I've seen the first 8 episodes, and I am enjoying watching the series.
A friend who is a huge Band of Brothers fan said he isn't enjoying this one as much because it is more like a soap opera and the three main characters have not been developed as well.
Band of Brothers is the Bundesliga and The Pacific is the J-League. Not the same thing, but both worth viewing.
[cite]Posted By: WSS[/cite]Part VII there is a cracking scene that I really laughed at (although I probably shouldnt) - I'll let you guys see it and then you can comment.
well after watching tonights episode, im guessing its the part where he's chucking stones in the top of the japenese geezers head!!??.....extremely graphic that part.
Is the main ginger fella the kid from Jurassic Park?
Goes home to stunning wife who's waiting patiently on the porch with two year old son he's never seen (mainly because he's been away from home for four years)...
[cite]Posted By: RedZed333[/cite]All Yankee war films are the same...
Greenhorn joins up...
Goes abroad...
Shoots every fcuker in sight...
Buries best friend...
Goes home to stunning wife who's waiting patiently on the porch with two year old son he's never seen (mainly because he's been away from home for four years)...
I must admit i refused to watch it, as my father fought out in India and Burma for four yearsand told me very little about the war out there (for you youngster he was fighting the Japanese),but on his deathbed he did tell me that he murdered his best mate who was badly injured and had to be left behind and would have ben slaughtered by the advancing Japenese, this was the first time i saw him cry, you might like to know that on his first day on land in Burma they where taken to a missionary station and where shown nuns that had been crucified and british soldiers who had been killed whilst they where disabled in beds of the hospital. If you want to read what it was like out there then get a book about the battle of Kohima and prehaps you might get sense of the terrible conditions both sides endured, this battle was so fierce that in the end it turned the course off the war in the far east. Just as an insight the British (and others but not the americans) fought the Japanese (including the imperial army) for weeks over a width of a tennis court the bodies where piled up over 10 feet (3 metres) high, my father and his specialised group tried to break through into Kohima but where held up by a roadblock for 6 months. Fuuny enough sometime after this battle the Americans looked at making a John Wayne type film of this, but they decided it was to far fetched and people would not believe it actually took place. During his time in the far east he saw 2 Americans. After victory the great break out started and during the 6 to 9 months the Japenese retreated, the Australians and British troops chasing them didn't take prisioners. Hundreds of thousand Japenese where slaughtered. My father hardly every talked about his war which i believe was a great pity as it might have prevented the glorification of films like the Pacific, did it affect his life, he reckons not, but apart from being woken up occassionally by his nightmares and not being allowed to buy anything Japenese until my early thirties i believe it did. He thought he was lucky as he didnt get taken prisioner and he survived where as the people in his group he sailed with didn't. Morale is enjoy the Pacific if you can, but there still alot of people alive that lived through it and don't agree with the glorification. Apologise about the length and the rant, but it is something that been bugging me for months and it's nice to get it off my chest.
Not a rant CK, we have a lot to thank your old man and its nice to get that insight.
The Pacific is a glorification, I give you that but the soldiers in it are based on actual American soldiers accounrs who fought so it's not completely ficticious. Regardless - its good for people of our generations to sample the horrors all those who fought went through.
CharltonKerry,
I don't think this is a "glorification" of what happened.
It is based on three American soldiers -- real people with real stories -- and it is very gory.
Your 'rant' was interesting and enlightening.
Thanks WSS and American_Addict, as i said i haven't followed it or read about it, but obviously judged it unfairly by your comments, I must admit to having a problem with anything American and relating to history as they have a habit of rewriting it, classic example are Titanic and Braveheart, perhaps i should have done some research, before commenting.
My dad (Just turned 85) was in the American navy and thought in the battles of the Pacific!
He has told me a few storys but not in much deatail!
When I asked him if wanted to watch Flags of my father when I bought it? his responce was "I watch the real thing everyday in my head I lost to many friends"
At 85 he is as fit as a fiddle apart from his eyes giving him jip!
I don't think 'gorification' is the right word, with the graphic details of death, destruction, pain, loss etc, there's not much room for glorification, the word I'd use, and it's not restricted to American films and series, is 'simplification'...
