Avatar: The Final Airbender‘s creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, have revealed whether or not they knew how Aang’s journey would develop earlier than they produced the present. It has been 20 years since Avatar: The Final Airbender first premiered on Nickelodeon, altering Hollywood’s and the general public’s notion of what kids’s tv and animation could possibly be.
Aang’s have to grasp the three remaining parts — water, earth, and hearth — offered the present with an ideal, three-act construction. Consequently, Avatar: The Final Airbender is well known as one of the vital tightly plotted fantasy sequence of all time; even its “filler” episodes had one thing to say.
So, what number of of Aang’s and his buddies’ adventures had been deliberate upfront? In an interview with Buzzfeed to have fun Avatar: The Final Airbender‘s twentieth anniversary, Konietzko and DiMartino defined how Aang’s story got here to be. “We had the broad strokes of the construction of the sequence discovered,” DiMartino revealed.
“We had the system of Aang needing to grasp the weather — he’ll examine water, after which he is gonna study earth and do one thing within the Hearth Nation, and study hearth. That caught by.” DiMartino continued.
“We had concepts for sure episodes. In fact, there have been many episodes to fill in, so issues get fleshed out and expanded on. Many new concepts not within the ‘Growth Bible’ got here to fruition within the present. But it surely’s cool to look again and suppose, ‘Oh yeah, we considered that early on!'”
Earlier within the interview, Konietzko had talked about wanting again at their “Growth Bible” after the sequence ended, and being equally shocked by what number of of their unique concepts made it into the present.
“I hadn’t actually checked out it in a few years at that time. Not to remove from the writers’ or artists’ concepts, and even our newer concepts, however there was lots of stuff from that ‘Growth Bible’ that we did know. For instance, the element of Aang cocooning himself within the stone throughout the Ozai battle was in there,” Konietzko mentioned.
He continued, “We had different wacky concepts in that Bible that we left behind. We positively did not have each single factor mapped out, however we knew there could be a counter-invasion in E-book Three. We knew Aang would face Ozai throughout the comet, and Ozai would have supercharged firebending.”
In fact, even a well-paced, humorous, adventurous, informative, and culturally vital cartoon can nonetheless be let down by a disappointing sequence finale. Fortunately, Avatar: The Final Airbender caught the touchdown. The comet-fueled showdown between Aang and the tyrannical Hearth Lord Ozai was breathtaking, and Aang’s victory was wholly deserved.
However how did DiMartino and Konietzko determine easy methods to depict probably the most visceral, essential battle of Aang’s life? What “parts” had been wanted to carry the battle collectively in a narratively and emotionally satisfying means? “It got here out of Aang’s character and his tradition,” DiMartino mentioned. “He is from this monastic, non-violent group, and people are his values. He was at all times making an attempt to make peace between individuals who had been combating.”
The ATLA co-creator continued, “On the finish, the opposite characters assume he’ll kill Ozai, however that goes in opposition to the whole lot Aang believes in. We lately re-watched the finale with some individuals at Nickelodeon, and that concept resonates by these 4 episodes. It is this weight he feels of looking for one other means.”
Each DiMartino and Konietzko additionally revealed that the legendary lion-turtle’s involvement was selected nicely upfront of making the ultimate few episodes. “The lion-turtle concept was one thing we tried to weave subtly by the sequence, so it did not really feel fully out of the blue — although, I do know some individuals suppose it got here out of nowhere!” DiMartino shared.
Konietzko additional defined, “Like Mike mentioned, we knew it was going to narrate to the lion-turtles. In case you watch the check pilot that we did earlier than we received the inexperienced gentle, we put the lion-turtles within the opening montage. Aang is out on this courtyard, and there are these huge lion-turtle statues.”
“Early on, we knew he was going to wish to study from these totally different masters, and he’ll study the final word approach from the lion-turtle. It performs on lots of totally different myths, and we had been impressed by statues in South Korea of those turtles with enormous monoliths on their backs.”
Given the present’s continued cultural affect, it is protected to say that Avatar‘s finale did precisely what it wanted to do. Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko’s tales have continued in ATLA‘s graphic novels (and shall be additional explored in a number of animated tasks, together with the upcoming The Legend of Aang theatrical film), however that ongoing success would not have been potential with out the unique present or its beautiful sequence finale.
20 years later, Avatar: The Final Airbender is as related and highly effective as ever — possibly much more so.
- Launch Date
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2005 – 2008
- Community
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Nickelodeon
- Showrunner
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Michael Dante DiMartino
- Administrators
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Giancarlo Volpe, Ethan Spaulding, Lauren MacMullan, Dave Filoni, Joaquim Dos Santos, Anthony Lioi
- Writers
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Tim Hedrick, Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, Joshua Hamilton, James Eagan, Joann Estoesta, Nick Malis, Might Chan, Katie Mattila