Transcript:The Earth King (commentary)

Michael Dante DiMartino	Hi, this is Mike DiMartino, co-creator and co-EP of Avatar.
John O'Bryan	And this is John O'Bryan, I'm the writer of the episode.
Joaquim Dos Santos	And this is Joaquim Dos Santos, I am-was a storyboard artist on this episode, and current director on season three of Avatar.
Mike	John wrote this episode. Uh, John is also the, uh, genius artist behind the style of Sokka. Uh, whenever you see Sokka's drawings, uh, you s-it's John.
John	I don't mean to brag or nothing, but...
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah. When you do those drawings...
John	... those are pretty good.
Mike	... do you-what are-what're you thinking about, what's your motivation when you're-when you're...
John	[In the background.] Well, I...
Mike	... creating those artistic, genius moments?
John	... I don't think I've drawn anything since I was in second grade. [Mike laughs.]  So, m-my style hasn't evolved. [John and Joaquim laugh.]
Mike	[Laughs.] Excellent. So, this is another episode we kind of... the end of season two is really very continuous and a nice story arc in Ba Sing Se, and this is, like, the Earth King episode where the kids finally, finally make it to their goal of talking to the Earth King. And, um, kinda culminates this, uh, conspiracy storyline we began a few episodes, and stuff like that.
John	Yeah, it's tough to follow that last episode, the-the-217, I think, is one of the best episodes in the series, so.
Mike	Wow.
Joaquim	We...
Mike	[Interjects.] I'll tell Tim you said that.
John	This one's pretty good, too. [Mike and John laugh.]
Joaquim	And I had a lot to live up to.
Mike	Yeah. I think what was kinda different about this one, too, uh, Joaquim, you could talk about the storyboarding a little bit, is, like, act one we knew was gonna be-usually act three's the big action scene, or whatever, and-and...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] Right, this one started off with a huge bang.
Mike	Yeah, 'cause we wanted the kids to really earn their way to get to talk to the king, and-and, you know, [Refers to Sokka trying to convince the rest of the team to return to Ba Sing Se and inform the Earth King about the solar eclipse.] now that they, as Sokka says, now that they don't have any, uh, Long Feng doesn't have Appa to blackmail 'em anymore, they can-they can bust through.
Joaquim	Bust loose, and just kinda go right at them, yeah.
John	I-I don't want to embarrass Joaquim, or nothing, but he-he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner... [Mike laughs.]
Joaquim	[In the background.] Oh, geez, Louise.
John	... and I don't know if that influences his fighting scenes [John and Joaquim chuckle.] at all.
Mike	Does it?
John	Oh, for those of you who are interested in that, that's...
Mike	[Interjects.] Do you bring any of your knowledge of martial arts to when you storyboard, Joaquim?
Joaquim	Uh, there's not too much grappling in Avatar, [Mike and John affirm.] which Brazillian jiu-jitsu kinda contains a lot of, but I think it's just a general love for all things that kick butt. [Mike laughs; brief pause.] So yeah, started, you know, when we started on this, or when I s-personally started on this show, it was kind of a-a breath of fresh air to just be able to unleash and just go-go wild, as far as martial arts goes.
Mike	Cool.
John	Mike and I don't know how to do anything. [Mike and John laugh.]
Joaquim	You could do...
Mike	[Interjects.] I can do a couple moves...
John	Get our...
Mike	... I could probably take you down, I think...
John	... [Laughs.] I'd just go...
Mike	... if I had to, I probably could.
Joaquim	I've seen Mike kick a little butt. [Mike chuckles.]
John	I'd just give up my wallet. [Joaquim chuckles.]
Mike	Uh, this episode was directed by Ethan Spaulding.
Joaquim	Who's a magnificent director.
Mike	[Gives an affirming murmur; refers to Team Avatar flying off to the Earth King's palace.] So, here begins the insanity. [John affirms.] I believe this is where you started, Joa-Joa-Joaquim, this is...
