The Pacific [HBO - US pace] **Spoilers**

Richard Dower

This show starts in the US on Sunday night on HBO, with the estimated 150 million dollar (AUS) budget it promises to be true "event television".

Please note this is the *US* thread, in 3 weeks Sky [UK] will start showing it on Sky movies in HD, if you wish to create a dedicated UK thread feel free

missingtime

Can.Not.Wait. Hope its quality.

Richard Dower

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/12/sign-of-the-times-dont-look-for-hbos-the-pacific-to-rate-as-well-as-band-of-brothers/44717

missingtime

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/hell-in-the-pacific-spielbergs-new-epic-war-drama-1920692.html

grimm2005

really looking forward to this, rewatching BOB bluray atm in anticipation

Richard Dower

WOO HOO!....not long now :-)

Richard Dower

OMG! - it's available in 1080i (1920x1080) MPEG2 - 5 Gigs!!!!

Richard Dower

I'm seriously tempted by the 1080i...but 5GB!?!, holy crap!
Would you really see a difference in 720p vs. 1080i?....i guess the novelty factor alone might be worth it, never seen a 1080 tv show before :-)

Tristram

Looking forward to watching this when I get home!

Vokes

Richard Dower wrote: »

I'm seriously tempted by the 1080i...but 5GB!?!, holy crap!
Would you really see a difference in 720p vs. 1080i?

Not sure there would be a noticeable difference, would there? Depends on the size of your visual setupi guess.

Tristram

Okay first episode.

Biggins

First part, good set-up for whats to come. Obvious that they are discovering they are not up againt a text book enemy who goes by the rules(!) of war.

Richard Dower

Lets play a game of "predict the ratings" .....i predict 7.2 million.

Basq

Richard Dower wrote: »

Lets play a game of "predict the ratings" .....i predict 7.2 million.

On HBO... you nuts?

I'd say 5 or 5.5 tops.

Richard Dower

Bloomin' 'ell.....so i grabbed the 1080i, not gonna do that again!....took hours, i'll report my findings at a later stage.

jonnybadd

I enojyed it, nice slow build up for the next few episodes, does anyone know if they'll be running it straight through or will there be breaks like a lot of American series?

The Pontiac

jonnybadd wrote: »

I enojyed it, nice slow build up for the next few episodes, does anyone know if they'll be running it straight through or will there be breaks like a lot of American series?

Every week for the next 10 weeks. Link here.

skeleton_boy

Solid start.

spatchco

yep just watch the first episode,,,though the cg was good ,also good build up to first encounter with enemy

tvnutz

Solid start,looks like it could be really good.

Ratings wise could be bigger than 5million basquille,THe Sopranos was getting over 12million at one stage,it only happens the odd time on HBO,but with something like this I think the ratings could be fairly large.

JimGoer

This is available to watch on the HBO website. I only had to register and there were no restrictions on viewers outside of the US.

Basq

Cheers Jim.

Link to watch the 1st episode is here!

(Flash required)

EDIT: Guess it's not available outside the US.. and DON'T go divulging any proxy details anyone - you have been warned!

heebusjeebus

Just finished the first episode. The pacific campaign never interested me as much as the European or North African campaigns and I'm afraid this first episode didn't do anything for me.
I do like the period film clips used along with the voice-overs from the vets and I also like that they show the maps of the various battle zones.
The episode mainly stumbled along and except for the beach "assault" and the battle at Alligator Creek there was nothing memorable to take from it.

Saying that, I remember seeing the opening episode of BoB and not being too impressed. Subsequent viewings though changed my attitude to this so I hope the same happens for The Pacific's opener.

cian1500ww

Taken forever to download for me Is it an hour long episode ?

missingtime

It was alright. Not happy that all the soldiers look younger than me. Makes me feel very old.

I must try not to compare it to BoB

redout

Watching episode 1 right now on Spanish tv!!!!!!!!!!!

I was not aware this was already starting.

Sky have not shown it yet but a quick check on the internet confirms episode 1 just aired in the US.

Spain gets it next day! Seems a bit crap we have to wait so long

tok9

Ya pretty solid start... Whats the main guys name?

