ATLA Live Action Ep 1 Thoughts:

When the writers meant they wanted it to be like game of thrones, clearly they meant "we want the battles to happen in complete darkness so nobody can see what is going on," and not, you know, the sex stuff.

Idk why this never occurred to me until now but ostrich horse is chocobo.

They are clearly going for a darker, more grittier feel here, but it clashes with the attempt to keep things true to the animated origin. Like, the earth kingdom OC looks straight out of some more realistic Adult fantasy show, whereas Sozin's character design makes him look like evil Santa.

So firebenders are able to do that to bodies, which I appreciate from a fanfic perspective and also confirms what people have been theorizing about the agni kai, that Ozai put his hand on his son's face. Not sure it was necessary to see it, though. The original does a good job of horrifying us with implied violence and the adults already get it, while showing it makes it less accessible to a younger audience. This is hardly a problem unique to this show, though.

Air nomads actually riding sky bison!

I like having more background with the air nomads and Aang's actor is great but front-loading the flashbacks doesn't work great for the pacing.

One thing I do really like is the emphasis on how the war damaged the harmony of the nations in more than just a spiritual way. No one has friends from other nations now. Zuko comes seeking "someone who does not belong" with the (false) promise that no one will get hurt if everyone keeps to themselves, keeps the status quo. The air nomads are a complete anomaly in a world of division. We are introduced to Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Zuko, and all are isolated in their own way by the war at the beginning of the story.

Overall there is something just weird about the pacing. Characters keep pausing at vital moments of action to deliver exposition or meaningful monologues. It just feels off.

Zuko so desperate for "glory" that he accepts Sokka's proposal to fight one on one (nice foil to the final agni kai by the way). Then his surprise when Aang shows himself reveals that Zuko himself did not know whether he would really find the Avatar in this village he's suddenly shown up to terrorize. God, it just emphasizes how low Zuko is at this point. This is probably his first real high stakes fight and he might have killed Sokka over absolutely nothing out of a false sense that he had something to prove. It's just...sad.

The scene at the Southern Air Temple looked great and had me in tears. I actually saw some criticism of this to the effect of them "ruining Aang's arc" because he comes out of the Avatar state himself, but first of all, let's be real and admit that if mastering the Avatar State was Aang's arc, he never completed it. Second, just because he could bring himself out does not mean he can control it, and he's still letting his emotions control him which is a learning curve for handling that power, it's just that he was able to control his anger in that moment by remembering the people he loved. Which is not that different from how the scene plays out in the original, only he isn't using Katara as a crutch. Which is a good thing, actually. It's much more fitting and poignant that he thinks about Gyatso here.

I don't think there was any mention of Katara wanting to go north. She has a few lines about wanting to help more and Aang teaches her about balance so she can bend now, apparently, but where is her drive? It feels like they're attributing her accomplishments to Aang and that bothers me. Maybe it'll be mentioned in the next episode, since they haven't talked about Aang learning waterbending yet, either. But I do miss the Katara who was ready to banish herself from the village the moment she met Aang not just because it was the right thing to do, but because of her own desire for independence and autonomy.

Liked the scene between Aang and Iroh. It gives us a glimpse of an Iroh who is stuck as to what to do and so he just gives Aang the Zuko treatment by offering him tea. I'd be excited if this means we get to see more development for Iroh.

Live Action: Thoughts and Etc. Episode 1

Whenever some new AtLA surge happens, whether animation renaissance or new series, I rise again from the grave and this time is no different.

This isn't anything formal, but I wanted to collect my thoughts as I go through rewatching episodes. I'm still not done with an initial watching of the new live action, but I've started rewatching the first couple of episodes anyway to note down what I liked about what the new series is doing and also where I think the narrative could have been stronger.

I don't mean this as a critique of the show on any other level other than on a narrative level—I'm not a film or visual studies person; my forte is in storytelling.

I also didn't want my reactions to just be seeming criticism, because there is a lot that I really like about the show (especially as I get deeper in episodes), so just consider this an initial reaction & thoughts on what could have been improved upon. So far, the first two episodes have been the weakest to me, which is really unfortunate because I worry a lot of people won't get beyond them. I know my opinion and thoughts don't matter because a) I'm not part of any kind of decision-making group that could actively affect this and b) it's already done with and out and it's not going to be changed, but we all love meta and thoughts around here, right? Right.

