Just a few counterpoints to some of the issues raised: - Lower classes not recognising royalty also happens in the original series during the beach episode, where the prince and princess of the fire nation aren't recognised. In a time before the internet how often would they be seen outside of the odd portrait? They're not exactly throwing parades for the peasants to see them very often, and Azula was also disguised. - The original show had Omashu as a walled city, but this adaptation introduces it built into a mountain with a forested half around the back where the forest scenes this episode take place, that was a purposeful change. - Aang and Teo are trying to uncover which group is behind the bombings, not trying to take out the fire nation spies. The mechanist is probably aware that the bombings are not from the fire nation as they're the targets of them. I think condensing these three storylines (Omashu/Jet/Mechanist) from the original was a good choice since they're all are thematically linked. They deal with how war can fundamentally change people, with Jet becoming so consumed by revenge that he's blindsided to the hurt he's causing and the mechanist sacrificing his loyalty to protect the people he loves. Could it have been better executed? Yes, definitely, but I think this was a better result than what we would have got if they stuck to the order of the original series rigidly. It's certainly better than the condensing of episodes in the spirit world arc but I'll let you find that out for yourselves since that's coming up soon!
These people seem to forget that there No internet TV or even newspapers..and pictures would be more stylized and hand drawn. So easy to not recognize anyone.
@@AlbertoMartinez765 also the kids show it's based on isn't 100% without plot holes and faulty logic in parts to service the story and there's no need to always be so hyper critical of every single detail before giving yourself a chance to actually enjoy something for what it is.
Yeah but it is still stupid that Ozai is wasting his time by catching such small groups and giving a speech and all. Like imagine him doing that ten times a week. He should just let some commander deal with it. In the original omashu, freedom fighters and the mechanist are definitely not thematically linked as you described it. Here they are more of a plot device.
@@melf5057 What do you mean? They have the same motivations and character arcs in the live action as they do in the original, it's just that they've been placed in the setting of Omashu instead. Jet plans to kill innocent people (the people in the palace of Omashu, rather than the random fire nation town) because of past trauma, and the mechanist works with the fire nation secretly to protect Omashu (instead of the northern air temple) before having a change of heart. Both are showing the extreme actions that ordinary people are pushed to during times of war, they're definitely thematically linked.
People not knowing how royalty looks like is in the original show. In the beach house episode in season 3, there were children of high-ranking military officers and nobility who talked to Zuko and Azula having no idea who they were, they were even the same age group.
Naturally in a time without photography and social media I peasant would maybe only have seen a painting or drawing of their royals if even. Which doesn't translate easily to recognizing a person in real life. Especially if they are disguised and you don't expect them there.
Yep... And that was Azula AND Zuko, and high up teenagers who are like nobles. This is random peasants. This isn't modern day with google and photos, remember that they even had a painting of Ozai at the schools to try to show what Ozai looks like? How would they have access to see what the princess looks like -_-
@@MusikCassette They set out to kill the Firelord. Even Ozai asked them like what did they expect would happen later. It wasn't a good plan, but I think Azula sort of convinced them it was good enough. And homework how? This is pre google. "Does anyone have a painting of the princes? I need to know what she looks like". Did you see the painting of the royal family before? lol. Those would not help.
In Nerdy's defense I also had a moment of like, "Wait did they go outside? But then why did Jet go through the Cart if he can sneak out somehow? Wait, is this a walled huge city with a forest in it? Yeah they must be inside and there's like a forest in the middle of the city... Sheesh how big is this city that they can hide in their forest or park and not be found? lol" So I think they should've done a better areal shot of like going from Zuko to where Jet is so we could track and see "Ok theyre inside the city in this forest".
Ok, this is one of those shows where I think they're determined to not like lol. Stopped at the whole, "They dont recognize the princess?" "cringy?"... Like we didn't literally have a whole episode of the cartoon where Azula AND Zuko go to a party and all of the most "important" teens don't even recognize her, let alone some peasants... She's a princess... You think anyone goes up to her? If anything maybe someone would've seen her during a parade from far.. Look at Japan and the emperor, and how many people haven't even seen or heard from the emperor because they don't just go broadcasting themselves all the time because that's how their culture is. And they added this change in order to fix ATLA, where at the end of the series everyone just holds hands, basically, and agrees to be nice to one another from now on. Like the other nations would just welcome and embrace the fire nation that's been killing them for multiple generations... At least in this way it shows that some citizens of the fire nation are also trying to rebel and overthrow the firelord that keeps sacrificing the citizens for his non ending war. And they're both smart enough to quickly think, "they didn't recognize her? I guess they don't see royalty every day".
You should have watched the video. They said they liked the show but think it had tonal inconsistencies. They explained in that scene they were mixing the cartoonishness of the original with the trying to be real in grity and thats what didn't work. Them not recognizing Azula is pretty cartoonish, them being burned alive is not. I think that's a valid critique. They also talk about later when a person is stated multiple times but there is no blood, that it doesn't make sense when people are being burned alive and that's being showen.
@@Vereenks3 They were sliced, it leaves almost no blood on the knife or the clothes, the bleeding would happen in a few seconds later. I've butchered animals and you'd be surprised how little blood comes out at times. But still, that's a valid criticism. The mixing of darkness and childish moments is up to each person and how they feel. Personally I think they've struck a good balance. It's a genocidal war that's been going on for a hundred years, it's messed up and cruel. It works in a cartoon because it's really for kids and you can off screen deaths and add music and it's like a war but from the eyes of a child, but for a live action if Aang was playing around with Koi fish and just being goofy all the time it would feel downright evil when he knows there are people dying left and right. The live action movie made the mistake of going too serious. I think this was the right direction to take, but I understand some people might be put off by it. The not recognizing Azula is not cartoonish. It's realistic. In japanese custom and even Chinese royalty is rarely seen or heard. And either way this is not a time when they had google to see. I mean, I'm assuming you live in America. How many times have you personally seen the President? If it wasn't for our tech it was actually pretty common to not know how leaders looked like. So much so that in many books you'll have many scenes of them describing the mc's reactions to seeing royalty. Funny enough though, the blood thing is also just a legal thing. If they showed too much blood then it would be rated higher and then not be available for kids, and somehow censors don't consider burning so bad, but even a bit of blood is. RUclips too. You can put a video of something burning and nothing, but you don't blur out a reaction with too much blood and suddenly they demonetize it lol. It's a stupid thing I agree.
@@josephjoestar4633 It gives the opportunity to show some other sides of the story to old fans, and allows people who don't particularly like cartoons or don't like the childish tone of the animated series to experience the story through another medium. It also promotes the old series - there is a reason why it's also currently trending on Netflix along with the live action series.
You ask the average person on the street if they recognize any of the recent American presidents children on sight when they are just wearing casual clothes at a walmart or something and few if any of them would. And that's in our day of ubiquitous social media and video. The only images of the royal family that exist would be idealized paintings and statues, it's not at all unsurprising someone wouldn't recognize Azula.
The rebels not recognizing Azula doesn’t bother. First off Azula and Zuko walk aborund the FN in S3 and nobody recognizes the,. Secondly that was a thing in Asian monarchies like Japan and China. If you were a normal person, you didn’t see the ruler or his family. In China the emperor lived in the Forbidden City, while in Japan, the first time most people saw or heard the emperor speak was when Japan announced its surrender after WWII
Yes, but these aren't normal people they are trying to assassinate a person. You think if you are trying to assassinate someone, you would want to know what the closest people to them look like so they don't find out....
@@Vereenks3 That's kind of the point. Remember them protesting and saying it's too soon and Azula comes in and helps convince them to go? It's a bad plan. It's full of holes and issues. But that's the point.
