Netflix ATLA: S1 Ep 1

Going to be writing this scene by scene and not with the whole episode in mind, so I might make note of something that gets explained/revealed/answered in the next scene.

Opening scene was nice but weird in some spots. Weird to start in the Fire Nation & Sozin, but forgoing the expositional opening of the animated series, it's a good way to tell the audience about the war at the start. The bending looks & feels great as it should. Having the war be the disguise for the Air Nomad genocide is an interesting angle, but I don't like "revealing" the Air Nomad genocide straight away. Episode 3 was the 1st big jump from lighthearted-kid show to fun-but-with-heavy-moments "teen" show. Not saying that Sozin straight up immolating a guy wasn't impactful; it was the most impactful thing in that opening & having an on-screen death that painful & early was the startling thing they were probably going for, but we expect the leader of the "enemies" of the series to do something like that & 1 death is nothing to genocide. I feel like they could have retained it if they had the one Fire Sage say "But the Avatar has yet to be revealed. How do you plan on dealing with them?" Zoom on Sozin, but instead, they cut to the title & not have the "kill them all" line. That way, they still have the revelation of Gyatso's remains in Ep 3 be the "180 turn" moment it was in the original.

Opening title sequence was cool but a little strange. The "Water. Earth. Fire. Air." part had this "ethereal" blur that felt weird at 1st, but I guess it made it feel mystical & overwhelming (even though, in the opening of the original, Katara makes a distinction between magic & bending b/c Bryke (BRYan Konietzko & Michael (miKE) Dante DiMartino, creators of the animated series) wanted there to be "rules" to bending, but whatever). Then they carried it through to the map shot and it just felt out of place from then on? I dunno, missing the forest for the trees here. When I saw the 1st trailer, I said the "oversaturation" was fine & that's almost unchanged. Probably just more noticeable because of the non-descript locations. Telling us about the incarnation cycle now is fine. Overall, it was nice. Plus, Aang looking out to the mountaintops is Memberberries, but I am here for it.

Starting with the Storm flashback story is strange bordering on a bad idea & not just because it's out of order from the original. The Storm's flashbacks were impactful b/c we had been with Aang & Zuko & saw who they were for 11 episodes. Then flashbacking to how their personalities, flaws & circumstances originated allowed us to connect so many dots as to their choices up to that point & brought a more whole satisfaction to the audience, like being rewarded for watching. Plus, the scenes before the war felt like a distant memory, almost like it was impossible to return to the peaceful era. (represented visually in the original by having the flashbacks in orange colors) Sure, they were traveling to the Northern Water Tribe during a war for the original, but it almost didn't feel like it unless they were in direct conflict with the Fire Nation or their soldiers, which made it more dichotomous. Also, Aang leaping from the Air Nomad building tops almost looked like he could fly unassisted by glider, which is pushing the boundaries of the "rules" of bending I mentioned earlier.
The Air Nomads elders told Aang he was the Avatar when he was 12 instead of the traditional 16 b/c there were "troubling signs" but no explanation as to how they knew that. Having the battle plans scene in the opening is a nice touch as to how they knew.
Having Gyatso say Aang needs to learn about responsibility, expectations and sacrifice and then saying he needs to know who he is (which I guess is their way of Gyatso giving Aang freedom and fun) is counterintuitive if not paradoxical, which I hope is not as detrimental to Gyatso as a character going forward, but the elders sending Aang to learn the other elements instead of "completing his Airbending training" when he's already received the arrow tattoos is a change that actually makes more sense.
Just saw the next scene in front of Yangchen's statue and... semi-rant time:
Gyatso's character is just pretty much both at odds with itself and down the drain. He's supposed to be the elder that teaches Aang about "freedom and fun", which is a big through-line for Aang. Not necessarily for his final conflict with Ozai (because that's more about his Air Nomad beliefs of not killing another), but his ability to be his own Avatar; his ability to not be a carbon copy of other Avatars that had to sacrifice who they were before. Not just AVATAR Aang but Avatar AANG. Gyatso was who influenced Aang's explorative & curious nature as well as his fun & caring side, and there were bits & pieces of it, but not enough to really show he tried giving that to Aang. On top of that, to have him agree with Pasang (the head elder) so quickly & easily without solidly establishing the fun that Gyatso's supposed to give Aang is almost counter to everything that Gyatso is supposed to be. And Gyatso realizing that the world needs the Avatar more than he needs Aang could have been a flaw created for the character, but again you need to establish that connection for that realization and decision to be impactful and it just wasn't there.

