Television Masters of the Air (Apple TV series) - premieres January 26, 2024

[RedDevilQuebecois]

The official trailer is here. I thought it would be more appropriate to open up a new full thread for the upcoming series.


The series serves as a companion to Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010). Based on the 2007 book Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller, the story focuses on the 100th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force. You can also recognize the men of the the 332nd Fighter Group, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

The official opening sequence is now released for all to see.


Blake Neely, who composed the music, is a returnee from The Pacific.

 

[swooshboy]

Cannot wait for this!!

 

[McGrathsipan]

Cannot wait for this!!

me neither but I am hoping not to be disappointed in it. Im a massive fan of WW2 aviation and this is my dream show

 

[Solius]

me neither but I am hoping not to be disappointed in it. Im a massive fan of WW2 aviation and this is my dream show

My brain tells me this can only flop because I loved BoB and The Pacific was solid too. We aren't allowed a third nice thing.

 

[SirAF]

Looking good

There is no way Hanks and Spielberg are not going to come up with the goods here!

 

[McGrathsipan]

My brain tells me this can only flop because I loved BoB and The Pacific was solid too. We aren't allowed a third nice thing.

Loved and Still love BoB and the Pacific. I visited alot of BoB battlefields in Europe, I was at the Crossroads in Heteren recently and just blown away by the stuff the men on WW2 had to do there and in general.

With this new one the reliance might be more on CGI given its the air and hard to recreate

Maybe this time we can expect something good

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

A newly released, exclusive clip. This sure has the same vibes as when Easy Company took off on their way to their first taste of combat in Band of Brothers.

 

[Massive Spanner]

This is getting great reviews. Funny as the trailers make it look like a B grade band of brothers but it sounds every bit as brutal.

 

[simonhch]

Half way through the first episode, and I’m hoping this gets a lot better. Has the cheesiest intro ever, and so far has been a bunch of hillbillies talking to girls and getting lost flying planes. Apple have dropped two episodes, so I’ll watch them both before I rush to judgement. There’s a lot of talent behind this, Hanks and Spielberg producing, and Cary Jogi Fukunaga directing. So it should become awesome. Unfortunately, so far, I don’t like any of the characters.

edit: Half way into episode two now, and it’s still cheesy rubbish. Most of the characters are barely out of their teens, despite holding ranks like Major, Commanding Officer, or Squandron Commander. And they are pretty much all complete tools on top of it. The score is corny to say the least, and I feel the only thing missing is someone in the background chanting USA! USA! I am really struggling to see how I’m going to come to care about any of these characters. Everyone mumbles all the time, and the dialogue is devoid of anything interesting. It’s like a college fraternity was transported to WW2 Britain, except without the British other than in a sort of “we all be here to save their quaint lil asses, yee-haw” backdrop kind of way. Oh, and the narrator sounds like he’s reading off a teleprompter. And the acting is crap so far.

The lead actor may as well just be Ace Rimmer FFS. He’s that cheesy. Says nothing, just flashes “cool” looks and delivers one liners before popping in a toothpick and being unflappably calm under pressure. Meanwhile everyone fawns over him despite him not revealing enough about himself for anyone, let alone the audience, to know or care anything about him. All we do know is that his name is Gail/Gale, but now he’s called Buck because, who the hell cares? I’ve lost track of who’s called Bucky and who’s called Buck. I just know them as Ace Rimmer and his complete bellend mate.

Actively hoping they get shot down and better characters take over the lead.

Fair to say I’m not impressed thus far.

 

[Jimble]

I hate that apple drop an episode a week. I want to binge stuff. I can't wait a week between episodes, so I'll have to wait until March to start watching this

 

[The Firestarter]

I hate that apple drop an episode a week. I want to binge stuff. I can't wait a week between episodes, so I'll have to wait until March to start watching this

That's so sad, I can't believe you are going through such difficulty. Stay strong!

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Half way through the first episode, and I’m hoping this gets a lot better. Has the cheesiest intro ever, and so far has been a bunch of hillbillies talking to girls and getting lost flying planes. Apple have dropped two episodes, so I’ll watch them both before I rush to judgement. There’s a lot of talent behind this, Hanks and Spielberg producing, and Cary Jogi Fukunaga directing. So it should become awesome. Unfortunately, so far, I don’t like any of the characters.

edit: Half way into episode two now, and it’s still cheesy rubbish. Most of the characters are barely out of their teens, despite holding ranks like Major, Commanding Officer, or Squandron Commander. And they are pretty much all complete tools on top of it. The score is corny to say the least, and I feel the only thing missing is someone in the background chanting USA! USA! I am really struggling to see how I’m going to come to care about any of these characters. Everyone mumbles all the time, and the dialogue is devoid of anything interesting. It’s like a college fraternity was transported to WW2 Britain, except without the British other than in a sort of “we all be here to save their quaint lil asses, yee-haw” backdrop kind of way. Oh, and the narrator sounds like he’s reading off a teleprompter. And the acting is crap so far.

