Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender... Why It's Mediocre

Netflix's avatar The Last Airbender is truly a mixed bag after watching the entire season twice already I can confidently say there is a lot to love and a lot to dislike as an adaptation of one of the best shows ever made comparisons to the original series are bound to happen so because the Netflix series follows the same story as the original first season in this video I'm going to go through each of the Eight Episodes and analyze the story decisions that were made and how they compare to the original how are certain narrative beats adapted what did the Netflix show change for the worse what did the Netflix show change for the better now throughout this video I will be comparing the Netflix show to the animated show a lot this however is not going to be a video pointing out how every change to the source material is bad what I do on this channel is analyze storytelling techniques and how effective they are in the case of this show the original series is almost perfect so when the Netflix show has some missteps I want to compare it to the animated show and conclude which version I felt conveyed the message more effectively for the most part the animated show did a better job but again there are instances where I thought the Netflix show did something better so don't assume I'm here to criticize everything about the Netflix show so let's [Music] begin the first episode is titled Ang and it maybe has the biggest change right off the bat and that's the opening sequence the original show began with an opening monologue about the war with Saka and katara's introduction following it the Netflix show begins in the past with how the 100-year war started and how the air Nomads all died it's really important to note that not all changes are better or worse than the original we need to keep in mind that the primary audience of both shows is different and thus different needs have to be met and again keep in mind just because one primary audience is a lot younger than the other that doesn't mean the story is lesser by any means the original series is a lot more juvenile than the Netflix one that does not mean it's worse that doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously and that doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it all it means is that to hook your primary audience you need to cater to them first the politics of how a war starts and how a genocide begins is not a great way to begin a show that is directed towards children it is however a really solid way to begin a series with with a more mature audience so with that being said I love the way the Netflix series Begins for the most part what I like is that a lot of it doesn't really change the source material it's a new piece of lore that would work in the animated Canon but I also want to clarify that just because something was changed from The Source material that doesn't mean it's bad in a perfect world would I like things to say the same sure but I also acknowledge that this is a new story with different goals and just because it is different doesn't mean it is bad so right away the series answers a question question that the animated show never did how exactly did the air Nomad genocide happen we learned that Fire Nation created a diversion and used the powers of the Comet to attack the southern air Temple I also really liked how the Airbenders had a ceremony for the comet and that allowed all the Airbenders to be in one place at once it's a really good way to explain how every single air Nomad was killed so easily major reason I like this new opening is that we're allowed to see the brutality of the Fire Nation since the original show was a kid show we were never going to see people burned to death but throughout the series a lot of death is shown on screen this adds to the level of threat of the Fire Nation and I like that this is a small thing but I also like how there's a tangible reason why the air Nomads want to rush Ang's training the Fire Nation is attacking and everyone knows it in the original show it's not exactly clear why the air Nomads wanted to rush Ang how do they know the Fire Nation will attack are there just Whispers of the Fire Nation ramping up its military and the air Nomads are aware it's not a big deal but something I noticed in this opening sequence we also get more development for the air Nation we see Ang and gato's relationship right away we also see how with a brewing War the air Nomads want Ang to begin his training immediately and this causes Ang to run away so we get the same narrative beats here that we got in the original episode The Storm one thing I would have liked mentioned was how unordinary it is for an avatar to begin his training at the age of 12 that's a really small thing so I don't mind it not being here but I really wish it was there the one change that I felt was completely unnecessary was the reason Ang wasn't there during the attack the original show Ang overheard how he was going to be shipped across the world to begin his training this scared Ang and he ran away so he didn't have to face his responsibilities in the Netflix version Ang kind of just goes on a sky bison version of a mind clearing walk and happens to get caught in this storm what's so peculiar about this change is that as you'll see more as the video progresses the Netflix show tends to focus on the Avatar's role in the world more than the animated show did at least in season 1 every episode pretty much tells Ang this is what the Avatar needs to do in this situation so how will you adapt the animated show made it a more personal Journey for Ang where he learned water bending and lived out some of his dreams of Adventure so with that being said you'd think the decision to have Ang run away because he's scared of his responsibility would be even more important for the Netflix show but because he kind of just went for a walk and got caught up in a storm his guilt in later episodes doesn't feel this same it's like if I got into a car accident that killed a person in my passenger seat yeah I'd be devastated but if I drunk drove and got someone killed that would hit a lot more personally because I made an immature decision that caused others harm Ang just wanting to clear his mind is not an immature thing to do so when people yell at him for disappearing for 100 years it doesn't feel the same because a character flaw did not lead to all this tragedy it is very important that your characters suffer the consequences of their flaws in the original series Ang's flaws led to to the 100-year war and that forced him to change here he's a victim of an unlucky situation and needs to fix it in the grand scope of things it's no different but for the personal journey of Ang it's a big deal so Ang gets frozen in ice and all the Airbenders are killed we Flash Forward to qara waterbending and a lot of how the original show began is played out here