History Series / ThePacific

** [[spoiler:The first victim is a Marine medic who went to take a leak and failed to present himself with the daily password and was killed by friendly fire.]]

* SenselessSacrifice: The narrator and the RealLife Marines state after General [=MacArthur=] decided not to use Peleliu as a forward base to retake the Philippines, the Marines feel their fight, where they suffered from thirst and took horrendous casualties, was cruelly wasted
* ShellshockedVeteran: Sledge. He's lucky his father knew what to expect and was extremely sympathetic about it. Hell, every Marine who saw combat in this series counts as one. In the beginning of Part 10 when they're interviewing the Marines' families, their wives and children state they dealt with what happened to them in the Pacific for their entire life. One daughter even admits to having vivid memories of waking up to her father's screams in the middle of the night when she was a kid.

Produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/TomHanks as the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' and/or ''Film/TheThinRedLine''[[note]]as ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' is to ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''[[/note]], ''The Pacific'' is a ten-part miniseries that premiered on {{Creator/HBO}} beginning on March 14, 2010. It tells the story of the 1st Marines in the Pacific Theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII through the eyes of three men: Robert "Lucky" Leckie, Eugene "Sledgehammer" Sledge, and John Basilone. From Guadalcanal, to Peleliu, to Okinawa, they experienced a war vastly different from the war their fellow countrymen fought in Europe.

Produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/TomHanks as the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' and/or ''Film/TheThinRedLine''[[note]]as ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' is to ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''[[/note]], ''The Pacific'' is a ten-part miniseries that premiered on {{HBO}} beginning on March 14, 2010. It tells the story of the 1st Marines in the Pacific Theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII through the eyes of three men: Robert "Lucky" Leckie, Eugene "Sledgehammer" Sledge, and John Basilone. From Guadalcanal, to Peleliu, to Okinawa, they experienced a war vastly different from the war their fellow countrymen fought in Europe.

Produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/TomHanks as the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' and/or ''[[TheThinRedLine Thin Red Line]]''[[note]]as ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' is to ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''[[/note]], ''The Pacific'' is a ten-part miniseries that premiered on {{HBO}} beginning on March 14, 2010. It tells the story of the 1st Marines in the [[WorldWarTwo Pacific Theater]] through the eyes of three men: Robert "Lucky" Leckie, Eugene "Sledgehammer" Sledge, and John Basilone. From Guadalcanal, to Peleliu, to Okinawa, they experienced a war vastly different from the war their fellow countrymen fought in Europe.

* AnyoneCanDie: With the exception of Leckie and Sledge...right? [[spoiler:The first victim is a Marine medic who went to take a leak and failed to present himself with the daily password and was killed by friendly fire.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Some things are changed from historical accounts for dramatic effect. For example, [[spoiler:Basilone was reported to have been killed instantly by mortar fire; in the series, he's shot instead and manages to remain conscious for a short moment]]
** Actually, [[spoiler: there's some contention as to how he actually died. Casualty reports say he was shot, and some Marines agree with this, while others claim he was killed by mortar shrapnel.]]

* AmericaWinsTheWar: In Australia, the network that airs the series advertised it heavily as "The Fight for Australia". This annoyed many patriotic Australians. Particularly those who [[YouFailHistoryForever didn't fail history]] and know that Australia was never in any real danger anyway --- in fact, the diversion of scarce resources and the further stretching of dangerously over-extended and over-taxed supply lines required for a doomed-to-fail invasion of Australia could have sped the war up a little.

* {{BFG}}: Basilone's Browning heavy machine gun. Which he lugs around and fires from the hip. He even melees a few guys with it. Yep, he's ''that'' badass.
** Completely TruthInTelevision. Both Leckie and Basilone were in machine gun companies. Basilone didn't just pluck that gun out of thin air, he's well-trained in it. Later, the Marines swap their M1917's for the M1919, smaller but no less lethal, as we see when Basilone turns it into a {{BFG}} during the fighting on Iwo.

