Avatar: The Last Airbender - live-action remake series (not the movie)

[Prime32]

So a trailer dropped recently for the live-action series adaptation of Avatar:The Last Airbender, coming out in a bit under a month.



Comments from the crew mention some changes to the plot of Book 1, including early showcasing of Fire Lord Ozai's strength along with more complex characterisation for Admiral Zhao. Some unseen events will be shown in more detail (including the last stand of Monk Gyatso). It also looks like the Avatar State can no longer activate through emotion alone, at least not until you're a fully-realised Avatar; Aang will only be able to access it under special conditions like receiving assistance from one of his past lives (who will also get more of their backstories shown).

Hopes? Expectations? The original series is widely regarded as a masterpiece, so can they pull it off?

[Zevox]

Well, I'll give them that the trailer looks good. It captures the look and feel of the show about as well as I imagine a live-action version could.

That said, I still can't say I'm very interested. If I want to watch Avatar, I own the original show on Blu-Ray already. I don't see what use I have for a live action remake. Much like when Disney does live action remakes of their old animated movies - though from the trailer, this looks better than those at least.

[Batcathat]

I'm cautiously optimistic, what I've seen so far looks pretty decent. Since I think the Legend of Korra is even better, I hope this one's good and popular enough that they'll adapt that one too.

Also, I really hope they alter the ending a bit.

Spoiler: Spoiler for the original series finale

Show

I'm still a bit annoyed about the Deus Ex Lion Turtle.

[Errorname]

I'm not particularly optimistic. It'll probably be inoffensive, but I'm not seeing anything that really justifies this show existing.

[Rynjin]

I'm of the opinion that live action remakes of existing animated properties are at best pointless and uninteresting and at worst insulting, implying by their very existence that live action is somehow "better" and that justifies its existence. None of them have ever needed to be made. Zero of them are worth watching. This is no exception.

[Ionathus]

I'm of the opinion that live action remakes of existing animated properties are at best pointless and uninteresting and at worst insulting, implying by their very existence that live action is somehow "better" and that justifies its existence. None of them have ever needed to be made. Zero of them are worth watching. This is no exception.

I’m in this camp as well. Musicals, animation, video games…for whatever reason, all of these are seen as “lesser than” film, as if live-action TV or Movies are the pinnacle of storytelling.

I will likely check it out, because our Netflix is currently active anyway and I expect my friends will want to talk about it. I would be pretty drastically surprised if the live-action captures much of the charm of the original though. Animation is just so suited to the fantasy-level martial arts, bending imagery, and tone of the series.

That said, I’m not 100% against it. And adaptations can find a niche if they explore more of the world, which it does sound like they’re doing with the past avatars and Zhao/Ozai characterization. I’m reserving judgment until I see it (and NOT watching any trailers. I’ve been burned before!).

[Dawsnow]

I'm cautiously optimistic, I hope they adapt zuko's story well

[Eldan]

I'm not convinced about the bending scenes? Maybe it's just the trailer, but they several of them look very zoomed in, so you only see half the elemental effects going on around the character, and it's difficult to judge how good they look, and how much they really incorporated the martial arts into it.

[Trixie_One]

I lost interest when they did have the original creators on board for this and then booted them.

Also, I really hope they alter the ending a bit.

Bet you good money that they don't get that far before this gets cancelled.

[Errorname]

I'm not convinced about the bending scenes? Maybe it's just the trailer, but they several of them look very zoomed in, so you only see half the elemental effects going on around the character, and it's difficult to judge how good they look, and how much they really incorporated the martial arts into it.

I do not expect great things. Doing Last Airbender in live action is a martial arts action show where all your lead performers are children and for every fight sequence the majority of strikes include some magical effect. Both of those are pretty reasonable in animation where you're drawing the whole thing from scratch, but in live action it is likely to be immensely challenging to execute on.

[t209]

Just that this attempt at least created new memes based on actors compared to previous…definitely a new one.
Like Abed as Mechanist, Iroh the convenience store owner, and Ozai being screamed “I AM YOUR HEIR” multiple times.
Oh do I need to say that we got three actors who played in both animated and live action now (the Lost Guy, George Takei, and even the Cabbage merchant as well).

[EggKookoo]

I lost interest when they did have the original creators on board for this and then booted them.

Same here. I worry especially because they cited "creative differences" which makes me think Netflix is going to Netflex all over it, to its detriment.

[InvisibleBison]

I lost interest when they did have the original creators on board for this and then booted them.

I'm not concerned about that. If I wanted the original creators' vision for the series, the original series is right there. Remaking a series offers an opportunity to tell a new version of the story, so the original creators not being involved isn't that big of an issue.

[Ionathus]

I'm not concerned about that. If I wanted the original creators' vision for the series, the original series is right there. Remaking a series offers an opportunity to tell a new version of the story, so the original creators not being involved isn't that big of an issue.

It’s not a dealbreaker but is definitely a yellow flag for me.

