Netflix is changing Avatar. Here's Why | EPISODE BREAKDOWN 

I'm sure casting Utkarsh was because it's easier to have a younger actor be aged up with makeup than expect an elderly dude to be as insanely shredded and athletic as Bumi is. Could also be that he was just the best at portraying Bumi and older actors couldn't cut it.

I think the deserter is an important episode. There are huge lessons in there, and I especially love the dynamic between Aang and Zhao both being students of Jeong Jeong but Aang has learned restraint whereas Zhao has none. It sets up Zhao's character for the North Pole episodes.

Adding in "The Water Bending Scroll" into Omashu honestly works. They could explore the city, steal the scroll, practice with it but then be found by the person they stole from. They run away but get split up. Aang can't find Katara and Sokka then is summoned the Earth king. Bumi mentions they caught Sokka and Katara and forces Aang through trials to save them.

I really hope they won’t delve into Aang’s backstory too quickly because I really love how we get to know him as a kid who wants to have fun, to the Avatar with a lot of baggage, to a victim of genocide as the last airbender. Stories that have tried to emulate some of those aspects of him ignore that we essentially got to know his personality before we knew him as a victim of the Fire Nation

I hope that they do include the great divide but as a super quick almost rogue in cheek joke when it skips everything and you just have the gAang being like, "oh hey, the great divide, how awesome! Hope nothing goes bad!" Then just jump cuts to after where they are all scraggled and haggard and just like, "wow that sucked." That or they just fly over and say, "man, I'm really glad we didn't have to travel through there!" 😂

Jeong Jeong has such a great introduction that I hope they keep it. Roku showing up and telling him to train Aang is one of my favorite moments.

For the Mask episode, I think they can combine them well. They meet Jet early in the episode and befriend the group. Then, Aang gets captured. Katara and Sokka go to Jet for help. Unfortunately, Jet is too focused on his revenge. Jet lies that he will send people to save Aang is they help destroy the dam. We can still follow the same plot points with Sokka's distrust contrasting Katara. On the other hand, Zuko goes to save him. Aang assumes it's Jet. They escape together like in the episode all the way to the reveal that Zuko is behind the mask.

Something you didn’t touch on with the King of Omashu episode was the scenes showing young Bumi and Aang. They could really dive into their friendship and even show things that happened after Aang disappeared and show how exactly Bumi became King. I think most of the episode is going to be flashbacks.

I think combining Jet and the Blue Spirit would be an inspired adaptation choice 1. It’s a great commentary on appearances. Jet is a seeming ally but is revealed to be a bit of a monster. The mysterious blue spirit is at first intimidating, but then is a friend, but is then revealed to be Zuko and we don’t know what to think. 2. I don’t think Aang is so necessary to Jet story that he needs to be there, meanwhile Bluespirit is just Aang because Sokka and Katara are just sick that week. So while Aang’s not there for the Jet stuff, which is really a Katara and Sokka episode anyways, instead see it as giving Katara and Sokka something productive to do while Aang’s alone. 3. It sets up the parallel of Jet and Zuko that gets expanded on in Ba Sing Se. 4. I think it would be a really easy mash up. Aang has been captured and is being held by Zhao. K&S need help to face them, so they meet the nearby resistance movement lead by Jet. While Blue Spirit is breaking Aang out, K&S have to stop Jet doing war crimes in their own pursuit to save Aang. I think those are strong reasons to do this

I think the most important parts of ‘The Deserter’ are Aang hurting Katara, as you called out, and maybe even more - the fight between Aang and Zhao. Aang uses cleverness and airbending techniques to evade Zhao’s advances and distract him while he destroys his entire fleet. It shows the audience a great deal about Zhao’s character and hints to the nature of his down fall at the end of the season - he leads with might and pride and this is not always effective

What is Into The Dark was them cutting WAY ahead to when they go through the "Secret Tunnel". This is HUGE for Aang and Katara's relationship story.

When Aang realizes this crazy old man/king is his childhood friend from before the war and Aang is happy to see a familiar face in a world that’s changed is a heart moment. ❤ It’s also from Bumi in Omashi where Aang learns for the first time Ozai’s name and how he’s running the war present day and that he’s gonna have to end up defeating him for the war to end.

I for one want a 3-part Great Divide remake. I want to see every single step they take in that valley!

I was actually thinking that Masks would be the place for The Deserter to appear - the kids wear masks at the beginning, then meet a man who comes off as very unpleasant but is actually a very good and helpful person, then Zhao's mask of being an unbeatable force falls. Ironically given that point about Zhao, I think it would also lead perfectly into the Blue Spirit - instead of Aang beating Zhao just by tricking him into burning his ships, maybe we can have a good moment where Aang feels triumphant but then is captured anyway. I wonder if that could also provide the perfect time for Katara and Sokka to end up with Jet's team, maybe getting rescued/captured by them when Aang is captured by Zhao. Then, the very town that the kids just experienced the culture of and met everyday people in is the one that Jet wants to destroy. The Deserter even took place right next to a river. Combining Jet and The Deserter makes a lot of sense to me, since both deal with whether someone is bad simply for being from the Fire Nation. Plus, as a bonus, The Deserter and Jet are Zuko-free episodes, which gives them more time to cover the events of both and still have time to integrate the Blue Spirit. It would also be quite a moment for them to have an episode exploring whether people from the Fire Nation can be good/innocent, then the reveal that Zuko just helped Aang escape. I think I've actually talked myself into hoping this is how they do it, cause it sounds awesome!

