Am I remembering it wrong? I thought the interviews only appeared at the very end of The Pacific and not at the start of every episode like BoB? It's been a while since I've seen it admittedly. My point about the smaller cast is still the major problem for me though.
Television Band of Brothers
- Thread starter M'n'M
- Start date
No - it has interviews throughout. You probably saw an edited version.
Cina'd
This for me is my favourite show of all time. I can watch it over and over and that concentration episode always gets me. Fantastic show, which imo should be showed to all kids in school as a way to demonstrate what world war 2 really felt like.
Pacific episodes 6-10 are quality.
Original airing if BoB got overshadowed by 9-11. It premiered on Sept 9th. When the attacks happened HBO stopped all advertising and publicity for the show. The final episode drew only 5million viewers in the US. Luckily HBO stuck with it, showing it again and DVD sales helped drive the overall number of viewers up.
It's probably mine too. I wish i still had the Blu-ray boxset.
The concentration camp episode and the one in the forests when they're getting bombarded from the air are two of the most powerful pieces of programming I've ever seen.
Auschwitz was horrible to go and see as a tourist, let alone a soldier with no prior knowledge of what they were witnessing, straight after a battle.
You should give them a go. I don't think many would argue BoB is by far the best TV show/film of its genre.
Had a meal with one of the stars of this a few weeks back. Didn't know til afterwards. Nice guy.
It might be the racist in me but I tried watching this a few years back but couldnt get into it as all the characters looked the same to me once they were in army gear 
Watched first 3 episodes of BoB today, brilliant so far....the scenes with Marc Warren are a bit eerie, also the scene with the German soldier getting splatted under the tank tracks.....will watch The Pacific next.
Thought I'd given my Dad the box sets of both as presents few years ago, turns out it was the books, so had a look on Amazon there is a box set of BoB/The Pacific for £20 so will probably buy it.
Completely agree
Band of Brothers is based upon a historian's, a popular historian, take on the company. I haven't read BoB, but I assume it has a lot of facts mixed in with some clever story telling and funny/meaningful anecdotes. The Pacific is based upon autobiographies, and I think the tone is derived from the fact that these stories are a soldier's interpretations of his actions after years of festering and deep analysis. BoB's dialogue felt more natural and the story was better paced whereas I felt like the Pacific was more nuanced, and the conversations pertained to each soldier having an existential crisis in the face of the brutality of war. In BoB, you see war weariness, but its mainly characters losing the life in their eyes, or Webster yelling at the German PoWs; its more subtle and more believable. I think I got caught up in the characters of the Pacific having these real, troubling discussions about the war they were fighting. They felt like characters who had much more time to reflect on the war they were fighting, and much more time to deal with the struggles they were having killing other humans and being turned into trained, ruthless killers.
You do get that aspect of individual soldiers reflecting upon their actions years later in BoB, but it is more meaningful because it involves actual interviews with the soldiers who fought in the battles you are about to see being depicted. Some of those interviews are really chilling (ie, Donald Malarkey, the actual person, crying while retelling the story of his friends dying saying "and you never forget it." That had more impact on me then any scene in all of the Pacific)
I feel that BoB needs a second viewing, at least. The soldiers they focused on; mainly Winters, Nixon, Lipton, and Spiers, among others I can't really remember, were really distinct characters on first viewing. Others, like Percontie, Bull, Toye, and Bill Guarnere were kind of distinct as well because of their physical characteristics (literally, Bull being fat, and the others being significantly shorter) or strong character development. A lot of the others just got lost in the shuffle. Characters like Webster and Roye were relatively indistinguishable without the episodes that focused almost exclusively on their situation. Even a strong character like Malarkey, who I really connected with and felt sympathy for upon further viewings; his story kind of got lost when I first saw the series.It might be the racist in me but I tried watching this a few years back but couldnt get into it as all the characters looked the same to me once they were in army gear
On first viewing, although it is great, it is tough to feel an emotional attachment to an entire company of soldiers when you can't tell them apart. Plus, some of the battle scenes are so faat paced and so chaotic that you don't see the full ramifications of any action without a more detailed, further viewing. I watched it at first when I was much younger and I felt like I missed a lot of what made the series great. Upon second, and third, and forth, etc, viewings, I have a much greater appreciation for it as a whole, and for each (well, maybe not each, but a lot of different soldiers) character's unique development
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Didn't realise how old this thread was, saw this reply and got excited
Ffs now you got me excited thinking you were quoting a fresh post.
