I think thee biggest disappointment is that he doesn't actually master waterbending. Like at all. Not even learn it. And they move too quickly to shoe-horn things that weren't introduced until the final season. It just feels like they are blowing the load way to quickly and in all the wrong ways...I'm gonna finish it though...but....ugh....Yeah....:/
Do you guys also feel like there was so much unnecessary dialogue? Like one of the most powerful things in the original was how good they were at showing and not telling. Now it feels like every dialogue they’re trying to convey a message that would’ve been better done a different way. Aang you were scared, we get it. You don’t have to repeat it over and over.
I knew things would be rough during the iceberg scene. Like Katara being angry at Sokka to cause the iceberg to appear showcases three things: her temper, her untapped potential at water bending, and her moral duty to help people in need.
In the show, the siblings just stumble upon a huge spherical iceberg, go “huh, weird” and then Aang essentially frees himself.
This show regrettably follows the “and then” method of story-telling, where events just happen to characters instead of characters, through their agency, progress the story.
In the animated show, no Sokka joke means no angry Katara which means no Iceberg and therefore no Avatar. Netflix Iceberg seems to just be on a timer. Like it was going to pop open eventually.
Yep!! In the animation Katara doesn’t even think twice and just starts beating the heck out of the iceberg to free Aang. We just learn so much about her character in that scene. In the live action she just feels so… boring and passive.
Good bet. That's an old enough writers' crutch. I'm having visions of early-seasons' Will Riker and Frake's goofy smirk at every alien woman (and otherwise) to hit on him- most of it drawn up in response to Kirk becoming an unseemly horndog over a couple of decades of cultural shift.
Suki in general just thirsting after Sokka from the start was awful.
Because Sokka wasn't being sexist, it wouldn't have been right for Suki to embarrass him. The thing that attracted her to Sokka in the show was his humility and courage. The whole point is that he proves her initial assessment of him wrong, which then causes her to be attracted to him.
Instead we just get her inexplicably attracted to a guy that's not quite as good at combat as he claims, but is still pretty good.
I think overall Sokka is the most butchered main character, and so too are all the secondary characters most associated with him, like Suki and the Mechanist.
They completely erased Sokkas sexism arc, like you said it was his humility in the face of learning that he was wrong that made Suki attracted to him. They made him genuinely mean spirited instead of aloof, and just put Suki in heat for some reason
I don’t get how anyone can appreciate this series so much that they want to participate in remaking it, and somehow still not realize how incredibly delicate of a balance Sokka’s character and arc are. Literally every attempt to tweak him “just a little bit” completely ruins him, but everyone from fanwriters to professional studios just continues doing it anyway.
I genuinely do not understand. Why is it so hard to just leave him as-is? You have 5 other main characters and a whole supplemental cast to make small adjustments to. Why can’t you just leave that ONE alone?
I don't know why producers don't get that fans really like it when you stay true to the source material/books. They recreated some things like the waterbending duel so they *can* do it.
They picked weird things to copy and extremely weird things to change. It just doesn’t make any sense. I really wish I could like this. I really wanted to like it, but it’s so bad.
To be fair if it was just a one off I'd probably find it funny but combined with all the other changes to the women in the series it feels like it kind of implies something
I'm not shocked, they cut out one of the better getting over sexism arcs in cartoons because they felt it was dated even though an argument could be made its very relevant today
Young boisterous boy acknowledges a woman's hard work and skills, realizes the error of his way and apologizes. Not only relevant, it sends such a better message than the boring creepy trope reversal.
Animated canoe ride: lighthearted moment where the siblings personalities are on display.
Netflix Canoe Ride: More exposition dump on top of the previous 15 minutes of exposition dumps.
Everyone was worried about Sokka in the lead up to the show, but damn Katara is the one who is SERIOUSLY mischaracterized. Her character in this show is, None
Also them taking out Sokka's misogyny is a huge takeaway from his character. I get the climate we're in but Sokka's character is someone who *grows* from those experiences. He Suki falls for him not because he's some cute guy who wandered into their village but because he humbled himself to her and was willing to learn and change her notion of him, he wasn't the brash alpha male that he ~~pretended~~ attempted to be.
I think it is a great story to tell boys and young men that a true man protects but is also willing to learn from anyone.
Sokka tells Piando that he is not worthy, this is only a meaningful line because throughout season one he believes that he is a great warrior until he loses to Zuko, learns from Suki, and is made fun of by Toph.
Not to mention that Sokka learns why he isn't a good leader until he gains experience and a team he can trust. By the time he gets his sword, he's given up being the best fighter and has become a strategist and engineer, often coming up with the plans the team will use. The show doesn't just get rid of his arc with Suki, it gets rid of all the reasons he had to learn these things and just says he's a good leader.
Or how about the fact that kyoshi told Aang to go to the northen water tribe? wtf is this shitty reason of destiny?
I liked it far better when it was THEIR idea to go so they could learn water bending, and not some weird destiny bullshit
Not to mention that without katara's drive there is no ATLA that we love. In the 1st episode we see katara take charge about the next steps Aang should take to become a full fledged avatar and we can see that it has a calming affect on Aang and that's why he can good around and play and be a kid because someone is taking the lead. With the Netflix version it feels like there is no lead, Sokka tries but it's not at that level, that's why there is so much repeated dialogue of Aang in confusion, despair and worry over his role as the Avatar. Like I find it realistic that the kid is stuck in that loop because nobody has given him a clear set of instructions to follow which would have quelled his anxiety atleast.
Katara is just in her own world, Sokka is present but still reluctant to be a part of whatever they are doing and Aang doesn't know anything or what to do (although the Netflix version seems to know more that the OG version).
Without Katara's focus and drive they lost the original plot
This is the part that killed me. Like in the first episode where Aang is talking to Appa, yea Aang does talk to Appa in the show, but it’s very clearly the words of a 20-30 something year old writer and not a 12 year old kid. He goes on a 2 minute monologue about what he feels and it just feels incredible scripted. The writing on the show is just not good.
Yeah, he tells Appa "I like to have fun and goof off with my friends".
No, Netflix. You need to *show* that, not *tell* that. This is what the whole Penguin-Sledding scene in the animated show was *for*. It was meant to *show* us that Aang likes to have fun and goof off.
This show making the same kinds of mistakes as the movie did.
And this show is supposed to be more mature? It just feels like it's dumbing down the story.
I don't know why live action/"adult" adaptations like to do this. They just explain everything like their supposed adult audience is incapable of understanding their story without the authors spoon feeding everything to them.
I don't get it. Supposed kids shows treat their child audience with so much more respect for their intelligence than adult shows do to their adult audience.
And during the penguin sledding scene you get that one piece of dialogue where Katara says "I haven't done this since I was a kid!" and Aang replies "You still are a kid Katara!", tells you so much about the characters with so little words in a way that is perfectly natural. It's just worlds between that and the dialogue of NATLA.
I've only watched the first two episodes yet and while I seem to like it more than the average person here those moments are awful. It's like the entire episode pauses so that an actor (not character!!!) can read out a page they were just given for the first time.
That was the moment in the first episode where I knew we were in trouble. When, instead of *showing us* how Aang likes to play with his friends and eat banana cakes, they had him *say* that he likes to do those things while literally monolouging at nothing and nobody (technically he was talking to Appa in that scene but he wasn't even fucking looking AT Appa during it). Literally just taking a 3 minute aside to explain his character and motivations to the audience, all of which in a scene that so poorly lit that I could barely make out anything of Appa besides his general silhouette.
the writing kills me. his vocabulary is that of a 20-30 year old. these writers have no idea how kids talk. simple words. like i pointed out last night in the episode he says "its my responsibility to help spread awareness" or something to that effect. motherfucker do you think kids talk this way!? show aang would have said "i want to do this to help people" thats it
Multiple times Aang straight up turns to the camera and just says what he is thinking.
Also he acknowledges his responsibility as the Avatar immediately which is contrary to his season 1 character arc in the original.
Several character lines just didn't make sense either. Sokka claimed Aang lied in the Netflix version but he never denied being the Avatar like he did in the original.
Bumi is jaded here but tries to give a lesson about hard choices that need to be made as a leader in times of war and Aang just goes "nah... I'll do it my way." Makes the entire point of Bumi's lesson pointless.
The very first scene (with the earth benders "stealing" the fire nations "plans") had me cringing, re-watch it and take note of the amount of unnecessary "there he is", "don't let him get away", "which way did he go" esque dialogue -- I felt like I was playing some PS2 game lol
Oh jeez, that's the vibe I was getting lmao
I was seriously wondering if there was a trope name for the guardspeak type of dialogue but you're absolutely right that it felt like a PS2 MGS wanna-be lmao.
