The change of Aang deliberately running away from the Temple to just going for a short flight w every intention to come back watches to me like Netflix being afraid of its main character being too flawed… I can imagine the executives fearing the audience would turn on Aang if one of the first things we see him do is run away from his home and responsibilities. I don’t think they would be right in that, but I can imagine that was their logic In fact a lot of the changes to the show sand away the flaws and edges that make the original characters compelling. Sokka is no longer a sexist at the start of the show, Katara doesn’t steal her waterbending scroll nor does she have the same temper, etc.

Seeing it in a linear manner really hurts the pacing. There is not much to be discovered, seeing the monks dead has basically no impact.

Saying "blank is better than the Avatar movie" shouldn't be the gauge. A cows turd is better than the Avatar movie lol😂

I agree about the loss of intrigue, by starting the story this way. They claimed to want to attract Game of Thrones fans, but GoT started with intrigue, and didn't just open on Robert's Rebellion. A hundred things bothered me about starting on that genocide, but since we're talking details, a particular detail which stood out was that Sozin's comet didn't make the firebending look all that more powerful! (They've even got him admitting the Airbenders might have still won??) With a show as specific about its magic system as Avatar, how we understand the power levels is important. This is the audience's first introduction to firebending, and we have no point of reference before they jump into omega mode.

I agree with you in preferring the original. I don't think opening with Sozin in the Earthbender is a problem. I'd kind of like to see a bit more of Sozin in the remake considering the state of the world is essentially his fault. I'm hoping we get a bit more of his backstory with Roku or just Roku's story. It's an energetic opening that builds tension and mystery for people who have never seen the show. I think they should have ended the scene with 100 years later as a tittle card, however. We don't need to see the Airbender genocide. Or at least Not Right Now. And they did the genocide wrong, oddly enough, as Iyatsu killed a lot of people in the original. Here he kills no one and is a pushover despite being a master Airbender and the companion of two avatars. It also, as you point out, makes it very long to get to Sokka and Katara, who should have more focus. Actually, thinking on it, maybe move the Sozin beginning to episode 2, which should be all about the Southern Air Temple and the backstory. Either way, the original does a better opening. The current one becomes boring and plodding and harshes the vibe so that they end up not writing Aang being Aang, you know, the playful, happy go lucky guy that he is? We need a little of that, and they need to show us, not tell us. Why did Aang just go for a walk? Because they don't want to give our heros actual flaws. Look at not just Aang, but sokka and Katara as well. Aang can't be guilty for abandoning the world when it needed him. Sokka can't be sexist, and Katara can't be angry and frustrated, nor does she have to actually work at waterbending, she's a natural. Netflix doesn't want children to have less than perfect heroes. For some reason. Even though all the best stories, and especially kids stories, are about overcoming character flaws.

Hopefully, since there are going to be more seasons for the live action, Netflix will take some notes and make improvements. Seeing what they did to the characters I'm afraid for Toph 😅

"Netflix got it wrong" = "sky is blue"

This is some very good story analyzing. Keep up the good work.

- Your point at around 8:46 is such a clear example of Just How Badly the writers of this show can't, Not, SAY everything instead of showing it. Like, it was horribly clear when Aang basically looked at the audience to tell them how "he loves eating banana cakes and playing air-ball". But even down to the stuff that the original show didn't have to say, the Live Action has to stop and SPEAK the subtext out loud. (Was the original even subtext?)

Thank you Netflix for pointing out the cartoon's righting qualities !

The animation had better pacing and explained the lore slowly through small doses instead of rushing everything. Thats what makes the animated one better.

