The Next Last Airbender
January 23, 2024 10:39 AM Subscribe
On the 19th anniversary of the original animated epic, Avatar: The Last Airbender returns adapted into live action for the second time. Here is its trailer.
A Netflix production, the live action Airbender originally began with the collaboration of the show's creators, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzo (commonly referred together as "Bryke") but the partnership fell through when unspecified creative differences became insurmountable.* Despite the departure, the show development has continued under Albert Kim, who had previously worked on Sleepy Hollow, Pantheon, and Leverage.
With the much criticized white washing of the characters in the first film adaptation, in which many of the explicitly Asian/Indigenous designed characters were cast with white actors, producer Kim shared early in the production process that, "This was a chance to showcase Asian and Indigenous characters as living, breathing people. Not just in a cartoon, but in a world that truly exists, very similar to the one we live in.” The casting followed suit :
For those who think of the original Airbender and cannot help but hum the show's beautiful music by Jeremy Zuckerman, Zuckerman was replaced early on by award winning game composer, Takeshi Furukawa. Don't worry, you can get your Zuckerman score fix by purchasing a recently produced vinyl and digital score for season one, which was completely rescored for this release.
*Bryke went on to Paramount+ where they are developing a series of animated films set in the Avatar universe. The first coming out in 2025 to focus on an adventure by the grown up Aang and the Gang.
**Since his casting, Ousley has faced allegations that he has lied about his native background.
A Netflix production, the live action Airbender originally began with the collaboration of the show's creators, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzo (commonly referred together as "Bryke") but the partnership fell through when unspecified creative differences became insurmountable.* Despite the departure, the show development has continued under Albert Kim, who had previously worked on Sleepy Hollow, Pantheon, and Leverage.
With the much criticized white washing of the characters in the first film adaptation, in which many of the explicitly Asian/Indigenous designed characters were cast with white actors, producer Kim shared early in the production process that, "This was a chance to showcase Asian and Indigenous characters as living, breathing people. Not just in a cartoon, but in a world that truly exists, very similar to the one we live in.” The casting followed suit :
- Aang - Gordon Cormier
- Katara - Kiawentiio
- Sokka - Ian Ousley **
- Zuko - Dallas Liu
- Uncle Iroh - Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim's Convenience / Star Wars)
- Firelord Ozai - Daniel Dae Kim (Is a link really needed?)
For those who think of the original Airbender and cannot help but hum the show's beautiful music by Jeremy Zuckerman, Zuckerman was replaced early on by award winning game composer, Takeshi Furukawa. Don't worry, you can get your Zuckerman score fix by purchasing a recently produced vinyl and digital score for season one, which was completely rescored for this release.
*Bryke went on to Paramount+ where they are developing a series of animated films set in the Avatar universe. The first coming out in 2025 to focus on an adventure by the grown up Aang and the Gang.
**Since his casting, Ousley has faced allegations that he has lied about his native background.
wow, i am so here for this. the casting is god damn amazing
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:57 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:57 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
I recently reupped with Netflix just to see their awards-season selections, might hang on to it a little longer just to see this. I got burned big time with Cowboy Bebop, but this doesn't look half bad and a lot more true to the original series (which honestly doesn't *need* a live action remake, but some people are just weird about watching a kids' cartoon?) than the dour, murky Shyamalan version.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:57 AM on January 23
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:57 AM on January 23
Since his casting, Ousley has faced allegations that he has lied about his native background.
No, he's facing a bunch of Extremely Online idiots who have no fucking clue about the politics of tribal recognizance who are arguing that because he isn't enrolled in a Federally recognized tribe that he's lying.
The proper response to this is "please kindly fuck off."
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:01 AM on January 23 [16 favorites]
No, he's facing a bunch of Extremely Online idiots who have no fucking clue about the politics of tribal recognizance who are arguing that because he isn't enrolled in a Federally recognized tribe that he's lying.
The proper response to this is "please kindly fuck off."
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:01 AM on January 23 [16 favorites]
I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see movies evolve past the whole ‘YOU ARE OUR SAVIOR, THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS ON YOUR SHOULDERS, YOUNG MAN!!’ trope.
Star Wars really jacked things up.
posted by chronkite at 11:01 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
Star Wars really jacked things up.
posted by chronkite at 11:01 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
I will literally die of joy if I get to have Paul Sun-Hyung Lee witter on about Jasmine Tea (my favourite).