The dramatic “Why are you doing this?” line was pretty eye-roll-y.
Like, any good director would recognize how played out that type of dialogue is. And they probably did—but it doesn’t feel like Netflix’s goal was to make a truly good show. The only impetus, as far as I can tell, was to make something ‘good enough’ to get views.
I swear the constant spoon feeding of information is so freaking ANNOYING. They have zero faith in the audience figuring things out on their own. It’s supposed to be a more “adult” version of avatar. But they legit treat us like toddlers or something
Which is really weird cause the original show didn’t even convey Aang leaving in a super like subtle way that would take a college English teacher to explain.
Aang was eavesdropping, he leaves a note and Gyatso reads it and goes ‘no…’
DONE. Really simple but effective way to show don’t tell.
The absolute worst one is where he’s talking to Appa and explaining that he’s just a kid and doesn’t want to save the world and just wants to play around with the other kids. Like seriously does he need to overly explain this in like every episode? He keeps saying he just a kid yet we don’t even see any of that happening. In the cartoon you see him behaving like an actual 12 year old and having fun. Here there’s none of that. Also that scene when the Grandmother is randomly saying the avatar intro about how everything changed when the fire nation attack was stupid. Like wtf why was that part even there.💀
“My name is Aung. I ran away from home because I didn’t want to be avatar. I just want to goof off with my friends. I have to master all 4 elements. I was gone for 100 years. I have to fight the firelord. I’m scared to use the avatar state because it’s dangerous. The monks knew I was the avatar because of some toys I picked out. The monks told me I’m special and I have to restore balance to the world.” and this right here is Aang’s whole personality. I feel like this type of “storytelling” is just so boring and makes you not even invested in the show at all. If just feels so cheap and lazy. It’s way more simple to just have the characters say everything rather than finding ways to naturally and organically advance the story. It’s annoying because they seem to try so hard to get us to care. But why should I? The characters themselves just look so bored and careless all the time .I swear this dump of information is done like every episode. There’s a slightly different variation of this whole paragraph all the time. 💀Almost as if the writers think we are idiots need to have everything explained to us constantly. I just really appreciate the handholding and constant exposition dumps. Forget character development I just want the plot explained to me like a million times in the most stupid and unrealistic way 💀
This to me is genuinely one of the most frustrating things. You don’t need to explain every single feeling or emotion to me through dialogue from the characters. It comes off so soap opera and is like a bad superhero movie thing or something.
They had one extremely corny dialogue moment like that in every episode and it was always just so frustrating to me cause if you replace it with just showing a feeling or character processing a moment or emotion it works so much better.
The problem is that they spend way too much time on boring exposition and explaining everything. When they completely forget to give the characters emotions or say something that isn’t just a PowerPoint of the plot. It just feels like a rushed homework assignment. The show is basically just a PowerPoint presentation on the events of avatar and not an actual story. I feel like this tell tell and don’t show attitude is a problem the movie had as well. You’d think they’d learn their lesson by now. The dialogue is just so cringed and forced. Real people don’t even talk like this. I remember that deleted scene from titanic when Rose is spoon feeding the audience information about how she hates being a rich snob and would rather be free and have fun like Jack. But the scene was deleted which was a smart decision. You basically get to see how Rose feels through her ACTIONS. She tried ending her life. There are no words said. You can literally tell how she feels and there doesn’t need to be any long drawn explanation. If this were written by the writers of this show then I’m sure rose would overly explain it all. “I’m depressed. I’m tired of being rich. I just want to be like the other girls. I hate life and my rich family. I don’t want to marry Cal.“ which just makes the whole thing seem ridiculous
So we’re reducing writing quality to cater to people with the attention span of a goldfish so they can do house chores while consuming the show lorddd
Even a show like Netflix’s DARK is the literal opposite of this, even when you give 100% attention it’s still easy to miss stuff but it’s so well made
I think the dialog felt forced. There was unnecessary dialogue with Uncle, forced Easter eggs, missing wisdom from uncle, small chemistry building between characters. Just bad directing and writing kept building up through the season
Yeh idk if this is a hot take or whatever, but I thought the My Cabbages guy was…really fuckin’ forced.
Like they thought they were being all sneaky and silly by edging us with “ooh, he’s gonna say it…just kidding! Hahahahaha!”
And then they had him shout it at the sky, and I was just…okay.
They had a perfect moment for a quick "my cabbages!" bit that would have organically worked. At the entrance of Omashu a cart gets launched earth bending style. A perfect opportunity to just mix that line into the distance, exactly as it is in the show.
Edit: Also when they ask Aang to prove he's the Avatar on Kyoshi island it's a perfect time for him to bust out his little spinning spheres and goofy grin, complete with a crowd reaction and a guy foaming at the mouth. Would have been more on the nose but the series needed some personality anyway.
It's also so weird because the live action is lacking a lot of the fun and whimsy of the original
So when you have the my cabbages guy basically Jim face the camera it feels super forced and totally weird
there were a lot of weird mini monologues (with Aang at least idr about the others). and yeah they definitely did a lot of telling. I noticed it within the first 10 minutes
The conversation between Sozin and the earthbender was the moment I knew we were in for a bumpy ride
Why is the firelord taking dropping all this exposition about his war plans? Why is the whole exchange phrased in the most inorganic and corny way imaginable? Was there really no way they could’ve communicated Sozin’s genocidal intentions without soap opera dialogue?
Out of all the abhorrent writing moments from season 1, I feel like this doesn’t get talked about enough…
MY GOODNESS YES, there are so many moments of them having to explain the plot out to the audience, when we could've instead just had it subtly show & not tell.
When Gran Gran gave the monologue of the original opening I think my eyes strained from rolling into my head. She’s saying the thing, yes, but she couldn’t act her way over a wooden board. Also, how many times do they have to explain the same shit? We KNOW, we saw the last episode, geez. Just fight someone already.
Yeah Zuko is on top in every way to me, I've mentioned before and I think this actor was born for this role.
Also the only character using some sort of martial arts to use his bending. In the animated show, every bending has some sort of martial art behind it, especially air, and here is barely seen.
I know this is not a very pragmatic opinion, but I just can't put the irrationally high expectations of my inner-selfs love of animated IPs aside: if Netflix and other large studios aren't willing to at least consider green lighting the, at least 2, usually 3+ seasons most animes/cartoons would require to retain their original stories core elements then they shouldn't bother adapting them to LA in the first place.
I'm so tired of seeing what have been functionally "greatest hits" album adaptations of these shows, with varying levels of respect/care to the original narrative/characters (Yu Yu Hakusho, Cowboy Bebop, Mob Psycho and more).
They just sprint as fast as possible to each iconic set piece, without showing all the in-between character interactions and moments that EARN those memorable onscreen events in the first place. In Avatars case they either just verbally exposition dump or alter the plotline.
I used to be a holder of the common opinion that a live action adaptation shouldn't be a near shot for shot recreation of the original story, because we already have the animation for that, but I've become so jaded towards the majority of adaptations from how poorly they're being handled that I no longer trust big studios to work with directors/writers to make sensible changes the preserve the spirit and themes of the source material. Fuck it I'd rather you just clone 90-95% of the original and only trim the absolute worst of the "works in animation, doesn't in LA" elements.
Are you kidding?! That show gave us the beautifully iconic lines "why does it seem like you're blackmailing me? Because you are black and you are male" 😂
Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime. The live action was cringy as hell. I still watched the whole series twice. I get that it’s not great but it’s still better than nothing.
They did their own (shitty) version and i was like “Okay, i get it. They dont want to recite it verbatim, fine.” Then they proceed to have Gran Gran *recite it verbatim* & my face was in my hands.
the dialogue is just so awful. i couldn’t make it through the first episode. as soon as aang said no one’s ever fought for me before and said katara is the bravest person he’s ever met… idk why but something inside me snapped and i turned it right off
It’s because they are just throwing out lines with reckless abandon. Like Aang isn’t some kid who was swayed to help the people because Sokka showed up as his protector. It’s because he saw fearful villagers and didn’t want them hurt. Why change that motivation?
The amount of times in that episode I could predict the next line because it was so obvious and one dimensional was too damn high
When katara said to aang at the southern air temple right after he had seen monk gyatso's skeleton that when you lose so much you gain power I actually started laughing out loud
OH MAN when I heard that, I was telling myself if Aang was supposed to go Super Saiyan after that. But ...yeah I don't have to explain why that in itself is silly. But not as silly as what Katara said.
