inuyatta
FN Aang
The joy of SoKo comes at a heavy price...my sleep, for example
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Post by inuyatta on Jan 19, 2008 2:42:56 GMT -5
^ Actually, 'The Beach' doesn't give much important information. The only semi-plot productive points of that episode were the Gaang vs. Combustion Man, and if you stretch it a bit, the moments of Zuko and Azula's past. Unfortunately, that makes up about five minutes of the episode. =\
I think the Painted Lady was an all out filler though. Both episodes were pretty dreadful, IMHO.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2008 3:11:56 GMT -5
I thought the beach was important. We got to learn more about Mai and Ty Lee. Plus the Azula and Zuko interaction showed that they can get along. It also showed us how Azula is human and capable of apologizing. There was a lot of character development in the Beach.
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inuyatta
FN Aang
The joy of SoKo comes at a heavy price...my sleep, for example
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Post by inuyatta on Jan 19, 2008 3:25:20 GMT -5
No--not development--character exposition, yes--but nothing really developed. At the next episode, they're still all the same people they started out as. =\ I'm not even going to touch on how the characterization felt off in that episode.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2008 3:33:47 GMT -5
Mai and Zuko's relationship was developed further which there progress can be seen in 3.09. Azala was also developed you may say its the same old characters but this was our only opportunity to see Azual in theses situations.
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inuyatta
FN Aang
The joy of SoKo comes at a heavy price...my sleep, for example
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Post by inuyatta on Jan 19, 2008 3:59:30 GMT -5
Well, obviously--I doubt Azula is going to worry about boys when she can potentially conquer the world, assuming Daddy doesn't find out that she lied--OOPS. I'm not even gonna touch Mai/Zuko since you're a fan and I have more respect for you.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2008 4:07:00 GMT -5
True about the Azula boys thing. But I was thinking about how she apologized to Ty Lee or how she showed to worry for a second about her Mom.
And thanks for having respect for me and my ship I appreciate that.
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inuyatta
FN Aang
The joy of SoKo comes at a heavy price...my sleep, for example
Posts: 1,852
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Post by inuyatta on Jan 19, 2008 4:18:33 GMT -5
See, that was also what was weird to me--Azula DOES NOT apologize, so I am thoroughly confused. The Azula in 'The Beach' is not the Azula we've seen thus far--so yes, it is jarring. I was willing to let it go though, because it is reasonable to say that Azula has never liked anyone doing better than her at anything.
I don't think she was concerned for Ursa though--bitter, yes--but concerned, no.
Of course--ship wars get tiring. =p
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2008 4:54:37 GMT -5
Yes, it certainly wasn't the Azual we are used to but it was nice to see her berated another way.
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Post by Akira Takahashi on Jan 19, 2008 13:03:30 GMT -5
Season 3 does seem to be a lot of fillers, and, despite the hype, I didn't care too much for The Beach. Sure, it had its moments, but it didn't really do anything for the characters or the plot, and I didn't find the humor to be especially side-splitting either.
Now, I would like to say that I do enjoy fillers. I hardly consider them a waste of time, because they often times provide a much-needed break from the plot, and they give script-writers and animators a chance to break away and have some fun. 'The Cave of Two Lovers' was particularly good, as was 'The Tales of Ba Sing Se'.
However, season 3 hasn't provided us with enough plot to really crave a filler. One filler after another does nothing for Avatar, and when the plot finally starts to pick up, it feels rushed. The two-part Day of Black Sun didn't come close to the suspense felt in either of the season finales, and I think the idea was to convey those kinds of feelings.
All in all, I so far haven't been that interested in season 3. There's been good episodes (highlights for me include Sokka's Master, The Runaway, and The Puppetmaster), but so many of them have fallen short of the standard set by the previous season.
Sorry for the rant. Didn't realize how bad I was carrying on!
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Post by admirality on Jan 19, 2008 13:22:06 GMT -5
I think season 3 has had 2 many fillers too...... I thought the head band, the painted lady, the, sokka master, runaway, the puppet master were the worst cuplrits.... Yes they did hav some integral parts to the story line but they were mainly fillers I think some of that air time cud hav been used better
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inuyatta
FN Aang
The joy of SoKo comes at a heavy price...my sleep, for example
Posts: 1,852
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Post by inuyatta on Jan 19, 2008 18:49:17 GMT -5
Uh...no. Sokka's Master and The Puppetmaster are plot productive episodes--nothing filler about them--without those episodes, Sokka would never have obtained sword skills, Toph would never have gotten her space-rock armband, and Katara wouldn't have bloodbending--that is an issue that is set up to return at some crucial point. Same goes for Cave of Two Lovers--without that, Iroh would be dead, Zuko never would have had a ride, and then never made it through S2...and of course, he probably would have kept on thinking of the EK people as enemies rather than just people like him. Taking small detours from the plot to tell stories that lead right back into it--I don't count those as fillers. 'The Painted Lady' and 'The Beach' (aside from the debut of Combustion Man vs. Gaang) didn't really do that. I would say the same for 'The Headband', but it did give us a little bit of knowledge about FN history (setting things up a bit more for 'The Avatar and the Firelord') and overall basic info of the FN that I doubt they otherwise would have gotten. 'Nightmares and Daydreams' would have been definite filler if not for the Zuko portions where he (FINALLY) came to the conclusion that no matter if he gets everything he thought he wanted...he wasn't happy....though truly, he should have come to that conclusion a lot sooner, what with finding out more about his lineage in 'The Avatar and the Fire Lord'. Other than that, I agree with everything Akira Takahashi has said. The writing and pacing of this season have been very off and, in my honest opinion, subpar to what we saw in S2.
