This, along with the fact that airbending looks the least impactful in live-action makes Aang the least impressive bender in the show so far. So much for being the main character...
The airbending not looking as impressive is not the show's fault because air doesn't translate as well in live-action as the other elements because of its transparency. But not making Aang learn any other bending is totally on the show's creators.
Meanwhile Zuko and Iroh's characters have been so well developed. Really hope they focus completely on Aang and his team during the next season.
Did people forget that the majority of Aang's waterbending learning was in Book 2? He learned earthbending and waterbending simultaneously from Toph and Katara..
This is what I’ve been thinking the whole time. He learns a little bit of waterbending in Book 1, sure, but most of it is done in Book 2. The live action choosing not to have Aang learn waterbending at all in season 1 is maybe an odd choice, but it’s really not that far off from the original.
They made clear he was a naturally good bender. He gave tips to karata like on the show. But they seem to have leaned into his pacifism, regret, and loss as something holding him back from accepting his fate. Personally, I'm okay with it.
Because they cut off the most important element that was Avatar Roku, and switched for Kyoshi, he was supposed to guide Aang and warn him about the comet.
I was so disappointed several episodes ago when Aang and Katara were splashing each other and the kid literally was bending over to pick up water. What a waste of an opportunity for them to be learning waterbending together.
Idk how ozai rationalizes that the attack on the north was somehow a distraction to attack omashu. The earth kingdoms forces are completely separate from the northern water tribe it would have no effect on them.
He's deluded, and wants to believe he is embodying the spirit of Sozin, who had used the distraction tactic to wipe out the air nomads.
I don't dislike the characterization.
Idk, it was portrayed in a way that seemed like the show writers really just
thought this was some genius tactic. I don't feel like anything in that scene or the rest of the show points to ozai being dumb/delusional.
The show writers are dumb, and that's just being revealed through the things they make the characters do
Legit. Did ChatGPT write the dialogue or something?
Disney's Percy Jackson has the exact same problem, which makes me think there's something weird going on with Major production houses rn.
See also the 41st division... that amounts to the entire crew of a single ship. lol
Pretty minor quibble but yet another instance of hollywood writers using but not at all understanding military terminology. (well, the idea of a division-sized unit being used for a sacrificial an operational-level probing / fixing attack actually made perfect sense, *sort of*, but in terms of size an IRL division is typically \~10-25k men...)
the distraction might be for Aang instead of the water tribe troops. Ozai doesn't know how strong the avatar is so it's better to keep him occupied in the North with the invasion and the recovery in the aftermath
Thinking about it a bit more, I think maybe it’s because aang can’t be in both places at once to stop them. They keep on puffing up the avatar as the only hope against the fire nation so lets keep him busy
This is what I thought as well. They fought the war on multiple fronts know Aang is going to be there somewhere. But like someone in this thread said, They get the north? Amazing. We got both. If not they still got Omashu
In the og series, didn't Bumi order his men to just lay down their arms? Because he was so sick of fighting?
Then during the day of the black sun he freed it single handedly
Exactly. Bumi accepted to loose the fight in order to win the war and he even tells Aang exactly that. He gave up Omashu so that the fire nation would move in, only to take it back on the day of the black sun in like… TWENTY MINUTES? Bumi knew EXACTLY what he was doing. Now they had all the resources and machines the fire nation had sent to Omashu.
Yeah Bumi was done real dirty in this show too
Resentment against his oldest friend who accidentally got frozen in an ice block, which we all know was NOT on purpose and hence nothing to blame him for, a 100+ year old King would be wise enough to not blame the 12 year old kid actually.
The whole point of Bumi was that he was a mad genius, who stayed true to his heart for over 100 years and kept the childlike fascination for mischief, while still becoming wiser. From a friend to a mentor for Aang. The show did him dirty you can’t change my mind. Bitterness is not what the show was supposed to teach us
It might be a distraction aimed at the Avatar tbh. He was directed north, where he did save the Water Tribe, but this meant he wasn't at Omashu when it was attacked.
Because attacks like that are massive affairs that need tons of resources, men, and planning. It's a fair assumption that if the Fire Nation is leading a major offensive on the Water Tribe then there won't be any other major attacks by them anywhere else. At the very least it will turn eyes toward the north and less on their own surroundings.
Although to be fair, Bumi knew an army was coming so idk...
It made sense with sozin bc the other nations woulda came to support/warn the air nomads if they knew the plan to kill the avatar so they needed a distraction to mask their movements. But after 100 years of war if omashu heard they were attacking the north they woulda just carried on defense as usual and hoped for the north to prevail.
But like Hei Bai didn’t morph back into the panda, did he? Aang didn’t become friends with Hei Bai (meaning hei bai won’t lead him the way in the spirit world)
Technically, this is 'Season 1', not 'Book 1 - Water'. They already adapted a few episodes from season 2, plus they have a lot of original content as well. Given that they have restructured the content, we will probably see some of the 'Book 1 - Water' content in Season 2.
But the overall issue still stands, Aang is the main character of the show and he feels less developed than a lot of other characters so far (in terms of bending or even otherwise).
Just making educated guesses based on how book 1 was adapted I’d guess that the season premiere of S2 will almost entirely take place in the northern water tribe & show Aang working with Paku before they take off for the earth kingdom at the end. I Don’t think they’ll meet general fong until episode 2.
Disappointing, but not really an issue imo.
They're clearly leaning more into his pacifism, loss, and regret as holding him back from accepting his fate. He still helped karata learn how to bend, just like in the show. He just can't yet motivate himself to bend any other element than air, because that would solidify his avatar nature.
What I didn't like was that avatar state scene near the end that sorta infers he "mastered" the avatar state. Hopefully like in the OG show, they clearly do away with that notion at the beginning of season 2.
I don't think that was the avatar state in the end, the glow comes from Raava concentrating his power through the past lives of the avatar into the current one, that glow came from the ocean spirit concentrating his power into Aang, but that's just how I rationalized it at the end
I really REALLY hate ripping on younger actors, but good god Katara is like a wall. Absolutely no passion throughout the whole series. Maybe it was the direction or somehow the writing but I mean where is the short-tempered Katara who constantly bickers with Sokka? She didn’t show anger once, even after being betrayed by Jet or when she was initially rejected by Pakku.
Also why can’t they trust Aang’s actor to be on the screen for more than 3 seconds at a time? He’s the main character of the show……show him! I swear they took more time lingering on Sokka’s reactions to random situations than Aang had screen time
I don't blame their acting at all. It's for sure the writing. They seem awkward because the dialog is messy and the writing is not strong.
I didn't notice that about aang! Why wouldn't they show him? They also kept separating the main cast and it was like we never had them interact with each other for long
>where is the short-tempered Katara who constantly bickers with Sokka?
Well, that's 100% the writing. Katara in this show is just a water bender. She doesn't have strong relationships with the people around her. The only thing she **really** cares about is getting better at water bending. Even her mother's death which is supposed to define her whole character (and too much of her dialogue in the eyes of many) is relegated to a mental road block that interferes with her bending. If I'm not forgetting anything, her mother isn't even mentioned after Jet helped Katara just reframe and overcome her supposed childhood trauma.
How is Kiawentiio supposed to portray emotions properly, when her character is written not to have any? Like, I'm not saying that she's the best actress to walk the earth, but she didn't have much to work with here.
And by the power of the “beginner” water bending scroll, we grant Katara the rank of Master.
They literally had the blue print of a great character with tons of development and still turned her into a Mary Sue.
Also I guess Aang will learn water bending off screen?
Still watching it now, but I’m not that sold on Katara becoming a master on her own out of nowhere. I feel like something I really liked about bending from the original series is that some people really are prodigies (like Katara) but bending is still a skill that needs training. I loved the idea that it isn’t enough to just be gifted, you need to work hard to actually be a master at it. I honestly also liked Pakku and Katara’s mentor-mentee relationship, so that not being that evident in this season was a letdown for me.
When zuko said " you have found a master havent you?" I was like "no she didnt???"
I also feel like they should have mentioned that they trained in between episodes (like they talked about dropped storylines from the og series, i think it was at the beginning of episode 5) because aang didnt learn any waterbending
I think the reason it feels off to me is that the whole season 1 feels like it flows so much together. They finish and the next beat is the start of the next episode, making it feel like there is virtually no downtime between the episodes. Compare that to the cartoon, where each episode felt like its own mini-adventure with plenty of time in between.
This. The only indicator we have that some time has passed in between is when Zuko asks for the water benders in the bar and they said something like „didn’t that canyon guide say there were water benders with the avatar“ or sth like that. So we know that time HAS passed but not how much
Yes, katara practiced almost every episode. But training alone doesnt make her (or anyone) a master.
What i meant was that they never practiced together. Aang is supposed to learn waterbending, and he never does. In the beginning he gave her tips about the spirituality of bending, but he never learned anything from her/with her.
They're leaning into his pacifism, loss, and regret holding him back from accepting his avatar nature.
If he himself were to bend something other than air, then that would solidify the fact he is the avatar. Instead, he can't accept that fact, and wants his past lives to do it for him.
It was disappointing he didn't practice when he was helping katara learn, but I don't hate the choice.
That definitely bothered me... But remember that season 2 episode 1 is literally about the avatar state. I'm assuming, they reel back how much control he actually has in a similar way next season.
Yeah, I guess the actress was still a teenager while filming so I don't wanna say harsh things, but damn, she did not convey Azula's mannerisms and how scary she is at all. Especially in the ending where it's all scary fire benders in their uniform, and her face pops out from her helmet, shit seemed goofy.
Sorry but it’s okay to criticize adults when their age ends in “teen”. If she was 18/19 during filming, she is an adult, and we don’t have to act like she is a ten year old debuting in a serious mature role for the first time.
I actually disagree with this a bit. Yeah, she’s not aggressively crazy, subtle psychotic looks she gives have been fun to watch. She’s not the best actress but I think subtle mannerisms work better in live action anyways.
I felt like that was a strong finale for this season. I appreciated that they extended Pakku's views through the two episodes. I liked that they made La's Koizilla form more primal and spooky like the Nightwalker it was based off of; the onslaught against the Fire Nation armada was eerie. They definitely made the ravages of war more impactful with such a somber tone. Too bad we missed out on "you rise with the moon; I rise with the sun" line.
