Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action Netflix Show Announced -

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Wan was cool and the spirit world was really well animated.

It would have worked better as a standalone Wuxia story but as an entry in the mythos it really canned a lot of interesting ideas. The revelation the Avatar spirit is just a giant metaphysical force of Capital-G Good in the shape of a squid was on par with midichlorians for ruining mystery.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I could see how someone that really cared about Avatar world building would be annoyed, I'll admit. But I didn't so it didn't bother me.

 

[Emperor Julian]

It would have worked better as a standalone Wuxia story but as an entry in the mythos it really canned a lot of interesting ideas. The revelation the Avatar spirit is just a giant metaphysical force of Capital-G Good in the shape of a squid was on par with midichlorians for ruining mystery.

It also errodes the mysticism of bending by retconning the way people develop it and downplaying it as a skill and philoshophy-mind you that issue goes down the fucking toilet in season 3 where people turn into airbenders because that's that seasons plot. It also undermines Korra's decision to keep the portal open later on by making it really clear that spirits and humans cannot really co-exist in close contact.

 

[Archeops]

Some news about this show just came out after two years of silence and, depending on your current views on Mike and Bryan are right now, could either be bad or good.

An open letter to Avatar: The Last Airbender fans

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production...

www.michaeldantedimartino.com

ARCHIVE

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production.

When Bryan and I signed on to the project in 2018, we were hired as executive producers and showrunners. In a joint announcement for the series, Netflix said that it was committed to honoring our vision for this retelling and to supporting us on creating the series. And we expressed how excited we were for the opportunity to be at the helm. Unfortunately, things did not go as we had hoped.

Look, things happen. Productions are challenging. Unforeseen events arise. Plans have to change. And when those things have happened at other points during my career, I try to be like an Air Nomad and adapt. I do my best to go with the flow, no matter what obstacle is put in my way. But even an Air Nomad knows when it’s time to cut their losses and move on.

I started to reevaluate what is truly important in my life and what I wanted to do with what’s left of it. I took some advice from Uncle Iroh. I looked inward and started asking myself the big question: “Who are you and what do you want?”

I also sought wisdom from Stoic philosophers who were big on differentiating between what is within our control and what isn’t. I realized I couldn’t control the creative direction of the series, but I could control how I responded. So, I chose to leave the project. It was the hardest professional decision I’ve ever had to make, and certainly not one that I took lightly, but it was necessary for my happiness and creative integrity.

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.

I also want to be clear that this doesn’t mean the end of my involvement in the Avatar universe. These stories and characters are important to me and the renewed interest and excitement in Avatar and Korra has been inspiring to see.

Writing this letter has left me with a very heavy heart. I know many of you will be disappointed and frustrated by this news. I get it. I share your disappointment and frustration. I also recognize this creative setback is small compared to the problems we’re all facing as a society right now.

Thankfully, Iroh offered some wisdom for that, too: “Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving you will come to a better place.”

May we all keep moving and come to a better place.

Thanks for reading and for your continued enthusiasm for the Avatar universe.

With gratitude,

Michael Dante DiMartino

Considering how pozzed these two are now and how pozzed Netflix is in general it's REALLY weird to see Mike and Brian wanting off of this ship. Just what the fuck is Netflix doing to the project that makes them want to leave it?

 

[ComeoutandJULAY]

Some news about this show just came out after two years of silence and, depending on your current views on Mike and Bryan are right now, could either be bad or good.

An open letter to Avatar: The Last Airbender fans

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production...

www.michaeldantedimartino.com

ARCHIVE

Considering how pozzed these two are now and how pozzed Netflix is in general it's REALLY weird to see Mike and Brian wanting off of this ship. Just what the fuck is Netflix doing to the project that makes them want to leave it?

Sounds to me like they're bringing someone else on to do the project.

Spoiler

What a tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeest.

 

[One Man Bland]

Some news about this show just came out after two years of silence and, depending on your current views on Mike and Bryan are right now, could either be bad or good.

An open letter to Avatar: The Last Airbender fans

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production...

www.michaeldantedimartino.com

ARCHIVE

Considering how pozzed these two are now and how pozzed Netflix is in general it's REALLY weird to see Mike and Brian wanting off of this ship. Just what the fuck is Netflix doing to the project that makes them want to leave it?

I don’t know, on the one hand it’s kinda weird to hear their jumping ship, but on the other hand they’ve always kinda been thin-skinned divas and between Korra and the comics it’s been pretty clear for a while now that not everything they touch turns to liquid gold.

And maybe it’s just me, but between the cringe-factor of referencing Stoicism and self-referencing your own show to make yourself seem wiser and more worldly and the somewhat passive-aggressive “but I certainly don’t wish ill of the people staying on board! Who knows, it might even be good!” the cynic in me has to wonder if this is a case of sour grapes or a preemptive strike to try and fish for audience sympathy. Because right now it kinda reads like “Woe is us, we didn’t get EVERYTHING we wanted so we took our ball and went home!” Especially with how they both make references to current events and this being first world problems, like they know they’re being incredibly petty but they want to justify it anyways.

