The Pacific...Anyone watching it?

[Roger Wilco]

^^
I like that idea. I watched that (PBS?, I don't remember) documentary series about the life on a modern US aircraft carrier, and it was very interesting. I bet in an actual war, and especially with all the cool WWII airplanes and the general novelty of carriers at the time etc, it could've been 10 times as exciting.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Probably the only interesting aspect of the war - an explicitly racialized enemy - isn't even addressed.

I'm hoping that it will be. Some of the later campaigns and anything in China would help portray this. There was a hint in the beginning when the Japanese soldier who was injured blew himself and two Americans up with a grenade, but I don't think there's been anything since.

In my opinion they should have done a series based on an air craft carrier crew. You could do it about the USS Yorktown which fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. You could focus on the pilots some but also damage control teams that had to do amazingly heroic things themselves to try and save their ship.

Now that would be cool. The naval aspects of the Pacific campaign are very fascinating. I know it runs a risk of repeating the movie "Midway", but Band of Brothers was "Saving Private Ryan".

 

[firehawk12]

And Carriers/the Navy also had integrated crews, didn't they? That in itself would have been an interesting story to tell.

Do the Marines ever head into China though? My assumption was that they just did the island hopping thing through the South Pacific up into Japan.

And I still think there are some interesting stories to tell - it's just that no one wants to tell the stories. The most obvious would be Japanese-American soldiers fighting in Europe. It's still all King and Country and all that faux-patriotism, but tinged with a sense of bitterness when they're reminded that their families are locked up in concentration camps back home. Someone made an indie movie featuring Pat Morita (and dozens of other Asian American regular actors) a while ago, but there's only so much you can do with a low budget. It also helps that the Japanese-American unit was the most decorated unit in WW2 - the unit earned twice as many purple hearts as they had members, if I recall correctly... along with around 20 Medals of Honor.
I just feel like we've come to a point where we can look at the 40s without this whole "we're good/they're evil" mentality and that there can be very complex stories told.

And hey, I totally understand why they do this. When you spend 200 million dollars on a project, you want people to watch it... but I think in light of Generation Kill, simple reverence doesn't cut it for me any more.

 

[Harvey]

I wonder, was Generation Kill a success for HBO? I know The Wire shed viewers like crazy, even though it was so immensely popular with critics.

 

[Candlelight]

Starts here on Monday!

 

[Star Wolf]

And Carriers/the Navy also had integrated crews, didn't they? That in itself would have been an interesting story to tell.

Do the Marines ever head into China though? My assumption was that they just did the island hopping thing through the South Pacific up into Japan.

.
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Black sailors were limited to mess steward duty. Their battle station did not include manning a gun. It was that way pre war and during the war except for a Black crewed sub chaser in the Atlantic. Black Marines served on Iwo Jima and other later battles as ammo beares but they are not as well known as the Tuskegee Airman, the 555th PIR smoke jumpers or the 761st Tank Battalion among the elite black units.

If we are to believe WEB Griffen USMC/OSI weather teams went into China but as Chesty said in episode one the Marines supported the Navy in their drive to China, the Army picked up those other sideshow missions.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

And Carriers/the Navy also had integrated crews, didn't they? That in itself would have been an interesting story to tell.

The Carriers had African-American stewards and cooks who also manned a few AA guns in battle on some ships, but it was not authorized duty. The Navy did have an African-American crewed destroyer Escort, the USS Mason (DE-529) and a Submarine Chaser, USS PC-1264 during the war. The USS Mason served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, seeing combat on several occasions.

Do the Marines ever head into China though? My assumption was that they just did the island hopping thing through the South Pacific up into Japan.

Battle in China was an Army show being under command of China-Burma-India commander Gen. Joseph Stilwell.

And I still think there are some interesting stories to tell - it's just that no one wants to tell the stories.

There are plenty and some that the public wouldn't even believe were true. One that comes to mind is the rescue of 500 airman who were shot down in Yugoslavia. The local population built an airstrip in occupied territory and a fleet of DC-3's were flown in from Italy to pick them up. Another would be anything about the Jedburghs (small groups dropped behind enemy lines to act as resistance organizers - they were the special forces of their day)

 

[firehawk12]

One of my favourite Canadian war stories is that a bunch of Chinese dudes were recruited to jump into China to run resistance ops for the British. Canada didn't want any Chinese to serve in the military because it might legitimize them as "citizens" (Chinese Canadians did not have many rights at the time), but a British officer thought that having Chinese soldiers working in China might be a good idea (who could imagine? Have commandos that look like the native population? Shocker. :lol ).

But yeah, there are a lot of just smaller scale stories that people don't fictionalize. It's just unfortunate.

As for blacks on US ships... you know, even a show about black cooks serving aboard a Carrier would probably be more "refreshing" than what we've seen in The Pacific so far.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Probably the most disappointing thing so far is that the first episode was mostly clips from 1941.

 

[broberfett]

I have to say, I am watching it but haven't really enjoyed it so far.
Sure there were a few good scenes here and there but for the most part it's just very boring.