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:02 AM on January 23 [7 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:02 AM on January 23 [7 favorites]
I guess I'm a little worried because ATLA needed like 30 hours of storytelling to show how Aang learned to step up without becoming less of himself, and the slow, deliberate, carefully drawn character evolutions of everyone in the damn series was what made the thing land so well and I'm not sure how they're going to pull it off in a tenth of the time at most. I mean it was just as important to see Sokka, and Zuko, and Katara, and Toph, grow up as it was to see Aang. Well I'll watch it anyhow. [ claps hands ]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:07 AM on January 23 [9 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:07 AM on January 23 [9 favorites]
That trailer makes me cautiously optimistic. Being a child makes acting so hard, but they seem to be delivering at least in those short clips.
posted by NotAYakk at 11:17 AM on January 23
posted by NotAYakk at 11:17 AM on January 23
I guess I'm a little worried because ATLA needed like 30 hours of storytelling to show how Aang learned to step up without becoming less of himself, and the slow, deliberate, carefully drawn character evolutions of everyone in the damn series was what made the thing land so well and I'm not sure how they're going to pull it off in a tenth of the time at most. I mean it was just as important to see Sokka, and Zuko, and Katara, and Toph, grow up as it was to see Aang. Well I'll watch it anyhow. [ claps hands ]
Thankfully this time around it's a series rather than a movie. This first season is 8 hour-long episodes; not sure how many seasons are planned (or how many it'll actually wind up getting).
posted by bassooner at 11:30 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
Thankfully this time around it's a series rather than a movie. This first season is 8 hour-long episodes; not sure how many seasons are planned (or how many it'll actually wind up getting).
posted by bassooner at 11:30 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
I guess I'm a little worried because ATLA needed like 30 hours of storytelling to show how Aang learned to step up without becoming less of himself, and the slow, deliberate, carefully drawn character evolutions of everyone in the damn series was what made the thing land so well and I'm not sure how they're going to pull it off in a tenth of the time at most. I mean it was just as important to see Sokka, and Zuko, and Katara, and Toph, grow up as it was to see Aang. Well I'll watch it anyhow. [ claps hands ]
Here's something to mess with our heads. The show is going to be eight episodes long. Let's say, each episode averaging maybe 40 minutes per episode, for a total of 5.3 hours. The first season of Airbender is approximately 10 hrs long. So supposedly, they have half the time to accomplish the same goal as the original.
From the trailer, I was able to identify the following episodes:
posted by Atreides at 11:35 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
Here's something to mess with our heads. The show is going to be eight episodes long. Let's say, each episode averaging maybe 40 minutes per episode, for a total of 5.3 hours. The first season of Airbender is approximately 10 hrs long. So supposedly, they have half the time to accomplish the same goal as the original.
From the trailer, I was able to identify the following episodes:
- 1. The Boy in the Iceberg
- 2. The Avatar Returns
- 3. The Southern Air Temple
- 4. The Warriors of Kyoshi
- 5. The King of Omashu
- 7. Winter Solstice, Part 1
- 8. Winter Solstice, Part 2
- 10. Jet
- 12. The Storm
- 13. The Blue Spirit
- 15. Bato of the Water Tribe
posted by Atreides at 11:35 AM on January 23 [3 favorites]
there's a lot of filler that can be cut from the animated series and accomplish the same in a live series
posted by kokaku at 11:43 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]
posted by kokaku at 11:43 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]
ATLA was one of the few shows my daughter and I bonded over when she was a kid. We're planning on watching it together when it drops, one episode per week just like the old days. Looking forward to the experience.
posted by briank at 11:50 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 11:50 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]
From the trailer, it looks like a lot of CGI-land sets with no actual set pieces along with slapstick comedy. How many scenes do you want of someone talking, while existing in front of a background that's out of focus? After that last ant man, I'm kinda done.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:00 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
posted by alex_skazat at 12:00 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
for me, everything hinges on Appa. Good CGI Appa = triumph. Bad CGI Appa = failure.
