| Michael Dante DiMartino | Hi, this is Mike DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar. |
|---|---|
| Bryan Konietzko | And Bryan Konietzko, the other co-creator of Avatar. |
| Aaron Ehasz | This is Aaron Ehasz, head writer. |
| Mike | [Refers to the Avatar world map in the opening sequence.] Here-here-there's the map of the world. Zoom in, very ex... dramatically. |
| Aaron | [Refers to the firebender in the initial portion of the intro.] We just breezed by Azula. [Laughs.] Weren't we going to say something... |
| Mike | Oh yeah. We were. |
| Aaron | ... about Azula back there? |
| Mike | The-the firebender in the main title is Azula, if you don't know. [Refers to the long shot of Roku bending the four elements.] And this guy right here is Roku. |
| Bryan | Azula is Zuko's sister. Who is only kinda teased in this... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] That's true. |
| Bryan | ... season. |
| Mike | We only see her in, uh... |
| Bryan | [In the background.] One... |
| Mike | ... episode twelve, and at the very end of the season in episode twenty. But, uh... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] But we knew... |
| Mike | ... quickly became a fan favorite, I believe. |
| Bryan | We had plans for her since the beginning, yeah. [Mike affirms; gives an affirming murmur.] |
| Aaron | The internet fandom, internet forums really responded to, uh, Azula immediately in twelve, and were like, "oh my god, like who, who is this?" And kind of a-asked a lot of questions, and it's really interesting. |
| Mike | Yeah, and she only appeared in [Aaron affirms.] one shot, and didn't even have a line or anything. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Katara's male waterbending sparring partner, Sangok.] That character is, uh, Angela Mueller's brother. She designed it based on him because he got beat up by a girl. [Laughs.] |
| Mike | [Laughs.] Yeah, there's a lot of characters that we'll-we'll base on-on people we know, or people that people on the crew know. |
| Bryan | I'd only met her brother one time, and I saw that drawing, and I said, "oh that's your brother." [Laughs.] |
| Mike | That's fun. |
| Bryan | It's a really good caricature. |
| Mike | So now, this is kind of, like, you know, a couple weeks after episode eighteen, and-and, uh, [Refers to Katara easily disabling Sangok with her waterbending.] Katara's learned a lot since last time we saw her, [Refers to Pakku complimenting Katara's aptitude and hard work in training.] and she and Pakku are old buddies now, [Refers to Aang playing with Momo during Pakku's training session.] and Aang's kind of a slacker. |
| Aaron | [Refers to Pakku remarking that Sangok might be able to fight a sea sponge.] Some kind of a sea sponge reference a second ago? |
| Mike | There was, there was. |
| Aaron | Which, for Nickelodeon fans, you might recognize as... [Mike laughs.] a po-a friendly poke at our fellow Nickelodeon show. |
| Mike | Was it meant to be? |
| Bryan | Really? |
| Mike | Was it? |
| Aaron | I think it was meant to be. [Mike laughs.] |
| Bryan | That's news to me. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Aang waterbending the snow around, encasing himself in his own created snowman.] I like the, uh, the snowman trick. That's the idea that Aang doesn't really have a fighting spirit; um, he's a prodigy as a bender, but he likes to use his bending abilities to, like, make up the air scooter, and-and now make himself a snowman, so he's just... you jus-just see that he's got a good heart in the way that his bending skills manifest. [Brief pause; refers to the scene of Appa eating kelp in the stables.] So, Appa's eating some kelp. |
| Aaron laughs as Appa pins Sokka down in order to lick him. | |
| Bryan | We figured that was the only kind of greenery they had around in the North Pole, was stuff that they got from the ocean. |
| Mike | [Refers to Sokka introducing Yue to his "good friend" Appa.] Man, Sokka and Appa have come a long way, they were-they were... he pretty much hated Appa in the beginning. |
| Bryan | That's true. That's a good point. |
| Mike | Now he's-now he's using him to get chicks. [Bryan affirms.] |
| Aaron | [Refers to Sokka's yip-yip to Appa.] I love that suave second yip. [Mike laughs.] So perfectly done. |
