Television Anyone catch the Netflix Avatar trailer?

[Fizzzzle]

This dropped like a month ago but I couldn't find a thread about it (sorry if there is one), here it is

 

 

 

It looks pretty dope. Given how good they did One Piece and the fact that the creators of the original Avatar at least were involved initially in the project (until Paramount gave them tens of millions of dollars and they coincidentally left for "creative differences"), I think it looks pretty good.

 

The run time of the first season is actually going to be slightly longer than the first season of The Last Airbender, but it's going to be 8 episodes instead of 20, so the pacing will be massively different.

 

I genuinely think Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest shows ever made and I don't think this adaptation is necessary at all, but I think it could be good.

[Bacon]

Live Action adaptation of a Cartoon

 

It will never be as good. You can say apples to oranges but some fruits are just outright better than others. And because it will never be as good I have no interest. It is a waste of time and money.

[Fizzzzle]

32 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Live Action adaptation of a Cartoon

 

It will never be as good. You can say apples to oranges but some fruits are just outright better than others. And because it will never be as good I have no interest. It is a waste of time and money.

You are probably right. I loved the Netflix version of One Piece, but I also have never seen the cartoon, so... I still think it could be a good time.

 

Emphasis on good time. I feel like so many times cartoons get adapted to live-action, the "good time" part gets lost. Avatar: The Last Airbender made me cry, but the moments (or sometimes entire episodes) of levity were also important because it made the more emotional beats hit all the harder. Like in the first season when Aang finds out the the air nomads were genocided, or in the second season with Tales of Ba Sing Se, it's like getting punched.

[TheLeon]

I feel like the ceiling on a project like this is “fine/not embarrassing”.

[Greatoneshere]

2 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

It looks pretty dope. Given how good they did One Piece and the fact that the creators of the original Avatar at least were involved initially in the project (until Paramount gave them tens of millions of dollars and they coincidentally left for "creative differences"), I think it looks pretty good.

 

I don't know that Avatar and Korra creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino left the live-action Avatar fort Netflix they were spearheading because Paramount/Nickelodeon created Avatar Studios for them. They left the live-action adaptation in August 2020 and went to Paramount in February 2021, so 6 months apart. They left because they had deep concerns about the adaptation.

 

That being said, since they left Netflix and the new showrunners seem to be doing everything they can to make this good, partly because they left. We'll see. I'm open to this unnecessary adaptation and it's been 3.5 years since they left the production so could be good. 

[Massdriver]

52% RT :P

 

I'll keep an open mind since One Piece was good. 

[cusideabelincoln]

It's going to take a few episodes for these characters to not look weird to me.  Hopefully the actors are good enough to not make me miss the original voice cast.  One thing that surely can't miss is the score.... BUUUUUUUUM, BUM BUUUUM BUUUUUUUUUM.

[Fizzzzle]

3 hours ago, cusideabelincoln said:

It's going to take a few episodes for these characters to not look weird to me.  Hopefully the actors are good enough to not make me miss the original voice cast.  One thing that surely can't miss is the score.... BUUUUUUUUM, BUM BUUUUM BUUUUUUUUUM.

They surely nailed the score.

 

I still think my biggest fear is that it will by too serious. I straight up ugly cried during the Tales of Ba Sing Se, and the moments when the show chose to hit you with the heavies was incredibly important. I'm worried it will be til overserious

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[TwinIon]

I think it has the looks, but I'm still uneasy about this adaptation. The thing that actually gives me hope is One Piece. I'm not aware of the productions having anything in common beyond Netflix, but it did show that a goofy animated show can make a successful transition. However, One Piece had the benefit of being a pretty messy story that they were able to edit down and improve pretty significantly (IMO). Avatar is already paced pretty well, so I can imagine it feeling a bit more rushed.

 

Guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Fizzzzle]

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

I think it has the looks, but I'm still uneasy about this adaptation. The thing that actually gives me hope is One Piece. I'm not aware of the productions having anything in common beyond Netflix, but it did show that a goofy animated show can make a successful transition. However, One Piece had the benefit of being a pretty messy story that they were able to edit down and improve pretty significantly (IMO). Avatar is already paced pretty well, so I can imagine it feeling a bit more rushed.

 

Guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

The runtime of the Netflix series will actually be slightly longer than the first season of the original series. So if anything the question is how they're going to draw things out.

[TwinIon]

18 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

The runtime of the Netflix series will actually be slightly longer than the first season of the original series. So if anything the question is how they're going to draw things out.

That's a surprise, but I guess that means they won't be cutting anything.

[Fizzzzle]

4 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

That's a surprise, but I guess that means they won't be cutting anything.

Yeah, the question is more how things are going to be edited. The original series was formatted for 24 minute mostly self-contained episodes, while the Netflix series will be 8 hour-long episodes. That means the stuff from the filler episodes is likely gone, but what are they going to replace it with? They have to fill the runtime with something.