Appa sounds exactly as he should. Props to Dee Bradley Baker & the magic that comes out of his mouth. Hopefully, they follow suit with Momo. Witnessing the Air Nomad genocide was cool but it might take away from some other scenes down the line. Definitely something they couldn't get away with on Nickelodeon. Shows how formidable Airbenders can be & how brutal the Firebenders were, but again, the gut punch that was the revelation of the genocide will be reduced when Aang finds Gyatso's remains later on.

Katara not being an "open" Waterbender is a little strange, but I see the narrative merit. Aside from me knowing she's the only Waterbender in the South Pole because of the Southern Raiders, having the threat of Fire Nation possibly looking for a Waterbender who'd be the Water-born Avatar (after not knowing whether they killed Aang or not) keeping her practice in check is a good reason why she's not as skillful at Waterbending at the beginning.
Sokka taking the leader role seriously (probably to a fault) is great. Sort of felt weird in the original how Hakoda entrusted the protection of their village to him and he kind of just left to help Aang (which I understand will ultimately stop the Fire Nation, thus keeping the village safe, but it's a big gamble especially if you portray the rest of the males as children or incompetent.)
We do miss out on Katara's "true power" moment when she's rants at Sokka, can't control her Waterbending and releases Aang's iceberg... but she gets it right after (which makes more sense than her breaking the iceberg with Sokka's club)

Zuko's blind ambition to capture the Avatar comes off as cartoonish from a believable-acting sense, but that's not to say it wasn't in the original. I chose the word "blind" ambition intentionally. Zuko at the beginning of the show is supposed to be one of the more over-the-top characters; he's the major antagonist for the 1st season, still carries himself with royal distinction even though he was disgraced & banished & incorrectly believes that restoring his HONOR will set things right. It could be acted better (in fact, a lot could be acted better, but I'll get into that in the overall thoughts at the bottom) but the fault is not in Zuko's demeanor. Iroh is... different. I expected an older voice to go with the sage wise man that the character is known for but he sounds like a typical guy. I'm probably just spoiled on my memory of Mako (& Greg Baldwin who had insane shoes to fill & did so very well) They were just perfect for a character like Iroh. I liked the teases of Iroh looking out for Zuko with the "hard to see you get your hopes up" and "the throne isn't everything" lines as well as the hint of Ozai taking the throne from Iroh.

And we get the original opening WORD FOR WORD from Gran Gran which having it be a Water Tribe tale is fine. I'm sure I'd be okay with it if I didn't know the original. Aang leaning more toward the possibility that he's the last Airbender before they get to the Southern Air Temple however is... they just keep taking away from the reveal we all now know is coming. I will commend them on exploring the connection between Aang & Katara's shared grief of the Fire Nation taking people they love. It's only a line in Ep3 in the original as far as I remember, but having a scene between the two dedicated to it is a nice touch. And the "No one visits other nations now. We're only friends with our own kind." right after that showing the effects the war had not only to the characters but the world overall, making it more segregated and divided? Great scene.

Not much to say about the Waterbending practice in the ship scene. In the original, Aang wanted to explore the ship and he set off a trap that shot a flare signaling Zuko to the village, but their village is much larger here and the beam of light from the iceberg is sufficient enough for Zuko to piece together where to search.

Sokka getting mad at Aang was surprising but I understand it. Because Aang went missing, his mother died, his father left him and the burden of leadership fell to him when he was young. Plus, them piecing together Aang was the Avatar without Zuko having to say it makes sense. Beam of light, Airbender, no reports of Water-born Avatar.
And having Sokka learn a lesson in leadership from Katara is nice early character development for him. He had a flaw, he learned and corrected it. And on top of that, it didn't have to come from misogyny. Almost like it wasn't as widespread in the original as people thought...
AND THERE WE GO, Sokka leaving someone in charge to protect the village so it doesn't look like he's breaking his promise to his father (a big piece of his character at this point) while he helps Aang end the war. They're small so far, but there are some improvements to the original.