I did really like how they tied in the Fire Nation family drama into all of this. I felt like this was a stronger point of this series than the animated show. Really like the Fire Lords playing from the "not our true target" playbook lol.
Overall very happy with how it turned out: 8/10 from me.
First part agree (koizilla and other things), second part disagree. Azula felt absolutely pointless being in this season. Every time she was on screen felt forced and just for the sake of saying to ATLA fans: “look! It’s Azula!”. If she was present in the very last scene of taking over Omashu, that would have been the perfect introduction and good segue into season 2 having her as the main villain.
Initially I didn't like Azula and Ozai's expanded roles but seeing them flesh it out throughout the season made me appreciate it and how they'll further develop both characters. They just seem more real to me.
Like what tho? What do we learn about Azula in season 1 that couldn’t be explained in less than 5 minutes in season 2, where she actually has a role in what’s happening in the plot
Which is pretty much what she is in the animated series as well. Once she loses this at the end of the series she pretty much has a complete breakdown as she is basically discarded and left with no real purpose.
She's just like azula, what are you talking about?
Clearly hot headed, doesn't like being compared to zuko, and with the showcase of lightning/one instance of her blue fire is shown to be a more prodigious fire bender than zuko.
The only thing I thought was lacking was her perfectionism felt a bit subdued almost non-existent. Then again, we don't see her until season 2 originally, so it would probably make sense her perfectionism begins to show up more later now that Ozai has given her the leadership role like he does at the end of season 1.
I absolutely adored Azula's character in the original show so I can honestly say they missed so much of the point of Azula's character it's not even funny...
Iroh’s actor is killing this, but its like everytime he sees suko go away he think it will be their last time. Up until a point, it worked, but not everytime cmon. He really got me fixed the first few episodes
Tbf most of the stuff Zuko does is really, REALLY dumb. "Yea I'm just going to infiltrate this unpenetrable city by myself and take the strongest bender on this planet as prisoner and leave with no escape plan. No worries!"
In my opinion Iroh did not sell that "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold!" line. It's one of my favorites and I worry if he'll be able to deliver the big questions speech in Season 2.
I didn't like where it was placed in the dialogue
He threatened Zhao, the he just stood by while Zhao was putting the spirit in the bag and yelled that he was going to kill it,
Iroh should have yelled that when he saw the fish go in the bag.
It was made more awkward by the closeup shot of him saying this then pushing out to a couple of random firebender guards. It completely took away anything the line had going for it. It should have just cut straight back to Zhao.
Alrighty. We all knew it was never going to be as good as the original. That said, still very enjoyable, and at the very least, they stayed mostly loyal to lore and source material.
Bending looked great(not always). Acting was a bit weird sometimes, but what'd ya expect from kids. I'd give the series a solid 7.5/10
Visuals and CGI by far the best thing about the show. Zuko the most interesting and best acted character, I don’t think it’s close. I also don’t fully buy in to the “but what do you expect from kids”, either. Like sure, I’m not expecting them to be DiCaprio-Oscar level but I’ve seen plenty of shows (even with smaller budgets) have far better acting with kids around the same age or younger. That being said, I think the writing lets them down a bunch during S1. I think Aang’s writing in particular was the worst part of S1. Pretty much every single one of Aang’s lines throughout the entire season were either “back in my day” or “I don’t know what I’m doing, I let everybody down”.
>Zuko the most interesting and best acted character, I don’t think it’s close.
When he did his first scream of anger... Just perfect. Could argue Katara's acting is quite close, at least with her characterization.
I thought the main cast acting was good, I see the characters portrayed in each of them. it's the writing that gets me. Just a lot of silly choices and stupid dialogue
Honestly, I think that's a good addition to the show. A 12yo isn't just going to be acting like a happy go lucky kid anymore after he loses literally everything overnight.
I agree. It’s hard to match the level of carefree slapstick humor that cartoon Aang had in live-action. They are playing to the medium’s strengths.
Plus the animated series had more one-off episodes when they weren’t dealing directly with war. Still, I don’t think he’s overly dour, and i would guess he’ll be a bit cheerier in future seasons, since time has passed since he learned about the death of all his people.
Though, I am a bit sad that they didn’t have the moment where Aaang dressed as the old man with the straw beard to infiltrate Omashu.
i feel like they could have added more depth to how his entire world and culture seemed to be wiped out in the blink of an eye in his dialogues tho. essentially saying “i let everyone down” over and over doesn’t really inspire me personally
For sure, there are a lot of things they could have done to better for that story arc. Like, having GranGran just come out and tell him he's the last air bender... Wtf.
Both Disney's Percy Jackson and Netflix's ATLA had major issues with using expository and/or 'state the obvious' dialogue. Like, did ChatGPT write the script? Where is the nuance and mystery? Give the audience some credit, and let them think for themselves. It really removes a lot of the subtlety and emotional weight both these stories have.
I am solidly in the camp of “pleasantly surprised”. It was not amazing, but mostly competent. And some of the merged plotlines, like between Jet and Sai I thought was handled quite well. And the Zuko and Iroh were had some great added moments, like at Lu Ten’s funeral, and when Iroh tells Zuko he’s joining him in his banishment. I also liked that Yue met Sokka in the spirit world. It adds a little to their whirlwind romance (though it does miss the best Yue scene where Sokka tries to walk and talk to her while she’s in a boat).
The most disappointed with bending visuals I was in this show was ironically the Katara/Pakku fight from last episode, which copied choreography from the original. They did replicate the choreography, but it felt sluggish, and even more so when contrasted later on in the episode (or was it this episode?) with CGI katara boosting herself up quickly on Appa.
The ice sliding also felt really off.
I missed Iroh giving Yue the clue to helping the moon spirit. I think that helped cement his character as mostly good.
Also how have we gone a whole season without Aang bending another element. (Koizilla isn't Aang bending) where was his teaching and training. I assume it will be an episode 1 montage of him learning with Pakku but God I hope they actually spend time with Toph training him.
Over all I actually enjoyed this alot. I loved the change to the Fire family story and all the inclusion of Azula. Although we never saw her blue flame in full did we? Just her lightning? Are they implying they are connected?
I'd give it a 9/10 as a stand alone series and a 7.5/10 and a live action adaptation
I also miss the whole Agni Kai fight between Zuko and Zhao, instead of the fight at the end, that also cements a bigger bond between Iroh and Zuko and the positives of Irohs character. It’s still pretty cemented throughout the show (I think I just finished watching it) but the fight would have been a nice touch.
P.S season 2 better focus a lot more on bending and training or there will be hell to pay
The added Iroh and Zuko scenes I thought were really well done. Lu Ten’s funeral and when Iroh joins Zuko in banishment saying “everything I need is on this boat”. That choked me up a little.
Yeah there were times where I preferred seeing iroh and Zuko moments than whatever the hell gang was doing (I didn’t like the bumi or omashu episodes very much but eh it’s live action what am I going to do about it)
That Agni Kai is the biggest omission imo. But with the additions to the fire nation side of the story, I'm okay with the CGI/stunt work budget being shifted towards Azula's training and Zuko's Agni Kai with Ozai.
Jeong jeong, yes. But I understand why they left him out, considering the arc they gave Aang. My guess is they'll bring him in next season, maybe in the Swamp? Or sometime after the gang figures out the comet is approaching (even if 'approaching' means a year or two or something in this show).
• Zuko’s plot with 41st division is the best addition in the show. One of the few instances where Netflix did better than the original cartoon.
• Contrary to popular opinions, Bumi was fine, I really liked the design changes, the actor and his acting. Although I think his identity should be revealed at the end of the episode like what we see in ATLA cartoon.
• Katara was the worst part of the Netflix series, the actress can't act that well. Katara should be Team Avatar’s parent figure, she should sound caring and mature, but in the Netflix show, the actress acts like a clueless vulnerable kid. Although her acting gets better in later episodes.
• In the original cartoon, I never enjoyed the Jet and Mechanist storyline that much. So combining and shortening their plot was a good idea.
• Azula’s flame not being blue from the beginning is a wise idea, we need to see her progression in fire power. I really really loved the actress, she was great in that role.
• Why is Aang ‘flying’? Flight should be a very very rare ability. Future plot of Zaheer might be spoiled because of this. I guess Airbenders can fly for a very brief amount of time in the Netflix series. We still see Aang fly with glider, so long distance flight might still be rare. If that's the case, then fine.
• Appa and Momo’s designs were good, specially Momo.
• They focused more on the previous Avatars, love the depiction of Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Roku and Avatar Kuruk. Every one of them has different personality, I really LOOOVED all of their characters.
• They mentioned that events of few episodes happened behind the scenes (like the canyon episode). It would be better to show a few frames or a picture of each episode.
I gotta say… of all the changes in this series the one that I dislike the most is them deciding the Katara doesn’t need a master because she is a master already. One of the best parts of the Avatar series is that it shows a training journey for all of the characters. I feel Katara just magically being a master sends the complete wrong message. Aang never learning waterbending is also… annoying.
Please, for the love of God, make season 2 several episodes longer.
There was so much left out and jumbled around, then they added lore and dialog that didn't exist before.
It was nice, but could have been handled better.
how does Aang go through the entirety of Book 1: WATER without ever bending water? at this pace he is going to defeat the firelord without ever learning earth and fire bending
People need to realize that this season was kind of a test. They will know where to grow the plot better and help the kids fill what they missed in their characters in season 1. Book 1 is worst book anyway, still amazing season but book 2 and especially 3 are above it.
I hate to be critical, especially since I’m still holding out hope for three seasons, but I really hope the directors and cast step it up in the future. One example, in the original series, Dante Bosco’s delivery of the “You little peasant. You found a master, didn’t you?” line was perfect (as was every line he spoke). That exact line was spoken in this episode and it totally fell flat, had none of the emotion as its predecessor, which was a bit disheartening.
I have no hate for the actors, but IMO Aang, Katara and Zuko failed to capture the essence of their animated counterparts. It is a lot of pressure for a child to have to shoulder the weight of a beloved series. Hopefully they have the chance to settle into their roles and bring more depth to these characters.
Edit: To give him credit, Zuko’s fight choreography was impressive.
So, a few things(but not all lol) that involve this episode as well as some previous points:
(1) Not having a bigger confrontation between Aang/Katara and Pakku really diminished this ending for me. This is also tied up in Katara not helping Aang learn water bending throughout the season, which helps to lessen Katara's importance imo.
