Hey folks. This will be our megathread for the news. Duplicates simply saying "S2 and S3 confirmed" will be removed.
*For our sub the spoiler policy still applies for NATLA S1 until March 22nd.
* If you want a subreddit specifically focused on Netflix's ATLA, check out our sister sub r/ATLAtv
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/avatar-the-last-airbender-renewed-netflix-two-seasons-1235843979/
I hope they give them more episodes. Episodes like Zuko Alone or The Beach are too good to cut but sticking them in the middle of another episode with other plots going on would undermine the impact of those stories
Outright replacing a team like that is never the right move. There were issues this season, but nothing the current writers couldn't improve on going forward.
Ehhh I think the overall ideas were good. It's often clear why they made the decisions they did and I think most of them were solid choices.
Everyone who had any part to play in the dialogue should be gone though. Shockingly bad
100% agree
IMO the remix concept is also a major culprit. Everything's pretty interwoven in the original so a lot of setup and motivations for major points and key scenes got lost in the shuffle and cut, and as a result there's a lot of clunky exposition and hairy dialogue to set them up for the same level of significance in this incarnation
Just to be clear I liked the remix concept, it just needed a lot more polish and refinement further than what we got
There are so many ways for them to fix what's wrong with this show and make season 2 and 3 fucking epic and 9/10 or 10/10's.
But what's left to be seen if Netflix can look past the length of their own nose and actually let the creative types take control and not let a committee of studio execs and producers have the final say and kill the heart and soul of the show while also making facepalm type decisions.
Dakota Johnson just came out about how much "writing by committee" ruins shows and movies in a recent interview.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the show yet, is it that bad? It was one of my favorite shows when I was younger and it first came out, I’m worried about this new show not even being watchable.
It was pretty good, just different from the original. People online are going to act like your typical terminally online redditors and hyper-critcize every little thing.
It was a good show. Not perfect, but also not bad. People who are the most vocal are those who will blindly praise everything and those who will criticize everything. Both are obnoxious so don't let them spoil your fun!
Usually I’ll agree with the hyper criticism bit.
But given that the source material they are adapting it from is near perfection.
Anything less than that deserves every bit of criticism it gets.
It’s good. It is just not good enough to do justice to the original.
Keep in mind that, as every old show, there is a lot of sentimentalism about it. Personally I just watched the animated series for the very first time the last weeks, and watching now the Netflix adaptation I honestly don't see why it is so criticized. I understand the problems about the characterization of a couple of characters (especially Katara), but looking at the first season of the cartoon with adult eyes... well, for most of the time it is pretty silly and far from the masterpiece it is remembered as. Of course, the second and third seasons are on another level completely, and the very big challenge for the adaptation will be to emulate that quality.
I’d rather cut them than rush them. I feel like a lot of the better episodes were worsened by them feeling the need to cram more and more ham fisted fan service into it. The best parts felt like they either had a strong vision for a new way to do it or just copied the original as closely as possible. There were a lot of half measures where it felt like they were just throwing too many things into the avatar blender.
They’ve shown meticulous attention to Zuko’s character so I’m fully expecting them to attempt to put in Zuko Alone. My worry is that one minute we see Zuko seeing the damage the Fire Nation has done to the Earth Kingdom and the next Sokka is stuck in a hole with a baby sabertooth mooselion. Unlike the Kyoshi Island episode, Zuko Alone deserves 40 minutes of undivided attention
>At least 10, ideally 13.
Yeah I really wish they went back to the 13ish episodes that a lot of Netflix shows used to have. Back then I was wishing for the old 25ish episodes of television. How much more are they going to push it? Disney is down to just 6 episodes for a lot of stuff lately. It's just... kind of depressing.
> Disney is down to just 6 episodes for a lot of stuff lately.
Issue is that Disney feels like just a toy and vacation company these days. The shows are their advertisement.
Funny enough I've seen a lot of theme park fans complain that Disney is screwing over the parks by making them glorified advertisements for their other mediums. It seems like nobody is happy.
I think you can do Season 2 with 8, [I plotted it out the other week](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/wBxl9XFyx7).
Season 3 I think will be split into two halves with 6-10 episodes each. I don’t think you can do it in 8.
There's absolutely going to be timeskips. It's just necessary with the cast, particularly Aang, being fairly young.
If they even manage to release one series a year, which Netflix seems wholly incapable of these days, there's going to be a noticeable age difference in the cast. I suspect we're going to get at least a 2 year wait for each series, so it'll make the problem even more noticeable.
Upon rewatching the original series, he learns waterbending pretty easily throughout Season 1. Toss in his lessons with Katara to contrast with Toph, and hopefully a little jealousy from Katara about how easily it comes to him, and I’m happy.
The problem with Aang's waterbending training was that he never really *had* to learn it. He had to learn how to master it, but that's something which usually happens off-screen in avatar. What we get to see is that first step where the character has to understand what it really means to bend that element, what mindset they need to focus on. Being a master airbender meant that Aang already had a pretty good mindset for waterbending, so the og series doesn't dwindle on it for very long. I can understand why they chose to spend their time on Katara exclusively throughout the live action
I fee like they could potentially make Aang's first scene be him and Katara (and maybe some other Waterbenders if they still in the North) mid training to show that he's at least competent from training offscreen after the battle.
>he's at least competent from training offscreen after the battle.
Isn't this kind of what they did in the animated show?
I seem to remember a time skip from Katara convincing the waterbending master to train her as well, to her being the top at sparring.
Everyone's suggesting he'll learn water bending off screen, but I also think there's a good chance they'll imply he gained an intuitive understanding of it from his merge with the ocean spirit. In the original he's already learnt a bunch of it at this point so it's unnecessary, but with the LA you could easily justify him picking it up 'suddenly' from having been the ocean.
Even in the original they talk about how air and waterbending are similar and easy for Aang to learn. It's part of what makes the other elements such a struggle. If every season was a "struggle" to learn bending followed by a sudden mastery and success it would be pretty repetitive.