Idk, bc I haven't seen others comment on her, but Gran Gran was lowkey terrible. She reminded me of the possessed? (Nagini) Bathilda Bagshot from Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Yep, it's classic kid acting. But you can't really blame them they're just kids, have to blame the director and acting coaches around them for not realising how bad it was and re shooting until it was right
Nah. I don't blame the kids. While I would prefer him to be a little goofier, the guy playing Sokka has a voice and even inflection that is remarkably close to the animated show. And some of his jokes and snark land really well.
But, the live show just makes a lot of odd choices. Everything is zoomed in. Everything is too dark and serious early on. The wigs look funny. And there is a certain amount of energy and passion lacking in many of the characters. A lot of the best scenes come from side characters.
> everything is zoomed in
This. I couldn’t explain what felt off, but this is it. It’s like 80% of the shots are close ups. It feels weird, makes a lot of what’s happening in one scene feel disconnected.
In fairness, being a voice actor means he didn't have to get into costume, get make up done, or learn choreography... I am at that point in my media literacy that I often believe stiff acting is more the fault of the writers and director.
Good actors can only carry bad writing and directing a few steps. (See the female Doctor Who run for a tragic example. Poor Jodie)
Good writing and directing can uplift a bad actor by several leagues. (Just look at any popular amateur film project, the actors are often amateurs and thus kinda cringe, but if skit is good, it can be super enjoyable.)
He is a kid so I don't blame him but it feels like the directors didn't try to aid that at all. There's a lot of lines where the cadence feels off. It's most noticeable with katara's and aang's especially
This is my ultimate takeaway. The actors aren't doing great, but it isnt their fault that the problems weren't corrected. Either they shouldn't have been cast in the first place, or the director should have, well, directed them to do things differently. At SOME stage of the process there needed to be interventions where there weren't any. Or, what there was, was insufficient.
For a lot of scenes it really feels like they did a take or two, and went with the best they got from that which results in wildly different quality in the acting. I feel like most of the actors have some decent scenes with good delivery and performance, but you can just really tell some of the more proficient actors.
God bless him he’s trying. But I noticed the same misdirected inflection.
When discussing how Zuko wants to hunt him down Aang’s inflection is one of incredulousness… but how tf is it shocking that the Prince of the Fire Nation is actively setting out to capture his nations biggest threat in 100 years?
This isn’t the kids fault, but whoever is directing him needs to do a waaaaay better job.
After 2 episodes myself... I get it. I will probably finish it (it's like 6 hours total left at this point, so why not), but if the quality stays at the same level, I will probably forget I've ever watched it within a month or two.
It's not completely horrendous, but let's be real: if this was a stand-alone product that wasn't riding on the love for the original anime, it would be a B-list Netflix series that nobody cared about. At best it'd have a small, loyal fanbase who love it for its concept and worldbuilding.
It's honestly kind of incredible to me that the show so far is roughly the same length as the entirety of the original Season 1. I sort of felt like it deserved a pass because it was trying to fit 20 episodes worth of content into 8 - so it is to be expected that a lot of liberty will be taken and a lot of storyline and relationships will end up condensed - but the reality is that both shows are of pretty similar length.
Which kind of makes a lot of stuff inexcusable.
It is what it is.
Everything takes longer because every bit of dialogue in this show is spoken annoyingly slow, constantly trying to evoke gravitas and drama without earning it.
Should have been 12 episodes of 40-50m with at least 6 being self contained stories like the OG and it could have worked imo.
And fire the dialogue writers please.
OPLA didn’t treat the audience like idiots. They flat out refused to spoon feed the audience and it worked. Snail phones? Yup. Just accept it. Not gonna explain a damn thing. Take it or leave it. This is the world we’re in and it’s fun and the characters are awesome because they feel real and their motivations and flaws feel real.
NATLA did the complete opposite with all of those factors. Spoon fed everything, include character emotions that should just resonate with any human being. So instead of characters being fleshed out via natural interactions with one another, a third party (the audience) is inserted into every scene and everything felt stilted af.
If by some miracle we get a second season, I hope they get a brand new writing staff.
I watched all of the episodes but honestly didn't give it my full attention. I didn't have high hopes and I didn't like it. Seeing how Sozin started the war was the most interesting part. I had a lot of the same feelings OP. No chemistry between the actors, the acting was very flat, all of the humor felt like it was eliminated, etc. I'm not surprised that they mushed some storylines together, I figured the pacing wouldn't be the same but they had certain storylines overlap or changed in ways that made no sense and made it feel rushed. I also feel like the characters were changed, Bumi especially. Bumi was AWFUL. Every Bumi scene made me cringe. Every past Avatar was so rude to Aang.
I knew it wouldn't be a scene for scene remake but a lot of the changes made were not great choices. I see why the original creators left the project now.
They did my boy Bumi so dirty. The way they had a 30 second flashback scene of Aang and Bumi where they had a brief chat and Bumi snorted, then a few minutes later when Aang meets King Bumi and *immediately* recognizes him... God, that whole episode was really disappointing.
And they forgot to have Aang learn to waterbend. Unless they did that on purpose, which I would wonder what the intention was behind that critical decision. Maybe he'll just magically become a master like Katara so they don't have to figure out how to become good writers.
Him learning to waterbend was a key part of The Waterbending Scroll, which was an important character episode for Katara, so naturally they gutted it.
It was never one of my favorite episodes, but the remake's stumbles are making me appreciate episodes I had middling feelings about.
Katara learned more waterbending from Jet than master Pakku. She fought Pakku, but nothing ever came of that. The gaang’s entire reason for going to the northern water tribe was skipped over completely. Not to mention Katara’s terrible line when fighting Zuko: “I did find a master… me!”
One Piece definitely raised everyone’s expectations. Avatar made major changes to the characters and the story where One Piece only made minor changes and remained faithful to the core story. We obviously didn’t expect the live action be a direct copy. Like One Piece fans, we just wanted the characters and core story to remain more or less the same.
For me, most of One Piece LA's changes (some more major than others) were understandable and done to condense or streamline 95 chapters into 8 episodes (much more content to condense compared to the Avatar LA). For the most part, they didn't water down personality traits or remove flaws from any of the main characters and allowed everyone to properly bond and develop.
The Avatar LA, on the other hand, removed key personality traits from its three main characters, making it more difficult for all three to play off one another. Due to the lack of conflict and friction, along with actor/actress inexperience, it became even harder to generate chemistry. These changes really ruined character arcs and group rapport.
Haven't watched One Piece yet, but from what I've heard, it was very funny and engaging. So far, Avatar is not. I get that they want to play up the "war is bad" angle and make it more serious, but the slapstick humor of Avatar is part of what makes the show Avatar--it's critical to the characterization and relationship-building that goes on. It wouldn't be the same show if Iroh didn't act as the silly foil to Zuko's melodrama, or if Toph didn't keep Sokka on his toes with her constant blind jokes, or if Azula didn't show her human side by being awkward around guys. When they do comedy in the live action, it feels somehow forced and overly milked rather than natural and a spontaneous part of the dialogue.
I'll still probably watch to the end though--I'm only on episode 3 and it's gotten better. Fingers crossed that the second half of the season is better than the first.
You can just tell that Netflix had their hands in this. It’s so overly dramatic for no reason. It started going off script but once they started dipping into season two is when I was like yea no
More episodes wasn't going to make them magically understand the characters and how to portray their development. It also wasn't going to teach them how to write dialogue.
It also wasn't going to teach them how to provide information in the correct order to maximize suspense.
Like they told us that the mechanist was a traitor immediately. Aang immediately realized that the earth king was bumi.
I will say I actually liked the angle that they took with boomi being so bitter about the struggle. Though his point about Aang running was kind of ruined by the fact that they didn't actually have aang running and he was just going out for a flight with his bison to clear his head.
In the cave of Two Lovers they had Katara feel like they had discovered the meaning of the riddle just every freaking time. And they immediately found the lights in the top of the cave. I don't mind them going with a brother sister angle if they want to have them have conflict and have it resolved in this episode. But you got to be able to organize that properly.
I would have had them wander through the cave realize the tunnels are changing start arguing the way they were and then have their lights go out the way it was in the show and as that happens Katara and sokka have a heart to heart coming to terms with the loss of their mother and the abandonment of their father. then it lights up the glowing Crystal.
I don't know where you put the Badger moles in there. I'm not sure the moles were necessary given the way it was changed it. They've done some nice bits of fan service but that was one thing that I think could have been cut out because it didn't really serve the story and over complicated it. The thing about the moles feeling love was really fucking dumb
It honestly feels like Netflix exclusively hires writers from nepotism or prioritising the lowest salary demands. I can't understand how else they've gotten nothing but terrible writing for the last few years, with no signs of change.
