Main Characters Discussion | Avatar The Last Airbender Netflix
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Not really a review, but more of a discussion about main character changes in Season One Episode One of Avatar The Last Airbender Live Action. I'll get into lower tier characters in my episode breakdowns.
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This is why I love your videos, unlike some other videos or channels. You use common sense, what other factors may have contributed to the outcome of this final product? What elements don’t work and how you can fix it. Instead of just saying ‘’its bad’’
You open the discussion in a respectfull manner for the craftmanship that has gone into all of this (which i think gets easily overlooked due to the digital age) Its so refreshing to just hear someone with these thoughts i myself have. A little side note but my mother was on the edge of her seat every episode, we had to split them up watching an episode every couple days because of her busy schedule, but she loved it, she has never had this kind off reaction to anything with such amazement and joy to what she sees on screen. It was honestly heartwarming.
It sometimes just hurts being a part of a fandom, where meaningfull discusions are hard to come by. This goes for any property or franchise, not just avatar. Im just really glad i have found a like minded person.
I sincerely hope your channel grows beyond what you can imagine.
Finally someone with common sense. Thank you
Aww! Thank you 😊 I also watched this with my mom. She really enjoyed it, too.
criticism is always hate guys listen to him! lol
To me, Sokka's reaction to getting manhandled by Suki seemed more like shock and wariness to her awkward aggression.
I didn't think she was aggressive. I thought she was flirting in the only way she knew how.
@SummitSummit I agree but I don't think he realized that yet. At least that's how I interpreted it.
@@codyc7477Oh yes. He was clueless that she liked him. He thought he was great and her showing him how much better she was confounded him.
I agree! But it's hard to ignore unless you close your eyes, the way he walked away all "weirded out?" and the camera LINGERS ON SUKI, and the actress playing it as... "I feel bad for doing that, did I turn him off? Was that too much?" As a viewer, I was confused what this scene was even trying to accomplish. Then later in the episode it's like, "OOOHH she just had a crush on him and couldn't show it properly... Okay?.. Good for Sokka expanding Suki's universe by just existing and giving her her first crush cuz he's shown to be handsome and flexing shirtless once and charming," as the show would have us believe.
TLDR: were they connecting as warrior to warrior, or boy to girl? I'd argue BOTH but watered down, and so therefore, unable or incapable of writing this nuance well: Neither. Just my two cents on watching the season 2x!
Can Netflix just hire you as a writer or supervisor from the fan perspective! You would do such a great job at that! 🙏
Im a therapist so im a big fan of Katara because her behavior is very typical of a teen that has been through some serious trauma. The anger, irritability, internalized emotions, the weight of having to be the mother figure, etc. It hits the mark in the animation. I feel like the live action did a disservice to that element, they focused more on her "being held back" which of course is important in the animated version as well. I dont feel like they handled the representation of her trauma well so that was a letdown for me personally
Oh! Interesting. How about with a character in a restrictive environment? I felt like Katara in the cartoon felt like a modern teenager, but Katara in the LA felt more like a teenager who grew up in an environment where she is forced to keep herself a secret on pain of possibly bringing war and death to her family. I've traveled to countries where women are second class citizens and forced to hide away when on their periods. They are more often than not soft-spoken and reserved while in that environment.
@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS Great point actually. My experience is with American teens so it's reasonable that they can more easily express their emotions here than in a culture where expectations for a woman's behavior is different. Personal bias I suppose but I still did miss that fiery, outspoken Katara lol I agree with you that she will probably let loose a bit more in season 2, along with Aang.
@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONSI feel the complete opposite. Trauma looks like the cartoon the live action is your more typical teenage girl
The being " held back" trope is also a very tired modern female character trope, it always ends up being about the female character having been super duper strong all along but everyone/thing else was holding her back don't you know, Katara already being called a master in the LA without proper training is a big sign of this problem.
I like animation Katara because she works up to being acknowledged as a master overtime, we see her work alongside Aang throughout the story and overcome many of her own personal problems, especially her trauma related to her mother, and by the end we get the satisfaction of seeing her fully evolved character arc, in the LA because she is already being acknowledged as a master, what more is there to explore about her? That moment in the last season where Master Pakku acknowledges her as a waterbending master is a powerful moment for Katara which signals that she is ready for the final battle and that her character has finally come full circle.
I like the actress playing Katara in the LA, but the writing did a disservice to both the actress and the character by rushing through her character arc just for yet another tired modern "girlboss" moment.
At least, that's my personal opinion.
@@unversedhero6028 i agree it’s a sexist trope that implies systemic sexism isn’t real women just don’t have the confidence to really try.
Katara - Katara in season 1 embodies the values of perseverance, hard work and responsibility. Her journey is a contrast to Aang's carefree natural talent. The finally where she becomes a master is the payoff of a season of seeing her struggle, but keep going. Of being defeated but continuing to fight. Yet having empathy for even Pakku. We see her passion to keep going against impossble odds in the Earthbender prison. That is why it is so rewarding when she bests Zuko under the full moon and when she becomes a master. We celebrate for her because we have seen tbe values that she embodies. Contrast this to the she wasn't angry until she was at the end watered down version in the live action. The little things are what separate and okay show from the master piece that was the original.
If you take away certain aspects of katara and you inevitably take away a little bit of each of the other team avatar members because she is the glue and the literal heart of team avatar
@@clayongunzelle9555 exacly. that was one of my biggest disappointments. team avatar didn't feel like friends bc of all these changes.
I agree with a lot of this. I'll hopefully be able to expound on it in my episode breakdowns.
Why they didn't feel like they were friends? They have a good chemistry and dynamic between the Gaang but I agree that Katara was my main issue too it just doesn't feel like her, until the very end. @@fxarts9755
Not sure how we can have a thread about her core character traits, and hope not coming up that's literally her core tenant and that's what she has to learn to start tempering over season 1, not her rage
The more I think about it, the more I realize we're seeing choices resulting from other upstream choices. Once you start making adjustments for more drama and realism, plot holes start showing up in characterizations that need to be corrected, which then ripples out to events and other characters. Some things just don't work outside of animation, and a lot of pieces have to be moved around to backfill for those things.
A good example is with Bumi. In a darker version of the story, it would make no sense for Bumi to be as bubbly as the cartoon version. I mean, he's as old as Aang, chronologically, and he's been living with the war for the entire 100 years. He was alive when the airbenders were wiped off the map, and probably thought his good friend was among them. It makes way more sense for him to be bitter and jaded, maybe angry when the avatar shows up 100 years late, and then we get to see Aang bring his friend back out of that sad mindset. That change, of course, fundamentally changes the context for Bumi's challenges and that whole story thread.
I just wish they'd left the final "challenge" as coming from Aang. "Now I have a challenge for you, old friend..."
The cartoon subverted your expectations with Bumi. You're led to the reasonable conclusion that he's bitter and crazy. Then you find out he's just crazy. It made him a character that everyone loves and remembers. Live Action Bumi is just a side character that doesn't stand out.
"Some things just don't work outside of animation, and a lot of pieces have to be moved around to backfill for those things." I don't agree. What things?
I agree, but not with the idea that some things can not work outside of animation. Its just we haven't seen that yet. The point of ground breaking art is to go in new previously before never navigated treacherous waters, this adaptation was Sokka failing his test and being despised by his father. The conflation of Zuko's character arch to Sokka, that is a dilemma that shows total lack of respect and insight into the potential dynamic between both the wounded hero and the underdog. A basic narrative character study, that is dynamic in this story as they have synergy that is well crafted and can be deeply played into. Make a one for one live action adaptation, can after that is complete, work on improving the rough edges for visual continuity and narrative exhibition. It is in the story that we as viewers want to go, into the moments that move so quick in the animation that the nuance is symbolic, blink and you miss it. With live action we have a chance to savor such moments as, the call back moment when June, says to Zuko, I see you found your girlfriend... "She's not my Girlfriend!" moment. That we WILL NOT GET NOW! You cannot explain to me how these important beats would not work in this medium. Why couldn't Princess of the Norths betrothed have been a bigger sexist than Sokka, the confrontation of his own masculinity through cultural peer conflict and self review, that we jump with joy when that fat head turd easily gets tossed overboard, that is a beat that is as important as "not my cabbages", and so many important beats are stripped from this. To many. They didn't even deliver "lettuce leave" correctly and it fell flat making the King look like a fool, who lost his way, who was bitter, and takes away from his powerful reveal as a member of the white lotus, in fact none of the members of the white lotus shown any deeper qualities that would play into the secret society that is gently guiding the next generation and avatar to their collective destinies. All is lost.
I saw what they were trying to do with Katara but in the end it could have been done better. I didn't have a problem with them wanting her to progress towards becoming someone who isn't afraid to be more assertive and show her anger, but I felt like it wasn't as impactful as it could have been because of both the script and the acting from Kiawentiio. Kiawentiio isn't a terrible actress but in those moments where she is supposed to be fierce and angry, it's still a bit too soft, especially her voice, and she could be a lot more expressive with her face. She has it in her though because I've seen her sound way more tough and passionate portraying her character in Netflix's Anne with an E.
That being said, the biggest thing that I was disappointed with about this live-action Katara is how they cut out how inspiring she is for those around her. She isn't just a waterbender, not just motherly, she isn't just angry and passionate, but she is also a spark. A spark that helps those that have lost hope light their fire again and join back the fight. A great example of this is in the animation is the episode when she inspires the earthbender prisoners to fight back. She gave a great speech to them hoping it would motivate them, but they still sat there doing nothing (which was a hard watch). Even so, she didn't give up on them and saw it would take more than words to uplift their spirits, so she helped by getting them coal. This is also a core element of who Katara is, and we don't see that from her in the live action.
Sure, she had her moments where she inspired Aang but what makes it even more admirable is the fact that she was always willing to stand up for anyone, any stranger. I noticed they could have put this in the live action by taking the elements of Katara's speech for the earbender prisoners and modify the speech so it could be given to the waterbending women of the northern water tribe. What would have made that scene in episode 8 where they are all standing together ready to join in on the battle even more impactful, is if they gave Katara a moment to give that speech to the women prior to them showing up ready to go against their tribe's sexist culture and fight. Since animated Katara had to do more than just shout a speech to the earthbender prisoners, the live-action could've taken this scenario a step further by having Katara demonstrate the combat waterbending that she has learned to the women, showing them there's more they can do than just heal. Some kind of moment like this on camera would have made Katara's part in the battle even more powerful.
