A Thought From Woody – Masters of the Air
A short live show where I talk about my initial reaction to the first episodes of Masters of the Air
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The "community" around this show, especially the facebook group "Masters Of The Air Behind The Scenes" has been EXTREMELY toxic. On all sides. No one is allowed to say anything other than full on praise of the show. If someone mentions concern about the CGI, they are attacked, if someone calls the show perfect they are attacked. It's disappointing and childish honestly. I've seen people who worked on the show attacking people for just sharing their opinions. The reddit group, is only slightly better… like the show or don't like the show, the constant divisiveness over something made by a multi-billion dollar corporation that doesn't even know you exist is just silly.
I'm going to watching the two dps tomorrow but I do like reading how people are viewing it.
After reading Don Miller's book I really searched on You Tube what I could find and there are a few interviews from members of the 100th. BUT! There some very good talks by Rosie Rosenthal not only as a member of the 100th, but also a lawyer at Nuremberg. His talks and answering questions were just outstanding!
Retired USAF vet who served in the 8th AF "1980"s" and I"ve been waiting for this series for awhile. So far I'm not disappoimted. I"m enjoying all the little details that probably most won't catch like the two navigators jumping of the truck and almost getting run over becuause they looked right instead of left before crossing the road. I've actually heard that in the early days of US troops coming to Britian that traffic accidents was a major problem. I also liked the scene of the cooks making powdered eggs. i can tell you that those of us who have experienced powdered eggs and I suspect that will included many UK vets will have many colorfull descriptions of the experience. So far it"s met my expectations and I"ll keep my fingers crossed.
My personal attitude watching historical content is to critique and analyze them based on what’s there, rather than what isn’t. I loved the banter between the RAF and 100th pilots and the way it introduces this conversation about daylight & night bombing. The emotion that these episodes nailed is the fear and terror that these pilots experienced. I’m genuinely fearful for these characters in the coming episode based on the just the two missions shown so far.
Well said 👍
The things that always get me going with these types of shows are: Hair & hair styles, MotA get a solid pass, it's not perfect, but it's a pass. Age, Brad Pitt is 30 years to old to be a WWII tank commander, MotA gets this pretty right. Clothes and equipment, MotA get's a A+ for attention to detail. Modern world racial swaps, I know the Tuskegee Airmen appear later on but so far MotA resists throwing in a black woman general for representation. CGI, this is quite good, not perfect, but absolutely watchable.
Im liking how they are slowly dipping in information, for laymens it could be overwelming but they dont seem to be pushing, too much too fast. First introduced group integrity, then the second episode ground eschelon importance, i expect in the third the lack of fighter escort will be a theme.
You are right. trying to get it right is hard.My dad was a pilot in the RAF. his story was not what l thought it would be…..
tho
Thanks!
Well said. Thanks
My biggest disappointment so far is it doesn’t have Dolby atmos. Ted Lasso had it but something as epic as Masters of the air is not in surround sound.
I have now seen the first 2 episodes and think it is fantastic!
This is the best world war two channel in the world.
I suppose it's pretty accurate to portray a bunch of Yank flyboys arriving in England in mid 1942 as the first B-17s were arriving, acting as if they were going win the war all by themselves. I haven't seen anything of it yet bar a couple of snippets. Hopefully it will show the Americans learning the hard way and someone saying markedly, "No wonder the Limeys do this by night!" I've heard there was banter when some B-17 flyers were showing their plane to some Lancaster crewmen and the RAF guy says, "Is that all the bombs you can carry?"
I have seen one bit that was showing a B-17 formation viewed from another B-17. It did look obviously CGI. I don't know much about this but wondered if it would've been possible to use some original footage and then clean it up and enhance period footage with CGI and colourisation. I'm going to watch it eventually and will keep an open mind. As you say Woody, I hope that the RAF and the 9th and 15th get due credit during the series.
I've been a US 8th AF fan since I was a kid building Airfix B-17 and B-24. I built all the RAF heavies too.
I even gave my planes hand drawn maps for the navigators table. 😂.
As a side note. I watched an oldie the other night. Appointment in London with Dirk Bogarde. Made in the 50s with real Lancasters and period footage mixed in. One howler. Dirk Bogarde flew a mission without putting his sheepskin jacket over his regular RAF uniform. He would've froze to death.
You touch on this but it took me years to appreciate that both world wars were evolving tactics and strategies for conducting the war. They make mistakes and they don't get feedback immediately and that feedback might not be totally accurate.
For those criticizing Austin Butler's voice, keep in mind that it naturally is very similar to Elvis'.
