Thanks to the writing, here are some things will change in Season 2 now: 1. Aang has to master BOTH waterbending and earthbending, meaning both will be rushed. 2. Iroh and Zuko together should easily be able to defeat Azula because we know Zuko can already beat Ozai. 3. They can't go to the Cave of Two Lovers for character development, been there done that. 4. Skip the return to Omashu and go to the Swamp for the visions, or combine the two episodes. 5. Skip the Kiyoshi Avatar Day and have the gang meet Toph, we need Aang to start learning earthbending a.s.a.p. 6. "Zuko Alone", "The Chase", and "Bitter Work" will be skipped, rushed or incorporated into other storylines. 7. Wan Shi Tong's library in the desert episode is still necessary to lose Appa and learn about the eclipse, but it's going to be so much more boring and unrecognizable from the original because only Aang can talk to spirits. 8. Aang being unable to enter the Avatar State with the Guru will not make sense because there is no development of Katara tethering Aang to the world.
They wont even do the library cause they refused to budget having Appa actually on screen the entire first season. They ruined his character just as much as the live actors.
The original scroll was merely a tool for Katara (and Aang) to begin to understand how to approach waterbending because before obtaining it, Katara had to figure out everything from scratch, and more importantly, it wasn't working for her, it wasn't enough. It was only supposed to showcase a small handful of basic techniques.
Yeah that was almost a story beat they had this episode. With Katara getting so easily beaten by Zuko, that's what it felt like they were building to but then it's not what happened at all
One striking thing is that Aang in the original is still at thus stage undecided about taking on the fight and it ends with the village suffering directly. I feel that compressing the story doesnt allow us to bond with the characters as well and the inconsequential episodes help to change his mind and to bond with the characters.
I was thinking a lot about (from the previous video) the narrative agency involved in shifting the 'calming down' of Aang at the air temple from Katara to Gyatso, and how that impacts the story at large. I liked the previous point about how that adaptational change waters down Katara as a character and weakens her relationship in the show to Aang (for the benefit of making Gyatso, a dead character, more likable and interesting), and this made me a bit anxious because I realized that there are a finite number of opportunities for characters to exert narrative agency before the show ends. By cutting out important interactions from the original show, this remake runs the risk of ending up with more boring characters and relationships at all points moving forward, because opportunities for narrative agency for the main cast have been permanently lost. With that in mind, I really appreciated when this video pointed out how the Suki/Sokka dialogue works really well at a certain point to make the characters more interesting. It made me more optimistic that future seasons might have more satisfying writing.
One of the problems on their part is not realizing the pain of adapting 24 odd episodes into eight episodes. They can't do it because it causes all these problems of speedrunning the first season. They have to trust themselves to do their own thing so that we can watch a good show that doesn't have bad dialogue and pacing. I sincerely want Netflix's Avatar to be one of the shows that had a mid-awful first season and for whatever reason everyone on the writer staff magically got their shit together and it becomes one of the best shows on Netflix.
I will tell you to never stop hating the live action avatar, they had a great story to follow but decided to arbitrarily not follow it, because they thought they could do better.
I don't know if I blame them for that. I think it's good to try different things with adaptations and I think for longer length episodes, it does mean you need to rework stuff. I'll blame them for doing a bad job of it but not necessarily for trying new things
@@mylittlethoughttreeI agree with that stance. I would also go further and say that you need to change things in order for the material to work in live action. That is why I said they "arbitrarily" decided to not follow it, as opposed to it being necessary. I think their problem is that, they dont really understand what to keep and what not. I dont necessarily want to see the same exact moments from the cartoon, but I want to see the essence of the story and character arcs. And yet they put so much moments directly taken from the cartoon that are out of context, so they do not work. Iroh saying stating he will do 10fold of what Zhao does to the moon spirit to him is one of those moments. It does not work, because in the original Zhao holds the moon spirit hostage but in live action, he just saw the moon spirit and Iroh threatens him to just stand ther for 5 minutes doing nothing while Zhao takes the moon spirit to his bag and takes the blade out of his pocket. At the same time, they literally changed every character arc and most of the story beats. At this point, it is not the live action of Avatar, but rather an unrelated story in the avatar universe that is inspired by the original avatar. Is there a single reason why they changed Sokka's and Suki's relationship and made Suki kind of a sexual predator? It literally touches no other place in the story and Sokka's arc stays mostly the same. Same shit with Katara, they made her a master with no training and erased her personality. In the final fight between her and Zuko, I was rooting for Zuko here, since I know more about Zuko and emphatise with him and know his hardships. On the other hand, I dont really like Katara who became a master with no practice, so I felt like she needs humbling. This is the opposite of how I felt in the original show, entirely because Katara had a character and put so much effort into becoming a master.
