Spoilers Masters of the Air

[shadow puppet]

Masters of the Air: Premieres January 26th.

I'm very much looking forward to this series and hope they do it right. My Dad was a B17 pilot (96th bomb group) in the Mighty 8th. He was stationed at Snetterton Heath working with the Royal Air Force. He was also his squadron's commander & awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He's gone now, but I'm very proud of my old man.

Flying the B17:

Receiving the DFC:

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I too am excited to watch this. My dad's Dad was in the 8th as well and flew a few missions over Germany. My dad has a picture of him cleaning .50 cal machine guns as PRINCESS Elizabeth watches.

 

[ThaGoochiestMane]

I loved BoB and The Pacific so I had high hopes but I'm beyond disappointed.

The first episode felt unbelievably cliché with the dialogue, and at some points it felt like they were just trying to hit the viewer over the head with the point the were trying to make.

But my biggest gripe is the cinematography. That's where it's completely unrecognizable from the previous two miniseries. Obviously some of it is due to the difference in subject, but it just felt way too polished with way to many low angle closeups (especially when the character is not in a cockpit where there is an excuse).

But the biggest flaw was the combat scene. The fact they just mentioned "only 4 planes from the other squad made it" without showing any of what they had to deal with. That seems like it's straight from Tim's "not too much violence, not too much cursing" command for TV+. And could be construed as a disservice to the vets who died on that actual mission.

It really makes me wonder what the Bastogne episode of BoB would have looked like had Apple made that series too.

 

[maihan]

I too am excited to watch this.My relatives were blown to pieces ,hiding in the basement.

 

[acctman]

Anyone experienced issues watching the second episode… negative video quality is being shown

 

[CTHarrryH]

I find the indoor scenes difficult to see the actors, etc. There is very little light inside. Not the only show to do this but I just find it difficult to see the actors - and I have increased brightness, etc on my tv

 

[mrsmith1]

Watched a couple of episodes and meh. Looks expensively made. Very dull and uninteresting. Nothing I haven’t seen lots of times elsewhere.

 

[TonyM42]

Anyone experienced issues watching the second episode… negative video quality is being shown

Yes - same in third episode - thought it was my monitor misbehaving but read somewhere that it's deliberate oversaturating the colours for impact. Unnecessary and totally spoils it for me.

 

[bladerunner88]

Writing definitely not on par with BOB.

 

[Eric Idle]

Another disaster for Apple TV+.

 

[CTHarrryH]

I wouldn't call it a disaster - nothing will ever compete with BOB and anything similar will be compared to it. Not great but not a disaster to me

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've tried and tried with this show, as I'm a huge Aviation buff and LOVED Memphis Belle

Through E4, and the writing is just not good

We really have no cogent story-line going on and the entire show feels like it was made just to show off fancy CGI and very pretty (perhaps unrealistically so) actors.

 

[interstella]

I live only a few miles from Thorpe Abbotts airfield and I'm a light aircraft pilot and flying instructor. I can't begin to imagine the skills and courage they needed for those missions. Thorpe Abbots is still used by light aircraft today and Snetterton is now home to a car racing track. Nearby is Old Buckenham airfield where the actor James Stewart flew from.

I'm enjoying the series and watching a series about American airmen flying from bases familiar to me and only 10 minutes flying time away from my home airfield (a former Royal Air Force base) makes it even better.

 

[Huntn]

I’m visiting my son who has an active ATV account, watched the first two episodes and am pleased by what I see.

I like the character portrayals, especially Callum Turner and Austin Butler, the navigator Crosby (Anthony Boyle) who was puking his guts up over those 2 episodes, but finally gets his act together. I don’t have an issue with the dialog.

It might be CGI heavy, but the CGI is acceptablly good for me, and with a small number of B-17s still flying, what are you going to do? B-17s, I don’t think they made a habit of making 3 point landings, my son critiqued this, but it could happen.

I did not experience issues with darks scenes.

To counter critiques of sanitization, some pretty serious death shown, including part of someone’s face being shot off or so it appeared to me.

I’m a big fan of Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan.

 

[timber]

There are a lot of faults with this series particularly the writing and pacing but I have been enjoying it for several bits.

The last episode made me remember a video with an interview to a B-17 gunner how he felt the first time he had the "Little friends" all the way through and how they kept showing up all around. He almost had tears in his eyes. You could feel the life and dead burden that had been eased on him and the others. This feeling was really well captured.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Did it get better after E4?

I gave up

 

[bladerunner88]

Did it get better after E4?

I gave up

Well they've added a Story Arc of Downed 🇺🇸 Flyers in German Captivity at Stalag Luft 3 and also what happens to them on the Ground before they get there all fairly graphic. But Def not the same in depth character development as on BOB.

 

[danny842003]

I’ve been pretty happy with it so far.
It was never going to be band of brothers level as they captured magic in a bottle with that show and having the actual vets just made it hit harder.
This might be controversial but I didn’t care for the pacific at all and I would rank this above that for sure.
I did find the episode with the interaction with some RAF officers a bit of a goanathon, just a tired trope they keep on trotting out.

 

[acctman]

great show… the ending had me teary eyed

 

[Allyance]

I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Steven Spielberg and company worked hard to make this as realistic as possible, considering there are only a few B-17s still in flying condition.

Of course there are all the picky comments about this and that, but it very important to remember this was a true story about real people and events. We lost so many young men in the air war over Germany, it easy to forget that this series is more than mere entertainment, but a tribute to those we lost as well.

Characters portrayed were real pilots, navigators, bombardiers, tail gunners and support staff. here is just one of main characters:

At the end of the series, Spielberg pays tribute each of characters like Harry Crosby above.

There is a excellent follow up documentary by Spielberg called "The Bloody 100th" with interviews with some of the surviving actual members of the 100th, that validates the events depicted in "Masters of the Air".

 

[Allyance]

For those of you that are aviation buffs, I heartily recommend visiting the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY. Glenn Curtis did so much more for aviation than the Wright Brothers ever dreamed of.

I worked on a theme restaurant nest to the main runway at the Buffalo, NY airport called "Flying Tigers" and for the grand opening they had one of the original pilots and a restored P-40 do a fly over. The pilot got a little carried away and made a pass down the runway at about 10', there was a worker putting up a sign at the end that had a experience he will never forget! I can attest that this plane was really really loud. Apparently his antics made an inbound jet abort his landing!

 

[CTHarrryH]

As stated - watch "the bloody 100" it is the documentary with the same people and most of same story as masters of the air but with real film and interviews with some of characters.

 

[Huntn]

Six Episodes in, this story is grim and depressing. Ok, that’s not a critique, just an observation of the reality…

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Does anyone know whether this series will be made available in DVD?

 

[Fumblerooskie]

The book is fantastic. The ATV+ screenplay is pretty good. The CGI is horrible, cartoonish nonsense. It’s a trend in aviation combat flicks that distracts from the story.