[119 & 120] The Siege of the North Parts I & II

[Hawkflame]

Thoughts on part 1 only,since it's a little late right now,even for a night owl like me...

One of the first things I noticed in rewatching this is that the build up to Zhao's attack  is really beautifully handled.Not a lot oftalking,but really a great sense of dread and sadness.  The soot falling from the sky, Sokka preparing for war with the other men in the tribe... that look that Yue gave him as he was getting his war paint on was just heartbreaking.  The whole Sokka/Yue relationship, while I think it would hve been better if they gave it another episode, for the limited time that it's given, it's very effectively done.  (Hell, I care more about them here than I ever did for Makorra) Overall, the whole build up of fear and sadness in the first half of this episode is pretty effective. 

The action was outstanding, even for Avatar standards.  Mostly I liked Aang using the Fire nation's own catapults against them to destroy their ships, which I thought was pretty clever.  Katara/Zuko is really one of the stronger fight scenes in the first season, and I really enjoyed seeing her cut loose here. 

But really this episode struck me as being all about build up- setting up a tone, telling us something big is going to happen in part 2.  And this is not just because I've already seen the next episode, but they're clearly setting up something huge and biding their time with the payoff.  You have Zhao with clearly something up his sleeve here, Aang preparing to enter the spirit world, Zuko's desperation in finding Aang, and Sokka's emotional entanglement with Princess Yue, all setting up for something bigger and more complicated.  It's all really very well done, and while I would have liked to spent a little more time in the north before the finale, I can't complain about this particular episode. 

[Loopy]

It's that fantastic pacing and concise storytelling that makes M Nighty's adaptation so hilariously bad. Someone on these boards did the math, and it turns out that these two episodes totaled only a minute or two longer than the same sequence in the live action movie, and yet the latter was so much worse in every way.

[Hawkflame]

It's that fantastic pacing and concise storytelling that makes M Nighty's adaptation so hilariously bad. Someone on these boards did the math, and it turns out that these two episodes totaled only a minute or two longer than the same sequence in the live action movie, and yet the latter was so much worse in every way.

That's amazing.  Just shows how much that version was bogged down by unnecessary details and not stuff like character development or actual emotional moments.

Anyway, just caught part 2 again. I just have to say that personally it would have been better served to watch these two episodes back to back (blame more midterms for that), because so much of this is about paying off what was built up in part 1.Still, it hods up remarkably well.

I've always understood that Bryke was inspired by Miyazaki in making this show, how Appa was based off the catbus in Totoro, etc.  First of all, Koh is just that crazy idea and design for a creature that only Studio Ghibli could come up with.  While it doesn't look like any Ghibli character in particular, I could totally see something like that existing in the world of Spirited Away.  Plus the whole idea behind a face stealing spirit is just so imaginative, and it's crazy, magical idea that could just fit into that world so well, right along side No-Face, appropriately enough. 

The spirit world itself looks gorgeous.  It has this whole ethereal, almost painterly quality to it, which again is very reminiscent of Miyazaki, particularly Princess Mononoke.  And speaking of which- yeah, Aang merging with the Ocean Spirit has to be a nod to the Forest Spirit sequence at the end of that movie.  Of course I don't mind, seeing as how Princess Mononoke is one of my favorite anime films, and my favorite Ghibli work, and the sequence is done quite effectively here. 

I thought Princess Yue's sacrifice was handled very well.  This is where they really cash in on what they had set up in the last two episodes.  If I have any gripe about this, it's that I wish they had another episode before this to stabilize their relationship, but it's really a minor little thing.  Overall it works great. 

Zuko's story arc doesn't get a whole ton of exposure here, but I liked the extra added insight his scenes offered.  It really highlighted how he's been behind the 8 ball his entire life and he's been in a constant struggle to prove himself.  It's always been clear that capturing the Avatar was just a means to an end for him, but this just served to unerline that even further. 

All in all a great episode, big victory against the Fire nation, though a little bittersweet with Yue's ascension.  By the way, with Yue being the moon spirit and all, she could conceivably show up in Korra this season, couldn't she?  Especially since this season's about the Spirit World...

