HONOR! HONOR! HONOR! Join our KZfaq Members only - kzfaq.info/love/iH828EtgQjTyNIMH6YiOSwjoin Check out our store - channelawesome.myshopify.com/ Watch the new NC here - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/geB4g7eVxtaUgaM.html

Also, can we all just collectively agree NOT to harass the actors over the show, and PARTICULARLY the child actors? Just this once, please? It's not their fault.

Turns out the animated show made itself even more timeless with Ember Island Players. You can apply its jokes to every new adaptation, it's like the creators saw the future.

In the original animation Ang runs away from the Air Temple because the revelation of him being the Avatar caused the other children not wanting to play with him, and the discovery that the monks were going to send him away from his old master. In the live action he discovers he's the Avatar that day and essentially decides to go for a drive (well, fly) to clear his head.

To be fair, One Piece had even less business being live action but they somehow made that work.

It was so fast and so slow all at the same time. Pacing was all over the place.

What really confused me was the fact they didn’t focus at all on aang’s journey to learn water bending, it was like they kept finding him excuses to not try but also giving him multiple scenes where he’s complaining about not being around during the 100 years AND they took all his childlike fun away so now there actually nothing stopping him from learning, he’s just not trying

Was it perfect? No Was it a little disappointing in parts? Yes Is it way better than the movie? Yes Do I still prefer the animated series? Till the day I die

Netflix's Avatar: _"Tell, don't show"_

the way I was expecting zuko to say honour atleast 4 times in each eisode.... bro didn't even say it once 😭

I noticed in this Aang never does any water bending except at the end when he becomes the water kaiju which isn’t really bending since he was in the avatar state, but he was using water. I don’t understand why they did that.

The girl that plays Katara is actually from my reservation ❤️ I really only wanted to somewhat see this to support her

My biggest problems with the show was the dialogue, which as you said was way too much exposition and just general line delivery. It felt like there was little to no emotion in most scenes that needed a bigger emotion displayed to aid the scene. The CGI was good but for some actors it was like they didn't know how to mimic bending. For example sometimes when Katara bends she just stands still with her hands outstretched as though she's trying to use the force but the water is moving like she's bending it. They brought in key characters and plot points that should have been in the second season and threw them in here as throw-away characters. The owl spirit was nicely animated and sounded/looked great but he had no reason to be there and I can only assume that since he was there they have no intention of going to the library later on in season 2. The Katara and Sokka shouldn't have been in the spirit world, only the Avatar has that ability so it was just strange they were suddenly there too and the cave of two lovers certainly shouldn't have been with Katara and Sokka, that was just weird. IDK, I agree that I can see the love in this show and there were elements that I really liked, mostly the scenes between Iroh and Zuko, but some of the changes just didn't make any sense and seemed like they were trying to rush things when instead they should've just taken their time.

"They want to make it more grown up like Game of Thrones" that's one of the worst ideas ive ever heard

I think one bit I really think was good was when it was revealed that the men the fire nation were going to sacrifice became Zuko's crew, making his sacrifice mean a lot more.

This feels like ATLA but the season doesn't feel like Book 1: Water and it also kinda shows in the episode title credit where every two episode title is backed by one of the element. Aang didn't even try to learn water bending then by the end he suddenly wants to learn earth bending.

Glad you mentioned the scar. Because my lord does it suck. That's like a huge part of Zuckos identity.

Unfortunately my biggest issue with the show is its lack of subtlety. There are A LOT of moments where characters like Aang and Iroh will break out into monologues and not only does it feel heavy handed but it mucks up a lot of the nuance that those scenes otherwise might’ve had. They also show way more than they should. Scenes between characters that feel like they were revealed way too quickly and not for the right reasons. The pacing is just all over the place. If they really wanted this to be “Game of Thrones” esc they should’ve taken queues from George RR Martin’s writing and let the SUBTEXT tell the story. That was the best thing about Game of Thrones, every line of dialogue was natural and told you so much about the characters and the world without devolving into blatant exposition.

A step up from the movie, but that’s not saying much.

They simultaneously speedran the plot of book 1, combining unrelated subplots to fit it all together, while revealing elements from the later books early or just turning them into easter eggs that I can't see how they'll make work in any future seasons they might get, unless they just cut them out. Also, you're telling me the fire sages knew from the start that one day every year the moon spirit became mortal, and it took them 100 years to act on it? The significance of Zhao's attack was that he discovered that information from an external source he had to hunt down, not just ask a sage who's already under the same empire as him

I think they nailed some of the micro details (the origin of Zuko's crew or Azula's dealings behind Zuko's back) but they missed the macro details (fun).

