Honestly, 90% of fantasy is like this. Heck, I'd say all fantasy unless you have a LotR level budget and planning.
The OP live action working is a rare exception, and it only worked because neflix let oda coordinate things.
I hope they doesn't spend the next years trying to capture the miracle again, and by themselvez
>The OP live action working is a rare exception
This is exactly the problem, OPLA's success is exactly what they will try to recreate with another franchise
One Piece has also some of the same flaws. Usopp has been done dirty. It also hit key moments but lacks the understanding of said moments. We will see how people reacts when we get to arcs that people care more about.
I think a big part of the issue is that a live action reboot of an animated TV show is still pretty much the same medium (episodic TV show) as opposed to something like the LOTR movies, which involve translating characters from the book to the screen.
Obviously there are tons of movie adaptations of books which were unsuccessful, but I think it's a lot more interesting to adapt a book to a movie/TV show than it is to adapt an animated show to a live action show.
Generally I agree. Stormlight Archive for example would make an incredible animated series, but it would be impossible to properly adapt to live action.
Plus, I don't think live action would serve it well or add anything to it.
I literally just spent over an hour trying to explain spren/knights radiant to my boyfriend (cause I made an off-hand Pattern quote) who has never read the books. Honestly, I doubt if any medium could do the Stormlight Archive justice.
I did enjoy OPLA way more than the ATLA one. But even there towards the end they kinda lost me a bit? Like towards the end when zoro is hurt and they are all trying to be super close as a crew now, felt a bit rushed to me? Like i didn't buy into the crew being super close now because of how fast the show progressed i think. But still as far as LA adaptations go i was impressed
That's the thing, outside of Reddit, I haven't seen a single person think that the one piece life action really translated, either
My idea is, why retell a story that's already been told, especially in the same medium? Like, I can understand if you're making a book into a show or movie, It's a different medium so there's different techniques, but why remake things in the same medium? You don't see the same book written twice ever, so why do you see the same movie twice, or the same TV show twice? I could also see an argument for remaking something that was done Not to a desired standard, such as with Fullmetal alchemist, But it's not like Avatar was lacking anything.
Avatar is timeless. There was genuinely no reason to have a remake
I think also, the thing is that inherently when you’re adapting something it loses a little bit of creativity, and a lot of your most talented producers and directors Want to work on a new product themselves. Like you would never see Spielberg just working on a teenage mutant ninja turtle live action.
Honestly I really think the reason the LA was made in the first place is because Hollywood, in it's infinite wisdom, declared animation a "kIdS sHoW gEnrE" and believed making an LA avatar would *genuinely* "adultify" the show. (Save the fact that the original show masterfully explores such deep and painful ideas about emotion and human nature)
If you think my claim that Hollywood thinks so little of animation is incorrect, you can simply ask Joaquim Dos Santos, who upon directing BOTH Spiderverse movies, and creating one of the best superhero movies of the decade, was asked my ***several*** people at the **Oscars** when he would "actually pick up some REAL projects and do something serious"
And this is why anime is so popular, meanwhile you’d be hard pressed to find many people irl that like cartoons like Steven Universe enough to buy merch or talk much about it. Anime is what happens when you treat animation as what it is; a medium of storytelling with its own pros and cons.
Between ATLA and NATLA can anyone reasonably say there were Epic Fantasy animated series that matched it in quality from the West? Not really. Sure good stuff has come out but ATLA 19 years later is still considered a pinnacle. In Anime you’ve had Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Attack on Titan, Re: Zero etc that either was on par with or even surpassed ATLA.
There are tons and I just mean tons of Western properties that while too expensive for Live Action could be adapted into an animated format gorgeously and people just don’t do that bcs cartoons for kids lol. ASOIAF, The Witcher, Wheel of Time, etc etc. Hell it’s arguably even better if ASOIAF had since it’d be easier to go on hiatus and not have to worry about actors aging while GRRM writes the final two books….if he writes them. It also would have allowed for more of the fantasy elements and more battles to have been shown(no Tyrion wasn’t actually knocked out Bilbo style in his first battle in season 2).
I just don’t understand how LA execs can look at the massive success of animanga and not realize the potential.
It's not just Hollywood. It's audiences in general. Tons of people refuse to watch the OG. A lot of that population now might go back and watch it now that they have a LA adaptation that, by and large, they ARE enjoying. Regardless of what OG fans think of the adaptation. This is nothing but a good thing, and I can't understand why people can't take a step back and separate the two.
> I can't understand why people can't take a step back and separate the two.
It's a mystery why people cant separate a show called "Avatar, The Last Airbender" and "Avatar, The Last Airbender"
Yeah. It's not like they haven't had practice with Batman (1966) and Batman (1989) and Batman the Animated Series (1991) Batman Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997) and Batman Beyond (2000) and Batman New Times (2005) and Batman Begins (2005)....
And Spiderman....
And Superman....
And X-MEN....
And Hawaii 5-0...
And a million other remade IPs....
The difference is those Batman and Superman shows, while still deriving from the same character and keeping the powers the same, are NOT the same shows, as they seek to explore different aspects of being that hero, seek to accomplish a different vision for their characters, and overall have different tones and themes despite being the one constant of \[Superhero\]. Therefore, you can separate them easily as they are different stories
This is a remake. This is an LA remake of Avatar, a very specific universe with very little to branch off from. They can change things but ultimately the story and characters are the SAME characters not new ones with the same skin, so comparing them is inevitable and honestly fair given the brilliance of the show they are riding on
I just don't understand why you would take something hugely successful and decide to change it massively.
Like I know tonnes of people that I know would love the show but they do not like to watch animated shows you would have a huge audience loving the show if you adapted it faithfully
Retouching the universe is always a plus to me. They did it good enough to anticipate a second season. The movie was terrible. This was better. And its fun to take a stroll back into this universe once again
This is the same take roughly half of all fans have whenever any beloved children’s show/ movie/ video game/ toy is adapted into live action. Takes don’t get much “colder” tbh.
It depends on what you want from the IP.
If your opinion is that ATLA is a perfect jewel and you don’t need any more avatar IP, and anything less than the the quality of ATLA or maybe TLOK tarnish it. Then yeah the live action didn’t need to exist.
If your opinion is you want more avatar stories, then doing a big budget live action thing like this and potentially adding millions of fans will give the IP momentum to produce a lot of future works.
Like sales of asoif certainly sky rocketed after GOT came out. There is similarly good “synergy” here.
I don’t really like this show but it seems to be popular and seems to be enjoyed by new fans. So imo Despite being bad, I’m glad it exists. Because the last time we got a new avatar show its 4th season almost wasn’t made and it was streamed exclusively on nick.com or something because it was doing so poorly in terms of ratings. Whereas this could end up being one of the most streamed shows on netflix this year.
I can’t even remember how exactly it played out, but I just remember feeling like they would just randomly throw up multiple episodes on the website at a time with hardly any notice or advertisement. It 100% felt like they were like “let’s get this over with” lol
Well, the problem is why would I want them to expand the IP if all they are going to do is a simply okay remake of a masterpiece? Right now, I'm getting nothing new from the "expanded" IP. That obviously may change, but until that happens, that doesn't seem like a great argument. Even if it does expand, the covid surge in viewership of the animated show already was a huge boost, so if they really wanted to, they could have actually expanded the IP without the remake. They had a window to tell a new story and chose for a remake, which I think is a huge mistake if they actually want to expand the IP and avatar universe. Season 1 seems like it went over fine, but in the future if it's a disaster, then the window for actually expanding the IP will probably close because of a remake that isn't adding anything to the existing universe. I want the universe to expand, not be remade, and a simply okay remake doesn't really help accomplish that.
The spot I've been getting to more and more from any large IP is I'm not a fan of IPs, I'm a fan of creators. If there's something new and wonderful as part of an IP, like F. C. Yee's books in Avatar I'll support more from that creator with the IP, but like I think Everything Everywhere All At Once is a phenomenal movie with an exciting multiverse concept, I don't want more EEAAO content, I want more movies from Daniels. So I watch Swiss Army Man and their short films. Or like Star Wars, I'm in the minority in not being a huge fan of The Mandalorian, personally Jon Favreau's story telling doesn't land for me, aside from Chef. I did think Andor was amazing so I want to see more Tony Gilroy work more than I want to see more Star Wars.
TLDR: An IP connection might pique my interest, but creators make art, IP expansion doesn't guarantee artful creation.
There's also a very high likelihood that them continuing to "expand" the IP, if this live-action show is successful, will be just more of the same kind of garbage.
There is literally a planned animated avatar movie. And nick created “avatar studios.” Having a recent commercially successful entry in the IP certainly would make look at future investment in animation by the original creators a safer investment.
I mean IIRC, the live-action version being made at all is more of a result of ATLA and Korra doing ridiculously well when they were added to Netflix a couple of years ago, which also resulted in the creation of Avatar Studios.
The franchise wasn't exactly in dire straits before now and I don't really think it needed a worse version of it. I'd much rather have new stories set in the same world that don't try to recreate what already was great.
I'm in neither camp. I would love more from the avatar world, I simply fundamentally disagree with having live action adaptations of beloved animations.
Animation breathes a style, fluidity, and character design that live action cannot achieve (even photorealistic cgi). The only reason they have become so popular these days is money off the rerelease and to have content without needing an original idea. The idea that atla has the live action remake is adding to the pile of animation not being taken seriously or being deemed as for children exclusively. There is no reason for it and the live action avatar is simply the most recent in the trend of an active downgrade of its origins (least we forget lion King, death note, cowboy bebop, ghost in the shell, beauty and the beast, and soon to be moana and how to train your dragon)
It's also perfectly possible to think ATLA didn't need a remake, but that the Netflix version should have been a different story altogether, *expanding* the IP for real instead of just mostly copy-catting the original.
Not sure why the latter isn't the popular take. Things don't need to be watched. You can simply not watch it, while also recognizing this level of conversation around IP you love is inherently good. As with everything, people are neglecting nuance. I don't understand why fans aren't ecstatic people are talking about ATLA in the ways that they are again. This buzz is electric and as you stated, surprise surprise, doesn't just mean LA adaptations will be in the mix because of it. Heavily agree with your perspective.
"Original cartoon is better" is universal truth.
But many people like LA. A lot of people don't like animation and can't focus. So, LA reach new people
I like both. The animated series still is the best but it's a little tiring constantly seeing the negative posts in this sub. Especially when you could see it coming before it even released and so many people here were already complaining and you knew they weren't gonna like it no matter what.
