There isnt as much content but it has all been quality from what I've seen
Masters of the Air
- Thread starter NorthCyd
- Start date
The Eugene Sledge parts of The Pacific were riveting. I enjoyed all of it, but the multiple stories were broken up enough that I can see why some people didn't stick with it. The Sledge part could have been it's own stand-alone miniseries.
If you go into this expecting Band of Brothers I think you’ll be disappointed. That series is the pinnacle of prestige TV imo, certainly among war dramas.
Im enjoying it, but I’m an absolute sucker for aerial combat scenes (will without question watch Midway or Red Tails whenever they’re on). The script and characters are weaker, but some of that could be tied to the causality rates the 100th actually suffered. I think it was a mistake to not have a bootcamp episode to attach the viewer to the airmen.
The story has a number of ties to Iowa but I haven’t seen any mentioned in the show. The narrator Harry Crosby went to and taught at the U of I and part of the 100th was stationed at Sioux City for a time.
I liked The Pacific almost as much as BoB. It had a bit of a different feel to it, and it definitely was darker in places but damn probably my second favorite series ever outside BoB.
Band of Brothers is an easier watch because it covers their training and then their 9 months of combat. The Pacific covers 4 years of battle from Guadalcanal which occurred in 1942, all the way to Okinawa which occurred in 1945. There were no soldiers in the Pacific that fought in all the major land battles, while the BOB soldiers fought in all the battles on the Western front from D-Day till the end of the war. It's easier to get to know the soldiers from BOB, than the Pacific.
We have caught the first 2 episodes of Masters of the Air, will try to catch episode 3 in a few days.
I fear it suffers from the problem that The Pacific had, which was too many different characters always coming and going, making it difficult to get to know and like them.
Overall, it's very good, the hell these men went through is unbelievable and yet they continued to do their duty and keep flying. Upping the number of missions from 25 to 28 and then 30 had to be a kick in the balls for many of these airmen, knowing it was difficult to get home with just 25, but 30 might as well be a 100 mission.
I agree with you on the character development. It feels rushed to me. Every episode feels like and it has more meat on the bone, then boom, preview of the next episode and credits.
I’ve have felt more anxiousness during the battle scenes, more so, than BoB and The Pacific in a good way. Maybe it’s them being up in a tightly packed airplane and there’s literally only way out or death compared to ground battle. Idk but I have enjoyed the version.
Honestly I think the show is getting good. Took a while to hit its stride but very excited to see the last episode
With the Old Breed was an absolutely brutal book to read as it makes you despair for humanity and what it is capable of.
There are some moments it really looks like the Mandalorian like it’s filmed on the Volume or something. I find the characters interesting though and I love a prison war camp so that part I find really compelling.
I have a tendency to lose interest in series but this one has me really locked in. Episode 8 was really good and was an introduction to the infamous Tuskegee airmen.
What Sledge and the rest of the men went through was pure hell it's hard to believe that people lived through events like that and then came home and had a normal life. Sledge had nightmares for years and the only thing that saved him was throwing himself in his education when he got home. I have seen interviews with him, and he was very quiet and reserved person after all the death that he had seen.
Episode 9 is 10/10, without question best of the series. Glad to see it stick the landing so well. I still wish it would’ve opened in bootcamp giving you a much stronger attachment over the trip to Greenland they used.
It’s not Band of Brothers but nothing ever will be. Just as good as the Pacific. Apple+ is making the best prestige TV right now with HBO getting sucked into corporate idiocy
It’s not Band of Brothers but nothing ever will be. Just as good as the Pacific. Apple+ is making the best prestige TV right now with HBO getting sucked into corporate idiocy
I saw it's a longer episode - good. We've liked the series.
It has really opened my eyes with what my Grandpa experienced, though he was stationed in Madurai, Italy and flew B24s. I've been re-reading a memoir he put together over the years after the war. He goes into some detail on a few missions. Not much on others. And always says, "My luck held". I now understand why.
