(Thread IKs:
muscles like this!)
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After finishing the whole season, I don't think it's fair to call this a one-to-one remake. They've actually made quite a few changes, and I'm not sure how much I agree with them Sokka and Katara being drawn into the spirit world because Aang is still pretty powerful was cool, and it allowing us to get through the soul-searching stuff from the swamp episode was fine. But, I'm not sure I agree with Sokka having already done his ice trial and only being passed up because he's the chief's son was a good change. I get why they did it, and having it happen at the mid-point means they have room for him to learn from it and grow but, eeehhhhhh. The showrunners (as in not the original duo) have said that they decided to include Azula so early because the original gave her so much character that they wanted to do more with her. I think it worked, I also feel that the writing and actress have led to Azula feeling more like a teenager this time. It also means we get a lot more of Ozai and I think that was a good decision as well. Casting did a lot of heavy lifting for these changes, if they didn't have the chops then I'd be singing a different tune. One last thing to address that will be pretty divisive is the change in how violence is being shown. The genocide of the Air Nomads has already been noted, but they have not shied away from the Gaang having a fair amount of blood on their hands already. I have two thoughts on this, the first being that I think they wanted to really lay out the stakes for the overall plot, and this is probably what caused Mike and Bryan to leave production. Others have said this in more heated ways, but the politics of the Avatar universe (especially post AtLA season 3) have been pretty white liberal Hollywood, and the world, post-2016 and ESPECIALLY post-COVID have shown how privileged that outlook is. The second thought is that this isn't a Nickelodeon cartoon anymore. Netflix clearly wanted to give AtLA the "prestige" treatment, and that usually means that violence has consequences. By showing the death toll at the Northern Water Tribe (or by merely STARTING the show by showing the genocide of an entire cultural group) means we aren't going to be having memes like "wait, what happened to Jet? did he die? it wasn't stated 100% as fact!" and moments like that will carry a lot more weight because we've already been primed that death happens. I definitely will understand why people don't like this interpretation, but for me, I think this is a good companion. The main beats still happen and we don't have a bunch of clumsy, moralistic episodes anymore, but instead strengthened the important ones and have given the world a more lived-in feel
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Feb 23, 2024 18:41
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Aces High posted:
While I generally agree with you I think that (original AtLA ending spoilers) I really loved the bit before the final confrontation where Aang talks to all the past avatars and they all tell him 'just merc the motherfucker' and he finds another way. Maybe it's naive but I think it's a good message for kids that if adults say something isn't possible or that you "have to get real" or whatever, they're not always right.
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Feb 23, 2024 18:58
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I think the biggest issue with the live action Avatar is they’ve hurt Aang’s arc because they’ve removed a lot that shows Aang’s reluctance to be the Avatar. Yes Aang says that, but they really don’t show it that much, because it’s him being goofy and wanting to do side stuff that really makes it evident. But they took out that stuff because Netflix wanted a faster, more urgent pace. Also as a side note is I’m annoyed that the one Avatar review that’s being shared the most on twitter is this one that really trashes it (says it’s as bad as Shaylaman’s movie) rather than the many that are a bit more even handed or even positive about it. Makes the show sound worse than I think it is. The show absolutely nails Zuko btw, probably the most important thing they needed to. It’s his arc that elevates the original show to greatness. theblackw0lf fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 23, 2024 19:17
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drat Ghosts aren’t even trying with the product placement anymore
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Feb 23, 2024 19:28
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That was a good episode of Halo, it's always nice when a show noticeably improves.kiminewt posted:I think people are mostly just angry with live action remakes because they feel like they're saying "here, now it's actually legitimate and not a stupid cartoon for babies" This is not an issue with Avatar, but there are several cartoons I would like to see being remade for live-action because I can't stand the style of animation, this is partly because I'm an old fan who doesn't like much modern animation. Ultimately the original cartoon will still be there, and maybe some people can enjoy the live-action version more, or even better they watch the live action and then the cartoon.