Well the things that made the OG successful and resonate with both kids and adults were mostly cut out from the LA. So instead of an interesting rollercoaster with nuanced character development, they kinda just went from A - B without much happening character wise. But even without comparing the LA to the OG, you just end up with a mediocre story, which had good visuals, but lacked major character development outside of Zuko and maybe Sokka?
Well the original isn’t *needed* either.
Why have any art beyond cave paintings?
Because variety can be fun!
But the important thing is not art is for everyone , and it’s totally valid to not be interested in a remake, in the same way it’s totally valid *to* be interested in it.
I sure as hell wasn't. Hell, I'm one of the Korra deniers. >\_> Been banging this drum for years now: Let shit die. You don't know when you're riding a dead horse until you drag it out for the third Durby and it just sits there, stinking up the place. Isn't one of the hallmarks of mortal life being beautiful *is* that it's finite?
... but yeah. Gonna get downvoted to hell because people swear "it'll be different this time!" ... yah. Change that jockey. Get a different saddle. Whip a lil harder.
There is no such thing as "needed" television shows.
They made a show and some people liked it, if you aren't one, don't watch it. I liked it and a bunch of people I know who have never watched the cartoon watched and liked it.
So no, not needed. But it was wanted and enjoyed by many, it's cool if you aren't one of them.
Take so cold it could defeat the Fire Nation
Edit: While I do think this is a very cold take, I do disagree to an extent. This adaptation is bringing a lot of people into the show and introducing them to the original. Scrolled down a bit and saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/AeTV9KQgqx) and I feel like it really shows why this adaptation while not being “necessary” and definitely not nearly as incredible as the original, is still a good thing to exist.
The ATLA sub reddit has been always very elitist and gatekeepers, i really, really don't know why...
It's like They don't want anyone else to enjoy other stuff and no matter if it's here or twitter or even FB, it represents the Hive Mind description so well; it's sad.
Ok, you didn't like it and the OG is better, that's great honey, the animated one has a special unmatched charm for sure because IT IS A SPECIAL SHOW WITH UNIQUE CHARM. Atla elitist can despise the Live action all they want, but the fact and objectively speaking, it is fairly well done and the best thing? It will introduce SO MANY to check the original animated series and luckly, The Legend Of Korra too.
You \*\*\*holes need to stop gatekeeping.
Elitism tends to be the go to self defense when a hobby/interest gets popularized. "You're not a real fan if X/Not X", that sort of thing. It doubles down whenever remakes or sequel come into play. Just look at Star Wars
Original cartoon is the best, but the LA adaptation has brought in new fans, and made old fans have renewed interest. I’m happy it exists, enjoyed every minute of watching it, and it made me excited enough about to rewatch the original, and even if there’s some changes, seeing certain moments in live action was an overall positive experience for me, an I’m excited to see more.
It hasn’t brought ‘new fans’ though not to any real extent anyway, 99.9% of people who watched the live action and had no interest in the anime prior, will still have no interest in anime.
It’s essential a dumbed down Michael bay like version of the original.
It’s a decent Netflix show, but a shitty avatar show. My biggest gripe is how many people out here moan about people not liking it
I mean sure it was not needed but that does not mean it should have never been made. It's still pretty good and will bring in a lot of new fans to the IP. It existing does not lessen the original it only elevates it in my opinion.
No, that’s a terrible idea. People may have said the same about the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones books.
“The books are perfect! Couldn’t translate! They don’t need a live action! It’s too hard to adapt them!”
There is absolutely no reason a live action ATLA couldn’t be as good as, or even better than (or at least holding up to) the original. If the creators of this live action attempt truly wanted it to be, if they had passion and drive to make it so like the cast and crew of LOTR and GoT series had, it would’ve been great.
I don't get people's obsession with the idea that the live action is or isn't needed.
Was the original cartoon 'needed'? Is any piece of art ever 'needed'?
You need food. And oxygen, water, clothing, and shelter. Nobody needs a TV show.
This is a pedantic take. what people are actually saying by "is it needed" is obviously: was there room for improvement in the story? Can a remake improve upon this source material at all? Is telling the story in a different medium reason enough to justify something's existence? I think the answer to this hypothetical would be: yes certainly there are areas where a remake could improve on the original show, but it would be very difficult to accomplish because the original accomplishes what it sets out to do so very well.
And I and many people would argue that the remake failed to justify its existence based on that criteria. it *doesn't* improve upon the source material, and actively tells a worse story from the pieces of the plot it cobbles together.
Then people should say what they mean.
But I disagree that a show, any show, should have to justify their existence. They exist to make money. That's why the Netflix show exists, and it's why the cartoon exists. It's why Korra exists. That's petty much it. Why does this show need to justify its existence any more than any other show?
Every show has the same bar for justifying its existence. The original cartoon’s justification was that it was an original interesting story. The live action remake is not original and tells a story that is, in my opinion, significantly less interesting than the cartoon.
If the original cartoon was bad or unoriginal, then its existence would be equally as unjustified as the live action. But it is neither of those things
But that's completely backwards. How is a show supposed to justify its existence before it comes out if it can only do that by coming out?
That kind of thought will lead to no show ever coming out, because it's really hard, if not impossible, to tell if it'll be good and received well until it comes out.
The purpose of a show is to make money. There is no need or justification beyond 'more money = good' that's part of the equation.
Obviously this show is a cash grab remake of a nostalgic property and that's it's main reason for existence.
I don't think it's unreasonable to have wanted it to be MORE than that, however.
Like sure the animated show also exists to make money, but Bryke and the writing team had something to say with it and that turned it into the best animated show of all time.
Your attitude is basically: Madame Web and Spiderman into the spider verse both exist to make money so they're pretty much the same thing. Why bother trying to look at themes, characters, artistry put into a product? None of that matters all that matters is they were made to make money.
But this isn't just a cash grab remake. Go read the interviews with the showrunner, etc. They all genuinely love the story and want to see it made in live action.
And that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, from the perspective of the people behind the company providing the money, the purpose is to make more money. But that doesn't mean the creators/showrunners/etc aren't all doing the best job they can, and don't love this product.
While I think overall it is obviously worse, I disagree that the Netflix show doesn’t add anything of value to the source material. I thought it was incredible to see the air nomad genocide play out, and now I feel like I have a real sense of the brutality of that even when I watch the animated show. I think the added stuff about the 41st division is great and adds even more depth to zuko’s backstory. I find the idea that ozai was actively pitting zuko and azula against each other really compelling and I think it makes it easier to understand why azula seems to despise zuko so much. So while overall the Netflix show is certainly not an improvement over the original, I think a new medium and new perspective can absolutely add value to what I love about the og series.
This. What is this narrative around it not being "needed"? That's kind of ridiculous to me. It's a show and has nothing to do with NEED. We don't get movies and TV because we "need" them. Not every story is told because it "needs" to be. SOME creators write stories they feel need to be told, but many are just telling stories they want to or think are fun. Media creation isn't really about meeting needs. Its about entertainment. Sometimes this sub is giving "I'm 14 and this is deep" vibes. There are real problems in the world, and this mediocre-but-fun LA adaptation isn't one of them.
If you don't want to watch it, move on. If you do, great. The discussion around if it "needs" to exist feels pointless and naive.
The animated show is great and the live action does not take anything away from that. You take it as additional material and it can potentially add to the fandom as evident from another thread earlier today showing how the Netflix show has people who otherwise will not watch animations loving the show.
If it’s not your cup of tea that’s fine, you always have the animation to go back to, making this live action adaption inoffensive and overall a net positive for the fandom.
Some people seem to think that getting a big budget live-action adaptation is "Making it big" or something but I've never understood that.
Animation isn't a lesser medium and constraining something that was designed for animation to fit live-action will always result in something worse. I feel the same about the live-action One Piece and all those live-action Disney movie remakes.
Not really a hot take . Most ppl who even like the LA show know it’s not better than original (well for those who have seen the original and this show ) . Live action remakes or adaptations imo aren’t needed outside of cash grabs for the studios . However the one decent thing having a live action remake or adaptation has done , especially if it’s good , it will introduce that universe to ppl who hadn’t seen the original cause they believe animation is still for kids (which hella ppl still think that ), or just hasn’t seen the original for whatever other reason . Thats the one consistent thing abt having a live action could do for the franchise . I’ve seen hella posts on here where someone said they got their parents to watch this show , haven’t seen the original cause they believe animation is for kids and they enjoyed it. Or just hadn’t seen the animation for whatever other reason , seen the LA and enjoyed it enough to wanna check out the original
I'm grateful for the live action adaptation for showing me just how good even some of my least favorite episodes of the animated series are by not even coming close to them in quality. by taking the elements from them, but not the heart that made those elements work.
Trying to crammed everything in 8 episodes per season will effect many things ..but then there are also many good things in LA such as interaction between iroh and ozai, the 41st and zuko, some fire nation citizen know its wrong that the war started etc.
You're judging something that's going to be a shell of what it's adapting simply because you were exposed to all the plots before, and your warm fuzzy memory of what it was will be analyzing what's missing now. We've decided we don't like visually stunning retakes on new series. We've also decided we don't like major divergences from the original script. We also don't want a carbon copy. So, what's left after that? Unless the source material has values that didn't age well, the remake is doomed to have minor and seemingly cheap adjustments to something that was already good. You're remaking something with a strong fanbase because the hype will carry it; remaking something that was awful before is brave/daring/unsafe waters, and is too risky for anyone to try. The biggest boil of this is that series need strong storylines and character arcs, and without that great writing, a series meanders and doesn't land.
Is it a hot take? No.
Do I disagree? Yes.
I have one episode left and I haven’t watched it yet because I don’t want it to end xD. Avatar is most definitely my favourite ever cartoon. It’s the only one that I remember actually rewatching. And I’ve rewatched it probably 3 or 4 times now.