A creator doesn’t have any authority beyond their original work…but in this case, we already have an example of an adaptation (Shymalan’s) completely missing the tone of the original. The original creators leaving makes me worry those problems cropped up again.

As a result, I’m gonna be particularly sensitive to those shortcomings, and so the fastest way for this adaptation to lose me would be for it to start missing the mark in ways that Shymalan’s did (a lack of charm/whimsy, glacial pacing on fights, or over-narration/over-summarizing).

[MinimanMidget]

I'm not concerned about that. If I wanted the original creators' vision for the series, the original series is right there. Remaking a series offers an opportunity to tell a new version of the story, so the original creators not being involved isn't that big of an issue.

The original creators not being involved is hugely different from the original creators being involved and then booted out for creative differences. I wouldn't see the former as a problem at all, but the latter is a showstopper.

[Rynjin]

I'm not concerned about that. If I wanted the original creators' vision for the series, the original series is right there. Remaking a series offers an opportunity to tell a new version of the story, so the original creators not being involved isn't that big of an issue.

Why would you trust someone to tell a good version of a story when they're too talentless to come up with their own and all they do is adapt someone else's work anyway?

[InvisibleBison]

The original creators not being involved is hugely different from the original creators being involved and then booted out for creative differences. I wouldn't see the former as a problem at all, but the latter is a showstopper.

It's only a showstopper if you don't trust anyone but the original creators to make a decent version of the show, which is in general a silly thing to do given how many good adaptations there are that didn't involve the original creators.

Why would you trust someone to tell a good version of a story when they're too talentless to come up with their own and all they do is adapt someone else's work anyway?

Because there are a lot of good adaptations, many of which didn't involve the original creators. Without some more specific evidence that the people making the show are actually doing something bad, I'm not going to assume that it's going to be bad.

[Rynjin]

Because there are a lot of good adaptations, many of which didn't involve the original creators. Without some more specific evidence that the people making the show are actually doing something bad, I'm not going to assume that it's going to be bad.

And there's many more ****ty ones, what's your point?

I also can't think of a SINGLE good adaptation where the creator was involved at one point and then left due to creative differences. You have any counterexamples for me?

[MinimanMidget]

It's only a showstopper if you don't trust anyone but the original creators to make a decent version of the show, which is in general a silly thing to do given how many good adaptations there are that didn't involve the original creators.

I think you missed my point? It's not about "not the original creators" it's about "the original creators hated them/they hated the original creators". Like, yeah, Peter Jackson did a good job without Tolkien's involvement. He didn't fire Tolkien for disagreeing with his vision, it's not the same thing.

[Dire_Flumph]

And there's many more ****ty ones, what's your point?

I also can't think of a SINGLE good adaptation where the creator was involved at one point and then left due to creative differences. You have any counterexamples for me?

A good adaption is subjective of course, but two well received ones off the top of my head:

The Neverending Story (1983). Michael Ende was onboard with the adaption and was assisting with scripting duties as an advisor then had a falling out with the director over the initial script and tried to have his name scrubbed from the project.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). 1st draft was written by Roald Dahl but his script was so heavily rewritten he departed and disowned the project.

[InvisibleBison]

And there's many more ****ty ones, what's your point?

My point is that I'm not going to make judgements about the show based on things that aren't necessarily connected to whether or not the show is going to be good. I don't know why the original creators left the project. It could be that the people in charge wanted to do a bunch of stupid stuff, and the original creators got kicked out for trying to stop them. It could also be that the original creators got kicked out because they kept insisting on doing things the way the animated show did even when it would be better to do things otherwise.

I think you missed my point? It's not about "not the original creators" it's about "the original creators hated them/they hated the original creators". Like, yeah, Peter Jackson did a good job without Tolkien's involvement. He didn't fire Tolkien for disagreeing with his vision, it's not the same thing.

I don't see how that matters, though. It's not like the original creators of a story are the only ones who can tell that story well.

[Ramza00]

I question the premise of why one wants to make a Live Action Avatar in the First Place

for certain types of shots, work well with certain genres, while other types of shots will have an uncanny nature of mixing satisfied and wonder vs dissatisfied and disappointment.

=====

I mean you can make a world feel wonderful with the natural world in live action. Points to certain type of shots from breaking bad. But this feels like a blah green screen. Not nature, and not people.

[Eldan]

A good adaption is subjective of course, but two well received ones off the top of my head:

The Neverending Story (1983). Michael Ende was onboard with the adaption and was assisting with scripting duties as an advisor then had a falling out with the director over the initial script and tried to have his name scrubbed from the project.

The Neverending Story - the movie - royally screwed up the sequels, though. Because filming Act 2 and 3 of the book where Bastian slowly turns into a tyrant, tries to conquer fantasy land, fails, is cast down and then has to rediscover himself, wouldn't have worked with the tone of the first movie at all.

