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

[polishgenius]

22 minutes ago, Werthead said:

It's eight episodes with each episode needing its own core arc, so they're not going to be cramming the events of three otherwise standalone animated episodes, each with a separate plot, cast and location, into each hour-long live-action episode. At least some of the standalone-appearing stuff was always going to end up on the cutting room floor. I think when we were discussing this at length a few weeks ago and putting together episode models, there were constantly 4-5 episodes of Season 1 that just had to be ejected because there was no room for them.

 

I'm not saying they should or could have included the detours 1 for 1, but the line about him having a vision about the northern water tribe and feels he has to go to stop it from happening hints strongly that they don't understand why the detours were there in the first place. Which is that Aang's whole thing is that he's a kid overwhelmed by and trying to run from the responsibility thrust on him, trying to go on adventures as a kid would, and the season arc is him overcoming that. If instead of finding a way to incorporate that arc into an 8 episode structure they just have him decide at the outset that he needs to go to work, the basic premise of the whole season is gone. 

[Werthead]

38 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I'm not saying they should or could have included the detours 1 for 1, but the line about him having a vision about the northern water tribe and feels he has to go to stop it from happening hints strongly that they don't understand why the detours were there in the first place. Which is that Aang's whole thing is that he's a kid overwhelmed by and trying to run from the responsibility thrust on him, trying to go on adventures as a kid would, and the season arc is him overcoming that. If instead of finding a way to incorporate that arc into an 8 episode structure they just have him decide at the outset that he needs to go to work, the basic premise of the whole season is gone. 

Oh yeah, that's dumb. If a 2024 live-action show starts using plot logic that's more simplistic than a 2005 cartoon, something has gone hideously wrong somewhere.

Unless they're referring to his vision from Roku in OG episode 108 that he needs to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, so he needs to get his arse to the north pole to learn waterbending ASAP. They could possibly move that up as a renewed impetus for the journey, as before that they have no time limit to work towards. Frontending that given the shorter episode count I can see.

Edited February 2 by Werthead

[Rippounet]

Fewer jokes and less/accelerated character development.

Sounds like this is going to be Avatar: the last airbender: redux. But it makes sense for a live action that, by its very nature, doesn't have the same target audience. Aang's slow growth and goofiness were appropriate for a kids' cartoon, but this show is likely to have a different tone.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. There would be no point in doing the cartoon again. Of course, much of the magic will probably be gone, but then, we'll always have the original for that.

[fionwe1987]

7 hours ago, Werthead said:

Unless they're referring to his vision from Roku in OG episode 108 that he needs to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, so he needs to get his arse to the north pole to learn waterbending ASAP. They could possibly move that up as a renewed impetus for the journey, as before that they have no time limit to work towards. Frontending that given the shorter episode count I can see.

They've said they've removed Sozin's Comet, for now, to allow for time jumps between the seasons, given that the actors will age significantly between the seasons.

So if they do bring that vision ahead, it'll be replaced by something completely different than the threat of Sozin's comet returning. Probably some threat to Tui and La, or some more generic threat of the Fire Nation destroying the Northern Water tribe.

Edited February 3 by fionwe1987

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

From the linked article

https://nordic.ign.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-live-action/78311/news/the-big-netflix-avatar-the-last-airbender-producer-interview-this-is-a-remix-not-a-cover

Quote

There are certain scenes that you never saw in the original, whether it's the attack on the Southern Air Temple or the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko. And those are things that I knew we needed to see in order to make it feel much more grounded as a live-action show. So it was about feeling your way throughout the process. Where can we take the story into the new directions that still feels true to the spirit of the original? And that's what it all comes down to, making sure it feels like it was Avatar in spirit.

What? If you want to include them because you think it would be cool or because you needed filler, then say so. Don't make up this bs argument. It makes you seem like an idiot who has no idea about storytelling.

Quote

AK: Yeah, so Azula is one who, in the animated series, you don't really see until Season 2. Fire Lord Ozai is also one who does not appear very much in Season 1. But we made the conscious decision to bring some of those Fire Nation storylines more to the fore in the first season because I felt like we needed to balance out the storylines. We needed to know more about the background for Zuko, and why he's doing what he's doing, and set that in the context of his family dynamic, and how he fits in with his father and sister. And that's something they get to later in the series, of the animated series, but we had a little bit of a benefit of hindsight. We knew where that was going, so we could pull some of those elements upfront into the first season and make the first season a little bit richer and a little bit deeper in terms of character storylines.

So I think in the animated series, a lot of that was figured out as they went along. And then, they got to Season 2 and Season 3, and they were able to go more into the backstory and stuff. We wanted to make sure that Zuko felt like a much more dimensionalized character, and that meant bringing in more elements of his family storyline. So that naturally meant feeling like we should see a little more Azula and a little more Ozai. If anything, Azula's story in the first season is a little bit of a prequel to her story in the second and third seasons, but that's another element that we thought we should see rather than just talk about.