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Feb 23, 2024 19:46
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Seconding that the Vince Staples show is good. I've seen it compared to Atlanta, but it's probably closer to DAVE if that makes sense. Anyway, here, take this suck and gently caress trailer for the new Julianne Moore thingy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYI7FtJr20c Sex proles so hot right now. Also speaking of trailers, is it just me or is there absolutely no effort to the trailers for the King's new show, Elsbeth. It's airing next week and there's been one trailer based on the pilot, and a Superbowl spot. Maybe Americans have a different vibe, and youse can't spit for fear of drenching a building sized poster of Carrie Preston's face, but it seems like there's no confidence behind the show, which is a shame because The Good Wife but Columbo, starring Preston sounds good. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ2WX99QXXY Escobarbarian posted:drat Ghosts aren’t even trying with the product placement anymore So you're saying that they've given up the proverbial.
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Feb 23, 2024 19:47
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kiminewt posted:While I generally agree with you I think that (original AtLA ending spoilers) I really loved the bit before the final confrontation where Aang talks to all the past avatars and they all tell him 'just merc the motherfucker' and he finds another way. I think they are still going to keep Aang's third option for dealing with Ozai and I think they have already done a good job of laying out the path for it. People still, to this day, talk about how that choice felt too much like a deus ex machina and robbed the character of some agency, whereas now they can reframe it and make it more overt, as opposed to the original trying to dance around and we are getting a lot of this already in the new one because Aang is interacting with more of the previous avatars instead of it just being him and Roku all the time. We knew stuff about Kyoshi and she had key moments in the original but Kuruk?! The guy was just written off as a surfer-bro and was only called to action when Koh went after his wife. I have loved all of the new worldbuilding we've gotten out this new series, however, that doesn't mean I still can't be upset that Aang hasn't done his one airbending trick yet, you all know the one I'm talking about
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Feb 23, 2024 20:49
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theblackw0lf posted:The show absolutely nails Zuko btw, probably the most important thing they needed to. It’s his arc that elevates the original show to greatness. Yeah, it's the best storyline in this original and and it's the best one in this one too. And it also has the best two actors in the show carrying it so that it works well. I think for the most part all of the main actors are pretty much nailing their parts but Zuko is far above the others. Sokka too.
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Feb 23, 2024 20:54
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So nobody wanted to make an Avatar Thread? I'm watching the second episode now. Better than the first episode. Sokka is great and Suki is too and Zuko seems cool as well, but I'm a bit wary of the other characters at this point. Katara is a bit of a wet blanket so far. In hindsight, I don't think I liked Book One of the original series all that much. The later episodes are the ones which really stuck in my mind and made me look fondly onto the show. So I wonder if Netflix will continue this series. Huh, Iroh is played by the guy who played Mr. Kim in Kim's Convenience. Everyone usually called him Appa. 
cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 23, 2024 20:54
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Open Source Idiom posted:Seconding that the Vince Staples show is good. I've seen it compared to Atlanta, but it's probably closer to DAVE if that makes sense. I’d say it has more in common with Atlanta, specifically with showing the absurdism of the area it takes place in. I dunno what about it is like Dave really
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Feb 23, 2024 21:15
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They did some really good streamlining for episode 3 of Avatar. Some first season plotlines which aren't strong enough to stand on their own were neatly compressed there. And important characters get introduced earlier. A genuine improvement over the original. But I know plenty people who get upset by the slightest diversion of the source material, so they would probably be less impressed by that. Also, It's always great to see Dani Pudi.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:28
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cant cook creole bream posted:They did some really good streamlining for episode 3 of Avatar. Some first season plotlines which aren't strong enough to stand on their own were neatly compressed there. And important characters get introduced earlier. A genuine improvement over the original. But I know plenty people who get upset by the slightest diversion of the source material, so they would probably be less impressed by that. Yeah I agree. Combining The Mechanist, Secret Tunnel, and Jett into one story and setting it inside Omashu was really well done. I think that's one of my favorite changes from the cartoon.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:51