Beautiful, just beautiful! Love your analysis and re-structuring of this episode not just from a character standpoint, but also editing the necessary story beats for better pacing. Love it!
I'm listening to this, and the fixes you're doing sound a lot more competent. Why didn't they try to do that? They had all the time in the world to refine the script.
If I had any say in the overall structure of an ATLA reboot this is what I would do. Book 1 part 1 "Avoidance", Part 2 "Water". Book 2 part 1 "Earth", part 2 "Ba Sing Se". Book 3 part 1 "The Invasion", Part 2 "Fire". I would structure everything as a 2 Parter and have mid-season Finales, so that the Pacing isn't so rushed for this particular story. With how fast the Netflix version did everything it didn't allow for slower moments where the Gang could breathe, and we the audience could grow attached to the characters. With the focus being on the grand moments and Plot the whole vibe was "rush to where we need to be." It felt (at least to me) like it was all business and no play. The structure I would personally go with would be a premiere movie of the first 3 episodes (no Commet and no attack on Air Temple) to kick off the story. It would set up the world and be released a while before the rest of part 1 "Avoidence" to allow for everything to continue being finalized for release. "Avoidence" specifically because Aang is avoiding his responsibility of being the Avatar. He wants to continue doing things like how his life was before he was frozen, traveling the world and having fun. The Solstice episodes would be the mid-season finale and the reveal of the comet and him becoming Roku would be the grand moment to end part 1. Then Part 2 would start off with Aang being stressed out and staring to learn Water bending. I even have an idea for the intros to the episodes. Every opener would be the Avatar music over a world map, the map is all terrain. But as the Gang travels it starts to fill in with land markers and buildings showing where they have been, with a beeline showing them traveling. Also as the Fire Nation takes over more of the Earth Kingdom it is updated in the map and shows them controlling more and more territory. By the time the Gang travels to Ba Sing Se it is visually understood that the City is the only place left that hasn't been conquered
Aang Sokka scene Aang: Hey Sokka? When your dad left you in charge of protecting your village, were you scared? Sokka (kinda seeing where this is going): Terrified. Don't tell Katara, but I almost begged Dad to put her in charge! I mean, I'm just the meat and sarcasm guy!
I would be interested in a video talking about the societal changes which may have impacted the changes in story, writing that we see, and also the impact that the option of binge watching as opposed to waiting between episodes has. Do you think some audiences find it harder to connect because of the character changes?
Yes because many of the people that have watch the show had said they like all of the fire nation scenes and one mention that she feels more invested in Zuko than the other three kid characters. Zuko character was that not different from the animation and shows that if the others were written faithfully from the source material, everyone like them as well.
Yeah I reckon that is part of it. The faster paced, more dramatic approach that wants to rely on twists and story tension to keep people engaged, could be an advantage but it comes at the cost here of not providing proper time to connect with the characters. That type of show is certainly the binge model, and I don't doubt it could've worked, but the balance and execution is all wrong
hey man I'm a contrapoints viewer, I would have watched a little more at the end about what you liked about the episode. Very interesting stuff in these videos I'm glad you're doing a writing-focused analysis of the show. It seems like a lot of people really just want to complain about what was changed without any analysis.
45:44 Acturally I think that Sukie talking about how she is inspired by our protagonists is an improvement to the original. Yes it was done a bit clunky, but still. In the original we here later when the revisit Kioshie Island that Suki and the Kioshie Warriors went on adventure because of the first visit. instead of letting this happen totally of screen it is better, that we see at least a hint of that in this episode.
I admire you for your approach and your constructive critisism. I honestly believe that with even slight changes, this could've been a good adaption. Of course it'll never be as good as the original, but in my opinion that's true for most adaptations. Apart from the script and writing issues, most of the actors just fit like a glove, appearance wise. More of the actors probably would've delivered much better performances if it weren't for the poor storytelling and direction. I love your videos, really enjoyed watching this!
That was fantastic, i thoroughly enjoyed your alternatives and character development ideas. I did not find it annoying or rambling in any way. Keep it up! The transitions and cut outs you mentioned flow well! It all makes sense and seems fluid and goes along with their character from the OG show.
