r/LastAirbenderNetflix • u/MengShuZ • Feb 24 '24
This is such a good adaptation.
It saddens me that it has been getting a lot of mixed (albeit not bad) reception.
As a fan of the original source material, and the franchise as a whole, I quite thouroughly enjoyed this adaptation. I understand that, it comes down to a matter of opinion, but I genuinely feel that so much love went into this. But I see a lot of comparisons to animated series, which is quite a shame. Sure there are a few differences, like Aang being less goofy. I can't speak for everyone, but personally it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. Sokka still feels like Sokka, even though he is also a little less goofy. It's important to understand that they are meant to be portrayed as real people, and not cartoon characters. But their essence is still very apparent, at least in my opinion.
Sorry, I just had to vent a little. I'm not, super upset, but I do wish that people could, see past nostalgia, and be a little more open. Anyway, it's also a little egotistical to expect everyone to think the same, so even if my opinion differs from yours, I will respect it.
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u/Bright_Buffalo_5147 Feb 24 '24
Just wait until you get to omashu or is it the air temple idk could be both series is trash
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u/MengShuZ Feb 24 '24
I admit, that I didn't like that they turned Bumi into more of a villain, but from a standard lends, it makes complete sense. This man has endured 100+ years of war, not knowing how and when the Fire Nation would strike, kill him, and his citizens. I would have gone absolute bonkers too by then. It's a more realistic approach because it's a realistic portrayal!
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u/Bright_Buffalo_5147 Apr 09 '24
Did you watch the original series? Aang would have never known/guessed bumi was bumi
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u/wharehinga007 Feb 24 '24
Agreed… this isn’t the animated series so don’t expect it to be the same… also try to take a fresh look at what they did with the characters, the motivations, conflicts and relationships etc…. And you might surprise yourself. you want to compare it with something compare it with the movie and it blows that out of the water…. Hopefully they don’t muck around and people want to see more so they get onto season 2 and 3 quickly. Nothing worse than unfinished business eh. People gave the kora series shyte aswell yet that stands up on its own with its own vibe.
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u/one_bar_short Feb 25 '24
It's definitely not as deep as the animated series, but if anyone were to do a 1-1 adaptation, the cost of the visual fx budget would've bankrupted even the likes of disney.
I think the adaptation has legs, the casting was great, my only worry is
they need to greenlight the rest of the series, they need to immediately start working on it cause, when they get to season 3, ...aang is gonna be to old to play the part.
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u/Potential-Contact248 Feb 28 '24
There are many opportunities for improvement without increasing costs.
For example, they removed the joke about choosing an opponent in the final test in Omashu, where Aang chose Bumi instead of two scary warriors. Would it have been too expensive to recreate that scene? The whole point of Bumi's tests was to teach Aang to use non-obvious solutions, but they completely missed it.
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u/Impossible_Elk1039 Feb 28 '24
NO! The live action is straight trash. How hard is it to stick to the source material 🤔.
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u/aomai01 Mar 04 '24
There's no point in completely sticking to the source material, because it's like watching a reskin of the original. Just look at The Lion King remake. That one copied the source almost word for word, and it felt meaningless. The important thing is being respectful to the source and loyal to its spirits, which the show did admirably.
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u/zkarabat Feb 25 '24
I enjoyed the show and understand it's a bit more 'adult'. I can also grasp why some storylines were altered but they made some bad choices. My overall feeling is this needed 4 more episodes - 12. It was far too rushed and left things and development feeling a bit thin.
The caves with only Sokka and Katara was a miss and you lose out on the developing love story.
Bumi.... I get the character changes but this was a miss. The mad king from the original was far more fun and the mystery to Aang I missed. You could still have done it without Team Avatar but making him more bitter than crazy was another miss for me.
Suki stuff being rushed lost a lot to me and I miss Appa being a cold to Sokka vs him just accepting the new friends.
Sokka changes were a non-issue. He's still goofy (more food jokes tho please) and the lack of him being sexist was a good choice... it's just not something that would fly today and wouldn't translate well at all.
Oddly, Zuka's rushed development changes worked alright... that part seemed good (still prefer the longer arc was a richer journey)
I hope we get all 4 books/seasons.... If Netflix cheaps out then they never should've done this at all.
I think it is enjoyable but there is plenty of room to improve.
Oh and they completely flubbed the Cabbage Guy.... Utter failure there 😂 🥬
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u/Mutex70 Feb 24 '24 edited Feb 24 '24
I've only finished the first two episodes, and so far I agree 100%.
I think there are some definite misses...the CGI is sometimes less than stellar, and at times I find some of the acting quite wooden, but so far I think it's a solid adaptation
Yes, they have rearranged some story elements and tweaked some characters. That is the prerogative of any creator. Gimli in Jackson's Lord of the Rings is a very different character than in the books. 2001: A Space Odyssey as a movie has an extraordinarily different tone than the book. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World completely rearranged or dropped major plot points from the graphic novels. That didn't make any of these bad movies.
Heck, when Disney makes shot for shot remakes of their animated movies, it's called lazy and pointless, so I was expecting some changes in characterization, plot and tone.
Numerous reviewers appear to criticize the show solely based on the idea that "it's different from the animated version, so it's bad", rather than evaluating the show on its own merits and faults.