Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action show on Netflix (now sans its creators).

[Calibandar]

Excellent trailer. Cant wait for this, very exciting to finally see this.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

lol you guys realise Netflix is producing this show without the involvement of the original creators right,  it’s almost certainly gonna be mediocre judging by their recent track records. 

Edited January 24 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[sifth]

7 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

lol you guys realise Netflix is producing this show without the involvement of the original creators right,  it’s almost certainly gonna be mediocre judging by their recent track records. 

Of what exactly? 
 

Blue Eyed Samurai, One Piece, Castlevania Nocturne and Pluto were all great and came out in the last 4 months. I mean if you didn’t like any of them that’s cool and all, but a lot of people did. 
 

I’m more worried about this project because of child actors usually not being very good.

Edited January 24 by sifth

[Kalbear]

27 minutes ago, sifth said:

Of what exactly? 
 

Blue Eyed Samurai, One Piece, Castlecania Nocturn and Pluto were all great and came out in the last 4 months. I mean if you didn’t like any of them that’s cool and all, but a lot of people did. 
 

I’m more worried about this project because of child actors usually not being very good.

He didn't like Andor, for crying out loud. :p

And yeah, between Blue Eye Samurai and One Piece alone I'd have a bit more faith in Netflix than is being put here. It is a shame that the creators aren't onboard any more, and that does make me worried - one of the reasons that One Piece was so good was having the creator of it as a producer and giving blessing to the castings - but it's hardly a foregone conclusion Netflix will fuck it up. 

And yeah, the child acting thing is an interesting observation - with animation you have adults playing children, so the acting can be quite emotive and the body language is, well, entirely under your control. With live action that's not the case obviously, and that can result in some not awesome things. Disney has done a great job with Percy Jackson's casting IMO, but that's not the rule. It might have been better to age them up a bit. 

Edited January 24 by Kalbear

[SpaceChampion]

Maybe it's a Mandela effect but I thought I heard the original creators wanted more changes because they didn't want to do the same thing and Netflix didn't want to risk that. 

But more likely Nickelodean offered them a great deal to start their own stuido and produce new Avatar series.

 

Edited January 24 by SpaceChampion

[sifth]

4 hours ago, Kalbear said:

He didn't like Andor, for crying out loud. :p

And yeah, between Blue Eye Samurai and One Piece alone I'd have a bit more faith in Netflix than is being put here. It is a shame that the creators aren't onboard any more, and that does make me worried - one of the reasons that One Piece was so good was having the creator of it as a producer and giving blessing to the castings - but it's hardly a foregone conclusion Netflix will fuck it up. 

And yeah, the child acting thing is an interesting observation - with animation you have adults playing children, so the acting can be quite emotive and the body language is, well, entirely under your control. With live action that's not the case obviously, and that can result in some not awesome things. Disney has done a great job with Percy Jackson's casting IMO, but that's not the rule. It might have been better to age them up a bit. 

The best part of Oda being involved with One Piece, is he gave the showrunners a rule book to follow, like no romances between any of the Straw Hat Pirates. He feels it would ruin the theme of them being a family. Honestly every anime live action adaption should have one of these.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

6 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Maybe it's a Mandela effect but I thought I heard the original creators wanted more changes because they didn't want to do the same thing and Netflix didn't want to risk that. 

But more likely Nickelodean offered them a great deal to start their own stuido and produce new Avatar series.

 

Nope they explicitly stated that they left because they lost creative control of the project. Netflix didn’t think they had enough experience for live action most likely and began making their own choices about the story, kinda like what they’re doing with the Witcher. 

[polishgenius]

Yeah okay it's going to be shit. Sokka learning to not be such a dickhead was, like, his character arc you fucking donkeys. 

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Yeah okay it's going to be shit. Sokka learning to not be such a dickhead was, like, his character arc you fucking donkeys. 

You can be a dickhead without you being sexist. I don't think Sokka being sexist was a requirement of his character or his arc.

[polishgenius]

Just now, Kalbear said:

You can be a dickhead without you being sexist. I don't think Sokka being sexist was a requirement of his character or his arc.

 

A requirement? Maybe not. A positive example of fairly stereotypical position being grown out of in a meanignful way, presented in a way that never makes his sexism admirable, and that kids can understand? Yes. 

[Kalbear]

1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

A requirement? Maybe not. A positive example of fairly stereotypical position being grown out of in a meanignful way, presented in a way that never makes his sexism admirable, and that kids can understand? Yes. 

Sure, but you can imagine that he could have other attributes that are similarly bad and can be grown out of without having to do all the sexist bullshit.

That said I think that this speaks a lot worse of Katara's arc than it does Sokka, though it's quite possible they make the water tribe sexist but Sokka not specifically so.

[polishgenius]

I mean, I hope that's what they go with. But it's quotes like this

 

Quote

“There’s more weight with realism in every way,” Ousley said, which prompted Kiawentiio to reveal: “I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy.” 

 

 

that make it seem like they thought those moments were just in there because the original writers thought it was funny for him to be that way, rather than that the joke was on Sokka and that it was a way to set up growth for him. 

