I like that the shows showed the difference between natural talent and training.
Like, Zaheer was an airbending prodigy, able to do things no airbender had done in centuries.
But he still couldn't beat Tenzin (the world's only current airbending master) in a fair fight, all he could do was survive until his friends could join in to overpower him.
I feel it's more fitting to say that Zaheer did things no pacifistic monk would ever consider. Or maybe things they do know how to do, but obviously don't.
Out and out Superman-ing though, I'll give him that.
Air benders were peaceful and avoided conflict but they weren't pacifists. Given monk Gyatso was seated in the lotus position surrounded by corpses, there was definitely some understanding of the deadlier side of air bending.
I like to note that those firebenders were also hopped up on comet power. And Gyatso's corpse was just sitting there, not burnt or exploded or speared.
I like that the shows showed the difference between natural talent and training.
Like, Zaheer was an airbending prodigy, able to do things no airbender had done in centuries.
But he still couldn't beat Tenzin (the world's only current airbending master) in a fair fight, all he could do was survive until his friends could join in to overpower him.
I feel it's more fitting to say that Zaheer did things no pacifistic monk would ever consider. Or maybe things they do know how to do, but obviously don't.
Out and out Superman-ing though, I'll give him that.
Air benders were peaceful and avoided conflict but they weren't pacifists. Given monk Gyatso was seated in the lotus position surrounded by corpses, there was definitely some understanding of the deadlier side of air bending.
I like to note that those firebenders were also hopped up on comet power. And Gyatso's corpse was just sitting there, not burnt or exploded or speared.
Also arranged in a nice little circle. Seems like he taught them a lesson in fire not being able to exist in an oxygen free environment.
We've only seen the first episode so far (trying to pace ourselves). It was good. "A sidegrade at best" is a good summary; it's not overtly cringey like the live-action Cowboy Bebop or MNS's attempt, but yeah, I just want to rewatch the original (and, ironically, we are doing that at the same time lol). The acting isn't all that great yet, but we shall see as it goes on, maybe they just need to find their groove. I've sat through S1 of ST:TNG multiple times, I can forgive a bit on that front :~)
I agree about the costuming. Animation can (and has to) take shortcuts, such as showing wear and tear and grime on clothing. It stands out in live action, and not in a good way.
The biggest thing that kinda irked me was the tiny changes they made for what I'm assuming is the sake of storytelling expediency. The reveal of the comet in the opening prologue, the reveal that master firebenders can fly, things like that. In the original, those were left as build up and mystery; we originally don't know why the Fire Nation attacked when they did, just that they did. The discovery of the comet didn't come until much later, which gave both a reason why Team Avatar got to goof around a bit in S1 (since they didn't know there was a ticking clock yet) and a good, natural way to up the stakes once the reveal did come. Ditto with flying firebenders, it was a semi-plausible extension of the form that wonderfully raised the threat level without feeling forced. Now that those cards are already played, it feels disappointing somehow. Maybe they have new cards they can play later on, and I'm hoping that's the case. We shall see I guess.
Two more small changes that kinda bugged me. First, in the original, Katara (unintentionally) freed Aang. The 100 year mark was coincidence (perhaps you can call it fate); they just happened to discover Aang and then, in her frustration with Sokka, she breaks the iceberg enough that Aang gets free. If that's what was meant in the live action by her trying to get the canoe back, it was not at all clear in the staging (my daughter thought that was what they were trying to imply, FWIW, but I'm not sure she'd have thought that without the original to compare to).
Second change was their initial run-in with Zuko. Having just rewatched it, I love the comedic timing of Sokka charging Zuko all headstrong, only for Zuko to casually knock him off the ramp without even thinking. It's a funny moment, but (as the best funny moments do) it also establishes a few dramatic things at the same time: Sokka's impulsive nature (thus setting up his story arc), and the fact that Zuko has them wildly outclassed (avatar state notwithstanding). Instead, we have a duel, that yes Zuko wins fairly handedly, but Sokka comes across more as a leader (which is fine, that's what he grows into, but that means less of a story arc for him to do that growing in the live action) and otherwise we just get the same point made in 90 seconds instead of 5.
