It will be a $150 million dollar, 10 episode mini series about the war in the Pacific. Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg are producing this under HBO's studio. I imagine it will hold the same level of acting, special effects, and storytelling as Band of Brothers did, which was fantastic.
The series, a follow-up to "Band of Brothers" as such, is based on the experiences of Marines John Basilone, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie - the later two penning gritty first hand accounts of the combat and atrocities that took place between US Marines and Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.
I'll be keeping a close eye on this one. I've been looking forward to this since it was first mentioned, mere months after Band of Brothers had aired.
http://www.pacificfans.com for an unoffical site. Not a lot there now but I'm sure more will be added as the months go by. It's set for air 3Q 2009 so it will be awhile!
I am not expecting it to be as awesome as Band of Brothers just because that was just insane greatness. I do think it will be good and if it is somehow an equal of BoB I will be very impressed.
If it is even as close to as good as boB was, then I have to get HBO. One of the best touches from BoB is when they have the real people on for interviews about the events that took place....and the last episode and follow up. It can still make me tear up when the real Winters tells about his grand-daughter asking if he was a hero and he tells her "No I'm not a hero, but I served in the company of them."
Hard to live up to BoB, but it looks good! Anyone else notice that one of the soldiers is the little red-head from Jurassic Park and Radio Flyer(and a bunch of other 90s movies)? At least I'm pretty sure it's him all grown up...
As gritty as the first series was, I expect this one to set a new standard for grit. The war in the Pacific was 100 times nastier, as the both the geography and the enemy were both far more brutal. Think what the Nazis did to the Jews and gypsies was bad? The Japs did that to EVERYONE they got their hands on.
My grandpa served over there, while he and I talked on great length on pretty much every subject, he didn't like to talk about his experiences over there AT ALL. Even 40 years later, he still kept a round from a ma deuce on his dresser.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
My grandfather served in Europe as a medic. He always told me that the Germans fought "fair". Both sides allowed the other to retrieve and care for thier wounded after a firefight. If you saw a red cross, you wouldn't dream of shooting them. He was awarded several medals for placing himself in harms way to find, treat, and retrieve fallen soldiers, often behind enemy lines. He told me once that they were pretty much undeserved because he never felt as though he was in any real danger because he always had the red cross on his helmet. He was terrified of fighting the Japanese because those "rules" did not apply to them, and he knew it. It would've been a whole new war for him, and he honestly thought that if he went to the Pacific Theatre that he was going to die.
When they had won "thier war" in Europe, the men assumed they would be shipped off to storm the beaches of Japan. It's all they talked about. He told me that when they dropped the bomb, he thought of it as saving not only his life, but the lives of all the friends he had made during the war. It was a perspective I never would've contemplated before and I am grateful he shared it with me.
My grandfather never really talked about the war until he was older. Then, he talked about it quite often.
My Grandfather was a belly gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress in the Pacific. He had some grizzly pictures from China during that era. My brother was given his scrapbook from the war which is priceless as family items go. My Grandfather had some great tales about night bombing runs and other experiences during the war.
As with the others mentioned above, he didn't' talk about it much unless pressed.
My knowledge is very much lacking as far as the Pacific Theater goes. I hope that the new series not only lives up to the original, but does a decent job of being historically accurate.
So far, wow. It will be really interesting to see if they can pull off telling 3 major stories at once, but if they can (which, c'mon its Hanks and Spielberg) then this show will be great.
The first episode is available online, for free, here. You have to complete a quick registration. The others will have to be watched on HBO (or something), but you can at least check out the first one to see if you like it.
I certainly enjoyed it.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
I watched the first two episodes last week (about Guadalcanal) and they were fucking excellent.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
I grabbed the first two episodes in 1080p. Shows like this deserve to be watched in the highest quality possible.
My only gripe is the long intro and exiting credits. I get pissed because they shorten the episode time so much. I guess they would be replaced with shorter intro/exits and commercials would fill that time...still, it annoys me because I want as much story as possible. i don't recall Deadwood or Rome credits/intro taking up as much time...maybe they did....!
Quality of the production and story is excellent. It took me a short while into the second episode to get comfortable with the characters. Looking forward to episode iii which I noticed was available.
I found that once I read quite a bit of the books from the people involved that the whole series took on much more meaning. The hard part of the Pacific was that it followed so many different people and they were not truly tied together the way that Easy Company was.
I highly recommend reading Eugene Sledge's book....and Helmet for My Pillow.