I don't see how it's strange most people don't know what the princess looks like. There is no social media or pictures in this universe, only drawings. You would only know what someone looks like if you've seen them in person, and i doubt commoners would get anywhere close to royalty to get a very good look
I really hope y’all read this. I’m gonna try to be constructive because I really like your channel and I want to help you make it better because I want to continue watching your videos. There’s a wild contrast between your reactions. When y’all really like something, your videos are some of the best I’ve watched. I found your channel after watching Violent Night. Your reaction to that movie is some of THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD watching a RUclips video. You put a huge smile on my face for a solid hour. I instantly knew ten minutes in that I was subscribing to your channel. And it’s the same with Blue Eye Samurai. I never get tired of Nerdy saying every five minutes “oh my god you could hang that on a wall” or hearing you say “remember when we thought this was a kid’s show?” I am very much enjoying your reactions to that. BUT THEN there’s Percy Jackson and now Avatar. I’ve noticed two problems: you get too nitpicky and too hung up on small details and you’re too rigid. You need to understand this is an adaptation. Details will be different and that’s ok. And not only that but when you get hung up on something you don’t like, that overshadows everything else. You miss stuff, you keep harping on stuff, you’re not allowing yourself to have fun and just go with it and see if any of your criticism are resolved later. You just decide “no this is bad and it’s dumb.” And that’s just not fun to watch. I’m one of the people that stopped watching your reactions to Percy Jackson because it just wasn’t fun watching you dump on that show for 30 minutes. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t the greatest show ever but I had fun. And it’s getting close to that for Avatar. I did not finish your reaction to episode 3. I’m going to wait for your reaction to episode 4 and see if y’all read any of these comments and are willing to learn from them. If you want to keep your subscribers, you need to listen to them.
If you want to watch reactions don't you want them to be honest? I can appreciate it not being as fun for you, but the Violent Night reaction is only rad because it is genuine. I'm not sure what value any of this would have if we faked it out of concern for your enjoyment 🤷🏼♂️
@@NerdyNightly no I definitely want you to be honest. I don’t want fake reactions. Consider trying some of this: 1. Be patient. Let the show explain stuff to you before immediately deciding it’s confusing or dumb or boring. 2. Molehills, not mountains. It’s perfectly fine to not like certain stuff but try not to get so attached to it or make it a bigger deal than it is. 3. Be a Water Bender. Go with the flow, accept that this is an adaptation and not a perfect recreation of the original series. I certainly have my critiques of the show but I don’t let them get in the way of how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I don't think things like "the tone of the show is inconsistent" and "there is no cohesion" is a nitpick. You could argue something like the people not recognizing azula is a nitpick, but they mention it for like a minute and move on. The entire discussion of the episode was about how the tone is ultra-serious one second and then kid-friendly the next. That kind of thing can ruin the show, and personally I agree with (most of) their criticisms here.
@@charlesjames5059 I mostly agree with your underlying sentiment, but everyone engages with stories and media differently and authenticity makes for better overall reactions. So if I can offer how I've chosen to handle it when their negative reactions are less entertaining for me (but I still want to support the channel as a whole): just skip it. They put out plenty of videos so there'll be another to watch before too long if there isn't already, and it's usually evident at a certain point if they're into what they're watching or not. So if you're not digging them not digging it, skip it. Or watch and argue with the screen (that can be fun), or comment here about what you disagree with them on and get a good debate going (also fun, if occasionally exhausting given the state of the Internet these days). But argue more with what they're saying, not how they're saying it. I've been tempted at times (including this episode) to offer a similar comment as this so I get where you're coming from, but at the end of the day it's THEIR channel and THEIR opinions. We get to decide as the audience if we enjoy it enough to keep coming back and to what extent we want to engage with it, but if we start asking them to sanitize or tone down their criticisms, then we risk losing the authenticity that drew us in to begin with (and the joy of those Blue Eye Samurai reactions and the like might feel more muted or like they're just doing it for the "likes", and that would be a gods damned tragedy!). There are plenty of other reactors who are watching the show and maybe digging it or even critiquing it in a way that's more entertaining for you. So I'd suggest just hitting those up instead and coming back here for the stuff that earns a hearty and earnest "LET'S GOOOOO!". Two pennies for the well, take or leave. 😎
I think if you're not into the show by this episode, it's probably just not for you. For me, it was an exquisite example of adaptation, elegantly weaving narrative and thematic threads from disparate chapters of the source material into a single story (encompassing this episode and next). It's not my favorite episode, but it's definitely up there and I think really showcases what the show does well. So if that doesn't sell you on it, then I don't think much else will (except maybe the finale which is just fucking phenomenal, but if you're not invested prior to that point then maybe not, lol).
The show is smart. They know the main cast is young and inexperienced. So they compensate by hiring good actors to play the secondary characters, fleshing out their story, letting these actors take more of the spot light.
This gets even more apparent in the next episode. The first 3 were kind of rough for me, but 4 and 5 were really strong, with a really, really strong performance from a very minor character.
As somebody who's not in the industry, a couple years ago I would have said that the hardest parts of this adaptation would be the casting and the cg.... and clearly the hardest parts of this show (and most streaming shows) are the 8 ep format and convincing the executives to sit down, shut up, and let the professionals do their job. The wild tonal shifts, the insertion of new scenes, starting Sokka as fully developed while only giving us a cardboard cutout of Katara. All of that smells like it's coming down from some corporate office and it's exactly why One Piece hit hard and this doesn't.
Sokka is NOT fully developed they neutered him too. He was waaay more confident in the cartoon. And Katara was an arrogant girl boss in the show, here at least she has some heart and isn't yelling every 5 seconds.
This was one of my favorite episodes. Every change was great. Jet's actions made a lot more sense than "Let's break a dam and kill a village", the juxtaposition of terrorist vs freedom fighter was cool. The mechanist and Sokka. The only barrier this episode really had is if you've watched the cartoon your brain keeps trying to understand all the changes the whole episode. Like, "Oh it's this guy, I guess he's here. But how will the-Oh it's this place, that's interesting a-Oh it's this scene? Oh I see what" the whole episode. When you watch a blind reaction from ppl who didn't watch the cartoon they have a great time with it.I hope they give those firebenders in the beginning some sort of justice. I felt so bad for them. And that boy, who convinced everyone. : ( I can see what they're doing though, they're fixing an issue ATLA had. In ATLA the fire nation has been killing and doing genocide for 100 years, and yet at the end it's all, "Let's hold hands, we're all fine now". Nope, that would never ever happen irl. The other nations would be too mad and want justice, and the fire nation itself has spent generations dehumanizing the other ones that they would also not be cool with it. However this added a new element, even some of the fire nation citizens are trying to rebel or get rid of the fire lord. This is one of the good changes the show did. Now the end of ATLA is more realistic because even the fire nation itself was suffering, people were losing their family members as the firelord & military generals just sacrificed regular citizens for whatever tactic they wanted, and there's a growing sense of overthrowing the royals.
@@LucerysOwnerI'm an anime fan now? I mean, I loved Cowboy BeBop, but I really haven't seen a whole lot of anime past that & a few movies like Akira. I definitely haven't committed the time to watch more than a few episodes of One Piece (after I saw the live action version). One Piece was more consistent with its tone, better dialog, storytelling & character development. They just did a better job at interweaving the flashback histories as needed and more fully developed the characters than they did in Avatar. Don't get me wrong, I still really liked Avatar & think Nerdy's being a bit hypercritical at times, I just loved One Piece.
I think you are overestimating how likely commoners are to recognise royalty, especially outside the palace, dressed as a commoner. They would maybe see them during some ceremony or speech if they lived in the capital, and might have seen them in paintings. In the original show Azula and Zuko aren't recognized in the beach episode, and Zuko even has a big unusual scar. As a real life example, I live in Sweden. If you'd show me a random photo of princess Madeleine without her crown and dress, like in her day to day life in New York, I would definitely not be able to recognise her as our princess. And that is with the internet, TV and evening press constantly covering their lives. In the show the rebels have no reason to believe that the princess herself would leave the palace, let alone act as a spy and infiltrator. Why would she? The resources are plentiful to just hire spies instead.
I have heard the creative team for this show is open to fan criticism on platforms like this one. So theres definitely a chance s2 does see a large improvement if the writer room can stay consistent and focused.
I have not watched many more episodes of this Season, but it gets progressively better already. The 4th Episode was really good. Even though I think that the pace at which everything moves, as opposed to the animated show, is a little bit too brisk. It diminshes the payoff of some scenes.
Honnestly, I'm tired of the hate around this live action adaptation. To be fair, the one piece live action was not better than the anime either and they also made a lot of changes. I'm not saying it was not good though, I like both of them.