It's little things like that, that make me just appreciate all the more how well the original was written. Does it make the live action bad? Not at all, and again, standing on its own, it feels like it would be just fine (hard to say, since I have the original so well ingrained in my memory). Yet the original is right there to compare to, and it's hard for me not to draw these parallels and note just how better written the original was written by comparison.
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
The outfits look just like the cartoon outfits as far as I can tell. The cartoon outfits almost never look worn or damaged.
And the actors are kids who improve over the series.
The water tribe elders in the first episode sure didn't look like kids to me.
I...do not feel qualified to rate line delivery for indigenous actors portraying tribal elders. The actress playing Gran Gran has a number of credits to her name, so I don't think she's inexperienced.
I thought they were fine in their small parts.
I have seen Paul Sun-Hyung Lee in a few different things at this point and his Iroh has been painful so far. It ain't the kid actors that are the problem. Or at least not the only problem.
I have a feeling a lot of it is a direction/writing problem. Because Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is funny. But it takes a while in this show for any of his funny stuff to actually work. I do feel like the last 4 episodes are better on pretty much every front than the first 4.
I think the girl playing Katara gets a lot better as the season goes on. Kid playing Aang is still bad though, which is a pretty major problem.
Water bending effects are the least impressive, it feels SO MUCH less dynamic than in the cartoon. Which is unfortunate, since I love Katara in all ways. I mean not as much as Toph and Zuko's objectively the strongest character (in both versions, I do like Dallas Liu in that role), but still.
Content wise:
Aang not learning water bending the whole first season is such a weird choice to me. Not having Zuko and Aang come into conflict at the North Pole to some extent misses the point.
Also started watching the original again and the cartoon is just SO MUCH BETTER. This version is not even that bad, but they never had a chance. Should have been a different story in this world because they were never living up to the cartoon.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
The changes still don't gel with me compared to the cartoon, and it probably doesn't help the live action's case that I just rewatched the original Omashu episode.
Omashu is supposed to be nearly impenetrable, hence why it has held out as long as it has. Yet Zuko and Iroh can easily slip in. If they could, so could actual agents intent on doing damage.
Jet is just outright evil now, huh? Before he was a "ends justify the means" guy, and now he's just "the earth leaders aren't fighting how I want to fight, so I'm gonna kill em". Like, wtf.
Also, where is this forest hideout of his? Is it in the mountain? Really? If not, so much for it being so hard to get in and out of Omashu?
Assassin rule of thumb: they always have a backup fire arrow in case the first one doesn't work. Also, nobody saw the fire arrow up in the tree despite being, from what I can tell, in the line of sight of quite a few people.
Minor detail I know, but the transport carts in the cartoon go down due to gravity; earth bending was just needed to get them back up. Here, they're just sliding uphill without any visible earth benders assisting? Kinda fits the symbolism though: in the cartoon, Bumi cares about his people and the protection flows down; in the live action, apparently the bottom suffers while all the goods flow upwards to the top. Not sure if that was intentional, though...
"Isn't that right....AZULA??" Felt very much like "My name is KHAN" from ST:Into Darkness: only fans of the original will get the reference, nobody else will understand the significance.
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
Regarding your point about Omashu. There is a significant portion of the episode devoted to the fact that there are indeed fire nation agents in the city and have been for some time.
Regarding your point about Omashu. There is a significant portion of the episode devoted to the fact that there are indeed fire nation agents in the city and have been for some time.
Except that they then confirm that at least one of the attacks was actually Jet, not fire nation, and the implication I got was that it had been Jet the entire time, tilting at blowing up windmills.
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
Well, they got two more seasons to finish the story.
This excites me and terrifies me. Toph being my favorite character it's going to be weird seeing her in live action without it potentially seeming clumsy I think.