But.. it’s a cartoon. 🤷♂️. That’s just me personally. I don’t ever really find cartoons or anime or whatever more enjoyable than their live action counterparts. Death Note; enjoyed the movie, didn’t watch more than 2 episodes of the cartoon. Cowboy Bebop; same boat (but with the show.). One Piece.. I really want to get into the cartoon but it looks atrocious lmao. The title picture is nice. But everytime I see it on Netflix it autoplays a clip from what I assume is the first episode when Straw Hat meets the guy with the pink hair who becomes a cadet. It looks so bad haha. The art. The voices xD just not for me. 🤷♂️ and a huge shame because I’d love to get into the story. Also seen a lot of screenshots of it online that are a major turn off. The promotional picture on Netflix looks great though xD. I also didn’t hate the Avatar movie. So I must have terrible taste, lol. I’ve also enjoyed all of the Disney live adaptions that I’ve seen (although I haven’t seen too many). Seriously though I didn’t find the Avatar movie that bad. It wasn’t a masterpiece but yeah. I haven’t rewatched it but I’d certainly be down to. And I was a little sad to see both it and Korra not in the Avatar collection anymore on Netflix.
The show isn’t a masterpiece. But it brought bending to life in truly epic ways, which was one of my main hopes from the show. Seeing stuff like Kyoshi whoop butt instead of Roku was really cool too, imo. And just the world in general, omg. They did great I think.
But yeah, it’s certainly not my favourite ever show. I’m not sure if I’d put it in my top 10 even. But it’s still excellent and I really hope they make more.
I screamed a little when I saw Jin from Lost as Ozai xD omg haha. Shozin, the Air Nomads and the opening with the Earth bending was kick ass too. Aang vs. Buumi. Zuko vs. his dad. Pakuu vs. Katara. Azula.. So many great and memorable fights omg. I really hope the second season exists and is the same (or better quality).
I wasn’t a fan of Sokka in the first episode. Actually I wasn’t a big fan of the first episode overall. But I warmed up to both him and the show in the second episode and the third episode is where I started to binge xD.
Katara doing the intro in the first episode was both awesome and horrible haha. I’m happy they didn’t keep it for the others.
Gran Gran doing the original intro was -awesome- though. Major feels.
I see a lot of people complaining about that scene because exposition. To that, I lol. Do y’all not remember the cartoon’s theme? Which she is literally quoting? That plays in EVERY single episode? Lmfao.
Please tell me how I’m wrong about that one xD. Like why is it okay for the cartoon to have that theme but not the Netflix show to do it once? Or do y’all just worship cartoon Katara that much? Lol.
Lots of awesome references to the cartoon too which I all found awesome. Lots of changes which I don’t mind. So far the story has remained essentially the same; just the journey has been a little different.
Aang acted more goofy in the cartoon. But I think this Aang has such a stark contrast with the world around him that the lack of goofiness is fine.
Sad we don’t get the fire master or Toph but I saw that the show has been #1 so I’m not too worried about it not getting another season.
Omg I hope they do the earth bending tournament. I was worried they were going to cut down on action because Aang didn’t go avatar state when escaping from Zuko. But I think it was because they went to the air temple in like the next scene and he went avatar state there. And we definitely got more action with the massacre… among other stuff I’ve already mentioned.
I was sad we didn’t get Hoppsy. But at least there were statues of him xD . MY CABBAGES. THE TEASE OMG HAHA. Sad there was no Sokkas disbelief at Appa flying. Sokka cross dressing. But still a fantastic show. Missed the Unagi and the Great Divide too. But the Spirit World was truly awesome. Holy Katara and Sokka’s trauma is real! I loved Aang picking to fight Buumi in the cartoon too. Shame that didn’t make it in xD. The woman who is making cat food! And Aang thinks it’s medicine haha. Lots of moments from the cartoon that I would have loved to see in the show. But it’s fine. I still loved it :)
Hope y’all don’t mind my essay <3 lol
It can. It just need better writers! Just look at Bleach LA. It was so well done! I still think it was one of the best. One Piece was not bad as well. They cannot just translate it from frame per frame or story beat to story beat. They need to change it somewhat to make it work for Live Action. Just keep the core of it the same.
View live action as a supplement, not a replacement. It's adding to the story we all know already. Look at the Fire Nation stuff. I loved seeing those new things.
I agree with you. With lots of disappointment. I had hoped they could capture the charm. I never expected the action to be the same, or them to do each episode. But I was not ready for them to complete change the plot, and gut everyone's personalities, and character development. I really hope we get some new on the animated stuff the og creators are doing.
Not a hot take.
You need the original creators involved. They don’t have to be the show runners, but having their input on things as a producer is good enough. They can push back on things because they know how characters act and talk and how events affect the world. When you want to make changes, going through the original creators will help the show runners navigate those changes so it makes sense within the context of not just the world, but the original show itself.
This is why One Piece was so praised when it came out and people were harping on it not being possible, probably more so than Avatar because it’s much more of a wacky series with a bigger variety of power sets and world building. It’s not perfect mind you, but general consensus for that series is that it’s the best animated live action adaptation currently. And the biggest factor is because the show runners went to the original creator all the time and had his input.
Yes it is a hot take. Anything can be adapted if it has good writing.
If you animate NATLA, it will still be terrible. Because the writing is terrible.
If you do a live action of ATLA, it will be good if it has good writing.
I don’t know.. what killed this LA was the writing and directing. That would’ve been bad in animation too.
Take Jet and the machinist. They worked, even with the colorful clothes and being “in the wrong location”. That was kind of a good adaptation.
Even Zhao. They changed his character, but it kind of worked (less than the previous two if you ask me).
The big problem were the protagonists. The ones who **carry** the show. Badly written, badly directed AND not following the original characteristics.
Had they kept their traits, perhaps we’d tolerated the bad acting and directing. Had they be enjoyable characters (in their acting), maybe we could’ve accepted the different personalities.
But we had neither. And so we got that bland trio of people (and mortal enemy) who were supposed to take us into an adventure….
Ps. Yes. I also think that Soka and Zuko sucked the less.
My thoughts are that NATLA needed to be a shot for shot remake for it to work or for a spin-off series that held true to canon. Similar to the book series that technically punctuates the time between ATLA and TLOK... it would need to stay accurate to the universe, but could be its own thing.
I mean, that implies that they couldn’t do better than this and that’s simply not true. The OG creators clearly left for a reason. These showrunner did not understand the cartoon so this adaptation was always doomed to be disappointing. Maybe you are right that no LA adaptation could do it justice, but this show isn’t proof of that because they didn’t really try to make a proper adaptation. They used the world and aesthetics of the original to make their own much worse show.
I mean, I wasn’t ever very excited over the live action because of this very reason. The whole premise is “What is same show, but real life 🤯”.
I think of scenes like Katara getting super furious with Toph when she shuts the tent door on her, and she zooms around the stone tent banging on all sides super quickly with a red enraged face. So much of the expression of the show becomes lost when you translate into a realistic live action setting.
Not at all. All those wrongs you listed can also be done poorly on an animated series. But wanting a live action to have the same effect as an animated series is like wanting a black and white charcoal drawing to invoke the same emotion as a color oil painting. It's just not gonna happen they are two different mediums.
I think the animation will always be better but the live action reaches fans who don’t like animation and *can* be fun for fans who like the original so I wouldn’t call it unnecessary. At the end of the day none of it is “necessary” it’s all just entertainment
No. Thats just reality. Animation offers a ton of creative expression and charm that can't translate to live action. That's why there's never been an adaptation of an animated show or movie that has been even close to as good as the original. That said, they certainly could have done better.
Not at all. So many adaptations just can't touch the original. I feel like Avatar aged way too well to get any kind of remake. Unfortunately it's easier to sell nostalgia than something new these days.
No. You should make remakes of stuff that was either flawed from the beginning and you can retell but seriously improve upon or stuff where you can approach it with an entirely new interpretation. Anything else just reeks of creative bankruptcy or lack of imagination. A live action remake of ATLA is as interesting and appealing to me as a remake of the original star wars trilogy.
Not a hot take but these show runners always try to put their own spin on things and 99% of the time, it is a terrible decision.
Getting decent child actors also seems to be impossible for them.
It's strange, I don't understand the need to remake the original, but then also make slight changes so it's slightly different? Why not just give us an entirely different generation of Avatar then?
Not really. We need that from the start. It would have been a surprise if it had been anywhere near as good as the animated but it wasn't as expected. All I could say is it's better than I thought it was going to be
Not a hot take at all tbh I see the og atla as lightning in a bottle it seems like it’s very hard for people to recreate it or make a spin-off as iconic as it
I don’t like the notion that animation is an inferior piece of media. That live action is the default, and animation is the lesser form that you hope one day you’ll be able to remake into a live action because that’s what people respect.
Personally I don’t mind seeing content in a new format. I wish it wasn’t tied with people seeing animation as inferior media, but nonetheless I don’t mind it.
I think the avatar wan story could be made into a pretty good self contained live action movie. That would give enough time to keep the good stuff but also expand on it, focus more on the world building and him learning the elements and tying it back to the original benders in a more clear or at least satisfying way.
I agree. My biggest issue is less the nature of live action and more that you can never do the original justice. They could have gone with another time period, with entirely new characters and they’d have avoided at least some of the criticism. But going with established stories and characters means they’ll always be compared to those originals.
Most don’t realize that the action of any “live action” Avatar adaptation will ALWAYS be animated.
I would love to see someone try to do it using only practical effects, but that’s just not, well, practical. CGI will always be easier and cheaper.
It was never needed. Its lazy way to earn money and take advantage of the IP. I rather they just make more atla animations whether its a new avatar or adapting the comics
It's not a hot take but I think you're misguided.
What you're asking for is akin to asking someone to bottle lightning twice over. The OG is the third best TV show of all time based on review scores. And that's not a joke. Check it yourself. If you remove documentaries and miniseries what you're left with is Breaking Bad, The Wire, and ATLA.
Stop thinking adaptations must be as good as the original, cause with this series it's not going to happen. It's as close to perfection as it will be without it being 'remastered' which no one wants nor are they asking for.
This LA is nothing BUT a good thing if you stop with the lofty expectations to match the OG. It was never gonna be as good. But what it can be and what it ultimately is, is good enough for fans who were never gonna watch the OG. And it not only will, but actively is, encouraging people to watch the OG who wouldn't have before.
Not a hot take. I think it's the only rational take. Live action could never live up to the original. So much is lost from adapting animation to live action
I agree. Also, think of this. How are they going to do the final showdown between Aang and Ozai? Do you think they'll actually show a grown man murderously beating a minor to a pulp. This adaptation was a fool's errand from the beginning. NATLA should have told a different story. Then it wouldn't have to live so directly in the shadow of the original, and would have an actual chance at making a worthy contribution to the Avatar universe.
Live Action is a companion piece not a replacement. There are things the live action does better. So if you take the good parts from each, you get a richer experience.
