Elizabeth Culmer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edenfalling) wrote2009-11-04 01:18 am
edenfalling) wrote2009-11-04 01:18 am
Avatar episode 17: The Northern Air Temple
Still watching Avatar! Here are some thoughts on episode 17:
The Northern Air Temple:
1. Sokka, optimism is not the same thing as lying. Well, not quite. *grin* Also, what the heck is that thing you're carving? A demented Alvin the Chipmunk?
2. Aww, Teo is too cute and cheerfully enthusiastic for Aang to stay mad at him. *squishes the boys*
3. And now suddenly Sokka is a mechanical engineer? Um, where did that come from? I mean, okay, he did build the watchtower, and he has been doing some of the logistics for the trip, but... maybe it's just seeing something cool that has nothing to do with bending? Oh, whatever, it's cute; I will forgive a lot for cute.
4. Natural gas. Right. So we are pretending to be scientific, are we, show? The firefly lanterns are a decent first step. Let's see how well you can keep this up... *watches suspiciously*
5. Yay flying! Someday, I would like to hang glide or parachute. I do not think either possibility is very likely -- and I know I would complain and bitch and whine like the most annoying foot-dragger in the world before I got into the air; this is how I tend to deal with things like rope walks or rollercoasters -- but oh, I do love the adrenaline rush of wind and heights.
6. Do I detect a plan to add sulphur to the natural gas? I think I do. (In a completely unrelated note, MS Word does not recognize the British spelling variant of that element, and does not even provide 'sulfur' as a correction option -- it thought I was trying to spell 'scripture.' Computers baffle me, they really do.)
7. Yep, sulphur in the gas. Obvious plot twist was obvious. (But nicely executed.)
8. Aha, an airship! Or at least the precursor thereof. This invention looks more like a balloon.
9. Once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Danes. Oh, Mr. Mechanist, I understand exactly why you chose your path, but some things are not worth the cost.
10. "We control the sky. That's something the Fire Nation can't do." And that, children, is what we call foreshadowing.
11. Mini-avalanche! Good tactical thinking, Aang! (Though, you know, I am wondering how the gliders are going to get back up to the temple. That mountain looks awfully cold to have any sort of thermal updrafts, and that would be a long way for the Mechanist to have laid hot air pipes. So either the show is fudging the difference between gliders and airplanes, or Aang is going to do a lot of heavy lifting. I am inclined to go with fudging.)
12. Dude! Are those tanks? They totally are! Oddly medieval-looking tanks, and I am highly suspicious of the feasibility of those grappling hook winch things, but still. Very cool.
13. And they don't have gunners, per se; they have firebenders to act as the guns. Well, duh. (Though this world does have gunpowder; that's implicit in the existence of fireworks. Surely somebody has thought about handing 'mechanical firebending' out to grunt soldiers, if only to increase the offensive power of the army? Or then again, no. They wouldn't, would they, not when firebending is a spiritual thing, and a mark of power and social status. You wouldn't want to debase it or give commoners ideas. But one of these years, guns and rockets are going to happen, and I doubt the fallout will be pretty.)
14. Those tanks are cool. They have spare grapples in case the first is dislodged; their central carriages can spin around in case the tank is flipped upside-down; they have spiked wheels for gripping rock and snow... I want one!
15. Sokka, are you planning to blow up the temple? (...And when exactly did you have time to go shove eggs in the gas room anyway? Weren't you supposed to be working on the balloon? Oh well, I've handwaved worse continuity stutters.)
16. Um. An explosion that big, dropping that many tanks from that height... there is no way people didn't die. And yet, no reaction. Yes, I know -- kids' show -- but still. Also, the balloon just flew down the mountain toward the Fire Nation base, right? That's not good. Sokka and the Mechanist should have rigged some kind of self-destruct.
17. Hermit crabs? Tarantula crabs is more like it if you ask me! (Cute little beasties, though.)
18. Yep. Letting the balloon go was a mistake. (And ooh, judging from the Mechanist's expression, he let it sail off intact on purpose. He knows that the Fire Nation wouldn't stop coming just because of one temporary defeat. This way he gets to look like a hero to his son while still keeping his bargain and thus keeping Teo safe... at least for now. Ouch. I bet you anything that is going to come back and bite him in the ass later on.)