* BootCampEpisode: Surprisingly, it comes near the end of the series when Basilone ships back stateside to train new recruits.
** This wasn't an actual boot camp episode as the Marines being trained had already been through Boot Camp and were receiving training before being shipped to the Pacific.
* BoyMeetsGirl: Leckie has a childish crush on his childhood neighbour Vera Keller, but they're barely friends, [[spoiler: though they do get together and get married after the war]]; he also gets along great with the Aussie Stella ''and'' her family, but [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies she dumps him because she's worried about what her parents would have to deal with if he died]]

* BringMyBrownPants: Jay comes down with an urgent need to take a bathroom break and rushes over to a cave to do his business, completely unaware that there are two Japanese hiding in it. He ends up shooting the first Japanese and getting chased by the second one with his pants down... all the while holding his M1 carbine and crapping himself scared.

* ClusterFBomb: On ''Series/TheColbertReport'', Tom Hanks warned viewers there would be a lot of objectionable words.
** He also said you'll feel like a big pussy while watching this.
* ColonelBadass: Lieutenant Colonel Lewis "[[AwesomeMcCoolname Chesty]]" Puller. Yes, that guy actually existed.
** Chesty Puller is ''still'' considered a badass by today's Marines, and at Parris Island they end their day by saying, "Good night Chesty Puller, wherever you are!" He's also the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps. He had five Navy Crosses, more than anyone has received ever (something the Marines like to remind the Navy every now and then). The only medal for valor that he was not awareded is the Medal of Honor, and some speculate that's he didn't receive this award because he didn't kiss ass and refused to play political games.
*** Though pretty much everything that came out of his mouth proved he was a badass, he famously said this about being surrounded during the Korean War:

* CrowningMomentofFunny: "Woof." In-show, as well.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Many people have noted that ''ThePacific'' is much more brutal and less romantic than its predecessor ''Series/BandOfBrothers''. ''Band of Brothers'' wasn't a picnic but ''ThePacific'' went much more into the horrific conditions of the Pacific Theater and the mental and emotional scarring afterwards. Given that the Pacific Theater was more brutal overall, this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]].
** [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Originally]], one of the veterans interviewed for the series was to be [[BandOfBrothers Bill Guarnere]], though this was later cut. Guarnere has said in no uncertain terms that as bad as the War in Europe was, the Marines in the Pacific had it even ''[[UpToEleven worse]]''.

* DeathWorld: Pavuvu in the rainy season, which Leckie fake-translates as "Death of Hope"
** Okinawa makes Pavuvu look like a fun place to be. All you had to worry about were crabs in your boot, not bodies floating to the surface.
** Or finding a corpse in the foxhole you've spent hours digging.

* DissonantSerenity: Snafu's usually deadpan calm whether he's just shooting the breeze or prying gold teeth out of a dead Japanese soldier's mouth. When Sledge admits he's scared and Captain Ack Ack states "We're all afraid; all of us. A man who isn't scared out here is either a liar or dead", a quick shot of Snafu makes you wonder what that makes ''him''

** Despite everything, Okinawa almost breaks him: he nearly starts a fight with Sledge, who's probably the person he's closest to, and it's only after [[spoiler: Peck climbs up on an exposed ridge and fires at the enemy and Hamm is shot saving him]] that he seems to go back to his usual self. Even then, there's still a slight change in his demeanor.
*** Probably has something to do with the fact that he [[spoiler: was indirectly the cause of death for two people when he tricked Peck into giving him his poncho (Peck later took the poncho covering the mortar shells, getting them wet and causing another Marine to be shot when they had to run for more ammo) and later when his whining sets off Peck]]
* DrillSergeantNasty: Basilone back at Camp Pendleton.
** Sort of. His men didn't hate him, and instead most were in awe of him because [[{{Badass}} of what he had done on Guadalcanal]], and understood that everything he was drilling into them was for their own good. And we can't forget him telling his men it's okay to be afraid, something most DSN wouldn't do.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:"Frenchie", a Canadian soldier. Bonus horror for being stark naked when he shot himself in the head. At least he was clean when he died...]]

