TV brings 'Pearl Harbor' up close and personal

Stations to broadcast documentaries, more Booksellers aren't the only ones joining in the frenzy accompanying the release of Disney's movie "Pearl Harbor." TV is getting into the act, too.

A number of special small-screen presentations are coming up in the near future. Among them:

• "Pearl Harbor: The Eyewitness Story," airs at 7 tonight on KHNL, Channel 8, and again at 6 p.m. May 27.

This made-in-Hawai'i video actually was released some years ago, and is widely available for sale, but is worth a look if you haven't seen it.

The production values aren't as sophisticated as in the History Channel works mentioned below, and there's a confusing tendency to switch back and forth between contemporary and historical footage, but the video does a good job of fleshing out the Pearl Harbor story.

It begins with the backstory: why the Japanese went to war, and how they came to attack Pearl Harbor in the first place. The heart of the story is the voices of a number of survivors of the battle, including the particularly touching experiences of one man who got out although his twin brother did not. If the voice of the narrator seems familiar, it's because this was the last project of the late Ed Sheehan — himself a Pearl Harbor witness, having worked in the shipyard area.

• "Unsung Heroes of Pearl Harbor," will be shown at 6 p.m. May 26 on the History Channel. This high-quality, 60-minute segment focuses primarily on those who, amidst the chaos and devastation, fought back during the battle.

But it also illustrates the errors of judgment that led to some of the disasters of the day; how, for example, the military was more worried about sabotage from the Island's Japanese American population than about an attack from outside.

• "Tora, Tora, Tora: The Real Story of Pearl Harbor," at 7 p.m. May 26 on the History Channel, is a two-hour special that recounts the attack from both Japanese and American viewpoints, as the 1969 movie did, but without any fictionalization.

• "One Hour Over Tokyo: The Doolittle Raid," at 9 p.m. May 26, tells the familiar story of Doolittle's Raiders, a band of 80 airmen who volunteered for a top-secret, one-way mission into enemy territory in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. The effort helped to change the course of the war.

Finally, back to the movie, KHNL News8 and KFVE Channel 5 will air the arrivals on the red carpet at the May 21 "Pearl Harbor" premiere live, starting at 5 p.m. on KHNL, switching to KFVE at 6:30 p.m.

Also, KHNL anchor Howard Dashefsky will interview NBC anchor Tom Brokaw about his upcoming National Geographic special on Pearl Harbor.