I want Appa to have the solidity of a Mandalorian Bantha. Those were some good sci-fi megafauna.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:04 PM on January 23 [7 favorites]
I want Appa to have the solidity of a Mandalorian Bantha. Those were some good sci-fi megafauna.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:04 PM on January 23 [7 favorites]
Was really hoping to see Cabbage Guy. "My cabbages!"
posted by SPrintF at 12:11 PM on January 23 [22 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 12:11 PM on January 23 [22 favorites]
I don't know ... it looks fine, I guess? Faithful to the original, at least. But I've grumbled about live-action remakes of beloved animated properties before, and based on what I've seen of this, I'll keep to my grumbling. The original is right there! And it's great! And its sequel, The Legend of Korra, is also right there, and it's also great! (OK, maybe not S1, and S2 isn't anything to write home about, but S3 and S4 were great.)
But I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. If anyone watches the live remake, loves it, and wants more, I'll certainly point them to the original, as well as Korra.
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 12:14 PM on January 23 [8 favorites]
But I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. If anyone watches the live remake, loves it, and wants more, I'll certainly point them to the original, as well as Korra.
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 12:14 PM on January 23 [8 favorites]
for me, everything hinges on Appa. Good CGI Appa = triumph. Bad CGI Appa = failure.
They do have a 100% live-action Appa, but ironically they've got him playing Iroh.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:01 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
They do have a 100% live-action Appa, but ironically they've got him playing Iroh.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:01 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
If they use a digital stage like mandalorian it will be fine I suspect. Green screen is so last century
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:05 PM on January 23
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:05 PM on January 23
I loved the animated series and its successor, but this seems at best redundant to the source material. It also appears from the trailer that the sound mixing and VFX will result in rapid sensory overload for me.
posted by interogative mood at 1:31 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
posted by interogative mood at 1:31 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
I find the entire "live action remake" of animated properties to be pretty bizarre. Especially given that something like this probably had a small army of animators working on it, only they are working in photorealistic digital and not hand animation.
Maybe we need some animated remakes of live action properties. It could be interesting to see what Close Encounters Of The Third Kind would look like if it were animated in a modern style like the new TMNT or Spiderman films.
posted by hippybear at 1:46 PM on January 23 [10 favorites]
Maybe we need some animated remakes of live action properties. It could be interesting to see what Close Encounters Of The Third Kind would look like if it were animated in a modern style like the new TMNT or Spiderman films.
posted by hippybear at 1:46 PM on January 23 [10 favorites]
As an adult, I really want to say that there's no need to remake animated properties because they're already awesome. But the small child in me still sees a live-action remake as a badge of legitimacy.
I don't know if this is because so many live-action properties got weird, non-canonical animated adaptations in the 80s and 90s or if it's just a lingering belief that live action == something for grownups. Or maybe it's both?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:56 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
I don't know if this is because so many live-action properties got weird, non-canonical animated adaptations in the 80s and 90s or if it's just a lingering belief that live action == something for grownups. Or maybe it's both?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:56 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
"Why are you remaking something I already like" is really the perfect curmudgeonly comment. It's got all the hipster cache of "I heard of them first" combined with the perennial joy in hating on something new. Two great grumps that grump great together.
They're not taking the original away. Let people enjoy things.
posted by agentofselection at 2:09 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
They're not taking the original away. Let people enjoy things.
posted by agentofselection at 2:09 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
I could enjoy seeing The Maltese Falcon done in some sort of pretty angular anime style, kind of like the Tron series Disney had for one season.
posted by hippybear at 2:27 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 2:27 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
Oh oh oh! Let's do The Sound Of Music in full-on Classic Disney style, a la Cinderella, I think. The human characters in that, like I can see Maria being animated in the style of Cinderella herself...
posted by hippybear at 2:28 PM on January 23
posted by hippybear at 2:28 PM on January 23
Worth noting that the cast list includes Azula in ten episodes even though she had no lines in the first animated season, plus other divergences like Mai and Ty Lee in three episodes and Wan Shi Tong in an unknown number. Several of those weren't originally even mentioned in Book 1.
My guess is that some of those episode counts were placeholders from when they first announced casting, but there is definitely going to be some shifting of the story. Whatever my other concerns about the show (particularly Bryke's departure), I could definitely see them making an eight hour-long-episode season that is tighter and more consistent in quality than the original series.
But I would snicker a little bit if they devoted a half hour for a full, verbatim replication of The Great Divide just to irritate the haters.
posted by Riki tiki at 2:29 PM on January 23 [6 favorites]
My guess is that some of those episode counts were placeholders from when they first announced casting, but there is definitely going to be some shifting of the story. Whatever my other concerns about the show (particularly Bryke's departure), I could definitely see them making an eight hour-long-episode season that is tighter and more consistent in quality than the original series.