28:51 I think it was pretty obvious that Ozai was testing Zuko. He literally was goading him to fight harder, because Ozai was holding back. And he had three potentially "positive" outcomes (for Ozai) 1) Zuko gets one good shot in on him, and proves through strength and ruthlessness that he should be listened to about an alternative to the sacrifice play Ozai was planning, 2) Zuko keeps holding holding back and he'll know to shift his attention to Azula, or 3) Zuko slowly pushes harder and Ozai can continue to keep in control, which would tell Ozai that Zuko isn't ready for the war council yet, but may be eventually.
Ozai is a master of strategy, and two out of three outcomes (that again, are all beneficial to Ozai) require Zuko to get the upper hand. So I thought this was really well done rather than a close misstep.
My thought, too. Came to the comments to say this but you for to it first.
Nice! I hadn't considered this. I think it was Ozai's facial expression at seeing Zuko with a fiery fist over his head that makes me think it was not intentional to let Zuko get the upper hand. But yeah. I think you've got something, here.
@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS I get that. The editing, to me, suggested that his surprise wasn't that Zuko had a hand up, but rather that he saw Zuko had already paused his attack.
In the animated series, Ozai is good at strategy. In the Live Action, Ozai allows the Earth Kingdom to know about the comet's power which can backfire (theres more time for the earth kingdom to prepare than in the cartoon). Ozai also prepares a distraction which causes him to lose a whole fleet and army just to fake an attack on Omashu, which isnt the strongest earth city (and which the northern water tribe wouldnt have helped protect). I wouldnt say that this version of Ozai is a stratgic genius.
If that was really the plan (which I honestly think it wasn't) then they did a terrible job to communicate to us that this was all intentional from Ozai's part. Not to mention, having Zuko fighting back added nothing and took away a lot from the impact of the original scene. It was only made for the sake of action, it's clear as a a day. Since we didn't get Zhao/Zuko duel, we got this instead because Netflix is all about action and flashy effects.
Katara saying "were your family" at the end made more sense than in the first episode since they just met.
I agree with this. More coukd have been fone to trally build connections between Katara, Sokka, and Aang as a family, but either way, its earned by the end, whereas doing it at the Southern Air Temple is far less so.
I said this in your other video, but I have worked with children who have gone through trauma my whole career, and some kids will do anything to avoid their trauma and will go off and play and be goofy to avoid the pain. It is very realistic for a child to act like Aang in the show and to go off and avoid that pain. I’ve seen it many times and at first it surprised me in kids. But now I understand it cause it’s how they cope.
Also Aang not bending water by himself once, feels bad. Even my wife who is loving the show and disagrees with most of my problems is mad about that.
Great videos btw! The show is great and we do need more positivity about it. These are just gripes I have that I don’t see a positive for.
I really love the journey of Aang and how Gyatso was the one as a guide for him and in the end of the season, is Katara that calm him down and, with Sokka, are his family now.
I think because of that, and what Aang said in the second episode about Gyatso was his master and he don't want at that time another one, now sees Katara as a member of his family and a potential master to learn waterbending. He now os ready to learn the other elements
I hope Netflix do more than 8 episodes for the next seasons! They did really well in this first one
thank you so much for this. it's tiring constantly seeing critiques like "it wasn't exactly like the original therefore it was bad". such a refreshing analysis of the live action characters! looking forward to your next videos!
Maybe not bad, but surely not as good.
It s just a whole other story given how much some characters were changed.
There’s way more people saying that people are saying that than there are people actually saying it lol
My issue isn’t that it wasn’t exactly like the original. It was better than I expected. However, the changes made seemed to do more harm than good as far as character development and depth in most cases.
Clutching at praise straws in the name of positivity is why we're stuck with continuously mediocre content. We've seen better, we demand better or nothing at all
@noztk I mean it makes sense that the people who think the show is well written are also not able to recognize the difference between criticizing the writing and dialogue etc. and wanting a 1-1 adaptation. The responses that we are getting to the specific and well-communicated criticisms of the show is about the same quality as the writing of the show is lol
Katara.: i agree that thats probably what the writers thought with changing katara. that doesnt however matter if the end product is worse.
but lets say it is a good change for her character, the problem is this changes so much more than just her character. it ruins (and i mean that with every sense of the word) her relationship with the gaang.
there was a reason why she was angry and stubborn in the original. she had to take up the rola of a mother for sokka with all the responsibility it comes with. that a major defining character trait that also reflects in her relationship with the others. how she often acts motherly and has a strong temperament. this trait of hers lead to some of the strongest scenes in the original.
there are also so much less friction points with the other characters because of her stubborness that the it they to be really honest dont even feel like friends in the adaptation. no conflict with Aang bc he learns faster or bc he is slacking off or her calming him down, also no conflict with sokka really. the only conflict we got is in omashu with the Jet reviel. which lasted about 1 minuter than she finds out and everything back to normal.
that makes me super worried since that also was a big arc with toph.
and no i dont believe that katara develops into that in the netflix version. bc she doesnt have that motherly part of her, bc she still not stubborn enough. i also dont feel like the actor can portray that. (yes she is a child but she feels miscast)
there is also the very funny scene: "you are a master now". like what? we seen her waterbend like 3 times before the last episode. and she doesnt even train anything. not even healing (which spoiler becomes a key moment in book 2)
Sokka.: think the biggest reason why sokka feels like the show sokka was the excelent casting choice.
The sexism being taken away feels really noticable making the change unjustified. my biggest problem is however with suki. it deminishes her character so much. i dare say it the show feels MORE SEXIST because of that decision.
they literaly made suki into a cartoon version of herself (ironic lol). like her relationship comes down to her creeping on sokka body.
in the original she comes to like him because he showed that he can learn and change. netflix: "first boy i see from a different village and he is hot"
Aang: no he doesnt really "need" waterbending in season1 but craming it in with eathbending in book2 feels also very problematic.
also again takes the conflict and time with katara and sokka away (sokka bc he is always the butt of the joke when they learn waterbending) these were key moments showing them as friends. feels like something is missing without it.
Zuko: like you said the redemption arc is totally ruined. there is no way around it.
he never really felt like a bad guy. he wasnt angry enough, he felt like a puppy, not the psycho with anger issues. no fault of the actor but the direction of his lines. which lessens the eventual redemtion.
similar for azula and ozai. i dont really fear any of them watching them show
there is a reason why the original didnt show the backstories for these characters for a some time.
I feel like the LA respected the esthetic of the original, without understanding the deepness of the story.
So many arcs/character progressions are just ruined that the later pay offs that made the show iconic can t happen anylonger.
Now i fear what they ll do to Toph...
I was talking about Katara on twitter a few days ago and was basically saying the same thing - whereas animated Katara starts the show headstrong and outspoken, live action Katara has an arc over the course of season 1 about gaining confidence, not just in her bending but in her beliefs and opinions and her right to voice them. From telling sokka to stop treating her like a child, to rejecting jet’s attempt to claim her improvement as his doing, to standing up against pakku and bringing out all the women to help in the battle even after he refused, to asserting her ownership of her own mastery against zuko. If this was the intention then it’s understandable why she feels so much more “docile” until the later episodes where she starts to act more like cartoon katara, albeit still not quite there - it’s bc she’s on her journey to get there.
They literally went with the “ girls just needed to be better then the men to earn their respect” mentality
It’s an insult.
@@tracim3080 they literally did not and i have no idea where you even got that notion. her arc is about gaining the confidence to speak her mind, it has nothing to do with earning respect from men. if you’re talking about her waterbending progression, she isn’t stronger than pakku and she doesn’t succeed in convincing him to teach her or let her fight, even after he acknowledges that she’s an excellent waterbender. the only reason she and the other women participate in the final battle is because katara has gained enough confidence to stand her ground and do what she believes is right even after being told “no”, and she convinces the other women to stand with her. it has nothing to do with being “better than men to earn their respect”
@@Alexis-xy6sy they had her be masters level with zero training and have puko change his mind because of her skill and not because his past pain was thrown in his face and the fact he had been having that argument 60 years now.
The live action just has her show up be better then most then she was deemed as good as the men.
It’s ridiculous and insulting our intelligence.
It gives the impression women just need to learn how to talk and men don’t need to learn how to listen.
The compete opposite of what the cartoon was trying to say.
@@tracim3080 they had her reach masters level with zero training because they wanted her to have complete ownership of her progression. i don’t like the decision either because i find it unrealistic, but it’s got nothing to do with women having to be better than men. That’s a deliberately pessimistic read on what we’re shown.
Pakku absolutely did not change his mind because of her skill. I don’t know if you watched episode 7 until the end, but when they fight, she loses. She’s very talented but she’s still not as skilful as him because there’s different degrees of mastery. After the fight, Pakku says “I’ll say this, you’re an excellent waterbender” and katara says “but you still won’t let me fight” and pakku says “no”. even when he explicitly acknowledges her skill, he refuses to change his mind.
But katara refuses to take no for an answer and convinces all the women to follow her to the frontlines. Pakku tries to refuse her again but he sees all the women with her and Yugoda says “what good is it relying on the past when it stops us from having a future?” And it’s only at this point that he finally changes his mind and tells them to help by reinforcing one of the walls. It’s not about Katara’s skill.
I don’t know what you mean by women learning to talk instead of men learning to listen because to me, both of those things very clearly happen. Katara gains the confidence to speak out even when centuries of tradition oppose her, the other women are emboldened to follow her, and Pakku is called out on being a stubborn, proud old man and eventually listens to what they’re saying.
@@Alexis-xy6sy right like it hadn’t occurred to any of the women to just ask and also only ok because their world was ending and not because it was wrong in the first place.
Think about what you are typing out and what message that really sends.
You got two more seasons of content to make! Woohoo!
I know! So cool! And I'm sure they are listening to the sane critiques. They love this IP and want to do it right.
@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS So how long do you think they’ll start filming again? Just curious lol
@Vinzie777 lol. No idea. I'm sure the script and acquiring logistical needs is happening. But that could be a little ways away. Since so much of S2 takes place in the desert, they might be forced to wait until fall.
Seems so weird that a lot of people are not understading how different the tone is for both medias. Can't wait for the other parts of your review
I appreciate your open view and agree with some of your takes however there are things that you’re missing out on
Katara
1. Being outspoken isn’t only a trait that missing but also her desire to be a nurturing, mother figure and inspiring hope to others. Sure these things can be added in the next two seasons but doesn’t make sense to not start some traits like Nurturing and taking care of others when that stem from her water tribe roots.
2. 18:32 It’s unlikely that scene is going to happen because Katara is now a Waterbending master, they said she’s going to train Aang and Pakku already gave her a water potion so they’re no reason for them to be in the north anymore.
