Masters of the Air [Apple]

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

Sleepy

Two episodes in and so far so good. The only criticism I'd have is the incredibly petty one that Austin Butler is perhaps too good looking for the role which detracts a little from the "ordinary men doing the extraordinary because it was necessary" theme of the other Playtone WW2 series...

I deliberately haven't researched the characters to avoid spoilers but I did remark to Mrs Sleepy that if I was involved in the production, I'd have chosen a pilot that was killed in action for Butler's role: make him the front and centre star of the show and kill him off in episode 6/7...

Butson

Really cheesy dialogueand characters.

Great battle scenes in the air.

All good.

2smiggy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121690908#Comment_121690908

just the way i like it

pixelburp

Watched the first episode of this and it was fine; not immediately grabbed by the characters - except maybe the poor air sick guy who read his map wrong - and Austin Butler's generic looks were distracting in all the wrong ways. Maybe the intent is to deconstruct his Hollywood good looks and cowboy drawl but it quickly annoyed a tad too much.

The action was pretty good overall but some of the CGI looked too fake, too shiny; they didn't get crazy with the camera, defy physics or anything, but there was a disjointed polish to the flying planes compared with (what I presume to be) physical props on the runways.

Does remind you just how insane the conditions were: we live in a time now when bombing runs are done with unmanned drones, here was a reminder that it used to be done by a bunch of scared young men shoved into flying metal meat grinders.

Flinty997

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

Yes. Average age was 25. Training pilots and navigators took longer hence lifted the age. It was 19-25 overall. British crews were younger.

"...During 1943, only about 25% of Eighth Air Force bomber crewmen completed their 25-mission tours—the other 75% were killed, severely wounded, or captured. .."

1943 is the worst period of the war for US daylight bombing. Allied fighters didn't have the range yet to escort them the whole way, so they were on their own for most of the mission.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121463356#Comment_121463356

Yeah the ground scenes aren't great, and the characters don't really grab you. The writing of those bits isn't the best.

Air scenes are good.

While I love band of brothers, I could never get into the Pacific. Too much focus on their previous lives before the war.

I feel Memphis Belle tells the story better. But that's quite dated now especially the special effects. I think the soundtrack music really helps make Memphis Belle.

I still think the old war movies like Battle of Britain etc. Dunkirk tell the story of the events and the people characters much better. Perhaps because they had been in the war.

Masters of the air has fantastic air battle scenes. Raised the bar there. No argument.

Flinty997

Anyone familiar with the actor James Stewart might be interested...

"....Jimmy Stewart entered the Army as a private and at the end of WWII was a colonel in the Army Air Corps, fully decorated as the result of the 20 combat missions he flew over Germany as leader of a squadron of B-24's. Among the medals, he was awarded were two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Croix de Guerre...."

Flinty997

Stuff on Apple TV seems to be of higher picture quality than other streaming services. Maybe it my imagination. I'm not using an Apple TV box either.

Nigel Fairservice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121723358#Comment_121723358

Clark Gable flew with the 8th as well during WW2. The captain of the Memhis Belle used to go out on the town with him in London. I think he only officially flew 5 combat missions due to the propaganda value to the Nazis in the event of him being shot down but the Masters of the Air book suggests he unofficially flew more missions.

ejmaztec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121723317#Comment_121723317

I remember seeing a documentary years ago where one of the aircrew on one of the bombers recounted how one or two planes headed off in a different direction to the main group. That wasn't only occasion that some people chickened out and went to Sweden. He said it was embarrassing for the American government after the war ended, when one of their diplomats arrived in Sweden to meet with Swedish government reps and tried to ignore the American bombers parked by the hangars. I don't know what happened to the crews afterwards. 😗