Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Series

There's no way they're doing Zuko Alone without mixing it with something else. You'd have to double the length of the episode and make it 1/8th the season rather than 1/20

Episode 4:

• I'm seeing the complaints that not only does Aang blame himself for everything but half the adult characters blame him as well. This ends up feeling reductive, placing the fault of the war on the Avatar rather than the Fire Nation. The cartoon let Aang carrying that burden contrast the differing emotions from everyone on his return.
• Zuko and Iroh are proving to be the most consistent part of the show, the blending of multiple backstory elements was a lot more coherent than it could have been.
• Bumi seems to be a lot more of a troll rather than actually testing Aang's commitment. This makes the prolonged series of tests drag the pacing down.
• The changes to "Cave of Two Lovers" was curious, but I kind of liked the idea the badgermole was agitated by the hostility between Sokka and Katara.

Technically the blame should be on the Avatar State and other previous Avatars (looking at you Kyoushi) since that were what froze Aang in ice to protect him.

In general, it's just weird to both

1. Change Aang's backstory so that he didn't try to run away from his responsibilities and only ended up in that storm by accident.
2. Have characters (including ones who would know better) shame Aang for being an irresponsible coward who fled from his responsibilities.

It's like the writers are aware that characters should have arcs where they overcome their personal flaws but also don't want to write scenes in which flawed characters make mistakes.

Episode 5 and 6:

• I think "The Blue Spirit" has proven itself to be the all-around pinnacle of the first season, a tightly written and exciting story that is driven by action and not just long conversations. Adapting it was the one decent part of the movie and has proven to be a high point for the show too.
• In isolation "Masks" works much better than "Spirited Away" because of tighter plotting. "Spirited Away" suffers from Aang behaving from what the plot demands he do and not what he's actually learning about his powers, and the various illusions feel expository rather than allowing the characters to grow from it. "Masks" has a slightly more linear direction and that makes the backstory reveals resonate in the present a lot better.
• The merging of like 7 different episodes has some rough spots and continuity problems. Like:
  • June tracks Aang to Roku's temple which is on an island within the Fire Nation and she didn't have a boat.
  • Iroh specifically comments that they are in Fire Nation territory, and then a big deal is made that he can't move against Zhao because the fortress was in Fire Nation territory. The cartoon made it a bit clearer it was about the main islands that had ship patrols guarding it, not the Earth Kingdom colonies.
  • "The Blue Spirit" was a primarily self-contained story, where the motivation was to get back to Sokka and Katara with medicine. Making the events more of a two-parter with a lot going on means you kind of forget what Aang was trying to do in the first place.
  • The glider staff and the totem are important items for Aang's quest but how he got them back is ignored.
• The monologues that cap off both episodes are non-diegetic and for that reason just doesn't land the way it should. The show still has an issue with an inconsistent POV.

Episodes 7 and 8:

• I generally like most of the changes to the relationship between Pakku and Katara. His sexism in the original was heavy-handed as well as the lecturing on how wrong he is. Here there is an undercurrent that he wants the men on the front line to protect the women, which is still technically sexist but comes from a different place (they also remove the Gran Gran connection). The idea that Katara being self-taught and bringing in unorthodox forms is inspiring other novice waterbenders is also a fun idea.
• That said, the change to having Katara be her own master I'm ambivalent over. One of the core themes of Avatar was that to learn the bending arts requires you to understand and respect the culture it comes from. Having her first learn of waterbending healing and go straight to "Let's learn to kick ass" I think sends the wrong tone (the cartoon she was already quite adept at healing and told upfront she won't be trained as a fighter).
• While not bad, the changes to the story result in the Iroh/Zuko subplot getting the short end. Zuko doesn't overpower Katara and try to drag Aang out, instead he sees Aang and Katara together and Aang just leaves Katara to fight him while he takes care of other things. This makes them contribute to the events of the equivalent Siege of the North a lot less.
• The budget obviously went to Koizilla, and overall found the darker and bittersweet resolution of the siege a better application of Darker and Edgier than most of the season had been. Still, Aang isn't done blaming himself for everything and at this point is just going around in circles.
• There was an interesting aspect to having Zhao start MUCH lower in the Fire Nation hierarchy before rising to Admiral, but the limited episodes made it not land much at all beyond demonstrating bigger ambition if he won the siege.

I feel like I've been fairly nitpicky and it's hard not to be given how well made the original show was. All-in-all I have found the series to be fairly harmless, it has plenty of flaws but I felt the performances were getting a little better over time. The main problem was the exposition and how talky it could be, and being a Netflix show there was no demanding they hit certain runtimes so trimming some dialogue from each episode wouldn't be bad. I'm probably not going to go in for a rewatch, as I more or less got what I expected from it.

Edited by EmeraldSource on Mar 11th 2024 at 6:45:59 AM

They might lack the time, but sense they are adapting stuff from the comics. It would be funny if in this version of season 3, they adapted the thing where 'Wang Fire' became remembered as a fire nation hero.

Edited by Snoketrope on Mar 11th 2024 at 7:32:22 AM

I wasn’t feeling great about the dialogue or acting based on the trailers, and I would say the Honest Trailer validates that opinion.