You know, it hadn’t hit me until now… imagine Koh in live action 😭 if he ain’t nothing less than nightmare fuel, i don’t want it

I could see them moving episodes from S2 into S1 and vice-versa, so "Into the dark" might cover the cave of two lovers episode as well as the storm, since it can be placed at any point where Katara Sokka and Aang are traveling across the earth kingdom, as well it would make it's connections to omashu a bit more relevant since they'd have just left it. And the northern air temple might be placed early in S2 as they're leaving the northern water tribe, show us with the siege of the north how bad fire nation attacks are, to make the possibility of them getting worse with air balloons more impactful.

I do agree that Bumi was kind of that joke episode when he first came out but I felt that it had bits and pieces of it that were a bit important and that flew past us as kids. That Bumi was a kid when he and Ang met, and how it would feel 100 years after seeing your friend who you thought died appear in front of you after all those years. I might have dug a bit for that but it only really hit me when I saw that last scene years later when I rewatched it. I do hope they put more nuance into it.

I could see episode 4 combining "Imprisoned" and "The Waterbending Scroll" since both are Katara centric. Also I could see "The Storm" and "The Blue Spirit" being combined for episode 6.

At some point, Azula needs to be introduced and Zuko probably needs more early-season attention. So, maybe "Into the Dark" is about at least one of them.

I think the Into the Dark episode might actually be the Winter Solstice because I remember it as something dark for the disappearances of villagers thing and when Hei Bai actually kidnapped Sokka and they all got worried because it became dark and Sokka hasn't come back yet, without having a clue what happened to him or how could they rescue him... plus spirits is a good topic to explore with when it comes to "the dark."

Don't you think Jet's story could fit with the Kyoshi warriors into one episode? Have both factions aim for the village but then realize Jet is fighting "the wrong way". Afterwards let the Kyoshi warriors accompany the Gaang to the island. If they do it right they could kill like 5 birds with one stone - show the good and the bad of BOTH the rebels AND the fire nation, civilians and mercenaries

Remembering when Aang finds out hes the only airbender left always makes me tear up

My Predictions: Ep 1: The Last Airbender. - > The Boy in the Iceberg - > The Avatar Returns - > The Southern Air Temple Ep 2: Warriors. - > Imprisoned - > Bato of the Water Tribe - but not Sokka’s trials - > Warriors of Kyoshi Ep 3: Omashu. - > The Great Divide - As a cameo where they fly over and see them, but don't stop. - > The Fortune Teller - As a cameo, she's offering fortunes inside Omashu, but they don't stop. - > The Waterbending Scroll - > The King of Omashu Ep 4: Into the Dark. - > The Storm + Expanded Backstory with Zuko, Azula, Mei, and Tai Lee - > The Deserter Ep 5: Spirited Away. - > Winter Solstice Part 1 - > Winter Solstice Part 2 Ep 6: Masks. - > Jet - > The Blue Spirit Make this an episode where the Gaang are side-characters and make Zuko and Jet the MC's and have them run parallel stories where you can contrast Zuko's struggle to honorably let Aang free after Aang saves his life, meanwhile Jet is willing to sacrifice a village of civilians to eliminate an enemy. Ep 7: The North. - > Northern Air Temple - > Bato of the Water Tribe - Sokka's Trials - > Waterbending Master Ep 8: Legends. - > Siege of the North Part 1 - > Siege of the North Part 2

Into the Dark and Masks can actually be two stories you've suggested that might be combined that are Blue Spirit and Jet. Blue Spirit could be used for Into the Dark to explore Zuko's past and the darkness could also be talking about Ang being captured I can also see the darkness that Jet displays in his episode as the meaning behind the title as well. But both episodes also work with Masks as well considering the literal mask for Blue Spirit and the mask that Jet puts up lying to team avatar. In terms of making a big change I can also see Into the Dark being the Northern Air Temple story where they also combine it with learning about Ang running away from his destiny. It would also spread out big battles more evenly through the show instead being back of the show heavy.

The thing I hope for the most is that they have a group of passionate fans like you, who have analyzed the themes of the show and why the original story works, to be a part of the “screening” process. So that characters aren’t shortchanged or cheapened for the sake of the live-action.

It might be interesting to see Bato of the Water Tribe & The Northern Air Temple mixed together, with Random Village #11 being switched out with the Temple.

Also I hope the don't cut a lot of the storm because that's also the first time we see anyone (Iroh) redirect lightning.