My biggest issue is that they completely benched Avatar Roku. When he's a critical character to the overall lore. It's one thing to have Kyoshi be the narrator of the intro, which I did like her voice is amazing, but to take Roku's big possession scene and give it to Kyoshi, AS WELL as give her the dialogue of what the Avatar is...I can't get behind that. Avatar Roku had personal stake in this whole venture, Kyoshi did not. It makes sense for Roku to essentially raise and train Aang as an Avatar so Aang could be better than he was. The two have an incredibly close connection in the OG. To remove that here? I can't forgive that. Then there's his whole personality shift in the remake. I don't know why CS Lee decided to go overboard on the humor. Yes Roku does have a sense of humor, but it's kind of like Dumbledore's, subdued. In the animated version, when Roku says "What took you so long?" that tells you everything you need to know about the past life, because of how it was delivered. He's kind, warm, inviting, has a playful side but would probably only show that to those he's close with. He's stern, but not overly harsh. He comforts vs berates Aang when Aang is at a low point. He doesn't yell even when he and aang disagree. He's wise and that came from him traveling all over the world. He understood people, listened and heard them. Avatar Roku is a huge comfort character to me. He reminds me of my own father. It's why I'll always defend him from those who blame him for what happened to the world, when the blame should be placed squarely on Sozin's shoulders. To bench Avatar Roku now, is going to create huge writing problems for them later down the line if they do get a season 2 or 3. There's no relationship between him and Aang, and that is a HUGE misfire. Changing Wan Shi Tong to being a help to the Avatar, changing Bumi to blaming and berating Aang, keeping Kyoshi to the fandom's perception of her those are things that bug me but don't infuriate me. What they did with Avatar Roku _infuriates me._ And yet I can't get THAT mad at the WHOLE show cause there ARE really good elements. It sits at a C for me. Average.

Everytime we get the "it needs to be adult and gritty" crap when adapting animation or video game to live actio I just want to hit something. If they were truly fans of the show they'd know they don't need to try to "mature it up" and it shows they don't really respect the source material enough to embrace every aspect of it. The reason One Piece's live action series got so much praise was because the people behind it showed they were not afraid of ANYTHING involving the world of One Piece, and they made sure to listen to the creator's input ontop of that. And while the result was'nt perfect, it was still very good and makes even someone like me who hates the live action remake crap want to see how much they can do. They did'nt expect that people would watch just cause it's One Piece but they actually put in the work to earn their viewers. Thank god this isn't the only new Avatar thing coming out.

One thing that really bothers me, for show that wants to appear more grounded and gritty is the costume department. Everyones clothes look so clean and crisply ironed. A boy who has been trapped for 100 years looks like he just picked up his garments from the tailor.

The problem with this show is that there was nothing that had to be improved upon in the original show - at least, nothing that remaking it would help with. The story, the characters, the worldbuilding were all solid as rock. Now a show that would benefit from being remade is Korra - a complete restructuring to integrate the different themes and storylines of the four seasons would really help, as the four seasons at times felt too disjointed

Why would I watch this, when I can just rewatch the original show?

I felt like the main gang were kinda devoid of personality. The fact that I was way more invested in the random earth bender in the opening than the main characters (Aang, Karara and Sokka) is not a good sign. I do think they do better in other episodes but its not consistent. That being said I loved Iroh he was great

The quote I missed, but also understand it was let out due to the Ozai/Azula interaction was the following: My father says she (Azula) was born lucky, he says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck though, I don't want it. I always had to struggle and fight, and that made me strong. That made me who I am. -Zuko This quote is Zuko, and I wished it was somehow incorporated into this adaptation.

Well, I'm sure at least we can all agree it's much better than Shyamalan's Last Airbender movie to say the least, right?

I wanted to give this a chance. And like he said this definitely shows passion for the show. There are certain attentions to detail I love. But again, it just falls flat. Aang was more talkative about being a fun loving goofball than actually being one. Sokka got to be funny, sometimes. Seeing this world in live action is cool, but there are some things that just can’t translate as good in live action as they do in animation and after 1 movie attempt and now a live action season, i think this just shows that this show is best as a cartoon. The emotion and reactions these characters had can’t be recreated in live action.