Joaquim	This-this... [Refers to Team Avatar debating whether they should leave Ba Sing Se or not.] I did a little bit of the first part there [Mike affirms intermittently.] with the dialogue, but this is where it all kind of starts comes together with the action. And I remember talking about this in the start-up meetings and-and it sort of being the idea that there's just multiple waves after waves of, uh, of soldiers to come to-to stop them, they gotta get through it.  [Refers to the surface-to-air rock that nearly hits Appa.] Whoa.
Mike	Yeah, and great, uh, animation, uh, by animation director Jae Myung Yu. [Joaquim affirms.] Uh...
John	[Interjects.] Yeah, that's awesome.
Joaquim	Really, [Refers to the giant rocks that the teams of palace soldiers bend up at Team Avatar.] I mean, look at that, that's-there's so much weight to those-those, you know, huge stones that they're flinging up at 'em.
Mike	Yeah. [Refers to Team Avatar taking on waves of Earth Kingdom palace guards as they advance toward the palace on foot.] I think what's good about this action scene, too, is it kinda shows how far the kids have come in their training, too. Like, a lotta times we don't have-we always want to show, like, training scenes and the kids getting better at the martial arts and stuff, but sometimes the story just, you know, story's gotta keep moving, so we don't have time to show all that stuff, but in sequences like this, you can see-really see how they've... progressed as-individually and together as, like, a team, I think, which is cool. [Joaquim affirms.]
John	Yeah, we were-we were pitching this out, I think the idea was just that the-they're-they're superheroes by this point, [Mike affirms.] and these guys are just disposable peons that they're... [Mike laughs; Joaquim affirms.] knocking out of the way.
Joaquim	[Refers to the long take of Aang and Toph fighting and fending off the palace guards, applying their earthbending in a variety of different ways to ward off incoming fire.] And let me just bring to light how much animation was in that scene [Mike laughs.] specifically. Uh, overlapping action, just-they-they really, really pulled through for us, the animation studio did, [Mike affirms.] and did a kick butt job. [Refers to Toph earthbending the walkway tiles, flipping them over, and pressing down the palace soldiers struggling underneath.] I think our first cut of that, the guys looked like they were dead underneath the rocks, [John laughs.] on the first, uh...
Mike	Well, they got totally squashed. [Joaquim affirms.]
John	[Laughs.] Yeah.
Mike	They would not have had any legs. Now they're okay, they're just a little bruised.
Joaquim	Yeah. [John affirms; refers to Aang and Toph earthbending a dome out of the walkway tiles, forming it around the team to block an incoming rock statue.] This was a cool concept that I think both you and Bryan had come up with in the pitch, that they formed this kind of cocoon. [Mike gives an affirming murmur.]
John	Yeah, I like that.
Mike	So, I always ask the writers this, John, when they come in, is, like, you know, you guys write the scripts, you haven't seen it for a long time, it come-comes back in color. Are you always, like... surprised to see the outcome of-of, you know, a script that you've written and stuff, and see it visualized, and...
John	Ye-ye...
Mike	[Interjects.] Do you enjoy that process?
John	... yeah, yeah. I mean, there's, uh, I don't know, I'm pretty bad at watching animatics, so [Mike laughs.] I feel like there's even a lot that I've missed in the animatic, 'cause I can't always decipher drawings, but, uh, [Mike affirms.] yeah, when the-when the finished, colored product comes back, it's, yeah, it's always very impressive, and... full-lots of surprises, and...
Mike	[Interjects.] Cool.
Joaquim	[Refers to Appa fanning his tail in the open air as Toph and Aang raise a platform from the walkway, ferrying everyone in the group standing on it forward by moving the platform up the stairs.] And... a little small detail here is that Appa is actually helping them up with the, uh, [Mike affirms.] with the elevator there by kinda fluttering his tail.