Sokka
10:31 I’m pretty sure the reason why Sokka was upset was not because he lost to a girl but him failing at impressing a girl he likes because she outmatched him. We know from the beginning he wants to get wet with her(pun intended) so the intention there was to impress her.
Aang
1. The problem with Aang's change is that his character flaw is weaker. In the original, his main flaws were his immaturity and avoiding responsibility. In this version, it's the fact he was gone 100 years which doesn’t work well because here he left to clear his head and actually try to come back. This makes his absence more blameless and people who criticize him for that sound like just talking about OG Aang lol.
2. Aang not trying to learn water bending doesn’t make sense for this version of the series because his drive here is that try to fulfill Avatar duties and end war. Kyoshi even mentions his responsibility to start mastering elements. Ironically enough if it was OG Aang this change actually makes more sense because he drives to have fun and be more carefree. By having Aang be more responsible and duties driven but attempt other elements is very incongruent.
3. 18:53 I don’t see them bring out Aang not just his because of character motivation ( which I said other point)but also because there is going to be a time skip and he needs to now master water and earth bending. It would be weird to have Aang act more immature when he’s older than younger despite him having more responsibilities/duties to take care. Will there be downtime sure, but can’t see this Aang having much of it knowing that Omashu has been taken by Fire Nation.
The Azula change makes more sense when you realize we’re dealing with a more Sympathetic Ozai although the lesson of her needing to defy to Ozai could be considered out of character.
I'm headcanoning that Aang not learning to waterbend is just their substitute for "Aang running away from responsibility" since we don't have side quests anymore to showcase that so him purposely not taking on any waterbending is his way to not face his responsibilities
Everything you said about Aangs and Katara's characters I agree with. I miss Katara being angry and confident but I realized that they weren't having her start out that way to give her some kind of character growth in season one. I hope in season two it's exactly like you said where with the time jump, we see Aang and Katara closer to their original characterizations with Aang being more goofy and fun-loving and Katara being more confident and occasionally angry and frustrated. It could be a time jump at the northern water tribe but I could also see them doing a time jump where the gaang has been travelling around and Katara has been teaching Aang (since they made it so clear she's a 'master' now) so her frustration and his goofiness could come out because she's upset he's not taking it seriously and/or she could be upset he's learning things quicker than she did like it was on the show. I would prefer them staying in the northern water tribe because one thing I didn't like was that Katara was just declared a master without actually learning from the northern water tribe (even if she's good at waterbending she could still benefit from studying their techniques and especially the healing), but I could see them going both ways.
I think the Katara differences is equivalent to a wave vs a ice spike in the live action her fierceness is the equivalent of a cresting wave in the show its like a ice spike through the eye
Lol. I'm not exactly sure the ice spike metaphor is right. Buy its a great image.
I‘m a little bit sad that most discussion about Sokka is only about his sexism (mainly because that discussion already came up before the show started). For me, the far bigger concern with his character is that he suddenly seems to have become an optimist when he was clearly a rational pessimist in the cartoon and his bad luck from his pessimism was often a big part of his comedic scenes. I mean for crying out loud he was SINGING ALONG with the nomads about love! And he was the one lecturing Katara that they should trust in the power of love in the tunnels of Omashu! Hello?! That‘s the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what Sokka does in the cartoon! He was the one getting frustrated with the nomads and their singing and drew maps of the tunnels instead because he was the rational one in the group. It‘s a big part of his character and not only important for his comedic scenes but also for him to become the strategist of the group.
I don‘t really have a problem with most other characters and their different interpretation as long as I can still see that the original character in the cartoon could still behave in that way and fits their circumstances. But Sokka for me is just not the same character if he isn‘t a rational pessimist and they literally make him into the complete opposite. The Sokka from the cartoon clearly wouldn‘t have acted that way in the Omashu tunnels.
Something I've noticed in rewatching it (and this may well be just my subjective opinion on it) is that this season seems to be focusing on the Gaang dealing with their own trauma and self-doubts. Aang, of course, coming to terms with being the last airbender, as well as being the Avatar, which he never wanted to be, and his guilt over being gone for so long and not stopping the war, Katara with her mother's death (which she actually witnesses here, instead of her being killed off screen) and the anger she's felt over that, and Sokka with his feelings of inadequacy as a warrior and leader. The last two especially, with the Koh scene, with having to relive those moments that scarred them so deeply. And I feel like Katara wasn't making headway with her waterbending until Jet (God help me, I'm actually gonna say something nice about him) helped to look past the anger and find things she remembers about her mom that were good. At her heart, Katara is a compassionate, deeply caring person, and only when she gets past her anger and finds that core of herself again, does her bending start to really take off. With Sokka. it's him needing to understand that he is not Hakoda, he'll never be Hakoda, and that's fine, he just needs to be Sokka and figure out what his own strengths are. Aang needs to accept what's gone before and that he's here now, in this time, and he needs to learn how to be the Avatar, which he can't fully do while he's hanging onto his grief and guilt.
And if that's what they're doing here, I think that's good to resolve it now, so going forward will be a tighter storyline. Also, when Toph is introduced, they won't really need to do a lot of resolution work with her, since she's already strong and confident in who she is. They can still have some vulnerable moments for her, but there's no need to go deep with her trauma, since she doesn't really have any that would slow her down. And they can focus more on the messed up relationships in the Fire Nation royal family and how that's affecting Zuko and Azula, especially.
Side note: I am totally on board with the changes to Zhao in this version. My god, they made him so much nastier and more devious here, I loved it!
Im really realllllly hoping that now that the writers strikes are over and theyve gotten better contracts, hopefully the writers are given the time to really improve how they write this story in season two.
The show genuinely feels like it was written using chat gpt at many points, and its almost like the characters are just reading their lines from the fan wiki. So hopefully in season 2 theyre able to really spend some time employeeing subtlety in their writing so that everything isn't pre chewed, puked up and spoon fed to us, mama bird style like the audience is full of idiots with no media literacy skills. I hope they pay more attention to the themes too.
I realllllly want to love this show, so hopefully S2 & S3 improve a bunch.
Oh wow u just uploaded this, dope lol
Haha! Yup! You're the first to comment, too 😋 This is the stuff I cut out of my last video, so it might feel a bit repetitive. Moving on to the Episode Breakdowns after this.
@@TheSwordAndThePenREFLECTIONS Gotcha! Looking forward to the content 🔥
Great points. For me the biggest change to Zuko was toning his explosive rage and disrespect way down. He's downright cruel in how he speaks to Uncle Iroh in the cartoons at times, especially in season 1.
While its actually kind of hard to watch, especially on re-watch, that's what makes the softer moments more impactful. Especially the BIG one in the season 3 finale. That's part of what makes his redemption so amazing.
I just hope his redemption doesn't feel less earned because he was made more sympathetic from the start.
Interesting thoughts! For me, the adapted Katara arc works, it makes sense to tweak it in this way.. also I'm very interested about Azula on this series (she's my fav character, I wonder how will she be portraited forward, with her ambition for that unreacheable perfection and her downfall to it).
I hope they work on the writing issues and they throw at us an amazing season 2 ^w^ Thanks for sharing!! ❤
Re: Sokka, I viewed the lack of overt sexism in the LA as a time thing. The original show had time to show his sexist views be slowly worn away over many episodes. Also the original had filler episodes that allowed us to see him as a lovable goof and didn't hit us with "girls can't..." all the time. With so few episodes, if the LA introduced it I think Sokka would have been an easily disliked character by people unfamiliar with the show; or at the least, his character would have been less humorous and more grating.
With Suki, I like how the LA showed them both being very awkward with their affections toward each other. Suki tries to impress him as a warrior and doesn't understand why beating him makes him run away, Sokka tries to impress her with his supposed knowledge as a warrior only to find out how shallow that knowledge is. His identity as a man and a warrior is shaken, but not his bravery, and that bravery outshines his ego drawing him to ask to be taught.
In the end, Sokka learns that he has much to learn about being a warrior and starts that journey with her, while she gets to shine in her role as a teacher and steward of her people's culture (a role Sokka views in himself). But also, both are novices at matters of the heart, and that awkwardness of "first love" comes through both quite well in the LA.
Ok, I'll go in order of the video. Katara being so repressed innthe beginning doesn't make sense because the risk of the Fire Nation and her waterbending was always there, in fact we find out in the comics that cover the early post war (which are canon) she probably wasn't the only waterbender, but all of these children who could waterbending, Katara included when she was younger, were instructed to lie about and hide it, and rather than being a reason she's repressed, its a massive source of frustration for Katara, similar to the prohibition on women learning combat in the north, so I just don't understand why the change was necessary, to start from behind and wind up with her where she's supposed to start.
It sounds like we mostly agree about Sokka, so the only thing I'll say is that making his sexism so much less pronounced changed his relationship with Katara. In the beginning he didn't just not like her training for safety reasons, he didn't respect it. If I remember correctly I think he asked her "why is it that everytime you play with magic water, I get soaked?" And I do think that the only waterbender he's ever seen being his little sister is part of why he doesn't respect it, that's a little tangenty but the bottom line is him being barely sexist, if at all, and Katara being so repressed, takes away from not just each of their arcs as individuals but the arc of their relationship and the arc of their entire found family as we move into seasons 2 and 3 and explore Sokka's insecirities about being the only non bender in a group of benders 2/3 of which are girls who could beat him into next week in about 5 seconds.
Aang, really has had his arc and personality changed and undermined. I saw more actual grief from him when he spent most of the time compartmentalizing, which yes, that is what he was doing. Compartmentalization is a little different than just trying not to think about something, it's not usually a concious thing, particularly with children. You're subconciously putting what happened and all the bad thoughts and emotions in a box and hiding that box as far from the surface of your mind as possible, then doing whatever you have to, to keep that box shut and locked away. The trouble is that this doesn't always totally work but rather than it all just blowing up and making you super upset and depressed, the box leaks just enough for it to come out in other ways, ways that might nit make sense and can be hard for others, or even yourself to recognize where its really coning from. In the animation, Aang was doing a lot of attention seeking, that was his real purpose in riding the fish when they were actually there. The minute he realized that Katara was distracted, it wasn't fun anymore, we see his expression change to reflect that.
Now why would Aang need to compartmentalize? Maybe because he's jist experienced what would be a massive trauma for anyone, and doesn't really have the time to just sit with and process it, so he puts on a front where he's all about helping people and having fun so that he doesnt just crack and become the husk of himself that we saw in the live action, growing more fed up and bitter about the state of the world by the day. Aang saved the world because of who he is, because his mind and heart weren't warped by 100 years of war, if he is irreperably changed by the dark, down trodden, distrustful state of the world and has already lost himself to it there's no way he'll be able to save it. Aang is supposed to be internslly better and stronger thsn that and I'm just not seeing it.