Saka and qara go fishing they run into Ang Zuko sees the beam and then Ang gets brought back to the Village I'm going to talk more about Saka sexism Arc in the next episode so don't worry I'm not ignoring those changes overall I don't mind the differences in this opening episode Ang waking up and asking qara if she wants to go penguin sledding wouldn't really work here so I don't mind that it's not here one of my biggest criticisms of the show is often the dialogue and it's really prevalent in this first episode as we all know the original series was 20 episodes of roughly 20 minutes each and this Series has eight episodes of roughly 55 minutes each even though in totality the run times are roughly the same the amount of episodes still matters because there were 20 episodes in the animated series The Writers are able to have the characters travel to more places they can use the break between episodes to mask the passage of time allowing characters to jump from place to place because the Netflix show is only eight episodes even though they are longer you can't have characters visiting all these different places because if they went to three different locations in one episode that would be terrible pacing for an episode so what this means is that the Netflix show needs to cram a lot more important plot points and character moments into the same story arc and often that means it's kind of rushed also because the writers chose to adapt the backstory of the storm into a 20-minute opening sequence that means there is less time for them to adapt the original first three episodes into the remaining 35 minutes of Netflix's first episode for example with Zuko we don't learn that he was banished until episode 3 in the first two episodes he just yells about restoring his honor but here since they are cutting some of the more intimate character moments out from the original show they have scenes where Zuko spells out his entire backstory to the audience like when he's talking to iro and he yells I am the banished Prince so I must find the Avatar so I can go home and end my banishment this scene feels like Zuko is talking to the audience more than it feels like Zuko is talking to iro and there are a lot of other moments like that with Ang qara and Saka where they kind of just mention their backstory and their motivations instead of the subtle ways it was conveyed in the original show like Ang asking IRA why the war started this isn't discussed until much later in the original series also when gr grain is narrating the events of the history of the war she tells Ang how all the air Nomads are gone we see that Ang is upset but it's not the same as him actually finding out they're all gone by going to the southern air Temple and seeing they're all dead this show has a big Exposition problem and this first episode has a lot of that so that would be my largest criticism of this first episode the clunky dialogue I will give the Netflix show credit the locations here are spectacular I like how the southern water tribe is more expansive than in the original show the southern air Temple looks great and the characters all AG greate too one criticism I will disagree with is that the Netflix show lacks the heart of Avatar sure Ang isn't as playful as his animated counterpart but I don't mind that I don't mind seeing a slightly more mature Ang and frankly the Netflix show still has a lot of Ang's goofy kid moments it even has sanaa's sense of humor which I love so even though the dialogue and even the acting is a bit clunky at times it captures the heart of Avatar and that's why I can't say this show is terrible but there's still a lot more to discuss so let's move on episode [Applause] [Music] two episode 2 is pretty much a 45 minute long adaptation of the Kyoshi Warriors episode The Original Episode was a Saka focused episode so I want to focus on him and his relationship ship with Suki first what I really liked in this episode is how they developed Suki a lot more than the original series did here they gave Suki this characteristic where she feels isolated from the world and resents her mother for not letting her see it in season 2 if she does go to help the refugees it would be a nice continuation of that Arc I also really loved how her having this sheltered life turned her into kind of a dork she shows interest in Saka because he's an outsider so when she interacts with him she comes across as awkward like when she stares at Saka shirtless or the scene by the lake where they're training I loved that scene Suki is such a dork with the way she sneaks up on Saka and fights him I don't know why but I died of laughter when Saka just walks away like he's fed up with Suki what the Netflix show does well is set up plot points in the future because it has the hindsight of knowing what happens in seasons 2 and three it's able to set up some things very well like as I mentioned Suki potentially traveling the world and even something with Zuko that I'll mention later so I really liked what they did with Suki they didn't take away anything from the original character but they also humanized her and gave her more personality hot take but Suki isn't threedimensional in the original series she's just this competent Warrior I liked Suki in season 2 where she opened up about her feelings towards Saka but the decision the Netflix show made with her wanting to see the world was a decision I really liked when it comes to Saka the absence of his sexism Arc is really felt here one thing this show gets right about Saka is his desire to become a leader he wants to be like his dad who was a great leader and therefore he wants to prove to the world that he can be just like his father one thing I thought the first episode missed out on was showing Saka incompetence in the original show no one takes him seriously and he doesn't even have a fight with Zuko he just gets knocked over he was completely embarrassed here they made him a bit more confident like when he fights Zuko he doesn't win but he also holds his own a little bit and is able to flee on his own accord the reason Saka was so incompetent in the original first few episodes was because it made him being humbled by Suki a lot more satisfying so even if the writers didn't want Saka to be sexist in the beginning they should have made him a lot more incompetent so Suki can still humble him in the Netflix show he is somewhat competent and somewhat smart to begin the show like the reason he wants to train with suuki other than that he has a crush on her is because he instantly respects her as a warrior and wants to learn more I thought it would have been a lot more powerful if Saka still wanted to one up Suki as the leader of his village and then got beat up by her where he was humbled that would still tying nicely to his Arc in the show so that was a missed opportunity sasa's Arc in these first two episodes is an example where the writers understand the character from The Animated show but they