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Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance |OT| A Feast of Crows

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Joeytj said:
Clip show eh?

Whatever, at least I'll get some sleep tonight, not going to rush out and watch it.


Or maybe I will, what the heck. After this, there's only 5 episodes left, they better pull out all the stops (is that how that phrase goes?). And I waiting for
Jason Issac's
character and his interaction with
Huan
,
Jinora
, and
Suyin
.
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More like "They better pull their thumb out of their ass."
 
Toa TAK said:
If the Varrick stuff sucks, then there is NO HOPE.
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http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/103173899927/a-few-preemptive-words-about-episode-408

A few preemptive words about Episode 408, “Remembrances”…

In a couple hours the eighth chapter of Korra Book 4 will be released online, and I suppose, if you are none the wiser, a few minutes into it you will feel duped and yell at your screen, “Hey! This is a crummy clips episode!” And that is (almost) exactly what it is––except we all worked really hard to make sure at the very least it isn’t crummy. I’m here to explain why we ended up having to do one. Sometime around a year and a half ago we were similarly duped on a large scale. We got the news from the higher-ups that our Book 4 budget was getting slashed, almost to the tune of an entire episode’s budget. We had two options: 1) let go a significant number of crew members several weeks early, or 2) make a clips episode. We never considered the first option. We weren’t going to do that to our crew, and even if we were callous enough to do so, we never would have been able to finish the season without them. But having grown up on TV in the ’80s and ’90s, we all dread clips episodes, where characters sit around saying, “Remember that time when…” and leftover footage is reheated for no one’s enjoyment. Anyone who suffered through TNG’s “Shades of Gray” knows what I’m talking about.

Anime fans know this is a common occurrence in Japanese series as well. In fact, as Mike hung his head in disappointment at our fate, I remembered how one of my favorite anime series, Samurai Champloo, made what I thought was a really awesome and clever clips episode. They mixed about 5 minutes of new footage in with the old, and set up a context where the characters would be reflecting on past events while narrating over them, offering new insights or at least providing some humor. I pitched this angle to Mike and he agreed this was the best way to turn this big old lemon into some lemonade.

Back on Avatar, we had something that functioned as a sort of clips episode, though it was all new animation and really hard to make, Episode 317, “The Ember Island Players.” Our heroes went to a play where they saw themselves and their tales performed by actors on stage. It was simultaneously a reckoning for the characters before they headed into the denouement, and a lighthearted romp where we got to poke fun at our own show before things got really serious in the remaining episodes. Korra’s “Remembrances” ended up serving the same function, albeit with old footage instead of a newly animated play. There is about 5 minutes of new footage, wonderfully animated by Studio Mir, and a bunch of funny and touching narration from the characters. There are also some fun chibi heads and other treats in there to spice up the old footage.

What started out as a reluctant chore ended up being a really fun episode to make, and in the end I truly love it. Mike did an awesome job directing it and storyboarding all the chibi hilarity, as well as overseeing the wonderful script by Josh Hamilton, Katie Mattila, and Tim Hedrick. Joaquim Dos Santos, Ryu Ki Hyun, and Lauren Montgomery drew fantastic storyboards for the new footage (particularly Lauren’s insane Varrick posing). Lots of other folks worked their tails off on this one, namely Amaris Calvin, our animatics editor; Christie Tseng, our character designer who drew and colored all of the final chibi art; Matt Gadbois, our After Effects editor; and Chris Hink, our final picture editor. Last but not least, Aran Tanchum and Vinny Guisetti on foley, Benjamin Wynn on sound design, and a stellar new score with all your favorite hits by Jeremy Zuckerman. And plenty of other fine folks I’m forgetting!

So now you know what it is and why it happened. I hope you do end up enjoying it after all, especially as a last lighthearted, nostalgic romp before POOP. GETS. REAL. And then the series is done.

Love, Bryan
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Clearly the budget stuff can't be held against the creators, writers, or animators, but it's still a shitty situation to be in. It's funny that Bryan mentioned Samurai Champloo; that's one of my favorite shows and it's recap episodes is one of the best played-straight recaps I've seen. But it's still a recap episode and it has only the barest frame story to help it go down easier. But at least Champloo was mostly episodic so it didn't harm the seasonal pacing. This is Nick's parting shot, I suppose.

So now you know what it is and why it happened. I hope you do end up enjoying it after all, especially as a last lighthearted, nostalgic romp before POOP. GETS. REAL. And then the series is done.
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This is encouraging though.
 
So now you know what it is and why it happened. I hope you do end up enjoying it after all, especially as a last lighthearted, nostalgic romp before POOP. GETS. REAL. And then the series is done.
Click to expand...

I believe again.
 
