I am a bit disappointed honestly. Maybe I am just expecting too much after Band Of Brothers, I guess nothing could really live up to that. I am enjoying it, but I am not really dying to see the next episode like I was with BOB.
i was worried about the series after the first episode, but after episode 2 it pulled me in a little more
the problem from the outset was in Band of Brothers they followed one Company from start to finish (even though some members left and they still followed them) over basically a year; Normandy Invasion to a little after VE day. It was easy to remember characters because outside of the invasion the Allies suffered few relative losses. This is starting in 1942 and is with the USMC. They suffered huge losses and it will have to go on for 3 years to show any post war wrap up. There was no Battle of the Buldge with hundreds of thousands of troops. all of the really interesting stuff was Navy battles. Battle of Midway for example. I am hoping they concentrate less on fighting and more on Marines on leave, or fighting and drinking with each other on down time.
Damn. I didn't realize it had already started. I was on a cruise for a week. Just got back yesterday! Crap, gotta set the DVR.
God, I hope not. A lot of the battles were smaller in scale than Battle of the Bulge, but were severely brutal nonetheless. Okinawa had a couple hundred thousand troops involved if you want something large in scale. You should read With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge. He's one of the characters in the show and he gives a great account as to the horrors of war.
I wonder if they are going to cover Corregidor in the Phillippines? My Grandpa was a Navy man who ended up fighting onshore there at a place called Monkey Point when his ship was sunk. The way my Dad tells me...he was in charge of a machine gun battery...something he had no training for obviously. They were fighting hand-to-hand combat prior to being captured. He was in a POW camp for four years. While near Bataan, he was not part of the infamous Bataan death march. However, he had his own brutal march he had to endure. My Grandpa happened to have very good typing skills...so that is what the Japanese had him doing is typing up stuff for his time spent in the camp. As you may know, General MacArthur was headquartered at Corregidor for a time before he was ordered out by Roosevelt. The soldiers who remained behind were defeated and MacArthur vowed to liberate those camps (which he did later on). The most surreal moment of that involving my Grandpa is MacArthur coming back to the island for the liberation of one of the camps and my Grandpa standing there (a stickly figure of less than a 100 pounds) shaking his hand with a smile on his face (caught on camera and eventually made it into a war documentary). I think it was mostly a stunt for the cameras as the camp had been liberated previously is my understanding. Anyway, I'm hoping they cover some of the Phillipines in this series...so I can see how that unfolded. I was hoping they would but they seem to be focused on three main characters so it may be whereever these guys went and I'm not sure they went there.
Why not just make it a version of salon kitty, soft p*rn with a ww2 backdrop. I think the problem is that with the original Band of brothers, from Curahee, we were able to make a connection with all the characters including ross gellar. And though the Pacific front was just as important as the European front, there is more mystery and intrigue in dropping into occupied france and killing nazis. I'm still liking the series.
the battles in the Phillipines had already taken place by the time the stories being told in "The Pacific" are played out. hence the name "Manila" John Basilone. this series covers Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. this. Sledge's direct accounts from WTOB will be told over three episodes covering Peleliu
In the first weeks of the war the Japanese invaded the Philippines, MacArthur ran away and his soldiers huddled in caves. But there is another Philippine Liberation campaign which occurs at the end. That would be the point when MacArthur came back and liberated camps as Surfguy describes. Guadalcanal was pretty much the start of Allied offensive operations with the Marines in the Pacific. Everything before that was either the Japanese laying siege to the prewar garrisons or the first naval battles in the open ocean sans Marines. Guadalcanal would have let the Japanese invade or at the very least bomb the crap out of Australia.
oh, General MacArthur and the return to Corregidor and what not... looks like they won't cover that in this series. just finished part two. I guess you can't compare Band of Brothers to The Pacific. Different series, different war...
Just watched the First one....currently downloading the 2nd one from demonoid. Pity, only getting around 700kB/s, so won't be able to watch it till the morning. (HD 1.46GB version). Oh well, I have to sleep anyways. Gotta be in class in ....crap, 7hrs.
Just finished watching the second part and I'm wondering how realistic this is. The Japanese in 1943 were harden soldiers but don't seem to know how to shoot their rifles. The only bullets going off were from the marines.
While probably not accurate I think they are trying to get across the fact the Japanese had such a disregard for their lives(well their command for that of the soldiers) and the showing them just running wave after wave into enemy fire without stopping really sends this across. My view on that anyways. Being Australian I am looking forward to the next couple of episodes as i'm guessing it will somewhat based on their time in Australia while on their break. Happened to be in Melbourne when they were filming it and they had streets blocked off and cars from the period as props in the streets. So can't wait to see how it comes out.
Ah boo, don't have HBO! I loved loved BoB...it was brilliant. I hope Pacific will be awesome...i'll just have to wait until it comes out on DVD. Spielberg is the man!
I guess, and I know it was a lopsided battle at times but it goes against my senses... Spoiler If they were only 30 yards away from machine gun fire and the first wave got decimated, it would take a lot of bravery and stupidity to run into a wall of bullets. They were so close to the fox hole, you'd think they'd shoot back. They weren't really even shooting during the charge. An explanation may be because they ran out of bullets and it was a suicide charge.
Anyone watch last night? I'm usually pumped about these shows but after seeing the preview I decided to issue the Celtic's/Spurs game instead. May watch tonight. How boring was it? Does next week look more interesting, as in more fighting?
episode 4 was intense. the Canadian soldier, the bayonets, and the dying Jap outside the abandoned encampment.