 

The Tales of Ba Sing Se was a filler episode, but was also the best episode (and incidentally it was also an episode the original creators had basically nothing to do with, which is one of the reasons I'm not necessarily worried about their lack of involvement)

[ort]

I mean, yeah... it look way better than you would expect... they have nailed the look of Avatar... but still... at the end of the day... just... why?

 

Why even make this? The cartoon is already basically perfect.

[Greatoneshere]

31 minutes ago, ort said:

Why even make this? The cartoon is already basically perfect.

 

Why remake anything that was already great or near perfect? There's really only one reason (accessibility is a bullshit reason, just make the original accessible):

 

[TwinIon]

1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said:

Yeah, the question is more how things are going to be edited. The original series was formatted for 24 minute mostly self-contained episodes, while the Netflix series will be 8 hour-long episodes. That means the stuff from the filler episodes is likely gone, but what are they going to replace it with? They have to fill the runtime with something.

 

The Tales of Ba Sing Se was a filler episode, but was also the best episode (and incidentally it was also an episode the original creators had basically nothing to do with, which is one of the reasons I'm not necessarily worried about their lack of involvement)

If the runtime is similar, I don't see why too much needs to be cut out. I'm sure there will be cuts, but just from that trailer I saw plenty that I might have expected to get cut. Tales of Ba Sing Se would work fine in live action. If anything, it's exactly the kind of thing that could be easily expanded if they need some more run time. Some of the stories from that episode, or at least elements of them, could also be put elsewhere in the show. I don't know if we'll get an episode formatted like that, but I'd be shocked if they skip out on some of those stories.

 

This might be a bit pedantic, but I disagree with the notion of it being "filler." Maybe there are different definitions, but character development isn't the same as wasting time, which is what I think of as filler. Just because they don't actively engage on the "main quest" doesn't make it filler, and there's definitively character development going on in that episode.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

This might be a bit pedantic, but I disagree with the notion of it being "filler." Maybe there are different definitions, but character development isn't the same as wasting time, which is what I think of as filler. Just because they don't actively engage on the "main quest" doesn't make it filler, and there's definitively character development going on in that episode.

 

I agree with your definition of filler, particularly when separated from anime, where it has a very specific meaning. In a lot of ways I miss longer season shows because there would be time for character development only episodes, or episodes where you just sit with and have fun with the characters. Just spending enough time with characters makes you understand them more. While these tightly written short season shows are great in their own way, sometimes it feels like every scene has immense importance or must be integral in some way to the overall plot when sometimes I just want to hang out with the characters for an episode to get to know them better without every scene also needing to fulfill some integral plot point or character arc. The problem with that becomes every scene feels like the character is at some eternal point of high drama which isn't very realistic. 

[Fizzzzle]

That's what I'm getting at - with only 8 episodes, every episode has to have a point. I'm worried that spending just silly/sad time with the characters that doesn't necessarily forward the plot will be sacrificed.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said:

That's what I'm getting at - with only 8 episodes, every episode has to have a point. I'm worried that spending just silly/sad time with the characters that doesn't necessarily forward the plot will be sacrificed.

 

If it will be about the same total runtime as season 1, I'm not sure why they would skip anything - not every scene has to have a "point" so unless they are stupid, ignoring anything from season 1 except nips and tucks would be silly since they have the runtime to fit it all in. Why do you think they won't?

[Fizzzzle]

1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

If it will be about the same total runtime as season 1, I'm not sure why they would skip anything - not every scene has to have a "point" so unless they are stupid, ignoring anything from season 1 except nips and tucks would be silly since they have the runtime to fit it all in. Why do you think they won't?

I guess I mean I fear they won't just devote time to silliness. My point was that in the original, there were entire episodes that were decidedly NOT really about anything. We just spend time getting to know the characters. When you only have 8 episodes, I feel like those moments might get sacrificed. That happens a fair amount in modern binge TV.

[Greatoneshere]

2 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

I guess I mean I fear they won't just devote time to silliness. My point was that in the original, there were entire episodes that were decidedly NOT really about anything. We just spend time getting to know the characters. When you only have 8 episodes, I feel like those moments might get sacrificed. That happens a fair amount in modern binge TV.

 

It does but that's because most shows are planned out that way (what I was lamenting earlier about missing silliness with shorter season shows). But since this is an adaptation, they'll have to retain the silliness to adapt the first season in full. If they drop all the "filler" or silliness, what would they replace it with? Just better to straight adapt everything. It's certainly possible they may drop that stuff for more direct character building scenes or something, but I hope not.  

[Massdriver]

I'm much more optimistic after seeing the full trailer!

