Masters of the Air [Apple]

The Black Oil

http://collider.com/tom-hanks-steven-spielberg-masters-of-the-air/

This fall we reported the early whispers that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg would be back to produce a third World War II miniseries for HBO, new details of which have emerged. The two collaborated on the highly successful (and highly decorated) series Band of Brothers which first aired in 2001, and followed it up with The Pacific in 2010.

The new series, called Masters of the Air, would explore the aerial wars of the men known as the “Mighty Eighth,” using Donald L. Miller’s historical book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany as source material. Hit the jump for more on the project.

Will be good to see some air battles for a change, though what happens on the ground will hopefully be as interesting, including the airmen's stories/background, etc. I was a bit disappointed with The Pacific as I didn't really connect with the characters, though I thought it was good in how it depicted the personal cost paid by the soldiers.

Early days for this upcoming project - hope it gets off the ground. It'll probably air...2016?

hardCopy

Hopefully they stick with one group throughout, chopping and changing between characters just didn't work in The Pacific

BlaasForRafa

hardCopy wrote: »

Hopefully they stick with one group throughout, chopping and changing between characters just didn't work in The Pacific

It'd be more interesting if they portrayed the German side as well, there's plenty of fascinating stories on the other side too.

It could be a spectacular series, the epic Schweinfurt/Regensburg raid alone deserves a couple of episodes to show everything that happened.

The Black Oil

Not much concrete news on this. Seems very much in the pre-production phase, getting writers on board, etc. There is a Facebook fan page

Importantly, it looks like they have interviewed the veterans.

Cobraverde

I've just managed to track down a copy of the book. A few chapters in and it's rather excellent and constantly fascinating. The whole concept of mass aerial bombing was pretty much theoretical by the start of the Second World War. Many of the american planners insisted on going on the first bomb run over Germany and were ecstatic on returning. Everybody was convinced this type of modern warfare - from the air - would save countless lives in comparison to the suffering of the last war. Of course, it didn't exactly pan out like that.

The Black Oil

It's been difficult to find information on this over years. Stuff online about the alleged budget, pieces having been shot. I'm not aware of anyone having been cast. Granted, they often have tended to go for relative unknowns with the soldiers/characters, but it's hard to get clear info on the production, in general. I presume if there was something official the usual sites like Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc, would have pieces up, or indeed a press release from HBO.

Anyway, scripts are nearly done, it seems.

https://twitter.com/johnorloff/status/889593735306203136

The Black Oil

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Masters of Air

Apple Orders Follow Up to ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘The Pacific’ From Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg

Adaptation of Donald L. Miller book “Masters of Air” will be tech giant’s first in-house production

https://www.thewrap.com/apple-masters-of-air-steven-spielberg-tom-hanks/

At last, something solid. Big coup for Apple.

Nigel Fairservice

I'm really looking forward to it.

The Black Oil

Cary Fukunaga will direct the first 3 episodes.

Deadline

The Black Oil

Austin Butler and Callum Turner will play the lead roles.

Variety

Agent Coulson

Irish actor Anthony Boyle join the cast as a joint lead.

The Black Oil

Production has begun. https://collider.com/masters-of-the-air-filming-cary-fukunaga-apple-tv-plus/

Agent Coulson

Just wrapped filming.

https://deadline.com/2022/04/tom-hanks-gary-goetzman-apple-tv-deal-masters-of-the-air-greyhound-sequel-1235000802/

FortuneChip

Well, glad we haven't had to wait for this one for too long.

I'd be looking forward to this, but can't help but feel it's got big boots to fill.

Re-watched BoB and Pacific over Christmas. They're both so good.

The former trumps it for me, just for how it spent time developing the relationships in particular.

But Pacific did a job of really showing a different type of war, and the psychological effects it had on soldiers.

youcancallmeal

I recently read Donald L. Miller's book Masters of the Air which is what the series is based on. Incredible book that goes into a lot of detail of the air war in Europe. I'd highly recommend it

The Black Oil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118920175#Comment_118920175

This is he.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsePDLVyL2w

The Black Oil

Playtone's Kirk Saduski saying mid-Spring 2023 for the potential airdate. Promising spectacular VFX too. He worked on Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP5Z5xFTJe0

The Black Oil

Finally.

https://twitter.com/johnorloff/status/1598802876754972673

Agent Coulson

First look at in Apple’s sizzle reel of upcoming shows

Barry Keoghan one of the stars

https://youtu.be/8bF69F-ftXA

Agent Coulson

Starts Friday January 26th 2024 with a double episode and then runs weekly every Friday.

It has 9 episodes.

Nigel Fairservice

Was hoping we'd get it this side of Christmas.