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they've made some, ah, interesting choices when it comes to callbacks and fanservice. I appreciate that because Aang isn't lovesick all the time (or, really, at all) he doesn't have to be there for the Secret Tunnel bit, and instead they use it so Katara and Sokka can bond as siblings. But, I just wasn't a fan of the minstrels. I liked what they did with the cabbage merchant (also cool that they got the same guy from the cartoon), but that was probably because they did kept swerving. I was literally doing the "go on Bart, say the line" thing whenever he was on the screen. As I said above, they also didn't do Aang's spinning rock trick and I think that's one of the only big misses they've had. Aang is still supposed to be a goofball, and even though he's focusing on his trauma and guilt a lot, that trick is a quick shorthand to show the dichotomy of what he will become as he continues maturing, and who he already is. Speaking of slight character changes I was not prepared for Bumi to be the one to really lay on the guilt for Aang. At first I wasn't having it, but the more he kept talking and recalling traumatizing experiences and awful decisions he was forced to make, the more I bought it. Bumi's still the same goofy kid that Aang played with, but a century of war has hardened him some
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Feb 23, 2024 22:35
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Aces High posted:they've made some, ah, interesting choices when it comes to callbacks and fanservice. I appreciate that because Aang isn't lovesick all the time (or, really, at all) he doesn't have to be there for the Secret Tunnel bit, and instead they use it so Katara and Sokka can bond as siblings. But, I just wasn't a fan of the minstrels. I liked what they did with the cabbage merchant (also cool that they got the same guy from the cartoon), but that was probably because they did kept swerving. I was literally doing the "go on Bart, say the line" thing whenever he was on the screen. As I said above, they also didn't do Aang's spinning rock trick and I think that's one of the only big misses they've had. Aang is still supposed to be a goofball, and even though he's focusing on his trauma and guilt a lot, that trick is a quick shorthand to show the dichotomy of what he will become as he continues maturing, and who he already is. The one thing in the entire series that they kept that really didn't land for me in live action was the musicians in the tunnels. It was goofy and didn't work in live action I think. The story of Oma and Shu was well done (the animation was gorgeous for it) but suffered from being delivered by those goofball characters.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:19
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I liked it. That little bitty is again stuck in my head. secret tunnel, secret tunnel, through the mountain.. Also I'm five hours in and the Gaang still doesn't feel like friends. I don't know if it's the chemistry or just missing scenes of them goofing off together.
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Feb 24, 2024 00:07
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theblackw0lf posted:I think the biggest issue with the live action Avatar is they’ve hurt Aang’s arc because they’ve removed a lot that shows Aang’s reluctance to be the Avatar. My wife and I were kind of losing it at the very beginning. Aang doesn't run away from his responsibility after learning he's the Avatar. He just can't sleep, so he yip-yips up to have himself a good ol' thinky-dink and WHOOPS why am I trying to clear my head in a raging sea storm??
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Feb 24, 2024 05:59
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Open Source Idiom posted:Also speaking of trailers, is it just me or is there absolutely no effort to the trailers for the King's new show, Elsbeth. It's airing next week and there's been one trailer based on the pilot, and a Superbowl spot. Maybe Americans have a different vibe, and youse can't spit for fear of drenching a building sized poster of Carrie Preston's face, but it seems like there's no confidence behind the show, which is a shame because The Good Wife but Columbo, starring Preston sounds good. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ2WX99QXXY I feel like this is a character that works best in small doses, so I’m not sure how she will do with a full show, but I will give it a shot.
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Feb 24, 2024 06:23
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bull3964 posted:I'm rewatching the 2000 Dune Syfy miniseries in my "rewatch everything Dune before Part 2" marathon. I had recently imported region free blu-rays from Germany to upgrade my DVDs. It is actually scanned in HD, but all of the SFX scenes are upscaled (similar to Babylon 5). They also mostly used purely CG for effects (similar again to Babylon 5). Wow. Another fan. I still have the dvds I bought in high school in 2004 and rewatch them now and then. Really good show for the exact reasons you mentioned. Well done show that nobody remembers but maybe you and I. The cast was fairly strong I thought though some of it will change with it’s sequel: Children of Dune. I liked Children of Dune although it is far from perfect. One big thing was mixing the books Messiah and Children of Dune. Despite some flaws I thought the execution was decent. The guy playing Mau’Dib was a bit old but excellent; especially in his role during Children of Dune. Seek it out if you can find it. Alia’s end still makes me sad and I found there was a small beautifully touching moment that was an excellent choice on the behalf of the actress per the behind the scenes. I really love all the versions of Dune out there in all their imperfect glory. Going to back up the Primal recommendation. Absolutely amazing show that was metal as hell. Quick watch that is more than worth it. If you can find Final Space watch that too as it was almost a spiritual sibling to Farscape. It was Zazlaved so good luck. One other obscure recommendation that isn’t a cartoon: Abandoned. It was a one season Canadian show on Crave/Vice exploring the abandoned places circa 2016. Famous skater Rick McCrank takes you on a beautiful journey with some cool music and people. It’s less ruin porn and more of an exploration of forgotten places and the people that still live there and love it. Yes, Detroit and Route 66 are in the mix. Give it a go.
