The Pacific

[Surfah]

I have watched the first 7-8 episodes. At times I have thought that BoB was better, but the last episode I watched (John Basilone stateside and at the battle of Iwo Jima) was just outstanding. You know what is coming, but it just tears your heart out anyway. Superb.

Basilone as we have previously discussed, was a badass.

[UtahDan]

I have watched the first 7-8 episodes. At times I have thought that BoB was better, but the last episode I watched (John Basilone stateside and at the battle of Iwo Jima) was just outstanding. You know what is coming, but it just tears your heart out anyway. Superb.

I need to rewatch it. I feel like BoB was superior in every way. I like Pacific, but not as much. I think the the war in Europe is just a more varied, colorful story to tell. And with a lot more interesting backdrop.

I did enjoy some of the character development in Pacific, but it is not easy to distinguish Guadal Canal from Peleliu from Iwo Jima in terms of what happened in the battles or what the landscape looked like. So for me it all kind of ran together in that respect. I still think it was great, but BoB is just the gold standard and probably not a fair comparison.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I need to rewatch it. I feel like BoB was superior in every way. I like Pacific, but not as much. I think the the war in Europe is just a more varied, colorful story to tell. And with a lot more interesting backdrop.

I did enjoy some of the character development in Pacific, but it is not easy to distinguish Guadal Canal from Peleliu from Iwo Jima in terms of what happened in the battles or what the landscape looked like. So for me it all kind of ran together in that respect. I still think it was great, but BoB is just the gold standard and probably not a fair comparison.

Yeah, overall I would definitely give the nod to BoB. I haven't really connected with the characters on the Pacific. Except for Basilone. That part of the story was handled very well I thought.

[Eddie]

Hanks: "it'll make you feel like a big fat pussy"

Hanks' quote reminded me of Sgt. Maj. Plumley from the We Were Soldiers movie. One of my all time favorite movies and characters. Plumley has several memorable quotes from that show, one of them being to Lt. Col. Moore: "Sir, Custard was a pussy...you ain't"

The exchanges about the "nice day" between Plumley and Sgt. Savage is striking.

[youtube]_cKNXyvIg2U[/youtube]

[youtube]6pa6NWa7ZSs[/youtube]

As mentioned in the second youtube, Plumley made all 4 combat jumps with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in World War II (Sicily, Salerno, D-Day and Market Garden) and one in Korea with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment. That's some remarkable history there.

We Were Soldiers is one of those shows that I just can't bypass. If it is on TV I can't help but stop and watch it. And I've got it on DVD!

Seeing the show caused me to have to read the book. Plumley is unbelievable. And what's more, in reading the book he is everything he is portrayed to be in the movie. The photographer is a co-author with Col. Moore and writes about that moment in the movie when bullets are flying everywhere and Plumley walks up, stands next to him, and says "You can't take any pictures down there."

I LOVED his lines in the movie and had assumed they were a little over the top due to "creative license". Unless the book is a complete fabrication, all of his best lines were really said.

I've heard mixed reviews of the Pacific. I want to see it, but have heard that Hanks seems to be using the series as a soapbox. I'll probably see it eventually anyway (I don't have HBO).

[thesaint258]

We Were Soldiers is one of those shows that I just can't bypass. If it is on TV I can't help but stop and watch it. And I've got it on DVD!

Agreed. I'll always stop to watch it as well. It's a very well-done movie.

[Colly Wolly]

I agree that BoB was better overall. I thought the Pacific had a better overall production to it, bigger budget, etc.

In my eyes, The Pacific focused more on showing the absolute horror and despair of war. A lot of the episodes were really difficult to watch, and none more so than the Okinawa episode (9th of the 10). Watching that episode was just absolutely brutal.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I agree that BoB was better overall. I thought the Pacific had a better overall production to it, bigger budget, etc.

In my eyes, The Pacific focused more on showing the absolute horror and despair of war. A lot of the episodes were really difficult to watch, and none more so than the Okinawa episode (9th of the 10). Watching that episode was just absolutely brutal.