“Wow don’t raise your voice like that” 🤣

List of good things the live action is doing : - Bumi's new development - Ozai actually has depth beyond being an uber conqueror and a terrible father -- Zhao's new personnality, even if it's really different from the original and leads him just to be a front for Azula - The fact that Zuko's crew is actually the soldiers his stood up to defend and got scarred for, even if he should have asked for them instead of having them imposed by his father - Suki and Sokka little love story was cute, even if it takes out Sokka's development about sexism - the condensation of episodes is done quite well and leads to interesting changes. - I want to give Iroh's actor a bug hug. He is too perfect for the role. - Zuko actually has depth beyond finding the Avatar. I know he did in the original show but this is done differently yet really well by the live show. List of bad things : - Katara's actress is awful - Iroh seems to already has made his mind about capturing the Avatar, when he is supposed to make his mind only after the battle of the North Pole. - the fights are dull. Not Shyamalan dull but still dull - Aang has no flaw, since he didn't abandoned wilfully the air nomades and his charge as the avatar, which makes his quest of redemption more about "forgiving himself" than "making things right" - Soka has basically no growth because he has no flaw : he is supportive, ingenious. His journey is about not becoming what his father wants him to be, aka a warrior, but an engineer of some sort which would be cool if he actually DID something other than learning how to fight. - The informations critical for Zhao's plan to kill the Moon spirit were known by the Fire Sages instead of hidden in the Spirit Library, which means the Fire Nation purposely ignored this way to defeat their ennemies for a century but decided to do it just in time to be relevant for the plot of this show, instead of Zhao fulfilling a life-long ambition driving him to madness. - Katara apparently needs nobody to learn water bending. In fact, she doesn't fight Pakku for the right to learn waterbending, but for the right to fight against the Fire Nation. Yet, despite being not trained and not tested on her abilities, she is chosen to teach Aang water bending because why not after all ? - Katara decides to go full SJW by convincing all the women of the North Pole to abandon their role as healers on the verge of a great battle in order to claim their right to "fight to protect their people". I repeat : on the verge of the greatest battle of the North Pole history, this outsider convices ALL THE HEALERS, people who have been trained in HEALING not FIGHTING, to put their lives at risk ON THE FRONTLINE instead of healing the soldiers who have actually been trained to fight, reducing everyone chances of survival. I mean I'm all for women to join the military if they want, but I'm not putting all my doctors in the fight when I need them to HEAL MY WOUNDED SOLDIERS. - Everybody does monologues or talk too much. I know the original show was subtle because its original duration of 20 minutes per episode necessitated less dialogues, but this is too much. - Mai and Ty Lee are perfectly useless - Ozai puts Azula, a 14 yo girl, in command of his invasion forces for Omashu... - The three protagonists are never taught anything by anyone, they are wise enough to get all the life lessons by themselves, embodying the average Twitter's adolescent of today who need no adult to tell him he is perfect and can be whatever he wants. - The lesson of the show is "fuck responsablity, be who you want to be, not who you need to be, and certainly not who your parents want you to become", which is interesting when your main characters are a child with quite literally the destiny of the world on his shoulders. The original show talked about self-determination, especially in Zuko's journey in season 3, but the lesson it gave overall was "learn to comprehend the others to achieve peace". - Aang's lesson to become the avatar is not about learning the elements, he doesn't learn to bend water anyway. Aang's lesson is "abandon your friends", for a whole bunch of different reasons that are never explained but known only by those who have watched the original show. Katara says "fuck the ancestral wisdom of the past avatars, we are young and invicible, we do whatever we want !". But since having friends and relying on them is nothing but positive in this show and never prove to be a liability, she is 100% right and the lesson has no right to exist. The original lesson, which arrived at the end of season 2 of the original show was "abandon your material care, become enlighten, abandon what makes you what you are and be an all powerful avatar", which Aang refused because this meant breaking his bond to Katara with whom he was in love. Later it meant killing Ozai to achieve harmony and bring back peace, which he refused because he was a pacifist. The true lesson of the show was "don't loose yourself in pursuit of duty", not "I can do whatever I want DAD". - The plot around the Spirit of the Forest has been so twisted and complicated that Hei Bai is yet to be appeased at the end of the show. So much for good writting :/ - No fun allowed. Coclusion : Interestingly enough, this show is a good adaptation, but a mediocre show of his own. It's well made and proposes interesting takes, but is superficial and doesn't go beyond what the original show achieved, while making his first season 1h and a half longer. I'd rather spend this time watching the original show rather than this one.