| Bryan | [Imitating Sokka.] "Yip-yip." |
| Mike | Oh, it is. That was pretty funny. |
| Aaron chuckles as Sokka's casual tone as he brags to Yue about how he and his friends pretty much live on Appa's saddle while in flight. | |
| Aaron | [Refers to when Yue moves closer to Sokka as they fly together on Appa.] Nice. [Aaron, Bryan and Mike laugh.] |
| Bryan | [Refers to Four Seasons theme playing in the background.] So, here you'll-you'll hear the theme coming back. |
| Mike | The love theme? |
| Bryan | Yeah, I think. [Refers to Sokka acting nonchalantly after nearly sharing a romantic moment with Yue.] Perfect acting by Jack DeSena. [Bryan and Aaron laugh; Bryan imitates Sokka.] Good times. |
| Aaron | [Refers to shot transitioning from a medium shot of Sokka and Yue as white and black snow falls around them to a long shot of black snow falling on the North Pole and around Appa.] This is a nice transition. |
| Bryan | [Refers to the theme's timbre becoming more ominous.] Yeah, the music really worked out well here. |
| Mike | I remember, I think you pitched the idea of black snow, Aaron. That was-it was a very cool visual... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Was a... |
| Mike | ... idea to show the coming of the Fire Nation. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Momo's negative reaction to tasting the fallen black snow.] I like... it's a nice, uh, way to show it, how it's polluted, Momo gagging on it. [Refers to the water of one of the city's ice fountains getting darker.] Lauren MacMullan, the director of this episode, did this cool shot where the water turns black... I thought it was nice. [Refers to Sokka informing Yue that black snow is the sign of a forthcoming Fire Nation attack.] We like to show that the Fire Nation's assault on the world is-there's a lot of different levels to it. They sort of represent an industrial revolution, so there's these cultures that are very tied in with nature, and some more than others. And-and the Fire Nation, 'cause of their, um, smelting skills and what-not, have gotten into this industrial revolution before everybody else, so, it's one thing that's sort of fueled their ambition and their, um, conquering spirit. They needed more resources, and, uh, wanted to build up their defenses and eventually just take over the world. And-so having the snow polluted by their ships is kind of a neat way to show that their conquest effects even nature, not just, um, not just these societies. And-so throughout the season, we've had, like, you know, burned down forests, and, uh, other various, uh, imprints on nature from their conquest. |
| Aaron | Plus, black snow is just weird. [Mike laughs.] |
| Bryan | It is weird, yeah. |
| Mike | It's weird and scary. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Sokka and Yue talking on the stairs, the former standing from a higher position.] I like this staging on the stairs, I thought it was interesting, and the characters at different heights. |
| Aaron | [Refers to when Yue tells Sokka they cannot see each other anymore.] A fine time to end it Yue. [Mike and Bryan laugh.] Good choice. Stakes are high. |
| Bryan | [Imitating Sokka.] "But we're on the way to the town meeting!" |
| Mike | [Laughs; brief pause.] So, [Refers to Yue iterating to Sokka that she has to go forward with her arranged marriage for her father and people.] Yue has a very strong sense of duty, which is-is, you know, a good character quality. Though she's very div-divisive character, some people really like her, some people don't really like her so much. |
| Bryan | We-we-we have a lot of those characters. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] Yeah. |
| Bryan | That's okay. The world's like that. [Mike affirms; refers to the echo sound effects on Arnook's voice as he speaks in the royal palace's throne room.] I like the, uh, treatment that Tom did on the voices in the mix here, for this kind of hall reverb. [Refers to the multiple flash cuts between Yue, Pakku, and Hahn as Arnook speaks of faces that may disappear from the tribe after the impending battle is over.] So, these are these premonitions on who will, [Mike affirms.] who will leave the, uh, tribe by the end, either by [Adopts a dramatic tone.] leaving the world, or just leaving the North Pole. |