I actually liked what they did with Zuko, him being a complete nerd for all things Avatar totally makes sense and it does a fantastic job of humanizing him.
Iroh wasn't bad, I do miss his laid back goofiness, it's what made it clear that he wasn't the same man he was when he led the seige, that, that defeat and moreso losing his son and the throne changed him and made him reassess who he was and what he wanted from life in a massive way. I still love Iroh but it doesn't feel like he's quite there yet in this version.
Katara was the main characterization I had a problem with, she didn’t feel like the essence of the character, and I don’t think it translated well. With Sokka he was definitely less goofy and adapted a bit differently, but he still felt like the essence of Sokka (aItthough I still think they could’ve included the sexism more than they did (but still in a subtle way) to show him overcoming his traditionalist ideas). I also think it’s baffling that they had an opportunity to show katara earning the master title more than the og show (and I thought they were doing that with showing her practice progression) but then she didn’t even get trained by pakku? And was still a “master”? That was a really confusing choice
I know the title says "main character", but what was your thoughts on May and Ty lee? May especially.
Were Mai and Ty Lee even in it enough to form an opinion? I watched it through twice, and while I remember they were cast, I don't remember them doing anything.
@@SummitSummit you right, but i feel that while their first scenes were ok. In the next ones. May didn't do it for me. I didn't get May vibes, if you know what i mean. But we'll see with extra screen time in season 2.
Ok you've convinced me for Katara. I was really upset that she had been made a little too passive. She didn't have that mortherly attitude either and that worried me for the character's arc. I guess I hadn't thought of it that way, it makes more sense now why they portrayed her like that. I still found the feminine rage a little off in the finale (could have felt more natural), but I get the intention, now!
As for Aang: to me, even though he didn't need to become a "master" waterbender by S1, he still absolutely needed to be introduced to water bending. As he learnt basic moves, it would have been a great opportunity to talk about bending philosophy and how each element carries moral & cultural differences that you can learn from.
That's the whole reason the anime seasons were divided into each bending style: to explore each aspects of their philosophy = (1) Aang starts off avoiding his responsibilities (airbender technique) with a focus on learning to adapt to this "new" unknown world while exploring its countryside and meeting its people (Water = change & adaptability); (2) he starts learning how to stand his ground to defend his values culminating in the finale in Ba Sing Se (Earth = stubborn & uncompromising); (3) he finally fully steps into the Avatar role and actually ends the war (Fire = strengh & resolute power).
At least that's how I interpreted the animated series' choice of a 3 season narrative arc. I could be wrong of course, and sorry for rambling (I never know how to make it short), to each their interpretation! :)
In the cartoon version, Katara did try to discuss their need to resume their journey, but Aang kept abruptly reflecting & avoiding the conversation. Katara showed a mix of reassurance and concern, subtly hinting that she was aware of his behavior. However, the cartoon may have overemphasized Aang's self-absorption with the attention he received while showing off. And this when Katara gave him the "I'm not mad, just disappointed" treatment, it signaled that he understood his actions but selfishly wanted to continue. It wasn't until the Fire Benders arrived on the island that he realized the consequences of his actions. Later, in 'The Storm' episode, his character arc was further explained. I feel the live-action veered too far in the other direction, especially with Kyoshi.
Regarding Kyoshi's portrayal in the live-action adaptation, I found her approach to speaking to Aang quite jarring. As someone with similar coping mechanisms as Aang, who masks depression and anxiety, I can relate to his struggles. If someone had yelled at me in the way Kyoshi did, essentially establishing that I'm a failure and my wants are irrelevant, I wouldn't have reacted well at the age of 12. This is even more significant from a real-world cultural standpoint. Since Kyoshi essentially took on the role of Avatar spirit mentor that Roku had in the original series, her tone should have been more reassuring but firm, akin to Roku's. This would have aligned better with her stoic personality. Yelling at a child, especially after learning that the Fire Benders' arrival is his fault, seems harsh. Additionally, they rushed Avatar Roku's character development and gave him a different personality, which I can't personally understand.
Regarding Bumi's character change, I understood the creators' intentions in the cartoon. Bumi, realizing that his childhood best friend, whom he thought had died, was alive and seeking to master the elements, should have focused more on training instead of displaying bitterness. However, this is just my opinion.
Regarding Sokka, I don't have many issues with his portrayal. Adding some character flaws to facilitate growth works well for him. However, I do take issue with the changes made to Chief Hakoda and the addition of a scene where Sokka overhears his father doubting his warrior abilities as a child. Sokka's backstory already contains plenty of layered drama, including the loss of his mother and his father's expectations for him to protect the family. Adding this new element feels unnecessary and detracts from the existing narrative complexity.
In the case of live-action Suki, many of her dynamic personality traits were lost. She's not just a warrior; she lacks the spunk, competitiveness, and excitement that made her character compelling in the animated series. In the cartoon, she confidently defeated Sokka in a sparring match without feeling remorse, whereas in the live-action adaptation, she seems to be portrayed as more submissive, chasing after the boy she likes. This change diminishes her agency and makes her character feel one-dimensional. Even though the animated version of Suki had a more flat character arc, it suited her story better and made her a more well-rounded character from the start.
As for Princess Yue, it feels like the live-action adaptation skipped over her character entirely, except for the parts necessary for the moon spirit storyline. The rushed development of her relationship with Sokka and the lack of attention to her character development make it seem like she was added as an afterthought. The inclusion of the moon kitsune subplot could have been interesting, but without proper buildup, it feels out of place and doesn't contribute much to the overall story.
Regarding Zuko, his portrayal in the adaptation was almost perfect, but it felt like the creators were hesitant to fully commit to him being a villain. In the original cartoon series, especially in Season 1, Zuko was depicted as a clear antagonist, with only subtle hints about his backstory to provide depth to his character. And _The Storm_ giving us the most crucial backstory, which plays into the the confrontation between the two during the Blue Spirit episode, and of course seasons 2 & 3. However, these nuances didn't change the fact that he was perceived as the villain by Aang and his friends, a point that Katara would later use against him in Season 3.
For instance, the raid on Kyoshi Island was entirely attributed to Zuko in the animated series. In the live-action adaptation, they attributed this action to General Zhou. Additionally, many of Zuko's worst actions, which he later sought to make amends for in the original series, were either toned down or attributed to other characters in the live-action version. This undermines the complexity of Zuko's character arc, which is one of the best redemption arcs in any medium.
Moreover, the lack of subtlety in the live-action adaptation, as discussed in the previous video, is concerning. It feels like the show is rushing to lay the groundwork for Zuko's eventual redemption arc. It's strange that while the show portrays the full brutality of firebending and doesn't shy away from addressing Uncle Iroh's past actions, it fails to fully commit to portraying Zuko as a villain.
For my last issue, there's Azula. While I understand the complexity of character development and how certain traits can be explained through backstory, I feel the animated series established Azula's character as inherently ruthless and manipulative from a young age. Even her mother struggled to control her, suggesting that her behavior was ingrained. While Ozai certainly influenced her, her personality traits were also shaped by her environment. Therefore, portraying her as a more defiant teenager in the live-action adaptation feels out of place to me. Azula already had agency, and there was no need to introduce the idea of her rebelling against her father to prove herself, as she was already the "Golden child" in the narrative and revelled in it. So I think it was a mistake to introduce her insecurities this early on, even if they didn't have confirmation they were getting a season 2 and 3 until just recently.
Great notes, all of these. I don't agree with all of them, but I'll be getting into the deeper analysis in my episode breakdowns.
Regarding Suki, I made an error. I meant to say she seems more socially awkward around Sokka. Not submissive.
Wow, I completely agree with everything you've said, excellent analysis
Awesome analysis and I agree with most your points/opinions.
This is how I personally felt about the adaptation compared to the animated series:
The filler eps in the animated series were too much and unnecessary especially with the over the top ridiculous behavior from the kids/various characters which waters down the main storyline & distracts from meaningful character development. I honestly found the storytelling & character development far superior in the live action. Allot of the important parts from the animated fillers were spread throughout in the adaptation in a very meaningful way that added even more depth & layers to every main character. Aang for example...I could actually feel the immense weight of his responsiblity/despair/empathy like never before.
Katara slowly overcoming her personal trauma/doubts/bottled up emotions makes total sense especially for her age. Katara having to overcome her mental blocks in order to progressively improve her bending was a very nice addition to her character. They also showcase and refer throughout the adaptation that she's putting in work and getting better. It's clearly implied visually/audibly that Katara is working for it all the time and her true self starts to blossom around ep3 onward. She actually grows in more ways in the LA where as in the animation she primarily just grows her skills.
Sokka was pretty 1 dimensional in the animation for book 1. The adaptation actually made him more useful, interesting, while still keeping him goofy but less over the top(which is a good thing imo). The animated series was great overall but it's overrated and far from perfect. It never made me feel for the characters & main storyline the way this adaptation did especially for book 1.
Most of the people saying the adaptation is "bad" are completely misunderstanding the added depths given to each main character without changing their cores from the OG. They're misunderstanding because they're blinded by Nostalgia.
I think the missed opportunity made was not showing Aang being playful and mischievious with Master Gyatsu. The Southern Air Temple scene could have easily shown Gyatsu racing Aang down the spire to show he can keep up with a grand master, then knock a pastry onto the other monks head to give him a reason to be all mean about anouncing the Avatar.
I absolutely agree with what you said about Katara. Her reluctance, insecurities and fear that is being fed by not olnly witnessing her mother's death, but also her brother and Grandma is what is truly holding her back. Katara is considered a prodigy waterbender, so i believe what they did in the la really showcases why she became so powerful and a master in such a short notice, but will also showcase how an incecure girl became such a confident, in herself and her powers, woman. Her character ark and development is defently deeper than that of the cartoon.Really looking forward for season 2 and 3 Katara.
For Sokka i didn't mind that those sexist comments weren't in the show. I think the sexism was represented through patriarchy, with how he was presenting and introducing himself. Dad left ME incharge, not gran gran, but ME a 13 year old boy. He feels responsible for Katara and the village. Do i agree with this change? Yes and no. I agree with what you said tho, that is toned down to the point that we can't really say that yes sokka is sexist.
You were spot on with aang. We have to keep in mind that this is a live action. It would be kind of insensitive of him to ride on a koi fish after witnessing all his people dead.
Also agree with you on zuko and iroh. The anger the determination were there. The only think that they didn't include (and i was sooo happy about) is how disrespectful he was with his uncle.