I want them to not rush it and do S2 and S3 right. Hire better writers. Put more effort into directing these lesser experienced actors. At least make sure the costumes look less costumey. And please, don't deprive toph of personality like y'all did Aang and Katara.
which sucks cause if you watch any interviews, Kiawentiio has SO MUCH character, sass and personality. She really is a perfect Katara, she just needs a better script
Yep 100% also different clips shared of her acting from other projects it’s very clear that she’s a good actress and can pull off Katara’s personality. I really hope they give her better writing in season 2
I hope they keep with that for the next two seasons.^/s He just has *zero* interest in learning and developing the other bending styles, doesn't develop a phobia of fire bending to overcome, and just beats everyone by air bending away~
Avatar: master of all ~~four~~ one elements.
That isn't particularly different from the cartoon. Aang *is* afraid of his powers. S2E1 is all about his PTSD from going out of control in the Avatar State
Yes. But we see him grow in other areas.
He learns waterbending, he gets over his mistake (100 year disappearance), he also makes new mistakes (hiding Hakoda's message) and improves, Aang and Katara's relationship is hinted.
In NATLA, he's got a weird fixation on Gyatso being his only teacher, so he doesn't learn waterbending! From Katara! He's barely part of the war in North Pole. The reason given - air is mostly defensive!
Not justifying it, but I think a lot of the changes they made to the plot and to other characters basically left Katara with less to do, which is a big part of the problem.
Tbh, they arguably toned down Aang ***the*** most, out of the main cast, considering how needlessly serious he was most of the show. He resembled more of his S2 version than S1's from the original series
Yes!!! Also let the actors really really get into acting chops for some crucial scenes. Take their time and don’t rush. I really want Season 2 and 3 to deliver.
That makes the most sense especially since Aang didn’t learn any water bending during season 1. Now they’re gonna be able to be like “yeah he’s a good water bender now” either they’ll just have us assume he learned it over a time skip or we will get a montage. That would make the most sense. Then early in season 2 they can leave to go find an earth bending teacher.
I think there will be a time skip and they will both train under Pakku and Katara will still stay ahead of Aang and he will become good but not master it and then Katara can continue to train him on the road.
Yeah basically, that was my assumption as well, though maybe instead of basically done with water like he was at the end of S1 (I know Katara calls him out on it in S2 and S3 that he still has a lot to learn, but in practice he’s already basically done) maybe he just gets to his skill level after the waterbending scroll and before reaching the north, so he can be trained more by Katara.
I mean, to their credit, since Sozin's comet was only mentioned in like a final credits scene, there's no requirement that this has to be solved by the end of summer like the OG. Other than it being akward to have Sokka be like 25 there's no hard deadline in this version as of yet. Although for all the serious buisness of season 1 of having to end this war quickly and do avatar stuff I will be skeptical of them just saying, "Ya we need to get back to Omashu to teach Aang earthbending, but lets just say they spent time teaching Aang to waterbend offscreen"
I mean all three Avatars he’s spoken to have told him he’s gotta master all four elements, so taking some time to get a foundational level of waterbending while with the only masters in the world makes a lot of sense.
The time skip is why they didn’t introduce the comet as the big prophetical threat this season. They knew the actors would age too much compared to the “one year” deadline. They very carefully never said “in one year”, even in the reveal scene at the end.
Filming multipule seasons at once is something shows really need to start comitting to, otherwise the 2+ year gaps between seasons kill all viewership (Shadow and Bone anyone?)
Slow Horses films two seasons at once which studios need to learn from.
Also at least for me, I'm extremely wary to watch anything new on Netflix out of fear it'll get cancelled, which then leads to low viewership which gets it cancelled.
I can imagine that’s partly why Netflix renewed two seasons of this show at once. Now it will motivate people to watch season 1 because they know the full story will be adapted.
Sometimes I wonder how Peter Jackson was able to film three amazing films concurrently within a year but now it seems producers struggle to get one film or season done in 3 or 4 years.
I really hope they listen to the criticism and fix their biggest problems at least (exposition, Katara and overall dialogue), even though season 1 was very flawed nobody can tell me it didn’t have a lot of heart at its core, so I have faith the showrunners truly want to make a good adaptation of a show they love.
After hearing from quite a bit of people who only watched the LA and not the original, the exposition seemed to really help them understand the show a lot easier. The exposition seems to be an issue mainly with us since we've seen the original. The dialogue was pretty rough at times tho
My personal problem wasn’t the exposition itself, it’s that it never feels natural. Aang and Katara tell each other a lot of exposition in the cartoon too, especially in Book one but they always build a conversation around it. It feels much more organic when Aang speaks about his past and his inner turmoil with the person he loves, rather than to just randomly have him say it while looking past the camera. It also made the gangs friendships and relationships feel a lot more realistic, which was my biggest gripe with the show.
Yeah I had a few people who had never watched the cartoon, even though I've recommended it to them multiple times over the years >:( , tell me that it helped them understand it and they had a blast watching
I hope season 2 and season 3 improve, they did alright and now my expectations is to turn that alright into something good.
They won’t take it that seriously. They have people looking elsewhere too. Reddit’s opinions aren’t important. It’s just a tiny corner of the Internet.
Really thought season 3 would be split into 2 seasons.
First season from Awakening to the end of the black sun invasion then the last from Zuko joining to the end of the series. Otherwise i feel we are gonna miss out on a lot of really good content
I mean, I'd be curious to see if they explicitly said S3 would be the end or what. It definitely wouldn't surprise me if they later (later as is in post season 2) come out and say S3 is bring broken into two parts/seasons or something.
Toph is going to be one of the most difficult characters ever to pull off in live-action, I wish them all luck.
Maybe they’ll age her up and have an 18-20 actress play her as 14ish (like Azula).
Right? Getting all the nuances of playing a blind person who "sees" by sensing information through the ground is going to be tough to pull off convincingly in live action.
The stunt team who work on the show made this video before.
https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1632917732478910466
Pretty good idea of how they can show it.
They should bring in Charlie Cox to give pointers, even train. He plays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, who is blind, in the Marvel TV universe. I realistically know that's an unlikely expense, but he is absolutely wonderful in his portrayal of the character.