| Mike | Yeah, there's a shot of-of Hahn, Yue's, uh, fiancé, who we will meet later in this episode. |
| Bryan | Who's based on Dean Kelly, who's one... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] Oh right? That's right. |
| Bryan | ... one of our storyboard artists, and I'm sure he's not happy that we said that, because... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] He immediately cut his hair after... |
| Bryan | [Laughs.] It's true! |
| Mike | ... this episode came. |
| Bryan | I-I made him come down to the video acting reference, and flip his hair around for [Mike laughs.] the Hahn scenes. |
| Aaron | Who-the writer of this episode John O'Bryan, a very handsome man himself, [Bryan laughs.] uh, is very threatened by Dean in terms of, uh... |
| Bryan | [Interjecting.] His level of handsomeness. |
| Aaron | ... looks around that. |
| No commentary for a short period until the Four Seasons theme starts playing as Yue tearfully looks away from Sokka. | |
| Bryan | So here's the theme, here's the wo-the, uh, theme that you hear Uncle first singing in the eighteenth chapter, then it comes back as the love theme. |
| Aaron | We really should put out Uncle Iroh's greatest hits... |
| Mike | Totally, he should... |
| Aaron | We should put out an, uh... |
| Mike | ... [Finishing Aaron's sentence.] do his own album. |
| Bryan | I think he should-he should... yeah, that's a good idea. |
| Mike | [Laughs; refers to Aang posing like he does in the opening sequence as he stands looking out at the Northern Water Tribe, the camera tilting up to point at the sun overhead.] See, that shot right there is a bit of an homage to the main title, where Aang's back is to the camera, and we pan up to the sun. |
| Bryan | Do you know the sun in the opening title is a photograph that I took... |
| Mike | [Interjecting.] Oh, that's right. |
| Bryan | ... while snow-snowboarding in Whistler, in Canada. |
| Mike | You're giving away all your secrets. |
| Bryan | I'm not afraid to use [Mike laughs.] a photograph. |
| Mike | [Refers to the hole through the Water Tribe symbol on the city's outer wall after it was hit by a Fire Nation trebuchet.] So, this is a cool symbolic strike against the Water Tribe, right there. |
| Bryan | [Refers to the shot of a fiery coal-ball sailing through the air.] This is a cool shot, it's kinda reminiscent of the comet that's coming that you see in episode seven and eight. |
| Aaron | [Refers to a Fire Nation trebuchet operator using a hammer to hit the mechanism that fires the weapon's flaming munitions.] I love the mechanics of that, um... |
| Bryan | [Finding the word.] Trebuchet? |
| Mike | Trebuchet! |
| Aaron | Trebuchet, that's right. |
| Mike | Yes, well, there's a lot, you know, there are two different things; there's catapults, and then there's trebuchets, which we've learned are more, uh... I don't know what the difference is, but... [Laughs.] |
| Aaron | We had a long, explanatory thing... |
| Mike | [In the background.] I forget. |
| Aaron | ... about the trebuchets... |
| Bryan | Well, Zuko... |
| Aaron | ... in an episode that we cut, didn't we? |
| Mike | Yeah. |
| Bryan | ... Zuko's ship in 107 or 108 has a catapult, because he kinda has the old [Mike affirms intermittently.] rickety, hand-me-down, and then the bigger Fire Nation ships have the trebuchets. So it's more of a counterbalance system. |
| Mike | That's right, counterbalance, that's the word I was looking for. So... |
| Bryan | [Interjects; refers to the coal-ball impacting against the glacier after Aang knocks it off-course.] That was cool. |
| Mike | ... I think this sequence was storyboarded by Ethan Spaulding. |
| Bryan | Yes, very well. |
| Mike | Very cool action sequence. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Aang leaping and flipping over the Fire Nation soldiers on the deck of their ship.] I like this shot right here, [Makes a whoosh noise.] I love that, it's great. We love just accentuating Aang's acrobatic abilities, since he's an airbender, and he can sort of, uh, lighten his-his connection to the Earth, and flow. [Refers to Aang forcing down a pilfered hammer into a trebuchet's chain links that are tethered to its ammunition.] That was great animation. It really showed the weight of that hammer, I like that. |