One of the reasons why Zuko's character arc was so successful in the original was because they took their time with it. If it gets front loaded like this they might run into problems in season 2. Although, if they only have 8 episodes for that, then shifting around the development becomes more understandable. Seriously they need more episodes for season 2.

Having said that, I really really dislike that dig at the original.

Quote

_{And going back to those narrative liberties, was there anything in particular where you were like, “no, this is set in stone. This can’t change”?} 

AK: There's a lot of things like that, starting with the characters. I mean, the characters, we had to dimensionalize them, but there are certain core ... I would say there's a core DNA to the characters that you don't want to mess with, whether it's Aang, like I said, his childlike goofiness, his sense of humor, the burden of his responsibility, Sokka and his humor and his pragmatic outlook on life, Katara's warmth and her optimism. Those things had to carry through into our version. So you start with the characters, and you say, "What's the essence of the characters that got a big change? And what's the room where we can expand it a little more?" The cartoon, for as great as it was, was 15 years ago. And so, things have changed. There are certain roles I think that Katara did in the cartoon that we didn't necessarily also do here. I mean, I don't want to really get into a lot of that, but some gender issues that didn't quite translate.

My friend just watched it for the first time, and she's like, "Sokka's an asshole." I was like, "Yeah, no, he kind of is."

JR: Yeah, especially in the first season.

AK: Yeah. So we had to guard against that kind of stuff. And so, those are things that aren't really changing a character as so much as updating them a little bit. And in terms of plot points, yeah, there was a lot of things that we, in the writers’ room, we put down, "These are the mileposts that we're going to hit. We're going to ..." We knew where the big story would begin and end. We were mimicking the first season of the animated series, so we knew we were going to get to the Northern Water Tribe by the end of the season. So that helped us map out the root. And then, like I said earlier, once you start unraveling some of the threads and re-weaving together, it showed us a path, the way forward.

Urgh.

Quote

If you could send fans who are anxious about the live-action show any message, what would it be? 

JR: I think, as a fan of the show, they're going to get the live-action version of the show they've always hoped they would get.

Albert, anything to add?

AK: This is the version of Avatar that I would want to see as a fan.

Rather arrogant.

Edited February 3 by ASOIAFrelatedusername

[sifth]

There wont be any Sozin's Comet, from what's been leaked. Not sure if that was ever brought up here or if anyone cares, but I figured I'd share it.

Edited February 4 by sifth

[TrueMetis]

I mean, there were some legitimate issues with the show, as there always are, and yes that even includes how Katara's character was handled. But it does sound like instead of, say, having the show actually tackle how bad it is that Katara's been forced into the mom roll outside of a few moments that don't really go anywhere IE Sokka admitting he doesn't remember his mother's face and when he tries he pictures Katara, then the next episode Katara throwing that into his face by saying he didn't love her like she did, something that' never comes up after that even though it seems pretty important, it's instead going to excise that entirely.

Though I guess if that includes removing Aang kissing Katara without consent twice that may be worth it.

Edited February 4 by TrueMetis

[Werthead]

I suspect there will be the comet, but its arrival won't become a plot factor until later on. From what Kim's saying, they have zero idea if they'll get a second season until it airs, which means from when Season 1 airs to when Season 2 is on screen could easily be 2 years, if not longer, and that will be very obvious given the young age of the actors, so they need to hold fire on things with a ticking time limit (although they could just say the comet won't be back for three years and then fudge it).

Again, this is just me, but I'd have been more tempted to have just told them to make 24 episodes however long that took and then air them as each 8-episode bloc was completed, with production continuing 100% in the background. You could air each season a few months after the other and not have this problem, and would make writing and planning easier.

That would also require Netflix to have faith in their product, of course.

ETA: The comet is in the newest trailer.

 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

On 2/4/2024 at 8:44 AM, TrueMetis said:

.

Though I guess if that includes removing Aang kissing Katara without consent twice that may be worth it.

1) when did this happen 2) they’re like 11 yr old kids in the first season , chill bro.

[Myrddin]

On 2/4/2024 at 6:11 AM, Werthead said:

 

ETA: The comet is in the newest trailer.

 

Sooo... we should just wait until it comes out to pass judgement about what was left out/omitted/overlooked??

That's just crazy talk.

[TrueMetis]

11 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

1) when did this happen 2) they’re like 11 yr old kids in the first season , chill bro.

1) "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion" and "The Ember Island Players"

2) Aang's 12 and Katara's 14.

3) No. And quite frankly trying to act like saying "kissing someone without consent is bad" is an unreasonable position is really creepy.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

54 minutes ago, TrueMetis said:

1) "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion" and "The Ember Island Players"

2) Aang's 12 and Katara's 14.