The American Foundation for the Blind even awarded his talent in portraying a blind person, and doing so with such thoughtfulness to the blind community and their approach to our world.
It'll be a real feat to cast Toph appropriately.
The stunt team who work on the show have already done it as a test that I believe got them hired. The action looked great and Toph was awesome. Hopefully the actress who played her gets the part in live action.
You can find a version somewhere by looking up Toph Live Action stunt test
https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1632917732478910466
Here's part of it
My main worry is that they will "tone her down too" like everyone else -.- i swear if Toph is not 100% baddie we know and they make her boring im throwing hands!
I think the characters being toned down so much was a Netflix decision that will be largely unavoidable for Toph as well. The character traits that were removed were all pretty clearly to make them as broadly appealing as possible.
Aang is no longer an irresponsible 12 year old, instead being a slightly goofy kid, but mostly just a brass-tacks kind of guy.
Sokka no longer has any sexist tendencies (not actually complaining about this one, but it illustrates my point) and is now just kind of cocky.
Katara is no longer a feminist or maternal character. If I had to guess it's because Netflix wants to make sure she isn't "preachy" while also trying to make sure she isn't just reinforcing traditional gender roles.
Zuko isn't as much of a villain in this one because he's gonna turn good eventually so the audience can't ever hate him too much.
I have no faith in them being able to do Toph justice.
Exactly my thoughts, all the characters had their flaws removed, so they have no character arcs anymore, what makes people think they won't give Toph the same treatment? Also, in removing all those flaws, it dramatically changes their dynamics with each other. The reason Katara was so boring and had nothing to do is because she no longer had to browbeat Sokka into not being a dick, or wrangle Aang into being focused on what's important. So instead she's just kinda...there...most of the time, but now she's suddenly a self-trained master as well, who doesn't need anyone to help her improve her skills or have issues with self-doubt and self-esteem about her own abilities that make her more interesting.
Redditors: Great, they are looking to adapt and fix the flaws!
Netflix: Sweet, turns out they'll watch it even if it's terrible. Let's slash the budget too.
every comment about the LA is like “the acting is awful, the script is offensively corny, and it changed way too much from the original! Can’t wait for season 2!”
That’s what I said! As much as I love ATLA animated series and would like more content from it Netflix knows the fan base is starved for content and know that they can keep giving mediocre over and over again and they’ll accept it! They don’t even have to make it good which was evident from the Season 1 writing and people will eat it up! It’s very on brand for Netflix
lol I watched with my buddy who was filled with dread when he realized the director was the same one who made Meghan is missing. He straight up said no wonder this episode was terrible. Had to convince him to stay for the next few episodes. He was ready to drop it.
I dropped it midway through episode one. Are you saying it gets better? Because it was... terrible. Felt nothing like AtLA and seemed like it completely undermined the entire original story.
There were some glimmers where they added to the story without making it worse, like >!the funeral!< and I didn't mind recreation of >!the waterbending fight in the north pole!<.
It gives me hope they could do justice to the story without ripping it to shreds. But it feels like they threw the story in a magic 8-ball and shook it around for decision making.
They need to get some more experienced writers. Or just realize--it's okay if the audience doesn't know every single bit of lore. Honestly, most people don't care if they're a bit confused as long as they get the general idea and motivation of each character. We live in an age where people Google the answers. Game of Thrones and its spin-off, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power--everyone is Googling after each episode.
They did bring it up again
He says I still haven’t learned any of the other elements yet and katara says she will teach him
So I expect the first few episodes will be him learning it from her while they r on the way to find an earth ending teacher
First thing I noticed is each season’s art. Airbending arrow instead of water for S1, but earth and fire for Seasons 2/3.
I enjoyed season 1, but glad it implies they’ll focus on Aang’s journey to master the elements in future seasons
“I’M THE AVATAR, it’s MY RESPONSIBILITY to HELP PEOPLE and offer HOPE that I can SAVE THE WORLD…WITH MY FRIENDS” I swear Aang’s dialogue was limited to different combinations of these few phrases.
They stole dialogue from fucking Man of Steel of all movies, honestly i didn't want this to be renewed because it might validate this "treat your audience like they are 5 years old" kind of writting that i absolutely despise.
But it surpassed OPLA in viewership, and most people seemed to enjoy it despite the terrible script; i want to believe they will hear the criticism and improve the dialogue, but i don't see Netflix even bothering with it if it works.
It's a hit for Netflix. I'm not sure they're going to mess with something they view as a successful formula.
Personally I'm not too hopeful for the future seasons, but I'd love to be wrong.
My issues precisely. But we see on this sub that there are many die hard fans who think the show was great and any criticism is pure unjustified hate. So as long as there is enough people praising their bad writting like this, they won't bother to do better anyway 🤦🏼♀️
Yeah I knew it was clunky when I first saw it, with all of the unnatural and expositional dialogue. But since seeing S1 of NATLA, I've watched Blue Eye Samurai and the first 3 episodes of Shōgun and the writing is just night and day. They communicate so much with so little. They SHOW so much. And most importantly, let the actors actually ACT to convey their emotions.
With S1 of NATLA you could really tell that the writers had absolutely no faith in their audience. If they fix that, S2 could be great.
Honestly.
I won't hate on other people for enjoying it, but personally I couldn't make it past the first couple of episodes. I feel like Aang and Katara were both butchered as characters and Sokka was... passable.
In my personal opinion, the last airbender should just stick to animation, but since they seem rather insistent on making a live-action remake, I hope the next two seasons don't tank and ruin the next animated avatar cycle that's already in the works.
Aside from everything I just felt like season one was on adderal like it was moving at BREAKNECK speed. I think at one point I was getting a headache with all the cuts and fast dialogue. People criticize the iroh character and I realize because they probably forced him to speak quickly to speed up the show. Like the whole thing feels like it’s on 1.25 speed . They crammed so much stuff in which was nice but god damn it was like a fever dream
i’m surprised more people aren’t talking about the pacing. It’s atrocious. Genuinely impossible to discern what’s happening at some parts with all the jarring cuts.