John	Oh, I didn't know that, [Mike and Joaquim affirm intermittently.] interesting. You know, a-from a-I'm sure you guys have talked about this, from-from a writing standpoint, one of the hardest things to [Laughs.] do is figure out what to do with Appa. You cannot-you don't always have somewhere to put him. [Refers to Appa flying close-by to the train the Earth King, Sokka, Katara, and Toph are riding in.] And, uh, I think you'll see on the train, when they're on the train later, he's just kind of floating [John and Mike laugh.] outside the window 'cause we didn't know where else to put him.
	Joaquim laughs at Sokka opening one of the palace doors, startling the woman inside.
John	There are so many stories we thought of in the old days where-and somebody would just say, "oh man, they can't-they're-what about Appa?" They would...
Mike	[Interjects.] They could totally just fly.
John	... just fly there. [Laughs.] Right, yeah. [Mike affirms.]
Joaquim	Well, that's definitely one of our boarding notes, too. We're always, like, where's Appa, and [John affirms.] where's Momo? [John chuckles.]
Mike	And Momo often disappears for a while, but [Joaquim affirms.] we always find good little nuggets for him to do.
Joaquim	[Refers to Zuko deliriously falling to the ground in his apartment.] This was a great scene boarded by, uh, Mike Chang. That-and that animation on that fall [Mike affirms.] was just-just something of beauty. [Brief pause; refers to the rubble blocking a palace hallway that Sokka climbs over.] Tons of rubble. [Refers to Sokka giving a flying kick to the massive doors leading to the Earth King's throne room.] This is a great gag we came up with in the pitch, [Joaquim and John laugh.] where just...
	Referring to Sokka falling from the door he just tried to kick down, Joaquim imitates the deflating sound effect that accompanies Sokka's fall, with both him and John laughing afterward.
Joaquim	... and initially, this scene was, I don't know if you remember, was extended, [Refers to Team Avatar approaching the Earth King, Long Feng, and his Dai Li guards.] and this was a huge fight scene in this enormous round room we had come up with.
John	Oh yeah, yeah, that's right.
Mike	Oh, that's right, you did even more...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] Yeah, I mean, there was, like, a double board here, and...
Mike	... then-then we ended up with.
Joaquim	... yeah, time kinda cut it.
Mike	Well, I think-I think, I was satisfied with that action.
Joaquim	I...
John	[Interjects.] I get it.
Mike	[Laughs.] I think they earned their way in.
Joaquim	Absolutely. I don't know how many more animators we might have possibly killed [Mike laughs.] had we done more.
Mike	[Refers to the Earth King questioning why he should trust Team Avatar after their numerous trespasses.] And the-I like how the-the-just how the Earth King turned out. You know, he's... he's not, uh, too cartoony and he's, like, seems like a real guy, you know. I think the kids had a lot of expectations of what this guy was gonna turn out [Joaquim affirms.] to be like, and you kinda realize he's just, like, a normal guy who's been sheltered all his life. [John affirms; refers to the Earth King telling Katara that he has never left the palace.] Which, you know, is based on-on real-real stuff in China and st-and things, where the emperor there, you know, often wouldn't leave the Forbidden City in China for years and years, and they-they led a very isolated existence in a way.
Joaquim	Right. He sort of personifies the, uh, "ignorance is bliss". [Mike affirms.]
John	He means well, he's not a bad guy.
Joaquim	No, no...
Mike	Exactly.
Joaquim	... not at all.
John	Out of the loop.
Mike	[Refers to Team Avatar trying to inform the Earth King about Long Feng's deceptions.] But that's what I like about this story, too, is how the kids come into his palace, and stuff kind of wakes him up, [John affirms.] from-from what's been going on.
John	[Refers to the Earth King's glasses.] Nice touch with the, uh, uh, pince-nez, by the way, the little glasses on his face. [John and Mike laugh; refers to Bosco licking Aang.] Oh, Bosco.
Joaquim	Oh...
John	Very funny.
Joaquim	... good old Bosco.
Mike	Yeah, Bosco became-he-he appeared first in, uh, 214, I think, and then we just all decided we liked Bosco so much that he was gonna-gonna hang out with the king.
