the pacific - the series

[Ken Gargett]

am up to part 9, of 10. checked an old thread here and found a lot of members keenly anticipating this show (yes, aware it came out a while back but only just up to it now). there was not much follow up on the forum as to what people thought but i have to say, compared with the brilliant 'band of brothers', i found this a huge, huge let down. it seems the same thing repeated every week. undoubted terrific production values etc but it has left me utterly cold. you could watch one episode and not bother about the rest.

you could say that it is a tropical version of BoB but for me, falls short. it seems to have been made simply for the cash. shame, as it could have been so much more.

also, and i say this with no disrespect at all to americans who fought there or anywhere (my grandfather worked with mccarthur at his headquarters), i found it extremely insulting the way australia was portrayed/treated. granted, if you are making the show (even if making it here), you can do what you like, but i would have expected a lot better from speilberg and hanks. the australian contribution was basically denegrated to our effort being nothing more than providing girls for americans on leave. it was as though we didn't exist - fair enough focusing on the americans and not us, but at least a mention rather than to completely dismiss us. it looked like poor helpless australia just packed up and waited to be saved by the altruistic yanks. what a load of crap.

if they find a third topic, i won't waste my time.

[CanuckSARTech]

I've gotta completely agree with you, Ken.

It seemed like this was made, not as a "partner" series to Band Of Brothers, but rather as something to keep the Pacific-campaign veterans happy. Kind of like, "Well, we did one on Europe, I guess we HAVE to do one on those guys that fought in the Pacific, too. Crap."

BoB was epic.

"The Pacific" was just a time filler, for me anyways.

[TankerT]

I think you have to look at the different books that the different shows were based on. That in itself gives you some insight into the quality of the material they had (or didn't have.)

In the USA, it seems most of the "good" stuff is all about the European part of the war. Not sure why.

I HIGHLY recommend the book Flags of our Fathers. (They did a movie too, which isn't bad.) Great book. (The father of the author was someone I knew as he was a family friend. He was a local celeb... but extremely modest. Possibly helped me appreciate the book more.)

[Wil]

I only saw one episode. I thought it was okay but wasn't interested enough to watch it again. The one I saw was quite violent and intense...

[khomeinist]

I watched it for the battle scenes....which were epic. I liked a couple of the characters. I have no opinion about the Aussie angle. The point of the production wasn't to provide a nuanced approach to the politics of WWII, which falls in line with BOB.

BOB had better characterization. Pacific was great for showing how horrible the Pacific Theater was for average soldiers that had no concept of that part of the world going into battle.

If I want a soap opera, I will talk to a broad about her life.

The final episodes are great.... your loss....

[Ken Gargett]

had one episode to watch when i posted. saw through to the end. by far the best thing about the entire series was the linking up of characters to the real people behind them, right at the very end, so glad i did that. got me interested enough to try and learn more about basilone. obviously an extraordinary man - but that then showed how the producers/writers whoever, had fiddled with the truth.

battle scenes impressive but extremely repetitive. i felt like i watched one episode with minor variations ten times.

not sure i see anyone asking for a soap opera in any of the comments - in fact, one of my criticisms was when they headed down that road with the leave in melbourne. i'd have much rather watched a ten part docu on the campaign in the pacific, even if it took a purely american angle. would have got far more from that.

i just thought it a series that was flawed in a lot of ways and nowhere near the standards of BoB. still, if others enjoyed it, i guess it serves a purpose. we'll never get a show with everyone agreeing.

[Ken Gargett]

I watched the entire series. I didnt want to, but after "giving it a chance" for 3 or 4 episodes, I was too commited to just give up. Kind of like 24. What a terrible show, but after a couple episodes, you feel bad for not following, so your kinda stuck. Just finished season one of 24, and I gotta say, I am seriously dissapointed....

ok rant over.

long time since i saw 24 - first series - but i remember enjoying it a lot. though i have a feeling i thought that it should have wound up around half way and thsat they were stretching. saw some of the following series - variable. have the whole series somewhere so should dig it out and have another go.

[khomeinist]

Season Five of 24 is quite entertaining.

Most of the seasons are far too long, convoluted, and preposterous.

[Guest rob]

Mad Men.

Deadwood.

The Wire.

'nuff said.

[olotti]

I didn't think it was that bad but I'm more of a European theatre WW2 guy so BoB to me was far better as were the actors and the DVD extra of BoB where they all went through basic together and the actors had to address each other as their charachter names, thought that was interesting.

[Murri]

Never got excited about the series after the first episode.

Read the book "The Pacific" by Hugh Ambrose who helped find stories for the miniseries.

It differs in some of the characters.

Very interesting read.