| Mike | I think, too, what, you know, what we try to do in this show, is, like, even the big action sequences, um, have a kind of story point to them, [Refers to the sequence of Aang sabotaging the trebuchets to fire on the ship that carries them.] where, uh, f-uh, for this instance, um, you know, Aang is taking out this-we needed a big moment for Aang to kind of, like, be heroic and go out there and try to save the day, and he takes out this Fire Nation ship, and we see how hard it is to do that, and... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] He-yeah, even for Aang, who's... |
| Mike | ... yeah, yeah. |
| Bryan | ... yeah. |
| Mike | And, uh, he does it, and he succeeds, but then you see that... |
| Aaron | [Interjects; refers to the shot of the rest of Zhao's fleet on the horizon.] That's one ship. |
| Mike | ... [Laughs.] that's one [Aaron affirms.] out of hundreds of ships. And it's, like, even he cannot [Bryan affirms.] clearly do all of this. |
| Bryan | That's a good point. On Avatar, because we-we wanted the bending to be really physical, which, you know, we've said in a lotta interviews, and I think this a good example that, you know, there's a limit to how much energy they can output. |
| Mike | [Refers to the long shot of the Fire Nation ship being suspended in ice by the Northern waterbenders.] We-we gotta just comment, this shot right here, very reminiscent of, uh, episode 101, where you see the, uh, ship in the Southern Water Tribe that was frozen up, so you get the idea that back-back in the first battle in the Southern Water Tribe, waterbenders had done a similar thing to stop the ships. |
| Bryan | And they went down fighting. [Refers to Sokka laughing at the old Fire Nation armor worn by Hahn.] So, this is sort of a, uh, kind of ripping on our old costume design, I believe. [Mike laughs.] Of the-from the pilot, where the-there were a lot-I just kept putting spikes, every draft [Mike laughs.] of the firebenders' outfits, and there were just spikes everywhere. It became kind of impractical for certain kung fu moves. [Mike affirms.] |
| No commentary for a short period of time until Arnook starts defending Sokka from Hahn's insults. | |
| Mike | [Refers to Hahn.] So, this guy is like kinda the Avatar version of a jock. [Bryan laughs.] Just a-just a boneheaded dude. |
| Bryan | [Refers to the armory Sokka, Hahn, and the Northern volunteers are in.] I like this armory; thought that came out really cool. Think Elsa Garagarza did this design. [Refers to the wolf carving above the armory door frame.] It's cool, you see the wolf, um, spirit animal above the door, sort of reminiscent of the, uh, wolf makeup that the Southern Water Tribe adorns when they go into battle. You see Sokka in it in one-in episode 102. |
| Aaron | [Refers to Sokka delivering his knowledge about Zhao and current Fire Nation armor design to the ignorant Northerners.] One other minor point about that last scene is that we were seeing Sokka kind of use the experience he's gained, and you-we kind of see that he's grown, and that he's-kind of how valuable he is to this effort, and that, you know. |
| Mike | Yeah, 'cause he-he progresses in different ways than, like, Aang and Katara. He doesn't have-he doesn't have the bending skills, but he's got other-leadership and other cool qualities. |
| Bryan | Yeah, I think that's important, too, because, again we, even though some of our characters have supernatural abilities, we always try to show that they're earned, and that they have to develop the skills, and-lot of trial error and hard work and practice. So Sokka's a good way to show the, um, the mental capacities and... so yeah, anyways, back to what we were saying earlier. [Refers to Aang returning to the city exhausted and stressed after failing to stop the full force of the Fire Nation's fleet.] It's great to see that Aang the Avatar, you know, supposed master of all the elements, is exhausted, you know. He's-there's a limit to what a human being can do. |
| Aaron | [Refers to the shots with Aang, Katara and Yue, where the lighting has changed from daytime to desaturated dusk colors.] The dusk-this is dusk, right? That we're seeing here? |
| Bryan | Yep. |
| Aaron | The dusk colors are really great, so many of the colors are-are beautiful. |
