Toph being portrayed as a big buff dude, possibly being a way of Fire Nation propaganda coping that they got beaten by a blind 10 year old, and Toph also absolutely loving it, is one of the highlights of this episode.
@@bennyjames7428 I know, but this reusing of that concept fits perfectly with how the fire nation would portray an unstoppable force like Toph to save face haha
Exactly. If your going to make it a Recap Episode, at least do it in a way that doesn't use clips from previous episodes and also use it to do something more than just recap on what happened before. Like here.
@@georgemeyers7172 Y'all, the point of a clip-show episode is to save animation budget and boost quality of the other episodes. The showrunners are given a budget and a number of episodes they must fill, and sometimes that budget isn't enough to fully animate all of the ordered episodes without taking a hit to their quality. That's WHY they use previous clips, they're already made and take no additional budget to produce. Is this enjoyable for the audience? Depends. Generally not though. But the issue is budget, not creative choices.
@@starkid910 Then why don't they spread the budget and time a bit thinner and give us all genuine episodes with 90% of the quality? I at least would prefer that
it's not only a recap of the plot but it also references fandom jokes and criticisms, as well as showing off the character development everyone has gone through, showing another facet of fire nation life and propaganda, reveal more of zuko's backstory with his mom and theater, advance aang and katara's relationship, all on top of being really funny lmao. it rewards fans for paying attention and it's a nice moment of levity before the big finale. perfect episode imo lol
@@highdefinition450 I'd also like to mention that the end of the play where the Ozai defeats Aang and laughs about him never bringing balance to the world highlights just how dire the stakes really are. We know since day 1 that Aang has to defeat the fire nation. We see his journey to get stronger, but after a while you kinda mentally put that in the background. Seeing it up close and personal like they did in the play forced us to remember that fact.
This episode has my single favorite joke of the entire series. The one joke that will play through my head on my deathbed, when every other aspect of the series has left me. The best moment of ATLA. "Wait, what's that? I think it's your honor!" "Where!?"
fun fact, in the brazilian dub the line "just sit next to me" is turn to "just sit on my lap", and is said in such a big brother way that si cute and funny.
Atla's recaps are always the best. "Previously on avatar..." *Proceeds to show you all the foreshadowing that led up to that episode.* Especially in "Puppet Master," book 3 we got a recap from all the way in book one when Katara and Yue talked about the moon granting power to the water benders.
Avatar's intro recaps were really well done, I wish more shows would do that instead of just showing 30 seconds from the last episode, regardless of how related they are
@@HackRazor1012 I finally understand why some shows do recaps better than others.. the "recap only last episode" only works on multi-part specials that were split up..
Something I never really understood until my recent watch through is why Aang was so hung up on Katara. I get it now. Aang is on the cusp of having his biggest battle and wants to know how Katara feels because when he fights that battle he may never see her again. Katara on the other hand has her priorities straight but I think she is afraid too. Katara lost her mom. I think Katara is afraid that if she commits and loses Aang she would feel devastated so she is keeping her distance.
In book 3 in general he seemed to be much less hung on her than before. But he never had experience with girls before so who knows. The tension between them after the invasion kiss was weird. The writers were just uncofortamble bringing them together before the finale.
@@ceinwenchandler4716 The writers wanted to continue the whole "will they wont they" trope. I can understand that katara is very responsible person and wants aang to focus on the firelord but they really had a lack of communication at the end. It would have been nice to see at least one additional scene where she confessed her feelings.
The fact they took a tired (and often lazy) way to make an episode without much effort and turned it into a meta retelling of the series was a brilliant move on the writing teams' part. I can always appreciate a recap episode as long as it's an actual episode and not just a compilation of past shows. Ed, Edd, n Eddy and It's Always Sunny also had clever and similar ways of doing the "Recap Episode", in a sense that the episode started off that way, but then the characters started remembering things that never even happened.
That's why I think Korra should've had their whole recap episode narrated by Varrick instead of just a couple minutes, that was some of the most hilarious shit in the entire series while the rest of it was basically just the characters discussing what happened
I would also like to add Community to the list where they remembered adventures that did happen, but we never got to see them, while including commentary of that and things we did see
Community did a twist on this i think? If memory serves, they did an episode where the characters reminisce, but it's mostly of adventures we weren't privy to.
Another thing that makes this recap so good, it almost feels like director commentary done through the characters. Especially when zuko asks if Jett died and Sokka simply says “eh it wasn’t clear.” It’s a clever level of awareness.
funny thing, i just got done rewatching atla and korra. when i watch the ember island players the fact of it being a recap episode completely escapes me. but when i watched korra's recap i literally skipped it the moment i understood what old timey speaking announcer man was saying lol
I loved korra’s recap. Not as good as ember island but I thought it was nice and I enjoyed the funny commentary given by the characters, still a vast improvement compared to most other recap eps
Korra's recap is still like the second best recap episode in the history of television (next to Ember Island Players), so I'm personally pretty okay with it every time I rewatch the show. I mean, the last recap section with Varrick's narration is quite literally a canonized YTP, it doesn't get much more original than that. I'm still bitter we didn't get the Kuvira's backstory episode it ended up replacing, though. It'd have made Season 4 so much better and probably on par with Season 3 (even though I still think Season 4 is really good, especially its first few episodes - which are probably my favorite part of the whole show).
I think that many of the changes/creative choices the playmakers chose show parts of Fire Nation ideology. First of all, Katara and Sokka are represented with stereotypes to show how the Fire Nation is racist. Katara in the play is like the "Latina bimbo" trope, and Sokka in the play is like the "funny Black guy" trope. Emasculating Aang is making fun of him, that it's bad (for him) to be girly. The "traitors" Zuko and Iroh are portrayed as weak and dishonorable to show what the Fire Nation thinks of defects from the royal family. Toph is shown as a buff "not blind" guy because hypermasculinity is viewed as strength and vice versa, and it's really embarrassing for a blind girl to destroy her opponents. Finally, the royal family of the Fire Nation is shown as incredibly strong, clearly meant to be who the audience should have allegiance to.
I also like to think that no one who fought with Toph would admit that they absouletly got destroyed by a young blind girl and that's why it is a gigantic buffed guy. 😂😂
My thoughts exactly. I also thought of the female actor playing Aang for the practical aspect of having a higher voice than a male actor, since Aang is still just a kid whose voice hasn't even started cracking yet.