It was pretty clear (maybe to me) what ozai was up to. Especially with what he was doing to azula. I agree with you, it gave us an insight on why azula is the way that she is in the later seasons and what really pushed her to hate Zuko so much.
Overall, it was a well made first season and i was pretty happy with the majority of the changes that they made. Looking forward for season 2 and 3.
Ps. Sorry if i don't make sense in some parts, English isn't my first language
Very happy I saw this video today. I saw so many comments and reactions where they just completely dismissed the characters especially Katara and Sokka but also that they completely rewrote Aang but they didn't put any thought into it. It was different than the animated chars and so they hated it. Which made me a bit angry
So thank you for actually putting their characterisation into words. I actually really liked what the LA did with the material and of course there is always room to improve but you put it in a really constructive way and not just say well its different so its bad ♡
@@tessiakyralia637 As an editor, I can usually spot when something is ruined or dishonored. This is not the case. In fact, I see great effort to respect the source material and characters. No animation like this one can be perfectly translated to love action without adjustment. I think they made good and very cautious choices in nearly every instance with this live action, and not one character was ruined.
I honestly loved the live action. It felt more mature. Bid fan. Excellent video. Cheers.
I’m a bit surprised how much push back the shows getting. It’s absolutely not perfect but it didn’t feel far off from the one pieces adaptation to me, in fact they had a lot of the same issues in my opinion and they both had that same feeling to me you were describing where I can see how hard they worked on it and while that in itself is a bit of a flaw it’s a flaw that tells me the creators care and are trying and even if they miss the mark I can see what they were going for and it doesn’t bother me so much. I really think the show can pick up in overall quality in future seasons and that goes for both the OP LA and the ATLAB LA.
That's a great point on Ozai. It made the Agni kai, Zoko getting the upper hand, and tears in his eyes when burnt Zoko take a whole new meaning. Like he gave Zoko the opening just to test his theory and Zoko didn't take it making him sort of believe his theory was true and then the pain before the anger. Wow, I gave the writers some serious steak overall but I'm starting to see things differently. Someone even suggested watching it a second time for clarity.
It s not that the rewrites aren t logicals. They have their own inner logic.
It s just that they change characters dynamics and core values, in turn negating some of their character arcs and progression.
With the changes made, some of the later pay off will lose their meaning and i doubt the show writers will be able to find other pay off while respecting the original story.
@@etienne8110 I get that but given the spacing in the entire story, thing had to change. I am worried tbh and I do want to rewatch the series to see if I'm just pissed because of the core changes to the OG work or was it valid because she mentioned something's that I didn't see on my first watch.
@@nerdifymusic7322 i find the "time" argument hard to believe.
This is a goldmine given the huge fanbase. They could have afforded more seasons, more episodes if time was an issue.
Viewers would have been there.
Whereas they lost my viewership for next seasons because of the changes they made. I already fear what they ll do to toph to "spare time"...
@@etienne8110 I hear you but the thing about elongating the run time is more special effects which I don't think they were given the budget for. I agree with your analysis. Things really did need to breath especially with the main cast but if you noticed at some point they started to speed through things and action or even shorten some action because of, and this is speculation on my part, budget constraints. It's the first season, Netflix would not dump that crazy money without "proof of concept".
@@nerdifymusic7322 most scenes would be to give depth to characters. Dialogues, time to create bonding, banters etc... Not much special effect needed for those.
I understand your arguments and I think they’re well stated. I’m still not completely convinced (especially regarding the 2 girls), but we won’t know until season 2 for sure if they’ve properly built in the arcs you anticipate or fumbled them. Either way I genuinely appreciate your perspective and will keep it in mind as the series continues, so thanks!
I hope the changes are made, too. I think it will be necessary to the success of the show that we see some of these things.
leaving a comment to help the algorithms
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Great video. I hope that in season 2 and 3 they lean more into the characters themselves. That's what ultimately makes avatar so good, the bond and the relationship between the main characters. Season 1 had to do a lot of work exposition wise so now with season 2 and 3 who are more tight in terms of writing, they can relax a little bit in terms of that. Episodes like The Chase whose plot is obvious but also has a conflict between Katara and Toph which is huge for the development of the girls. In the 1st season, sometimes the writers got too carried away in the plot that they didn't have the time to have those moments of bonding between the kids. That's why fillers are so important to the story, you get to know how the characters act when there's no major plot going on, it feels more realistic and more human. A person in real life isn't working 24/7, there's times of relaxation and rest. That's just my thoughts, keep handing these quality videos out to us Amber😄
Finally finished the show myself and get to join the discourse so apologies for the length but i have feelings on the siblings so:
Katara I was generally fine with the changes, except that because she starts so much lower, it feels really weird that she winds up if anything stronger by the end. It's been a while, so maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I thought she did wind up training with Pakku in the end. It's strange to me that here she both winds up both impressing the onlookers and apparently winds up ending sexism overnight? You make a good point that live action needs to be slower and "heavier" than animation, but this felt much "lighter" than the original. (Plus I liked Pakku learning that his sexism was the cause of so much that had gone wrong in his life.) I don't think they can do the "you have finished your training" scene at the start of S2 given that Pakku outright calls her a master at the end of Live!S1.
For Sokka, it very much seemed to me like he was an awkward teenager trying to impress a girl and wound up making a fool out of himself. On that note I found it odd that they gave him so many girlfriends. Two onscreen, plus one mentioned in passing. I'm not sure I like making him such a womanizer, but it's not an inherently bad character flaw to give him. Just different. (Also the actor is the spitting image of one of my cousins and it's creepy and this may be influencing my feelings...)
I personally get te sense that the crew writers irectors etc consulted on the changes after watching the series and tried to ADAPT it. vs Wheel of time where it feels they read the introduction and made changes before understanding the story. same goes for Dune Denis read the books than made changes to the story so that it fits better for joe public and flows better into the next movie. love the channel. you covering some of my favorite books to sceen adaptations
In reference to WOT content.
We’re waiting … 😊. I’m messing with you. We all understand that at this point WOT’s hard to watch, a chore. WOT isn’t something you can enjoy and put some work into.
I’ve loved your WOT content.
Brandon Sanderson’s live reaction to the S2 Finale… summed up for the season… “I tried”
S&PR sum up S2, “someone make it make sense.”
Also Rafe has said S3 is Rand’s season…
Your breakdowns and insight are great. Keep it up. Enjoy.
I just discovered your channel and I'd like to say, it's such a relief to say someone who's not whining and unreasonable, saying "it's bad" and give a bunch of unreasonable reasoning and poisoning the audience by convincing us that the live action is indeed garbage.
I was actually enjoying the show, but those UA-camrs poisoned me and ruined my view on the show. I know it's not perfect but nothing is perfect. A lot of their complaints come from their nostalgia for the series, but man, they talked trash about the Legend of Korra as well because of Korra's character, but now they're complaining that the bad traits of these characters are watered down.
I now have a new appreciation for these characters:
For Katara, you've explained it very beautifully, and I love that, she's actually more likeable here than in the original series.
For Sokka, I don't mind this character change at all, I think it'd look really bad in live action if he was one to one copy from the animation.
For Aang, you absolutely nailed the explanation, the animation Aang acted oddly too happy, as if nothing happened, he only acts realistically depressed and less playful after Appa was captured in season 2, I would've been depressed for a couple of years or more if my family or people were gone, not remaining playful.
I was originally a bit upset about Aang not learning waterbending, but now that you've explained, it makes more sense, it's him still not fully accepting the replacement of Gyatso.
One interesting note I've notice is that while in the animated series, the whole season is dedicated to one element, but for the live action, they actually change element every couple of episodes, so it's not theoretical season "water", this is very subtle, since the elements are presented in Chinese characters, which I can read.
Plus the live action has to take into consideration that the actors and actresses are rapidly aging, and so they'd have to alter the timeline a bit.
Thank you for your reasonable review, it has really helped me clear out my poisoned mind, and continue to enjoy and wait for more seasons from the series.
I think the biggest issue with Sokka is they made him say outright that he and Suki were the same. Because he treated her as an equal the writers never gave him the chance to apologize to Suki. So it's not as clear whether he learned how his actions hurt Suki.
In answer to your question about how newbies saw the way Zuko was portrayed, for myself it was clear that they wanted to show that he was really a good guy underneath it all. He was shown to be a sympathetic character from his various interactions with Iroh, especially when he comforted him at Lu Ten's funeral. I find that the live action show paints Zuko as a kid who has been hurt by the father he admires (and probably loves), and who does not know how to deal with that hurt.
I thought that the only reason he calmed down as koizilla was because of Yue's sacrifice? They made a big point of how he would be stuck as the ocean spirit forever, searching for its partner the moon spirit. It felt like Katara caused him to return, but she didn't.
Hey did that text editing feature I told you about help you out?
Im writing my own ATLA video atm but god its so long lmao. I have way too much to say.
I have so many problems with the characters in the LA. One of them was the speech from Katara at the end...... I felt NOTHING. I was really confused because team Avatar didn't like a family at all.
Lots of great points! Most of them I definitely agree with.
Full disclosure: long-time fan of the original animated series.
The actors playing Sokka, Iroh, Ozai and Zuko did a spot-on job, IMO.
I didn't really mind the subtle changes that were made to how Sokka's and Iroh's characters were written.
I do agree that I'm not a fan of the writing softening the rough edges with Zuko and Ozai. Ozai is a monster. LET him be a monster. No need to make him sympathetic. Zuko was also DEFINITELY the bad guy in the first half of Book One. Here in the live-action, they made him too... ('vulnerable'?) relatable from the outset, so you never really buy into the idea that he's our main antagonist before the Zhao Gambit. I wonder if that was just a fan-service call (since Zuko is such a popular character, though not my personal favorite) or what?
I also really hope we aren't undercutting the impact of Ozai and Azula (my second favorite character... SMH, hoo boy, I have thoughts) by introducing them too early. Love Daniel Dae Kim, and I think he is a perfect Ozai, but I'm wondering if they should feature him more sparingly?
The actors playing Aang and Katara did an okay job, acting-wise, from my POV.
The writing for both characters... I don't know, yet. I wish I could articulate better what my specific problems were with the way they were written. It wasn't necessarily bad. It just didn't 'hit' for me, I suppose. Katara (my third favorite character in the series, behind Azula and Iroh, who is my number 1) needs to be a little more... is it fiery? No. Maybe it's strength of conviction? Katara is definitely someone who believes what she believes, and will stand on business, no matter what. I don't think this version of Katara has that strength of conviction yet, but I'm hoping that will come with time. Aang was written okay. You make a good point that his playfulness doesn't necessarily make sense in light of his acknowledgement of the Air Nomad Genocide. Perhaps learning about that in the middle of the season would have worked? That way, it establishes his baseline fun-loving immature nature that he needs to grow out of. I am convinced that said growth is actually the whole point of the show. It's why in the opening narration, Katara says "he has a lot to learn before he can save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world."