The format of these I'm imagining as follows: I'll go over what I liked or loved first, because there's more and more as episodes go on, and you should always, always start with what you appreciate and enjoyed about a work first before going into what might be improved upon. Next, I'll go into where I felt the narrative could have been improved upon, just from what I know with my Literature™ and in-progress MFA™ eyeballs. Finally, if applicable, what I personally didn't care for that doesn't actually impact the narrative one way or another. This final section will be potentially be under a cut if the post is too long. Everything will be noted as I do my second watch of the series, and will be in chronological order. I don't know that I'll have time to do proper paragraphs, so I hope a list format will be acceptable to anyone who's made it this far and remains interested in my thoughts.

Of course, this will contain spoilers for each episode, and all posts will be tagged "atla la ep#" and "atla la ep# spoilers" (where the # in each tag will be the corresponding episode number) so folks can blacklist as needed.

Now, on to the main event—

What I liked:

-The settings are lush and gorgeous! Holy moly! -The costumes are phenomenal so far. Absolutely fantastic. -Even if some of the actors are a little stiff, I am loving all of them. -Loved the airbenders fighting back. No notes. -The dialogue between Iroh and Aang in the brig is actually perfectly nuanced. I really like it. -REALLY love Aang pilfering Zuko's Avatar journal -Also love Katara being the one to extinguish Zuko's final fire blast with her waterbending. Setting up that good rivalry between them in s1. -I like the expansion of the SWT village and Katara being in the old FN ship in lieu of the otter penguin sledding scene -Love Zuko being an artist. I like to think it's a nice, early nod to learning under Piandao

What Could be Improved Narratively:

-Stop the Sozin scene right after he burns the earthbender -When Gyatso has Aang in the room with Yangchen's statue, the exchange should have stopped with: "You have always been special." "I never asked to be special." "But you are," and the writing should have allowed Aang to put together that he is the Avatar without explicitly saying "Aang, you are the Avatar." If they took that line out and let the silence hang and then taken out all explicit statements of "You are the Avatar," so they would have been talking around actually saying it, it would have improved the scene. -Remove Aang's little monologue with Appa before the fly off except for maybe hugging Appa and saying, "I'm scared" -Show Aang and Appa getting caught in the storm. There's a very small missing piece of that scene. -Could pare down the exposition in Zuko & Iroh's argument about following the light to not explicitly say "and take my rightful place as heir," as Iroh saying "it may be time to consider the throne isn't everything," and Zuko replying, "Maybe it wasn't to you" does that work. BUT I actually don't think this is as clunky as other dialogue-exposition parts. -Either excise Aang's flashbacks to saving himself with the Avatar state before he wakes or remove it from earlier in the episode; we don't need it twice. -the WT kids running outside of the village to play is awkward. Why wouldn't they play inside the walls? If it's so Appa wouldn't land inside the village, this is easily solved by having Aang airbend over the walls when searching for Appa. -I know Kanna's monologue about the FN attacking is an homage to the original, but it feels hamhanded. I would excise it. Remove everything she says in this scene in the tribe meeting except, "The last time a comet was seen was 100 years ago." -Honestly, excise most of Kanna's dialogue. It's all hamhanded exposition; we're seeing the "hand of the author(s)" here. When Zuko's ship arrives all she has to say is, "They're looking for him." Let the reveal be Katara saying it to Sokka when he's going to give Aang up. -Replace the repeated scenes with Gyatso when Aang discovers his skeleton with other memories. We don't need a rehash of something in the same episode.

What I Personally Did Not Care For:

-I want bigger fire from the firebenders. It's a comet that powers them up ffs. -Katara needs to express a great desire to learn waterbending in this episode somewhere -Sokka and Katara being caught in a current should have been from Katara's angry paddling to echo her angry waterbending from the original -I also wouldn't reveal Kya's death in flashback flashes so early -When Zuko sees Aang for the first time it's a perfectly missed opportunity for "You're just a kid!" "Yeah, well you're just a teenager!" -Unsure why Katara said, "The thing about losing everything is that's when you find out how strong you are" instead of something like, "I can't imagine how this must feel. But you don't have to be alone. We're here with you."

