Author Topic: Avatar: The Last Airbender  (Read 3046 times)

FatherXmas

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Avatar: The Last Airbender
« on: August 16, 2013, 02:01:52 AM »
I finally found all 3 box sets, pulled a marathon session and watched the entire series over several nights.  Now I've seen bits of it here and there while house sitting, missed it when it was on Nick and don't get Nicktoons myself.

The creators really need to teach classes in world building, story planning and character development to writing teams of SciFi/Fantasy TV series.  So many series suffer from writers straying from the bible causing characters to act inconsistent, introducing elements that are never mentioned again, etc.  It was an almost perfect mix of action, adventure, humor and romance.

I also see why fans weren't as excited by Korra.  It's a bit darker, not as much romance and the humor is a bit more forced.  Plus 12 episodes are just too few.
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crayehal

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2013, 06:55:20 PM »
The story telling was well done.  I even made homage characters in CoH and wasn't generic'd for it until the debacle of a movie came out.  The only ones who weren't generic'd were Kyoshi, Iroh, Haru and Bumi.

Magus Prime

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2013, 07:11:10 PM »
Korra was a bit rushed for the 12 episodes it had.  And it's darker because the creators decided that their original target audience is a little older now.  Somewhere in their teens.  I think the second season will be better and be crafted with the same care the first three books were made with.  I do agree the world that they imagined and created is quite the spectacle.  I also really like the new industrial age they came up with.  All in all if DiMartino and Konietzko are attached, it's pretty much a must-see.

FatherXmas

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2013, 10:17:25 PM »
Korra Book 2, Sept 13th Nick.
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Eoraptor

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2013, 01:58:32 AM »
agreed on all points. but another problem with Korra is the scale. we went from a world-spanning story in ATLAB down to a single point of focus with Korra. that's a radical shift in story telling for any established audience.

But worse is all the old threads left hanging. they lantern-hang it in the premier when the kids ask old katara about Zuko and his moma and then she shrugs it off. It's like someone made all these fabulous characters that we all fell in love with and then said "Oh you wanted to know what happened to them? tough shit, I want to tell a new story instead"

I think that leaves a taste in a lot of fans' mouths which is why they got fed up with the new story and didn't tune in. I know its always in the back of my mind when I watch Korra and prevents me from being fully immersed in the story.
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Arnabas

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2013, 03:34:46 AM »

I think that leaves a taste in a lot of fans' mouths which is why they got fed up with the new story and didn't tune in. I know its always in the back of my mind when I watch Korra and prevents me from being fully immersed in the story.

That was one of the problems I had. I wanted a follow-up to the original series, but in the fee episodes I saw, I got the feeling that my questions would not be addressed. My other issues with Korra ate that I didn't like the new art style, I didn't like the new, more modern setting and I didn't find the characters interesting. I think I watched two or the episodes before saying "god this is boring"and tuning out. Too bad, because I absolutely LOVED the original.

Battlechimp

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2013, 04:46:33 PM »
I love the new series.  One of the biggest issues though that fans have that keep seeing in every discussion of Korea though is that the creators wanted to tell a new story and explore their world in a different way, but lots of the fans wanted more of the same style of story.  But really with the exception of Zuko's mom,  their story was done. Any other story beyond that one point would have to be smaller scale.  Where do you go with those characters after defeating world conquering mad man that won't be a smaller scope?  The outcry then would have been, they're just doing the same thing over again, why cant they come up with something new :-)

And the art style is very different, but it really does fit better with the type of story they're trying to tell then the style from the original series.  I like it's but eh, that's just my opinion, I can see why some might not take to it.

As far as the story goes, it does start slow. Lots of exposition and showing how the world changed/advanced, and being introduced to all the new characters.  That's the first 3 or 4 episodes right there even before they start alluding to the chi blockers.  It does feel a bit rushed in parts and that they were going to try and do more with the love triangle(or love square? ) but they had to wrap it up because they weren't sure they had a second season. If they weren't picked up again, where they left off would be a fine place to leave the series. Compare that to the first series, they knew they had 3 seasons, the was /planned / around that.  That makes it so much easier to make things flow that much smoother plot wise. 