Well, they got two more seasons to finish the story.
This excites me and terrifies me. Toph being my favorite character it's going to be weird seeing her in live action without it potentially seeming clumsy I think.
You have to find an Asian Maisie Williams at the very least.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
OK, we finally finished up season 1 of the live action AtLA, and I pretty much ended with the same impressions I had at about episode 2 or so.
The live action feels so much to me like they filmed the rough drafts of the scripts that eventually got polished into the cartoon form. Many of the characters, the moments, the set pieces, are all there, but none of the polish. If I had never seen the cartoon, watching the live action version, I probably would've liked it. Not loved it, but liked it, it was decent. But compared to the original cartoon, it's not even in the same league.
I've seen the cartoon maybe 4 times all the way through (this will be our 5th rewatch, if I'm counting right) but I have to say I never appreciated just how perfect the writing was until I had the live action to compare it to. I could spend pages tearing apart the writing on the live action version by comparison (and no, I'm not just talking about the awkward dialog) but here's just one moment that encapsulated it I thought pretty well:
In the live action finale, Zuko:
• Goes to get Aang
• Confronts Katara and Aang together
• Aang peaces out and leaves Katara to handle Zuko on her own.
• Zuko gets pissed that Katara has been training with a master
• The duel ends in a stalemate when the building gets demolished
• Iroh finds Zuko, Zuko goes to confront Zhao, shows a moment of compassion after beating him, Iroh saves his life when he turns his back on Zhao, they go off.
• Zuko says he's tired and Iroh says lay down and get some rest, "a man needs his rest". Like, wisdom that people are human and need sleep, that's how it read to me.
Compared to the cartoon, Zuko:
• Finds Aang vulnerable and Katara guarding him
• Engages in the duel where Katara has real stakes protecting Aang instead of just dueling
• We establish (and reinforce) not only the link to waterbenders and the moon but also firebenders and the sun
• Zuko is not pissed that Katara has been training with a master. Seriously, this one moment is almost a microcosm of the differences: it's the exact same line, yet in the cartoon Zuko delivers it not with anger, but almost with a smirky respect, more like a "oh, I'm not just laying a smackdown, I have a real fight on my hands" and respects her for having a fair fight. (It's a subtle difference, but it's definitely there if you see them back-to-back like I did).
• Katara has the upper hand at night, and Zuko only wins because it turns to day.
• Zuko gets the Avatar and leaves. At this point, he has succeeded in his plan (well, step 1, he still needs to get back home to his father).
• In the tundra, he muses that something always gets in the way of his goal. This time, it's the unyielding torrent of the weather, of nature itself.
• Aang wakes up, knocks him out, and then rather than leave Zuko to die, they rescue him.
• Zuko escapes off camera, meaning he had to have waken up on Appa and known that Aang showed him compassion for the second time.
• Zuko confronts Zhao, they duel, the duel is cut short by giant Aang-fish-avatar-monster. Zuko then shows compassion to Zhao and tries to save him (apparently he feels even Zhao doesn't deserve to die at the hands of glowy-fish-Godzilla).
• The next we see Zuko, he and Iroh are floating away on the boat, Iroh makes a pointed comment about how Zuko isn't trying to catch the Avatar right now wink wink, and Zuko's response to this point is "I'm tired", at which point Iroh responds with "you should lay down, a man needs his rest." At this point, with this sequence of events, and coupled with Iron's clear stance of standing on the side of balance and world harmony, it's clear the line here is meant as him acknowledging that Zuko has finally grown up, as in he's given up his "childish" pursuit of the Avatar and matured.
Again, similar events (well, some of them) but the animated form weaves together all the pieces so much more coherently and layers meaning and symbolism throughout it all that the live action could only dream of matching.
Like, I'll give props to the live action, it's competent. It's decent, it has some good acting, the FX are showing off a decent budget (they still need to learn to hold a damn camera shot for longer than 2 seconds during a fight), but goddamn the animated form is just so much goddamn better.
