How would you rank the trilogy of shows? Let me know your thoughts below! ➡ *MASTERS OF THE AIR Finale Breakdown:* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-62fWFKi7W54.html ➡ *BAND OF BROTHERS Episode 3 Breakdown:* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FRyeG3fbmY8.html ➡ *BAND OF BROTHERS Episode 2 Breakdown:* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MaEOgfArpKc.html
Before Richard WInters died the fame crushed him, it was overbearing on him. So much he refused further interviews about E Co. or the BoB show. He had lived for many decades without much fanfare about the war then suddenly the fame hit he did not want to be a part of anymore. It is regretful to think he spent his final days trying to recuperate from all the celebrity status thrown at him. Hopefully he passed peacefully thinking about everything else not related to the war.
My favorite [Speirs]: "........We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope, but, Blithe..., the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function- without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it......" Runner up [Winters]: Salute the rank, not the man" Close runner up [Nixon]......"Ahhh, that's my own piss"
Band of Brothers was filmed in 2001, lots of WWII veterans were alive and most of the . They could talk to the actors, share feelings, anecdotes, memories about each specific moment: a joke, a nickname... That transmitted a humanity and let you to identify with the characters, something that, unfortunately, is no longer possible because WWII veterans are almost all gone.
IMHO This was the story of the Bloody 100th. Trying to shoe horn in the Tuskegee Airmen (who could have a series of their own) made the show lose its focus. Episodes 7 and 8 must have been directed by someone who didnt see the previous episodes - they were all over the place and flipped back and forth too often. They could have spent more time with Rosey who was shot down TWICE and returned. Or how about spending some time with the 2 downed airmen that evaded the Germans and made it back. The 100th had enough stories that could have filled 12 episodes therefore I feel they needed to concentrate on them. They could have spent an entire episode on just the ground crews and how they kept things going. So many opportunites to concentrate on the 100th. I agree with you that more time should have been spent on D-Day and the days after. Good job BrainPilot - enjoyed your narrative. My 2 cents.
Totally agree, it felt like they had bigger plans, but during Covid the series got cut back in size and they tried to put too much in, and that just ended up leaving all story lines compromised. We got half an episode following Quinn and Bailey evading the Germans, then a few seconds of them back at base when an episode following the journey to safety would have been way more interesting. Following Sandra in occupied territory was just a dead end that wasted air time. Too many jumps in time that meant characters weren’t developed, in episode 9 we see Major Crosby, but his character hadn’t really moved on in the show much from when he was a first Lieutenant being sick and scared of his own shadow. The action scenes were the highlights, if BOB is 100, The Pacific for those of us who aren’t American so not that invested in their history is 75 then MOTA is 50. It needed either 2 hour episodes or a second season.
@neilfound3506 Convid? Really - how long ago did that fake boat sail? Is this going to be the excuse from the defenders of Epstien from now on when their project doesn't live up to expectations?
Agree, the Red tails are a great story, but they lost all flow and focus with it in episode 8. Also good to cover the POWs and Buck’s escape, but spent way too much time with that in episode 9.
@@neilfound3506 The show wouldn't be eligible for Emmys, I don't think, unless it included the Tuskegee airmen. (I would love to see an entire series on them.) At least that is the case with the Oscars, anyway, a diversity quota has to be met. I can't imagine the situation is any different with the Emmys.
Masters of the Air was fine, but it felt too cinematic. Band of Brothers used a lot more handheld which provided a much more raw and immersive experience. I also felt that there were simply too many characters and too frequent time jumps which made it difficult to get invested in the characters.
BoB did jump cuts too, Winters running through that grassy field. Why? was he running towards or from something we did not know yet, then as the story unfolded we see him run up and shoot a SS HJ at the end of a formation kneeling the weeds. It was great thought in energetic storytelling.
Band of Brothers was such a masterpiece that it's not fair to try and compare another series to it. That said, no it wasn't as good. MotA had its moments but it's not even close in my opinion.
@@IMeanMachine101because if you watch both series it’s very clear that Band of Brothers is the better series. BOB is damn near perfect so it’s not fair to MOTA to compare it to that. I’d compare MOTA more so with The Pacific and even then idk if MOTA is on that level.