The funniest thing is people calling certain plot points or dialogue cringy in this show forget how damn cringy and eye rollingly bad some of the cartoon was. People's adult nostalgia for a kids show is skewing a lot of perceptions of the quality of each the cartoon and live action.
If Mai and Tai Lee were less wooden, have them be training too would make it better. Mai hit some targets Itachi style and Tai do some pressure points on guards or something
Regarding not recognizing people in power, most times people only see the signs of authority not the person. Without the royal robes, it is believable civilians wouldn't recognize her unless they followed the royal family as much as many people do now on social media.
Also Toph was hidden from society too. No one knew that family had a daughter. Not recognizing royalty is common. Zuko, even with his scar, would blend in.
I've never watched the cartoon, but I liked the show. It wasn't as good as Arcane or Loki S2, but it's just under One Piece to me. Most complaints come from people who think they know what is happening next or how the plot is supposed to play out, as opposed to simply letting it happen and enjoying the ride.
Yes, people who've watched the original ATLA are the ones who have major complaints this show. Taken on its own (without considering how well it aligns with the animated show) it's ok. But not great or even very good. It has some great moments, but they're scattered and disconnected. At times the storytelling just doesn't hold together, dramatic tension doesn't build from scene to scene or episode to epiosde. The show winds up being less than the sum of its parts. It's not about expecting specific events to happen next, or the plot to go a certain way. It's more about core elements of character personalities being changed, and logical inconsistencies in the writing. Viewers understand that the story has been changed to fit a much smaller number of episodes. A lot of storytelling has been condensed. The problem is when the showrunners seemingly haven't considered how some of their plot changes would require other things to be changed too.
Remember that the original cartoon has 20 episodes in the first season, and the Netflix series has 8 episodes, obviously they would have to cut and join some episodes. I loved the adaptation, it brought a more adult footprint to the story, of course, there are things that can improve, all the adaptation has, but overall it's a great series with great characters and actors.
It's interesting what you say about misscommunication, cause this show was shot during pandemic and then had 2 years of postproduction. So, probably, a lot of scenes were shot separetely, since they couldn't have too many people on set. Also, during all this time of postproduction, they probably couldn't get the main cast to shoot additional scenes cause Aang's actor grew so much. It made me wonder what other issues they might have encountered along the way to delay the premier so much.
Why would any commoner recognize a prince or princess? It’s not like they have televisions with these people’s faces broadcasted! That said, I am right with you in terms of tone. I was blaming the writing and on the side of the writing being the weak link of this show… but maybe it *is* a communication issue. That said, maybe I am not biggest fan of tonal changes in adaptation. To me that is changing the heart of what they are adapting. So that might be why I am harsher on the writing than I am on the communication between production departments. I don’t have as much of an issue with the combining of plots. I am not sure how you take 20 minute standalone episodes that matter to the greater story arc and place them in a serialized 50 minute episode format, and having season one of the live action in total be longer than season one of the animation, without making those types of changes.
I think a lot of the hate is coming from click and rage bait farming videos. "Avatar Live Action is DEAD!" "Here's why Avatar Live Action is SEXIST" "Is Avatar too WOKE!" One lady I generally respect and enjoy put out an hour long diatribe about how it sucks, but many times throughout it it's clear she wasn't really paying attention. This isn't like when Nerdy screws stuff up, that's 'live' so it's fine. She had time to edit, go back and pull clips, get friends to do voiceovers, and she still missed obvious things that makes it look like the whole video is a hate farm. I have seen several good, balanced, videos, including this one. Next episode: I really like the changes to Bumi. Wonder how they'll feel about them.
To be familiarized with a face you need proximity and constant exposure. When you don't have TV or internet, you don't necessarily know the faces of your rulers.
See you there. And yeah, it sucks cuz when they're open minded they're very cool, but when they've decided they're not gonna like something it's just downhill lol.
@@ClarusPolaris you guys kept picking apart every detail when it was exactly like that in the original. it is clear you went into this specifically to hate it.
You‘re the only creators where I watch the feedback. I don‘t agree with everything you said, for example finding it cringe that the FN citizens didn‘t recognize Azula but you often make some very good observations. (PenPineappleApplePen)
I look at this version of Avatar kinda like the animated Hobbit and LotR trilogy, good place to start and if it gets another chance then we might see what can really be done when everything "almost" is perfect.
Excellent take on the cohesion of the show and the length of the writing process (long after the 2 OG creators left). I do believe that's one of the main reason why this season, for all its visual qualities, seems so over the place narratively and thematically. You'd be surprised by the amount of people thinking this series is mid. Sure, it's polarizing, but quite a lot of people felt just okay with the show... which, given the love towards the OG series, kinda translates to soul crushing disappointment.
Its like they came into this series with intent to not like it, gave them a few trys. The show clearly points out that omashu has a forest section... but that just flew over their heads. Honestly the writing does suck I agree but not paying attention because they hyperfocus on comparison or other flaws that they miss plot is just a no for me dawg. Again criticism is ok but talking over plot/not paying attention isnt a good critique.
I disagree, they watched the trailer and were pretty hyped about it. The show definitely did not clearly point out a forest section. It was there sort of on the side of the city in a few establishing shots. I was a bit confused too while watching but I just assumed it was a forest within the city.
I haven’t made it past Ep 3 yet and I think you guys perfectly summed up why. The whiplash from darkly adult to whimsically childlike doesn’t work for me. The tonal inconsistency jerks me out the story. I would have enjoyed seeing a live action version of either but the original walked a fine line between serious life lessons and goofy antics that seems difficult to recreate. 🥺
Pen-Pineapple-apple-pen!!! Yeah this episode is... messy. I really loved all the added stuff with Azula, (although I do think Ty-Lee needs to be of a smaller frame) but trying to bake 3-4 episodes of the animation into one live action? I was not a fan of that. I think all the issues I have with the show could have been handled if we just had had a longer series! at one point before watching the show, I hoped these 8 episodes would be the first half of Book one, and I think that would have been good. but I get it, no studio would ever be ready to sink that much money into one project. great discussion guys you both made some solid points and I agree with a lot of what you were saying. although, I am not as well versed in wig-work as you are, so I haven't noticed anything about that.
I never expected a one-for-one remake, and I've always been open to some changes. I've gotten through the entire season of this show, and without spoilers, there are 3 or 4 changes that I had bigger problems with. I was fine with the combination of the mechanist into Omashu, but I agree with you that the combination of Jet here feels out of place.
Pen, Pineapple, apple pen. Also, yeah I don't hate the show but it feels weirdly middle of the road. Parts of it work really well, but the individual parts of the show don't come together.
Kind of weird to me how people are saying they're nitpicking the show. While personally I don't feel like their criticisms are nitpicks for the most part, even if they were, isn't it their job to discuss aspects of the show in detail? I understand people might not agree with their takes but dismissing them as nitpicks seems pretty... well... dismissal. Talking about how the overall tone of the show is inconsistent is not a nitpick imo.
I think it's more things like the rebels not recognising Azula. It's totally realistic that they don't recognise her in a time without photography, news media or social media, and in the original Azula isn't recognised on the party in The Beach either. But here suddenly it's cringe. It's absolutely a nitpick.
@@Lothiril Sure I can agree with that. But I feel like they didn't harp on it for too long. Like 90% of the discussion afterward was about the tone. Also it happens, people don't always think of these things.
i suppose some of these channels are part review/part reaction. but i stop watching reactors who are just going heavy on the critique. it's why i don't care for mst3k or anybody who reacts in that style. time is precious and if i'm going to double, triple, even quadruple the time i spend on a show by watching reactions to every episode, it's to enhance my experience of a show that i enjoy enough to watch reactions to. if a reaction is just going to be a negative situation, i don't have time to fill my head with that. it's why i am not watching any of nerdy's reactions to halo season 2. he admitted from the first episode how he--as a halo purist--doesn't like what they did at all. ok, no need to watch the reaction then.
