Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender - Untitled Review Show
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- Опубліковано 22 лют 2024
- It's a remake of Doug's all time favorite show! What will his thoughts be on Netflix's live action take on the classic series? Let's take a look at the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender, also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang, is an American adventure fantasy television series. It is a live-action adaptation of the animated television series of the same name (2005-2008). First announced in September 2018, Albert Kim is the showrunner, with a cast that includes Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung, and Daniel Dae Kim.
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It was ok, the thing keeping me going through watching the show was costumes and backgrounds damn those backgrounds were gorgeous. The acting was little high school at times 😅 with the kids and clearly a lot less funny for what ever reason.
Hey booboo did you forget about our baby
You have such a handsome smile ❤
Also, can we all just collectively agree NOT to harass the actors over the show, and PARTICULARLY the child actors? Just this once, please? It's not their fault.
Yeah, especially that you can see they were all passionate about this project. The Sokka and Zuko actors did a pretty decent job anyway, They did well with what the script has given them.
I totally agree. It's hurtful to see the actors being attacked when they're just putting food on their table.
Then they should have not taken the job, it is their fault, hopefully they have the same faith as the Start Wars kid
@@screamityeah found the troll
Too late I've already seen people go after Katara's actress. 😢
To be fair, One Piece had even less business being live action but they somehow made that work.
I loved One Piece. It was great.
For now.
It doesn't work for everything however, there were big misses before one piece came out and even if that one is good doesn't mean that future adaptations will do as well.
@@jonathansalazar4630 100%. Unfortunately from what I hear they also didn't learn the crucial lesson from One Piece; keep the creators on board at all cost.
I'm sure it's not a guarantee, but if they're happy with the progress throughout you have to imagine you haven't lost all of the magic from the original.
That is largely due to oda being involved with the show! Even with yu yu Hakusho live action, the creator played a part and that was also amazing.
Part of the reason why atla felt so off, because the cartoons creators left early on.
Turns out the animated show made itself even more timeless with Ember Island Players. You can apply its jokes to every new adaptation, it's like the creators saw the future.
I especially felt that with Katara in this series. The Ember Island Players note how often Katara comes off as a preachy cry baby always making speeches about hope all the time. But thanks the phenomenal acting/writing and the emphasis on fun and comedy it never comes off that way. In the Netflix show they add a lot of speeches spelling out the themes and lessons and because they take out a lot of the comedy then yeah Katara does come off as not to far off from the Ember Island Players version
@@johnmartin4119ember Island had katara be a bimbo baddie atleast
In the original animation Ang runs away from the Air Temple because the revelation of him being the Avatar caused the other children not wanting to play with him, and the discovery that the monks were going to send him away from his old master.
In the live action he discovers he's the Avatar that day and essentially decides to go for a drive (well, fly) to clear his head.
It kinda feels the same, except live action Aang just needed more time to handle the burden but he wanders into the storm by accident rather than pushing through the storm just to escape his destiny.
@@beanik835 In other words completely different
This was my main issue with the series. Aang’s flaws were completely taken away. In OG he was the one that chose to leave and lived with that guilt for the rest of his life and was an amazing and complex subplot. Even when he was at the water tribe and he went into the fire nations ship which prompted them to get attacked, THATS gone too.
@@ferchsakura Yes, in the live action he just happened to be away at the wrong time, in the animated series he ran away and presumably was away for some time before the fire nation attacked. So his absence was not just a coincidence, but the result of his own mistrust and fears.
I know, it completely assassinates his core character motivation. After revives, and people are saying the Avatar ran away, it almost feels like he could respond, "dude, sorry, but it was just a freak accident" and be correct. He couldn't do that in the original, he justifiably felt like he screwed up and wanted to make amends, especially to himself.
What really confused me was the fact they didn’t focus at all on aang’s journey to learn water bending, it was like they kept finding him excuses to not try but also giving him multiple scenes where he’s complaining about not being around during the 100 years
AND they took all his childlike fun away so now there actually nothing stopping him from learning, he’s just not trying
Of all the criticisms you mentioned, I can't agree with last one. I believe he still had his childlike innocence especially in the first half of the show.
It was so fast and so slow all at the same time. Pacing was all over the place.
Stop comparing it to the original and the pacing isn’t bad. That’s your problem
@@EaglesTruth the only reason people watch this show is because of their love for the original.
@@EaglesTruthThen they should have made something new
Netflix's Avatar: _"Tell, don't show"_
Was it perfect?
No
Was it a little disappointing in parts? Yes
Is it way better than the movie?
Yes
Do I still prefer the animated series?
Till the day I die
The movie was awful. The cartoon was awesome. The live action show is... fine, I guess? It doesn't suck, but it's standing next to the cartoon, and that's not a comparison it wins.
@@kennethkasper8536 As long as they do a good enough job and its fun along with a touch that shows they love the original material, I am just fine with it.
perfectly said!
@@kennethkasper8536yeah so it’s better to just not compare
thats not exactly a high bar to clear. I read a comment that put it best: “we only call the show mid because the movie exists” and I agree
"They want to make it more grown up like Game of Thrones" that's one of the worst ideas ive ever heard
They did it with 2020's Mulan!!! Has the world learned nothing
Studios just want a show or movie to do the same numbers and money as GOT, so they say "It's like Game of Thrones!" and suggest it's going to be a somewhat "dark" and "adult", so people will pay attention to it and watch it, even when there is no resemblance at all to GOT.
It could be good, if it was as mature as GoT
Game of thrones is a very mature show, ment to make the world feel more realistic as people can die at any moment and some actions can effect the world. It's also a world where people get given away and sold off for "Special working conditions"
When people refer to game of thrones... you'd think that. But then you remember... these movies and shows have main charaters that CANNOT DIE or be put through the wringer like Game of Thrones.
In Mulan.. they had to kill people like general Sheng and have Mulan's sister be captured and enslaved by the invaders.. forcing Mulan to find her to only be too late to save her from a horrible fate. Then have the main villian die by choking on an apple and have someone else take over going: "This is how it's gonna go!" For simple ideas.
For Avatar.. most of it is already there to make it game of thronesy, but... You have to do some ballsy shit to stir it up. We talking killing off Katara and Aang going to the spirit world to bring her back. We talking Zuko's mom not going missing but given away as a peace offer to the Earth King, making the earth king in Ba-Sing-Se (now younger) a half brother of Zuko and Azula. (The old one obiviously killed by the advisor and the Dai-lee) That kinda weird stuff.
But.. in the end.. these shows CANNOT commit to that cause they are family 1st shows and thus... you cannot GAME OF THRONES IT!
Cause in the end... Game of Thrones is the story of the world and it's people. While Mulan and Avatar are about the charaters.
And thus... the core of game of thrones will never work... and is just a hollywood buzzword.
@eki-eki-eki Rampant sex and gore do not make stories good. Most family friendly content is more mature than so-called "adult" content.
the way I was expecting zuko to say honour atleast 4 times in each eisode.... bro didn't even say it once 😭
at least he said destiny
Instead we got Aang saying “save the world” a million times
We’ll get it next season cause he now has done treason
He went with "Glory"
True, Whenever Zuko was about to say something I just wished he mentioned Honour, but not even a single instance of the word. There is no Zuko without Honour.
I noticed in this Aang never does any water bending except at the end when he becomes the water kaiju which isn’t really bending since he was in the avatar state, but he was using water. I don’t understand why they did that.
for real, He also shows up to the north only to deliver a warning and they already knew about but he doesn't start with, I'm here to learn water bending and what makes it even more dumb is the chief and master Paku are standing there like, great with the avatar on our side we should win this battle but walk away disappointed at the fact that he doesn't know shit. I think they are trying to set up Katara to be his teacher even though she didn't get proper training and is called a master. At this rate Aang is going to be as bad of an avatar as Kora.
Yeah that was lame
I guess they didnt want him taking Katara's spot light? Or something stupid like that
This was my biggest issue. They got WAY too focused on the Avatar State and what it means to be the Avatar...which is focused on in the show, but not above needing to master all four elements in a short 6 month frame before the comet arrives. These things are the conclusion of the journey after the elements are mastered. It feels like the totally forgot the main plot of the show and there is no urgency.