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Feb 24, 2024 06:24
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My only complaint is that replacing the Lady Jessica actor between movies is really jarring.
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Feb 24, 2024 06:37
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DogsInSpace! posted:Seek it out if you can find it. Children of Dune actually came with the Blu-ray box set. I haven't seen it since it originally aired and am looking forward to getting to it.
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Feb 24, 2024 07:05
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DogsInSpace! posted:Wow. Another fan. I still have the dvds I bought in high school in 2004 and rewatch them now and then. Really good show for the exact reasons you mentioned. Well done show that nobody remembers but maybe you and I. I have a soft spot for SyFy Dune, too. Chani asking Paul to tell her about the waters of his homeland is an intrusive thought to this day.
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Feb 24, 2024 08:11
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Fuuuuck The Expats finale so good. The Wong Kar-Wai pastiche to the Capital Cities. The flex with the opening credits. The direct address to camera. I loved so much of this. I know The Curse was probably the better 2024 show, but this was so loving good. Goons stop sleeping on this!
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Feb 24, 2024 08:40
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Both the 2000 Dune and Children of Dune are still up on YouTube, if you want to watch them but don't really care about a 4k upscale Blu-ray https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGGFetypTthAYsMqtT8aw5TbfsB4Z0fVt&si=9IrWSmH6ZVC_on-D
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Feb 24, 2024 14:05
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DogsInSpace! posted:Wow. Another fan. I still have the dvds I bought in high school in 2004 and rewatch them now and then. Really good show for the exact reasons you mentioned. Well done show that nobody remembers but maybe you and I. I've been talking about how much I liked Children of Dune for years. James McAvoy! Susan Surandon somehow! Talking about weird sci fi! Weirdly good effects! They actually went to the crazy plot points of the book! It's real good.
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Feb 24, 2024 14:38
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Add me to the Dune/Children of Dune enjoyers, though I don’t remember the original as well as I do Children. I think the latter was the first time I saw James McAvoy in anything. I do miss that era of Syfy annual Special Miniseries Event. The Lost Room gets a lot of love here but I have a big soft spot for Tin Man, goofy as it is. Taken also (the alien one, not the Liam Neeson one). I remember the Peter Pan one being decent too, but really don’t remember it. Was Childhood’s End their last miniseries?
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Feb 24, 2024 16:04
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If we believe in Wikipedia, Childhood's End was indeed the last SyFy mini. It's also dang good, I think I watched it after someone here recommended it.
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Feb 24, 2024 16:15
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Open Source Idiom posted:Fuuuuck The Expats finale so good. I want to like this show, because I don't doubt it's well made and probably beautiful, but I can't get into it.
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Feb 24, 2024 16:23
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Chairman Capone posted:Add me to the Dune/Children of Dune enjoyers, though I don’t remember the original as well as I do Children. I think the latter was the first time I saw James McAvoy in anything. I miss them too, sometimes they were good like the Dune ones, which I love for attempting to do Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. And sometimes they were unintentionally great comedies like Tin Man. Some were just bad though, like Earthsea. Their Friday movie was also sometimes a lot of fun. I stopped paying attention around when Stargate ended. I think.
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Feb 24, 2024 16:53
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Shageletic posted:I've been talking about how much I liked Children of Dune for years. James McAvoy! Susan Surandon somehow! Talking about weird sci fi! Weirdly good effects! They actually went to the crazy plot points of the book! I think I'll watch it. To be honest I only liked the book Dune, I thought his later ones were just too messy and I couldn't keep track of who was dead and dead but back as a ghost or not dead but back as a ghost and who is doing what jihads and why, people turning into worms n poo poo idk. I was also 14 at the time and was speed-reading em in a binge during TAKS test week, so maybe I'd appreciate all the weirdness more now.
