The Pacific

KnightTemplar

KnightTemplar

Active member
Last night I had the privilege of watching part of what I believe could be the best thing ever put on film (or whatever they use now). Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have outdone themselves with this in my opinion. Just seeing Part one and a brief glimpse of Part 6 when they try to take Peleliu's airfield, I have to say this will probably surpass Band of Brother's as my favorite.
 
I watched the second one last night (I had DVDed it). It's good but I don't tnink it's quite as good as Band of Brothers although I might be a bit biased. I'm a retired Paratrooper whose frst 1SG was in Easy Company, 101st Airborne in WW II & was featured as one of the vets making comments in the series. MSG Norman Neitzke, deceased as of last year.

The whole thing has be spoiled for me somewhat by the comments Tom Hanks has made. His claim that the war against Japan as well as the war against the Islamic tangoes was & is soley based on race. He has refused to comment on Pearl Harbor or 9/11 as if they never happened & actually caused a war. True - there might have been a war anyway but as a precipitator you just can't beat an attack on your nation.
 
I thoroughly enjoy how people just take the word of news agencies who refuse to report on anything unless it is scandalous, controversial or down right bad, and who don't even think twice about pulling comments out of context to make a story more sensational. I want to know if these people that now hate Tom Hanks with a passion actually took the time to look into the allegations or if they just heard the story on the "news" and took it as fact. He stated, "Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods." If you have seen any of the cartoons from the WWII era referencing the Japanese you would know he was right about that. If you knew your history, you would know the U.S. built concentration camps of their own for Japanese-Americans. From what I can tell he never stated that Pearl Harbor or 9/11 were not the major reason for going to war, just that racism was A reason, and if you don't believe that it was then me trying to convince you otherwise would be like trying to convince a holocaust denier that the holocaust did happen.

Tom Hanks defended his remarks during an appearance at the World War II memorial in Washington where he stated, "I said it's familiar with what’s going on today, You can walk into the National World War II museum in New Orleans, in the Pacific wing, and Steven Ambrose himself has made that very point. It's up in black and white, that after Pearl Harbor, these people that were very, very different from each other, the Americans and the Japanese, who had different heritages, who had different theologies and different ways of government, had a different sense of society went at it tooth and nail." He continued, "I have talked to all sorts of people who have, in the vernacular, used incredibly racist terms about the people on the other side of the fence, and we can see all the time that comes over in the regular news media from their side, from the other side, terms that can only be viewed as racist. But let’s just take the word 'racism' out of it and put 'ignorance' instead, because it’s, racism, is a mere virulent form of what that ignorance is."

I have no idea what kind of personal vendetta the news media has against Mr. Hanks, maybe it is just his time in the celebrity dunk-tank, but I do find it highly depressing that otherwise intelligent individuals refuse to do any research on their own before they demonize someone because the news tells them to. I dare anyone here to find a credible source showing Tom Hanks saying that Pearl Harbor had nothing to do with why we went to war.
 
Easy copy, quick sell, contraversy, simplistic definitions, soundbite story - that is our modern press, how well we are served by these self appointed watchdogs.

Not yet seen a full episode, but itching to do so.
 
it is a good show, but it is not as good as band of brothers, it lacks the same feeling, it misses something that band of brothers did have. (cant really formulate what i mean)
 
It changes this Sunday................Pelilue

Three weeks of the nasty's most vile war honestly portrayed.
I know, my brother, told me he pryed gold from dead Japs mouths.
 
I think with the home front storyline they are trying to apeal to all possible viewers not just us blood thirsty war movie types....?
 
I'm a huge fan of BOB as well. I've watched the first four episodes of The Pacific and I think it is just as good as BOB. Once again, Spielberg and Hanks have outdone themselves and have spared no expence to ensure the storylines stay true to facts, as well as ensuring that the nature of the fighting is as historically accurate as possible. As a soldier and historian, I'm tickled to death to see that I'm not cringing while I watch it due to inaccuracies.
 
Contrary to Tom Hanks' comments, the real racism was borne almost entirely by the Japanese. They considered every other race as inferior. Americans, especially were considered weak and inferior because of Japanese press depictions of American life. Their three-axis alliance was one of economic convenience, since they had nothing in common with the Germans and Italians; neither philosophically nor racially. The Japanese believed the Germans and Italians would keep the British, Dutch, and French occupied until they could seize the Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, and British Singapore and other asian holdings.

The civilian government was nothing but a shill for the military powers in Japan. Prime minister Konoye and his government stood mute while the army invaded Manchuria, raped and sacked Nanking, and began planning their move south into Indochina and the East Indies.