Oh, and best sequel hook ever.  (Hi, Azula!)

[Loopy]

I should probably check out some Miyazaki movies at some point. I keep hearing that all my favorite parts of ATLA are probably inspired by them.

[Furudo Erika]

I just finished rewatching Book 1 and I want to discuss the moon part. Does it actually disappear? Or does the Moon lose the power of light, making it nothing more than a giant ball? Scientifically that's impossible, right? Or maybe there was a massive energy that blocked the moon, since this event later is called a Lunar Eclipse by Katara.

It's a little thing that is nagging me, lol. I'm not a science person at all, so I have no idea why I want to nitpick this. Has there been any word from Bryke on how this was possible? Commentaries, unfortunately, didn't say a thing during these scenes.

[NeeNee]

^ It's magic.

Seriously, I don't think we'll get a better explanation than that.

[Solid Sun]

ATLA completely fails when it come to astrology, so I'll say it's MAGIC ! : D

[Furudo Erika]

^ It's magic.

Seriously, I don't think we'll get a better explanation than that.

xDD.

I'll go with the "some kind of spirit energy blocked the moon", but it's not any better than actual moon disappearance

[TyLuko4Ever]

In terms of science, even if the moon's "light" turned off, you'd still see the moon. The light rays that were emitted (read: reflected sunlight) prior to the light "turning off" would still be traveling towards Earth, and you would therefore still see it. It's the same idea that says some of the stars we see via telescopes may already have burned out but we "see" them because the visible light emitted is still traveling. So, in a spiritual world where science hardly counts, I'd chalk it up to magic.

ATLA completely fails when it come to astrology, so I'll say it's MAGIC ! : D

*astronomy

This upset me, and not just because I'm a space geek. A little while back, I was trying to put together a timeline of when each episode occurred to the nearest date or week, but we couldn't complete it for this very reason. We found that full moons occured more often than every 30 days, and it threw our project out of whack.

[Furudo Erika]

Maybe their earth spins faster? It's such a nitpicking thing to be discussing on a fantasy show, but still, I'd like to know, haha.

[TyLuko4Ever]

Let's try this theory. Tui is the moon spirit, so would it be plausible to suggest that the moon is not just a body of rock, but instead a living thing? And so when Tui is killed, the moon "dies" as well until it is resurrected by Yue. With this idea, the moon would still be either reflecting light, like a celestial body, or emitting it, like a living creature. That means what I said above still holds, and we'd still be able to see something.

Usually you never hear this, but I think magic is the more accurate conclusion.

[Loopy]

In the Avatar world, the sky is just a giant mirror that only shows Spirit stuff.

[NeeNee]

We never learned why balls of rock and ice floating in the sky could strenghten firebenders either.

M&B didn't even know that hemispheres have different seasons. I think it's safe to assume that the accuracy of most science in the show will be somewhere between 'ancient myth invented by people who think lightning is a punishment of the gods' and 'middle schooler who slept through most of his classes'.

[SMBH]

I think it's safe to assume that the accuracy of most science in the show will be somewhere between 'ancient myth invented by people who think lightning is a punishment of the gods' and 'middle schooler who slept through most of his classes'.

Haaa!! XD

[RhymeBender]

I gave these a 7. I wanted more from this finale and I didn't think that the writing was as good as some of the other major ep's.

[Colonel_Brian]

This was a great finale to a great season. The trip to the Spirit World was amazing. I prefer the original series take on this mysterious realm more so than Korra's. The inhabitants there were more other worldly than those cute little spirits in Korra. As for everything else, I loved the battle, the Sokka and Yue subplot, Zhao being an arrogant butt, and the little tibits we got on Zuko's family.

Speaking of Zuko's family, I loved every moment these two episodes with him and Iroh. The two are such a believable pair. The gaang where also a joy to watch. Sometimes I forget that this franchise had good character interactions. Sokka was also in top-form. He is so cold-hearted, letting Zuko die, yet practical. I love it!