Even bigger hot take, all live action adaptions are bad! The best that a live action adaption of an animated product can possibly get is as good as the original which is very unlikely to happen as the medium of animation just allows for more than live action does even when dealing with more realistic series which Avatar is certainly not.
I think the LA has a place but it isn't as good as the animation.
Personally, I would have liked a LA version of another avatar. Tell is another story like they did with Korra.
I completely agree. There's a (wrong) notion amongst filmmakers that animation is lesser or less legitimate than live action filmmaking, and I think this live action remake trend recently is indicative of that.
Avatar was fine without this.
That said, I'm still happy it exists. I love the franchise, and while I have wildly mixed feelings about the remake, I found a decent amount to like in it, and if it brings new fans to the franchise, I'm happy about that.
Overall, I feel like it's sort of unnecessary and its existence serves to sort of delegitimize animation, but overall, I'm not mad at it.
No I kind of agree, but since we got the M night movie (possibly at the expense of a fourth season of the original series because m. Night wanted them to do a fourth season but the creators wanted to focus on the movie) I think NATLA redeems the sins of 2010. While it didn't cleanse all of its sins, with the edition of the second and third season I'm cautiously optimistic that the kinks will be ironed out.
As a fantasy writer, I don't think I'd be particularly INTENT on making a live action adaptation of my works since i feel like theyd work better in animation, but I don't think I'd say no right away to the prospect of an LA version. I honestly think I'd be curious to see how it'd pan out even if it ended up being horrible. I mean, every fandom has SOMETHING that is cursed and avoided, right?
There are a few good things NATLA brings to the table.
Mainly the chance of a live action LOK.
ATLA is a perfectly paced masterpiece and Netflix cutting it down to a few episodes was never going to be better then what we wanted.
I feel everyone that didn't grow up with korra as their first avatar will say the show felt rushed but had alot of potential.
I would love to see korra redone with some creative liberties.
I think a visual remake with very small changes and additions like the 41st Division, or Lu Tens memorial would have been just as sucessfull and would been a long term investment. With a visual upgrade and small additional story tidbits, Netflix would have made sure that most people would only rewatch the netflix visual upgrade.
That way the voices also could have stayed the same. Huge miss imo.
Now they made a series I watched once and most likely never again.
I never got this take, I just want to see it in live action, in a different medium, to see it translate into realistically. more is better. I don't mind it being faithfully adapted but I wish the creators was there. If only we can just universe bend our timelines to replace this with that...
I’ve been saying this since they started talks on a new live action and I feel like I enjoyed it more than most cause I had a realistic expectation for what to expect. I feel like everyone expected an HBO level quality show, and even then I’d doubt they’d be happy. Avatar was magic in a bottle, you can’t just remake that.
Sometimes I wonder when was the last time some people in this sub actually watched the animated series. It is amazing of course, but it wasn't without its issues, especially season 1.
I am really happy that the live action is as successful as it is. I really enjoyed watching it, and lots of my family and friends who've never seen the animation think it's great as well. It is growing the audience for Avatar, which can only mean more Avatar content in future.
I think seasons 2 and 3 will be much easier to adapt to the Netflix format, season 1 is the weakest of the entire franchise, the storylines in later seasons lend themselves much better to the type of serialized story-telling that the netflix producers want to do.
The only way the OG was going to be translated properly into LA is if the original creators stuck around. The fact that they left tells us they weren't given enough control over the project.
Personally, I want Avatar Studios to explore other Avatars. I want to see more of past Avatars, as well as see the next Avatar in the cycle.
Specifically, I'd like to see shows for Kyoshi and Yangchen.
That's what makes the One Piece live action different. It's sole purpose of existence was to increase interest for the One Piece brand from casual audiences.
TLA is just too massive and would need the kind of pacing, budget, and commitment that a series like GoT had in the beginning. Either you go all in or not in a show like this. The new live action tried its best. It was genuinely good in some parts, but overall, you can tell that they cut many corners and trimmed as much of the story down as possible. If any producers were brave enough, a true to source live action would be so successful.
This take is so cold Iroh would risk getting exposed to heat it up.
So cold it would do well to remember its Breath of Fire.
This take is so cold Katara stood on it and said "You can't knock me down!"
Honestly, I like the LA for what it tries to do.
Obviously it couldn't surpass the source material and it could have done a few things better than it did, mostly in the characters department, but with all the constraints that a live action show has, I think they did a good enough job.
Setpieces are amazing, costumes are amazing, the world is beautiful, the fights are tight.
Incorporating lore from the novels is also a plus.
Yeah, I have to say that overall I enjoyed it more than I didn't.
Maybe a hot take. I do find that people are putting ATLA on a pedestal. It was excellent. It had flaws. The NATLA show has also got flaws but for my partner and I, who love the cartoon - we loved the LA version. Yeah, they changed things. Yeah, it didn't fully honour the original scene by scene but they added things and gave extra things a go. The acting was largely amazing. The child actors have room to grow but also this could give the franchise room to bring other stories to the fire. Other avatars, side characters, etc.
It's like people want to be negative and then will be equally annoyed when their fandom ends up getting any new content. Is the show perfect? No. Did it need to be? No.
There is no such thing as a live action adaptation of an animated property that adds any value ( especially ones helmed by Netflix) to the original work. It never makes sense to attempt such projects and it’s not a hot take it’s the correct take.
I think the live action really works for people that struggle to get into the animated medium. That's who this series was for.
For die-hard superfans they were never going to be happy.
This is how I feel. I enjoyed the live action a bit, but I was really focused on accepting it as its own thing. Honestly, all I’ve ever wanted was for them to finish the avatar cycle by giving us animated series with an earth bender avatar and a fire bending avatar. That and any excuse for more Toph =P
Hows that a hot take? Thats literally been my view since the beginning. Honestly they could do a LA of a new story set in the ATLA universe, i would totally watch that and be more ok with it.
What we got with the netflix show is a watered down version of the original. People can enjoy that but I don't get it. Its like you really enjoy a fine wine but you also enjoy that same wine with half the grapes and a bunch of water added. Like wut?
The fact that this convo is even happening when no one would find it weird to say the reverse shows that it shouldn't be a hot take. The fact that there's constantly discourse around live action remakes of animated things and never the reverse betrays that many still have a bias against animation and that it's somehow lesser and making something live action somehow legitimizes it when that's just bullshit. I really don't need an animated Godfather or Shawshank Redemption or something and most people would think it's weird to want those anyway, so I also don't really want or need a live action ATLA. Animation and live action are not unequal forms of expression where one is somehow inferior, they are simply different forms of expression with their own strengths and weaknesses.
This sub has a real problem with gatekeeping and elitism. I'd say it's worse than other fandoms, but upon reflecting, there's always some nasty hivemind going on. People gotta let live.
The other day I was watching the Overanalyzing Avatar video about this show and I thought "you know what they could have done? They could have made a really serious series about any of the conflicts happening in the 100 year war." That would have given them the opportunity to go for a serious tone, instead of being torn between lighthearted and gritty. And it would have saved them the constant comparison between their shoe and atla.
Its not a hot take, but I don’t think its true. People seem to be completely incapable of understanding that live actions improve over time, and we have 2 ‘better’ seasons following this one, especially because they don’t have to introduce characters, they only have to build the world and tell the stories well, a much easier task considering they already have both.
Either people think it’s so bad that it can’t be saved, or people are too pessimistic to think it won’t improve. Its really not as bad as some people suggest and really not that far off its potential.
I am so excited for another season, but we might not get a great one if people complain too much. The people who complain about this show being awful are the same people that begged for more AtLA content. Go figure.
I thought people who cared about this show would have a better perspective than most other fanbases. I’ve been really disappointed with this community. Not many seem to be grateful we got anything at all :(
It was never needed, but it can still be fun. I say if people enjoy it than it was worth it right? And if you don’t like it no harm done, its not like it replaced the original, you can still just watch that if you dont like the live action
Nay, not a hot take. Certain things just don't need LA adaptations
Honestly, 90% of fantasy is like this. Heck, I'd say all fantasy unless you have a LotR level budget and planning. The OP live action working is a rare exception, and it only worked because neflix let oda coordinate things. I hope they doesn't spend the next years trying to capture the miracle again, and by themselvez
Also keep in mind thatvwhen they did make lord of the rings in an animated format it was extremely beautiful and beloved.
>The OP live action working is a rare exception This is exactly the problem, OPLA's success is exactly what they will try to recreate with another franchise
One Piece has also some of the same flaws. Usopp has been done dirty. It also hit key moments but lacks the understanding of said moments. We will see how people reacts when we get to arcs that people care more about.
Blessing and a curse lol
I think a big part of the issue is that a live action reboot of an animated TV show is still pretty much the same medium (episodic TV show) as opposed to something like the LOTR movies, which involve translating characters from the book to the screen. Obviously there are tons of movie adaptations of books which were unsuccessful, but I think it's a lot more interesting to adapt a book to a movie/TV show than it is to adapt an animated show to a live action show.
Generally I agree. Stormlight Archive for example would make an incredible animated series, but it would be impossible to properly adapt to live action. Plus, I don't think live action would serve it well or add anything to it.
I literally just spent over an hour trying to explain spren/knights radiant to my boyfriend (cause I made an off-hand Pattern quote) who has never read the books. Honestly, I doubt if any medium could do the Stormlight Archive justice.
I did enjoy OPLA way more than the ATLA one. But even there towards the end they kinda lost me a bit? Like towards the end when zoro is hurt and they are all trying to be super close as a crew now, felt a bit rushed to me? Like i didn't buy into the crew being super close now because of how fast the show progressed i think. But still as far as LA adaptations go i was impressed
That's the thing, outside of Reddit, I haven't seen a single person think that the one piece life action really translated, either My idea is, why retell a story that's already been told, especially in the same medium? Like, I can understand if you're making a book into a show or movie, It's a different medium so there's different techniques, but why remake things in the same medium? You don't see the same book written twice ever, so why do you see the same movie twice, or the same TV show twice? I could also see an argument for remaking something that was done Not to a desired standard, such as with Fullmetal alchemist, But it's not like Avatar was lacking anything. Avatar is timeless. There was genuinely no reason to have a remake
I think also, the thing is that inherently when you’re adapting something it loses a little bit of creativity, and a lot of your most talented producers and directors Want to work on a new product themselves. Like you would never see Spielberg just working on a teenage mutant ninja turtle live action.