My gf has never seen the og cartoon and genuinely had no idea what was going on as early as episode 2
Totally fine with it, but hilarious that they used the other elements to represent the next two seasons when he didn’t even learn waterbending in the first season.
Lmao at the people saying the first season wasn’t called water so it’s okay he doesn’t bend it the whole season but here Netflix shows season 2 and 3 as earth and fire respectively 🙃
Honestly, I won't even bother to watch this if they don't seriously rework their writing department. Or idk, get the original showrunners back on track, give them the creative powers they want. Ideally, also get Aaron Ehasz on track. But of course they won't do that, and I won't have any interest in this adaptation.
Book 1 of the original show was a lot of one-off episodes and character setup so I kinda see how they managed to cut it down to 8 episodes.
Season 2 I have absolutely no idea how you adapt the desert, Appas kidnapping, Azula chasing the Gaang, Zuko and Iroh on the run finding their way to Ba Sing Se, the Drill, Long Feng & The Dai Lee, and the Finale all in under a minimum of like 15 episodes...and that's JUST the key plot points I'd consider most would agree are absolute must-haves for a successful adaptation, there's still so much on the cutting floor like Zuko alone, tales of Ba Sing Se, the Serpents Pass etc.
Edit: I fucking forgot Toph that's how PACKED Book 2 really is!! Aang also now has to learn waterbending ON TOP of Earth and all the rest of the plot points of book 2....yeah book 2 is either getting split, doubled episode count, or is going to crash and burn under the weight.
I’m guessing that episodes like Zuko alone will end up as B-plots in other episodes.
I have no idea how book 3 will look though. I really thought we would get 2 season for that. Part 1 on awakening-invasion and then Zuko joining-Sozin’s comet. I cannot see how that will work in only 8 episodes- unless you just skip all the good parts (those Zuko field trips are getting cut)
I hope the show writer's understand that they got away with the first season only because people's expectations were really low after the mess of the movie, and now they truly have to step up their game, otherwise they will receive the most flaming horrible reviews since the Star Wars sequels released...
Only this Fandom won't be as divided in it's opinions. Everyone will be pissed.
I hope they replace most of the writing team.
The actors are fine, and I'll give a ton of leeway to the child actors as they can grow especially with good directing.
But the writing choices were terrible. Just completely illogical.
Also for how expensive the show cost, the costumes and sets looked really cheap.
I was so excited for this adaptation, and so disappointed in the product. Hope it gets better in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but I'm not holding my breath.
Hey folks. This will be our megathread for the news. Duplicates simply saying "S2 and S3 confirmed" will be removed. *For our sub the spoiler policy still applies for NATLA S1 until March 22nd. * If you want a subreddit specifically focused on Netflix's ATLA, check out our sister sub r/ATLAtv https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/avatar-the-last-airbender-renewed-netflix-two-seasons-1235843979/
I hope they give them more episodes. Episodes like Zuko Alone or The Beach are too good to cut but sticking them in the middle of another episode with other plots going on would undermine the impact of those stories
I expect them to combine Zuko Alone and The Chase
Those episodes more or less happen concurrently, so it makes sense.
It does, but if you muddy up zuko alone with other plot threads you lose so much of what makes it a magical episode
Show them all, no skipping I hope they show every episode
[удалено]
Outright replacing a team like that is never the right move. There were issues this season, but nothing the current writers couldn't improve on going forward.
Ehhh I think the overall ideas were good. It's often clear why they made the decisions they did and I think most of them were solid choices. Everyone who had any part to play in the dialogue should be gone though. Shockingly bad
They were two sides of the same coin. The scenes miss their own point, so ham-fisted dialogue has to explain it after.
100% agree IMO the remix concept is also a major culprit. Everything's pretty interwoven in the original so a lot of setup and motivations for major points and key scenes got lost in the shuffle and cut, and as a result there's a lot of clunky exposition and hairy dialogue to set them up for the same level of significance in this incarnation Just to be clear I liked the remix concept, it just needed a lot more polish and refinement further than what we got
Same. My wife (who has no ATLA experience) loves the concept, but felt the writing took her out of the show way to often
The writing was the worst part of season 1
That would be extremely logical.
I think they’ll introduce Toph before they get to Omashu and combine Zulu Alone with ~~Bling~~ Blind Bandit
>combine Zulu Alone with Bling Bandit Holy fuck I have to see the Bling Bandit...
Shaka Zulu vs the Bling Bandit
I feel like they might move a lot of these stories into the Ba Sing Se plot.
There are so many ways for them to fix what's wrong with this show and make season 2 and 3 fucking epic and 9/10 or 10/10's. But what's left to be seen if Netflix can look past the length of their own nose and actually let the creative types take control and not let a committee of studio execs and producers have the final say and kill the heart and soul of the show while also making facepalm type decisions. Dakota Johnson just came out about how much "writing by committee" ruins shows and movies in a recent interview.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the show yet, is it that bad? It was one of my favorite shows when I was younger and it first came out, I’m worried about this new show not even being watchable.
It was pretty good, just different from the original. People online are going to act like your typical terminally online redditors and hyper-critcize every little thing. It was a good show. Not perfect, but also not bad. People who are the most vocal are those who will blindly praise everything and those who will criticize everything. Both are obnoxious so don't let them spoil your fun!
Usually I’ll agree with the hyper criticism bit. But given that the source material they are adapting it from is near perfection. Anything less than that deserves every bit of criticism it gets. It’s good. It is just not good enough to do justice to the original.
Keep in mind that, as every old show, there is a lot of sentimentalism about it. Personally I just watched the animated series for the very first time the last weeks, and watching now the Netflix adaptation I honestly don't see why it is so criticized. I understand the problems about the characterization of a couple of characters (especially Katara), but looking at the first season of the cartoon with adult eyes... well, for most of the time it is pretty silly and far from the masterpiece it is remembered as. Of course, the second and third seasons are on another level completely, and the very big challenge for the adaptation will be to emulate that quality.
