tarawa), Saipan or Tinian campaigns? I was with 3/6 and 6th Marines was at these battles along with Guadalcanal which I assume is part of the series.

No on Tarawa or Saipan. However I served on the U.S.S. Tarawa. Does that count for anything.
Also do you hate sand flea's? Lajeune sucks.

 

[Frak]

I agree with that entirely. I think if I was given your experience in the Corps I would feel the same way. My thing is I wish the series would have told the story in a way that made me (obviously, a non-marine) appreciate those names and those men as much as you do. You quite obviously have a connection to these guys because you've heard the stories of who they were and what they did. My point is the series could have presented those stories in a way that made an average viewer feel the same way you do about them after having watched it.

That's where I think that narrator type could come into play. Obviously you saw John Basilone holding off a ton of Japs at the beginning of the series on Guadalcanal, and I'm guessing you as a marine who knows his story already knew that he held off a full regiment of 3,000 Japanese soldiers with 2 men left in his unit. As a viewer who doesn't know the story the footage shown could have been anywhere from 50 Japanese to the 3,000. A voice-over recap that says 'John Basilone and his unit of 15 men fended off a regiment of 3,000 soldiers on Guadalcanal fighting through enemy lines and back to retrieve much needed ammunition for his unit.' goes a very long way to telling me just how great of a feat it was. The video alone can only show so much before the intensity of a battle is can't show anymore. It can't tell you very well how dire the circumstances were or how long the guys on Peleilu went without water. There is a saturation point that a TV screen can't pass, and I think that is even smaller in jungle warfare because you don't see people, you just see explosions.

The stories of the Marines in the pacific doesn't need any embellishment to make it an amazing story. They just needed to find a way to add the facts you already know that make the average viewer understand what was going on.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for the Marines that served in WW2, and I knew before watching the series that they went through a hell of a lot, and didn't have many of the luxuries the Army guys in Europe had. But to me without those little tidbits of knowledge that you had before you saw the series it was hard to grasp the enormity of what they were facing based on what was on the screen alone.

Don't get me wrong the series was good. But the Marines story is just as awe inspiring as the 101st airborne and if told a slightly different way it could have connected to an American who hadn't even heard of Peleilu or Guadalcanal just as much as it does to you.

Exactly.

 

[SuperCy]

I'd like to see something about North Africa, Sicily and then into Italy. Will it ever happen? Probably not. I think that is another part of the war that is largely forgotten.

 

[weR138]

No on Tarawa or Saipan. However I served on the U.S.S. Tarawa. Does that count for anything.
Also do you hate sand flea's? Lajeune sucks.[/QUOTE]

Yes. Yes it does.

 

[Mr Janny]

I'd like to see something about North Africa, Sicily and then into Italy. Will it ever happen? Probably not. I think that is another part of the war that is largely forgotten.

Check out the Patton 360 series on the History Channel, if you get a chance. It does a pretty good job. Not the best made documentary you will ever see, but it's still quite good.

 

[cyclones7]

weR138-my great uncle was at the Battle Of Tarawa and was mentioned in the book Tarawa written by Robert Sherrod.
I also have a few pictures after the battles that he took. He unforunatly died in the mid 80's. But I will always remember talking to him and my grandfathers about the war. He started smoking that first day. He said it was the only thing that would calm his nerves. I was pretty little and would always try to get him to quit. It has been a lot of years but I remember him telling me that he couldn't quit because of his memories of that battle and that Tarawa would kill him sooner or later. He died of lung cancer in 1984. What you guys did for our country will never be forgotten!!!!! THANK YOU

 

[burn587]

I haven't watch all of the episodes yet, I think I've made it through about 5 but I vastly prefer The Pacific to Band of Brothers. Not sure why, but I was extremely bored by BoB at some points. I prefer how The Pacific focuses more on one soldier at a time, and Leckie's story was the most compelling to me.

John Adams is the best mini-series of all time, and the first 3 episodes are flat out amazing. The actors all do a great job and it deserved to clean up at the Emmy's like it did.

 

[SuperCy]

Sidebar. Has anybody watched "America: The Story of US?" I've got it on my DVR, but haven't had time to sit down and watch it.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I liked the seris just fine, but I do agree Band of Brothers, and that storyline were a whole lot easier to follow, and it was more interesting week to week because you knew what was going on. I do admit, that Pacific Theater was tough, I feel for any armed service men, but those Marines had it awful tough.

I had the same thought about the series ... disappointing the first few shows ... too much talking not enough fighting ... got better when they went to Sledge the last few shows ... second to last show was the best ... shows weren't near long enough. Too much of the hour-long episodes were taken up by opening and closing credits. I would have rather seen more of the old vets and less of the opening and closing credits.

The Pacific had to be a nightmare compared to the European theater. You had thousands of wild-eyed, screaming Japanese running right at you, you had enemy popping up from all over, you think you've cleared the area behind you and some enemy crawl through a tunnel, get behind you and start shooting at you. A fanatical enemy who would rather die than surrender. Enemy soldiers popping up out of the ground, hidden in spider holes right in front of you.

I mean if you wanted to design a Halloween set to scare someone, those are some of the elements you might use ... things popping up out of nowhere, people rushing at you screaming ... then you add on top of that they're trying to kill you. I can see why some of them wouldn't sleep very well afterward.

 

[st8]

Check out the Patton 360 series on the History Channel, if you get a chance. It does a pretty good job. Not the best made documentary you will ever see, but it's still quite good.

I have a some of that DVR'd but haven't gotten around to watching it yet because I've been working through pacific and just bought band of Brothers. Anything more at this point could lead to me spending time in the bushes in front of my house running surveylance with bioculars and sharpening my bayonette . is it just basically your typical History channel documentary type thing?

 

[DaddyMac]

Sidebar. Has anybody watched "America: The Story of US?" I've got it on my DVR, but haven't had time to sit down and watch it.

I watched the first episode and parts of the second. Really, really long. 2hrs per.

Recorded last nights. I hope to catch the ones I missed at somepoint.

I love those types of shows. "The Revolution" about 2 years ago was outstanding.

 

[st8]

"stroy of us" is definitely interesting and worth watching. I'll warn you that my TV rarely leaves History, NGC, or discovery unless there's a sporting event on though, so my opinion might be a bit biased

 

[DaddyMac]

I have a some of that DVR'd but haven't gotten around to watching it yet because I've been working through pacific and just bought band of Brothers. Anything more at this point could lead to me spending time in the bushes in front of my house running surveylance with bioculars and sharpening my bayonette . is it just basically your typical History channel documentary type thing?

Pretty much. Alot of computer animation to layout the field. But they focus each hour on specific campaigns - El Guettar, Sicilay, France.

Another show I really like is 20th Century Battlefields on Military Channel - with Dan and Peter Snow. In depth looks at many of the major battles spanning WWI, II and even some Vietnam.

 

[Mr Janny]

I have a some of that DVR'd but haven't gotten around to watching it yet because I've been working through pacific and just bought band of Brothers. Anything more at this point could lead to me spending time in the bushes in front of my house running surveylance with bioculars and sharpening my bayonette . is it just basically your typical History channel documentary type thing?

It is fairly standard, but the "360" part is sort of a CG rendering of the battlefields. They do a lot of in depth stuff on weapon/vehicle specs. It's not bad at all.

 

[Mr Janny]

As much as I like shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars, they really don't belong on the History channel. I much prefer historical documentaries.