I thought the point of going to stay with the Northern Water Tribe was so Aang could find a water bending teacher... their presence in the North felt really pointless.
a big part of Aangs motivation to learn the elements is from Sozins Comet, but they dont know about Sozins Comet yet. and the reason for this because the show will take place over a few years minimum, due to actors aging. so Sozins Comet returning will be revealed later on in the show.
at first I thought "I guess they're saving aang's waterbending until they reach the north pole? odd but ok" but then they got there and he still didn't learn any waterbending lol even katara didn't learn any. idk why they bothered including pakku if he doesn't even teach them
The girl that plays Katara is actually from my reservation ❤️ I really only wanted to somewhat see this to support her
if u meet her, tell her that she was one of my favorites and i think she did an amazing job
The actors were honestly the best part of the show, they looked and felt like the characters so the problems are not their fault
It’s just the writing and directing that lets them down
@@seanmcloughlin5983 I felt the same way, the characters are great, hopefully they can better the direction in the next season
I think the actors and actresses were fine at best and wooden at worst. But it's mostly on the bad writing and screenplay
Support her all the way I think the show got failed in alot of ways and it failed the actors, I hope to see the season come back and they actually try and work with the critasim given so the sets and the actors grow :)
I think one bit I really think was good was when it was revealed that the men the fire nation were going to sacrifice became Zuko's crew, making his sacrifice mean a lot more.
Yeeees! Honestly, I think it was one of my favorite moments in the show. And I really like the one playing Jee, he was really good in the role
Yes. That was a choice I agree with. One of few…
I also liked how Katara got her waterbending scroll. It did cut an episode, but it reinforced that waterbending is part of her culture and who she is. Getting it from her grandmother also made it far more meaningful than stealing it from pirates. I only wish that we actually had a scene of her getting the scroll directly from grandma rather than a heartfelt letter. Kinda falling into the trap of telling it rather than showing.
That was only one of the many parts of this I thought were great! I think peoples love for the animation is kind of blocking their ability to enjoy this new telling of the tale.
I feel like it fell into the tell vs show problem the series had. In the cartoon, it SHOWED Zuko working tirelessly to save his crew and ship, in the new series they just said it was a division he 'saved'.
A step up from the movie, but that’s not saying much.
I've found you can watch shamylans version. If you rip cones in the time it takes the characters to bend, you get seriously destroyed
Netflix should have made the first Kyoshi novel into a movie.
@hweis4793Maybe once they do finish this series and do live action Korra they can focus on the novels
@@axelschweis4793or the Legend of Korra ( 1st season at least) considering there isn't much change in scenery that would mean less CGI. Since it's also closer to modern times it would have less of the fantasy which would mean better translation to live action.
@@axelschweis4793wtf u talking about first kiyishi novel ? Never heard of It
My biggest problems with the show was the dialogue, which as you said was way too much exposition and just general line delivery. It felt like there was little to no emotion in most scenes that needed a bigger emotion displayed to aid the scene. The CGI was good but for some actors it was like they didn't know how to mimic bending. For example sometimes when Katara bends she just stands still with her hands outstretched as though she's trying to use the force but the water is moving like she's bending it. They brought in key characters and plot points that should have been in the second season and threw them in here as throw-away characters. The owl spirit was nicely animated and sounded/looked great but he had no reason to be there and I can only assume that since he was there they have no intention of going to the library later on in season 2. The Katara and Sokka shouldn't have been in the spirit world, only the Avatar has that ability so it was just strange they were suddenly there too and the cave of two lovers certainly shouldn't have been with Katara and Sokka, that was just weird. IDK, I agree that I can see the love in this show and there were elements that I really liked, mostly the scenes between Iroh and Zuko, but some of the changes just didn't make any sense and seemed like they were trying to rush things when instead they should've just taken their time.
This feels like ATLA but the season doesn't feel like Book 1: Water and it also kinda shows in the episode title credit where every two episode title is backed by one of the element.
Aang didn't even try to learn water bending then by the end he suddenly wants to learn earth bending.
He was air bending the boulders upward
Unfortunately my biggest issue with the show is its lack of subtlety. There are A LOT of moments where characters like Aang and Iroh will break out into monologues and not only does it feel heavy handed but it mucks up a lot of the nuance that those scenes otherwise might’ve had.
They also show way more than they should. Scenes between characters that feel like they were revealed way too quickly and not for the right reasons. The pacing is just all over the place.
If they really wanted this to be “Game of Thrones” esc they should’ve taken queues from George RR Martin’s writing and let the SUBTEXT tell the story. That was the best thing about Game of Thrones, every line of dialogue was natural and told you so much about the characters and the world without devolving into blatant exposition.
Yea it does seem to get unnecessarily dramatic at times and they fail to replicate the same lightheartedness and humor that the cartoon displayed, it just doesn’t hit when they tried to make it funny, but on your second point u have to remember the season only has 8 episodes where the cartoon had like 20+ episode for the first two seasons , so they have to squish and integrate a lot of different plots into 1-2 episodes
Cinematography and aesthetic wise it looks beautiful and high quality/High budget
@@Evilevilmonkeyy I think many are expecting episodes to be mashed together but in a way that kept their main plot points, like you can maybe have put Bumi's story with his original character, but then the second half transitions to another; maybe they could've made it like 2 stories per episode split in half, instead.
@@Evilevilmonkeyy I’m mainly talking about scenes that weren’t in season 1 of the original. They literally show us the entire scene of what happens to Katara’s mom, and while I think the scene itself was well done it just felt way too rushed within the overall context.
@@Evilevilmonkeyy Well they wasted a ton of screen time and storytelling on Azula and Ozai. They were barely even in the first season at all. I feel like a lot of the writer choices on which stories to keep/change are really going to hurt the character growth in season 2. Whenever I noticed a big difference in the show it seemed worse off for the change. The most interesting character arcs in the series is Zuko's in season 2 and 3. I'm worried they are going to ruin his character.
Actually, Doug doesn’t need to tell about his opinion about the original animated Avatar show. He pretty much expressed his opinions very clearly in his early v-logs.
Where are the V-logs? Are they still here?
@@seanmalloy0528 they're probably still in a playlist on the channel. Just search "avatar vlogs"
@@seanmalloy0528 Yeah, of course they’re still there. Just look up “Channel Awesome Last Airbender Vlogs” in the search bar.
@@seanmalloy0528
Just checked, and they are still there. if you type "avatar v logs" into UA-cam, the playlist should be the first result.
He also did one for Legend of Korra.
@@seanmalloy0528
ua-cam.com/play/PL0AQIMR-tpokjR7Ytl8gaOZvGwK97_ULB.html&si=A5sYhjpOe6YsqKIJ
Glad you mentioned the scar. Because my lord does it suck. That's like a huge part of Zuckos identity.
One thing that really bothers me, for show that wants to appear more grounded and gritty is the costume department.
Everyones clothes look so clean and crisply ironed. A boy who has been trapped for 100 years looks like he just picked up his garments from the tailor.
it’s literally cosplay tier. aang’s outfit looks cheap like it was made out of couple squares of felt and the coats are obviously synthetic fur (which is good but it shouldn’t looks so obvious!)
@@MineralTown I blame people who looks at cosplayers and says stuff like... "OMG seee?! how hard is to make animation characters look like this in live action??!? THis looks just like the character!!1"
And not just for this show.
Omg yes. I noticed the same thing.
Agree, they could look more "lived in".
Yeah, I really liked the design, but they often looked like the best clothes the characters owned rather than something they lived and worked in.
My biggest issue is that they completely benched Avatar Roku. When he's a critical character to the overall lore. It's one thing to have Kyoshi be the narrator of the intro, which I did like her voice is amazing, but to take Roku's big possession scene and give it to Kyoshi, AS WELL as give her the dialogue of what the Avatar is...I can't get behind that. Avatar Roku had personal stake in this whole venture, Kyoshi did not. It makes sense for Roku to essentially raise and train Aang as an Avatar so Aang could be better than he was. The two have an incredibly close connection in the OG. To remove that here? I can't forgive that.
