so it's hopefully getting several seasons? because 8 episodes isn't enough for even season 1
Well remember that the episodes are an hour or so, which doubles the equivalent in cartoon terms. Also there are plenty of filler plots in the cartoon that they can brush past or handle briefly.
I'm on the second episode and I like it so far. I'm halfway through episode 2 and they're up to the plot of episode 4 of the cartoon.
But does it keep the speed of the animated ones, or does it take twice as long to cover the same stuff? As the Lower Decks crew pointed out on Strange New Worlds, live action tends to talk way slower.
so it's hopefully getting several seasons? because 8 episodes isn't enough for even season 1
Well remember that the episodes are an hour or so, which doubles the equivalent in cartoon terms. Also there are plenty of filler plots in the cartoon that they can brush past or handle briefly.
I'm on the second episode and I like it so far. I'm halfway through episode 2 and they're up to the plot of episode 4 of the cartoon.
But does it keep the speed of the animated ones, or does it take twice as long to cover the same stuff? As the Lower Decks crew pointed out on Strange New Worlds, live action tends to talk way slower.
I'm up to episode 4, and it mostly keeps pace and shakes things up. For example, Jet
Sepinwall said it's fine but doesn't really justify its existence when you could just watch the cartoon on the same platform. But not outright bad, which is nice.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
20 minute prologue before Katara or Sokka is on screen was... a choice. Not a great one.
It's not actively bad like the movie was. But it doesn't really add anything. And only the kids playing Sokka and Zuko seem like they might be able to act. The girl playing Katara might be able to but is in a huge rush to deliver her lines nothing breathes. Aang...looks and acts like a kid, which is appropriate, but couldn't really carry the more real moments imo. Iroh lacked jokes. You can't have Iroh without jokes.
It's watchable and the original series is so strong it probably survives on that basis alone. But it mostly made me want to watch the cartoon again.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
the prologue wasn't bad imo but only because maybe not everyone has seen the cartoon. Not liking Aang thus far but I'm guessing it's because his line delivery seems very wooden. that said it's certainly not bad at all and if the cartoon wasn't absolutely perfect I'd probably like this a lot more.
it's like remaking Casablanca or something. sure, you can do it, but the best you could hope for is a sidegrade
the prologue wasn't bad imo but only because maybe not everyone has seen the cartoon. Not liking Aang thus far but I'm guessing it's because his line delivery seems very wooden. that said it's certainly not bad at all and if the cartoon wasn't absolutely perfect I'd probably like this a lot more.
it's like remaking Casablanca or something. sure, you can do it, but the best you could hope for is a sidegrade
I mean, Barb Wire with Pamela Anderson was a remake of Casablanca. I'm fairly confident that was a significant improvement in some areas.
Boobs. The area was boobs.
Anyway, I think the kid actors get significantly better as the series goes on.
Just watched the pilot with the kids. And I'm a huge fan from the original Nickelodeon days. Its good... not excellent. The dialogue is a bit wooden but hopefully that will improve. I need more jovial and chill Iroh instead of overtly concerned Iroh and hope he shows up soon. Love the actor though. He's my favorite convenience store owner/space cop. The familiar musical cues hit just right though. I dig it.
My 12yo son, who was super critical of every deviation the Percy Jackson show took from whatever he had in his mind from the books, was very much onboard with the changes from cartoon to live action.
well I made it halfway through episode 4 and gave up. Sokka is the only actor whose delivery doesn't seem 100% wooden. It's an absolutely beautiful show, but I'd really rather just rewatch the cartoon.
Watched the pilot last night and I agree that it’s a fine enough show. I agree with the notion that it made me want to just rewatch the original more than anything.
My tiny nitpick is one I have with other similar content in that all the wardrobe looks too clean and new. The clothes from the water tribe look like they’re fresh out of the bag and none of it looks worn in or weathered at all. It’s like they had Fanatics, the sportswear company do the quality control on costumes.
Watched the pilot last night and I'm sad to say that I think it was complete dogshit. The costuming looks silly and the setting seems weirdly washed out. The acting was just awful up and down - to the point where I think some of these people have possibly never acted before.
I'm still going to watch it though because I love TLAB and have absolutely no self-respect.
Yeah all the outfits look like costumes, as opposed to clothes worn by people.
Combined with the number of pixels they are working with and type of lenses, it just looks really cheap and fake.
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.
Almost like things that work in animation don't directly translate to live action.
People don't expect animated clothes to look like real clothes. They expect costumes to at least get close. You can get a kind of uncanny valley with props and costuming
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.
this is going to sound super shitty, but when? I'm halfway through and even Iroh is still bad. I feel like I can read the script on their faces. "what we need is" *pause* *look to left* *look of surprise* "Sticky rice!"
edit: and I consider making Bumi a dick on par with making Farimir (sp?) covet the one ring. Wholly unnecessary and for what?