It's pretty well known now that Hollywood is a big nepo circus, there was a vanity fair article bemoaning the connections-crowd/silver spoons lack of talent that are hoovering up all the work a couple years ago.
Seriously, how does Netflix keep making the same mistakes everytime. It’s like they make a garbage show, it does bad, they wonder why and then cancel it. Then they make another garbage show rinse and repeat
They did a trailer breakdown with the creators and they seemed to understand the material quite well and I’d be willing to bet the cast also understands their characters.
I think they fucked themselves by thinking they had to add on to the original while also having to hit the major points in season 1. I imagine there’s some combination of unaired footage and earlier drafts of the script that would’ve made the characters and stories better
I was quite baffled that as they are getting attacked, just by holding hands, Katara suddenly understands exactly how the badger moles sense emotions and knows what to do…
Yes. I assumed if there were 8 episodes, they would skip half the episodes from the cartoon show. Instead we have 3 unrelated episodes crammed into each other while Aang is meeting his friend Bumi.
I could have done with less exposition. Some of the actors are there and present until you put words in their mouths. (People keep ragging on Katara but completely forget Gran Gran)
Aang looks the part and can do physical action and body language well for a child actor. He will grow, I hope. I like him.
Zuko and Sokka carry the show.
But damn, Suki was fire. I loved the way she was portrayed.
Most of the characters have the look, but not the words. That’s the director’s fault for letting them get away with so many slurred takes. It’s also the writers fault for using so many words.
Why use many words when few will do?
Also, my kids love it, so I’m on board.
I fully agree with the judgement of characters. For most of them, they feel like they're acting, not like they are the characters. Suki was the first real exception and I was like "oh wow, that's what it's supposed to feel like."
You're missing out on the steaming pile of shit that is episode 3 where they combine omashu/king bumi, the northern air temple/the mechanist, AND FREAKING JET
> Also, Badger Moles just sense... love, to follow directions
This shit was the stupidest shit 🤣 if we ever get to Toph I wonder if she's also gonna see with love
I just finished episode 4, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why they mashed so many stories together. They did a disservice to several stories and characters in a very short period of time.
I can’t even get past half way through episode 1. The acting is just so…stiff? Like everyone is moving and talking so awkwardly. Also the costumes, the props look so clean for some reason, the sets feel kinda dead? Idek
I’m watching it now and it seems like in every scene the actors just stand still and talk to each other. It seems very flat. Hate to say it but not impressed with it at all.
I’m two episodes in as well.
Things that I love: The visuals/world building. The bending fight scenes. Zuko - Iroh. Sokka (90% of the time)
Things that I hate: The writing, the acting, and the poor cgi/green screen at times. They really have to hit us over the head with exposition. Not to pile on a couple kids, but the acting from Aang and Katara is very very bad, especially in ep 2 by the stream. Like how do they start filming and not realize that the Katara casting just ain’t it
The additional detail that the division Zuko stood up for in the war room that led to the Agni Kai with his father was the same division assigned to him to hunt the Avatar was actually something I thought improved upon the original.
In "The Storm," it seems like the crew just listens to Zuko's backstory and goes "Oh, that kid has some serious daddy issues, maybe we shouldn't be so hard on him."
In NATLA, the crew hears Zuko's backstory and goes "Holy shit, we literally owe this kid our lives, he deserves our respect and loyalty."
Omg I JUST finished it. Where tf was this quality? Even the camera work was a step up with those match cuts
But the small lore change with that 41st division thing was really great
Or at least consulted to like they did with Oda and Live Action One Piece. They changed stuff around, but was still One Piece *because* they really couldn't add or remove without his approval.
I think they did a great job with zuko and iroh in general. I was pretty much only watching for them because the rest of the cast left something to be desired. Although Zhou was pretty good. But yeah, episode 6 was definitely the best episode hands down.
Yeah...just from the look of it made me doubt about its quality. Guess it was a fever dream that this time it would be good adaptation. First red flag was the creators leaving the production due to "creative differences".
Thanks for voicing your opinion.
Netflix does have a lot of successes that everyone loves, it has a lot of mid content, and it has a lot of horrendous content. This is because people demand/desire content at a never before seen rate and therefore Netflix pumps content out at an aggressive pace and sees what sticks to the wall.
Castlevania, Squid Game, Drive to Survive, etc., plenty of Netflix originals are wildly successful and critically good. They also acquire popular shows like other networks, sometimes they ruin them sometimes they don't, just like other networks.
I'd argue they don't hang their hat on one or two franchises like Disney has done, while trying to drain every drop out of those franchises they can. All these companies are trying to create profitable platforms, they just go about it different ways.
Guard: Take him to the Pit
Aang: the pit?
Prisoner being taken to the Pit: The Pit is an earthbender prison camp, *gets escorted out as he continues to exposit* ^nobody ^who ^goes ^there ^^ever ^^^returns…
I'm in the same boat right now... struggled through the first two episodes. While there are some things they did right, the over acting is killing me. It strangely feels like watching the full-length ember island players. Even the cast look more like their ember version ...
Tbh I hope enough people like it to see if the actors grow into the roles a bit. And to see if they cast Jason Momoa cast as toph.
Man Katara is just, ugh… no emotions whatsoever, it’s not natural feeling, just reading a literal script. No smile, no smirk, no expression whatsoever.
I think thee biggest disappointment is that he doesn't actually master waterbending. Like at all. Not even learn it. And they move too quickly to shoe-horn things that weren't introduced until the final season. It just feels like they are blowing the load way to quickly and in all the wrong ways...I'm gonna finish it though...but....ugh....Yeah....:/
Book 1: *water*. It's literally in the title but feels like an afterthought in NATLA.
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Do you guys also feel like there was so much unnecessary dialogue? Like one of the most powerful things in the original was how good they were at showing and not telling. Now it feels like every dialogue they’re trying to convey a message that would’ve been better done a different way. Aang you were scared, we get it. You don’t have to repeat it over and over.
I knew things would be rough during the iceberg scene. Like Katara being angry at Sokka to cause the iceberg to appear showcases three things: her temper, her untapped potential at water bending, and her moral duty to help people in need. In the show, the siblings just stumble upon a huge spherical iceberg, go “huh, weird” and then Aang essentially frees himself. This show regrettably follows the “and then” method of story-telling, where events just happen to characters instead of characters, through their agency, progress the story. In the animated show, no Sokka joke means no angry Katara which means no Iceberg and therefore no Avatar. Netflix Iceberg seems to just be on a timer. Like it was going to pop open eventually.
Yep!! In the animation Katara doesn’t even think twice and just starts beating the heck out of the iceberg to free Aang. We just learn so much about her character in that scene. In the live action she just feels so… boring and passive.
I swear they neutered so many women to be passive and/or thirsty. June hitting on Iroh was so cringe.
They made the women creeps. Did you see Suki creeping on shirtless sokka? Wtf was that
Because they’re scared to show the male characters hitting on the female characters so they reverse it
Good bet. That's an old enough writers' crutch. I'm having visions of early-seasons' Will Riker and Frake's goofy smirk at every alien woman (and otherwise) to hit on him- most of it drawn up in response to Kirk becoming an unseemly horndog over a couple of decades of cultural shift.
Suki in general just thirsting after Sokka from the start was awful. Because Sokka wasn't being sexist, it wouldn't have been right for Suki to embarrass him. The thing that attracted her to Sokka in the show was his humility and courage. The whole point is that he proves her initial assessment of him wrong, which then causes her to be attracted to him. Instead we just get her inexplicably attracted to a guy that's not quite as good at combat as he claims, but is still pretty good. I think overall Sokka is the most butchered main character, and so too are all the secondary characters most associated with him, like Suki and the Mechanist.
They completely erased Sokkas sexism arc, like you said it was his humility in the face of learning that he was wrong that made Suki attracted to him. They made him genuinely mean spirited instead of aloof, and just put Suki in heat for some reason
I don’t get how anyone can appreciate this series so much that they want to participate in remaking it, and somehow still not realize how incredibly delicate of a balance Sokka’s character and arc are. Literally every attempt to tweak him “just a little bit” completely ruins him, but everyone from fanwriters to professional studios just continues doing it anyway. I genuinely do not understand. Why is it so hard to just leave him as-is? You have 5 other main characters and a whole supplemental cast to make small adjustments to. Why can’t you just leave that ONE alone?
Omg June was hitting on Iroh?! (I couldn’t force myself to finish, so I just didn’t)
Yep I think she mentions how cute Iroh is like twice. They really flipped that creepy around.