	A brief pause in commentary until Aang starts detailing Long Feng's capture of Appa to the king, casually breaking out of the rock glove bindings the Dai Li put on him, only to put his hands behind himself and allow his rock bindings to shackle him again.
Joaquim	Sorta great here, too, that Aang pretty much showed everybody that he could get away if he wanted to. [Mike affirms.] But he's-he's choosing to do this diplomatically.
Mike	Aang's good like that.
Joaquim	He is good like that. [Mike chuckles.]
John	Aang-Aang really cares what people think about him, [Mike laughs.] I think.
Mike	Yeah, I think you're right.
John	[Brief pause; refers to Long Feng trying to convince the king that the kids are subversives attempting to bring him down.] What a no-good liar. [Mike chuckles.]
Joaquim	Scoundrel.
Mike	But he's-Long Feng was a good, good season two villain. [Joaquim gives an affirming murmur.] I really liked his character.
Joaquim	And this was really one of the first, you know, besides the-the episode right before, this is where we really got to see what the Dai Li agents' jobs were, and-and-and get a feel that they're his minions.
Mike	Yeah, there're kinda two factions, it was, like, Long Feng and the Dai Li, and then the king and all his guards and soldiers and generals, and stuff.
Joaquim	Right.
	After a brief pause, Mike and Joaquim chuckle at Aang blowing up Long Feng's robes with his airbending, revealing the bite mark on his exposed leg by Appa.
John	Oh, I remember, it took us a long time to figure out how they could prove that... [Mike laughs,.] that he had met Appa.
Mike	That was a good way. [Refers to the two shots of Aang sliding into frame, enthusiastically pointing at Appa's teeth in the first shot, then Long Feng's bite mark in the second.] Ah, I love this...
John	[Interjects.] Look, uh...
Mike	... this animation coming up here with, [Mike and John laugh.] Aang...
Joaquim	[In the background.] Awesome. [Laughs.]
Mike	... where he's, like...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] He just slides out.
Mike	... slid in. Think Ethan storyboarded that part.
Joaquim	He did, he did. Yeah, that was great. [Refers to Team Avatar cheerful, then disappointed, then accepting reactions to the Earth King coming around to their explanations.] This is awesome acting too here.
	Mike imitates the kids going "aww" after the king clarifies that just because Long Feng met Appa does not prove their claims about the rest of the Dai Li's conspiracy. A brief pause in commentary until John and Joaquim laugh as the king says he'll look into the matter, to which the kids give satisfied affirmations.
Joaquim	[Imitating the kids.] "He says we'll take it."
	A brief pause in commentary until the scene transitions to Iroh taking care of Zuko's fever, explaining to his nephew that his ailment is part of his personal metamorphosis .
Mike	So, I think the idea with this little B-story of Zuko was-was we knew we were gonna have him kind of go through this transformation and-and kind of lean toward the good side. And, uh, wanted a kinda simple story where we're-Zuko is literally going through this feverish transformation. And so...
John	[Interjects.] Yeah, I sor-I sorta got to do all the episodes with crazy dreams, I think.
Mike	Did you? [Laughs.]
John	Uh, the-the one in third season, which everyone will see.
Mike	Oh, yeah. Don't ruin it for anyone.
John	Oh, I'm not, [Mike laughs.] I'm not saying a word. [Mike and Joaquim laugh; refers to the Earth King nervously standing in the middle of the train surrounded by his guards.] It's his first time on the train. [Mike affirms.]
Joachim	His first time out of the-out of the palace.
John	Oh, that's right, yeah. [Mike affirms.]
	A brief pause in commentary until Toph tries to earthbend the entrance to Lake Laogai from underneath the water, only to bring up bits of rubble.
Mike	So, that is actually an identical shot to the last episode that we did, where Toph raised the secret [Joaquim affirms.] entrance to the Lake Laogai headquarters, and now it's all broken up.
John	[Brief pause; refers to the Earth King stating his visit to Lake Laogai was a waste of time.] Is that Phil LaMarr, as the Earth King?
Mike	Oh yeah, he-I was gonna mention that...
