HBO's Band of Brothers: Pacific War

[Pathy 0]

On toppic...

I saw the first 2 Episodes. And, I dont know, its a very good series so far, but I'm struggling getting into the mood of the situation and the characters emotions as i did with Band of Brothers - It feels like there is something missing.

Oh, and why did they do away with the Washed out colour scheme of BOB, that helped it look more authentic!

I'm struggling with actually IDing characters, I think because it's all abit disjointed. In BoB, you had quite distinctive characters, fleshed out early on with the training scenes. Even though there were more characters involved, you got to 'know' them. This, even though they've technically introduced the characters and whatnot, i'm really not finding it easy to tell who is who or what is going on, meaning I care less about what happens to them.

Edited March 24, 2010 by Pathy

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Christ, I had trouble telling them apart in BoB - except that Spears was teh d00d wit teh moustache and the main guy tended to purse his lips like a cats arse.

Oh, and the Friends guy = evil.

[Sugz 10]

I'm struggling with actually IDing characters, I think because it's all abit disjointed. In BoB, you had quite distinctive characters, fleshed out early on with the training scenes. Even though there were more characters involved, you got to 'know' them. This, even though they've technically introduced the characters and whatnot, i'm really not finding it easy to tell who is who or what is going on, meaning I care less about what happens to them.

Yes I'm very much the same, they all seem to be wisecracking grunts. At least in BoB you really felt it when characters like, Hoobler died. And felt genuine hatrid towards the idiocy that Lt Dyke displayed and relief when spears took command.

But I feel like im watching more of a documentary - you see the people who die, but have no real 'attachment' to them.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Sugz

[Hans Ludwig 0]

Anyone notice that the weapons sounds suck BLEEP in this series? The one thing I liked about SPR and BoB is that the weapons sounded realistic. In The Pacific, everything sounds lame. I just can't find the right words to describe at how meh it all sounds.

Oh, I'm also having a hard time knowing who is who. Because of that, I'm finding it hard to get into this series.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Hans Ludwig

[sudayev 27]

I haven't noticed that, they sound ok to me and especially Browning heavy machinegun shown in the episode II ;) as I mostly concentate on scenario and action than careful listening to coolness of weapon sounds.

[Bulldogs 10]

The one problem I've got with the series is that they seem to blur over too much. I know they can't fit everything in the series but there's a lot of Tom Hanks narrating the full on emotional stuff about them going through hell, losing people to disease, etc, etc, all in about 2 mins then skipping to "here they are after all that stealing some supplies off the Army"

It kinda feels like it's missing large chunks. Especially as the battle of Guadal Canal was crammed into 2 episodes and a few skirmishes.

I guess effectively it was the same with BoB as it pretty much pushed the whole campaign into short parts, but it's more obvious with The Pacific and you kind of feel like you're missing out on a large part of the story.

[Pathy 0]

Yeah, abit odd considering last nights episode was completely away from the battlefield, too. Still, I liked episode 3, I have to say, hopefully i'll actually begin to be able to ID characters now.

[bangtail 0]

Well, after 4 episodes, I don't like this show.

Every episode (with the exception of the Oz visit) consists of the USMC mowing down (what seem to be) mindless Jap drones who run headlong into machine gun fire with some disposable character 'development' thrown in for good measure (although lets face it, these are some of the most forgettable characters in HBO history).

BoB absolutely smoked this trash IMHO. They can't even be compared.

Damn shame really :(

Edited April 5, 2010 by BangTail

[Sugz 10]

Well, after 4 episodes, I don't like this show.

Every episode (with the exception of the Oz visit) consists of the USMC mowing down (what seem to be) mindless Jap drones who run headlong into machine gun fire with some disposable character 'development' thrown in for good measure (although lets face it, these are some of the most forgettable characters in HBO history).

BoB absolutely smoked this trash IMHO. They can't even be compared.

Damn shame really :(

Though not quite as bold about it, I am starting to feel the same. The moments away from battle are not well defined, the moments in battle are not as defined, there is no sense of chronological progression. Im going to carry on watching it, but with a frown on my face as I do.

[Bulldogs 10]

It seems an odd comparison, from previous stores I've heard told from other pacific vets, both Australian and civilian, it seemed to be a case of one in every 100 Japanese soldiers would charge forward screaming 'banzai' while most would fight like normal soldiers.

[JdB 151]

It seems an odd comparison, from previous stores I've heard told from other pacific vets, both Australian and civilian, it seemed to be a case of one in every 100 Japanese soldiers would charge forward screaming 'banzai' while most would fight like normal soldiers.