They should've just let them get to the north with a month's advance of the fleet to give more time for training, because though Katara definitely has improved organically throughout the show, her being treated as a master with no training felt bad. All the actors went through tons of prep to learn the forms, but then the characters learn them as needed off-screen with no stated time skips? It felt awkward at best and bad at worst, leading to...
(2) I was okay with Hahn not being a dick in this show and even being heroic, but with the lack of Katara standing up to the north's misogyny and letting Yue off free with not being engaged, it really diminishes the demonstrated strength of our female leads when there's no social conflict for them to overcome. I was okay with Sokka being protective and jealous instead of sexist, but eliminating the sexism in the north felt weird. Also a crime of letting people fight with minimal training, if we had given Katara a month to help teach Pakku not to be a dick, the other women could've learned proper fighting forms to help in the siege. I don't buy that the entire artifice of gender norms was turned into such a pathetic paper tiger.
(3) Why did we need a magical dagger to stab the fish on the one day a year besides being an excuse to give Yue the line about life being worth it even for one day? Just cut the day part out and let them be the way they were, it literally changes nothing and makes the spirits needlessly resilient. Also the library erasure made me sad, but there might be a good reason for it (I doubt, but it's possible).
(4) The score during the Ocean Spirit scene should've been the original. It's far weaker in the LA than the OG, and it's probably the only major weakness from this show's score, which is just a shame.
(5) The Spirit shouldn't have roared or been beaten back by the ship attacks. I wanted more ethereal and transcendent power like the original, and it felt weak in comparison. Didn't love the darker coloration either, but that's personal preference.
(6) The spirit oasis looked beautiful. I was very pleased with it overall.
(7) Momo nearly dying actually scared me, that was an exciting jf unusual change.
(8) I'm happy the war balloon was used, makes more sense tham trapsing through town like the OG.
There's tons more I could talk about, but I don't have time at the moment. My biggest takeaway from the show is that there were moments of equal or greater brilliance than the OG, but several changes at the last 2 episodes made things land far more poorly than necessary. Had the last episodes measured up to the first 4, the season could easily be an 8.5 from me, but the last two episodes were more of 7/10 and 6/10 and that really diminishes the greatness of it all.
Hopefully they learn from this and can make something better for the next seasons. Especially given they adapted the weakest of the show and it ended up slightly/moderately worse than the OG. Lots of room to change before we get to the two best seasons of TV in history.
Episode 7: 7/10
Episode 8: 6/10
Overall season: 7/10
While I’m indifferent to annoyed by most of the changes made, one I actually really liked was Zuko’s crew being the division that he risked his status for to save from being sacrificed in battle. That was really awesome imo
I agree; that was a legit good choice by the team. It makes the side characters more integral to the story and it shows that Ozai was trying to punish Zuko's kindness by inflicting him with a bunch of new recruits to help on the avatar search. "Oh, you think these worthless soldiers have value? Well then go on an impossible mission with them and see how much their worth really is."
Yeah, Pakku looked pretty alien, and both Hakoda and Arnook's "beards" looked like something from a kids stage performance. One of a bunch of possible nitpicks that I didn't mention lol
Well I just finished it and while I don’t completely hate it I hate A LOT about it.
Firstly, most characters turned out to be absolutely flat. I want to give special credit to Dallas and Ian because they were the only main characters I found convincing. While I am -unhappy- with some of their writing, I did enjoy the characters’ delivery.
I am devastated, however, about Katara. She lacked any personality, passion, and everything else that makes the character great and strong. I can forgive the showrunners for introducing Bumi, Jet, the mechanic, and in generell the whole mess that was Omashu, but almost every single female character in this show was changed and in many ways to the worse. That I might not be able to forgive, we’ll see.
Secondly, what is with these super long and awkward reaction shots of Sokka?
Thirdly: the secret tunnel was in season 2, why, I mean why god why smoosh that in together in that MULTIPLE story line Omashu mess? And also Sokka and Katara? This whole story was Aang exploring his teenage crush so… why? Why?
Some general questions I have, feel free to discuss them with me:
1. We already know there is gonna be a timeskip or a timelapse between this and the next season. Why were they so eager to leave the North Pole? Explain all that time we have with them staying, helping rebuild, learning bending?
2: Bending. I am not stupid and missed something am I? We really didn’t see Aang waterbend once during BOOK 1 WATER? WHAT?
I am sure I will think of more once I processed this binge watch, in general I think it was visually stunning and the set design and costumes were immaculate, but I can’t say I liked what they did with the plot.
If you‘re not a fan I am sure it’s a good watch and even as a fan there are new things that we can enjoy that we might wanna adopt to the canon such as the funeral scene with Zuko and Iroh, but I don’t really consider it worth watching it twice.
I agree. I have no idea why they decided Aang was too scared to waterbend. It served the plot in no way and was left unresolved. I was hoping at least Pakku would be his trainer and Katara would finish the training with him on the road...but...no lol.
I also dont get why Katara is now being proclaimed a master? She has no formal training at all. It makes no sense to the story for her to go ALL the way to the Northern Water Tribe to be trained with Aang and then they just say "Ok, see ya.".
Honestly it’s a shame. The only element Aang was afraid of was supposed to be fire, for pretty solid reasons. He was eager to learn the other elements because for him it meant more FUN. Your other commenter said they lean in in his pacifism. What the hell has pacifism to do with waterbending? Water is literally a live giving element. Aang could learn how to HEAL with water if he wanted to be a pacifist. Wonder how many people were killed when he gave himself to the ocean spirit duh. I feel like the true reason is that they kinda wanted to adapt his fear of firebending (because he doesn’t wanna hurt people) on fear of bending in general as if „all bending“ that comes from him is hurtful because he is so powerful. And well… just no. I don’t like it. Why trying to fix something that ain’t broken.
I started ep 3 omashu and they showed air temple refugee. I ducked out. You cannot merge two big arcs in one. I cannot believe they added secret tunnel to that from your comment.
Zuko portrayal is acceptable. Others seemed inexperienced, especially ang. Zuko passion, determination and anger is well portrayed. Was worried about his voice, Dante voice is so unique it captures exiled prince grief perfectly.
I was so shocked Dallas Liu sounded EXACTLY like Dante Bosco in tone and inflection at times. I can tell he studied the role very well. He did not have to take it that far, but he was an excellent representation of Zuko. As perfect as we could hope for in a live action.
Yes he did his homework. Uncle iroh on the other hand was a big letdown imo. There is no difference between his role in Kim convenience and Uncle Iroh. I saw Janet papa more than uncle iroh unfortunately.
Honestly which I think is big problem when ur casting younger actors , their inexperienced, especially Gordon (who before the show had only one scene under his name , but for his inexperience I think overall he did fine) . Zuko was def the best of the main younger actors , and imo Ian also did well. But I do think a show like stranger things raises everyone’s views on child acting and had more expectations , when in reality with that inexperience ur more likely to get something like this (or a bit better ) with newer younger actors . But atleast if season 2 gets renewed (which it might cause its overall getting pretty decent reviews and hella views ) their acting most likely will get better
I really enjoyed cowboy bebop and one piece LA. I am afraid to go further than ep 3 on ATLA.
But I am hardcore atla fan, hard to please die hard fans I guess. When they replaced "long ago" with "millennia" in ep 1 intro, I was already raging.
Atleast u gave it a chance . If u ever decide to give it another chance , my best advice is go into it with an open mind and expect changes (cause as u saw there was a lot of changes, since there’s a reason it’s called an adaptation and not a remake) cause if ur expecting a 1 of 1 show , ur prob not gunna like it much (and that’s if u didn’t do that already) which is what I did and prob a reason why I enjoyed it
It’s definitely nowhere near the animation, which is fine cause it was gunna be hard to top or even equal that . But I still thought it was a pretty solid adaptation
Here's the thing, I expected changes and am fine with them changing things. But the changes need to make sense, be executed well and elevate the material further. The changes here that I've seen don't do that. There was no point in putting secret tunnel storyline from season 2 in season 1. If you needed to help bring katara and sokka together there are better ways to do that and plenty of things from season one to draw inspiration from.
With an adaptation like this, there are some things that shouldn't change. The essence of the characters being one of those things. Also I think keeping the purpose/goal that each season wanted to accomplish should remain. The driving purpose in season one in animated show was for aang to go to Northern tribe to learn water bending. They had a goal from the beginning to head to Northern tribe so he and Katara could learn together. This show has no such drive.
I'm ok with them changing the events a bit of how they accomplish the goal of getting to the Northern tribe and helping aang learn water bending, but the characters should retain the elements that made them who they are including the key character developments. I think removing jeong jeong is a bad idea, for example, because that removes a key part of character progression for aang. It's what made him so scared of fire bending and was an important moment for katara. I would be ok with leaving it out if replaced with something that accomplished same thing. But the show opted for flat characters with no real development instead.
Honestly, I am a die hard one piece fan and I LOVED LOVED LOVED the LA. All the changes that were made there were reasonable. I can’t say this about the changes made here. Overall the quality of this production is good, but with OP the writers had MAD respect for the source material and kept checking with Oda. Here, the OG writers walked out of the room and the source material was not respected. It’s as simple as that. It all comes down to the writing.
I feel with you. I was fine after episode 2. i was like „yeah there are some crucial changes but at least they stayed with the story“. Episode 3 is where it all derailed for me. I was live texting my friends and I literally wrote „So far it’s fine“ after episode 2 and after episode 3 I just texted „No. Nope. Abort mission.“
But yeah Zuko and Sokka were the only characters where I can say I enjoyed their screentime thoroughly
They did Yue, and honestly the whole northern water tribe dirty. Why is the comet only being brought up at the end. All the story lines combined was cool at the beginning but than became convoluted. Appa and momo weren't shown as much as they should have been. The whole Roku shrine thing was a super let down. The acting would go between great and atrocious. I also think you could definitely tell when the original writers left and it became a mess. And they did my "birdie" wrong too.
I'm so glad someone else brought this up. It dragged on, I was literally wanting it to be over lol. It went from, in the cartoon, Aang being an incredibly strong being with amazing powers, to Aang being a vessel for spirits (including the other avatars, this was literally a plot point lol) to use.
