#dallas original cast

[atla-suki]

btw i very much enjoyed natla. i thought it was a solid adaptation, and it did a good job at capturing the essence of the original show even though it wasn’t a 1:1 remake. i had a few issues w some characterisation/writing choices and the overall timeline & plot feeling a little rushed (i.e. no downtime to explore the gaang’s personalities and friendships, everything felt very go-go-go and it took away from the impactfulness of some moments i felt) but overall i really enjoyed it. the cast was perfect, the vfx were incredible. it wasn’t flawless but it was a damn good adaptation.

[victoriadallonfan]

Having re-watched Alien (1979) and Aliens (1985), I think I've realized what went wrong with the further expanded film universe on a thematic level (this is not accounting for AVP films, which seem to exist within their own continuity atm).

The main issue is that these films made 2 intertwining mistakes:

Making the Xenomorph too animalistic

Removing the mystery of space

For the first part, Alien and Aliens are quite vague about the Xenomorph mind. Alien treats it almost like a serial killer at times, including a particularly interesting moment where it disregards Jones the Cat entirely, despite making a very easy target, and how it will sometimes meander up to the crew as if it knows it's inflicting terror upon them. This Xenomorph even seems to only flee when Parker goes to kill it with a knife and hides within the evac shuttle when it realizes that Ripley was going there as well.

Aliens forgoes this in favor of showing how terrifying their numbers are even in the face of superior (if greatly mislead) fire power, but then pulls the rug under our protagonists by (seemingly) cutting the power and testing the endurance of the auto-turrets. While the drones are not individually as intelligent as the original xenomorph from the first film, this is instead given to the Queen, who understands not only the danger Ripley poses to her Hive but hostage negotiations of the most blunt variety. And, of course, incredible spite and vengeance when Ripley burns her eggs.

Basically, the two films do a good job of making you wonder... how sapient and sentient are the Xenomorphs? Do we take Ash's word and think of them as simply Hostile Weapons or do we see them for the adaptable and complex - if instinct guided - parasites just trying to protect their hive? This is further food for thought when we learn that one of the cut endings would have had the Xenomorph kill Ripley, tentatively use the shuttles control panel, and speak into the intercom with Dallas voice (ala Predator).

Imo, that goes too far into making them human, but we'll circle back to that later. The point is that the Xenomorph is never clearly one thing or another, but rather, something that constantly foils our attempts to understand them completely.

Aliens 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant fail in that regard, because they take the firm stance that the Xenomorph is... an animal. A very, very, dangerous and hostile animal but an animal nonetheless. It's not some vague horror that we struggle to comprehend and reason with, because all the facts (as they are for now) are laid out: the Xenomorphs are weaponized animals that just kill, reproduce, and kill etc etc.

Nothing is entirely new about the Xenomorphs in these movies (beyond the forms and one part of Covenant, but we'll circle back to that as well), but rather trying to recapture the formula of Alien and Aliens. And even when the film isn't necessarily about the Xenomorphs like Prometheus, it still goes out of its way to copy the play by play of Alien to an almost hilarious degree (except, somehow, having a cast entirely of stupid scientists).

The Xenomorph is used as a toll for the films to talk more about the human threats who would use them, which is fine, except the same message of "Weyland-Yutani wants Xenomorphs, They Failed" over and over again (except I guess for Alien: Resurrection, but that had Walmart as a plot point so...) gets tedious. It's not longer about the folley of mankind, but rather this one company led by a man (or Android?) who keeps fucking up.

Ditto goes for the second part: removing the mystery from space. Alien and Aliens treat the Space Jockey and other (non-Xenomorph) alien life at an arms distance. They are large, grand, ominous, and vaguely defined. We don't know much about WY in either movie, nor how much is them knowing versus independent people within the company (Burke mentions cutting out his own bosses for profit for example, and Bishop the company Android is heroic and horrified at the situation they are all in, a big difference to Ash). The Xenomorphs having a Queen was a huge reveal, because we literally had no idea until then if those were actual eggs or simply pods artificially created.

Aliens 3 tries to add some mystery with the prison colony, but it's also hamfisted and given a lot of exposition to explain the situation they are in, but I will give it kudos for making Weyland (???) look like Bishop as a twist. Aliens: Resurrection... yeah, no.

Prometheus and Alien Covenant gave us a plethora of seeming mysteries, but also gives us really super simple answers. Basically, Space Jockeys are just super humans seeding life across the planets and they wanted to bomb Earth into oblivion because we killed Jesus Christ (who was a Space Jockey). And one of our androids then - possibly - goes to their home planet and bombs them to oblivion thus wiping out the human race. And they made Xenomorphs yadda yadda.

Prometheus in particular seems to despise the idea of space being a mystery, with the conversation David has with a scientist being plainly spelled out as the theme of the film: "Sometimes, humans/space jockeys just build shit, and it goes wrong I guess. No gods or mysteries here, just hubris."

Which, if handled well, is still a fascinating idea (I think it's a pretty interesting 'take-that' against the stupidity of Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists)... but it's not handled well. At all. And certainly doesn't work well when trying to write Xeno-Horror.

So, what COULD work?

Well, I think we need to look at how Alien and Aliens made the Xenomorphs, Space Jockey's, and Space itself all work.

For the xenomorphs, I think back to one scene I actually thought was interesting in Alien: Covenant; as a chestburster is born from a hapless scientist, it lays its eyes (???) on David and replicates his movements, mimicking the first living thing it witnesses. Nothing is ever done with this (of course), but think about the potential that could be used! Plenty of animals like crows, ravens, dolphins, octopi, killer whales etc etc can use mimicry in voices and actions, and that includes things like tool-use! And of course, the fact that they take on new forms from hosts helps with that.

For the Space Jockey's: scrap them. They had their time, the mystery is basically solved. Show us new and different alien civilizations long past. Were they also victims of the Xenomorphs? From some other threat entirely? Surely, there are extraterrestrial predators out there that don't follow the Xenomorph formula. Why not have them share the splotlight, with just as little explanation?

For space itself: stop with trying to recapture Alien and Aliens. Alien: Isolation is the only successor specifically because of the format of the medium. Alien and Aliens rely heavily on the shock factor of sudden reveals. Remove that, and you are given "bug hunt" games and movies ala discount Starship Trooper. Focus more on making human space feel almost alien and beyond our understanding as well, but just enough that we can recognize the purpose that we would have them for our society.

How I would write an Alien Story:

(This would all be backstory and setup for the actual story)

I would set it within a colony satellite with an explicit task: a skyscraper ecological time-capsule for deep space experimentation of wildlife.

It would have levels, with humans situated at the second uppermost and an AI as the manager at the top level of the satellite, with all the other animals in different levels fit for their habitats (including some non-earth, non-xenomorph aliens). It's a religious sponsored and run organization, offshoots of [Insert Church Here] that is trying to get good press with cutting edge AI and biological research.

The prize is an alien lifeform that looks like a cross between a crocodile and a panther. Usually docile when fed, it has been growing more and more agitated, harming several workers on the job. Most assume it may be some late-stage degenerative disease within it's brain.

Not all things are as it seems, as at the bottom of the station, a location no one but a select few faithful engineers are sent to maintain, a pod is damaged. A young attendant watches in shock and horror as a bloody and maimed chest burster crawls out of the pod, possibly having injured itself to burn through the lock. The creature is mewling in pain, but the young attendant makes a choice: leaving food, water, and blanket for the creature. Watching as the creature watches them, before going to feast. All under the gaze of a camera.

The xenomorph grows and grows, eating more, getting bolder and allowing its "caretaker" to feel more comfortable. Soon it begins to recognize certain sounds as they pray when he feasts, and association occurs. One day, its hiss sounds suspiciously like "Lord".

This is when the young attendant reaches out to higher, but trusted, priests to share this miraculous revelation. The first one is shocked, terrified, but intrigued as the creature mimics words like "Lord" and "Mighty". Barely audible, some would say hallucinatory, but they believe they can here this humanoid creature speak their language.

The second is equally shocked, terrified, but listens and becomes a believer.

The third one does not believe. Rightfully horrified and full of questions. Their arguments in front of the beast escalate into violence and when the young attendant shoves the priest to the ground, it is the Xenomorph that pounces. Blood is shed. the creature rises in front of it's faithful, and the Xenomorph uses the same sounds it heard over the fight. Lord. Mighty. Here-tik.

They can't be delusional or driven by guilt! This is a sign... right? This creature is speaking to them!

The faith grows. Never large. Can't risk word getting out or people noticing too many missing priests. The satellite is just barely large enough that people can excuse going missing for a few days between objectives.

But key individuals are brought in. The creature is worshiped. Animal offerings are delivered. It's changing, slowly. Growing larger (not a Xenomorph Queen, it's too maimed, but adapting to a steady diet).

Things might have escalated, had one of the priests killed not had an estranged sibling/spouse/loved one who had the pull to make a formal investigatory complaint.

The investigator arrives with his repertoire, this supposed garden of eden in deep space, none the wiser to what he would uncover. (Again, this would be the backstory, not revealed except through character investigations and evidence found during that. Defeats the purpose if it's spelled out like this).

It would play with the idea of how sapient/sentient the Xenomorphs are (do they care? do they understand? if not, why act like this? if yes, what does this mean for their continued slaughter), how much one puts into faith versus delusions, and leaves lingering questions: who put the xenomorph on the ship, why is the AI so complicit with the deaths and disappearances, and why is the one non-xenomorph alien acting so dangerously agitated despite being far away from the xenomorph's quarters?

