Thoughts on Season 4, Episode 8 of the Legend of Korra

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

All fair points, but that only damns the storytelling even more, doesn't it? It's a lot of wasted potential is what I'm getting at, I suppose, maybe. Unalaq, the Red Lotus, Kuvira all could have been amazing villains if they'd been fleshed out just a bit more, given just that much more nuance. But no, they're all kind of painted in such broad strokes that they veer into caricature territory. Then you need to find a way for such dumb characters to gain the upper hand over the good guys, and the only way you can do that is by dumbing down the good guys, too. Seriously, how is it that Kuvira could so be so blatantly power-hungry and fascist for three years without a single noteworthy person looking into it? Why, when she suddenly usurps the throne, going directly against her internationally-appointed mission; or when she announces immediately after that she will invade an independent city-state, is she not swiftly taken into custody and her entire history looked into? Gah.

If they arrested Kuvira all her loyalists back in the Earth Empire would have ceased trade with republic city, and republic city needs their iron more than they care about stopping Kuvira. Varrick mentions that to Bolin just after the speech.

 

[Mr Companion]

The only funny part was the "villain phone conference" which felt like some kind of Abridged episode but actually made by the creators. Got a laugh out of me but everything else? pointless.

 

[newwiseman]

The Varrick bit was good, if the whole episode had been like that it would have been at least as good if not better than The Ember Island Players (not my favorite episode). The rest of the episode was everything wrong with a recap episode.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Well at first I rolled my eyes at the idea of a clip show, but by the end I was hooked. They did the best they could with what they had and I can get behind that.

 

[Shiftygiant]

I didn't like the clip-show nature of the episode at first, as it put me in the mind that someone from Team Avatar will be dead by the end of the season, however in the end I found it to be a charming and friendly breather episode. Varrick's section was the best part, and it's nice to see Wu trying to change. Overall, I wouldn't say it was lazy, just that they needed to catch up the audience (Some of whom may have not seen the previous seasons, I.e. Me) and that this episode was a good way to take a minute to relax from the overall story.

7/10, Entertaining, however the clip show of the first two segments will put you off if you aren't into that kind of thing, and it's only really there for new viewers.

 

[upgray3dd]

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Figured you guys should read this artical I just read on screenrant. Explains why there was a clip show and for once there was a good reason. Personaly I think it was a really kind move on the part of the showrunners.

http://screenrant.com/legend-korra-season-4-episde-8-remembrances-reviews/

Uhhh..... Budget/time issues are ALWAYS why there is a clip show. Creative people don't actually like doing them, and everyone knows the audience hates them. The only clip show I'm aware of that wasn't either a rushed/last-minute compromise or an attempt to make the best out of a low budget was the Community clip show.

 

[FPLOON]

Wait... I can't be the only person that fucking likes (and sometimes LOVES) clip shows around here... That cannot be fucking possible, ya dig?

Anyway, I loved this episode... Despite what's been happening and did happen behind the scenes prior to this particular episode, the LoK team really made this feel like this could technically happen within the canon of the series in general... The chibi commentary, the villain conference calls, BOLIN SPIRIT(!!), and so much more really shows how the creators as well as the team are still willing to give it their all without having to do anything drastic like firing some of their overall staff...

Also, to anyone who still hates this episode just because it's still a "fucking clip show", I can respect that as long as you don't go blaming the creators themselves for compensating for something that was out of their hands when you get down to brass tax and shit...

 

[soren7550]

All things considered, it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Granted, I'd probably still rank this among my least favorite episodes of Korra.

It really sucks how much Nick has been jerking and screwing the Avatar folks around. It's a miracle that anything good comes forward.

But anyway, with a bit of reworking that I may or may not actually do, this song proves highly relevant:

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

It was... okay. Varrick's part was pretty funny, with dissing Unalaq, zombie Amon and all. But for someone who's watched the entire series, a lot of Korra's segment felt like stating the obvious. I couldn't even watch Mako's segment. His part in the episode only emphasized the worst part of LoK, ie. the love triangles. Though reading the Tumblr post posted above, I can't really blame the creators. Fuck Nickelodeon and their stupid executive meddling.

Six episodes left, let's hope Korra goes out with a bang. It's kind of sad to think this is really the end of Avatar as a series. Until Nickelodeon decides they'll make another sequel series and fuck that in the ass too.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

As a person who hadn't watched the previous seasons. I felt it was entertaining. I could see why fans would be annoyed though (I usually despise recap episodes).

 

[Kolby Jack]

At first I was miffed because I thought they were wasting time in the middle of the season like that did with seasons 1 and 2. Then I saw this episode for what it (probably) was: a lighthearted breather episode before SHIT. GETS. REAL.

I mean, Kuvira was shown to be invading Toph's swamp. That's a heavy set up. It makes sense to get in a little breathing room before everything goes to hell. I'm actually almost dreading the next few episodes, because the only reason I think they'd do this is... someone is going to die. Probably Toph. I have no evidence, just a gut feeling. On the one hand, I hope I'm wrong because Toph is awesome. On the other hand, if I'm right and they do it well (have her go out like a badass while also establishing the extreme threat Kuvira poses), it could be heart-wrenchingly tragic/awesome. And I'd prefer it over some more Korra-abuse, which would NOT be the right kind of "intense" stuff I want following this episode.