Pen pineapple apple pen! Yep, things are uneven and inconsistent... at times the storytelling road to Ba Sing Se is rocky. This show delivers some great individual scenes and yes, some castings are outstanding. But the elements don't always come together as a whole... Anyway... onward, to the next epi-sode! Hopefully there's no need for an epi-pen ;)
I have trouble to immerse myself in the show. There is a lot of separate pieces that are really charming and intriguing, it just doesn't click into one coherent experience for me.
I can relate. It's like one minute I'm super invested, and the next one I don't care at all about what is happening. That's why I don't know what to make of this show.
Oh boy. You guys don't like this episode. Wait until you see 4 and 5 😆 Personally i didn't have issues with this one and the combo of 3 episodes. They were all thematically similar and made sense to combine them with each other.
I agree with basically all of the criticisms you bring up. (One that I would push back on---only slightly---is about the tone jumping back and forth between extremely high stakes and light-hearted kids' show. But hopefully I'll remember to come back and comment after episode 8, my thoughts would be spoilery at this point.) But even with all of the faults, this is my pick for best episode of the series. I loved bringing the Mechanist and Jet to Omashu and having those stories be contrasting examples of how people respond to the pressures of living through the war---Jet becoming too reactionary and vengeful, and the Mechanist becoming too complicit out of fear of loss. Each of Jet and the Mechanist are given their moments having heartfelt conversations with main characters, giving genuinely important advice and perspective that will have a lasting effect on Sokka and Katara. And then both of their flaws are revealed and the trio have their explicitly stated viewpoint that people are either the "good guys" or the "bad guys" challenged. I wish this episode had been stretched across two episodes and written better. But ultimately this is my pick for best episode despite its flaws because it was a major change from the animated show in a way that was interesting and felt intentional. It wasn't executed perfectly (or even all that well), but when I think about whether this live action has a reason to exist at all, this sort of restructuring is what comes to mind. (Without spoiling anything specific, some other attempts at restructing....did not work...at all....should not have been attempted.) penpineappleapplepen
Yep, the kid and high stakes is sort of the point of Avatar. It's a horribly dark, scary, war. Full of genocide. Seen through the eyes of a child. It works for cartoons because you can not show death, ignore certain things, and put cute music over it. But as a live action THAT would feel like a break in immersion because I'd be, "Are they just swimming around and playing with Koi fish and etc while there's hundreds of being being burned daily?.....". The live action movie made the mistake of making it too real, no levity. This is trying to find middle ground. Now that is subjective, on whether they did it well enough, but I wouldn't say that's the wrong direction to go in. Most of the changes here really worked, including the whole freedom fighter vs terrorist thing it presents, and "I"m gonna blow up a dam and kill a whole village" works for a cartoon, but "I'm gonna kill the traitor no matter the casualties" makes a lot more sense. Of course there's a few things I wish they kept, like Sokka and his instincts lol
I really appreciate watching your reactions to the show because you both seem roughly as torn about what you're seeing as I was... some of it works, some of it doesn't, etc. I'm really glad y'all discussed how badly Katara is handled in the show here. I've watched the original animated show probably a half dozen times all the way thru and another half dozen times picking and choosing episodes and, for me, I always felt Katara was the heart of rhe original show. Aang is the title character, but I always felt they wrote Katara at rhe heart of the show. And this live action version just totally undid that, seemingly, to place Sokka in something like that role... sorta... and give Katara really no meaningful replacement role instead. She's very... "and Katara is here too" in this version. There's things I like and things I don't about what's going on here but, for me, how Katara is handled is the truly roughest bit. Thank you for what y'all do here. Liked and shared
Katara isn't handled poorly. She's just a different girl. She's not super confident like she was in the cartoon but very contained and grows to be confident. That's an arc. She has a development in the eight episodes and it felt natural
I thought this episode was good. But I agree with the assessment that it just looks like three different shows. What makes something like the expanse great in its execution is a really cohesive specific vision. Same with one piece. And it feels like shogun is going to be another one that has a unified vision from each department and not a million producer notes pulling it in different directions. That said, I’m super disappointed in the fan base. Disliking something is fine, but the way the actors are being treated is abhorrent. Imagine harassing a teenager because they got a part on a tv show. It’s disgusting. Uncle iroh would be disappointed.
I only watch the reactions to shows they like. And it's very clear which show they like from like 2 minutes of watching first episode lol. Dropping this series from this channel as it's one they've already decided they won't like, I had the feeling last episode when he liked it and she didn't that he'd be dragged down. xD
"Wait he didn't recognize the princess of the fire nation??" Once again Nerdy trying to critique and laugh at something he is ignorant and mistaken about. Its as reliable as the sun rising and setting. You should read a history book or two, and watch the original show as well since you clearly forgot it was the same way in that.
Claroos, before calling something "cringey" and "dumb on every level" maybe you should watch the original show which you clearly don't remember, and open a history book on historical royalty and their interactions with others. It was not uncommon in certain times and cultures for much of royalty, especially their children, to not or very rarely leave their "premises". Why is it the most judgemental people are also the most ignorant morons. Its getting tiring.
Stopped watching your reactions in the middle of this episode. It's just got really uncomfortable to watch you two hating it for any small detail, that you don't like. I mean, I have some moments I didn't like but it was still a decent show, and yeah as other people have pointed out - it's an adaptation. Thing will be different, some plots will be removed and some will be mixed together. Rather than immediately calling it cringe you should at least give it a chance and embrace the fact that it's not going to be a carbon copy but something of it's own
Sorry but as a fan of the anime, I think I'm going to stop watching your reactions because I do not need the negative energy that you seem intent on pumping into it.
I've been watching cosplay videos recently, and I've been pleased to see Clarus show up several times. Any chance you two could react to a few cosplay videos? Given your experience, I'd love to hear your comments.
I thought this was the weakest episode, although it does have some competition. It's like they took 5 plots, put them in a blender, and presented whatever came out first. I was okay with putting Jet here, but adding the Mechanist and Teo plus Zuko and Iroh just felt like muddying the waters and overcomplicating things
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Just a few counterpoints to some of the issues raised:
- Lower classes not recognising royalty also happens in the original series during the beach episode, where the prince and princess of the fire nation aren't recognised. In a time before the internet how often would they be seen outside of the odd portrait? They're not exactly throwing parades for the peasants to see them very often, and Azula was also disguised.
- The original show had Omashu as a walled city, but this adaptation introduces it built into a mountain with a forested half around the back where the forest scenes this episode take place, that was a purposeful change.
- Aang and Teo are trying to uncover which group is behind the bombings, not trying to take out the fire nation spies. The mechanist is probably aware that the bombings are not from the fire nation as they're the targets of them.
I think condensing these three storylines (Omashu/Jet/Mechanist) from the original was a good choice since they're all are thematically linked. They deal with how war can fundamentally change people, with Jet becoming so consumed by revenge that he's blindsided to the hurt he's causing and the mechanist sacrificing his loyalty to protect the people he loves. Could it have been better executed? Yes, definitely, but I think this was a better result than what we would have got if they stuck to the order of the original series rigidly. It's certainly better than the condensing of episodes in the spirit world arc but I'll let you find that out for yourselves since that's coming up soon!
These people seem to forget that there No internet TV or even newspapers..and pictures would be more stylized and hand drawn. So easy to not recognize anyone.
@@AlbertoMartinez765 also the kids show it's based on isn't 100% without plot holes and faulty logic in parts to service the story and there's no need to always be so hyper critical of every single detail before giving yourself a chance to actually enjoy something for what it is.
Yeah but it is still stupid that Ozai is wasting his time by catching such small groups and giving a speech and all. Like imagine him doing that ten times a week. He should just let some commander deal with it.
In the original omashu, freedom fighters and the mechanist are definitely not thematically linked as you described it. Here they are more of a plot device.
Yeah. I liked this episode. I wasn't a fan of what they did with the spirit world though.
@@melf5057 What do you mean? They have the same motivations and character arcs in the live action as they do in the original, it's just that they've been placed in the setting of Omashu instead. Jet plans to kill innocent people (the people in the palace of Omashu, rather than the random fire nation town) because of past trauma, and the mechanist works with the fire nation secretly to protect Omashu (instead of the northern air temple) before having a change of heart.