Then there's his whole personality shift in the remake. I don't know why CS Lee decided to go overboard on the humor. Yes Roku does have a sense of humor, but it's kind of like Dumbledore's, subdued. In the animated version, when Roku says "What took you so long?" that tells you everything you need to know about the past life, because of how it was delivered. He's kind, warm, inviting, has a playful side but would probably only show that to those he's close with. He's stern, but not overly harsh. He comforts vs berates Aang when Aang is at a low point. He doesn't yell even when he and aang disagree. He's wise and that came from him traveling all over the world. He understood people, listened and heard them.
Avatar Roku is a huge comfort character to me. He reminds me of my own father. It's why I'll always defend him from those who blame him for what happened to the world, when the blame should be placed squarely on Sozin's shoulders. To bench Avatar Roku now, is going to create huge writing problems for them later down the line if they do get a season 2 or 3. There's no relationship between him and Aang, and that is a HUGE misfire. Changing Wan Shi Tong to being a help to the Avatar, changing Bumi to blaming and berating Aang, keeping Kyoshi to the fandom's perception of her those are things that bug me but don't infuriate me.
What they did with Avatar Roku _infuriates me._
And yet I can't get THAT mad at the WHOLE show cause there ARE really good elements. It sits at a C for me. Average.
Dude chill. This was actually better than the og show first season. They mad zhao more calculating and less loud and obvious. Ppl forget that season 1 of the cartoon was repetitive. It's just aang being baby Jesus going to town after town, restoring their faith in the avatar, word gets out, zuko hears, burns down the town, aang inspires the ppl to fight back, rinse and repeat. This show combined different episodes to make more unique story lines.
We see way more of omashu. And having the alchemist, jet, and king boomi all in one storyline was brilliant. I TOTALLY CAN SEE jet TRYING TO ASSASSIN KING BOOMI. Many of the no name characters from the cartoon actually get more to do, like the soldiers that kidnapped iroh, Suki's mother, and the air nomads. I think this works as a companion piece to the og series. Omashu feels way more important too. It feels like the hub for the first season, the same way ba sing se felt for the second animated season.
Zuko and iroh sneaking into omashu is amazing. That's something that should have happened in the show. Boomi being goofy but a bit fed up with aang makes sense. I think you missed the point of the series. You nerds complain about how the Disney live action remakes are carbon copies of the og movies yet anytime we do get an adaptation that changes things and offers new things, it's now not faithful enough. But I think you kind of got in your own way of enjoying the series
@mania4270 do you know what paragraphs are my guy?
They actually had a chance for Roku to posses Aang to take out the Fire sages... but they choose to have June do it? Very strange choice imo.
@mania4270 You, my friend, are trolling. There is no way that you really think of this as better than the original.
Haven’t watched the live action but to remove Roku is a huge mistake. Roku was so significant because the last Avatar was a firebender, the main villain of the show. It was supposed to be the signifier that fire nation isn’t all bad.
Everytime we get the "it needs to be adult and gritty" crap when adapting animation or video game to live actio I just want to hit something. If they were truly fans of the show they'd know they don't need to try to "mature it up" and it shows they don't really respect the source material enough to embrace every aspect of it. The reason One Piece's live action series got so much praise was because the people behind it showed they were not afraid of ANYTHING involving the world of One Piece, and they made sure to listen to the creator's input ontop of that. And while the result was'nt perfect, it was still very good and makes even someone like me who hates the live action remake crap want to see how much they can do. They did'nt expect that people would watch just cause it's One Piece but they actually put in the work to earn their viewers. Thank god this isn't the only new Avatar thing coming out.
They made it a bit dark and "adult" but not mature. It would have been a mature series if characters behaved accordingly to their backgrounds. A goofy child saying "I know I don't belong here, that's something I've been feeling a lot lately, but if you can help me, maybe I can bring a place I know, a world where people were happier back". Does it sound like a goofy child? It doesn't sound mature as well, I bet any grown-up would be embarrassed to say it in full seriousness.
In just two episodes of the original animated series, you can get more understanding of the main characters than after the whole season of this.
You can make adult and gritty reboots, but you have to understand what the show is 1st and then... what would you change to make it that?
If anything.. this kinda thinking is just this: "BUZZWORD BUZZWORD MARKETING!"
You know who did a dark and gritty reboot once and it worked? Batman. Since the founding stones were there. Then they rebooted him again, even darker and grittier for real life and.. It worked just as well! And then they rebooted him again to be darker and grittier and emoer.. and.. IT STILL WORKED!
Cause all of them understood the core of batman and were able to remove and change enough for their own respected outcomes.
Infact they just took core elements and went their own crazy ways.
These real life reboots only go half way but try to remain accurate.
Heck even Lord of the rings was technically a GRITTY REAL LIFE REBOOT of the animated movies. And that was also a succes.
@@kotlolish Ok well I can't speak for those orignal movies or the nolan triliogy as I've never watched them. But Zack Snyder did'nt understand any superhero not even Batman and he made alot of the same mistakes as a typical live action remake. Batman isn't just an angsty grumbler all the time and I'm sick of that interpertation. I grew up on the DC animated stuff they were able to have him serious but also have personaility outside of that.
Also don't lump Lord of the rings in with this, those movies were not afraid to embrace anything from the land of middle earth. They were proud of every unique piece and showed it off beautifully not hidden behind thick layers of shadow so no one can see it.
@@kotlolishLotR was NOT technically a "Gritty real life reboot of the animated movies"... it was another adaption of the novels...
and with Batman... you can go too far with that stuff, even there.
Ye that can be stupid at times. One Piece worked for many people because they kept the goofiness of the anime in the live action show.
They simultaneously speedran the plot of book 1, combining unrelated subplots to fit it all together, while revealing elements from the later books early or just turning them into easter eggs that I can't see how they'll make work in any future seasons they might get, unless they just cut them out.
Also, you're telling me the fire sages knew from the start that one day every year the moon spirit became mortal, and it took them 100 years to act on it? The significance of Zhao's attack was that he discovered that information from an external source he had to hunt down, not just ask a sage who's already under the same empire as him
Calm down. They cared about the source material and this adaptation is EONs better than the "F@@ked up" M. Night version
what a bunch of yap. its good they mixed up the story. if u want the original story just watch the OG show. and the fire nation have tried to take over the northern water tribe for before, but they failed.
Yes but Zhao is just a bottom feeder in the fire nation army in this world, he´s no longer smart, cunning and dangerous Zhao, he's just the little toy of Azula, this Zhao is incompetent weak and dumb in the series they say he failed his promotion test a bunch of times
@@frakfrikiExcuse me?
@@frakfriki Zhao was NEVER smart, he just got lucky until his luck ran out
I think they nailed some of the micro details (the origin of Zuko's crew or Azula's dealings behind Zuko's back) but they missed the macro details (fun).
REALLLL
I kind of feel those micro details are unnecessary
Exactly
I disagree. That show is fun.
@@ForrestFox626 its the originals microdetails that made it fun. cant claim the live versions micro details are unnecessary without it applying to the original.
I wanted to give this a chance. And like he said this definitely shows passion for the show. There are certain attentions to detail I love. But again, it just falls flat. Aang was more talkative about being a fun loving goofball than actually being one. Sokka got to be funny, sometimes.
Seeing this world in live action is cool, but there are some things that just can’t translate as good in live action as they do in animation and after 1 movie attempt and now a live action season, i think this just shows that this show is best as a cartoon. The emotion and reactions these characters had can’t be recreated in live action.
Falls flat? Lol. Wow we REALLY are a spoiled society when something this good falls flat for you lol.
It was very well done if you stop comparing every detail to the animation lol.
So much of the humor was tied to the animation of the original show. I havent watched yet but also the huge budget they have makes me think they are going to make the show into a big action spectacle series. The original show wasnt really about the action set pieces, even though they were great. It was more about the characters, the friendships, and the humor
Why would I watch this, when I can just rewatch the original show?
Netflix should have made the first Kyoshi novel into a movie instead of making this live action remake.
Exactly. It's even on Netflix in a lot of places.