The actors playing Suki, Jun and Zhao. Holy smokes!
I was never a Suki fan before this, but OMG. Maria Zhang NAILED it! And I liked the way they changed Suki's character, her dynamic with her life on Kyoshi Island, and how she interacts with Sokka. Goodness, am I a Suki fan now? She's definitely the highlight of this series for me, so far.
Jun was great. Arden Cho, the actress that plays her is awesome. Her being flirtatious to a noticeably more awkward Iroh was MAGIC. I loved every bit of it, and welcome those particular changes.
Zhao. WOW. Ken Leung was amazing. The added depth they gave to Zhao, making him more of an opportunistic schemer rather than just arrogantly ambitious was a very nice touch. It made sense narratively. I liked that he is able to outmaneuver Zuko through subterfuge and strategy rather than just swaggering in and bogarting the quest. I definitely DID NOT like that he was somehow sponsored by/allied with Azula in his efforts, though. When they revealed that, I almost heard somebody give me a "womp, womp" taunt.
Which brings me to Azula.
Oof. That ain't it, Chief. That ain't it.
Man, I really wish they had left her out of it until season 2. Also, why the hell are Mai and Ty Lee already here? What are we doin-
No. I'm not gonna go off. Not gonna rant. Let's keep this positive.
Anyways, those were my thoughts. Thanks for letting me toss in my two cents.
PS: Lieutenant Jee and the idea that the crew of Zuko's ship were the soldiers he stuck up for by getting banished was a great touch. I was also stoked to actually see some of the Southern Air Temple attack and the ANG. And OMG AVATAR KYOSHI!!!
Well they got two more seasons to improve now. I hope they take the criticisms seriously and make adjustements. I still enjoyed season 1.
One think I did like that was added/emphasised more in this adaptation was in the Omashu Episode when the Mechanist was saying that engineering was sokka's "other calling". I'm not too sure if it was thier intent with the part but it did make me think about "what if the wasn't a war?" Like what would our character's be doing? Of course Sokka was born in an era of war to the leader of the water tribe, so it makes sense that he does become and wants to become a leader figure like his father. But if there wasn't a war; what would Sokka's calling be as, while there would still be a leader role he would have to inevitably fufill, it would probably be of a lesser role as he probabyl wouldnt need to be defending his tribe from the fire nation.
Also with the rest of the story now being confirmed to be being told, I hope while they do make the necessary changes needed to up the momentum of the series that they don't overcorrect themselves into not adding anything now and intersting and underplay the story that they want to tell. Which I think in this case would be showing the reality and brutality of war and possibly how times of war change people for better or for worse.
I love this perspective on Sokka! I think it was more understated in the animation, but they definitely highlighted it in the LA.
Yet another wonderful, thoughtful review! I agree on almost everything once again, but I see where you're coming from where we deviate.
You've almost brought me around on Katara, but I still think them portraying her as a master when she's completely self-taught by a single scroll was a huge mistake. Katara studied a scroll for a few weeks and she's *already* considered a master? That's supposed to be the beginning of her training - the thing to justify her ability to learn, not her proof of no longer needing to be taught.
At first I thought it was a kid incorrectly titling her as a master because he was impressed with her ability. Then I thought she meant "I trained myself to get this good" when fighting Zuko. But then Master Paccu called her a master... So they're legitimately saying she's "mastered" Water bending with less training than the Avatar had while he was also a child prodigy.
That's a huge misstep to me that feels like an unearned aspect to who she is as a character - and leans into the recent "girl boss who just needs to recognize how awesome she is, because no man is as good as her" trope that sucks the energy out of any project where it's used.
My wife, an Avatar newby, is not a fantasy/cartoon type on average, but her comment on this series was not just "I like it", it was:
"I like it so much They should be showing this in schools, it would be so educational!"
As for me, I can only complain that it is only eight episodes-long. I genuinely think that the more limited screen-time a live action usually gets, is the major cause of storytelling issues (closely followed by screen-time waste).
A bit more time would have allowed a more fluid (ha ha) development of Katara's abilities, for instance. Considering who and what is coming in the next season... I think they will even more, if just a little.
I honestly don’t think they changed Sokka’s sexism to be politically correct, I think they did it because it was just kind of boring and ham-fisted. Same thing with Hahn and to some extent Pakku. At the very least I really liked Hahn’s changed
How did you feel about Katara’s waterbending master arc? I felt that they didn‘t really do that one well…
I think some changes were great, some not so good, but all cool changes. Nothing was ruined. Note: Toph's coming. In fact, I think that the episode with the Earthbenders captured by the Fire Nation could be "fitted" into the second season.
Your points about the changes they made to Katara’s character make a lot of sense, however I do feel like that sadly she kind of disappeared in the background because of those changes. Or maybe the problem is the way it was executed. However, I do hope they are able to make some valuable changes in the future seasons. It would be a pity if a character like Katara continues to just be there without having an active presence.
Wait, when did Zuko ever get the upper hand on Ozai? Ozai was clearly toying with him in the Agni Kai, in complete control the entire time, just waiting for Zuko to do something, anything.
@noztkWait, are you referring to when Zuko hesitated to throw the fiery punch right before Ozai kicked his ass? Is that what people are calling Zuko's "upper hand"? I laugh at the thought.
My issue with Sokka and sexism it that it's not entirely true. The current ideology dictates that any and all character flaws are superficial and are personal choices, which is objectively false. Sokka isn't sexist, his culture is. Both water tribes see men as warriors and women as healers. This is why all of the men and only the men left to fight the Fire Nation, leaving Sokka behind because he was too young. And one thing that I think wasn't commented on by neither the cartoon not the remake is that Sokka's pride was coming from the fact that he was indeed the best warrior of his tribe, slightly undercut by being the only warrior and the only "man" - the second best was like 5 years old.
30:15 I have to hardcore disagree, but i understand COMPLETELY it's a personal opinion at the end of the day. As someone with a sibling and ex-friends like Azula, or if you're just ever been very close to people like Azula, who rule w an iron fist or live along the lines of "F** everyone else, I'm the best at everything, so follow or get out of my way," you would know (unfortunately) how, at the end of the day, their desperate to an incomprehensible extent to PROTECT that image no matter what and what they really REALLY lack is self-love in every sense of the word. Think, the ending of Jawbreaker, or The Craft, or hell, even how Hitler went out. It almost ALWAYS is a surprise how rickety and deck-of-cards it all falls down once the TINIEST little inconvenience/setback/disloyalty is shown. Like an adult toddler throwing a tantrum when you call them out of their BS. To me, people saying it came "almost outta nowhere" was kind of, and again this is ME personally, and I respect other people's opinions here, pitch perfect to how these kinds of people act, especially when their "universe" is challenged, or, in Azula's case, torn from under her by the people she trusted the most, albeit in her own traumatized way. Just my two cents! Awesome review! Subscribed : D
Haha! I guess I should have rephrased it. This is definitely the sort of thing I recognize would happen (I am unfortunate, too), but I mean within the context of the animation, there was very little foreshadowing leading up to the moment Azula was betrayed. At least, I don't recall it. Did we have a moment before that one? Some place where we saw Azula almost lose it when she suspected Tai Lee and Mei weren't completely under her control?
Yes, the netflix Aang makes far more sense. I thought the cartoon missed a bit waiting three episodes or so before he learns the Airbenders are dead.
You are so wonderful at explaining everything. Truly, I hope people watch this. And have a mind to listen. I think the live action is near perfect. I don’t understand the vitriol and hate towards the show. I just see a bunch of fans who are not true fans And they lack the spirituality that the animation highly regarded
I totally disagree that Aang shouldn't have had his playful stuff. The first step of grief is Denial. Aang is a child who cannot cope with the idea of his people gone until he is face to face with that reality at the air temple. I ENTIRELY disagree that he didn't need to be learning waterbending. Bending is so underdeveloped in the live action. All the new viewers ive spoken to were asking specifically "why wasn't aang trying to learn waterbending?" It was so extremely necessary that he tried to learn. Aang being naturally gifted frustrating katara until she surpasses him with dedication and hard work is such an important character dynamic and arc for both characters. Zukos arc is being sped up like crazy for some unknown reason alot of the weight of those arcs are kindve just flat to me. I really really wanted to love this show. There's people who care working on it and there's some great things. But it's like Avatar Lite, and I have tried to and just cannot justify any changes as being beneficial. The only ADDITION I loved is the 41st being zukos crew. But there's just so much subtraction. Showing so much of ozai and azula doesn't bring much benefit to any characters. They have essentially the exact same scene of azula play out 5 times they all have the same messages why are we doing the same stuff over and over when we are cutting so much already. Felt totally unnecessary to me. The characters practicing and learning Bending on screen is such an important part of the worldbuilding. Speaking of the worldbuilding I feel the earth kingdoms been done super dirty. All of the different issues and places, being condensed and simplified by alot takes away from the scale that the animated show had. Which felt realistically huge, complex, and extremely cultured. Also new viewers I spoke to all just assume that omashu was the capital because they never specify that. The only mention of ba sing sae is totally contextless from azula. So a first time viewer has a weird warped view of the world. Like where's the impoverished villages everywhere with complex geopolitical, economic, wartime, even spiritual issues.dont even get me started on zuko fighting back. I mean idk who that is but that scene is NOT zuko.
You gave this way more grace than other series. Feels like rose tinted glasses
But she hasn't even given any critiques yet. She's said numerous times that she will give her in depth critiques when she does her episode by episode breakdowns.
thank you
4:47 This is a mischaracterization. Paku never said this in the original and doesn't believe this. In the North the women heal and the men fight because that is their tradition. Not because they hate women and think they're inferior. It completely reframes what Katara is up against as the personal beliefs of one man instead of the traditions of an entire community. Similar to the impearilistic traditions of the fire nation, the nomadic traditions of the Air Temple, or the isolationist traditions of the Earth Kingdom. During the show they end up running up against all these traditions and having to break through them or work around them. Removing this removes the character of the entire nation and makes it bland.
If the North was in need of warriors would the chief really be like, "oh darn. We're coming up short but old Paku hates women so I guess we'll all die". No. That is a terrible re-write.