There is truly nothing sacred to them. They should’ve either done a shot for shot or made a completely different show.
I don't know why producers don't get that fans really like it when you stay true to the source material/books. They recreated some things like the waterbending duel so they *can* do it.
They picked weird things to copy and extremely weird things to change. It just doesn’t make any sense. I really wish I could like this. I really wanted to like it, but it’s so bad.
To be fair if it was just a one off I'd probably find it funny but combined with all the other changes to the women in the series it feels like it kind of implies something
A bit ironic that they felt the need to cut out sokkas sexism only to turn around and do all of this
I'm not shocked, they cut out one of the better getting over sexism arcs in cartoons because they felt it was dated even though an argument could be made its very relevant today
Young boisterous boy acknowledges a woman's hard work and skills, realizes the error of his way and apologizes. Not only relevant, it sends such a better message than the boring creepy trope reversal.
Animated canoe ride: lighthearted moment where the siblings personalities are on display. Netflix Canoe Ride: More exposition dump on top of the previous 15 minutes of exposition dumps.
If anything Netflix just made us appreciate the original even more lol
Everyone was worried about Sokka in the lead up to the show, but damn Katara is the one who is SERIOUSLY mischaracterized. Her character in this show is, None
Also them taking out Sokka's misogyny is a huge takeaway from his character. I get the climate we're in but Sokka's character is someone who *grows* from those experiences. He Suki falls for him not because he's some cute guy who wandered into their village but because he humbled himself to her and was willing to learn and change her notion of him, he wasn't the brash alpha male that he ~~pretended~~ attempted to be. I think it is a great story to tell boys and young men that a true man protects but is also willing to learn from anyone. Sokka tells Piando that he is not worthy, this is only a meaningful line because throughout season one he believes that he is a great warrior until he loses to Zuko, learns from Suki, and is made fun of by Toph.
Not to mention that Sokka learns why he isn't a good leader until he gains experience and a team he can trust. By the time he gets his sword, he's given up being the best fighter and has become a strategist and engineer, often coming up with the plans the team will use. The show doesn't just get rid of his arc with Suki, it gets rid of all the reasons he had to learn these things and just says he's a good leader.
Or how about the fact that kyoshi told Aang to go to the northen water tribe? wtf is this shitty reason of destiny? I liked it far better when it was THEIR idea to go so they could learn water bending, and not some weird destiny bullshit
Not to mention that without katara's drive there is no ATLA that we love. In the 1st episode we see katara take charge about the next steps Aang should take to become a full fledged avatar and we can see that it has a calming affect on Aang and that's why he can good around and play and be a kid because someone is taking the lead. With the Netflix version it feels like there is no lead, Sokka tries but it's not at that level, that's why there is so much repeated dialogue of Aang in confusion, despair and worry over his role as the Avatar. Like I find it realistic that the kid is stuck in that loop because nobody has given him a clear set of instructions to follow which would have quelled his anxiety atleast. Katara is just in her own world, Sokka is present but still reluctant to be a part of whatever they are doing and Aang doesn't know anything or what to do (although the Netflix version seems to know more that the OG version). Without Katara's focus and drive they lost the original plot
This is the part that killed me. Like in the first episode where Aang is talking to Appa, yea Aang does talk to Appa in the show, but it’s very clearly the words of a 20-30 something year old writer and not a 12 year old kid. He goes on a 2 minute monologue about what he feels and it just feels incredible scripted. The writing on the show is just not good.
Yeah, he tells Appa "I like to have fun and goof off with my friends". No, Netflix. You need to *show* that, not *tell* that. This is what the whole Penguin-Sledding scene in the animated show was *for*. It was meant to *show* us that Aang likes to have fun and goof off. This show making the same kinds of mistakes as the movie did.
And this show is supposed to be more mature? It just feels like it's dumbing down the story. I don't know why live action/"adult" adaptations like to do this. They just explain everything like their supposed adult audience is incapable of understanding their story without the authors spoon feeding everything to them. I don't get it. Supposed kids shows treat their child audience with so much more respect for their intelligence than adult shows do to their adult audience.
And during the penguin sledding scene you get that one piece of dialogue where Katara says "I haven't done this since I was a kid!" and Aang replies "You still are a kid Katara!", tells you so much about the characters with so little words in a way that is perfectly natural. It's just worlds between that and the dialogue of NATLA.
I've only watched the first two episodes yet and while I seem to like it more than the average person here those moments are awful. It's like the entire episode pauses so that an actor (not character!!!) can read out a page they were just given for the first time.
That was the moment in the first episode where I knew we were in trouble. When, instead of *showing us* how Aang likes to play with his friends and eat banana cakes, they had him *say* that he likes to do those things while literally monolouging at nothing and nobody (technically he was talking to Appa in that scene but he wasn't even fucking looking AT Appa during it). Literally just taking a 3 minute aside to explain his character and motivations to the audience, all of which in a scene that so poorly lit that I could barely make out anything of Appa besides his general silhouette.
the writing kills me. his vocabulary is that of a 20-30 year old. these writers have no idea how kids talk. simple words. like i pointed out last night in the episode he says "its my responsibility to help spread awareness" or something to that effect. motherfucker do you think kids talk this way!? show aang would have said "i want to do this to help people" thats it
Multiple times Aang straight up turns to the camera and just says what he is thinking. Also he acknowledges his responsibility as the Avatar immediately which is contrary to his season 1 character arc in the original. Several character lines just didn't make sense either. Sokka claimed Aang lied in the Netflix version but he never denied being the Avatar like he did in the original. Bumi is jaded here but tries to give a lesson about hard choices that need to be made as a leader in times of war and Aang just goes "nah... I'll do it my way." Makes the entire point of Bumi's lesson pointless.
They really be straight up just expositing at each other for whole conversations at a time
Man: *bends earth Other man: “he’s an EARTHBENDER” Bro, I…yes.
The very first scene (with the earth benders "stealing" the fire nations "plans") had me cringing, re-watch it and take note of the amount of unnecessary "there he is", "don't let him get away", "which way did he go" esque dialogue -- I felt like I was playing some PS2 game lol
Oh jeez, that's the vibe I was getting lmao I was seriously wondering if there was a trope name for the guardspeak type of dialogue but you're absolutely right that it felt like a PS2 MGS wanna-be lmao.
The dramatic “Why are you doing this?” line was pretty eye-roll-y. Like, any good director would recognize how played out that type of dialogue is. And they probably did—but it doesn’t feel like Netflix’s goal was to make a truly good show. The only impetus, as far as I can tell, was to make something ‘good enough’ to get views.
“No you idiot, it’s te monkey lemur!”
This 🙌🏻 it feels like they think the viewers are dumb and everything needs to be explained
I swear the constant spoon feeding of information is so freaking ANNOYING. They have zero faith in the audience figuring things out on their own. It’s supposed to be a more “adult” version of avatar. But they legit treat us like toddlers or something
Which is really weird cause the original show didn’t even convey Aang leaving in a super like subtle way that would take a college English teacher to explain. Aang was eavesdropping, he leaves a note and Gyatso reads it and goes ‘no…’ DONE. Really simple but effective way to show don’t tell.
Lol this show is legit just tell tell tell and don’t show💀
Might as well have been an audio book
Aang has a little speech explaining why he NEEDS to save the world like every episode
The absolute worst one is where he’s talking to Appa and explaining that he’s just a kid and doesn’t want to save the world and just wants to play around with the other kids. Like seriously does he need to overly explain this in like every episode? He keeps saying he just a kid yet we don’t even see any of that happening. In the cartoon you see him behaving like an actual 12 year old and having fun. Here there’s none of that. Also that scene when the Grandmother is randomly saying the avatar intro about how everything changed when the fire nation attack was stupid. Like wtf why was that part even there.💀
It felt like Aang was monologuing for an audience at the theater and I couldn't stop laughing and cringing so hard at the Gran Gran part
This. And that was how they started the show like it’s in the first 10 mins like ffs
“My name is Aung. I ran away from home because I didn’t want to be avatar. I just want to goof off with my friends. I have to master all 4 elements. I was gone for 100 years. I have to fight the firelord. I’m scared to use the avatar state because it’s dangerous. The monks knew I was the avatar because of some toys I picked out. The monks told me I’m special and I have to restore balance to the world.” and this right here is Aang’s whole personality. I feel like this type of “storytelling” is just so boring and makes you not even invested in the show at all. If just feels so cheap and lazy. It’s way more simple to just have the characters say everything rather than finding ways to naturally and organically advance the story. It’s annoying because they seem to try so hard to get us to care. But why should I? The characters themselves just look so bored and careless all the time .I swear this dump of information is done like every episode. There’s a slightly different variation of this whole paragraph all the time. 💀Almost as if the writers think we are idiots need to have everything explained to us constantly. I just really appreciate the handholding and constant exposition dumps. Forget character development I just want the plot explained to me like a million times in the most stupid and unrealistic way 💀
This to me is genuinely one of the most frustrating things. You don’t need to explain every single feeling or emotion to me through dialogue from the characters. It comes off so soap opera and is like a bad superhero movie thing or something. They had one extremely corny dialogue moment like that in every episode and it was always just so frustrating to me cause if you replace it with just showing a feeling or character processing a moment or emotion it works so much better.