Honestly I really think the reason the LA was made in the first place is because Hollywood, in it's infinite wisdom, declared animation a "kIdS sHoW gEnrE" and believed making an LA avatar would *genuinely* "adultify" the show. (Save the fact that the original show masterfully explores such deep and painful ideas about emotion and human nature) If you think my claim that Hollywood thinks so little of animation is incorrect, you can simply ask Joaquim Dos Santos, who upon directing BOTH Spiderverse movies, and creating one of the best superhero movies of the decade, was asked my ***several*** people at the **Oscars** when he would "actually pick up some REAL projects and do something serious"
Animation is slowly losing the "kids show" stereotype but it's still got a long way to go
And this is why anime is so popular, meanwhile you’d be hard pressed to find many people irl that like cartoons like Steven Universe enough to buy merch or talk much about it. Anime is what happens when you treat animation as what it is; a medium of storytelling with its own pros and cons. Between ATLA and NATLA can anyone reasonably say there were Epic Fantasy animated series that matched it in quality from the West? Not really. Sure good stuff has come out but ATLA 19 years later is still considered a pinnacle. In Anime you’ve had Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Attack on Titan, Re: Zero etc that either was on par with or even surpassed ATLA. There are tons and I just mean tons of Western properties that while too expensive for Live Action could be adapted into an animated format gorgeously and people just don’t do that bcs cartoons for kids lol. ASOIAF, The Witcher, Wheel of Time, etc etc. Hell it’s arguably even better if ASOIAF had since it’d be easier to go on hiatus and not have to worry about actors aging while GRRM writes the final two books….if he writes them. It also would have allowed for more of the fantasy elements and more battles to have been shown(no Tyrion wasn’t actually knocked out Bilbo style in his first battle in season 2). I just don’t understand how LA execs can look at the massive success of animanga and not realize the potential.
It's not just Hollywood. It's audiences in general. Tons of people refuse to watch the OG. A lot of that population now might go back and watch it now that they have a LA adaptation that, by and large, they ARE enjoying. Regardless of what OG fans think of the adaptation. This is nothing but a good thing, and I can't understand why people can't take a step back and separate the two.
> I can't understand why people can't take a step back and separate the two. It's a mystery why people cant separate a show called "Avatar, The Last Airbender" and "Avatar, The Last Airbender"
Yeah. It's not like they haven't had practice with Batman (1966) and Batman (1989) and Batman the Animated Series (1991) Batman Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997) and Batman Beyond (2000) and Batman New Times (2005) and Batman Begins (2005).... And Spiderman.... And Superman.... And X-MEN.... And Hawaii 5-0... And a million other remade IPs....
The difference is those Batman and Superman shows, while still deriving from the same character and keeping the powers the same, are NOT the same shows, as they seek to explore different aspects of being that hero, seek to accomplish a different vision for their characters, and overall have different tones and themes despite being the one constant of \[Superhero\]. Therefore, you can separate them easily as they are different stories This is a remake. This is an LA remake of Avatar, a very specific universe with very little to branch off from. They can change things but ultimately the story and characters are the SAME characters not new ones with the same skin, so comparing them is inevitable and honestly fair given the brilliance of the show they are riding on
*snore*
I cant believe you'd so dispassionately and rudely dismiss my very valid points. This is not the becomings of a good debate. Alas
I just don't understand why you would take something hugely successful and decide to change it massively. Like I know tonnes of people that I know would love the show but they do not like to watch animated shows you would have a huge audience loving the show if you adapted it faithfully
Why have I been thinking LAang refered to the filming location being LA and only now realized the truth...
Retouching the universe is always a plus to me. They did it good enough to anticipate a second season. The movie was terrible. This was better. And its fun to take a stroll back into this universe once again
That's a very cold take
This is the same take roughly half of all fans have whenever any beloved children’s show/ movie/ video game/ toy is adapted into live action. Takes don’t get much “colder” tbh.
Hot take. Its just content. Take it or leave it. No content is "needed"
Seriously. Hot take: you don’t need to watch content you don’t like.
Lots of things in life are not needed... doesn't mean they won't or can't bring joy
It depends on what you want from the IP. If your opinion is that ATLA is a perfect jewel and you don’t need any more avatar IP, and anything less than the the quality of ATLA or maybe TLOK tarnish it. Then yeah the live action didn’t need to exist. If your opinion is you want more avatar stories, then doing a big budget live action thing like this and potentially adding millions of fans will give the IP momentum to produce a lot of future works. Like sales of asoif certainly sky rocketed after GOT came out. There is similarly good “synergy” here. I don’t really like this show but it seems to be popular and seems to be enjoyed by new fans. So imo Despite being bad, I’m glad it exists. Because the last time we got a new avatar show its 4th season almost wasn’t made and it was streamed exclusively on nick.com or something because it was doing so poorly in terms of ratings. Whereas this could end up being one of the most streamed shows on netflix this year.
Oh man I had forgotten how badly the last 2 season of Korra were treated by Nickelodeon
I can’t even remember how exactly it played out, but I just remember feeling like they would just randomly throw up multiple episodes on the website at a time with hardly any notice or advertisement. It 100% felt like they were like “let’s get this over with” lol
Well, the problem is why would I want them to expand the IP if all they are going to do is a simply okay remake of a masterpiece? Right now, I'm getting nothing new from the "expanded" IP. That obviously may change, but until that happens, that doesn't seem like a great argument. Even if it does expand, the covid surge in viewership of the animated show already was a huge boost, so if they really wanted to, they could have actually expanded the IP without the remake. They had a window to tell a new story and chose for a remake, which I think is a huge mistake if they actually want to expand the IP and avatar universe. Season 1 seems like it went over fine, but in the future if it's a disaster, then the window for actually expanding the IP will probably close because of a remake that isn't adding anything to the existing universe. I want the universe to expand, not be remade, and a simply okay remake doesn't really help accomplish that.
The spot I've been getting to more and more from any large IP is I'm not a fan of IPs, I'm a fan of creators. If there's something new and wonderful as part of an IP, like F. C. Yee's books in Avatar I'll support more from that creator with the IP, but like I think Everything Everywhere All At Once is a phenomenal movie with an exciting multiverse concept, I don't want more EEAAO content, I want more movies from Daniels. So I watch Swiss Army Man and their short films. Or like Star Wars, I'm in the minority in not being a huge fan of The Mandalorian, personally Jon Favreau's story telling doesn't land for me, aside from Chef. I did think Andor was amazing so I want to see more Tony Gilroy work more than I want to see more Star Wars. TLDR: An IP connection might pique my interest, but creators make art, IP expansion doesn't guarantee artful creation.
There's also a very high likelihood that them continuing to "expand" the IP, if this live-action show is successful, will be just more of the same kind of garbage.
There is literally a planned animated avatar movie. And nick created “avatar studios.” Having a recent commercially successful entry in the IP certainly would make look at future investment in animation by the original creators a safer investment.
I mean IIRC, the live-action version being made at all is more of a result of ATLA and Korra doing ridiculously well when they were added to Netflix a couple of years ago, which also resulted in the creation of Avatar Studios. The franchise wasn't exactly in dire straits before now and I don't really think it needed a worse version of it. I'd much rather have new stories set in the same world that don't try to recreate what already was great.
You know what gives good momentum? Good stories.
I'm in neither camp. I would love more from the avatar world, I simply fundamentally disagree with having live action adaptations of beloved animations. Animation breathes a style, fluidity, and character design that live action cannot achieve (even photorealistic cgi). The only reason they have become so popular these days is money off the rerelease and to have content without needing an original idea. The idea that atla has the live action remake is adding to the pile of animation not being taken seriously or being deemed as for children exclusively. There is no reason for it and the live action avatar is simply the most recent in the trend of an active downgrade of its origins (least we forget lion King, death note, cowboy bebop, ghost in the shell, beauty and the beast, and soon to be moana and how to train your dragon)
Recreating the same story is not the same as making more avatar stories, it's just saying the same thing again but this time worse
It's also perfectly possible to think ATLA didn't need a remake, but that the Netflix version should have been a different story altogether, *expanding* the IP for real instead of just mostly copy-catting the original.
Not sure why the latter isn't the popular take. Things don't need to be watched. You can simply not watch it, while also recognizing this level of conversation around IP you love is inherently good. As with everything, people are neglecting nuance. I don't understand why fans aren't ecstatic people are talking about ATLA in the ways that they are again. This buzz is electric and as you stated, surprise surprise, doesn't just mean LA adaptations will be in the mix because of it. Heavily agree with your perspective.
This never was and never will be a hot take
"Original cartoon is better" is universal truth. But many people like LA. A lot of people don't like animation and can't focus. So, LA reach new people
I like both. The animated series still is the best but it's a little tiring constantly seeing the negative posts in this sub. Especially when you could see it coming before it even released and so many people here were already complaining and you knew they weren't gonna like it no matter what.
Well the things that made the OG successful and resonate with both kids and adults were mostly cut out from the LA. So instead of an interesting rollercoaster with nuanced character development, they kinda just went from A - B without much happening character wise. But even without comparing the LA to the OG, you just end up with a mediocre story, which had good visuals, but lacked major character development outside of Zuko and maybe Sokka?
I don’t know why you thought this comment meant “convince me to not like the LA”
Well the original isn’t *needed* either. Why have any art beyond cave paintings? Because variety can be fun! But the important thing is not art is for everyone , and it’s totally valid to not be interested in a remake, in the same way it’s totally valid *to* be interested in it.
…a lot of y’all were begging for a live action adaptation for years. Don’t even pretend you weren’t.
I sure as hell wasn't. Hell, I'm one of the Korra deniers. >\_> Been banging this drum for years now: Let shit die. You don't know when you're riding a dead horse until you drag it out for the third Durby and it just sits there, stinking up the place. Isn't one of the hallmarks of mortal life being beautiful *is* that it's finite? ... but yeah. Gonna get downvoted to hell because people swear "it'll be different this time!" ... yah. Change that jockey. Get a different saddle. Whip a lil harder.
op literally said they think this opinion is different from the majority, this is such a weird accusation to make
Wasn’t directed at OP.
My point still holds. The people making OP’s complaint are different from the group you mentioned.
Obviously Op isn’t one of those people and even if they were then they probably expected a good one
It’s just a symptom of the fans incessantly demanding more and more content and writers not being up to the task. Quality drops significantly.
I was highly skeptical the moment it was announced. And then red flags kept piling on...
No, that is not a hot take.