Iroh & Aang sharing a scene this early is a nice touch. They only talked to each other in S2E20 in the original, so having the "peace through war doesn't make sense" sentiment we've all heard while having shades of Iroh's White Lotus beliefs is good.
HoW dId ThEy GeT ApPa To FlY WiThOuT hEaRiNg "YiP yIp"?! It was a (what I call) "Point of Awe" moment in the original. A Point of Awe is a moment in a show or video game that is awe-inspiring: Seeing an expanse of a level, a first use of an item, etc. When Katara and Sokka use Appa to get to Aang, that was the 1st time Appa flew in the show. Since we started with the flashback, it's not anymore. And maybe when Aang used the bison whistle to call for Appa, once he landed, Aang told them about it. Whatever, no big deal. Zuko keeping notes of previous Avatars is a nice touch, but I know Aang taking it is going to be the setup for the stop on Kyoshi Island instead of the elephant koi & I know that's going to set people off.

Aang's escape from the ship feels good enough for the victory in this episode. Aang had his glider moment. Katara had her Waterbending moment. Sokka had his moment prior, but still was the one to catch Aang. Since they condensed Ep 3 into a couple scenes, I understand why they didn't have Aang go into the Avatar State on Zuko's ship. Seeing it twice back-to-back would be overdoing it and having the Avatar State trigger both when Aang's life is in danger (from end of the flashback at the beginning of this ep) or emotional distress sets the groundwork for the rules of the Avatar State & how uncontrollable it is in the beginning of the series. How he comes out of it is different from the show. Katara says that despite Gyatso & the Airbenders being gone, he still has a family in Sokka & her. It being Gyatso is strange at face value b/c realizing he died is what pushed him into it, but the lines about Aang being the one given this power alludes to how he eventually controls it at the series' end; About Aang going against his past lives' decision to kill Ozai & being not just the Avatar, but Avatar Aang.

(My "in-depth" review above was with the original in mind, so I'll write this section with just the merits of the Netflix show in mind & have 2 overall end statements; One seeing it as a standalone or introduction to the series, and one with knowledge of the original)

PROS:
World design/style: Now I know this has to do with the original & Bryke, but because the showrunners here either retained it or built upon it positively I think still warrants merit. The set pieces look great. The Southern Air Temple was more expansive than a couple plateaus & towers. The Southern Water Tribe, while not as expansive as the North is/will be, was a substantial & actual tribe rather than a couple separated villages. I can't speak to the total accuracy of the influences of the Fire/Air/Water nations designs compared to our real-world connections, but I could at least tell without knowing the original that they were derived from Imperial Japanese/Tibetan/Inuit aesthetics respectively.

Stakes raised: Whether this will help or harm the series, I don't yet know, but they set out to raise the stakes and if Sozin straight up immolating that Earth Kingdom spy & showing the genocide of the Air Nomads isn't it, I don't know what is.

Cons:
Acting: This is a big one. If you're going to raise the stakes from the original, you need actors that can bring the gravitas/authenticity/etc. to the situations in the show & I just didn't feel it from a good chunk of the cast. Aang was believable when the moments were lighthearted, but the more intense moments felt too rehearsed to the point of sterilization. Sokka had some funny moments that genuinely got a chuckle out of me and when he confronted Aang before Zuko arrived, the hurt was there, but the fishing scene right before they find the iceberg didn't feel genuine. Katara has some caring moments in here, but it feels like she, and maybe even the director/writers, could have done more with her. Zuko & Iroh have more time to be fleshed out (There are a couple scenes of them I have expectations for, so I hope we get them.) & despite not having the voice, Iroh feels like he's looking out for Zuko's best interests, but without the knowledge of the rest of the show (and even just Zuko's Storm flashback) he feels one-dimensional.

What they did to Gyatso: I'm still kind of upset by it. The "Always remember who you are" line is trying to save it, but couldn't they have had him do something with Aang that showed he was fun & tried to keep that fun aspect in Aang?

Uncanny valley animals: This is expected but CGI animals are going to suffer from this unless you're WETA Studios, but especially so for hybrid animals.

OVERALL STANDALONE: Great story that has room to be fleshed out, but performances aren't too good.
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: There are some bright spots here and there, but not too happy.