Carrier - A 10 episode PBS Series

[Jester]

It was alright. It kind of seemed like it was put together like a reality show and less like a documentary. One of the pilots on the show is an instructor in Meridian now, or at least he was when I was there.

 

[Gator NFO]

Do we have any AW members on that cruise?

I was there on my shooter tour.

 

[FMRAM]

Were you one of the guys in the "circle of trust" powwow?

 

[goosegagnon2]

I watched it with a bunch of civilian flight students. They thought it was pretty good. Granted it didn't show much besides jet guys and junior enlisted folks who had issues at home and ended up in the Navy. Other than that, I didn't think it was that bad.

 

[Xtndr50boom]

I liked Carrier: Fortress at sea MUCH better

 

[flysupertomcat]

My favorite call sign of the night:

FUNGUS

(Fvck U New Guy U Suck)

 

[mmx1]

The music overlays seemed like they were youtube-inspired. I liked the opening montage laid to The Killers, the others, not so much.

 

[usmarinemike]

So it sounds like the corpulent, a-hole, incoherent boob of a style reporter was right.

 

[mmx1]

Right on style, wrong on the content.

He's got a point. You have to be Ken Burns to pull off a coherent 10-hour documentary. This guy is no Ken Burns. There's virtue in brevity.

 

[HeyJoe]

My favorite call sign of the night:

FUNGUS

(Fvck U New Guy U Suck)

I just saw that while I was reading this. Dodo was a close second, but FUNGUS was classic.

 

[DMace55]

Still being a MIDN I think the series is good so far. I can't make too many judgments as I only have lived on a DDG for a short time.

The show provides a look into one of the greatest US assets. The general public can get somewhat of an idea of what a Carrier really is and does. It also showcases the reality and real life stories of the sailors on board, which can be on any ship, not just a carrier.

Watching in Hi Def was pretty awesome, the photography did a great job getting good shots, and 5.1 sound was decent too.

 

[HeyJoe]

Still being a MIDN I think the series is good so far. I can't make too many judgments as I only have lived on a DDG for a short time.

The show provides a look into one of the greatest US assets. The general public can get somewhat of an idea of what a Carrier really is and does. It also showcases the reality and real life stories of the sailors on board, which can be on any ship, not just a carrier.

Watching in Hi Def was pretty awesome, the photography did a great job getting good shots, and 5.1 sound was decent too.

As far as being a "Reality Show" approach, remains to be seen whether it will pay off for Navy in terms of recruiting or scare people away.

Since it started filming in May 2005, it would interesting to see where a lot of the folks are now. The one Ordie who left his girlfriend pregnant and was a self described "party boy" is likely a dad with at least one 2 year old by now.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Enjoyed the first two episodes. Nice photography, and I like how they're focusing on the crew instead of the Discovery/Military Channel-style "this mighty warship the size of the Empire State Building, blah blah etc". Yeah, they seemed to forget there's people in the Air Wing besides fighter dudes and Airman Timmy, but hey.

Fun moment: XO losing his shit on the 1MC over the Chem Light Bandit.

CMC: "If I tell you a puppy dog's gonna pull a freight train, don't ask me how. Just hook him up."

NB, wannabees, Middies, etc: these are the guys you'll be in charge of when you hit the fleet, and they all have stories like this. Get to talking to your squared-away, hard-workin' LPO or the E-3 you're encouraging to apply for STA-21 and they'll casually toss off the most alarming shit you've ever heard in your life. "Yessir, my family's pretty typical, I guess. My 15-year-old sister's pregnant and Mom's been off the barbituates for two years now and bio-Dad's approval for his sex change came through and my ex-stepmom's boyfriend moved in with us, so everything's cool."

Odd thought occurred in ol' Fester's brain as I'm watching..."Man, this gets kind of boring after a while. Hey, that's just like cruise! This is authentic!"

 

[Flyboylance]

I watched both episodes, and it was pretty good, but why in the hell did they only show the hornets and not the rest of the airwing?!

FMRAM.. Just so you know.. That thing they were on was a ship. Ha ha.

 

[FLY_USMC]

My personal favorite lines: "I guess I could've joined the Air Force? Yeah, but then you'd be married to a dude!"

Followed closely by: "If it wasn't for Top Gun you'd be married to a troll."

In a time of PC, we've got it on record....and video...the Navy/Marine Corps universal view on our brothers in blue.