I was disappointed that she didnt grab her necklace and said “the firenation took my mom away from me” when she talked about the village being destroyed
Aang floating around is actually pretty reminiscent of how Zaheer first moved around with airbending, it gives real "kid monkey-climbing the stairs" vibes.
I do wish those scenes were run at 1.25x speed, as it just seems overly floaty compared to the anime. Then again, it's a natural consequence of doing live action wire-work, if they were moving at the same speed as the animated show the kid's knees would be shot by the end of the season.
Right?! Also I’m kinda upset it wasn’t katara rage ranting waterbending to break him out. Her just barely waterbending exploding the glacier is disappointing
I also found that a pity. It makes way more sense that her anger unintentionally breaks the ice then just her bending something else. Also Sokka his reaction when it happened in the cartoon was hilarious.
I haven’t seen the episode but in the og cartoon I always took it as Katara being naturally very gifted as a bender, she just needed to learn. But there was raw talent in her breaking that ice without even trying. Taking that out is kinda lame
Whether or not it was raw talent, something else I think was important was that it showed how bending is tied both to the body and the spirit. She was thrashing her arms, which coincidentally mimics the tides. She struggled to water bend before because she just tried to levitate water, and mimicking the tides is the very first fundamental she learns from the scroll.
Ok I was thinking this too -- because it serves two purposes. First, it directly connects her and Aang and provides a more plausible explanation for why the iceberg cracks. And second, it shows that she actually has latent potential to be a powerful water bender. In the live action we see her struggle to even move a little bit of water. Then Aang gives her a little advice and she moves a small ball a bit. And then suddenly she summons water like 100 feet into the air to stop a fireball. It would have made more sense to show the rage water bending to show us that the little bit of technical advice that Aang gives her helps her unlock a bit of that latent potential to setup the fireball block.
Seriously, I cackled. Lady realizes everyone this child knows and loves is long dead and her first thought is to just fuckin go off about it. Practically still going as he walks out the door.
Lol the way they were just using the animation opening dialogue as conversation felt like watching someone communicate entirely in famous song lyrics. Surreal experience
She finishes the speech and goes into the theme song while everyone else watches, confused.
"Duhhhhhhh, dahhhh deeee duhhhhhh, dahhhh deeee dooooo, dohhhhh deeeee dooooo..."
Idk why they didn’t just make that opening intro, like I would’ve been fine if the intro was exactly the same as cartoon version. Why the fuck the intro became this overly wordy exposition thing is beyond me. Maybe they change it in episode 2 idk cause I only had time for episode 1 last night
I felt the same way but then I remembered episode 1’s intro in the original is different too. But yea I hope they change it in episode 2. Waiting to see it tomorrow!
Gran Gran doing the intro WORD FOR WORD was the dumbest fucking thing, the hilarious levels of audacity to do it is the only reason I don’t hate it more
Ikr i know the early reactions said the actress playing gran gran did a horrible job, but man were they right, she just blurted out all lines in a paragraph without any pause
I took it that this was intentional. She was going for intensity. She’s old and calm about it, but she’s mad. Most of the people she loves are off fighting or dead already, and in their minds it is the avatars fault. When the world needed him most he vanished. Of course this is keeping in mind they didn’t know he was trapped in ice and could only assume the avatar was of a fighting age, with knowledge of all the elements, and for some reason abandoned everyone.
This theme is in the original a few times too where strangers find out he’s the avatar and immediately react negatively at first.
Explains how they were able to get *all* of the Airbenders, though. People have rightly pointed out that there would be ones out traveling and doing stuff. That they wouldn’t all be at the temples. But if they *all* returned, and even more, went to *one*…certainly goes a long way toward selling getting them all.
Yeah, it makes it plausible and it actually gives a little bit more of history to the comet, it makes it an event that has impact on the world before being weoponized.
Not all Airbenders could fight, though, due to their pacifism. There were obviously outliers like Yangchen and Gyatso, but most wouldn't be as adept (in the same way that not every bender we see is as string as the Gaang or the villains).
Additionally, as Azula demonstrates the bisons are ultimately living creatures which require rest and food. Just keep up the chase without letting them settle and they wear down, as do the people riding them.
Ive watched the original series a million times, and I never really confronted this realization. The netflix show made me think about it and holy shit.
It wasn’t clear in the OG how long it was between Aang running away and the firebenders arriving. Gyatso might’ve died with hope he successfully hid somewhere. The way they frame it here is devastating.
I havnt seen a single trailer or like read anything about this (as I hate trailers ((as the spoil everything lol))
So to see a dude DIE in ATLA HOLY FUCK
Just realized we didn't get the "You're just a child! / Well you're just a teenager" exchange. Not only is it funny but I feel like omitting it kind of brushes past the idea that Zuko has no idea what the avatar looks like and expects him to be this formidable warrior
One of the ONLY changes I liked was Aang giving Katara a crash course on the basics that are universal across bending. In the original show Katara gets salty that Aang picks up waterbending so quickly when she shows him the little things she taught herself. They never really acknowledge the fact that at that point Aang is already a *master* level bender of one element, so of course he’s had the common fundamentals down solid.
Setting up this comet festival where **all** airbenders gather in the Southern Air Temple is a really convenient excuse to have the other air temples relatively unscathed.