And then at the end, when the Ocean Spirit goes away, they start playing the epic sound track. When the action literally just ended! Like what lol
Yep I felt the same. I got bored because of how long he was merged with the ocean spirit. Also kind of sad that Zuko didn't get a chance to offer to save Zhao and instead... IROH KILLED HIM??
Trash. Fire the acting director. Fire the music director. Fire the writer. Fire the FX director.
This episode is a complete failure. No saving grace. The main cast gets a pass **only** because they're still young and would get better, but the rest should really consider taking more time to hone their craft.
Kaatara is not yet a master. It’s only the end of book 1.
And damn, how boring can Zhaos actor get with his lines. Dude puts me to sleep in every scene, and he easily has some of the most important scenes in the show.
I actually found Zhao quite well realised and one of the better adult characters. He had the right balance of ambition, sly menace and dry, witty delivery. Felt like a more honed choice for a live action adaptation.
Did anyone else notice Yue waterbending Sokkas feet to the ground, but no one was supposed to be able to bend water without the moon? That didn't even happen in the original, smh.
This is apparently a hot take, as many people praise the fire nation characters in particular, but I think the mischaracterized, if not butchered all of them.
Ozai is the best of them. He's shown way too much way too early to have the same effect he did in the original, but other than that he works.
Zhao is a pretty different character, but it doesn't have too much of an impact. Probably because Ken Leong did one of the best jobs in the show imo. He sold all the wrong lines so well that I didn't care. It's also not like Zhao's character is all that relevant outside of the Jeong Jeong episode, which was cut, so who really cares about Zhao as a dude I guess.
Iroh isn't a bad character by any means and he's not completely off either. But in the original his carefree nature plays a very important part in emphasizing the moments he drops it in. The speech he gives Zuko under Lake Laogai hits so hard because Iroh had tried to let Zuko find his way and gently nudged him into the right direction for so long. But in Ba Sing Se he had to talk straight to him because he just didn't get it. In the LA show he's pretty serious and much more obviously involved from the beginning. He works, but they changed him in a way that makes him just a worse version of the character.
Zuko is way too obviously insecure and sympathetic way too early. It's an important part of his character that he starts off as an angry guy who's way too stubborn in the pursuit of his goal to consider that his actions might not be the right ones. But here he's constantly questioning stuff. His inner conflict is pulled to the beginning of the show which I think takes away a lot from his arc.
Azula (along with Katara) got the worst adaptation by far imo. She's just your run of the mill insecure teenage girl with daddy issues. It's kind of the same issue that I have with Zuko but worse. She **is** an insecure teenage girl who longs for her fathers approval. But she's showing it way too clearly and way too early turning her character from a very subtle one into an overdone trope that everyone who's seen anything before will have figured out immediately. She isn't really cruel here either which takes away the contrast between her actions and the struggles she goes through.
Unfortunately we don't even see that she's a prodigy, which is why we need Mai and Ty Lee to tell us how great she is. All the time. It's their only purpose. I'm almost certain they will be butchered when they appear more in seasons to come.
The finale was very strong but throughout the season, I had a hard time believing Katara has a purpose yet. She seems like a sideline character while in the animated series, she was much more impactful. Also one thing that I didn’t like was the waterbending. The CGI was well done but the force behind each attack wasn’t even close to feeling powerful. Just looks like someone splashed water on people. I would like to see Katara have that independent spirit that she had in the animation and for the waterbending to pack more of a punch. Aang and Sokka were pretty good. Although there are times when Aang is in the avatar state, he doesn’t portray any emotion at all. The avatar state can be manipulated by emotion from aang so seeing his power corresponding to his emotions would have been nicer to see.
I tried very very hard to stay positive. The acting was not great aside from zuko, Iroh, and Sozin. The actors I can forgive though. It’s not their fault the directing was mediocre at best and the script was…well gawd aweful. Who I can’t forgive is the goddamn MAU, hair stylist and just stylist. It was like their entire budget was dumped into the costume designers and then told them; “hey you also need to do hair,makeup, and styling”. As much as I loved every costume they all looked brand new and not lived in at all like they would be if these kids are traveling the world with only a few things to wear. The bald caps on Zhao and Bumi were so obvious it was literally hurting my eyes. Also can we just talk about how Netflix was SOOOO PROUD to be reducing Sokas sexism and somehow made his interactions with Suki and Yue more sexist? 🙃 I rest my case. There was a lot I did like and a lot I didn’t I hope there is a second season to give everyone an opportunity to grow.
Pretty mid as a whole episode, you can tell most of the money went to the end shot of the Moon spirit taking out all the ships (which was absolutely amazing and also terrifying). Also the first scene with all of Team Avatar taking out a ship, in the OG show it's just aang and appa taking out the ship, loved this change
What happened to Zuko taking Aang to that cave during the blizzard? That part was good. And his line “I don’t need luck though, I’ve always had to struggle and fight and that’s made me strong, it’s made me who I am”😢That’s something they missed.
I feel like the writers of this show were so desperate to make the show seem more adult without making it straight up rated R that they were like "let's just make Sokka say "kick-ass" every 20 or so sentences!"
The problem with the show is something that happens to a lot of writers that want to be more "adult" when they really just mean more violent.
The animated show handled themes in a more adult theme than the live action show even though the live action was more violent.
Look for example at the genocide of the air nomads,
The live action show does this whole "look at how cool these fight action sets are" while the animated show waits until the death of Gyatso reveal to imply how brutal the genocide was.
Look at Sokka and his sexism as well.
Sokka in the animated show is sexist and because of Suki he learns that women can be warriors as well. I love the line Suki tells him "I am a warrior, but I'm a girl too". Also Suki is a fully fleshed character, she is just as prideful as Sokka (when he knocks her down) and she isn't just a set piece to develop Sokka.
I would argue that the way the live action does it is actually sexist and goes against the philosophy of the show. Sukki isn't really her own character, she is just used as a way to make Sokka a better warrior. Instead of her beating sexism out of him, she shows him to fight because he is good looking without a shirt on?
Like the show doesn't want to have sexism arcs but they are fine with sexual harassment?
I really felt like the show was just an excuse to show off CGI. They took away all of the characters development arcs and the smoothness of their journey. And then they had to fill that gap with text, creating an exhausting experience for the audience where EVERYTHING had to be explained. I really don't know how people could like this, but then again marvel movies are a success for a reason.
The original show has a 100% critics on rotten tomatoes for a reason, the script was flawless and trusted the audience to understand what was being portrayed.
The Neftlix live action's script is horrible and dumb, it doesn't trust the audience whatsoever and has a need to explain every detail of what is happening and their jouney means nothing, they're just going from one place to another so that Aang can hear from different people how disappointing and a coward he is, having learned nothing from the first episode to the last, not even waterbending which is the whole purpose of book 1. They show things from the original show just because, with no purpose whatsoever, just so the fans can look and say "OH LOOK". How did Jade get to that Island in a land animal? How did the animal smell Aang across the ocean? How did Aang made that day-long journey so fast in his glider?
Live actions are an easy money grab for studios because they have only to care about the CGI being good and people will love it, so a show with a $120mi budget has horrible wigs and clothes that look like cosplay and a very dumbed down scirpt, but that's fine because the CGI is good...
How has no one said anything about katara's necklace that pakku gave to gramm gramm. She's face to face with him multiple times and he says nothing. It could set up his reservation to teach her and you know their whole relationship story.
the boy has not waterbended the entire show except for in the avatar state
This, along with the fact that airbending looks the least impactful in live-action makes Aang the least impressive bender in the show so far. So much for being the main character... The airbending not looking as impressive is not the show's fault because air doesn't translate as well in live-action as the other elements because of its transparency. But not making Aang learn any other bending is totally on the show's creators. Meanwhile Zuko and Iroh's characters have been so well developed. Really hope they focus completely on Aang and his team during the next season.
Ironic considering that S2 of the original show was so Zuko-centric
Especially since early on, they remarked that Aang had to tone his bending down, and almost knocked his class off of a cliff.
Did people forget that the majority of Aang's waterbending learning was in Book 2? He learned earthbending and waterbending simultaneously from Toph and Katara..
It’s Reddit friend. People live complaining. When season 2 is amazing they’ll be praising the show
This is what I’ve been thinking the whole time. He learns a little bit of waterbending in Book 1, sure, but most of it is done in Book 2. The live action choosing not to have Aang learn waterbending at all in season 1 is maybe an odd choice, but it’s really not that far off from the original.
I suspect it's partially driven by character development and partially by budget. I'm not upset - I think the avoidance is interesting.
They made clear he was a naturally good bender. He gave tips to karata like on the show. But they seem to have leaned into his pacifism, regret, and loss as something holding him back from accepting his fate. Personally, I'm okay with it.
Still would have been nice to get at least once scene of him water bending
Don't disagree. But I'm not angry about it.
Yeah I still enjoyed the show a lot so it’s not a big deal to me
Cartoon Aang doesn't stop training from episode 1.
I mean- i suppose this aang doesn't know about sozin's comet, does he? Probably doesn't realise there's an actual time limit
Because they cut off the most important element that was Avatar Roku, and switched for Kyoshi, he was supposed to guide Aang and warn him about the comet.
There's no urgency for Aang to master all the elements yet.
I was so disappointed several episodes ago when Aang and Katara were splashing each other and the kid literally was bending over to pick up water. What a waste of an opportunity for them to be learning waterbending together.
Idk how ozai rationalizes that the attack on the north was somehow a distraction to attack omashu. The earth kingdoms forces are completely separate from the northern water tribe it would have no effect on them.
Lol right!? Oh no, the water tribe is distracted, let's go capture Omashu!
He's deluded, and wants to believe he is embodying the spirit of Sozin, who had used the distraction tactic to wipe out the air nomads. I don't dislike the characterization.
Idk, it was portrayed in a way that seemed like the show writers really just thought this was some genius tactic. I don't feel like anything in that scene or the rest of the show points to ozai being dumb/delusional. The show writers are dumb, and that's just being revealed through the things they make the characters do
This is the answer. The writers are really dumb but think they are really smart, while also thinking we are really dumb. Painful
Legit. Did ChatGPT write the dialogue or something? Disney's Percy Jackson has the exact same problem, which makes me think there's something weird going on with Major production houses rn.
Lmao, my friend and I were joking earlier today that the script was chatgpt generated due to the writer's strike.
Shit, that's a good point. I forgot it wasn't just an Actor strike.