Six years of brutal conflict crammed into a few hours is only ever give a brief glimpse on what the horrors of war can do to a human being, to know it you have to live but I'm sure most war survivors know that anyway...
Sure, there are many US films that show how 'they won the war' but they are aren't the only ones, and this isn't a cultural idiosyncrasy either but more likely the result of poor research by a director trying to make a big money blockbuster...
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story...
Ive seen interviews with a few WWII vets and they say the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan is the closest Hollywood has produced to the real thing. Hanks and Spielberg were associated with SPR as they are with The Pacific.
It seemed common for those that fought and physically survived WWII to return to "normal" life without talking about their experiences. A remarkable generation who went on to shape the world we now live in. We have a lot to thank them for. I often wonder how our generation would deal with the same situations.
Like them or not, Band of Brothers & The Pacific serve as timely reminders as well as tributes to those that fought those campaigns. The US v UK arguements do them no justice.
[cite]Posted By: Bermuda_red[/cite]It seemed common for those that fought and physically survived WWII to return to "normal" life without talking about their experiences. A remarkable generation who went on to shape the world we now live in. We have a lot to thank them for. I often wonder how our generation would deal with the same situations.
The British and Americans are quintissentially warrior nations, throughout their history they have rallied to the 'cause' without much ado...
As long as the governments can dress it up as a 'just cause' the passionate fervour shown by volunteeers/cannon fodder needed to go out and kill the enemy will result in large queues forming at the enlistment stations...
[quote][cite]Posted By: RedZed333[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: Bermuda_red[/cite]It seemed common for those that fought and physically survived WWII to return to "normal" life without talking about their experiences. A remarkable generation who went on to shape the world we now live in. We have a lot to thank them for. I often wonder how our generation would deal with the same situations.[/quote] The British and Americans are quintissentially warrior nations, throughout their history they have rallied to the 'cause' without much ado...
As long as the governments can dress it up as a 'just cause' the passionate fervour shown by volunteeers/cannon fodder needed to go out and kill the enemy will result in large queues forming at the enlistment stations...[/quote]
I guess we haven't had a 'just cause" for a while......
Without having seen more than 3 seconds of highlights of this series (don't have Sky, refuse to), I bought the box set for this when it came out on Monday and I managed to get through it all this week. I bought it because I trusted the fact that the makers of BoB's were making this new series, had I done so on the reviews based on here I don't think I would of, but in the end I'm glad I did. The Pacific is absolutely brilliant.
It is silly to begin to compare it to Band of Brothers, they are different and unique. I think it's fair to say a lot of people may have been disappointed with The Pacific had you not really known a) much about that area of the War or b) much about the characters involved. I've had to read up a little bit this week about the men that the series follows and I have to say, if you do that, you are rewarded with a better grasp of the stroyline and you see how truthful the makers (and the actors) have been. Yeah it goes a bit 'stale' in a couple of the episodes in the middle of the series but that's probably a bit harsh, it's just the sheer ferocity of the endless combat that tends to become a bit numb after a while and I think that this is intended. The last couple of episodes are amongst the finest TV I've ever seen.
I read the accompying book BY Hugh Ambrose (stephen's son) before watching it, made it a lot easier to fully understand the series. Loved the series as well. The real life Eugene Sledge has a book called (with the old breed) which is amazing. They took a nice few evenets from that book and used them in his part of the show.
Comments
A friend who is a huge Band of Brothers fan said he isn't enjoying this one as much because it is more like a soap opera and the three main characters have not been developed as well.
Band of Brothers is the Bundesliga and The Pacific is the J-League. Not the same thing, but both worth viewing.
well after watching tonights episode, im guessing its the part where he's chucking stones in the top of the japenese geezers head!!??.....extremely graphic that part.
Is the main ginger fella the kid from Jurassic Park?
Not sure about that kid - will go back and watch it.
Similar to 'Flags of our Fathers' by Clint Eastwood as well.
Greenhorn joins up...
Goes abroad...
Shoots every fcuker in sight...
Buries best friend...