@@CowboysNation22so damn near perfect? My man I love BoB but people forget the massive issues and inaccuracies it has. And then they conveniently forget about them when comparing it to
@@fitycalibre7555yes damn near perfect. The small inaccuracies it has are easily able to be overlooked because it’s such a powerful story. If the biggest mistake is getting the death of Albert Blithe wrong then yeah that’s damn near perfect.
''it's not fair to try and compare another series to it (BoB)'' But that is exactly what Apple were doing - selling it as from the same people who made BoB and The Pacific.
One issue that i dont see many people bring up is MOA had way to many characters to invest in. They kept introducing new characters just about each episode and it was hard to follow and know their names. With BOB, you had a select group of men who you followed through out the war. That made it personal and intimate. While MOA had great characters like Buck, Bucky, and Crosby; the amount of characters throw at the viewer throughout the show was overwhelming.
I thought the same thing however I think that that was on purpose and probably the life of someone in one of these squadrons, I mean the life expectancy of a B17 crew was 11 missions, they had a constant flow of new faces and old ones being lost. They hardly had enough time to invest in them themselves so their story of new characters coming and going is just going to be in the nature of hearing the stories of the ones that actually survived. Whether that makes for a good show is in the eye of the beholder I guess, I enjoyed it very much but BoB will always be my favorite.
it was on purpose because replacement would come everyday and die the day after. There is the story of a guy who took a coffee morning of the mission, nobody knew his name, then died and was known as the guy who took a coffee.
I think it was on purpose. I felt like they immersed the viewer in certain ways like this; for example us not being able to see Buck's perspective of being shot down and captured to replicate what bomber crews felt when they didn't know the fates of their friends. It's a bit of a pseudo-fourth-wall effect that pays off with as close a realistic effect as possible on the viewer.
@@imanton_20Yeah but this is a show. I need to feel invested in the characters and I didn’t care about any of them and why would they have storyline that go nowhere such as the spy lady?
The "problem" is the loss rate was so high for the 100th bombardment group there's no real core group that fought from beginning to end. So many ended up dead, wounded, or prisoners and scattered all over.
This, to me, is the real point of MotA, and why this story couldn't have been told 20 years ago. As Americans, we're not used to seeing "our boys" fail, or lose, or die pointlessly and helplessly. Losing those pretentions, as our standing in the world has changed, makes it possible to tell these stories now.
you said it best. The way I see it is many people don't fully understand what they are watching therefore they are critical of a subject they cannot comprehend fully. Not their fault but I personally find it unfair to rag on MOTA if you don't have the full backstory. Some will make the argument a show should provide that to the viewer regardless but I see MOTA as almost a show made for those of us who know the history and are able to follow it.@@ianlarue8937
To be honest, you can't even compare them. Band of Brothers stands alone, on top. Masters of the Air feels like any other generic war show, its okay and entertaining, nothing more.
I liked Masters of the Air but so many minor characters I feel like didn't have a conclusion at all and makes me wonder why were they there or what happened to them? Like Cruikshank, Hambone, Brady who were around since the beginning. Blakely and Douglass who were the only other crew from the start to some how survive the war not shot down. Jack Kidd just vanished after episode 8 and he was around from the start. This video talked enough about Quinn and how they skipped out his adventure, might as well have cut him out of the show really or Helen played by Emma Canning. She was an interesting side character for the 1st 4 episodes and pretty much vanished after that. Could have been interesting to see how she responded to other airmen flirting with her after the death of Nash who she met the night before his death. I know it seems like a rant but it was annoying to see all these different side character's and never see them again. Would have been better if they focused on 1 or 2 bomber crews no more or less really
Nothing will ever come close to Band of Brothers. I think all of us millennials know this by now. I was born in 89 and had the pleasure of watching BoB when it released in 2001 as a young lad. I didn’t realize I was watching the pinnacle of ww2 shows at the time.