* EmpathyDollShot: When Leckie goes through the pouch of a Japanese soldier and finds mementos of the man's family.
** He also gets an Empathy Wedding Band Shot.
* EverybodySmokes: Although Sledge only starts after he'd seen combat. Interestingly, he opts out from cigarettes to using an old-fashioned pipe by Part 9.
** In a RealLife CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, Sledge's family was so impressed with Mazello's portrayal that they ''gave'' him the pipe Sledge carried during the war.
* AFatherToHisMen: Captain Ack Ack has proven to be this more than once. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, he's killed off-screen by a Japanese sniper in Part 7. While they're lowering his body out on a stretcher, most of the men in his platoon can be seen crying and/or saluting. Even [[DissonantSerenity Merriell "Snafu" Shelton's]] seen holding back tears]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: You just know that when Sledge's father makes his final plea to stop his son from enlisting, every one of the poor old man's fears would come to pass (see WarIsHell)

* GetItOverWith: The last survivor of the ill-fated Japanese assault in episode 1.
** Marks the definitive end of Sledge's NewMeat status.
* HeroicBSOD: What, in addition to nocturnal enuresis, gets Leckie off Pavuvu, where he meets some other shell-shocked Marines.

** After returning home, Sledge breaks down crying while dove hunting with his father, presumably because of the memories it brings back
*** More that that: the RealLife Sledge states he told his father he could no longer tolerate seeing any form of suffering, be it a wounded dove he had to kill during a hunt

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Lt. Mac from Episode 9. In his introduction in Episode 7, he chides Sledge for his thousand-yard-stare, then when he gets to Okinawa, he stupidly chews out Sledge for [[CompletelyMissingThePoint "giving away their position"]]. (Sledge had just shot down Japanese soldiers who were running directly at them with bayonets!" Other then that he's shown to be fairly reasonable. But:
** Mac is based on two officers who joined Company K for the Peleliu campaign, Lt. Robert "Mac" [=MacKenzie=], the new mortar section commander, and 1st Lt. George "Shadow" Loveday, the Company XO and later CO. Shadow was the one who chewed out Sledge, and had a notorious habit of temper tantrums when he became displeased with his Marines (in one incident in the book, he chewed out a Marine who showed bravery in an attempt to knock out a machine gun!). Mac had a reputation for being utterly juvenile, shooting the teeth of a dead animal (on patrol, no less!) and [[{{Squick}} shooting the penis off of a dead Japanese soldier and pissing in another one's mouth]]. He also bragged about how brave he would act under fire (before actually coming under fire). A far cry from the "Mac" in Episode 9.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: A mild case with Snafu. In real life, there's no evidence he committed any of the "questionable" acts we see on screen. A mild case because he's ultimately more of an anti-hero, has numerous PetTheDog and PluckyComicRelief moments and, for all his gruesomeness, is never seen killing prisoners or unarmed civilians.

* IdealizedSex: Averted with Leckie and Stella's first sex scene.
** Basilone has the literal kind on his war bond tour, with Virginia Grey. Makes me want to go out and earn a Medal of Honor.

* ItsQuietTooQuiet: ''Any frigging time it's quiet is too quiet''.
** This even includes "safe" areas like hospitals and home, where it's only a matter of time before the {{Flashback Nightmare}}s start

* KillEmAll: Frighteningly invoked by Sledge in Part 9.

** [[spoiler:These very words come back to haunt him at the end of the episode.]]

* MercyKill: Leckie gives a Japanese soldier who's going through a major breakdown one, upsetting the Marines who were toying and taking potshots at him.
** The sick Japanese soldiers in Part 4, [[spoiler:one of whom is ''strangled to death'' by Gibson, who then starts ''grinning''; awkwardly, but still...]]
** Snafu does this when another Marine's trying to pry the teeth out of a still living Japanese soldier's mouth in Part 7. Although he claims it's not so much this trope as making things easier for the Marine because the teeth are easier to get out if they're dead
*** All Snafu says is that it "Makes it easier". He doesn't say what is easier, but it is implied that he's referring to removing the teeth. Sub-text seems to be that dehumanizing the enemy makes it easier to fight.
** Sledge, teetering on the edge of committing a war crime (again) after witnessing the Japanese soldiers using civilians as human shields and living bombs, [[spoiler: opts not to mercy kill a dying Okinawan woman (who was wounded when he ordered a mortar round into her house) by shooting her in the head like she wants; instead, he cradles her until she dies.]]

