Albert Kim’s rendition leaves fans and critics baffled  

Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) was a staple in my household growing up. I am too young to remember watching the episodes when they debuted, but I do recall the reruns that played on early weekend mornings. Being the little early bird of the family, I would wake my brother up at sunrise and run to our parents’ bedroom to watch them again. 

In total, I suspect I have watched the series thoroughly about 15 times. 

Just like all children’s shows, it is packed with life lessons. After watching these episodes, my dad would have his own two cents to add; his stories always started with “back in my day…” My older brother and I would roll our eyes and laugh, but listen intently because my dad always had a good story to tell. 

The show was created in 2002 by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It debuted on February 21, 2005, and its final episode aired on July 19, 2008. In a world of uncertainty, Avatar: The Last Airbender has served as a constant light for children and adults alike. 

It is set in a time when the world was divided into four nations: the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. Each nation comprises benders and non-benders; benders can bend the element that gives their people power, based on history documented on scrolls.  Only one person can master all four elements: the Avatar, a person who is born with all the elements of bending. The Avatar, who is reborn over and over in a new body, acts as a peacemaker between all the nations. 

“The Last Airbender” retrieved from https://thedirect.com/article/avatar-netflix-season-2-story, used as a royalty-free photo from Wallpaper.com

We follow the journey of a 12-year-old boy named Aang, who was frozen in an iceberg for 100 years. As unusual as it sounds, it gets more fascinating as Aang is not a normal kid; he is the Avatar, the only person in the entire world who can master all four of the elements and the last living Air Nomad. 

Before Aang was frozen in time, the world was at peace. All four nations lived together in harmony, people were able to travel to other nations to visit friends and family, all nations had successful governments in place, and no nation seemed to pose a threat to another. Aang ran away after discovering he was the Avatar, meaning he would have to leave home and travel to all the nations to master the elements. Under normal circumstances, the Avatar doesn’t begin training until they turn 16, but there was skepticism around the loyalty the Fire Nation had to the peace treaty, and they happened to be right. That night Aang hopped on his sky bison, Appa, was the same night the Fire Nation surprise attacked all of the Air Temples.

While he was stuck in the iceberg, the Fire Nation eliminated all Air Nomads, wiping away the culture, power and history they had. The Fire Nation then ransacked Water Tribes, killed all Water benders, took control of parts of the Earth Kingdom, and forced Earth benders to become prisoners of war. After the genocide of the Air Nomads and the Water benders, The Water tribes and Earth Kingdom, such as Omashu and Ba Sing Se, were able to hold a strong front against the Fire Nation. The two nations held strong for 100 years, but now Aang needs to restore balance to the world before the Fire Nation wins the war.  

Aang was found by Sokka (a non-bender) and Katara (a Water bender). Siblings from the Southern Water Temple, their tribe had been attacked when they were young children, and they lost their mother in the attack. Their father, Chief Hakoda, left to help the fight in the four years after, when Katara was 12 and Sokka was 14. After Hakoda left, Sokka was the oldest male in the tribe, leaving him in charge. 

One day, as they are foregoing for food, they get sucked into a riptide that destroys their boat. During an argument, Katara, who is a secret Water bender, splits an iceberg. This iceberg was the one Aang was frozen in. 

Back at the tribe, Aang is an instant attraction (although he only has eyes for Katara) as most people had never seen an Air bender before. Feeling unwanted by Sokka’s constant interrogations, Katara and Aang go for a walk and explore a Fire Nation attack ship. They set off a booby trap and set off a flare, attracting the Fire Lord Prince Zuko. Prince Zuko is hunting the Avatar and must capture him to restore his honor and secure his inheritance of the throne. 

Zuko attacks the Tribe, and Aang comes back to fight, getting captured, but escapes with the help of Sokka Katara and the Avatar State. Once escaping, Aang, Katara and Sokka start their travels to the Northern Water Temple to start his avatar training. First book: Water.   