My favorite unintentional fourth wall break in this episode was when the kid was talking about how zuko's scar was supposed to be on the right side of his face as opposed to the left I really like this particular moment because it shows that the writers knew that during this time a lot of people were uploading all the Avatar episodes on TH-cam but flipped to get around copyright
I think Ember Island Players served two purposes, not just as a Recap/Breather Episode prior to the finale. But also to go balls deep on the at the time upcoming Last Airbender movie by M. Night Shamalamadigdong.
@@savannahdesjarlais6417 what I really don't understand is that literally seconds later and I believe seconds prior (I might be mistaken), far more impressive Earth bending is shown, though still not even close to regular Earth bending soldiers in the actual show. Seriously, there's no way that Earth bending choreography made it into final production for any other reason than ATLA writers secretly changing the script with one of their old jokes.
@@savannahdesjarlais6417 Yeah! I love the I'm a little tea pot scene! It's so goofy! Seriously watching the movie as a joke is the best way to enjoy most movies that Shamalamadigdong made.
I also love how Sokka describes the play as like their previous "wacky nonsense" because thats exactly what it is, but nobody comes back feeling the way they did in season one because everything changed (like when the fire nation attacked haha) Its both linear and cyclical, like the Avatar cycle, or me when I restart the show again
The thing that makes this recap episode perfect for me, is that it essentially is not a recap episode, it's a mockery of the characters. Like mentioned, it reminds us how far these characters have come albeit in a jesting way, and by mocking their actions and personality the episode actually recaps all the important things while keeping the audience engaged with comedy and an actual storyline, all the while also giving the characters a chance to reflect upon themselves. It was incredibly well thought up.
Regarding Korra's recap: it wasn't originally planned. Nickelodeon cut the show's budget by an entire episode in the middle of production, so the creators had to either do a recap episode or let some animators go early. They never considered the second option.
Honestly, now I want a show to do a recap episode that’s masquerading as a reaction video, and they start with the intro and then say “But first, a word from our sponsor - Attack: Myths of Darkness.”
It could also be done as an interview, with a host who ask uncomfy questions and the main characters who remember the past events, adding their personalities to the recap!!!
I’ve watched ember island players so many times. Anytime I want the feel good of avatar without jumping into a rewatch, it’s ember island, nightmares and day dreams, or the beach (book 3 superiority).
I am surprised it wasn't mentioned that in the DVD commentary the creators said the writers used the critique at the end of the episode as a jab at the upcoming (at the time) live-action movie
"but the effects were decent" doesn't really fit though. The effects looked like something from 2004, and the backgrounds and camerawork were just as terrible....
@@bibbobella Maybe not, but it's a fair assumption from the creators since they saw how the film was coming together, and since the effects are usually done after filming. They figured the effects would probably be the best part of the film.
"Look! It's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!" "Eh, let's keep flying." Amazing humor and really understanding the audience... Yeah, this still is the best recap episode ever. [Edit]: Watching the video more, I'm loving how deep this episode got without me fully realizing it.
I think one of the main problems (other than workload) is the level of creative liberties they have when producing anime. They aren't getting paid or were given the copyright to create original content on an existing story but to make an anime series based on the original manga. Obviously, it's different if it's an original anime.
What I find interesting about the alternate Final Battle from the Ember Play is, that it is how it really happend till the last episode, as in the play zuko goes up against azula and he loses and aang goes up against the firelord and gets beaten up. Where it differs is the very last episode where katara beats azula and aang unlocks his avatar mode again and turns the tides against the firelord.
@@michaelcarlton1484 Idk about James Cameron's Avatar, aside from the visuals, there was nothing really rememberable about the story, the characters, the world, the lore, etc. Do you remember off the top of your head what the blue people were called and the name of the plant they lived on?
One of the creators (I think Bryan) actually posted something on his personal tumblr warning Korra fans about the clips episode before it aired and apologizing stating that they were forced to do that episode because of budget cuts
Regarding recap episodes, Stargate SG-1 also has an interesting one at the end of season 1 right before the finale (S1.E20 "Politics"). The episode includes clips from older episodes, probably for budgeting reasons. However, the clips are part of a meeting where the protagonists (SG-1) have to justify their actions to a senator who wants to shut down the Stargate program. In the end, the program is actually shut down and SG-1 have to go rogue, thus leading directly into the finale. The episode is tense, introduces a new recurring character and is very plot relevant despite being a recap episode. If studios have the resources to avoid recap episodes, I think it's often better to not do them at all, but if they have to, this is an interesting approach.
One thing I think people should look to for a "good recap" is actually The Lion King 1 1/2. The entire movie was basically the first Lion King, but from someone else's perspective, and that's why it was so much fun. Recaps can be genuinely enjoyable if you do them right, and both spoofs and alternate perspectives can be really good ways of doing that
I love the fact that they admit the Great Divide is bad XD "Look, it's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!" "... eh, let's keep flying."
The whole time my husband and i were watching the series we kept making fun of Zuko's hair changes. It was so satisfying to see the overly dramatic long flowing hair in the play. I had to pause the episode because i was laughing too hard. I'm glad the writers included jokes that weren't necessarily pointed out in the show but resonated with the audience.
Kill La Kill also has an interesting "recap episode". They do the entire recap in about 2 min, and says "HAH, I bet you rolled your eyes when I said recap episode. Kill La Kill is such a fast paced show that we did our recap in the length of an intro. Anyway onto the real episode"
I haven’t seen too much anime in my lifetime, but my favorite recap episode is definitely “Interlude Party” from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Its dreamlike quality and philosophical discussions on the qualities of humanity are so good, and its ending will always make me emotional. Top-tier stuff!
On top of being a great episode in its own right, it actually does also serve the true, best purpose of a recap episode. By coming right before the finale, even those who've been binging the series will have likely forgotten some details. And also, by coming right before the finale, it will catch those who are coming in, possibly with friends insisting they see it, just before the finale. The best and most legitimate purpose of a recap episode is to bring everyone up to date and speed on what has happened so far, so everyone is familiar with the stakes, the characters, and the purpose of the story. Putting it right before the finale is akin to a review session right before final exams. I know this is probably obvious, but few series seem to plan their recap episodes this way. Yes, this is because they're really just doing a clip show to fill time due to production issues, as mentioned, but the point I'm driving at is that this recap episode was purposeful on every level, _including being a recap episode._ It wasn't "just" all this video says. It was not bringing up these past elements of the story just to contrast them with the present. It was also bringing them all up to cram 60 episodes of events into 20 minutes so that everyone getting ready to watch the finale knows how we got here.