--->'''Snafu''': "Don't worry; we have a nickname for you, too, Bill Leyden: we call you "Ball-Peen Hammer". Like a little hammer... for a little man."
--->'''Leyden''': "Alright, Snafu..."Shit 'n Ass"..."Fuck Up"..."
--->'''Snafu''': "Little jokes from the little man."
* NewMeat: In Part 9, two new privates join the platoon's mortar squad after [[spoiler: Jay's mysteriously transferred out to a different company]]. Sledge and Snafu are initially hostile towards them, mainly due to their inexperience when it comes to fighting the enemy and dealing with the elements

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton. His real name is only said twice in the series: once by Sledge, who was fighting with him at the time, and once by Snafu himself, while trying to pick up a girl.

* SemperFi: And how.

* ShellshockedVeteran: Sledge. He's lucky his father knew what to expect and was extremely sympathetic about it.
** Hell, every Marine who saw combat in this series counts as one. In the beginning of Part 10 when they're interviewing the Marines' families, their wives and children state they dealt with what happened to them in the Pacific for their entire life. One daughter even admits to having vivid memories of waking up to her father's screams in the middle of the night when she was a kid.
* ShootTheDog: Not the actual dog on Peleliu, but [[spoiler:one shellshocked Marine has a nightmare/freakout that could've alerted the Japanese to their positions, and is accidentally killed by his comrades (they only wanted to knock him out). The rest of the platoon's mortified at their actions, but Sledge states it was "better him than all of us."]]
** Okinawa is ''made'' of this trope.

* ShoutOut: During [[spoiler:John and Lena's wedding, Lena]] complains that she feels 'like a Paratrooper' in her long silk dress. Lt. Harry Welsh actually carried his white silk reserve parachute through Normandy for over a month and then sent home to his fiancée Kitty so she could use it to make a wedding dress, as mentioned in ''BandOfBrothers''.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/BandOfBrothers'', the [[RecycledTheSeries miniseries version]] of ''SavingPrivateRyan''.
** To ''TheThinRedLine'' -- this series has the same relationship to ''Thin Red Line'', the [[DuelingMovies Pacific version]] of SPR, as ''BandOfBrothers'' has to SPR:- including a [[{{Homage}} Very Similar Soundtrack]] by the [[HansZimmer same composer]].

* TankGoodness: Since Japanese tanks are outdated in design, they are woefully outclassed against American armor, most prominently the Sherman tank.
** Iwo Jima's a different story, all together: AT guns set up on Mount Surabachi destroyed most of the tanks that hit the shore, much to Basilone's dismay.

* TheUnfavorite / WellDoneSonGuy: It's either that or Leckie's parents ''really'' don't know about human emotions: when Leckie leaves for the army, his father doesn't seem to know how to show emotion about it, and when he finally returns home, it's treated as an inconvenience by his parents, as they've been using his room for storage.
** Leckie states outright in Part 3 that he's the least favorite child and his parents never really wanted him. Also, he had an older brother who died at a young age and ever since then, his parents had a hard time showing affection.
*** Somewhat subverted in that Leckie isn't striving for his parent's approval.

---> "The worst thing about treating those combat boys from [[WorldWarOne The Great War]] wasn't that they had their flesh torn; it was that they had their souls torn out. I don't want to look into your eyes someday...and see no spark, no love, no...no life. That would break my heart."
** DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The show generally manages to keep this to a minimum, at the very least. Everything is ''so'' brutal, ''so'' muddy and shitty, and just so goddamned ''miserable'' that it is in no way glorious or jingoistic. The only real exception are scenes involving John Basilone, and, well, the guy was inspiring to his own in in real life, so it's hard for him [[{{Badass}} to not come across]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome as completely amazing]]. [[spoiler:Even he gets unceremoniously cut down at the end of episode 8, though, to the horror of just about everyone, his men included.]]