took away some plot points that turn Saka from a good character to a great character so in these early episodes I like Saka and his Arc I just don't love it moving on from Saka and Suki this episode continues to develop Ang the main focus of this episode for Ang appears to be hammering home the message that he can't run away from his responsib ability Kyoshi tells him that many more will die if he does not save them this all works and is an important part of Ang's story it just goes back to what I said in the first episode Ang never ran away from his responsibility he went for a short flight with Opa and got unlucky there's this great scene where Ang buries gatu I loved that moment and it was a great addition to the show Ang shows his guilt for not being there for the Airbenders and he cries it was great but imagine how much better it would be if Ang actually ran away from his responsibilities and he also died because of Ang's flaws I'm going to repeat myself a lot in this video because that one decision in the original series made Ang's Arc so much better but I'll try my best not to talk about it that much a small change that I do like for Ang's Arc is Koshi Island's view of Outsiders because of the war the people of Kyoshi Island have isolated themselves Ang mentions how people used to always help each other but clearly now they don't because they're scared of the war and because they've is ated themselves some of the younger people like Suki have a desire to see the world I liked that change because it shows Ang another consequence of his absence and that ties into his Arc about responsibility also to those who say this show gets Ang wrong just watch this scene where he plays with the other kids just because they changed some aspects of his Arc that doesn't mean they still didn't nail the character I love seeing him on the airball so don't say this isn't Ang Ang inevitably talks to Koshi and I like this change one thing this show does well is how different Roku Koshi and kuruk are from each other the original series mostly just showed Roku so I like that they had the other past avatars show up too also the writers really did their research on the lore like they mentioned kyoshi's backstory of her being an orphan and working for rich people that comes directly from the rise of Kyoshi book which I've read so I appreciated the extra lore but it's one of those things that only hardcore fans would appreciate the Casual viewer wouldn't recognize it and moments like that happen a lot throughout the show oh and seeing Koshi fight was awesome when big change that the Netflix show made was the reason to go to the North Pole originally it was so Ang and Katara could learn water bending here they go because Ang is told something bad will happen and only he can save them I'm neutral about this change it doesn't really affect Ang all that much in the original show the urgency comes from the comet and Ang needing to learn all the elements that urgency is still here he just needs to save the water tribe first it does take away from him needing to learn water bending but I'll touch on that later the biggest negative for this change is how it affects qara but I'm going to dive into that in the next episode lastly I'll talk about Zuko of all the main characters they nailed Zuko the best the entire story of Zuko wanting to find the Avatar so he can return home is still there and it's still great the Netflix Show puts more of an emphasis on Zuko wanting the throne too and I like that change it makes sense losing his right as air is kind of the ultimate sign of Dishonor so he doesn't want that to happen another change I did really like is the emphasis of Hope Zuko has this nice moment where he talks about how it's scarier now that the Avatar has been found because there's real hope he can go home the reason I like this change so much is because of how it turns out at the end of the season Xiao telling Zuko that he never had a chance to return home and that it was all Ploy just to motivate aula is an excellent addition in my book remember a few minutes ago I mentioned how the storytellers can plant more seeds because they know the direction of the story having Zuko's hope destroyed at the end of season 1 ties nicely into his Arc in season 2 assuming they go down that route this show also just nailed his relationship with iro certain moments like when iro is talking about the food and Zuko getting frustrated is just so iro one change I was not a fan of was the changes to Xiao and his relationship with Zuko in the Netflix show Xiao is a lot more discreet with his motivations like he says he'll work with Zuko but plans on stabbing him in the back in the original series he's flatly an antagonist to Zuko right away he's also a lot more confident so I just like an made Xiao better but I was really disappointed that they took away xiao's Agony Kai with Zuko in the original series Zuko had three Agony Kai one with his father in the flashback one with Z Xiao and then one with aula in all three Zuko is the one who shows honor and his opponent shows dishonor that is a really important plot point because it shows us how Zuko is being manipulated into being this villainous self instead of being his true nature so taking that moment away with excluding his fight with Xiao was disappointing overall despite missing a few things they nailed Zuko and this second episode is a good example of [Applause] [Music] that episode 3 is titled omashu and funny enough it isn't really an adaptation of the omashu episode from the Animated Series here we get an adaptation of the jet episode and the Northern Air Temple episode before I dive deep into each part of the episode and how it affects our characters I want to address why I find these Middle episodes to be the weaker parts of the season for me at least the charm of the original series stemmed from Team Avatar their bond is what made the original show so special throughout the first season Ang Saka and qara went on adventure after adventure together where they all became close and they really felt like a family of course since the Original Series has 20 episodes in its first season it had time to devote certain episodes to certain characters there are specific episodes that unquestionably highlight specific characters but because there were so many episodes the rest of Team Avatar was there in the background when the spotlight character got to shine in the Netflix version of the show they take multiple episodes from the original series and try to condense them into one longer episode as I said before they took the jet episode and the Northern Air Temple episode and combine them together in theory that could work but what happens is that our main characters get separated qara is with jet Saka is with Sai and Ang is with Teo what happens here is that take six moments away from Team Avatar being together and forming that Bond I'm not going to go as far as saying that they don't feel close at all