Sometimes when watching animated shows, I wonder: how would this look in real life? I guess that's the purpose of these adaptations and also entice the people who refuse to watch animated shows
@@LuisSierra42I know how it would look. Bad
@LuisSierra42 except the show is super fast paced and written in a way that would be confusing for new people. Also the show is done so childish were these people will not like it anyway.
The problem with this show is that there was nothing that had to be improved upon in the original show - at least, nothing that remaking it would help with. The story, the characters, the worldbuilding were all solid as rock.
Now a show that would benefit from being remade is Korra - a complete restructuring to integrate the different themes and storylines of the four seasons would really help, as the four seasons at times felt too disjointed
thats because of nick having constantly fucked with the creators since before it released. interfering with the creative process and writing, pushing it into death slots when it was doing great and most of all, refusing to confirm new seasons until the very last second without changing deadlines, which horribly impacts writing.
The quote I missed, but also understand it was let out due to the Ozai/Azula interaction was the following:
My father says she (Azula) was born lucky, he says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck though, I don't want it. I always had to struggle and fight, and that made me strong. That made me who I am.
-Zuko
This quote is Zuko, and I wished it was somehow incorporated into this adaptation.
You have to understand why the original creators quit . These characters are a shell of themselves
@@curtiszyr Sources say that they quit because they wanted to George Lucas it and make changes that fans would hate in order to better match their original vision.
@@100nitrog2 As opposed to the baffling changes we got?
This quote matches to the cartoon version of Ozai but not to Live action one.In this version, Ozai is a social Darwinist who pits the children against each other to see which one is better and thinks he is doing them a favor by this. And honestly, I prefer DD Kim's version of Ozai, he's much more interesting than his animated version.
@@TriforceWisdom64 fun fact: episode one of the live action was partly written by the original creators.
Have to agree. Im one episode in and already I'm unimpressed.
Don't get me wrong. The passion and love for the source material is here. But they make changes they don't need to.
Having us see the start of the war is actually okay. Its new, its unique, okay im excited.
But then the first thing Aang does when he wakes up is *not* see Katara and that affects everything. They decided to adapt the Ember Island Players version of the relationship i see.
I get they only have 8 episodes but they're an hour apiece, giving us 16 episodes of content really.
While the Fortuneteller and The Waterbending Scroll, and the Great Divide don't need adapting, others do.
I would have adapted and ended it on the Winter Solsitice or the Blue Spirit saving the North Pole portion for half a season
But yeah, C+ i guess. B- if im being extra generous
If you dont mind me asking, what changes?
@ysamarakody4925 Probably every main character having their main emotional growth arc surgically removed from the first episode. And instead just saying in a dumbed down way what in the real show their character eventually realizes only after struggling in an unforgiving world and learning some life lessons from... actually living.
The first episode is the worst one in the live action (and ironically one of the live action episodes partly written by the original creators) but the series starts to pick up after episode 3.
List of good things the live action is doing :
- Bumi's new development
- Ozai actually has depth beyond being an uber conqueror and a terrible father
-- Zhao's new personnality, even if it's really different from the original and leads him just to be a front for Azula
- The fact that Zuko's crew is actually the soldiers his stood up to defend and got scarred for, even if he should have asked for them instead of having them imposed by his father
- Suki and Sokka little love story was cute, even if it takes out Sokka's development about sexism
- the condensation of episodes is done quite well and leads to interesting changes.
- I want to give Iroh's actor a bug hug. He is too perfect for the role.
- Zuko actually has depth beyond finding the Avatar. I know he did in the original show but this is done differently yet really well by the live show.
List of bad things :
- Katara's actress is awful
- Iroh seems to already has made his mind about capturing the Avatar, when he is supposed to make his mind only after the battle of the North Pole.
- the fights are dull. Not Shyamalan dull but still dull
- Aang has no flaw, since he didn't abandoned wilfully the air nomades and his charge as the avatar, which makes his quest of redemption more about "forgiving himself" than "making things right"
- Soka has basically no growth because he has no flaw : he is supportive, ingenious. His journey is about not becoming what his father wants him to be, aka a warrior, but an engineer of some sort which would be cool if he actually DID something other than learning how to fight.
- The informations critical for Zhao's plan to kill the Moon spirit were known by the Fire Sages instead of hidden in the Spirit Library, which means the Fire Nation purposely ignored this way to defeat their ennemies for a century but decided to do it just in time to be relevant for the plot of this show, instead of Zhao fulfilling a life-long ambition driving him to madness.
- Katara apparently needs nobody to learn water bending. In fact, she doesn't fight Pakku for the right to learn waterbending, but for the right to fight against the Fire Nation. Yet, despite being not trained and not tested on her abilities, she is chosen to teach Aang water bending because why not after all ?
- Katara decides to go full SJW by convincing all the women of the North Pole to abandon their role as healers on the verge of a great battle in order to claim their right to "fight to protect their people". I repeat : on the verge of the greatest battle of the North Pole history, this outsider convices ALL THE HEALERS, people who have been trained in HEALING not FIGHTING, to put their lives at risk ON THE FRONTLINE instead of healing the soldiers who have actually been trained to fight, reducing everyone chances of survival. I mean I'm all for women to join the military if they want, but I'm not putting all my doctors in the fight when I need them to HEAL MY WOUNDED SOLDIERS.
- Everybody does monologues or talk too much. I know the original show was subtle because its original duration of 20 minutes per episode necessitated less dialogues, but this is too much.
- Mai and Ty Lee are perfectly useless
- Ozai puts Azula, a 14 yo girl, in command of his invasion forces for Omashu...
- The three protagonists are never taught anything by anyone, they are wise enough to get all the life lessons by themselves, embodying the average Twitter's adolescent of today who need no adult to tell him he is perfect and can be whatever he wants.
- The lesson of the show is "fuck responsablity, be who you want to be, not who you need to be, and certainly not who your parents want you to become", which is interesting when your main characters are a child with quite literally the destiny of the world on his shoulders. The original show talked about self-determination, especially in Zuko's journey in season 3, but the lesson it gave overall was "learn to comprehend the others to achieve peace".
- Aang's lesson to become the avatar is not about learning the elements, he doesn't learn to bend water anyway. Aang's lesson is "abandon your friends", for a whole bunch of different reasons that are never explained but known only by those who have watched the original show. Katara says "fuck the ancestral wisdom of the past avatars, we are young and invicible, we do whatever we want !". But since having friends and relying on them is nothing but positive in this show and never prove to be a liability, she is 100% right and the lesson has no right to exist. The original lesson, which arrived at the end of season 2 of the original show was "abandon your material care, become enlighten, abandon what makes you what you are and be an all powerful avatar", which Aang refused because this meant breaking his bond to Katara with whom he was in love. Later it meant killing Ozai to achieve harmony and bring back peace, which he refused because he was a pacifist. The true lesson of the show was "don't loose yourself in pursuit of duty", not "I can do whatever I want DAD".
- The plot around the Spirit of the Forest has been so twisted and complicated that Hei Bai is yet to be appeased at the end of the show. So much for good writting :/
- No fun allowed.
Coclusion :
Interestingly enough, this show is a good adaptation, but a mediocre show of his own. It's well made and proposes interesting takes, but is superficial and doesn't go beyond what the original show achieved, while making his first season 1h and a half longer. I'd rather spend this time watching the original show rather than this one.
Maybe they will learn from the mistakes of first season and do better in season 2. Original show also gets way better in later seasons.
@@metalscythe100yeah, but Netflix doesn't XD
"Ozai puts azula, a 14 year old girl, in command of his invasion forces"
Nah, that one tracks, kids are warriors in Avatar's world.
Kataras actress is actually good. There are a lot of scenes where she is onpoint but others where she is wooden. This inconsistency is an indicator of bad direction.
I'd like to add some good things:
-Omashu feels like a very real city one might see in India or the middle east. Food and fashion are varied, realistic shops and vendors, people actually wear different colors instead of 'we only wear green because the Earth Kingdom is the green colored nation'
-Princess Yue is a very fleshed out character and makes a lot of proactive choices for herself. The addition of her bending is handled well, same with her interloping into the spirit world.
-Kyoshi island having a matriarchal leader makes perfect sense.