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: season one review

first things first: anyone who says the Movie That Does Not Exist is better than the live action is straight-up lying. the shymalan film fails on the criteria of even being a decent movie, let alone an adaptation. the netflix series, for all its problems, is at least an enjoyable watch with great effects, music and (mostly) appropriate casting. there's absolutely nothing to compare here - the netflix version clears easily.

now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's delve into the series, starting with the positives.

the good:

visuals and cinematography. they really did a great job of making it feel like a fantasy universe you wanted to be in & i love how vibrant the saturation and colour grading was. it made the world feel so much more dynamic and alive instead of the same flat, boring dullness that so many movies and shows have these days. sometimes i didn't even mind that i was being fed obvious exposition because at least they were giving me something pretty to look at lmao

effects and action. the bending was surprisingly good for the most part, and they did a good job of making the elements feel unique through the stunt choreography and the actors' movements. i'm immensely thankful they didn't try to skimp on budget by merely cutting away from fight scenes or showing us as little as possible. almost all the action sequences were fast-paced and engaging, and i was never bored watching them

acting. the main four were all great, but gordon cormier and dallas liu have to be the standouts for me. gordon brings such an earnest, innocent sweetness to aang that you can't help but like him, and dallas plays all of zuko's facets perfectly: the angst, the explosive anger, the bratty snark, and especially the deep-rooted pain that characterizes so many of zuko's actions in book 1. the range he has, especially when flashing from younger to older zuko, was insane. special shoutout to maria zhang and sebastian amoruso as suki and jet respectively, because they killed it

music. leaves from the vine instrumental had me tearbending and i love how they kept the iconic avatar theme while making it a little darker for this iteration of the story. in general, the soundtrack felt very true to the animation while still being a fresh spin on it

zuko and iroh's relationship and expanding on zuko's crew. i think the fandom universally agrees that lu ten's funeral and zuko's crew being the 41st division were the best changes in the series, so i'm not going to talk about it further other than to say that these scenes show me what the show can be, and that's why i'm not giving up on it

the bad:

characterization. almost all the main characters are missing the little nuances that made them so great in the original, but the greatest casualty is katara. i hate that they took away so much of her rage, and gave many of her traits and struggles to sokka. i don't think this is a problem solely with the writing though, because certain lines do feel like things animated katara would say, but the directing and line delivery don't have the same punch that made her so fierce in the original. this is an easily fixed issue though, so i hope they take the criticism and let my girl be angry and fuck shit up next season

exposition. this was primarily a problem in depicting aang's personality and the relationship between the gaang, because a) why are you TELLING me that aang is mischievous and fun-loving instead of just showing me and b) the gaang do NOT feel like close friends, mostly because they spend so much time apart in every episode that they have little screentime to actually bond and develop intimacy.

lack of focus on the intricacies of bending. for a show whose tagline is "master your element" the characters spend very little time actually... mastering their element. zuko is never shown to struggle with firebending (which is going to have ramifications when it comes to developing his relationship with azula), and neither aang nor katara ever learn waterbending from a master throughout the the entire show. i'm pretty sure aang never willingly waterbends ONCE in the entire eight episodes, discounting the avatar state and koizilla. bending isn't just cool martial arts, it's closely linked to the philosophies and spirituality of each nation, and i wish that had been explored more.

pacing. they really needed to do a better job of conveying that time passed between episodes because an 8-episode season is just going to FEEL shorter than a 20-episode one. the original animation felt as though they'd truly been on a long journey before arriving at the north, but here it feels like the entire show happened in the span of a fortnight or so because each episode seemed to pick up right after the previous. they needed to have more downtime within episodes instead of just rushing from plot beat to plot beat because it made everything feel a lot more rushed. give the characters and story time to breathe.

final rating: 7/10.

overall, i would describe the live action as a better version of the percy jackson movies - not an accurate or perfect adaptation, but a decent story that's very fun to watch. but what really makes me root for this show to get a season 2 is that it has a lot of potential and more importantly, a lot of heart. it's evident that the people who worked on it do genuinely love and respect the original series, and it shows onscreen.

regardless of anything else, this show created opportunities for so many asian and indigenous actors, writers and creators to tell the kinds of stories and play the kinds of roles they don't usually get, and that's something worth supporting. if they take the criticism from this season and improve, i believe they really do have something special on their hands which - although it might not be the original we all know and love - could still be a story to be proud of.

[theskysungqueen]

to make things brief cause I suck at organizing what I have to say, the live action was definitely Something™.

Cast: 10/10 kinda biased personally but yall can't take this from me

Gordon as Aang and Dallas as Zuko were the standouts imo. Gordon needs some direction on line delivery and the angstier scenes but overall he's very charming and I'm so proud of him for getting so much exposure!

Ian as Sokka was great, I just wish he was allowed to be more...messy? like Sokka pretends to be chill and all that but he's actually dramatic so I hope that gets improved in the next season if there is one

speaking of improvement, Kiawentiio as Katara brought out a softer side to the character but sadly diminished her spark and passion. I like that Katara now actually feels like a younger sister, it makes sense within the context of the story that Sokka and Gran Gran would shelter her after what happened, but as someone said, her anger is so central to her character and I just wish that got shown more. It's more of a script and direction problem tbh, if you look at Kia's interviews she has the sass and feistiness Katara needs

Lizzy as Azula is great, the writing is a bit clunky though so she did the best she could with it. Can't really comment on Mai and Ty Lee yet because they're kinda just there but it's a nice setup

Maria as Suki? perfection show stopping never the same she is a queen and I love the tidbit of Suki backstory which she never really had in the og show. I love her being such a loser around her crush we love to see girlfailures girlfailing. I wish the writers didn't make them KISS though 😭 slowburn ftw

the adults were great

Writing: 6.5/10

There were genuinely good moments and I love the concept of mixing up certain plot points to condense the story

But they just suffered from too much Telling instead of Showing WRITERS PLEASE LISTEN TO THE CRITICISM YOU HAVE TIME TO IMPROVE PLEASE

Omashu, mechanist, and Jet plot mixing as a concept was fine, but it dragged on and my friends and I got bored of it. I like it in theory but if it was going to take THAT long couldn't they have just separated one of those storylines for a different episode?

I appreciate that they tried to develop the water siblings' relationship by making them the stars of the Secret Tunnels, but I would've changed the way they "conquered" the problem (really? badgermoles respond to love? cute in theory but like why). If anyone's watched Barbie: A Fairy Secret there's a part where Barbie and her frenemy accuse each other of why their friendship failed, and it helps them make up and breaks the curse put on them. So that's what I would've done, force them in a life or death situation in which they have to say the unsaid things, maybe hug it out and boom

The way they handled Koh and the Spirit World was a Mess™ but the effects were decent

Zhao meeting horrible ends in every incarnation is so deserved

Yue having more agency was a welcome change AND I LOVE THAT SHE WATERBENDS. Then waterbends even when the moon is gone. It's such a nice visual nod to the fact that she has the moon spirit within her

That said, the show could definitely use more visual storytelling, less weird dialogue. Like it's so strangely common for shows or adaptations these days to exposition dump. Like they did not have to make Yue say that the ocean spirit was angry, literally just show me the dead moon fish and I'll get the idea. Then Iroh says "That's Wrath" that's just redundant now isn't it

I like that they saved Katara bringing Aang out of the Avatar State until last even if it could've been done better

HOW DARE THEY MAKE ME LIKE HAHN HE WAS A JERK IN THE SHOW BUT THEY MADE HIM A GENUINELY GOOD CHARACTER. Yes to brown men not being portrayed as jerks but also in the original it was a nice contrast to how far Sokka had come because Hahn reflected who he used to be. But live action Hahn </3

I like that they showed the deaths and blood. I wanted a live action that was both lighthearted but more realistic when it came to the injuries and death, and that'd kind of what I got

Other thoughts + overall

You can tell they put so much heart into this show, watching the bts, the bending boot camp with the correct martial arts, the easter eggs, the nods to the comics, the beautiful adaptations of Cabbage Merchant and Secret Tunnel nomads, there's so much passion behind the show it's a shame it suffered in its writing

which is why if they read reviews and criticism from the bigger name fans (TheAvatarist, HelloFutureMe, etc.) it would really help them improve for future seasons! The cast is stunning already and they have great chemistry (hopefully gets improved too!)

The live action is just a different angle to the show. And I'm saying this as an Avatar fan–the original wasn't perfect, either. I had some problems w it but the overall show was genuinely so good and heartfelt, those problems weren't glaring enough to put me off (unlike The Dragon Prince, sorry). The live action definitely wasn't perfect, but it tried to give us a new look into Avatar. Again, no adaptation will ever be a 1:1 remake and none should be. Where's the fun in that? But while the show is so full of heart and with actual fans working behind the scenes, I doubt if they listen to any criticism that they can't pull this off better next season.

[aangarchy]

Things about the Netflix Live Action that I personally loved

I know i've been pretty negative about Natla in general, so to make up for that: here's a post about everything that i loved!

Dallas Liu and Gordon Cormier's casting. Those two were really good, and while Gordon definitely had some "kid actor" moments, he only has room for growth and i truly believe he'll continue to be the perfect Aang (in looks and general energy, not writing lol)

The scene where the watertribe is staring over an unconscious Aang going "is he dead? What's the mark on his head?" it rlly made me giggle

A bunch of Ian Ousley's jokes were funny. Not all, but a bunch.

Maria Zhang, she also truly was a perfect Suki, i loved her performance and she's just so beautiful in general

Cabbage merchant

The costumes generally stayed true to the original, and while some looked a bit clunky or too clean they were overall really nice

Zuko and Aang's chat after the blue spirit story, it was a very good addition and Dallas and Gordon have great chemistry

Zuko's crew on the ship being the 41st division, aka the soldiers he saved from getting sacrificed by speaking out

Cabbage. Merchant.