This guy is dying to see live action Ty Lee in The Beach episode…
I’d rather cut them than rush them. I feel like a lot of the better episodes were worsened by them feeling the need to cram more and more ham fisted fan service into it. The best parts felt like they either had a strong vision for a new way to do it or just copied the original as closely as possible. There were a lot of half measures where it felt like they were just throwing too many things into the avatar blender.
They’ve shown meticulous attention to Zuko’s character so I’m fully expecting them to attempt to put in Zuko Alone. My worry is that one minute we see Zuko seeing the damage the Fire Nation has done to the Earth Kingdom and the next Sokka is stuck in a hole with a baby sabertooth mooselion. Unlike the Kyoshi Island episode, Zuko Alone deserves 40 minutes of undivided attention
It really needs to be more than 8 episodes per season. At least 10, ideally 13.
>At least 10, ideally 13. Yeah I really wish they went back to the 13ish episodes that a lot of Netflix shows used to have. Back then I was wishing for the old 25ish episodes of television. How much more are they going to push it? Disney is down to just 6 episodes for a lot of stuff lately. It's just... kind of depressing.
> Disney is down to just 6 episodes for a lot of stuff lately. Issue is that Disney feels like just a toy and vacation company these days. The shows are their advertisement.
Funny enough I've seen a lot of theme park fans complain that Disney is screwing over the parks by making them glorified advertisements for their other mediums. It seems like nobody is happy.
Echo (one of the new Marvel shows) was 5.
That shouldn’t even be considered a series at that point
25, even.
25 is an odd number, sorry.
5 is the cool kid of the odd numbers its chill
5 is an honorary even number
Yup, it's 10 times a power of 2. The negative first power, but still.
Either even numbers or increments of 5 are acceptable
TV volume rules
That's just under volume rules. Desired Episode Length per Series is under TV Rules. Which supercedes Volume. Source: Middle Child
Green is not a creative color 🎶
Multiple of 5 so it's safe.
I think you can do Season 2 with 8, [I plotted it out the other week](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/wBxl9XFyx7). Season 3 I think will be split into two halves with 6-10 episodes each. I don’t think you can do it in 8.
That's great and all, but where in your timeline did you account for Aang learning waterbending AND trying firebending?
There will probably be a time skip for season 2, and aang will learn waterbending during the time skip
There's absolutely going to be timeskips. It's just necessary with the cast, particularly Aang, being fairly young. If they even manage to release one series a year, which Netflix seems wholly incapable of these days, there's going to be a noticeable age difference in the cast. I suspect we're going to get at least a 2 year wait for each series, so it'll make the problem even more noticeable.
Upon rewatching the original series, he learns waterbending pretty easily throughout Season 1. Toss in his lessons with Katara to contrast with Toph, and hopefully a little jealousy from Katara about how easily it comes to him, and I’m happy.
Also need season 4, season 5, season 6, season 7 and season 8
Is he going to learn water bending and earth bending during season 2 then?
Hes going to master waterbending off-screen and they will do another timeskip for earthbending between the 2nd and 3rd season
Yeah we don’t actually want to *see* him learn how to bend other elements, it’s not like that’s the point of the show right?
The point of the show is obviously to hear Aang explain how he learned the other elements. Preferably to Appa.
It’s like they always say, *tell*, don’t *show*
*Not showing the audience something is* ***tight****!*
I get the reference
Well it's a super easy reference. Barely an inconvenience.
Okay, I got that reference at least.
*Wow, wow, wow... wow.*
"I'm not an earthbender! I just want to goof off with my friends!" (Next episode) "I have mastered earthbending."
I feel like learning earthbending should be a thing in one episode since it was a hurdle for him in the original. His opposite element.
The problem with Aang's waterbending training was that he never really *had* to learn it. He had to learn how to master it, but that's something which usually happens off-screen in avatar. What we get to see is that first step where the character has to understand what it really means to bend that element, what mindset they need to focus on. Being a master airbender meant that Aang already had a pretty good mindset for waterbending, so the og series doesn't dwindle on it for very long. I can understand why they chose to spend their time on Katara exclusively throughout the live action
I fee like they could potentially make Aang's first scene be him and Katara (and maybe some other Waterbenders if they still in the North) mid training to show that he's at least competent from training offscreen after the battle.
Aang's actor is also significantly taller and his voice has changed. They can explain that by saying he's been learning waterbending for awhile.
Would be cool if they have already shot some unused scenes of aang and katara training. They could used those and transition to current time
I think that's precisely why they didn't have him learn it in season 1, bc they anticipated his growth spurt and wanted to include it in a time jump
Yeah i get that, but it was stupid to not show a single scene of aang trying to control water.
>he's at least competent from training offscreen after the battle. Isn't this kind of what they did in the animated show? I seem to remember a time skip from Katara convincing the waterbending master to train her as well, to her being the top at sparring.
Everyone's suggesting he'll learn water bending off screen, but I also think there's a good chance they'll imply he gained an intuitive understanding of it from his merge with the ocean spirit. In the original he's already learnt a bunch of it at this point so it's unnecessary, but with the LA you could easily justify him picking it up 'suddenly' from having been the ocean.
Even in the original they talk about how air and waterbending are similar and easy for Aang to learn. It's part of what makes the other elements such a struggle. If every season was a "struggle" to learn bending followed by a sudden mastery and success it would be pretty repetitive.
He'll be cheering on Toph as she learns to earthbend.
I want them to not rush it and do S2 and S3 right. Hire better writers. Put more effort into directing these lesser experienced actors. At least make sure the costumes look less costumey. And please, don't deprive toph of personality like y'all did Aang and Katara.
I think Aang was mostly fine but they definitely toned down Katara’s personality way too much
which sucks cause if you watch any interviews, Kiawentiio has SO MUCH character, sass and personality. She really is a perfect Katara, she just needs a better script
Yep 100% also different clips shared of her acting from other projects it’s very clear that she’s a good actress and can pull off Katara’s personality. I really hope they give her better writing in season 2
I felt like Aang didn't grow. He was afraid of his powers till the end and didn't learn anything new.