Just to echo what a lot of people had said, the pacing of MofA really let it down because for the last few episodes, I felt they were trying to squeeze in too many characters. Starting with Quinn being unable to save Baby Face to the Tuskegee Airmen, I just couldn’t buy into them as much as I could with Buck Compton or Winters in BofB. The show would have done so much better if it had 3-5 more episodes to flesh out every major plot line. To be honest, I’d love to see a sequel for the Pacific Theater where they cover events like the Battle of Coral Sea, Midway, Mariana’s Turkey Shoot, sinking of the Yamato, and the eventual firebombing campaign over Japan. 8.5/10 imo for MofA
To me personally all 3 series i loved them, Band of Brothers in on another level with an Oscar into it's story. The Pacific took some flak back in the day but that series was more darker in tone, but it was good, Masters of the Air is algo damned good, took some negative reviews because of the CGI, but it's an historical series. These 3 series are only for those who had a taste for historical series of WWII. Not fair pitting it against Band of Brothers, just enjoy, watch, suffer the 3 installments.
That in itself is not a problem - the whole premise was that we know that the casualties were horribly high. What made it not work the same way as in BoB (where the same thing happens), was that MotA gave a vibe of "you're supposed to be sad now" but we weren't given any reason to care about those characters.
Easy Company lost a total of 49 men, 100th bomb group lost 732 men and 177 aircraft. That's more than 10x the amount of men Easy Company lost in the entire war.
@@IPendragonI that number doesnt make sense. They were constantly getting new recruits and losing them every step of the way to Germany during the war. Maybe you meant they lost 49 men during the Normandy Landings?
IMO....noooo for a series that was waited for and highly anticipated for such a long time, it bothered me how certain important events were glossed over. The CGI could of been better at times. I think the main characters could of been focused on Buck Buckey and Rosie. It had its moments but such a long and eventful air campaign this series should of been the 10 episode or maybe 12. Out of the three I rank this last of the three series.
I'm an aviation fanatic so you can guess which one was my favorite. I mean , the aerial special effects and cinematography was top-notch. I'm also an Army veteran so you can also guess how I feel about Band of Brothers (hint - completely awed by the work and presentation). In the end, overall I'm a WWII buff and hold all that served with such high regards. All I can say is I'm so privileged to have been able to see all three series. I'll be re-watching Band of Brothers to take it all in again.
They had to cheap out on the models, though. B-17Fs were barely in evidence by 1944, but the show didn't have the budget to show the G model with the Bendix chin turret.
@@jhardycarroll MoTA had lots of CGI, which was in its cost effective infancy when when BoB was made. I loved the ending of BoB, yes it seemed like the war just petered out for E/506th, but thats what really happened.
While this is true, there were so many characters that helped make BoB. It would not have been the same show without Speirs, Lipton, Compton, Guarnere, Malarkey, Luz, Perconte, Webster, Liebgott, and so many others. It was such great story telling, such great acting, such great dialogue, such great filming, etc, etc it's frankly a masterpiece. It was so good, most other war movies make me cringe now, the Pacific included.
I'm not sure why people insist on ranking these three shows. Each represented such different aspects of the war and if you didn't experience it as these heroes did, then you have no reference to say which is better. Rather than rank them, understand that these shows are meant show us how war impacted each character differently, and the fortitude it took to survive during war and how it impacted them after. As a veteran myself, I can appreciate all three shows and what they represent. We don't need to rank them, but appreciate the work that was done to provide them to the public.
BOB felt more intimate and Withers was such a great leader that you followed his story and how he affected everyone. BOB is a classic. They are all good. To really complete the trilogy, now go watch....."They Best Years of Their Lives." the best movie about coming home.
Best so far about about coming home and readjusting after WWII, but a first rate movie or series about returning home after Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, etc has "Winner" all over it!
All 3 - the Army guys in Germany, the Navy and Marines in the Pacific, and the Pilots in Northern England were ALL fantastic series. It shows what fabulous, dedicated, disciplined boys and men they ALL were even to coping with everything that war hands you. As a nation we should be VERY PROUD of them, signing up, going to war...they all knew what their role was, accepted it and excelled whether they never made it ashore on Omaha beach or they lived through bombing Germany and POW camps, or being in a ship sinking in "the slot" at Guada canal. Yes, we STILL Have men who accomplish this kind of commitment and discipline today...so tell a soldier of any branch of the service you are PROUD of them and thank them for their sacrificial service to protect and defend ALL of us..