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.
this is going to sound super shitty, but when? I'm halfway through and even Iroh is still bad. I feel like I can read the script on their faces. "what we need is" *pause* *look to left* *look of surprise* "Sticky rice!"
edit: and I consider making Bumi a dick on par with making Farimir (sp?) covet the one ring. Wholly unnecessary and for what?
Bumi WAS a dick in the cartoon! Like he kidnapped Sokka and Katara to blackmail Aang into doing tasks!
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.
this is going to sound super shitty, but when? I'm halfway through and even Iroh is still bad. I feel like I can read the script on their faces. "what we need is" *pause* *look to left* *look of surprise* "Sticky rice!"
edit: and I consider making Bumi a dick on par with making Farimir (sp?) covet the one ring. Wholly unnecessary and for what?
Bumi WAS a dick in the cartoon! Like he kidnapped Sokka and Katara to blackmail Aang into doing tasks!
ok I'll give you that (even though the deadly crystal was rock candy and they were never in danger). But this Bumi is -mean- like saying actual hurtful things that definitely weren't in the series. I guess I'm just an old grump, but he was easily my favorite character in the cartoon and is my least favorite in the live action series
I have to watch season 1 again, but the biggest change that's annoying me is that
Katara needs advice about bending from everyone and struggles to figure it out. Where my memory of the cartoon is she's a bit of a prodigy who learns enough to be Aang's teacher even before they get to the north pole and then kicks Pakku's ass.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
I have to watch season 1 again, but the biggest change that's annoying me is that
Katara needs advice about bending from everyone and struggles to figure it out. Where my memory of the cartoon is she's a bit of a prodigy who learns enough to be Aang's teacher even before they get to the north pole and then kicks Pakku's ass.
Yeah in the cartoon they get the scroll and that's about it. the Southern tribe has no waterbenders left so shes completely self taught.
I have to watch season 1 again, but the biggest change that's annoying me is that
Katara needs advice about bending from everyone and struggles to figure it out. Where my memory of the cartoon is she's a bit of a prodigy who learns enough to be Aang's teacher even before they get to the north pole and then kicks Pakku's ass.
She picks up a few tricks but Aang blows right past her when they're both trying to learn on their own (this took her weeks to get to do anything, he creates a massive wave on the first go). She learns a few basic things, but not without a lot of practice (with the exception of healing, which she just does when the plot demands it).
Then she gets a few basic lessons passed on from Aang and she can stand up to a master (but still lose).
Then once they both get a proper teacher, she's learned enough to be Aang's teacher in a month or less.
Katara was never a prodigy, just a very good student.
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.
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.
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 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.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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.
My head canon for why there were so many bodies around Gyatsu in the cartoon is because those monks absolutely could, and would do those things. You just had to really push them to get to that point, and you really wouldn't like the experience afterwards.
I have to watch season 1 again, but the biggest change that's annoying me is that
Katara needs advice about bending from everyone and struggles to figure it out. Where my memory of the cartoon is she's a bit of a prodigy who learns enough to be Aang's teacher even before they get to the north pole and then kicks Pakku's ass.
She picks up a few tricks but Aang blows right past her when they're both trying to learn on their own (this took her weeks to get to do anything, he creates a massive wave on the first go). She learns a few basic things, but not without a lot of practice (with the exception of healing, which she just does when the plot demands it).
Then she gets a few basic lessons passed on from Aang and she can stand up to a master (but still lose).
Then once they both get a proper teacher, she's learned enough to be Aang's teacher in a month or less.
Katara was never a prodigy, just a very good student.
IIRC, Katara did have a bending teacher in the south, but because the Water Tribe traditions held only teaching women healing bending, she had to pick up the more combative forms via scroll.
Granted, it's been a while since I've watched the series. I should get on that.
I have to watch season 1 again, but the biggest change that's annoying me is that
Katara needs advice about bending from everyone and struggles to figure it out. Where my memory of the cartoon is she's a bit of a prodigy who learns enough to be Aang's teacher even before they get to the north pole and then kicks Pakku's ass.
She picks up a few tricks but Aang blows right past her when they're both trying to learn on their own (this took her weeks to get to do anything, he creates a massive wave on the first go). She learns a few basic things, but not without a lot of practice (with the exception of healing, which she just does when the plot demands it).
Then she gets a few basic lessons passed on from Aang and she can stand up to a master (but still lose).
Then once they both get a proper teacher, she's learned enough to be Aang's teacher in a month or less.
Katara was never a prodigy, just a very good student.
IIRC, Katara did have a bending teacher in the south, but because the Water Tribe traditions held only teaching women healing bending, she had to pick up the more combative forms via scroll.
Granted, it's been a while since I've watched the series. I should get on that.