Then again I was of the mind that this new remake was going to suck regardless, so it’s not like this changed my mind.

 

[Getting tard comed]

Some news about this show just came out after two years of silence and, depending on your current views on Mike and Bryan are right now, could either be bad or good.

An open letter to Avatar: The Last Airbender fans

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production...

www.michaeldantedimartino.com

ARCHIVE

Considering how pozzed these two are now and how pozzed Netflix is in general it's REALLY weird to see Mike and Brian wanting off of this ship. Just what the fuck is Netflix doing to the project that makes them want to leave it?

The remake is probably going to end up sucking anyway(I'm still end up watching a couple episodes to give it a shot though) regardless of any creative direction due to animation having way more freedom than live action does. You arent bound to the rules of reality in animation like you are in live action and rewatching ATLA showed me how much its medium contributes to its success.

That being said, hearing him/them dropping g out is probably a good sign. Korra was and is a shit show because they couldnt take online criticism that their show was a kids show so they had to create a "mature" show that resulted in stupidity and woman getting abused wrapped up by a lesbien relationship they didn't have the balls to actually put in the end of the show. They are woke creators so anything they have creative control over will fail. There is no "renewed interest" in Korra. Just Aangs story. Only Aangs story is available on Netflix it literally isnt possible for Korra to have renewed interest.

As pozzed as Netflix is, them refusing w/e bullshit these guys wanted to do with the reimagining is probably a good sign.

 

[Muttnik]

here is no "renewed interest" in Korra. Just Aangs story.

And even that hasn't gone well in the comics, which are completely putrid in terms of how they ruin a lot of characters. The only thing the comics have done is boost Azula's popularity in the fandom due to making her actions and murderous intentions sympathetic by way of unintentionally turning Ursa into an abandoning selfish monster. I think the glue that held Avatar together as a hole was Aaron Ehasz.

 

[Übertroon]

Some news about this show just came out after two years of silence and, depending on your current views on Mike and Bryan are right now, could either be bad or good.

An open letter to Avatar: The Last Airbender fans

Many of you have been asking me for updates about the Avatar live-action Netflix series. I can finally tell you that I am no longer involved with the project. In June of this year, after two years of development work, Bryan Konietzko and I made the difficult decision to leave the production...

www.michaeldantedimartino.com

ARCHIVE

Considering how pozzed these two are now and how pozzed Netflix is in general it's REALLY weird to see Mike and Brian wanting off of this ship. Just what the fuck is Netflix doing to the project that makes them want to leave it?

I don't think it's disagreements about culture bullshit. I think this was primarily productions disagreements. Production has been quiet and slow. And what you can gather from their statements makes it plausible that the problem was they weren't allocated the resources they thought were needed, and left the project when increased support never came.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

I don't see it working in live action. It didn't work once so why twice?

 

[Absolutego]

I don't see it working in live action. It didn't work once so why twice?

Can we really count Shyamalan's attempt as an honest one? He didn't even make the most token of efforts to relate the martial arts moves to the actual bending. If Netflix literally just had it that punching forward as a bender = elements moving forward, suddenly it'd be an order of magnitude more believable on screen than everyone doing the haka and a boulder moseying across the frame.

 

[One Man Bland]

That being said, hearing him/them dropping g out is probably a good sign. Korra was and is a shit show because they couldnt take online criticism that their show was a kids show so they had to create a "mature" show that resulted in stupidity and woman getting abused wrapped up by a lesbien relationship they didn't have the balls to actually put in the end of the show. They are woke creators so anything they have creative control over will fail. There is no "renewed interest" in Korra. Just Aangs story. Only Aangs story is available on Netflix it literally isnt possible for Korra to have renewed interest.

Korra’s supposedly coming to Netflix this week, but regardless Bryce are probably jumping the gun if they think it’s going to automatically get the same level of positivity.

Though I remember thinking it was a giant red flag that Bryke were coming back for another live action series and boasting it was going to be the version they’d always dreamed after about 6 years of not doing anything related to television - never mind that they had 0 experience with managing live action. Not to mention this was after Mike’s YA novel series "Geniuses" (yes really) failed when the fans who read it because he was "The Avatar guy" immediately went "Hey wait a minute this is just a rip off of Earthsea & His Dark Materials with rescinded Avatar characters... but with none of the good parts" while Bryan announced a generic sci-fi robot GRRRL power series that I can’t even remember the name of that he got bored of and dropped within a month.

To me it just screamed "has-beens desperately trying to relive their glory days" and the fact that they whined about "negativity" like a couple of drama whores just solidified that assessment for me.

And even that hasn't gone well in the comics, which are completely putrid in terms of how they ruin a lot of characters. The only thing the comics have done is boost Azula's popularity in the fandom due to making her actions and murderous intentions sympathetic by way of unintentionally turning Ursa into an abandoning selfish monster. I think the glue that held Avatar together as a hole was Aaron Ehasz.