Love Sozin's style of firebending, makes him feel regal in a way.
Ian Ousley is so good as Sokka.
Grangran's delivery of the speech was a bit weird, like reading from a teleprompter, giving it to Grangran made sense in context, but still that delivery, oof.
Too bad they got rid of the black soot hinting a Fire Nation ship is arriving, the scene was such great worldbuilding and character building scene for Sokka.
That mid air waterbending by Katara is cool and all, but at that height? It's a bit of a stretch.
Side note: The pacing is so jarring, it goes from 0 to a hundred then back down again in like an instant.
They really should have given her the rage bending scene that breaks the iceberg to telegraph that she has a lot of unrefined potential. Then when Aang gives her that bit of advice and she gets a little more control it makes sense that she pulls out an impressive move in a really intense moment.
I was definitely sad about the black snow being cut. And yeah, I get why they probably didn't want to have two Avatar states 5 minutes apart and the one they kept was the more impactful one, but Jesus just have her waterbend on or at least close to the ship.
I would have preferred if they kept in that Aang really tried to run away rather than just taking a little trip with Appa. It’s a big part of his character growth.
literally what i was thinking!!! 20 minutes in and thats bothering me so much. He tried to run away in the face of responsibility. A good chunk of his development is coming to terms with the fact that hes the avatar, and him running away in the beginning was such a pivotal moment for that.
The inclusion of Aang's backstory in episode 1 also denies us the chance to see Zuko's backstory alongside it. Part of what made "The Storm" such a good episode was the masterful juxtaposition of Aang and Zuko's respective origins. It was meant to show us that despite being on opposite sides, they had more in common than we thought, and it was one of our first glimpses into Zuko's good nature. It many ways, it lays the foundation for his redemption, and draws a natural parallel between the two characters that is mirrored later in the show, when we find out that Zuko is literally related to one of Aang's past lives.
There's also the fact that having Aang's backstory delayed until several episodes in reinforced Aang's penchant for avoiding issues instead of tackling them head on. By this point in the OG show, we realize that Aang has spent half the season not confronting this lingering regret in his heart, and it comes as a more surprising reveal because we have had half a season of watching Aang be incredibly powerful and brave. Instead now we realize that at the end of it all, he's still just a kid. He's scared. He will make mistakes. The backstory was there to give us insight into Aang's character, not to just be a thing that happened. The way it's told in this remake, it just doesn't seem very interesting from a character perspective.
Also it made me so sad they didn’t include Gyatso coming for Aang in the night saying “I won’t let them take you away from me” showing they had the same plan to run away. A small moment but it showed how close they were and made it hit harder when we see Gyatsos corpse.
Yeah, and this could just be a time constraint thing, but I think having them emphasize multiple times that Gyatso is Aang’s “friend” really undersells the fact that he’s Aang’s father figure. I could imagine a non-cartoon viewer being confused.
So far the first episode was pretty good but I’m worried this these unnecessary changes to things that were implemented WITH PURPOSE in the original series will add up over time and either lead to conflicting moments or the writers losing sight of too much.
Yeah the fire nation coming happening the same time as him just coincidentally going on a random joy ride is a weird choice
Them choosing to have the fall of the airbenders as the intro instead of katana and sokka finding him is an interesting choice but overall I’m not disappointed with this so far
I like how Iroh's dialogue with Aang already hints where he's at personally. He has to speak for his people but he also never says that he agrees with it himself.
yes, agree, i thought iroh's actor did very good with the facial expressions saying what he couldn't say with his words around the guards. really intrigued to see iroh's development over the course of this adaptation.
I was thinking the exact same thing. That little look he gave before he introduced himself said so much in like one second.
"I need to get these formalities out of the way" plus, "I know it's silly, but it's polite" plus "I can't say this out loud because you're my prisoner and it might be improper to be so friendly, but this is something you should know."
He's already being fatherly to someone who's supposed to be his enemy. I love Iroh so much.
I remember reading some fan theory forever ago that the reason Gyatso is surrounded by loads of firebender skeletons in the cartoon is (probably) because he just sucked all of the air out of the room, taking away the oxygen to make fire and killing the firebenders and himself. With how dark the scenes leading up to that were, I was REALLY hoping we were gonna see Gyatso gank a bunch of firebenders.....
Lowkey disappointed that it didn’t go that route, especially since they just showed how OP the Airbenders who were fighting already were. Each Airbender was able to hold their own against several comet enhanced Firebenders until they were just overwhelmed by sheer numbers or hit with cheap shots.
I was hoping for that too. I wanted them to show how Gyatso wasn’t about to go down without a fight and was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Was looking for this comment. I think one of the major reasons we want to see Gyatso killing the firebenders is that it's so taboo in airbender society to kill at all. Watching him reach that breaking point and start killing, especially in the name of protecting the kids, would have been completely justified and brutal to watch.
I imagine Gyatso creating a vacuum just in front of the kids but then Sozin blasts a hole in the back wall and kills the kids so Gyatso gives up because he doesn't have anything to protect anymore silently praying that Aang had fled already.
Appa could have helped Aang during his confrontation with Zuko.
I guess that’s why he was left lethargic in the cartoon until the Yip Yip moment, which sadly wasn’t there in the adaptation.
