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Post by anitajob on Jun 16, 2012 19:12:09 GMT -5
I have to say I've been pretty disappointed by the new series thus far.
The main problem is that the series is event-driven rather than character-driven. We have not had any flashbacks from other characters other than Korra, for example. Mako talks about being poor and taking care of his brother but we aren't shown anything from his past.
This is the difference between telling us what happened and showing us what happened.
The problem with this method is that it robs the characters of any depth, which means we aren't attached to them emotionally. Not one event or episode has moved me.
The characters go through the motions; their actions are more mechanical than believable. Instead, what characters decide to do should be the result of some sort of internal strife and conflict. Mako's growing closeness to Korra in the past few episodes seems weak, almost faked, which makes Asami's jealousy seem unreasonable or like an overreaction. Contrast this with all of Zuko's flashbacks, through which we came to understand and feel his daddy issues and the internal demons he had to wrestle with before he made a huge decision to switch sides. That was really powerful and moving!
Another major problem so far is the lack of an overarching narrative. With Aang, we knew that eventually he had to confront Firelord Ozai. Every episode was just a small step on that long journey, sometimes featuring Aang learning a new bending ability or learning an important leadership skill, like how to mediate disputes between feuding villages.
Here, we already have Korra fighting directly with the main villain, Amon. This creates a few problems: 1) There is no build-up to a big, final confrontation that governs the pace of the overall story 2) Korra does not confront internal obstacles of her own, grow through them, and mature on the way to beating Amon. We saw a little bit of this when she was forced to meditate in Tarlock's metal box, but one flashback does not proper character development make.
Korra never stops and reflects deeply on anything that is going on even though she is a lot older than Aang was. This is not a character flaw but the result of a mistaken approach by the writers.
I really hope season 2 is different.
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attonbitus
Blue Spirit
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Posts: 2,121
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Post by attonbitus on Jun 16, 2012 21:45:01 GMT -5
you know there's two more eps right?
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Argyle Bender
Jet
A tiny plaid bender's worst nightmare.
Posts: 370
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Post by Argyle Bender on Jun 17, 2012 2:40:58 GMT -5
This is the difference between telling us what happened and showing us what happened. The problem with this method is that it robs the characters of any depth, which means we aren't attached to them emotionally. Not one event or episode has moved me. I would tend to agree with this. I don't find the characters nearly as compelling as ATLA, even minor ones. My favorite characters from this series are Lin and Asami, particularly Lin, and neither of them are main characters. We'll see though. I want Korra to acknowledge the basic truth of Amon's argument--that benders have an huge advantage over non-benders, the abuse of which is widespread--and not just knock heads together. "When Extremes Meet" had some of this but not enough. Let's see Korra examine her assumptions, such as if she lost her bending, she's be nothing. We'll see.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 17, 2012 11:50:58 GMT -5
I think Asami has a potential to be one of my favorite characters, but I'm too underwhelmed by her lack of flaws, so basically I like the adults - Tenzin and Lin - and Korra. I do agree though that the series has been too event-driven, but I guess that's what happens when you have 12, ~22 minute episodes to flesh out an entire arc. You forget the characters and try to make sure you have your 5-point plot chart completed.
Personally I'm hoping the next arc deals with the aftermath of Amon and doesn't just turn into "k next villain"
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Post by Darryl on Jun 17, 2012 15:12:03 GMT -5
I agree completely with the general consensus: The series so far is very much lacking of character development and is event driven. But I guess we have to also remember that LoK was meant to be just a 12 episode miniseries - purely event driven (Anti-Bending Revolution).
I guess from Bryke's point of view, they are not telling a story about Korra and her friends, but more of "In the year ____, this happened and this is how it went down". Compared to the original series' "This is a story of an Avatar named Aang".
I guess majority of the fanbase are too used to each episode being a stepping stone to a grand finale but we need to understand that this is more of a miniseries than a grand unfolding of an adventure.
Once I thought about it this way, I felt that the 10 episodes so far were absolutely brilliant and everything was pretty much well paced an composed.