While Ehasz was definitely a huge part of ATLA’s charm and there’s many moments in the behind the scenes material that can be summed up as "Yeah Bryke initially wanted to do X before Ehasz slapped the pen out of their hands and said that was retarded" (although I will say that The Dragon Prince, while there’s some strong character moments, certainly has problem with projectile vomiting exposition at you) the end result was very much a collaborative effort in the purest sense and if it hadn’t been for some talented people in both the art and writing department and the input of the martial art experts who worked closely alongside them.

The biggest mistake the sequels ever made was that fans and producers gave Bryke sole credit for ATLA’s success. It only inflated their egos and a lot of those artists who were responsible for some of the most iconic moments were never recognized for their efforts.

I don't think it's disagreements about culture bullshit. I think this was primarily productions disagreements. Production has been quiet and slow. And what you can gather from their statements makes it plausible that the problem was they weren't allocated the resources they thought were needed, and left the project when increased support never came.

See, that’s the part I don’t get. They decide to burn bridges with Netflix by singling them out as being "unsupportive" of their true vision. If it was Viacom or Nickelodeon I could see that being an issue, but Netflix has more a reputation of being the doting mother who throws money at just about anything and barely pays attention to what they’re writing a check for, for better or worse (but lets be honest, usually worse). What could they have possibly demanded or vetoed that would warrant such a rage quit?

I think you might be right it was probably a budget or physical production disagreement, but given Bryke’s total lack of credentials in managing a live action series I question how reasonable their complaints would be. I also wouldn’t be surprised if, given the way their wording also suggest possible friction with the crew and smaller studios, if it they went in expecting everyone to bend over for them and were surprised when some people put their foot down.

If any behind the scenes stuff ever gets leaked I’m sure it will be interesting.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

The guys of Clownfish Tv vlogged about the departure of Avatar creators.

One Youtuber joked about that reboot worth to save it for posterity.

Some kind of mole person
Half-joking predictions for the series: The Fire Nation will all mysteriously be race-swapped to being white people. Katara and Sokka will be made black. Sokka will no longer be the brains of the group, Katara will. Aang will rely on Katara for everything. She will be his mommy. Toph will be a trans girl who ran away because of her bigoted parents. Basically all the men on the show will be constantly emasculated and the women will be stunning and brave. Uncle Iroh and Zuko's roles will be minimized. [ REDACTED after some helpful replies ] Azula's backstory will be portrayed as tragic and they'll try to make her out to be a victim in everything. Probably because of her father's toxic masculinity. The Netflix Twitter or the shows writer(s) will come out and say how the show is a powerful statement on the damaging effects of "whiteness and patriarchy."

 

[ComeoutandJULAY]

E;R gives his take.

(a)

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

Some of the responses to the Tweet are blaming homophobia for them leaving.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

Some of the responses to the Tweet are blaming homophobia for them leaving.
View attachment 1518301

So three percent of the population is going to be represented in every show now? Model ship builders are probably also 3 percent of the population, but I wouldn't want to see model ship building crammed into every show on TV.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

So three percent of the population is going to be represented in every show now? Model ship builders are probably also 3 percent of the population, but I wouldn't want to see model ship building crammed into every show on TV.

I mean, not every show needs romance in it period, straight or gay. Sometimes, romance subplots just bog a story down. It's especially bad because often a gay character will just be gay and nothing else because if they had anything else going for them the reeing will commence.

 

[Racist Trash]

Those two can get fucked anyway, I mean if they actually had good ideas they wouldn't have gone along with a live action remake of a cartoon that hasn't aged at all and still holds up.

 

[Lucille Bluth]

Oh boy.

I've always found the "whitewashing" controversies around this show funny. There is no concept of "whiteness" in this show but many of the characters (particularly the Fire Nation) have white skin color. And those same people were the ones oppressing and conquering all the other tribes LMAO.

Also, people tried saying that because the Avatar characters were inspired by various "Asian" and Inuit culture, they "can't" have light eyes or light hair colors. I wonder how they'd try to explain this Uyghur boy, with the Uyghurs being an ethnic group originally from Central Asia, that China is currently trying to exterminate. Is he no longer "Asian" in their eyes because of his features?

 

[Archeops]

Oh god it’s getting more insane now, Twitter has managed to get #CancelNetflixATLALiveAction trending on Twitter right now.

Oh boy.
View attachment 1519126
I've always found the "whitewashing" controversies around this show funny. There is no concept of "whiteness" in this show but many of the characters (particularly the Fire Nation) have white skin color. And those same people were the ones oppressing and conquering all the other tribes LMAO.
View attachment 1519193
Also, people tried saying that because the Avatar characters were inspired by various "Asian" and Inuit culture, they "can't" have light eyes or light hair colors. I wonder how they'd try to explain this Uyghur/Chinese boy. Is he no longer "Asian" in their eyes because of his features?
View attachment 1519206

I think part of the reason why Netflix is going for the ”darker and more mature” tone is Because they want their own answer to HBO’s Game of Thrones.

But if the past has taught us anything it’s that basing it off of an animated show aimed at children is NOT the way to do it.