This episode is literally the reason I finally decided to watch ATLA. I had heard about it for years both from irl friends and online communities but never found the time to sit and watch it. Then I saw a clip of this play that I found so funny that I kept on watching it over and over until I finally decided to sit down and watch the whole thing. And now its one of my favourite shows of all time. It's a really good introduction to both the story and the comedy of the show.
One bit of cool world building with the play to think about vs most entertainment being bending based is this is a feasible job for non benders who are often forgot when talking about avatar
Clerks TV did a very good recap episode. It was the second episode of the series it started by flashing back to scenes that were earlier in the same episode, followed with flashbacks from the singular prior episode followed by flashbacks that did not add to the plot but pulled from episodes that never existed introducing characters that are never mentioned again
Thanks for not criticizing Korra for being a more traditional clip show. Originally Bryke had every intention of making an episode like The Ember Island Players but Nick cut their budget in half so they were forced to do a clip show or otherwise they would need to fire half their staff which they weren't going to do. People often forget that Korra was overly screwed by the network with them not even knowing if there would be another season during the making of Air and Spirits, putting the show on a 7 O'Clock Death Slot and, like I said, cutting the budget in half so a planned recap had to be scrapped.
Let's be clear: Korra did not use its budget wisely. They overanimated unnecessary background details and then cut corners on important stuff. Korra was a cursed project from start to finish
I still can't appreciate enough how well they utilized recap, obviously in this episode but throughout the series as well. I'd never even considered The Guru to be a recap! How well-disguised it was. And of course you had the "Previously On" segments that are still some of my favorites in television to this day (although I will admit, as others have, that they could occasionally spoil segments of the episode). They knew the audience might need an episode to get caught up for the finale, and they gave it to us in the best possible way.
I vaguely remember mob psycho 100 having a special or something that was just Regein retelling the whole story but He was the cool one and his face was just badly photoshoped onto mob Definitely entertaining
i binge was avatar and i like the filler episode because after watching a bunch of episodes of new story and information this episode helps me kind of organise my thoughts and the information given through out the show
Finally someone mentioning Samurai Champloo's recap which, IMO isn't quite as good as ATLA, but still loads better than the majority of others. Thank you!
The recap examples you gave, it is exactly how Gintama did it. And that episodes were hilarious and did play with the budgeting issues and even explained us what is filler.
Not the first time I see this episode analysed, but a great analysis nonetheless. Thank you! Also I'm curious on that video on Korra's episode as it was a retelling episode that personally doesn't compare to Ember Island Players. Looking forward to it! ✌🏼
I've seen two other examples of decent/interesting recap this week. One is the beginning of the second season of dragon prince where Callum is recounting their journey so far but he's actually writing a letter to his step dad, not knowing he'd already been killed, which seamlessly links into the main subject of the episode. The other example is I've been watching an anime of a bilibili comic called God troubles me (bit of a slice of life) and at the beginning of each episode is a short recap of the previous episode but it's a bit like an animated diary sketch and it's a very biased account from one of the characters. They're interesting enough for me to be annoyed at Netflix for treating them as recap and automatically skipping them. Actually thinking about turning off the automatic skipper and just skipping things manually. Sometimes I actually want to listen to the intros of things. If only I knew how to actually do that
Buying the Tekkaman Blade DVD's, I was not only surprised that there was four recap episodes out of 50, but that two of them took place within 2-3 episodes of each other (43 and 45 iirc). To be fair, there wasn't much overlap surprisingly with each focused on one side of the conflict right before the finale arc. And (again iirc after a few years), the episode 43 reminiscing was more Blade and Aki trying to reinforce his rapidly deteriorating memory, so at least there was a story purpose, as sad as it was. Martian Successor Nadesico did an interesting one too, with the ending reveling it was a recap episode within the anime's in-universe anime, Gekiganger....where Nadisco is the in-universe anime and the Gekiganger characters are complaining that it's just recap this week.
In lok the recap episode was actually due to not having enough money for the extra animation. It was suppose to be govera's origin episode, but due to those reasons they decided to cut it and just use lots of clips to recap things instead to save money. They did well, but it was still kinda obvious it was a recap episode for production reasons. Now atla on the other hand, i never even thought of this episode as a recap!!!!!! 😮 You had so many great points and it makes so much sense, but i never thought of it that way! I always wondered why it was right before the ending. This makes so much more sense now!!!. 😅 But your right they did it so epically i still rewatch it cause its great! Soakka even interacts with his ember iskand character! 😂 And toph freaking loved hers. I actually didnt know that was an easter egg! I never knew she was suppose to be a boy. And the kaang vs zutara shipping was just the writers messing with us and it was great. It was almost like an incredibly written fanfiction. By professionals. All coming down to aangs having to face the fact that he had to possibly kill and that is just something that again puts this show as top tier cartoons/shows. Never afraid of the realness, especially in things like war.
I'm pretty forgiving of the One Piece flashbacks. It has been on for over 20 years and not everyone starts at episode one in Japan, which is their primary market. Gotta have a way for people to jump in and still follow the story elements. Plus imagine the long-time weekly watchers. If you started watching when you were seven you're 30 now, and that's a long time to remember all the details. It just feels like a lot to us bingers (granted I haven't been able to binge for 14 years now)
I had to stop during dressrosa cause every episode was a recap of the last half of the previous episode. Like you could get away with watching every other dressrosa episode because it would be covered by later episodes.