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pg15
Avatar Roku
"Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light."
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Post by pg15 on Jan 19, 2008 21:18:22 GMT -5
I said this before, but I think we were all spoiled by the second half of Season 2. That's when the season kicked itself into a whole other level of awesome, as it started relying heavily on arc-based storytelling. The first half of Season 2, on the other hand, was fairly loose with only the Earthbending story thread running between episodes. Similarily, the first half of Season 3 had CM and the impending Invasion as a thread running through the episodes, as well as the Gaang traveling through the FN and interacting with the locals.
I see very little disparity in quality when comparing the qualities of the first halves of Season 2 and 3.
Also, as I said before (again), the last act of a story is typically much more predictable than the 2nd act. This is where all the pieces are falling into place and any sudden twists would seem like a desperate act rather than something unpredictable. You KNOW that DOBS would fail, because it wouldn't make sense otherwise. YOU KNOW there's a final battle between Aang and Ozai coming up, because any deviation from the show's stated goal would seem strange and awkward. These are predictable events that have to happen in order for the show to make sense. This is the burden of the last act of a story like Avatar.
With Season 2, the Avastaff were free to do almost anything they wanted, as long as it all fall into place by Season 3, thereby producing the twists and turns near the end of that Season.
But anyway, I'm enjoying Season 3 greatly and am SO VERY DESPERATE TO SEE MORE. COME ON NICK/YTV. DELIVER ALREADY!!!
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Post by nexus on Jan 20, 2008 12:59:07 GMT -5
Beach is SOOO not a filler. We actually see Azula express some human qualities. Since she hid her identity as princess, she became more vulnerable and we got to see her deep down. It also introduced the first battle between CM and Aang. It's also a very enjoyable episode.
S3 has too many fillers, I agree. The Painted Lady is a major filler, and not very enjoyable. It's so predictable from the morning after The Painted Lady brings them all the food that Katara is in fact the painted lady. And the real painted lady appears at the end randomly. She should have appeared to go fight off that FN commander. The Headband is an even bigger filler. Dancing??? Liek, WTF? Nightmares and Daydreams is hillarious, and Zuko finally realises what he has to do. Not a filler. Puppetmaster- not a filler. Bloodbending is important, and that ep. is great. So chilling! Sokka's master is not a filler. Sokka finally becomes a proper warrior.
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Snowbunny
FN Sokka
I can't see me loving nobody but you for all my life.
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Post by Snowbunny on Jan 20, 2008 16:21:07 GMT -5
The Painted Lady isn't a filler because there is no such thing as fillers in Avatar... =D The spirit herself might come back? Who knows, at this point anything is possible. And what's wrong with dancing? The Avatar characters can loosen up a little, no worries. The Headband was not a filler because they got the outfits that they would wear for a few episodes. Plus every episode obviously has a hidden moral, it's not like they're completely useless. Besides, I'm sure everyone enjoyed The Headband, who can be upset at a happy dancing Aang?^^
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Post by nexus on Jan 20, 2008 16:41:44 GMT -5
The Painted Lady isn't a filler because there is no such thing as fillers in Avatar... =D The spirit herself might come back? Who knows, at this point anything is possible. And what's wrong with dancing? The Avatar characters can loosen up a little, no worries. The Headband was not a filler because they got the outfits that they would wear for a few episodes. Plus every episode obviously has a hidden moral, it's not like they're completely useless. Besides, I'm sure everyone enjoyed The Headband, who can be upset at a happy dancing Aang?^^ well, you can argue that NO episode in avatar is a filler, because a tiny bit of it is relevant. Anyway, the disguises from The Headband is a 1-minute scene. They could have slotted that in anywhere. And I'm probably quite biased as I don't like dancing. Painted Lady REALLY won't come back. She watches over that village constantly, and I doubt they'll go there again. Besides, that would make Tales of Ba Sing Se a really relevant episode just on the off-chance some of the characters from the Tales appear later on. Remember, no episode is a COMPLETE filler. Anyway, not all fillers are bad. Cave of Two Lovers: really big filler, except for finding the origins of earthbending. It's also a bit sappy lovey-dovey, but it is still an amazingly funny episode. It's bad fillers that annoy me.
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