Just seems to be how the font is. Honestly, I didn't notice at first, I just went with the only pre-downloaded font that looked a bit like blackboard writing. By the time I noticed, I couldn't be bothered to go back and change all the text, so I stuck with it for consistency
With all the changes the writers are making, I hope they go all in on being different from the cartoon, and just make Zuko the final villain. I hope the Netflix series doesn't make Zuko Aang's firebending teacher in Season 3, but instead they have him defeat and succeed his father on the throne and continue his war. I'd have a lot of respect for the writers if they made the final battle Zuko vs Aang, I just don't see how this show's Ozai is a threat to Aang.
On the contrary, I do... kinda like the series. It had pretty good ideas, and the frustration is only how the show hampers its best ideas. If hated this show, I wouldn't be bothered to talk about how to make it flow better
Well I quite liked the ideas and was frustrated by the horrendous execution. Had that been better, it might've been a pretty good show. I never really like how black and white the internet gets about shows either being a flawless masterpiece or the worst thing ever
Use the code TREE for 51% off World Anvil with the link worldanvil.com/?c=mltt
Or else try it out for free!!
I fix these issues by re-watching the animated show…lol.
Same. Hadn’t rewatched it in a while and (almost) every episode just made me more and more angry and let down by this adaptation lol
The animated show gets so addicting in the beginning of season 2.
agree...
I actually just finished rewatching the original animated series to cleanse my pallete of the adaptation lol
😂 that's a great fix. And I'm currently doing that.
Thanks to the writing, here are some things will change in Season 2 now:
1. Aang has to master BOTH waterbending and earthbending, meaning both will be rushed.
2. Iroh and Zuko together should easily be able to defeat Azula because we know Zuko can already beat Ozai.
3. They can't go to the Cave of Two Lovers for character development, been there done that.
4. Skip the return to Omashu and go to the Swamp for the visions, or combine the two episodes.
5. Skip the Kiyoshi Avatar Day and have the gang meet Toph, we need Aang to start learning earthbending a.s.a.p.
6. "Zuko Alone", "The Chase", and "Bitter Work" will be skipped, rushed or incorporated into other storylines.
7. Wan Shi Tong's library in the desert episode is still necessary to lose Appa and learn about the eclipse, but it's going to be so much more boring and unrecognizable from the original because only Aang can talk to spirits.
8. Aang being unable to enter the Avatar State with the Guru will not make sense because there is no development of Katara tethering Aang to the world.
They wont even do the library cause they refused to budget having Appa actually on screen the entire first season. They ruined his character just as much as the live actors.
The original scroll was merely a tool for Katara (and Aang) to begin to understand how to approach waterbending because before obtaining it, Katara had to figure out everything from scratch, and more importantly, it wasn't working for her, it wasn't enough. It was only supposed to showcase a small handful of basic techniques.
Yeah that was almost a story beat they had this episode. With Katara getting so easily beaten by Zuko, that's what it felt like they were building to but then it's not what happened at all
This is why I hate the line of her mastering herself.
One striking thing is that Aang in the original is still at thus stage undecided about taking on the fight and it ends with the village suffering directly. I feel that compressing the story doesnt allow us to bond with the characters as well and the inconsequential episodes help to change his mind and to bond with the characters.
I was thinking a lot about (from the previous video) the narrative agency involved in shifting the 'calming down' of Aang at the air temple from Katara to Gyatso, and how that impacts the story at large. I liked the previous point about how that adaptational change waters down Katara as a character and weakens her relationship in the show to Aang (for the benefit of making Gyatso, a dead character, more likable and interesting), and this made me a bit anxious because I realized that there are a finite number of opportunities for characters to exert narrative agency before the show ends. By cutting out important interactions from the original show, this remake runs the risk of ending up with more boring characters and relationships at all points moving forward, because opportunities for narrative agency for the main cast have been permanently lost. With that in mind, I really appreciated when this video pointed out how the Suki/Sokka dialogue works really well at a certain point to make the characters more interesting. It made me more optimistic that future seasons might have more satisfying writing.
One of the problems on their part is not realizing the pain of adapting 24 odd episodes into eight episodes. They can't do it because it causes all these problems of speedrunning the first season. They have to trust themselves to do their own thing so that we can watch a good show that doesn't have bad dialogue and pacing.