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Post by Nashk Tategami on Jun 18, 2012 10:52:11 GMT -5
DarrylI disagree. I feel that even as a miniseries, the show has severe flaws that in my opinion should have been addressed. The show tried to tell us far too much, and wanted to fit a full show's amount of information and plot into a miniseries skin, and fails. If they wanted a mini series, they should have written it as such. Cut down on the amount of plot thread, parse through the story and find out exactly what you want to tell us, and then sift through what is essential to that story. Cut away the fat so to speak. The legend of Korra tries to fit as much as possible in twenty-ish minutes to fit the time limit, and as such sacrifices depth, pacing and development. Its focus is spread over lots of tiny messages and plot threads, which in the case of the "miniseries" is like grabbing a fistful of leaches and tossing them on the main plot. Korra was and still is enjoyable, but I have and probably always will have that nagging feeling that the show was playing loose with pacing, and is thus missing something.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 18, 2012 11:43:24 GMT -5
Agree with Nashk on this one, Darryl.
There are a lot of things I like about Korra; I think the themes of the show are really good, and definitely even darker than the previous one. Amon, imo, is the best villain of the entire Avatar series.
I think the episodes themselves - individually - have been great. It's been full of action and making you wonder what the next step is in his plans. But together, there's such an overload of information and it was just spoonfed to us in words, not shown.
Take Mako's story for example, and let's compare it to Zuko since Bryke felt the need to compare them. With Mako, he flat out tells us, "My parents were killed by a firebender, I had to raise Bolin on our own, we had to make sacrifices/make a deal with the devil known as the Triple Threat Triads to survive." With Zuko, we see how he got to be banished (through Iroh's flashbacks/story) and how his world changed after Azulon's death/Ursa's disappearance/Ozai's ascension. Now of course, Zuko had 60 +/- episodes of development to back up his story where as Mako only has 1/5 of that, but still.
I honestly think the series could have been much more enjoyable if there were episodes where Amon didn't really do anything. The anticipation of "what's he going to do next" can be worse than when something happens, and those breaks could allow for more discovery, ie, Korra going to find out how Amon is stripping bending, etc. In the original series, we knew Ozai was bent on world domination, and fairly early on, Aang learns from Roku that when Sozin's Comet returns, Ozai's going to use it to take over the world. However, there are plenty of plot twists along the way, like Day of the Black Sun. In the end, Aang still ended the war at Sozin's comet, but DotBS was a turning point. How much would it have helped if we watched Korra and her friends learn things about Amon and his cronies without nearly every episode being crisis management.
And while I think Tarrlok was a bad dude, I'm kind of curious as to what the point of him was... at all? Ooh, he can bloodbend during the day, he's the son of Yakone, he has a political agenda and used his seat as a councilman to run the city, he kidnapped Korra, Amon stripped his bending... idk. I feel like his entire arc was just to get Korra to connect with Aang/start scratching the surface of spirituality, and that seems rather superfluous to me. I feel like that could have been achieved and honestly it feels like his entire arc just ate up precious time that could have been developing Korra's storyline.
I love Korra as an Avatar because we see this girl who's 17 years old and has a huge burden on her shoulders. But more than that, we see someone who's naturally good at almost everything she does and then hits a wall when it comes to airbending/spirituality. It's very relatable (for me anyway). The entire reason Korra went to Republic City was to learn airbending from Tenzin, but I've only seen, what, 1 episode and part of another that deals with her airbending training at all? And I suspect she'll do her first move of airbending during the season finale, which is going to make me roll my eyes a bit because they haven't even touched that storyline since episode 3 aside from the occasional comment here or there. Even though Aang's main concern was stopping Ozai, we saw him progress throughout his learning of the other elements little by little. Very rarely was an entire episode dedicated just to his entire training (there were a few, ie, when Toph starts earthbending training and when Zuko and Aang go on their magical journey to the Sun Temple or w/e), but we at least saw him learning and training through different points over the course of the entire season. I've yet to see any further training/exercises promoting Korra's continued progress. She doesn't have to airbend yet, but it'd be nice if we could address why Korra even went to the city in the first place.
Bryke was asked by Nick to extend the series, but they opted not to, which makes me a little aggravated. I see your point, Darryl, in saying that this seems to be a "Here's what happened in 170-something ASC" story and not "Here's the story of Korra" but the title of the series is "The Legend of Korra." If anything, it should be her story.
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Post by Nashk Tategami on Jun 18, 2012 12:36:25 GMT -5
Heavens yes, I agree with you tenfold about Tarrlock. He had so much potential for both himself as a character, and as a way to play off the rest of the cast but it just feels so... Wasted. His entire story did indeed feel like one big shrug at the end.
