I know that it was inevitable that comparisons would start to be made to Band of Brothers because they were essentially created by the same team. But I kept telling myself it's a different series, different characters and a different war.
But one can't help but compare the two series simply to show how Band of Brothers succeeded where The Pacific failed.
First off, BoB focused on 1 unit from boot camp, to D-Day, to the end of the war. While certain episodes focus on certain characters, for the most part each character was in every episode until you are shown their deaths or whatever puts them out of commission. Each character got enough screen time and focus to know whether you should care about them or not. The Pacific on the other hand, focuses on 3 different characters from 3 different units. John Basilone, Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge. The first episode focuses mainly on Leckie and Basilone and a little bit on Sledge. The next couple episodes mainly focus on Leckie and a little bit on Basilone and almost nothing on Sledge. Then Leckie basically becomes the focus on the show. Then by episode 6 all they do is focus on Sledge and so many of the secondary characters basically vanish without any care or explanation. Then episode 8 focuses entirely on Basilone, then 9 focuses on Sledge again. Then 10 focuses both Leckie and Sledge. You may think that each character got equal focus, however it was so disjointed with having characters vanish, then show up again then are gone completely that it gets very confusing and you never really warm to any of the characters except the main three.
The first time I watched the series I wasn't even sure why the hell Leckie was the main focus of the show then just completely vanished. I had to watch it a second time to realize why, but the way the show was done, you expected him to come back fairly quick. Then the show focuses on Eugene Sledge; I never warmed to his character, 80% of his screen time is just sitting there writing numbers in his book and saying very little. (was boredom psychologically traumatic to soldiers back then?) When he wasn't sitting there and there was an actual scene of battle, he'd be so far away from it (he was part of a mortar squad) that he still didn't do much of anything. I think he shot a total of two people on screen. One had a sword, the other was wounded and crawling away. Yes, quite heroic there Sledge.
Next, Band of Brothers had numerous battle sequences that flowed well and kept you right in the middle of the action of every battle that the 101st participated in. The Pacific throws you right into a battle that is usually either going on in the background, has already been going on for a few days so you just get a small excerpt of the fight. Then there will be an episode with no action at all. I'd say Band of Brothers had 2 episodes that had little or no action at all. The first and the last. The Pacific has 4 or 5 that have little or no. Episode 8 it gets mentioned they would be shipping off to Iwo Jima (one of the bloodiest battles of WW2 and the only battle where the Marine casualties were higher than the Japanese) So I thought, oh good, Episode 9 will be all about Iwo Jima, it will have tons of action....no the last 8 minutes of episode 8 were about Iwo Jima and then Episode 9 it was on to the next battle.
But one can't help but compare the two series simply to show how Band of Brothers succeeded where The Pacific failed.
First off, BoB focused on 1 unit from boot camp, to D-Day, to the end of the war. While certain episodes focus on certain characters, for the most part each character was in every episode until you are shown their deaths or whatever puts them out of commission. Each character got enough screen time and focus to know whether you should care about them or not. The Pacific on the other hand, focuses on 3 different characters from 3 different units. John Basilone, Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge. The first episode focuses mainly on Leckie and Basilone and a little bit on Sledge. The next couple episodes mainly focus on Leckie and a little bit on Basilone and almost nothing on Sledge. Then Leckie basically becomes the focus on the show. Then by episode 6 all they do is focus on Sledge and so many of the secondary characters basically vanish without any care or explanation. Then episode 8 focuses entirely on Basilone, then 9 focuses on Sledge again. Then 10 focuses both Leckie and Sledge. You may think that each character got equal focus, however it was so disjointed with having characters vanish, then show up again then are gone completely that it gets very confusing and you never really warm to any of the characters except the main three.
The first time I watched the series I wasn't even sure why the hell Leckie was the main focus of the show then just completely vanished. I had to watch it a second time to realize why, but the way the show was done, you expected him to come back fairly quick. Then the show focuses on Eugene Sledge; I never warmed to his character, 80% of his screen time is just sitting there writing numbers in his book and saying very little. (was boredom psychologically traumatic to soldiers back then?) When he wasn't sitting there and there was an actual scene of battle, he'd be so far away from it (he was part of a mortar squad) that he still didn't do much of anything. I think he shot a total of two people on screen. One had a sword, the other was wounded and crawling away. Yes, quite heroic there Sledge.
Next, Band of Brothers had numerous battle sequences that flowed well and kept you right in the middle of the action of every battle that the 101st participated in. The Pacific throws you right into a battle that is usually either going on in the background, has already been going on for a few days so you just get a small excerpt of the fight. Then there will be an episode with no action at all. I'd say Band of Brothers had 2 episodes that had little or no action at all. The first and the last. The Pacific has 4 or 5 that have little or no. Episode 8 it gets mentioned they would be shipping off to Iwo Jima (one of the bloodiest battles of WW2 and the only battle where the Marine casualties were higher than the Japanese) So I thought, oh good, Episode 9 will be all about Iwo Jima, it will have tons of action....no the last 8 minutes of episode 8 were about Iwo Jima and then Episode 9 it was on to the next battle.