Propaganda always takes hold at the outset of war. World War II was no different than World War I (look at how German soldiers were portrayed by the Allies). Propaganda is how the home front and the troops' morale is raised to keep the fight going.

Yes, Nisei were put into camps. It was wrong then. You can thank California governor Earl Warren for urging FDR to do it. J. Edgar Hoover actually argued against interning the Nisei. The FBI knew where the real threat was, and the Nisei weren't it. However, the Nisei reflected an perceptive image that was hated. Perception is everything.

The problem we have today, is looking at the events of World War II in terms of today's technology and knowledge. Even in the 1930's, the United States knew relatively little about foreign culture. The United States attention was diverted inward (read Great Depression). Foreign policy was not top priority. And if one thinks the U.S. was ignorant, the rest of the world was even more so. Adolph Hitler never traveled outside Germany or Austria until he visited Paris after it fell in World War II.

Remember too, that the Japanese overran Chinese who weren't united under a central government. The Chinese lords did not trust Chiang Kai Shek, regardless Sun Tzu's accomplishments.

The Japanese were in a unique position. The Germans invaded Russia, and the Japanese could keep the allies guessing as to whether they would invade Vladivostok, or head south. The allies, although they had decrypted the Japanese ambassadorial codes, still didn't know what the Japanese army and navy were doing.

The Japanese had no intention of stopping their conquests until they had gained everything they needed to keep their nation growing.
 
I've watched every episode. It's very good, but it lacks the continuity of B.O.B. so it appears to be slower moving and choppy IMO. Not to say thats bad the Pacific campaigns lends to that.
 
I haven't been as impressed with this as I was with band of brothers. Perhaps it's the amount of time they're spending on stuff happening outside of duty, which I find remarkably dull.
 
Okay having re-watched the episodes (because I DVR'd them) from start to finish in order, my opinion is.............................................

Pacific sucks no where near as good as BOB.
 
Has anyone seen the latest Peleliu episodes, they're pretty freakin intense! I think the show is starting to really pick up momentum. I won't say it's as good as BOB, it's just different.
 
brinktk said:
Has anyone seen the latest Peleliu episodes, they're pretty freakin intense! I think the show is starting to really pick up momentum. I won't say it's as good as BOB, it's just different.
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That's a pretty fair comment I reckon, BoB set a benchmark, that I doubt will ever be achieved again, but, the first two eps that have screened downunder, haven't been bad at all........................ Of all parts of the screening, I most enjoy hearing the actual marines speaking to the camera about their experiences & seeing the documentary footage........ I had an uncle who served alongside Americans in the pacific, he was with a RAAF unit, rebuilding airfields and stuff like that......... Every now & again, he'd tell us some of the things that he saw during his service.............. The japs he hated the most were snipers........ It's the one story he told that stuck with me all these years..... My uncle, some other men, a Salvation Army officer and an American officer were not far from the treeline and the area came under sniper fire, the American officer was hit and while my uncle and another man pulled him to cover, the Salvation Army officer saw where the sniper was, picked up the Americans' weapon and shot the enemy soldier out of the tree............
 
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While some respects of the marketing down here has shat me a little (the fault of the TV network which is showing it in Oz, nothing to do with the production itself I'd wager), the show is actually really good. Enjoying it immensely.

It's very different from BoB, but I think that's to be expected. You can actually take an Airborne unit from the ETO and follow it through without having every character you might form an attachment to arbitrarily slaughtered in the first battle or two. I'm not sure such an approach would be theatrically possible if an accurate portrayal of some of those Pacific battles is the go; I think they did the right thing by just focussing on Basilone, Leckie and Sledge.

I approve. :)
 
Botak said:
While some respects of the marketing down here has shat me a little (the fault of the TV network which is showing it in Oz, nothing to do with the production itself I'd wager), the show is actually really good. Enjoying it immensely.

It's very different from BoB, but I think that's to be expected. You can actually take an Airborne unit from the ETO and follow it through without having every character you might form an attachment to arbitrarily slaughtered in the first battle or two. I'm not sure such an approach would be theatrically possible if an accurate portrayal of some of those Pacific battles is the go; I think they did the right thing by just focussing on Basilone, Leckie and Sledge.

I approve. :)
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I think you are absolutely right in that respect. :bravo:
 
I wanted to watch that so bad, but we just canceled hbo at my place so i missed it, put i read reviews on it in leatherneck magazine and seen pics, it looked awsome!!!! Band of Brothers was great so i cant wait to see the pacific too.
 
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