Both are showing the extreme actions that ordinary people are pushed to during times of war, they're definitely thematically linked.
People not knowing how royalty looks like is in the original show. In the beach house episode in season 3, there were children of high-ranking military officers and nobility who talked to Zuko and Azula having no idea who they were, they were even the same age group.
exactly what I wanted to post ^^
Naturally in a time without photography and social media I peasant would maybe only have seen a painting or drawing of their royals if even. Which doesn't translate easily to recognizing a person in real life. Especially if they are disguised and you don't expect them there.
Yep... And that was Azula AND Zuko, and high up teenagers who are like nobles. This is random peasants. This isn't modern day with google and photos, remember that they even had a painting of Ozai at the schools to try to show what Ozai looks like? How would they have access to see what the princess looks like -_-
well, but those were people, who set out to kill royalty. so you would assume, that they did some homework on that.
@@MusikCassette They set out to kill the Firelord. Even Ozai asked them like what did they expect would happen later. It wasn't a good plan, but I think Azula sort of convinced them it was good enough. And homework how? This is pre google. "Does anyone have a painting of the princes? I need to know what she looks like".
Did you see the painting of the royal family before? lol. Those would not help.
While Aang and Theo are flying, you can see that half Omashu is 1 half of the rock, and the other half is a forest.
In Nerdy's defense I also had a moment of like, "Wait did they go outside? But then why did Jet go through the Cart if he can sneak out somehow? Wait, is this a walled huge city with a forest in it? Yeah they must be inside and there's like a forest in the middle of the city... Sheesh how big is this city that they can hide in their forest or park and not be found? lol" So I think they should've done a better areal shot of like going from Zuko to where Jet is so we could track and see "Ok theyre inside the city in this forest".
yeah it seemed like they were picking it apart too much and kept making it seem like it’s the shows fault when they just aren’t aware of the details.
Yes, but how do they get to the forrest without leaving the city?
@@joluoto I doubt that the Forrest area is defended, since the only way to get there is still through the giant Gate
@@joluotoCheck the shots of the city again - the wall is enormous and also encompasses the forest.
If you look at the wide shots of Omashu you can see that there are forested areas within the walls.
Ok, this is one of those shows where I think they're determined to not like lol. Stopped at the whole, "They dont recognize the princess?" "cringy?"... Like we didn't literally have a whole episode of the cartoon where Azula AND Zuko go to a party and all of the most "important" teens don't even recognize her, let alone some peasants... She's a princess... You think anyone goes up to her? If anything maybe someone would've seen her during a parade from far.. Look at Japan and the emperor, and how many people haven't even seen or heard from the emperor because they don't just go broadcasting themselves all the time because that's how their culture is. And they added this change in order to fix ATLA, where at the end of the series everyone just holds hands, basically, and agrees to be nice to one another from now on. Like the other nations would just welcome and embrace the fire nation that's been killing them for multiple generations... At least in this way it shows that some citizens of the fire nation are also trying to rebel and overthrow the firelord that keeps sacrificing the citizens for his non ending war. And they're both smart enough to quickly think, "they didn't recognize her? I guess they don't see royalty every day".
I stopped watching there too and realized it would probably just end up a hate watch for them and not worth finishing the video.
You should have watched the video. They said they liked the show but think it had tonal inconsistencies. They explained in that scene they were mixing the cartoonishness of the original with the trying to be real in grity and thats what didn't work. Them not recognizing Azula is pretty cartoonish, them being burned alive is not. I think that's a valid critique. They also talk about later when a person is stated multiple times but there is no blood, that it doesn't make sense when people are being burned alive and that's being showen.
@@Vereenks3 They were sliced, it leaves almost no blood on the knife or the clothes, the bleeding would happen in a few seconds later. I've butchered animals and you'd be surprised how little blood comes out at times. But still, that's a valid criticism. The mixing of darkness and childish moments is up to each person and how they feel. Personally I think they've struck a good balance. It's a genocidal war that's been going on for a hundred years, it's messed up and cruel. It works in a cartoon because it's really for kids and you can off screen deaths and add music and it's like a war but from the eyes of a child, but for a live action if Aang was playing around with Koi fish and just being goofy all the time it would feel downright evil when he knows there are people dying left and right. The live action movie made the mistake of going too serious. I think this was the right direction to take, but I understand some people might be put off by it.
The not recognizing Azula is not cartoonish. It's realistic. In japanese custom and even Chinese royalty is rarely seen or heard. And either way this is not a time when they had google to see. I mean, I'm assuming you live in America. How many times have you personally seen the President? If it wasn't for our tech it was actually pretty common to not know how leaders looked like. So much so that in many books you'll have many scenes of them describing the mc's reactions to seeing royalty.
Funny enough though, the blood thing is also just a legal thing. If they showed too much blood then it would be rated higher and then not be available for kids, and somehow censors don't consider burning so bad, but even a bit of blood is. RUclips too. You can put a video of something burning and nothing, but you don't blur out a reaction with too much blood and suddenly they demonetize it lol. It's a stupid thing I agree.
Tbh what is there to like in this show? It is significantly worse than the animated one. So why bother remake it?
@@josephjoestar4633 It gives the opportunity to show some other sides of the story to old fans, and allows people who don't particularly like cartoons or don't like the childish tone of the animated series to experience the story through another medium. It also promotes the old series - there is a reason why it's also currently trending on Netflix along with the live action series.
You ask the average person on the street if they recognize any of the recent American presidents children on sight when they are just wearing casual clothes at a walmart or something and few if any of them would. And that's in our day of ubiquitous social media and video. The only images of the royal family that exist would be idealized paintings and statues, it's not at all unsurprising someone wouldn't recognize Azula.
The rebels not recognizing Azula doesn’t bother. First off Azula and Zuko walk aborund the FN in S3 and nobody recognizes the,. Secondly that was a thing in Asian monarchies like Japan and China. If you were a normal person, you didn’t see the ruler or his family. In China the emperor lived in the Forbidden City, while in Japan, the first time most people saw or heard the emperor speak was when Japan announced its surrender after WWII
Yes, but these aren't normal people they are trying to assassinate a person. You think if you are trying to assassinate someone, you would want to know what the closest people to them look like so they don't find out....
@@Vereenks3 That's kind of the point. Remember them protesting and saying it's too soon and Azula comes in and helps convince them to go? It's a bad plan. It's full of holes and issues. But that's the point.
"Fire Lord Ozai must die tonight!" Me: "Oh, they are going to be very crispy"
I don't see how it's strange most people don't know what the princess looks like. There is no social media or pictures in this universe, only drawings. You would only know what someone looks like if you've seen them in person, and i doubt commoners would get anywhere close to royalty to get a very good look
I mean if you remember the quality of the painting in zuko's room, you understand why the rebels didn't recognize azula
exactly they don't have Facebook /Instagram!
I really hope y’all read this. I’m gonna try to be constructive because I really like your channel and I want to help you make it better because I want to continue watching your videos.
There’s a wild contrast between your reactions. When y’all really like something, your videos are some of the best I’ve watched. I found your channel after watching Violent Night. Your reaction to that movie is some of THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD watching a RUclips video. You put a huge smile on my face for a solid hour. I instantly knew ten minutes in that I was subscribing to your channel.
And it’s the same with Blue Eye Samurai. I never get tired of Nerdy saying every five minutes “oh my god you could hang that on a wall” or hearing you say “remember when we thought this was a kid’s show?” I am very much enjoying your reactions to that.
BUT THEN there’s Percy Jackson and now Avatar. I’ve noticed two problems: you get too nitpicky and too hung up on small details and you’re too rigid. You need to understand this is an adaptation. Details will be different and that’s ok. And not only that but when you get hung up on something you don’t like, that overshadows everything else. You miss stuff, you keep harping on stuff, you’re not allowing yourself to have fun and just go with it and see if any of your criticism are resolved later. You just decide “no this is bad and it’s dumb.” And that’s just not fun to watch.
I’m one of the people that stopped watching your reactions to Percy Jackson because it just wasn’t fun watching you dump on that show for 30 minutes. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t the greatest show ever but I had fun. And it’s getting close to that for Avatar. I did not finish your reaction to episode 3. I’m going to wait for your reaction to episode 4 and see if y’all read any of these comments and are willing to learn from them. If you want to keep your subscribers, you need to listen to them.