You could have condensed this all into one word: "stereotype" ;)

[Pathy 0]

I can't believe this topic has been dead since Episode 4. Episodes 5, 6 and 7 were amazing. Better than BoB in my opinion. Whats changed? They're following Eugene Sledge rather than the other characters, and the episodes have continuity that wasn't there before. Also, the battle scenes have been amazing.

Episode 8 was so so, mind, but 9 was just mind blowing. Really quite hard, and perhaps not even enjoyable to watch, but really amazing all the same.

[Archamedes 10]

I think the last few episodes mainly from the action point of view they were really starting to open up and get the action to look realistic, shocking and very saving private ryan beach scene. I definatly think they have tried to push a bit further as far as graphical war fx goes. I thought Band of borhters was a good series if not a cheap version of saving private ryan. I think most of the budget went into the paradrop scene on episode 2.

I watched the first 3 episodes of the pacific with my cousin and he thought there was something missing or something that didnt hold up to the mark. I think he too was comparing it to the beach scene of saving private ryan.

Ths said i look at it realistically. Ryan was a 2 hour war film, they had the budget and they had the time to add all the gore, squibs, pyrotechnics and other general 'invisible cgi' to the film. This is a tv series made for tv. They filmed it in a warm climate in areas that are not filming friendly in terms of terrain and sudden weather changes. They also have 10 hours plus of footage to use so its obviously going to be budgeted as far as special fx goes. That said i am really enjoying this more than BoB and actually being educated on some subjects i didn't really know about.

On a seperate note i really think spielberg should work on a world war one film using the ultra realistic/war/gore that he used in ryan. I find that world war one is a very rarely covered war in terms of movies, but it was the most bloodiest, dirtiest war of them all. I guess the USA only really like to make films on wars that they took part in, after all most world war films i have seen pretty much show the americans as if they took on the world by themselves and won single handidly

[Hans Ludwig 0]

The problem with The Pacific is they didn't use what made SPR and BoB so great. They had a winning formula, but for some damn reason they decided to make it The Thin Red Line. You know, the other WW2 movie that no one liked or even remembers.

[Zipper5 74]

Part 9 is excellent, though. May have taken them 9 parts to get to it, but for the last episode involving combat, it's incredibly well-done. Most critics seem to believe so too, IGN gave it 10 out of 10. :eek:

[HyperU2 11]

This whole series seems low budget.

[Zipper5 74]

Lolwut?

"The miniseries had a budget of more than US$ 150 million."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pacific_%28miniseries%29#Budget

"Band of Brothers was the most expensive television miniseries ever made by HBO or any other television network. An early report placed the budget at $110 million. In fact, the budget was approximately $125 million."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Brothers_%28TV_miniseries%29#Budget_and_promotion

It had a greater budget than Band of Brothers, and that was anything from seeming low budget. :butbut:

[HyperU2 11]

Inflation. ;)

[MrBump 10]

On a seperate note i really think spielberg should work on a world war one film using the ultra realistic/war/gore that he used in ryan. I find that world war one is a very rarely covered war in terms of movies, but it was the most bloodiest, dirtiest war of them all.

I have to disagree, just the story of German occupation Stalingrad alone would make the First World War seem positively civilised by comparison, especially when you consider how the Second World War impacted civilians way more than the static trench warfare of the first. A movie that accurately portrayed the horrors of Stalingrad (and the Eastern Front) would be unfilmable and unwatchable IMO.

As for the Pacific series the Sledge episodes were definately (half a) head and shoulders above the earlier ones. I know that the earlier ones were slammed for historical inaccuries and confused narrative by some military historians... knowing that the story of Leckie and his Greek/Aussie girlfriend was complete fiction was annoying to me.

[joep221 10]

I love Pacific Even better then band of brothers

[wolf[173rd] 10]

BoB is better in my opinion. Never liked the Marines too much. :/

Edit: Besides, the characters for BoB were so much entertaining.

[Zipper5 74]

Yes, I agree that BoB hasn't been beaten by The Pacific, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. Both are my two favorite miniseries.

[Hans Ludwig 0]

Part 9 is excellent, though. May have taken them 9 parts to get to it, but for the last episode involving combat, it's incredibly well-done. Most critics seem to believe so too, IGN gave it 10 out of 10. :eek:

IGN also gave OFPDR a good rating.

[Zipper5 74]

A 7.8 is pretty mediocre, but I too would agree that I don't always agree with IGN's ratings. However, in this case, I do wholeheartedly. You need to watch the episode to see what I mean, it was very impressive.

[HyperU2 11]

;1627466']BoB is better in my opinion. Never liked the Marines too much. :/

Don't feel bad. The world is more interesting with gay folks in it.