Saw the first epsiode.... Too bad they don't have sort of a training episode.
I remember at the time with BoB missing the first two episodes and starting to watch in episode 3, I couldn't make out the difference between these guys. Who's who and why? When I got to see the series again including the first two epsiodes it all made perfect sense seeing how these guys got introduced to us as viewers and to themselves. Now we just have to figure it out as we go... but I don't really know who's it about yet...
Anyway, just the first episode.
Been watching this as I love Band of Brothers...
Its pretty good, but I don't think it will ever be up to Band of Brothers status.
First off, its way to short. Its only an hour and the first like 10 minutes are filled with useless crap. I mean Band of Brothers got away with its excessively long intro with the hour and a half run time, but I just feel cheated now.
Its also hard to get attached to any of the characters. I feels its partially due to the fact that the main characters arn't interacting with one another. BoB did it well by sticking to one (admittedly unusually prolific) company. This jumping around thing isn't doing them any favors.
The battle scenes are done well though, and I disagree with the "we need more fighting" crowd. What it needs is a more subtle set-up. I remember some of the emotional impact of things in BoB, like some of Cpt. Winter's kills and things like that, but I'm not getting any impact from anything thats happening yet. The closest I got was the love story in the 4th one. That was the most character development that they did, and it was sorely needed, but its still not enough.
Yes, I wonder where it is going myself. It looks and feels a lot like BoB, but I too miss the reason why I should care for these characters. There don't seem to be any issues. And there was plenty of opportunity, like in ep1 - the shooting of that Japanese unarmed soldier in the morning... that was crude. But they also left it hanging there...
I'll just continue to watch, hoping for a spark like the many in BoB.
The DVD box got released last week (timed for Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day?) I rented it and watched the whole thing over the weekend. It started slowly; seems we got thrown quickly into the Battle Of Guadalcanal (but maybe that's what it felt like for the army, trying to halt the Japanese advance.) I realized by Episode 5 the heart of this story is Eugene Sledge, over Bob Leckie and John Basilone, because he is the focus after this, starting with the seemingly forgotten Battle Of Peleliu (which gets more time than any other battle in the series.) By the time they get to Okinawa I think the series finally earned greatness. Still, Band Of Brothers is better overall with it's narrative.