Have to agree. Im one episode in and already I'm unimpressed. Don't get me wrong. The passion and love for the source material is here. But they make changes they don't need to. Having us see the start of the war is actually okay. Its new, its unique, okay im excited. But then the first thing Aang does when he wakes up is *not* see Katara and that affects everything. They decided to adapt the Ember Island Players version of the relationship i see. I get they only have 8 episodes but they're an hour apiece, giving us 16 episodes of content really. While the Fortuneteller and The Waterbending Scroll, and the Great Divide don't need adapting, others do. I would have adapted and ended it on the Winter Solsitice or the Blue Spirit saving the North Pole portion for half a season But yeah, C+ i guess. B- if im being extra generous

I described it like this to a friend: It feels like someone redrew the Mona Lisa in MS Paint and they hung it up next to the real thing in the Louvre saying "Well its a modern adaptation. It was done on a computer. They didn't have those back then" To which I can only reply "yeah okay, that's technically true, and its not hurting anyone by being there. But it's still just... worse in every way."

I really enjoyed it. Brought back all the memories from watching every episode as a kid.

To quote Chernobyl: Not great, not terrible

Getting rid of Sokka's misogyny absolutely killed his arc imo

We needed 12 episodes it would have spaced it out a lot and helped the story !

Better than the movie, not as good as the show. Going in I expected it to be just ok, it turned out a bit better than I expected. Also given that Iroh was one of the best performances, it's funny that he's the one character they always get right (even the movie did an almost decent job with him).

I love how he kept saying he wants changes from the source material in every bad adaptation's review

I 100% agree with you about the way they seem to take away all the mystery. It feels like their thought process was because we’ve seen the original show, there’s no point in keeping stuff a mystery. Which just leaves a lot of moments feeling boring because they just keep telling you everything you need to know without any build up

There are some problems with this show as an adaptation, for sure. It removes some of the fun elements and while it sometimes works, like taking out stuff like The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller, it feels like it's lost a really important part of the series and Aang's character in general. I think it made Katara less interesting, too, and she doesn't get as many moments to shine. Neither did Appa and Momo. That said, I really enjoyed this series. The performances were on point, for the most part(I wasn't all that impressed with Zhao), the effects are absolutely incredible, and some of the changes and switching around of storylines worked for me. I also really like some of the additional scenes that the animated series couldn't do. The scene where younger Zuko tries to comfort Iroh after his son dies and Leaves From the Vine plays in the background was genuinely incredible and I thought some of the battle sequences were done super well. It's not perfect, but I enjoyed the show.

Problems I had with this series that Seasons 2 & 3 need to majorly improve on: The Acting (a few exceptions though) The Special Effects (Especially the green or blue screen, whatever it’s called) The Writing (It’s feels too cartoony, despite being based on a cartoon) The Pacing (Too Rushed) The Constant Exposition (They need to stop) The Chemistry Between The Main Characters (Outside of maybe Zuko and Iroh I didn’t feel much of a rapport between these characters, unlike the original) Aang’s lack of training (I don’t think he water bended once. I understand he didn’t really have to rush it as he didn’t know about Sozin’s Comet in this one but still he is the Avatar, he should be practicing)

Me and my kids enjoyed it, it's not as good as the cartoon but no one expected that considering ATLA is literally one of the greatest cartoons of all time. This is worth the watch the acting is good and the bending and visuals are incredible. And they manage to tell a pretty accurate story in a real world setting.

The primrary thing that matters for me and a lot of people, is the quality of the writing. Writing includes Character Dialogue, Plot Pacing, Plot Sequencing, Character Motivations, Logical Consistency, Exposition Delivery This adaption failed hard on those fronts, they had a near perfect template that all they had to do was cut out non-critical scenes and then make very slight adjustments to cater to the removal of said scenes. The visuals are great, but bad to terrible writing flaws drag everything down. 4/10 - watchable but you almost certainly could find something better.

I really liked Zuko and Sokka actors, for me they shine in this adaptation. Do not really agree with Doug with Iroh tho, I didn’t feel that mischievousness and kindness in him, that what (among other things) made him so lovable. Bumi’s reveal is just freaking awful. Aang sees him and immediately recognises him, the original made more mystery and I agree with Doug that there’s no mystery, everyone is just talks plot. Katara basically has no personality or any character growth. She’s basically the caricature version of herself from The emerald island stage play 😆 Tho I like that they changed the story and it’s not just copy of the original but with people. Small pieces that they add (Lu Ten funeral scene, story about 41th devision, childhood memories of Katara and Sokka, Yue and Sokka having interaction before falling in love and etc) made show interesting but lack of chemistry and human communication between characters and rushed plot, these things what made me want to rewatch the original to remember how good it was.

The animated version wasn't that much longer than the live-action version, maybe half an hour in total runtime. It's been a while since I watched the animated version so I probably don't remember everything from that, but now that I've seen the live-action series (which I liked), I'm gonna rewatch the animated serie's first season to see what's different. And I'm gonna do the same with the other seasons, watch the live-action version first and then check back to the animation.