June. I have no notes on her and i wished they utilized her more. I know she's coming back in s3 (i hope... *narrows eyes at netflix*) but i still feel like we didn't get enough of her yet

The change in June flirting with Iroh instead of Iroh being a little creepy towards her. You can shout double standards but this definitely felt less uncomfortable

The music

The set design when they weren't using greenscreen was genuinely very good

Casting for the mechanist and Teo was immaculate

Oma and Shu being lesbians

The whole blue spirit sequence

Cabbage Merchant

Yue's character in this version of the story (not her hair though god forbid)

The leaves from the vines motif in the flashback for Lu Ten's funeral, and the song returning when Iroh goes with Zuko on the boat. Got me crying on a saturday afternoon

Lizzy Yu. I know there was rlly no reason for Azula's character to be there yet but i liked Lizzy's performance even though her writing was OOC

The design for the physical weapons like Sokka's club and boomerang, Suki's fans and Jet's hook swords was really nice

The makeup for the Kyoshi warriors was fantastic

Daddy Dae Kim

THE CABBAGE MERCHANT.

[natlacentral]

The cast of Netflix’s adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender knows they can’t please everyone.

It’s a difficult life lesson that many of the show’s young actors have come to learn since they were chosen to star in a live-action reimagining of one of the most beloved animated series of all time.

Like any great saga, the latest iteration of Avatar has taken a circuitous route to the small screen. In 2020, two years after Netflix announced that it was developing a remake, original creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino departed the project over creative differences. A year later, former Nikita and Sleepy Hollow writer-producer Albert Kim officially assumed the role of creator and showrunner, intending to honor the Asian and Indigenous roots of his source material.

Since the debut of the new Avatar last Thursday, longtime fans have remained divided over the many changes that were made to turn a 20-episode half-hour children’s cartoon into an eight-episode serialized drama that has multigenerational appeal. But by maintaining the essence of the original while expanding the world that Konietzko and DiMartino have created, the new creative team is hoping to recapture some of the magic that transformed Avatar into a cultural phenomenon.

Every diehard fan can recite the basic premise by heart: The four nations — Water, Earth, Fire, Air — once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping the peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads. A century later, Aang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old Air Nomad frozen in an iceberg, reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. With his newfound friends Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang sets out on a quest to save the world from the onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) while avoiding being captured by Ozai’s tempestuous son, Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu).

Almost every Zoomer who grew up watching Nickelodeon seems to have their own relationship with the original Avatar. Kiawentiio, whose older siblings would always have the show playing in their house, recalls being drawn to its depiction of a young Indigenous girl, at a time when there was scant representation of Native Americans. Ousley credits Avatar and Star Wars: The Clone Wars for inspiring him to take up martial arts. Liu has a vivid childhood memory of watching a restless Zuko and his tea-drinking uncle Iroh’s first scene together on a boat. Cormier, as the youngest of the bunch, admits that he had not watched the show prior to auditioning. But by the time he entered production, all he could do was live and breathe Avatar.

Daniel Dae Kim, who watched the original with one of his sons when it first aired, tells Teen Vogue that he held a kind of family meeting with his now-adult children and some of his nieces and nephews after receiving an offer from Albert Kim (no relation) to star in the new version. “I called all of them, and I said, ‘What do you think about me doing a part in Avatar?’ And they were like, ‘You should do it!’ without hesitation. Then I asked the next question: ‘Well, I’m playing Ozai. He’s a bad guy…’ They paused for a second, and then they all screamed, ‘You should still do it!’” he says with a laugh.

Once the cast was assembled, the creative team began the seemingly gargantuan task of trying to breathe new life into each of the characters. While the animated series dealt with weighty issues such as genocide, war and imperialism, there is an added human component in live-action storytelling that requires a more grounded approach to depicting real-life reactions and emotions. “We were all definitely allowed to look into the darker sides of each of our characters,” Cormier says. In Aang’s case, he is tasked with a responsibility that he doesn’t necessarily want but feels obligated to assume after discovering that he is the last living Airbender of his kind.

Aang is “naturally a really fun-loving, goofy 12-year-old, so to be hit with something so serious like a genocide [affecting] all of his people, it really affects him badly,” Cormier says. “We see in the first episode where I blow Katara and Sokka off the mountain how badly it’s affected me. It hurt me so much [that] I blasted into the Avatar state and started destroying my home. I think it just shows how serious and traumatic it is for Aang, but slowly, he’ll get through it and become the Avatar.”

The themes of loss and grief remain prevalent across all eight episodes, with each of the young characters being forced to confront their own unresolved trauma.

Katara is forced to reckon with how her memory of her mother’s death has affected her ability to become a full-fledged Waterbender. “Another thing that I feel like impacted her so much, without even really explicitly touching on it, is being the last Waterbender of her tribe,” Kiawentiio says. “She really feels so deeply connected with that part of [herself], even though it’s something that she can’t really access [at first], and she feels this sense of, ‘This is what I should be doing.’”

After his father left years ago on a mission to fight the Firebenders, Sokka was forced to grow up quickly and protect his tribe, especially his younger sister, from the waterbending abilities that had caused them so much pain. “Sokka is a perfect example of somebody that is not healed, is pushing stuff down and won’t let it come out, is putting on different masks to the point where he doesn’t even know who he is when we first find him,” says Ousley, who insisted on finding a way to bring out a more serious side in Sokka without losing his signature sarcasm in this adaptation. “I think the trauma that he has is covered up by humor often and covered up by acting silly, and he will have lots of moments where he actually discovers who he is.”

Zuko, however, may have the most compelling arc of the first season. Having been banished by Ozai from the Fire Nation, Zuko has effectively lost one father but gained another father figure in his Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who takes it upon himself to look after Zuko on his journey to capture the Avatar. In the first season, viewers see Zuko’s Agni Kai — or traditional Firebender duel — with Ozai, who was responsible for giving Zuko his prominent facial scar.

While Ozai “may not have the tools to do it the right way,” Kim understands that his character “is trying, in his own way, to shape his children into what he feels is necessary to secure the future of not only his family, but of the entire Fire Nation.” That kind of tough love, unfortunately, has done irreparable damage to his children.

In a dramatic departure from the original series, the writers decided to introduce Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula earlier than in the original series. In doing so, the family dynamics between Ozai, Zuko and Azula become even more complicated. “Since Zuko’s away on his ship in the first season, you get a glimpse into, while he’s away, what is going on in the Fire Nation and who’s pulling all the strings,” Yu says. “For Azula, Zuko is very much more like a roadblock than anything else. You see that sense of family is not really there.”

“I think the writers did a good job of showing a rivalry between the two fighting for the father’s approval and attention without us directly interacting or speaking with each other,” Liu adds. “Zuko is just trying to prove he is worthy of his father’s love and attention just as much as Azula is. I think people will really come to root for Zuko because of everything that he’s been through.”

The production team was also keen to honor and recreate the costumes of the original series in a way that was not only beautiful but practical for the actors; Kiawentiio and Ousley had to wear heavy coats made of suede and fur, while Kim, Liu and Yu wore layers upon layers of corseted material with large shoulder pads.

“They really helped me complete the character because there was something about when I put on the wardrobe that made me walk [and] feel a certain way,” Kim says, “and it turned my character into someone more regal and powerful.”

It’s almost fitting that the most regal character is played by Hollywood royalty among Asian Americans. For the better part of the last three decades, Kim has been at the forefront of the movement to increase the visibility of Asian Americans in film and television. “The fact that I’m still working and able to see [the change] and be a part of it makes me feel very grateful, because success is not guaranteed to anyone in this business,” he reflects.

Kim believes the new Avatar is a reflection of today’s changing landscape in Western entertainment for more diverse stories that center Asian and Indigenous communities. “I don’t think it’s any secret to say that a live-action version has been done in the past, but it wasn’t done this way,” he says, referring to M. Night Shyamalan’s disastrous The Last Airbender film, which whitewashed many key characters. “I don’t think that it would have been done this way even five or 10 years ago because there wasn’t the same emphasis on proper representation and real diversity [that there is now].”

“I feel like we fought hard for the progress that we’ve made, and at the same time, I acknowledge that there need to be others outside of those of us in the community to push things forward,” he adds. “It takes a community working together along with allies.”

As the most accomplished actor of the group, did Kim have any advice for his younger castmates? “I don’t feel like it’s necessarily my place to be giving advice where it’s not needed or wanted, but it was nice of them to ask me about my experiences and how they could chart their own path forward in a business that’s very difficult,” Kim responds. “I can tell you that I really have been impressed by all of them, and I’m so excited to see the next generation of Asian American actors in particular come in with this attitude, with this opportunity. I would really love nothing more than to see them succeed beyond what we’ve seen in generations previous.”

The first season ends with Aang, Katara and Sokka successfully helping the Northern Water Tribe fend off a vicious attack from the Firebenders. Rather than following the advice of past Avatars, who stressed that he would have to bear the burden of his title alone, Aang realizes that he needs his friends to master all four elements.

“The Avatar still has to learn other elements, so we had to get the ball rolling on water and earth. If we did reach Season 2, I believe that we’ll find Aang already practicing water just because in the group he has quite the master to teach him,” Kiawentiio says with a smile, alluding to her own character.

But the last minutes of the finale also reveal that the attack on the North was actually a decoy for the Fire Nation. Ozai, as it turns out, had his sights on the Earth Kingdom — and his daughter, Azula, has taken over the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu with her own army. Aang’s old friend, King Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar), has now been taken prisoner.

“You have this idea of the prodigal son and you put all of your attention to someone who, in Ozai’s eyes, is failing him,” Kim says of the state of Ozai’s relationships with his two most powerful children at the end of the season. “So when there’s another child that you are not looking at in the same way that ends up surprising you, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it changes the way that you see the future. I think Azula was a surprise to him, and it brings him some joy, and he may have overlooked her in the past, but now he sees her as a real heir apparent.”