[NeoJoe]

They kept Aang riding an airball and slamming into a statue. I have a feeling the show will keep its silliness and charm. Maybe not exactly like the original show since it's not a cartoon but I have renewed faith after that trailer.

[Mercury33]

Looks pretty damn good to me. I mean the cartoon is basically flawless from start to finish. But I’ll take any reason to revisit that world even if it’s in a slightly different form. 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[TwinIon]

Reviews are starting to come in and it seems they're pretty mixed at this point. It's at 62% on RT. Picking through a few reviews, it doesn't sound like a train wreck, so at least there's that.

[TheLeon]

I’ll tune in for Appa from Kim’s Convenience.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I really love what they did for the first 90 seconds of the show. The first 20 minutes really set things up quite nicely. A great example of show, dont tell to set the tone. 
 

The rest of the first episode I have mixed feelings about. It really comes down to the acting. So often it felt like actors were just saying lines as if it was a table read. Though the actor playing Zuko was pretty good. Aang was mostly good. Katara was mostly bad. At times she seemed like her direction was “stand there as if nothing is going on” and her deliveries were so very very flat. And the woman playing Gran Gran, jfc that was a train wreck. Not only was it corny how they directed her scenes, but her delivery came across both hammy and flat at the same time. At no point did she sound or act like a real person. Uncle Iroh … I dont hate it, but he feels like his character is missing the heart and wisdom. He too feels flat. 
 

I will watch more. The faithfulness they have displayed so far has me willing to see how this goes. I won’t get into spoilers yet, but there are things in episode 1 where I thought this live action show did it better than the OG cartoon. And I LOVE the OG series. But there are things the OG series still did better just from an episode 1 series and world introduction kind of thing. In the same amount of time they both manage to tell the same story, but also not. This wasnt as goofy as the cartoon, but also wasnt as fun. 

[cusideabelincoln]

2 episodes in so far, and they're nailing the story and presentation. I'll give the kid actors a pass on some of their performances, because they do better in the weightier scenes despite not being good in the lighter ones. 

 

Also Kyoshi hot damn 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

1 hour ago, cusideabelincoln said:

2 episodes in so far, and they're nailing the story and presentation. I'll give the kid actors a pass on some of their performances, because they do better in the weightier scenes despite not being good in the lighter ones. 

 

Also Kyoshi hot damn 

alright I’ll get into spoilers a bit. At least with the cartoon in full and the live action up through episode 2, which I also watched last night. 
 

I get what theyre doing with Kyoshi there. They did a similar thing in a later episode of the cartoon. Though the episode was one of more silly-side quest adventures the team had. Nothing that significantly moved the main plot forward. Here they repurposed it to show Aang what he can become and why its important for him master the major bending practices. 
 

maybe it’s because of how abbreviated the live action show will need to be, but the show seems to be absent of some of the themes from the source material at were integral to character arcs. Such as Aang constantly on the search for fun things to do to put off having to be the Avatar and fighting in a war. But starting to see first hand that his very presence can lead to people getting hurt. But at this time he thinks hes got plenty of time to master the elements. 
 

This fear of having so much responsibility thrust upon him and him being taken away from monk Gyatso and all he knew was why he left the Air temple. Not to clear his head, but to run away and play. Its why in the cartoon the first things out of his mouth was asking Katara if she wanted to go penguin seal sledding. His reasoning for leaving haunts him through the series. He even lies to Katara about being the Avatar, which is alluded to in live action, but was more a lie of omission. In the cartoon he knows what he did was selfish, but as Katara would point out several times in the cartoon he’s still just a kid. Its why Gyatso didnt want him told yet. 
 

Zuko’s long battle with many things, but one of them tempering his rage and feeling like he has to prove himself at every turn and biting off more than he is prepared to handle. There are glimpses of this, but he seemed like a lost child more in episode 2 than somebody barely able to contain their rage and impatience. 
 

they almost completely stripped away Sokka’s arc. It didnt need to be the same “haha girls are weak”, but it was a theme of him learning humility and as a result became a better fighter. While here it seemed almost entirely dominated by “a girl liking a foreign boy”. 
 

Aang’s scenes with Kyoshi were interesting and very much captured her philosophy on what role an Avatar plays in the world. I do hope that her theme isnt the through line though as Aang learns that being the Avatar and mastering all 4 elements isnt just about amassing power. Its also about being the connection between nations and cultures. Each element requires a different philosophy, a different approach. To learn how to waterbend is to learn and understand their culture identity and way of life. 

 

Iroh was much better in episode 2. I loved how much personality they gave Momo. I’ll wait to see where they go with the relationship between Zuko and Zao. Everything around the Agni Kai felt important to Zuko’s personal journey and who Zao was a person and how the rest of the fire nation may look at Zuko, thus informing us more about his mental state and drive. 

[Massdriver]

With the mixed reception, I doubt I'm going to go watch this. 