This review is in exact alignment with how I felt about this live action series after I finished it

I agree, I do think that there was a mix of good and bad with this adaptation. One thing that I couldn't fully discern while watching is if the creators intended the show to broadly appeal only to existing fans, or if there was any focus put on acquiring more fans. There was a lot of exposition that existing fans wouldn't need or appreciate, but at the same time, there were enough purposeful changes and references made that seemed laser-focused ONLY for existing fans to notice. That being said, my favorite parts were Dallas Liu in general (honestly I really think he killed it as Zuko, he seemed to understand his character the most out of the main cast), and the additional "bonus content" like the flashback to Lu Ten's funeral, Zuko's crew being the soldiers he saved, and Monk Gyatso being in the Spirit World (even if the appearing/disappearing didn't make total sense to me-- was still interesting that they indirectly referenced Legend of Korra by creating another example of a human being choosing the Spirit World as an afterlife). I thought Ian made a pretty decent Sokka as well, such a breath of fresh air after The Movie that Shall Not be Named's performance. And pretty much all of the supporting cast (Jet & the Freedom Fighters, The Mechanist, June, Roku, Kyoshi) were spot on. I found Katara to be the biggest disappointment, in that there were large pieces of her character entirely missing: her drive to learn waterbending at the North Pole, her bossiness, her caring nature for her friends and even people she doesn't know, and how close she became with Aang from the get-go. There weren't anywhere near enough Gaang scenes, whether it be coordinated fight scenes all together or more silly bonding moments. To the point where the moment where Katara calms Aang down in the Avatar State and tells him, "We're your family" feels so disingenuous-- because like, when did we see them becoming a family?? In an effort to mash different storylines together, the writers decided that splitting the three of them up would cover more "ground", but clearly it came at a huge detriment. And I actually have to disagree with Doug about Iroh in this version-- I do think Paul brings a certain gravitas to the role, but he was missing SOMETHING from the original Iroh. I think it's that in season one, Iroh basically has the affect of a retired man going on a sightseeing trip, that just so happens to involve his banished nephew that he cares very deeply about. He has this certain coolness and is kind of "above" the day-to-day drama that they find themselves in. And THAT'S the humor of their scenes together. In this version, the tea jokes feel hollow, and he doesn't have that humor about his personality. He just seems so sad and worried most of the time we see him.

It feel like forever since we got Doug talking about avatar again and I loved it 🤣

Anyone else wondering why fire benders in this show do fluid motions and kameha hands when fire bending? I thought fire bending was supposed to be the easiest kind of bending to use because of its direct and very direct movements. Isn't water bending supposed to use flowing movements to simulate the tide, while fire bending is all about the sudden and direct flow of ones inner fire?

I think you summed it up quite well, it's not as good as one piece but it i do think it's closer to one piece than say cowboy bebop. while it doesn't surpass the original it still brings alot of strong performances while trying to add new dimensions to old characters. I really enjoyed the side explanation for how zuko got his crew. I enjoyed watching these young performers giving it their best affort even if the performances are still a little unpolished the raw energy of each character was there. Iroh was perfect no notes. and i think the cg was mixed, for the the animals it felt very awkward but for the locations and backgrounds and scenery I think they really nailed it, i loved watching omashu come to life when you panned over it, I adored the attention to detail of the southern and northern water tribes. I also really enjoyed the mixing of multiple story arcs to give a more congruent story line, it never felt busy or rushed but managed to bring these plot lines together in a way that felt natural. Not as good as the original but it has its own charm to bring to the table and i'm looking forward to seeing more from this team and these performers.

7:58 they did have some jokes but unfortunately they put it to the wrong one. They made Avatar Roku a well wise respected character a Joke.

The cartoon will live on forever in my heart. This new one is a spectacular image I don't mind forgetting. A journey that becomes a straight line, that misses twists and turns desperately needs to develop the characters. All suspense is lost by the early reveal. Somebody needs to tell the director about BODY LANGUAGE …….. perhaps the dialogue would have been saved if they added a semblance of body language.

I hate what they've done to Katara. Her sibling banter with Sokka, her (ironically) fiery anger that led to releasing Aang from the iceberg, her motherly care, her bravery when Aang went into the Avatar state and she actually fought her way to him and led him out of it. But thank goodness they got her hair loopies right 🙄

I love how my friends were all pushing so hard “this is so amazing you need to see this” and every trailer I saw just made me go: “eh”, like why would I care about less colour, less energy, less comedy and a more boring world as opposed to the amazing original where colour was there, where there was so much sass and humour and every character was likeable

As someone who did not watch the animated series, I enjoyed this Netflix series. I think those who watched the anime cannot have an unbiased opinion, always comparing this show to the anime. Something live action adapted from an anime will NEVER be better and there will always be disappointment as theres things that cannot be replicated from animation.