The revelation that his father has passed him over for his sister, at least for now, shakes up Zuko’s entire world, Liu says. “He feels a weird sense of betrayal because even though it is his sister and his father working against him, they are part of the Fire Nation, and his loyalty towards the Fire Nation was something that we know he was very persistent about, even though he was banished.”

Going forward, Kim would be interested in deepening the portrayal of Ozai’s relationships with his children, as well as his older brother, Iroh. “What is the relationship between the two of them when the second son supersedes the first? And how does Iroh feel about all of that? We never really see that explored,” he remarks. “I’d also like to see what happened to Zuko and Azula’s mom. These kinds of things are crucial to deepening the character, and I would love to see a little bit more of his history and how that informs who he is now.”

While the show has yet to be renewed for a second season, the young actors all have their own hopes for future seasons. Ousley would like to see Sokka “pick up the pieces” emotionally after the beautifully tragic end of his first love, Princess Yue (Amber Midthunder). Yu is ready to “do some of the really iconic Azula lines and scenes that we all know,” especially the Agni Kai in Season 3. Cormier is most excited to potentially adapt “Appa’s Lost Days” and the final fight scene between Aang and Ozai. “Throughout the show, I feel like he's going to learn more and more about why he has to be the Avatar,” he says.

[itsmoonpeaches]

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender: A show with its heart in the right place but questionable execution

[An objective spoiler review from a fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series who watched the live-action adaptation pretending to not know a thing about the original show.]

Episode scores

Episode 1: 7/10

Episode 2: 7.5/10

Episode 3: 6/10

Episode 4: 1.5/10

Episode 5: 7/10

Episode 6: 8/10

Episode 7: 5/10

Episode 8: 2.5/10

Overview

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with some heart. When there are highs, they are very high, but when there are lows they take away from the rest of the story. The visuals are overall stunning with an attention to detail. The set design in particular is done with love including incredible pieces, CGI design, and beautiful cultural references. The fighting is creative and fun to watch, though waterbending fights seem too slow. Surprisingly, the CGI animals work very well. A highlight is Momo who works in the same way Grogu from The Mandalorian works. However, the close-ups of calligraphy pieces should have warranted more research.

The costuming is detailed, but there are some instances when it would have been better to interpret certain characters more realistically rather than try to copy the original animated design.

The cast is not bad, especially considering the focus on younger, less experienced actors. Of the younger cast, Ian Ousley (Sokka), Dallas Liu (Zuko), and Maria Zhang (Suki) are the standouts. Gordon Cormier (Aang) also has good scenes but is not always consistent. The kid is cute and embodies Aang well. The most disappointing was Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara) who I so desperately wanted to be good, but was either not given the direction needed, or was told to keep the same flat face.

The writing in the show could have been a lot stronger, and many actors suffered from poor writing choices including clunky lines. They acted their hearts out with these but suffered for them at the same time. The show overall felt like a first draft of something that could have been great but fell flat because of either outside sources or a lack of trust in the audience.

For my short and sweet tweets on each episode click here. For a long, detailed review on each episode and my final thoughts keep reading.

Episode 1: Aang - 7/10

This episode started out incredibly strong. Immediately, I was immersed in the world and intrigue. We had an earthbender running through the streets of the Fire Nation Capital City with an intercepted missive that Fire Lord Sozin would attack the Earth Kingdom. The action was very cool to watch and the earthbending stood out. When Sozin captured him and warned that this information was just a diversion and that he had his sights set higher, the tone was exciting and interesting.

Seeing the Air Nomads and what their life was like, then being introduced to the main character, Aang, was fun. I enjoyed seeing the interactions between Monk Gyatso and Aang. They felt like they had an incredible bond.

The violence starts soon after when Aang runs away during the Comet Festival and Sozin's plans are revealed when he uses its power to attack the temples and boy is it brutal to watch. This scene was tough, but in a way that made the audience really hope that the Fire Nation loses because what they did was so incredibly cruel that it can't be put into words.

Where this episode begins to fall off is when we hit the Water Tribe. The writing here becomes a bit clunky and stilted. Gran Gran in particular was a choice. By a choice, I mean that out of all the actors she was unfortunately the worst. Every line that came out of her mouth was grating and poorly delivered, which was sad because her scenes weren't written particularly badly.

Sokka is a stand-out as well as Zuko, though they gave Iroh a scene and lines with Aang that felt so out of place. It felt like a disservice to Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Iroh) who is an incredible actor to give him these awkward sentences to act around. Katara acts like (maybe?) she cares. It's hard to tell when she has no emotion and keeps telling me things that she supposedly cares about and I'm not seeing it.

Episode 2: Warriors - 7.5/10

It is here where things begin to pick up. I had a good time with this episode because to me it was so much fun, and it wasn't necessarily because of the main story going around. It was because the chemistry between Sokka and Suki was so unexpectedly good that I could not peel my eyes off the screen.

No seriously, it was fun. In just one episode, they made me believe that this was the couple for the show. Suki is portrayed as a silent, yet awkward warrior whom the village admires. She's blindsided by Sokka who is definitely not as good a warrior as she is, but is interesting for her to watch.

What's so refreshing about this take is that it's Suki who makes the first move and Sokka awkwardly flirts back with clearly no experience in talking to girls he's interested in. Suki starts peacocking for him! That's hilarious and endearing. We never see that in most media. It's usually the guy who does it, so him being the bumbling fool while Suki also flirts with absolutely no understanding of how to do it was a joy to watch.

Katara exists I guess? Aang's story with Kyoshi honestly was good enough for me to give it a pass, but they also gave Kyoshi so many long lines with nearly nothing to say. They could've cut her lines into a more condensed, stronger thing but instead left them long-winded. However, watching Kyoshi make a tornado of bodies is an experience I'll never forget. Continue what you're doing, fight choreography department.

Episode 3: Omashu - 6/10

This episode is fine. I enjoyed the beginning with Jet being revealed as the guy on the cart who lets the main characters into Omashu. However, the writing really starts falling off here. It starts to feel like they're cramming storylines into one episode.

The set design in Omashu in particular is incredible. I cannot emphasize how beautiful the markets were from the food stalls to the costuming. South and Southeast Asian foods, dried herbs and chilis, gold!!! Just watching the background was fun.

Katara's acting, however? Not fun. She's given so many good emotional beats here and does nothing with them. They keep showing me her flashbacks and I think seeing less of it would've made it more impactful. This is the episode when I realized that she is the most useless character in the trio. Does she need to be there? Does she do anything for the story? No. Sokka feels like the glue of the group while Katara merely causes problems. It doesn't help that everyone acts in circles around her. I wouldn't feel anything if they wrote her out.

Episode 4: Into the Dark - 1.5/10

I don't want to talk about this episode, but if I must, know this: It was awful. It was some of the worst written TV I've ever seen. They took the feeling of cramming too much in the previous episode and multiplied it by 100.

There were too many plot threads and not enough time to let any of them breathe. It felt like watching a show that didn't know what it was doing with itself and in the end, I still don't know what this episode accomplished other than making me frustrated as a viewer.

Sokka and Katara being in the Cave of Two Lovers was an...interesting choice. It looks very strange and borderline incestual considering the out-of-place story right beforehand about two lovers meeting up in the same cave Sokka and Katara had to venture through. The fact that Oma and Shu are both women was something I didn't even notice because of how terribly presented it was. It did not need to be there and was a disservice to the representation they wanted to include.

Sokka and Katara are siblings, so that was something. In fact, using that storyline at all felt so weird. They used it as an excuse to build their relationship when all I felt was confused about it.

Aang and Bumi could have been interesting if they executed it better. Instead, they TOLD me they were best friends and that Bumi went through a lot during the war and that Aang knew Bumi well. I needed to SEE it. (Show don't tell is a very real thing, and this episode is rife with crimes against the rule.) Instead they showed us a brief flashback that wasn't nearly enough. They had one strong plot point with Bumi making Aang the same bison whistle he had from the first episode to call Appa, but it didn't work because the rest of it was executed so badly.

This episode felt unnecessarily preachy and in a bad way. They kept telling us the war was bad, that Iroh hurt people, that Aang hurt people by leaving, yet they showed us none of it. This would've been a really impactful message otherwise, but all it gave me was a load of nothing dipped in nothing sauce.

I loved the orchestral rendition of Leaves From the Vine, but the lines were so long and awkwardly written during Lu Ten's funeral that if it weren't for the music, I would've felt nothing. From the perspective of a viewer who doesn't know anything about Avatar: The Last Airbender, I would still feel confused because it didn't fit with the convoluted tone of the episode in the first place. Why was this here? Why was any of this here?

From a fan and story perspective, we could've had a strong episode just combining The King of Omashu and Jet. Using Jet to try and assassinate King Bumi was such a good intrigue plot, but again the writing was terrible. We didn't also need The Northern Air Temple plot lines here. Danny Pudi deserves better than that.

Episode 5: Spirited Away - 7/10

I don't know if this episode was elevated because the previous episode was vomit level, but I really, genuinely enjoyed this one. After stepping back for a while, I've deduced that yes I liked this episode. This was also the one that I actually felt something emotionally.

I can tell why this one would be controversial from a fan perspective, but looking at it as a story that works within this universe and this version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this really works. It finally felt like an adventure with stakes and characters I could feel for.

From a fan perspective, I enjoyed what this did with the Spirit World here, combining lore from different books in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It felt fun and creative and worked for me.