Main problem is deffo the pacing, but also it is probs much harder to make an amazing and faithful series on the 100th then it was to do Easy Company, who's story was far more unbelievable, and prolonged than the 100th. Still have to prop up the series as it was amazing, to think what those airmen went through up there
The issue was wasting too much time with the two Bucks. Their time with the 100th was a blip in its history. Rosie Rosenthal was the 100th’s most famous pilot.
The finale was simply fantastic, easily one of the best episodes of the show. There seemed to be a strong connection (perhaps intentional) between the scene of Rosenthal at the camp and BoB's episode 'Why we fight'. I still think BoB did a better job of showing the raw emotion of the human experience experiencing such imense horror, but in this scene and in general this show often evoked a lot of emotion out of pure silence, of images where we all knew exactly what had taken place. To me it was a moment for which Rosenthal perhaps was questioning whether all the carnage was worth it only to witness perhaps the greatest justification of their efforts to stop that evil. The show although different was very powerful and for a limited budget I think they did the best they could. I agree the time jumps were excessive and there could have been a season alone on the redtale's story, but I think they felt it important to describe the change in air offensive with the introduction of higher performance aircraft later in the war, relative to the 100th's bombers and given the budget constraints I would imagine that explains much of the jumping around. All in all I believe MOTA was better than The Pacific and BoB still holds the 1st place in the best WW2 series ever produced (and for which may ever be produced in the future).
As a warbird fan and having read many a book on the air war, I feel they left way too much on the table. Just on the technical point of the show, they planes never really changed, and it was quite obvious. And why the Tuskegee squadron again? They have two movies and many a documentary about them, but nothing on the squadrons that actually fought over the ETO. It would have been cool to see Gabreski, Zemke and so forth. I know that some of the technical advisers where let go sooner than they should have been, and that led to quite a few technical errors. There are lots of vids around here to point it out. For the average viewer, the show is fine, but for us Airplane nerds, it was way off. And that is such a shame.
As a fellow WW2 Aviation enthusiast, I totally agree. I love the history of the Tuskegee Airmen but honestly, their inclusion was strictly to check the mandatory DEI box. It wasn't a bad series, but there were SO many inaccuracies and it pretty much played out as a "Hollywood-ised" version of the Air War.
I totally agree and the series lost me when they started making up stories. Crosby and the British woman? I don;t remember reading that anywhere. When they never added a B-17G is another huge fact they missed. Like you said, for me it was way off. Glad it's not out on DVD!
I wasn't sure if the ME163 or 262 was used operationally against the 100th, but both were used as defense against bombers over Germany. I was hoping to see the reaction of bomber pilots seeing a rocket propelled or jet aircraft for the first time. Seeing the 163 must have been mind blowing for them.
The only problem of The Pacific and Masters of the Air is that Band of Brothers in simply unmatched. It’s not even fair to be compared with something else
Read the book, it fills in a lot of details. Air war stories are very difficult ones to tell on film. I think they did a great job on the series. Band of Brothers is a more relatable story for a lot of reasons, it has broader appeal as we've probably all imagined what it would be like to be a grunt even as kids playing war, ( I guess that's not done anymore), it also was released at a time when America needed to see an expression of It's military might post 9/11. That alone increased its popularity immensely. In addition, a lot of the guys were still with us then. As that horrible war moves further in to history and the last of the combatants die it is important to remember the three series are a tribute to the people that fought for the Allied Forces in WW II, the were truly a great generation.
But you have to realize I don't think they could fit 2 years of war in 9 episodes and same thing with the pacific from 1942 to 1945. Band of brothers just had it with from 1944 to 1945
@@ldmb1966The Pacific is the most realistic, grim and brutal depiction of combat that was done in the PTO ever filmed. Out of 3 of them, The Pacific is by far the most depressing and genuine portrayal of combat.