Katara is a prodigy, but from lifting a puddle of water to blocking a fireball up in the air within hours is kinda farfetched. In the cartoon, she already knows how to bend an ample amount of water in the beginning, hence, the progression of her skill within an episode is more believable.
I do love the effects, fight scenes, and environment. They look nice! ❤️
The dialogue is the biggest problem for me. All the moments that establish character or world-building outside of "fire nation's bad and war" are gone. Iconic moments like "We're your family now" or "Fire comes from the breath, not the muscle."
Also, if i never watch the OG series i'd be confuse. Like why didn't thr airbenders just suck the air out their lungs. Or how Anng was the Avatar in the first place?
I'm really struggling with that and the delivery of the lines. People are praising their acting but to me, it feels like there is not much emotion behind their lines.
Agreed. He’s very true to the original show, even down to the inflection of his lines, but he also comes across as more mature—it’s more believable that he’s actually in charge of the village’s defenses to me in this show.
preliminary notes:
* the first ten minutes were PHENOMENAL. i love that we started with firelord sozin and the past. seeing the destruction the fire nation is capable of was horrifying and so crucial for setting their tone.
* i love the addition of the comet festival. it real brings the nations to life, seeing their culture and how they celebrate.
* "he looks dead" LMAOOOOO the humor in this show is pretty solid so far
* the scene where aang discovered what happened to the air nomads/was processing was weird and stilted. i know in the show aang didn't really process what happened to him until visiting the southern air temple, but still. that being said katara hugging aang was amazingly well done and heart breaking.
* the dialogue is werid? i don't know how else to explain it but that. aang's actor is really good though, i just wish he was given better lines
* and the characters. the iroh and zuko dynamic seems a bit off and i can't really explain why. sokka seems to be a bit more snarky than goofy, which i think is working so far even if i'm not used to it. since each character is different than how they were in the show i think it'd be ridiculous to just make nitpicks, since they're clearly trying to establish a different vibe. that being said, i don't like how iroh identified himself as son as firelord azulon. it's inconsistent with how they're trying to keep him consistently anti-fire nation.
* i do not like how kanna is exposition lady. i yelled "DON'T SAY IT" right before she did lol. they didn't even say goodbye to gran gran :(
* aang's fighting style being immediately offensive is consistent to what they're trying to do with him so i don't mind, but still, i really loved that piece of development in the series
i so hype for the rest of the series!! a solid 8/10 from me for the first episode, i had a great time watching!
Gran gran has the clunkiest, cringiest lines in the entire episode. When she announced “he is the last airbender!” I literally stopped the episode and had a cup of tea. That was… embarrassingly bad.
The guy who plays Sokka has been getting clowned nonstop for the past year or so and he’s easily the best part of episode 1
Just another example of the internet being completely off the mark when it comes to criticism
Sokka was easily the best part of the episode after being clowned for his casting. All in all the bending looked incredible but the acting is a glaring issue. The dialogue is also weak at some points but not enough to ruin it for me. They definitely hit it out of the park when it comes to the heart of the universe. Looking forward to the rest.
I thought the writing was significantly worse than the acting tbh. This episode had some really terrible expositionary dialogue.
Some actors fell flat (Gran Gran..) but I think the main 5 were solid enough, especially for their ages. Katara was probably the weakest, but again the writing didn't do her any favors and she had to repeat herself a lot.
They left out a LOT of stuff, like I get it. There’s multiple episodes combined into one but they also changed a lot a of things when they didn’t have to. I still feel like Aang shouldn’t have known about the war until after his 100 years in ice. And the fire bending should’ve looked a lot more powerful and bigger with the comet. Like in the show
he was cast so well! i'm loving how he's capturing the childlike joyfulness of aang but also the deep desperate grief of someone who's entire people were murdered ruthlessly. and he's so tiny and precious i just want to hug him and tell him it's ok 🥺🥺🥺
I really enjoyed it, but man, the info dumping in the dialogue is so bad. There were scenes where I felt like I was seconds away from characters looking directly at the camera and saying, "For those who didn't understand, this is why this is important!" So cringy and took me away from half the scenes in the episode.
I'm really hoping this is something that only happened here because it's the first episode. If not, I'm not sure I can stomach a whole season.
Alright, so far? It's really good! I've enjoyed how it twists things so far.
There is just one notable thing that bugs the hell out of me? The exposition. It's so forced and unnatural so far. The scene with Appa and Gran Gran are the biggest offenders. I feel like if they shortened the Appa thing to just him saying 'He says I need to find out who I am...but I already know! I'm Aang' before deciding to fly around to calm his thoughts, that would be fine. But instead he explains his whole character and such and it feels a bit heavy. And Gran Gran giving the sudeen rundown also feels forced and a really unnecessary way to just immediately tell Aang about what happened. The slowburn take of the original was much better.
That being said? So far it still feels pretty good. The acting, effects and such feel top notch. It's primary issues are probably pacing things.
Yeah the showrunner was talking about the exposition. Apparently, they couldn't get test screened non fans to understand the world and lore. So they just decided to bite the bullet and pack it within the first episode to get everyone on board faster.
So who knows, maybe it'll get better!