If you want to watch reactions don't you want them to be honest? I can appreciate it not being as fun for you, but the Violent Night reaction is only rad because it is genuine. I'm not sure what value any of this would have if we faked it out of concern for your enjoyment 🤷🏼♂️
@@NerdyNightly no I definitely want you to be honest. I don’t want fake reactions. Consider trying some of this:
1. Be patient. Let the show explain stuff to you before immediately deciding it’s confusing or dumb or boring.
2. Molehills, not mountains. It’s perfectly fine to not like certain stuff but try not to get so attached to it or make it a bigger deal than it is.
3. Be a Water Bender. Go with the flow, accept that this is an adaptation and not a perfect recreation of the original series.
I certainly have my critiques of the show but I don’t let them get in the way of how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I don't think things like "the tone of the show is inconsistent" and "there is no cohesion" is a nitpick. You could argue something like the people not recognizing azula is a nitpick, but they mention it for like a minute and move on. The entire discussion of the episode was about how the tone is ultra-serious one second and then kid-friendly the next. That kind of thing can ruin the show, and personally I agree with (most of) their criticisms here.
@@charlesjames5059 I mostly agree with your underlying sentiment, but everyone engages with stories and media differently and authenticity makes for better overall reactions. So if I can offer how I've chosen to handle it when their negative reactions are less entertaining for me (but I still want to support the channel as a whole): just skip it. They put out plenty of videos so there'll be another to watch before too long if there isn't already, and it's usually evident at a certain point if they're into what they're watching or not. So if you're not digging them not digging it, skip it. Or watch and argue with the screen (that can be fun), or comment here about what you disagree with them on and get a good debate going (also fun, if occasionally exhausting given the state of the Internet these days). But argue more with what they're saying, not how they're saying it. I've been tempted at times (including this episode) to offer a similar comment as this so I get where you're coming from, but at the end of the day it's THEIR channel and THEIR opinions. We get to decide as the audience if we enjoy it enough to keep coming back and to what extent we want to engage with it, but if we start asking them to sanitize or tone down their criticisms, then we risk losing the authenticity that drew us in to begin with (and the joy of those Blue Eye Samurai reactions and the like might feel more muted or like they're just doing it for the "likes", and that would be a gods damned tragedy!). There are plenty of other reactors who are watching the show and maybe digging it or even critiquing it in a way that's more entertaining for you. So I'd suggest just hitting those up instead and coming back here for the stuff that earns a hearty and earnest "LET'S GOOOOO!". Two pennies for the well, take or leave. 😎
@@NerdyNightlyit's not honest. You're pissy about it, nitpicky and constantly whining about stuff b
I think if you're not into the show by this episode, it's probably just not for you. For me, it was an exquisite example of adaptation, elegantly weaving narrative and thematic threads from disparate chapters of the source material into a single story (encompassing this episode and next). It's not my favorite episode, but it's definitely up there and I think really showcases what the show does well. So if that doesn't sell you on it, then I don't think much else will (except maybe the finale which is just fucking phenomenal, but if you're not invested prior to that point then maybe not, lol).
The show is smart. They know the main cast is young and inexperienced. So they compensate by hiring good actors to play the secondary characters, fleshing out their story, letting these actors take more of the spot light.
This gets even more apparent in the next episode. The first 3 were kind of rough for me, but 4 and 5 were really strong, with a really, really strong performance from a very minor character.
As somebody who's not in the industry, a couple years ago I would have said that the hardest parts of this adaptation would be the casting and the cg.... and clearly the hardest parts of this show (and most streaming shows) are the 8 ep format and convincing the executives to sit down, shut up, and let the professionals do their job.
The wild tonal shifts, the insertion of new scenes, starting Sokka as fully developed while only giving us a cardboard cutout of Katara. All of that smells like it's coming down from some corporate office and it's exactly why One Piece hit hard and this doesn't.
Sokka is NOT fully developed they neutered him too. He was waaay more confident in the cartoon. And Katara was an arrogant girl boss in the show, here at least she has some heart and isn't yelling every 5 seconds.
This was one of my favorite episodes. Every change was great. Jet's actions made a lot more sense than "Let's break a dam and kill a village", the juxtaposition of terrorist vs freedom fighter was cool. The mechanist and Sokka. The only barrier this episode really had is if you've watched the cartoon your brain keeps trying to understand all the changes the whole episode. Like, "Oh it's this guy, I guess he's here. But how will the-Oh it's this place, that's interesting a-Oh it's this scene? Oh I see what" the whole episode. When you watch a blind reaction from ppl who didn't watch the cartoon they have a great time with it.I hope they give those firebenders in the beginning some sort of justice. I felt so bad for them. And that boy, who convinced everyone. : ( I can see what they're doing though, they're fixing an issue ATLA had. In ATLA the fire nation has been killing and doing genocide for 100 years, and yet at the end it's all, "Let's hold hands, we're all fine now". Nope, that would never ever happen irl. The other nations would be too mad and want justice, and the fire nation itself has spent generations dehumanizing the other ones that they would also not be cool with it. However this added a new element, even some of the fire nation citizens are trying to rebel or get rid of the fire lord. This is one of the good changes the show did. Now the end of ATLA is more realistic because even the fire nation itself was suffering, people were losing their family members as the firelord & military generals just sacrificed regular citizens for whatever tactic they wanted, and there's a growing sense of overthrowing the royals.
This was the worst episode I have seen in any show in my life... but I am glad you enjoyed it.
@@Vereenks3 Sorry you couldn't enjoy it. Hopefully you can have some fun on other episodes.
You guys would expect chocolate milk from a brown cow 😂❤
Azula looked so cutesy evil in this, as opposed to menacing evil in the animation
I liked it. I thought it was much better than Percy Jackson, but not nearly as good as One Piece. I just think it's good.
One piece was definitely not better than Avatar. You delusional anime fans are way to over with your stuff. It was solid but way to rushed
@@LucerysOwnerI'm an anime fan now? I mean, I loved Cowboy BeBop, but I really haven't seen a whole lot of anime past that & a few movies like Akira. I definitely haven't committed the time to watch more than a few episodes of One Piece (after I saw the live action version).
One Piece was more consistent with its tone, better dialog, storytelling & character development. They just did a better job at interweaving the flashback histories as needed and more fully developed the characters than they did in Avatar.
Don't get me wrong, I still really liked Avatar & think Nerdy's being a bit hypercritical at times, I just loved One Piece.
I think you are overestimating how likely commoners are to recognise royalty, especially outside the palace, dressed as a commoner. They would maybe see them during some ceremony or speech if they lived in the capital, and might have seen them in paintings. In the original show Azula and Zuko aren't recognized in the beach episode, and Zuko even has a big unusual scar.
As a real life example, I live in Sweden. If you'd show me a random photo of princess Madeleine without her crown and dress, like in her day to day life in New York, I would definitely not be able to recognise her as our princess. And that is with the internet, TV and evening press constantly covering their lives. In the show the rebels have no reason to believe that the princess herself would leave the palace, let alone act as a spy and infiltrator. Why would she? The resources are plentiful to just hire spies instead.
I have heard the creative team for this show is open to fan criticism on platforms like this one. So theres definitely a chance s2 does see a large improvement if the writer room can stay consistent and focused.
I have not watched many more episodes of this Season, but it gets progressively better already. The 4th Episode was really good. Even though I think that the pace at which everything moves, as opposed to the animated show, is a little bit too brisk. It diminshes the payoff of some scenes.
I only remember Jet in the cartoon with “there is no war in Ba Sing Se” 😂
Honnestly, I'm tired of the hate around this live action adaptation. To be fair, the one piece live action was not better than the anime either and they also made a lot of changes. I'm not saying it was not good though, I like both of them.
The funniest thing is people calling certain plot points or dialogue cringy in this show forget how damn cringy and eye rollingly bad some of the cartoon was. People's adult nostalgia for a kids show is skewing a lot of perceptions of the quality of each the cartoon and live action.
I suspect Azula will be getting a redemption arc, resulting in her turning against Ozai at the end.