It is like comparing apples and oranges. The ground war was literally step by step so much easier to introduce continuity to the story and get to know the characters because they would beside each other all the time. The air war was more erratic not just in terms of the major events but also geographically. And if characters disappeared from the story well that's because that's exactly what happened. As a drama Band of Brothers probably is better but I doubt if a more fitting tribute to the 100th Bomber group and those brave young men (and women) will ever be made. The last episode was outstanding and I was in tears.
You just can’t replicate the kind of performances you see in band of brothers- the acting is just so god damn good. Still both mota and the pacific are amazing and helped millions of people understand nuances of the war they never would’ve otherwise
I like in the last episode where Rosie and Crosby said “Sir” to Egan and Clevens like they were still their superiors while everyone at that point were Majors and not Captains or Lieutenants
All of Spielberg/Hanks visual library of events in WW2 are masterpieces and give us an insight into the lives of amazing young people who took on responsibilities that astound us. I believe that We can't compare these different theatres of war as entertainment. They are stark reminders of what was sacrificed.
A big problem with MotA episode 9 was that they didn’t move the B-17s into the ‘G’ model that they certainly were in late ‘44/‘45. That being said, I love studying the air war and definitely put MotA up there with BoB. Both great with The Pacific in at third.
@@PHDiaz-vv7yo Yeah, the F model was aesthetically better. However, it looks very weird in silver trying to pass for a late war G model. Bizarre that they went through so much for accuracy and then totally screwed that up.
after watching the entire series I only got a little invested with Cros I saw him as a poor man's Carwood Lipton, there was character development but not as long as what we got for our beloved 1st Sgt. whom we even saw smoking later in the series. I think BoB just had the perfect timing of real history and hollywood embellishments for us to enjoy it. The Tuskegee airmen in my opinion should have a series of their own I felt it was just added for the sake.
I'm sorry but if we're talking beyond the technical aspects, a comparison is unfair. Historically speaking, the stories that are based around the three units (Easy Company, 1st Marine Division, and 100th Bomb Group) are different in that some units' stories can be told more easily than others. With Band of Brothers, the opportunity to tell a story about wartime camaraderie and brotherhood comes naturally because the emphasis is on a small and cohesive unit, which comes off as an outcome of historical luck. But for The Pacific, which follows a larger group, they chose to hammer hard the concept of "war is hell" which you won't find anywhere else than in the Pacific Theatre. With Masters of the Air which follows a regimental-size formation, the emphasis was on portraying the Air War as well as experiences of airmen POWs. I know that Band of Brothers is a phenomenal series. But to compare the installments that followed to it is a disservice to what the subsequent series were trying to tell. Beyond the technicality aspect of filmmaking, each installment should stand on its own and so should be analyzed on its own.
I understand the feeling on the speeding through stuff it seemed in MOTA and also wish we had more time or more episodes but one thought is maybe there isn’t a whole lot of information for the current guys either. Fortunately most the BOB guys got to know their guys they played or about their guys from their buddies. It truly was a very special series and remains that way today even amongst the actors and the true vets families.
MotA doesn't even come close. Band of Brothers had much better dialogue and wasn't sensationalized. The big thing for me was music during the action scenes. Band of Brothers just had raw sound, no music to tell you how to feel during battles. Masters of the Air was far too cinematic during battle scenes and made them feel less authentic. I think it had a lot of good going for it but it missed the mark by being too much.
We now need a navy one, unless you want to count Greyhound. BoB was a gritty ground slog, which always looks good when staged. Flying sequences have to be done with CGI, which is always less convincing. The drama of the constancy of battle seems more dramatic when viewing land conflict. Of course, this is NOT meant to denigrate the air heros just because they (sometimes) made it back to base! You see, the fliers’ survival rate was a lot lower than a GI in the Euro theater, remember that too! So that scotch they drank at night? Not as many drank it at 7pm as left to fly to Nazi Germany at 4 AM.
All 3 series are outstanding! Every person will have their own favourite series/episodes. pointless question asking "Masters Of The Air VS Band Of Brothers - Was It As Good"?