I personally appreciate that they've chose to make it more of a darker tone than the cartoon. And think they could go darker. To differentiate and appreciate both of them

One thing I will give the Netflix show that it improved to me. The crew Zuko has on his ship are the 41st division that he stood up for which triggered everything to follow for him, it gives a new angle to the relationship between Zuko and some of the most forgotten characters of the show because we never see them after season 1. It also helps me believe that the crew are instantly cool with Zuko after hearing what he did for them. I believe in the original it's just some randos of the Fire Navy, who are still impressed with what Zuko did anf feel for him getting scarred by his father but don't have any skin in the game.

One thing that really stood out to me as a terrible change was making the peaceful air nomads into warriors for some reason? Like joining a war effort..

Could not agree more on your assessment on this show. That said, I REALLY enjoyed the hell out of it. While it did take moments out of sequence, and switched character situations, I believe for the sake of what they could portray live action and amount of detail that's given in animation with longer episodes per season, the essence I felt was still present. Nothing could ever replace the original cartoon series, but I am looking forward to another season of this.

Die hard fan since the beginning here!👋🏽 I knew I could count on Doug as another fan to give valid points, I'm mostly seeing bandwagon bashing from newcomers or other fans absolutely loving all of it (which is great). I was honestly pleasantly surprised. 7/10 for me. *Thank you* for bringing up the cadence of the actors, it was driving me freaking bonkers. I didn't exactly believe it was bad acting, plus they're kids I'm not going to bash that. But idk how many times I wondered if the director could hear what we were hearing? Same question for when the jokes didn't land. It was rough. Did it need to be made? meh. I guess not. Personally, I see it as nothing more than a variation or adaptation- I don't believe the series should be modified or revamped. I didn't get the impression that was happening. Tho I have wondered, what the creators had envisioned when they were onboard for a live action to be made. Slightly considering it as "making up" for a disservice the movie was. Especially to a series that continues to be impactful for all ages. I wholeheartedly agree, you definitely felt that it was made by other fans with TLC. For that reason alone, I appreciate its existence. I acknowledge a lot of the complaints, and most are totally fair. It's not going to win over everyone, I'm okay with that. At the end of the day, the end credits have continued to hype me up. I'm happy! Couple things that stood out for me: -I think I needed Gyatso seeing Aang more than Aang lol -flipping the script with June hitting on Iroh who didn't return any advances was honestly hilarious to me -"You were the fire in which her iron was forged" can we all at least appreciate what a funny, hurtful and poetic BURN that was? lol - I was hoping there'd be a perfect opportunity for me to quote IM A LITTLE TEAPOT SHORT AND STOUT, but it never came 😆

The show was way better than expected!! Solid B. Did you really expect it to match up to the animated series which was incredible

I think the 40 old asian actors they found to play Roku, Gyatso, Sozin, etc. (Sozin was AMAZING), were all so stellar and kinda made the whole thing worth it. Tamlyn Tomita too was great in her little part. Almost all the casting on ANY adult who appeared in the show (and most of the kids really) was pretty pitch perfect. I think there's a lot of new scenes that are nice to see, not necessary, but nice. There's way more interaction between Iroh and Ozai, which... I mean you don't *NEED*, but it's nice to see. Ozai in general I thought was a little more interesting... kinda? He's less effective, but more intriguing. I think the way they did the Omashu/Jet/Mechanist stuff was effective, but they really dropped the ball with Bumi in so many ways. Leung as Zhao was just *SO GOOD*. Detestable, odious, opportunistic. Just amazing. I'm more... like... intriguied by where they're going to go with it, than what they did with the first season.

I'm only 4 episodes in, and I am enjoying this show so far!! I actually don't mind the things they've moved around, plot-wise, and I actually didn't mind them showing Aang's backstory! (Gonna talk spoilers from here on out, so be warned!) . . . Sozin attacking the air temple was BRUTAL, and I was thoroughly impressed by it! Does that scene probably deserve to be moved to a better spot? Yes, I agree with that. Keep that scene, but move it to the same time as Zuko's backstory. Make it just as impactful! I didn't even mind them putting stuff in from Season 2 (Chong & the SECRET TUNNELLLLLLLL) into the show, and putting Jet and the Mechanist into Omashu. I thought that was a great way to combine those stories!! Call me an optimist (cuz i am xD), but I am enjoying the show. It isn't the animated show, but any means, but I am enjoying it as its own thing. And the actors are all superfans of the show, especially Gordon and Dallas, so I'm not gonna be mad at them at all!!