It has really opened my eyes with what my Grandpa experienced, though he was stationed in Madurai, Italy and flew B24s. I've been re-reading a memoir he put together over the years after the war. He goes into some detail on a few missions. Not much on others. And always says, "My luck held". I now understand why.
I haven't seen this yet but like your point of Band of Brothers being the pinnacle and gold standard that's hard to match. Sort of like any epic fantasy big production being set up against Game of Thrones. Also Band of Brothers was special for me since it essentially traced my father's path through Europe. He was not in the 101st (but they were the unit he most respected) but was at Normandy, Battle of Bulge, and saw the concentration camps at Nordhausen and Buchenwald.
You're takes on the series have been convinced I need to sign up and watch this. Need to check it out. Pacific for my uncle in 1st Marines at Peleliu and this one for my uncle who was in B-24's (either navigator or bombardier...not sure). Seeing it will be my family trifecta, Army in Europe, Army Air Corps and Marines.
Uncle stateside before shipping out
Thread bump here...
So I originally got Apple TV back in January specifically to watch this show, but sometime between Episode 8 and 9 my app (I get it through Roku) stopped working. I finally got ahold of online customer service yesterday and was able to get it fixed and I watched the last episode last night and then the documentary-style episode this morning.
I did really enjoy this show, but I would put it 3rd in line behind Pacific and the original BoB. It's not a knock on it so much as much as it's recognition of the great company it's keeping. I do think it suffered from perhaps too many characters and too many storylines (did we ever know the name of the guy who escaped from occupied France in the middle of the season and then never saw again once he made it to safety?), but I thought it was well-acted (guy who played Crosby was outstanding, I thought) and the aerial battles were harrowing. On that note I've written a few times about my personal preference for fighting in Europe over island-hopping in the Pacific were I given the choice, but after seeing MotA I think I might take my chances on Iwo Jima versus being in a B-17 over Germany.
The other criticism I would offer is that the Redtails characters were only introduced in the second to last episode, and while they made appearances in the last episode I'm not sure any of them had actual lines. I think they should have gotten at least a couple of episodes if they were going to be included. Otherwise it kind of smacks of tokenism.
But I did enjoy the show a lot despite these quibbles. I hope the creative team does one for the Navy next.
So I originally got Apple TV back in January specifically to watch this show, but sometime between Episode 8 and 9 my app (I get it through Roku) stopped working. I finally got ahold of online customer service yesterday and was able to get it fixed and I watched the last episode last night and then the documentary-style episode this morning.
I did really enjoy this show, but I would put it 3rd in line behind Pacific and the original BoB. It's not a knock on it so much as much as it's recognition of the great company it's keeping. I do think it suffered from perhaps too many characters and too many storylines (did we ever know the name of the guy who escaped from occupied France in the middle of the season and then never saw again once he made it to safety?), but I thought it was well-acted (guy who played Crosby was outstanding, I thought) and the aerial battles were harrowing. On that note I've written a few times about my personal preference for fighting in Europe over island-hopping in the Pacific were I given the choice, but after seeing MotA I think I might take my chances on Iwo Jima versus being in a B-17 over Germany.
The other criticism I would offer is that the Redtails characters were only introduced in the second to last episode, and while they made appearances in the last episode I'm not sure any of them had actual lines. I think they should have gotten at least a couple of episodes if they were going to be included. Otherwise it kind of smacks of tokenism.
But I did enjoy the show a lot despite these quibbles. I hope the creative team does one for the Navy next.
I thought the show was great. At the end of the day it's a show about the 100th, and the inclusion of the Red Tails and whether ot not its tokenism kind of depends on if any of the Red Tails were actually in captivity with Buck and Bucky or not. If that is really what happened then I have no problem with the creators giving a nod to the Red tails being in prison camp with members of the 100th and telling a little about their story while keeping the majority of the shows focus on the 100th.
