The Last CGIbender
Nov. 13th, 2023 10:03 pmHuh. I guess Netflix is doing a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I ... have no interest in this?
I quite enjoyed the original animated series. The first season is a better-than-average episodic cartoon with a really strong finale; the second keeps that format for about five episodes until Toph Beifong shows up, and then it really gets rolling and maintains that momentum for the remainder. I've been meaning to look into some of the sequel (and now prequel, I guess) comics but never got around to it. It's really good, is what I'm saying. Compelling.
(Legend of Korra, the sequel series, is intensely uneven. Partly this is due to the compressed format: four functionally standalone seasons of 12-14 episodes rather than one long sixty-episode story. Partly, I'd guess, it's due to the departure of head writer Aaron Ehasz[1], whose show The Dragon Prince retains most of the good qualities of Avatar. Whatever the reason: Korra's best moments are better than A:tLA's, but they're also far fewer, and both its low-water mark and average quality are well below Avatar.)
[1] Aaron Ehasz has also been credibly accused of being an absolute shit to the women working for him.
Anyway. There was a terrible A:tlA movie whose sole virtue is that it gave us the term "racebending" for casting white actors in nonwhite roles. And now I guess Netflix has added it to their ranks of "ran out of new ideas" shows.
It looks ... fine, I guess?? The kids look alright, though it's weird to see Katara and especially Aang without giant anime eyes. I can't think of anyone better than Paul Sun-Hyung Lee to play Iroh. CGI Appa and Momo really don't work for me, and the scenery's lush but soulless.
Mostly I just can't come up with a reason to invest any time or energy into it. Part of the fun of A:tLA is the animation, the wild things they can do with it. Adding human actors, and "real" sets and special effects, doesn't bring anything that's of any interest to me. They're not even doing anything fun with the live-action, the way the Cowboy Bebop remake did (at least, from what I saw of the trailers it did). So what's the point? If I wanted to watch Avatar, I'd watch Avatar.
I'm mostly just annoyed that this is happening while so many of my favourite shows got axed well before their time. Trickster, Stumptown, Lovecraft Country, Legends of Tomorrow (seven seasons isn't necessarily "well before its time" but still). Grump. Oh well. Not like I'm watching much new television anyway, these days.
I ... have no interest in this?
I quite enjoyed the original animated series. The first season is a better-than-average episodic cartoon with a really strong finale; the second keeps that format for about five episodes until Toph Beifong shows up, and then it really gets rolling and maintains that momentum for the remainder. I've been meaning to look into some of the sequel (and now prequel, I guess) comics but never got around to it. It's really good, is what I'm saying. Compelling.
(Legend of Korra, the sequel series, is intensely uneven. Partly this is due to the compressed format: four functionally standalone seasons of 12-14 episodes rather than one long sixty-episode story. Partly, I'd guess, it's due to the departure of head writer Aaron Ehasz[1], whose show The Dragon Prince retains most of the good qualities of Avatar. Whatever the reason: Korra's best moments are better than A:tLA's, but they're also far fewer, and both its low-water mark and average quality are well below Avatar.)
[1] Aaron Ehasz has also been credibly accused of being an absolute shit to the women working for him.
Anyway. There was a terrible A:tlA movie whose sole virtue is that it gave us the term "racebending" for casting white actors in nonwhite roles. And now I guess Netflix has added it to their ranks of "ran out of new ideas" shows.
It looks ... fine, I guess?? The kids look alright, though it's weird to see Katara and especially Aang without giant anime eyes. I can't think of anyone better than Paul Sun-Hyung Lee to play Iroh. CGI Appa and Momo really don't work for me, and the scenery's lush but soulless.
Mostly I just can't come up with a reason to invest any time or energy into it. Part of the fun of A:tLA is the animation, the wild things they can do with it. Adding human actors, and "real" sets and special effects, doesn't bring anything that's of any interest to me. They're not even doing anything fun with the live-action, the way the Cowboy Bebop remake did (at least, from what I saw of the trailers it did). So what's the point? If I wanted to watch Avatar, I'd watch Avatar.
I'm mostly just annoyed that this is happening while so many of my favourite shows got axed well before their time. Trickster, Stumptown, Lovecraft Country, Legends of Tomorrow (seven seasons isn't necessarily "well before its time" but still). Grump. Oh well. Not like I'm watching much new television anyway, these days.