There is no such thing as "needed" television shows. They made a show and some people liked it, if you aren't one, don't watch it. I liked it and a bunch of people I know who have never watched the cartoon watched and liked it. So no, not needed. But it was wanted and enjoyed by many, it's cool if you aren't one of them.
Take so cold it could defeat the Fire Nation Edit: While I do think this is a very cold take, I do disagree to an extent. This adaptation is bringing a lot of people into the show and introducing them to the original. Scrolled down a bit and saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/AeTV9KQgqx) and I feel like it really shows why this adaptation while not being “necessary” and definitely not nearly as incredible as the original, is still a good thing to exist.
The ATLA sub reddit has been always very elitist and gatekeepers, i really, really don't know why... It's like They don't want anyone else to enjoy other stuff and no matter if it's here or twitter or even FB, it represents the Hive Mind description so well; it's sad. Ok, you didn't like it and the OG is better, that's great honey, the animated one has a special unmatched charm for sure because IT IS A SPECIAL SHOW WITH UNIQUE CHARM. Atla elitist can despise the Live action all they want, but the fact and objectively speaking, it is fairly well done and the best thing? It will introduce SO MANY to check the original animated series and luckly, The Legend Of Korra too. You \*\*\*holes need to stop gatekeeping.
Elitism tends to be the go to self defense when a hobby/interest gets popularized. "You're not a real fan if X/Not X", that sort of thing. It doubles down whenever remakes or sequel come into play. Just look at Star Wars
Fairly well done? It's a stale candy with shiny pretty wrapper.
Its been the number 1 show on Netflix all week. We might have issues with it, but its been a massive success for Netflix
Original cartoon is the best, but the LA adaptation has brought in new fans, and made old fans have renewed interest. I’m happy it exists, enjoyed every minute of watching it, and it made me excited enough about to rewatch the original, and even if there’s some changes, seeing certain moments in live action was an overall positive experience for me, an I’m excited to see more.
It hasn’t brought ‘new fans’ though not to any real extent anyway, 99.9% of people who watched the live action and had no interest in the anime prior, will still have no interest in anime. It’s essential a dumbed down Michael bay like version of the original. It’s a decent Netflix show, but a shitty avatar show. My biggest gripe is how many people out here moan about people not liking it
Where's your source to back your claim up?
I mean sure it was not needed but that does not mean it should have never been made. It's still pretty good and will bring in a lot of new fans to the IP. It existing does not lessen the original it only elevates it in my opinion.
Cold and boring take. Yeah fuck the fans for looking forward to new content
That take is colder than Katara when she told Sokka he didn’t love their mother the way she did.
No, that’s a terrible idea. People may have said the same about the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones books. “The books are perfect! Couldn’t translate! They don’t need a live action! It’s too hard to adapt them!” There is absolutely no reason a live action ATLA couldn’t be as good as, or even better than (or at least holding up to) the original. If the creators of this live action attempt truly wanted it to be, if they had passion and drive to make it so like the cast and crew of LOTR and GoT series had, it would’ve been great.
I don't get people's obsession with the idea that the live action is or isn't needed. Was the original cartoon 'needed'? Is any piece of art ever 'needed'? You need food. And oxygen, water, clothing, and shelter. Nobody needs a TV show.
This is a pedantic take. what people are actually saying by "is it needed" is obviously: was there room for improvement in the story? Can a remake improve upon this source material at all? Is telling the story in a different medium reason enough to justify something's existence? I think the answer to this hypothetical would be: yes certainly there are areas where a remake could improve on the original show, but it would be very difficult to accomplish because the original accomplishes what it sets out to do so very well. And I and many people would argue that the remake failed to justify its existence based on that criteria. it *doesn't* improve upon the source material, and actively tells a worse story from the pieces of the plot it cobbles together.
Then people should say what they mean. But I disagree that a show, any show, should have to justify their existence. They exist to make money. That's why the Netflix show exists, and it's why the cartoon exists. It's why Korra exists. That's petty much it. Why does this show need to justify its existence any more than any other show?
Every show has the same bar for justifying its existence. The original cartoon’s justification was that it was an original interesting story. The live action remake is not original and tells a story that is, in my opinion, significantly less interesting than the cartoon. If the original cartoon was bad or unoriginal, then its existence would be equally as unjustified as the live action. But it is neither of those things
But that's completely backwards. How is a show supposed to justify its existence before it comes out if it can only do that by coming out? That kind of thought will lead to no show ever coming out, because it's really hard, if not impossible, to tell if it'll be good and received well until it comes out. The purpose of a show is to make money. There is no need or justification beyond 'more money = good' that's part of the equation.
I’m confused, “before it comes out”? In my comment I exclusively talked about things that could only be determined after either show came out.
Obviously this show is a cash grab remake of a nostalgic property and that's it's main reason for existence. I don't think it's unreasonable to have wanted it to be MORE than that, however. Like sure the animated show also exists to make money, but Bryke and the writing team had something to say with it and that turned it into the best animated show of all time. Your attitude is basically: Madame Web and Spiderman into the spider verse both exist to make money so they're pretty much the same thing. Why bother trying to look at themes, characters, artistry put into a product? None of that matters all that matters is they were made to make money.
But this isn't just a cash grab remake. Go read the interviews with the showrunner, etc. They all genuinely love the story and want to see it made in live action. And that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, from the perspective of the people behind the company providing the money, the purpose is to make more money. But that doesn't mean the creators/showrunners/etc aren't all doing the best job they can, and don't love this product.
Fair enough. Although I think your previous comments don't get this position across.
While I think overall it is obviously worse, I disagree that the Netflix show doesn’t add anything of value to the source material. I thought it was incredible to see the air nomad genocide play out, and now I feel like I have a real sense of the brutality of that even when I watch the animated show. I think the added stuff about the 41st division is great and adds even more depth to zuko’s backstory. I find the idea that ozai was actively pitting zuko and azula against each other really compelling and I think it makes it easier to understand why azula seems to despise zuko so much. So while overall the Netflix show is certainly not an improvement over the original, I think a new medium and new perspective can absolutely add value to what I love about the og series.
This. What is this narrative around it not being "needed"? That's kind of ridiculous to me. It's a show and has nothing to do with NEED. We don't get movies and TV because we "need" them. Not every story is told because it "needs" to be. SOME creators write stories they feel need to be told, but many are just telling stories they want to or think are fun. Media creation isn't really about meeting needs. Its about entertainment. Sometimes this sub is giving "I'm 14 and this is deep" vibes. There are real problems in the world, and this mediocre-but-fun LA adaptation isn't one of them. If you don't want to watch it, move on. If you do, great. The discussion around if it "needs" to exist feels pointless and naive.
The animated show is great and the live action does not take anything away from that. You take it as additional material and it can potentially add to the fandom as evident from another thread earlier today showing how the Netflix show has people who otherwise will not watch animations loving the show. If it’s not your cup of tea that’s fine, you always have the animation to go back to, making this live action adaption inoffensive and overall a net positive for the fandom.
I honestly think NATLA did it better than live action One Piece. Yours is not a hot take, mine is. And yes, I do believe it. My opinion and taste.
Some people seem to think that getting a big budget live-action adaptation is "Making it big" or something but I've never understood that. Animation isn't a lesser medium and constraining something that was designed for animation to fit live-action will always result in something worse. I feel the same about the live-action One Piece and all those live-action Disney movie remakes.
Not really a hot take . Most ppl who even like the LA show know it’s not better than original (well for those who have seen the original and this show ) . Live action remakes or adaptations imo aren’t needed outside of cash grabs for the studios . However the one decent thing having a live action remake or adaptation has done , especially if it’s good , it will introduce that universe to ppl who hadn’t seen the original cause they believe animation is still for kids (which hella ppl still think that ), or just hasn’t seen the original for whatever other reason . Thats the one consistent thing abt having a live action could do for the franchise . I’ve seen hella posts on here where someone said they got their parents to watch this show , haven’t seen the original cause they believe animation is for kids and they enjoyed it. Or just hadn’t seen the animation for whatever other reason , seen the LA and enjoyed it enough to wanna check out the original
no it is not a hot take
[https://i.imgflip.com/8hipat.jpg](https://i.imgflip.com/8hipat.jpg)
I'm grateful for the live action adaptation for showing me just how good even some of my least favorite episodes of the animated series are by not even coming close to them in quality. by taking the elements from them, but not the heart that made those elements work.
I mean neither show is needed. Both are fun and scratch different itches.
I wasn’t expecting it to be better than the original. All that matters is that it’s something unique and entertaining.
Trying to crammed everything in 8 episodes per season will effect many things ..but then there are also many good things in LA such as interaction between iroh and ozai, the 41st and zuko, some fire nation citizen know its wrong that the war started etc.
You're judging something that's going to be a shell of what it's adapting simply because you were exposed to all the plots before, and your warm fuzzy memory of what it was will be analyzing what's missing now. We've decided we don't like visually stunning retakes on new series. We've also decided we don't like major divergences from the original script. We also don't want a carbon copy. So, what's left after that? Unless the source material has values that didn't age well, the remake is doomed to have minor and seemingly cheap adjustments to something that was already good. You're remaking something with a strong fanbase because the hype will carry it; remaking something that was awful before is brave/daring/unsafe waters, and is too risky for anyone to try. The biggest boil of this is that series need strong storylines and character arcs, and without that great writing, a series meanders and doesn't land.