That happened in the North. Southern Water Tribe had no benders other than Katara. She was only spared because her mother sacrificed herself to save Katara. It is one of the more grim plotlines in the original series.
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.
The character they're playing doesn't matter - bad acting is bad acting. Granted she was also essentially just given the literal text of the cartoon opening as a monologue which isn't much to work with.
This idea that indigenous people need to speak in some sort of stilted english that halts every other word is asinine and, frankly, racist as shit and I'm sick of seeing it having grown up in a heavily indigenous community.
So I guess I'm saying the acting AND the writing was bad.
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.
The character they're playing doesn't matter - bad acting is bad acting. Granted she was also essentially just given the literal text of the cartoon opening as a monologue which isn't much to work with.
This idea that indigenous people need to speak in some sort of stilted english that halts every other word is asinine and, frankly, racist as shit and I'm sick of seeing it having grown up in a heavily indigenous community.
So I guess I'm saying the acting AND the writing was bad.
Okay? Bad acting is also subjective.
I feel like a lot of acting in the show is kinda wooden, as if these people were not comfortable with their characters yet, or it's weird emoting on a greenscreen set, or the direction wasn't great or whatnot. But it also doesn't detract that much for me.
Ultimately I don't really think this production has much of a reason to exist, since the cartoon is right there, less than 20 years old. But I also feel like it's being rated far more harshly than another unrelated YA adventure might be due to proximity.
I think that the one thing it does pretty well is erase the whitewashing complaint about the MNS version. I'm glad all these asian and indigenous actors have this opportunity.
Here's what I know. My son was about 6-7 when we watched the cartoon, and loved it. We're now watching this and my daughter is ALMOST 6 and I've not seen her this drawn to a long form program that wasn't an animated movie EVER, and she was excited and laughing and that drowns out any other complaints.
More seriously, some of the acting was subpar, but the effects were generally great, and I can deal with a lot of the changes (like Aang flying, he was doing that almost anyways on his little ball of air in the cartoons, and the fire guys could also rocketman with just... fire.. whatever). I also love the live action Wheel of Time despite changes so hey.
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.
It felt very hit and miss for me. They left in enough nods and winks to the cartoon as well as taking the general overarching stuff from it, but as others have indicated the dialogue and acting seems just off and wooden a bit.
The only actors I felt really did well with their parts and scripts were Suki and Sokka. Sokka was definitely a bright spot to me and Suki was absolutely the embodiment of the character from what I recall. Kyoshi felt very very underwhelming and some of the others didn't seem to fit to me either.
If/when this gets greenlit for a second season I am sort of afraid to see what they do with Toph. She is by far my favorite character from the series and with how dark and grounded this feels I can't see Toph being played off as well as she needs to be.
Also I didn't like the starting episode with the return to the Southern Air Temple. I felt like they skipped all of the bonding with Katara, Aang, and Sokka and just jumped right there where Katara could calm Aang down without any reason as to why they'd have that bond. I don't feel like the cartoon did that jump as bad because we got to see fun stuff like penguin sledding with Aang to allow them to bond a bit.
Posts
But does it keep the speed of the animated ones, or does it take twice as long to cover the same stuff? As the Lower Decks crew pointed out on Strange New Worlds, live action tends to talk way slower.
I'm up to episode 4, and it mostly keeps pace and shakes things up. For example, Jet
Important Secret Tunnel information.
If only there were some way to create a shortcut between two points. Perhaps even doing so without broader notice. But what would you even call that?
It's not actively bad like the movie was. But it doesn't really add anything. And only the kids playing Sokka and Zuko seem like they might be able to act. The girl playing Katara might be able to but is in a huge rush to deliver her lines nothing breathes. Aang...looks and acts like a kid, which is appropriate, but couldn't really carry the more real moments imo. Iroh lacked jokes. You can't have Iroh without jokes.
It's watchable and the original series is so strong it probably survives on that basis alone. But it mostly made me want to watch the cartoon again.
the prologue wasn't bad imo but only because maybe not everyone has seen the cartoon. Not liking Aang thus far but I'm guessing it's because his line delivery seems very wooden. that said it's certainly not bad at all and if the cartoon wasn't absolutely perfect I'd probably like this a lot more.
it's like remaking Casablanca or something. sure, you can do it, but the best you could hope for is a sidegrade
I mean, Barb Wire with Pamela Anderson was a remake of Casablanca. I'm fairly confident that was a significant improvement in some areas.
Anyway, I think the kid actors get significantly better as the series goes on.
Iroh gets jokes eventually.
Never heard of Arden Cho, but I'll have to keep my eyes open for her other stuff.
Fake edit: I have to watch Teen Wolf now? God damn it.
My 12yo son, who was super critical of every deviation the Percy Jackson show took from whatever he had in his mind from the books, was very much onboard with the changes from cartoon to live action.