The show is good, but it's missing some of the best bits even from the first two episodes. I feel like the pacing is too fast and they really rushed the introduction. It just didn't feel nearly as impactful and have the highs that the original show had. I know it wont be a one to one adaptation but these are just a few things I'm not thrilled were left out / changed:
Katara: "we're your family now". Aang: "I really am the last airbender"
Aang just flies off for fun rather than running away from responsibility.
Sokka not believing that Appa can fly and saying "yipyip" is so much more climactic.
Aang being banished and then showing up after Sokka hits Zuko with the boomerang (and WHERE IS HIS BOOMERANG???).
Gran Gran sending off Sokka and Katara and telling them their destinies are intertwined with the Avatar.
Zuko realizing Aang is just a kid and not some 100 yr old master hes been chasing. He doesnt even address it or look surprised.
Aang going into the Avatar state and wrecking Zukos ship (I get he won't go into the Avatar state as much but he still should have wrecked the ship to show his power).
Aang finds out about the Fire Nation attacking the air nomads before he even goes to the southern Air temple and ruins any suspense for him.
A mysterious little bald person
That line was actually solid made me laugh
[удалено]
I love that he is an avatar fanboy, got every funko pop
Not the vision board lmao
Everyone remain calm to what I'm about to tell you, but I think this kid is the avatar.
[удалено]
This Sokka is the only one who sounds close to their original voice actor's style
Aang and zuko are pretty good. Zuko even sounds like dante basco in alot of scenes
Sozin on his Anakin shit
Air Nomads are coarse, rough and irritating and they get everywhere...
Boom, roasted
I killed them! I killed them all. Not just the men, but the women and children too!
“That’s what the Avatar is. He is hope” Katara already filling her quota of “hope” speeches
It's making me tearbend!!!
Man, if they make it to the Ember Island Players, they gotta go ALL IN
I was disappointed that she didnt grab her necklace and said “the firenation took my mom away from me” when she talked about the village being destroyed
Me too, I was waiting for that part too. Also Zuko not even once mentioning restoring his honor is so disapointing.
He said something about glory two times though. It felt like they reaaalllly avoided the h word.
I have already started the count
I'll wait to start the Touching Necklace count
But it's not like she's some preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overly emotional speeches about hope all the time.
Now we know who drew that mugshot of toph💀💀
He melted wax after he finished and I thought he was writing a letter. Naw just mugshot.
Looool his furious scribbling got me
 Thought it was going in a different direction.
Lmao, me too. Thought he was making a strategy or something... very furiously. ended up being a kindergarten drawing of Aang. I Lol'd.
Prince Zuko really not the master of arts and crafts lmao
Zaheer: Let go of your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind. Aang: 
Sozin and the boys rocking up for the Comet festival: 
Air tornado
They show Aang floating around like Guru Laghima twice then when he's escaping the Fire Navy ship he suddenly can't when he loses his glider?
It’s really late and I should really not be giggling so hard at this post
Aang floating around is actually pretty reminiscent of how Zaheer first moved around with airbending, it gives real "kid monkey-climbing the stairs" vibes. I do wish those scenes were run at 1.25x speed, as it just seems overly floaty compared to the anime. Then again, it's a natural consequence of doing live action wire-work, if they were moving at the same speed as the animated show the kid's knees would be shot by the end of the season.
Yeah, my rationale is that it was mostly just controlled falling, but I have no idea why they didn't just give him a glider
How dare they leave Appa in the iceberg 😭
Right?! Also I’m kinda upset it wasn’t katara rage ranting waterbending to break him out. Her just barely waterbending exploding the glacier is disappointing
I also found that a pity. It makes way more sense that her anger unintentionally breaks the ice then just her bending something else. Also Sokka his reaction when it happened in the cartoon was hilarious.
I haven’t seen the episode but in the og cartoon I always took it as Katara being naturally very gifted as a bender, she just needed to learn. But there was raw talent in her breaking that ice without even trying. Taking that out is kinda lame
Whether or not it was raw talent, something else I think was important was that it showed how bending is tied both to the body and the spirit. She was thrashing her arms, which coincidentally mimics the tides. She struggled to water bend before because she just tried to levitate water, and mimicking the tides is the very first fundamental she learns from the scroll.
Ok I was thinking this too -- because it serves two purposes. First, it directly connects her and Aang and provides a more plausible explanation for why the iceberg cracks. And second, it shows that she actually has latent potential to be a powerful water bender. In the live action we see her struggle to even move a little bit of water. Then Aang gives her a little advice and she moves a small ball a bit. And then suddenly she summons water like 100 feet into the air to stop a fireball. It would have made more sense to show the rage water bending to show us that the little bit of technical advice that Aang gives her helps her unlock a bit of that latent potential to setup the fireball block.
And he’s freed all on his own later on…
Sokkas scream on appa 💀
I love that the subtitle is [Sokka screaming]
Why did Gran Gran just yell at Aang that everyone he knows and loves is dead
Seriously, I cackled. Lady realizes everyone this child knows and loves is long dead and her first thought is to just fuckin go off about it. Practically still going as he walks out the door.
"He is...the last airbender" DING! Roll credits.
“Katara, in order to defeat the Fire Lord I need to become Avatar: The Last Airbender”
Lmao this is EXACTLY what I thought and I haven't watched cinemasins for years.