Tarrlock, Asami, Hiroshi, and even Amon (and by extension the entire equalist movement) REALLY needed more time and development. The pacing of each characters "mini arcs" was very jarring, and the problems and solutions each character brought were largely introduced and solved within a single episode. (except amon and tarrlock of course.)
Amon for example so far has been all questions, and I fear that all the answers will be bottled up in the big finale, probably with some very long winded exposition that's been sprinkled throughout the series.
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Post by kaangluv on Jun 18, 2012 19:43:05 GMT -5
I agree with much of what has been said above - I also have a bit of a beef with how much time was taken up at the beginning of the series developing Pro-Bending when it seems to have been no more than a plot device to introduce Mako and Bolin. I adored the scene where Amon sabotaged the arena and Lin and Korra fought on the glass dome, but the rivalry with the Wolfbats? Seems like so much wasted time.
Not to mention that this is 'Book One: Air' and that Korra has yet to airbend. At all.
Call me harsh, but this season should be called 'Book One: Teen Romance.'
EDIT: Re: Tarrlok, I have a feeling we'll be seeing him in the finale. I bet he and Lin will be kept in the same cell block in Amon's lair.
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Argyle Bender
Jet
A tiny plaid bender's worst nightmare.
Posts: 370
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Post by Argyle Bender on Jun 18, 2012 20:10:30 GMT -5
^It's not *all* petty teen romance. There's some petty adult romance as well!
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Jun 18, 2012 20:47:14 GMT -5
Tarrlock, Asami, Hiroshi, and even Amon (and by extension the entire equalist movement) REALLY needed more time and development. And Bolin...I mean...what exactly has the third member of Team Avatar...or The Krew...or whatever it's called...actually done beyond being an adorable goofball?
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Hana
Avatar Roku
:3
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Post by Hana on Jun 18, 2012 21:19:55 GMT -5
^It's not *all* petty teen romance. There's some petty adult romance as well! I think Lin/Tenzin/Pema thing was actually handled with taste. I like it. Although I don't like the constant ex-girlfriend reminders. Now this Korra/Mako/Asami thing is a malignant shipper tumor. I like Asami I really do, but she is pointless. You can take her out of the series and nothing would be missed. Without her or the triangle some development time could have been spent on Mako and Bolin. Oh or even a decent relationship development between Mako and Korra which right now is almost as bad as Twilight.
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asian malaysian
Avatar Kyoshi
Let me hear you say this ship is bananas! B-A-NA-N-A-S!
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Post by asian malaysian on Jun 18, 2012 21:43:00 GMT -5
There were 20 episodes in the first season of the original series with a relatively simple story arc following relatively few characters on a relatively nomadic adventure. Here we have half the number of episodes set in the hustle and bustle of a city with all the antecedent characters to say nothing of the weight of an existing, very much known and very much beloved universe- and we are already heading for the finale. There just wasnt enough time or space for the same kind of character development. What Nickelodeon should have done was to given green-light BRYKE for the full blown series from the get go. As usual the 1% bloodbent the number two out of the 99%.
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Post by kaangluv on Jun 18, 2012 21:52:36 GMT -5
^ Yeah, I think LoK's main problem is that it's this melange of side-adventures and main plot when there's really only time for the latter.
As much as I relished seeing flashbacks of the Gaang, it doesn't make sense to me why we needed to learn about Yakone or even mess with the Tarrlok business. In my opinion, it would have been more worthwhile to expand on the oppression of non-benders or Korra's airbending training.
I do like Asami, and the parent-child conflict with the Satos is in keeping with both A:TLA and LoK's themes of legacy.
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Post by anitajob on Jun 18, 2012 22:50:47 GMT -5
I guess we have to also remember that LoK was meant to be just a 12 episode miniseries - purely event driven (Anti-Bending Revolution). I guess from Bryke's point of view, they are not telling a story about Korra and her friends, but more of "In the year ____, this happened and this is how it went down". Compared to the original series' "This is a story of an Avatar named Aang".They are contracted to do 26 episodes, not 12. If they aren't telling the story of Korra and her friends, she won't be a legend. Even if Nickelodeon extends the series for two additional seasons, the setup provided by season one is probably too flawed for it to work properly, although the remaining seasons could be pretty well done but it would be pretty difficult given all the character underdevelopment thus far.
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