They did lot of merging of plotlines in the Omashu episode.1 I think for the better. Getting
My tiny nitpick is one I have with other similar content in that all the wardrobe looks too clean and new. The clothes from the water tribe look like they’re fresh out of the bag and none of it looks worn in or weathered at all. It’s like they had Fanatics, the sportswear company do the quality control on costumes.
I'm still going to watch it though because I love TLAB and have absolutely no self-respect.
Combined with the number of pixels they are working with and type of lenses, it just looks really cheap and fake.
And the actors are kids who improve over the series.
Almost like things that work in animation don't directly translate to live action.
People don't expect animated clothes to look like real clothes. They expect costumes to at least get close. You can get a kind of uncanny valley with props and costuming
this is going to sound super shitty, but when? I'm halfway through and even Iroh is still bad. I feel like I can read the script on their faces. "what we need is" *pause* *look to left* *look of surprise* "Sticky rice!"
edit: and I consider making Bumi a dick on par with making Farimir (sp?) covet the one ring. Wholly unnecessary and for what?
Bumi WAS a dick in the cartoon! Like he kidnapped Sokka and Katara to blackmail Aang into doing tasks!
ok I'll give you that (even though the deadly crystal was rock candy and they were never in danger). But this Bumi is -mean- like saying actual hurtful things that definitely weren't in the series. I guess I'm just an old grump, but he was easily my favorite character in the cartoon and is my least favorite in the live action series
Yeah in the cartoon they get the scroll and that's about it. the Southern tribe has no waterbenders left so shes completely self taught.
The water tribe elders in the first episode sure didn't look like kids to me.
She picks up a few tricks but Aang blows right past her when they're both trying to learn on their own (this took her weeks to get to do anything, he creates a massive wave on the first go). She learns a few basic things, but not without a lot of practice (with the exception of healing, which she just does when the plot demands it).
Then she gets a few basic lessons passed on from Aang and she can stand up to a master (but still lose).
Then once they both get a proper teacher, she's learned enough to be Aang's teacher in a month or less.
Katara was never a prodigy, just a very good student.
"Do not, under any circumstances, listen to your fellow actor. Simply wait till they've stopped talking"
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...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 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.
My head canon for why there were so many bodies around Gyatsu in the cartoon is because those monks absolutely could, and would do those things. You just had to really push them to get to that point, and you really wouldn't like the experience afterwards.
IIRC, Katara did have a bending teacher in the south, but because the Water Tribe traditions held only teaching women healing bending, she had to pick up the more combative forms via scroll.
Granted, it's been a while since I've watched the series. I should get on that.
That happened in the North. Southern Water Tribe had no benders other than Katara. She was only spared because her mother sacrificed herself to save Katara. It is one of the more grim plotlines in the original series.
The character they're playing doesn't matter - bad acting is bad acting. Granted she was also essentially just given the literal text of the cartoon opening as a monologue which isn't much to work with.
This idea that indigenous people need to speak in some sort of stilted english that halts every other word is asinine and, frankly, racist as shit and I'm sick of seeing it having grown up in a heavily indigenous community.
So I guess I'm saying the acting AND the writing was bad.
Okay? Bad acting is also subjective.
I feel like a lot of acting in the show is kinda wooden, as if these people were not comfortable with their characters yet, or it's weird emoting on a greenscreen set, or the direction wasn't great or whatnot. But it also doesn't detract that much for me.
Ultimately I don't really think this production has much of a reason to exist, since the cartoon is right there, less than 20 years old. But I also feel like it's being rated far more harshly than another unrelated YA adventure might be due to proximity.
I think that the one thing it does pretty well is erase the whitewashing complaint about the MNS version. I'm glad all these asian and indigenous actors have this opportunity.
More seriously, some of the acting was subpar, but the effects were generally great, and I can deal with a lot of the changes (like Aang flying, he was doing that almost anyways on his little ball of air in the cartoons, and the fire guys could also rocketman with just... fire.. whatever). I also love the live action Wheel of Time despite changes so hey.
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.
Gyatso: You don’t say….
The only actors I felt really did well with their parts and scripts were Suki and Sokka. Sokka was definitely a bright spot to me and Suki was absolutely the embodiment of the character from what I recall. Kyoshi felt very very underwhelming and some of the others didn't seem to fit to me either.
If/when this gets greenlit for a second season I am sort of afraid to see what they do with Toph. She is by far my favorite character from the series and with how dark and grounded this feels I can't see Toph being played off as well as she needs to be.
Also I didn't like the starting episode with the return to the Southern Air Temple. I felt like they skipped all of the bonding with Katara, Aang, and Sokka and just jumped right there where Katara could calm Aang down without any reason as to why they'd have that bond. I don't feel like the cartoon did that jump as bad because we got to see fun stuff like penguin sledding with Aang to allow them to bond a bit.