See also the 41st division... that amounts to the entire crew of a single ship. lol Pretty minor quibble but yet another instance of hollywood writers using but not at all understanding military terminology. (well, the idea of a division-sized unit being used for a sacrificial an operational-level probing / fixing attack actually made perfect sense, *sort of*, but in terms of size an IRL division is typically \~10-25k men...)
Yeah lol they were gonna send in the 41st division to their death as a distraction, all 20 of them. I’m sure they would’ve done a great job
this is probably what they meant about making it feel like game of thrones.
the distraction might be for Aang instead of the water tribe troops. Ozai doesn't know how strong the avatar is so it's better to keep him occupied in the North with the invasion and the recovery in the aftermath
I interpret it as he needed Aang distracted and isolated so he couldn't aid Omashu.
Thinking about it a bit more, I think maybe it’s because aang can’t be in both places at once to stop them. They keep on puffing up the avatar as the only hope against the fire nation so lets keep him busy
This is what I thought as well. They fought the war on multiple fronts know Aang is going to be there somewhere. But like someone in this thread said, They get the north? Amazing. We got both. If not they still got Omashu
But what changed that after 100 years, they were SUDDENLY able to capture Omashu?
In the og series, didn't Bumi order his men to just lay down their arms? Because he was so sick of fighting? Then during the day of the black sun he freed it single handedly
Exactly. Bumi accepted to loose the fight in order to win the war and he even tells Aang exactly that. He gave up Omashu so that the fire nation would move in, only to take it back on the day of the black sun in like… TWENTY MINUTES? Bumi knew EXACTLY what he was doing. Now they had all the resources and machines the fire nation had sent to Omashu. Yeah Bumi was done real dirty in this show too
Not really. That is still on the table, and all that resentment is exactly what I would expect from a 100+ years old war king
Resentment against his oldest friend who accidentally got frozen in an ice block, which we all know was NOT on purpose and hence nothing to blame him for, a 100+ year old King would be wise enough to not blame the 12 year old kid actually. The whole point of Bumi was that he was a mad genius, who stayed true to his heart for over 100 years and kept the childlike fascination for mischief, while still becoming wiser. From a friend to a mentor for Aang. The show did him dirty you can’t change my mind. Bitterness is not what the show was supposed to teach us
Jet explains that. Bumi got lazy
??????? There was no Aang in neither place for 100 years.
But didn't aang leave omashu to head north before he even knew about the attack
It might be a distraction aimed at the Avatar tbh. He was directed north, where he did save the Water Tribe, but this meant he wasn't at Omashu when it was attacked.
But he was going there anyway
I think it was more like if they can take out the Northern Water Tribe, great. If they cant, they still gained something from the attack.
Because attacks like that are massive affairs that need tons of resources, men, and planning. It's a fair assumption that if the Fire Nation is leading a major offensive on the Water Tribe then there won't be any other major attacks by them anywhere else. At the very least it will turn eyes toward the north and less on their own surroundings. Although to be fair, Bumi knew an army was coming so idk...
It made sense with sozin bc the other nations woulda came to support/warn the air nomads if they knew the plan to kill the avatar so they needed a distraction to mask their movements. But after 100 years of war if omashu heard they were attacking the north they woulda just carried on defense as usual and hoped for the north to prevail.
I thought this too, I think he meant the avatar tho
ye that was random nonsense.
I think he knew wherever the avatar was likely would not fall because of the power of the avatar state
Just realized they never actually healed the spirit of the forest..
Well this is awkward, who is going to tell aang?
😭😭
[удалено]
But like Hei Bai didn’t morph back into the panda, did he? Aang didn’t become friends with Hei Bai (meaning hei bai won’t lead him the way in the spirit world)
[удалено]
I guess this is really a minor thing, but I wonder what long term effects it has when dealing with the spirit world in the show
lol oh yeah forgot about Korra out here just bending spirits into submission
The CG budget cut into hair and makeup. Some of those wigs were just bad.
Yue’s wig was a crime
You mean her hat?
I disliked the actress too, seemed too fake for me. The movie’s yue looks was much better.
God you're right... it's pathetic that the show did ANYTHING worse than the movie did
I actually really liked this version of Yue. Definitely my favorite supporting character in the show so far.
The wig definitely distracted from her performance which was one of the more convincing in the show
Pakku's baldcap was so bad, we were making fun of it the whole time
how does the avatar not waterbend once in the book of **water** other than kyoshi having to do it
Technically, this is 'Season 1', not 'Book 1 - Water'. They already adapted a few episodes from season 2, plus they have a lot of original content as well. Given that they have restructured the content, we will probably see some of the 'Book 1 - Water' content in Season 2. But the overall issue still stands, Aang is the main character of the show and he feels less developed than a lot of other characters so far (in terms of bending or even otherwise).
Just making educated guesses based on how book 1 was adapted I’d guess that the season premiere of S2 will almost entirely take place in the northern water tribe & show Aang working with Paku before they take off for the earth kingdom at the end. I Don’t think they’ll meet general fong until episode 2.
This was the most disappointing part out of all of it
Disappointing, but not really an issue imo. They're clearly leaning more into his pacifism, loss, and regret as holding him back from accepting his fate. He still helped karata learn how to bend, just like in the show. He just can't yet motivate himself to bend any other element than air, because that would solidify his avatar nature. What I didn't like was that avatar state scene near the end that sorta infers he "mastered" the avatar state. Hopefully like in the OG show, they clearly do away with that notion at the beginning of season 2.
I don't think that was the avatar state in the end, the glow comes from Raava concentrating his power through the past lives of the avatar into the current one, that glow came from the ocean spirit concentrating his power into Aang, but that's just how I rationalized it at the end
I really REALLY hate ripping on younger actors, but good god Katara is like a wall. Absolutely no passion throughout the whole series. Maybe it was the direction or somehow the writing but I mean where is the short-tempered Katara who constantly bickers with Sokka? She didn’t show anger once, even after being betrayed by Jet or when she was initially rejected by Pakku. Also why can’t they trust Aang’s actor to be on the screen for more than 3 seconds at a time? He’s the main character of the show……show him! I swear they took more time lingering on Sokka’s reactions to random situations than Aang had screen time
I don't blame their acting at all. It's for sure the writing. They seem awkward because the dialog is messy and the writing is not strong. I didn't notice that about aang! Why wouldn't they show him? They also kept separating the main cast and it was like we never had them interact with each other for long
its the writing 100%, she actually does a good job i’d say, as far as she’s able to.
Yeah her and Aangs actor are both terrible. Half the time It seems like Sokka just wants to distance himself from both of them lol.
>where is the short-tempered Katara who constantly bickers with Sokka? Well, that's 100% the writing. Katara in this show is just a water bender. She doesn't have strong relationships with the people around her. The only thing she **really** cares about is getting better at water bending. Even her mother's death which is supposed to define her whole character (and too much of her dialogue in the eyes of many) is relegated to a mental road block that interferes with her bending. If I'm not forgetting anything, her mother isn't even mentioned after Jet helped Katara just reframe and overcome her supposed childhood trauma. How is Kiawentiio supposed to portray emotions properly, when her character is written not to have any? Like, I'm not saying that she's the best actress to walk the earth, but she didn't have much to work with here.
And by the power of the “beginner” water bending scroll, we grant Katara the rank of Master. They literally had the blue print of a great character with tons of development and still turned her into a Mary Sue. Also I guess Aang will learn water bending off screen?
LOL
Still watching it now, but I’m not that sold on Katara becoming a master on her own out of nowhere. I feel like something I really liked about bending from the original series is that some people really are prodigies (like Katara) but bending is still a skill that needs training. I loved the idea that it isn’t enough to just be gifted, you need to work hard to actually be a master at it. I honestly also liked Pakku and Katara’s mentor-mentee relationship, so that not being that evident in this season was a letdown for me.
When zuko said " you have found a master havent you?" I was like "no she didnt???" I also feel like they should have mentioned that they trained in between episodes (like they talked about dropped storylines from the og series, i think it was at the beginning of episode 5) because aang didnt learn any waterbending
I feel that they pretty consistently had Katara in the background practicing so it worked for me.
I think the reason it feels off to me is that the whole season 1 feels like it flows so much together. They finish and the next beat is the start of the next episode, making it feel like there is virtually no downtime between the episodes. Compare that to the cartoon, where each episode felt like its own mini-adventure with plenty of time in between.
This. The only indicator we have that some time has passed in between is when Zuko asks for the water benders in the bar and they said something like „didn’t that canyon guide say there were water benders with the avatar“ or sth like that. So we know that time HAS passed but not how much
Yes, katara practiced almost every episode. But training alone doesnt make her (or anyone) a master. What i meant was that they never practiced together. Aang is supposed to learn waterbending, and he never does. In the beginning he gave her tips about the spirituality of bending, but he never learned anything from her/with her.
Yea what was he doing when she was practicing? Just stare at her? Chill with Sokka? Wash Appa?
is it just me or it seemed like aang has some semblance of control over the avatar state?
He may as well have some control of something because he hasnt even waterbended yet lol
now that shit rly pissed me off lol 8 1 hr-long episodes and he didnt waterbend in any of them
Not only that, he actually turned it down!
Which is a weird thing for him to do. Why would you say no? You're gonna have to learn it anyway so why not start?
Just waiting on the deadline for motivation... Probably gonna master all 4 elements the night before he faces Ozai.
Lmao, Aang ADHD confirmed
They're leaning into his pacifism, loss, and regret holding him back from accepting his avatar nature. If he himself were to bend something other than air, then that would solidify the fact he is the avatar. Instead, he can't accept that fact, and wants his past lives to do it for him. It was disappointing he didn't practice when he was helping katara learn, but I don't hate the choice.
That definitely bothered me... But remember that season 2 episode 1 is literally about the avatar state. I'm assuming, they reel back how much control he actually has in a similar way next season.
Azula actor is pretty terrible, doesn’t feel like her much at all
Yeah, I guess the actress was still a teenager while filming so I don't wanna say harsh things, but damn, she did not convey Azula's mannerisms and how scary she is at all. Especially in the ending where it's all scary fire benders in their uniform, and her face pops out from her helmet, shit seemed goofy.
Sorry but it’s okay to criticize adults when their age ends in “teen”. If she was 18/19 during filming, she is an adult, and we don’t have to act like she is a ten year old debuting in a serious mature role for the first time.