But I would snicker a little bit if they devoted a half hour for a full, verbatim replication of The Great Divide just to irritate the haters.
posted by Riki tiki at 2:29 PM on January 23 [6 favorites]
The cast list also shows James Sie will reprise his role as the cabbage merchant.
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:34 PM on January 23 [12 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:34 PM on January 23 [12 favorites]
Confirmed Jade and Jett sightings, hell yeah. (maybe they will give poor Jett a coherent ending this time....?)
AVATAR KYOSHI sighting hell YEAH.
SO: I am excited about this because:
Me and my daughter loved LOVED the original (seen it 3-4 times all the way through)
My boyfriend never saw it (not so much an animation guy) and I was a little worried about making him watch the whole thing.
So now I have 1. an excuse to rewatch this story and 2. a better chance of the boyfriend enjoying it with me.
(seriously they better not fuck it up)
posted by emjaybee at 2:44 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
AVATAR KYOSHI sighting hell YEAH.
SO: I am excited about this because:
Me and my daughter loved LOVED the original (seen it 3-4 times all the way through)
My boyfriend never saw it (not so much an animation guy) and I was a little worried about making him watch the whole thing.
So now I have 1. an excuse to rewatch this story and 2. a better chance of the boyfriend enjoying it with me.
(seriously they better not fuck it up)
posted by emjaybee at 2:44 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
I remain cautiously optimistic, given just how many scenes from the original I could identify. Including yays Kyoshi and the Cabbage Merchant.
(seriously they better not fuck it up)
posted by Quasirandom at 2:57 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
(seriously they better not fuck it up)
posted by Quasirandom at 2:57 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]
"Why are you remaking something I already like" is really the perfect curmudgeonly comment. It's got all the hipster cache of "I heard of them first" combined with the perennial joy in hating on something new.
But it's not something new and that's what I hate about it. I'm fine with people wanting another go at ATLA or OG/OT Star Wars or whatever, but damn, I'd really love to see actually new stories/concepts, especially in the SFF space. And not get them shut down in two seasons because money when old licenses, and ATLA now qualifies, are considered by corporate bean counters to print money.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 3:20 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
But it's not something new and that's what I hate about it. I'm fine with people wanting another go at ATLA or OG/OT Star Wars or whatever, but damn, I'd really love to see actually new stories/concepts, especially in the SFF space. And not get them shut down in two seasons because money when old licenses, and ATLA now qualifies, are considered by corporate bean counters to print money.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 3:20 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
I'm all for these remakes for the very simple reason that they're relatively short. I'm sorry, but if I can watch a story in ten hours, it's a maybe. The same story in thirty hours? That's got me thinking about mortality.
posted by phooky at 3:27 PM on January 23
posted by phooky at 3:27 PM on January 23
They’d better have the “secret tunnel … through the mountains …” song, it’s my fave.
posted by caviar2d2 at 3:53 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
posted by caviar2d2 at 3:53 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
But I would snicker a little bit if they devoted a half hour for a full, verbatim replication of The Great Divide just to irritate the haters.
I just started watching ATLA with my family a week or two ago (we're about 1/3 of the way through the second season now). After The Great Divide my wife was very irritated. "Did they get a whole different set of writers and animators to make that episode? That was about as bad as an episode of 'He-Man'! The next episode has got to be better than this one!"
(Thankfully it was)
posted by a faded photo of their beloved at 4:36 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
I just started watching ATLA with my family a week or two ago (we're about 1/3 of the way through the second season now). After The Great Divide my wife was very irritated. "Did they get a whole different set of writers and animators to make that episode? That was about as bad as an episode of 'He-Man'! The next episode has got to be better than this one!"
(Thankfully it was)
posted by a faded photo of their beloved at 4:36 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
I have warm feelings for that episode because one of the voice actors was the late great René Auberjonois.
posted by emjaybee at 5:30 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 5:30 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
Can we get an animated remake of The Expanse?
The books make a very good job of painting the differences between belters and martians and all the other people, life in gigantic space stations and tiny free fall rust cans orbiting some forgotten rock. Not to talk about the truly alien shit.
The live action series is pretty damn good, but still falls short it ways that good 2024 animation could make awesome.
posted by Dr. Curare at 5:42 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
The books make a very good job of painting the differences between belters and martians and all the other people, life in gigantic space stations and tiny free fall rust cans orbiting some forgotten rock. Not to talk about the truly alien shit.