I have not watched yet—my grandfather was a pilot out of Foggia. I can’t decide if I want to watch them a week at a time, or wait so that I can watch them back to back—but I wanted to thank you for your assessment of this series and historic films in general! I am a historian—been teaching American history for over 20 years and I will probably show your review to students because you said it better than I ever have on how to watch movies/series about historic events. Thank you!!!!
As well as the hair look out for the floppy peaked caps. After a significant number of missions the pilots were allowed to remove the stiff wire maintaining the shape of the cap crown. New pilots had to suffer discomfort with headsets and steel helmets over the rigid caps. The modified peaked caps were a badge of honour and were called The Fifty Mission Crush. They are quite distinctive in crew photographs.
Well said woody, the one constant gripe from people on my mota behind the scenes site is about Mustaches! Not content bloody mustaches
I have to get Apple TV. I haven't seen the episodes yet. My Great-Uncle was a B-17 pilot in the 91st Bomb Group. Earned the Silver Star and was a POW for over a year. I was lucky enough to talk to him about his experiences. I wish he was still around to see this series. I'm looking forward to watching it. I hope they delve into the POW experience.
Great video as always Paul!
I flew dozens of B-17 missions before I was 10 years old. All in my imagination. This miniseries is 50 million times better than that. "Twelve O'Clock High" was candy. This one is gourmet. Agree with all your observations! And I couldn't get enough of walking around the old airfields last October, after our great Normandy tour. Will share this — as you said, too many people nitpicking here and there. Love this show, Woody @WW2TV!
I grew up watching Twelve O'Clock High and have been waiting for this series. I've read Millers book several times and l find it riveting. I haven't yet seen the 2 episodes but I'm keen to watch it after watching this video.
I just sat down and watched them back to back. It's a great show. Not without some minor quibbles but there are no solutions just compromises when it comes to major projects. I'm looking forward to watching more.
Really enjoyed the first two episodes, and I agree with your comments, it’s never possible to get everything correct, for me I thought the action sequences were very well put together and made me realise for example, trying to shoot down a German fighter from the bomber, near impossible! Great show Woody thank you
Great detail and realism Story plots lame with zero intensity or urgency. A thankless task to tell this story and I hope it gets better. Blonde Elvis? Shame he could no change his acting character for this series. But this series will honour the sacrifce made by the young men who volenteered to help free europe. The USAAF cemetary in Cambridge with those who died upon return from missions is a testamount to this
It didn’t take long for Spielberg to mock the English, the dialogue in this is questionable.
Paul, so far it has to be a solid 10 for me. Highly entertaining and educational. But most importantly of all it is close to, what in my mind, was reality of being an aviator over Europe. I am glad you are of the same opinion.
As with everything nowadays, everyone has a platform to give their opinions on things, this wasn’t so much the case when the other series were released. Nowadays it is easy for the nit pickers to pull things apart, even when it’s nonsense like smoking and haircuts!
And finally, I know we shouldn’t compare each series to one another as they are stand alone etc etc etc. However I have a feeling Masters of the Air might actually out do Band of Brothers for myself! Blue skies!
well done woody
Totally agree with you about the sound mix
Excellent review, well done. Thoughtful, considered and very fair.
I agree wholeheartedly with you re the social media naysayers, many of whom were already posting negative comments before the first episode even aired.
I have already read numerous negative comments about the CGI. I think it’s a sad reflection on how spoilt & jaded we’ve become with regards to special effects. Personally l thought they were superb.
The pub scene may indeed be a writer's device to explain doctrinal differences in bombing – but what's most conspicuous is the RAF trio's snideness; deliberate irony (on the supposition Americans won't understand it); sarcasm; and plain-old 'p*ss-taking' (eg "math", "shortage of nicknames" etc) delivered condescendingly with public school accents. In fact, the kind of delivery intended to irritate and provoke.
The script is quite clearly critical of the RAF officers depicted; meanwhile Harry Crosby's narrated explanation of different approaches to strategic bombing occurs elsewhere in the episode.
We'll see if the British flyers are in any way redeemed later on in the series. But I won't hold my breath: in his eponymous book, Donald Miller wasn't exactly complimentary about Harris and his Bomber Command crews.
Hy paul just out of curiosity are you a norfolk boy ? I grew up on the edge of stanta training area in norfolk, for a few years i lived in bodny aswell .we also had RAF watton up the road aswell, im sure you know obviously bodny has an army camp it also had a ww2 airfield aswell. But im sure you know all that . I loved exploring watton ammo dump when i was a kid . Also that interest lead to me serving in the army . Now like you i have a life long passion for mil history. Thanks for all your content really enjoy listening aspeciely the dougles nash shows . I have nearly all his books except the cherkassey pocket . Again thanks mate 👍👍
Oh yeah i seem to remember 25th bomb group served at RAF WATTON. if my memory serves me they were 8th airforce .they had a museum there until it was bulldozed. Theres still a memorial there .