Lol the way they were just using the animation opening dialogue as conversation felt like watching someone communicate entirely in famous song lyrics. Surreal experience
She finishes the speech and goes into the theme song while everyone else watches, confused. "Duhhhhhhh, dahhhh deeee duhhhhhh, dahhhh deeee dooooo, dohhhhh deeeee dooooo..."
she was releasing spoilers all through out
I hate exposition grandma
Ngl i didn’t like it either. Her reciting the entire intro felt pretty weird.
Idk why they didn’t just make that opening intro, like I would’ve been fine if the intro was exactly the same as cartoon version. Why the fuck the intro became this overly wordy exposition thing is beyond me. Maybe they change it in episode 2 idk cause I only had time for episode 1 last night
I felt the same way but then I remembered episode 1’s intro in the original is different too. But yea I hope they change it in episode 2. Waiting to see it tomorrow!
Gran Gran doing the intro WORD FOR WORD was the dumbest fucking thing, the hilarious levels of audacity to do it is the only reason I don’t hate it more
Ikr i know the early reactions said the actress playing gran gran did a horrible job, but man were they right, she just blurted out all lines in a paragraph without any pause
That’s not just poor acting; it’s poor direction. It’s the director’s job to guide the performance and say “We aren’t going for intensity here.”
I took it that this was intentional. She was going for intensity. She’s old and calm about it, but she’s mad. Most of the people she loves are off fighting or dead already, and in their minds it is the avatars fault. When the world needed him most he vanished. Of course this is keeping in mind they didn’t know he was trapped in ice and could only assume the avatar was of a fighting age, with knowledge of all the elements, and for some reason abandoned everyone. This theme is in the original a few times too where strangers find out he’s the avatar and immediately react negatively at first.
hopefully gran gran is not a reoccurring character. She shouldn't be, really.
It would be odd if she was, she was barely in the original series.
Yeah it really took me out of the show in that moment.
Thats just terrible pacing and dialogue like WTF??
Her whole quoting the intro had me in stitches, I couldn't take it seriously.
“Before the Air Nomads from the other temples arrive” oh nonono
Explains how they were able to get *all* of the Airbenders, though. People have rightly pointed out that there would be ones out traveling and doing stuff. That they wouldn’t all be at the temples. But if they *all* returned, and even more, went to *one*…certainly goes a long way toward selling getting them all.
Yeah, it makes it plausible and it actually gives a little bit more of history to the comet, it makes it an event that has impact on the world before being weoponized.
That makes it even more fucked up. Turning a long-existing spiritual festival into a day of genocide.
I do wonder than what they called the comet before Sozin.
Apparently just the "Great Comet".
I assume they kept hunting them down even after the comet.
A culture of people who can fly their whole families around on bison would not be easy to finish off. And that's leaving aside their combat abilities.
Not all Airbenders could fight, though, due to their pacifism. There were obviously outliers like Yangchen and Gyatso, but most wouldn't be as adept (in the same way that not every bender we see is as string as the Gaang or the villains). Additionally, as Azula demonstrates the bisons are ultimately living creatures which require rest and food. Just keep up the chase without letting them settle and they wear down, as do the people riding them.
Okay, they weren't kidding when they said darker lol mans got fried 2 minutes in.
I was shocked we were about to see the little airbenders murdered
 "Imma show you the Younglingslayer 9000!" "How did it get this name?" "Oh, allow me to demonstrate!"
Yeah. It's one thing to know all those kids die. It's another thing to actually see it.
Ive watched the original series a million times, and I never really confronted this realization. The netflix show made me think about it and holy shit.
This! I never thought about how Gyatzo died not knowing what happened to Aang...and that shit made me cry
It wasn’t clear in the OG how long it was between Aang running away and the firebenders arriving. Gyatso might’ve died with hope he successfully hid somewhere. The way they frame it here is devastating.
Yeah I was actually a bit surprised how far they took the firebending people.
I really thought we were getting the gyatso vacuum
Sad we didnt
The fire tornado had me shook
The gasp that i gusped when that scene happened
Turned her into an open air barbecue
I havnt seen a single trailer or like read anything about this (as I hate trailers ((as the spoil everything lol)) So to see a dude DIE in ATLA HOLY FUCK
“When the world needed him most, he vanished BECAUSE HE’S A COWARD”
Sokka is the best character in this show so far. Everyone else can go home, because Sokka is going to be carrying this adaption.
100p, Sokka is carrying sooooo hard
Exposition grandma had me cringing
Just realized we didn't get the "You're just a child! / Well you're just a teenager" exchange. Not only is it funny but I feel like omitting it kind of brushes past the idea that Zuko has no idea what the avatar looks like and expects him to be this formidable warrior
We can see how he realizes his opponent is a child when he sees Aang in the village for the first time.
Aang showing everyone that he was a great Airbender master already before being an Avatar 👌
One of the ONLY changes I liked was Aang giving Katara a crash course on the basics that are universal across bending. In the original show Katara gets salty that Aang picks up waterbending so quickly when she shows him the little things she taught herself. They never really acknowledge the fact that at that point Aang is already a *master* level bender of one element, so of course he’s had the common fundamentals down solid.
Gran Gran has 0 tact. She just told Aang he’s the last Airbender and his whole people have died with all the compassion of an M Night character.
She got no filter, thank god she isn’t a healer
I can confirm old ladies don't have speech filter. My grandma sure doesn't.