The live action series is pretty damn good, but still falls short it ways that good 2024 animation could make awesome.
posted by Dr. Curare at 5:42 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]
This reminds me—we need to rewatch Avatar and Korra a fifth time.
posted by signal at 6:20 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
posted by signal at 6:20 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
The Ember Island play makes it completely clear Jet is dead dead dead.
Now the real question is what kind of name is Smellerbee? Is that a real animal in the Avatar world?
posted by Jacen at 6:46 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
Now the real question is what kind of name is Smellerbee? Is that a real animal in the Avatar world?
posted by Jacen at 6:46 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
Let's get Clue remade in a shitty Scooby Doo style animation but the best possible script and animation director. Let's use the style of that old mystery solving weekly series against itself and do some kind of really great commentary on the form in the same way that Clue had that commentary in its original form.
posted by hippybear at 7:16 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:16 PM on January 23 [5 favorites]
I have long dreamed of an animated Dracula movie in the visual style of, say, Disney's Hunchback. And what the hell, make it a musical.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:30 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:30 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]
And yeah, I will definitely watch at least the first episode of this thing.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:31 PM on January 23
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:31 PM on January 23
Mister Moofoo: have you done the Dracula Daily thing where they email you the events of the epistolary novel on the days on which the various entries were issued?
If you have not, I suggest you sign up. It is free and I believe it begins in May? It's one of my favorite things to get in my inbox across a summer.
posted by hippybear at 7:35 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
If you have not, I suggest you sign up. It is free and I believe it begins in May? It's one of my favorite things to get in my inbox across a summer.
posted by hippybear at 7:35 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]
Let's see we've got [spins wheel] Dune 2 in the style of [wheel ticks slowly to a stop] Eddie Murphy buddy cop comedy, with Eddie Murphy playing all the characters
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:18 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:18 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
"Why are you remaking something I already like" is really the perfect curmudgeonly comment. It's got all the hipster cache of "I heard of them first" combined with the perennial joy in hating on something new.
I would have more sympathy for this point of view if remakes were, with any frequency, of comparable quality to the original. I suppose there are a few exceptions, but far more frequently remakes wind up being inferior, disappointing fans of the original without exciting a significant new audience. It's not that people are hating on something new, it's that they'd rather see something genuinely new, since experience has shown them that remakes usually disappoint.
It would be a wonderful thing if this Netflix series turns out to be as great as the original ATLA, but the odds are against it.
The better something is, the more unlikely that someone else can make a better version. Now, if you really want to do a remake that is better than the original, the trick is to remake something that was originally crap...
posted by judgement day at 8:25 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
I would have more sympathy for this point of view if remakes were, with any frequency, of comparable quality to the original. I suppose there are a few exceptions, but far more frequently remakes wind up being inferior, disappointing fans of the original without exciting a significant new audience. It's not that people are hating on something new, it's that they'd rather see something genuinely new, since experience has shown them that remakes usually disappoint.
It would be a wonderful thing if this Netflix series turns out to be as great as the original ATLA, but the odds are against it.
The better something is, the more unlikely that someone else can make a better version. Now, if you really want to do a remake that is better than the original, the trick is to remake something that was originally crap...
posted by judgement day at 8:25 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]
Fiasco da gamma WHY would you even put that THOUGHT out into the universe ??
Stop . You might accidentally manifest it.
STOPPIT.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:12 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]
Stop . You might accidentally manifest it.
STOPPIT.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:12 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]
The second season of avatar is when it gets really rolling. The audience begins to understand why seemingly random elements matter. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee will sing Leaves from the Vine. I have great hopes that he can do that justice.
posted by bonehead at 5:18 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]
posted by bonehead at 5:18 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]
If you haven't seen Scooby Doo Mystery Inc it's really worth your time. The scripts are smart, the voice acting top notch, it makes fun of itself, makes fun of its genre, and gives its characters stakes and arcs. And yet it also succeeds as a goofy pratfall show. It's really quite something. Really the only thing missing is the musical interlude chase scenes, but I'll allow it as the 2-3 minutes are used for character development instead.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:39 AM on January 24 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:39 AM on January 24 [3 favorites]
Yes! Mystery Inc. was the first version of Scooby-Doo to make Fred an interesting character!