There is a new one coming from the same team, its based on the air war over Europe, called The Mighty 8th based on the book Masters of the Air: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4530216/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
Good post. The Pacific is definitely darker and more horifying. Definitely gave me more of a sense of "how the hell did the keep going, keep putting themselves in dabger with all of the horror going on.
Something people need to realize about BoB especially, is that the author is Stephen Ambrose was an unashamed fanboy of the WW2 generation, and it was later discovered after his death that he was a liar and a massive plagiarist. So how does this relate to BoB? BoB is not history. It should not be considered history. It isn't fiction either. It is a collection of highly biased anecdotal stories from a very small clique within the company itself. In short, these stories are invested in making their own legend.
When Ambrose wrote the book, there was no journalism going on, he was like a school boy hanging out with people he idolized and worshiped. He took everything they said at face value, questioned nothing. Now, I'm not bashing BoB, it is my favorite series of all time. It's amazing. However I also recognize that it is embellished and a very narrow view of what happened. The treatment of Sobel in the book and the series is extremely problematic and revealing of this. The view we have of Sobel from the book and the series is that he is an incompetent, self important, egotist who would have gotten a lot of people killed. Yet, there are other veterans from Easy company who did not figure in the book, who held Sobel as a strategic mastermind, who turned Easy Company into the fighting force they were, saved countless lives through the training measures he took, and as a result lost his NCO's. History would seek to report both sides of this and reconcile this difference of opinion within the company.
BoB is entertaining, it is an amazing recount of that company's involvement in WW2, but it is a biased recollection. To be fair, I don't believe that it pretends to be anything other than just a story, but a lot of people get caught up in idea of "this is history and a true story", and forget the part where this is history and part of a true story from the perspective of a handful of guys out of 100 or more.
I think in both Ambrose's book, and in the majority of the other books from members of Easy Company, they all actually give Sobel enormous credit for, as you said, "turning Easy Company into the fighting force they were, saved countless lives through the training measures he took".
They all also say he was incredibly petty - but also subsequently recognized that this created an extremely strong bond between the men that was not shared by those who joined the company after their basic training at Camp Toccoa. The question of whether a slightly different approach would have made him more liked, but less effective is tough to answer.
I found this article on Sobel based on an interview with his son:
http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
I like this bit:
Hmmm, maybe I should give The Pacific another go after reading some comments in here. I watched it not long after BoB and couldn't get into it, so I never finished it.
Even soldiers who are portrayed as hating Sobel in the book and film will also state that they know he was responsible in so many ways for the creation of Easy Company as a fighting force. It has been over a decade since I read the book but I do not remember whether the book portrayed him as being out of shape or not. Supposedly some of the soldiers paid for Sobel's membership in the 101st Airborne veterans group that organized reunions and such. I think the thing to come away with was that he was an excellent trainer of soldiers, but not necessarily a great leader of men.
Something else I've heard reported anecdotally. Sobel was known in Easy Company as "That fecking Jew" or other epithets of a similar nature. We have to remember, this was a different time, racism in the United States was still largely institutionalized. Ya, our fathers and grandfathers helped liberate concentration camps, but many, if not most of them still hated Jews, they just wouldn't uh, murder them by the millions.
One of the questions I've often had is, how much was the perception of Sobel by other members of Easy shaded by this socially acceptable for the time form of racism. It's always been a chicken or the egg story for me. Was Sobel really an asshole? Were the men under him typical of men of that period, not radically anti-semitic, but anti-semitic all the same and Sobel was a dick because they were dicks? Was Sobel and asshole and were they mostly racist assholes unwilling to accept that he was their CO?
