Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well, one of my all-time most anticipated television programs will be beginning in about half an hour, so I thought I'd just see if anyone was going to be watching tonight and maybe posting reactions during the show or after it airs. For any of you FoW players out there, I can think of no bigger push for creating a Pacific theatre version of the game. Hanks and Spielberg make magic. I can't wait.

Also looking forward to this, although my means of viewing it may be more nefarious.

I loved when Hasbro owned A&A released an updated special edition version of the Pacific theater last year. This year is the European edition and with both placed together, makes for one amazing board.

But yeah, I'm going to enjoy this too.

Well, that was a solid, though not spectacular beginning. Flashes of things to come though. Wow, the half-hour making-of show that preceded it really got me going. Peleliu looks pretty amazing.

Typical - me and the missus cancelled Sky Movies channels because we very rarely watch anything on it. As soon as we do so, then this is released!

Yeah, I'm gonna wait for this on DVD - I don't fancy watching a grainy picture on a tiny laptop monitor :(.
I can't wait though - 'Band of Brothers' is my all-time favourite show. I've seen it many times.

I wonder if they'll ever make 'Pegasus Bridge'?



Probably not.

Im with yoyu Albatross, Ill wait for the video, because I too have watched Bang of Brothers MANY times. It seriously blows my mind, that those men went through that crap for real. Just insane

The Crippler wrote:Well, that was a solid, though not spectacular beginning. Flashes of things to come though. Wow, the half-hour making-of show that preceded it really got me going. Peleliu looks pretty amazing.

I point you to the first two episodes of Band of Brothers. Spectacularly boring, established the characters and the settings fantastically.

It wasn't until "Day of Days" that it really took off.

But anyways, I missed it. No HBO. So I'm waiting till it's out on DVD.

Like a lot of you maggots I love this genre especially Band of Brothers so I was pretty excited about The Pacific and still am despite its relatively disappointing start.

I thought the first episode was pretty boring which is a stark contrast to how I felt about Band of Brother's premier. Band of Brothers started out with the boot camp sequence which was fun and entertaining, The Pacific starts out with the main characters having drawn out good-byes with their family while being nearly devoid of entertainment.

The Band of Brothers premier was also a two parter IIRC, and the D-Day paradrop was amazing at the time. By comparison The Pacific was only a single episode and its action scene at Alligator Creek was as ho-hum as it gets - I also didn't really care about the characters or what was going on....it just wasn't immersive since it was mostly firepower in the pitch black going back and forth. Band of Brothers was loaded with more meaningful and entertaining action sequences; not only did it start off with the D-Day invasion but it also had them demo-ing those guns which was bad ass fun. Even BOB's training exercises were more entertaining and worthwhile than what happened in The Pacific.

I did like the director's take on the Navy sequence; created that unreal and distant feeling a grunt would have as his Naval support retreats and the Japanese start attacking.

Its got potential and the cinematography and special effects are MUCH better than Band of Brothers so far. The Pacific's cast of characters had none of the bad ass or fun elements Band of Brothers had (scene of the Lt. offering cigs to the prisoners, Captain Sobel being a hardass but an idiot, etc) and just seemed boring...then again it was just one hour. However Band of Brothers was still much more entertaining and I've watched that premier multiple times (CURRAHEE) however I don't see me repeating The Pacific's first episode...ever.

Keep us informed Cane.

Meh, I wasn't thrilled about it. Though the action scenes were awesome IMO. I wasn't expecting it to be too exciting, since its from the director of BoB. You need to get to know the characters, before you can really "feel" the show, if that makes any sense?

Though im upset that they don't have the typical "bad ass" guy like in BoB as Cane said. That was actually the first thing I was looking for when I began watching the show. But hell, its only the first episode. Plenty of time to be better.

It suffers from a real lack of David Schwimmer and Ron Livingston, or any memorable characters so far.

Looking at the episode guide, it looks like they'll be jumping between different units. I hate having to match a bunch of names to faces.

CG was ballin', though.

I am looking forward to viewing The Pacific despite Tom Hanks' continued idiocy and ridiculous statements. I can't help the fact that I just love a good WWII series

I think some of you are being a bit harsh, but I can understand where you're coming from. Did any of you watch the HBO 'making-of' documentary first? There are a few important things to take away.

1) The action hits its stride on Peleliu. They are spending THREE full episodes on that one battlefield. That's going to be crazy. I think anyone looking for action will find it in spades as the series heats up. Don't forget, Guadalcanal is just the warm up for the bigger fights to come.

2) The set designers who were responsible for re-creating Peleliu designed the whole thing in miniature first... with miniatures! Definitely a warhammer-worth table.

3) In 1942, one guy I really don't want to be is a member of the Maxim gun crew. Wow that tripod looked heavy. Lugging that around the jungle would have SUCKED.

In 1942 if you were active duty the two places you would want to be was at Pearl Harbor or the Enterprise. Assuming you couldn't get assigned to Washington of course. Every other place sucked.

If the US had the Enterprise in 1942 they could have won the war pretty quickly. Beam Hitler and the Japanese Emp into space and phaser the crap out of Berlin

But to get slighly more on topic, I love BoB, and had not heard of this new series... might have to fire up the ol' computer when I get home and give it a watch.

For those without HBO, I just found out they show the series online for free but requires registration:

http://www.hbo.com/#/global-video/index.html

The Crippler wrote:

3) In 1942, one guy I really don't want to be is a member of the Maxim gun crew. Wow that tripod looked heavy. Lugging that around the jungle would have SUCKED.