So yea, I do mostly hope I'm right. Or at least not too far off.

EDIT:

http://screenrant.com/legend-korra-season-4-episde-8-remembrances-reviews/

Tumblr post referenced: http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/103173899927/a-few-preemptive-words-about-episode-408

I totally did not see this post before posting mine. What a weird coincidence that I used the exact same phrase in the exact same way as Bryan about what's coming, just with the expletive. Made me chuckle. XD

 

[Saetha]

so Nickelodeon is sabotaging the Legend of Korra again? why is it that executives of cartoon programming keep sabotaging shows that are good?.. Young Justice, Thundercats and now Legend of Korra...don't they like good shows? or is it they care more about spending the least amount of money on a show as possible like with Teen Titans go, Clarence, Steve Universe and the new Tom and Jerry show...

I think we kinda have to face facts and admit that children don't really seem to like plotty television. They'll tolerate serious moments for a bit of action and comedy (Probably why Airbender was so popular) but once the scale starts tipping too much in the other direction, they start to lose interest. So they start watching the other shows, the ones that don't try as hard because, if they did, they'd start tipping that balance themselves. And there's when we get into the problem of demographics. Korra might have a massive adult following, but that doesn't mean shit to the network. They'll sell out their adult fans in a heartbeat if it brings in more little kids, because it's the kids that buy the merchandise, and it's the merchandise that really sells a show to the businessmen. Not to mention that a show like Korra, with it's high animation quality, is probably far more expensive than an episode of a regular cartoon. Even if Korra had mountains of critical acclaim, if it didn't pull in as many views and as much merchandising money than, say, Spongebob... well, it's a easy choice for the network, isn't it?

(What doesn't make sense to me is why they won't play reruns of Korra or Airbender. I get that they might not want to devote precious prime-time to a risky series, but they've got to have some spots to fill now and again that can be plugged with an episode of Avatar. Not like it costs them anything, either.)

That's why I think that Western animation will only really flourish when it's allowed to grow outside of this rut it's in. It needs to break free of this idea that being animated means you're either a children's show or a raunchy adult comedy on late night Fox (Or one of those new-fangled animoos) I'd been hoping that Korra would've opened that door - Airbender did, and if Korra followed through... but the writing quality was so poor at the beginning, I think that really hurt it's chances of pulling in that vital adult audience. Now Korra's just going to be an excuse to never try serious animation again.

Ah well. We've still got stuff like RWBY, which may not be of the highest quality itself, but gives me hope that independent net-based animators will break down that stereotype.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

so Nickelodeon is sabotaging the Legend of Korra again? why is it that executives of cartoon programming keep sabotaging shows that are good?.. Young Justice, Thundercats and now Legend of Korra...don't they like good shows? or is it they care more about spending the least amount of money on a show as possible like with Teen Titans go, Clarence, Steve Universe and the new Tom and Jerry show...

I think we kinda have to face facts and admit that children don't really seem to like plotty television. They'll tolerate serious moments for a bit of action and comedy (Probably why Airbender was so popular) but once the scale starts tipping too much in the other direction, they start to lose interest. So they start watching the other shows, the ones that don't try as hard because, if they did, they'd start tipping that balance themselves. And there's when we get into the problem of demographics. Korra might have a massive adult following, but that doesn't mean shit to the network. They'll sell out their adult fans in a heartbeat if it brings in more little kids, because it's the kids that buy the merchandise, and it's the merchandise that really sells a show to the businessmen. Not to mention that a show like Korra, with it's high animation quality, is probably far more expensive than an episode of a regular cartoon. Even if Korra had mountains of critical acclaim, if it didn't pull in as many views and as much merchandising money than, say, Spongebob... well, it's a easy choice for the network, isn't it?

(What doesn't make sense to me is why they won't play reruns of Korra or Airbender. I get that they might not want to devote precious prime-time to a risky series, but they've got to have some spots to fill now and again that can be plugged with an episode of Avatar. Not like it costs them anything, either.)



That's why I think that Western animation will only really flourish when it's allowed to grow outside of this rut it's in. It needs to break free of this idea that being animated means you're either a children's show or a raunchy adult comedy on late night Fox (Or one of those new-fangled animoos) I'd been hoping that Korra would've opened that door - Airbender did, and if Korra followed through... but the writing quality was so poor at the beginning, I think that really hurt it's chances of pulling in that vital adult audience. Now Korra's just going to be an excuse to never try serious animation again.

Ah well. We've still got stuff like RWBY, which may not be of the highest quality itself, but gives me hope that independent net-based animators will break down that stereotype.

the writing for the early seasons of Korra were really good.. much better then the writing for the 5th/final season airing now.. oh and what's RWBY?

