CreativeMess
If you’re a millennial you were GASSED when you found out that Netflix was partnering with the creators of the animated series, Avatar The Last Airbender. The nostalgia of thinking about Aang, Sokka and Katara traveling to save their world from the conquest of the fire nation probably brought back all the feels. As the show production progressed the original show creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko decided to exit the series due to “creative differences” according to an article from Variety.
With that being said, the anticipation for the series grew and as of February 22, 2024 the show has premiered with an 8 episode season. It has been noted by everyone who was involved in the show that is wasn’t going to be the same show. So before the show premiered, it was already stated that it was going to be a different show. So what does that leave us with?
Years ago there was an attempt to retell the story of Aang by M. Night Shyamalan titled The Last Airbender. It was a flop, and one of the biggest criticisms was that the only person of color was cast as the villain. All the other actors were white, which is already an issue regarding the story’s integrity. Netflix at least had the right mind not to make that error. However, the rest of the retelling didn’t exactly hit the mark.
Season 1
The beginning of the show starts with us seeing Aang in the air temple. As the story goes on, you start to see the inconsistencies that grate on the nerves of the die-hards who were holding out hope for the show. What you can tell right a way is that the acting is mimicking the animated series in the mannerisms, it doesn’t quite translate. The story starts in the southern water tribe and once they escape the fire nation they move on to Kyoshi Island. They meet Yuki and it becomes clear what the show makers didn’t deem necessary to the story. Sokka doesn’t dress as a Kyoshi warrior and Aang doesn’t ride the elephant koi. There are deficits like this all throughout each episode.
Something to keep in mind is that these are actors, but they are also children and young adults. They saw the source material, did their best and to be fair the acting isn’t the issue. One of the biggest disappointments with the retelling is that it seems to give air to some of the more supporting peripheral characters, but we aren’t given the same amount of time to care for them.
After Kyoshi Island, the group goes to Omashu where we meet Jet and the Freedom Fighters, the Mechanist and Teo, King Bumi and we also see Iroh and Aang get captured. Once Iroh is captured and taken by earth benders we get a flash back of Iroh at Lu Ten’s funeral. In that scene we get more of an understanding of Zuko’s connection to his family, (Lu Ten and Zuko weren’t close in the animated series) than we do of how much Iroh was pained by the loss and the change in his military perspective.
Eventually Aang, Katara and Sokka end up in the spirit world where they meet the owl of knowledge and Koh. Aang also meets the blue spirit, then he and team avatar make it to the southern water tribe. The way many key moments were dealt with weren’t worth it. Though, according to Albert Kim’s interview with Variety, it “ was a conscious decision to show people this is not the animated series. We had to sometimes unravel storylines and remix them in a new way to make sense for a serialized drama”.
Conclusion
This season is 8 episodes long so we’ll have to see how they proceed in season 2. What I will say is that the show on it’s face has promise as long as you don’t have any nostalgia at stake. That being said, if your nostalgia is at stake, take the risk anyway. I see the world that was created and the work that was put into it’s creation. There were things that I enjoyed about Avatar the live action. The music, the costumes (wigs were a bit stiff), the subtle things like the cabbage vendor, and the overall commitment to bringing the characters to life. We loved Iroh, craved Zuko’s character arc, and fell in love with the growth of Team Avatar. The potential is there; give it a shot.
If you watched Avatar The Last Airbender live-action or animated, let me know in the comments.