Absolutely. That is probably appropriate since the Pacific war was simply more brutal in every way. It involved an enemy which would not surrender and deep racism on both sides.

I highly recommend the American Experience episode Victory in the Pacific.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe...films/pacific/

You can watch it online. One of the best episodes in a terrific series, IMO. Covers the unique characteristics of the Pacific war relative to the rest of WWII.

[wuapinmon]

I finished the Pacific today. I respect what they tried to do, but I didn't feel connected to some of the people the way I did with BOB. It was worth watching, and a noble effort. I won't say that it failed, at all, but I think that The Thin Red Line did a superior job to their efforts.

[falafel]

The Pacific was released today on Blu-Ray.

http://www.hitfix.com/events/the-pacific-blu-ray-disc

[Devildog]

Band of brothers was a great series. I bought the dvd's and have watched it several times.

The Pacific was different. Great, but far more brutal and more difficult to watch.

The fortitude necessary to win in the Pacific was different than what we faced in Europe. The war against Germany still came down to the bullets and boots on the ground, but was far more of a general's war. Moving the right pieces, and strategy.

The war against the Japanese was different. Here is the place... who wants it more. It was simply a meat-grinder and the winner was whoever was left standing.

The two series captured their two very different wars well.

The Marines take enormous pride in their history and teach all new Marines about each battle, and of each of their major heroes (Chesty Puller, John Basilone). Most Americans today have never heard of these places, but for me it was outstanding to see a realistic view of places I had learned so much about and have come to understand why the Corps is so proud of their history and what they had accomplished there.

Not an easy watch.

[YOUTUBE]yqnqLblyNa4[/YOUTUBE]

[UtahDan]

Glad you bumped this, I need to rewatch them. I thought before (maybe even said in this thread) is the backdrop of Europe makes Band of Brothers a lot easier on the eyes somehow. The Pacific reminds me a lot of the WWI trench warfare. Horrendous loss of life over tiny amounts of ugly turf.

[UtahDan]

In honor of the anniversary of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, which yesterday:

[YOUTUBE]JPvGZ3gTHJM[/YOUTUBE]

[Green Monstah]

I'm glad this thread got bumped. I just ordered the BoB/Pacific Box Set on Amazon (something I've been meaning to do for a while).

[UtahDan]

Band of brothers was a great series. I bought the dvd's and have watched it several times.

The Pacific was different. Great, but far more brutal and more difficult to watch.

The fortitude necessary to win in the Pacific was different than what we faced in Europe. The war against Germany still came down to the bullets and boots on the ground, but was far more of a general's war. Moving the right pieces, and strategy.

The war against the Japanese was different. Here is the place... who wants it more. It was simply a meat-grinder and the winner was whoever was left standing.

The two series captured their two very different wars well.

The Marines take enormous pride in their history and teach all new Marines about each battle, and of each of their major heroes (Chesty Puller, John Basilone). Most Americans today have never heard of these places, but for me it was outstanding to see a realistic view of places I had learned so much about and have come to understand why the Corps is so proud of their history and what they had accomplished there.

Not an easy watch.

[YOUTUBE]yqnqLblyNa4[/YOUTUBE]

On second watch (which I have done over the last couple nights) these comments seem really spot on. Peleliu in particular stood out. The battle for the airfield, the rooting out of the caves one at a time. Brutal, brutal, brutal. The depiction of the loss of humanity in the face of so much death, such a stark landscape, an enemy who would not surrender. And then MacArthur never even used it as a staging ground or for anything. Also the landing at Iwo Jima. Shades of Normandy.

One of the last scenes summed it up nicely. Leckie is getting dropped off by the cabby and when he tries to pay him the cabby says (paraphrasing) "I'm not taking that. I fought in Europe but I got to spend some weekends in Paris. You Marines got nothing but Malaria and jungle rot."

[UtahDan]

Also thought this was cool: