Fantasy Netflix's Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender General Discussion Thread

[Pennywise]

 

[TheVileOne]

The Marvel Netflix shows were cheaped out on because Ike Perlmutter was a penny pinching *****enozzle, not because Netflix wasn’t willing to increase the budgets. Certainly wasn’t a problem for Stranger Things.

Also, as popular as Cowboy Bebop is, it’s popularity isn’t as widespread as Avatar’s. It’s a niche of a niche, so it looking cheap and being a poor adaptation isn’t going to piss as many people off. Not the same with Avatar. It’s fanbase is huge, and we already saw the response to the last attempt. The people working on this adaptation know they can’t afford to screw up this time. They have to get it right. If they strike out, that’s it, they’re done.

Look, I get your concern, but one bad live-action anime adaptation isn’t going to dissuade me from keeping an open mind on this. Unless I hear some other really odd or troubling things about the production or read bad reviews when it’s released, I’m going to remain cautiously intrigued.

I mean the original creators no longer being involved due to creative differences is a pretty big red flag for me.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Sithborg]

I like Chapman as Kyoshi. Starting to get into the castings that hint at the changes. Namely actually seeing Kyoshi and Azula this early. Also, Yukari is a new character, Suki's mom.

 

[Still Wynning]

I like Chapman as Kyoshi. Starting to get into the castings that hint at the changes. Namely actually seeing Kyoshi and Azula this early. Also, Yukari is a new character, Suki's mom.

Apparently, she’s replacing that male Mayor character in the “Avatar Day” episode in Season One, where Team Avatar go to that weird town and Aang is accused of killing a past town leader because he’s the Avatar and therefore guilty by association. They put him on “trial” (i.e.— the Mayor decides he’s already guilty) and spins a “Choose Your Punishment” wheel to decide his fate, but the town gets attacked and Aang saves them.

They’re probably combining that with the episode where we first meet Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors. Suki in the cartoon was originally meant to be a one-off character, hence why they never really delved into her backstory. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, they can go back and kind of elaborate on her character a bit more and give her some more facets other than “considerate, capable warrior”. (That’s a bit reductive as I really like her character, but we really don’t know much about her.)

I actually think having her be the daughter of a Mayor is kind of a nice parallel with the other characters, since she’d kind of be like the “princess” of a “tribe” leader (Sokka is the “prince” and Katara is the “princess” of their tribe, Toph is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Yue is a Princess, Zuko and Azula are the children of the Firelord, etc.).

Personal or given responsibility and what characters do with that responsibility and how it affects them and those around them is a pretty big theme in the original show, so this tracks.

Speaking of elaboration, I really hope they arrive a bit earlier and spend more time in the Northern Water Tribe in this version. It’s practically only an hour or so of runtime, and we don’t learn a whole lot about the place, other than being a pretty patriarchal society and kind of sexist. Also. the relationship between Sokka and Yue develops too fast, and I honestly don’t feel as sad as I should when that thing happens. I hope they give that section some more time to breathe and expand on that stuff.

 

[Lencho01]

 

[Lily Adler]

I can't see Netflix having the money to properly pull off the effects and fight scenes for this to work.

 

[CaptainWagner]

No matter what else happens with this show, I'm going to be tuning in just because of how perfect this casting is.

 

[Still Wynning]

I can't see Netflix having the money to properly pull off the effects and fight scenes for this to work.

I read they’re using the Volume projection tech that was used on The Mandalorian, so that’s already going to save on a lot of time and money for VFX. The rest of the budget can be devoted to the bending effects, extras, costumes, sets, etc. I’m not really worried about that department.

As for the fight choreography, I’m sure they’ll do fine. One of the guys on this, Albert Kim, was a producer on Nikita, and that had some pretty good choreography with the action scenes. That show also looked pretty cinematic for a CW show, so I can only imagine how this is going to look with that Netflix cash.

Basically, what I’m saying is that they’re putting a lot of money into this. This isn’t going to be like Cowboy Bebop, where they took a fairly popular but not as well known anime and cheaped out on everything because they could afford to take a loss. This is a well known, widely publicized, worldwide phenomenon. There is already precedent for what happens when you screw this property up. The people working on this can’t afford to make a bad adaptation of this again, and they know it.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[Primal Slayer]

My questions:
1. Did his family register him as a child and he's grown up believing this?

2. Is there anything to show he shares the same political beliefs as his family? If not they shouldn't use that against him

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

My questions:
1. Did his family register him as a child and he's grown up believing this?

2. Is there anything to show he shares the same political beliefs as his family? If not they shouldn't use that against him

1. we don't even know if any of this is true, I don't think there is any other source confirming this besides these tweets.

2. following up on the lack of info from 1, even if he is not rightwing like his family, if he isn't really Native American then it is casting based off of false info regardless of what he believes

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

Internet detective work is often faulty, especially when the "detectives" already have an agenda. People thought they discovered that one of the actors in the Ms. Marvel show was accused of something (I don't remember what) and it turned out it was someone else with the same name. Until this is addressed by people involved with the show Avatar (and/or Ian himself), it's not worth taking seriously.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Have some real reservations about this production.... But damn, how about that Iroh casting, huh?

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Albright]

have only seen a few episodes 20 years ago…but this could be great.
I always wanted this as a not animated version

hope Netflix will do a live action version of Visions of Escaflowne (the only Anime I watched…besides Hellsing)

 

[Pennywise]

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

This show has an opportunity to do something that I really hope it doesn't squander, and that's improve on things that only come from the benefit of hindsight.

One that it already seems like they're doing is expanding the roles of Suki and Kyoshi. Kyoshi has gained a lot of popularity since the series ended, having her own comic series and animated movie (in the future). Suki was part of the main cast for the end of the series, but was MIA for much of seasons 1 and 2. Both deserve bigger roles.

The main thing I hope they improve on is actually properly foreshadowing the climax. I generally love how the series ended, but the Lion Turtle and energy bending were deus ex machinas. If Lion Turtles were constantly mentioned like Ralph in WandaVision, seeing one will pay off more. And there are many ways energy bending/taking bending away can be subtly foreshadowed.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Lencho01]

 

[Sithborg]

Good to see them nail the casting for THE key role: Cabbage Merchant.