This is MUCH BETTER than M. Night Shyamalan's movie.

The one character that I’m sure most of is are worried about is Toph. Considering how the netflix series took away most of the joking and the humor from Sokka, Aang, Iroh, and Katara. I am worried for Toph, she makes fun of herself for being blind she relies on earth bending senses to help her see are they going to make her not blind? Will she still make jokes?

This show might have brought new viewers to the original show, as the movie did. If I'm not mistaken, even you started the marathon because of the movie. And for those who don't have the leisure of sitting in front of the TV watching Nickelodeon after school before, and couldn't find time to rewatch all the seasons of the animated show, this 8 hour show could be the perfect gateway to the whole thing.

At this point I don't want them changing anything, they can't be trusted to treat the source material with respect. Adapting an already established and beloved show into live action is not changing someone else's art into whatever subjective ideology is popular within 5 years. Seriously, how hard is it to create your own show and art if you want to send a message or self insert? Someone else's masterpiece is not yours to change to your liking.

I thought it was a mixed bag, more pointless than anything but I actually did really like Dallas Liu as Zuko. Also, Ken Leung as Zhao was like…weirdly good as this weird office sitcom villain version of Zhao. Like, he didn’t feel like cartoon Zhao but as a weird smarmy jackass I thought he played it well. Some good performances from side characters as well, and I didn’t think any of the main characters were acted poorly but there were a lot of weird little choices that added up to a show that I didn’t hate but I also didn’t love. If there’s a season 2 I’ll probably watch on the internet high seas.

This actually broke me. At first, I was okay watching it. But the more episodes I watched the more cringe and disappointment I felt. I agree with everything you said. Zuko and Iroh were the best part of the show so far, but everything else…. I need a drink.

I'm starting to realize a lot of these live action remakes are made for grown people who just can not allow themselves to enjoy something that is animated. Even when everyone raves about it. So these things are to make execs happy that they might be tapping a market thats missing out and bland people who cant step outside their comfort zones get a plain sandwich for entertainment.

I don't like some of the creative liberties they made when they modified the live-action version. There is a reason why you don't change the first episodes and that's because the change in an early episode might completely ruin how it was supposed to play out later on.

I just finished watching it and enjoyed it very much. The costumes are great, and the bending and fighting scenes were good. Shame there wasnt enough episodes because the pacing was way too fast and so much stuff skipped. Same issue with One Piece.

Do you think the fire nation play is a better version of Avatar than the Netflix series?

As a die-hard fan of the original series, I loved this adaptation. I know that the change in tone gives us less comedy, but it also gives us very good moments, like those of Monk Gyatso, and speaking of showing instead of telling, here we saw Sukko's aitni kai against his father, who, by the way, Fire Lord is 100 times better here than in the animated series. Many changes that were made were made respecting the original lore of the books. There is less of Rokku, but we have more interaction with the other avatars, and that is greatly appreciated. The tone also allows us to see more deaths, both on screen and off, the firebenders and their soldiers feel like a real threat, the weapons really do damage (in the original series they were very irrelevant) which gives Sokka and non-benders have a more leading role in the confrontations. The battles are brutal, both the northern temple and the northern water tribe were massacred in a tragic and epic way. I also love that many characters that were previously filler now feel real, like the soldiers who capture Iro, generic in the original series, are now survivors of other battles, including that of Ba sing seh, and Squad 41, uff , almost made me cry.

I enjoyed the show. I think the narration was heavy handed. I even cried in the first episode.

As soon as I realized that there is no penguin sliding it was over for me

Being a life long fan of the source material (the movies doesn't exist) I think the Netflix adaption was pretty good honestly. Especially the final episode. I've always thought it'd be cool to see the moon spirit use Aang's Avatar state.

At least they didn't take six earthbenders to move one Small rock. The bending actually looks real and we got koizilla.

Katara in this show is the biggest Mary Sue since Rey Palpatine.

Why don’t they make live action versions of the graphic novels or a sequel series where they are adults like we see in Kora?

Katara's acting felt very flat, her facial emotions fell even flatter. Every time I saw her on screen she had the same emotion on her face -_-

the POINT is that adapting one medium to a 2nd medium is FUN. We watch not to learn but to see how they adapt. We make a check list of what to include. and THIS included every thing on the list. It got charters right, music right, included every side charter, got costumes right, settings right, and most importantly they made changes so its not a shot for shot remake.

