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Fans Criticize The Writers Of Avatar Live-Action For Removing Aang’s Thirst For Adventure From The Original Series

Despite this, the showrunners are under the impression that what they’re making really honors the spirit of the original source material.
Garsine 2 Feb 2024
Nickelodeon

More controversy around the Netlfix Avatar Live-action series continues as the Showrunner hinted in a recent interview on Feb 1, 2024, that Aang’s character will undergo some dramatic changes that deviate from the original material.

Albert Kim, showrunner and executive producer, told IGN that the scriptwriters have changed Aang’s drive of going from place to place looking for adventures while riding his elephant koi to straight away heading towards the Northern Water Tribe, basically skipping all the detours and character development he goes through in the original series.

“So we decided to make Aang’s narrative drive a little clearer. In the first season of the animated series, he’s kind of going from place to place looking for adventures. He even says, “First, we’ve got to go and ride the elephant koi.” It’s a little looser as befits a cartoon. We needed to make sure that he had that drive from the start. And so, that’s a change that we made. We essentially give him this vision of what’s going to happen and he says, “I have to get to the Northern Water Tribe to stop this from happening.” That gives him much more narrative compulsion going forward, as opposed to, “Let’s make a detour and go ride the elephant koi,” that type of thing. So that’s something, again, that’s part of the process of going from a Nickelodeon cartoon to a Netflix serialized drama.”

After the Sokka controversy, this once again, made a lot of fans disappointed, with some of them stating that the live-action makers missed the fundamental aspect of Aang’s character journey and growth. The detours are a crucial part of that development, as he was overwhelmed by duties in his village and ran away before freezing himself for 100 years!

Despite all the criticism, the showrunners are under the impression that what they’re making really reflects and honors the spirit of the original source material.

“But sure, having them (Bryan and Michael) leave was a blow. And we had to think about whether or not the vision that we had set forward really reflects and honors the spirit of what they had created. And we felt like it did, so we went forward with it. But it’s not to say that when they left, we said, “Forget everything they’ve done.” That was never going to be the case, regardless of their involvement with the project. So I think that hopefully we honor, like I said, the spirit of the show that they originally created in the version we made.”

Netflix describes the official synopsis of Avatar: The Last Airbender as follows:

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope.

But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang, a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka and Katara, siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai.

But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.”

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