Photo retrieved from pixelstalk.net, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license

The series combined Asian and Native cultures and was packed with humor, humility, battle and life lessons that taught Aang and the gang to be a great force.

The show displays Asian culture, and the nations represent different Asian cultures. Fire Nation is Japanese culture; Water Tribe represents Arctic indigenous culture; the Earth Kingdom represents the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties; and the Air Nomads represent the Shaolin monks and Tibetan Buddhist culture. The show also embodies traditional Eastern philosophies, such as Yin and Yang, honor among families, pride in your nation, pacifism as well as themes of colonialism. 

All of this information is widely available, so ATLA fans were outraged and confused when a live-action film was produced in 2010. The film was a whitewashed version of the show, casting including Nicola Peltz as Katara, Noah Ringer as Aang and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka. All white actors represent Indigenous and Shaolin/Tibetan cultures. Dev Patel plays Zuko, Aasif Mandvi plays Admiral Zhao and Summer Bishil plays Princess Azula. All three have Indian ancestry. 

Along with the questionable casting, the portrayal of bending was off, the camera quality was questionable and the actors’ chemistry made everything awkward. The film received a 5% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 1.1 /5 on Letterbox. The film was supposed to have two more movies in the series, to coincide with the two remaining seasons, but it was discontinued due to the intense criticism it received. 

The 2010 live-action film got such bad reviews that the creator of the 2024 live-action, Albert Kim, told Entertainment Weekly that he never watched the 2010 version.

“There was a period of time where I thought I should watch it, but then I thought, I don’t really want those images in my head as I start to go forward with our version of this project. So, I avoided it purposefully,” Kim said.

Kim went on to explain that this wasn’t done solely because of the criticism it received, but because of the mistakes the 2010 movie director, M. Night Shyamalan, made that were “kinds of pitfalls (that) weren’t hard to avoid.” 

The 2024 live-action portrayal of season one was “better” than 2010, but it still missed chunks of the story and essentially moved too quickly to thoroughly storytell. The animated version of ATLA season one had 20 episodes, each episode lasting 23 minutes. The 2024 live-action series ran eight episodes, each episode ranging from 47 minutes to 63 minutes. This makes the rewriting debatable as it was longer than the original, but it lost sight of the original plot.  

Kim claimed to be a huge fan of the original series, becoming unintentionally engrossed in the series while watching it with his daughter. When Kim started working on the live-action series, he was working alongside the original creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, but both of them left the production in 2020 after being involved in the project for two years. This was a red flag to lovers of the series, as they were not involved in the 2010 rendition either.  

When Konietzko and DiMartino signed on to the project in 2018, they were under the impression that as executive producers and showrunners, they would be able to steer the crew in the right direction, but as they worked on the project, they saw the story steering too far from the original for them to be happy with.

After leaving the project in 2020, DiMartino published a public statement on his blog that he later removed. He remarked that they couldn’t control the creative direction of the series. The newcomers made too many changes that they did not agree with. The only way to preserve his happiness and creative integrity was to walk away. 

“And who knows? Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar has the potential to be good. It might turn out to be a show many of you end up enjoying. But what I can be certain about is that whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make,” DiMartino said.

After receiving some heat for leaving, Konietzko released a statement through his Instagram story:

“To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way, Mike and I are collaborative people, we did not need all of the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them. However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series.” 

Konietzko also went on to express gratitude for the opportunity to work with such great people, but ultimately, he said, felt he was in a negative and unsupportive environment. 

In most elements, DiMartino and Koniezko were correct. The live-action rendition strayed quite a lot from the original. The changes and additions that were made were unnecessary. Out of all the edits made, there are four that impacted the story the most and made the show a disappointment for viewers. 

Azula’s dominant presence in the first season

In the original series, Azula, one of the two royal siblings in the oppressive colonial Fire Nation regime, was rarely mentioned in the first season. Fire Lord Ozai, who reigns over his colonial empire, has two children, Zuko and Azula. Two-and-a-half years before the start of the show, Zuko is banished for an act of disrespect.   