From a new viewer perspective, it was the first episode that ended that I actually said, "Wait no, it can't end there!" The visuals of the spirits were so fun, the flashbacks emotional. Katara acted finally! Plus, her younger child actress was phenomenal. Gran Gran was...hm. Sokka stood out immensely. He melted down and I really felt for him. Aang's meeting with Gyatso was gut-wrenching. I teared up.

It was here I discovered the show really shines when they're not trying to copy the original show, and when they try to do their own thing with lore that exists as long as it fits with what they're trying to tell. It works, and it's enjoyable, and gives characters more depth. The kicker? This episode was so strong in comparison because they did a lot of showing us things, not telling us. But it's not without its flaws. There was some weird dialogue here and there. Really, I enjoyed Sokka's and Aang's scenes the most.

June of course, was such a perfect casting choice, and her scenes with Zuko and Iroh were fun. Though once again, they wrote Iroh's lines in a way I don't understand. Why make him this one-note wise man? Sometimes less is more.

Episode 6: Masks - 8/10

This is hands down the best episode of this show. I hardly have any complaints about it. Even Iroh's wisdom lines were doable. Zhao was such a fun ride. They made him this whiny officer with too much to prove and a cocky attitude, and I enjoyed every minute of it. He's like a grown man who is a child, but it works. Oh goodness it works. Give me more of him nitpicking the heck out of the way his speech is written. It was such a refreshing take on a villain.

The rest of the episode? BRILLIANT. Absolutely. Zuko as the Blue Spirit will never get old, but the live action presentation was so good I have no complaints about it at all. The fighting and choreography really worked, and boy was it a fun thing to watch come to life. I don't normally love when things are copied one-to-one from animated shows to live action because it doesn't always work, but this was one of those instances that I'm glad it did work. It was iconic of them to bring back the bamboo pole fight and what's crazy is that it ended up being some of the coolest fight choreography I've seen. They must've had a blast with it!

Zuko and Aang were so good in this. They have a lot of chemistry as actors, and I could believe they want to be friends but circumstances don't allow them. It makes their extended interaction trapped together and hiding from the Fire Nation in a shack that much more impactful. Adding in the fact that Aang stole Zuko's Avatar journal paid off from episode 1 because now they talked about it, bonded over calligraphy and brushes, and I wanted them to be friends with all my heart. Their inevitable separation hurt me.

But oh no, you thought that was all? They made Zuko's backstory better. They showed us more of the scene where Zuko speaks against his father, and it's actually worse than the original show. Worse, as in better story-wise but worse for Zuko. Ozai asks for Zuko's opinion in the war room, Zuko gives it, Ozai disapproves. Then, when the plan is made to sacrifice the 41st Division, Zuko speaks out and says it's a terrible plan.

I could unpack that scene forever. This makes Ozai seem more manipulative, and I love it. He tests Zuko, disapproves, yet punishes him for saying his opinion later when Ozai had asked him before.

They show us the Agni Kai. I enjoyed the choreography. It helps that Daniel Dae Kim (Ozai) is a sight to behold. His cloak was a good choice, and I'll leave it at that. He is also a perfect Ozai. He has the aura of a man who doesn't play around, and he is menacing. It's also his line delivery and voice.

But the thing that I could also obsess about forever? The fact that Ozai punished Zuko not just by banishing him, but by making his crew the same 41st Division he saved. Zuko and Iroh never told them either, not until Iroh decided he should by the end.

So when Zuko comes back injured from freeing the Avatar, it is a great earned scene when his crew bows to him and calls him their prince.

Episode 7: The North - 5/10

After the previous episode, this was such a let down. Not much stood out here, but the Northern Water Tribe was a great set design. I loved looking it at. Unexpectedly, Kuruk was in this, but it worked so well. So unbelievably well.

From a fan perspective, I've always loved Kuruk and when his backstory was revealed in the Kyoshi novels I felt validated. He has a tragic and interesting back story, and they delivered here. Meegwun Fairbrother (Kuruk) has such a commanding presence. I cannot state this enough. He is the Avatar. He is Kuruk. I genuinely want more of him and I want to know more about him. I wouldn't mind if there was a whole live action show about Kuruk with him as the star.

The rest of this episode though? I mean. It was fine I guess? It wasn't episode 4 level of terrible, and definitely had more that elevated it, but the writing started downgrading immensely from here. Also, Yue, girl, what was that wig? And it's so obviously a wig that it was distracting. Why?

Katara felt like she should've had a presence here but she barely did. She had a fight with Master Pakku that felt unearned. It was also the first fight I've seen in this show that I didn't enjoy watching. The choreography wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It was also slow-paced for some reason. It was like I watched two people decide they need to make a move with each move. Everything Katara did felt unearned this episode.

Episode 8: Legends - 2.5/10

Why. What was this finale and why was this the finale? Ignoring the fact the Yue is apparently a spirit trekking lady which could've been cool if they executed it better, this was a whole mess. I'm going to ignore this plot because apparently she was the three-tailed fox in episode 5, and I like episode 5 and don't want to bring that one down so I'll pretend this doesn't exist.

I wouldn't mind if this was the route they went with Yue, but it was so rushed. Her being a waterbender was new, but I also didn't mind it. It was just...shallow. Seeing Yue's romance with Sokka after Suki left a sour taste in my mouth because it was badly done. The actors had no chemistry, and Sokka seemed like a playboy.

The writing was so terrible. Everything was mashed together last minute, Kuruk was there for a cool second, and then my expectations fell past the floor of an outhouse.

Momo, the cute CGI animal, died for some reason saving a person from a falling ice block. Then Yue had to go revive him for some reason. My first reaction was "NO!! MOMO!" Then it was confusion, and then I started laughing because none of it felt right and none of it felt earned, and I was laughing so hard I started crying.

I forgot Aang never started waterbending.

Oh yeah, Katara called herself a master I guess? I don't know how that happened because she's been crap the whole season and never got Pakku to teach her, so I guess she's self-taught now and proved herself by fighting Pakku and convincing him to let the women fight even though they showed no indication of wanting to...so yay feminism? Katara has only been looking at a scroll and failing badly the whole season and learned from no master so I don't know where she got this "master" idea from.

What saved this episode from being episode 4 was that the fight choreography was the coolest I've seen. As a fan, I was scared about how they were going to interpret the black-and-white lunar eclipse scenes but they delivered well! The blasts, the bursts of fire and color, holy heck it worked so incredibly well. I was impressed. Genuinely. I loved watching all those scenes. The Fire Nation blasting through the walls was so cool.

Oh yeah I guess Aang not learning waterbending explains why him being a giant Ocean Spirit fish didn't allow him to waterbend the waves to beat the Fire Nation, but instead he crashed into them.

Katara, Sokka, and Aang were finally together most of the time. I still hardly know anything about them though. Are they friends?

The ending scene with Zuko and Iroh was heartfelt, but could've been stronger. Azula took over Omashu I guess? Sozin's Comet is coming "soon" I guess? None of it felt earned.

Final thoughts

Honestly, if this show ended on episode 6 maybe I'd want a season 2, but after that I don't feel any interest in seeing this iteration of the show. Half of it doesn't work and the writing is questionable. If I were a new fan, I don't think I'd like it just from the weird writing alone. I'd stop after episode 4.

I genuinely wish the cast and crew well, and I love many of them from previous works, but they do not need to be in more of this. They deserve better projects.

It was telling that once I finished the series and saw who wrote what, the original creators were the ones who had a hand in writing episodes 1 and 6, which are episodes on the stronger side. Especially 6, which is the best one. If anyone tells me that I am crazy to be skeptical over an adaptation of any kind without the original creator(s) involved, I'll point to this fact.

My advice? Watch Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's original Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender which you can also stream on Netflix.

[ultfreakme]

Nah Zutara is def happening. Two of the writers (Omashu and Into the Dark) are Zutara shippers and liking Zutara content all the time esp about Kiawentiio and Dallas. The Netflix accounts are pushing Zutara like crazy. Albert Kim is an enemies to lovers enthusiast and said that the original endgame ships are up in the air.

I am trying so very hard to be objective about this and so I am going to tell you what I'm seeing in the nicest way possible but I'm really sorry if I can't:

I've checked the official Netflix account, I follow it on twitter, nothing afaik. The closest I found was picture sets but they did it for Dallas and Gordon, Dallas and Ian, Elizabeth Yu and Kiawentiio too, and obviously Gordon and Kiawentiio, all the duos. There's a video clip of Kiawentiio throwing out a question card about if Katara likes Zuko and their first immediate reaction is laughing (and not in a way that's confirming it- like Dallas was about to clap and Ian gave a thumbs-up, not encouraging and they conclude it with saying a lukewarm 'no kinda well' likely because it's spoilers for season 3).

Kiawentiio right after an interviewer mentioned Zutara, she said and I quote ; "What Avatar are you watching?"

Albert Kim on Kataang:

It's being delayed to S2 because the age difference looks way too obvious in live action. It's still happening, just later when the actors look closer in age. They heavily hint towards future Kataang by comparing Aang and Katara to Tui and La on-screen (Yue saying the ocean will forever search for its counterpart while panning between Aang and Katara whos is reaching out for him, and Sokka and Yue where Sokka's begging Yue to stay- it's very on-the nose).

The OG show also had creatives who like Zutara, they inserted bait for it in the chibi shorts but nothing came of it in any canon and everything is steadfastly for Kataang. Heck, currently the cast are pushing Zukka all the time, doesn't mean it's going to be canon(Dallas Liu and Ian Ousley saying "hey ship our characters!" word-for-word does not equal Zuko and Sokka are going to date for real in the show).

It's disappointing that fanon ships aren't canon, but that's just what you sign up for when shipping fanon. You are not going to to get what you want, neither am I.