When you say "Into the Dark", the first thing that comes to mind for me is "The Cave of Two Lovers" where they navigate the labirynth on the way to Omashu... problem is, that's S2E2 in the cartoon when they're going BACK to Omashu, and "Into the Dark" comes after the episode "Omashu". Really hoping they're not going to move things around THAT much lol

I think Batou and the Water Tribe is important to show Aang's flaws. He's just a kid and he feels like he's about to lose his only family again, but in doing so he hurts his family

I think they’re gonna put jet in into the dark. seems like jet would fit that title to me. that also means they can give all of masks to the storm and blue spirit, two very important episodes that flow into each other nicely

I hope they give Aang a moment like he had in The Fortune Teller. Its one of my favorite moments in the whole show and plants the seed of Aang and Katara's relationship...

My thoughts: 1) The Last Airbender: (The Boy in the Iceberg, The Avatar Returns, The Southern Air Temple) 2) Warriors: (The Warriors of Kyoshi, Bato of the Water Tribe) In Bato of the Water Tribe, we get flashbacks from when Sokka was left behind when his father went to war. It would be interesting to see these episodes combined because it simultaneously addresses the source of Sokka's sexisim / need to be a warrior and the present-day repercussions of his sexism. I also think having this conflict of Bato of the Water Tribe earlier on could be a better placement for testing Katara and Sokka's commitment to helping Aang. It makes more sense why Aang would question whether Katara and Sokka will stick by his side when they've just begun their journey, realized that Zuko is hunting them down and the danger they have yet to face-rather than after they're already almost at the North Pole. 3) Omashu: (The King of Omashu, Imprisoned) I think this could be a good opportunity for Katara and Sokka to be literally imprisoned, while also introducing some true conflict into the plot. It can also be a great opportunity to get into what it means to be an earthbender, by putting these two episodes into conversation with one another. There isn't a real reason Aang needs to go to Omashu besides showing Katara and Sokka how much fun it is, but maybe Aang needs to get the King's help because he doubts that Katara can help the imprisoned earthbenders all on her own, and Bumi agrees to help only if Aang can pass his three challenges. It's an opportunity to ask several questions about Omashu's place in the war and why they aren't helping the neighboring towns. Maybe Katara really does get imprisoned, instead of it being a ploy. The moral of The King of Omashu is looks can be deceiving, creative thinking is important in battle, and Aang will need to put trust in his friends. Now, they can operationalize those lessons by displaying creative thinking by giving the imprisoned earthbenders coal to bend, and letting Aang and Sokka trust Katara's judgement. 4) Into the Dark: (The Waterbending Scroll, The Deserter) These would be interesting to put into conversation with one another because they are both about Aang and Katara trying to learn new forms of bending, but completely missing the point. Katara agrees to show Aang a few waterbending moves and becomes frustrated with how naturally talented he is. Instead of being patient with herself, she steals a waterbending scroll. Meanwhile, they come across Jeong Jeong and, in his high-confidence at being so good at waterbending, Aang is convinced he can learn firebending at the same time and comes to the brutal realization that he doesn't yet have the mindset necessary to control fire. He burns Katara, and Katara finds that she can heal-bringing her inferiority complex to a close and giving her a newfound confidence in her own innate bending abilities. Zuko teams up with the pirates to get the waterbending scroll back and capture the avatar, while Zhao goes after Jeong Jeong. They all meet in the middle (both episodes take place on a river, so it works geographically) and the big battle ensues. 5) Spirited Away: (The Winter Solstice (The Spirit World / Avatar Roku)) 6) Masks: (The Blue Spirit, Jet, possibly The Storm) Aang doesn't have much screen time in Jet. To me, it makes sense that this episode about unmasking can be about The Blue Spirit and Jet. On one side, you have Aang getting captured, getting rescued by the Blue Spirit, and have him wrestle with the realization that one of his enemies has saved him. You also have something about Aang trusting his instincts about whether to trust Zuko. In a parallel story, you have a foil to this where Katara has to learn not to put all of her trust into people who appear to be on her side (and Sokka's instincts). Maybe it's the fire nation festival that is going to be flooded, so Aang goes to warn them and is captured-where Zuko saves him. It could make for this interesting conversation about whether all of our villains are all bad and whether all of our heros are truly all good. I also think this could be a good plot that either sets us up for Aang and Zuko's backstories to be told-or we can hear their backstories then potentially lead into this plot. 7) The North: (The Waterbending Master, The Siege of the North) I honestly think they'll cut out a lot of the plot about sexism, but we will get to explore Northern Water Tribe culture. It's also possible that we get to see the Northern Air Temple here. 8) Legends (possibly The Northern Air Temple?) I think it's possible this can be about Aang hearing the legends of airbenders in the past-only to find out that there are actually "airbenders" in the modern Northern Air Temple. Probably not, but it's an idea. I think it'll mostly be about the Siege of the North.