I genuinely don't understand why people like Masters so much. It is so poorly written, filled with 2D characterization and cliches. The editing is poorly done, they skimped on the raid scenes, and there's often no sense of stakes or scale. I felt no tension during the entire prisoner of war arc, because it felt like they were telling us they were in a bad situation without showing us. Band of Brothers dunks on this show in every possible way.
There really is no comparison even if MOTA was even half as good as Band of Brothers, which really was. a masterpiece. MOTA screwed up episodes 7 and 8 so bad that it turned a great series into one that was just good. They at least should have stayed truer to the template used in Band of Brothers and the Pacific which really took away from the whole thing.
What made Band of Brothers so special was when it aired there was no social media and Internet to spread the awareness by overhyping everyone. It literally came out of nowhere in many ways. It being on regular TV was even more brilliant.
If you want complete honestly. If Spielberg and Hanks’s thing was to have this trilogy. It would’ve made the most sense to do a miniseries on the Mediterranean theater(North Africa, Sicily, Italy). So many men died taking Italy and it is CRIMINALLY overlooked in WW2 media. It just would’ve been perfect as a trio to follow each different fronts for US infantryman. Plenty of books to use material for it too.
Honestly I liked masters of the air more than band of brothers. And I really liked band of brothers and the pacific… but I also work in aviation so I may have a biased opinion 😂
No series for me will ever come close to BofB. My husband and his father were fighter pilots, and I've always been exposed to that type of flying. I never saw much about "heavies" and I have to say, my God, those young men were as brave as any that sat alone in a fighter cockpit.
I’m afraid it fell short of being as good as band of brother - but then again, most things do. I still enjoyed it. It’s just not got that timeless feel that BoB has.
Sadly there is a huge difference between Band of Brothers and Masters of the Air and that is the Source Material. In Band of Brothers the source material was literally the people who were there, they would literally go back and ask people like Winters or Guarnere what happened in this moment, the actors got to talk with the people they were playing or meet their friends and relatives. In Masters of the Air we have the books written by the people that were there, sadly we can't go ask these men because they have all passed on. On the whole I found Masters of the Air to be a great series, my biggest gripe was I felt the section with the Tuskegee Airmen felt forced and would much rather see an entire series dedicated to those brave men.
I think band of brother was just able to make you feel as you were part of that division and you actually build the bond with all of the squad Masters of the air. It was just hard to follow or get attached to specific characters. However, I still really enjoyed it.
Rosie should have featured far more. He was with the 100th for 16 months and is perhaps the most famous B-17 pilot of the war. Would have loved to see more of his real life exploits like bringing back crippled bombers to England. The pacing was problematic, but comparing it to BoB pacing is not a good idea. Easy Company got pulled off the line to rest and refit after Normandy and Market Garden, so there were natural time jumps built into the real life story to begin with. The 100th BG was in continuous action for 2 years. Also as others have mentioned, budget issues probably cut the show short. The final episode is an hour and twenty minutes, which was probably two episodes put together. The first six episodes if I remember right, cover just a few months in ‘43, leaving just three episodes to cover the rest of the war. I think they definitely left a lot on the editing room floor, which made the pacing worse than it was. Introduction of Tuskegee airmen was a waste and very forced. They deserve their own series anyway, and we never even saw them doing what they are famous for, escorting bombers. Perhaps that was done because with the movie Red Tails, that isn’t new content for most people particularly the target audience of the show. But it took away valuable screen time. If you are going to include them, why not introduce them on an escort mission? No show is perfect, and I really enjoyed the series. Using real B-17s for a lot of the ground shots/taxi was awesome. It covers some big missions during the war and sheds light on an oft forgotten and bloody chapter in American military history.
The two series cannot really be compared. They are completely different types of campaigns, with completely different impact of members of each unit. Too many people expected MoA to be just like BoB, but that simply wasn't the way it was in reality.
You can't beat Band of Brothers; I think it's the greatest limited series/miniseries of all time, The Pacific and Masters of the Air were both great but I would give Masters the edge over The Pacific. I really hope they do one WW2 series and hopefully it can happen within 5 years.