If Mai and Tai Lee were less wooden, have them be training too would make it better. Mai hit some targets Itachi style and Tai do some pressure points on guards or something
Regarding not recognizing people in power, most times people only see the signs of authority not the person. Without the royal robes, it is believable civilians wouldn't recognize her unless they followed the royal family as much as many people do now on social media.
Also Toph was hidden from society too. No one knew that family had a daughter. Not recognizing royalty is common. Zuko, even with his scar, would blend in.
I've never watched the cartoon, but I liked the show. It wasn't as good as Arcane or Loki S2, but it's just under One Piece to me. Most complaints come from people who think they know what is happening next or how the plot is supposed to play out, as opposed to simply letting it happen and enjoying the ride.
Yes, people who've watched the original ATLA are the ones who have major complaints this show. Taken on its own (without considering how well it aligns with the animated show) it's ok. But not great or even very good. It has some great moments, but they're scattered and disconnected. At times the storytelling just doesn't hold together, dramatic tension doesn't build from scene to scene or episode to epiosde. The show winds up being less than the sum of its parts.
It's not about expecting specific events to happen next, or the plot to go a certain way. It's more about core elements of character personalities being changed, and logical inconsistencies in the writing. Viewers understand that the story has been changed to fit a much smaller number of episodes. A lot of storytelling has been condensed. The problem is when the showrunners seemingly haven't considered how some of their plot changes would require other things to be changed too.
I always wonder what projects ppl work on who are tied to Hollywood who are very critical of other writers work
Remember that the original cartoon has 20 episodes in the first season, and the Netflix series has 8 episodes, obviously they would have to cut and join some episodes. I loved the adaptation, it brought a more adult footprint to the story, of course, there are things that can improve, all the adaptation has, but overall it's a great series with great characters and actors.
31:10 So far, Jet and Suki are my favorite side characters, they nailed it (and they both look gorgeous).
It's interesting what you say about misscommunication, cause this show was shot during pandemic and then had 2 years of postproduction. So, probably, a lot of scenes were shot separetely, since they couldn't have too many people on set. Also, during all this time of postproduction, they probably couldn't get the main cast to shoot additional scenes cause Aang's actor grew so much. It made me wonder what other issues they might have encountered along the way to delay the premier so much.
Why would any commoner recognize a prince or princess? It’s not like they have televisions with these people’s faces broadcasted!
That said, I am right with you in terms of tone. I was blaming the writing and on the side of the writing being the weak link of this show… but maybe it *is* a communication issue. That said, maybe I am not biggest fan of tonal changes in adaptation. To me that is changing the heart of what they are adapting. So that might be why I am harsher on the writing than I am on the communication between production departments.
I don’t have as much of an issue with the combining of plots. I am not sure how you take 20 minute standalone episodes that matter to the greater story arc and place them in a serialized 50 minute episode format, and having season one of the live action in total be longer than season one of the animation, without making those types of changes.
I think a lot of the hate is coming from click and rage bait farming videos.
"Avatar Live Action is DEAD!" "Here's why Avatar Live Action is SEXIST" "Is Avatar too WOKE!"
One lady I generally respect and enjoy put out an hour long diatribe about how it sucks, but many times throughout it it's clear she wasn't really paying attention. This isn't like when Nerdy screws stuff up, that's 'live' so it's fine. She had time to edit, go back and pull clips, get friends to do voiceovers, and she still missed obvious things that makes it look like the whole video is a hate farm.
I have seen several good, balanced, videos, including this one.
Next episode: I really like the changes to Bumi. Wonder how they'll feel about them.
To be familiarized with a face you need proximity and constant exposure.
When you don't have TV or internet, you don't necessarily know the faces of your rulers.
Pen pineapple apple pen? What are you talking about? I also don't know what that is....
I thought that they added a forest section to omashu.
pen-pineapple apple-pen
Yea youre not gonna like this show so I'll be back for the next series y'all do
See you there. And yeah, it sucks cuz when they're open minded they're very cool, but when they've decided they're not gonna like something it's just downhill lol.
@@josevelez4873 when did I decide to not like the show? Dang I should let myself know and save me the trouble
@@ClarusPolaris you guys kept picking apart every detail when it was exactly like that in the original. it is clear you went into this specifically to hate it.
@@Ashley-fc7kd except we didn't so I'm sorry you feel that way
I know you all have seen it before, but I would love to see a rewatch of the 1st season of the cartoon once you've finished the netflex series.
You‘re the only creators where I watch the feedback. I don‘t agree with everything you said, for example finding it cringe that the FN citizens didn‘t recognize Azula but you often make some very good observations. (PenPineappleApplePen)
"the show wants to burn a child alive in the opening scene of this" - A child? 😅 Osric Chau is over 30, who you're calling a child...
I look at this version of Avatar kinda like the animated Hobbit and LotR trilogy, good place to start and if it gets another chance then we might see what can really be done when everything "almost" is perfect.
Excellent take on the cohesion of the show and the length of the writing process (long after the 2 OG creators left).
I do believe that's one of the main reason why this season, for all its visual qualities, seems so over the place narratively and thematically.
You'd be surprised by the amount of people thinking this series is mid. Sure, it's polarizing, but quite a lot of people felt just okay with the show... which, given the love towards the OG series, kinda translates to soul crushing disappointment.
Pen, apple, pineapple... Pineapple, pen
Lol Nerdy just said it and ive already forgotten the words
Its like they came into this series with intent to not like it, gave them a few trys. The show clearly points out that omashu has a forest section... but that just flew over their heads. Honestly the writing does suck I agree but not paying attention because they hyperfocus on comparison or other flaws that they miss plot is just a no for me dawg. Again criticism is ok but talking over plot/not paying attention isnt a good critique.
I only watch the reactions to shows they like. And it's very clear which show they like from like 2 minutes of watching first episode lol.
It's becoming AoT all over again after that Erwin Smith comment at the beginning.
I disagree, they watched the trailer and were pretty hyped about it. The show definitely did not clearly point out a forest section. It was there sort of on the side of the city in a few establishing shots. I was a bit confused too while watching but I just assumed it was a forest within the city.
I haven’t made it past Ep 3 yet and I think you guys perfectly summed up why. The whiplash from darkly adult to whimsically childlike doesn’t work for me. The tonal inconsistency jerks me out the story. I would have enjoyed seeing a live action version of either but the original walked a fine line between serious life lessons and goofy antics that seems difficult to recreate. 🥺
Pen-Pineapple-apple-pen!!!
Yeah this episode is... messy.
I really loved all the added stuff with Azula, (although I do think Ty-Lee needs to be of a smaller frame) but trying to bake 3-4 episodes of the animation into one live action? I was not a fan of that.
I think all the issues I have with the show could have been handled if we just had had a longer series! at one point before watching the show, I hoped these 8 episodes would be the first half of Book one, and I think that would have been good. but I get it, no studio would ever be ready to sink that much money into one project.
great discussion guys you both made some solid points and I agree with a lot of what you were saying.
although, I am not as well versed in wig-work as you are, so I haven't noticed anything about that.
I never expected a one-for-one remake, and I've always been open to some changes. I've gotten through the entire season of this show, and without spoilers, there are 3 or 4 changes that I had bigger problems with. I was fine with the combination of the mechanist into Omashu, but I agree with you that the combination of Jet here feels out of place.
Pen, Pineapple, apple pen. Also, yeah I don't hate the show but it feels weirdly middle of the road. Parts of it work really well, but the individual parts of the show don't come together.
Kind of weird to me how people are saying they're nitpicking the show. While personally I don't feel like their criticisms are nitpicks for the most part, even if they were, isn't it their job to discuss aspects of the show in detail? I understand people might not agree with their takes but dismissing them as nitpicks seems pretty... well... dismissal. Talking about how the overall tone of the show is inconsistent is not a nitpick imo.
I think it's more things like the rebels not recognising Azula. It's totally realistic that they don't recognise her in a time without photography, news media or social media, and in the original Azula isn't recognised on the party in The Beach either. But here suddenly it's cringe. It's absolutely a nitpick.
