HBO's "The Pacific"

The series will be released on DVD on November 2nd.

Amazon is currently offering the six-DVD set for $42.99.

Amazon.com: The Pacific (HBO Miniseries): Isabel Lucas, William Sadler, Joseph Mazzello, James Badge Dale, Jon Seda, Carl Franklin, David Nutter: Movies & TV

The Blu-ray edition will be available for $56.99 from Amazon.

Dave

 

Just got the DVD-package posted to my home. If not too tired after work will be starting watching it tonight.

 

The DVD release is getting a lot of advertising 'mileage' here in London.

I'll be interested to hear what you think, Kai....I haven't seen any of it, and there are some differing POV's in this thread.....

 

It starts off pretty weak; but, it finishes mediocre. The series actually captures the emotions of the various authors pretty well.

 

I just finished re-reading E.B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed at Peleilu and Okinawa". From episode 5 onward (except for the Basilone/Iwo episode) the series stick's pretty close to the book but not as indepthly in some areas as some would like. I had forgotten many of the incidents depicted in the series and when I re-read the book I immediately associated it with the scene. If you approach the series from wanting a cohesive, historical narrative you will be disappointed. If you view it as a depiction of what the individual charaters saw, felt and experienced, I think you'll be pleased. BTW, if you haven't read the books I highly recommend them:
The aforementioned "Old Breed" by Sledge and "Helmet for My Pillow" by Robert Leckie.
I re-watched the series with my younger son when he was home on pre-deployment leave. He hadn't been able to watch it when it originally aired because he was working up to deploy to Afghanistan. I DVR'd it and while the episodes lacked the "Oh Wow" factor of the first viewing I noticed a number of ancillary characters that you really miss with the first viewing and a lot of small details that I didn't notice the first go round.

 

I saw where the entire series will run on Veteran's Day, on one of the premium channels I believe. That will make for an interesting marathon.

 

My money is on the Japanese this time! IF the San Francisco Giants can win the World Series I think we should let Japan win WW2 once.

 

No, they had their chance during the big one. They are doomed to lose in re-runs as well.

 

I wonder if they will learn from their historic mistakes, or at least read ahead in the script, and the Atomic bomb will be averted?

 

Just watched the first two parts last night and seemed good to me. If it gets even better towards the end, I have no complaints.

 

The bonzai charges will continue as scheduled. The only deviation from the script will be multiple invasions of Gilliagan's Island by the IJN's Japanese Sailor. The rest will be shown in it's entirety.

 

It really kicks into gear starting with episode 5. What did you think of Basilone's fight? He was one hardcore machinegunner!

One of the complaints I've heard is that they didn't tell Mitchell Paige's story. He was awarded his Medal of Honor for the night (26 Oct) following Basilone's action and his fight was possibly more impressive than Basilone's. But it was outside the scope of the series.

Another is that the Battle of Edson's Ridge wasn't depicted. It was one of the pivotal fights of Guadalcanal but Leckie's unit wasn't involved and Basilone and the 7th Marines hadn't yet arrived, so it too was outside the scope of the story.

Some have claimed that Basilone's fight wasn't adequately depicted because they say it was a two day fight (Basilone's wikipedia article contains this error). It's because they have misread his MOH citation. It states 24/25 Oct as the period the action took place but this is because the action took place on the night of the 24th, continuing through the early morning hours of the 25th.

The greatest number of complaints I've seen are about episode three. This is the one that takes place in Australia. However, any 1st or 2nd Division Marine from that period writes about their time in Australia or New Zealand. It was a pivotal experience in their lives. The movie "Battlecry" (1955) written by WWII Marine veteran Leon Uris, spends much of it's time on this. "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949) spends a good bit of time on this period and "Until they Sail" (1957) with Paul Newman is stricktly about the New Zealand experience. If you are showing the WWII Marine experience it has to be included to give the total picture, it was an important time in story of Robert Leckie and Sid Phillips. The episode also gives an opportunity to get to know some of the characters. One valid argument is that the Leckie/Greek girl romance didn't actually occur as depicted. The filmmakers did take some artistic license here but with the intention of this one relationship being used to depict all the relationships that occured.

So if you liked the first two episodes, and understand why episode three was done (I personally thought it was a decent episode) I think you'll really be glad you got and watched the series. Episodes 5,6, and 7 on Peleilu are brutal. Episode 9 on Okinawa is very good and number 10 the last episode does a good job of ending the tale.



Guadalcanal heroes during their Medal of Honor award ceremony. L to R
Gen. Vandergrift, Merrill "Red Mike" Edson, Mitchell Paige and John Basilone.

 

What about Fuji from McHale's Navy? He needs to be included!

 

Well, since I don't subscribe to HBO, I had to wait to get the DVD set which arrived today. Now I know what I'll be doing on Veterans' Day!

 

Shhhhhh, he's the 2nd wave, but don't tell anyone....

 

I thought Arnold from Happy Days was the 2nd wave?

 

No, remember he was with Yamamoto aboard the Yamato during the Midway attack, co-starring in the 2nd unit production. He had a small role as an il-fated advisor. Luckily there was no sequel. The production was a failure with American audiences. A new production company went in took things over in the South Pacific called "USMC goes in", with the supporting cast consisting of the mighty USN, the Cactus Air Force, and later, the not ready for prime time Americal Division.

 

And so they should.