Horrible enough out of the soldiers just shooting the jap in the arms...

johnny_adidas

'thin red line' feel to it imo, enjoyed it. finding myself constantly comparing characters to BOB though

was i the only one who smiled when stiffler's twin shouted 'f'n yellow monkeys'?? (more so at the timing than what was actually said before some accuses me....)

Basq

To be fair.. it was pretty damn good!

It was an opening episode, so let's not judge it against 12 episodes of 'Band of Brothers' just yet despite how difficult that may be.

Looking forward to more!

tok9 wrote: »

Ya pretty solid start... Whats the main guys name?

The actor or character? Character was Robert Leckie and the actor playing him was James Badge Dale.

He was in the short-lived but very good "The Black Donnellys" along with Keith Nobbs (who is also in this - his character was 'Runner' Conley, who I predict will be the comedic relief in the series).

Mr.Nice Guy

I'd agree with what's been said. Solid enough start. I'm not a big fan of the night battles as it's hard to make out what's going on. The scene with the Japanese soldier effectively begging to be shot was probably the most impactful scene of the episode.

I think it's good though that the war in the Pacific is being given attention as it tends to be brushed aside when people think of WW2. Many people wrongly assume WW2 ended with the surrender of the Nazis ignoring the fact that the Allies were still having to contend with the Japanese in the Pacific.

tok9

tok9 wrote: »

Ya pretty solid start... Whats the main guys name?

Horrible enough out of the soldiers just shooting the jap in the arms...

and

the line, "Who did that?" after the soldier shot him in the chest.

I loved it. Can seeing it being as good as BoB

DeepBlue

Overall quite good and I'll certainly be watching next week.
Some minor quibbles - the CGI looked like......well.....CGI!
Also the acting of some of the characters seemed weak most noticeably in that scene where they reach the beach and they're all chilled out with the "Hey, what kept you so long?".

It did seem to get stronger as it went on though and the Alligator Creek battle was well done and Leckie (sp?) has already grabbed my interest.

kowloon

Started a bit messy, I would have preferred to see more backgroundand bootcamp, not just being thrown into the thick of it.

The CGI didn't bother me, anyone remember how dodgy the jumps looked in Band of Brothers?

It would be nice if this does well and gives rise to other series.

Fredrick

johnny_adidas wrote: »

'thin red line' feel to it imo, enjoyed it. finding myself constantly comparing characters to BOB though

was i the only one who smiled when stiffler's twin shouted 'f'n yellow monkeys'?? (more so at the timing than what was actually said before some accuses me....)

Stifflers twin, yeah its almost him with black hair

kowloon wrote: »

Started a bit messy, I would have preferred to see more backgroundand bootcamp, not just being thrown into the thick of it.

The CGI didn't bother me, anyone remember how dodgy the jumps looked in Band of Brothers?

It would be nice if this does well and gives rise to other series.

Same here thought it was a bit rushed in that sense too, the night battle scene was a bit hard to follow also. Its only the first ep so we won't be too harsh

slave1

Overall I thought it was great and the quality of the picture and sound amongst the best I've seen and heard (1.5g .mkv), should be a nice 10 weeks of viewing

Cabaal

Really enjoyed it lastnight, looking forward to next episode

Basq

The second episode looks superb from the promo..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCO2qoG5kVo

Contains some spoilers.. though nothing too revealing as to spoil the episode!

heebusjeebus

A quick question regarding the heavy machine gun they were using.
Does anyone know why the browning 50 cal was not used. The machine gun they were using in the first episode looked very heavy and very cumbersome especially when attempting to change the direction of fire (I was chuckling when Lecke whipped out the oven mitts to move it during the nighttime sequence).

TheIrishGrover

johnny_adidas wrote: »

'thin red line' feel to it imo, enjoyed it. finding myself constantly comparing characters to BOB though

was i the only one who smiled when stiffler's twin shouted 'f'n yellow monkeys'?? (more so at the timing than what was actually said before some accuses me....)

Yeah, got that vibe too. Especially the voiceover from the Pacific Popeye (from BoB. well, he reminds me of him anyway). And, yeah, the INSTANT ya saw stiffler that's the only name that was in yer head. Somehow I don't think we'll even remember his character's real name. It'll always be Stiffler.