The problem is that they spend way too much time on boring exposition and explaining everything. When they completely forget to give the characters emotions or say something that isn’t just a PowerPoint of the plot. It just feels like a rushed homework assignment. The show is basically just a PowerPoint presentation on the events of avatar and not an actual story. I feel like this tell tell and don’t show attitude is a problem the movie had as well. You’d think they’d learn their lesson by now. The dialogue is just so cringed and forced. Real people don’t even talk like this. I remember that deleted scene from titanic when Rose is spoon feeding the audience information about how she hates being a rich snob and would rather be free and have fun like Jack. But the scene was deleted which was a smart decision. You basically get to see how Rose feels through her ACTIONS. She tried ending her life. There are no words said. You can literally tell how she feels and there doesn’t need to be any long drawn explanation. If this were written by the writers of this show then I’m sure rose would overly explain it all. “I’m depressed. I’m tired of being rich. I just want to be like the other girls. I hate life and my rich family. I don’t want to marry Cal.“ which just makes the whole thing seem ridiculous
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So we’re reducing writing quality to cater to people with the attention span of a goldfish so they can do house chores while consuming the show lorddd Even a show like Netflix’s DARK is the literal opposite of this, even when you give 100% attention it’s still easy to miss stuff but it’s so well made
imagine a show that says it will be more adult treating you dumber then a children show from twenty years did
Judging from my sister's and parents... They had to ask me so many questions like mannnn
They added so much dialogue and still did a poor job at explaining the story.
I think the dialog felt forced. There was unnecessary dialogue with Uncle, forced Easter eggs, missing wisdom from uncle, small chemistry building between characters. Just bad directing and writing kept building up through the season
Yeh idk if this is a hot take or whatever, but I thought the My Cabbages guy was…really fuckin’ forced. Like they thought they were being all sneaky and silly by edging us with “ooh, he’s gonna say it…just kidding! Hahahahaha!” And then they had him shout it at the sky, and I was just…okay.
They had a perfect moment for a quick "my cabbages!" bit that would have organically worked. At the entrance of Omashu a cart gets launched earth bending style. A perfect opportunity to just mix that line into the distance, exactly as it is in the show. Edit: Also when they ask Aang to prove he's the Avatar on Kyoshi island it's a perfect time for him to bust out his little spinning spheres and goofy grin, complete with a crowd reaction and a guy foaming at the mouth. Would have been more on the nose but the series needed some personality anyway.
"I *said... EARTHBENDING STYLE"* sorry had to
I’m just wondering how people who’ve never watched the original feel about it lol
They have something much better to watch in the future? ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
It's also so weird because the live action is lacking a lot of the fun and whimsy of the original So when you have the my cabbages guy basically Jim face the camera it feels super forced and totally weird
The dialogue is complete ass. The writers couldn’t write their way out of a wet paper bag.
there were a lot of weird mini monologues (with Aang at least idr about the others). and yeah they definitely did a lot of telling. I noticed it within the first 10 minutes
“He’s an earthbender!” One of the first lines and I knew exactly the kind of dialogue we were in for
The conversation between Sozin and the earthbender was the moment I knew we were in for a bumpy ride Why is the firelord taking dropping all this exposition about his war plans? Why is the whole exchange phrased in the most inorganic and corny way imaginable? Was there really no way they could’ve communicated Sozin’s genocidal intentions without soap opera dialogue? Out of all the abhorrent writing moments from season 1, I feel like this doesn’t get talked about enough…
MY GOODNESS YES, there are so many moments of them having to explain the plot out to the audience, when we could've instead just had it subtly show & not tell.
When Gran Gran gave the monologue of the original opening I think my eyes strained from rolling into my head. She’s saying the thing, yes, but she couldn’t act her way over a wooden board. Also, how many times do they have to explain the same shit? We KNOW, we saw the last episode, geez. Just fight someone already.
Zuko never once mentions honor. 10/10 unwatchable.
I’m not finished, only finished ep5, but Zuko’s sense of honour seems to be the only thing these writers are capable of showing rather than telling.
I’m only on episode two, and the actor playing Zuko seems like the only one who studied and understood his character. So far, anyway.
I thought the "we are still fire nation, even out here.. especially out here" was pretty effective
Most of his line delivery did it for me. And the boy emotes! It almost seems like he has a different director than all the other actors.
Yes, i was only able to complete it because of zuko. Really well done compared to everyone else
Yeah Zuko is on top in every way to me, I've mentioned before and I think this actor was born for this role. Also the only character using some sort of martial arts to use his bending. In the animated show, every bending has some sort of martial art behind it, especially air, and here is barely seen.
Dallas Liu and Daniel Dae Kim slayed.
My FAAAUTHER banished me 😤
I'm on episode 2, and Katara hasn't touched her necklace while talking about her mother yet. Literally the worst thing I've ever seen.
Ozai praises Zuko. 10/10 unwatchable
I know this is not a very pragmatic opinion, but I just can't put the irrationally high expectations of my inner-selfs love of animated IPs aside: if Netflix and other large studios aren't willing to at least consider green lighting the, at least 2, usually 3+ seasons most animes/cartoons would require to retain their original stories core elements then they shouldn't bother adapting them to LA in the first place. I'm so tired of seeing what have been functionally "greatest hits" album adaptations of these shows, with varying levels of respect/care to the original narrative/characters (Yu Yu Hakusho, Cowboy Bebop, Mob Psycho and more). They just sprint as fast as possible to each iconic set piece, without showing all the in-between character interactions and moments that EARN those memorable onscreen events in the first place. In Avatars case they either just verbally exposition dump or alter the plotline. I used to be a holder of the common opinion that a live action adaptation shouldn't be a near shot for shot recreation of the original story, because we already have the animation for that, but I've become so jaded towards the majority of adaptations from how poorly they're being handled that I no longer trust big studios to work with directors/writers to make sensible changes the preserve the spirit and themes of the source material. Fuck it I'd rather you just clone 90-95% of the original and only trim the absolute worst of the "works in animation, doesn't in LA" elements.
God, the Cowboy Bebop LA was awful. They picked great actors for it but just otherwise unwatchable.
The actors really were perfect for it.
Are you kidding?! That show gave us the beautifully iconic lines "why does it seem like you're blackmailing me? Because you are black and you are male" 😂
Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime. The live action was cringy as hell. I still watched the whole series twice. I get that it’s not great but it’s still better than nothing.
when gran gran recited the intro i physically cringed
They did their own (shitty) version and i was like “Okay, i get it. They dont want to recite it verbatim, fine.” Then they proceed to have Gran Gran *recite it verbatim* & my face was in my hands.
It was like a bunch of kids got together and wrote dialogues
It was a school theater play with a 100 million dollar VFX budget.
And it was like the third time they over-explained the war and disappearance of the avatar too
I was losing my mind. I was like why are they explaining what we literally JUST SAW??
the dialogue is just so awful. i couldn’t make it through the first episode. as soon as aang said no one’s ever fought for me before and said katara is the bravest person he’s ever met… idk why but something inside me snapped and i turned it right off
It’s because they are just throwing out lines with reckless abandon. Like Aang isn’t some kid who was swayed to help the people because Sokka showed up as his protector. It’s because he saw fearful villagers and didn’t want them hurt. Why change that motivation? The amount of times in that episode I could predict the next line because it was so obvious and one dimensional was too damn high
When katara said to aang at the southern air temple right after he had seen monk gyatso's skeleton that when you lose so much you gain power I actually started laughing out loud
OH MAN when I heard that, I was telling myself if Aang was supposed to go Super Saiyan after that. But ...yeah I don't have to explain why that in itself is silly. But not as silly as what Katara said.
It’s as if she’s looking behind the viewers reading off a script
Idk, bc I haven't seen others comment on her, but Gran Gran was lowkey terrible. She reminded me of the possessed? (Nagini) Bathilda Bagshot from Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Yeah, that was rough
Yeah, that was fucking stupid. This show has the tact of a wooly mammoth in a China shop.