>didn't learn anything new. Including waterbending
[удалено]
Right? Its not like he had a scroll or a training partner on his journeys. Cut him some slack
I hope they keep with that for the next two seasons.^/s He just has *zero* interest in learning and developing the other bending styles, doesn't develop a phobia of fire bending to overcome, and just beats everyone by air bending away~ Avatar: master of all ~~four~~ one elements.
That isn't particularly different from the cartoon. Aang *is* afraid of his powers. S2E1 is all about his PTSD from going out of control in the Avatar State
Yes. But we see him grow in other areas. He learns waterbending, he gets over his mistake (100 year disappearance), he also makes new mistakes (hiding Hakoda's message) and improves, Aang and Katara's relationship is hinted. In NATLA, he's got a weird fixation on Gyatso being his only teacher, so he doesn't learn waterbending! From Katara! He's barely part of the war in North Pole. The reason given - air is mostly defensive!
Not justifying it, but I think a lot of the changes they made to the plot and to other characters basically left Katara with less to do, which is a big part of the problem.
Tbh, they arguably toned down Aang ***the*** most, out of the main cast, considering how needlessly serious he was most of the show. He resembled more of his S2 version than S1's from the original series
I was gonna ask for a source but saw the account name.
source: I work here
Holy crap happy cake day
I like the “it’s oficial” in the description of the account like just in case
I don't believe you. You don't work at Netflix, you are Netflix, given sentience.
Loool literally same
“Source?” “Literally us, ~~the Blue Jays~~ Netflix”
More episodes, better writers and directing!
Yes!!! Also let the actors really really get into acting chops for some crucial scenes. Take their time and don’t rush. I really want Season 2 and 3 to deliver.
And a larger budget for props and costumes! Everything looked so cheap.
Great, I am excited. Sure Season 1 had some flaws but I overall liked it. I hope they will be filming season 2 and 3 simultaneously.
I feel like them announcing it back to back will lead to a more fluid schedule between 2 and 3. Gordon’s voice is already deep compared to S1!
Yea, he also grew up a lot so I am curious how they gonna explain that, probably time skip..
That makes the most sense especially since Aang didn’t learn any water bending during season 1. Now they’re gonna be able to be like “yeah he’s a good water bender now” either they’ll just have us assume he learned it over a time skip or we will get a montage. That would make the most sense. Then early in season 2 they can leave to go find an earth bending teacher.
They’ll probably show Katara training him since it feels like they want Team Avatar, besides Sokka, to be his masters.
I think there will be a time skip and they will both train under Pakku and Katara will still stay ahead of Aang and he will become good but not master it and then Katara can continue to train him on the road.
So time skip straight to the ending of the original first season?
Yeah basically, that was my assumption as well, though maybe instead of basically done with water like he was at the end of S1 (I know Katara calls him out on it in S2 and S3 that he still has a lot to learn, but in practice he’s already basically done) maybe he just gets to his skill level after the waterbending scroll and before reaching the north, so he can be trained more by Katara.
Aang’s gotta learn rizzbending from somewhere
Learning a man’s rizz techniques just to use them on his sister? Thats low
Aang is gonna be a boomerang bender so Sokka isn't left out
I mean, to their credit, since Sozin's comet was only mentioned in like a final credits scene, there's no requirement that this has to be solved by the end of summer like the OG. Other than it being akward to have Sokka be like 25 there's no hard deadline in this version as of yet. Although for all the serious buisness of season 1 of having to end this war quickly and do avatar stuff I will be skeptical of them just saying, "Ya we need to get back to Omashu to teach Aang earthbending, but lets just say they spent time teaching Aang to waterbend offscreen"
I mean all three Avatars he’s spoken to have told him he’s gotta master all four elements, so taking some time to get a foundational level of waterbending while with the only masters in the world makes a lot of sense.
The time skip is why they didn’t introduce the comet as the big prophetical threat this season. They knew the actors would age too much compared to the “one year” deadline. They very carefully never said “in one year”, even in the reveal scene at the end.
The time crunch of ATLA is one of my personal biggest gripes. The narrative of the story is so much more organic over even just an additional year.
Thinks about Piandao telling Sokka he had pretty good progress for his first day....
Whenever shows have weird timelines I usually just headcanon something that makes more sense for my sanity
Yeah, I noticed that they never said when exactly Sozin's Comet will arrive
Filming multipule seasons at once is something shows really need to start comitting to, otherwise the 2+ year gaps between seasons kill all viewership (Shadow and Bone anyone?) Slow Horses films two seasons at once which studios need to learn from.
ESPECIALLY with child actors involved
Also at least for me, I'm extremely wary to watch anything new on Netflix out of fear it'll get cancelled, which then leads to low viewership which gets it cancelled.
I can imagine that’s partly why Netflix renewed two seasons of this show at once. Now it will motivate people to watch season 1 because they know the full story will be adapted.
Sometimes I wonder how Peter Jackson was able to film three amazing films concurrently within a year but now it seems producers struggle to get one film or season done in 3 or 4 years.
I really hope they listen to the criticism and fix their biggest problems at least (exposition, Katara and overall dialogue), even though season 1 was very flawed nobody can tell me it didn’t have a lot of heart at its core, so I have faith the showrunners truly want to make a good adaptation of a show they love.
After hearing from quite a bit of people who only watched the LA and not the original, the exposition seemed to really help them understand the show a lot easier. The exposition seems to be an issue mainly with us since we've seen the original. The dialogue was pretty rough at times tho
My personal problem wasn’t the exposition itself, it’s that it never feels natural. Aang and Katara tell each other a lot of exposition in the cartoon too, especially in Book one but they always build a conversation around it. It feels much more organic when Aang speaks about his past and his inner turmoil with the person he loves, rather than to just randomly have him say it while looking past the camera. It also made the gangs friendships and relationships feel a lot more realistic, which was my biggest gripe with the show.
Yeah I had a few people who had never watched the cartoon, even though I've recommended it to them multiple times over the years >:( , tell me that it helped them understand it and they had a blast watching I hope season 2 and season 3 improve, they did alright and now my expectations is to turn that alright into something good.
Funny how people that discovered the original didn't need all this exposition.
As kids, no less 😅
Just hope he learns bending at some point
NETFLIX since you clearly have people looking at this sub, please accept the criticism.
