I watched the first episode. I think it was great.
Structured different than the animated show, of course, probably for the better.
We already know in broad strokes how things will unfold, so the show starts with the downfall of the Southern Air Temple and reintroduces Aang before he got trapped in the ice.
The story still unfolds as we‘ve seen in the animated show, with Katara and Sokka finding him during fishing, Zuko attacking the village in search of the Avatar etc.
The show compresses the story a bit and includes Aang‘s rescue from Zuko‘s ship and ends with Aang discovering the destruction of his home going into the Avatar state before accepting his destiny.
The 1 hour episode basically covers 3 episodes of the original, which makes sense.
Little changes from the animated show: Aang gets a short personal conversation and introduction with Iroh, hinting at Iroh not being on board with the Fire Nation‘s actions.
The opening lines of the show were changed slightly and spoken by I believe Avatar Kyoshi?
Katara‘s Original opening lines were still included later but spoken by Sokka‘s and Katara‘s grandmother who gets the role of Avatar exposition for the rest of the cast.
Aang is allowed to show vulnerability and grief and I think they struck a good balance with his light hearted nature.
He is not quite the goof and jokester yet, but still many episodes to watch yet.
The visuals are amazing. If this were a theatrical release I still would have been amazed at the production values.
Everything looks like the cartoon come to life but still realistic enough.
The different bending styles are convincing and actually feel powerful and balanced.
So far it is exactly what I hoped it would be.
- and I definitely that in Takei's voice!