ATLA is so good ефрфе I rewatch it each year, before the Christmas. And, yeah, this is always about looking back) God damn, how have I change from the kid I used to be, who was looking at "Wow, Bom, Cool! Fire". Thank you for the new video, your words resonate with me)
Me: oh cool a nice video summarizing a tv series i havent thought of in a while, would be cool to watch it Me later, seeing my recommended page: *what have i done*
Zuko becoming Katara's boyfriend should have been Aang's nightmare in the episode before the invasion. Ozai defeats Aang but instead of killing Aang, he puts him in prison because he wants him to suffer. Katara kisses Aang on the cheek and says he is like a little brother to him and says she loves Zuko. Aang wakes up in cold sweat and jumps into the water. He gets out of the water and sees Katara telling Zuko "Aang is like a brother to me", at which point he screams and then wakes up for real. Or have Jet miraculously survive and become Katara's bf. Either would frighten Aang.
yeah but it probably wouldnt work out. like theyre not gonna afford dev patel and the aang actor got bullied out of acting entirely for his role so its unlikely hed return to acting just to get bullied for it some more
In the DVD commentary for this episode, Mike and Brian stressed that they felt it was important to poke fun at themselves before anyone else did. Also, it’s a reprieve between Southern Raiders and Sozin’s Comet, the two heaviest episodes of the series.
Stargate SG1 was a good example of a live action series that also subverted the recap episode trope, several times in several different ways in fact. 200 (which was the title of SG1's 200th episode) was formatted like a recap episode, with a friend of the main cast workshopping movie based on all their adventures, except every "recap" clip was actually a gag in some way, shape, or form. Some of them being canonical events that werent in previous episodes (Jack O'Neill's invisible jaunt) or just complete bullshit being spun up by the team for a laugh (the Team America parody)
You see... it is the law of equivalent exchange. One can choose to trade social life, sleep, health and everything else for more TH-cam production time 💀
If you want a chuckle, look up the Reboot finale recap. They made a recap of the entire last season, before the specials, and it's the bookend to the series. A sort of celebration of the journey they had gone through. And yes, Reboot is the name of the show in case you're unfamiliar with it.
I agree that Avatar had the best recap episode, but right behind them comes Star Trek Voyager. Or maybe just Star Trek in general, since they use the same style of episode more than once. I'm a fan of the Star Trek method of recap, throw a single likable character from the series across multiple timelines, mostly past but a future or two mixed in for good measure, hitting all the big events of the show, and have characters from all the best episodes work together to save the day. Your characters are revisiting old events and usually long dead friends, but they aren't reusing old footage like a low budget 'flashback' episode from a 90's sitcom. Star Trek, just like Avatar's, usually come just before the series finale (or in the case of TNG, are the series finale), but they're good enough to be just considered good episodes in the cannon of the show.
Toph being portrayed as a big buff dude, possibly being a way of Fire Nation propaganda coping that they got beaten by a blind 10 year old, and Toph also absolutely loving it, is one of the highlights of this episode.
apparently that big buff dude was the original concept design for Aang's Earth bending master, or near enough.
@@bennyjames7428 I know, but this reusing of that concept fits perfectly with how the fire nation would portray an unstoppable force like Toph to save face haha
@@maxgrozema1093 also it gives us the chance of Terry Crews as Toph, in a real life Ember Island stage play...
@@bennyjames7428 but then they change the design but keep all of the personality
My headcanon is that she's played by a big buff dude because no one wanted to admit they were beaten by a little girl
mostly because it's one of the only 'recap episodes' that's actually an episode instead of a 20 minute long clip compilation
Exactly. If your going to make it a Recap Episode, at least do it in a way that doesn't use clips from previous episodes and also use it to do something more than just recap on what happened before. Like here.
@@georgemeyers7172 Y'all, the point of a clip-show episode is to save animation budget and boost quality of the other episodes.
The showrunners are given a budget and a number of episodes they must fill, and sometimes that budget isn't enough to fully animate all of the ordered episodes without taking a hit to their quality. That's WHY they use previous clips, they're already made and take no additional budget to produce.
Is this enjoyable for the audience? Depends. Generally not though. But the issue is budget, not creative choices.
@@starkid910 Then why don't they spread the budget and time a bit thinner and give us all genuine episodes with 90% of the quality?
I at least would prefer that
it's not only a recap of the plot but it also references fandom jokes and criticisms, as well as showing off the character development everyone has gone through, showing another facet of fire nation life and propaganda, reveal more of zuko's backstory with his mom and theater, advance aang and katara's relationship, all on top of being really funny lmao. it rewards fans for paying attention and it's a nice moment of levity before the big finale. perfect episode imo lol
@@highdefinition450 I'd also like to mention that the end of the play where the Ozai defeats Aang and laughs about him never bringing balance to the world highlights just how dire the stakes really are. We know since day 1 that Aang has to defeat the fire nation. We see his journey to get stronger, but after a while you kinda mentally put that in the background. Seeing it up close and personal like they did in the play forced us to remember that fact.
This episode has my single favorite joke of the entire series. The one joke that will play through my head on my deathbed, when every other aspect of the series has left me. The best moment of ATLA.
"Wait, what's that? I think it's your honor!"
"Where!?"
"This guy will never have honor"
*Spits out cereal
Everyone turning around to look for it 😂
I’m tear bending 😂🤣😂
"Prince Zuko, it's time we talk... ABOUT YOUR HAIR" :D I often think about that :D
i like the great divide joke lol
The moment 'Toph' says:
"There, I got a pretty good look at you."
I will still crack up about this in 20 years.
Can't believe they're turning this single episode into a three-season long live action adaptation!
Can’t argue with that since the guy playing Sokka looks more like Ember Island Sokka than our favourite meat loving, Suki-deflowering Sokka
🤣
@@kaihang4685 "suki deflowering sokka" is actially diabolical and devious
😂😂😂
You’re a comedic genius I love this comment 😂 you’re right about the live action too it’s super bad
fun fact, in the brazilian dub the line "just sit next to me" is turn to "just sit on my lap", and is said in such a big brother way that si cute and funny.
Oh my gosh I love that
A dublagem brasileira de avatar é muito boa não tem como
@@theericastorexceto qnd ela está totalmente errada em algumas cenas, que da de notar que são erros de tradução msm, e tem varias em avatar
Verdade
I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t even know it was a recap episode. It was just so good
Lol same
lol yeah I just watched avatar and it didn't even dawn on me that they slipped a full recap episode in until this video's title
Same here @@plugshirt1762
Same
Atla's recaps are always the best.
"Previously on avatar..." *Proceeds to show you all the foreshadowing that led up to that episode.*
Especially in "Puppet Master," book 3 we got a recap from all the way in book one when Katara and Yue talked about the moon granting power to the water benders.
Avatar's intro recaps were really well done, I wish more shows would do that instead of just showing 30 seconds from the last episode, regardless of how related they are
@@HackRazor1012 I finally understand why some shows do recaps better than others.. the "recap only last episode" only works on multi-part specials that were split up..