-----
More tomorrow!
The Northern Air Temple:
1. Sokka, optimism is not the same thing as lying. Well, not quite. *grin* Also, what the heck is that thing you're carving? A demented Alvin the Chipmunk?
2. Aww, Teo is too cute and cheerfully enthusiastic for Aang to stay mad at him. *squishes the boys*
3. And now suddenly Sokka is a mechanical engineer? Um, where did that come from? I mean, okay, he did build the watchtower, and he has been doing some of the logistics for the trip, but... maybe it's just seeing something cool that has nothing to do with bending? Oh, whatever, it's cute; I will forgive a lot for cute.
4. Natural gas. Right. So we are pretending to be scientific, are we, show? The firefly lanterns are a decent first step. Let's see how well you can keep this up... *watches suspiciously*
5. Yay flying! Someday, I would like to hang glide or parachute. I do not think either possibility is very likely -- and I know I would complain and bitch and whine like the most annoying foot-dragger in the world before I got into the air; this is how I tend to deal with things like rope walks or rollercoasters -- but oh, I do love the adrenaline rush of wind and heights.
6. Do I detect a plan to add sulphur to the natural gas? I think I do. (In a completely unrelated note, MS Word does not recognize the British spelling variant of that element, and does not even provide 'sulfur' as a correction option -- it thought I was trying to spell 'scripture.' Computers baffle me, they really do.)
7. Yep, sulphur in the gas. Obvious plot twist was obvious. (But nicely executed.)
8. Aha, an airship! Or at least the precursor thereof. This invention looks more like a balloon.
9. Once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Danes. Oh, Mr. Mechanist, I understand exactly why you chose your path, but some things are not worth the cost.
10. "We control the sky. That's something the Fire Nation can't do." And that, children, is what we call foreshadowing.
11. Mini-avalanche! Good tactical thinking, Aang! (Though, you know, I am wondering how the gliders are going to get back up to the temple. That mountain looks awfully cold to have any sort of thermal updrafts, and that would be a long way for the Mechanist to have laid hot air pipes. So either the show is fudging the difference between gliders and airplanes, or Aang is going to do a lot of heavy lifting. I am inclined to go with fudging.)
12. Dude! Are those tanks? They totally are! Oddly medieval-looking tanks, and I am highly suspicious of the feasibility of those grappling hook winch things, but still. Very cool.
13. And they don't have gunners, per se; they have firebenders to act as the guns. Well, duh. (Though this world does have gunpowder; that's implicit in the existence of fireworks. Surely somebody has thought about handing 'mechanical firebending' out to grunt soldiers, if only to increase the offensive power of the army? Or then again, no. They wouldn't, would they, not when firebending is a spiritual thing, and a mark of power and social status. You wouldn't want to debase it or give commoners ideas. But one of these years, guns and rockets are going to happen, and I doubt the fallout will be pretty.)
14. Those tanks are cool. They have spare grapples in case the first is dislodged; their central carriages can spin around in case the tank is flipped upside-down; they have spiked wheels for gripping rock and snow... I want one!
15. Sokka, are you planning to blow up the temple? (...And when exactly did you have time to go shove eggs in the gas room anyway? Weren't you supposed to be working on the balloon? Oh well, I've handwaved worse continuity stutters.)
16. Um. An explosion that big, dropping that many tanks from that height... there is no way people didn't die. And yet, no reaction. Yes, I know -- kids' show -- but still. Also, the balloon just flew down the mountain toward the Fire Nation base, right? That's not good. Sokka and the Mechanist should have rigged some kind of self-destruct.
17. Hermit crabs? Tarantula crabs is more like it if you ask me! (Cute little beasties, though.)
18. Yep. Letting the balloon go was a mistake. (And ooh, judging from the Mechanist's expression, he let it sail off intact on purpose. He knows that the Fire Nation wouldn't stop coming just because of one temporary defeat. This way he gets to look like a hero to his son while still keeping his bargain and thus keeping Teo safe... at least for now. Ouch. I bet you anything that is going to come back and bite him in the ass later on.)
-----
More tomorrow!