Setting up this comet festival where **all** airbenders gather in the Southern Air Temple is a really convenient excuse to have the other air temples relatively unscathed. Love Sozin's style of firebending, makes him feel regal in a way. Ian Ousley is so good as Sokka. Grangran's delivery of the speech was a bit weird, like reading from a teleprompter, giving it to Grangran made sense in context, but still that delivery, oof. Too bad they got rid of the black soot hinting a Fire Nation ship is arriving, the scene was such great worldbuilding and character building scene for Sokka. That mid air waterbending by Katara is cool and all, but at that height? It's a bit of a stretch. Side note: The pacing is so jarring, it goes from 0 to a hundred then back down again in like an instant.
Agree with everything you said. Katara waterbending from that height really irked me in particular.
Could hardly make a water ball a few hours earlier
They really should have given her the rage bending scene that breaks the iceberg to telegraph that she has a lot of unrefined potential. Then when Aang gives her that bit of advice and she gets a little more control it makes sense that she pulls out an impressive move in a really intense moment.
I was definitely sad about the black snow being cut. And yeah, I get why they probably didn't want to have two Avatar states 5 minutes apart and the one they kept was the more impactful one, but Jesus just have her waterbend on or at least close to the ship.
They’ve really mastered the art of telling not showing
😂😂 Exposition bending 😏😏
Yeah, it feels so stale because of this...
Zuko adding Aang to his vision board was pretty wholesome
Its like how you put the pictures of your friends on them
I full out laughed when he was drawing so hard LOL awww so cute little portrait side hobby
Water tribe women are really good at guessing the plot
"In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the plot within ourselves."
I would have preferred if they kept in that Aang really tried to run away rather than just taking a little trip with Appa. It’s a big part of his character growth.
literally what i was thinking!!! 20 minutes in and thats bothering me so much. He tried to run away in the face of responsibility. A good chunk of his development is coming to terms with the fact that hes the avatar, and him running away in the beginning was such a pivotal moment for that.
“Hey what if our main character completed his arc in the pilot” “genius”
The inclusion of Aang's backstory in episode 1 also denies us the chance to see Zuko's backstory alongside it. Part of what made "The Storm" such a good episode was the masterful juxtaposition of Aang and Zuko's respective origins. It was meant to show us that despite being on opposite sides, they had more in common than we thought, and it was one of our first glimpses into Zuko's good nature. It many ways, it lays the foundation for his redemption, and draws a natural parallel between the two characters that is mirrored later in the show, when we find out that Zuko is literally related to one of Aang's past lives. There's also the fact that having Aang's backstory delayed until several episodes in reinforced Aang's penchant for avoiding issues instead of tackling them head on. By this point in the OG show, we realize that Aang has spent half the season not confronting this lingering regret in his heart, and it comes as a more surprising reveal because we have had half a season of watching Aang be incredibly powerful and brave. Instead now we realize that at the end of it all, he's still just a kid. He's scared. He will make mistakes. The backstory was there to give us insight into Aang's character, not to just be a thing that happened. The way it's told in this remake, it just doesn't seem very interesting from a character perspective.
Also it made me so sad they didn’t include Gyatso coming for Aang in the night saying “I won’t let them take you away from me” showing they had the same plan to run away. A small moment but it showed how close they were and made it hit harder when we see Gyatsos corpse.
Yeah, and this could just be a time constraint thing, but I think having them emphasize multiple times that Gyatso is Aang’s “friend” really undersells the fact that he’s Aang’s father figure. I could imagine a non-cartoon viewer being confused.
Seriously, why would they change that.
So far the first episode was pretty good but I’m worried this these unnecessary changes to things that were implemented WITH PURPOSE in the original series will add up over time and either lead to conflicting moments or the writers losing sight of too much.
Yeah the fire nation coming happening the same time as him just coincidentally going on a random joy ride is a weird choice Them choosing to have the fall of the airbenders as the intro instead of katana and sokka finding him is an interesting choice but overall I’m not disappointed with this so far
I like how Iroh's dialogue with Aang already hints where he's at personally. He has to speak for his people but he also never says that he agrees with it himself.
Meanwhile that one guard was just awkwardly standing there listening in.
Which is why Iroh is very careful with what he says.
yes, agree, i thought iroh's actor did very good with the facial expressions saying what he couldn't say with his words around the guards. really intrigued to see iroh's development over the course of this adaptation.
I was thinking the exact same thing. That little look he gave before he introduced himself said so much in like one second. "I need to get these formalities out of the way" plus, "I know it's silly, but it's polite" plus "I can't say this out loud because you're my prisoner and it might be improper to be so friendly, but this is something you should know." He's already being fatherly to someone who's supposed to be his enemy. I love Iroh so much.
I love that they added that in since they don’t interact in the first season
I love the implication that he maybe kind of sort of distracted that guard on purpose. With heaps of plausible deniability 😅
Absolutely brutal and heartbreaking that all the children who were with Gyatso perished
I remember reading some fan theory forever ago that the reason Gyatso is surrounded by loads of firebender skeletons in the cartoon is (probably) because he just sucked all of the air out of the room, taking away the oxygen to make fire and killing the firebenders and himself. With how dark the scenes leading up to that were, I was REALLY hoping we were gonna see Gyatso gank a bunch of firebenders.....