Kataang is the heart of the show, nothing will take that away and I think it's best to just, make peace with that instead of looking too hard into behind-the-scenes and cast stuff hoping THIS is when it's going to happen(I play along with the Zukka bait because it's funny, not because I think it's going to be real).

Also, writers liking Zutara content? Fine, do you, have a blast! It DOES get weird when they're sincerely promoting Dallas and Kiawentiio as an item though because they met when she was like 15 and he was 19/20, and now she's 17 while he's 22 now. She's a child, he's an adult pretty much their entire work relationship. That's really freaking weird. EDIT: Dallas and Ian, who are the actual adults in the cast have been actively redirecting all ship-related conversations towards themselves and their characters because they CAN handle whatever flame wars erupt from that, meanwhile Gordon and Kiawentiio are children so they shouldn't even be in the discussion as actors when it comes to the fictional ships.

[coccinelle-et-chaton]

Thoughts on NATLA so far (up to ep 5)

I'm really loving it!!! There are some parts where the pacing gets a bit slow but it makes up by hitting you out of left field with the feels.

Episode 4 is my favorite so far.

I absolutely LOVED this rendition of Sukka. What bisexual disasters, the pair of them.

ON THE FIRE NATION:

I absolutely LOVE the background story on the fire nation family, particularly the bond between zuko and iroh. It is presented completely different than in the OG, since the 'show don’t tell' of the original happens in Book 2 and here they use flashbacks, but it works. Still ended with me in waterworks. Also, I understand the logic behind showing all of the cards from the very get-go being that Netflix can cancel the show before it is renewed for another season, so it needed to make the best impression possible, show all the stakes but not reveal them in ther completion. I think they did that very well so far.

ZUKO IS SO AWKWARD I LOVE HIM

his expressions and reactions are just peak comedy. He is the embodiment of "😫😟" and I love that for him.

Dallas' performance is definitely one of my highlights.

ON KATARA AND SOKKA:

The thing that is the most foreign to me so far is the decision to improve Sokka's emotional stakes at the expense of Katara's. I like it but this has to be the element where the adaptation departs the most from the og. Like, in the cartoon it is Katara who bears the brunt of the responsibility taking care of the water tribe and her brother, which is why Sokka's sexism as a character flaw worked there. I can see now why they chose to drop that. With the script flipped like this, with Sokka being the main caretaker and provider between him and Katara, making him stay sexist would've been a bit too much. It is very different, but I like how they flipped the script between them.

What I did not like about this flip is that the change seems to affect Katara's character for the worse. She is not as outspoken or short-tempered as she was in the cartoon. It's almost the complete opposite. But I can definitely see the shyness and insecurity being the deliberate starting point of her arc. Now in ep 5, you can see her becoming more confident both in personality and bending. I think this was a conscious decision, but I still wish she had been written to be more headstrong from the very beginning.

That being said, I really appreciate how different the dynamic between Sokka and Katara is. I love how Katara is trying to get her independence while Sokka is still caught on the fact he has to be her protector, almost parent figure, which is a cool change of pace. One of the things that kinda bothered me as a young girl watching Avatar was that Katara was always stuck being the mom and sort of getting teased for it despite the fact no one else could or wanted to step up to that responsibility. It's cool to see Sokka bearing that responsibility as the eldest in the adaptation.

ON THE BLATANTLY MISSING KATAANG

You know, I don't hate this change. Aang and Katara's interactions are still pretty wholesome, and once they start catching feelings for each other, it will be super cute because you see where the love is truly coming from. It's not just Aang's childhood crush/Katara's "destiny", as it was presented it the cartoon. Besides it would have looked a little weird, considering that the age gap between Gordon and Kiawentiio is way more obvious on screen than it is right now when you see the interviews with the cast, because that kid Gordon is growing up SO fast.

OVERALL:

I am enjoying it very much! The adaptation is excellent. Despite some changes being quite big, they managed to capture most of the show's essence. I do believe it could have benefitted from a bit more balance between the comedy and the seriousness, particularly when it comes to Aang because he is mostly just weighted down by his responsibility in the adaptation, I don't see him joke as much, but in general and all limitations considered, I think they did an excellent job! It won't be for everyone, for sure, but I can say it has managed to bring back that feeling of watching the show for the first time again on some parts :)

[jbaileyfansite]

EXCLUSIVE: Following his acclaimed role in the Showtime series Fellow Travelers, Jonathan Bailey may have found his follow-up, and it’s a big splash. Sources tell Deadline that he is in early talks to star in Universal and Amblin Entertainment’s new Jurassic World movie. Scarlett Johansson is also in talks to star. Gareth Edwards will direct. The studio recently dated the pic to bow on July 2, 2025 and moved fast to find a director, with Edwards spending all of last week meeting with execs. After impressing producers Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall, who helped launch the franchise in the ’90s, an offer soon followed. Pre-production is expected to ramp up once a deal is sealed. The new movie will be a fresh take, with Jurassic World cast members Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard not expected to return, nor the original trilogy’s thespians Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill. David Koepp penned the script. The film will be will be executive produced by Spielberg through Amblin, and Marshall and Patrick Crowley will produce through Kennedy-Marshall. EVP Production Development Sara Scott and Creative Executive of Production Development Jacqueline Garell will oversee the project for the studio. Bailey has strong ties with Universal as he is set to appear in its anticipated Wicked adaptation. The studio is high on the project after making it the big reveal during its CinemaCon presentation, and sources they were high on his performance following the shoot. On top of Wicked, Bailey is also coming off Fellow Travelers. The limited series also starred Matt Bomer and earned Bailey a Critics Choice Award for his work, making him a frontrunner in the Emmy race. Bailey is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Conway van Gelder Grant Ltd.

Source

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Netflix Avatar: the Last Airbender (Book 1)

(Thanks @knightsweeties for this cute GP)

Now I have AVOIDED looking at spoilers, and opinions of others until After I had made my own conclusions.

A lot of people are mixed on this series. With only one thing being consensus:

The last airbender movie < Netflix Avatar the last Airbender < Avatar the last Airbender

Aside from that, opinions have been all over the places. On how great or how bad the show is.

I will be going over my thoughts on it in the following categories.

The Action (fight scenes)

The Effects (from bending, CGI, and costumes)

The characters

The Plot

The changes

Does it capture the Spirit?

How does it stand on its own?

Conclusions.

(Spoilers below, but let’s get Right into it)

____________________________________________

The Action

So I’m going to say this. The action in this series is great. In my opinion it’s the strongest point in the series.

The battles from invasions, to simple one on one fights are very well done, some aspects even surpassing the original. Like the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe, you really feel the place is under attack.

And the bending battles are pretty gorgeous. It’s impressive to see the fight between Katara and Paku done serviceable well.

Though one flaw is the fact that sometimes showing the fight or attack actually took away from the impact of story beats done in the original. Seeing the attack on the Air Nomads actually took something away from it. Seeing Aang discover that horror is much less impactful.

And seeing Zuko fight in his Agni Kai against his Father also took a lot of bite from the scene. If Zuko never fought back it would have been so much more traumatic.

But they were still good fighting scenes.

Solid 9/10

____________________________________________

The Effects.

The Costumes in this are Gorgeous! Especially Kyoshi warriors. The characters mostly look as if taken straight from the cartoon. The Face stealer himself being ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING to look at in Live action. He is a sleep paralysis demon.

Appa and Momo both look great. The effects of the cities, and the blending are beautiful.

The bending also looks pretty clean. Though I admit the water bending was a bit lacking but the Fire looked ESPECIALLY fierce.

There is so much detail jam packed in this it’s amazing.

Though, I will say that it’s not flawless, some of the things do come off a touch goofy. But that could be more of uncanny valley with some of the bending.

8/10

___________________________________________

The Characters

And it wouldn’t be Avatar without the Characters in it.

And before we do anything, let me say, ALL of the characters look like the character they are playing. It’s like Netflix genetically modified them to Look like the character.

Dallas James Liu’s Portrayal of Zuko is PERFECT. Matching Season 1 Zuko’s personality to a T.

Zuko actually gets more development and his relationship with Iroh and the Crew are expanded upon more. That Funeral scene with him and Iroh broke my heart.

Maria Zhang’s Suki is also an incredible performance.

DANNY PUDI AS The Mechanist. (They cast Abed!) that was a fun surprise.

But now that we talked about what I loved about the characters… now to get to the negatives.

Aang feels so mopey. Yes Aang has his sad moments. But instead of being a hyper optimist with a penchant for fun, he is more like a depressed kid that has occasional bits of being a kid. I don’t blame the Actor, I just feel it’s more the writing

But if Aang got a downgrade in character, Katara was SHREDDED to practically nothing. The strong yet caring Katara was so… Passive. Even her big moment fighting Paku felt so… lack luster. It pained me to see this girl who was so strong come off so… passive.

Sokka did lose a chunk of character and development, but it wasn’t AS detrimental as one would believe. It’s still cruddy. But there was some stuff added that helped cushion the blow.

Appa and Momo were not as present because expenses (but at least they were fine)

King Bumi is dead. I don’t know WHAT was the plan behind Bumi, but this felt so… twisted and off. This isn’t the Bumi that taught Aang the lesson about how not everything is as it seemed. It hurt me to see such an accurate look be so inaccurate.

Azula and her friends felt like a down grade. I know what they were trying to go for. But I just didn’t feel that EDGE she had. It felt so.. pitiful.

On a positive

Jet and his team were still fun and a bit psychotic.

Ozai actually coming off as more competent.

And Admiral Zhao being incompetent yet super Egotistical was a change I welcome.

The bounty hunter Jun, flirting with Iroh was a change I wasn’t expecting but loved.

The Face Stealer may have looked more terrifying… but his actual action was mid… aside from the nightmares.