I don't know whether I am excited or not for this new series On one hand new content of the show i love On the other hand this could go wrong real fast

I've got to wonder if The Deserter will somehow be folded into masks. Maybe Aang becomes interested in fire bending after learning that Zuko saved his life, having been inspired by the idea that firebenders don't have to be all bad. I could see him encountering Jeong Jeong in the forest surrounding the same village Jet wants to drown, and taking part in the fire's day festival can be how the Katara knows the people there are worth saving. It shows both Katara and Aang the good in people of the fire nation, and Aang burning Katara can show that neither of them are fully ready to accept that yet; even if they have enough empathy to save them, they still see the fire nation as enemies.

as someone that is disabled, the northern air temple episode matters a lot to me. the representation there where it wasn’t like sad that teo is disabled, but it’s also no smth that is like never mentioned, that matters so much. and like he’s just a kid that becomes friends with the crew rly quickly! i hope that they keep all of that in, altho i can see it working pretty well in the beginning of the second season too. maybe it’s aang’s “mini vacation” or smth

My theory is that into the dark will contain a bunch of the flashbacks that you get in the storm, but layered into the story of the blue spirit. It makes alot of sense for Iroh to be talking to an angry crew while zuko is away doing his blue spirit thing. Also, I think zuko could be injured much worse when he 'rescues' aang from zhao resulting in aang needing to nurse him back to health (sokka and katara could be present but unwell, or they could have been separated from aang by the storm which results in him being captured in the first place). The aang flashbacks can then be done through aang talking to a delirious zuko. This would make zuko's eventual aggression at the end of the episode hit way harder, hence the episode name, aang is crying/extremely upset because he naively poured his heart out to zuko by the time katara and sokka come back. This fixes alot of the pacing issues you were running into with your last episodes. I believe "the mask" episode will contain Jet as you said (elements of the fortuneteller may also be included here if you combine the villages from the original series, dam burst is an oppurtunity for some epic bending), but will also include zuko being found out as the blue spirit with that storyline being expanded upon, this would be a good opportunity to include azula in the first series storyline (as you said, the pirates may well be written out) if zhao commissions her to take out zuko, she will probably hurt him, but intentionally leave him alive with some azula style capture the avatar manipulations in the tail, giving more story background to his desperation in the siege of the north storyline.

“Masks” could be a combination of The Deserter and The Blue Spirit - the title relating both to the blue spirit mask and to the masks at the festival in The Deserter. Maybe instead of the Aang / Zhao fight going how it did in the show, Zhao captures Aang at that point and the Blue Spirit is integrated in that way. It would be an episode exploring the idea that not everyone in the Fire Nation is evil, through both Jeong Jeong and Zuko.

Oh I wonder if "Into the Dark" could be referring to the Deserter and kind of a reflection of how Jeong-Jeong sees firebending? I also think Jet might work with that title, and I could definitely see a way they tie those two stories together, but it would of course be a rather drastic change.

I genuinely think that “Into The Dark” episode is going to be combination of “The Northern Air Temple” and “The Storm” just because they both make sense to be put together thematically if you think about it. The beginning of the episode can start off with them going through the storm to get to the Northern Air Temple, and then end off with the big fight at the temple when things start to get grim with the battle. They can also still play off of a lot of flashbacks from both Aang’s & Zuko’s pasts at the same time throughout the entire episode, especially since Zuko isn’t present at all during the Northern Air Temple arc. I could also see Netflix moving the NAT episode sooner in the story because it would be the 4th episode in the series (which would be the midway point through the show) and they would want to have a cool action battle scene in between the middle of the series to keep people hooked on wanting to watch the next episodes.

I think it’s good it won’t just be a retelling in live action but It’s going to be hard to run through all the major points in everyone’s arcs and change the story. Hopefully that make imprisoned, the great divide, the painted lady, and season 1 better

I think the episode called “the north” might be similarly structured to the Guru in season 2. They arrive at the northern water tribe at the end of episode 6, with a dramatic teaser of the icy walls. And at the start of episode 7 aang hears about people supposedly living in the northern air temple (which is the closest temple to the northpole) and he takes appa there, has that whole story play out, maybe with sokka also being there. While katara has her whole story arc in the northpole. Aang and sokka return to the north pole but are scared because they are the first people to see the fire nation fleet. They go back and katara has completed her training arc with paku. The episode ends with the fleet arriving at the north pole. Episode 8 would have aanga spirit journey, zuko capturing him. And katara and sokka both having their coming of age story while defending the north. Katara in defending aang, with her sick new moves paku learned her. Sokka might get a small ship of water tribesman as his warrior trial, and he successfully leads them on a small mission. The only issue with this, is that Yue is sidelined even more than normal. But i think that can be fixed by her and katara bonding during episode 7, and yue bringing aang to the spirit pool.

I can see combing Imprisonment and the Kyoshi Warriors episodes together. All you need is to have Haru be from Kyoshi Island. Katara spends most of the animated episode being jealous of Aang getting attention from all those girls so have her meet Haru while Aang is being a jerk. Keep the Prison break scenes with Sokka and Suki coming in at the end to help them escape. Then while flying back they come in on Zuko and his armada attacking Kyoshi island forcing the gaang to leave in an attempt to draw Zuko away.