The lead actor may as well just be Ace Rimmer FFS. He’s that cheesy. Says nothing, just flashes “cool” looks and delivers one liners before popping in a toothpick and being unflappably calm under pressure. Meanwhile everyone fawns over him despite him not revealing enough about himself for anyone, let alone the audience, to know or care anything about him. All we do know is that his name is Gail/Gale, but now he’s called Buck because, who the hell cares? I’ve lost track of who’s called Bucky and who’s called Buck. I just know them as Ace Rimmer and his complete bellend mate.

Actively hoping they get shot down and better characters take over the lead.

Fair to say I’m not impressed thus far.

But do you like it?

 

[simonhch]

But do you like it?

I’m still on the fence.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

I like it. It takes a bit of time to acclimate to who everyone is, because all the actors aside from Barry Keoghan look alike. Keoghan is doing an interesting NYC accent in it, too, like he's from Queens. I'm willing to allow Keoghan wide latitude with accents because he's the most interesting character so far. The air combat scenes are done really well. The CGI looks solid. Learned a couple things about WWII air campaigns, such as, the Americans bombed in the day time to use precision attacks on specific targets, while the RAF bombed at night and didn't give two shits what they hit as long as it was German. Interesting that we chose the more suicidal approach.

 

[Redplane]

I like it. It takes a bit of time to acclimate to who everyone is, because all the actors aside from Barry Keoghan look alike. Keoghan is doing an interesting NYC accent in it, too, like he's from Queens. I'm willing to allow Keoghan wide latitude with accents because he's the most interesting character so far. The air combat scenes are done really well. The CGI looks solid. Learned a couple things about WWII air campaigns, such as, the Americans bombed in the day time to use precision attacks on specific targets, while the RAF bombed at night and didn't give two shits what they hit as long as it was German. Interesting that we chose the more suicidal approach.

So England destroying cultural treasures as per usual. Where have I seen this before?

...

/Flees the angry limeys coming after him

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

So far, I agree that it is a bit difficult to get attached to Gale "Buck" Cleven (Austin Butler) early on when you compare to how easy it was for most viewers to get attached with protagonists Dick Winters, Robert Leckie and John Basilone by the time we had 2 episodes already played in each of the other 2 series. Nevertheless, I have to say that say that I really like Barry Keoghan and Anthony Boyle's performances as Curtis Biddick and Harry Crosby respectively. Just as Wing mentioned above, Keoghan's character is the most interesting by a distance. As for Crosby, he provides his share of comic relief (his air sickness problem) while he is beginning to show his worth as a navigator.

The air battles and the bombing scenes have been excellent as well. I don't think I have seen anything depicting real tension from any bomber crew member's perspective this well since Memphis Belle, and that was over 30 years ago!

I only recently learned that the 100th Bombing Group went as far as to Norway in order to hit enemy targets when those missions in those regions were mostly known as something that the British would do. I think that viewers will start to start to really get into the series as soon as we will come down to the fall of 1943 and that some bombing raids don't go so well, especially one over Münster. We will then see why the 100th BG came to be known as the Bloody Hundreth.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

So far, I agree that it is a bit difficult to get attached to Gale "Buck" Cleven (Austin Butler) early on when you compare to how easy it was for most viewers to get attached with protagonists Dick Winters, Robert Leckie and John Basilone by the time we had 2 episodes already played in each of the other 2 series. Nevertheless, I have to say that say that I really like Barry Keoghan and Anthony Boyle's performances as Curtis Biddick and Harry Crosby respectively. Just as Wing mentioned above, Keoghan's character is the most interesting by a distance. As for Crosby, he provides his share of comic relief (his air sickness problem) while he is beginning to show his worth as a navigator.

The air battles and the bombing scenes have been excellent as well. I don't think I have seen anything depicting real tension from any bomber crew member's perspective this well since Memphis Belle, and that was over 30 years ago!

I only recently learned that the 100th Bombing Group went as far as to Norway in order to hit enemy targets when those missions in those regions were mostly known as something that the British would do. I think that viewers will start to start to really get into the series as soon as we will come down to the fall of 1943 and that some bombing raids don't go so well, especially one over Münster. We will then see why the 100th BG came to be known as the Bloody Hundreth.

