First off I am a massive fan of the first Band of Brothers. The character development it presented as the series went on really drew you in, as a result you cared about them which is what made the tension of the series.
Which leaves me wondering where BoB: Pacific has gone so wrong. Firstly, character development, there isn't any. You get a few token scenes of people saying goodbye to their families, and then bang you are on the beaches. As a result you don't know the characters, and so you don't care when they start dying. You have no idea of what these guys have gone through leading up the first assault, and you get no sense of their group dynamic. Its just a bunch of the most ragtag, barely military with seemingly no military training guys, acting like their hardcore vets off the set of Commando, where all it takes to defeat the Japanese is set up a machine gun post and the Japanese do the rest. As someone who is in the armed forces and studied the pacific war, the portrayal of the Japanese is ludicrous. They were some of the best jungle fighters in armed conflict, yet in BoB: Pacific, they are portrayed as cannon fodder. Yes, their fatalism is well documented, but it was always to a strategic end. Not in BoB: Pacific.
Overall, thoroughly disappointed so far. The original BoB was amazing, and stands as one of the best WW2 series ever made. This, is something I pretend doesn't exist lest it ruin my memories of the original BoB.
Which leaves me wondering where BoB: Pacific has gone so wrong. Firstly, character development, there isn't any. You get a few token scenes of people saying goodbye to their families, and then bang you are on the beaches. As a result you don't know the characters, and so you don't care when they start dying. You have no idea of what these guys have gone through leading up the first assault, and you get no sense of their group dynamic. Its just a bunch of the most ragtag, barely military with seemingly no military training guys, acting like their hardcore vets off the set of Commando, where all it takes to defeat the Japanese is set up a machine gun post and the Japanese do the rest. As someone who is in the armed forces and studied the pacific war, the portrayal of the Japanese is ludicrous. They were some of the best jungle fighters in armed conflict, yet in BoB: Pacific, they are portrayed as cannon fodder. Yes, their fatalism is well documented, but it was always to a strategic end. Not in BoB: Pacific.
Overall, thoroughly disappointed so far. The original BoB was amazing, and stands as one of the best WW2 series ever made. This, is something I pretend doesn't exist lest it ruin my memories of the original BoB.