there are a handful of moments where they do Bond and it does make them feel closer it's just that the show doesn't take that next step to make them feel like a true family thankfully there are still two more seasons hopefully so they can continue to allow the team to grow I want to switch over to talking about qara because I haven't really spoken about her yet of all the characters I would say qara is the one that has adapted the poorest my biggest issue is that the Netflix show makes decisions that robs qara of a lot of her agency in the original series the core of qara was pretty simple as a little girl her mother died and two things stemmed from this one was that she felt helpless and in order to never feel helpless again she wanted to become a master waterbender the other was that she had to take on a mother role responsibility in the absence of her mom pretty much every action qara makes in the series stems from one of those two things in the Netflix show they kind of removed the entire part of qara being motherly one example was when Ang entered the Avatar state in the southern air Temple qara was the one who was there and calmed him down in the Netflix show qara doesn't have that moment Ang calms down on his own and then qara Comforts Ang throughout the rest of season 1 qara doesn't have any other chances to be motherly or show her gigantic heart one of the episodes that wasn't adapted at all was the Haru episode even though that episode wasn't that good it was aqara focused episode that showed us her strength because it was cut we are missing that part of Kara's story the other part of her Arc was wanting to become a bender so she never feels helpless in the Netflix show I don't feel like that's part of her character sure her mother's death is important but instead of being the reason she wants to be a strong Bender it's more of something that hinders her from being a strong bender she has to overcome that mental block and once she does she becomes stronger that's fine and all but by changing katara's motivations she doesn't appear to have a deeply rooted reason why she wants to become a water Bender it appears to me that she wants to become a stronger Bender because it's a part of her culture which is fine I guess but that's not as interesting as wanting to be a bender so she never feels helpless so that is the Crux of my biggest issue with qara they changed her motivations now in this episode they make her the focus of the jet storyline they did Jet very well he's exactly like he was before and the extremest part of the war is dissected and makes for an interesting commentary on the effects of War my issue however is that the jet episode was more important to Saka story not katara's sure qara lets her guard down around Jet and gets burned because of it but from my perspective the whole point of the jet episode was to contrast Jet and Saka jet may be more competent than Saka but jet is also someone who has destructive behaviors and doesn't protect the Innocents by the end of the episode Saka shows that he is the better leader because he doesn't harm innocent people that part of the jet story is completely absent in the Netflix episode Saka barely interacts with jet and therefore doesn't highlight his leadership skills so even though qara is front and center with the jet story it doesn't Advance her character that much because it wasn't designed to so yeah I liked jet and the portrayal of all the Freedom Fighters but the impact on our characters wasn't felt as much as it should have been moving on from qara let's go back to Saka Saka here spends a lot of time with the mechanist he gives his input on the creation of the hot air balloon and it's just like the original show I get the vibe though that the message the storytellers wanted to convey was that being a war isn't sasa's true calling engineering is that is an interesting point of view I don't know if I can say I dislike that it's another example of the show just being different however saa's Arc in the Netflix show is more about being a leader than it is being a warrior Saka having other skills like his engineering prowess was a part of what made him a great leader it wasn't his defining characteristic so I didn't love what they did with Saka here but I can't say I hate it either the last point I want to touch on before moving to episode four is the introduction of aula aula as we all know wasn't really in season one of the original series so I was curious to see how they would include her here and I got to say I love what they added here I know a lot of people aren't a fan of her betrayal but I completely disagree we briefly see aula undercover in a scene with these Fire Nation Rebels it's not touched on too much but I do love that concept that there are people in the Fire Nation that want to end the war we also get to see azula's cunning and mind for strategy that makes her a serious threat what I've really liked however is that they showed her insecurities early on a lot of people felt in the original show that azula's mental collapse was rushed and I can see that so what the Netflix show decided to do is plant those seeds of insecurity all the way from the start finding out Zuko found the Avatar made aula very insecure she takes pride in being the favorite Child and when there's a hint that oai is proud of Zuko we see how she reacts I'm probably not going to touch on aula again because she's not shown here much but I liked that they showed her insecurity ities early on this way if in season 3 when may betrays isula for Zuko and oai tells her she can't help in the final battle we better understand why she would have that mental collapse also when we find out that oai was just motivating isula this whole time it shows how much of a prick he is and how abusive that is towards a child so overall I really liked azula's addition in the season episode 3 had some highs and it had some lows but let's move on to episode 4 and see how they handled the boom me storyline before continuing on with the rest of this video only 6.5% of viewers are subscribed to this channel so if you're enjoying this video please consider subscribing for more content like this thank [Applause] [Music] you episode 4 has three story lines going on at once there is the Ang and Boomie storyline there's the qara and Saka in the cave storyline and then there's zuka rescuing iro let's start with Ang and Boomie I don't know know if this is a hot take or not because I'm not super familiar with other people's opinions on the show but for the most part I really liked the changes here the original omashu episode was one of my least favorite episodes I did a ranking video on all 61 episodes of the original series and in that ranking I'm pretty sure I put omashu in the bottom five my main reason was because boom's lessons didn't add much to this story it was all some game for Ang to remember who Boomie was and it had no impact on Ang's Journey for the rest of the season here