Mathew Burrack on
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
• The next we see Zuko, he and Iroh are floating away on the boat, Iroh makes a pointed comment about how Zuko isn't trying to catch the Avatar right now wink wink, and Zuko's response to this point is "I'm tired", at which point Iroh responds with "you should lay down, a man needs his rest." At this point, with this sequence of events, and coupled with Iron's clear stance of standing on the side of balance and world harmony, it's clear the line here is meant as him acknowledging that Zuko has finally grown up, as in he's given up his "childish" pursuit of the Avatar and matured.
It also carried more weight because it was a callback to the first episode, where Iroh gives Zuko the exact same line as he continues to brood while searching for the Avatar.
• The next we see Zuko, he and Iroh are floating away on the boat, Iroh makes a pointed comment about how Zuko isn't trying to catch the Avatar right now wink wink, and Zuko's response to this point is "I'm tired", at which point Iroh responds with "you should lay down, a man needs his rest." At this point, with this sequence of events, and coupled with Iron's clear stance of standing on the side of balance and world harmony, it's clear the line here is meant as him acknowledging that Zuko has finally grown up, as in he's given up his "childish" pursuit of the Avatar and matured.
It also carried more weight because it was a callback to the first episode, where Iroh gives Zuko the exact same line as he continues to brood while searching for the Avatar.
Yes, absolutely also that. It's that kind of layering/symmetry/parallels that are just so perfect in the original. It helps give everything weight and meaning and purpose. The live action by contrast just felt like it had events. There was a bit of parallels in the storyline, but they were so scant I'm not entirely sure they were even intentional.
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I've not been convinced to give the live-action version a try but yeah, the bulk of the complaints I've heard are that it's basically the "we have Avatar at home" version of the material. It's not terrible, it hits the important points, it looks decent enough, but it comes up short everywhere compared to the original series. So why watch the knockoff when the superior original is right there doing everything better?
Doing original live-action material in the same setting would've been an infinitely better choice.
Coming at this from a different angle from most of you, I think - I had never seen the show growing up, and only watched it with my wife after we got married. I loved seasons 2 and 3, but the first half of S1 felt pretty weak to me and I still struggle to recall it despite watching it twice.
I agree that the cartoon is better than the live action, but I think that comes down knowing how strongly the show develops its characters as it goes on. I think the live action show is decent and a fun watch, and I’d like to see if they can build off of it in the future.
Coming at this from a different angle from most of you, I think - I had never seen the show growing up, and only watched it with my wife after we got married. I loved seasons 2 and 3, but the first half of S1 felt pretty weak to me and I still struggle to recall it despite watching it twice.
I agree that the cartoon is better than the live action, but I think that comes down knowing how strongly the show develops its characters as it goes on. I think the live action show is decent and a fun watch, and I’d like to see if they can build off of it in the future.
I watched it only as an adult. The first animated season was definitely not the strongest, but what made the series great was all there. The elements of what made seasons 2 and 3 so killer are present. The goofy kid shenanigans hurt it a lot, but they managed to set the ground work for Iroh and Zuko's journeys specifically so much better in between those episodes.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I enjoyed the live action version and a bunch of other people did too. It did well enough that to be renewed to completion.
And I haven't heard that it's bad and can't be enjoyed. I just contend that it's a huge waste because they could've made something new and unique instead and it wouldn't have to compete directly with one of the best animated series ever made. The setting has so many other potential stories that it's absolutely insane to choose to put a bunch of kid actors up against the original material.
Why be the mediocre version of the original story when you can be the amazing new material connected to the original story?
Stuff has been being remade for centuries and a lot of people love it and don't view it as mediocre. Both people who have seen the original and people who never have and might never have had the live action version not existed.
It's the same issue with every live-action remake of an animated series, in that a live-action version of a work doesn't add legitimacy to what was already made in a legitimate medium. If you're not expanding the story or making significant changes, you're telling the existing audience that their version was incomplete somehow and required a redo.