SO TRUE
Eh. Those recaps kind of suck because they often spoil stuff. Like Jet's return and Katara bloodbending again.
Yes, I noticed that
Something I never really understood until my recent watch through is why Aang was so hung up on Katara. I get it now. Aang is on the cusp of having his biggest battle and wants to know how Katara feels because when he fights that battle he may never see her again. Katara on the other hand has her priorities straight but I think she is afraid too. Katara lost her mom. I think Katara is afraid that if she commits and loses Aang she would feel devastated so she is keeping her distance.
Could be
In book 3 in general he seemed to be much less hung on her than before. But he never had experience with girls before so who knows. The tension between them after the invasion kiss was weird. The writers were just uncofortamble bringing them together before the finale.
@@TheEgoshoooter Honestly, I kinda wish they'd brought them together early in the show and then had them be happily involved throughout.
@@ceinwenchandler4716 The writers wanted to continue the whole "will they wont they" trope. I can understand that katara is very responsible person and wants aang to focus on the firelord but they really had a lack of communication at the end. It would have been nice to see at least one additional scene where she confessed her feelings.
@@TheEgoshoooter _At least_ one other scene, yeah. Was "will they won't they" not a painfully overplayed trope back when this show first came out?
The fact i never realized the guru was a recap episode until now shows how amazing this show was written
😅 it is?!
@@j.l-w9959It's more of a reflection of Aang's journey over the past couple months
The fact they took a tired (and often lazy) way to make an episode without much effort and turned it into a meta retelling of the series was a brilliant move on the writing teams' part. I can always appreciate a recap episode as long as it's an actual episode and not just a compilation of past shows. Ed, Edd, n Eddy and It's Always Sunny also had clever and similar ways of doing the "Recap Episode", in a sense that the episode started off that way, but then the characters started remembering things that never even happened.
That's why I think Korra should've had their whole recap episode narrated by Varrick instead of just a couple minutes, that was some of the most hilarious shit in the entire series while the rest of it was basically just the characters discussing what happened
I would also like to add Community to the list where they remembered adventures that did happen, but we never got to see them, while including commentary of that and things we did see
Community did a twist on this i think? If memory serves, they did an episode where the characters reminisce, but it's mostly of adventures we weren't privy to.
Another thing that makes this recap so good, it almost feels like director commentary done through the characters. Especially when zuko asks if Jett died and Sokka simply says “eh it wasn’t clear.” It’s a clever level of awareness.
funny thing, i just got done rewatching atla and korra. when i watch the ember island players the fact of it being a recap episode completely escapes me. but when i watched korra's recap i literally skipped it the moment i understood what old timey speaking announcer man was saying lol
yeah same here, I honestly don't think they are even remotely comparable.
Man, I like Korra a lot, and I generally don't skip episodes, but when I was rewatching, I just couldn't do it, one time was enough 😬
I loved korra’s recap. Not as good as ember island but I thought it was nice and I enjoyed the funny commentary given by the characters, still a vast improvement compared to most other recap eps
Korra's recap is still like the second best recap episode in the history of television (next to Ember Island Players), so I'm personally pretty okay with it every time I rewatch the show. I mean, the last recap section with Varrick's narration is quite literally a canonized YTP, it doesn't get much more original than that.
I'm still bitter we didn't get the Kuvira's backstory episode it ended up replacing, though. It'd have made Season 4 so much better and probably on par with Season 3 (even though I still think Season 4 is really good, especially its first few episodes - which are probably my favorite part of the whole show).
Korra was a bad series unfortunately :(
I liked her design, and her animal buddy, but hated her character and the changes to the setting. Yuck.
I think that many of the changes/creative choices the playmakers chose show parts of Fire Nation ideology.
First of all, Katara and Sokka are represented with stereotypes to show how the Fire Nation is racist. Katara in the play is like the "Latina bimbo" trope, and Sokka in the play is like the "funny Black guy" trope. Emasculating Aang is making fun of him, that it's bad (for him) to be girly. The "traitors" Zuko and Iroh are portrayed as weak and dishonorable to show what the Fire Nation thinks of defects from the royal family. Toph is shown as a buff "not blind" guy because hypermasculinity is viewed as strength and vice versa, and it's really embarrassing for a blind girl to destroy her opponents. Finally, the royal family of the Fire Nation is shown as incredibly strong, clearly meant to be who the audience should have allegiance to.
I also like to think that no one who fought with Toph would admit that they absouletly got destroyed by a young blind girl and that's why it is a gigantic buffed guy. 😂😂
My thoughts exactly. I also thought of the female actor playing Aang for the practical aspect of having a higher voice than a male actor, since Aang is still just a kid whose voice hasn't even started cracking yet.
My favorite unintentional fourth wall break in this episode was when the kid was talking about how zuko's scar was supposed to be on the right side of his face as opposed to the left
I really like this particular moment because it shows that the writers knew that during this time a lot of people were uploading all the Avatar episodes on TH-cam but flipped to get around copyright
@@franckymagines this is why I said unintentional
@@CozyGhost oh I didn't see the word when I first read it. Mb, misread
Also the few times the animators put it on the wrong side
I think Ember Island Players served two purposes, not just as a Recap/Breather Episode prior to the finale. But also to go balls deep on the at the time upcoming Last Airbender movie by M. Night Shamalamadigdong.
The atla live action is a comedy to me and my siblings. We always make fun of the whole earth bender dance sequence that literally moves one pebble
@@savannahdesjarlais6417 what I really don't understand is that literally seconds later and I believe seconds prior (I might be mistaken), far more impressive Earth bending is shown, though still not even close to regular Earth bending soldiers in the actual show. Seriously, there's no way that Earth bending choreography made it into final production for any other reason than ATLA writers secretly changing the script with one of their old jokes.
@@savannahdesjarlais6417 Yeah! I love the I'm a little tea pot scene! It's so goofy! Seriously watching the movie as a joke is the best way to enjoy most movies that Shamalamadigdong made.
@savannahdesjarlais6417 It gets better, all they do is raise the pebble, someone else 'launches' it.
There's no ATLA movie made by Shamalamadigdong in Ba Sing Se.
Here we are safe.
Here we are free.