In the original, season one revolves around Zuko and his attempts to restore his honor by capturing The Avatar. Azula is seen in Zuko’s flashback in season one, episode 12, “The Storm,” but never identified. Her debut in the show is at the end of season one in the very last frame. Her presence is not significant until the second season of the original. 

In Kim’s 2024 live-action rendition, Azula has a dominant presence throughout. She is presented in the third episode. Later, she partners with Fire Nation General (turned Admiral) Zhao due to feeling envious of Zuko for finding the Avatar. 

This rendition turned Azula’s and Zuko’s story into a one-sided sibling rivalry. Zuko, being banished, has no contact with the palace, while Azula keeps tabs on Zuko through Admiral Zhao. She fights with her father, wanting to be given more responsibility, as she feels more capable than Zuko. 

The early introduction of Azula moves the storyline faster. The first season revolves around Zuko because of the order the story plays out. Zuko is one of the most dominant character developments in the series. Throughout the series, we slowly see him change his way by changing his approach to a situation, his thought process and his habits. 

When Azula joins the original series in season two, his changes are directly from her actions and the havoc that she brings into Zuko’s life, from her hand. Azula’s presence has a huge impact on Zuko, who observes her manipulation, with no loyalty to anything but the throne. Zuko witnessed the monster he used to be through her, prompting him to shift his       

Aang’s nonexistent crush on Katara

Aang captured people’s hearts with his schoolboy crush on Katara. Throughout the original series, his love for Katara kept him grounded and brought out his naturally silly nature. After being stuck in an iceberg for 100 years, he did not have a lot of sentimental things to remind him of who he was as a person. All other Air Nomads are extinct; he has no history, no culture and nowhere to call home. Katara served as his “link” to the physical world. 

Aang, who has started to learn Fire bending,  accidentally unleashes an uncontrollable wave of fire, burning Katara. Aang then vows never to learn fire bending again, declaring that he will not learn all four elements. It was Aang realizing that if he could hurt someone he loved, he could hurt anyone he chose. This departs hugely from Aang’s pacifist nature. Aang is a separate person from the Avatar, and his love for Katara reminds him that he is Aang first and the Avatar second.  

In the live-action, Aang does not show any signs that he has an ounce of love for Katara. He rarely shows his silly nature and always looks stressed. This causes Aang’s character to seem dense. The writers gave no direction on who Aang was as a person. They never separate him from the Avatar and only add to who he is supposed to be, not who Aang is.       

The elimination of side stories that guided #TeamAvatar toward greatness

Most of the story is told through lessons. In the 2005 ATLA, every single episode has lessons that the viewers learn, along with Aang, Sokka and Katara. Episode 11 surrounds rivalries, grudges and forgiveness. While traveling through a dangerous canyon with two Earth Kingdom tribes that have been feuding for a century, the Gan Jin and Zhang, Aang, Sokka and Katara are caught in a life-threatening situation. The one rule the canyon has for travelers is no food because food will alert dangerous predators. Both tribes bring food and are attacked, resulting in the canyon guide breaking his arms, forcing Aang to step up and lead them. He gets the two tribes to work together to get out of the canyon, but the tribes still project hatred toward each other. 

This is Aang’s first time dealing with a conflict that did not involve him forcing him into the role of being a peacemaker and problem-solver. Aang learns to work with two sides that hate each other. This will come in handy as Aang tries to pick up the pieces of rebuilding and reuniting the nation after 100 years at war.     

Episode 15 surrounds attachment and trust. The three stumble across a Southern Water Tribe boat that belongs to their father’s great friend Bato, and the three (Sokka, Katra, and Bato) start to reminisce about their past. Aang feels neglected and left out because he does not have anyone to reminisce with. His family, culture and home are gone, he is struggling to connect with his past lives, and he feels completely alone. 