Netflix never takes notes😂 instead they get offended and get angry

Good video! I wouldn't say I hated the live action, but overall, it was mid (a 6 or 7) with some good moments. On the positive side, I think the bending and CGI was super impressive, for the most part. I think visually they nailed it, although there were a lot of shots where they blurred the background, though I wouldn't say that took me out of it. It was cool to see some moments we didn't see in the show, and there were also some moments that were recreated beautifully (episode 6 specifically). That being said, I'm not sure if mid is good enough for a show that's a 10/10 on most days of the week with its worst episode still being like an 8. My main criticism would be on character work and tone. On tone, I just think they leaned too much into the dark side of the series (which to be fair paid off mostly well for the fire nation scenes). I just wish they would have included more lighthearted humour and moments of levity; in that sense, it didn't feel like a great adaptation. Character work felt like an even bigger issue. To me, it seems like they tried to sanitize each character's flaws and personality too much. It would be easy to accuse some of the actors of wooden acting in this regard, but I strongly suspect they were given a wooden script and direction, so I don't think most of it is their fault. For example, if you take away Katara's sometimes hotheadedness in the moments she has, of course the acting is gonna feel more flat. And a lot of that might be due to not letting them have the flaws normal kids / teenagers have, like they did in the original show. Katara was definitely hit the hardest but every character is affected by this to some degree. All of that said, I'd still say I enjoyed it overall. I can't see myself watching it again like the cartoon, but it was decent. It's just hard to feel like decent is good enough when you're comparing it to a 10, like I said. Hopefully, they fix some issues, and season 2 and 3 can be an 8 or 9 instead of just mid. I've delayed writing out an opinion till now to be fair to the show. But I do kinda wish they'd done an original series in the world, such as "The Dragon of the West", which could cover Iroh's backstory, or a series on Kyoshi, or Kuruk fighting dark spirits. I feel like that would have been a much better use of the IP.

Keep up what you're doing. I like how you discussed it.

Great analysis! I wholeheartedly agree on your takes

They also took away, how they noticed that Fire nation was coming. Here they just say that they spotted them *yawn*. Again the original is much more engaging with the raining ashe (black snow) creating tension and Sokka telling about last time they saw that. First ask any teacher. All the reasons you brought up is also why ANY teacher out there would give nonlinear MUCH higher grades than linear for those reasons. Iroh is all wrong (which really gets to me as he is, BY FAR, my fav character in the series). He's not teaching Zuko here. He just says he's been practicing enough. "The dragon of the west" would NEVER do that. He ALWAYS tries to make Zuko practice his breathing (and then ofc talk about how Jasmine tea is the best. (could probably bring about world piece, along with Pai Sho. xD) There are so many things wrong already that I for one am gonna watch the original instead. IDGAF about their CGI. I'm gonna go watch drawings to get a real story instead. xD Ps. Took a short sneak peak of ep 2. Guess where not stealing the water whip this time..... screw this. Another failed attempt. It would be really refreshing if they actually tried to see the original... *sigh*

I completely understand why the original writers left the show during production. The Netflix show didn't understand the motivation of these characters and their personalities beyond surface level at best. They made a show that looked good for a trailer and are banking on fans to be loyal. I wish alternatively, but I don't think I can stomach another season of clunky exposition and character assassinations.

Watched a few episodes of the original again. Screw this. I'd rather binge the original 3 times in a row than see anymore of this. xD

To be honest, what probably went through their mind was “only *hardcore* Avatar fans will want an exact replica, but live action, and normal fans (well, basically me) would want something fresh-ish.” Of course, they went a bit overboard on that…

It’s too sexist for Aang to wake up in Katara’s arms lol. That’s why they took out all of the stereotypical teenage lo… *cuts to kyoshi island and suki /solos awkward love scenes*

I mean, if anything you're being way too generous to the series. It's inexcusable to have writing this bad, and I hope one of two things happens: If the writers are to blame, I hope they take serious lessons from community feedback going into season 2. If it's the executives and moneymen meddling with the production, I hope they learn that their influence was counterproductive to the success of the show, to stay the hell away from the writer's room, and actually trust creatives to be creative.

I like the original better

Deine intro comparison ist leider unvollständig und findet ein etwas abruptes Ende. Ich habe mir die Staffel eben zu Ende angeschaut und zwischendurch häufiger überlegt auszuschalten und das Original zu schauen. Einerseits wegen der Effekte, andererseits wegen der Erzählweise und dem damit ebenfalls einhergehenden Fehlen an Nuancen, sowie dem Fehlen an Glaubwürdigkeit.

i prefer the netflix, linear story telling. its difficult to tell a story out of order and its still engaging. Christopher Nolan uses that technique.