the mystery around who Boomie is is resolved rather quickly the rest of the episode focuses on Boomie trying to teach Ang a lesson the storytellers promised that the adaptation would be a slightly more mature version of the animated series and boom's character is an example of that Boomie is still goofy like he was in the original series but here he is another person added to the list of people who resent Ang for disappearing I'll be honest I find that to be totally realistic in the first episode grr recites the classic Avatar opening almost as if it's a tale inside the Universe I would be pretty pissed too if I was a king and my people suffered for 100 years because the Avatar was gone so seeing boomy reflect that sentiment was something I enjoyed the main lesson from this storyline however is that boom is trying to teach Ang that there will be no easy answers will you feed an orphanage or the soldiers that's an example he uses at the end boomi gives Ang an ultimatum that he has to choose between saving himself or saving Boomie Ang gets bailed out of course by qara but the message still stands Ang then gives the speech that he won't just rely on himself he'll rely on his friends too and that's who Ang is to me he cares about his friends and isn't afraid to rely on them so I liked that addition frankly this whole scene was better here than it was in the animated show boom's lessons actually meant something and allowed Ang to shine and show some growth the second storyline to discuss is qara and Saka in the secret tunnels frankly there isn't much to discuss here as we all know the whole Cave of Lovers episode wasn't even in season 1 of the original series I can respect that they found a way to adapt it here in knowing they would probably skip it in season 2 but recontextualizing the love scene from romantic love to sibling love was a bit weird I like seeing Katara and Saka bond for a bit as you guys know I love scenes where two characters have personal conversations but this raises a question does Ang have a crush on qara in the Netflix show like right from the first episode in the original series Ang had a big crush on her it was highlighted again in the fortune teller episode and the cave of Two Lovers episode resulted in them likely kissing there is not a shred of evidence to suggests that Ang has a crush on qara here I'm not saying that's a bad thing but Ang's crush on Katara is kind of a big part of this story so I'm curious to see if that becomes important in season 2 or season 3 but going back to Qatar and Saka it was a fine addition to this story I liked hearing the music though I'll say that now the last part of the episode to discuss is Zuko saving iro and this story is the most similar to the original series I like how instead of having Arrow just get captured like he did in the original series they have him sacrifice himself for Zuko it's it's not a big deal but it's another example of showing us how much Zuko matters to iro what made the original scene of this so great is that Zuko chose to save iro over keep chasing the Avatar and here he makes that same choice so I'm glad they kept that in another great addition would be the development of the earth Kingdom guards one of them vents to iro about his time during the siege of bosing SE and how he lost his brother there I wonder if they added this because they're changing io's Arc let me explain in the original series iro does have an arc he goes from becoming a conqueror to learning what truly matters in life the loss of his son changed that perspective for him and he wasn't too invested in the war anymore that whole Arc happens before the series even begins and we get hints of that Arc throughout the show I wonder if here or they're going to have iro go on that Arc during the show obviously he's not a conquer anymore and he certainly mellowed out but I wonder if he hasn't fully abandoned the war yet whenever Ang asks him questions about the war he says it's not that simple I wonder if this scene here is going to change io's mind about the war where he wants nothing to do with it in season 2 we'll see I guess but either way I loved the humanization of the earth Kingdom soldiers and how it fleshed out those who suffered during a war in this episode we also get the LIE 10 flashbacks now that affected iro what I really loved here is that we actually see iro in the past in the original series we don't get many flashbacks of iro other than a few shots I love that we saw iro at lie 10's funeral but most importantly they showed us how Zuko comforted him what happens here isn't new to the Avatar world we know the story of why Zuko means so much to iro and how the death of his son influenced that but they conveyed the same story bit here in a different way and it's equally as effective the show continues to nail iro and Zuko's relationship and all the flashbacks between Zuko and iro are evidence of that episode 4 has a lot to like io's story is of course one of them Ang and boomi story was quite new and I liked it and Saka and Katara going through the caves was fine overall it was a solid episode [Music] episode 5 is the episode that makes the most amount of changes I would say sure there's some stuff here with Zuko finding June and then a Zula training but it's not much so I'm not going to dive into that the main focus is on Ang qara and Saka entering the spirit world in the original series after seeing the destroyed Forest Ang helps a village by helping hayi here a lot more happens right off the B I want to say I don't mind these changes at all the original episode was the Winter Solstice two-parter and even though those episodes were fine there was nothing there that was of major importance to me and the stuff that was important is still adapted here so do I mind that they made a big change not really in this episode The Gang gets trapped in the fog of lost souls for those of you who don't know what this is this is actually something taken from the Legend of Kora as far as I'm aware this is the only connection to the legend of Kora so Ang and Company run into a bunch of monsters including Wong shiong that's kind of unnecessary but again it's not the end of the world the real highlight of this episode comes towards the second half qara and Saka relive some tragic memories and Ang talks to gatu with qara we already know the story and they adapted it well here but I do want to add how much of a different it makes that qara actually watched her mother die there's a big difference between hearing that a relative died and actually seeing their murder qara watched her mother burn I cannot imagine how traumatizing that is when we look back at the jet episode where qara was mentally blocked because of the past I can totally get it I may not have been a fan of that story point in that jet episode but I still get it there's also this moment where qara is talking to her mom and grand grand her mom tells qara that she will become a powerful Bender one day