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: "''You guys are heroes back home''"
** Also the darker side of this trope with the number of Marines who perform brutal atrocities during the campaign.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: At the end of Part 10, almost every character in the series gets one. Their post-war lives are are explained, along with fading photos of the actors to wartime photographs of the Marines they played. Also counts as a total TearJerker
** Also sad because you find out the majority of the characters have already died of old age, since the show debuted in 2010, nearly ''seventy years'' after Pearl Harbor.

[[quoteright:332:~~MiniSeries [[HistoricalSeries Historical Drama]], [[MilitaryAndWarFareTelevision Military And Warfare]]~~]]

** [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Originally]], one of the veterans interviewed for the series was to be [[BandOfBrothers Bill Garnier]], though this was later cut. Garnier has said in no uncertain terms that as bad as the War in Europe was, the Marines in the Pacific had it even ''[[UpToEleven worse]]''.

Has a [[Characters/ThePacific character page]] in need of [[NeedsMoreLove more love]].

* FakeAmerican: In the same way ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' had many British actors playing this, there are some American soldiers that Australian viewers might recognize. The biggest example is Gunny Haney, played by veteran Australian actor Gary Sweet. Another example is the Seabee looking to buy a Japanese sword or weapon, also played by an Australian actor known through the Australian drama ''Sea Patrol''.
** Burgin is played by Martin [=McCann=], who's Irish, and Bill Leyden's played by a Canadian actor. There are also a few other British and Canadian actors playing Americans.
** Lew "Chuckler" Juergens is portrayed by Australian actor Josh Helman.

* NamesTheSame: J.P. Morgan doesn't appear to have any relation to the famous financier.

* TanksButNoTanks: Averted, though in this case the reasonably accurate Japanese tanks had to be created using CGI due to a lack of surviving originals.

* WarIsHell: The entirety of ''The Pacific'' is basically this.

* AwesomeYetPractical: The miniseries is grounded in RealLife, yet this does not prevent it from having many awesome moments

* ParentalSubstitute; Stella's family for Leckie, who has little bond with his real parents. [[spoiler:Stella even breaks up with Leckie because she's worried how her mother would take it if Leckie was killed in combat.

* RareGuns: Basilone's seen with a Reising submachine gun in Part 2. The gun is rarely seen in most WW2 fiction.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: A second lieutenant during firing practice points his pistol other than the direction of downrange. Gunny immediately takes the pistol away from the lieutenant and berates him for not knowing basic gun safety. When said lieutenant looks at Ack-Ack, he merely responds with "He's right".

* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: The opposite still holds; RealLife Marines state they never got over their shellshocked experiences in the Pacific Theater. Played cruelly straight in-series with Sledge getting a nightmare the first night he returns home

** Basilone's friend J.P. Morgan plays this straight: an Australian soldier tries to start a fight with him and Basilone about the fact the Marines are on liberty in Melbourne, dating Australian women and occupying the city, while disrespecting [[spoiler:their recently deceased comrade Manny Rodriguez]]:

** Chesty Puller is ''still'' considered a badass by today's Marines, and at Parris Island they end their day by saying, "Good night Chesty Puller, wherever you are!" He's also the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps. He had five Navy crosses, more than anyone has received ever. The only medal for valor that he was not awareded is the Medal of Honor, and some speculate that's he didn't receive this award because he didn't kiss ass and refused to play political games.

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* OneSceneWonder: He's only in a few episodes, but Gary Sweet as the Gunny is a pure comedy/badassery package every second he's on screen.

* ArtisticLicense: Some things are changed from historical accounts for dramatic effect. For example, [[spoiler:Basilone was reported to have been killed instantly by mortar fire; in the series, he's shot instead and manages to remain conscious for a short moment]]