Stuff has been being remade for centuries and a lot of people love it and don't view it as mediocre. Both people who have seen the original and people who never have and might never have had the live action version not existed.
Two remakes that are pretty much the same thing only varying degrees of worse only 16 years after the original ended is a bit much.
Coming at this from a different angle from most of you, I think - I had never seen the show growing up, and only watched it with my wife after we got married. I loved seasons 2 and 3, but the first half of S1 felt pretty weak to me and I still struggle to recall it despite watching it twice.
I agree that the cartoon is better than the live action, but I think that comes down knowing how strongly the show develops its characters as it goes on. I think the live action show is decent and a fun watch, and I’d like to see if they can build off of it in the future.
I would say Season 1 until The Storm is uneven and includes the obvious worst episode of the entire series (The Great Divide). After that I'm not sure there's a bad episode.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
edited April 9
The irony is that Korra is the one that is easier to actully remake, because its story was hampered in multiple ways. It was good, but has obvious flaws.
Fencingsax on
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I enjoyed the live action version and a bunch of other people did too. It did well enough that to be renewed to completion.
And I haven't heard that it's bad and can't be enjoyed. I just contend that it's a huge waste because they could've made something new and unique instead and it wouldn't have to compete directly with one of the best animated series ever made. The setting has so many other potential stories that it's absolutely insane to choose to put a bunch of kid actors up against the original material.
Why be the mediocre version of the original story when you can be the amazing new material connected to the original story?
The really frustrating things is that there are stories (the two avatars before Aang, for example) that people are super intrigued by where we have some broad general outlines of their story but the details would be great to flesh out or just be creative in the really rich world with literally any other story. I think a non-bending main character in a post Korra world probably has a lot of potential.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
"Worst of the series" imho is still pretty damn high in this case. I remember not liking The Great Divide the first time, but this time rewatching I loved it. The excuse to branch out to unique art styles, the silly but 100% believable twist and then double twist, we get some great character growth moments, and it has friggen Odo doing a voice! What's not to like, honestly?
Mathew Burrack on
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I'd be happy with stuff like a whole season on just Wan Shi Ton running the library when it was open to humans.
"What do you mean people are worried Lao Fu is lost? He's only got here fifty years ago. Oh, he was human? Well then he's very dead, problem solved. Leave me alone now."
But seriously, a series with Ton recruiting beings to gather knowledge for the library would be awesome. Could do short stories in any timeframe for the setting.
The intro of the live action where the Earthbender guy is escaping with some intel was awesome. This is what we would get if they wanted to tell new stories.
Instead, we get mediocre child actors and a ton of awful CGI creatures, attempting to retell one of the greatest series' of all time.
I think the worldbuilding makes the post-Korra future kinda bizarre and off putting, but literally anything else before that is an open field. This world is rife with intrigue and conflict and drama and an obviously rich history that is very very open.
E: This live action series would be very mid on its own merits, the writing is fairly chaotic outside of the Omashu arc. Actually I haven't finished it, I got bored after ep 6. >> It's also just obvious where the limitations of the medium are also dragging things down compared to the cartoon.
If the Netflix show is popular and profitable, they're more likely to remake Korra (make Asami relationship more obvious plzkthnx), as well as new stories in the universe.
I think the live action is worth supporting just for that.
The fact that it's also pretty decent, actually tips the scale to "definitely watch" for me.
If the Netflix show is popular and profitable, they're more likely to remake Korra (make Asami relationship more obvious plzkthnx), as well as new stories in the universe.
I think the live action is worth supporting just for that.
The fact that it's also pretty decent, actually tips the scale to "definitely watch" for me.
Netflix might not have the ability - Nickelodeon created an entire studio to make Airbender stuff with the original creators in charge, so unless the contract is weird I'm guessing all other future stuff outside of this show will be in-house.
As a Korra fan I'm dreading a TloK live action remake. Maybe just...don't.