so she can help people so this is another piece of motivation for qara her mother wanted her to become a bender so that's part of the reason why she does it I still much prefer katara's motivation stemming from her helplessness but at least there's more there than what I mentioned before when it comes to sanka's flashbacks they're quite different from what the original anime series did in the original show what motivated Saka was that he wanted to be like his dad and the fact that he was left behind made him feel inadequate here we actually get a lot more Saka took his ice dodging trial and he passed but afterwards he overhears his father saying he's disappointed and that Saka is not meant to be a leader I really like this change for Saka story in a way it mirrors Zuko's story as well both characters are now motivated by gaining their father's approval back after disappointing them the whole reason Saka acts the way he does is because of this moment from his father and I also find it totally realistic a child could definitely be haunted by hearing their parents say they are disappointed in them no one wants to hear that so in the end I'd liked this change for Saka the last part of the episode follows Ang unlike qara and Saka Ang is able to resist the traumatic flashback and instead talks to a ghost of Gazo I'm not entirely sure what exactly gatso is here in the Avatar lore no one has been able to talk to the spirit of dead people besides the older avatars I guess if you watched the legend of Kora you can say this is like iro in that Series where he's dead but his Spirit remains in the spirit world but I'm not here to complain about the logistics of Avatar ghosts there's a lot of solid character work with Ang in not only this scene but the entire episode Ang talks about feeling lost he doesn't really know what he's doing when it comes to the spirits when it comes to saving the water benders he has no clue how he's going to do that either this was something I'm glad they kept from the original show Ang admitting he doesn't know what he's doing and that he's not perfect the scene ends with this powerful moment where tells a it's not his fault and that's another powerful moment for me kids often beat themselves up for stuff that happened to them look at Zuko he believes that his banishment was his fault it's not it's his abusive father's fault so I really liked that gaso tells Ang there was nothing he could have done for the 10th time this scene would have been much more powerful if Ang actually avoided his duties instead of clearing his mind but I still think the scene Works regardless this episode didn't have much happening if anything it was solely a character focused episode and even though a lot of it was is just replaying stuff us avatar fans already know keep in mind there are newer viewers and to them I'm sure this episode had a lot of powerful moments overall I didn't mind the changes I was either completely neutral on the changes or I really like [Applause] [Music] them episode 6 is a big Zuko and iro episode but I do want to talk about Ang briefly in this episode Ang goes to roku's Temple and also gets it's captured by Xiao and subsequently rescued by Zuko if you were to list this episode out as bullet points I don't have a problem with any of the changes I don't mind them combining roku's Temple June and the blue Spirit stuff into one episode so I should like these episodes but something just feels off to me and I've come to the conclusion that the show doesn't have any subtlety when it comes to the dialogue especially with Ang I lost count of the amount of times Ang yells out that he needs to save his friends and that he can't let the world down again like I get it I know this is a major part of your Arc I don't need to be reminded every 5 minutes this episode is also completely devoid of Saka and qara I mentioned this before and I'll mention it again Ang Saka and qara need to spend time together it's one thing if they don't spend much time together in a 20-minute episode out of a 20 episode season but it's another thing when they don't spend time together in a 50-minute episode of an 8 episode season to make up for this the show tries to add little moments of humor between the group like often times Saka makes a comment and then qara pleases him I don't know if it's the acting or the direction but it just doesn't feel the same so even though Ang clearly shows heart throughout the season I'm not as invested in team Avatar I also have one minor nitpick that I want to share how did June and Nyla get to roku's island can Nyla swim regardless with that out of the way I still stand by the fact that the show nailed Zuko and iro this episode pretty much features a more expanded version of what happened when Zuko was banished I really liked the opening of this episode we see how Zuko was before he's this kind optimistic kid and then it transitions into the present day where he's this angry brat it's a good way to show how much damage had been done to him mentally then me go to the war room scene and I like the little bits they added to expand this scene specifically like Zuko not being super familiar with war tactics and embarrassing himself in front of his father I also liked how Zuko doubl downed on his belief of the plan being a terrible one but sometimes certain scenes shouldn't play out fully like originally after Zuko speaks out we just get io's monologue saying he was told to fight an an Agony Kai here seeing oai yell enough and then demand in agony Kai felt a little weird now we get to the agony Kai scene and I take issue with these changes so here Zuko fights back and gets shamed by his father because he had a chance to injure his dad but chose not to and this is what led to his banishment so it kind of reshapes this scene from Zuko being banished because he disrespected his father and showed weakness to Zuko being banished because he showed compassion and mercy that's not an end of the world change but the part I took issue with was Zuko not only fighting back but also putting up a fight against oai with the original scene Zuko did not fight back he just laid there and got punished for it that scene did not sugarcoat at all how abusive it was this father challenged his maybe 12-year-old son to a duel knowing full well Zuko had no chance to defend himself there was no denying how brutal and abusive oai was by having Zuko fight back and put up a fight it takes away from that element of abuse like sure oai still burned Zuko but it's not the same when you're injuring someone who is on your skill level so the Netflix scene portrays this moment as toxic tough love rather than the child abuse it really is so I did not like that change at all but funny enough this led into maybe the best change of the entire series and that was the lore building with the 41st division the Netflix show makes an active attempt to humanize Zuko's crew this one guy Lieutenant G is commonly shown throughout the season