While the first episode of the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series exceeds the expectations of M. Night Shyamalan’s previous 2010 film adaptation flop, for long-time fans, there is still nothing comparable to the greatness of the 2005 animated series.

Like many other established fans of the “Avatar” animated series, I have patiently and excitedly awaited the release of the new live-action series since it was announced. 

However, after watching the first episode, I was left wondering if it is even possible to make a successful live-action adaptation of such an iconic, beloved and unparalleled show.

The first episode of the eight-part season is just a few minutes over an hour long and starts with scenes reminiscent of the animated series’ episode 12, “The Storm,” as the audience gets a glance at the fire nation’s attack on the Southern Air Temple and genocide of the air nation. 

The rest of the episode covers material from episodes one through three of the animated show, showing Katara and Sokka’s discovery of Aang in the iceberg and covering the entirety of Aang’s stay at the Southern Water Tribe.

One highlight of the show is the incredibly diverse cast, all of which are people of color, with Aang’s actor, Gordon Cormier, being from Filipino descent; Katara’s actress, Kiawentiio Tarbell, being from Canadian Mohawk descent; Sokka’s actor, Ian Ousley, being from Cherokee descent; Zuko’s actor, Dallas Liu, being from Chinese descent; and Iroh’s actor, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, being from South Korean descent.

This is an upgrade from the animated series and Shyamalan’s adaptation, which uses a majority white cast to play people of color.

Of this diverse cast, Tarbell stands out in her ability to capture Katara’s caring and passionate nature; however, we are yet to see if she will unleash the same beloved temper that the animated feminist Katara yielded. 

I was sad to see that one of my favorite examples of Katara’s feminist rage was removed from the first episode of the new series.

In the animated series, Katara accidentally leads to Aang’s release from the iceberg while yelling at Sokka for saying, “Leave it to a girl to screw things up.”

In Katara’s incredulous yelling at Sokka, she accidentally breaks open a gargantuan iceberg with her water bending.

This interaction was cut entirely from the new show.

Sadly, hopes of the feminist themes we got in the animated series may be quashed by Netflix’s character choices.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tarbell says, “I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy.”

A fandomwire.com review said this removal “seemingly spells disaster for Katara’s character.” Young girls so loved Katara’s character in the show because of her unmatched ability to prove the men in the show who underestimated her wrong.

Without Katara’s feminist rage and her checking of her brother’s sexist tongue, I worry about how the series will otherwise be able to develop these siblings’ characters.

Besides the lack of old beloved themes, the show’s dialog replaces the colorful and dynamic dialogue with something flat and cheesy, with most of the interaction between the characters feeling awkward or ingenuine.

On a more positive note, the costuming was done well and stayed true to the animated show with the return of Aang’s iconic yellow and orange capelet and monk suit combo being a primary highlight.

The show also did a commendable job in adapting the setting of the show into live action as many of the scenes look incredible even with special effects. 

The hybrid animals, including Appa, were also well done.

However, when it comes to the special effects involving the bending of the characters, there were some noticeable flaws, especially when the bending interacts with the characters’ bodies.

The airbending graphics especially suffered as artists chose to simply blur the characters limbs to give the appearance of air movement. One scene depicting Aang’s flying especially suffered this strange choice. 

Fight scenes were also unimpressive compared to the distinct choreography of the animated show’s fight scenes, although I was surprised to find that, unique to the animated show, this adaptation implements gore, even going to show a man burned to death.

After two adaptations of this beloved series, I wonder if an adaptation will ever surmount the source material.

While there are flaws with the new adaptation, there are enough positives that leave me hopeful for the other seven episodes, albeit wearily so.