John	[In the background.] Was it? Is it?
Mike	... yeah, he did the-he was the voice of the Earth King, and he does a lot of... animation voices, and...
John	[In the background.] Yeah, was on...
Mike	... just a great actor. [Brief pause.] And, you know, it's always funny with the-the voice recording stuff, is, like, rarely do all the ch-are all the characters in the room together; you know, you think, like, [John affirms.] everyone's there acting together, but, you know, sometimes we'll have, like, Katara and Sokka together or something, but, you know, the-the kid who plays Aang, uh, Zach Tyler Eisen, lives in New York. He's always recording by himself, [Joaquim affirms.] you know, sometimes Zuko is, uh, recording by himself, so. But-but Andrea, the voice director, uh, Andrea Romano, always brings, you know, her direction style, and stuff, can really bl-blend them all together very nicely and-and make it very cohesive.
Joaquim	And the interesting thing from a boarding point of view is a lot of the time when we get the tracks, it only has certain actors on it. Until we'll go to a pitch, we'll kind of leave, you know, say Katara hasn't been on the track yet, [Mike affirms.] we'll just leave her kinda really ambiguous what her acting is, and at a later date we'll end up getting her-her track, and then plugging the-the acting later.
Mike	[Gives an affirming murmur; refers to Zuko's dream, his face unscarred, sitting on a throne as the Fire Lord as he is advised by two dragons.] So, did you ever have a dream like this, John, when you were writing this? [Laughs.]
John	My dreams don't ever actually make any sense. [Mike laughs intermittently.] They're-they're never this cool, and I can usually barely remember them, unless I write them down when I first wake up. [Mike gives an affirming murmur.] But yeah, it's usually just, you know, I'm going grocery shopping, except I'm at the post office. [Mike and John laugh.] Just something really mundane like that. It's...
Joaquim	[Interjects; refers to Zuko looking out in shock as his throne room and soldiers disappear and crumble around him.] This was really cool [John affirms.] to see, though, Zuko without the scar on his face. [Mike affirms.] Sort of what he should've looked like had he not had such a horrible father. [John laughs.]
Mike	[Laughs; refers to the blue dragon in Zuko's dream baring its mouth, the blackness within encompassing the shot, with Ursa fading in, pleading for her son to help her.] And we see a little glimpse of Zuko's mom right here.
Joaquim	And if I can remember that correctly, I remember at one point the boarding had Zuko's mom actually getting swallowed by the dragon, which was...
Mike	[Interjects.] She was in the mouth...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] She was in the mouth...
Mike	... it's just, I was-it was a little too scary...
Joaquim	... it was a little much.
Mike	... even for me.
Joaquim	I was scared looking at the board.
Mike	You know, I-I was scared. So, we, uh, we changed that.
John	That's true, yeah.
Mike	[Refers to the top-down shot of the Fire Nation drill, still stuck in the Outer Wall, and surrounded by three other smaller barriers.] So, and there we see the drill, which w-you know, was in the episode of-called the "The Drill". [Joaquim affirms.] Still in-in-and you see that, I think Bryan had the idea of, like, that there were the-the earthbenders kinda constructed these...
John	[Interjects; laughs.] Right.
Mike	... other walls around it to, you know, 'cause they were trying to disrepair it and-and get it outta there, but they needed some protection still, so.
John	It looks like some kinda little Jersey barrier, [Joaquim laughs.] or something like that.
Mike	[Refers to Long Feng's attempts to explain the drill's presence to the king.] So, this is here-this is where Long Feng's lies all kind of finally crumble. [Joaquim affirms.]
John	Kids, lies will always do that to you. [Mike gives an affirming murmur.]
Joaquim	Yes.
Mike	Can't keep control forever.
John	[Refers to the Earth King ordering the Dai Li to arrest their leader, Long Feng; in a mock dramatic tone.] Oh, the tangled web! [Mike chuckles.]