| Bryan | This came out great. Great, uh, great color correction by Kevin Kirwan. Um, a lot of those shots, the colors were really, really disparate, and he pulled them all together really well. [Refers to the nighttime shots of Zuko and Iroh as the former disembarks from an open hatch in their ship into the waters below.] This was another really hard scene to color correct. We tried to do, uh, Hye-Jung Kim, the color superv-supervisor and I, tried to do this difficult lighting s-lighting situation where there was a cooler color coming from outside from the nighttime, [Refers to the red color palette and lighting from the Fire Nation ship interior.] and then this warmer color coming from the gas lamps inside of this bay. It was pretty complex, and Kevin kind of wrapped it all together nicely. Color correction's one of my favorite processes in-in this show, that and mixing, just because we get to put the finishing polish on everyone's hard work. |
| Mike | [Refers to "The Blue Spirit" theme playing in the background of Iroh and Zuko's interaction.] This is a great, uh, musical theme, too, that first appeared in, uh, episode thirteen... |
| Bryan | [Says simultaneously with Mike.] Thirteen, yeah. |
| Mike | ... Blue Spirit episode, that we've used a bunch of times for Zuko. |
| Bryan | Jer... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] Zuko's more emotional moments, I guess. |
| Aaron | [Refers to Iroh saying that he regards Zuko as his own son.] I love that scene with Iroh and Zuko. [Mike affirms intermittently; refers to Iroh telling a bare-headed Zuko to keep warm.] I love him telling him to wear-keep his hood up, and stuff like that. So moving. |
| Mike | Yeah, yeah. It's a great father and son type of relationship. |
| Bryan | Jeremy Zuckerman, the composer for Avatar, um, performed that duduk. It's a-I believe an Armenian instrument, and supposed to be very difficult to play, and he just went out, bought one, and [Laughs.] played that theme. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] Yeah. |
| Bryan | He's an incredible multi-instrumentalist. And he, uh, believe he convolved it with a brass instrument, so it took on kind of a hybrid quality. |
| Mike | Yeah, it's just a great, great theme. [Bryan affirms.] Love it. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Sokka fighting Hahn over his disrespectful comments about Yue.] More egos clashing. Just the oldest story in the-in the world, [Mike laughs.] over a girl. |
| Mike | [Refers to Sokka's disheveled hair.] Yeah, I like Sokka's messed up... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Surfer hair. [Bryan and Aaron snicker.] |
| Mike | [Refers to Hahn mispronouncing Zhao's name.] Oh, a good little, if you notice, Hahn keeps-we decided Hahn's character trait is that he can never remembers-remember anyone's name, so he calls Sokka [Elongates the "O" in Sokka.] Sokka and... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Which a lot of people who work on this show [Mike affirms.] call him [Elongates the "O" in Sokka.] Sokka. [Refers to the sequence of Zuko sneaking into the Northern Water Tribe.] This is a great sequence, also boarded by Ethan Spaulding, where they... we knew early on that the, you know, this B-plot for this episode would have very little dialogue, but would be really important. I just really wanted to see Zuko's-his drive and what he's willing to, um, the crazy situations he'll just dive headfirst into, and, um, for his ambition. |
| Mike | Yeah. [Refers to the turtle seals that Zuko sees diving into an opening in the ice.] Those were, uh, turtle seals I believe, [Bryan affirms.] that we saw. [Bryan laughs.] As you probably have noticed, all the animals on Avatar are... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Most of 'em are, yeah, hybrids. |
| Mike | ... [Simultaneously with Bryan.] hybrids. Occasionally, the jokes usually come in the animals that are just normal animals, that [Bryan laughs.] are just not hybrids at all. People think those are the weird animals. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Yue telling Aang and Katara about how the Moon Spirit empowered the tribe's ability to waterbend, while the Ocean Spirit provides them their way of life.] This cool little backstory on the myth of waterbending. This-this season is the water season, so it's kind of nice to-we had a lot of, uh, lot of discussion in the writing process about how we could make this little trilogy in the end focus around water. |