I also love how Sokka describes the play as like their previous "wacky nonsense" because thats exactly what it is, but nobody comes back feeling the way they did in season one because everything changed (like when the fire nation attacked haha)
Its both linear and cyclical, like the Avatar cycle, or me when I restart the show again
The thing that makes this recap episode perfect for me, is that it essentially is not a recap episode, it's a mockery of the characters. Like mentioned, it reminds us how far these characters have come albeit in a jesting way, and by mocking their actions and personality the episode actually recaps all the important things while keeping the audience engaged with comedy and an actual storyline, all the while also giving the characters a chance to reflect upon themselves. It was incredibly well thought up.
Regarding Korra's recap: it wasn't originally planned. Nickelodeon cut the show's budget by an entire episode in the middle of production, so the creators had to either do a recap episode or let some animators go early. They never considered the second option.
Korra bot canon, irrelevant.
Honestly, now I want a show to do a recap episode that’s masquerading as a reaction video, and they start with the intro and then say “But first, a word from our sponsor - Attack: Myths of Darkness.”
No meme, I think it could easily be done if you play it off as the characters themselves delivering a play or something of their adventures 😂😂
It could also be done as an interview, with a host who ask uncomfy questions and the main characters who remember the past events, adding their personalities to the recap!!!
The best recap outside of anime was def Olafs retelling of Frozen
Basically what happened in the scream franchise and I loved every second of it
Holy shit that's a good idea@@archie.archer
I’ve watched ember island players so many times. Anytime I want the feel good of avatar without jumping into a rewatch, it’s ember island, nightmares and day dreams, or the beach (book 3 superiority).
Book 2 is king 👑
I am surprised it wasn't mentioned that in the DVD commentary the creators said the writers used the critique at the end of the episode as a jab at the upcoming (at the time) live-action movie
When I watched that movie for the first time the first think I tough was how much worse then lthis fire nation properganda this is.
"but the effects were decent" doesn't really fit though. The effects looked like something from 2004, and the backgrounds and camerawork were just as terrible....
@@bibbobella Maybe not, but it's a fair assumption from the creators since they saw how the film was coming together, and since the effects are usually done after filming. They figured the effects would probably be the best part of the film.
ATLA is like "How to make a good series 101"
Really loved how they acknowledged the chemistry between Zuko and Katara and how the fans were shipping them. Fans like me 🤣
Hell, I would go so far as to say Ember Island Players is just one of the best episodes of television in any facet.
I didn't even realize Ember Island Players was a recap the first time I saw it. The writers hid in plain sight.
"Look! It's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!"
"Eh, let's keep flying."
Amazing humor and really understanding the audience... Yeah, this still is the best recap episode ever.
[Edit]: Watching the video more, I'm loving how deep this episode got without me fully realizing it.
That was one of the better episodes though 😂
@@m.c.martin
You're serious..?
...That's rough buddy
I love the aspect of them reacting to themselves and their journey, it’s incredibly fun and endearing to watch their reactions
This is still one of my favorite episodes ever. Part camp part painful realism. Whenever I think avatar the last airbender, this episode comes to mind
I think one of the main problems (other than workload) is the level of creative liberties they have when producing anime. They aren't getting paid or were given the copyright to create original content on an existing story but to make an anime series based on the original manga. Obviously, it's different if it's an original anime.
Tbh I feel like if studios are catching up with the manga maybe just take a break instead of animating shit that never happens
💜
What I find interesting about the alternate Final Battle from the Ember Play is, that it is how it really happend till the last episode, as in the play zuko goes up against azula and he loses and aang goes up against the firelord and gets beaten up.
Where it differs is the very last episode where katara beats azula and aang unlocks his avatar mode again and turns the tides against the firelord.
the absolute worst thing to happen to this franchise is the James Cameron Avatar IP existing and persisting for so long
High key think Netflix's marketing is being held back because of Way of the Water 😭
I would say it's the godawful Shyamalam live action movie. It setback the creation of Avatar Studios for more than a decade!
Both Avatar series are amazing and full of world building.
Can't defend the ATLA movie though. That is complete garbage.
@@robertoakiraikemoto8370 There is no live action movie in Ba Sing Se
@@michaelcarlton1484 Idk about James Cameron's Avatar, aside from the visuals, there was nothing really rememberable about the story, the characters, the world, the lore, etc.
Do you remember off the top of your head what the blue people were called and the name of the plant they lived on?
One of the creators (I think Bryan) actually posted something on his personal tumblr warning Korra fans about the clips episode before it aired and apologizing stating that they were forced to do that episode because of budget cuts
It's not just a recap episode, it a perfect blueprint for every adaption of the show going forward
Regarding recap episodes, Stargate SG-1 also has an interesting one at the end of season 1 right before the finale (S1.E20 "Politics"). The episode includes clips from older episodes, probably for budgeting reasons. However, the clips are part of a meeting where the protagonists (SG-1) have to justify their actions to a senator who wants to shut down the Stargate program. In the end, the program is actually shut down and SG-1 have to go rogue, thus leading directly into the finale. The episode is tense, introduces a new recurring character and is very plot relevant despite being a recap episode. If studios have the resources to avoid recap episodes, I think it's often better to not do them at all, but if they have to, this is an interesting approach.
Damm beat me to it
Stargate really did their recaps right
And my favorite is disclosure it's really good
anytime i watch a video about atla it just convinces me that it’s one of the best shows i’ve ever watched
I love it because it's basically fire Nation propaganda
One thing I think people should look to for a "good recap" is actually The Lion King 1 1/2. The entire movie was basically the first Lion King, but from someone else's perspective, and that's why it was so much fun. Recaps can be genuinely enjoyable if you do them right, and both spoofs and alternate perspectives can be really good ways of doing that
Honestly, Lion King 1½ is the best Lion King media, and I'll fight anyone!
I love the fact that they admit the Great Divide is bad XD
"Look, it's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!"
"... eh, let's keep flying."
The whole team talking about it fits perfectly with moments in the infamous movie.
