Online Series: Masters of the Air (Apple TV+, Jan 26, 2024)

[RobBrown4PM]

Lots of CGI planes and battles, and big working sets. All the B-17's were CGI. I think there may be only a handfull of B-17 flight worthy left. One of the few left crashed at an airshow last year I believe when it collided with another plane.
Band of Brothers, they still hand a surplus of tanks, trucks, etc. with minimal cgi work.

Lots of running Sherman's around still. And lots of vehicles running from the time period that can have lip stick put on them to mimic whatever it is they are supposed to be.

Airworthy B-17's on the other hand are far and few between.

 

[Gee Wally]

I really enjoyed it. Especially last few episodes.

I wish they would do something similar concentrated on the Tuskegee Airmen. What a helluva story there.

 

[Osprey]

I watched the first episode and part of the second and am not sure that I want to finish it. It bothers me that they show the Yanks and Brits disrespecting one another and make it sound like the Yanks were brave for flying by day and the Brits were cowardly for flying at night. The fact of the matter is that the Brits started out bombing during the day before the Yanks even entered the war and lost so many airmen that they gradually shifted to night bombing to reduce losses. Also, some Yanks flew for the RAF before the U.S. even entered the war, and the Brits were happy that they finally entered. I've only ever heard of Brits that served having good things to say about the Yanks, so showing them both disrespecting one another feels inauthentic.

I've read countless reviews that complain about the same thing and the series as a whole being decidedly pro-American. I'm American, but I'm not interested in seeing us promoted as heroes at the expense of our allies. Also, the Yanks in this seem very stereotypical, especially Butler's character, who looks and acts out of place, like he's channeling James Dean from a decade later. In general, the series feels stereotypical and inauthentic. Also, I'm just not interested in these characters, whom I don't know much about and can't even tell apart, aside from the pretty boy. I'm only 1.5 episodes in, which I realize is early, but I can't find the motivation to continue and have read enough reviews that suggest that I may not like it better if I do.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

I've watched 6 of the 9 episodes so far, and went in with pretty low expectations after reading some of the initial reviews, but I think it's been pretty good. Yeah, not as good as BoB or even the Pacific, but I think it makes a fine companion piece to those shows.

 

[izlez]

I watched the first episode and part of the second and am not sure that I want to finish it. It bothers me that they show the Yanks and Brits disrespecting one another and make it sound like the Yanks were brave for flying by day and the Brits were cowardly for flying at night. The fact of the matter is that the Brits started out bombing during the day before the Yanks even entered the war and lost so many airmen that they gradually shifted to night bombing to reduce losses. Also, some Yanks flew for the RAF before the U.S. even entered the war, and the Brits were happy that they finally entered. I've only ever heard of Brits that served having good things to say about the Yanks, so showing them both disrespecting one another feels inauthentic.

I'm far from a history buff, so speaking from purely a story structure of the show perspective, that is not how I took it. It seemed like they created a minor conflict to highlight the 2 methods and why they were each done. British used cover of night and hit wider areas. US had a secret weapon (that they didn't share with their allies?) that allowed for precision bombing but had to be used in daylight. The US weren't especially brave or heroes for their method, that was just their best method with the tools they had.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

I watched the first episode and part of the second and am not sure that I want to finish it. It bothers me that they show the Yanks and Brits disrespecting one another and make it sound like the Yanks were brave for flying by day and the Brits were cowardly for flying at night. The fact of the matter is that the Brits started out bombing during the day before the Yanks even entered the war and lost so many airmen that they gradually shifted to night bombing to reduce losses. Also, some Yanks flew for the RAF before the U.S. even entered the war, and the Brits were happy that they finally entered. I've only ever heard of Brits that served having good things to say about the Yanks, so showing them both disrespecting one another feels inauthentic.

I'm a few more episodes into it than you are, so my perspective may have changed a bit, even though I didn't necessarily see it the same way as you did 2 episodes in. The bravado shown by the Americans toward the Brits on day vs night bombing would have seemed to have been from propaganda messaging initiated by the high ranking officials in USAAF to keep up morale and not have their pilots/air crews questioning their bombing strategy/tactics that differed from the RAF's.

 

[SimGrindcore]

Seen the first couple of episodes and I am not sure yet. Everything seems slightly of target so far. Visually it looks great. But it seemed to lack a "training camp episode" or something like that to properly introduce the myriad of different characters. Unfortunately casting didn't help this problem either. In BOB they casted very distinct looking actors to sort of set appart the characters from each other. Here everybody who wasn't a main guy just blended sort of together. Also the writing just doesn't have the same level of authenticity the first two Hank/Spielberg shows had. The dialogue still seems fine but definitely gives the impression being written by someone trying to emulate 1940's lingo instead of real soldiers talking to each other. Then there are also unnecessary and unhistoric romance plots added to the mix. And the usual greatest generation narrative is pushed extremely hard but it just doesn't work without the real veterans present.

The romance between subaltern Sandra Wesgate and Harry Crosby really happened. It was mentionned in Crosby's memoirs A Wing and a Prayer. He didn't really know what she was doing outside their "rendez-vous". The writers changed her name as the real world Wesgate was named Landra Wingate.

I agreed that it was confusing at first to differentiate all the characters. But it's the same case for a lot of series. I have Game of Thrones in mind.

For me, CGI was really on point. It was film quality IMO. And since it was a show about airmen and B-17, it's normal that they relied heavily on SFX as opposed to Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Just finished the show last night and I really enjoyed it. I think maybe even more than The Pacific.

 

[shakes the clown]

This show really picked up the last half. First half they would mention names of people who didn't make it back from a mission and I would have no idea who they were talking about. Second half they started delving into some of the characters more which gave the show a lot more substance.

Show isn't at the top level of WW2 tv shows, but it's probably around the same level as the Pacific.

For me the top tier of WW2 shows includes Band of Brothers and the recent We Were the Lucky Ones.