| No commentary for a short period of time until Aang agrees with Yue that getting wisdom from the spirits is better than a crazy spirit attack, to which Aaron laughs. | |
| Bryan | It's funny that that's, like, uh, taken as, like, a ridiculous, you know, ridiculous pitch by Aang, and that's exactly [Mike and Bryan laugh.] what happens in-in the next episode. |
| Mike | But it's cool, 'cause there's, you know, stuff in here that we set up early on in like episode seven, when he first goes to the Spirit World, that-that kind of pays off here, and... |
| Bryan | [Refers to the background shots of the Northern Water Tribe Royal Palace as Aang enters the Spirit Oasis.] I think that painting of the palace was, uh, by Bryan Evans. Really beautiful painting... [Refers to the establishing shot of the Spirit Oasis.] and this is the Spirit Oasis. [Refers to the high-angle shot of the Spirit Oasis.] It's another painting by Bryan Evans, it's one of the background keys that just ended up being used in the show production. [Refers to the medium shot of Tui and La, black and white koi fish with spots of inverted coloration.] I love the fish designs by Angela Mueller, really cool. |
| Mike | So, that's the first time we see the koi fish, who play a very important role, later on of course. |
| Aaron | Part of the idea here, was that this oa-this spirit oasis was actually part of the Spirit World spilling into the real world, at this, [Mike affirms.] at this junct-this juncture, this place. |
| Bryan | [Referring to Zuko emerging out of the frigid waters into a cavity within the ice.] I love this scene, you'll see Zuko's, if you pay attention, [Refers to the color of Zuko's skin changing from a colder to a slightly warmer hue as he lets out several breaths of fire.] his skin color shifts as he warms himself up. And that's the breath of fire that Uncle advises him to use. |
| Mike | Which is cool, 'cause it's-it's like a real yoga thing, the breath of fire, and it's cool to-to visualize it in Avatar, and actually make it a breath of fire, where you see actual flames coming out. |
| Bryan | [Refers to the shots of Zuko stepping into and crawling against the current in a cavernous water channel.] I like these shots a lot. |
| Mike | Yeah, this is great underwater stuff. |
| Bryan | Again, kinda like we were talking about Sokka, seeing how he develops without bending, I think it's great to show Zuko, you know, he's not the best firebender, and-and he doesn't have all the resources in the world since he's banished. But, just shows, like, how his drive can take him so far, and-and, uh, he can make it into this city, even though the Fire Nation takes a-a day or two to bust through. |
| Mike | [Brief pause until the scene transitions back to Zuko swimming through the underwater current.] Yeah, I just love the kind of tension, the kind of underwater thi- [Refers to Zuko panting as he comes up for air in a small air pocket.] this is my biggest nightmare, right here. |
| Bryan | [Laughs.] Mine, too. |
| Mike | Being trapped underwater [Bryan affirms.] with frozen things above you, and you can't get out. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Zuko taking in deep breaths before he submerges again.] This reminded me of when, as a kid, and you'd put a-a, uh, canoe over you, so you'd, [Mike laughs.] you'd have, like, air to breathe, but you were kinda trapped in this really claustrophobic space. |
| Mike | Yeah. [Refers to the long shot of Zuko as he swims toward the light coming in through the ice.] I love how that-you see the light come in in that one shot. |
| Bryan | That was more great color correction by Kevin Kirwan. [Refers to Zuko starting to drown as he is unable to break through the ice.] This is, yeah, my nightmare right here. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] 'Cause you would not have firebending [Bryan laughs.] to help you get out. [Laughs.] |
| Bryan | [Refers to Zuko, having melted his way through the ice into the Northern Water Tribe, catching his breath and laying against the wall of a tunnel.] Yeah, we wanted to be pretty realistic that he's just absolutely exhausted, after this feat he just pulled off. |
