re: Avatar: The Last Airbender | Live Action Discussion Thread |

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Eh, I was hoping they added some things to make it more pg-13 and less G.

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Uh, what? The amount of people that get burned to death in this show is super high.

Finished Ep 1 with my 11 year old. That was more intense than I was anticipating

The acting is atrocious from the kids, but so far so good on the story.

More importantly, my 11 year old loved it. Hard to find shows that both of us can enjoy together.

I enjoyed the show. But, if I'm the savior of the World, I'm probably going to practice water and earth bending a little.

Rewatched and I think I can now list some pros and cons

Pros:

Brutality knocked up a major notch, fire benders are especially brutal and the Airbender genocide was a rough watch but really set the tone for the show

The bending had some rough parts but overall it was done extremely well especially once again the fire bending a massive step up from the M Night movie

The dynamic between Zuko and Iroh is about as perfect as I could ask for not going to post spoilers but man I can’t wait for certain scenes in season two especially that big one

Also the story behind the 41st Division was really well done connecting them to Zuko’s scaring and banishment really helped humanize both Zuko and his crew

I know some people didn’t like the change to Bumi but I actually really liked it. It makes sense that some of Aang’s closest friends would feel resentment towards him considering all they went through

The creature designs are really top notch and were one of my biggest concerns here, budget was not wasted

Speaking of which Koh was pretty awesome and I’m glad they didn’t mess him up, he only plays a small part but he definitely needed to come off as imposing which he did

Sokka is probably my favorite outside of Zuko and Iroh. Dude is hilarious and definitely has that need to be the a warrior and leader like the OG Sokka.

One my favorite scenes was actually Sokka and the Mechanist because it really showcased Sokka’s intelligence as well as his thirst for knowledge and inventing

Zaho is one of the instances where the live action out performed the original. I liked him in the original show but he seemed to have more character in this version

Cons:

Aang and Katara’s acting lot a good bit to be desired. While the kid who played Aang got better as the show went on, Katara remained somewhat iffy hoping she gets better as she gets older and more experienced

Was not a fan of how they handled Aang finding out about the genocide. He kind of just accepts it then goes ballistic at the air temple in the OG show he was in denial until he saw the skeletons wish they kept it the same there

The pacing is weird and off at times, felt like the show would have benefited from one or two more episodes, maybe give more time for the gang to just be kids for a bit also Momo and Appa were hardly in it. Love the first season but the pacing had to improve maybe make it 10 episodes because the Ba Sing Se arc is critically important


I did like Azula and understood the importance of having her show up early, but Mai and Ty Lee didn’t need to be in here this soon. They literally just stood around while Azula trained.

Speaking of which the fighting between benders was fun to watch but there’s going to be a lot of non benders fighting so the fight choreography is going to have to be done to near perfection especially when you have Ty Lee taking out an army of Earth Benders

I also felt like we needed more Katara training with Aang or Paku because up until then we hadn’t really seen her be impressive with her bending

Netflix just announced that they are renewing the show for a season 2 AND 3.



Really hoping that season 2 takes it to new heights and are able to keep stuff that is working (Fire Nation (dynamic between Zuko, Iroh, and Ozai), Sokka, realism of the awesome creatures) and improve on stuff that isn't working (actually making Katara less wooden)

Toph, Dai Le, and Azula mental health breakdowns let's gooooooo.


Season 2 and 3 Officially Announced

Would be amazing if they got The Rock to cameo for The Boulder. Surely Dwayne would think a 3 minute appearance would be great

So my thoughts on the Live Action Adaptation: …it was fine. Not great, but fine. Some things were good, some things were bad, but I’d give it a 7 out of 10. So onto my critique:

1) The casting was fantastic. Again, not really a miss in the bunch. Yeah, they can improve a bit on some of the early acting with Team Avatar, but they get better as the series goes on which means they’ll get better as the series goes on.

Elizabeth Yu as Azula needs to lose 15 pounds between Seasons 1 and 2. People are giving Kiawentiio shite, but quite frankly it’s the writing with her that’s the problem (I’ll get into that later). Zuko, Iroh, and Ozai are perfect. Aang and Sokka basically are as well. Suki, Jet, and Bumi in their limited roles this season are great as well. Zhao was different but in a good way, and I like the differences.

2) I mean, they got a lot of the high points, but I have to say I was perplexed by some of the decisions. As good of a set as Omashu is, I was very surprised we spent two out of eight episodes there. And they cut Aang going into the Fire Nation blockade which should just be obviously thrilling in live action.

3) With Katara, the writing really seemed to be apprehensive with her. From the animated series, Katara is kind of a bitch to be frank, but it makes her human. My advice to the Season 2 writers, don’t be afraid to make her one. Katara is good hearted but heavily stubborn and sarcastic, and you need to just embrace it. I feel that the writers were too afraid too do this and instead made Katara unrealistic.

4) Airbending, Earthbending, and Firebending were all well done, and I know this is definitely the hardest one to do, but still they didn’t do Waterbending all that well. It does not feel nearly as threatening as it does in the animated series, and this is the water season. Furthermore, Aang doesn’t waterbend outside of the Avatar State the entire fricking season… WHAT?! The first book was called “Water” for a reason.

5) Pretty much everything regarding the Fire Nation was great. That was the interesting part of the show. I love how Zuko’s crew was the 41st Division, something I’m going to accept as canon in the animated show. Keep up that stuff.

6) Liked the end, but they fricked up Yue. Glad to have seen Koizilla.


But it’s salvageable. Season One is the most episodic and the most difficult season to adapt, so just pretty much straight up adapt the later two seasons. Season Two is straightforward where you should be able to do this. Looking forward to it as well.

Here would be my advice adapting Season Two as far as episode order:

1) The Blind Bandit/Variation of Zuko and Azula’s story in The Avatar State/Zuko Alone flashbacks
2)The Chase/Zuko Alone (Modern Story)
3) Bitter Work
4) The Library/The Desert
5) The Serpent’s Pass/The Drill
6) City of Walls and Secrets/Tales of Ba Sing Se/Appa’s Lost Days
7) Lake Laogai/The Earth King
8) The Guru/The Crossroads of Destiny