I went in expecting a Band of Brothers set it the Pacific but this show is far from Band of Brothers, tis sad.

What do you think?

I'm watching it, but I enjoyed Band of Brothers more than The Pacific. The 4th episode was pretty dreary-psycho wards, rain, and suicide. There seems to be less combat so far.

That sickly dude that couldn't get into the Marines looked familiar-some child actor from way back. I had to look him up on IMDB. He was the boy in the first Jurassic Park movie.

 

[cbspock]

Part of it is that it can't help but exist in cliche. Soldiers suffering mental breakdowns, bravery in combat, etc.

This is why I don't think they should have even done an infantry centered series. It's kind of an over saturated market. Ever since Saving Private Ryan came out there has been a steady stream of graphic infantry centered war movies. Many of them good but there have been so many that it is hard for this series to match their quality. BOB came out almost ten years ago when the genre was not as overdone.

In my opinion they should have done a series based on an air craft carrier crew. You could do it about the USS Yorktown which fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. You could focus on the pilots some but also damage control teams that had to do amazingly heroic things themselves to try and save their ship.

Or (and I guess I'm biased here) you could focus the series on the USS Enterprise which is the most decorated ship in United States Navy history and was present at a whole bunch of key engagements. In fact in a ten part series they would have trouble showing all the battles she was in.

History channel did a show similar to Dogfights, on the USS ENTERPRISE..Battle 360, it was really interesting.

Preview of it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1bbT5Zn6Gc


-Chris

 

[M'Sharak]

[...] Someone made an indie movie featuring Pat Morita (and dozens of other Asian American regular actors) a while ago, but there's only so much you can do with a low budget. It also helps that the Japanese-American unit was the most decorated unit in WW2 - the unit earned twice as many purple hearts as they had members, if I recall correctly... along with around 20 Medals of Honor.
I just feel like we've come to a point where we can look at the 40s without this whole "we're good/they're evil" mentality and that there can be very complex stories told.

[...]

You're talking about the 100th Infantry/442nd RCT, and the indie film was Only the Brave. Morita had only a cameo that movie, but his Karate Kid character was supposed to have been a veteran of the 442nd and a participant in their rescue of the Lost Battalion near Biffontaine.

 

[Lookingglassman]

It isnt that great. The BOB was much better and far more interesting. Yah, we know the jungle sucked and people got sick and went crazy, but other than that I dont have a clue what they are doing.

When HBO was showing previews and the "making of" they made it seem like it was going to be like BOB with fighting and more brutality, but so far it is boring. Hopefully it will get better as they get closer to the Japanese homeland and fights the big battles near the end of the war.

 

[clint g]

I watched the first episode but I couldn't be bothered continuing. Same thing happened with Generation Kill. I think the war genre is over for me

 

[species5618]

I watched the first episode but I couldn't be bothered continuing. Same thing happened with Generation Kill. I think the war genre is over for me

I normally love David Simon's stuff (The Corner, The Wire) but I watched the first two episodes of Generation Kill and was bored stiff--and didn't bother with the remaining 5 episodes. Perhaps he's better at adapting his own writing to television than he is with other people's stuff (as was the case with GK).

Oh yeah, so far I find The Pacific to be inferior to Band of Brothers. It seems just about everybody posting in this thread shares this opinion.

 

[Lookingglassman]

The Pacific is also embellished and not based on actual events. I read the book by Leckie, "Helmet for My Pillow" and what happens to him in the series is not what happened in real life. He never hooked up with a Greek girl in Australia and nor was taken in by her family. The closests he got to a relationship was with a chick named Shelia who turned out to be married and her mom was a widow and never had a significant part in his life. He didnt have no break down when he dumped her and get thrown into the brig like the series depicted. He pretty much says he went after other women after dumping her, but he did manage to bang her one more time before he left Australia.

The guy pulling gold teeth out of Japanese mouths is a true character although he started the practice on Guadacanal.

I understand you cant put everything in a series, but if you are going to proclaim it as a testament to those who fought and died in the Pacific, at least make it as realistic as possible and dont embellish it with BS.

There are many vignettes in his book that would have been far entertaining and had a greater impact on the series than the made up stuff.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I was wondering about that.

I'd have less a problem with fictionalization, if they didn't sell the "really happened" angle with the precredits segments of the veterans.

I didn't care that much for Band of Brothers' veteran bits, either. Not that they weren't interesting, but I felt they distracted from the actual episodes more than they added anything.

 

[Roger Wilco]

The guy pulling gold teeth out of Japanese mouths is a true character although he started the practice on Guadacanal.

I love that character btw. the actor is excellent. I hope he has a bigger role in the next few episodes.

 

[firehawk12]

I asked this elsewhere, but that actor was/or at least played a Muslim terrorist dude on 24 recently and I was just wondering if Persians/Arabs/etc were segregated in WW2?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Not seeing it, thanks to Sky putting it on their movie subscription channel instead of on, you know, their TV series channels. A little stunt the cunts have also done with Clone Wars, and no doubt will soon expand to other hot new shows.