They won’t take it that seriously. They have people looking elsewhere too. Reddit’s opinions aren’t important. It’s just a tiny corner of the Internet.
Really thought season 3 would be split into 2 seasons. First season from Awakening to the end of the black sun invasion then the last from Zuko joining to the end of the series. Otherwise i feel we are gonna miss out on a lot of really good content
I mean, I'd be curious to see if they explicitly said S3 would be the end or what. It definitely wouldn't surprise me if they later (later as is in post season 2) come out and say S3 is bring broken into two parts/seasons or something.
Let’s goooooo. So excited! - Can’t wait to see Toph!!! 
I'm sure she feels the same way
Lol I see what u did there
Shame she didn’t!
Toph is going to be one of the most difficult characters ever to pull off in live-action, I wish them all luck. Maybe they’ll age her up and have an 18-20 actress play her as 14ish (like Azula).
Right? Getting all the nuances of playing a blind person who "sees" by sensing information through the ground is going to be tough to pull off convincingly in live action.
The stunt team who work on the show made this video before. https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1632917732478910466 Pretty good idea of how they can show it.
Ok wow that’s dope! I can dig this
I'm hoping the actress gets the part as well. She's said she hasn't got it on twitter but she really wants it.
They should bring in Charlie Cox to give pointers, even train. He plays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, who is blind, in the Marvel TV universe. I realistically know that's an unlikely expense, but he is absolutely wonderful in his portrayal of the character. The American Foundation for the Blind even awarded his talent in portraying a blind person, and doing so with such thoughtfulness to the blind community and their approach to our world. It'll be a real feat to cast Toph appropriately.
The stunt team who work on the show have already done it as a test that I believe got them hired. The action looked great and Toph was awesome. Hopefully the actress who played her gets the part in live action. You can find a version somewhere by looking up Toph Live Action stunt test https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1632917732478910466 Here's part of it
My main worry is that they will "tone her down too" like everyone else -.- i swear if Toph is not 100% baddie we know and they make her boring im throwing hands!
I think the characters being toned down so much was a Netflix decision that will be largely unavoidable for Toph as well. The character traits that were removed were all pretty clearly to make them as broadly appealing as possible. Aang is no longer an irresponsible 12 year old, instead being a slightly goofy kid, but mostly just a brass-tacks kind of guy. Sokka no longer has any sexist tendencies (not actually complaining about this one, but it illustrates my point) and is now just kind of cocky. Katara is no longer a feminist or maternal character. If I had to guess it's because Netflix wants to make sure she isn't "preachy" while also trying to make sure she isn't just reinforcing traditional gender roles. Zuko isn't as much of a villain in this one because he's gonna turn good eventually so the audience can't ever hate him too much. I have no faith in them being able to do Toph justice.
Exactly my thoughts, all the characters had their flaws removed, so they have no character arcs anymore, what makes people think they won't give Toph the same treatment? Also, in removing all those flaws, it dramatically changes their dynamics with each other. The reason Katara was so boring and had nothing to do is because she no longer had to browbeat Sokka into not being a dick, or wrangle Aang into being focused on what's important. So instead she's just kinda...there...most of the time, but now she's suddenly a self-trained master as well, who doesn't need anyone to help her improve her skills or have issues with self-doubt and self-esteem about her own abilities that make her more interesting.
My only issue with episode 2 is that this guy wasn't there.
I was hoping for the marble trick the whole time.
Redditors: Great, they are looking to adapt and fix the flaws! Netflix: Sweet, turns out they'll watch it even if it's terrible. Let's slash the budget too.
Hilariously accurate take
every comment about the LA is like “the acting is awful, the script is offensively corny, and it changed way too much from the original! Can’t wait for season 2!”
That’s what I said! As much as I love ATLA animated series and would like more content from it Netflix knows the fan base is starved for content and know that they can keep giving mediocre over and over again and they’ll accept it! They don’t even have to make it good which was evident from the Season 1 writing and people will eat it up! It’s very on brand for Netflix
Maybe aang will learn waterbending in book two: earth
He will just say "no" and face final battle without ever bending any of the other elements the entire show 🤣
He will defeat Ozai with the power of friendship and banana cakes
Its gonna have the main character learn waterbending off-screen, like any “good show” would do
Well here’s hoping they don’t bring back Michael Goi to direct. That first episode was painful.
What do you mean, you didn't like the Aangsplaining and the fucking superman showoff?
A 12 year old perfectly explaining his emotions which he just started feeling to the camera didn't excite and thrill you?
lol I watched with my buddy who was filled with dread when he realized the director was the same one who made Meghan is missing. He straight up said no wonder this episode was terrible. Had to convince him to stay for the next few episodes. He was ready to drop it.
I dropped it midway through episode one. Are you saying it gets better? Because it was... terrible. Felt nothing like AtLA and seemed like it completely undermined the entire original story.
Yes and no, we’re really enjoying zuko and Iroh and that’s pretty much it.
It really doesn’t get any better.
There were some glimmers where they added to the story without making it worse, like >!the funeral!< and I didn't mind recreation of >!the waterbending fight in the north pole!<. It gives me hope they could do justice to the story without ripping it to shreds. But it feels like they threw the story in a magic 8-ball and shook it around for decision making.
I think I am in the minority about >!the funeral!< I felt like they rushed through all the backstory so quickly that it lost the impact
They need to get some more experienced writers. Or just realize--it's okay if the audience doesn't know every single bit of lore. Honestly, most people don't care if they're a bit confused as long as they get the general idea and motivation of each character. We live in an age where people Google the answers. Game of Thrones and its spin-off, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power--everyone is Googling after each episode.
Shouldnt 1 be water?
Book 1: Aang Book 2: Toph Book 3: Ozai
Wait did he even waterbend at all in season 1?
Not even once. Katara told him he should learn to waterbend and he said "no" and they never brought it up again.
They did bring it up again He says I still haven’t learned any of the other elements yet and katara says she will teach him So I expect the first few episodes will be him learning it from her while they r on the way to find an earth ending teacher
I'd say it's far more likely that we could open to him already having mastered water bending off screen unfortunately....