Finished the live action ATLA. Honestly? I actually really liked it, more than I thought I would, and I wasn't even particularly skeptical about it.

I liked Katara and Sokka's dynamic here actually better than I did in the cartoon. Maybe I would be more attached to Katara being parentified in the cartoon if it was ever resolved in that show, but it wasn't, so I'm fine with it being discarded and taking a different angle with her characterization and relationship with her brother.

I have no complaints about the performances given by the actors (though I do agree with the criticisms of casting light-skinned actors for Katara and Sokka, I still enjoyed the performances, though I know I'm coming from a place of being, like. White. With that--like, people with darker skin might have a harder time enjoying the performances despite that and that's valid).

However, Dallas Liu as Zuko was a highlight for me, he absolutely killed it in every single scene. Easily my favorite casting choice in the whole show.

I also really liked bringing in Azula earlier and not making her just like a demon child who enjoys being evil. The golden child-scapegoat dynamic between Azula and Zuko even as they've been separated for years is interesting and I liked it. (In particular I never liked how Azula in the audience of Zuko being scarred just smirks, so I like how in the LA she clearly has more mixed emotions about it. To me she looks morbidly fascinated and afraid at the same time, which feels right to me.)

I thought the show did a good job of covering the most iconic s1 episodes within their limited time frame by tying them into a connected plotline with each other within Omashu. Also I know the secret tunnel ep was s2 not s1 but I think it worked for this plotline, and I liked that it centered on Katara and Sokka's sibling bond instead of a forced k/ataang moment. (I don't care for that ship but Aang antis do not think I am one of you!)

As for the Sokka no longer being sexist thing: I don't know why we're pretending "Sokka being sexist in episode one, meeting a woman who fights good three episodes later and immediately changing him mind and being normal for the rest of the series" is like some huge plot point that Sokka's character falls apart without. The live action is only eight episodes long, it can't cover everything and I'm fine with it looking at that non-arc and going "yeah, that's not fundamentally necessary." He still felt recognizably like Sokka to me.

(Also others have pointed out that misogyny is cultural and we don't really see much if any sexism in the SWT aside from Sokka, certainly not to the level that Sokka exhibits in ep1, so it's kind of an odd trait for him to have to begin with. Like he just decided independently that women aren't as capable as men? Bruh.)

But yeah, I actually really enjoyed it and I hope we get a second and hopefully third season.

ATLA LA Ep5 Thoughts:

I love the princess mononoke vibes of the Hei Bai plotline

We know this is not OG Ozai because OG Ozai loves him some self-serving flattery.

I don't like that they are flattening Azula's antagonism towards Zuko into a jealous woman stereotype.

The shirshu looks like something out of stranger things, definitely the best cg beast we've seen so far

I think June should give Zuko his first sexual experience.

Azula's fire turning blue! This makes me feel like they are trying to do an "origin" for Azula, to build her up into someone who is obsessed with one-upping Zuko (which causes her fire to turn permanently blue because something something rage and hatred). I still think it flattens the character to make her motivation into jealousy over a male character's power. Not that she wasn't insecure and jealous before, because she was. But OG Azula didn't know she was insecure and jealous until it was too late.

Okay I was kinda spoiled for the fox thing but I am SO CHARMED

"You will protect all of us someday." WELL THAT HURTS

The flashback to Kya's death was brutal. The added layer of Katara trying to bend and Yon Rah seeing it, thinking it was Kya. Jesus.

I do like how Sokka and Katara's flashbacks emphasize the loss of their community.

Oh, well that's a sad contrast to the Sokka who we see acting like the pillar of the community in Ep1.

Koh is so creepy! And expanding on his underutilized role in the original series is what an adaptation should be doing.

I've also been spoiled about Zuko's crew so Zuko's antagonism towards Jee feels like he's punishing himself for caring, which makes that end shot of him watching them have fun from afar even sadder.