I sincerely want Netflix's Avatar to be one of the shows that had a mid-awful first season and for whatever reason everyone on the writer staff magically got their shit together and it becomes one of the best shows on Netflix.
I will tell you to never stop hating the live action avatar, they had a great story to follow but decided to arbitrarily not follow it, because they thought they could do better.
Maybe it just me but does anyone felt that the writers and showrunner are projecting their ego and insecurity on Sokka but are taking out on Aang?
I don't know if I blame them for that. I think it's good to try different things with adaptations and I think for longer length episodes, it does mean you need to rework stuff. I'll blame them for doing a bad job of it but not necessarily for trying new things
@@mylittlethoughttreeI agree with that stance. I would also go further and say that you need to change things in order for the material to work in live action. That is why I said they "arbitrarily" decided to not follow it, as opposed to it being necessary.
I think their problem is that, they dont really understand what to keep and what not. I dont necessarily want to see the same exact moments from the cartoon, but I want to see the essence of the story and character arcs. And yet they put so much moments directly taken from the cartoon that are out of context, so they do not work. Iroh saying stating he will do 10fold of what Zhao does to the moon spirit to him is one of those moments. It does not work, because in the original Zhao holds the moon spirit hostage but in live action, he just saw the moon spirit and Iroh threatens him to just stand ther for 5 minutes doing nothing while Zhao takes the moon spirit to his bag and takes the blade out of his pocket.
At the same time, they literally changed every character arc and most of the story beats. At this point, it is not the live action of Avatar, but rather an unrelated story in the avatar universe that is inspired by the original avatar. Is there a single reason why they changed Sokka's and Suki's relationship and made Suki kind of a sexual predator? It literally touches no other place in the story and Sokka's arc stays mostly the same.
Same shit with Katara, they made her a master with no training and erased her personality. In the final fight between her and Zuko, I was rooting for Zuko here, since I know more about Zuko and emphatise with him and know his hardships. On the other hand, I dont really like Katara who became a master with no practice, so I felt like she needs humbling. This is the opposite of how I felt in the original show, entirely because Katara had a character and put so much effort into becoming a master.
18:20 that would rekindle the fan theory, that Momo is the reincarnation of Kiatzu
I enjoy your videos. you’re a very humble creator, but I think you should stand strong in your suggestions because they ARE good ideas.
Beautiful, just beautiful! Love your analysis and re-structuring of this episode not just from a character standpoint, but also editing the necessary story beats for better pacing. Love it!
I'm listening to this, and the fixes you're doing sound a lot more competent. Why didn't they try to do that? They had all the time in the world to refine the script.
I’ve now watched 10 hrs of TH-cam vides slating the ATLA Netflix adaptation 😭😭
If I had any say in the overall structure of an ATLA reboot this is what I would do. Book 1 part 1 "Avoidance", Part 2 "Water". Book 2 part 1 "Earth", part 2 "Ba Sing Se". Book 3 part 1 "The Invasion", Part 2 "Fire". I would structure everything as a 2 Parter and have mid-season Finales, so that the Pacing isn't so rushed for this particular story. With how fast the Netflix version did everything it didn't allow for slower moments where the Gang could breathe, and we the audience could grow attached to the characters. With the focus being on the grand moments and Plot the whole vibe was "rush to where we need to be." It felt (at least to me) like it was all business and no play.
The structure I would personally go with would be a premiere movie of the first 3 episodes (no Commet and no attack on Air Temple) to kick off the story. It would set up the world and be released a while before the rest of part 1 "Avoidence" to allow for everything to continue being finalized for release. "Avoidence" specifically because Aang is avoiding his responsibility of being the Avatar. He wants to continue doing things like how his life was before he was frozen, traveling the world and having fun. The Solstice episodes would be the mid-season finale and the reveal of the comet and him becoming Roku would be the grand moment to end part 1.
Then Part 2 would start off with Aang being stressed out and staring to learn Water bending.
I even have an idea for the intros to the episodes. Every opener would be the Avatar music over a world map, the map is all terrain. But as the Gang travels it starts to fill in with land markers and buildings showing where they have been, with a beeline showing them traveling. Also as the Fire Nation takes over more of the Earth Kingdom it is updated in the map and shows them controlling more and more territory. By the time the Gang travels to Ba Sing Se it is visually understood that the City is the only place left that hasn't been conquered
Aang Sokka scene
Aang: Hey Sokka? When your dad left you in charge of protecting your village, were you scared?