Have you read a book about them, The 100th BG? I guess I could have googled whether there is a book, but hey ho.

 

[SirAF]

I like it. It takes a bit of time to acclimate to who everyone is, because all the actors aside from Barry Keoghan look alike. Keoghan is doing an interesting NYC accent in it, too, like he's from Queens. I'm willing to allow Keoghan wide latitude with accents because he's the most interesting character so far. The air combat scenes are done really well. The CGI looks solid. Learned a couple things about WWII air campaigns, such as, the Americans bombed in the day time to use precision attacks on specific targets, while the RAF bombed at night and didn't give two shits what they hit as long as it was German. Interesting that we chose the more suicidal approach.

Agreed!

I don't think it's going to come close to match The Pacific (BoB is obviously untouchable), but it's only two episodes in and I'm confident that it's going to progress just fine.
I also actually like that they're dropping an episode a week - it's a nice little highlight to look forward to.

Other than that, I might add that Callum Turner, with his stupid mustache, got the most punchable face in TV history

 

[JamesB__]

Austin Butler is just awful.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Austin Butler is just awful.

It is very hard to get attached to Austin Butler's character with such performance indeed. Damian Lewis (Dick Winters), James Badge Dale (Robert Leckie) and Jon Seda (John Basilone) were a lot easier to get attached with very early on as you watch Band of Brothers and The Pacific. This is arguably the very first time that I've felt a casting choice made by the Hanks/Spielberg partnership is this questionable.

 

[Wibble]

Another decent episode. A shame that there won't be any surviving air crew left to interview now, like they did for BoB.

 

[Wibble]

It is very hard to get attached to Austin Butler's character with such performance indeed. Damian Lewis (Dick Winters), James Badge Dale (Robert Leckie) and Jon Seda (John Basilone) were a lot easier to get attached with very early on as you watch Band of Brothers and The Pacific. This is arguably the very first time that I've felt a casting choice made by the Hanks/Spielberg partnership is this questionable.

BoB was fantastic but I found The Pacific harder to get into that this as all of the characters looked too similar that it made keeping track of who was who much harder and therefore harder to get invested in the characters. Not that The Pacific wasn't good, it was.

 

[Roosney]

Half way through the first episode, and I’m hoping this gets a lot better. Has the cheesiest intro ever, and so far has been a bunch of hillbillies talking to girls and getting lost flying planes. Apple have dropped two episodes, so I’ll watch them both before I rush to judgement. There’s a lot of talent behind this, Hanks and Spielberg producing, and Cary Jogi Fukunaga directing. So it should become awesome. Unfortunately, so far, I don’t like any of the characters.

edit: Half way into episode two now, and it’s still cheesy rubbish. Most of the characters are barely out of their teens, despite holding ranks like Major, Commanding Officer, or Squandron Commander. And they are pretty much all complete tools on top of it. The score is corny to say the least, and I feel the only thing missing is someone in the background chanting USA! USA! I am really struggling to see how I’m going to come to care about any of these characters. Everyone mumbles all the time, and the dialogue is devoid of anything interesting. It’s like a college fraternity was transported to WW2 Britain, except without the British other than in a sort of “we all be here to save their quaint lil asses, yee-haw” backdrop kind of way. Oh, and the narrator sounds like he’s reading off a teleprompter. And the acting is crap so far.

The lead actor may as well just be Ace Rimmer FFS. He’s that cheesy. Says nothing, just flashes “cool” looks and delivers one liners before popping in a toothpick and being unflappably calm under pressure. Meanwhile everyone fawns over him despite him not revealing enough about himself for anyone, let alone the audience, to know or care anything about him. All we do know is that his name is Gail/Gale, but now he’s called Buck because, who the hell cares? I’ve lost track of who’s called Bucky and who’s called Buck. I just know them as Ace Rimmer and his complete bellend mate.

Actively hoping they get shot down and better characters take over the lead.

Fair to say I’m not impressed thus far.

Ahh, too bad. Sounds like a nightmare of a show.

 

[Wibble]

Ahh, too bad. Sounds like a nightmare of a show.

It isn't BoB (but what is?) but it is highly watchable and captures the tension and fear of the missions really well.

 

[simonhch]

Ahh, too bad. Sounds like a nightmare of a show.

The mission bits in the planes is pretty good to be fair. Very well done from a technical standpoint and some very tense set pieces. So it’s not all bad by any means. I just didn’t like the characters or the acting so far. The actual bomber stuff is pretty good.

