Indeed
One of the things that made the original Avatar series great was the character development – we saw Aang transform from a childish, frozen-in-an-iceburg-then-reintroduced-to-society youngster to the Avatar that the world needed him to be. We also got to see his relationship with Katara evolve, Sokka becoming more of a man and less of a goofy sidekick, Zuko less of a crazed stalker and more of a moral leader. Certainly the characters we were introduced to at the beginning of the series were not the same ones that came together after the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai.
Of course, none of these things could have happened without time. It took a couple of seasons and several episodes more for Prince Zuko to become a welcomed part of the Gaang, while it didn’t exactly take a couple of episodes for Aang to get romantic with Katara. Though the Avatar fanbase obviously would have loved an infinite amount of The Last Airbender seasons, the three that we got ended up being the perfect amount to start, maintain, and finish the story that we now ridiculously love.
But then there’s The Legend of Korra, a series that I too absolutely love to death, but concerns me. So far, the show has been stellar, but a painful reminder keeps nagging me internally – the show is moving very, very fast.
Now, we should be all too aware that it has been pretty well advertised by the show’s creators that this series will not be as long as the original series. The Legend of Korra is set to run for two seasons of twelve and fourteen episodes, respectively (though, interesting note, Nickelodeon has included the option for more seasons). This essentially makes Korra’s lifespan roughly equate to a full season of The Last Airbender plus some extra episodes.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why the show is indeed going faster: there’s just not enough time to progress at the rate that The Last Airbender did. There’s just absolutely no way that you can cram 60 episodes worth of content into 26 episodes worth of time. That is certainly the reason why, by only halfway through the first season, the Pro-Bending tournament is already completed.
Still, while it makes sense given the time frame why The Legend of Korra is moving at a quicker pace, I can’t help but feel like it may end up being a negative for the show as a whole.
It wasn’t too long ago when we were introduced to Korra.
If you haven’t caught glimpses of the faster pacing of the show, possibly due to just not paying attention or loving the show too much to cast stones at it, there are three major examples that should set you straight.
First, the entirety of Episode 4. Without recapping the entire episode, it’s best instead for you to go re-watch it online. Notice while you’re watching it the very rapid changing of scenes and how short each individual scene is. The entirety of the episode culminates in what is pretty much a montage, and thus a ton of stuff happens in the narrative in very little time. Because of this, there is very little character development going on (Bolin and Mako, established obviously as two main characters in the plot, are barely seen) and more rushing through plot.
Second, the aforementioned Pro-Bending competition. Only a few episodes ago we saw Mr. Sato confirm his sponsorship of the Fire Ferrets for the championship tournament, only to somehow end up at the tournament’s finals a very short while later, our only information on the matches that took place in between being given to us by a quick recap at the beginning of the episode. The Pro-Bending tournament seemed to have been established as a focal point for the show leading up to Episode 6, so for it to be over so abruptly is rather jarring.
And, finally, love. That’s right, love. You know, that thing that somehow managed to make Mako and Asami go from being involved in a vehicular accident to being extremely close boyfriend/girlfriend material in about five minutes, and the same thing that made Korra make out with Mako as Bolin strolls in to witness probably the most disappointing event in his entire life, and the very same thing that made Korra decide to pour her emotions out haphazardly to her teammates without caution. Yeah, that stupid thing.
Let’s talk about that final example for a bit. Putting it into perspective, the love square (Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin) established in this series is a huge contrast to the love shape (I honestly don’t know what you’d call it) seen in The Last Airbender. Despite more players being involved in the original love shape, it took a very long time for it to develop. Katara and Aang did not immediately become lovers within less than ten episodes, nor did Sokka or Suki (to a different degree, of course), and Zuko’s love interests varied a bit, as well, before stabilizing.
However, in The Legend of Korra, for some reason the 100 years between The Last Airbender and itself made it socially acceptable for teenagers to share their emotions on that level without regard. Korra and her friends are older in their series than Aang and his friends are in his series, so wouldn’t that call for more maturity?
At least Bolin was spared the sight of some tongue action.
The only one here that seems to be acting normally is Bolin, who’s persona was very well (and extremely humorously) reflected by his reaction to seeing Korra and Mako together that fateful night. The others, on the other hand, well, I just can’t say the same – Mako is generally shown as a stand-up, straight-edge guy, but even then it didn’t take much for him to lock lips with Korra.
Anyway, let’s get back on track here (I should probably just write a whole article on the love stuff going on in this show, huh?).
Now, with all of that said, despite the pacing having to be what it is because of how long the show will run, that doesn’t make the pacing itself fine. And I cannot be the only one to notice this. This makes me wonder – if they knew the show would have a faster pace than The Last Airbender, why make The Legend of Korra inherently shorter?
Despite there being the option of having more than two seasons, I’m pretty certain that the two seasons announced will be the only two seasons. I could be wrong, but that’s how it’s looking. But why? Why make the sequel to one of Nick’s most popular shows ever, which was rather short compared to other Nick flagship shows, even shorter? With such a rabid fanbase, wouldn’t they want to make the show just as long, if not longer? Fans have been waiting several years for Korra to finally start, but it seems like it’ll be over before we know it, and not at all in any good way that that phrase can be taken (if there even is a positive attribution for it).
Ultimately what worries me is that the artificial limitation that this Korra series has been given in it’s length may hurt the overall quality of the series. We may never see the kind of character development we saw in The Last Airbender because there may not be enough time for it. We may never see the kinds of epic clashes that The Last Airbender brought us because we’ll never have enough time to find the contexts for those clashes to happen. And then we’ll find ourselves once again in a world without new episodes of Avatar in no time, a kind of world that nobody should want to live in.
I could be worrying a bit too much here, and that shouldn’t take away from my enjoyment from the series (and I will make sure that it won’t), but then again I may be very correct, or at least justified in feeling this way. And that in it of itself bothers me – I shouldn’t have to worry about this. If anything, I should be assured quality of the caliber of the original series. Not to say that Korra isn’t high quality, but quite possibly not as high quality as it could be. And that’s a disappointing thought for any Avatar fan to think.
Republic City 