Sokka (kinda seeing where this is going): Terrified. Don't tell Katara, but I almost begged Dad to put her in charge! I mean, I'm just the meat and sarcasm guy!
I would be interested in a video talking about the societal changes which may have impacted the changes in story, writing that we see, and also the impact that the option of binge watching as opposed to waiting between episodes has. Do you think some audiences find it harder to connect because of the character changes?
Yes because many of the people that have watch the show had said they like all of the fire nation scenes and one mention that she feels more invested in Zuko than the other three kid characters. Zuko character was that not different from the animation and shows that if the others were written faithfully from the source material, everyone like them as well.
Yeah I reckon that is part of it. The faster paced, more dramatic approach that wants to rely on twists and story tension to keep people engaged, could be an advantage but it comes at the cost here of not providing proper time to connect with the characters. That type of show is certainly the binge model, and I don't doubt it could've worked, but the balance and execution is all wrong
🗣️📢 MAKE THIS PERSON THE DIRECTOR ‼️‼️‼️
Honestly, I love your avatar videos and I hope we get a whole video on just dialogue lmao
hey man I'm a contrapoints viewer, I would have watched a little more at the end about what you liked about the episode. Very interesting stuff in these videos I'm glad you're doing a writing-focused analysis of the show. It seems like a lot of people really just want to complain about what was changed without any analysis.
45:44
Acturally I think that Sukie talking about how she is inspired by our protagonists is an improvement to the original. Yes it was done a bit clunky, but still.
In the original we here later when the revisit Kioshie Island that Suki and the Kioshie Warriors went on adventure because of the first visit. instead of letting this happen totally of screen it is better, that we see at least a hint of that in this episode.
I admire you for your approach and your constructive critisism. I honestly believe that with even slight changes, this could've been a good adaption. Of course it'll never be as good as the original, but in my opinion that's true for most adaptations. Apart from the script and writing issues, most of the actors just fit like a glove, appearance wise. More of the actors probably would've delivered much better performances if it weren't for the poor storytelling and direction. I love your videos, really enjoyed watching this!
That was fantastic, i thoroughly enjoyed your alternatives and character development ideas. I did not find it annoying or rambling in any way. Keep it up! The transitions and cut outs you mentioned flow well! It all makes sense and seems fluid and goes along with their character from the OG show.
They took some stuff from the comics with zuko’s notebook. Iroh tells him to study his past lives and he does.
I have a simple fix for Avatar: Use martial arts movie directors, or comedy directors. Not horror / drama directors.
Netflix should hire him just to mees with him 😂
Man i actually teared up at the idea of momo showing up after aang burrying gyatso
good video
I think the therapist needs to work on his ANTs♡
why are the N's backwards in the timeline graphics
Just seems to be how the font is. Honestly, I didn't notice at first, I just went with the only pre-downloaded font that looked a bit like blackboard writing. By the time I noticed, I couldn't be bothered to go back and change all the text, so I stuck with it for consistency
5:13 okay now you're just trolling
Huh. If I had a nickel for every time My Little Thought Tree uploaded a video titled “here’s how to FIX live action Avatar”…
You'd be a billionaire!
❤️❤️❤️
With all the changes the writers are making, I hope they go all in on being different from the cartoon, and just make Zuko the final villain. I hope the Netflix series doesn't make Zuko Aang's firebending teacher in Season 3, but instead they have him defeat and succeed his father on the throne and continue his war. I'd have a lot of respect for the writers if they made the final battle Zuko vs Aang, I just don't see how this show's Ozai is a threat to Aang.
Here’s how to fix Live Action Avatar…. Cancel it 😁
How to fix this................step 1..........CANCELLED.
Step 2 go watch the original again and forget this even existed.
Your welcome.
nah don't fix it, just let it die. this adaptation doesn't need to exist anyway.
reallly gonna milk this huh
He really doesn't like the live action Avatar, does he?
I want him to milk it, I like this series
@@rubenduenas5881who does
On the contrary, I do... kinda like the series. It had pretty good ideas, and the frustration is only how the show hampers its best ideas. If hated this show, I wouldn't be bothered to talk about how to make it flow better
Huh. I disagree with the premise that it needs fixing!
Ew, you liked it? You have bad taste.
Well I quite liked the ideas and was frustrated by the horrendous execution. Had that been better, it might've been a pretty good show. I never really like how black and white the internet gets about shows either being a flawless masterpiece or the worst thing ever