the change to make Zuko's crew true the same people that would have been sacrificed was a perfect addition to the story the moment after iro tells Gus and then they all salute Zuko was maybe one of the best scenes in the season I absolutely loved that addition to the story moving on a good portion of the episode is devoted to adapting the blue Spirit storyline and it was done pretty Faithfully I loved the motivations behind the original scene and it's all present here too and the Netflix adaptation they put even more emphasis on how risky this is for Zuko like how this place is in Fire Nation Terr and that is considered treason for Zuko to trespass or how this was a highly guarded facility Zuko risking his life so he can potentially gain his honor back is great actually now that I mention it Zuko doesn't mention his honor ever in the show I believe it appears his focus is mostly on claiming his rightful place on the throne rather than restoring his honor and I think that's a weaker change the honor part of it for Zuko is a lot more personal honor is something that intrinsically motivates you while wanting the throne is extrinsic motivation so that's another example of a slight change that didn't do the show any favors the episode ends with Zuko and Ang bonding for a little bit and I'm not sure I like that the Netflix show makes an effort to have Ang empathize with Zuko Ang sees Zuko as a human being who's damaged he even reiterates that in the beginning of episode 7 the original show only had one moment where Ang empathized with Zuko before his Redemption and that was immediately ended with Zuko deciding to shoot a fire blast in him the reason I prefer there to be no empathy between these two is it makes Zuko have to earn his Redemption even more later on when Zuko shows up to the gang in season 3 none of them should have any reason to trust Zuko so Zuko has to individually earn all their trust so he can become a part of the group but here since Ang already knows Zuko is a damaged kid it makes his Redemption easier in my eyes and I don't want it to be easier Redemption should be hard something that should be worked for so even though it's solid relationship building between these two I don't think that relationship should be built yet this episode had a lot of highs and a lot of lows the highs being the changes to the 41st Division and the Lowe's being the lack of Saka and Katara along with Zuko fighting back in his acne [Applause] [Music] Kai episode 7 does a lot to develop the northern water tribe so let's discuss a good portion of the episode is devoted to Ang and what he learned from Roku all the avatars have told Ang that he needs to save the world on his own and that his friends are liability ities they use an example from kuruk backstory where he lost love of his life to co and he doesn't want Ang to suffer the same pain Ang then proceeds to tell his friends that they shouldn't fight and that he can't protect them this is certainly an interesting Arc to give Ang that he needs to reject all of the former Avatar's opinions and embrace his friendships I'm not sure how I feel about this I certainly get that Ang is confused about a lot of things so he's more vulnerable to bad advice I'm not going to say it doesn't make sense because that is certainly something someone like Ang in this situation would would struggle with maybe I'm just letting my biases and my love for the original show cloud my opinion here one decision that the Netflix show has decided to make that is quite baffling is not progressing a along his water Bing training at all unless you include harnessing the power of the ocean Spirit not once in the season does Ang Bend any water this was such a jarring decision the entire reason the Avatar is an important person is because they can bend all the elements sure the Avatar has other responsibilities like keeping the peace in the world but again the reason the Avatar has those responsibilities is because they can bend all the elements here's what I'm afraid is going to happen since the actors are going to age before season 2 there's going to be a time Jump maybe a year or so in that time frame Ang will have learned water bending and then we will begin season 2 this is a cheap way to advance Ang's skills we should see the natural progression of a poor waterbender to a Master there were also plenty of scenes where qara was practicing her water bending why couldn't Ang practice with her I liked when paku told Ang he should have focused on his string cuz I agree I mentioned this way earlier in the video how the Netflix show focuses far more on what the Avatar means to the world over just mastering the elements that's a fine decision but you don't need to completely ignore Ang's training in the other elements this is one of the most jarring decisions made in the series and I hope season 2 learns from that mistake I want to move on and talk about qara because her portrayal still doesn't work for me she's more active here but whether or not it's the acting or the directing she just doesn't have that passion in her I don't need to see her talk about fighting paku over with Saka the second she found out women aren't allowed to fight she would have challenged him right then and there sure her fight scene with paku was nice I even like the change where she initially learns healing from the other women but again qara just lacks that passion that I wish she had the last major part of this episode is the development of UA and her relationship with Saka this might be another hot take but I like it a lot more here than I did in the original series in the animated show I did not like UA at all she was this passive girl who was defined by her wishy-washiness about spending time with Saka I found her annoying and I didn't see what Saka saw in her they added so much to UA here that makes her a more dynamic character and one with agency her backstory is the same with her being saved by the moon Spirit but she's able to access the spirit world yeah that scene with her as a fox was kind of out of place but I like this change I'm sorry it adds character to UA also when it was revealed that she broke off her engagement with Han I was so happy not because I dislike Han but because we weren't going to get any of that childish behavior that we got in the animated series and again it's another example of UA having agency with her life she's also a water bender here which is a minuscule change that I don't mind at all one could argue that U's passiveness was a big part of her character because when she makes a decision to give her life to the Moon spirit it's the first time she's broken free of that passiveness and if you feel that way that's awesome but I far prefer this version of UA one that has charm she's a spiritual leader someone that the people in the village can look up to I loved the changes to UA except I guess her wig which doesn't look good at all I also love the scene where Saka first chats with