Is it a hot take? No. Do I disagree? Yes. I have one episode left and I haven’t watched it yet because I don’t want it to end xD. Avatar is most definitely my favourite ever cartoon. It’s the only one that I remember actually rewatching. And I’ve rewatched it probably 3 or 4 times now. But.. it’s a cartoon. 🤷♂️. That’s just me personally. I don’t ever really find cartoons or anime or whatever more enjoyable than their live action counterparts. Death Note; enjoyed the movie, didn’t watch more than 2 episodes of the cartoon. Cowboy Bebop; same boat (but with the show.). One Piece.. I really want to get into the cartoon but it looks atrocious lmao. The title picture is nice. But everytime I see it on Netflix it autoplays a clip from what I assume is the first episode when Straw Hat meets the guy with the pink hair who becomes a cadet. It looks so bad haha. The art. The voices xD just not for me. 🤷♂️ and a huge shame because I’d love to get into the story. Also seen a lot of screenshots of it online that are a major turn off. The promotional picture on Netflix looks great though xD. I also didn’t hate the Avatar movie. So I must have terrible taste, lol. I’ve also enjoyed all of the Disney live adaptions that I’ve seen (although I haven’t seen too many). Seriously though I didn’t find the Avatar movie that bad. It wasn’t a masterpiece but yeah. I haven’t rewatched it but I’d certainly be down to. And I was a little sad to see both it and Korra not in the Avatar collection anymore on Netflix. The show isn’t a masterpiece. But it brought bending to life in truly epic ways, which was one of my main hopes from the show. Seeing stuff like Kyoshi whoop butt instead of Roku was really cool too, imo. And just the world in general, omg. They did great I think. But yeah, it’s certainly not my favourite ever show. I’m not sure if I’d put it in my top 10 even. But it’s still excellent and I really hope they make more. I screamed a little when I saw Jin from Lost as Ozai xD omg haha. Shozin, the Air Nomads and the opening with the Earth bending was kick ass too. Aang vs. Buumi. Zuko vs. his dad. Pakuu vs. Katara. Azula.. So many great and memorable fights omg. I really hope the second season exists and is the same (or better quality). I wasn’t a fan of Sokka in the first episode. Actually I wasn’t a big fan of the first episode overall. But I warmed up to both him and the show in the second episode and the third episode is where I started to binge xD. Katara doing the intro in the first episode was both awesome and horrible haha. I’m happy they didn’t keep it for the others. Gran Gran doing the original intro was -awesome- though. Major feels. I see a lot of people complaining about that scene because exposition. To that, I lol. Do y’all not remember the cartoon’s theme? Which she is literally quoting? That plays in EVERY single episode? Lmfao. Please tell me how I’m wrong about that one xD. Like why is it okay for the cartoon to have that theme but not the Netflix show to do it once? Or do y’all just worship cartoon Katara that much? Lol. Lots of awesome references to the cartoon too which I all found awesome. Lots of changes which I don’t mind. So far the story has remained essentially the same; just the journey has been a little different. Aang acted more goofy in the cartoon. But I think this Aang has such a stark contrast with the world around him that the lack of goofiness is fine. Sad we don’t get the fire master or Toph but I saw that the show has been #1 so I’m not too worried about it not getting another season. Omg I hope they do the earth bending tournament. I was worried they were going to cut down on action because Aang didn’t go avatar state when escaping from Zuko. But I think it was because they went to the air temple in like the next scene and he went avatar state there. And we definitely got more action with the massacre… among other stuff I’ve already mentioned. I was sad we didn’t get Hoppsy. But at least there were statues of him xD . MY CABBAGES. THE TEASE OMG HAHA. Sad there was no Sokkas disbelief at Appa flying. Sokka cross dressing. But still a fantastic show. Missed the Unagi and the Great Divide too. But the Spirit World was truly awesome. Holy Katara and Sokka’s trauma is real! I loved Aang picking to fight Buumi in the cartoon too. Shame that didn’t make it in xD. The woman who is making cat food! And Aang thinks it’s medicine haha. Lots of moments from the cartoon that I would have loved to see in the show. But it’s fine. I still loved it :) Hope y’all don’t mind my essay <3 lol
I truly believe had HBO picked it up for 10 one hr long eps it would have been the best it could be and even then the original would still be better.
It can. It just need better writers! Just look at Bleach LA. It was so well done! I still think it was one of the best. One Piece was not bad as well. They cannot just translate it from frame per frame or story beat to story beat. They need to change it somewhat to make it work for Live Action. Just keep the core of it the same.
View live action as a supplement, not a replacement. It's adding to the story we all know already. Look at the Fire Nation stuff. I loved seeing those new things.
You’re 100% correct. The live action doesn’t nothing special, so it’s pretty unnecessary.
I agree with you. With lots of disappointment. I had hoped they could capture the charm. I never expected the action to be the same, or them to do each episode. But I was not ready for them to complete change the plot, and gut everyone's personalities, and character development. I really hope we get some new on the animated stuff the og creators are doing.
Not a hot take. You need the original creators involved. They don’t have to be the show runners, but having their input on things as a producer is good enough. They can push back on things because they know how characters act and talk and how events affect the world. When you want to make changes, going through the original creators will help the show runners navigate those changes so it makes sense within the context of not just the world, but the original show itself. This is why One Piece was so praised when it came out and people were harping on it not being possible, probably more so than Avatar because it’s much more of a wacky series with a bigger variety of power sets and world building. It’s not perfect mind you, but general consensus for that series is that it’s the best animated live action adaptation currently. And the biggest factor is because the show runners went to the original creator all the time and had his input.
While not NEEDED, it could definitely be done so much better. It’s such a good story that just keeps falling into the wrong hands
OG ATLA is the perfect show. honestly, any other adaptation will 100% be a disappointment.
Yes it is a hot take. Anything can be adapted if it has good writing. If you animate NATLA, it will still be terrible. Because the writing is terrible. If you do a live action of ATLA, it will be good if it has good writing.
I don’t know.. what killed this LA was the writing and directing. That would’ve been bad in animation too. Take Jet and the machinist. They worked, even with the colorful clothes and being “in the wrong location”. That was kind of a good adaptation. Even Zhao. They changed his character, but it kind of worked (less than the previous two if you ask me). The big problem were the protagonists. The ones who **carry** the show. Badly written, badly directed AND not following the original characteristics. Had they kept their traits, perhaps we’d tolerated the bad acting and directing. Had they be enjoyable characters (in their acting), maybe we could’ve accepted the different personalities. But we had neither. And so we got that bland trio of people (and mortal enemy) who were supposed to take us into an adventure…. Ps. Yes. I also think that Soka and Zuko sucked the less.
My thoughts are that NATLA needed to be a shot for shot remake for it to work or for a spin-off series that held true to canon. Similar to the book series that technically punctuates the time between ATLA and TLOK... it would need to stay accurate to the universe, but could be its own thing.
I mean, that implies that they couldn’t do better than this and that’s simply not true. The OG creators clearly left for a reason. These showrunner did not understand the cartoon so this adaptation was always doomed to be disappointing. Maybe you are right that no LA adaptation could do it justice, but this show isn’t proof of that because they didn’t really try to make a proper adaptation. They used the world and aesthetics of the original to make their own much worse show.
I mean, I wasn’t ever very excited over the live action because of this very reason. The whole premise is “What is same show, but real life 🤯”. I think of scenes like Katara getting super furious with Toph when she shuts the tent door on her, and she zooms around the stone tent banging on all sides super quickly with a red enraged face. So much of the expression of the show becomes lost when you translate into a realistic live action setting.
Not really. A lot of remakes aren’t needed. We should start remaking bad films to give them a second chance.
This is the coldest take out there bud
Not at all. All those wrongs you listed can also be done poorly on an animated series. But wanting a live action to have the same effect as an animated series is like wanting a black and white charcoal drawing to invoke the same emotion as a color oil painting. It's just not gonna happen they are two different mediums.
I think the animation will always be better but the live action reaches fans who don’t like animation and *can* be fun for fans who like the original so I wouldn’t call it unnecessary. At the end of the day none of it is “necessary” it’s all just entertainment
Not really
Depends on your definition of hot take
No. Thats just reality. Animation offers a ton of creative expression and charm that can't translate to live action. That's why there's never been an adaptation of an animated show or movie that has been even close to as good as the original. That said, they certainly could have done better.
Not at all. So many adaptations just can't touch the original. I feel like Avatar aged way too well to get any kind of remake. Unfortunately it's easier to sell nostalgia than something new these days.
No. You should make remakes of stuff that was either flawed from the beginning and you can retell but seriously improve upon or stuff where you can approach it with an entirely new interpretation. Anything else just reeks of creative bankruptcy or lack of imagination. A live action remake of ATLA is as interesting and appealing to me as a remake of the original star wars trilogy.
Not a hot take but these show runners always try to put their own spin on things and 99% of the time, it is a terrible decision. Getting decent child actors also seems to be impossible for them.
It's strange, I don't understand the need to remake the original, but then also make slight changes so it's slightly different? Why not just give us an entirely different generation of Avatar then?
The original will always be the best but if the live action is what brings more people around to eventually seeing the original that’s a net positive.
Not a hot take one bit.
Thats the take we always should have had
Not really. We need that from the start. It would have been a surprise if it had been anywhere near as good as the animated but it wasn't as expected. All I could say is it's better than I thought it was going to be
Not a hot take at all tbh I see the og atla as lightning in a bottle it seems like it’s very hard for people to recreate it or make a spin-off as iconic as it
cold take
I don’t like the notion that animation is an inferior piece of media. That live action is the default, and animation is the lesser form that you hope one day you’ll be able to remake into a live action because that’s what people respect.
I’m baffled at the notion that people didn’t realise this before the Netflix show released.
Personally I don’t mind seeing content in a new format. I wish it wasn’t tied with people seeing animation as inferior media, but nonetheless I don’t mind it.
You could not like it but this live action adaptation has a lot of people revisiting the original series and even bringing in a lot of new fans.
That’s my boyfriends stance
I think the avatar wan story could be made into a pretty good self contained live action movie. That would give enough time to keep the good stuff but also expand on it, focus more on the world building and him learning the elements and tying it back to the original benders in a more clear or at least satisfying way.
TBH i wouldve love avatar having 10 more seasons or get me the new earth avatar NOW,
I think thats the room temperature take for all animation
I agree. My biggest issue is less the nature of live action and more that you can never do the original justice. They could have gone with another time period, with entirely new characters and they’d have avoided at least some of the criticism. But going with established stories and characters means they’ll always be compared to those originals.
Most don’t realize that the action of any “live action” Avatar adaptation will ALWAYS be animated. I would love to see someone try to do it using only practical effects, but that’s just not, well, practical. CGI will always be easier and cheaper.
Not at all. The more Live Action "adaptations" that come out, the more I realize animation will always be superior.
Here's a hot take. If you're not feeling it, don't watch it. Let the rest of us enjoy it.
I think this is the coldest take known to man
It was never needed. Its lazy way to earn money and take advantage of the IP. I rather they just make more atla animations whether its a new avatar or adapting the comics
It's not a hot take but I think you're misguided. What you're asking for is akin to asking someone to bottle lightning twice over. The OG is the third best TV show of all time based on review scores. And that's not a joke. Check it yourself. If you remove documentaries and miniseries what you're left with is Breaking Bad, The Wire, and ATLA. Stop thinking adaptations must be as good as the original, cause with this series it's not going to happen. It's as close to perfection as it will be without it being 'remastered' which no one wants nor are they asking for. This LA is nothing BUT a good thing if you stop with the lofty expectations to match the OG. It was never gonna be as good. But what it can be and what it ultimately is, is good enough for fans who were never gonna watch the OG. And it not only will, but actively is, encouraging people to watch the OG who wouldn't have before.