Sokka and Katara are given an opportunity to see their father. This frightens Aang more, causing him to hide a map after delivery. Sokka and Katara feel betrayed and, out of anger, decide to travel to see their father. Aang has to continue his travels to the Northern Water Tribe, but Zuko hires June (a mercenary) to sniff Aang out and capture him. Sokka and Katara return to Aang’s side and help him escape capture. Aang has trust and abandonment issues and is also a child without a home. Sokka and Katara come to understand that his actions came from a place of panic. 

Although it was the wrong way to handle the situation, Aang is a child. He is held responsible for his actions by everyone else, with no thought of detaching Aang from his identity as the Avatar. This is an overall test of loyalty, trust and understanding between the three.     

Aang did not water bend once.    

This point is the most significant. The first season is titled “Book 1: Water,” because Aang is supposed to master all four elements. Aang was born an Air Bender. Through each season (or book) he is supposed to master the remaining three elements. It was such a shock to fans that he did not even attempt to waterbend in the 2024 live-action of ATLA. 

In the 2005 original, Aang unlocked different aspects of himself while learning how to waterbend. Aang was also teaching Katara to strengthen her water-bending abilities, aiding his development in helping people. As he learned new moves and techniques, he gained more and more confidence in himself; as he worked with Katara, he saw the power he possessed to change for the good. 

This aligns with the personality difference in the 2024 Aang character. He never tried to push himself out of his comfort zone to learn something new, focusing on strengthening his ties to the spirit world and less on strengthening his physical development. It gave the sense that Aang was already all-knowing, and other characters treated him that way. It made him seem like less of a child and made him feel like he needed to grow up faster. It made him feel incredibly intense and incredibly alone. The fate of the world was on his shoulders. 

We had lost our silly Aang! Throughout the seasons in 2005, we watched him physically develop his skills, which strengthened his mentality. His spiritual journey came after his skills were affirmed, because if he is killed in the spirit world and or the Avatar state, the Avatar line is destroyed and will cease to exist. 

In the live-action, Aang simply has the spirits fight all his battles. He doesn’t learn anything. He does not physically develop — hence his weak, doubtful mentality, leading him to rely on Avatar Kyoshi and the Moon Spirit to help him win battles. Not a single battle does he win on his own. 

The 2024 rendition of the beloved show Avatar: The Last Airbender was disappointing, to say the least. Not many fans were pushing for another live-action remake, especially after watching the 2010 rendition.

However, this version was instantly popular, racking up 22.2 million views in the first four days of being released, becoming the most-watched original title on Netflix. 

Some fans may still be pushing for a live-action. This rendition was produced by Netflix in partnership with Nickelodeon, hinting at this being a possible redemption run after the 2010 rendition.

Kim’s version excelled in the special effects around the bending; creating a realistic depiction. If this had been created into a new series, with a new name, more fans of the original would have liked it. It has become evident that nothing can be a replica of the original. Variety entertainment reviewer Aramide Tinubu called the rendition a “beautifully crafted disappointment.”

On the other hand, Paul Tassi thought it was not nearly as bad as he had expected, ultimately giving an average review. He agrees with the consensus that it is not as good as the original, but reminds fans that it could have been worse.    

Nothing that Albert Kim and Netflix added was valuable. Aang was stripped of his humanity, causing him to crumble under pressure and appear weak. The series stripped Sokka of his character development and limited the lessons the audience watched him learn as they traveled the world. These changes directly affected Katara, pushing her into a position where she was doing more for the world than Aang. This isn’t a bad thing, but Katara stepping up outshines the triumph Aang is supposed to face for him to thrive. 

In the 2005 original, Katara was not shy about her jealousy of Aang’s natural ability to bend, motivating her to work harder and be better. The live-action strips her of the blood, sweat and tears that evolved her into the badass Katara. The original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, stepping away was a sign from the universe that we were not getting the original show we all know and love.

Netflix announced on March 13 that Avatar will be renewed for the second and third books. It will be interesting to see how the story continues and how the characters develop.  

Header by Sofi Martinez