Nitpick: that's not a Maxim, it's a water-cooled Browning .30cal M1917.

Everyone came into our office on Monday talking about the premiere. Mostly they observed how unsat (by our standards) their haircuts were back then, and how motivated Chesty Puller was.

Highlights for me:

1. Chesty properly pointing out that NCOs are the backbone of the Marine Corps.
2. Battle of Savo Island, as viewed from a distance. Surface actions are rarely brought to life in cinema, especially night-time ones.
3. Just seeing famous Marines like Basilone and Chesty, and the depictions of their exploits. It's motivating, and breathes new life into our heritage, that we mostly get from reading texts or Medal of Honor citations.

Semper Fi

I'm looking forward to this reaching Oz tellie.

My only regret is that it begins and ends with the Pacific War, which means we stop Chesty Puller's story before he goes off to Korea to be even more awesome. I'd rather just see the story of Chesty Puller.

Noble713 wrote:

The Crippler wrote:

3) In 1942, one guy I really don't want to be is a member of the Maxim gun crew. Wow that tripod looked heavy. Lugging that around the jungle would have SUCKED.

Nitpick: that's not a Maxim, it's a water-cooled Browning .30cal M1917.

Semper Fi

Cool. Thanks for the correction. Sort of looks like a Maxim, doesn't it? ;-) How long after Guadalcanal did they switch to the air-cooled Browning?

I can't add much to what has already been said so I'll be concise.

Not great, but not bad.

Technically proficient.

Felt rushed, unlike BoB. No boot camp, barely any pre-war content. Didn't get to know anyone really.

I think (hope) this will change as we get further in.

Noble713 wrote:

The Crippler wrote:

3) In 1942, one guy I really don't want to be is a member of the Maxim gun crew. Wow that tripod looked heavy. Lugging that around the jungle would have SUCKED.

Nitpick: that's not a Maxim, it's a water-cooled Browning .30cal M1917.

Everyone came into our office on Monday talking about the premiere. Mostly they observed how unsat (by our standards) their haircuts were back then, and how motivated Chesty Puller was.

Highlights for me:

1. Chesty properly pointing out that NCOs are the backbone of the Marine Corps.
2. Battle of Savo Island, as viewed from a distance. Surface actions are rarely brought to life in cinema, especially night-time ones.
3. Just seeing famous Marines like Basilone and Chesty, and the depictions of their exploits. It's motivating, and breathes new life into our heritage, that we mostly get from reading texts or Medal of Honor citations.

Semper Fi

I am with you. I loved how back then it was all about the swagger. Come on I hate the motard hair cut and I have been in for 12 yerars. I have the Eagle Globe and Anchor marked on my soul! It was a great start considering the Pacific campaign was bloody as hell it did not really pick up until the point were the episode left off. Trust me it should get pretty grisley once they show Basilones charge, Edsons ridge or Tarawa.

Didn't grab me 100%, but I expect it'll get awesome.

The one thing that I can see already is going to bug me all through the series is the word "jap". While this was historically used a lot in the period, to my understanding the Marines who had been stationed in the Pacific used "nip", instead. The use of "jap" was an easy way to spot newbies or guys from other theaters. It's that word-nerd part of me.

Well.. that certainly ratcheted up the tension level. Add 'losing your kitchen mitt' to the reasons why I wouldn't want to be on an American machine gun crew!

Mannahnin, I hope you're happy with the Nip-dropping that occured in this episode!

Mannahnin wrote:Didn't grab me 100%, but I expect it'll get awesome.

The one thing that I can see already is going to bug me all through the series is the word "jap". While this was historically used a lot in the period, to my understanding the Marines who had been stationed in the Pacific used "nip", instead. The use of "jap" was an easy way to spot newbies or guys from other theaters. It's that word-nerd part of me.

Yeah but if they used nip they would have to go through a painful process of introducing an annoying newbie just so they can explain to the audience why they used nip instead of jap

About half a dozen guys on WargamerAU (Australian wargaming forums) worked on it as extras and a couple more in production/props.

Hooray for one of our TV channels being involved in the production- Means it should start immediately after easter when ratings restart, instead of the usual 6 months to a year rubbish timetabling we get.

The second episode was much better than the first and exceeded my expectations. Didn't realize that Chesty was going to be a prominent character which is pretty cool. I like the actor but as homosexual as it may sound, he doesn't have the "chest" for the part which is how Chesty got his name in the first place IIRC.

The cinematography and special effects are definitely on another level than BOB. However BOB's connection between the audience and the characters is still much stronger.

I was pretty into war stuff until i actually went to one.

The bs-ometer goes out of control and i just cant stand the hammy way the actors are.

Stuff seems to work better in my mind when i dont know any of the actors, i dont know why that is...

I cant look at Tom Hanks and not think "Big" for example.

mattyrm wrote:I was pretty into war stuff until i actually went to one.

The bs-ometer goes out of control and i just cant stand the hammy way the actors are.

Stuff seems to work better in my mind when i dont know any of the actors, i dont know why that is...

I cant look at Tom Hanks and not think "Big" for example.

So does this mean you did or didn't see The Pacific? Or are ya just writing generalizations? BTW, Hanks only voice acts in this. Most war movies are way 'out of control' but thats not so much the case with BOB and this series. Ultimately they're still pieces of entertainment but they actually use input from the veterans involved and gives them overdue attention and air time of their own.

Nah Cane i havent seen it, i kinda liked BOB but, i didnt think it was awesome or anything. Im more into Sci-Fi and Fantasy than RL stuff.. i dont know, i just kinda find it.. depressing. :S