 

[Roosney]

It isn't BoB (but what is?) but it is highly watchable and captures the tension and fear of the missions really well.

Things simonhch listed are really bad red flags to me. I just subbed to Disney+, after I've gone thru their selection I'll subscribe to AppleTV and see for myself.

 

[nimic]

Ahh, too bad. Sounds like a nightmare of a show.

To be fair, you're reading a review by a guy who admitted he's only watched half of the pilot episode. That might be a decent basis for him to decide if he likes it or not, but it won't be very valuable to you.

I like it. It's definitely not BoB, but the airplane stuff is pretty good (though it's a bit hard to keep track of who is who, but then again that was the case for BoB too sometimes). The last episode was the strongest yet.

 

[Ish]

Also going in a bit of an interesting subplot with the one pilot needing to find his way home through nazi territory. So hopefully it adds a good bit of diversity to the storyline as well. It’s watchable/entertaining enough but yeah, the characters/acting & dialogue and are all subpar. Probably a 6.5/10 type show.

 

[NWR]

I fell asleep half way through the first episode.
I get that we are getting to know the people and places but a bit predictable so far.

I have a two episode rule. If it’s still garbage after the second episode it’s gone. 2 episodes because the first episode is getting to know the characters.

B o B was superb.

 

[SirAF]

To be fair, you're reading a review by a guy who admitted he's only watched half of the pilot episode. That might be a decent basis for him to decide if he likes it or not, but it won't be very valuable to you.

I like it. It's definitely not BoB, but the airplane stuff is pretty good (though it's a bit hard to keep track of who is who, but then again that was the case for BoB too sometimes). The last episode was the strongest yet.

Totally agree. I think it's pretty decent so far, but I'm hopeful that there's going to be an even bigger upwards trajectory from here on and out. As @Ish said, the subplot with the guy stuck in Kraut territory shapes up to be interesting.

Still got an 8.0 overall rating on imdb (although with a small amount of votes yet) and the 3rd episode is currently at 8.9.

 

[Ish]

Totally agree. I think it's pretty decent so far, but I'm hopeful that there's going to be an upwards trajectory from here on and out. As @Ish said, the subplot with the guy stuck in Kraut territory shapes up to be interesting.

Still got an 8.0 overall rating on imdb (although with a small amount of votes yet) and the 3rd episode is currently at 8.9.

Yeah, I definitely think it's worth sticking with - even if just for the big budget (action) set pieces which are very well done. Hopefully the Kraut elements adds a lot of intrigue to the plot as well.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Episode 3 was terrible, but the preview for Episode 4 looks like it finally [wait for it] takes flight.

Episode 3 is a bunch of people you've never seen before, or if you saw them you don't remember, and they try to make them "real" with a nickname (e.g., Babyface), and then the fortresses go on an ill-fated mission and they lose a lot of planes. I thought the part where Buck (Austin Butler)

Spoiler: Plot Point

is gliding the plane in to the airstrip in Morocco and delays lowering the landing gear, and keeps saying, "not yet... not yet... wait for it... NOW!" as they vainly try to build tension,

just showed that the dramatic heft of this thing doesn't exist. It's a lot of scenes of chaotic aerial combat and people with breathing masks over the faces, and I get it: they are at altitude and need supplemental oxygen, but I think for the sake of emotion they could set that aside and show us the actors talking.

It's not Band of Brothers and it's nowhere near it. They are doing a good job of showing how suicidal it all was, and they show the planes shot to pieces and they show just how insane the missions were, but you're not feeling any of it. Babyface can go feck himself.

Butler definitely is sticking with the Elvis southern boy shtick but it's not working. He's sleepwalking through this role and showing zero charisma. Probably also zero dexterity and has low HP.

Also, today I learned that Austin Butler went from Vanessa Hudgens as a girlfriend to Kaia Gerber. Dude landed on his fecking feet.

 

[Roosney]

To be fair, you're reading a review by a guy who admitted he's only watched half of the pilot episode. That might be a decent basis for him to decide if he likes it or not, but it won't be very valuable to you.

I like it. It's definitely not BoB, but the airplane stuff is pretty good (though it's a bit hard to keep track of who is who, but then again that was the case for BoB too sometimes). The last episode was the strongest yet.

Yeah I totally realize that, but anything "cheesy" is really kryptonite to me. Bad acting etc is not as bad.

 

[Reditus]

Watched all 3 over tonight and yesterday. I think it’s very good.

im glad im not th wonky one getting confused about who is who in the action scenes.