...why? I feel like the first season is practically a slam dunk (probably the best single Avatar plot), and a multi-season deal could do a lot to fix some of the severe issues that plagued Korra's later seasons.
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I like to note that those firebenders were also hopped up on comet power. And Gyatso's corpse was just sitting there, not burnt or exploded or speared.
Also arranged in a nice little circle. Seems like he taught them a lesson in fire not being able to exist in an oxygen free environment.
I agree about the costuming. Animation can (and has to) take shortcuts, such as showing wear and tear and grime on clothing. It stands out in live action, and not in a good way.
The biggest thing that kinda irked me was the tiny changes they made for what I'm assuming is the sake of storytelling expediency. The reveal of the comet in the opening prologue, the reveal that master firebenders can fly, things like that. In the original, those were left as build up and mystery; we originally don't know why the Fire Nation attacked when they did, just that they did. The discovery of the comet didn't come until much later, which gave both a reason why Team Avatar got to goof around a bit in S1 (since they didn't know there was a ticking clock yet) and a good, natural way to up the stakes once the reveal did come. Ditto with flying firebenders, it was a semi-plausible extension of the form that wonderfully raised the threat level without feeling forced. Now that those cards are already played, it feels disappointing somehow. Maybe they have new cards they can play later on, and I'm hoping that's the case. We shall see I guess.
Two more small changes that kinda bugged me. First, in the original, Katara (unintentionally) freed Aang. The 100 year mark was coincidence (perhaps you can call it fate); they just happened to discover Aang and then, in her frustration with Sokka, she breaks the iceberg enough that Aang gets free. If that's what was meant in the live action by her trying to get the canoe back, it was not at all clear in the staging (my daughter thought that was what they were trying to imply, FWIW, but I'm not sure she'd have thought that without the original to compare to).
Second change was their initial run-in with Zuko. Having just rewatched it, I love the comedic timing of Sokka charging Zuko all headstrong, only for Zuko to casually knock him off the ramp without even thinking. It's a funny moment, but (as the best funny moments do) it also establishes a few dramatic things at the same time: Sokka's impulsive nature (thus setting up his story arc), and the fact that Zuko has them wildly outclassed (avatar state notwithstanding). Instead, we have a duel, that yes Zuko wins fairly handedly, but Sokka comes across more as a leader (which is fine, that's what he grows into, but that means less of a story arc for him to do that growing in the live action) and otherwise we just get the same point made in 90 seconds instead of 5.
It's little things like that, that make me just appreciate all the more how well the original was written. Does it make the live action bad? Not at all, and again, standing on its own, it feels like it would be just fine (hard to say, since I have the original so well ingrained in my memory). Yet the original is right there to compare to, and it's hard for me not to draw these parallels and note just how better written the original was written by comparison.
I have a feeling a lot of it is a direction/writing problem. Because Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is funny. But it takes a while in this show for any of his funny stuff to actually work. I do feel like the last 4 episodes are better on pretty much every front than the first 4.
Water bending effects are the least impressive, it feels SO MUCH less dynamic than in the cartoon. Which is unfortunate, since I love Katara in all ways. I mean not as much as Toph and Zuko's objectively the strongest character (in both versions, I do like Dallas Liu in that role), but still.
Content wise:
Also started watching the original again and the cartoon is just SO MUCH BETTER. This version is not even that bad, but they never had a chance. Should have been a different story in this world because they were never living up to the cartoon.
Omashu is supposed to be nearly impenetrable, hence why it has held out as long as it has. Yet Zuko and Iroh can easily slip in. If they could, so could actual agents intent on doing damage.
Jet is just outright evil now, huh? Before he was a "ends justify the means" guy, and now he's just "the earth leaders aren't fighting how I want to fight, so I'm gonna kill em". Like, wtf.
Also, where is this forest hideout of his? Is it in the mountain? Really? If not, so much for it being so hard to get in and out of Omashu?