-Avatar Kyoshi fully manifesting was actually pretty cool to see, having the invaders driven out by her specifically was satisfying.
-Incorporating the Mother of All Faces into the plot, where previously she was only present in the comics.
-Mountains around the North Pole are significantly larger, giving further credence to them being a non-option for the fire nation
-Gyatso was done very well
-In Katara's battle with Pakku attention is drawn to Katara copying an earthbending move but with ice. She does a similar move in the cartoon, but this connection is never made. Here it's presented as Katara having an advantage in worldliness, and that her traveling has taught her in ways that no standard teacher could have (the cartoon demonstrated this idea in many other places, but it wasn't a factor in this battle originally)
-The dynamic between June and Iroh is changed so that she is flirty with him and not the other way around. This was originally Iroh's only character flaw in the cartoon (pretending to be paralyzed to keep June laying on top of him, for example) and came off as him low-key being a creep. With the change, June seems to be using seduction towards someone she sees as an easy target, and Iroh either sees through this or otherwise rebuffs any temptation she presents. I see this as an improvement for both characters.
Well, I'm sure at least we can all agree it's much better than Shyamalan's Last Airbender movie to say the least, right?
1000000% on that! To me and my fellow Avatar fan friends, the movie doesn't even exist, it is that bad.
Well that’s not a very high bar
I can't really say, as I haven't seen it yet.
I was finally able to watch Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken since it finally arrived on Netflix last Tuesday.
Tried watching it online a couple times before, but only could ever find the trailer for it.
They're really lucky the movie exists so people can say it's at least better than that. If it were judged on its own, people would be even harsher.
Why do so many of us say that?
A dog dressed as Aang vomiting would be better than the movie.
“Wow don’t raise your voice like that” 🤣
I really enjoyed it. Brought back all the memories from watching every episode as a kid.
I described it like this to a friend:
It feels like someone redrew the Mona Lisa in MS Paint
and they hung it up next to the real thing in the Louvre saying "Well its a modern adaptation. It was done on a computer. They didn't have those back then"
To which I can only reply "yeah okay, that's technically true, and its not hurting anyone by being there. But it's still just... worse in every way."
Except they had cameras when Avatar was made
@@BagzAndPresident congrats.
Heres your "completely missing the point" award.
Now shoo. Nobody likes you.
WELL SAID!!!
Better than the movie, not as good as the show. Going in I expected it to be just ok, it turned out a bit better than I expected. Also given that Iroh was one of the best performances, it's funny that he's the one character they always get right (even the movie did an almost decent job with him).
Even the animated series had two actors for Iroh.
@@wdnspoonThe only reason why the cartoon has 2 actors for Iroh is that the original died of cancer & needed someone to replace his role.
Better than the movie is a low bar to clear
I think you summed it up quite well, it's not as good as one piece but it i do think it's closer to one piece than say cowboy bebop. while it doesn't surpass the original it still brings alot of strong performances while trying to add new dimensions to old characters. I really enjoyed the side explanation for how zuko got his crew. I enjoyed watching these young performers giving it their best affort even if the performances are still a little unpolished the raw energy of each character was there. Iroh was perfect no notes. and i think the cg was mixed, for the the animals it felt very awkward but for the locations and backgrounds and scenery I think they really nailed it, i loved watching omashu come to life when you panned over it, I adored the attention to detail of the southern and northern water tribes. I also really enjoyed the mixing of multiple story arcs to give a more congruent story line, it never felt busy or rushed but managed to bring these plot lines together in a way that felt natural. Not as good as the original but it has its own charm to bring to the table and i'm looking forward to seeing more from this team and these performers.
There are some problems with this show as an adaptation, for sure. It removes some of the fun elements and while it sometimes works, like taking out stuff like The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller, it feels like it's lost a really important part of the series and Aang's character in general. I think it made Katara less interesting, too, and she doesn't get as many moments to shine. Neither did Appa and Momo. That said, I really enjoyed this series. The performances were on point, for the most part(I wasn't all that impressed with Zhao), the effects are absolutely incredible, and some of the changes and switching around of storylines worked for me. I also really like some of the additional scenes that the animated series couldn't do. The scene where younger Zuko tries to comfort Iroh after his son dies and Leaves From the Vine plays in the background was genuinely incredible and I thought some of the battle sequences were done super well. It's not perfect, but I enjoyed the show.
My biggest complaint is turning Katara into a Mary Sue. It completely eliminates the importance, even the requirement, of needing a master to learn things. This is a CORE value of the original show, and deeply engrained in eastern culture. One simple 30 second scene, at the end of episode 8, showing Katara and Aang learning from Pacu is all it would have taken.
The primrary thing that matters for me and a lot of people, is the quality of the writing.
Writing includes Character Dialogue, Plot Pacing, Plot Sequencing, Character Motivations, Logical Consistency, Exposition Delivery
This adaption failed hard on those fronts, they had a near perfect template that all they had to do was cut out non-critical scenes and then make very slight adjustments to cater to the removal of said scenes.
The visuals are great, but bad to terrible writing flaws drag everything down.
4/10 - watchable but you almost certainly could find something better.
Me and my kids enjoyed it, it's not as good as the cartoon but no one expected that considering ATLA is literally one of the greatest cartoons of all time. This is worth the watch the acting is good and the bending and visuals are incredible. And they manage to tell a pretty accurate story in a real world setting.
To quote Chernobyl:
Not great, not terrible
I really liked Zuko and Sokka actors, for me they shine in this adaptation. Do not really agree with Doug with Iroh tho, I didn’t feel that mischievousness and kindness in him, that what (among other things) made him so lovable.
Bumi’s reveal is just freaking awful. Aang sees him and immediately recognises him, the original made more mystery and I agree with Doug that there’s no mystery, everyone is just talks plot.
Katara basically has no personality or any character growth. She’s basically the caricature version of herself from The emerald island stage play 😆
Tho I like that they changed the story and it’s not just copy of the original but with people. Small pieces that they add (Lu Ten funeral scene, story about 41th devision, childhood memories of Katara and Sokka, Yue and Sokka having interaction before falling in love and etc) made show interesting but lack of chemistry and human communication between characters and rushed plot, these things what made me want to rewatch the original to remember how good it was.
Getting rid of Sokka's misogyny absolutely killed his arc imo
It only last like 4 episodes it barely an arc
Modern writing: "just have morally perfect characters off rip--who needs to show growth/development? Especially in kids"
No his real Character arc is to impress his father and becomes a warrior stop being so stupid
His arc is still there. He feels inadequate as a warrior and he is going to overcome that with his skills 😅
@@yunve yeah, but because of that all his time with Suki had some weird anime autistic vibe
We needed 12 episodes it would have spaced it out a lot and helped the story !
I think you could be right! I only watched the first 2 or 3 episodes, mostly because the story felt rushed and forced and there was so little build up in the character development. I was like ehhhh they're giving us so much right away with not much reason to care, borrrriiing. A totally different non-Avatar show had the same problem in its second season. Only 6 episodes, not enough time to flesh things out.
The animated version wasn't that much longer than the live-action version, maybe half an hour in total runtime. It's been a while since I watched the animated version so I probably don't remember everything from that, but now that I've seen the live-action series (which I liked), I'm gonna rewatch the animated serie's first season to see what's different. And I'm gonna do the same with the other seasons, watch the live-action version first and then check back to the animation.
Die hard fan since the beginning here!👋🏽 I knew I could count on Doug as another fan to give valid points, I'm mostly seeing bandwagon bashing from newcomers or other fans absolutely loving all of it (which is great). I was honestly pleasantly surprised. 7/10 for me. *Thank you* for bringing up the cadence of the actors, it was driving me freaking bonkers. I didn't exactly believe it was bad acting, plus they're kids I'm not going to bash that. But idk how many times I wondered if the director could hear what we were hearing? Same question for when the jokes didn't land. It was rough. Did it need to be made? meh. I guess not. Personally, I see it as nothing more than a variation or adaptation- I don't believe the series should be modified or revamped. I didn't get the impression that was happening. Tho I have wondered, what the creators had envisioned when they were onboard for a live action to be made. Slightly considering it as "making up" for a disservice the movie was. Especially to a series that continues to be impactful for all ages.