Sobel from what I've read, actually ended up jumping into Normandy, was wounded, was awarded a bronze star I think, served throughout the rest of the war seemingly with little issue, and was even recalled to the Airborne for Korea where he retired a Lt Colonel. If he was as incompetent as indicated, and as unpopular, it seems unlikely he would have been recalled to Korea and made a Lt Colonel. There is just something about the whole thing that seems unsavory.
Patton was a jerk and made General. I read he reached the rank of Lt Colonel while in the peace time National Guard. It is very likely that while an excellent training officer and good at logistics he might not have been a good combat officer.
But none of us served under him so end of the day we just have the views of those who served under him.
The Pacific is brilliant.
I had not finished Band of Brothers even though I got both together in a single box set.
Got the double box set of BoB/Pacific, finished BoB, loved it, brilliant. Almost done The Pacific, great as well, but BoB edges it for me. I still think Platoon is the best war movie ever, but BoB would be the best WWII one.
yes. Platoon is a great film.
Finished The Pacific today, that part of the WWII conflict was definitely a lot more brutal and bloody than the European one looked for sure.
Been going through this again, don't think any other tv shows or even some movies come close to the production on this.
Going to re watch the Pacific afterwards, not even sure if I ever finished the Pacific actually
Going to re watch the Pacific afterwards, not even sure if I ever finished the Pacific actually
Tried the pacific twice, always lost interest around the 4-5th episode, just couldn't get fully invested.
BoB is the best series I've ever seen.
One of the greatest tv events of all time, I could watch it all day.
Yea I think that's how far I always got
Love this series. Probably watched it start to finish at least 10 times along with viewings of random episodes when I caught it airing on TV.
In the US it premiered right before 9/11, the Sunday before in fact. I think this had an effect on the original viewing numbers, but many who missed it the first time around were able to watch it in later runs.
Also down to 14 living members of Easy Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Easy_Company_(506_PIR)_veterans
If you read the book you will find out about Fritz Niland, who had two brothers who died on D-Day with a third who was missing in Burma but was actually captured by the Japanese. Private Ryan in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" was loosely based on Fritz Niland.
In the US it premiered right before 9/11, the Sunday before in fact. I think this had an effect on the original viewing numbers, but many who missed it the first time around were able to watch it in later runs.
Also down to 14 living members of Easy Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Easy_Company_(506_PIR)_veterans
If you read the book you will find out about Fritz Niland, who had two brothers who died on D-Day with a third who was missing in Burma but was actually captured by the Japanese. Private Ryan in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" was loosely based on Fritz Niland.
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Incredible show.
Finished this tonight. Nothing to add to what's been said, just wish I'd watched it ten years ago so I could have watched it a few more times since.
Any sign of Sky to show this again? Been meaning to watch this for years and was going to buy he box set. Just recently got Sky so won't bother if they show it on a regular basis.
Sky Atlantic showed it a couple of months back. Keep your eyes peeled, they might rerun it again soon?
Search for it in the search box, might have it on demand.
Now obviously BoB and The Pacific focus on the experiences of a small group of military personnel from the US. Have there been any similar series done about troops for the UK, Russia or any other allied nation?
Have read over the years several discussions have been had regarding more series along the lines of these two. One idea was to follow members of an Air Force squadron (mostly like a Bomber squadron) in Europe. Another idea I read about was to focus on crew members of a particular warship in the Pacific (the USS Enterprise was mentioned as a possibility and no not the Enterprise from Star Trek).
Have read over the years several discussions have been had regarding more series along the lines of these two. One idea was to follow members of an Air Force squadron (mostly like a Bomber squadron) in Europe. Another idea I read about was to focus on crew members of a particular warship in the Pacific (the USS Enterprise was mentioned as a possibility and no not the Enterprise from Star Trek).
Haven't heard of any - but agree it would be very cool to series series' focusing on other parts of the military.
I would love to see one made about The Few - Spitfire and Hurricane pilots during the Battle of Britain.
I just remember this one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_of_Cake_(TV_series), watched it on PBS here in the States, but it was a fictional piece.