JP Liz V1

Produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman and will drop on Apple TV+ on 26 January 2024

pixelburp

First trailer arrived for this - not immediately down for all the CGI dogfighting, even if I know why they went that route.

https://youtu.be/2RWohylGm3c

The Black Oil

They're so young.

billyhead

Can't wait for this. Thought the Pacific was poor though.

Nigel Fairservice

I liked that trailer. Looking forward to this a lot. Donald Miller's book is a great read as well.

I liked the Pacific but not as much as BoB. The Pacific campaign was much longer than the American's campaign in Europe. D Day to VE day was less than a year. The Pacific campaign went on for a few years and so there was a good bit more ground to cover in the show. I don't think we got to know the characters in the Pacific as well and the characters in BoB either.

expectationlost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121346601#Comment_121346601

are they as young a they were in real life and what was the death rate in these unis?

findra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121348065#Comment_121348065

They were all mostly in their early twenties and the death rate was horrendous. More allied service personnel died in the European air war than in the entire Pacific ground campaign

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121346601#Comment_121346601

Think we've just got older lol. I had a quick check and Damien Lewis was 30 when Band of Brothers came out, younger again when they shot it - and the man he played was 27 when WW2 ended in 1945. Easy to forget just how young these guys were when they went off to fight.

Agent Coulson

Full trailer

Starts January 26th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-1JCRguZ0

pixelburp

Maybe I'm just jaded and cynical but yeesh, some of the on-the-ground dialogue was atrocious sounding, especially the Romantic lines.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121347957#Comment_121347957

Same here on both comments.

Sleepy

I can't wait for this. Missed the trailer being released and only stumbled on it this week.

The Pacific paled in comparison to Band of Brothers because it didn't have the same cohesive story of a single unit of exceptional soldiers to focus on and instead used a selection of the most notable memoirs of men who fought in the Pacific campaign as it's source resulting in a fairly fractured story. Individual episodes were fantastic but it missed the central narrative.

Sadly it looks like Masters of the Air may be taking the same path, hopefully they'll figure out the plot structure a bit better this time.

siblers

Always feels like The Pacific gets a bit of a hard time. I rewatched The Pacific last year for the first time in years and I thought it was amazing. It's not as accessible as BoB if you're not familiar with the Pacific theatre but I was blown away by how accurate it was.

The Masters Of The Air book is very good but I've no idea how they'll manage to make a cohesive story out of it though. My expectations aren't very high for it

Flinty997

I couldn't get into The Pacific.

Agent Coulson

The opening credits,

Nearly there now after years in the works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Ys1aI9a_Y

Agent Coulson

It's getting rave reviews from those critics have seen the first few episodes.

Starts this Friday.

pixelburp

I'll wait and see cos those trailers looked a tad cornball and patriotic; I have seen some reviews suggest it's not like that at all

The Black Oil

An A from AV Club. I saw quite a positive headline from The Guardian.

TV Line, on the other hand...

2smiggy

anyone watch it yet ? might throw on the first episode in a bit

_Kaiser_

Yep watched the first one earlier. Excellent start

Sudden Valley

First two episodes are good but the combat scenes cant help be a bit same-y. There is only so many ways you can make a bombing run different.

mobby

watched the first two, Good stuff so far.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121667022#Comment_121667022

I didn't see anything patriotic about it but a little bit cornball ya. Butler is too "Hollywood hero" type. James Deen looks, charm, striking voice and the English and Irish in episode 1 are all typical Hollywood stereotypes with stupid accents.

Even worse is Barry Keoghan doing an American accent (but I could be biased because I can't stand him)

They are small things though and I enjoyed episode 1 and am looking forward to seeing more.

morebabies

I have a 9 year old who loves military aviation stuff - would it be suitable for him? We don't have apple tv so I'd only get it for him if it's not wildly inappropriate.

expectationlost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121680734#Comment_121680734

watching them all get shot pieces burned and die might cure him of it so go ahead

morebabies

Wildly inappropriate then.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121684391#Comment_121684391

I would have been watching it at 9 years old.

It's got nothing you wouldn't see in all those horror movies that were popular when I was that age.

I wouldn't go buying Apple just so he can see it but at the same time I wouldn't freak out if I found out he saw it somewhere.

AMKC

Watched one episode. So far not impressed have seen better. Maybe the next few episodes will be better.

McGrath5

I watched the first 2 episodes. I can’t stand Austin Butlers rather woeful accent.

The show isn’t a patch on Band of Brothers or The Pacific.

youcancallmeal

Watched the first 2 episodes and I'm enjoying it. It looks like they're trying to stick with the same characters for the first few episodes at least which is good from a story arc perspective but in reality the life expectancy of the flyers was extremely short, vast majority especially in 1943 were quickly shot down and killed or if they were lucky spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. I'd say within the next few episodes the story will shift to other people entirely.

I think comparison to BoB and The Pacific is not fair as it's a much more difficult situation to create a compelling character driven drama for reasons I mentioned above