 

My 52% RT prediction isn't far off. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Audience rating is higher which is probably a better barometer for this show. Sitting at 75%

[TwinIon]

Only saw the first episode and the tone is so different from the original. I'm trying not to judge it too harshly for that, but it is much more serious in a way that the One Piece live action show was not. The thing that makes me more concerned is that they don't seem that consistent in that slightly more gritty tone. The costumes are all bright and colorful and look brand new. Appa is as doofy in live action as in the animation. It makes me think they're going to be struggling with the nature of the show as taking place during a brutal war and the lightheartedness that the animation achieved.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Audience rating is higher which is probably a better barometer for this show. Sitting at 75%

 

That's true, which is something. I will say that RT isn't a great site for TV show aggregation, it's really only good for movies. However, when combined with IMDb, for TV shows you get a better idea since IMDb usually has more votes rating the show than RT. The additional problem with RT and TV shows is RT does not provide any additional breakdown beyond the basic percentages, whereas with films they provide a lot more data. on IMDb, tt's actually sitting pretty comfortably at 7.6/10 after 8,000 votes which is pretty good. For movies on IMDb, anything that is a 6.5 or above is at least decent/solid, but anything at a 7.0 or above is a good to great film almost guaranteed. However, TV show scores (compared to films) skew noticeably higher than movies, probably because of the sunk cost fallacy from what I've gathered over the years. Anything above a 7.5/10 means it's a decent/solid show, anything above an 8.0/10 means it's a good to great show almost guaranteed. So sitting at 7.6/10 means it's at least decent/solid, but maybe not good or great.

[cusideabelincoln]

3 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

alright I’ll get into spoilers a bit. At least with the cartoon in full and the live action up through episode 2, which I also watched last night. 
 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I get what theyre doing with Kyoshi there. They did a similar thing in a later episode of the cartoon. Though the episode was one of more silly-side quest adventures the team had. Nothing that significantly moved the main plot forward. Here they repurposed it to show Aang what he can become and why its important for him master the major bending practices. 
 

maybe it’s because of how abbreviated the live action show will need to be, but the show seems to be absent of some of the themes from the source material at were integral to character arcs. Such as Aang constantly on the search for fun things to do to put off having to be the Avatar and fighting in a war. But starting to see first hand that his very presence can lead to people getting hurt. But at this time he thinks hes got plenty of time to master the elements. 
 

This fear of having so much responsibility thrust upon him and him being taken away from monk Gyatso and all he knew was why he left the Air temple. Not to clear his head, but to run away and play. Its why in the cartoon the first things out of his mouth was asking Katara if she wanted to go penguin seal sledding. His reasoning for leaving haunts him through the series. He even lies to Katara about being the Avatar, which is alluded to in live action, but was more a lie of omission. In the cartoon he knows what he did was selfish, but as Katara would point out several times in the cartoon he’s still just a kid. Its why Gyatso didnt want him told yet. 
 

Zuko’s long battle with many things, but one of them tempering his rage and feeling like he has to prove himself at every turn and biting off more than he is prepared to handle. There are glimpses of this, but he seemed like a lost child more in episode 2 than somebody barely able to contain their rage and impatience. 
 

they almost completely stripped away Sokka’s arc. It didnt need to be the same “haha girls are weak”, but it was a theme of him learning humility and as a result became a better fighter. While here it seemed almost entirely dominated by “a girl liking a foreign boy”. 
 

Aang’s scenes with Kyoshi were interesting and very much captured her philosophy on what role an Avatar plays in the world. I do hope that her theme isnt the through line though as Aang learns that being the Avatar and mastering all 4 elements isnt just about amassing power. Its also about being the connection between nations and cultures. Each element requires a different philosophy, a different approach. To learn how to waterbend is to learn and understand their culture identity and way of life. 
 

 

 

 

Iroh was much better in episode 2. I loved how much personality they gave Momo. I’ll wait to see where they go with the relationship between Zuko and Zao. Everything around the Agni Kai felt important to Zuko’s personal journey and who Zao was a person and how the rest of the fire nation may look at Zuko, thus informing us more about his mental state and drive. 

 

Through episode 4 now and the show has definitely condensed, remixed, and reordered some storylines. A few arcs seem to have been done prematurely (as in not giving them enough time to breathe), so I hope they do more later on to support them. If not then I think people who only watch the live action show are going to miss a lot of emotional impact since they don't know as much history as the animated viewers have.

 

Concerning Kyoshi

 

Spoiler

I think they are bringing a later arc and giving it more focus when sprinkling it out through the live action show. The arc being when Aang feels the pressure of his responsibilities about killing Ozai so he communes with his past selfs and they all try to tell him what to do. In the end though, it's about Aang finding his own path as he learns new powers and how to handle tough situations.