HBO "The Pacific"

[MikeBSG]

Is anyone watching this?

I don't get HBO, so I will have to wait for the DVDs. I am interested because I read some of Robert Leckie's books when I was younger and liked them a lot.

I am a little annoyed by all the talk in the media about how "forgotten" the American war in the Pacific was. Like nobody knew JFK served on a PT Boat? Like "Sands of Iwo Jima" nearly buried John Wayne's career? Like AMC didn't show "Midway" nearly every week for about a year? Do the media think everybody is stupid?

[movieman1957]

I don't have HBO either but am interested in the series. I have watched "Band of Brothers" and thought that was first rate. I don't quite understand anything about it being forgotten either. Unless the war in the Pacific didn't have its Hitler so it may not have been so prominent but forgotten seems more of a reach.

[jdb1]

I don't think the war in Europe is necessarily any better remembered than the conflict in the Pacific. Bear in mind that a recent survey of American high school history students found that those students were sure that the US and England were adversaries during WWII.

So many who fought in WWII are gone now, and it's not "in" to think about that war. Vietnam and even the Civil War get much more media play in terms of films and TV shows. If the European Theater of Operation is better "remembered" now, it's probably only because that's the conflict that got a rash of movies and TV shows made about it in the past few years. My impression, based on the talk of the young people here in my office, is that they don't really know that there was a whole, big, global war going on during the "Band of Brothers" days, nor do they have much idea of what it was all about. I won't even comment on whether they care.

[charliechaplinfan]

Hubby and I loved Band Of Brothers, he's eagerly awaiting the release of The Pacific. The Pacific war isn't quite a well known here because we never fought on that front but to any person who's interested in history, this is a must see.

[mrsl]

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I think Judith is correct in saying that the European theater has been more illustrated than the Japanese one. With movies like Saving Private Ryan, fought in Europe, I'm sure many young people actually confuse the Pacific theater with the Korean conflict. The strange thing however, is that while it was all really going on, John Wayne and all the others were making all those movies that were based in the Pacific. I'm so mad I missed the first two episodes, but I finally remembered to set my DVR to record The Pacific on it's regular night. That's the nice thing about U-Verse, you don't have to be on the channel to see the recording going on, it's automatic, and suddenly you see it listed on you 'recordings list'.
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[Lzcutter]

I really liked the first episode of The Pacific. I thought it did a very good job of establishing that it wasn't Band of Brothers, Part II but at the same time, gave some nods (especially the interviews with the still-living vets) to certain aspects of Brothers.

Where with Brothers, you had plenty of time to get to know the characters and for the action to build to the harrowing experience that was the Battle of the Bulge, The Pacific starts with a battle as harrowing as the Bulge and this remind us (those of us of a certain age) and relays to younger viewers, that the War in the Pacific is a very different war than the one in Europe.

They did it without a lot of telegraphing or having to resort to lots of dialog, they did it visually and hit a home run. The previews for the episodes ahead look like they will be continue to build on the harrowing experience and the differences between the two theaters.

The two things that stood out the most for me: it took three composers to match Michael Kamen's work in Brothers and the end credits go by faster and seem much longer.