UA and he's a nervous wreck it's not close to what the original scene was like but they still captured that dorky yet lovable nature about Saka Saka and Zuko continue to be the standout characters in this show they not only feel the most like their animated counterparts but they feel like the most three-dimensional characters in the show this episode pretty much was an extended version of the northern water tribe episode in the animated show they greatly and I mean greatly enhanced UI as a character they continued to make Saka this goofy kid that he is but they also made some questionable decisions with Ang and they still missed the mark with [Applause] [Music] qara the finale of season 1 of Netflix's avatar The Last Airbender is the Battle of the northern water tribe right off the bat I thought this battle was a visual Marvel here they were greatly able to enhance the scale of the battle we got these wide shots of the outer wall and the Fire Nation Fleet also the spirit Oasis being this larger more beautiful Cavern in the mountains was a change I really liked I haven't spoken much about the VFX or the cinematography in this video because I usually just like to discuss storytelling but it is undeniable that the production did a great job with most of it there was never a point where the bending looked fake to me and the location were also really well done so I want to give this season and especially this episode the credit it deserves on that front when it comes to the story beats of the episode most of it is quite similar but the absence of Zuko abducting Ang is noticeable and I don't mind that Ang finding Co for advice was not something I found to be a critical part of the original battle so I don't mind that they removed it what is missing though is Zuko's monologue about aula and his childhood it was a powerful monologue but they can totally give that to Zuko at any other moment in the future of the series so I don't mind that it's not here I want to take a moment to discuss Ang in this episode because after watching the series twice I'm not sure if this was supposed to be the climax of an ark for him so all season Ang has been burdened with the role of the Avatar and all the previous avatars told him to do these things alone when the moon spirit is dead Ang reflects on these teachings and that motivates him to sacrifice himself to the ocean spirit it's the culmination of him accepting the Avatar's teachings and giving himself up for the greater good although the story frames this as a bad thing like Ang is losing his Humanity Gara yells out to him that she needs him and the implication is that he hears her but what takes Ang out of Killa mode is that the moon Spirit was brought back to life so Ang didn't make a decision here after he became Killa after the battle Ang is saddened by all the death and destruction and then Saka and Katara give him a little pep talk and all is good I'm not sure if or how this ties into an arc of Ang embracing his friendships let me know down below if I missed something besides that there aren't any other major differences between this and the animated version of the battle Xiao still kills the moon Spirit UA still sacrifices herself not much else changes I do want to highlight a few minor things though I like how paku had a bit of an arc here in the original series after he fights qara he just decides to change the tradition of women fighting here it's a bit more gradual where the other women want to fight too and then he apologizes to qara after the battle it was a small change but one I thought improved on the character of paku Xiao is the same but I hate that he started spewing his desire to be become Fire Lord I have no clue how Conquering the north would lead to him overthrowing oai it kind of made him comically evil I mentioned this earlier in the video but I did like the change that Zuko had this false hope in ever returning home because oai was just using that to motivate aula sure the second season is going to have to begin a bit differently but I like how this destroys Zuko I think it ties perfectly into his season 2 Arc of losing hope and then iro guiding him after that so that was a welcome change I also briefly want to touch on katara's skill levels people are saying that she mastered waterbending way too quickly I am baffled by this claim because that is the exact same case in the original series The only difference is that we get one extra scene in the original show of her training it's like right after she gets there she becomes great at water bending the only other thing the show did differently was people calling qara a master sure I can get behind that people probably shouldn't be calling her that but if you watched the original show you would see qara progressed in her training at the exact same rate as the Netflix show the last thing I'll mention is the aftermath of the battle I really appreciated that the storytellers took the time to show the consequences of the battle we see all the destruction caused and we even see that Han and the other kid died because the original show was more of a kid show they would never show something like this so I was glad that the Netflix version took advantage of its more mature platform this might be heresy that I'm about to say but there's a debate in my mind of which version of this battle I liked better the Netflix one or the animated one I always need to remind myself that just because something is different that does not mean it's bad I would say the writing of the original was better but the overall presentation of the battle was better in the Netflix version the season for me ended on a stronger note sure I didn't love everything as you guys can tell but I didn't love everything about the original battle either overall the siege of the north was wonderfully presented with a bit of clumsy writing so Netflix's avatar The Last Airbender what are my final thoughts easily the show's biggest weakness is the writing a lot of the dialogue is straight bad at times and the way certain plot points were executed was not the best but this show captured a lot of the heart of Avatar I liked most of the characters I felt like I was put back into the world of the four nations so was it worth it I don't know sure as said in the title of this video it is mediocre mediocre does not mean bad it means it was of adequate quality because the original show is one of the best shows ever made a mediocre adaptation is a disappointment but the show was not a disaster do you like this adaptation of avatar The Last Airbender did you hate it or are you like me and it's somewhere in between let me know down below thank you everyone so much for watching another one of my videos don't forget toite the claw Squad and I will see you guys next time

Channel: The Gold Man

Views: 74,259

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Id: PEai49f19X0

Length: 50min 9sec (3009 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 02 2024