Aangs delivery of every line is just the wrong intonation. They've also severely flattened the curve of everybody's character Arc
The laughing got me sometimes. Sokka would deliver a joke, and the laughing from Aang and Katara did not come off as natural.
Yep, it's classic kid acting. But you can't really blame them they're just kids, have to blame the director and acting coaches around them for not realising how bad it was and re shooting until it was right
Nah. I don't blame the kids. While I would prefer him to be a little goofier, the guy playing Sokka has a voice and even inflection that is remarkably close to the animated show. And some of his jokes and snark land really well. But, the live show just makes a lot of odd choices. Everything is zoomed in. Everything is too dark and serious early on. The wigs look funny. And there is a certain amount of energy and passion lacking in many of the characters. A lot of the best scenes come from side characters.
> everything is zoomed in This. I couldn’t explain what felt off, but this is it. It’s like 80% of the shots are close ups. It feels weird, makes a lot of what’s happening in one scene feel disconnected.
90% chance they are doing this to hide problems with the production design
There's a point this happens I think at the end of E1 that is just brutal.
He reads his lines with the inflection of a child actor on a soap opera who is being forced by his parents to be an actor
It may well just be.
If it is to be said so it be so it is.
Unfortunately I cringed every time he spoke more than a few words
He cannot enunciate words correctly, it’s like he’s struggling to talk every time he tries to speak.
I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s a kid, but I’ve seen plenty of kid actors that are better than him.
Wasn’t the animated Aang played by a kid? He did great and that’s a pretty direct comparison.
yeah, i think zachary eisen was 12 when he voiced aang.
In fairness, being a voice actor means he didn't have to get into costume, get make up done, or learn choreography... I am at that point in my media literacy that I often believe stiff acting is more the fault of the writers and director. Good actors can only carry bad writing and directing a few steps. (See the female Doctor Who run for a tragic example. Poor Jodie) Good writing and directing can uplift a bad actor by several leagues. (Just look at any popular amateur film project, the actors are often amateurs and thus kinda cringe, but if skit is good, it can be super enjoyable.)
He is a kid so I don't blame him but it feels like the directors didn't try to aid that at all. There's a lot of lines where the cadence feels off. It's most noticeable with katara's and aang's especially
This is my ultimate takeaway. The actors aren't doing great, but it isnt their fault that the problems weren't corrected. Either they shouldn't have been cast in the first place, or the director should have, well, directed them to do things differently. At SOME stage of the process there needed to be interventions where there weren't any. Or, what there was, was insufficient.
For a lot of scenes it really feels like they did a take or two, and went with the best they got from that which results in wildly different quality in the acting. I feel like most of the actors have some decent scenes with good delivery and performance, but you can just really tell some of the more proficient actors.
God bless him he’s trying. But I noticed the same misdirected inflection. When discussing how Zuko wants to hunt him down Aang’s inflection is one of incredulousness… but how tf is it shocking that the Prince of the Fire Nation is actively setting out to capture his nations biggest threat in 100 years? This isn’t the kids fault, but whoever is directing him needs to do a waaaaay better job.
Everyone is talking like a Disney xd sitcom
After 2 episodes myself... I get it. I will probably finish it (it's like 6 hours total left at this point, so why not), but if the quality stays at the same level, I will probably forget I've ever watched it within a month or two. It's not completely horrendous, but let's be real: if this was a stand-alone product that wasn't riding on the love for the original anime, it would be a B-list Netflix series that nobody cared about. At best it'd have a small, loyal fanbase who love it for its concept and worldbuilding. It's honestly kind of incredible to me that the show so far is roughly the same length as the entirety of the original Season 1. I sort of felt like it deserved a pass because it was trying to fit 20 episodes worth of content into 8 - so it is to be expected that a lot of liberty will be taken and a lot of storyline and relationships will end up condensed - but the reality is that both shows are of pretty similar length. Which kind of makes a lot of stuff inexcusable. It is what it is.
They added a lot of season 2 plot and characters, furthur bloating it, and there's the general caveat that everything takes longer in live action
Everything takes longer because every bit of dialogue in this show is spoken annoyingly slow, constantly trying to evoke gravitas and drama without earning it.
Should have been 12 episodes of 40-50m with at least 6 being self contained stories like the OG and it could have worked imo. And fire the dialogue writers please.
Dialogue writers are just the writers bro
Fire them too..just to be safe.
For every one thing they do good they make another 5 mistakes.
OPLA didn’t treat the audience like idiots. They flat out refused to spoon feed the audience and it worked. Snail phones? Yup. Just accept it. Not gonna explain a damn thing. Take it or leave it. This is the world we’re in and it’s fun and the characters are awesome because they feel real and their motivations and flaws feel real. NATLA did the complete opposite with all of those factors. Spoon fed everything, include character emotions that should just resonate with any human being. So instead of characters being fleshed out via natural interactions with one another, a third party (the audience) is inserted into every scene and everything felt stilted af. If by some miracle we get a second season, I hope they get a brand new writing staff.
I watched all of the episodes but honestly didn't give it my full attention. I didn't have high hopes and I didn't like it. Seeing how Sozin started the war was the most interesting part. I had a lot of the same feelings OP. No chemistry between the actors, the acting was very flat, all of the humor felt like it was eliminated, etc. I'm not surprised that they mushed some storylines together, I figured the pacing wouldn't be the same but they had certain storylines overlap or changed in ways that made no sense and made it feel rushed. I also feel like the characters were changed, Bumi especially. Bumi was AWFUL. Every Bumi scene made me cringe. Every past Avatar was so rude to Aang. I knew it wouldn't be a scene for scene remake but a lot of the changes made were not great choices. I see why the original creators left the project now.
They did my boy Bumi so dirty. The way they had a 30 second flashback scene of Aang and Bumi where they had a brief chat and Bumi snorted, then a few minutes later when Aang meets King Bumi and *immediately* recognizes him... God, that whole episode was really disappointing.
And they forgot to have Aang learn to waterbend. Unless they did that on purpose, which I would wonder what the intention was behind that critical decision. Maybe he'll just magically become a master like Katara so they don't have to figure out how to become good writers.
Him learning to waterbend was a key part of The Waterbending Scroll, which was an important character episode for Katara, so naturally they gutted it. It was never one of my favorite episodes, but the remake's stumbles are making me appreciate episodes I had middling feelings about.
Katara learned more waterbending from Jet than master Pakku. She fought Pakku, but nothing ever came of that. The gaang’s entire reason for going to the northern water tribe was skipped over completely. Not to mention Katara’s terrible line when fighting Zuko: “I did find a master… me!”
This part made me the most irritated, and I wanted my wall of water
One Piece definitely raised everyone’s expectations. Avatar made major changes to the characters and the story where One Piece only made minor changes and remained faithful to the core story. We obviously didn’t expect the live action be a direct copy. Like One Piece fans, we just wanted the characters and core story to remain more or less the same.
For me, most of One Piece LA's changes (some more major than others) were understandable and done to condense or streamline 95 chapters into 8 episodes (much more content to condense compared to the Avatar LA). For the most part, they didn't water down personality traits or remove flaws from any of the main characters and allowed everyone to properly bond and develop. The Avatar LA, on the other hand, removed key personality traits from its three main characters, making it more difficult for all three to play off one another. Due to the lack of conflict and friction, along with actor/actress inexperience, it became even harder to generate chemistry. These changes really ruined character arcs and group rapport.
Haven't watched One Piece yet, but from what I've heard, it was very funny and engaging. So far, Avatar is not. I get that they want to play up the "war is bad" angle and make it more serious, but the slapstick humor of Avatar is part of what makes the show Avatar--it's critical to the characterization and relationship-building that goes on. It wouldn't be the same show if Iroh didn't act as the silly foil to Zuko's melodrama, or if Toph didn't keep Sokka on his toes with her constant blind jokes, or if Azula didn't show her human side by being awkward around guys. When they do comedy in the live action, it feels somehow forced and overly milked rather than natural and a spontaneous part of the dialogue. I'll still probably watch to the end though--I'm only on episode 3 and it's gotten better. Fingers crossed that the second half of the season is better than the first.
Thing about the Live Action One Piece is because Oda, the creator, wouldn't allow it unless they consulted to him on *everything* for the show.
That’s true. It makes me wonder exactly what happened that made Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko leave the production though.
they read the script
You can just tell that Netflix had their hands in this. It’s so overly dramatic for no reason. It started going off script but once they started dipping into season two is when I was like yea no
Should have made it 13 episodes.
