I think it's fair to judge the show by the first episode. This is all subjective, of course, but the changes they made to the story and to the universe will tell many fans all they need to know.

They made pretty massive changes. Aang has none of his childlike wonder, he can fly unaided like a Marvel superhero, and he's seemingly now a victim of a joyride gone wrong, rather than the boy who ran away from the world.

And the CGI... it's really rough in my opinion. There are entire scenes like the intro that are clearly 100% computer generated. If they passed that's one thing, but they look really goofy and uncanny.

These are all good reasons to judge the show, and you do see them in that first episode.

If you can't comment on shows you haven't watched the entirety of, and having only seen 1/8th-1/10th of the show, then most reviews are entirely out the window, all nominations for awards shows (which watch one, maybe two episodes for deliberation), and pretty much half of all comments related to a show are all moot, is that what I'm to believe your point is?

I didn't watch the second episode, so I can't tell them it gets any better, so let me rephrase it. Based on the first episode, which by all means should be the most catching and the most engaging of the series if only to push viewership, the show misses the mark on the characterization and story-development originally set by the animated series, regardless of the decent visuals and respectfully done outfits. Not only does it change existing characters' personalities, emotional maturity, and overall story arcs, it does so for reasons that seem to resemble "because new". Why change how Appa is released, why change katara's grandmother to include a poorly delivered word for word of the original intro, why have Aang address his running from his destiny and want to be a child so early when that's a key part of him visiting the air temple? I'll never know, because they lost me in the first episode. They had an hour to get me to give them the benefit of the doubt, and they missed the mark

It particularly shows the show-runners null knowledge or at least contempt for the original material. It was a big plot point on The Legend of Korra. Flying that way was a mythical and highly advanced airbending technique, confined only to the most enlightened sages. It was the whole point of Zaheer as an antagonist. But Aang just goes up and down in the air. And I just realized that Aang didn't waterbend a single time in the whole season, not even in that training scene when Katara practices with the scroll. Which is funny, because reading this thread's positive praise, rather than improving my opinion of the adaptation, it is actually making me like it slightly less.

I watched 1 and 2 back to back and couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Aang learns how to cry in between episodes, or they applied fake tears for Gyatso's funeral or something. Bless their child actor's hearts, they tried very hard. But I don't think even Oscar winners could've done much with some of the atrocious dialogue that plagues some episodes. But yeah, mid would be a rather apt descriptor.

It lasts 40 seconds and he is in Superman pose flying for the most of it. I didn't call it that out of spite, I actually enjoyed the whole series. But it is mid. Sure, maybe not trash like the Shyamalaladingdong movie, but I don't want to have to sit through it ever again.

Oh, good call, I will do the math. The 8 live-action episodes last between 48 and 63 minutes each, in total they are 434 minutes of runtime. Roughly about the same as the whole animated season 1, which was 20 episodes that last 24 minutes each, so total 480 minutes. They only had 46 minutes less than the animated show to tell the exact same story.