I rewatch Band of Brothers. I read the books behind all three series. There was a wealth of material for Band of Brothers and the Pacific but the masters of the air was more about what the regiment did at a high level. That said I never rewatch The Pacific and I didn't Finish Masters of the air and I won't be rewatching it. The masters of the air wasn't bad...... it just wasn't good.
You should watch the documentary released along the final episode, the bloody hundredth (i think that most people missed it). I believe it really improves each one of the 9 episodes as you discover how they used real stories, pictures and footage to make the show (told by some of the characters that appear on it)
Your opinions perfectly match my own on Master of the Air. I loved it, but I personally don't think any war movie or series can ever top BoB. My only real complaints about Masters was exactly what you pointed out. The time jumps, and some of the interesting sub plots not getting more attention, and essentially happening off screen. I did enjoy Masters more than The Pacific though. Like BoB (which I probably watch at least once a year), I can see myself stopping to re-watch Masters on TV down the road when it eventually makes it to cable like BoB, which is something I just don't care to do with The Pacific.
It could’ve benefited from a larger budget. There were many different stories in the series that were cut short or not fleshed out. I think that was mainly due to cost. Sure, maybe they shouldn’t have even started them to begin with, but it doesn’t ruin the show for me. They did alright with what they were given.
I don’t think MotA needs to be compared, with more action packed BOB. The air war was more about calculating risks and strategy, more difficult to relate to
I think what made BOB more immersive IMO, was the cast went through two weeks of training to get more into their roles. They learned the in's and out's of their gear and somewhat of the physical training that would go into being a paratrooper.
Dude, how could you possibly compare this to BoB? Total runtimes: Band/Brothers: 11hr 45min Masters/Air: 8 hr 29min And the complaints of not "enough" this or that....look at the runtimes! Jeez Louise...
I loved Master of the Air but I'm a pilot so the visuals drove me nuts! Top Gun 2 really got how to film aircraft perfect, I think they should have started by filming similar aircraft actually flying and then animate the B-17 onto them like Top Gun 2 did.
As someone who loves WW2 aviation this show was such a dissapointment and i will elaborate. The CGI, its terrible the people who did the CGI definitely have never seen a plane fly in real life. For a show focused solely on air crews you would think they would focus more on it. Just a bit dissapointing.
The CGI in Masters was quite bad, in terms of laws of physics and how aircraft actually move and fly, also the sound effects on the engines were atrociously inaccurate. It ended up taking me out of the immersion and the experience a bit, especially knowing this show cost $500,000,000, and they couldn't seem to get a simple B-17 or P-51 engine sound recording, or have an expert review and improve the CGI aircraft physics
People complain over the lack of character development not realising that THAT was one of the main points of MotA. People kept dying in the air war at a staggering rate. With that being said, it didnt top Band of Brothers, but wasnt far from it IMO.
After episode six, MotA took a huge nosedive in quality. Episodes five and six were incredible, seven and eight were absloute trash. I've never seen such a huge dip in quality
My only comment on MOA is they didn't spend enough time in the cockpit and back with the crew. In BOB once after D-day each show was mostly combat and include all ranks. MOA left out too much of what the enlisted personnel contributed. I don't think it conveyed the same gut emotion of combat that BOB or the Pacific did, which, at least for the 100th, had to be a ever growing sense of fear and danger they must of felt every time they flew.
There's no point in showing their PoV of D-Day because honestly it would have been boring in the air. The Allied Airforces were practically uncontested by the Luftwaffe. The show showed us their version of BoB's D-Day: Regensburg, Bremen and Berlin
I am going to say this, for individual episode quality and main characters.......The Pacific wins. Leckie and Sledge were the best two characters in the entire trilogy.
Masters of the air was great. But it desperately needed another episode or even two. The first half was perfect but episode 8 specifically really dragged the series down. The Tuskegee Airmen should’ve been in it earlier or not at all. Not only that but it skipped D-DAY and went all over the place time wise that made it confusing. Just having another episode inbetween 8&9 would’ve gone the extra mile
Masters of the Air doesn’t compare to Band of Brothers, it’s much more like Pacific. Bob is amazing. Storytelling is spot on. Master of the Air doesn’t connect with the crews, doesn’t tell the story of the 100th BG or give the feeling of fear these young men faced. The CGI wasn’t that good either (CGI always misses aviation)
Masters of the Air was incredible. And that's not an understatement from me; It was thrilling, engaging, exciting and emotional. Though yes, I agree BoB edges out over it.