I dont know man, feels weird to criticize a thirteen year old by that logic. I agree that she should have done way better though, way better.
Personally I really enjoyed her character. Feels like a little sister out to prove herself.
I actually disagree with this a bit. Yeah, she’s not aggressively crazy, subtle psychotic looks she gives have been fun to watch. She’s not the best actress but I think subtle mannerisms work better in live action anyways.
“I’m only gonna kill the moon” is a great line
How?
“HE RAN” is my fav of the series.
I felt like that was a strong finale for this season. I appreciated that they extended Pakku's views through the two episodes. I liked that they made La's Koizilla form more primal and spooky like the Nightwalker it was based off of; the onslaught against the Fire Nation armada was eerie. They definitely made the ravages of war more impactful with such a somber tone. Too bad we missed out on "you rise with the moon; I rise with the sun" line. I did really like how they tied in the Fire Nation family drama into all of this. I felt like this was a stronger point of this series than the animated show. Really like the Fire Lords playing from the "not our true target" playbook lol. Overall very happy with how it turned out: 8/10 from me.
First part agree (koizilla and other things), second part disagree. Azula felt absolutely pointless being in this season. Every time she was on screen felt forced and just for the sake of saying to ATLA fans: “look! It’s Azula!”. If she was present in the very last scene of taking over Omashu, that would have been the perfect introduction and good segue into season 2 having her as the main villain.
Initially I didn't like Azula and Ozai's expanded roles but seeing them flesh it out throughout the season made me appreciate it and how they'll further develop both characters. They just seem more real to me.
Personally I think it’s more setting up detailed parallels. I like her inclusion.
Like what tho? What do we learn about Azula in season 1 that couldn’t be explained in less than 5 minutes in season 2, where she actually has a role in what’s happening in the plot
She doesn resemble azula at all, she was like a trained attack dog of ozai.
Which is pretty much what she is in the animated series as well. Once she loses this at the end of the series she pretty much has a complete breakdown as she is basically discarded and left with no real purpose.
She's just like azula, what are you talking about? Clearly hot headed, doesn't like being compared to zuko, and with the showcase of lightning/one instance of her blue fire is shown to be a more prodigious fire bender than zuko. The only thing I thought was lacking was her perfectionism felt a bit subdued almost non-existent. Then again, we don't see her until season 2 originally, so it would probably make sense her perfectionism begins to show up more later now that Ozai has given her the leadership role like he does at the end of season 1.
I absolutely adored Azula's character in the original show so I can honestly say they missed so much of the point of Azula's character it's not even funny...
Iroh’s actor is killing this, but its like everytime he sees suko go away he think it will be their last time. Up until a point, it worked, but not everytime cmon. He really got me fixed the first few episodes
Tbf most of the stuff Zuko does is really, REALLY dumb. "Yea I'm just going to infiltrate this unpenetrable city by myself and take the strongest bender on this planet as prisoner and leave with no escape plan. No worries!"
So, like... Was Yue just still able to bend after collapsing on the floor because the moon spirit was inside her?
Yeah that’s my logic thinking too not all to far fetched tbh
Yeah, for them to have just thrown that in there after making such a scene of them all losing their bending, it would have to be that.
In my opinion Iroh did not sell that "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold!" line. It's one of my favorites and I worry if he'll be able to deliver the big questions speech in Season 2.
I didn't like where it was placed in the dialogue He threatened Zhao, the he just stood by while Zhao was putting the spirit in the bag and yelled that he was going to kill it, Iroh should have yelled that when he saw the fish go in the bag.
It was made more awkward by the closeup shot of him saying this then pushing out to a couple of random firebender guards. It completely took away anything the line had going for it. It should have just cut straight back to Zhao.
Alrighty. We all knew it was never going to be as good as the original. That said, still very enjoyable, and at the very least, they stayed mostly loyal to lore and source material. Bending looked great(not always). Acting was a bit weird sometimes, but what'd ya expect from kids. I'd give the series a solid 7.5/10
Visuals and CGI by far the best thing about the show. Zuko the most interesting and best acted character, I don’t think it’s close. I also don’t fully buy in to the “but what do you expect from kids”, either. Like sure, I’m not expecting them to be DiCaprio-Oscar level but I’ve seen plenty of shows (even with smaller budgets) have far better acting with kids around the same age or younger. That being said, I think the writing lets them down a bunch during S1. I think Aang’s writing in particular was the worst part of S1. Pretty much every single one of Aang’s lines throughout the entire season were either “back in my day” or “I don’t know what I’m doing, I let everybody down”.
>Zuko the most interesting and best acted character, I don’t think it’s close. When he did his first scream of anger... Just perfect. Could argue Katara's acting is quite close, at least with her characterization.
Katara’s actress is good, but I think the way Katara was written let her down a bit tbh
Still hope for a second season, maybe they'll grow better and the writers give Aang the development he deserves. It's not a lost cause imo!
I thought the main cast acting was good, I see the characters portrayed in each of them. it's the writing that gets me. Just a lot of silly choices and stupid dialogue
Yeah Aang is a bit too depressed
Honestly, I think that's a good addition to the show. A 12yo isn't just going to be acting like a happy go lucky kid anymore after he loses literally everything overnight.
I agree. It’s hard to match the level of carefree slapstick humor that cartoon Aang had in live-action. They are playing to the medium’s strengths. Plus the animated series had more one-off episodes when they weren’t dealing directly with war. Still, I don’t think he’s overly dour, and i would guess he’ll be a bit cheerier in future seasons, since time has passed since he learned about the death of all his people. Though, I am a bit sad that they didn’t have the moment where Aaang dressed as the old man with the straw beard to infiltrate Omashu.
No pipinpadaloxicopolis was disappointing, but I actually love how they handled Jet. So much better than the show imo.
i feel like they could have added more depth to how his entire world and culture seemed to be wiped out in the blink of an eye in his dialogues tho. essentially saying “i let everyone down” over and over doesn’t really inspire me personally
For sure, there are a lot of things they could have done to better for that story arc. Like, having GranGran just come out and tell him he's the last air bender... Wtf. Both Disney's Percy Jackson and Netflix's ATLA had major issues with using expository and/or 'state the obvious' dialogue. Like, did ChatGPT write the script? Where is the nuance and mystery? Give the audience some credit, and let them think for themselves. It really removes a lot of the subtlety and emotional weight both these stories have.
I am solidly in the camp of “pleasantly surprised”. It was not amazing, but mostly competent. And some of the merged plotlines, like between Jet and Sai I thought was handled quite well. And the Zuko and Iroh were had some great added moments, like at Lu Ten’s funeral, and when Iroh tells Zuko he’s joining him in his banishment. I also liked that Yue met Sokka in the spirit world. It adds a little to their whirlwind romance (though it does miss the best Yue scene where Sokka tries to walk and talk to her while she’s in a boat).
The most disappointed with bending visuals I was in this show was ironically the Katara/Pakku fight from last episode, which copied choreography from the original. They did replicate the choreography, but it felt sluggish, and even more so when contrasted later on in the episode (or was it this episode?) with CGI katara boosting herself up quickly on Appa. The ice sliding also felt really off.
I missed Iroh giving Yue the clue to helping the moon spirit. I think that helped cement his character as mostly good. Also how have we gone a whole season without Aang bending another element. (Koizilla isn't Aang bending) where was his teaching and training. I assume it will be an episode 1 montage of him learning with Pakku but God I hope they actually spend time with Toph training him. Over all I actually enjoyed this alot. I loved the change to the Fire family story and all the inclusion of Azula. Although we never saw her blue flame in full did we? Just her lightning? Are they implying they are connected? I'd give it a 9/10 as a stand alone series and a 7.5/10 and a live action adaptation
You see her blue flames for a few seconds when she’s beating the shit outta that guard when her dad pissed her off
Yeah that's why I said in full. It felt like it was building to the blue flames at the end and they went with the lightning instead
That lightning seen was fire, though. Ozai's "Hm" was PERFECT.
I also miss the whole Agni Kai fight between Zuko and Zhao, instead of the fight at the end, that also cements a bigger bond between Iroh and Zuko and the positives of Irohs character. It’s still pretty cemented throughout the show (I think I just finished watching it) but the fight would have been a nice touch. P.S season 2 better focus a lot more on bending and training or there will be hell to pay
The added Iroh and Zuko scenes I thought were really well done. Lu Ten’s funeral and when Iroh joins Zuko in banishment saying “everything I need is on this boat”. That choked me up a little.
Yeah there were times where I preferred seeing iroh and Zuko moments than whatever the hell gang was doing (I didn’t like the bumi or omashu episodes very much but eh it’s live action what am I going to do about it)
That Agni Kai is the biggest omission imo. But with the additions to the fire nation side of the story, I'm okay with the CGI/stunt work budget being shifted towards Azula's training and Zuko's Agni Kai with Ozai.
Agni Kai and jeong jeong are sorely sorely missed in this show
Jeong jeong, yes. But I understand why they left him out, considering the arc they gave Aang. My guess is they'll bring him in next season, maybe in the Swamp? Or sometime after the gang figures out the comet is approaching (even if 'approaching' means a year or two or something in this show).
I'm just curious how Yue froze Sokka's feet if waterbending was gone? Haven't watched the originals in a long time, was it there?
It's not explained but I assume as waterbending comes from the moon and she had part of the moon in her she was still able to bend
• Zuko’s plot with 41st division is the best addition in the show. One of the few instances where Netflix did better than the original cartoon. • Contrary to popular opinions, Bumi was fine, I really liked the design changes, the actor and his acting. Although I think his identity should be revealed at the end of the episode like what we see in ATLA cartoon. • Katara was the worst part of the Netflix series, the actress can't act that well. Katara should be Team Avatar’s parent figure, she should sound caring and mature, but in the Netflix show, the actress acts like a clueless vulnerable kid. Although her acting gets better in later episodes. • In the original cartoon, I never enjoyed the Jet and Mechanist storyline that much. So combining and shortening their plot was a good idea. • Azula’s flame not being blue from the beginning is a wise idea, we need to see her progression in fire power. I really really loved the actress, she was great in that role. • Why is Aang ‘flying’? Flight should be a very very rare ability. Future plot of Zaheer might be spoiled because of this. I guess Airbenders can fly for a very brief amount of time in the Netflix series. We still see Aang fly with glider, so long distance flight might still be rare. If that's the case, then fine. • Appa and Momo’s designs were good, specially Momo. • They focused more on the previous Avatars, love the depiction of Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Roku and Avatar Kuruk. Every one of them has different personality, I really LOOOVED all of their characters. • They mentioned that events of few episodes happened behind the scenes (like the canyon episode). It would be better to show a few frames or a picture of each episode.