I wholeheartedly agree, you definitely felt that it was made by other fans with TLC. For that reason alone, I appreciate its existence. I acknowledge a lot of the complaints, and most are totally fair. It's not going to win over everyone, I'm okay with that. At the end of the day, the end credits have continued to hype me up. I'm happy!
Couple things that stood out for me:
-I think I needed Gyatso seeing Aang more than Aang lol
-flipping the script with June hitting on Iroh who didn't return any advances was honestly hilarious to me
-"You were the fire in which her iron was forged" can we all at least appreciate what a funny, hurtful and poetic BURN that was? lol
- I was hoping there'd be a perfect opportunity for me to quote IM A LITTLE TEAPOT SHORT AND STOUT, but it never came 😆
Could not agree more on your assessment on this show. That said, I REALLY enjoyed the hell out of it. While it did take moments out of sequence, and switched character situations, I believe for the sake of what they could portray live action and amount of detail that's given in animation with longer episodes per season, the essence I felt was still present. Nothing could ever replace the original cartoon series, but I am looking forward to another season of this.
The show was way better than expected!! Solid B.
Did you really expect it to match up to the animated series which was incredible
I 100% agree with you about the way they seem to take away all the mystery. It feels like their thought process was because we’ve seen the original show, there’s no point in keeping stuff a mystery. Which just leaves a lot of moments feeling boring because they just keep telling you everything you need to know without any build up
They thought they'd get us with the unnecessary twists. Tadaaa!!... uh ... no?
I love how he kept saying he wants changes from the source material in every bad adaptation's review
Well, to be fair, if you wanted the same thing, you would likely just watch the original. A new adaptation allows for differences in presentation, interpretation. With a new adaptation, you want things to be changed to fulfill the needs of the new medium, but you also want them to feel like the right changes.
Yeah, rather ironic. I felt it was good not to make it exactly like the original, they deserve to be different. Though I did enjoy this new one.
7:58 they did have some jokes
but unfortunately they put it to the wrong one. They made Avatar Roku a well wise respected character a Joke.
I feel like I liked roku's scene just bc I was desperate for some levity. but rlly, of all the characters to turn into a funny man, I have no idea why they chose roku
@@tiablue9106 it didn't work in my opinion.
@@tearex666I guess it was supposed to show aang how different each avatar is / ig that he doesn't have to be like kyoshi? but I agree in hindsight it was a bit too odd. if roku shows up again, I hope he's more in-line w/ the original version at least a little
This actually broke me. At first, I was okay watching it. But the more episodes I watched the more cringe and disappointment I felt. I agree with everything you said. Zuko and Iroh were the best part of the show so far, but everything else…. I need a drink.
I agree, I do think that there was a mix of good and bad with this adaptation. One thing that I couldn't fully discern while watching is if the creators intended the show to broadly appeal only to existing fans, or if there was any focus put on acquiring more fans. There was a lot of exposition that existing fans wouldn't need or appreciate, but at the same time, there were enough purposeful changes and references made that seemed laser-focused ONLY for existing fans to notice.
That being said, my favorite parts were Dallas Liu in general (honestly I really think he killed it as Zuko, he seemed to understand his character the most out of the main cast), and the additional "bonus content" like the flashback to Lu Ten's funeral, Zuko's crew being the soldiers he saved, and Monk Gyatso being in the Spirit World (even if the appearing/disappearing didn't make total sense to me-- was still interesting that they indirectly referenced Legend of Korra by creating another example of a human being choosing the Spirit World as an afterlife). I thought Ian made a pretty decent Sokka as well, such a breath of fresh air after The Movie that Shall Not be Named's performance. And pretty much all of the supporting cast (Jet & the Freedom Fighters, The Mechanist, June, Roku, Kyoshi) were spot on.
I found Katara to be the biggest disappointment, in that there were large pieces of her character entirely missing: her drive to learn waterbending at the North Pole, her bossiness, her caring nature for her friends and even people she doesn't know, and how close she became with Aang from the get-go. There weren't anywhere near enough Gaang scenes, whether it be coordinated fight scenes all together or more silly bonding moments. To the point where the moment where Katara calms Aang down in the Avatar State and tells him, "We're your family" feels so disingenuous-- because like, when did we see them becoming a family?? In an effort to mash different storylines together, the writers decided that splitting the three of them up would cover more "ground", but clearly it came at a huge detriment.
And I actually have to disagree with Doug about Iroh in this version-- I do think Paul brings a certain gravitas to the role, but he was missing SOMETHING from the original Iroh. I think it's that in season one, Iroh basically has the affect of a retired man going on a sightseeing trip, that just so happens to involve his banished nephew that he cares very deeply about. He has this certain coolness and is kind of "above" the day-to-day drama that they find themselves in. And THAT'S the humor of their scenes together. In this version, the tea jokes feel hollow, and he doesn't have that humor about his personality. He just seems so sad and worried most of the time we see him.
It feel like forever since we got Doug talking about avatar again and I loved it 🤣
I'm only 4 episodes in, and I am enjoying this show so far!! I actually don't mind the things they've moved around, plot-wise, and I actually didn't mind them showing Aang's backstory!
(Gonna talk spoilers from here on out, so be warned!)
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Sozin attacking the air temple was BRUTAL, and I was thoroughly impressed by it! Does that scene probably deserve to be moved to a better spot? Yes, I agree with that. Keep that scene, but move it to the same time as Zuko's backstory. Make it just as impactful!
I didn't even mind them putting stuff in from Season 2 (Chong & the SECRET TUNNELLLLLLLL) into the show, and putting Jet and the Mechanist into Omashu. I thought that was a great way to combine those stories!!
Call me an optimist (cuz i am xD), but I am enjoying the show. It isn't the animated show, but any means, but I am enjoying it as its own thing. And the actors are all superfans of the show, especially Gordon and Dallas, so I'm not gonna be mad at them at all!!
I thought the attack was kind of hollow
The cartoon will live on forever in my heart. This new one is a spectacular image I don't mind forgetting. A journey that becomes a straight line, that misses twists and turns desperately needs to develop the characters. All suspense is lost by the early reveal. Somebody needs to tell the director about BODY LANGUAGE …….. perhaps the dialogue would have been saved if they added a semblance of body language.
At this point I don't want them changing anything, they can't be trusted to treat the source material with respect.
Adapting an already established and beloved show into live action is not changing someone else's art into whatever subjective ideology is popular within 5 years.
Seriously, how hard is it to create your own show and art if you want to send a message or self insert?
Someone else's masterpiece is not yours to change to your liking.
Hyperbole. They didn't do anything to warrant the level of response you're having vs other actual bad examples of what some adaptations have done.
The show is fun at most and fine at worst. A few changes made can be somewhat questionable but not egregious.
Meanwhile you're reacting like they changed bending into everyone using guns which shoot elements but the avatar has a gun which fires all 4 elements.
@tenjenk this is years of disappointment from movies and video games. This is just another to add to the trash pile.
For me, it all started at Silent Hill HD collection, Downpour, and Book of Memories. Tomm Hulett completely wrecked the SH franchise because he took other people's art and frankensteined it with his high-school fantasy story.
This is a continuous problem in the entertainment industry, it's beyond frustrating.
How hard is it? To STICK TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL.
Or write your own story, perhaps an entirely NEW story that noone has told yet.
My point still stands, and no, the show is badflabbybootycheeks with nutdust on the side..... with no milk...
Edit: Twin Perfect has a playlist called The Real Silent Hill Experience on UA-cam if you're interested.
@@RavenHaili don't forget the one time we were going to get a proper silent hill (or hills as it were) it got binned by execs.
@tenjenk ikr, we got jipped. What I'm really hoping for is when the triple A companies finally go bankrupt, we can get creativity and passion back into the gaming and hopefully entertainment industry as a whole.
Perhaps we could get some nice SH inspirations, if they want to make a modern copy of the original 1-3(maybe 4) I'm down. But there will be no changes, just basically copy and paste in 4k.
That's what I want, when they do that, THEN they can make another one with all the changes they want. I just want the same exact experience but in 4k.