@@Lothiril Sure I can agree with that. But I feel like they didn't harp on it for too long. Like 90% of the discussion afterward was about the tone. Also it happens, people don't always think of these things.
i suppose some of these channels are part review/part reaction. but i stop watching reactors who are just going heavy on the critique. it's why i don't care for mst3k or anybody who reacts in that style. time is precious and if i'm going to double, triple, even quadruple the time i spend on a show by watching reactions to every episode, it's to enhance my experience of a show that i enjoy enough to watch reactions to. if a reaction is just going to be a negative situation, i don't have time to fill my head with that. it's why i am not watching any of nerdy's reactions to halo season 2. he admitted from the first episode how he--as a halo purist--doesn't like what they did at all. ok, no need to watch the reaction then.
@@vinsanity40k That's totally fair, I was just saying how I don't think their critiques are nitpicks.
Pen pineapple apple pen!
Yep, things are uneven and inconsistent... at times the storytelling road to Ba Sing Se is rocky.
This show delivers some great individual scenes and yes, some castings are outstanding. But the elements don't always come together as a whole... Anyway... onward, to the next epi-sode! Hopefully there's no need for an epi-pen ;)
pen pineapple apple pen💃🕺🕺💃💃🕺🕺
pen pineapple apple pen!
thanks guys I will now have the pen pinneaple apple pen stuck in my head.
11:07 my exact reaction!!!
Pen Pineapple apple pen? I don't get it and I don't think I want to.
Six seasons and a movie!
There are no cabbages in Ba Sing Se.
Pen pineapple apple pen. I made it . Yay! I liked the episode. I think nerdy has been right more than once
I have trouble to immerse myself in the show. There is a lot of separate pieces that are really charming and intriguing, it just doesn't click into one coherent experience for me.
I can relate. It's like one minute I'm super invested, and the next one I don't care at all about what is happening. That's why I don't know what to make of this show.
Man, Osric Chau characters just can't catch a break, can they? 😂
Oh boy. You guys don't like this episode. Wait until you see 4 and 5 😆
Personally i didn't have issues with this one and the combo of 3 episodes.
They were all thematically similar and made sense to combine them with each other.
I agree with basically all of the criticisms you bring up. (One that I would push back on---only slightly---is about the tone jumping back and forth between extremely high stakes and light-hearted kids' show. But hopefully I'll remember to come back and comment after episode 8, my thoughts would be spoilery at this point.) But even with all of the faults, this is my pick for best episode of the series.
I loved bringing the Mechanist and Jet to Omashu and having those stories be contrasting examples of how people respond to the pressures of living through the war---Jet becoming too reactionary and vengeful, and the Mechanist becoming too complicit out of fear of loss. Each of Jet and the Mechanist are given their moments having heartfelt conversations with main characters, giving genuinely important advice and perspective that will have a lasting effect on Sokka and Katara. And then both of their flaws are revealed and the trio have their explicitly stated viewpoint that people are either the "good guys" or the "bad guys" challenged.
I wish this episode had been stretched across two episodes and written better. But ultimately this is my pick for best episode despite its flaws because it was a major change from the animated show in a way that was interesting and felt intentional. It wasn't executed perfectly (or even all that well), but when I think about whether this live action has a reason to exist at all, this sort of restructuring is what comes to mind. (Without spoiling anything specific, some other attempts at restructing....did not work...at all....should not have been attempted.)
penpineappleapplepen
Yep, the kid and high stakes is sort of the point of Avatar. It's a horribly dark, scary, war. Full of genocide. Seen through the eyes of a child. It works for cartoons because you can not show death, ignore certain things, and put cute music over it. But as a live action THAT would feel like a break in immersion because I'd be, "Are they just swimming around and playing with Koi fish and etc while there's hundreds of being being burned daily?.....". The live action movie made the mistake of making it too real, no levity. This is trying to find middle ground. Now that is subjective, on whether they did it well enough, but I wouldn't say that's the wrong direction to go in. Most of the changes here really worked, including the whole freedom fighter vs terrorist thing it presents, and "I"m gonna blow up a dam and kill a whole village" works for a cartoon, but "I'm gonna kill the traitor no matter the casualties" makes a lot more sense.
Of course there's a few things I wish they kept, like Sokka and his instincts lol
I did not like this and the next one.
I really appreciate watching your reactions to the show because you both seem roughly as torn about what you're seeing as I was... some of it works, some of it doesn't, etc.
I'm really glad y'all discussed how badly Katara is handled in the show here. I've watched the original animated show probably a half dozen times all the way thru and another half dozen times picking and choosing episodes and, for me, I always felt Katara was the heart of rhe original show. Aang is the title character, but I always felt they wrote Katara at rhe heart of the show. And this live action version just totally undid that, seemingly, to place Sokka in something like that role... sorta... and give Katara really no meaningful replacement role instead. She's very... "and Katara is here too" in this version.
There's things I like and things I don't about what's going on here but, for me, how Katara is handled is the truly roughest bit.
Thank you for what y'all do here.
Liked and shared
Katara isn't handled poorly. She's just a different girl. She's not super confident like she was in the cartoon but very contained and grows to be confident. That's an arc. She has a development in the eight episodes and it felt natural
You did meet Iroh so maybe he watches
Pen pineapple pin pen, wait, I think I fucked it up? But hi, I stayed to the end.
I thought this episode was good. But I agree with the assessment that it just looks like three different shows. What makes something like the expanse great in its execution is a really cohesive specific vision. Same with one piece. And it feels like shogun is going to be another one that has a unified vision from each department and not a million producer notes pulling it in different directions.
That said, I’m super disappointed in the fan base. Disliking something is fine, but the way the actors are being treated is abhorrent. Imagine harassing a teenager because they got a part on a tv show. It’s disgusting. Uncle iroh would be disappointed.
There's a reason why I never sub to this channel. Such nitpicker
Then why are you here? Serious question, I'm curious
I only watch the reactions to shows they like. And it's very clear which show they like from like 2 minutes of watching first episode lol. Dropping this series from this channel as it's one they've already decided they won't like, I had the feeling last episode when he liked it and she didn't that he'd be dragged down. xD
Especially the chic
@@breezy3392 When they're good they're good, like Last of Us, really open to changes, great. Rings of Power? Omg lol
@@breezy3392 I never sub dummy. You can't read?
I love the Bi Sedai shirt!
Somehow Jet is an even worse person in this show than in the OG, and he was already terrible.
"Wait he didn't recognize the princess of the fire nation??"
Once again Nerdy trying to critique and laugh at something he is ignorant and mistaken about. Its as reliable as the sun rising and setting. You should read a history book or two, and watch the original show as well since you clearly forgot it was the same way in that.
Claroos, before calling something "cringey" and "dumb on every level" maybe you should watch the original show which you clearly don't remember, and open a history book on historical royalty and their interactions with others. It was not uncommon in certain times and cultures for much of royalty, especially their children, to not or very rarely leave their "premises". Why is it the most judgemental people are also the most ignorant morons. Its getting tiring.
Stopped watching your reactions in the middle of this episode. It's just got really uncomfortable to watch you two hating it for any small detail, that you don't like. I mean, I have some moments I didn't like but it was still a decent show, and yeah as other people have pointed out - it's an adaptation. Thing will be different, some plots will be removed and some will be mixed together. Rather than immediately calling it cringe you should at least give it a chance and embrace the fact that it's not going to be a carbon copy but something of it's own
Penpineappleapplepen!
🖊-🍍 🍎-🖊
Sorry but as a fan of the anime, I think I'm going to stop watching your reactions because I do not need the negative energy that you seem intent on pumping into it.
I've been watching cosplay videos recently, and I've been pleased to see Clarus show up several times. Any chance you two could react to a few cosplay videos? Given your experience, I'd love to hear your comments.
Pen Apple pineapple
pen pineapple apple pen =D
I thought this was the weakest episode, although it does have some competition. It's like they took 5 plots, put them in a blender, and presented whatever came out first. I was okay with putting Jet here, but adding the Mechanist and Teo plus Zuko and Iroh just felt like muddying the waters and overcomplicating things
Pretty reasonable critique, I thought.
in my opinion episodes 3 and 4 are the most messyest ones...