So, I agree with the writer there. It's a nice fantasy movie, but it doesn't hold a candle to the book, for me and is really quite different from it.

[Dire_Flumph]

The Neverending Story - the movie - royally screwed up the sequels, though. Because filming Act 2 and 3 of the book where Bastian slowly turns into a tyrant, tries to conquer fantasy land, fails, is cast down and then has to rediscover himself, wouldn't have worked with the tone of the first movie at all.

So, I agree with the writer there. It's a nice fantasy movie, but it doesn't hold a candle to the book, for me and is really quite different from it.

I agree with the writers in both cases. Roald Dahl writes the sort of children's books that would send most Hollywood execs into convulsions. But I absolutely devoured them as a kid for how utterly macabre they were. I enjoy the Gene Wilder film as it's own thing, but it's really a different animal. And I dare someone to try to adapt Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator with any degree of faithfulness. The book The Neverending Story is a fuller story with, as you say, a more satisfying narrative arc for Bastian. I also completely understand why Christopher Tolkien hated the Lord of the Rings adaptions (as would, likely, his father).

But whether you like or don't like them, those adaptions were successful in creating their own thing separate from the original material. I can enjoy the film and the book of the Neverending story on their own merits while accepting that as an adaption it isn't really all that faithful.

Circling back to Avatar, that's why I'm not really all that impressed with what we've seen so far. It seems set on mollifying fans by showing them how faithful they're being to the source material in visuals. But a lot of the source material was made with animation in mind and isn't going to directly translate well to live action. I don't really care how faithful or unfaithful they are to the original series. I only care if they have a story that stands on its own. I suspect not, but I hope to be proven wrong. One Piece and Scott Pilgrim both surprised me, this might too.

[Ionathus]

Why would you trust someone to tell a good version of a story when they're too talentless to come up with their own and all they do is adapt someone else's work anyway?

Oh cool, we’re insulting the writing ability of anybody who’s ever worked on an adaptation now, cool cool, real fun.

I mean yeah Hollywood has an unhealthy fixation on established IPs and I am *starved* for some original characters too, but this take is just over-the-top aggressive and mean.

[Errorname]

Oh cool, we’re insulting the writing ability of anybody who’s ever worked on an adaptation now, cool cool, real fun.

Especially since this is likely going to fail because making a good adaptation is a very difficult.

[Infernally Clay]

Especially since this is likely going to fail because making a good adaptation is a very difficult.

I don't think that's true at all - there have been many, many amazing adaptations and some have even surpassed the original - and if anything it will be easier to adapt something that already exists in the visual medium.

Faithful adaptations are not all that difficult to pull off and the only way this Avatar show will fail is if they pull a Cowboy Bebop and throw the existing story into the trash and opt to tell their own. Or if the viewership isn't high enough so it get cancelled after one season, I guess.

[Rynjin]

Oh cool, we’re insulting the writing ability of anybody who’s ever worked on an adaptation now, cool cool, real fun.

I mean yeah Hollywood has an unhealthy fixation on established IPs and I am *starved* for some original characters too, but this take is just over-the-top aggressive and mean.

I'm insulting the writing ability of 99% of the hacks Netflix hires to **** out these lazy live action adaptations every few months.

You've already proven you're kinda dumb when you decide to take a series built around the strengths of animated unreality and try to smush it into a medium that is fundamentally not built to work that way.

[Infernally Clay]

I'm insulting the writing ability of 99% of the hacks Netflix hires to **** out these lazy live action adaptations every few months.

You've already proven you're kinda dumb when you decide to take a series built around the strengths of animated unreality and try to smush it into a medium that is fundamentally not built to work that way.

I don't think any of their live action adaptations have been lazy, it just took them a while to realise that doing their own thing never works. This isn't exactly a new thing, either, nor is it exclusive to Netflix. Fox was notorious for screwing up what should have been easy home runs in the form of adaptations of major X-Men comic book storylines, as an example.

Death Note and Cowboy Bebop tried to change too much from the source material and it didn't work, but One Piece was hugely successful because Oda was involved in the production and they stuck to what he had already written. As long as Avatar does that too it'll be fine. I'm not saying they have to adapt every single episode shot for shot (I assume they'll skip a bunch of worldbuilding for longer action scenes and more inter-personal drama anyway), but as long as the final episode of the first season is called The Siege of the North we're probably good.

[Trixie_One]

but One Piece was hugely successful because Oda was involved in the production and they stuck to what he had already written. As long as Avatar does that too it'll be fine.

Well they've already dispensed with the people who were the Oda equivalent to Avatar on the basis that they had different ideas so yeah...

Incidentally I finally got around to watching the rest of their One Piece yesterday, and I really was decidedly impressed with it. Last episode especially. Flawed in places for sure, but given they were adapting the insanity that is One Piece which is about as unadaptable as you can possibly get, I'm more willing to forgive those issues, even more so given that they absolutely nailed some stuff like Buggy and Sanji's backstory.