Erin Watches: ATLA live-action 1-2, Penguindrum 8-13

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024, episodes 1-2)

Started watching the new AtLA. Trying to rewatch the original animated along with it, using this Nerdist guide to which cartoon episodes are getting adapted into which live-action ones.

So far, I really like the choices they’re making! The first live-action episode is a condensed version of episodes 1-3, with some fight scenes combined and some shenanigans trimmed out. Also, some info from later in the show is worked in — I’m not sure we needed to open with an extended flashback from Aang’s era, but I like that, say, Katara and company don’t just have to guess how long Aang was frozen, he mentions a festival for Sozin’s Comet and they can get a precise date from there.

The second one is a remix of animated episode 4, bulked up with scenes of Aang actually connecting with Avatar Kyoshi, and getting some substantial plot-advancing backstory, which worked well (and was probably a lot easier than trying to have him surf/wrestle a giant CGI fish).

Sokka’s first meeting with Suki gets revised from “Sokka mocks the combat skills of her whole gender, gets beaten in a fight, and can’t improve until he gets over feeling embarrassed on behalf of his whole gender” to “Sokka tries to look personally cool/impressive, gets beaten in a fight, and can’t improve until he gets over feeling embarrassed that someone he thinks is hot will see all the gaps in his combat skills.” Which honestly feels like, if they were writing the original cartoon right now in 2024, that’s just how they would’ve done it.

(The ill-fated Last Airbender movie is fresh-ish in the memory, they played it at the 2023 Marathon, a little more than a year ago. This is such a relief in comparison. The acting, the pacing, the worldbuilding, it’s all so beautifully solid.)

Meanwhile, still working through…

Mawaru Penguindrum (episodes 5-13)

 

( Spoilers + SA warning under the cut )