 

[simonhch]

Just finished episode 4 and it’s the worst one so far. Absolutely nothing happens. The one plot point that should matter, that should provide a real emotional impact, falls so flat that I couldn’t quite believe it.

I posted my initial feelings half way through episode one, and have followed up with more after episode three and four. I’d comfortably say that this has gotten worse, not better.

Maybe the rest of the series will be a banger, but I’m unlikely to bother watching anymore of this.

 

[Cascarino]

Going to start this tomorrow. I rewatched the Pacific last year, and when I first watched it I remember not being that impressed, but on the rewatch I found it to be much better than I had remembered. While still not as good as B.O.B imo, I found it to be great television.

But do you like it?

I’m still on the fence.

I like it. It takes a bit of time to acclimate to who everyone is, because all the actors aside from Barry Keoghan look alike.

It feels like he’s in everything atm, although it’s probably accentuated by the fact that I also watched Killing of a sacred deer, The Green Knight and Banshees of an Inisherin within the last few weeks and he’s coincidentally in all three. He’s very good to be fair

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Just finished episode 4 and it’s the worst one so far. Absolutely nothing happens. The one plot point that should matter, that should provide a real emotional impact, falls so flat that I couldn’t quite believe it.

I posted my initial feelings half way through episode one, and have followed up with more after episode three and four. I’d comfortably say that this has gotten worse, not better.

Maybe the rest of the series will be a banger, but I’m unlikely to bother watching anymore of this.

It feels worse than episodic, like each episode is set in the same place but with new characters each week that you get 5 seconds to bond with. I think you’re supposed to care about Buck and Bucky but one seems like an asshole and the other like he’s about to fall asleep. By episode 4 we learn Buck already has 20 missions completed when it feels like it’s been 2 (cause that’s all they showed). So the lead character went and had his adventures off screen. I don’t know how many episodes are in this first season but if they said it’s done until season 2, I wouldn’t come back because this has absolutely not been compelling viewing. They should have made a 2 hour movie and made it so you could care.

 

[simonhch]

It feels worse than episodic, like each episode is set in the same place but with new characters each week that you get 5 seconds to bond with. I think you’re supposed to care about Buck and Bucky but one seems like an asshole and the other like he’s about to fall asleep. By episode 4 we learn Buck already has 20 missions completed when it feels like it’s been 2 (cause that’s all they showed). So the lead character went and had his adventures off screen. I don’t know how many episodes are in this first season but if they said it’s done until season 2, I wouldn’t come back because this has absolutely not been compelling viewing. They should have made a 2 hour movie and made it so you could care.

Agreed. The worst part of this last episode was that we saw no missions, just tons of superficial banter between, largely new, characters. None of those characters have any depth yet, and with the way this series in going, they won’t be around long enough to have any anyway.

I too am completely shocked about the whole Buck having 21 missions under his belt, because we’ve only seen two. There wasn’t even any real war or strategic talk in this episode, half of it was spent on a gala to celebrate a guy who had flown 25 missions and got to go home - but none of which we saw. The main characters, as you say, are terrible. The lead seem like a twat, and if he isn’t we’ve seen zero emotional depth to him to contradict that assessment. And Elvis, as you rightly pointed out, seems like he’s on sedatives most of the time.

Even the plot line with the pilots trying to escape occupied France is devoid of any real tension.

I am only persisting with this because of the creative team’s track record with BoB.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Agreed. The worst part of this last episode was that we saw no missions, just tons of superficial banter between, largely new, characters. None of those characters have any depth yet, and with the way this series in going, they won’t be around long enough to have any anyway.

I too am completely shocked about the whole Buck having 21 missions under his belt, because we’ve only seen two. There wasn’t even any real war or strategic talk in this episode, half of it was spent on a gala to celebrate a guy who had flown 25 missions and got to go home - but none of which we saw. The main characters, as you say, are terrible. The lead seem like a twat, and if he isn’t we’ve seen zero emotional depth to him to contradict that assessment. And Elvis, as you rightly pointed out, seems like he’s on sedatives most of the time.

Even the plot line with the pilots trying to escape occupied France is devoid of any real tension.

I am only persisting with this because of the creative team’s track record with BoB.

Yes, 100%. It's basically half time and they are down 5-nil. It's going to take an epic second half to the game (season) to salvage this. I think it also goes to show what an achievement Band of Brothers was, because it's not easy telling the true stories of these people. Each of these missions the Americans are losing 80 to 100 people, and there's absolutely no way to make that into a drama where in the same episode the asshole Bucky bangs a Polish bird. The two don't go together.