3) No. And quite frankly trying to act like saying "kissing someone without consent is bad" is an unreasonable position is really creepy.

When those individuals happen to be pre pubescent children, I think the issue is with you and how your mind works to be honest….its just innocent play, and it’s clear by the final scene in avatar there was mutual attraction. This is as silly as the other guy on the Star Wars thread claiming Han forced himself on an unwilling leia…I don’t see any consent issues there either. The only film I’ve seen that happening where it’s marked as a mutually consented love scene where it clearly wasn’t ,was Gone with the wind really 

Edited February 6 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[TrueMetis]

ETA: Nevermind, better to just put people on ignore.

Edited February 6 by TrueMetis

[polishgenius]

2 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

This is as silly as the other guy on the Star Wars thread claiming Han forced himself on an unwilling leia

 

2 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

The only film I’ve seen that happening where it’s marked as a mutually consented love scene where it clearly wasn’t ,was Gone with the wind really 

I know that second quote is a lie because literally the only reason I brought that first one up was in response to you complaining about Rose kissing Fynn.

 

The fact that you can't even remember you did that now pretty strongly implies you had other motives to be having a pop at Rose/TLJ and were grabbing for reasons you thought you might get support with. But you were the one who started that conversation.

 

 

[Heartofice]

Just when I thought I’d heard it all, someone finds a way to say something even more bizarre than I can imagine. 
 

As if there is some issue with the kissing in Avatar! My eyes rolled out of my head.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

31 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Just when I thought I’d heard it all, someone finds a way to say something even more bizarre than I can imagine. 
 

As if there is some issue with the kissing in Avatar! My eyes rolled out of my head.

 

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I know that second quote is a lie because literally the only reason I brought that first one up was in response to you complaining about Rose kissing Fynn.

 

The fact that you can't even remember you did that now pretty strongly implies you had other motives to be having a pop at Rose/TLJ and were grabbing for reasons you thought you might get support with. But you were the one who started that conversation.

 

 

Well Rose and Fynn wasn’t a ‘love scene’ in the sense that my example of Gone with the Wind was with Butler practically lifting Scarlett up and carrying her to a bed…but yeah if you include all kissing scenes in that definition then my bad, Rose and Fynn definitely qualify as well.

 

@Heartofice just wait man, they’ll say Harry kissing Ginny for the first time in Half Blood Prince was sexual assault next….

Edited February 6 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[Heartofice]

Just to check, I went to go watch the kiss from ‘the day of the black sun’ and there is nothing remotely creepy about it.

This reminds me that there used to be this old lady in the UK, Mary Whitehouse, who would campaign against anything even slightly salacious on the tv. I thought we had gotten past the bad old days and she became a joke, but it seems like there is a new band of blue haired censorious grannies in town.

Edited February 6 by Heartofice

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

1 minute ago, Heartofice said:

Just to check is went to go watch the kiss from ‘the day of the black sun’ and there is nothing remotely creepy about it.

This reminds me that there used to be this old lady in the UK, Mary Whitehouse, who would campaign against anything even slightly salacious on the tv. I thought we had gotten past the bad old days and she became a joke, but it seems like there is a new band of blue haired censorious grannies in town.

Why’d you think Hollywood is afraid of putting any kind of sex or romance in modern day blockbusters anymore ? They could’ve done something great with Rey and Finn for example, but instead everyone is so sexless in those new Star Wars films it baffles my mind cause real life dosent work like that, and romance has always been a strong part of them and space opera in general.  I hope Netflix dosent screw up this part in Avatar. That’s what separates it from other cartoons cause the characters feel and behave realistically like growing adults. 

[polishgenius]

8 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Just to check, I went to go watch the kiss from ‘the day of the black sun’ and there is nothing remotely creepy about it.

 

 

To be fair, TM never said there was. He said Ser Rodigo is creepy. 

 

To be clear I don't really have an issue with Avatar's kisses, since it's portrayed pretty clearly as 'two confused kids figuring out how they feel' and when Aang does get in Katara's space when she tells him to back off, it's not portrayed as romantic for him to keep pushing- which is when I have problems with that type of thing in movies and shows. I don't particularly love them having a romantic relationship in general, but meh. 

 

(Also Katara repeatedly kisses Aang without asking him first, even if it's not on the lips, so you know, if we were to get mad about one we should get mad about both)

[Heartofice]

9 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

(Also Katara repeatedly kisses Aang without asking him first, even if it's not on the lips, so you know, if we were to get mad about one we should get mad about both)

I was going to point this out too, it happens A LOT that she kisses him unexpectedly, even if it's on the cheek. Even the kiss that was mentioned in 'Day of the Black sun', Katara looks shocked initially but is then into it. Plus these are just kids, trying to frame it in context of sexual assault is baffling.