The people saying remakes don't destroy the original forget the tendency of our culture to make big-money remakes supersede older ones. How many people watched the Lord of the Rings movies, which for their greatness are definitely a particular take on the material, and then saw that as the "default" version? How many people saw TV M*A*S*H as opposed to movie M*A*S*H? Movie Forrest Gump over book Forrest Gump? It certainly doesn't happen with everything (witness the movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender), but if it turns out to be popular it could easily be seen as replacing the original in the popular mindset, it's happened lots of times.
posted by JHarris at 8:34 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]
The people saying remakes don't destroy the original forget the tendency of our culture to make big-money remakes supersede older ones. How many people watched the Lord of the Rings movies, which for their greatness are definitely a particular take on the material, and then saw that as the "default" version? How many people saw TV M*A*S*H as opposed to movie M*A*S*H? Movie Forrest Gump over book Forrest Gump? It certainly doesn't happen with everything (witness the movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender), but if it turns out to be popular it could easily be seen as replacing the original in the popular mindset, it's happened lots of times.
posted by JHarris at 8:34 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]
Yeah the Rankin and Bass version is inarguably superior to the silly Jackson movies.
posted by Jacen at 10:10 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]
posted by Jacen at 10:10 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]
I mean, the books still exist, the Bakshi version still exists, and they are just as good as they always were. They weren't "destroyed" or diminished by the existence of the Jackson versions.
posted by Roommate at 12:28 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]
posted by Roommate at 12:28 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]
how Aang learned to step up without becoming less of himself
What a lovely summary.
posted by weston at 1:31 PM on January 24 [3 favorites]
What a lovely summary.
posted by weston at 1:31 PM on January 24 [3 favorites]
I absolutely loved the live action One Piece series, though I never watched the anime (and given the number of episodes, I probably never will). I did watch all of Avatar and Korra though. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I'm cautiously optimistic. Yip yip!
posted by Roommate at 1:52 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]
posted by Roommate at 1:52 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]
The remake we truly need, obviously, another A Star Is Born, this time by Studio Ghibli.
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on January 24
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on January 24
"The world needs the Avatar. It needs you, Aang."I sure hope the writing in the series is a whole lot better than than it looks in the trailer.
"If the world is gonna have any chance, it's gonna need Aang."
"The world needs you. Remember what it is you're really fighting for. The ones we... love."
"I'm the avatar, and I'm gonna save the world. With my friends."
posted by MrVisible at 6:52 AM on January 25 [1 favorite]
I mean, Aang is a kid. Literally a child. That's the charm of the series. He's a realistically portrayed super-powered child, thrown into a war far beyond his level of emotional and intellectual ability to comprehend and cope with, and it's a story of how he matures enough to help resolve it not by destroying everything, but with compassion, by helping to create a lasting peace. But it starts off with him being a kid, and you kind of have to keep things simple with kids. I'm not too worried.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:02 AM on January 25 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:02 AM on January 25 [3 favorites]
There's lines very similar to those quoted, if even direct lifts from the tv show. The message of the trailer, though, is pushed pretty successfully for those unfamiliar. Aang is the avatar, only the avatar can save the world from the Fire Nation, and btw, he can do it with the help of his friends.
posted by Atreides at 7:30 AM on January 25
posted by Atreides at 7:30 AM on January 25
The Penultimate Airbender
posted by kirkaracha at 7:51 AM on January 25 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 7:51 AM on January 25 [1 favorite]
Aang changed after Appa's abduction. His mood was darker, more angry. He never recovered from that. The story of "The Headband" is memorable because, for one episode, we again saw the happy-go-lucky kid that emerged from the ice. After that, Aang had to face the Firelord.
posted by SPrintF at 7:55 AM on January 25 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 7:55 AM on January 25 [3 favorites]
The first time I watched The Last Airbender, I watched it as a power fantasy about having the power to save the world.
And then I watched it again and felt like it was a power fantasy about externalizing grief. My grief should lift me up in the air like a storm. My grief should turn me into the ocean.
posted by ewok_academy at 12:26 PM on January 25 [12 favorites]
And then I watched it again and felt like it was a power fantasy about externalizing grief. My grief should lift me up in the air like a storm. My grief should turn me into the ocean.
posted by ewok_academy at 12:26 PM on January 25 [12 favorites]
That is a really interesting interpretation, ewok_academy. I'm still thinking about it, four days later.
posted by Quasirandom at 11:04 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Quasirandom at 11:04 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]
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posted by Atreides at 10:40 AM on January 23