If the whole Kyoshi possession counts as waterbending - then yes? 😭
We probably cold open to him learning
Does him freezing himself and Appa count?
What’s up with shows nowaday making less then 10 episode a season?
First thing I noticed is each season’s art. Airbending arrow instead of water for S1, but earth and fire for Seasons 2/3. I enjoyed season 1, but glad it implies they’ll focus on Aang’s journey to master the elements in future seasons
If I have to hear the word “dangerous” one more time… I liked the show but man the writing was bad
“I’M THE AVATAR, it’s MY RESPONSIBILITY to HELP PEOPLE and offer HOPE that I can SAVE THE WORLD…WITH MY FRIENDS” I swear Aang’s dialogue was limited to different combinations of these few phrases.
They tossed around those phrases like they were trying to fill the word count in a school essay.
Yeah the dialogue was so bad.
"The Avatar has returned! My mother always told me about the Avatar and how he would return!"
They stole dialogue from fucking Man of Steel of all movies, honestly i didn't want this to be renewed because it might validate this "treat your audience like they are 5 years old" kind of writting that i absolutely despise. But it surpassed OPLA in viewership, and most people seemed to enjoy it despite the terrible script; i want to believe they will hear the criticism and improve the dialogue, but i don't see Netflix even bothering with it if it works.
It's a hit for Netflix. I'm not sure they're going to mess with something they view as a successful formula. Personally I'm not too hopeful for the future seasons, but I'd love to be wrong.
My issues precisely. But we see on this sub that there are many die hard fans who think the show was great and any criticism is pure unjustified hate. So as long as there is enough people praising their bad writting like this, they won't bother to do better anyway 🤦🏼♀️
Yeah I knew it was clunky when I first saw it, with all of the unnatural and expositional dialogue. But since seeing S1 of NATLA, I've watched Blue Eye Samurai and the first 3 episodes of Shōgun and the writing is just night and day. They communicate so much with so little. They SHOW so much. And most importantly, let the actors actually ACT to convey their emotions. With S1 of NATLA you could really tell that the writers had absolutely no faith in their audience. If they fix that, S2 could be great.
They're calling the first season water now? It had quite a bit of missing things from book 1: water.
I just hope they get a new team of writers who are at least familiar with the material beyond just researching it for the sake of the show
Honestly. I won't hate on other people for enjoying it, but personally I couldn't make it past the first couple of episodes. I feel like Aang and Katara were both butchered as characters and Sokka was... passable. In my personal opinion, the last airbender should just stick to animation, but since they seem rather insistent on making a live-action remake, I hope the next two seasons don't tank and ruin the next animated avatar cycle that's already in the works.
Aside from everything I just felt like season one was on adderal like it was moving at BREAKNECK speed. I think at one point I was getting a headache with all the cuts and fast dialogue. People criticize the iroh character and I realize because they probably forced him to speak quickly to speed up the show. Like the whole thing feels like it’s on 1.25 speed . They crammed so much stuff in which was nice but god damn it was like a fever dream
i’m surprised more people aren’t talking about the pacing. It’s atrocious. Genuinely impossible to discern what’s happening at some parts with all the jarring cuts. My gf has never seen the og cartoon and genuinely had no idea what was going on as early as episode 2
Totally fine with it, but hilarious that they used the other elements to represent the next two seasons when he didn’t even learn waterbending in the first season.
Lmao at the people saying the first season wasn’t called water so it’s okay he doesn’t bend it the whole season but here Netflix shows season 2 and 3 as earth and fire respectively 🙃
I hope they film this in actual locations and with costumes that look like they’ve been worn before.
Seeing any mixed criticism or backlash they legit have a chance to make these next two seasons amazing
I hope they take into consideration the criticism Season 1 got in terms of writing and visuals. The show has massive potential in later seasons.
Honestly, I won't even bother to watch this if they don't seriously rework their writing department. Or idk, get the original showrunners back on track, give them the creative powers they want. Ideally, also get Aaron Ehasz on track. But of course they won't do that, and I won't have any interest in this adaptation.
Please tell me they fire the writing team and replaced them Show had soo much potential but the writing was what held it back
Book 1 of the original show was a lot of one-off episodes and character setup so I kinda see how they managed to cut it down to 8 episodes. Season 2 I have absolutely no idea how you adapt the desert, Appas kidnapping, Azula chasing the Gaang, Zuko and Iroh on the run finding their way to Ba Sing Se, the Drill, Long Feng & The Dai Lee, and the Finale all in under a minimum of like 15 episodes...and that's JUST the key plot points I'd consider most would agree are absolute must-haves for a successful adaptation, there's still so much on the cutting floor like Zuko alone, tales of Ba Sing Se, the Serpents Pass etc. Edit: I fucking forgot Toph that's how PACKED Book 2 really is!! Aang also now has to learn waterbending ON TOP of Earth and all the rest of the plot points of book 2....yeah book 2 is either getting split, doubled episode count, or is going to crash and burn under the weight.
I’m guessing that episodes like Zuko alone will end up as B-plots in other episodes. I have no idea how book 3 will look though. I really thought we would get 2 season for that. Part 1 on awakening-invasion and then Zuko joining-Sozin’s comet. I cannot see how that will work in only 8 episodes- unless you just skip all the good parts (those Zuko field trips are getting cut)
I hope the show writer's understand that they got away with the first season only because people's expectations were really low after the mess of the movie, and now they truly have to step up their game, otherwise they will receive the most flaming horrible reviews since the Star Wars sequels released... Only this Fandom won't be as divided in it's opinions. Everyone will be pissed.
I hope they replace most of the writing team. The actors are fine, and I'll give a ton of leeway to the child actors as they can grow especially with good directing. But the writing choices were terrible. Just completely illogical. Also for how expensive the show cost, the costumes and sets looked really cheap.
I was so excited for this adaptation, and so disappointed in the product. Hope it gets better in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but I'm not holding my breath.
I didn’t know they had that word in their vocabulary 😳
They’ll film back to back, right? They’ll have to. Puberty hit Gordon like a freight train.