#like the movie's reputation is openly garbage its so abundantly clear what fans want

[poisonousquinzel]

okay at this point we're gonna have to accept that any attempts of a live action ATLA will always be cursed and will never be a good alternative to just watching (pirating cause fuck nickelodeon) the cartoon because what the fuck do you mean they're taking out gigantic chunks of Sokka, Katara and Aang's arcs/development/characteristics, showing the genocide at the Southern Air air temple and more of the Agni Kai between Zuko and Ozai while simultaneously having the gall to say "I mean, the characters, we had to dimensionalize them-"

The Big Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender Producer Interview: 'This Is a Remix, Not a Cover'

There are certain scenes that you never saw in the original, whether it's the attack on the Southern Air Temple or the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko. And those are things that I knew we needed to see in order to make it feel much more grounded as a live-action show. So it was about feeling your way throughout the process. Where can we take the story into the new directions that still feels true to the spirit of the original? And that's what it all comes down to, making sure it feels like it was Avatar in spirit.

Bending the Rules

And going back to those narrative liberties, was there anything in particular where you were like, “no, this is set in stone. This can’t change”?

AK: There's a lot of things like that, starting with the characters. I mean, the characters, we had to dimensionalize them, but there are certain core ... I would say there's a core DNA to the characters that you don't want to mess with, whether it's Aang, like I said, his childlike goofiness, his sense of humor, the burden of his responsibility, Sokka and his humor and his pragmatic outlook on life, Katara's warmth and her optimism. Those things had to carry through into our version. So you start with the characters, and you say, "What's the essence of the characters that got a big change? And what's the room where we can expand it a little more?" The cartoon, for as great as it was, was 15 years ago. And so, things have changed. There are certain roles I think that Katara did in the cartoon that we didn't necessarily also do here. I mean, I don't want to really get into a lot of that, but some gender issues that didn't quite translate.

My friend just watched it for the first time, and she's like, "Sokka's an asshole." I was like, "Yeah, no, he kind of is."

JR: Yeah, especially in the first season.

AK: Yeah. So we had to guard against that kind of stuff. And so, those are things that aren't really changing a character as so much as updating them a little bit.

I think one of the big questions is, despite all the remixing, is the point A and the point B still the same as the original?

AK: Pretty much. Yeah, I mean, I think the state of the world and the stakes of the world are still the same. So we decided to make Aang's narrative drive a little clearer. In the first season of the animated series, he's kind of going from place to place looking for adventures. He even says, "First, we've got to go and ride the elephant koi." It's a little looser as befits a cartoon. We needed to make sure that he had that drive from the start. And so, that's a change that we made. We essentially give him this vision of what's going to happen and he says, "I have to get to the Northern Water Tribe to stop this from happening." That gives him much more narrative compulsion going forward, as opposed to, "Let's make a detour and go ride the elephant koi," that type of thing. So that's something, again, that's part of the process of going from a Nickelodeon cartoon to a Netflix serialized drama.

And they say in regards to the original creators leaving: "But sure, having them leave was a blow. And we had to think about whether or not the vision that we had set forward really reflects and honors the spirit of what they had created. And we felt like it did, so we went forward with it. " idk y'all should've taken the hint goddamn ...

AK: But sure, having them leave was a blow. And we had to think about whether or not the vision that we had set forward really reflects and honors the spirit of what they had created. And we felt like it did, so we went forward with it.

If you could send fans who are anxious about the live-action show any message, what would it be?

JR: I think, as a fan of the show, they're going to get the live-action version of the show they've always hoped they would get.

Albert, anything to add?

AK: This is the version of Avatar that I would want to see as a fan.

- Netflix ATLA Showrunner Albert Kim & Executive Producer/Director/VFX Supervisor Jabbar Raisani

Source

like this ain't coming across like a remix, this is just empty meaningless noise

#wtf else could they even show of the agni kai WE SAW IT DID YOU NOT WATCH THE FUCKING SHOW???????? #the camera staying on them when he gets burned by his father isnt needed thats literally the only thing we didn't see #AND WE DONT NEED TO FUCK OFF #not dc #avatar the last airbender #atla #netflix atla #idk how they can have such a clear cut example of What Not To Do and seem to be trying to do it WORSE #like the movie's reputation is openly garbage its so abundantly clear what fans want #and theyre like :))) what if we uh update these one dimensional characters cause sokka's obnoxious at first :))) yeah no shit #its not as if its not called out either???? its not played for laughs katara literally calls him sexist IN THE LIKE FIRST 5 MINUTES OF EP 1 #he's in the wrong and you know it yall just didn't watch the show or have ZERO ability to comprehend media literacy its so sad wtf