I think Jet’s story line makes a lot of sense to be that into the dark episode. Might be a little too early but I think it’s their best option.

Honestly this is the first time I am this involved in a fandom and it is really fun. Even though I try to not get my hopes up to up to not jinx it.

Something I thought of is Azula, Mai and Ty Lee appearing in the 'Omashu' episode. Afterall, their appearence is confirmed and, though this takes place in season 2, the first time we see them is in fact in Omashu. Maybe they're gonna have them be the antagonists of that episode somehow? Or even perhaps combine the 2 Omashu episodes entirely, focusing on the Fire Nation taking the city. I highly doubt they're gonna stick to the original layout of the King of Omashu consisering the whole 'darker and more mature' themes, let alone have that take a whole hour, so this could be one way to go about it.

Here's my idea on how they break it up. Moving the order around *a bit* , have the Northern Air Temple behind The Blue Spirit, so during the fight at the Northern Air Temple Aang gets captured by Zhao, which leads them to Jhett promising that he might know where Aang is being held if Sokka and Katara help him with a mission

If they already have Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee cast, with plans to expand on their role in the story, maybe they're going to accelerate the Omashu storyline, and have it get (or already be) conquered in that season one episode. Because, if we're being real, the Return to Omashu episode isn't all that plot-critical. The only relevant thing is that Bumi tells Aang to find an earthbending teacher who "listens to the Earth," as a way of foreshadowing Toph. Outside of that, it really just serves to show the Fire Nation continuing their expansion to places once thought of as safe. Here, it could be Aang bringing the Gaang to Omashu under the impression it would be safe, only for the reveal that it has long since been captured by the fire nation, and the episode revolves around rescuing the captured king, who is revealed to be Bumi. You could introduce Azula and her team as this unexpected threat who conquered the city, and have her set in motion her plan to get Zuko out of the way and kill the Avatar herself.

I think that the Northern Air Temple almost must be part of "The North", although I could also see it as part of "Masks" (the Mechanist is wearing at least one mask). The Northern Air Temple gives Aang and Sokka important character beats which could parallel the Bato and Katara training montage, as well as Aang's betrayal of Katara and Sokka in the Bato episode. I am not completely sure how to make it work structurally, but the thematics work for me.

If I had a limited number of episodes to work with I would combine the Southern and Northern air temple episodes. The theme of both episodes is Aang struggling to overcome the loss of his culture and finding hope in new relationships. So instead of finding the Southern air temple empty we meet Theo l, the inventor and their people. Aang struggles with coming to terms with his people being gone and other people now living in his home, taking all sorts of liberties. He walks around having flashbacks about his friends and monk Gyatso and we se how all these places filled with memories are now destroyed. He finds the untouched chamber with the Avatars and we learn about the avatar cycle. They find and chase momo which leads them to the storage room, where the inventor is now inventering weapons for the fire nation, in the very temple where the genocide took place. Aang is pissed, and so are Sokka and Katara. The temple is attacked just like in the Northern air temple episode but as the explosion sets of an avalanche, the skeletons of the air benders are uncovered from underneath the snow. Aang looks from skeleton to skeleton, faces flashing before his eyes and then as his eyes lands on monk Gyatso he explodes into the avatar state, blowing the fire benders of the mountain. The wind grows stronger and stronger reaching up towards the sky and threatens the air forces still in the sky. That’s when Katara steps in, telling Aang how his family may be lost, but he is part of a new family now. Their family. The inventor only now, after having seen the remains of the air benders, realizes what they have been trespassing on offers to make amends, switching sides in the war effort and offering to give the air benders a proper funeral. They offer to leave, but Aang has a change of heart remembering all the happiness he experienced growing up in the temple and realizes he’d rather have the temple live on through them than to see it left empty and life less. He makes the hermit crab metaphor from the end of the northern air temple. But instead of it being a hermit crab who is the descendant of the air temple creatures, it is Momo who accompanies them on their journey. It would change the tone of the episode, slowly building up towards the Avatar state rather than getting choked into it by finding monk Gyatso. But that way you could touch on all the important and reoccurring themes from both episodes.

I actually think the episode "Into the dark" could cover the Northern Air Temple. I don't think the severity of the battle was emphasized in the original, and i think there's a lot of room for aang's character arc, maybe there's elements of "the storm" in there, but i think it would be more impactful to see aang getting a second chance to save the place his home. I do think it is possible for Jet to be worked into Omashu. this is more of a stretch, but Jet could be a freedom fighter based in Omashu, whose ruthless determination to defeat the fire nation results in the deaths of Omashu citizens and soldiers.