90/100 for authenticity 75/100 for entertainment A lot less pandering than I expected... but the little changes made no sense... Shu is a dude name! They also cut a lot of sexist stuff... which ruined Katara and Sokka's growth. Katara had no resistance to fight and Sokka wasn't a jerk at first.

Couldn't See their Breath Outside IN THE WATER TEMPLES?!?!?!?! LOL I left the couch and went to bed.

I did like that we got a scene with Aang reunited with Gyatso in the spirit world. That a nice touch and gives Aang closer for his past

We all knew it was gonna be bad. i wasn't a question of "IF" but "how bad"

People are on one side of the spectrum or the other. They either think is 10/10 amazing or absolute trash. I honestly think it’s good. Not a fan of some changes, but it’s not terrible. It’s not amazing, but it’s probably a 7/10 for me.

honestly i think what you said at the end of the cat in the hat review summed up my thoughts on these remakes

One problem we (me and my wife) noticed was how Team Avatar, doesn't really do anything together. They all go on their own little adventures, but as a group they mostly just travel.

I just watched a documantary of Jurassic Park. When Spielberg, in one of the segments, said "Lock it down! Yeah, that's my movie! Now send it to post production!" - I knew what's wrong with all of todays CGI-heavy shows and movies...EDIT: My first thoughts on this show was "why?" and it still is!

Yeah, that was pretty much what I expected. I dropped out after 3 episodes because it was obvious how mid the show was and given Netflix’s track record I knew it wouldn’t get better.

As someone who never watched the cartoon and only the M. Night movie This is a high 7, low 8 on a scale of 10

Let’s be real. Nothing will come to par or surpass the animated series. So when I watched I let that expectation go and came in with a blank and open mind. That said I loved the show. They got so many things right in my opinion. I enjoyed the show about 80% of the way. I also wasn’t expecting to dislike certain things though I didn’t know what I wouldn’t like I knew something had to be off as nothing is perfect. Just like the animated series, there were things there I didn’t like or care for but still a great show. In this adaptation I can agree that some dialogue was a bit off. Some parts of the show I also didn’t like the way they were treated but it wasn’t too distracting. I can also agree that Uncle Iroh stole the show many times and the actor GOATed his part. I got the most emotions out of him. Overall I enjoyed it and hope to see a second season. 4/5 for me.

I felt Ozai and Azula were done dirty. They managed to make the villains less imposing and less charismatic than if they just weren't there at all. I think having them would have been fine, but having them NOT be able to talk down to their enemies, having Azula NOT respect her father, and having Ozai flip flop on Zuko instead of the passive indifference he originally had... all of it was bad.

Obviously, nothing can beat the original, a show so close to perfection that it's frankly scary. And compared to something so great, anything else will naturally look like garbage even if it would normally be seen as good or decent. I'd say the Netflix show was passable. Less cringey than a lot of shows and movies that have been coming out lately, at the very least. The only story change I actually appreciated was making Zuko's crew up of the soldiers he saved. Even though it has some negative impacts on Zuko's arc, it was at least an enjoyable change if nothing else. I think the worst story change decisions were Ozai being weirdly "nice" to Zuko, Ozai showing favoritism to Zuko when around Azula, and just Azula's new personality entirely. They butchered my girl. One of the best villains of all time, and potentially even the best villain of all time--reduced to such a sad state. Absolutely horrendous. But by and large, the show was okay. Probably won't feel the need to watch it again. Maybe I'll check out the next season.

You have to at least admit, the additional scenes of Zuko and the 41st division were so heartfelt

Ngl my face lit up with a smile at the secret tunnel scene.

I was so excited to show this live-action series to my husband. I grew up watching this show on nick (literally was 12 when it aired so I was the target audience), so it’s very near and dear to my heart. My husband hates animated shows so I was so excited he was willing to watch this version. He went in completely blind and watching it with him made me realize these Netflix creators made too many assumptions that viewers have seen the original and they left too many plot points out that my husband was super lost. And all his qualms with the show were literally unnecessary changes the Netflix creators made (i.e., Aang can apparently now fly without his staff. “Why doesn’t he do that all the time…? He was falling in the air in episode one but he didn’t feel like flying to save himself?”, etc.). Im just disappointed that it seems the Netflix creators failed to capture the spirit of the show and what made it timeless and great. Im all for changes and making it fresh and their own, but so many changes made me think about continuity with future seasons and why they sacrificed character arcs and development. 😭