Good start. Liked the Colonol's speech to the NCOs at the start. I mean, because BoB came first and was so surprising, it probably won't get the....... devotion?..... that BoB gets but it still should shape up to be a superb series.

corkscott

watched 1st episode hopefully will be as good as BoB but i dont think so,
any you guys seen Generation Kill another HBO series set in Iraq really enjoyed it too some great action and a good few laughs too you should check it out

Soby

heebusjeebus wrote: »

A quick question regarding the heavy machine gun they were using.
Does anyone know why the browning 50 cal was not used. The machine gun they were using in the first episode looked very heavy and very cumbersome especially when attempting to change the direction of fire (I was chuckling when Lecke whipped out the oven mitts to move it during the nighttime sequence).

Looks like they were using this.Seems to be a polish clone of the browning..Great little details when they were moving it around like how he had to grab a sandbag to hold the barrel due to the heat off it

projectmayhem

Papa Smut wrote: »

I loved it. Can seeing it being as good as BoB

This was my main fear. BoB was so amazing it's hard to stand next to it... but the first episode set my mind at ease. Was so good... brought me right back to the same feeling I got when I first watched BoB.

corkscott wrote: »

any you guys seen Generation Kill another HBO series set in Iraq really enjoyed it too some great action and a good few laughs too you should check it out

Generation Kill was a different idea altogether. Other then the obvious (modern warfare setting etc.) it was more about a rag tag division of soldiers who are complete eejits and never get to do anything - while this is about heroes of WW2 being put at the heart of war non-stop.

KerranJast

"The Pacific" is going to be a different tone than "Band of Brothers". Easy Company in BoB were a crack troop of Paratroopers. Elite soldiers with around 3 years of training behind them.
The marines in the Pacific Theatre were a lot more green going into battle and were up against some pretty insanely indoctrinated enemy troops.

Richard Dower

Solid start, also recomend folk not bother with the 1080i 5GB file...it looks superb, but the file size does not justify the time and your download cap. The 1.5GB 720p should suffice.

I'm not a huge fan of war stuff, but this was a solid start, enough to warrent future viewing of eps.

cian1500ww

Really enjoyed the first episode, seems to be very realistic. Is it being showed weekly ?

Richard Dower

OMG!...i was waaay off, only 3.1 million????? + 900,000 encore http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/16/kamikaze-hbos-big-budget-the-pacific-premiere-ratings-disappoint/45169

expectationlost

jesus christ who cares about the viewing figures it once off series

nice unsurping of our expectations with the landing scene, so as not to repeat whats been done.

gandalf

Soby wrote: »

Looks like they were using this.Seems to be a polish clone of the browning..Great little details when they were moving it around like how he had to grab a sandbag to hold the barrel due to the heat off it

It was more than likely the M1917 Browning.

Very solid episode looking forward to the second one.

missingtime

projectmayhem wrote: »

Generation Kill was a different idea altogether. Other then the obvious (modern warfare setting etc.) it was more about a rag tag division of soldiers who are complete eejits and never get to do anything - while this is about heroes of WW2 being put at the heart of war non-stop.

A lot of them they were first recon. Best in the business.

Heckler

Good. As good as the first BoB. Couldn't do the same training episode again. Lot of similaritys in the beach landings with SPR up to a guy puking (clear the beach, keep moving) although i know this was standard at the time. Hard to see any one character matching Damien Lewis' Winters but time will tell.

Always had more of an interest in the european side of WW2 but looking forward to the next episode.

Is this based on a real life group of marines like BoB was on army paratroopers ?

Really like the interviews with the veterans at the start too. (Just don't know if they were the guys portrayed in the show)

DeepBlue

Heckler wrote: »

Is this based on a real life group of marines like BoB was on army paratroopers ?

HBO wrote:

The Pacific tracks the intertwined real-life stories of three U.S. Marines Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and Eugene Sledge across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Slightly more info here ->> http://www.hbo.com/#/the-pacific/about/index.html

Leckie was the guy on the machine gun that eventually finished off the Japanese soldier. I'd need to re-watch to see who Basilone and Sledge were.