The rest of the character acting was a mix.

I gotta put this at… 5/10

When most of the main cast feels so bland it really takes away from the story.

____________________________________________

The Plot

So the season still follows the general plot of Book 1 of ATLA.

Katara and Sokka find the Avatar who got frozen for a long time. They go travel to help Aang find a Waterbending master so he can start learning to bend and save the world.

Now interestingly since it only has 8 episodes it sort of Blends together several plots into one episode. And this causes a lot of changes… and the effects of it are… well… a mixed bag at best and almost completely undefinable at worst.

Episode 4 being especially messy.

Now there are additions and changes from the original because of the constraints of Live Action.

Like not specifying that Aang has been gone 100 years, and actually changing certain story beats to references in order to save on time.

In some cases, it’s understandable. In facts being a one to one retelling would be boring.

The problem is that the story feels more like it’s pushing the characters rather than the characters pushing the story. Aang had agency, but now there is even more forced Agency.

I did like the changes that made the fire nation more competent. (I’ll discuss further in the next section)

But overall, I felt that the story was speed blitzed and super monologue heavy at its worse. It’s nothing incoherently awful. But it’s very lacking.

4/10

_________________________________________

The Changes

There were a Lot of changes done to this in comparison to the original series. So for this. I decided to make a new system.

I will list the change. If you see this Symbol (+) it’s a change I am fine with. If you see (-) it’s a change I didn’t like. And if you see (\) it means I’m indifferent to it.

-Fire Lord Sozin wiped out Air benders in person (/)

- Aang got lost in a storm by accident, not actively running away (-)

- Katara and Sokka lose the feminist development (-)

-No penguin sledding (- -)

-No Haru (-)

-Avatar Kyoshi take over (+)

-Zuko has a journal about the Avatars (+)

- Jet in Omashu (/)

-Teo and his father in Omashu (+)

-Bumi is jaded. (-)

-Secret tunnel early (-) (it’s weird that Sokka and Katara go in there, there is more I don’t like but I will just leave that out for now)

-The Funeral for Iroh’s son. (+++)

-The Agni Kai with Ozai was changed (-)

-The crew of Zuko is revealed to be the division that would have been sacrificed. (+)

-Aang never Water bends (-)

-Azula’s whole character alteration, and earning the blue flames (-)

-Less Serious Roku (-)

-Koh’e whole deal (-)

- Zhao’s death is different. (-)

-Yue having a bigger connection to Sokka (+)

-Fire nation demonstrates far more competence (+)

-

There are more but most of them I’m more understanding because of Time Constraints.

I will give credit that a lot of the changes I didn’t like but they did try something.

3/10

______________________________________

Does it capture the Spirit?

This is where I have to say Kind of.

When you see the references, Cameos, and the small details. You can tell there is some love for the original series. The attention to details and the bending choreography is gorgeous and Almost seamless.

It’s where we get to the core of the show that feels different.

For example. The Netflix version of One piece. There are a TON of differences, but the core of the characters felt the same. The spirit of the show was still clear. It was handled with love.

With this series, I can say there is a respect for ATLA, but the core seems to have a different focus.

So I put this at 5/10

As there are some things that you can see have reverence, but other things that don’t.

_________________________________________

Conclusion.

The stark defenders of the show say you shouldn’t compare it to the Original because it will seem worse. While also then comparing how much better it is compare to the live action movie.

Here’s the truth, if you watched ATLA, you are not going to expect this show to be better than the original.

If you didn’t watch the original show, you would probably be entertained, and since this show explains basically everything, you won’t need to know as much as the viewer going in… but there is also a lot going on.

If you were to go in and watch this show with 0 understanding of the show. I’d say 6 maybe 7 out of 10.

But if you are a fan that cares about the show. I have to put it at 5/10

And that’s where I put it.

5/10

It is watchable, but I’m not absolutely smitten with it.

I’m willing to give book 2 a chance… but I’m iffy. On it.

[firelxdykatara]

idk i just feel like the more pressing matter with sokka is the fact he’s been played by a white dude than whether or not he still hates women or whatever. and it’s so weird too because the casting for everyone is pretty spot on at least broadly speaking and then you get to sokka and it’s just (karen smith voice) if you’re from the water tribe, why are you white?

Well, for starters, we don't actually know that he is white.

I'm reluctant to relitigate this at this juncture, since there's been a lot of speculation with very little evidence, and frankly, even if he is white, the cast is still a damn sight more diverse than any installment we've ever had. The original main cast of the show was white--with the exception of Zuko and Iroh--as was the main cast of the movie adaptation (again with the exception of Zuko and Iroh, funnily enough), AND the creators were white AND all of the writers were white (and almost all of them were men), which means that there were approximately zero poc with storytelling authority involved with the show. Even if Ian Ousley is white (which is still an if! and I'm not gonna be out here demanding his 23andme results), that's one flub against an entire cast of Asian&indigenous actors, showrunners, writers, and directors (of which there are also considerably more women than the original could boast).

I'm not willing to throw that baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and I'm going to err on the side of if the rest of the cast is ok with his presence, then it shouldn't bother me too badly. They have excellent chemistry in interviews and on screen, and, from what I've seen, seem to be friends, and that's good enough for me.

Also, I just want to take this moment to point out that trying to rely on looks to determine who is or isn't a poc is problematic at best--and I think that, without bias, Ian doesn't look out of place next to Kia, Dallas, and Gordon. It's not like he's Jackson Rathbone, guys.

[kwebtv]

TV Guide  -  November 9 - 15, 1963

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) Stage, film and television actress, comedian, singer, and writer, whose career spans seven decades of television. She is best known for her groundbreaking comedy variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, originally aired on CBS. It was one of the first of its kind to be hosted by a woman. She has achieved success on stage, television and film in varying genres including dramatic and comedic roles. She has also appeared on various talk shows and as a panelist on game shows. She would later have several daughters joining her in variety of American television series and films.

She was cast in a minor role on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in 1955. She played the girlfriend of a ventriloquist’s dummy on the popular children’s program. This role led to her starring role opposite Buddy Hackett in the short-lived sitcom Stanley from 1956–57.

She worked as a regular on one of television’s earliest game shows, Pantomime Quiz, during this time. In 1957, just as she was achieving her first small successes, her mother died. In October 1960, Burnett debuted at New York’s Blue Angel Supper Club, where she was discovered by scouts for The Jack Paar Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1959 she became a regular player on The Garry Moore Show for the next three years, and won her first Emmy Award in 1962. Burnett had her television special debut in 1963 when she starred as Calamity Jane in the Dallas State Fair Musicals production of Calamity Jane on CBS. Burnett moved to Los Angeles, California, and began an 11-year run as star of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With its vaudeville roots, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show that combined comedy sketches with song and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many memorable characters during the show’s run, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.

With her success on the Moore Show, Burnett finally rose to headliner status and appeared in the special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962), co-starring with her friend Julie Andrews. She also guest-starred on a number of shows during this time, including The Twilight Zone episode “Cavender Is Coming”.

She became good friends with Jim Nabors, who was enjoying great success with his series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. As a result of their close friendship, she played a recurring role on Nabors’ show as a tough corporal, later gunnery sergeant (starting with the episode “Corporal Carol”). Later, Nabors was her first guest on her variety show each season, as she considered him to be her good-luck charm.    (Wikipedia)

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episode 1

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

love that we're starting from a hundred years ago and seeing exactly how everything played out. iirc in the original, sozin's first move was to colonize earth kingdom territory so the show expanding upon it in sozin making it seem as though he was about to attack the earth kingdom as a red herring so he could wipe out the air nomads instead was a good change

sozin being able to wipe out the nomads because they were all gathered in one place for a festival makes a ton of sense, and i really like that they let us have time with the air nomads before wiping them out. gyatso and aang's scene almost brought me to tears, it was so beautifully sincere and touching

whoever casted gordon cormier needs a medal because THIS. FUCKING. KID. i nearly lost it when he started crying like what do you mean this baby has to save the world???

i am so thankful that they didn't shy away from the savagery and brutality of the air nomad genocide. seeing the fire nation cut them down so ruthlessly was absolutely horrific, but it was the perfect way to start this darker iteration of the story and those ten minutes alone made me feel more for the air nomads than the entire three seasons of the original. and having the scene cut between aang lost in the storm and his people being wiped out???? insane.

the visuals are absolutely beautiful. i think they shot this on a volume stage and holy shit did they make use of it because every establishing shot was gorgeous, especially the one for the southern air temple

ian ousley, questionable heritage aside, is actually doing a great job as sokka. his comedic timing is excellent

the bending actually looks... really good. i love how they're doing the airbending in particular, it definitely feels as though aang is entirely untethered to the earth

katara's arc is... interesting. i'll reserve judgement on it till the end of the season but right now i don't hate what they're doing with the changes to her relationship with waterbending. we'll see where they're going with this.

initially i wasn't a fan of them changing katara pulling aang out of the avatar state, but after reflecting i love that it was the memory of gyatso that brings aang back to himself. the idea that even though gyatso is gone, his love for aang still lives on within him, protecting him, is remarkably powerful and moving. and i think at this point, this version of katara and aang don't have enough of a relationship for her pulling him out of the avatar state to have the same impact it did in the original

THE MUSIC IS TOP-NOTCH. ngl i teared up when the credits were the iconic sun warrior soundtrack mixed with the atla theme

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

aang running away... doesn't feel like it's aang running away. i know he had the scene where he's crying and upset, but it feels more as though he just wanted to clear his head for a little bit rather than fleeing in terror because he was afraid of the responsibility of being the avatar. his guilt over abandoning his people and the world is fairly important to his character, so i didn't love the way they did this scene because it doesn't really feel like an active choice that aang made

gran-gran being turned into into an exposition machine to tell the audience - and aang - everything. really wasn't a fan of her being the one to reveal that aang is the avatar, or that they info-dumped everything about the fire nation and the war in one scene. it also sort of took away the gut punch of aang finding gyatso's skeleton because he already knows what's happened, whereas in the show it hits so much harder because of his blind optimism and naivete leading up to that moment