Assassin rule of thumb: they always have a backup fire arrow in case the first one doesn't work. Also, nobody saw the fire arrow up in the tree despite being, from what I can tell, in the line of sight of quite a few people.
Minor detail I know, but the transport carts in the cartoon go down due to gravity; earth bending was just needed to get them back up. Here, they're just sliding uphill without any visible earth benders assisting? Kinda fits the symbolism though: in the cartoon, Bumi cares about his people and the protection flows down; in the live action, apparently the bottom suffers while all the goods flow upwards to the top. Not sure if that was intentional, though...
"Isn't that right....AZULA??" Felt very much like "My name is KHAN" from ST:Into Darkness: only fans of the original will get the reference, nobody else will understand the significance.
Except that they then confirm that at least one of the attacks was actually Jet, not fire nation, and the implication I got was that it had been Jet the entire time, tilting at blowing up windmills.
This excites me and terrifies me. Toph being my favorite character it's going to be weird seeing her in live action without it potentially seeming clumsy I think.
You have to find an Asian Maisie Williams at the very least.
The live action feels so much to me like they filmed the rough drafts of the scripts that eventually got polished into the cartoon form. Many of the characters, the moments, the set pieces, are all there, but none of the polish. If I had never seen the cartoon, watching the live action version, I probably would've liked it. Not loved it, but liked it, it was decent. But compared to the original cartoon, it's not even in the same league.
I've seen the cartoon maybe 4 times all the way through (this will be our 5th rewatch, if I'm counting right) but I have to say I never appreciated just how perfect the writing was until I had the live action to compare it to. I could spend pages tearing apart the writing on the live action version by comparison (and no, I'm not just talking about the awkward dialog) but here's just one moment that encapsulated it I thought pretty well:
In the live action finale, Zuko:
• Goes to get Aang
• Confronts Katara and Aang together
• Aang peaces out and leaves Katara to handle Zuko on her own.
• Zuko gets pissed that Katara has been training with a master
• The duel ends in a stalemate when the building gets demolished
• Iroh finds Zuko, Zuko goes to confront Zhao, shows a moment of compassion after beating him, Iroh saves his life when he turns his back on Zhao, they go off.
• Zuko says he's tired and Iroh says lay down and get some rest, "a man needs his rest". Like, wisdom that people are human and need sleep, that's how it read to me.
Compared to the cartoon, Zuko:
• Finds Aang vulnerable and Katara guarding him
• Engages in the duel where Katara has real stakes protecting Aang instead of just dueling
• We establish (and reinforce) not only the link to waterbenders and the moon but also firebenders and the sun
• Zuko is not pissed that Katara has been training with a master. Seriously, this one moment is almost a microcosm of the differences: it's the exact same line, yet in the cartoon Zuko delivers it not with anger, but almost with a smirky respect, more like a "oh, I'm not just laying a smackdown, I have a real fight on my hands" and respects her for having a fair fight. (It's a subtle difference, but it's definitely there if you see them back-to-back like I did).
• Katara has the upper hand at night, and Zuko only wins because it turns to day.
• Zuko gets the Avatar and leaves. At this point, he has succeeded in his plan (well, step 1, he still needs to get back home to his father).
• In the tundra, he muses that something always gets in the way of his goal. This time, it's the unyielding torrent of the weather, of nature itself.
• Aang wakes up, knocks him out, and then rather than leave Zuko to die, they rescue him.
• Zuko escapes off camera, meaning he had to have waken up on Appa and known that Aang showed him compassion for the second time.
• Zuko confronts Zhao, they duel, the duel is cut short by giant Aang-fish-avatar-monster. Zuko then shows compassion to Zhao and tries to save him (apparently he feels even Zhao doesn't deserve to die at the hands of glowy-fish-Godzilla).