"It sounds like the Wikipedia page of the show" was great. Also laughing over "falls between adaptations of One Piece and Cowboy Bebop on the pain scale."

So, I got around to seeing the series and I enjoyed it. As other people have mentioned, Zuko and Iroh are definitely the highlight in terms of character work and entertainment. However, the rest of the cast is overall pretty good as well. Also I thought the effects were good.

Unfortunately, the series kind of sits in an uncomfortable position. It isn't bad, but it also doesn't really do anything particularly unique. Like, the One Piece live action kind of feels like a really good alternative universe version of the original series. So, I have a reason to watch it again compared to the original. However, Avatar, while it does have some changes do to it's compressed storyline, doesn't really make any big deviations from the original story. So, I don't really have any reason to rewatch it compared to the original series which kind of hit the same beats but better. I am going to watch the next season for sure, but I kind of wish the series did more of its own thing or if it is going to copy the original hit some of the same beats stronger (maybe have some more character moments with characters that didn't get enough interaction or do some more worldbuilding from stuff from the behind the scenes books).

Edited by Freshwater on Mar 13th 2024 at 2:47:18 AM

Deadline is saying the show is swapping show runners for the next two books.

https://deadline.com/2024/04/avatar-last-airbender-showrunner-change-1235876104/

Chrisitine's credits are mostly on crime shows, including Leverage. Jabbar Raisani's previous credits all seem to be about effects.

I haven't seen the show but is this an accurate summary of the reactions its getting?

Edited by Avenger09 on Apr 5th 2024 at 11:51:25 AM

Theoretically the target demographic was towards 12-14 year olds and introducing them to the Avatar franchise, who are not the original fans online talking about it so its hard to gauge functional response. The reception across most everywhere I've seen is at best okay, with few championing it as genuinely great.

Yup. I've known people who hated on it, a person who genuinely loved it, but most of the response is 'meh'.

(Count me as one of those who very much enjoyed it.)

I thought it was okay personally. Not horrible but lacked what made the OG cartoon and Korra so special personally. I probably won't watch it again but there is worse shows to binge if you have nothing else to do.

Edited by Bullman on Apr 6th 2024 at 3:15:46 AM

Feels just there, a novelty to fans at best and just okay content from Netflix to casuals. Though people have made good writing tips on analyzing what's wrong with the writing and direction. Being better than Shymalan is something easy to clear, not gonna lie.

A bit unfair to compare to the One Piece live action, but that made fans out of people who don't know the source. Don't see this doing it.

At least not the loud kind.

Personally, this reminds me very much of Korra before Book 3 came out. So polarized. But then new developments recontextualized everything.

Then again, I'm in the minority and actually liked Katara's characterization.

I still think korra is a great show. Not as good as Avatar but that is not a detriment at all. Few shows can reach those heights. Book 2 was the wackest one of all.

Its easy to forget that Avatar the Last Airbender was a height not even the original creators could reach after. Korra still being fought over speaks for itself, but Voltron is seen as going on autopilot to the end. It was less than 0.5 percent this show would reach that, but not an excuse for this show's criticisms. When it was also clear the creators could have steered a direction people would give more but were pushed out

The funny thing is, my own experience is the diametric opposite:

I haven't seen the original series, but very much enjoyed this one.

And as to being a "fan"... that depends on how far you take that word. I'm not making fan-art—but then that's fairly rare for me. Suffice simply to say that I'm very much enthused to see subsequent seasons.

Meanwhile, I haven't seen the original One Piece, and the Netflix adaptation... just didn't grab me. I watched one episode and then never returned.

So far I enjoyed the live action show, and I like that it made changes rather than being a straightforward adaptation. My biggest complaint is actually with the color grading. I really can't stand that color grading so many movies and TV shows do in which everything is in dull colors. Look at these environs - they look like they should look beautiful, yet photographs I take with my phone have way better colors, and not just because my phone supports HDR color.

But as for the storytelling, I like that Sokka was toned down and made a more serious character, with only the occasional joke (that I actually laughed at, unlike every joke he made in the cartoon). I did notice the show was more compact than the cartoon, squeezing elements from later episodes (even season 2 episodes) into the season 1 episodes. I was also never a fan of the spirit world, but I liked what they did with it here and the changes made a lot. And I like the characterization here.

Changing the showrunner will hopefully result in improvements, though I'm not sure what exactly they'd be. Pacing? Humor? I dunno. Color grading- ha, I wish.

Doesn't Netflix have certain criteria for the looks of their shows? So I doubt color grading can change that much.

I doubt Netflix micromanages at that level, they aren't going to have an exec in the editing bay arguing over what shade of brown they are going for. The look and design of a show usually happens before it gets greenlit.

The thing I generally noticed and others have commented on was that the costume design was both vibrant and clean but the environments were very naturalistic, as they do spend a lot of time in real forests with only a few statues added for flavor. This meant while the actors generally resembled the cartoon counterparts the half-and-half approach made it look like they had costume designers. The generally flat cinematography doesn't help either. Though I did think that it kind of worked with the Southern Water Tribe and a few hallways in the Omashu palace, as those were more extravagant locations that matched the wardrobe.