When Korra aired I was only able to catch episodes here or there ( or the same episode 3 times oddly enough) I didn't really get into it.  It fell into the "that's neat but I'm not going to actively look for it" category. But I saw it on sale at Wal-mart and watched it as a whole, and the series really grows on you when you can see it in its entirety... and in order.
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Eoraptor

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2013, 06:28:53 PM »
But see, there were plenty of places for them to take those LAB stories. Those characters were mostly barely even teenagers, and much of their battles were won through luck as much through skill or destiny. You could have done whole extra seasons of them exploring how to handle real loses and what not without retredding existing ground.

as the audience aged so too could have the material. we know that ang and katara end up together... but that doesn't tell us HOW they got from being a blushing pair of adolescents to a functioning family unit complete with sexual identities. Nor does it explain things to us about how any of them (aside from Zuko) handle being transformed from a bunch of kids from the hinterlands to global celebrities. There's a story not told often enough in fiction. what comes AFTER the climax of the story? "when your protagonist has been irrepairably changed but the world continues to exist around them."

there honestly were dozens of different threads to follow that could be worked for any level of audience, munch the same way that the show itself often seemed far more advanced than its target audience is given credit for (reminds me a lot of Gargoyles in that)

I love a lot of things about korra and the series, but at the end, It's just too radically different. That at the end of one life span they have somehow gone from the cusp of industrial revolution to gangster town chicago. there's elements there I dearly love, such as how Ang and Korra are nothing alike, so much so that they went to the design of making korra absolutely not a typical shapely female but a well muscled tomboy. And the concept of people who are viscerally opposed to benders of all stripes and willing to launch a war over it is excellent... but those things could have been played out on the older tapestry too. Like I said before, I watch the show, but at the end of each episode I find myself asking "well that's all well and good, but how does any of it connect with the previous years' worth of story telling from LAB?"
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Magus Prime

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2013, 09:11:10 PM »
I've made my peace with the departure from the first three books.  It's a fresh take and from what I can gather, Konietzko and DiMartino wanted to give themselves as much storytelling room as possible by changing the time, setting, and protagonist prospective.  I am in agreement with Eoraptor and would have loved to see more coverage on ATLA more than I am ready to hear the tale of a new avatar but at the end of the day, I am a junkie for whatever these guys put out as I'm sure it'll be amazing on so many levels.  In any case, they have said they may return to the source material to make a feature length animated movie at some point down the line.  They would have to get another actor to play Aang as I'm sure the original kid's voice cracked or if it takes place later on in his life, they can stick with D.B. Sweeney.

FatherXmas

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2013, 12:20:44 AM »
Personally I don't want to see Aang, Katara and Toph get their "sexual identities".  It's good enough to see Zuko and Mai snuggling on the Divan and who else thinks that wasn't the first time Suki went to visit Sokka's tent?  That's all I need to know.  I don't want Avatar: The Wonder Years.

Post war and reconstruction will be ugly.  We have a world where for multiple generations people considered the Fire Nation is either evil incarnate or just fulfilling their manifest destiny.  There's a lot of hatchets to be buried.  Then their would be the various factions from within the Fire Nation who would reject Zuko and would want to somehow restore Azula if only as a figurehead.  Too many people in the Fire Nation has had their "cheese" moved to simply accept defeat.

Sure, they could have done a story where they went their separate ways for a few years only to reunite at the ages of the main cast in Korra to face some crisis.  But sometimes you simply have to let characters go and let the fans imagine a happy ending.

Now with Korra being time skipped sixty years allows two generations to be born after the war and post war reconstruction to be mostly over.  Plus there are always flashbacks.  We had several in TLAB and really only one coherent one in Korra.  Personally I would like to see Sokka's children and grandchildren.
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Atlantea

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2013, 04:32:06 PM »
Apropos of nothing in particular -

"The Toph Beifong Experience" would be a good name for a band. Presumably a loud one without much emphasis on big stage visuals.


Eoraptor

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2013, 06:26:16 PM »
So you're saying a rock band?

/em duck

sorry, I couldn't resist it. it was right there...
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Atlantea

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2013, 11:21:02 PM »
Indeed. Was rather hoping someone would notice.

And earlier version of the band was known as Spinal Toph.  ;D

Tenzhi

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Re: Avatar: The Last Airbender
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2013, 06:31:52 AM »
Hrm.  Didn't really notice any major changes in the art style.  Different design sense, same style to my eyes.
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