RIP katara breaking aang from the iceberg because of her righteous fury scene, you will always be famous. live action katara feels a little too passive so far but i hope that'll change in upcoming episodes as we get further into her arc

dallas liu as zuko... mmm, something about it is not working for me so far but i can't put my finger on why. i wouldn't say i disliked it, but i'm not loving it either. his performance feels a little too theatrical, somehow? but it's only the first episode so again i won't be too harsh till i finish the season

the southern water tribe should look far emptier and more isolated to get a real sense of how the war has affected them, imo. here the impact of their parents and most of the adults in the village being gone doesn't seem as apparent as it does in the original when it's literally just a few women and children

overall, premiere rating: 7.5/10

[b-else-writes]

it's so interesting to me how seeing the actual live action cast of ATLA has really made people realise that Katara and Aang together is weird because Aang is an entire pre-pubscent child with the maturity to match, and Katara is a whole teenager. you can hide that in animation easily, but once you actually cast people in that age range, it becomes glaringly obvious that a 14 year old girl would not be giving a 12 year old boy the time of day and how all the pictures of the four together make it look like a child, his babysitter, the babysitter's brother, and the babysitter's high school boyfriend.

but it does make me extremely curious how they're going to adapt then. we're only getting Book 1 so far, so i can imagine that they could keep Aang having a puppy crush on Katara, but they cut the (very minimal because Kataang was half-baked) evidences in Book 1 like the powerful bender blush - which they'd prob cut anyways given we're only getting 8 episodes, 1 hour each. and then they save the "development" for Book 3 where Aang's actor will be an older teen.

there's also been persistent but unfounded rumors that Zutara was the reason Bryke stepped away from the project. now i have shipped Zutara since i was a child, but it does give me pause here as well because Zuko's actor is gonna be 22 this year and Katara's actor is a minor still - but that's not say they won't do it anyways, since they're meant to be playing characters around the same age. i could see them just following what has been laid out in Book 1 and staying there, and then seeing what happens for future seasons, when Katara's actress is an adult (which still feels morally questionable).

of course, all of this assumes that the series will be good or popular enough to even receive renewal for 2 more seasons, and it is Netflix. how they're adapting the series has been kept under wraps heavily, the only rumor i've seen so far that seems credible is that they'll show the Air Nomad genocide in Ep 1, basically compressing ep 1-3 + 12 into the start. so we're not getting an exact adaptation.

now, i'm not on board with a live action adaptation because they ultimately don't need to be made at all. BUT, i do think if you're going to make an adaptation, then adapt. do something interesting with it, expand on stuff that was interesting but never went anywhere, remove stuff that didn't work the first time, etc. it's not going to be a shot for shot remake so don't try to be. i've always loved the live-action version of Sailor Moon because while it had the most god-awful special effects, it basically took the bones of canon and expanded on them in new and exciting ways that still felt true to the spirit, characters, and themes of the original. otherwise, don't bother. the cartoon will always exist so making a 1:1 adaptation is pointless.

so in THAT regard, i actually think using the live action to explore Zutara is not a bad idea at all - it's just.....everything else surrounding it that is like, hmm. which really could've been solved by casting a 17 year old to play Zuko as well, like Dallas Liu is cute as hell and there's also rumors that he and Uncle Iroh are the best actors on the show so i'm firmly of the belief he won't be an issue in enjoyment, but this man is old enough to have graduated from university! but again it's all putting the cart before the horse because this might all just crash and burn in Book 1 so it won't even matter. which just goes back to. time to let ATLA and its legacy be.

[natlacentral]

For ‘Avatar’s’ Dallas Liu and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Zuko and Iroh’s relationship ‘was the most important thing’

One of the most emotional callbacks in Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is in the music.

The fourth episode of the series, “Into the Dark,” features a flashback to a funeral. As young Prince Zuko offers his condolences to his Uncle Iroh on the death of his son Lu Ten, the score transitions into an orchestral version of the familiar melody, “Leaves From the Vine.” The song, first heard in the animated “Avatar” series, has long been associated with the Fire Nation general’s grief.

“That wrecked me,” said Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who portrays Iroh in the new live-action adaptation, now streaming.

“I only just heard the [new] song in December,” added Dallas Liu, who plays Zuko. “I started imagining our scene and [it] killed me.”

The live-action “Avatar” co-stars were in high spirits as they discussed the show and their characters’ relationship over coffee at a West Hollywood hotel earlier this month. (This reporter borrowed a page from Iroh’s book on the joys of spending time with fascinating strangers and opted for tea.) 

Both actors say they are big fans of the animated series, which originally aired from 2005 to 2008 on Nickelodeon. More than once they mentioned the high bar set by the original show and the responsibility they felt to honor its spirit (a previous attempt was not well received), especially because everybody else on set loved the show, too.

“Not even just me and Paul,” Liu said. “Our cast members, our writers, even our transportation and craft [services] team.”

“Avatar” is set in a world inspired by Asian and Indigenous cultures, where certain people have the power to manipulate elements through a martial arts-infused ability known as bending. The original series was the rare children’s cartoon that touched on weighty topics such as war, genocide and imperialism within a fantasy coming-of-age story of a young hero destined to save the world.

“Zuko is a character that I’ve always loved since my childhood,” said Liu of the exiled Fire Nation prince. He is desperately searching for the Avatar — a special bender reincarnated into every generation tasked with maintaining harmony in the world — in order to win his father’s approval and a way back home.

Accompanying Zuko on his mission is Iroh, a renowned general and former heir to the crown who’d spent years at the front lines of the Fire Nation’s ongoing war to conquer the other nations.

Iroh “seems very jovial, but you know there is way more to him than that,” Lee said. “He carries a profound sense of sadness and loss.”

Working within a franchise with a passionate fanbase is nothing new for Lee, who has appeared as New Republic pilot Captain Carson Tevain several recent “Star Wars” series including “Ahsoka” and “The Mandalorian.” But getting cast as Iroh has offered the “Kim’s Convenience” actor a chance to take on the challenge of portraying a character that is already well-loved.

For Lee, Zuko and Iroh’s relationship “was the most important thing to get right.”

“It’s such a backbone to [Zuko’s] story arc,” Lee said. “To his pursuit and where he starts and where he ends.”

Because while “Avatar” is a story that follows Aang (Gordon Cormier), the world’s last airbender, as he figures out how to embrace his destiny and become the hero he is meant to be, it’s also a story about the teens in Aang’s orbit carving out their own paths.

Knowing this, Liu appreciated that their “Avatar” explores Zuko and Iroh’s past a earlier than it was revealed in the animated show. While there are some hints, it’s not until the second season that the animation digs into the Fire Nation royal family’s (dysfunctional) backstory. And some flashback scenes, like Lu Ten’s funeral, are original to the adaptation.

“I was excited because there was no expectation for it already,” Liu said. “I think there are scenes and dialogue [from the animated show] that people are going to look for with a certain level of expectation. But for everything that is new for Zuko on our show, it allowed me to be an artist and be creative.”

These moments were blank canvases Liu relished. He explained that to prepare for the younger version of Zuko in these flashbacks, he took hints from what he learned from his time on “PEN15” watching creators Maya Erskine and Anna Conkle portray middle-school versions of themselves.

“I think I got to tap into that younger side of my own self because I do see similarities between myself and Zuko,” said Liu. “Especially 14-year-old Zuko because there’s no ounce of evil in him.”

Iroh is despondent at Lu Ten’s funeral, as a procession of guests stop by to express their sympathies for the death of his only child. When it’s his turn, Zuko only offers the sentiments that are expected of him at first. But then he shares more heartfelt words as he tries to console his uncle. It’s one of the show’s earliest looks at Zuko’s humanity and capacity for love.

“Dallas does some really, really beautiful work at that funeral scene,” Lee said. “That speech that he delivers is just so heartbreakingly beautiful and comforting. He does all the heavy lifting. I just needed to react to what he was giving me.”

Not for the first time, Liu is quick to respond to the compliment by expressing his own appreciation for everything he learned from Paul during their time together on set. 

“Especially that scene, and in a lot of our other emotional scenes, I can’t stress how much I actually relied on Paul,” Liu said. “He was always there every day to support me with honestly all of our scenes.”

Equally charming was when Liu tried to credit Iroh’s influence as the reason why Zuko is able to open up, for one brief moment, with Aang during another episode. Lee is quick to point out that Zuko’s compassion was something already within him from when he was younger, as seen in the flashback scenes. 

Lee is aware that “Avatar” fans have wondered whether he would sing “Leaves From the Vine” on the series. It was first featured in Season 2 of the animated “Avatar” in an episode that shows Iroh singing the song through tears after he sets up a small memorial for Lu Ten on his birthday. (That segment was dedicated to Mako, Iroh’s original voice actor, who had died before the episode aired.)

“I didn’t want to spoil anything … but I knew that one scene was coming up,” Lee said. It’s one of the reveals that leads to “everybody look[ing] at Zuko differently. I love that. This adaptation, it really is about subtext, past experiences, traumas, success, failures, all of that stuff.”

Both Liu and Lee hope that their Zuko and Iroh will get to continue on their journey.

“What I love about their relationship is, Iroh is there to give advice, but he never tells [Zuko] what to do,” Lee said. Zuko’s “got to find his own way, and he supports him. … I really do wish [we get] to do more [seasons], because I want to see that relationship flourish even more.”