Zaheer calling vatu was kinda funny ngl
_Glad I caught you at home._
That episode had me fr laughing out loud. Varrick and Bolin carry tlok
I don't think any One Piece fan will defend the padding of the anime 😂. We still love it though :)
I can only watch one piece in the background now. If I’m paying too much attention it starts to get infuriating
You can tell it’s a good recap episode when, on first watch, it doesn’t feel like a recap episode
DUDE ITS A RECSP EPISODE???? i had never realized that damnn, thats how good it is lol
The giant toph scream will be in my head for years 😂
I also love how we get to see the Fire Nation´s perspective on everything, while we know it is not like that
The whole time my husband and i were watching the series we kept making fun of Zuko's hair changes. It was so satisfying to see the overly dramatic long flowing hair in the play. I had to pause the episode because i was laughing too hard. I'm glad the writers included jokes that weren't necessarily pointed out in the show but resonated with the audience.
They basically parodied themselves in this episode they took the time to make fun of their story
My favorite Ember Island Player would have to be the one that plays Toph lmao I was laughing so hard especially when Toph loved it! 😂
Kill La Kill also has an interesting "recap episode". They do the entire recap in about 2 min, and says "HAH, I bet you rolled your eyes when I said recap episode. Kill La Kill is such a fast paced show that we did our recap in the length of an intro. Anyway onto the real episode"
I haven’t seen too much anime in my lifetime, but my favorite recap episode is definitely “Interlude Party” from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Its dreamlike quality and philosophical discussions on the qualities of humanity are so good, and its ending will always make me emotional. Top-tier stuff!
On top of being a great episode in its own right, it actually does also serve the true, best purpose of a recap episode. By coming right before the finale, even those who've been binging the series will have likely forgotten some details. And also, by coming right before the finale, it will catch those who are coming in, possibly with friends insisting they see it, just before the finale.
The best and most legitimate purpose of a recap episode is to bring everyone up to date and speed on what has happened so far, so everyone is familiar with the stakes, the characters, and the purpose of the story. Putting it right before the finale is akin to a review session right before final exams.
I know this is probably obvious, but few series seem to plan their recap episodes this way. Yes, this is because they're really just doing a clip show to fill time due to production issues, as mentioned, but the point I'm driving at is that this recap episode was purposeful on every level, _including being a recap episode._ It wasn't "just" all this video says. It was not bringing up these past elements of the story just to contrast them with the present. It was also bringing them all up to cram 60 episodes of events into 20 minutes so that everyone getting ready to watch the finale knows how we got here.
AAAAAA so happy to see you cover this. Ember Island players is my favorite episode in the series XD
Whoa! I never realised The Guru was a kind of recap episode!!!!
It is one of my favorite episodes of the entire show.
I just finished this episode with my siblings a few hours ago and we really enjoyed it. ❤
i literally look forward to that korra recap episode every single time. Same as avatar to be honest
This episode is literally the reason I finally decided to watch ATLA. I had heard about it for years both from irl friends and online communities but never found the time to sit and watch it. Then I saw a clip of this play that I found so funny that I kept on watching it over and over until I finally decided to sit down and watch the whole thing. And now its one of my favourite shows of all time. It's a really good introduction to both the story and the comedy of the show.
One bit of cool world building with the play to think about vs most entertainment being bending based is this is a feasible job for non benders who are often forgot when talking about avatar
Clerks TV did a very good recap episode. It was the second episode of the series it started by flashing back to scenes that were earlier in the same episode, followed with flashbacks from the singular prior episode followed by flashbacks that did not add to the plot but pulled from episodes that never existed introducing characters that are never mentioned again
Thanks for not criticizing Korra for being a more traditional clip show. Originally Bryke had every intention of making an episode like The Ember Island Players but Nick cut their budget in half so they were forced to do a clip show or otherwise they would need to fire half their staff which they weren't going to do.
People often forget that Korra was overly screwed by the network with them not even knowing if there would be another season during the making of Air and Spirits, putting the show on a 7 O'Clock Death Slot and, like I said, cutting the budget in half so a planned recap had to be scrapped.
Let's be clear: Korra did not use its budget wisely. They overanimated unnecessary background details and then cut corners on important stuff.
Korra was a cursed project from start to finish
All signs have been pointing to a rewatch of this, I shall abide
I still can't appreciate enough how well they utilized recap, obviously in this episode but throughout the series as well. I'd never even considered The Guru to be a recap! How well-disguised it was. And of course you had the "Previously On" segments that are still some of my favorites in television to this day (although I will admit, as others have, that they could occasionally spoil segments of the episode).
They knew the audience might need an episode to get caught up for the finale, and they gave it to us in the best possible way.
I feel like the new Live action is actually the Ember island adaptation.
I vaguely remember mob psycho 100 having a special or something that was just Regein retelling the whole story but He was the cool one and his face was just badly photoshoped onto mob
Definitely entertaining
when I used to watch atla with my friends, this was our favorite episode. A RECAP EPISODE!
i binge was avatar and i like the filler episode because after watching a bunch of episodes of new story and information this episode helps me kind of organise my thoughts and the information given through
out the show
Finally someone mentioning Samurai Champloo's recap which, IMO isn't quite as good as ATLA, but still loads better than the majority of others. Thank you!
It really is one of the best recaps cool to see you talk about this show more
I completely agree and I think the fact that they have changed and grown makes it better.
The recap examples you gave, it is exactly how Gintama did it. And that episodes were hilarious and did play with the budgeting issues and even explained us what is filler.
Not the first time I see this episode analysed, but a great analysis nonetheless. Thank you! Also I'm curious on that video on Korra's episode as it was a retelling episode that personally doesn't compare to Ember Island Players. Looking forward to it! ✌🏼
I've seen two other examples of decent/interesting recap this week. One is the beginning of the second season of dragon prince where Callum is recounting their journey so far but he's actually writing a letter to his step dad, not knowing he'd already been killed, which seamlessly links into the main subject of the episode.
The other example is I've been watching an anime of a bilibili comic called God troubles me (bit of a slice of life) and at the beginning of each episode is a short recap of the previous episode but it's a bit like an animated diary sketch and it's a very biased account from one of the characters. They're interesting enough for me to be annoyed at Netflix for treating them as recap and automatically skipping them. Actually thinking about turning off the automatic skipper and just skipping things manually. Sometimes I actually want to listen to the intros of things. If only I knew how to actually do that
This episode has so many great quotes. Just off the top of my head I can think about 5, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
5:13 i am baffled by how long i looked at this picture thinking something wasn’t quite right before i realized what it was
I don't see anything wrong with it 🗿
I JUST told my brother that the Live Action NEEDS to touch on this episode come Book 3
Okay but you have to admit that Kill la Kill's recap episode is pretty damn amazing too.