The nice thing about season one is that so many of the episodes are one off, not necessarily filler but their own self contained story so reordering them matters a lot less

9:02 The trials of Omashu are incredibly important for King Bumi and the White Lotus Society. Each test was designed to see Aangs progress in mastering the elements and to see if Aang in the past hundred years had lost his compassion or memory.

I think into the dark is going to be the jet episode, with possibly pairing that with the Jeong Jeong episode. 1. The Deserter is very similar to Apocalypse Now, which is based of the novel Heart of Darkness 2. Those two episodes really change the narrative of "fire is all bad guys, while the other nations are all good." 3. Aang swears off fire bending, a sort of going into the darkness. The fortune teller also in theory could be combined with the keoshi warriors, since its more sokka episode and this would give aang and katara more to do.

I have to admit, after so many poor adaptations over the past decade, this is one that has me worried. I'm hopeful, but I'm worried

I feel like Jet could work pretty well as part of the Warriors episode. His freedom fighters and Kioshi warriors are kind of two very differing ideas on how to fight the war and that storyline establishes the whole conflict in a very interesting and kind of grey way. Also he and his crew are a group of warriors. Fits the title well.

What worries me is that in the latest shows on streaming services you can see a trend. Yes they have more time because the episodes don't have to be 20-30 minutes, but what usually happens is that they make 40-50 minute episodes with about 20 min of actual story.

I think/kinda hope, that into darkness is a reference to the spirit world, and they will lean into the airbender spirit world. I really like how the airbender is incredibly dark and mysterious, and it's sort of one of the main areas where I feel Kora was not to my liking, so I hope we get a more airbender-esk spirit world episode.

Into the dark will be the jet episode. They are also listed for this Episode in imdb. And i think Azula Ty Lee and Mai will conquer omashu already in season 1 because they also appear in Episode 3

They could pepper the search for this "Deserter" throughout several episodes, perhaps a reason to draw Aang away during the Jet episode. It'd be especially poignant if taken place after the Blue Spirit, as Aang would clearly be more certain he has no option for a teacher outside of Jeong Jeong after being locked up in a Fire Nation prison.

I don't think they will try to force some of the episodes together. Instead, I think they will cut some of the one-off episodes (The Fortuneteller, Imprisoned, The Great Divide) and have three plotlines in this, similar to Books 2 and 3. So, that could involve the White Lotus, Fire Nation politics, etc.

I'm getting more and more excited for this show. Still definitely in the cautious optimism stage but Netflix has been kinda killing it with adaptations recently. I'm not sure if they are actively encouraging creators to try hard or just staying out of the way but it seems to be working. They managed a surprisingly solid attempt at Sandman in particular which should be reasonably much more difficult to adapt than Avatar. Here's to hoping that I don't have to eat these words in a few months to a year. At least it can't be as truly awful as the Dark Tower movie was.

I wonder if into the dark could be skipping way ahead to the secret tunnels episode in season 2. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of darkness in avatar. Maybe instead of traveling through the tunnels to return to Omashu later on, something in episode 3 forces them to escape from Omashu via the tunnels?

Like some others that have commented here, my immediate assumption for Into the Dark was that it refers to the Cave of Two Lovers. Not only is it important for Aang and Katara's relationship development, but it also has my favorite song of the entire series! I haven't watched s1 in years, and I'd completely forgotten about Bato. But the more you talked about him + read the comments, the more I remember from that plotline. I knew that Ardon Cho was cast (love her! Can't wait to see her on screen again!) but I didn't know about Tamlyn Tomita! Cautiously optimistic about this show. The bar is below ground right now, but I'd much rather have something high quality that honors the original. Now I'm off to go read more of the comics, bc I started and never finished!

Hey man we’ve been waiting for you! Seen right about all the reactions to the ATLA Netflix series and just been waiting for yours… pleeeeaaase

As you were talking about the episodes, I thought of the possibility of The storm being merged in the Blue spirit episode. Like, we see their backgrounds as Aang and Zuko work together in the present. I'd be sad if we lost the beat of Zuko letting Aang go for the sake of his crew but maybe they could put it into another episode or maybe make it take another form in this version of the Storm

I think the Jet/Blue Spirit dichotomy could work very well. The episode starts with the group (sans Sokka) being taken in by Jet's charms, but his tactics are quickly revealed to be brutal and against what the team stands for. It is one of Jet's barbaric plans that gets Aang captured by Zhao. That provides ample opportunity for drama between Katara and Sokka and between the both of them and Jet while also providing an opportunity for Zuko to rescue him, since Aang's team will be occupied by dealing with Jet

Awesome to see you shout-out the sojourn! I was a fan of all the creators on their channels when they were first mentioning it

Just ordered volume 3 of your book love your videos thank you for all your hard work. I really hope they keep the northern air temple that episode means a lot as kid growing up with a physical disability seeing a kid with one in my favorite tv show was amazing!

There needs to be a prequel series that shows the lives of the 6 named Avatars who came before Korra & Aang; Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, Szeto, & Salai. I like how the novels & comics have given them more backstory & we got a few episodes featuring some of them, but I want to see the 6 of them in an actual show.

