One thing I wondered: if it takes a year or more to create another season, won’t the young actors look different? I’m not sure I’m ready for a tall pimply Aang with a deep voice and stubble.
There should only be 3 seasons if they stick to the show like they did in this one, and they do grow slightly in the cartoon also.
I think I agree with this. The live-action series is so profoundly unnecessary. It is like the joke about the [disparaged ethnic group of your choice] Olympic athlete so proud of his gold metal that he had it bronzed.
Speaking as a new viewer, I think I find the live action series visually more interesting than the bits and pieces I’ve seen of the animated show. Tastes will vary, of course.
I liked it overall, buuuuut way too much exposition. I think Sokka came into his own comic and competency wise by the end. I started really liking him around three or four episodes in. All the characters grew on me so I enjoyed it more and more as I watched each episode.
You know when they filmed The Mandalorian in a “virtual soundstage” and no one could really tell? Yeah, not so much here. Everything in episode 8 looked like green screen. Even the things that were practical objects.
As to characters aging out, the show runner has said in interviews that each book (series) will take place about a year apart.
Looking forward to books 2 and 3. Fingers crossed.
Up to Episode 5. Really enjoying it.
I like how it’s different from the original but hits a lot of the same beats. Liked most of the characterizations (but see below), the condensing of different Spirit Realm encounters into one, and just the whole translation of sets, character designs and costumes into live action. Love that they still included lots of side things like all of Jet’s gang and the singing hippies (“Secret Tunnel!” got the biggest cheer in my house.) even if the plot around these things differs.
I didn’t like -
Bumi. At all. Makeup job was terrible and his characterization was completely off.
Azula is too crazy too soon. Otherwise, spot-on.
Something about Zhao seems off. Not a problem with the actor, just the characterization.
I am missing some of the fun interlude stuff.
Less humour overall. Not the jokes (love that they teased with Cabbage Guy’s catchphrase a couple times before landing it, for example) but more the lightness of the animated show.
Which reminds me, this also is a lot darker than the animated show. I mean, literally.
But with all that, it’s a big win for me, so far. Looking forward to the Blue Spirit next episode.
Yeah, he seemed like a character out of Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.
My thought is, you don’t cast Ken Leung in a the same role as Jason Isaacs and ask him to deliver the same performance. They’re very different actors.
I actually liked Zhao better in this - he wasn’t just a one-dimensional bad/antagonist for Zuko. His character expressed deeper motivations than the animated series.
I mean, definitely not in the first season, but Zuko had the biggest turnaround of any character in animated Avatar, going from an antagonist to an ally to eventually challenge and overthrow the Fire Kingdom itself and become royalty. Definitely not a 1-D character.
I agree with this, and things with Zhao’s characterization have improved considerably now that he is Admiral Zhao.
But in the early episodes, he was just too soft-spoken and almost obsequious, whereas animated Zhao was brash and big, pretty much from the get-go.
Avatar has been renewed for a second and third season, which will conclude the series:
Completely agree with you on Prince Zuko, but we’re talking about General Zhao here, who in both series meets his demise in the final episode of Book 1: Water.
Sorry, my bad.
I kind of liked that Zhao in this series was an aggressive climber - he was nothing, then gained the favor of the firelord and gained rank. It didn’t seem very necessary to the season arc but it gave him a broader motivation than the animated series.
He does show up again in Korra
The Zhao in the series is a very clever*, highly motivated person from the beginning.
* I mean, he’s smart enough to find and use the Spirit Library.
True, although we don’t find out about that until after he’s already dead.
He looks like a caricature of a Harvard student in the 1930s. I keep imagining him in a straw boater and a raccoon coat, driving his Lincoln Roadster to the football match to see if anyone dies.
That said, four episodes in, I think he’s the best casting of the show after Iroh.
That’s more of Legend of Korra vibes.
I just rewatched the season and it holds up pretty well.
Disappointed Aang did no bagua circle walking against Zuko. 
We recently watched the entire animated Avatar with our 5-year-old, her first show with an ongoing story across episodes. She loved it.
The we watched the live action. And both my and her reaction was pretty middling. It’s not bad… but… why does it exist? What does it add?
There are just a lot of story and worldbuilding elements that work well in animation but not live action. I think Jet and his crew is the clearest example. In animation, all those exaggerated character designs work fine. In live action, they’re just weird. If I hadn’t already seen the animated series, I think I would have been seriously confused as to what was going on with those characters, why they existed, etc.
I’d give the animated series something like a B+ overall. Live action is a straight C. Competent and not unentertaining, but nothing special or inspired.