Jacob said:
Clearly the budget stuff can't be held against the creators, writers, or animators, but it's still a shitty situation to be in. It's funny that Bryan mentioned Samurai Champloo; that's one of my favorite shows and it's recap episodes is one of the best played-straight recaps I've seen. But it's still a recap episode and it has only the barest frame story to help it go down easier. But at least Champloo was mostly episodic so it didn't harm the seasonal pacing. This is Nick's parting shot, I suppose.



This is encouraging though.
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Is that the episode where Mugen and Jin read Fuu's diary? So Mako and Wu are going to read Korra's diary?
 
JadedWriter said:
Is that the episode where Mugen and Jin read Fuu's diary? So Mako and Wu are going to read Korra's diary?
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Yeah, that's the one. It sounds like the framing device for the Korra recap episode is going to involve Varrick pitching a mover idea based on the earlier seasons or something like that, though.
 
Jacob said:
Yeah, that's the one. It sounds like the framing device for the Korra recap episode is going to involve Varrick pitching a mover idea based on the earlier seasons or something like that, though.
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I wonder who gets turned into the villain caricature for the mover.
 
I am glad they posted that (although, I think most of us inferred this. I mean, no one WANTS a clip show).

This season has been really slow, but I am still enjoying this show.
 
sounds like this is their bottle episode and are trying to give insight into why they're doing it. But that doesn't excuse the previous 7 episodes. Another one of my shows this week (Rage of Bahamut) had a recap episode for a 12/13 episode series this week as well the difference is that the pace in that show moves at lightning speed so it never bothered me.
 
This entire project with Nick definitely soured the relationship. Even if they have more ideas with the show they are probably going to either shop the show to something like Netflix at most or just say whatever if they can't buy it out/off them years later.


Whatever they do from here, I can't see them ever return to nick with a new idea. Korra probably only lasted this long due to a mix of contracts and good will from how well ATLA did for the network
 
Slamtastic said:
Mark my words, expect the Bryke-less cheaply flash animated comedic for 4-7 year olds Avatar reboot in a few years from Nick.
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Avatar Go!


I can actually see them doing it and foaming at the mouth to do what CN did to Teen Titans and make it more comedic.


action cartoons in the west are ded brehs
 
Just read Bryan's post. Even with the way book 4 is paced so far I can't balme the crew. This is the way things go sometimes. Can't really hold it against him.

Hopefully he is right about the upcoming episodes ramping up.
 
As long as it works eventually then it doesn't matter for me personally since I wont be picking it up until next year.

My irl friend got Unity and said it was really good even with the bugs he encountered lol so I guess it's doing something right. I'm really thinking about getting Far Cry 4 even though I haven't really been interested in the series beforehand. The exploration and variety of locations just looks too good, and I just realized today that you can fluppin explore with a buddy. Co-op makes everything 10 times better for me so that is a deal maker.
 
Episode 8 "Remembrances" is out on Itunes and Amazon.
A look back at Team Avatar's journey; Varrick tells the story of the greatest move ever made.
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tumblr_nfddjjE56a1rptk5lo1_1280.jpg


Also yeah Far Cry 4 is a whole heap of fun. Been playing it constantly since I got it on Tuesday. Only played about an hour of GTA V due to Far Cry 4.
 
I'll be enjoying the episode more now thanks to Bryan's post about it. Kind of relieved that it wasn't a creative decision, or at least it wasn't made because they thought it was a good idea or something.

Gotta take it as is.
 
Joeytj said:
I'll be enjoying the episode more now thanks to Bryan's post about it. Kind of relieved that it wasn't a creative decision, or at least it wasn't made because they thought it was a good idea or something.

Gotta take it as is.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was nice for Bryan to come out with that.
 
So I just watched Reunion and thought, "Wow, this was a really good episode with the pacing Season 4 has been missing!" Sure, not much happens in the overarching plot, but there are two sub-plots that get resolved with some great character moments.

Then I clicked on this thread and learned the next episode is a clip episode. Ouch. Hurts to realize the budget was slashed and we basically lost an episode.
 
Urrrrgh I despise clip shows. Fucking Nick.

I think I'll wait for someone to edit out the five minutes of new footage and put it on YouTube.
 
I actually really enjoyed that lol.

And I LOVED that it went over pretty much why I thought Mako wasn't a douchebag. I mean, he made questionable choices still obviously but that is not what I would call a douche. You gotta WANT to hurt people or not care if you hurt peopleto be labeled as that in my book.

I think you guys will love Varrick stuff lmao it had me dyin
 
Yeeeeeeah even with those adorable chibi face animations, I just ending up skimming a bit. Man if only they had at least pinned this to the next episode.
 
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