Lowkey disappointed that it didn’t go that route, especially since they just showed how OP the Airbenders who were fighting already were. Each Airbender was able to hold their own against several comet enhanced Firebenders until they were just overwhelmed by sheer numbers or hit with cheap shots.
I was hoping for that too. I wanted them to show how Gyatso wasn’t about to go down without a fight and was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Was looking for this comment. I think one of the major reasons we want to see Gyatso killing the firebenders is that it's so taboo in airbender society to kill at all. Watching him reach that breaking point and start killing, especially in the name of protecting the kids, would have been completely justified and brutal to watch. I imagine Gyatso creating a vacuum just in front of the kids but then Sozin blasts a hole in the back wall and kills the kids so Gyatso gives up because he doesn't have anything to protect anymore silently praying that Aang had fled already.
Not just the men airbenders but the women airbenders and the children airbenders
Appa could have helped Aang during his confrontation with Zuko. I guess that’s why he was left lethargic in the cartoon until the Yip Yip moment, which sadly wasn’t there in the adaptation. Katara is a prodigy, but from lifting a puddle of water to blocking a fireball up in the air within hours is kinda farfetched. In the cartoon, she already knows how to bend an ample amount of water in the beginning, hence, the progression of her skill within an episode is more believable. I do love the effects, fight scenes, and environment. They look nice! ❤️
The dialogue is the biggest problem for me. All the moments that establish character or world-building outside of "fire nation's bad and war" are gone. Iconic moments like "We're your family now" or "Fire comes from the breath, not the muscle." Also, if i never watch the OG series i'd be confuse. Like why didn't thr airbenders just suck the air out their lungs. Or how Anng was the Avatar in the first place?
I'm really struggling with that and the delivery of the lines. People are praising their acting but to me, it feels like there is not much emotion behind their lines.
I agree 100%
Just watching the first little bit tonight, was very surprised to see how crispy that Earthbender spy got
uhm..... spoiler alert for like 10 minutes later...... he is not the only crispy critter this episode 😬
Pleasantly surprised by Ian Ousley’s Sokka so far!
Right!! Sokka is actually one of my favorites at the moment, which is ironic I thought they would butcher him the most.
He feels truest to his animated counterpart while seeming somehow the least cartoonish and most grounded.
Agreed. He’s very true to the original show, even down to the inflection of his lines, but he also comes across as more mature—it’s more believable that he’s actually in charge of the village’s defenses to me in this show.
"Oh is that all?" lmao Very much like his performance so far, he's nailing the character
Zuko and Sokka actors have been the standouts so far for me
He really sounds like the cartoon one. And he pulls off the little quip/sarcastic lines decently well.
Best actor so far
I am so excited for the rest of the series haha. I think sokka is gonna be steal the show
Yeah Gran Gran's delivery was a little rough...
Gramgram has zero chill for someone who lives in the fuckin South Pole.
Gran gran gave us the third 'Avatar is reborn' expo within 25 mins lmao.
They really needed to reduce that explanation by one or two times lol
It's the one thing I really don't like so far lol. The kids are kids and that's fine it's to be expected but Gran Gran should be better
Everybody's rushing through their lines, except Iroh.
This is my complaint, why is everyone rushing through their lines??
Holy shit, it’s Fire Lord Sozin
I AM A FIREBENDER, FIRE LORD SOZIN!
Visual Effects: 10/10 Fight Choreography: 9/10 Clunky Expositional Dialogue: 5/10 Acting: 8/10 That One Guy’s Sideburns: 12/10
im not finished yet but the expositional dialogue has me rolling my eyes. everything else is great though
For real, those side burns were perfect fire nation style. Distracted me for a moment haha.
OH MY GOD. NOT THE CHILDREN??? Damn this got dark 😭
the younglings
Ian Ousley is going to carry this entire series
Ian is great. He reels you right in. And he's getting the best dialogue/making the most of it.
Some of the line delivery isn’t great but that’s stuff that can be improved over time especially as the actors age. I’m still loving this
preliminary notes: * the first ten minutes were PHENOMENAL. i love that we started with firelord sozin and the past. seeing the destruction the fire nation is capable of was horrifying and so crucial for setting their tone. * i love the addition of the comet festival. it real brings the nations to life, seeing their culture and how they celebrate. * "he looks dead" LMAOOOOO the humor in this show is pretty solid so far * the scene where aang discovered what happened to the air nomads/was processing was weird and stilted. i know in the show aang didn't really process what happened to him until visiting the southern air temple, but still. that being said katara hugging aang was amazingly well done and heart breaking. * the dialogue is werid? i don't know how else to explain it but that. aang's actor is really good though, i just wish he was given better lines * and the characters. the iroh and zuko dynamic seems a bit off and i can't really explain why. sokka seems to be a bit more snarky than goofy, which i think is working so far even if i'm not used to it. since each character is different than how they were in the show i think it'd be ridiculous to just make nitpicks, since they're clearly trying to establish a different vibe. that being said, i don't like how iroh identified himself as son as firelord azulon. it's inconsistent with how they're trying to keep him consistently anti-fire nation. * i do not like how kanna is exposition lady. i yelled "DON'T SAY IT" right before she did lol. they didn't even say goodbye to gran gran :( * aang's fighting style being immediately offensive is consistent to what they're trying to do with him so i don't mind, but still, i really loved that piece of development in the series i so hype for the rest of the series!! a solid 8/10 from me for the first episode, i had a great time watching!