Joaquim	Yes. [Brief pause; refers to the closeup shot that pans between the two Dai Li agents, as they look at each other, silently ruminating on which side to pick.] This was a great scene that I remember came together in the pitch, where both Dai Li agents look at each other, [Mike affirms.] for a moment, where it's, "should I do this?"
John	[Refers to the metal handcuffs the Dai Li send out of their sleeves, binding them around Long Feng's limbs.] They have separate metal handcuffs.
Joaquim	They do.
Mike	Yeah.
John	Yes, because they can't use the rock ones on him, obviously.
Mike	That's right, yeah. They have to create a new kind of handcuff. Well, not new; I mean, metal handcuffs have been around for a while, but. [John chuckles.]
Joaquim	[Laughs.] A new kind of [Mike laughs.] Avatar metal, newfangled handcuff.
Mike	[Refers to Team Avatar telling the king about the Day of Black Sun.] So, this is ki-this is the scene, too, that kids have been waiting... to tell the ki-the king about the eclipse since, like, the library episode, I think, which when they first found out about it. [Joaquim affirms.] Which John also wrote, "The Library".
John	[Laughs.] Isn't there-isn't there a callback to that in one of these episodes, is somebody says something about... [Laughs.]
Mike	[Interjects.] About?
John	... Professor Zei, university?
Mike	Oh yeah, [John laughs.] when they-when they first come to Ba Sing Se, they're-they talk about how they met a professor from Ba Sing Se University. But, uh, yeah, he went down with the library, so.
Joaquim	Yes. [Refers to the Earth King criticizing himself for not being aware of the corruption and dangers of Ba Sing Se.] I can remember being so frustrated, having read the script at this point, with the king when he said, "I am the king of fools," I was like, [In a mock insulting tone.] yes, you are the king of fools! [John laughs.]
Mike	[Laughs; brief pause.] So, how was it, Joaquim, coming in, 'cause, uh, you know, a lotta the crew had been around since the beginning, like, coming into a-to a show that was, like, halfway, you know, in the middle of the season and-and jumping in and stuff, how...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] It was, I mean, it was-it was a great experience, uh, as far as dealing with everybody, 'cause everybody was just so, you know, so-so friendly, and-and there wasn't really that mentality where, you know, lotta crews you go onto, you know, "this is our team," and, you know, you're kind of an outsider, everybody. I remember I had lunch with you guys my first or second day and, you know, it just-everything really flowed really smoothly, and I think this show particularly kind of caters to what I enjoy about, you know, film and-and... so, I think I-I took to it really, really easily.
Mike	Now, were you a fan of before you started working on it?
Joaquim	I was a-I was a big fan. I...
Mike	[In the background.] You were, alright, that's...
Joaquim	... I can remember my-my-my girlfriend at the time, my fiancé now, was, uh, watching TV, and-and this show had kinda made the rounds, uh, just rumor-wise in all of animation, [Mike gives an affirming murmur.] we're kinda hearing about this Avatar show, and she happened to catch it on Nickelodeon, and she TiVo'd it, and she had said, "you gotta come home, [Mike laughs.] you gotta watch this show now." And the show that I was on at the time was coming to an end, and everything just seemed to work out really, really well.
Mike	[In the background.] Oh, that's cool.
John	Did it-did you seek out Avatar...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] I did.
John	... after seeing the show?
Joaquim	I-I-I called up as soon...
Mike	[In the background.] Wow.
Joaquim	... as I heard that there was a position open, and I said, [In a mock desperate tone.] "I want in, let me in," and, uh, I remember for a while not being able to-to take the test to, uh, get in, just 'cause of work constraints, and then it worked out, and... [Mike affirms.]
John	That's right. Lauren MacMullan had left to work on a movie based on a Fox animated [Mike laughs.] show that we can't give you the name of.
Joaquim	[Laughs.] Right. I think I was taking... was I taking Justin's place? Had Justin just left?
Mike	Yeah, our Justin Ridge, our s-storyboard artist from... who had been there since the beginning. [Joaquim affirms.] But, uh...
