As we approached the premiere of Netflix’s Avatar the Last Airbender, I was apprehensive. With a combination of the original animated showrunners leaving, rumors about changes made, and Netflix’s track record, I wondered what we would see on February 22.
I loved the original. It was a show I watched from the day it began to the day it went off the air. I watch it from start to finish occasionally because it’s arguably one of the most outstanding animated series ever made.
It didn’t need a live-action adaptation. But in a world where we’re seeing fewer and fewer original concepts and more remakes and adaptions, I’m not surprised it happened.
With Netflix’s utter failure with Fate: A Winx Saga and Cowboy Bebop, my expectations were very low when I hit play on Thursday. And to my utter relief, the show was not as bad as those.
The Bad
As expected, it had the dim lighting of a CW show. Anytime anything gets adapted by Netflix, it gets reduced to that instead of letting bright, vibrant colors show. That was a horrible decision in Avatar because the colors stood out in the animated series despite being war-torn.
Speaking of the CW treatment, it received that. Things were taken in a different concept to make it darker and more dramatic without giving a solid reason for the change.
Things were taken from their original idea and meshed with stories they had nothing to do with.
Everything was taken and turned darker, dramatic, and more adult. The difference between this and claiming that it turned things more serious. The animated series had moments where it could be serious but in those moments, it drove home a point or advanced the story.
It was yet another thing that the live-action adaptation missed. Instead of balancing with the lightheartedness of a group of kids on an adventure, it stayed serious and barely showing the light side of the series that we all loved.
With rumors of a second season, how will they make later storylines work with their elements stolen and smashed in the Book 1 storyline?
Some of the casting was rough. I wasn’t sold on the main three: Aang, Katara, and Sokka. I also wasn’t sold on Azula. All four had okay performances; for three of them to be leads, they needed to be more than alright.
With few exceptions, the characters don’t get the development they get in the animated series. The team behind the live-action adaptation shoved 20 episodes into just eight. Moreover, as mentioned above, they throw storylines from later into the series (along with their characters) less to improve the story and more to scream, “Look at this thing you loved from the animated series.”
Everything in Omashu screamed that. It’s a toss-up between Bumi and the minstrels for what I liked least in that storyline.
The Good
Iroh and Zuko were my favorite things about this. Their whole storyline was something I was always ready to get back to. The duo captured the magic of their animated counterparts despite changes being made.
One of the changes they made was they gave us more of his backstory and deepened his relationship with his crew. With where he’s heading in Book 2, I’d like to know how that will change his time in the Earth Kingdom.
Zuko did more on-screen development than the central trio. Should Netflix be allowed to carry this story until the end, it will be interesting to see how they account for that when Zuko joins Team Avatar to teach Aang the final element.
The live-action adaptation exceeded my expectations because it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever watched. However, there were only rare moments that sparked joy.
Beyond those moments and a couple of characters attached to them, it was apparent why the original showrunners left the show. It needed to understand what made the show great but failed to. Instead, the team at Netflix tried to drag it to a more serious tone that it didn’t need.
Thankfully, they didn’t drag it so far, like Fate: A Winx Saga, that it became unrecognizable as an adaptation of an animated series.
What did you think? Do you want a second season? Please share your thoughts with us on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord!
Featured Image: IMDb
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