| No commentary for a short period of time until the shot from Aang's point of view starts to zoom in on Tui and La in the Spirit Oasis. | |
| Bryan | It's a cool sequence. [Refers to the oscillating, chiming sounds as Aang stares at the koi fish swimming in the pond.] The sound design's really great by Ben Wynn here. [Brief pause.] It's great being close friends with Ben and we used to-we were roommates for four and a half years, and we were always working on electronic music, and stuff. So, it's great because I know what he's capable of in terms of really expressive abstract sounds, so when we get to something that's unusual like that, it's actually really easy to spot, and like, "Ben, you know, just do some crazy sound designs and..." |
| Mike | [Refers to Katara and Zuko fighting each other in the Spirit Oasis.] So this is great, 'cause this is, like, the first time Zuko and Katara have really fought, and it's after Katara has now learned some skills, so... |
| Bryan | [In the background.] As he... |
| Mike | ... [Refers to Zuko commenting on Katara learning new tricks after she completely launches him through the air with her waterbending.] Zuko's a little surprised by this. [Laughs.] |
| Bryan | Yeah. We look-we just-we absolutely love showing character's development, and, um, personality, and, uh, what they learned, and their abilities, and it was great. Uh, we've heard that, you know, a lot of kids have picked up on that, they like-they appreciate the fact that Aang has to earn these talents, he doesn-he isn't just granted them. |
| Aaron | [Jokingly.] Kids love magic karate, Bryan. [Bryan laughs.] |
| Mike | [Laughs; in a joking tone.] No they don't. |
| Bryan | This... |
| Mike | [Interjects; refers to Katara defending Aang's body as he meditates into the Spirit World.] I also like Katara's story here, where she's just, like, she'll protect Aang at all-at all costs... |
| Bryan | [In the background.] Yeah, we def... |
| Mike | ... kinda thing, which is a great story point. |
| Bryan | Yeah, we definitely... play up that motherly quality in her, and... [Refers to Katara trapping Zuko in a ball of ice.] this, uh, sequence was storyboarded by Dean Kelly, who I went to school with, actually Mike-Mike and I both went to school with. [Refers to the cut to Pakku as the sun rises on his face, and the lighting changes from night to day.] This is another great color transition. [Refers to Zuko regaining strength and melting the ice binding him as the sun rises and shines on him.] So, there's another idea that we'd had pretty early on, where, um, natural phenomena will enhance-they'll either augment or diminish, um, the be-the practitioner's bending abilities. So, the Fire Nation is located on the equator, and is closest to the sun, and so, their powers are strongest, uh, during the daytime when, obviously, when the sun's out. So, again, just trying to, you know, it's magic, it's-it's supernatural, but we try to make it as natural as possible, and as, uh, kind of organic. [Refers to the scene cutting from Fire Nation soldiers breaching the Northern Water Tribe's walls to an extreme close-up on Zhao's face; laughs.] I like that cut, it really shows the, I don't know, maniacal, warmonger that Zhao is. [Mike affirms; refers to the layered sounds of an ethereal oscillating noise and air escaping as Katara wakes up.] Oh, that's great sound design there when Katara opens up her-her eyes. Anytime we get to do backwards sounds, I'm always excited. |
| Mike | Always cool. |
| Bryan | [Laughs.] Yeah. [Refers to the instrumentation in the theme playing in the background as the shot moves away from the Spirit Oasis into the tundras above.] This is a great theme, uh, Jeremy Zuckerman used this prepared piano for that kinda metallic rattle. |
| Mike | [Refers to Zuko carrying Aang on his back through a blizzard beyond the Northern Water Tribe.] And I love this last image of just, like, Zuko and Aang disappearing into the blizzard... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Yeah, again... |
| Mike | ... it's great. |
| Bryan | ... just Zuko's desperation, he has no plan, but he's just... fighting for his ambition. |
| Commentary ends. |