"Masters Of The Air" - from the Band of Brothers team

[Toonces]

Geez, I had this thought on page 4, not sure if I should even post it now.

I watched both episodes last night, and I thought the same thing Star posted: I could do with out the Currahee nonsense.  Just get to the good stuff; I don't have any real need to know the backstory of the characters.  This ain't Dickens.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I think Star was saying the opposite and that a good training montage would help viewers connect with the characters.


I talked with some coworkers who aren't WWII history needs but who watched it.  They said they weren't sure what was happening some of the time because they couldn't understand the technical jargon or what was going on inside the bombers.

I'm glad they aren't hand holding and going out of their way to say what a Ju88 or a 190 is, but I suspect I might be in the minority.

[GDS_Starfury]

I think Star was saying the opposite and that a good training montage would help viewers connect with the characters.

yes to this.
and now as your punishment!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1752353967550660922

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Mah belly does the same thing after Thanksgiving but even more sexy.

[Toonces]

I'll take that punishment anytime.

Man, I just re-read Star's post.  I was 180 off on that one!  Anyway, I stand by my statement.  I hated all the beginning BS in Band of Brothers. 

[GDS_Starfury]

so do you generally skip the first few chapters of a book as well?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I don't think they could've really pulled off a historically accurate re-telling of training without adding a lot of run time.  Bomber crew members each trained at different locations based on their specialization and didn't become crews until after training was completed.


Anyway, I just finished episode 3 which covers the disastrous raids on the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt and Regensburg.  It was very cool but I felt it was a bit lacking in impact in how the bomber losses were portrayed.  They basically added a bunch of redshirts we hadn't seen before and then expected us to care about them as they get picked off.  Would've been nice to get a bit more character development for the guys who bought it in this episode but I guess that'd be difficult to pull off without making it a 20 episode series.

Shame about the one previously introduced character who didn't make it though.  I was enjoying his character the most out of those so far introduced.

The show writers once again took a crap on the Brits by proclaiming that their raid on Aug 17, 1943 was the "largest air armada ever assembled".  It consisted of 376 bombers and 240 escort fighters.

The RAF launched their first 1,000 bomber raid more than a year earlier in Operation Millennium in May, 1942 when  868 of the assigned bombers plastered Cologne.

[Gusington]

  Damn SDR, you have some knowledge packed away in that braincase.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

None of it useful.

It's weird.  I can remember the entire dialogue exchange from scenes of WKRP and Gilligan's Island and obscure WWII facts but formulas I use at work every day or foreign language vocabulary that I study?

Gone 30 seconds after I look it up.


Anyway...the bombing campaigns against Germany is kinda my thing, particularly the night bombing campaigns by the RAF.  I wrote my bachelor's thesis on the development of the bomber doctrine during the inter-war period and the dangers of blindly trusting technocrats and "experts". 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

[Dammit Carl!]

Thanks for the heads-up on this one; had seen "masters of the air," bits and bobs on my YouTube feed but never put 2 and 2 together; me am observant!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Ep 4 was a bit lackluster.  It felt like a filler more than anything.

[ArizonaTank]

I have to say I am enjoying the series. And it is growing on me with each episode.

There is some hand-wringing in the press about the series' "lackluster" Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/masters-of-the-air-s-unwanted-rotten-tomatoes-record-is-worse-after-episode-4/ar-BB1i8q5G?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=65d14d5ea8de41b29f429b3f1850feb6&ei=29

But speaking only for myself, I think it is the best WWII Air War content to hit the small screen since HBO's "The Cold Blue." 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Yup, I think it's great so far.  I'm a huge WWII air nerd though so I'm just happy any time I see a plane on screen.  I have seen quite a few reviews and comments from people complaining about the use of CGI.  I don't get the complaints myself.  I think most of the scenes are very well done and look quite good.  Yeah, you can tell it's CGI and it has some odd colour tint effects but overall, it looks good enough for me.  (The close up of an explosion from one of the B-17s crashing during the Regensburg episode being a pretty stark outlier).

I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode.  I'm hoping they stick with the bombing exploits of the 100th but I suspect the story focus is going to shift into POW camps and evasion and escape instead.  I really want to see the Munster raid that earned the 100th its "Bloody" nickname and I'd like to see them follow the career of Rosie Rosenthal as he goes to rack up 50 missions rather than focusing on Buck and Bucky's story after the 2nd Bremen raid.

[steve58]

In case anyone was wondering how the underground got on to 'Bob' (I was) Here is a possible explanation.

https://www.outkick.com/culture/masters-of-the-air-death-bob-explained-german-infiltrator