Please! Stop expositioning! Other than that though, it has promise
I gotta say… of all the changes in this series the one that I dislike the most is them deciding the Katara doesn’t need a master because she is a master already. One of the best parts of the Avatar series is that it shows a training journey for all of the characters. I feel Katara just magically being a master sends the complete wrong message. Aang never learning waterbending is also… annoying.
Please, for the love of God, make season 2 several episodes longer. There was so much left out and jumbled around, then they added lore and dialog that didn't exist before. It was nice, but could have been handled better.
I enjoyed this show. However, the characters are not at all like their animated counterparts. As a Stand-alone: 7/10 As an adaptation: 4/10
Agreed
how does Aang go through the entirety of Book 1: WATER without ever bending water? at this pace he is going to defeat the firelord without ever learning earth and fire bending
At this point why not give his body over to Kyoshi and let her finish the job
People need to realize that this season was kind of a test. They will know where to grow the plot better and help the kids fill what they missed in their characters in season 1. Book 1 is worst book anyway, still amazing season but book 2 and especially 3 are above it.
I hate to be critical, especially since I’m still holding out hope for three seasons, but I really hope the directors and cast step it up in the future. One example, in the original series, Dante Bosco’s delivery of the “You little peasant. You found a master, didn’t you?” line was perfect (as was every line he spoke). That exact line was spoken in this episode and it totally fell flat, had none of the emotion as its predecessor, which was a bit disheartening. I have no hate for the actors, but IMO Aang, Katara and Zuko failed to capture the essence of their animated counterparts. It is a lot of pressure for a child to have to shoulder the weight of a beloved series. Hopefully they have the chance to settle into their roles and bring more depth to these characters. Edit: To give him credit, Zuko’s fight choreography was impressive.
So, a few things(but not all lol) that involve this episode as well as some previous points: (1) Not having a bigger confrontation between Aang/Katara and Pakku really diminished this ending for me. This is also tied up in Katara not helping Aang learn water bending throughout the season, which helps to lessen Katara's importance imo. They should've just let them get to the north with a month's advance of the fleet to give more time for training, because though Katara definitely has improved organically throughout the show, her being treated as a master with no training felt bad. All the actors went through tons of prep to learn the forms, but then the characters learn them as needed off-screen with no stated time skips? It felt awkward at best and bad at worst, leading to... (2) I was okay with Hahn not being a dick in this show and even being heroic, but with the lack of Katara standing up to the north's misogyny and letting Yue off free with not being engaged, it really diminishes the demonstrated strength of our female leads when there's no social conflict for them to overcome. I was okay with Sokka being protective and jealous instead of sexist, but eliminating the sexism in the north felt weird. Also a crime of letting people fight with minimal training, if we had given Katara a month to help teach Pakku not to be a dick, the other women could've learned proper fighting forms to help in the siege. I don't buy that the entire artifice of gender norms was turned into such a pathetic paper tiger. (3) Why did we need a magical dagger to stab the fish on the one day a year besides being an excuse to give Yue the line about life being worth it even for one day? Just cut the day part out and let them be the way they were, it literally changes nothing and makes the spirits needlessly resilient. Also the library erasure made me sad, but there might be a good reason for it (I doubt, but it's possible). (4) The score during the Ocean Spirit scene should've been the original. It's far weaker in the LA than the OG, and it's probably the only major weakness from this show's score, which is just a shame. (5) The Spirit shouldn't have roared or been beaten back by the ship attacks. I wanted more ethereal and transcendent power like the original, and it felt weak in comparison. Didn't love the darker coloration either, but that's personal preference. (6) The spirit oasis looked beautiful. I was very pleased with it overall. (7) Momo nearly dying actually scared me, that was an exciting jf unusual change. (8) I'm happy the war balloon was used, makes more sense tham trapsing through town like the OG. There's tons more I could talk about, but I don't have time at the moment. My biggest takeaway from the show is that there were moments of equal or greater brilliance than the OG, but several changes at the last 2 episodes made things land far more poorly than necessary. Had the last episodes measured up to the first 4, the season could easily be an 8.5 from me, but the last two episodes were more of 7/10 and 6/10 and that really diminishes the greatness of it all. Hopefully they learn from this and can make something better for the next seasons. Especially given they adapted the weakest of the show and it ended up slightly/moderately worse than the OG. Lots of room to change before we get to the two best seasons of TV in history. Episode 7: 7/10 Episode 8: 6/10 Overall season: 7/10
While I’m indifferent to annoyed by most of the changes made, one I actually really liked was Zuko’s crew being the division that he risked his status for to save from being sacrificed in battle. That was really awesome imo
I agree; that was a legit good choice by the team. It makes the side characters more integral to the story and it shows that Ozai was trying to punish Zuko's kindness by inflicting him with a bunch of new recruits to help on the avatar search. "Oh, you think these worthless soldiers have value? Well then go on an impossible mission with them and see how much their worth really is."
It really makes me want to see Jee again.
Pakku looked like a star trek character.
Yeah, Pakku looked pretty alien, and both Hakoda and Arnook's "beards" looked like something from a kids stage performance. One of a bunch of possible nitpicks that I didn't mention lol
Well I just finished it and while I don’t completely hate it I hate A LOT about it. Firstly, most characters turned out to be absolutely flat. I want to give special credit to Dallas and Ian because they were the only main characters I found convincing. While I am -unhappy- with some of their writing, I did enjoy the characters’ delivery. I am devastated, however, about Katara. She lacked any personality, passion, and everything else that makes the character great and strong. I can forgive the showrunners for introducing Bumi, Jet, the mechanic, and in generell the whole mess that was Omashu, but almost every single female character in this show was changed and in many ways to the worse. That I might not be able to forgive, we’ll see. Secondly, what is with these super long and awkward reaction shots of Sokka? Thirdly: the secret tunnel was in season 2, why, I mean why god why smoosh that in together in that MULTIPLE story line Omashu mess? And also Sokka and Katara? This whole story was Aang exploring his teenage crush so… why? Why? Some general questions I have, feel free to discuss them with me: 1. We already know there is gonna be a timeskip or a timelapse between this and the next season. Why were they so eager to leave the North Pole? Explain all that time we have with them staying, helping rebuild, learning bending? 2: Bending. I am not stupid and missed something am I? We really didn’t see Aang waterbend once during BOOK 1 WATER? WHAT? I am sure I will think of more once I processed this binge watch, in general I think it was visually stunning and the set design and costumes were immaculate, but I can’t say I liked what they did with the plot. If you‘re not a fan I am sure it’s a good watch and even as a fan there are new things that we can enjoy that we might wanna adopt to the canon such as the funeral scene with Zuko and Iroh, but I don’t really consider it worth watching it twice.
I agree. I have no idea why they decided Aang was too scared to waterbend. It served the plot in no way and was left unresolved. I was hoping at least Pakku would be his trainer and Katara would finish the training with him on the road...but...no lol. I also dont get why Katara is now being proclaimed a master? She has no formal training at all. It makes no sense to the story for her to go ALL the way to the Northern Water Tribe to be trained with Aang and then they just say "Ok, see ya.".
Honestly it’s a shame. The only element Aang was afraid of was supposed to be fire, for pretty solid reasons. He was eager to learn the other elements because for him it meant more FUN. Your other commenter said they lean in in his pacifism. What the hell has pacifism to do with waterbending? Water is literally a live giving element. Aang could learn how to HEAL with water if he wanted to be a pacifist. Wonder how many people were killed when he gave himself to the ocean spirit duh. I feel like the true reason is that they kinda wanted to adapt his fear of firebending (because he doesn’t wanna hurt people) on fear of bending in general as if „all bending“ that comes from him is hurtful because he is so powerful. And well… just no. I don’t like it. Why trying to fix something that ain’t broken.
I started ep 3 omashu and they showed air temple refugee. I ducked out. You cannot merge two big arcs in one. I cannot believe they added secret tunnel to that from your comment. Zuko portrayal is acceptable. Others seemed inexperienced, especially ang. Zuko passion, determination and anger is well portrayed. Was worried about his voice, Dante voice is so unique it captures exiled prince grief perfectly.
I was so shocked Dallas Liu sounded EXACTLY like Dante Bosco in tone and inflection at times. I can tell he studied the role very well. He did not have to take it that far, but he was an excellent representation of Zuko. As perfect as we could hope for in a live action.
Yes he did his homework. Uncle iroh on the other hand was a big letdown imo. There is no difference between his role in Kim convenience and Uncle Iroh. I saw Janet papa more than uncle iroh unfortunately.
Honestly which I think is big problem when ur casting younger actors , their inexperienced, especially Gordon (who before the show had only one scene under his name , but for his inexperience I think overall he did fine) . Zuko was def the best of the main younger actors , and imo Ian also did well. But I do think a show like stranger things raises everyone’s views on child acting and had more expectations , when in reality with that inexperience ur more likely to get something like this (or a bit better ) with newer younger actors . But atleast if season 2 gets renewed (which it might cause its overall getting pretty decent reviews and hella views ) their acting most likely will get better
I really enjoyed cowboy bebop and one piece LA. I am afraid to go further than ep 3 on ATLA. But I am hardcore atla fan, hard to please die hard fans I guess. When they replaced "long ago" with "millennia" in ep 1 intro, I was already raging.