8:10 I have not finished your video yet, but even though I agree that Katara does change in the end you don’t really see that change happen and it’s kind of abrupt in the live action
OK if I would’ve just listened for another 10 seconds you would’ve agreed with me ha ha
I never felt that Zuko could have won the fight against Ozai. At most he might have gotten one hit in (which Ozai might have even blocked). It’s that he stopped himself from swinging that Ozai hated. I never felt to me that that moment meant that Zuko would have won 🤷♀️
To me that's not the problem but him fighting Ozai in generell is.
Zuko in OG was driven by the fact that his society viewed what he did as cowardice and unworthy.
You might be right on how and why they change Katara in the live action but I personally still not like how they portrayed her. For the character growth that you mentioned, Katara's personality and behaviours (bossy, motherly, explosive, comforting, fierce) in the cartoon are her character traits, like she is not perfect but has flaws which I think are her defined personality and characteristic in the cartoon that does not really grow/change throughout the show, since it is who she is. The live action took a very different approach to her character and that's ok even if I don't like it, but I was mostly disappointed on how they completely omit her flaws, since in the cartoon she was sweet but also has some attitude, selfish, and can even be a sore looser sometimes. However, I hope you are right and we will see more of her original traits moving forward in S2 and S3, as S1 delt mostly her character growth towards the Katara in the cartoon.
I definitely hope we get more character moments to explore the dimensions of these characters.
Aang - much of his lines were so repetitive and shallow that he had the least to work with. However, they did completely change his core motivation. In the original he was actively running from being the Avatar. He literally runs away and must deal with that guilt. The storm side by side origin story is one of the best of the series. He creates this perfect contrast with Zuko who is obsessed with his duty and Aang who runs from his. In the storm we learn both of their motivations and the characters get depth. Again the live action just watered this down.
I hear you on the new Katara trajectory and it does make me feel better, …. but how about the way her passionate conviction should also spill into her important role of the group’s motherly-emotional-support/glue? That seems to be missing and is part of what negatively impacts our sense of the Gaang as a cohesive found family in the live action. This role for her is a big impetus for later series moments, like holding them together emotionally in the desert, butting heads with Toph, Sokka not remembering his own mother’s face and her later (unfair) snap back that he didn’t love their mother the way she did, her overwhelming sense of responsibility toward protecting Aang from emotional and physical dangers in an almost knight-like way, and the loss of (not just her mother but) her childhood playing into her anger/revenge arc.
In the live action she is much more focused on her own waterbending journey and “believing in herself” - which has been pretty overdone in recent media, imo.
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Did your magical candle burn out?
I think not learning waterbending in s1 is not an issue for aang, but rather an issue for katara. Aang serves as a power scale against which we measure katara's progress through s1. Since she and aang are the only waterbenders we see for the most of the season, we can compare how naturally talented aang is at the beginning and how that imapcts katara's confidence, and in the north we see how katara's determination and work ethic helps her surpass aang
Excellent observation! I have to agree. I'm sure there was a VFX budget reason that weighed on this decision, too, but this is a great reason for why they should have tried to show it at some point.
I didn't mind the character changes. I minded the story compression. I feel Jet, the Mechanist, Bumi and all the rest suffered more by not having enough time to focus on their characters. I feel they would have been better off dropping a couple of them so that they could focus more heavily on others. I also felt they spent too much time on Sokka/Suki and not enough time on Sokka/Yue and I think that lessened the latter pairing as a result. Honestly, in that instance, I think how it was handled with Suki was better in the cartoon, especially with the line "but I'm a girl too".
Just like with WOT they have characters doing things that they have not demonstrated training for. katara is not an ice bender and she doesn't learn to turn water to ice until second or third season of the animation. this fight scene comes off as girl gets angry and can do more than a master simply because she is an angry girl. it would have felt better to katara's character if they showed her training secretly then her demonstrate her new abilities not in a fight but in this is what i can do now kinda way and gain respect.
Ang not wanting to water bend at all was M night levels of bad. That is the one major issue i have.
Katara's lack of anger wasn't the only issue, though. I just don't see this version as the Katara who was forced to mature quickly and act like a motherly figure to Sokka and later Toph. Now Sokka is always the one in charge and Katara is just the naive little sister
I think it will be pretty lame if at the beginning of the next season Aang starts out knowing a lot of water bending(without at least showing some of the training/montage). The show needs to have the slow moments of the gang sitting around talking, practicing/teaching/learning.
Great review
How dou looked the show so far
I think it was faithful, but flawed start. But it didn't ruin anything. I was looking, specifically, for instances where the main characters or plot were ruined. They took some risks by choosing to play up or down specific characyer traits in the beginning, but they all ended in a place where they arr back on track. They also mashed up as many plots as possible (which took a little too much time away from character moments), but that comes from a place of trying to include as much of the original story as possible. That's not a bad intention. The good points are that they showed they want the writing to be as faithful as possible, they have the ability to make it look good, and their cast has the talent to carry their roles (some of them need a little more growth, for sure, but they showed they are capable of improvement). I also believe they were listening to the honest criticisms and are doing their best to improve in those points for Season 2. We will see how it turns out, and hopefully the higgest execs trust those in the production who want continue to be true to the source material.
And what’s up with Suki’s fan throw? And Zuko’s haduken style fireball? And aangs literally flying without a glider? All these world-building things bothered me more than the plot changes, the bending and martial arts sometimes just didn’t feel grounded to reality, which is something that made the original great
But Aang didn't fly? If you look, he use airbending to move around.
And this is a fantasy world, of course some stuff not will be like reality. That's how fantasy work?
@@AgusXiaolin the original bending is based on martial arts, which are real, it’s why bending looks cool because there’s realism. Yes fantasy is fake but making it overtly fake makes it non-engaging. And aang was flying, he was making no effort to bend the element, he was just spinaroonie in the air
They completely removed Sokka's sexism arc without offering any alternative arc to humble his ego. Claiming otherwise seems quite a stretch, don't you think?
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I don't agree on Katara tbh. Her lack of anger in the beginning is not what I think is the main difference to the animated series. There Katara takes on much more of a mother role, she feels the need to be the voice of reason, to be 'the adult one' in the team. In the live action series she is 'just a girl'. Even more she wants to be a warrior, which to my knowledge, really was not part of her character in the animated series. Katara is probably the character I like the least in the live action series.
I agree on Aang, I liked that he is less joyful than in the animation, that made totally sense given what had happend to 'his family'.
it never came across as a distraction?
Um.... can you clarify? I'm not sure what you are talking about here.
Katara is basically telling us girls shouldn’t be angry or outspoken.
That sexism isn’t real women just don’t try hard enough.
Oh and that it’s a woman’s job to build men up and our issues should never be discussed with the boys.
22:57 ironically I think the scene with the earthbender whose brother was killed was where I felt Iroh deviated the most from his animated character. The angry stare with the line about not liking who we become in war hinted very strongly that he didn't feel he deserved to be punished for his actions at Ba Sing Se. That's nowhere near who he was in the animated series (unless I'm remembering incorrectly) where I always felt he fully regretted his actions there, and didn't feel he deserved anything good (aside from maybe tea, games, and the chance to help his nephew).
Maybe they're trying to give Iron a character arc with this too, but I think it's misguided. His son's death would have been the greatest thing he could go through, and seeing his brother's willingness to lose his son for the "glory" of the fire nation would have been a massive realization that hits actions in service to the fire nation we're horrible. In turn, he gets what he gets from anyone who he wronged in the earth nation (as long as he's able to protect and mentor his nephew to help him learn to not value the fire nation above humanity).
Idk about that. I think for him, there's always the face he showed other people (jovial to zuko, stern to the guard) and the real face (loving to zuko, regret and pain to the guard)
@@vickylikesthis in the animated series, I totally agree! In the live action, that didn't come through to me. I know he looked sad after the guard left - but I read that as being reminded of the loss of his son rather than recognizing that he probably should have apologized for the horrors he brought on that man. The pieces are there - they're just not fitting together quite right for me.
Would you say Sokka is as funny as the original sokka? In my opinion I didn’t find him as funny, I felt like they stripped his goofiness away in this adaptation, and made a pointless backstory that didn’t need to be there. If the creators of ATLA are hopefully reading this, please make sokka more relatable and funny. The type of funny I’d say he is was making a fool of himself, saying the stuff that nobody says, not taking the avatar that serious at times, having a sibling bound with aang, his friendship with zuko, his relationship with momo and his drawing skills. He’s the comedic with hero’s arc, when he is serious I find him more interesting. For season 2 please make these changes, sokka is my favourite character.
I still dislike the portrayal of Katara's character transitioning from reserved to fierce in the live-action adaptation. To me, Katara's fervor and passion felt more authentic from the outset, stemming from the suppression of her waterbending abilities. It seemed logical that, in compensating for this suppression, she would develop a vocal, passionate, and forthright demeanor, as a significant aspect of her identity and self-expression was forcibly concealed. Additionally, the transformation of a timid character into a bold one is a common trope in media, often appearing predictable and uninspired. For me, what made Katara's journey unique was witnessing her waterbending skills evolve to match her assertiveness. The series challenged expectations by presenting Katara as bold and resilient despite her past experiences, which was compelling. Perhaps they decided to flip it in the live-action because they think people are sick of “strong women” in media but they’re wrong. People hate poorly written characters, which unfortuatenly, many of the new “strong” female characters are.
Regarding the arc, I believe there was potential for Katara's character to explore the balance between her passion and the need for control. At times, she was a loose cannon, which could have been depicted as a part of her growth-learning to harness her confidence and boldness, akin to mastering the uncontrollable nature of fire, her opposite element. They could've had fun with highlighting the polarity of that!
While acknowledging that perspectives may differ, I disagree with the notion that the live-action adaptation's portrayal of Katara is superior because it is supposedly more realistic (I've seen this type of comment too many times to count on various platforms). Trauma affects individuals differently, and not everyone responds by becoming reserved and timid; for some, it can fuel strength and outspokenness.
While I appreciate the desire to give us something new, I find myself unconvinced by this particular departure from the original series. However, if the intention was solely to introduce change without necessarily enhancing the narrative, then, I guess, well done?
Unfortunately they betrayed an important message from Avatar. The importance of finding a master and learning from them is something the animated shows wanted viewers to understand and any martial artist working on that show would've told the writers as much. Robert Greene's book on Mastery and the apprenticeship cycle gives strong examples of how masters throughout history excelled through coaching and hands on training. Pakku outclasses Katara overwhelmingly in Waterbending and it's pretty arrogant for the show to consider her a master without training.
I think Book 2 and 3 are much easier to adapt than Book 1, because they didn't had a lot of filler arcs, and better paced than Book 1
This is true. But there's also a lot of plot. It will be a challenge, for sure.