My predictions on the potential cuts: •They cut The Great Divide, but have a scene where the gang flies over a huge canyon. They don't even need to point it out; fans of the cartoon will pick up on it. •The Fortuneteller gets cut entirely. Maybe the fortuneteller herself gets added in Omashu for a quick prediction, but I'm not really expecting even that. •The Deserter I'd like to see stay in, though I can see your rationale. •I predict the Northern Air Temple gets put into the first part of The North. I expect they'll connect it to the Northern Water Tribe by having the gang escape directly to the North Pole and the Fire Nation follow them.

Figuring out where to place the Northen Air Temple was also my biggest question when reading those episode titles - until you mentioned the idea of combining the siege against the Air Temple with the Siege of the North. This would make so much sense as I think it’s unlikely they want to have 2 major battles scenes in comepletly different episodes. I think it’s likely that they will make the location of the Air Temple distinctly very close to the North Pole, and the Fire Nation is attacking on both fronts at the same time. The Air Temple may almost act like a first defense, and once they are defeated it is like breaching the wall of Helms Deep and they have much better access to attatcking the North Pole.

Imagine if we get a 60-minute The Great Divide episode.

For the into the dark episode: if it is still a Heibai episode, I hope that we follow Sokka's experience entering the spirit world. That's one thing I wish we got in the animated show!

One thing that's worth considering is the idea of the team splitting up where each character covers a different episode. Soka meets his moon girlfriend in the north while katara seeks to learn how to be a healer after aang burned her. Soka went cause he wanted to check for his father in the north poll. Meanwhile aang goes to the norther air temple on his own. By having the gang split up alot, you have alot more room to cover other episodes together via A-plot, B-plot, C-plot structure.

I would actually like if into the dark combines the winter solstice part 1 and the storm with Aang feeling lost and confused about being the Avatar while confronting the spirits and simultaneously Zuko having some parallel story on the ship. We get their parallel backstories and some extra expansion on Azula here.

you missed the purpose of the craziness of King Bumi. Bumi being over the top wacky makes it impossible to take him seriously, yet he was the strongest earth bender, and he was brilliant in a way that one doesn't see due to that craziness. this shows that Saka can be a genius and unconventional. before this Saka kept trying to be serious in order to do important things, after this he tends to lean into his craziness when he does important things. it might no need 20 minutes, but toning it down would be a mistake.

What I might do to combine two or more episodes of the original into the live action runtime is use any cutaways to Zuko/Iroh as a "split" between plots.

I think it'd be very interesting to combine the story beats about the volcano from The Fortune Teller, with The Deserter episode. Like having Aang insist the group stay so Jong Jong can teach him fire bending; meanwhile putting Jong Jong in a tough spot because, while there is the moral dilemma from the original episode, Jong Jong, a powerful firebender, can feel a nearby volcano stirring and wants to handle it himself instead of teaching an excitable, undisciplined kid (even if he is the avatar) how to fire bend Also, yeah, I hope they include the northern air temple and mechenist. That episode had alot of potential; if only it was aloud to breath more

If I typed my thoughts on every speculative episode I’d write a book in the comments 😅but you know I’m still holding out hope for this to be good, but I also feel (begrudgingly like Alan Moore) that a story doesn’t need to be adapted to another medium if it’s original form was so beloved. That being said I’m with you Tim for the first half of the episodes, but this is being typed at [ 20:18 ] and I’m realizing the subtle character development beats that carry so much weight for later seasons-even just in the Desserter and what it holds for Zhou in the season 1 finale-and in that regard I do worry about rushing over those little things too much…but idk we’ll see.

My prediction on how _Mask_ will adapt Jet and the Blue Spirit storylines..... my prediction is that they meet up with Jet, something goes wrong and Aang gets captured. Jet will claim to agree to help Katara and Sokka to rescue Aang but it turns out he's just using them for his own ends. Meanwhile, Aang gets rescued by Zuko.

I really hope the martial arts are given the same care and attention as the shows. It was one of the many things that made avatar different from other family/youth programming.

Definitely give us some updates on this channel when it those videos are ready on your other channel. Will absolutely check them out after I have seen them myself. I just might not remember 3 months from now.

I think yea they could cut some random stuff here and there but overall a major part of season 1 is the travel and them going from place to place quickly always on the move. I think nearly every arc you characterize as either irrelevant or needing more time, but I think some of them really should work at a similar length to the original as it shows the pace at which they move, on a whirlwind journey across the entire world, not really having time to process how the journey has changed them until their arcs for the series come to a head at the northern water tribe

When I hear "Into the Dark" I think "Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! through the mountain! Secret Secret secret secret tunnel!" Which is a season 2 episode but clearly they are moving stuf around since Azula is in the cast already.