I'm hoping to get to see this show. I thought BoB and the Pacific were both outstanding and, frankly, I liked the Pacific a bit more ... but that changes every time I wind up seeing the shows again, so they're both just as good.
if go by the books and the materials used for these series Band of Brothers was top, it had more characters majority of them still alive when these books was being researched and written. They did a good job of capturing and telling the story is a short amount of time. You really want to tell directly from what was written on the book, I would say it would be very to put it on film and more or less it's never been really done before. The film would be very long, longer than all three series combined and very costly. These two Band of Brothers and Master of the air I think was just right at this time. May be technology and more budget as well filmi making innovation may change that decades from now, they are gems. Pacific was vast theater, air sea and land, As well as missing pieces like Dec to May the retreat to Bataan, or Singapore and Malaya. Aleutians, the cost watchers and Australians/New Zealand. or the building up of the Guerrilla movement in occupied territories instrumental in making the liberations. Submarine warfare like the Darter and Dace or battle of surigao strait, Leyte Gulf, Okinawa and Bloody liberation of Manila. which always overshadowed by Iwo Jime which happened at about the same time.
I would love to see Masters of the Air. But Apple TV won’t let me sign in. I’ve spent a few hours with customer service, to no avail. I know this has nothing to do with the show, but it allows me to vent.
@RicdelCampo1 Life on the Black Pig is fine and dandy, as long as you aren't Tom the cabin boy, being chased by a seamen from just off Jn 11 on the M25. As for DVDs, last place I saw one of those was in a charity shop.
Cannot compete with BOB no backstory is enough to give it 2nd tier status. Plus the terror wasn't developed Buck Compton's arc from the BOB series was better than any one storyline on MOA.
I really wanted to like "Masters of the Air," but out of the trilogy (which includes "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific"), I'd say "The Pacific" was the best of the bunch. The biggest problem with "Masters of the Air" was the fact that the writers were trying to cover way too much territory over the course of only nine episodes. There were omissions, of course - plenty of talk about the P-51, but nary a word about the P-47, an equally important fighter that carried the load before the Mustang showed up in force (and Luftwaffe pilots had a _very_ healthy respect for the Thunderbolt). Moreover, although the show nominally concentrated on the 100th Bomb Group (meaning the B-17 was the star of the show), again nary a word about the B-24 Liberator, which carried a heavier bomb load than the Flying Fortress and was actually preferred by 8th Air Force crews who flew that particular aircraft. Also, character development was weak - it was difficult to develop a sense of real connection to the characters (unlike "Band of Brothers" and especially "The Pacific"). Bottom line, while it wasn't necessarily a _bad_ show, "Masters of the Air" is nonetheless weaker than the two preceding series. Just my opinion of course, which ultimately doesn't mean squat, but there you have it.
I feel like Masters of The Air was kind of this ghoulish almost horror/ terror vibe at times with the battle scenes, nature of the deaths, nature of the environment. Especially the scenes where the planes just came back destroyed and they were counted coming back and you dont know how many are lost. Then they "silently" "calmly" come in to land and taxi- then they send out the ambulances and its just a gorey chaos of injuries and smoking airplanes. Or after a crazy air battle theyd skip to the next day, not show the mission, and all you get are the stories from the scratched up guys who made it back that day. Was very unsettling in a great way in terms of TV, and reminds you how everyone convenes down here at base- then they go way up over Germany and a lot dont come back. Horrorifying circumstance
Honestly I think the reason the pace is off for both MOTA and The Pacific compared to BoB is because BoB takes place in a shorter amount of time cause the 101st were only in active combat for less than 1 year as compared to the 8th Air Force and 1st, 5th and 7th marines
Feel like a lot of cuts were made and masters of the air needed quite a few more episodes to flesh things out. For the viewer people travel great distances too quickly. Like Rosie somehow getting back in Britain so quick after being shot down in eastern Germany.
