Links and Updates

Some interesting stuff on the horizon...

The best news in recent weeks (or months, I lose track of how often I do these) is that the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender have reunited in order to kickstart a whole new chapter of the animated franchise. Emphasis on animated, as they’ve left the development of Netflix’s live-action adaptation due to creative differences – and almost certainly because Nickelodeon offered them a better deal and more creative control.

(On the live-action front, just let it die Netflix. Literally no one wants it except the fringe lunatics who believe that Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s departure means they’ll be getting Zutara).

According to reports, an entire animation division will be devoted to the franchise, called Avatar Studios and delivering an animated movie (to be released in theatres) as well as several more television series. The possibilities here are endless: will they adapt pre-existing stuff like the graphic novels and the Kyoshi novels? Will they delve into the distant past, or fast-forward to post-Korra times?

There are plenty of threads that each one of the animated series left dangling (the history between Koh and the Avatar certainly comes to mind) and when it comes to things like Korrasami, Bryke are obviously at much more liberty to depict same-sex relationships. I think perhaps the original Avatar voice-cast have grown out of their roles (unless they age up the characters) though there’s a chance that those involved with Korra might return.

The discourse in the Avatar fandom is horrific at the moment, and all of it stems (unsurprisingly) from bitter shippers who don’t want to admit that that’s their grievance, and so have to pretend it’s actually all about racism and misogyny (which leads to assertions that Aang was a potential wife-beater, I wish I was kidding) so let’s hope and pray that everyone involved in this new chapter get the hell off social media before they enter the writers’ room.

Also, does this mean further delay to Michael DiMartino’s Sacred Genius (the third book in the Rebel Genius trilogy) and Bryan Konietzko’s Threadworlds graphic novels? Because I was really looking forward to those!

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The sequel to Enola Holmes is a go, presumably to be based on the second of Nancy Springer’s book series about Sherlock Holmes’s little sister. Called The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, there’s a chance that the adaptation will have as little to do with the source material as its predecessor did (they kept the basics, but the entire nature of the mystery was different) though I do hope they keep Cecily Alistair, the titular left-handed lady and a great character in her own right (she’ll make a much better love interest than Lord Twinkleham).

Speaking of sequels, Knives Out 2 is putting together an impressive cast, and – to the astonishment of all – we’re getting a Downton Abbey 2. I’m sorry, but what’s left to tell with this lot? Unless they do a time-skip and move onto the next generation, the stories have pretty much run their course.

How many more times can Lady Mary rise to the occasion? Lady Edith be miserable about getting everything she ever wanted? The Dowager Countess make cutting remarks despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness in the first movie?

At this point I’d be more interested in a prequel that explores the mercenary courtship between Lord Grantham and Cora. That or Mary and Branson finally having that torrid love affair they’ve clearly been gunning for since the deaths of their respective spouses.

However, there will be no season two of Cursed. I can't say I'm surprised, as it wasn't that good to begin with and had gone so long without any announcement on its future, but... well, it ended on a cliff-hanger, which is always an annoying way to leave things. And I loved their take on Morgana.

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There are two new movies from the Disney/Pixar studios on the horizon, and they’ll be beautiful if nothing else. Much like Star Wars and Marvel movies, I feel totally saturated by animated Disney products, so I’ll probably catch them... later down the track. Maybe.

I find it interesting that Pixar is moving away from its usual human designs (Seeing Red looks a lot like Luca in terms of how the faces are structured, which in turn looked like they were nicked from Aardman Studios) whereas Disney is still very much leaning into the “big eyes, cute nose, soft features” that have been the studio’s MO since at least Rapunzel in Tangled.

But the Encanto house looks amazing, and the premise behind Seeing Red is just bizarre enough to work.

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There’s going to be another Star Trek animated series (the other being Lower Decks) and – wow. Star Trek has never really been my fandom, but this looks beautiful. And of course, people are already complaining that it doesn’t capture the Star Trek aesthetic because the aliens aren’t actors with prosthetics, but... man. Beautiful.

And Captain Janeway is in it!

I’m still thinking a lot about Shadow and Bone, especially since season two is a go, and there’s plenty of interesting discussion about it on-line. Vulture has some great episode-by-episode commentary, by someone who is clearly familiar with the books and the characterization – unfortunately, most of it is behind a pay-wall (though you get one free article per month).

Also, here’s an interesting critique on the race-bending of Alina from the same YouTuber who brought us that in-depth look at everything that was wrong with 2020’s Mulan. They make some good points, the most important being that Alina’s race is only ever presented as a negative thing in the way she’s treated and perceived throughout Ravka.

I had noticed how weird it was that she and Bodkin (who was also Shu in the books) never interacted in any significant way, but the video also questions why Alina never considers going back to Shu Han, or why Mal is so universally loved despite his mixed-race, and points out just how silly some of the micro-aggressions Alina faces actually were.

I still maintain that it was an interesting idea to have the proverbial Chosen One as someone who was clearly not Ravkan, and the affect this had on Alina’s co-dependence with Mal and twice-shy reluctance to become a public figure... but then the show never really delves deeply into this either. The peasantry all across Ravka is celebrating the arrival of the prophesised Sun Summoner... but how would that change if they knew she was Shu? The closest we get is the misrepresentation of Alina at the fete, in which she’s played by a white performer.

Perhaps they’ll deal with this more in season two, but let’s all hope they do it better. (Let’s be honest, it’s likely they’ll just throw in the towel and never bring up her race again. Which is probably what they should have done in the first place).

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According to Den of Geek, Raiders of the Lost Ark Has the Greatest Exposition Scene in Movie History. It’s a pretty convincing argument, and a fun read.

From the same sight, and having coincidentally just watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves recently, a look back at the film and That Song.

Did Twitter Break YA? A pretty sobering read, and – as someone who isn’t on Twitter and never will be – I honestly didn’t think things were this bad in on-line fandom. Once again, I am urging creators everywhere to get the hell off social media.

Does anyone else remember Pirates of the Dark Water? It was a cartoon back in the eighties that got cut short – here’s a brief retrospective and a hopeful wish that (given pretty much everything else is being rebooted or continued these days) we might one day see more...

This trailer dropped just today, and wow – get those starring roles John Boyega!

It’s difficult not to see some semblance of Finn (forever bitter...) in the character of Casi, and look – Olivia Cooke is here too! Keep your eye on her, she’s on her way up.