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Feb 24, 2024 16:55
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It finally happened to me: one of my digital TV purchases has disappeared. I bought the Borgen complete series on iTunes a few years ago and enjoyed it a lot. It's a Danish political drama and it's very good. Tried to watch it again today and not only is it no longer for sale on Apple, but I can't even download it anymore and it's gone from my library.
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Feb 24, 2024 17:47
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It is immoral and impractical to purchase media. The era of share is back.
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Feb 24, 2024 17:52
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Medullah posted:Both the 2000 Dune and Children of Dune are still up on YouTube, if you want to watch them but don't really care about a 4k upscale Blu-ray But someone censored the boobs! It's not authentic!! Actually, when I saw that someone had uploaded the whole thing, the first thought in my mind was "how'd they get that put up without it immediately getting flagged and taken down?" and the answer was blur effects. I remember the first time I saw the miniseries and that scene happened, I was quite surprised. I hadn't seen a lot of Sci-Fi originals, so I wasn't sure if nudity was normal. When it appeared to be the ONLY time it happened, I was confused as to why it was done at all. It didn't feel like something that came from the text. Granted, I was, I dunno, 12 years old when I first saw it, so there were definitely things like that in the book that just flew over my head. Anyway, Dune miniseries was great, and Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen is forever and always the definitive interpretation of the character for me
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Feb 24, 2024 17:54
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Finally watching Expats, halfway through and yeah despite quite a bit of telling not showing with the dialogue it’s a really good show. I had seen criticisms about it being more about wealthy people from other countries but I mean if you actually watch the show it’s so blatantly aware of this and the way they treat the domestic staff is such a constant focus (I’m aware ep 5 is a movie-length episode that makes them the primary focus)
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Feb 24, 2024 18:04
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I work in an office with a lot of FIlipinos and yeah they are all talking about Expats because of that one episode
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Feb 24, 2024 18:27
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It's always nice to see actors you like have surprise roles in TV shows you are watching, I just realized that James D'Arcy is in Constellation, and Ken Leung is in Avatar.
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Feb 24, 2024 19:06
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Glad to hear the Avatar adaption is 'good to ok' sounds like. Sucks that the original creators can't catch a break on staying attached to their property, but it's not like they got Disco Elyisum'd out of working in that world. Will have to give it a watch. Shame that tv only exists in ten episode chunks nowadays. Big strength of that series in particular was the journey of it, so while a lot of the one-off's weren't as memorable, they really filled in the world in a way that made that series shine and helped better trace the character growth as they trotted along. Without that I would be surprised if this had as big a popularity splash as the original, or heck One Piece Live Action had, but going in with an open mind. X-O posted:People really need to get over this notion that there's no reason for remaking things. I've seen dozens of different tellings of Hamlet in my life and most of them are literally one to one adaptations. But there's always something new that each brings to the table whether it's a good performance, a good set piece, or something added. Adaptations don't water originals down, they expand on them. You may not like the expansion and the expansion may not always be good or positive. But there's nothing wrong with doing one. They can easily be ignored if they're not you thing. Agree whole heartedly with this. There's been, what, a million Sherlock Holmes adaptions, and there'll probably be another million. The good news is that the good adaptions don't unmake the ones that previously existed. That comfort food is still out there to be enjoyed. Did we need a Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock? Probably not. But we already have a as-good-as-it-gets-book-to-script-adaption in the Jeremy Brett series, and no hot Sherlock will take him away. Which is all to say live action Cowboy Bebop was
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Feb 25, 2024 00:17
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CatstropheWaitress posted:Glad to hear the Avatar adaption is 'good to ok' sounds like. Sucks that the original creators can't catch a break on staying attached to their property, They're co-chief creative officers of Avatar Studios, which was started in 2021 by Paramount Global to produce Avatar content, so they are doing alright.
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Feb 25, 2024 00:45
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No avatar thread?
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Feb 25, 2024 00:49
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Mr. Nemo posted:No avatar thread?
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Feb 25, 2024 00:54
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I started up avatar. Nice to see the earth bender doing earth bending and not just having one rock slowly move across the screen.
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Feb 25, 2024 00:55
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