Joaquim	There was definitely, you know, some big shoes to fill, though. I mean, I-I-I studied all of Justin's boards, [Mike affirms.] and was abs-absolutely just amazed by them. So, there was-there was, I was...
Mike	[Interjects.] You filled the shoes, man.
Joaquim	... [In a mock frustrated tone.] I was intimidated, man!
Mike	You filled them.
Joaquim	[Laughs.] Well, thank you.
John	[Brief pause; refers to Iroh telling Zuko that after his metamorphosis, he will become a beautiful prince, the person he was always meant to be.] He's gonna be a butterfly, [Mike gives an affirming murmur.] when he comes out of it.
Joaquim	Yes. That line actually made me cringe when I read it, the "beautiful prince" line. [Mike, John and Joaquim laugh.] But then when I saw it in the-in the-in the show, it worked out really well. I was like, "beautiful?" [Mike laughs.]
	A brief pause in commentary until Sokka questions if a guru is some kind of poisonous blowfish after hearing Guru Pathik's title.
Joaquim	[Laughs.] That's a great one.
Mike	So, we're kind of-this-this act three stuff also is... was used to kinda set up the next couple of episodes where the kids split up, have to go their separate ways. [Refers to Sokka and Katara learning where their father is.] And also that, you know, the news that they find out where their dad is is, like...
Joaquim	[In the background.] Huge.
Mike	... something we've been setting up since, you know, s-early season one where we found out that their dad left their tribe to fight in the war.
John	[Refers to Long Feng's secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se.] That's a lot of, uh, legwork if they have files on everybody in the city. He-Long Feng must have a lot of...
Mike	[In the background.] He...
John	... government employees for...
Mike	[Interjects.] Well, it was before the internet, so it was harder to, [Joaquim laughs.] you know, [John affirms.] keep track of...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] None of that intranets. [John laughs.]
Mike	They have really, uh, good filing clerks, though, [John laughs.] I think in-in Ba Sing Se. Really good library science, uh, uh, s...
Joaquim	[Interjects.] Hey, I was thinking they stored a lot of them in the library that went down in the desert. [Mike affirms.]
John	[Laughs.] That's what, uh, that's where paperbenders come in. [Mike and Joaquim laugh.] Which we don't go into in this show.
Mike	We didn't-we haven't seen those yet.
Joaquim	The useless art of paper. [Mike and John laugh.]
John	[Brief pause; refers to Aang trying to confess his feelings to Katara before they leave.] Uh-oh.
Mike	And I like...
	A brief pause in commentary until Sokka interrupts Aang's confession, putting the airbender in a headlock and noogying his scalp, to which Joaquim and Mike chuckle at.
John	Oh, fellas all understand that.
Joaquim	[Simultaneously with Mike.] Yep.
Mike	[Simultaneously with Joaquim.] Yep. [Mike and Joaquim laugh.] We've all been there.
	Another brief pause in commentary until Sokka falls off of Appa after hearing the Earth King mention the Kyoshi Warriors.
Joaquim	[Laughs.] This is great. D'oh!
Mike	Aw man, he would've totally... [John chuckles.] broken his back there. [Laughs.]
Joaquim	Yeah, that's definitely a compound, uh, fracture of some sort.
John	[Brief pause; refers to Sokka praising the Kyoshi Warriors to the Earth King.] That's why you have to be really careful who you give a, uh, recommendation for. [Mike gives an affirming murmur; Joaquim laughs.] Because it can come back [Mike laughs.] and hurt you.
Joaquim	[Refers to Aang, Katara, and Toph forcing Sokka into a group hug.] This is great. [Laughs.]
John	[Laughs; refers to Sokka keeping his arms hanging over the group huddle.] Sokka doesn't hug. Not a hugging guy. [Mike affirms; refers to the sequence of Zuko dreaming he has an arrow tattoo on his head and no scar, only to wake up and find he still has his trademark burn.] Oh, this is my favorite part I think, in the episode.
Mike	[Brief pause.] Yeah, this was staged really nicely. I think, Mike Chang...
John	Yeah, very well.