Goes home to stunning wife who's waiting patiently on the porch with two year old son he's never seen (mainly because he's been away from home for four years)...
Cue credits...
Over here, that's called "non-fiction!"
;-)
If you want to read what it was like out there then get a book about the battle of Kohima and prehaps you might get sense of the terrible conditions both sides endured, this battle was so fierce that in the end it turned the course off the war in the far east. Just as an insight the British (and others but not the americans) fought the Japanese (including the imperial army) for weeks over a width of a tennis court the bodies where piled up over 10 feet (3 metres) high, my father and his specialised group tried to break through into Kohima but where held up by a roadblock for 6 months. Fuuny enough sometime after this battle the Americans looked at making a John Wayne type film of this, but they decided it was to far fetched and people would not believe it actually took place. During his time in the far east he saw 2 Americans.
After victory the great break out started and during the 6 to 9 months the Japenese retreated, the Australians and British troops chasing them didn't take prisioners. Hundreds of thousand Japenese where slaughtered. My father hardly every talked about his war which i believe was a great pity as it might have prevented the glorification of films like the Pacific, did it affect his life, he reckons not, but apart from being woken up occassionally by his nightmares and not being allowed to buy anything Japenese until my early thirties i believe it did. He thought he was lucky as he didnt get taken prisioner and he survived where as the people in his group he sailed with didn't.
Morale is enjoy the Pacific if you can, but there still alot of people alive that lived through it and don't agree with the glorification.
Apologise about the length and the rant, but it is something that been bugging me for months and it's nice to get it off my chest.
The Pacific is a glorification, I give you that but the soldiers in it are based on actual American soldiers accounrs who fought so it's not completely ficticious. Regardless - its good for people of our generations to sample the horrors all those who fought went through.
I don't think this is a "glorification" of what happened.
It is based on three American soldiers -- real people with real stories -- and it is very gory.
Your 'rant' was interesting and enlightening.
He has told me a few storys but not in much deatail!
When I asked him if wanted to watch Flags of my father when I bought it? his responce was "I watch the real thing everyday in my head I lost to many friends"
At 85 he is as fit as a fiddle apart from his eyes giving him jip!
Six years of brutal conflict crammed into a few hours is only ever give a brief glimpse on what the horrors of war can do to a human being, to know it you have to live but I'm sure most war survivors know that anyway...
Sure, there are many US films that show how 'they won the war' but they are aren't the only ones, and this isn't a cultural idiosyncrasy either but more likely the result of poor research by a director trying to make a big money blockbuster...
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story...
Ive seen interviews with a few WWII vets and they say the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan is the closest Hollywood has produced to the real thing. Hanks and Spielberg were associated with SPR as they are with The Pacific.
Like them or not, Band of Brothers & The Pacific serve as timely reminders as well as tributes to those that fought those campaigns. The US v UK arguements do them no justice.
As long as the governments can dress it up as a 'just cause' the passionate fervour shown by volunteeers/cannon fodder needed to go out and kill the enemy will result in large queues forming at the enlistment stations...
The British and Americans are quintissentially warrior nations, throughout their history they have rallied to the 'cause' without much ado...
As long as the governments can dress it up as a 'just cause' the passionate fervour shown by volunteeers/cannon fodder needed to go out and kill the enemy will result in large queues forming at the enlistment stations...[/quote]
I guess we haven't had a 'just cause" for a while......
The Pacific is based on the separate books written by/about the three main characters.
The stories all appear to be real, and thoroughly researched.
It is silly to begin to compare it to Band of Brothers, they are different and unique. I think it's fair to say a lot of people may have been disappointed with The Pacific had you not really known a) much about that area of the War or b) much about the characters involved. I've had to read up a little bit this week about the men that the series follows and I have to say, if you do that, you are rewarded with a better grasp of the stroyline and you see how truthful the makers (and the actors) have been. Yeah it goes a bit 'stale' in a couple of the episodes in the middle of the series but that's probably a bit harsh, it's just the sheer ferocity of the endless combat that tends to become a bit numb after a while and I think that this is intended. The last couple of episodes are amongst the finest TV I've ever seen.