Masters of the Air

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

There are some extremely wonky CG scenes with the planes.

Nah man, B-17's had thrust vectoring, we just never knew until now

[Locke]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Don't even get me started on modern rifles (Colt variants M16/C-7) and their ejection port cover.

Every bullet ejected should produce a small mushroom cloud...

Explodier!

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Nah man, B-17's had thrust vectoring, we just never knew until now

I think that was an Axis & Allies research and development chip you could get.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Locke

Every bullet ejected should produce a small mushroom cloud...

Explodier!

spent casing eject from the ejection port, which has a cover that should be closed unless it is open to eject casings, after which it should be closed again to keep the bolt carrier clean.

[Bigtime]

You know, I'm just underwhelmed by this show overall. I didn't even get through the whole new episode last night. I think I really have only been grabbed fully by like two of the episodes.

Maybe a re-watch closer in sequence once they are all out may help with that? I don't know.

[btimbit]

Yeah I agree.

I'm trying to not be too harsh since I also likely got too hyped up, but it definitely hasn't grabbed me yet

[surferguy]

I didn’t like this last episode.

Spoiler!

I mean it’s DDay and they just kinda glaze over it? It’s the biggest day in Military history and it gets a 7 second flashback.

Hey remember when we invaded mainland Europe. Yeah that was awesome man!

It was a bungled episode that jumped around too much for what it should have been.

Big miss in my books.

[Bigtime]

How do you make a show about this and an avgeek like me is bored?

HOW!?

[nik-]

HBO would have demanded better

[cam_calderon]

Originally Posted by nik-

HBO would have demanded better

Apple have made some good shows, so I wasn't too concerned with the switch but in hindsight HBO's absence was a red flag.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

You know, I'm just underwhelmed by this show overall. I didn't even get through the whole new episode last night. I think I really have only been grabbed fully by like two of the episodes.

Maybe a re-watch closer in sequence once they are all out may help with that? I don't know.

Yeah...I have to say that I tend to agree.

I keep thinking: "Maybe the next one will be better?"

But it just doesnt happen.

And I echo the other sentiments, glossing over D-Day? And the Tuskegee Airmen? Why even bring them into this? Their contribution to the war and presence is POW camps was such a huge part of of the War and overall Culture at the time?

Thats....not a 20 minute cameo, thats an entire show all on its own.

If you cant give them an appropriate amount of screentime why bring them into this at all?

Its like any story or movie trying to cram too many things into too little time.

So, yeah, 'underwhelmed' is pretty much the most polite way I could put it at this moment.

[BigThief]

Austin Butler is just the worst

[GreenLantern]

I can't buy Austin Butler as any kind of WW2 hero when he has gel in his hair in a POW camp.

I dunno, show turned into a bit of a mess. Trying to cover to much.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

How do you make a show about this and an avgeek like me is bored?

HOW!?

So disappointed.

Aviation
Military history

This should be right up my alley and yet it's just so....meh

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I can't buy Austin Butler as any kind of WW2 hero when he has gel in his hair in a POW camp.

He looked flawless leaning against the barbed wire, perfect hero pose, the Site Supervisor of Stalag VIIA

[Flabbibulin]

I cant say this too often, but Im gonna be genuinely bummed out when this season/series is done.

Lots of mixed reaction here, but has been the best show of 2024 for me.

[Locke]

I enjoyed the Finale. It had some amazing moments, but those moments, while powerful, just paper over the cracks in the rest of the series.

They do the standard: "This is what happened to these guys post-war" thing at the end, which was more character development than we got during the rest of the entire series.

I did really, really enjoy many parts of the show, but it just seemed....disjointed?

I wont say more than that because the Finale just came out and lots havent seen it yet, but it is very good, I'll say that.

But the show as a whole? I feel it was a bit of a swing and a miss, but I do worry that its because I'm viewing it through the lens of comparing it to Band of Brothers, which isnt fair.

And I'll finish this post with this: As a non-AvGeek...the scenes that brought the biggest smile to my face involved the P51 Mustangs.

They should make a show about them.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by cam_calderon

Apple have made some good shows, so I wasn't too concerned with the switch but in hindsight HBO's absence was a red flag.

HBO was burned badly by the Pacific. It cost ungodly amounts of money to make, on the expectation that HBO would earn it back through DVD sales, the way Band of Brothers did. But the DVD market collapsed just when the Pacific was released, and the project was a huge loss for HBO.

Apple has the deep pockets to throw money at something like Masters of the Air (or Foundation) that will never come close to earning its costs back. HBO/Warner Bros doesn’t.

[Locke]

I got Band of Brothers and The Pacific on DVD for Christmas ages ago so you can't blame me! I did my bit!

Like I said, Masters of the Air wasn't 'Bad' necessarily, I thought it had some excellent moments, but it just felt...unfinished? Underdeveloped?

I felt it was a little all over the place. Not as polished as it could have been, there was stuff that could have been left out.

I'm actually still a little upset about the inclusion of the Tuskegee Airmen, I thought the amount of screentime they got relative to their importance was woefully small to tell their story.

If you cant fit it in, dont force it. The Tuskegee Airmen could be a series of its own.

And frankly, I dont think they did the Planes as much justice as they should have.

I understand the danger of the missions, the camaraderie of the flight crews and what it must have felt like being up there in those bombers. They could have shown a little more about the fighters.

It just feels like they tried to do too much and ended up accomplishing none of it.

Again, not to say it was 'bad' there were some wonderful and powerful moments but there was also a lot of *checks watch* "Is this still going on?"

And:

Spoiler!

When the Soviet interpreter and the downed Airman...Crosby? Walk into the Brzustewicz Concentration Camp and the Soviet just says: "Yes there are more and bigger Camps, the car is waiting, lets go."

Really? You're just gonna....gloss that over?

So that sort of sums it up for me. This show tried to be everything and wound up being none of it.

[Cappy]

I think that is an issue with period pieces or historical dramas nowadays. There is too much criticism for certain pieces "ignoring" parts of history or not being representative.

I think shows like this, be it through producers or studios, feel compelled to cover too many aspects, which either bloats a production, or water downs the main plot point.

Tuskegee need their own miniseries - it would honestly be a more compelling historical story than Masters of the Air. Why put them in for a half episode in the second-to-last episode before the finale (especially when they are only tangentially related to the main plot).

This may come off a bit, I don't know, but, as a series, you will never eclipse a portrayal of the holocaust from a US soldier's perspective then "why we fight" in Band of Brothers. It is such an awful episode of television and hits hard. So in this series, why even have that small of a touch on it? do it justice or leave it out.