Buying the Tekkaman Blade DVD's, I was not only surprised that there was four recap episodes out of 50, but that two of them took place within 2-3 episodes of each other (43 and 45 iirc). To be fair, there wasn't much overlap surprisingly with each focused on one side of the conflict right before the finale arc. And (again iirc after a few years), the episode 43 reminiscing was more Blade and Aki trying to reinforce his rapidly deteriorating memory, so at least there was a story purpose, as sad as it was.
Martian Successor Nadesico did an interesting one too, with the ending reveling it was a recap episode within the anime's in-universe anime, Gekiganger....where Nadisco is the in-universe anime and the Gekiganger characters are complaining that it's just recap this week.
In lok the recap episode was actually due to not having enough money for the extra animation. It was suppose to be govera's origin episode, but due to those reasons they decided to cut it and just use lots of clips to recap things instead to save money. They did well, but it was still kinda obvious it was a recap episode for production reasons.
Now atla on the other hand, i never even thought of this episode as a recap!!!!!! 😮
You had so many great points and it makes so much sense, but i never thought of it that way! I always wondered why it was right before the ending. This makes so much more sense now!!!. 😅 But your right they did it so epically i still rewatch it cause its great!
Soakka even interacts with his ember iskand character! 😂 And toph freaking loved hers. I actually didnt know that was an easter egg! I never knew she was suppose to be a boy.
And the kaang vs zutara shipping was just the writers messing with us and it was great.
It was almost like an incredibly written fanfiction. By professionals. All coming down to aangs having to face the fact that he had to possibly kill and that is just something that again puts this show as top tier cartoons/shows. Never afraid of the realness, especially in things like war.
Everyone : look for making fun of the characters
Korotos : they are doing a deep meaning
Amazing episode, possibly my perdon second favorite. My favorite being the beach episode.
I'm pretty forgiving of the One Piece flashbacks. It has been on for over 20 years and not everyone starts at episode one in Japan, which is their primary market. Gotta have a way for people to jump in and still follow the story elements.
Plus imagine the long-time weekly watchers. If you started watching when you were seven you're 30 now, and that's a long time to remember all the details. It just feels like a lot to us bingers (granted I haven't been able to binge for 14 years now)
I'm binging, so the Enies Lobby recap stuff was really annoying lmao
I had to stop during dressrosa cause every episode was a recap of the last half of the previous episode. Like you could get away with watching every other dressrosa episode because it would be covered by later episodes.
ATLA is so good ефрфе I rewatch it each year, before the Christmas. And, yeah, this is always about looking back) God damn, how have I change from the kid I used to be, who was looking at "Wow, Bom, Cool! Fire". Thank you for the new video, your words resonate with me)
I love clip shows, but its because I consume spirits and more while watching so a recap does help lol
Re:Creators also has an amazing recap episode, hell Re:Creators is amazing itself, you should watch it :)
A fellow Re: Creator fan in the wild? Hello sibling 🥺
@@len5630 There are dozens of us! Dozens!
Have been a fan my entire life, read comics, etc. and didn’t even know it was a recap episode
Me: oh cool a nice video summarizing a tv series i havent thought of in a while, would be cool to watch it
Me later, seeing my recommended page: *what have i done*
"Look! It's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!"
"Eh, let's keep flying."
The recap was so good I didn't even notice it was a recap
Zuko becoming Katara's boyfriend should have been Aang's nightmare in the episode before the invasion.
Ozai defeats Aang but instead of killing Aang, he puts him in prison because he wants him to suffer.
Katara kisses Aang on the cheek and says he is like a little brother to him and says she loves Zuko.
Aang wakes up in cold sweat and jumps into the water. He gets out of the water and sees Katara telling Zuko "Aang is like a brother to me", at which point he screams and then wakes up for real.
Or have Jet miraculously survive and become Katara's bf. Either would frighten Aang.
Have you seen the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood recap episode? I think that one does alot of special things at once.
You forgot the BEST part of the play; When they fly over the big divide and Sokka says: "Nah lets keep flying" this had my laughing so hard man.
It would be Insane if they casted the actors from the Shamalan movie for the ember island players in the live action series
yeah but it probably wouldnt work out. like theyre not gonna afford dev patel and the aang actor got bullied out of acting entirely for his role so its unlikely hed return to acting just to get bullied for it some more
Also, keep in mind that recap episodes were vital before we could stream anything anytime.
In the DVD commentary for this episode, Mike and Brian stressed that they felt it was important to poke fun at themselves before anyone else did. Also, it’s a reprieve between Southern Raiders and Sozin’s Comet, the two heaviest episodes of the series.
Stargate SG1 was a good example of a live action series that also subverted the recap episode trope, several times in several different ways in fact.
200 (which was the title of SG1's 200th episode) was formatted like a recap episode, with a friend of the main cast workshopping movie based on all their adventures, except every "recap" clip was actually a gag in some way, shape, or form. Some of them being canonical events that werent in previous episodes (Jack O'Neill's invisible jaunt) or just complete bullshit being spun up by the team for a laugh (the Team America parody)
How can this guy make so many high quality analysis videos so often. Love it
You see... it is the law of equivalent exchange. One can choose to trade social life, sleep, health and everything else for more TH-cam production time 💀
@@Koroto oh my god💀💀💀, I hope you still can take care of yourself tho. Love the vids man. It's rare finding channels like these
for me, this episode is one of the best in whole show
If you want a chuckle, look up the Reboot finale recap. They made a recap of the entire last season, before the specials, and it's the bookend to the series. A sort of celebration of the journey they had gone through. And yes, Reboot is the name of the show in case you're unfamiliar with it.
I agree that Avatar had the best recap episode, but right behind them comes Star Trek Voyager. Or maybe just Star Trek in general, since they use the same style of episode more than once. I'm a fan of the Star Trek method of recap, throw a single likable character from the series across multiple timelines, mostly past but a future or two mixed in for good measure, hitting all the big events of the show, and have characters from all the best episodes work together to save the day. Your characters are revisiting old events and usually long dead friends, but they aren't reusing old footage like a low budget 'flashback' episode from a 90's sitcom.
Star Trek, just like Avatar's, usually come just before the series finale (or in the case of TNG, are the series finale), but they're good enough to be just considered good episodes in the cannon of the show.