 

[GodofDisaster]

It wasn't as great as the ember island players episode from Last Air bender, but I got a few good laughs out of this. Especially the phone call between Zaheer, Vatu, Amon and Unalaq, that was hilarious and you could really tell, the voice actors had a great time recording that scene.

 

[Saetha]

the writing for the early seasons of Korra were really good.. much better then the writing for the 5th/final season airing now..

That's... highly debatable, and I'd rather not get into an argument here. Regardless of your or my opinion on LoK's writing quality, you have to admit that it was at the very least... controversial, especially whenever it strayed into a romance subplot. A lot of people were NOT happy with Korra after Season One. Even more were left dissatisfied with the beginning of Season 2. You can think those seasons had better writing quality if you want - of course you can, since such things are subjective - but there are a lot of others who don't share that opinion. I imagine most of them gave up early in the show's run, which made for quite the vicious cycle - viewers upset with the early seasons stopped watching, the show lost viewers, so Nick screwed over Korra's scheduling. Viewers confused by the new scheduling stopped watching because they missed episodes, the show lost viewers, so Nick didn't gave much advertising time to the new season. Viewers who didn't know the new season started stopped watching, the show lost viewers, so Nick made Korra go digital to keep it from consuming airtime. Viewers confused by the switch to digital stopped watching, the show lost viewers, so on, so forth...

Legend of Korra's been screwed over by Nick, and it's been screwed over unfairly - but it all started with that divisive first season.

oh and what's RWBY?

RWBY's a CGI animated show, made and distributed by Rooster Teeth - they're a... well, I'm not sure what to call them. New Media Company, I guess? They're the same guys behind Red Vs. Blue and Achievement Hunter. All of their content is published primarily online via their website and Youtube. They're a small company, so they haven't got the same resources as, say, Nick, and it really show in stuff they make like RWBY. On the other hand, they're not constrained so much by stereotypes either, allowing them to make stuff like, well, like RWBY.

As for RWBY itself.. well, I'll just give you the TvTropes page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebAnimation/RWBY

I'm not really a fan, but I appreciate what it's trying to do. I dunno, check it out. Maybe you'll like it. If not - hell, it's free, and the episodes are short, so you don't have much to lose.

 

[jamail77]

I think we kinda have to face facts and admit that children don't really seem to like plotty television. They'll tolerate serious moments for a bit of action and comedy (Probably why Airbender was so popular) but once the scale starts tipping too much in the other direction, they start to lose interest. So they start watching the other shows, the ones that don't try as hard because, if they did, they'd start tipping that balance themselves.

I don't believe that at all. There's already the old notion that kids material can't have any depth to it despite the fact the material is written by adults. They're professional writers at that, who often circumvent "family friendliness restrictions" to put that depth in. The extension of that idea, that kids can't be entertained by, let alone expected to understand, something that's genuinely good is just more disheartening. Kids get way too much disrespect and underestimation as it is without having to question their entertainment tastes. When I was a kid I certainly watched plotty television and I'm not just saying that to be smug or put nostalgia goggles over my childhood; others I knew watched it too (DCAU for example was relatively plotty compared to most cartoons). Kid me and kid friends would have loved this show more than present me.

Bryke said they showed test screenings to kids and they voted that the show was awesome. The thing about these screenings is you usually should show extensive footage. Korra has plenty of set up in the first episode alone. I just got done watching a series of videos of kids and young teens reacting very excitedly to some plotty television and films.

I think you already understand all this as it sounds like you're trying to say we should admit we were wrong about that assumption and wrong to blame executives' lack of willingness to take risks and our beliefs are why this happens. However, you outlined perfectly how Nick screwed this up. I don't think the show has an extensive toy line either like Young Justice supposedly did. Bryke claims it fell to ratings and most of that is on Nick. Did you know Nick actually does show reruns of both ATLA and Korra? Your post questions why they don't show reruns and, putting aside how random these reruns sometimes are, that's because Nick did terrible marketing about those reruns. Nick didn't emphasize how they're only on Nicktoons rather than Nick's main channel or how they actually brought Korra back to TV months ago when they showed the rest of Book 3 that was previously online only. Book 4 just started on TV actually and is showing at the rate of multiple episodes every Friday to catch up to online. I found a lot of people didn't know about this. Heck, I wouldn't know if I didn't go searching for this info.

There was a small company called Marvel (sarcasm) that was struggling once and had to sell film rights just to stay afloat. They decided to go all in, take this big risk, and cut nothing and now look at them. Nick doesn't want to do that. They want to play it safe. They'll finish Korra because they have to, not because they want to. Until a network does everything right from start to finish, even when ratings are declining and money is being lost because that's what a risk is, and these shows still don't succeed then maybe we can admit we were wrong. Now we just need to find a network that has a big enough surplus of cash that it can afford to do that without going under because a Marvel scenario is not ideal when it'll probably be a small company that can't take it like Marvel did.

the writing for the early seasons of Korra were really good.. much better then the writing for the 5th/final season airing now

This might sound kind of petty, so sorry just in case, but we're actually on the 4th.