Spielberg/Hanks 'Masters of the Air' sequel is 'Band of Brothers' With Planes

[BigRedChief]

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produce Apple's upcoming follow-up to the epic WWII series, with Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan leading an up-and-coming cast

Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and scripted by John Orloff, Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air.

Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of Masters of the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.

Ranging in location from the bucolic fields and villages of southeast England, to the harsh deprivations of a German Prisoner of War Camp, and depicting a unique and crucial time in world history, Masters of the Air is enormous in both scale and scope, and a genuine cinematic achievement.

[BigRedChief]

I think we all see this through the BoB lens. BoB has become some kind of "sacred" TV tale of our brave men of the greatest generation.

A bunch of regular guys used their courage and bodies and not much else to stop the German war machine at Bastogne. One of the nations finest moments.

I'm guilty of it too. I was so excited to post a video on here when I stumbled a YouTube video where they were touring the still existing foxholes at Bastogne.

History shows that even if the German offensive was successful, the Germans were going to lose eventually. But, historians think that easy company shortened the war by a year and saved over a million lives. That is worthy of our respect and admiration.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Dunit35

Episode three was awesome. Their depiction of the 1st Regensburg/Schweifurt mission was solid. Definitely better than the 1st two episodes. Really made you feel for what they had to go through.

Was coming in here to post basically the same thing. E3 was pretty good. The R/S mission was epic.

[DCTwister]

Watched E4 last night, solid. More of a drama episode than action/CGI. It’s decent. You just can’t duplicate the formula/story/characters of BoB but I’m enjoying MOA (despite bad CGI).

[srvy]

Well I am up to date and unimpressed. It's just the same episode over and over rinse and repeat. Just a shame as I had high hopes. I will have to get really bored to find my way back to this.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by srvy

Well I am up to date and unimpressed. It's just the same episode over and over rinse and repeat. Just a shame as I had high hopes. I will have to get really bored to find my way back to this.

From everything I've seen and read, this doesn't seem like anything I need to go out of my way to watch. I figure at some point CrappleTV will hijack a couple of my wife's Braves games like they did last year, at which point I'll have to sign back up for it. I'll probably watch it then.

[TinyEvel]

Really not even appointment TV like the first two series were.

I did look up what "feathering an engine" means, since they say it in like every episode.

ICYDK the angle of the propeller blades is adjustable. On multi-engine planes, if one engine goes out, they "feather" or angle the propeller blades straight back on that engine to reduce drag.

[alanm]

I guess the only one left to do after MOA is a mini series on the Navy. Love to see them do it with a Aircraft carrier like the Enterprise. With a tin can crew thrown in for good measure.

[mr. tegu]

They had the guy on the train being smuggled by the women and then that entire storyline just disappeared. I keep thinking I must have missed an episode or something.

[TinyEvel]

Turning into a waste of time with this. Not even fair to compare it to BoB or even the Pacific, other than the music that plays during the credits.

Poor writing, poor editing, poor VFX. huge leaps forward in time, glazing over significant events. Thing just feels like a fiction piece.

I was interested to learn SOMETHING about the Tuskegee Airmen, but this just really was a surface level brush with one mission that had zero linear flow or suspense. Again no character development and not believable characters nor performances.

They just literally flew past D-day, with something like one VO delivered over a B-17 flying through the clouds, saying "We did a lot of runs that day."

Feels like this was made on the cheap. Writing is poor. Too bad.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

Turning into a waste of time with this. Not even fair to compare it to BoB or even the Pacific, other than the music that plays during the credits.

Poor writing, poor editing, poor VFX. huge leaps forward in time, glazing over significant events. Thing just feels like a fiction piece.

I was interested to learn SOMETHING about the Tuskegee Airmen, but this just really was a surface level brush with one mission that had zero linear flow or suspense. Again no character development and not believable characters nor performances.

They just literally flew past D-day, with something like one VO delivered over a B-17 flying through the clouds, saying "We did a lot of runs that day."

Feels like this was made on the cheap. Writing is poor. Too bad.

Dang, that's a bummer.

Appreciate the advance recon, though.

[KC_Connection]

I'm enjoying it well enough for what it is, but it is nowhere near the quality of its predecessors. Definitely feels like it was made on a tighter budget than you would have hoped.

[alanm]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I'm enjoying it well enough for what it is, but it is nowhere near the quality of its predecessors. Definitely feels like it was made on a tighter budget than you would have hoped.

Yeah, if you go in expecting BOB you're going to be disappointed. No series is going to be able to top that. I enjoy MOA for what it is. Just a segment of the air war in Europe. Though they may have done better if the story were told through the eyes of a fighter squadron. That may have made for a more exciting series.

[DCTwister]

I watched through the finale tonight. It was a satisfying end. Spoiler alert - in the end USA are back to back World War champs. Seriously though, it always brings a tear to my eye when you get to the end and they show the bios of the real men that they portrayed in the series.

Yeah, this series doesn’t hold up to BOB or the Pacific. But it grew on me. In the end I really enjoyed it. There is also a companion 1-hour documentary, which seems good so far. I’ve read and watched so many things about WW2, been to the Normandy beaches, etc. and I never knew much about the 100th. I’m glad their story was told.

[alanm]

I watched through the finale tonight. It was a satisfying end. Spoiler alert - in the end USA are back to back World War champs.

Well there's only the naval version left. I don't count "The Pacific" as being the naval version. Since it was all Marines. I'd love it if they were to tell the story of the USS Enterprise. Hell it was Enterprise vs Japan at the end of Guadalcanal as they were the only standing carrier left in the Pacific. Right there is a story that has never really been fully told.

[Dunit35]

Originally Posted by DCTwister

I watched through the finale tonight. It was a satisfying end. Spoiler alert - in the end USA are back to back World War champs. Seriously though, it always brings a tear to my eye when you get to the end and they show the bios of the real men that they portrayed in the series.

Yeah, this series doesn’t hold up to BOB or the Pacific. But it grew on me. In the end I really enjoyed it. There is also a companion 1-hour documentary, which seems good so far. I’ve read and watched so many things about WW2, been to the Normandy beaches, etc. and I never knew much about the 100th. I’m glad their story was told.

Couldn’t agree more. Always makes me emotional me when they show their life stories at the end. These guys were men and had incredible fortitude compared to society today.

It doesn’t hold up to BOB but it was really good. Would’ve preferred more aerial scenes. I am a collector of AAF POW uniforms, medals, etc so I thoroughly enjoyed the POW scenes. My favorite grouping belongs to a Luft III POW which was where these 100th guys were. So those scenes are always made me picture what he was doing. I’m lucky enough to have a 25 minute oral interview the library of congress had with him.