Otherwise, I'll just stick to playing them on my ps2
@tenjenk also imagine getting a modern Haunting ground or Rule of Rose!
How terrifying and fun! Man, I miss survival horror 😔
Rule of rose they could have another story added, like they used to with old games. Where the dlc was basically built into the whole package
I thought it was a mixed bag, more pointless than anything but I actually did really like Dallas Liu as Zuko. Also, Ken Leung as Zhao was like…weirdly good as this weird office sitcom villain version of Zhao. Like, he didn’t feel like cartoon Zhao but as a weird smarmy jackass I thought he played it well. Some good performances from side characters as well, and I didn’t think any of the main characters were acted poorly but there were a lot of weird little choices that added up to a show that I didn’t hate but I also didn’t love. If there’s a season 2 I’ll probably watch on the internet high seas.
As someone who did not watch the animated series, I enjoyed this Netflix series. I think those who watched the anime cannot have an unbiased opinion, always comparing this show to the anime. Something live action adapted from an anime will NEVER be better and there will always be disappointment as theres things that cannot be replicated from animation.
Anyone else wondering why fire benders in this show do fluid motions and kameha hands when fire bending?
I thought fire bending was supposed to be the easiest kind of bending to use because of its direct and very direct movements.
Isn't water bending supposed to use flowing movements to simulate the tide, while fire bending is all about the sudden and direct flow of ones inner fire?
The legendary Zosin defeats Gyatso with the legendary open claw. Brilliant!
I personally appreciate that they've chose to make it more of a darker tone than the cartoon. And think they could go darker. To differentiate and appreciate both of them
Really makes you think. Everyone loves Iroh for being a kind old man.....who also laid siege to a city for almost two years
I just finished watching it and enjoyed it very much. The costumes are great, and the bending and fighting scenes were good. Shame there wasnt enough episodes because the pacing was way too fast and so much stuff skipped. Same issue with One Piece.
Problems I had with this series that Seasons 2 & 3 need to majorly improve on:
The Acting (a few exceptions though)
The Special Effects (Especially the green or blue screen, whatever it’s called)
The Writing (It’s feels too cartoony, despite being based on a cartoon)
The Pacing (Too Rushed)
The Constant Exposition (They need to stop)
The Chemistry Between The Main Characters (Outside of maybe Zuko and Iroh I didn’t feel much of a rapport between these characters, unlike the original)
Aang’s lack of training (I don’t think he water bended once. I understand he didn’t really have to rush it as he didn’t know about Sozin’s Comet in this one but still he is the Avatar, he should be practicing)
This review is in exact alignment with how I felt about this live action series after I finished it
Yep. It's how i felt about it too, but after only 3 episodes, being bored and deciding not to finish watching.
I think the 40 old asian actors they found to play Roku, Gyatso, Sozin, etc. (Sozin was AMAZING), were all so stellar and kinda made the whole thing worth it. Tamlyn Tomita too was great in her little part. Almost all the casting on ANY adult who appeared in the show (and most of the kids really) was pretty pitch perfect.
I think there's a lot of new scenes that are nice to see, not necessary, but nice. There's way more interaction between Iroh and Ozai, which... I mean you don't *NEED*, but it's nice to see. Ozai in general I thought was a little more interesting... kinda? He's less effective, but more intriguing. I think the way they did the Omashu/Jet/Mechanist stuff was effective, but they really dropped the ball with Bumi in so many ways. Leung as Zhao was just *SO GOOD*. Detestable, odious, opportunistic. Just amazing.
I'm more... like... intriguied by where they're going to go with it, than what they did with the first season.
Let’s be real. Nothing will come to par or surpass the animated series. So when I watched I let that expectation go and came in with a blank and open mind. That said I loved the show. They got so many things right in my opinion. I enjoyed the show about 80% of the way. I also wasn’t expecting to dislike certain things though I didn’t know what I wouldn’t like I knew something had to be off as nothing is perfect. Just like the animated series, there were things there I didn’t like or care for but still a great show. In this adaptation I can agree that some dialogue was a bit off. Some parts of the show I also didn’t like the way they were treated but it wasn’t too distracting. I can also agree that Uncle Iroh stole the show many times and the actor GOATed his part. I got the most emotions out of him. Overall I enjoyed it and hope to see a second season. 4/5 for me.
I'm starting to realize a lot of these live action remakes are made for grown people who just can not allow themselves to enjoy something that is animated. Even when everyone raves about it. So these things are to make execs happy that they might be tapping a market thats missing out and bland people who cant step outside their comfort zones get a plain sandwich for entertainment.
But also it's so weird that the creators of these live action ones don't know how to make a GOOD show! Like, are they not very smart? I don't have to be smart to enjoy a good show. I'm not smart enough to write one myself. But when a show is dumb, it's boring. There's just so much missing from it. Like you said, bland. Being live action doesn't need to make it bland. And yet that's nearly always what comes out.
I love how my friends were all pushing so hard “this is so amazing you need to see this” and every trailer I saw just made me go: “eh”, like why would I care about less colour, less energy, less comedy and a more boring world as opposed to the amazing original where colour was there, where there was so much sass and humour and every character was likeable
Traditional animation is already the perfect medium for fantasy anyway! Why would I want to see it done less well?
For me my criticism is exactly the pacing and the exposition. I like seeing some more fleshed out moments here or there, some plotlines that get a little bit more attention but it's no original series. It's...okay. Not bad just okay
Original series 10/10
Shamalan movie 0/10
Netflix 5/10
I hate what they've done to Katara. Her sibling banter with Sokka, her (ironically) fiery anger that led to releasing Aang from the iceberg, her motherly care, her bravery when Aang went into the Avatar state and she actually fought her way to him and led him out of it. But thank goodness they got her hair loopies right 🙄
One thing that really stood out to me as a terrible change was making the peaceful air nomads into warriors for some reason? Like joining a war effort..
Well even in the original they're talking about getting Aang ready because concerning things are happening in the world. If you're attacked unexpectedly you don't just sit by and do nothing.
@@carlotta4th They weren't being attacked though, in the live action they were talking about sending air nomads to the Earth Kingdom to help in the war effort, like what???
The Air Nomads were capable of combat if pressed, they just never instigated it.
I don't like some of the creative liberties they made when they modified the live-action version. There is a reason why you don't change the first episodes and that's because the change in an early episode might completely ruin how it was supposed to play out later on.
They really made it tough on themselves. Felt like they made a mess and barely had time to pick up the pieces...
As someone that's been defending this show since it was announced, I KNOW it's kind of rough (in some areas more than others) but I actually think this is one that takes 2 viewings to really get it. The first viewing (which I binged) got me to a 7/10, but there was a lot of sighing and some shell shock from how they handled some things. But nearing my second viewing my score has risen to 8/10. I appreciate more of what they were trying to do and I honestly think it can only get better from here and eagerly await book 2.
I feel like they do have the spirit of the show. Yes, there are narrative, and writing differences that don't by any means improve on the original, but they - at best - keep that spirit there. I did enjoy Zuko and Iroh, I think that they were both done justice - with some things here and there irking me more than others. Aang was fine, if too serious. I had no complaints for Sokka. Katara was okay, but they made her #girlboss moments too in-your-face when she was already a girlboss to begin with.
I know that a lot of people will compare it to the cartoon, and of course the original will always be superior - but it's definitely a market improvement over the movie by leagues. I would watch S2 if they decide to continue it, and if they take audience feedback critically they may be able to improve the show for a S2.
I did like that we got a scene with Aang reunited with Gyatso in the spirit world. That a nice touch and gives Aang closer for his past
I liked little stuff like that too, i also enjoyed the Kyoshi scenes but overall i did not like this series. I was prepared for changes but now i realize i wanted the series to remain the same and add new stuff in. Not change and mix everything together like and take out stuff that made Avatar great
@@90sprinceofcrime67 yeah still this adaptation didn’t need to exist
He isn't suppose to have closer
I watched I and I I found it was fine but I think a lot of the joy I felt while watching was based on knowing the original through and through. I'm watching the original again and it is truly one of the best shows of all time in all media. It's got it all and does it all right and is just as close to perfect as it gets
Katara in this show is the biggest Mary Sue since Rey Palpatine.