Jeong Jeong could be in a prisoner in the Northern Warer Tribe? He willingly surrendered himself years ago in the place his firebending is least powerful. When Aang grows frustrated with Pakku he tries to learn Fire. Burning Katara then naturally leads into her learning healing. Also, you could frame the Zhao/Jeong Jeong confrontation as part ofvthe Siege of the North, as Zhao's final obstacle/Point of No Return before killing the Moon Spirit

I'm not sure where if at all this would fit but I could absolutely imagine them combining Jet and Jeong Jeong's stories as part of that idea of showing not all firebenders are evil.

I haven't watched Avatar in a while so I don't remember if there's any specific "later in the season" stuff in the Northern Air Temple episode, but if not, I wonder if a decent place to put it might be at the beginning : moving it to the first Air Temple where Aang discovers the remains of his teacher. I think it would be a good way to introduce the world's current state of war and show Aang's shock and anger towards the fate of the Air Nomads. And you could have the first confrontation with the fire nation happen there for the climax rather than at Katara and Sokka's tribe. Not sure how that would work with the Zukko/Aang confrontation, though.

Love your content! Thanks for all your insights!

I feel like the waterbending scroll would be a great addition to the warriors of kioshii. That story is in a way about katara's hubris a bit, so it would make a nice paralalel to soka's arc. Also island + pirate is a natural fit imho.

You missed the most important casting of all: THE CABBAGE MERCHANT!! Also the only cast member to not only have been in both the cartoon and this Netflix adaptation, but also to be reprising his most iconic character from the original cartoon!!

What I like about the great divide episode is the talk that Aang and the guide have. He tells him something about being neutral is being lonely or something like that. We see Aang lie and people have had whole discussions about Aang and lying idk. Also, it may be a filler or whatever, but I like it.

One thing I had a huge issue with in the original show was how Sokka and Katara is that they both seemed to take turns being the irresponsible one with the other chastised them. Not a huge issue but it did feel a little weird at times

I think they could move The Northern Air Temple to early season two, like before introducing Toph. Also, season two is kind of about exploring the world of avatar and how it changed when Aang was in the iceberg, and this episode fits nicely with that theme.

They'd kinda be stretching the title a bit, making it the darkness inside of people's hearts, but maybe Into the Dark could be a good Jeong Jeong/Jet combo episode. Showing that there are good Fire Nation people while also showing Jet's refusal to believe it. Also, I want at least SOME kind of reference to the Great Divide.

Episode 3 maybe a combination of season 1 and 2, where we get to know Omashu and the King and ultimately the downfall of the city to the fire nation. In the end Bumi tells Aang he needs to find a teacher who Waits and Listens.

Since the episodes are going to be roughly 60 minutes long now, and each episode in the original series is ~22 minutes or so, The Northern Air Temple and The Waterbending Master's runtimes combined are about ~44, ~45 minutes. So, they could definitely combine both episodes in "The North" and still have 15 minutes to expand both of them. Essentially, what they could do is, instead of a commercial break, we see them fly from the Northern Air Temple directly into The North Pole in one scene (likely with them commenting on that during the transition), cueing the start of The Waterbending Master episode. They could make some changes to make it feel more natural, like perhaps the Northern Air Temple being a little closer to the North Pole than in the show, and the episode starting off with them intending to land in the North Pole that very day, but, *gasp* are those... airbenders over there?? Which explains why they detour there at all, and then land in the North Pole shortly after leaving while still in the same episode as that was set up at the start, that they'd arrive there and that is pretty close by. Making it feel less jarring at the locale change, assuming they handle all that correctly. One way they could seamlessly combine both storylines is having the fight at the end of The Northern Air Temple be THE trigger for The Siege of the North: Admiral Zhao gets word of Aang being this close to the North Pole and THAT is how he realizes that he's heading there and does his whole invasion plan. So, in the very same episode, at the end (using that extended runtime), we have a small scene of Admiral Zhao getting news of Aang being at the Northern Air Temple and how they've lost that place now because of him and the episode ends with a similar cliffhanger as the original The Waterbending Master of Zhao deciding to invade. ALL of that to say, there is definitely a good chance they could combine both storylines together in a way that ties into each other pretty well.

"Into the dark" could refer to the dark side of war shown in "Imprisoned" and "Jet"

One thing that I've noticed with the cartoon is that most episodes move at a fairly quick pace. It is quite uncommon for scenes to have padding or breathing room. The episodes are quite dense and the transitions between scenes are pretty swift. However, it does not feel off. However, in a live-action medium, this kind of pacing would feel strange and unnatural, but I could be wrong. Hence, I think the live-action series will cover far less ground, despite technically being longer than the cartoon.

I really hope they make the great divide into a two-parter with two full hours to explore. It’s Rich story and all of the fantastic characters we know and love from the animated series.😂

Very interesting to look at how the story might be adapted for the current day, and in the streaming situation. In terms of changing things like Waterbending Scroll and Imprisoned, I think the show really needs the substance of their very necessary characterisation of Katara, her optimism and dedication, her fierce defence of people, and her frustration over trying to learn waterbending. Both episodes contain significant moments for her that are built on throughout the series, so I hope that the core parts of them remain.