HBO's "The Pacific"

I came to the realization tonoght that it is only 47 minutes long so that it can be formatted to run with commercials on the History Channel

 

Roger that! But still the producers are leaving out parts described in both Leckie's and Sledge's memoirs. For example, at the milky water well, Sledge describes some Marines had already drank the water and retched, while others lay on the ground with stomach cramps. Little bits like that that would have been easy to portray, and offer a whole different take on a scene. Also, the work detail that Sledge was assigned to on Pavuvu (cleaning out the drums), comes back to haunt him, when water arrives in oil stained 55-gallon drums. Sledge describes the oil floating to the surface of their rust color drinking water. Although the shortage of drinking water was emphasized, after the attack across the airfield, it appeared that water arrived and everything was okay. I still hold that the producers could have stuck closer to the memoirs.

Greg C.

 

I loved tonights episode, I just wished the others could have been like this; so what if I am a generic TV guy!

One thing I also noticed that the Pacific did that BoB didn't, it actually showed the heavy causalities taken from time to time. It gives a feeling of respect for the guy who were lucky enough to not get hit.

 

I really enjoyed last night's episode and I believe it helped my wife understand war more clearly despite the fact she says she already did before last night.

 

episode six . excellent.. now this is what the Pacific is all about.

Except Lacky is down again. Looks like he's out of the war

 

The battle for pelelu[sp] ended last night. Ironically this battle shouldn't have taken place because the island could have been bypassed. Lee Marvin took part in this battle. Iwo Jima is on the horizon as the story shifts to Basilone again. He is now training marines and takes a wife. I though that last night's episode was hard to follow. I also thought we would see the battle of bloody nose ridge. Narration throughout these episodes by one or more of the characters would have helped.

 

The battle for Peleliu is not over yet.

 

But do you think that they will follow it any further, showed 5th Marines relieving Puller and then 5th Marines at Pavuvu after being relieved. I think their done with Peleilu as far as the series goes.

 

The past 2 episodes have been terrific i really thought the battle for Peleilu was an incredible arc, and i wish the whole series would have had this much energy.

Only downside though of course is the limited amount you get to know the men other then sledge, leckie, and basilone

 

Absolutely, I think they should have done that from the start, and I also think they could have spent more time on each of the main characters, emphasized how bad it really was a little more (I'm in mind of the foxhole incident with Sledge and the corrupt bodies). This is the stuff people need to know about, this is the stuff that needs to be remembered, not that so & so met a girl, etc. I mean,I can appreciate that, and it does add another depth to the overall series that BoB didn't have, but I want to know more about the battles, the sacrifices, the effort, you know?

 

"Lee Marvin took part in this battle."

Lee Marvin wasn't at Peleilu, he was at Saipan where he was wounded.
Lee Marvin, Private First Class, United States Marine Corps

I thought last night's episode was excellent, and did a good job of presenting the emotions Sledge described in his book. I thought they conveyed the respect and loss the Marines felt with the loss of Capt. Hildane. The actor portraying Sledge did a good job of transforming from the innocence we see prior to Peleilu to the hollow eyed vet with "his soul ripped out" we see at the end of the fight. The look he gave the poague Lt. when the ladies were serving them refreshments as they arrived back at Pavuvu was priceless. The guy portraying Snafu is also great. He really showed how he felt about Sledge when he stopped him from mutilating the dead Japanese. He gave some lame excuse about germs, but you could tell he was trying to stop his friend from descending into the mental abyss he himself had fallen into. He prevented Sledge from losing his last shred of humanity. I think that Gunny Haney's breaking down showed how bad it really was. I mean the guy had fought at Belleau Wood in WWI, he'd been at the 'Canal and Gloucester, he was the epitome of the crusty old, Old Corps Marine. He was the Old Breed. When he gave the Zippo, with the 1st MarDiv patch on it, to Sledge on the trip back to Pavuvu, it felt like he was symbolically passing the torch to the new generation of Marines that had proved worthy.

 

Got to admit seeing how Basilone died really bothered me.

 

I gotta agree. He had so much to look forward to in life and then he was gone. He was a hell of a Marine though. His wife never remarried, you gotta feel for her also.

 

Did I miss an episode? The last I saw was when Leckie got wounded and left on the hospital ship.

 

Think you missed a couple

 

Yes, you missed two. The Peleilu Hills episode and the Basilone/Iwo episode. Dude, Peleilu Hills was brutal, the guy portraying Sledge really captured the thousand yard stare look. You gotta catch it. The Basilone/Iwo was really good too. In addition to covering his relationship with Lena, they had a lot of training up for deployment at Pendleton and then Iwo up to his death. He was definately a Marines Marine.

 

That's what I figured. I guess I need to catch up via "On Demand".

Sounds like I only missed one. Thanks for the heads up

 

It's a good thing they showed a less horrific death then.


Last nights episode was horrible. They spend a good 15 min on Basilone training just two guys. Then when the rest arrive, he hollers a bit, gets married, then suddenly they are on Iwo. No landing, just them already there. The pillbox they took out, didn't Basilone do that single handedly? They just showed him directing the attack on it.

The whole battle scene seemed rushed. Almost like someone forgot, and peiced together a little clip for the end of the episode.

 

Last night wasnt so good....

I really didnt like the simplistic manner in which it was displayed
"Yeah, I'm shipping out so lets get married" didnt really work for me.

 

Kind of hard to fit a months long courtship into an hour though, no?