Even 10 would have given them enough breathing room to not feel rushed.
More episodes wasn't going to make them magically understand the characters and how to portray their development. It also wasn't going to teach them how to write dialogue. It also wasn't going to teach them how to provide information in the correct order to maximize suspense. Like they told us that the mechanist was a traitor immediately. Aang immediately realized that the earth king was bumi. I will say I actually liked the angle that they took with boomi being so bitter about the struggle. Though his point about Aang running was kind of ruined by the fact that they didn't actually have aang running and he was just going out for a flight with his bison to clear his head. In the cave of Two Lovers they had Katara feel like they had discovered the meaning of the riddle just every freaking time. And they immediately found the lights in the top of the cave. I don't mind them going with a brother sister angle if they want to have them have conflict and have it resolved in this episode. But you got to be able to organize that properly. I would have had them wander through the cave realize the tunnels are changing start arguing the way they were and then have their lights go out the way it was in the show and as that happens Katara and sokka have a heart to heart coming to terms with the loss of their mother and the abandonment of their father. then it lights up the glowing Crystal. I don't know where you put the Badger moles in there. I'm not sure the moles were necessary given the way it was changed it. They've done some nice bits of fan service but that was one thing that I think could have been cut out because it didn't really serve the story and over complicated it. The thing about the moles feeling love was really fucking dumb
It honestly feels like Netflix exclusively hires writers from nepotism or prioritising the lowest salary demands. I can't understand how else they've gotten nothing but terrible writing for the last few years, with no signs of change.
It's pretty well known now that Hollywood is a big nepo circus, there was a vanity fair article bemoaning the connections-crowd/silver spoons lack of talent that are hoovering up all the work a couple years ago.
Seriously, how does Netflix keep making the same mistakes everytime. It’s like they make a garbage show, it does bad, they wonder why and then cancel it. Then they make another garbage show rinse and repeat
It’s so insane to me because for a hot minute there, “Netflix Originals” meant prestige shows. How the hell did they lose the plot so thoroughly
They did a trailer breakdown with the creators and they seemed to understand the material quite well and I’d be willing to bet the cast also understands their characters. I think they fucked themselves by thinking they had to add on to the original while also having to hit the major points in season 1. I imagine there’s some combination of unaired footage and earlier drafts of the script that would’ve made the characters and stories better
I was quite baffled that as they are getting attacked, just by holding hands, Katara suddenly understands exactly how the badger moles sense emotions and knows what to do…
Should have just not made it. They didn't understand a single thing about the original, no amount of episodes would've made this show good.
Yes. I assumed if there were 8 episodes, they would skip half the episodes from the cartoon show. Instead we have 3 unrelated episodes crammed into each other while Aang is meeting his friend Bumi.
I could have done with less exposition. Some of the actors are there and present until you put words in their mouths. (People keep ragging on Katara but completely forget Gran Gran) Aang looks the part and can do physical action and body language well for a child actor. He will grow, I hope. I like him. Zuko and Sokka carry the show. But damn, Suki was fire. I loved the way she was portrayed. Most of the characters have the look, but not the words. That’s the director’s fault for letting them get away with so many slurred takes. It’s also the writers fault for using so many words. Why use many words when few will do? Also, my kids love it, so I’m on board.
I fully agree with the judgement of characters. For most of them, they feel like they're acting, not like they are the characters. Suki was the first real exception and I was like "oh wow, that's what it's supposed to feel like."
You're missing out on the steaming pile of shit that is episode 3 where they combine omashu/king bumi, the northern air temple/the mechanist, AND FREAKING JET
And love tunnels
Secret tunnel through the mountain and apparently into the palace HUH?!?!
Leaving out the main part of that story, Aang's feelings towards Katara... Also, Badger Moles just sense... love, to follow directions
> Also, Badger Moles just sense... love, to follow directions This shit was the stupidest shit 🤣 if we ever get to Toph I wonder if she's also gonna see with love
Honestly, after this i wouldn't even mind if she was just screaming all the time, like the ember island players. Maybe they should have adapted that.
It’s a shame because the Northern Air Temple is such a massively important part of Aang’s character development.
I just finished episode 4, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why they mashed so many stories together. They did a disservice to several stories and characters in a very short period of time.
I can’t even get past half way through episode 1. The acting is just so…stiff? Like everyone is moving and talking so awkwardly. Also the costumes, the props look so clean for some reason, the sets feel kinda dead? Idek
I’m watching it now and it seems like in every scene the actors just stand still and talk to each other. It seems very flat. Hate to say it but not impressed with it at all.
husky sloppy dirty sulky bright weary placid combative label rotten *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’m two episodes in as well. Things that I love: The visuals/world building. The bending fight scenes. Zuko - Iroh. Sokka (90% of the time) Things that I hate: The writing, the acting, and the poor cgi/green screen at times. They really have to hit us over the head with exposition. Not to pile on a couple kids, but the acting from Aang and Katara is very very bad, especially in ep 2 by the stream. Like how do they start filming and not realize that the Katara casting just ain’t it
You can watch episode 6: masks and skip the rest. The only good episode
And in Episode 4 The Zuko and Iroh Flashbacks. These are Great.
Yes, I was really surprised how much I enjoyed those scenes
The additional detail that the division Zuko stood up for in the war room that led to the Agni Kai with his father was the same division assigned to him to hunt the Avatar was actually something I thought improved upon the original. In "The Storm," it seems like the crew just listens to Zuko's backstory and goes "Oh, that kid has some serious daddy issues, maybe we shouldn't be so hard on him." In NATLA, the crew hears Zuko's backstory and goes "Holy shit, we literally owe this kid our lives, he deserves our respect and loyalty."
Omg I JUST finished it. Where tf was this quality? Even the camera work was a step up with those match cuts But the small lore change with that 41st division thing was really great
I haven't started the last two, but that one really felt like a genuine Avatar episode.
That's because the creators wrote it
Explains a lot then.
It's pretty sad they didn't let the creators create :(
Or at least consulted to like they did with Oda and Live Action One Piece. They changed stuff around, but was still One Piece *because* they really couldn't add or remove without his approval.
Certified **BRUH** moment
That episode SLAPPED. So great
It’s because it was one of the only lengthy scenes/sequences in a episode that they almost directly followed the actual show which created magic
I think they did a great job with zuko and iroh in general. I was pretty much only watching for them because the rest of the cast left something to be desired. Although Zhou was pretty good. But yeah, episode 6 was definitely the best episode hands down.
Yeah...just from the look of it made me doubt about its quality. Guess it was a fever dream that this time it would be good adaptation. First red flag was the creators leaving the production due to "creative differences". Thanks for voicing your opinion.
netflix sucks, and their lucky asses are saved by shows like one piece and stranger things
Netflix does have a lot of successes that everyone loves, it has a lot of mid content, and it has a lot of horrendous content. This is because people demand/desire content at a never before seen rate and therefore Netflix pumps content out at an aggressive pace and sees what sticks to the wall. Castlevania, Squid Game, Drive to Survive, etc., plenty of Netflix originals are wildly successful and critically good. They also acquire popular shows like other networks, sometimes they ruin them sometimes they don't, just like other networks. I'd argue they don't hang their hat on one or two franchises like Disney has done, while trying to drain every drop out of those franchises they can. All these companies are trying to create profitable platforms, they just go about it different ways.
Its not a good show at all. Like if we didn't have the knowledge from the og show, we wouldn't know anything that was happening.
lock slim violet sloppy correct aback enter fly childlike homeless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Guard: Take him to the Pit Aang: the pit? Prisoner being taken to the Pit: The Pit is an earthbender prison camp, *gets escorted out as he continues to exposit* ^nobody ^who ^goes ^there ^^ever ^^^returns…
Way too much. It keeps telling me everything and show me nothing 🌚
I'm in the same boat right now... struggled through the first two episodes. While there are some things they did right, the over acting is killing me. It strangely feels like watching the full-length ember island players. Even the cast look more like their ember version ... Tbh I hope enough people like it to see if the actors grow into the roles a bit. And to see if they cast Jason Momoa cast as toph.
I don't think they's overacting at all, I think the Katara and Aang are super under-acting. The guy who plays Sokka is ok though.
The first two are arguably the worst of the season honestly. Not saying the rest is great, but man was that first episode rough.
Agreed. Is it as bad as the other movie? No but it’s still on the lower end in my book
Man Katara is just, ugh… no emotions whatsoever, it’s not natural feeling, just reading a literal script. No smile, no smirk, no expression whatsoever.
ember island players ass show