TV Pacific

[DaGaffer]

I was interested to hear the opinion from your side of the pond. I've tried hard to be objective, and I agree Pacific is not as good as BoB, but since my wife's Dad served with the 2nd Marines I find it hard to critisize.

I think they are more concerned with realism than story, and I'm a little disappointed that Hanks and Spielberg couldn't pull off both. I would love to seee them do the same with the Battle of Britain. Hell they could follow the Eagle Squadron if they need an audience over here.

BTW, Dad made 3 landings during the War, Guadalcanal, Boughanville (part of the 1st wave) and Guam. He caught shrapnel from a motor round on Guam and missed Iwo Jima due to his injuries. That probably saved his life. He's still living and is a tough sonofabitch.

The difference with Pacific and BoB is that much as I dislike Stephen Ambrose, his original book got under the skin of the men in Easy Company, so you identified with them and cared about their fate. Pacific is really three character sketches with a common thread, but you don't really engage with any of them. The other problem is they've put a lot more emphasis on the behind-the-lines stories (Australia, hospital, training) which was pretty much wrapped up in BoB by the end of the first episode.

Spoiler

This week's Basilone story should have been one of the high points of the series but felt completely underwritten to me; I felt it short-changed the man horribly

 

[megadave]

I can't stand Leckie in the series, the acting and writing for his whole storyline is shit and i don't know a single other person in his whole arc.

Despite Basilone being one of the greatest heroes in American history, his story is still very underwhelming. Guadalcanal was pitch black and very disjointed. His love story was boring and predictable and his final scenes just weren't really done well.

For me, Sledges arc has been the saving grace but it's not all that. I still only know him and Snafu by name (who i think is the best part of the series, he's really interesting and has those mesmerising crazy-eyes) When his commander died i just didnt give a shit because i didnt even know who he was until 20 minutes earlier. If Winters or someone had died in BoB i'd have probably wept

I still can't help but see the little kid from Jurassic Park though

 

[FWbizz]

My grandad by the way fought in North Africa, got a bayonet wound in Tobruk, then got patched up by the Germans, paroled back to Great Britain, then spent the rest of the war as an MP, the terms of his parole being that he had to be a non combatant. He was at D-Day +6 I'm told.

That is really interesting, I had no idea that went on. I always thought if your where a POW you remained that way for the duration. Do you know if that was common?

 

[DaGaffer]

That is really interesting, I had no idea that went on. I always thought if your where a POW you remained that way for the duration. Do you know if that was common?

Its not that surprising you haven't heard about it, the US military specifically prohibits it. I have to say I hadn't heard about British prisoners being paroled, but it makes a lot of sense for the Germans in North Africa to have done that; they lacked the resources to ship prisoners across the Med back to Europe, and of course they paroled huge numbers of French soldiers, with a specific prohibition on them fighting for the Free French (if caught they could be immediately shot).