True to its spirit, the respectable, dignified, handsomely produced miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific have been packaged together as a respectable, dignified, handsomely produced set. With 13 discs and a base program of 20 hours (excluding special features), the set better resembles a coffee table book than a film set, with the separate discs contained in a cardboard booklet encased in a box just begging to be left out whenever your parents come over. Though many people will doubtlessly want to purchase it for themselves, the real intended use here is as one of those 'generational bridge' holiday gifts that fathers and sons can give each other as a sort of rite of manhood, of course substituting for actually participating in the war itself. There may be more appropriate gift sets that you can give the war hawk in your life, but there's unlikely to be a larger one.
By now, you probably have an opinion on Tom Hanks, HBO, and the tenets of National Socialism, so the narrative and emotional minutiae will not be covered here, save for noting that it will appeal to fans of awful violence, noble speeches, and subdued but insistent trumpet music. Band of Brothers was produced so quickly in the wake of Saving Private Ryan that discussion of the two is frequently interchangeable, and there is no mistaking that the two are spiritual brethren. Ryan's muted color palette, pasty but clean-shaven protagonists, and anachronistic sense of heroism have all been translated pretty faithfully. The Pacific, produced a number of years, was clearly produced for the same audience that responded so well to Band, but is slightly less redolent of Ryan's success, and is generally grimmer and more nihilistic than its counterpart, while still making the camaraderie of fighting men its narrative core. Seen together, it's a fairly exhaustive (and exhausting) portrait of the war, if still unable to compete with a full-scope narrative like WWII in HD (which is also after your hard-earned Blu-ray dollars with an impressive, camo-themed set).
But what do you really want to know here? If the supplemental features justify the hefty price tag, that’s what. The answer is a resounding “that depends”. Each series comes on its own five discs with an additional supplemental disc. Band of Brothers contains the documentary We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company, a feature-length piece on the history the film covers, the video diaries of Ron Livingston, a thirty minute ‘making-of’ featurette, and a piece on the premiere in Normandy. The Pacific, reflecting that it was ultimately a less heralded series, has considerably less, being Profiles of the Pacific, featuring the actual marines shown in the series, a ‘making-of’, and the short Anatomy of the Pacific War. On top of that, each episode contains some supplementary enhancement, divided roughly into commentary and ‘field guides’, which expand visually upon the episodes using maps, historical data, and other information. The commentary is picture-in-picture, and features surviving soliders, family members, historical experts and others. There is also a whole other disc with He Has Seen War, about the rehabilitation of veterans and their gradual assimilation back into society.
There’s no question but that this set is comprehensive, thoughtful, and reverent; anyone for whom Band of Brothers has become a television benchmark for will no doubt be satisfied. But unless the person you’re shopping for (or you) is a die-hard fan of the series or the sort of techno-fetishist who would set aside a week to go through a boxed set, you might be better off sticking with a previous release or WWII in HD, which is a little more novel at this point (and makes a good combo with Vietnam in HD). There’s no doubt but that this gift set makes a statement, and a big one, but it’s definitely an appeal to rarefied tastes.
"Band of Brothers/ThePacific Box Set" is on sale November 8, 2011 and is not rated. Drama, Television, War. Directed by Carl Franklin, David Frankel, David Nutter, Mikael Salomon, Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine, David Leland, Tom Hanks, Tony To, Tim Van Patten, Jeremy Podeswa, Graham Yost. Written by Erik Jendresen, Tom Hanks, John Orloff, E. Max Frye, Graham Yost, Bruce C. McKenna, Erik Bork, Robert Schenkkan, George Pelecanos, Larry Andries, Michelle Ashford. Starring Ashton Holmes, Brendan Fletcher, Colin Hanks, Dale Dye, Damian Lewis, David Schwimmer, James McAvoy, Kirk Acevedo, Ron Livingston, Simon Pegg, Stephen Graham, William Sadler, Eion Bailey, Craig Heaney, Frank John Hughes, Matthew Leitch, Alex Sabga, Tim Matthews, Rene L Moreno, Peter Omeara, Douglas Spain, Richard Speight Jr, Rick Warden, Joseph Mazzello, James Badge Dale, Jon Seda, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Pitts, Keith Nobbs, Josh Helman, Henry Nixon, Rami Malek, Martin Mccann, Toby Leonard Moore, Nathan Corddry.