If producers stuck too closely to a policy of historical accuracy, we'd never see anything reach the screens, and MotA's makers have tried as hard as any to get things right.
But before even the opening titles in Ep.1 (c5:10) there's a surprising error of a kind that so easily could have been cross-checked and avoided.
It says Bucky Egan's hair-raising first B-17 combat flight was courtesy of the 389BG – but that was a B-24 Liberator group that in May 1943 hadn't arrived in the UK.
I'll give it 6.5/10 for now. Disappointed that every B-17 lost goes down in flames. As the real Memphis Belle film showed, they sometimes just started tumbling out of the sky with no obvious damage. Actors are OK. The scene with the RAF was disrespectful.
I'm looking forward to watching it – I have realistic expectations. It will be flawed but will be a valuable addition to the edutainment WW2 industry.
I like your attitude about the show. I read Masters of the air, have been to lots of airshows and museums, and am a graduate student in history and was disappointed with the show at first. I agree with you that these types of shows are not designed for people like me and many of your viewers as we have detailed knowledge of the subject. I am going to sit back and enjoy it as a tv show, just like I do with The Longest Day and other movies. As an Apple shareholder, I understand that they need to make money on this deal and appeal to the mass public. Tom Mullen, Geneva, IL USA.
It's DEI rubbish mixed in with horribly inaccurate CGI. Hoping it gets better, but not holding my breath.
I flew out of RAF Mildenhall when I was with the Air Force. We ate at the dinning hall that the crews in WW2 ate out of. I always thought of those men when we were there. US and British airmen.
Thanks for the well-thought-out review Woody. You are spot on. My dad was a bombadier in the 715th squadron, 448th Bombardment Group, flying B-24s. He made it through 27 missions, and suffered a lifelong injury to his hand during a ME-262 attack near the end of the war. This series reminds me of so many things that he told me. He was based out of Seething, is that one of the bases near you? I am hoping to visit the airbase museum this year.
Regarding the B-17 crash scene, my wife and I were present and straight ahead of a recent B-17 crash. In real life, it feels fake. My wife commented on how MOA did that scene accurately.
What I really appreciate in these early episodes is they are showing the audience the little things as to what it takes to do these bombing missions, down to the check lists and the ground crew working at night to be ready to launch in the morning. Any other show would have just shown them hopping in the plane, maybe 1 engine turning, then take off. I feel like they are trying to build the audience's competency to use that somehow in later episodes.
Exactly what I was thinking, no tv or film will be perfect, but im just thankful A, that those extraordinary kids did the job and B, that we get to see this series. Oh and im sure that the last thing on my mind when going through those missions, would be my hair.
Regarding the pub scene, the US character changes his mind at the end of the episode. Plus, both methods complimented each other in applying constant pressure on the Nazi war machine
I have read a lot of the comments below, and I am shocked that no-one has mentioned the 1990 movie "Memphis Belle". The opening minutes of MotA was a direct take. Not that it's a bad thing as most people wouldn't have seen the earlier film. So far what I have viewed of this series is a sympathetic model of what these brave young men encountered, and I envisage a great series ahead. Another great book to read is, "Combat Crew" by John Comer, a story about his arrival in England, and a mission by mission account of his 25 forays into extreme danger above Germany. Worried about the CGI ? Get over it and be thankful you don't have to do what these guys did.
Does anyone else seeing the dudes wearing the helmets the wrong way? That can’t just be me?
The first episode was like the carbon copy of the 90s movie Memphis Belle, the story followed the crews in bombing raid on Bremen (same target city as in Memphis Belle) also during take off and climbing or rendezvous with other bombers the main character's B-17 almost hit another B-17 from below in a heavy cloud, just like in Memphis Belle, also I think the Tuskegee airmen story would only appear in the last two episodes, which is a shame.
Very interesting review. I think I'll skip this. I have to be honest, I'm bored of American WW2 productions especially with their sneakily included digs and clichéd mocks aimed at the Brits.
Fed up with the digs at Montgomery, British tankers etc. I don't need to watch pub punch ups with RAF crews. I thought Germany was the enemy in WW2?
Appreciate you trying to balance it out, but I'll be giving it a wide birth.
Cheers.
Part of what drove Americans' absolute confidence in the superiority of daylight precision bombing was their year and a half of daily training in the cloudless skies of the southwestern United States. Under those conditions, precision bombing no doubt seemed achievable. As it turns out, the skies over Europe tend to have a few more clouds. That being said, US and NATO pilots still spend a great deal of time honing their skills over states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Nevada, precisely because of those great many perfectly blue skies days.
The show sounds great dialogue included in my Sony headphones connected to my ApplecTV 4k.
This is excellent! Thanks for the insights, enjoyed them greatly.