Show not tell
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If I was to address the Elephant in the room of the character arcs, I would have to say that IF Netflix thought this live action was only going to have one season with potential for more, which is why they threw in Azula, Tai Lee, Wong Chi tong, Mai, Ozai, the cave of two lovers, etc. That the character arcs would also be written with hints of their final progress at end of book 3. Now, that's assuming the characters are 1:1 the animation characters. Now let's compare those from the animation over 3 seasons to the "we only have one season lets pack in as many fan favorites as we can" single live action season.
Aang: (animation) Jovial, self-conscious, avoidant and deflective, praise seeking, wise and compassionate. He develops from avoiding his problems to knowing when tackle them head on. He asserts his "no killing" ideology. He let's go of his earthly attachments. He stops trying seek praise for attention but continues to act on behalf of the greater good. Still fun, wise, compassion and humorous but more mature, restraint and self-aware.
(live action) daring (jumping from the building) but not praise seeking (they can all float as air benders, it's like doing backflips at gymnastics, bad writing), chases kids to play tag ( more reserved than show offs like), does show off a bit in Kiyoshi Island but that's literally the last time he does that, he's afraid but is determined to complete is duty as avatar. He tries passing off the burden on the other avatars to "take over" which can be a bit deflective but more lazy than determined. He wants to take on the burden himself after teaching Boomie that he can achieve it all by relying one others (again bad writing and backwards) If he was to force the choice with Boomie and then the Avatars telling him he's putting his friends in danger and needs to do it alone, that would make more sense. That would make sense at the beginning of the season where Sokka and Katara are still new to the situation not after they've proven themselves capable on their journey. (bad writing) So ultimately, his journey would go from relying on people to trying to do it on his own to giving up control to the higher power. This is awkward characterization. Aang is a quick learner in the animation which is what made him rise from his peers and thus isolated him because he's so much stronger/capable than those around him. In the live action, he's on par with Zuko and Katara, who he's teaching her rather than she's teaching him.
Zuko: (animation) conflicted, prone to criticizing and negative self-talk, quick to rage and pride, Emotional and yet caring. He's supposed to be emotionally opposition of Katara. Where Katara is emotionally compassionate who can rage out at injustices, she's the mature "motherly figure" where Zuko is the angsty teen. He's emotionally volatile prone to protecting his pride with his anger and even snaps at those he love most. He's conflicted by the duties given and expectations on him with his inner sense of justice and morality that oppose his duties. He's in conflict with him and unable to fully trust himself to do the right thing as a mirror to his grandfather's friendship and betrayal. He also acts as another "friendship" or "love" transcends life and is carried out through time in the form of "Destiny." Zuko, put on a mask to hide his identity of being the Banished Prince, to save the avatar. Though it was for selfish means, it hinted at him removing his prince identity to side and help with the avatar and even sacrifice himself to protect others, Katara.
(live action) they did well Zuko despite the awkward writing. "He just RAAAANN." Bad writing great acting and delivery. Zuko would have focused more on that fact HE lost the avatar and his book not that Aang ran off. "How could *I* have lost to a coward!" that's writing more aligned with early Zuko but the actor gave us that with his delivery. Zuko seems conflicted and takes his uncle's more seriously than the writers.
Iroh: (animation) the wise, easy-going, charismatic, compassionate, humorous and disarming despite being capable of great violence and destruction. He's a guiding star not just Zuko but a similar but more mature Aang which is supposed to hint at the level of connection Zuko and Aang could develop as they both mature. His wisdom is layered seemly abstract about situation or reality around them but also addressing the themes and lessons the show is trying to share. One of my favorite scenes was removed from live action was when they stopped for supplies where Katara had stolen the water scroll from the pirates. After Zuko sulks and rages at how they missed the avatar again, uncle Iroh is carting a bunch of comfort items to the ship. Iroh says to Zuko, "I always say you know what is better than finding what you were looking for is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain." Chef Kiss of an over looked insightful exchange between Zuko and Iroh that sits as a joke but when analyzed reveals Uncle Iroh's messaging to Zuko of the journey, the time with Uncle and the crew, as well as the lessons Zuko realizes on his way to reclaim his honor IS the greatest bargain he could ask for. He's literally chasing his destiny with his loving uncle and seeing the world and realizing the impact of his father and his people's war on humanity that helps him grow and mature as an individual. Love it, THAT'S the genius of the writing and story telling foreshadowing so that even a child can understand.
(Live action) instead we got... "You need to hide your true intentions to get what you want. You need to use your tact, your empathy but most importantly you need to have ... sticky rice." WTH?! Are you teaching people and kids to be narcissistic psychopaths? What's with the food puns they don't even add value to the conversations nor is it layered. If you try analyzing this, it becomes a sex joke potentially a homophobic one. That's a terrible Iroh conversion from the animation. Talk about counterproductive wisdom and lacking forethought but there's no thinking at all. It's here's the message oh and it works regardless of morality. If this is suppose to mirror a mature Aang, he's turning into the bad guy. Iroh didn't have to pretend to be bad and if anything he always spoke truthful and honest even when he was lying. The acting is fine, but it's so far removed from the not quite offensive sarcasm but sarcastic golden advice giving Iroh. He was infuriating for Zuko because he wasn't always double talking trying to use a proverb or advice masked as joke or commentary. You know who they tried to give that to instead... you guess it Sokka.
pt1 ...
... pt 2
Sokka: (animation) Sokka wasn't and isn't the mature one of the group. If anything, the reason he and Aang bonded quickly was because they both had the same immature humor. Sokka is trying to be mature because he lost some of his childhood due to the firebenders and having to "defend" the camp. Sokka was in charge of the village the way a child is charge of the house when dad goes to work. No, he's not really in charge but playing as if he's in charge. The elders and adult women are actually in charge. He's playing pretend until it's no longer playing. We see that at beginning with him trying to train children to man the defenses. Meanwhile, in the background the women are going about their daily business operating and taking care of the tribe for real. When Sokka and Katara left the village, the women and elders weren't trying to stop them. They packed them food. They didn't try to tell Sokka, he's our only defense you can't leave. Because he wasn't really their defense force, the Women were. That's why Katara was always cleaning up after him and always mothering him. He's the immature kid who wants to be the man in charge but missing some obvious skills and lesson to do so. It starts with his misogyny in a village majorly taken care of by WOMEN. And in his arc, he learns from the women in his life from his sister Katara, Suki, Yue, Toph and even Tai Lee that his skills and abilities aren't granted just because he's a guy. Just as Katara works hard to become a master water bender, he sits back a bit on his training. Just as Suki takes him down a bit, he learns to respect the dedication and identity of real defenders. He learns he was just playing at war. He learns what sacrifice means from Yue. Compassionately leadership from Katara. The warrior spirit and dedication from Suki. The overcoming adversity and expectations from Toph. The mastery of Tai Lee able to not only go Toe-toe with benders but beat them and stop their bending. She's a scary person which shows Sokka, you can be strong without bending. He learns he too had to learn from a true master and quickly it's pointed that he already has, from his sister and toph and Aang. They were indirectly teaching Sokka the skills he used against his swordman master which lends to the his arc and messaging. Who we are, the identity we choose, is a mere expression that's shared among all races, genders and breeds. We are more than just a single identity but plethora of expression that can be used to learn from and grow to become our true selves, the us we always envisioned.
(Live action) Instead we unironically get that Sokka wasn't playing pretend, he really is the defensive force. He was responsible over the adult women and he's the most mature because of it. Strip away his lessons and the impact his flaws had on his story and those around him including his sister Katara. Sure the actor channeled Sokka great. He's also written that way with attributes of our other beloved characters. Not to compliment them but to rob them of it. He has to just be more confident and not that he actually needs to learn from everyone else. He just needs to be more assertive. Great way of making the show unironically more misogynist.
Katara: (animation) Compassionate, hopeful, caring, strong sense of justice, head strong, determined, hard working, jealous, emotional, self-aware. We see Katara with the highest level of EQ next to only Iroh. She has empathy but with time it develops into wisdom. She tactful knowing what to say and what to hold back on for emotional well being of others. Sokka, gets the least of that since he SHOULD be more mature but isn't. His traditionality, arrogance, misogyny, and ego makes it hard for anyone to want to follow Sokka which Katara develops grace, equality, and self actualization trying to combat her brother who doesn't recognize her right away. She then challenged by Aang who's naturally gifted, wise and yet still immature. This conflicts with her internal ideology and not until Toph who out right challenges Katara not only to relax and enjoy life more but let go of things she can't control like Toph. She's forgotten how to be kid because she grew up MOST having to take the duty not just of her Mother but of the "mature" sibling because Sokka hadn't learned the lessons she's been trying to teach him that it brings her to anger. An anger she didn't know how control herself so she denied it's existence just like her childish ways, which she buried under her strict but loving nature.
(Live action) Robbed paul to pay petter, Katara is a shell of herself. Sure she has moments of "anger" but she's more docile and water down than the effects of the water bending. She looks like she's throwing buckets of water at people that has no force to really hurt anyone. In the animation, the water is like a hose with pressure to knock people over. She doesn't show her frustration with Aang's abilities with water bending because they took out Aang waterbending. They took out her frustration with keeping everyone fed, managing their money and even cleaning up after the boys because they took out their misogyny of overly relying on her to do everything of importance. They took out her hopeful view of Aang being the savior and wanting to save everyone herself as well. They some what showed her dedication to practicing but didn't show her clumsiness slowly disappearing because she's no longer dousing Sokka with water at any moment. It doesn't show that her water bending is based on her ability to fight hand to hand combat like in the show where she and Master Paku literally lock wrist fighting each other. No Katara is useless without her water bending unlike in the show where she's still tries to fight without it. No Katara isn't fiery, assertive, hopeful, resentful, hold grudges, and yet compassionate, understanding, forgiving and loving leader. Nope, She's the dumb little sister that's wrong about everything, quick to fall in love and helpless in all ways but water bending.
I could go on but what they need to fix this are the OG creators and writers to fix the monstrosity that is Azula or character arcs before the final Agni Kai and fight vs Ozai feel unearned and underwhelming. If they continue down this path it's only going to be more thematically conflicting and disappointing of a series falling by the side of the god forsaken movie. This time not for the CGI or Acting but the writing and narrative changes. Yes VFX are pretty but many people already spoke out how DUMB and PATRONIZING the writing is. It kills all nuance, contradicting with it own messaging just to be misogynistic pretending to be woke. The OG animation was Woke and why it's timeless. We want better, not just good enough.
The biggest problems are changing the main sections of aang and zukos start. Aang not running away into the storm and instead going to clear his head and come back. Also zuki fighting back to his father in his agni kai