Joaquim	This was Mike Chang.
Mike	... also did this.
Joaquim	The...
Mike	[Interjects.] Just the...
Joaquim	... the way I knew this scene...
	As Zuko reacts in horror to his new face as he looks at his reflection in a mirror, Mike gives off a mock yell in fight, chucking afterward.
Joaquim	... played really well was... that it, you know, we'd seen it all the way from the beginning, from the-the rough stages all through the storyboards, and it still shocked me when we got the footage back, [Mike affirms.] was-was still thrown back.
John	[Brief pause; refers to Sokka joyously recounting the team's recent achievements and prospects, including getting Long Feng arrested.] I love that he's so happy that he got Long Feng arrested. [Joaquim laugh.]
Mike	[Laughs.] I would be, too.
Joaquim	[Interjects; refers to Aang saying their love interests are waiting for them when they get back.] I like Aang's line, too.
John	[Laughs.] Yeah. [Simultaneously with Joaquim.] "Girls are waiting for us."
Joaquim	[Simultaneously with John.] "Girls are waiting for us."
John	[Refers to Sokka saying everything from then on and "forever" would be perfect; John and Joaquim laugh.] He couldn't set that up any better, [Mike laughs.] could he?
Mike	Might've been overreaching a bit.
John	Perhaps. [Laughs.]
Joaquim	[Brief pause; refers to the ray of light scattering as it comes through the barred window on Long Feng's cell door.] Did a lot of great diffusion on that scene, which-which-which I think works out really well.
Mike	Yeah, I love the-the scenes in the cell looked really nice, and creepy.
Joaquim	Really cool, yeah.
Mike	[Refers to Toph getting kidnapped by Xin Fu and Yu.] Then we have the [Clears throat.] Toph kidnapping, which, you know, as we recall...
John	[Interjects.] Yeah, we haven't seen...
Mike	... Xin Fu and Master Yu, they haven't been around for, uh, many an episode, but.
John	... yeah, I hope people remembered [Mike laughs.] who they were, that...
Joaquim	[In a mock confused tone.] Who're these dudes? [Mike laughs.]
John	[Laughs.] Right?
Mike	[Brief pause.] But I think, uh, I really love the ending of this episode, 'cause you do get that kinda feeling of, like, yeah, things are going good, we could get a little complacent, and then, [Refers to Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee presenting themselves before the Earth King while disguised as Kyoshi Warriors.] bam! [John and Joaquim affirm.] Oh, it's... Azula.
John	Avatar is great at disappointing [Mike laughs.] kids, with its e-endings. [Mike affirms.]
Joaquim	I definitely...
Mike	[Interjects.] I feel like those make the best stories. [Joaquim affirms.]
John	Yeah, definitely. The...
Mike	[Interjects.] If you end with a happy ending every time, what are you gonna do now?
John	Boy, some kids were so mad [John and Mike laugh.] about the end of season two. [Joaquim laughs; Mike affirms.] It was... yeah.
Mike	Tune in for Bryan and my commentary on s... [John laughs.] the last episode of season two [Joaquim laughs.] for more of that.
John	Yay.
Mike	So.
Joaquim	This was a ball to work on, though, this-this-this one in particular from, uh, from season two was-was a lot of fun.
John	Season two, as a whole, is-is pretty solid. [Joaquim gives an affirming murmur.]
Mike	I would say so. I mean, the fact that we get to do, you know, a-a political conspiracy thriller for children... I was, you know...
John	[Interjects.] No doubt, yeah.
Joaquim	Nothing wrong with that.
Mike	... it's exciting. Thanks again, everyone, who worked so hard on this-this episode in the series.
Joaquim	Yep.
John	And thank you for...
Mike	[Interjects.] Thank you, guys, for joining us.
John	For buying the DVD. [Mike laughs.]
Joaquim	Thank you for having us.
	Commentary ends.

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Article · More transcripts
Episode transcript

• Michael Dante DiMartino
• Joaquim Dos Santos
• John O'Bryan

See also

• "The Earth King"