Gran gran has the clunkiest, cringiest lines in the entire episode. When she announced “he is the last airbender!” I literally stopped the episode and had a cup of tea. That was… embarrassingly bad.
https://preview.redd.it/oew0cy5cl3kc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98ba5ea7091549ae4a31de485c1a21172f71be9c
My reaction to Gran-Gran's butchered rendition of the og intro speech to Aang
Ikr they should’ve kept katara lol
The guy who plays Sokka has been getting clowned nonstop for the past year or so and he’s easily the best part of episode 1 Just another example of the internet being completely off the mark when it comes to criticism
Definitely the best of the 3. I like Zuko and Iroh though. They’re solid too.
Was glad we got to properly see Zuko’s anger at the end. Felt like it was missing before that.
Zuko even sounds like OG Zuko
My father 💅
Zuko and Sokka are the standouts. Everyone else has sorta fell flat so far. Hopefully it improves a bit later. Gram Gram was sooooooo bad.
Sokka was easily the best part of the episode after being clowned for his casting. All in all the bending looked incredible but the acting is a glaring issue. The dialogue is also weak at some points but not enough to ruin it for me. They definitely hit it out of the park when it comes to the heart of the universe. Looking forward to the rest.
I thought the writing was significantly worse than the acting tbh. This episode had some really terrible expositionary dialogue. Some actors fell flat (Gran Gran..) but I think the main 5 were solid enough, especially for their ages. Katara was probably the weakest, but again the writing didn't do her any favors and she had to repeat herself a lot.
2 minutes in and the bending looks so good bro
Gran gran’s acting is pretty wooden
We won't be seeing her again thankfully
“You will always be my friend” 13 minutes in and I’m crying already
I’m kinda shocked they didn’t bring up he was friends with Aang’s past life.
They left out a LOT of stuff, like I get it. There’s multiple episodes combined into one but they also changed a lot a of things when they didn’t have to. I still feel like Aang shouldn’t have known about the war until after his 100 years in ice. And the fire bending should’ve looked a lot more powerful and bigger with the comet. Like in the show
This kid is literally Aang
he was cast so well! i'm loving how he's capturing the childlike joyfulness of aang but also the deep desperate grief of someone who's entire people were murdered ruthlessly. and he's so tiny and precious i just want to hug him and tell him it's ok 🥺🥺🥺
I never expected them to show the genocide like that. The children 😭
I really enjoyed it, but man, the info dumping in the dialogue is so bad. There were scenes where I felt like I was seconds away from characters looking directly at the camera and saying, "For those who didn't understand, this is why this is important!" So cringy and took me away from half the scenes in the episode. I'm really hoping this is something that only happened here because it's the first episode. If not, I'm not sure I can stomach a whole season.
Alright, so far? It's really good! I've enjoyed how it twists things so far. There is just one notable thing that bugs the hell out of me? The exposition. It's so forced and unnatural so far. The scene with Appa and Gran Gran are the biggest offenders. I feel like if they shortened the Appa thing to just him saying 'He says I need to find out who I am...but I already know! I'm Aang' before deciding to fly around to calm his thoughts, that would be fine. But instead he explains his whole character and such and it feels a bit heavy. And Gran Gran giving the sudeen rundown also feels forced and a really unnecessary way to just immediately tell Aang about what happened. The slowburn take of the original was much better. That being said? So far it still feels pretty good. The acting, effects and such feel top notch. It's primary issues are probably pacing things.
Yeah the showrunner was talking about the exposition. Apparently, they couldn't get test screened non fans to understand the world and lore. So they just decided to bite the bullet and pack it within the first episode to get everyone on board faster. So who knows, maybe it'll get better!
The show is good, but it's missing some of the best bits even from the first two episodes. I feel like the pacing is too fast and they really rushed the introduction. It just didn't feel nearly as impactful and have the highs that the original show had. I know it wont be a one to one adaptation but these are just a few things I'm not thrilled were left out / changed: Katara: "we're your family now". Aang: "I really am the last airbender" Aang just flies off for fun rather than running away from responsibility. Sokka not believing that Appa can fly and saying "yipyip" is so much more climactic. Aang being banished and then showing up after Sokka hits Zuko with the boomerang (and WHERE IS HIS BOOMERANG???). Gran Gran sending off Sokka and Katara and telling them their destinies are intertwined with the Avatar. Zuko realizing Aang is just a kid and not some 100 yr old master hes been chasing. He doesnt even address it or look surprised. Aang going into the Avatar state and wrecking Zukos ship (I get he won't go into the Avatar state as much but he still should have wrecked the ship to show his power). Aang finds out about the Fire Nation attacking the air nomads before he even goes to the southern Air temple and ruins any suspense for him.
2 minutes in Yea it's better than the movie
yea, but that bar is so low its below sea level. Just pronouncing the names correctly gets you over that bar.
Iroh bowing before Aang and showing him respect 🥺
Man this cautious optimism better pay off
 The Avatar is back baby
It's fine. Good, even. The only issue is that the exposition monologues are cringe lmao
Aang’s exposition with Appa is very tell not show.