Avatar: The Last Airbender has been lauded by many for a great deal of reasons –
the weaving of moral lessons, character development and eastern philosophies made for great stories,
and feeding those narratives into an overarching story
that was carefully plotted out before a single episode was made
left a series with not merely a satisfying narrative arc, but
one of the best ever aired. It’s easy to imagine Avatar arriving fully formed, a
smooth process from ideation to planning to airing each episode without any major changes
in-between. That’s not what happened though. So here I want to look at Avatar’s unaired
pilot. This is a quick look at where Avatar began.
The first thing that struck me watching the pilot was just how much had changed, and how
much was already established. Perhaps that only makes sense for a pilot, but given how
fully formed the final version of the show felt, it’s interesting to note both how
much was already established, and how much wasn’t yet decided upon.
Starting with the similarities - Aang, Katara and Sokka’s designs remain almost identical
and the music, although not exactly the same, already has most of the themes associated
with the characters and factions established.
There are also a few moments in the pilot
that have direct parallels to moments in the finished show like this fight between a hawk
and flying lemur, this sea serpent and a firebender destroying something while focused on fighting
Aang. On the other hand Aang, Sokka and Katara have
rather different characters, each feeling almost like caricatures of the characters
in the show. Also Katara isn’t yet called Katara, going by Kaya in the pilot.
Visually there are some small, but not insignificant changes.
The designs for the air and water
bending nations have already been established, but the earth and firebending outfits have
changed dramatically. Every change was for the better, Kaya – now
Katara was a little one note, maybe even a little annoying in the pilot and even the
first lines she has in the final series are a major improvement. And she only gets better
from there. Sokka is a bit better, but comes across as less well balanced in the pilot
– the Sokka we all know and love struck a balance between cynicism and care, between
frustrations brought upon himself and leadership abilities that kept the group together. Those
elements are all in the pilot, just weighted a little too heavily in one or the
other direction – still Sokka, but not quite as likeable or relatable.
Aang for me represents the biggest change, while at the same time being the most well
established in the pilot. He has an existing relationship with Appa and Momo brought about
by a shared origin as the last of their kind, a romantic interest and a carefree nature
that all define him in the series, but every element of his character lacks the depth the
final take on Aang had. Appa and Momo are more than just friends or pets to Aang, but
sometimes more important to him than even his human companions representing as they
do the past that for Aang was so recent.
Katara is a romantic interest from the get go, but
their relationship is built on desires from both parties – Katara longs to hone her
waterbending abilities and escape the domestic roles her tribe would place her in while Aang
longs for the close connections he lost upon learning he was the Avatar. Finally, his personality
is a similar mixture of carefree and anxious to live up to his role in both the pilot and
series, but the balance between those elements just isn’t quite right in the pilot.
Ultimately what I find most interesting about the unaired pilot for Avatar: The Last Airbender
is that the creators could easily have settled. The adventures of Aang, Kaya and Sokka would
have been fine, perhaps even great, TV. It wouldn’t have been Avatar though. Avatar
is refined, considered, broad in scope and tight in focus. It balanced introspection
and character development with moral lessons and some wonderfully choreographed fights
without ever losing focus on the character arcs that remain some of the best ever put to screen.
The Major elements of the series are present in the pilot,
and it no doubt took a huge effort to put it together,
but in the small changes the team made between that pilot and the series we remember we catch
a glimpse of what made Avatar special, that little extra something that turned Kaya into
Katara. The point where Avatar Began. So where do you think Avatar as we know it
began? Was it before the series itself was made, or even before the pilot was, or do
we paint a picture of a series that perhaps only exists in its entirety, where Avatar
as we know it began after the last episode aired?
As always I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers,
Have a good one.