• The next we see Zuko, he and Iroh are floating away on the boat, Iroh makes a pointed comment about how Zuko isn't trying to catch the Avatar right now wink wink, and Zuko's response to this point is "I'm tired", at which point Iroh responds with "you should lay down, a man needs his rest." At this point, with this sequence of events, and coupled with Iron's clear stance of standing on the side of balance and world harmony, it's clear the line here is meant as him acknowledging that Zuko has finally grown up, as in he's given up his "childish" pursuit of the Avatar and matured.
Again, similar events (well, some of them) but the animated form weaves together all the pieces so much more coherently and layers meaning and symbolism throughout it all that the live action could only dream of matching.
Like, I'll give props to the live action, it's competent. It's decent, it has some good acting, the FX are showing off a decent budget (they still need to learn to hold a damn camera shot for longer than 2 seconds during a fight), but goddamn the animated form is just so much goddamn better.
It also carried more weight because it was a callback to the first episode, where Iroh gives Zuko the exact same line as he continues to brood while searching for the Avatar.
On another note, there will be a change in production going forward. Albert Kim stepped down as showrunner, and will be replace by two other executive producers from the first season.
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/avatar-the-last-airbender-showrunner-albert-kim-steps-down-netflix-1235960758/
Yes, absolutely also that. It's that kind of layering/symmetry/parallels that are just so perfect in the original. It helps give everything weight and meaning and purpose. The live action by contrast just felt like it had events. There was a bit of parallels in the storyline, but they were so scant I'm not entirely sure they were even intentional.
Doing original live-action material in the same setting would've been an infinitely better choice.
I agree that the cartoon is better than the live action, but I think that comes down knowing how strongly the show develops its characters as it goes on. I think the live action show is decent and a fun watch, and I’d like to see if they can build off of it in the future.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
I watched it only as an adult. The first animated season was definitely not the strongest, but what made the series great was all there. The elements of what made seasons 2 and 3 so killer are present. The goofy kid shenanigans hurt it a lot, but they managed to set the ground work for Iroh and Zuko's journeys specifically so much better in between those episodes.
And I haven't heard that it's bad and can't be enjoyed. I just contend that it's a huge waste because they could've made something new and unique instead and it wouldn't have to compete directly with one of the best animated series ever made. The setting has so many other potential stories that it's absolutely insane to choose to put a bunch of kid actors up against the original material.
Why be the mediocre version of the original story when you can be the amazing new material connected to the original story?
Two remakes that are pretty much the same thing only varying degrees of worse only 16 years after the original ended is a bit much.
I would say Season 1 until The Storm is uneven and includes the obvious worst episode of the entire series (The Great Divide). After that I'm not sure there's a bad episode.
It's perfectly cromulent!
Whelming, even!
"What do you mean people are worried Lao Fu is lost? He's only got here fifty years ago. Oh, he was human? Well then he's very dead, problem solved. Leave me alone now."
But seriously, a series with Ton recruiting beings to gather knowledge for the library would be awesome. Could do short stories in any timeframe for the setting.
Who do you think would make the "Justice is blind" joke? Toph herself or Sokka?
Instead, we get mediocre child actors and a ton of awful CGI creatures, attempting to retell one of the greatest series' of all time.
I think the worldbuilding makes the post-Korra future kinda bizarre and off putting, but literally anything else before that is an open field. This world is rife with intrigue and conflict and drama and an obviously rich history that is very very open.
E: This live action series would be very mid on its own merits, the writing is fairly chaotic outside of the Omashu arc. Actually I haven't finished it, I got bored after ep 6. >> It's also just obvious where the limitations of the medium are also dragging things down compared to the cartoon.
I think the live action is worth supporting just for that.
The fact that it's also pretty decent, actually tips the scale to "definitely watch" for me.
Netflix might not have the ability - Nickelodeon created an entire studio to make Airbender stuff with the original creators in charge, so unless the contract is weird I'm guessing all other future stuff outside of this show will be in-house.
...why? I feel like the first season is practically a slam dunk (probably the best single Avatar plot), and a multi-season deal could do a lot to fix some of the severe issues that plagued Korra's later seasons.