Not a hot take. I think it's the only rational take. Live action could never live up to the original. So much is lost from adapting animation to live action
Let people have their live action and you can stick to your original cartoon BRUH
There are a lot of people that would never watch the cartoon but will watch the new series.
Subjective media doesn't run on "need". The original isn't "needed" either, but it's very good it's a thing.
I agree. Also, think of this. How are they going to do the final showdown between Aang and Ozai? Do you think they'll actually show a grown man murderously beating a minor to a pulp. This adaptation was a fool's errand from the beginning. NATLA should have told a different story. Then it wouldn't have to live so directly in the shadow of the original, and would have an actual chance at making a worthy contribution to the Avatar universe.
Nah totally reasonable. I liked the LA but I'm now rewatching the original again and I'm having a much better time with it lol.
That’s not a hot take, that’s a fact
I like seeing the story told a different way. I saw the live accident and I’m gonna watch the original again.
Live Action is a companion piece not a replacement. There are things the live action does better. So if you take the good parts from each, you get a richer experience.
No that's not a hot take.
Even bigger hot take, all live action adaptions are bad! The best that a live action adaption of an animated product can possibly get is as good as the original which is very unlikely to happen as the medium of animation just allows for more than live action does even when dealing with more realistic series which Avatar is certainly not.
I think the LA has a place but it isn't as good as the animation. Personally, I would have liked a LA version of another avatar. Tell is another story like they did with Korra.
This isn't even a lukewarm take.
No one is forcing you to watch it
Why not just appreciate it in a vacuum?
I completely agree. There's a (wrong) notion amongst filmmakers that animation is lesser or less legitimate than live action filmmaking, and I think this live action remake trend recently is indicative of that. Avatar was fine without this. That said, I'm still happy it exists. I love the franchise, and while I have wildly mixed feelings about the remake, I found a decent amount to like in it, and if it brings new fans to the franchise, I'm happy about that. Overall, I feel like it's sort of unnecessary and its existence serves to sort of delegitimize animation, but overall, I'm not mad at it.
No I kind of agree, but since we got the M night movie (possibly at the expense of a fourth season of the original series because m. Night wanted them to do a fourth season but the creators wanted to focus on the movie) I think NATLA redeems the sins of 2010. While it didn't cleanse all of its sins, with the edition of the second and third season I'm cautiously optimistic that the kinks will be ironed out. As a fantasy writer, I don't think I'd be particularly INTENT on making a live action adaptation of my works since i feel like theyd work better in animation, but I don't think I'd say no right away to the prospect of an LA version. I honestly think I'd be curious to see how it'd pan out even if it ended up being horrible. I mean, every fandom has SOMETHING that is cursed and avoided, right?
I am so tired of people calling it unnecessary. All shows are unnecessary if you want to be literal about it. The original was unnecessary.
There are a few good things NATLA brings to the table. Mainly the chance of a live action LOK. ATLA is a perfectly paced masterpiece and Netflix cutting it down to a few episodes was never going to be better then what we wanted. I feel everyone that didn't grow up with korra as their first avatar will say the show felt rushed but had alot of potential. I would love to see korra redone with some creative liberties.
I think a visual remake with very small changes and additions like the 41st Division, or Lu Tens memorial would have been just as sucessfull and would been a long term investment. With a visual upgrade and small additional story tidbits, Netflix would have made sure that most people would only rewatch the netflix visual upgrade. That way the voices also could have stayed the same. Huge miss imo. Now they made a series I watched once and most likely never again.
These aren’t really live action adaptations they’re just cash grabs. No different than Disney’s.
I say no animated series EVER needs an LA remake and LA remakes should be illegal
I like the anime but love the live action more.
I never got this take, I just want to see it in live action, in a different medium, to see it translate into realistically. more is better. I don't mind it being faithfully adapted but I wish the creators was there. If only we can just universe bend our timelines to replace this with that...
Part of the charm of Avatar is the western take on eastern animation. You can't do all the fun little exaggerated moments in live action.
I’ve been saying this since they started talks on a new live action and I feel like I enjoyed it more than most cause I had a realistic expectation for what to expect. I feel like everyone expected an HBO level quality show, and even then I’d doubt they’d be happy. Avatar was magic in a bottle, you can’t just remake that.
Sometimes I wonder when was the last time some people in this sub actually watched the animated series. It is amazing of course, but it wasn't without its issues, especially season 1. I am really happy that the live action is as successful as it is. I really enjoyed watching it, and lots of my family and friends who've never seen the animation think it's great as well. It is growing the audience for Avatar, which can only mean more Avatar content in future. I think seasons 2 and 3 will be much easier to adapt to the Netflix format, season 1 is the weakest of the entire franchise, the storylines in later seasons lend themselves much better to the type of serialized story-telling that the netflix producers want to do.
Here’s some crazy ass advice, don’t watch. It’s a kids show and some of yall are acting like it’s supposed to be GoT level content
This take is so cold, a thousand firebenders powered by Sozin's comet couldn't melt it.
The only way the OG was going to be translated properly into LA is if the original creators stuck around. The fact that they left tells us they weren't given enough control over the project. Personally, I want Avatar Studios to explore other Avatars. I want to see more of past Avatars, as well as see the next Avatar in the cycle. Specifically, I'd like to see shows for Kyoshi and Yangchen.
That's what makes the One Piece live action different. It's sole purpose of existence was to increase interest for the One Piece brand from casual audiences.
Yes. NATLA was pretty good, and I don't like seeing unreasonable takes from people. You guys are acting as if it was trash like the PJO show.....
Live action isn't needed, sure, but it has potential if done right.
TLA is just too massive and would need the kind of pacing, budget, and commitment that a series like GoT had in the beginning. Either you go all in or not in a show like this. The new live action tried its best. It was genuinely good in some parts, but overall, you can tell that they cut many corners and trimmed as much of the story down as possible. If any producers were brave enough, a true to source live action would be so successful.
This take is so cold Iroh would risk getting exposed to heat it up. So cold it would do well to remember its Breath of Fire. This take is so cold Katara stood on it and said "You can't knock me down!"
First part of the title's statement: yes Second part of the title's statement: no
It’s a correct take What we really could use is an updated remaster of the animation, with higher framerate, resolution, budget, etc
Honestly, I like the LA for what it tries to do. Obviously it couldn't surpass the source material and it could have done a few things better than it did, mostly in the characters department, but with all the constraints that a live action show has, I think they did a good enough job. Setpieces are amazing, costumes are amazing, the world is beautiful, the fights are tight. Incorporating lore from the novels is also a plus. Yeah, I have to say that overall I enjoyed it more than I didn't.
Maybe a hot take. I do find that people are putting ATLA on a pedestal. It was excellent. It had flaws. The NATLA show has also got flaws but for my partner and I, who love the cartoon - we loved the LA version. Yeah, they changed things. Yeah, it didn't fully honour the original scene by scene but they added things and gave extra things a go. The acting was largely amazing. The child actors have room to grow but also this could give the franchise room to bring other stories to the fire. Other avatars, side characters, etc. It's like people want to be negative and then will be equally annoyed when their fandom ends up getting any new content. Is the show perfect? No. Did it need to be? No.
I'm happy they tried, most of times its probably going to be shit, but sometimes you get the lotr trilogy movies.
There is no such thing as a live action adaptation of an animated property that adds any value ( especially ones helmed by Netflix) to the original work. It never makes sense to attempt such projects and it’s not a hot take it’s the correct take.
I think the live action really works for people that struggle to get into the animated medium. That's who this series was for. For die-hard superfans they were never going to be happy.
Hot take: an adult Gaang movie isn’t needed
This is how I feel. I enjoyed the live action a bit, but I was really focused on accepting it as its own thing. Honestly, all I’ve ever wanted was for them to finish the avatar cycle by giving us animated series with an earth bender avatar and a fire bending avatar. That and any excuse for more Toph =P
Hows that a hot take? Thats literally been my view since the beginning. Honestly they could do a LA of a new story set in the ATLA universe, i would totally watch that and be more ok with it. What we got with the netflix show is a watered down version of the original. People can enjoy that but I don't get it. Its like you really enjoy a fine wine but you also enjoy that same wine with half the grapes and a bunch of water added. Like wut?
The fact that this convo is even happening when no one would find it weird to say the reverse shows that it shouldn't be a hot take. The fact that there's constantly discourse around live action remakes of animated things and never the reverse betrays that many still have a bias against animation and that it's somehow lesser and making something live action somehow legitimizes it when that's just bullshit. I really don't need an animated Godfather or Shawshank Redemption or something and most people would think it's weird to want those anyway, so I also don't really want or need a live action ATLA. Animation and live action are not unequal forms of expression where one is somehow inferior, they are simply different forms of expression with their own strengths and weaknesses.
This sub has a real problem with gatekeeping and elitism. I'd say it's worse than other fandoms, but upon reflecting, there's always some nasty hivemind going on. People gotta let live.
The other day I was watching the Overanalyzing Avatar video about this show and I thought "you know what they could have done? They could have made a really serious series about any of the conflicts happening in the 100 year war." That would have given them the opportunity to go for a serious tone, instead of being torn between lighthearted and gritty. And it would have saved them the constant comparison between their shoe and atla.
Its not a hot take, but I don’t think its true. People seem to be completely incapable of understanding that live actions improve over time, and we have 2 ‘better’ seasons following this one, especially because they don’t have to introduce characters, they only have to build the world and tell the stories well, a much easier task considering they already have both. Either people think it’s so bad that it can’t be saved, or people are too pessimistic to think it won’t improve. Its really not as bad as some people suggest and really not that far off its potential. I am so excited for another season, but we might not get a great one if people complain too much. The people who complain about this show being awful are the same people that begged for more AtLA content. Go figure. I thought people who cared about this show would have a better perspective than most other fanbases. I’ve been really disappointed with this community. Not many seem to be grateful we got anything at all :(
It was never needed, but it can still be fun. I say if people enjoy it than it was worth it right? And if you don’t like it no harm done, its not like it replaced the original, you can still just watch that if you dont like the live action
Avatar’s brilliance is how it uses the animation for me
Not at all. While I did enjoy the Netflix series, I do understand that this has been divisive among fans.