 

 

But I also don't understand why you'd need to change it to something else. Yeah, it was sexist bullshit. It was supposed to be bullshit. Like the point wasn't that they wanted Sokka to be a jerk just generally and reached for that as part of it- there was specifically a lesson about sexism in there. Do we not want those? 

Edited January 29 by polishgenius

[Rippounet]

42 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

But I also don't understand why you'd need to change it to something else. Yeah, it was sexist bullshit. It was supposed to be bullshit. Like the point wasn't that they wanted Sokka to be a jerk just generally and reached for that as part of it- there was specifically a lesson about sexism in there. Do we not want those? 

The joke would be that they didn't get it, but I suspect they're doing it to avoid any controversy stemming from people's reactions to the first season - after all, it does take a bit of time for Sokka to grow, doesn't it?
In other words: it's safer. Dumber too, and I personally don't think this asepticization of fiction is doing much good, but I dunno if it'll be shit. Without that side of him, Sokka becomes much more of a "regular" hero type.

Edited January 30 by Rippounet

[fionwe1987]

I'm just hoping this means the content of his sexism is different, due to the change in mediums, rather than that he isn't sexist at all. 

I always found it amusing that Karara's rage at his sexism is what freed the Avarar and saved the world. It'd be sad to see that gone completely, because it's not sexism that's there for the heck of it, and its not like it goes unaddressed for most of the season. It gets called out right away, and Sokka gets his ass handed to him in episode 4 for it. 

[IFR]

3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

But I also don't understand why you'd need to change it to something else. Yeah, it was sexist bullshit. It was supposed to be bullshit. Like the point wasn't that they wanted Sokka to be a jerk just generally and reached for that as part of it- there was specifically a lesson about sexism in there. Do we not want those? 

I think it's viewed that any kind of depiction of problematic behavior, particularly in a protagonist the audience is supposed to advocate for, is considered an endorsement. It's a deeply held tenet in the "updating for a modern audience" movement, which generally does not have room for any nuance.

But as always, we'll have to see it to really know how this transpires in the show. It's not an encouraging sign, at the very least.

Edited January 30 by IFR

[fionwe1987]

1 hour ago, IFR said:

I think it's viewed that any kind of depiction of problematic behavior, particularly in a protagonist the audience is supposed to advocate for, is considered an endorsement. It's a deeply held tenet in the "updating for a modern audience" movement, which generally does not have room for any nuance.

I suppose. Though does that mean they'll make Zuko a more charming and kind guy, too? Will Iroh not have his dark past? 

Avatar is wonderful in many ways, but its insistence on redemption as an option for anyone is so very crucial to the show. It'd be sad if they decide to water this down.

[sifth]

I mean they only have 8 episodes. So I expect a lot will be taken out. As for Sokkas sexism, I imagine it’s being removed out of fear of offending anyone. I don’t mind that one so much, but I’ll be annoyed if they remove Katara being banned from learning water bending combat because she’s a woman. That was possibly my favorite episode of season 1, because it showed just how unfair the world was. 

[IFR]

32 minutes ago, fionwe1987 said:

I suppose. Though does that mean they'll make Zuko a more charming and kind guy, too? Will Iroh not have his dark past? 

Avatar is wonderful in many ways, but its insistence on redemption as an option for anyone is so very crucial to the show. It'd be sad if they decide to water this down.

We'll be able to fully judge soon enough. I did like the trailer, and as Kalbear mentioned, Netflix has produced some good content recently - including a live action adaption. I haven't watched One Piece the anime or live action show, but I know a few people who have and they really seem to like what was done with the live action adaptation - of course, that was done with the consultation of the manga author, and in the case of this show the original creators were given the boot, so who can say?

Anyway, I'm generally a purist about these things because I find that when those who adapt are willing to alter small details for no compelling reason, that often is a sign of trouble for their approach with the larger story.

This may be an exception though. If I don't like it I'll just rewatch the animated series again.

Edited January 30 by IFR

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Conversely, does this also mean Azula is only gonna be presented as a crazy bitch and the entire backstory of her being insecure as a kid cause her mother obviously favoured zuko when they were growing up, is also gonna be chucked out ? And also the few times that Ozai was shown as a decent father (like the beach episode flashback photo) ? 
 

Sokka’s sexisim also plays a key role in his initial meeting and relationship with Suki and the Kyoshi warriors and how that develops and how he learns from it. Seems like a major part of his character arc really. 

Edited January 30 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[fionwe1987]

1 minute ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Conversely, does this also mean Azula is only gonna be presented as a crazy bitch and the entire backstory of her being insecure as a kid cause her mother obviously favoured zuko when they were growing up, is also gonna be chucked out ?

Hmm I dunno if that's exactly what the show implies happened. Her mom definitely favoured Zuko, but that seems to have stemmed from Azula being a bully, and Ozai encouraging that while coming down hard on Zuko as weak.

Of course, that would still hurt, but I think Azula being crazy is primarily because her dad encouraged it, and she wanted his approval so very much. 

They can do good work here, expanding from the animation, honestly. 

1 minute ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

And also the few times that Ozai was shown as a decent father (like the beach episode flashback photo) ? 

Yeah I do hope they keep that stuff. It's part of what drives Aang's decision in the end to not kill Ozai.