To me it's a 6/10, the bad scenes so bad it's cringe, but some things were even better than in the cartoon, one example would be ozai full on incinerating people, and gyatso staying in the spirit world waiting to tell Aang it wasn't his fault, I really liked that. Another one would be what they did with Kyoshi and Kyoshi Island, both felt way better than in the cartoon.
That's about it, everything else is worse but watchable. Dialogue was the weakest part.
I'm so glad i found a review that reflects the way i feel about this show. I also felt like showing us the backstory at the beginning of the first episode was a poor choice and it made me think specifically of the episode "the storm" because i am a die hard fan!
this review has honestly made me feel so vindicated and i'm not even half way through.
I quite enjoyed the show. It's not perfect, and they dump a lot of forced dialog on you. However, it was enjoyable to watch. The only thing i didn't like was Sokka's romance scenes. The animated series had the time to flesh them out, in this show both are super rushed and super cringe. I basically skipped all the scenes with Sokka and the princess in the last 2 episodes.
honestly i think what you said at the end of the cat in the hat review summed up my thoughts on these remakes
Yeah .. I gave it a cursory look the morning it came out, and it started with a fairly good idea, the Air Nomad genocide, and it did have that moment of Aang gliding down. Was a cute moment, but then it hit me, "wait, what about The Storm?"
And then it was on shaky ice until Gran Gran gave the opening monologue VERBATIM. I was rolling my eyes so friggin hard.
The actors are looking and sounding like some of the characters, but thr directions of the writers and the directors is just.... All wrong.
Can we PLEASE stop using Game of fucking Thrones as some "gold standard" for fantasy already?!
I definitely was not disappointed, because I wasn’t actually really looking forward to seeing it. Had not been interested in project since Bryke left. I thought it was okay. The visuals were great. The dialogue and the exposition dumps all around - not so great. On a side note, i love that you brought up Daria!!! Love that show!
The problems every one is expressing in every other video comment section is exactly how I felt with the new Disney Percy Jackson… So I came in with thick live action adaptation skin and honestly loved the fuck out of this show.
It’s fun, it’s cute and has lots of potential to rock the boat with season 2. Honestly people need to quit bitching and appreciate that we have a good live action Air Bender.
Do you think the fire nation play is a better version of Avatar than the Netflix series?
I actually found myself enjoying this and I've been a huge fan of the animated series since the first premiered (I'm that old). What really got to me were 2 things, many of the actors were indigenous. We rarely get to see wonderful indigenous actors in media and almost every time I see a movie or show with indigenous actors come up people tend to have an issue. The second reason, Zuko's actor! I literally had to remind myself that this isn't Dante because they sound almost similar! Dallas knew how to portray Zuko perfectly! He has moments where he acts like a kid but then acts like the tired, agnsty teenager we all remembered and loved. It's not perfect but I enjoyed it. I did enjoy that they focused a lot of Aands personal trauma that we never saw in the animated series. And I absolutely loved that we saw more of his relationship with Gyasto and how it was his memory that calmed Aang down. I honestly thought it was better than Katara telling him to calm down.
I get it, everyone has mixed feelings about this. I had mixed feelings about It as I do with all Live action remakes but I gave this the benefit of the doubt because I love the animated series so much and I want to see what Netflix had to show. Sure the actors are a little wooden but once they get their feet wet I know they'll really give it their all in the next season.
Obviously, nothing can beat the original, a show so close to perfection that it's frankly scary. And compared to something so great, anything else will naturally look like garbage even if it would normally be seen as good or decent. I'd say the Netflix show was passable. Less cringey than a lot of shows and movies that have been coming out lately, at the very least.
The only story change I actually appreciated was making Zuko's crew up of the soldiers he saved. Even though it has some negative impacts on Zuko's arc, it was at least an enjoyable change if nothing else.
I think the worst story change decisions were Ozai being weirdly "nice" to Zuko, Ozai showing favoritism to Zuko when around Azula, and just Azula's new personality entirely. They butchered my girl. One of the best villains of all time, and potentially even the best villain of all time--reduced to such a sad state. Absolutely horrendous.
But by and large, the show was okay. Probably won't feel the need to watch it again. Maybe I'll check out the next season.
I totally agree. I think that if someone sees the Live Action, without seeing the original, they will enjoy it mildly. For people who love the original, will say: at least the effects are decent. It's not a bad show, but it's not good either
Why don’t they make live action versions of the graphic novels or a sequel series where they are adults like we see in Kora?
At least they didn't take six earthbenders to move one Small rock. The bending actually looks real and we got koizilla.
They did really good wish Netflix would have done halo too. We need master chief back not this new master cheeks...
the POINT is that adapting one medium to a 2nd medium is FUN. We watch not to learn but to see how they adapt. We make a check list of what to include. and THIS included every thing on the list. It got charters right, music right, included every side charter, got costumes right, settings right, and most importantly they made changes so its not a shot for shot remake.
Literally my first reaction to the show was the shock setting in that we were
1. Not going to get The Storm
2. Gonna see the air nomad genocide on screen
I enjoyed the show. I think the narration was heavy handed. I even cried in the first episode.
I cried cause of how awful it was
@@MrPitts-zf4qr I'm sorry you've become some jaded, you can't enjoy something. This production was fine. This is better than disney live action and much better than shamacrap. Its a better adaptation than Witcher, Rings of Power, and Wheel of Time...
@@ILikeIcedCoffee lol fine the writing is terrible and they change so much the original creators left. The only thing that is good is the cgi. Not only that ang doesn't bend water the entire season! The first season is called water!
The Avatar Live Action Netflix series is an huge improvement from the Shyamalan version. As a fan of the original cartoon series it's good almost at the same level. It's not exactly perfect like the cartoon but this live action version is great representation.
8:30 I had a feeling you would reference the original creators, but you failed to mention how they were also producers on the 2010 movie... and we all know how that went. LOL
I watched the first two and a half episodes before I had to pause and walk a way for a bit.
First episode: ugh, why are they wasting SO MUCH TIME on things that we either didn't need to see or didn't want to see NOW.
Second: Okay, I liked the interactions between Suki and her mother. I thought that was an interesting little addition, and I really liked the stuff with Azula and Ozai. Otherwise, I didn't like their visit to Kyoshi Island - it just didn't have the same happy feel of "hey, it's the Avatar!" that the original had. Also, Zhao was so far off from his original, arrogant character. He would have never retreated from Kyoshi Island - he'd have thought he could take on Avatar Kyoshi himself!
Third: .... I kind of feel like having Teo and his father in Omashu instead of the Air Temple takes away from Aang seeing that, with the Air nomads and monks gone, clinging to the past is wrong. It was such an important thing for Aang's journey to becoming a fully fledged Avatar, to understanding that the world must move on. And Teo himself felt so wrong in his introduction, because he was such a free, happy spirit in the original show.
It was at that point I had to stop watching, because... they have missed so much of the original characters by this point. This show is closer to the original than the movie ever could dream of being, but it still fails in the most important aspects: the characters. I liken it to having the bones of the original show, but not the heart or spirit.
My final point of complaint - Katara's waterbending. She didn't need Aang in the original show to waterbend. She needed a teacher to help her gain skill faster, but she could waterbend just fine without Aang coming in to save the day.
My cabbages!
I'm disappointed that they made Katara and Sokka pale. I like the series overall, but they made changes to the series that are blatantly wrong like Azula's fire not being blue or Aang not learning waterbending from Katara on the way to the northern water tribe. They also missed chances of character growth like Katara vs Paaku where Katara's necklace reminds Paaku of his past love leading him to teaching Katara combat bending.
One thing I will give the Netflix show that it improved to me. The crew Zuko has on his ship are the 41st division that he stood up for which triggered everything to follow for him, it gives a new angle to the relationship between Zuko and some of the most forgotten characters of the show because we never see them after season 1. It also helps me believe that the crew are instantly cool with Zuko after hearing what he did for them. I believe in the original it's just some randos of the Fire Navy, who are still impressed with what Zuko did anf feel for him getting scarred by his father but don't have any skin in the game.
the series is a solid 6 they moved things and it doesn't work as well, it's fine but a lesser version of the original