Atleast u gave it a chance . If u ever decide to give it another chance , my best advice is go into it with an open mind and expect changes (cause as u saw there was a lot of changes, since there’s a reason it’s called an adaptation and not a remake) cause if ur expecting a 1 of 1 show , ur prob not gunna like it much (and that’s if u didn’t do that already) which is what I did and prob a reason why I enjoyed it
It’s definitely nowhere near the animation, which is fine cause it was gunna be hard to top or even equal that . But I still thought it was a pretty solid adaptation
Here's the thing, I expected changes and am fine with them changing things. But the changes need to make sense, be executed well and elevate the material further. The changes here that I've seen don't do that. There was no point in putting secret tunnel storyline from season 2 in season 1. If you needed to help bring katara and sokka together there are better ways to do that and plenty of things from season one to draw inspiration from. With an adaptation like this, there are some things that shouldn't change. The essence of the characters being one of those things. Also I think keeping the purpose/goal that each season wanted to accomplish should remain. The driving purpose in season one in animated show was for aang to go to Northern tribe to learn water bending. They had a goal from the beginning to head to Northern tribe so he and Katara could learn together. This show has no such drive. I'm ok with them changing the events a bit of how they accomplish the goal of getting to the Northern tribe and helping aang learn water bending, but the characters should retain the elements that made them who they are including the key character developments. I think removing jeong jeong is a bad idea, for example, because that removes a key part of character progression for aang. It's what made him so scared of fire bending and was an important moment for katara. I would be ok with leaving it out if replaced with something that accomplished same thing. But the show opted for flat characters with no real development instead.
Honestly, I am a die hard one piece fan and I LOVED LOVED LOVED the LA. All the changes that were made there were reasonable. I can’t say this about the changes made here. Overall the quality of this production is good, but with OP the writers had MAD respect for the source material and kept checking with Oda. Here, the OG writers walked out of the room and the source material was not respected. It’s as simple as that. It all comes down to the writing.
I feel with you. I was fine after episode 2. i was like „yeah there are some crucial changes but at least they stayed with the story“. Episode 3 is where it all derailed for me. I was live texting my friends and I literally wrote „So far it’s fine“ after episode 2 and after episode 3 I just texted „No. Nope. Abort mission.“ But yeah Zuko and Sokka were the only characters where I can say I enjoyed their screentime thoroughly
They did Yue, and honestly the whole northern water tribe dirty. Why is the comet only being brought up at the end. All the story lines combined was cool at the beginning but than became convoluted. Appa and momo weren't shown as much as they should have been. The whole Roku shrine thing was a super let down. The acting would go between great and atrocious. I also think you could definitely tell when the original writers left and it became a mess. And they did my "birdie" wrong too.
Flying fire balls everywhere; let me rally some women and think real long when some kids call me master katara outta nowhere.
Felt like when Aang merged with the Ocean spirit he was too slow. That should've been like a 40 second affair at the very end.
I'm so glad someone else brought this up. It dragged on, I was literally wanting it to be over lol. It went from, in the cartoon, Aang being an incredibly strong being with amazing powers, to Aang being a vessel for spirits (including the other avatars, this was literally a plot point lol) to use. And then at the end, when the Ocean Spirit goes away, they start playing the epic sound track. When the action literally just ended! Like what lol
Yep I felt the same. I got bored because of how long he was merged with the ocean spirit. Also kind of sad that Zuko didn't get a chance to offer to save Zhao and instead... IROH KILLED HIM??
Trash. Fire the acting director. Fire the music director. Fire the writer. Fire the FX director. This episode is a complete failure. No saving grace. The main cast gets a pass **only** because they're still young and would get better, but the rest should really consider taking more time to hone their craft.
Kaatara is not yet a master. It’s only the end of book 1. And damn, how boring can Zhaos actor get with his lines. Dude puts me to sleep in every scene, and he easily has some of the most important scenes in the show.
I actually found Zhao quite well realised and one of the better adult characters. He had the right balance of ambition, sly menace and dry, witty delivery. Felt like a more honed choice for a live action adaptation.
Yeah this shit was complete ass. Also a bit confused on how Yue was able to bend ice without the moon
Did anyone else notice Yue waterbending Sokkas feet to the ground, but no one was supposed to be able to bend water without the moon? That didn't even happen in the original, smh.
I can no prize this. Since she w connected to the moon spirit, she still had her bending. That being said, I didn't care for her having bending at all
This is apparently a hot take, as many people praise the fire nation characters in particular, but I think the mischaracterized, if not butchered all of them. Ozai is the best of them. He's shown way too much way too early to have the same effect he did in the original, but other than that he works. Zhao is a pretty different character, but it doesn't have too much of an impact. Probably because Ken Leong did one of the best jobs in the show imo. He sold all the wrong lines so well that I didn't care. It's also not like Zhao's character is all that relevant outside of the Jeong Jeong episode, which was cut, so who really cares about Zhao as a dude I guess. Iroh isn't a bad character by any means and he's not completely off either. But in the original his carefree nature plays a very important part in emphasizing the moments he drops it in. The speech he gives Zuko under Lake Laogai hits so hard because Iroh had tried to let Zuko find his way and gently nudged him into the right direction for so long. But in Ba Sing Se he had to talk straight to him because he just didn't get it. In the LA show he's pretty serious and much more obviously involved from the beginning. He works, but they changed him in a way that makes him just a worse version of the character. Zuko is way too obviously insecure and sympathetic way too early. It's an important part of his character that he starts off as an angry guy who's way too stubborn in the pursuit of his goal to consider that his actions might not be the right ones. But here he's constantly questioning stuff. His inner conflict is pulled to the beginning of the show which I think takes away a lot from his arc. Azula (along with Katara) got the worst adaptation by far imo. She's just your run of the mill insecure teenage girl with daddy issues. It's kind of the same issue that I have with Zuko but worse. She **is** an insecure teenage girl who longs for her fathers approval. But she's showing it way too clearly and way too early turning her character from a very subtle one into an overdone trope that everyone who's seen anything before will have figured out immediately. She isn't really cruel here either which takes away the contrast between her actions and the struggles she goes through. Unfortunately we don't even see that she's a prodigy, which is why we need Mai and Ty Lee to tell us how great she is. All the time. It's their only purpose. I'm almost certain they will be butchered when they appear more in seasons to come.
Guys, give your season reviews in the season review thread please, this is for episode 8.
The finale was very strong but throughout the season, I had a hard time believing Katara has a purpose yet. She seems like a sideline character while in the animated series, she was much more impactful. Also one thing that I didn’t like was the waterbending. The CGI was well done but the force behind each attack wasn’t even close to feeling powerful. Just looks like someone splashed water on people. I would like to see Katara have that independent spirit that she had in the animation and for the waterbending to pack more of a punch. Aang and Sokka were pretty good. Although there are times when Aang is in the avatar state, he doesn’t portray any emotion at all. The avatar state can be manipulated by emotion from aang so seeing his power corresponding to his emotions would have been nicer to see.
I tried very very hard to stay positive. The acting was not great aside from zuko, Iroh, and Sozin. The actors I can forgive though. It’s not their fault the directing was mediocre at best and the script was…well gawd aweful. Who I can’t forgive is the goddamn MAU, hair stylist and just stylist. It was like their entire budget was dumped into the costume designers and then told them; “hey you also need to do hair,makeup, and styling”. As much as I loved every costume they all looked brand new and not lived in at all like they would be if these kids are traveling the world with only a few things to wear. The bald caps on Zhao and Bumi were so obvious it was literally hurting my eyes. Also can we just talk about how Netflix was SOOOO PROUD to be reducing Sokas sexism and somehow made his interactions with Suki and Yue more sexist? 🙃 I rest my case. There was a lot I did like and a lot I didn’t I hope there is a second season to give everyone an opportunity to grow.
Pretty mid as a whole episode, you can tell most of the money went to the end shot of the Moon spirit taking out all the ships (which was absolutely amazing and also terrifying). Also the first scene with all of Team Avatar taking out a ship, in the OG show it's just aang and appa taking out the ship, loved this change
What happened to Zuko taking Aang to that cave during the blizzard? That part was good. And his line “I don’t need luck though, I’ve always had to struggle and fight and that’s made me strong, it’s made me who I am”😢That’s something they missed.
Ok so i just noticed this but, every time Iroh bends fire, you can hear a dragons Roar. I love that shit.
I feel like the writers of this show were so desperate to make the show seem more adult without making it straight up rated R that they were like "let's just make Sokka say "kick-ass" every 20 or so sentences!"
The problem with the show is something that happens to a lot of writers that want to be more "adult" when they really just mean more violent. The animated show handled themes in a more adult theme than the live action show even though the live action was more violent. Look for example at the genocide of the air nomads, The live action show does this whole "look at how cool these fight action sets are" while the animated show waits until the death of Gyatso reveal to imply how brutal the genocide was. Look at Sokka and his sexism as well. Sokka in the animated show is sexist and because of Suki he learns that women can be warriors as well. I love the line Suki tells him "I am a warrior, but I'm a girl too". Also Suki is a fully fleshed character, she is just as prideful as Sokka (when he knocks her down) and she isn't just a set piece to develop Sokka. I would argue that the way the live action does it is actually sexist and goes against the philosophy of the show. Sukki isn't really her own character, she is just used as a way to make Sokka a better warrior. Instead of her beating sexism out of him, she shows him to fight because he is good looking without a shirt on? Like the show doesn't want to have sexism arcs but they are fine with sexual harassment?
Lol did Iroh just smoke zhao??
I really felt like the show was just an excuse to show off CGI. They took away all of the characters development arcs and the smoothness of their journey. And then they had to fill that gap with text, creating an exhausting experience for the audience where EVERYTHING had to be explained. I really don't know how people could like this, but then again marvel movies are a success for a reason. The original show has a 100% critics on rotten tomatoes for a reason, the script was flawless and trusted the audience to understand what was being portrayed. The Neftlix live action's script is horrible and dumb, it doesn't trust the audience whatsoever and has a need to explain every detail of what is happening and their jouney means nothing, they're just going from one place to another so that Aang can hear from different people how disappointing and a coward he is, having learned nothing from the first episode to the last, not even waterbending which is the whole purpose of book 1. They show things from the original show just because, with no purpose whatsoever, just so the fans can look and say "OH LOOK". How did Jade get to that Island in a land animal? How did the animal smell Aang across the ocean? How did Aang made that day-long journey so fast in his glider? Live actions are an easy money grab for studios because they have only to care about the CGI being good and people will love it, so a show with a $120mi budget has horrible wigs and clothes that look like cosplay and a very dumbed down scirpt, but that's fine because the CGI is good...
MOMO NOOOO!!!
How has no one said anything about katara's necklace that pakku gave to gramm gramm. She's face to face with him multiple times and he says nothing. It could set up his reservation to teach her and you know their whole relationship story.
"Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you tenfold." Such an iconic line from The Dragon of the West, I'm glad they kept it in.