| Michael Dante DiMartino | Hi, everybody! This is Mike DiMartino, co-creator and executive producer of this show! |
|---|---|
| Bryan Konietzko | And this is Bryan Konietzko, the other co-creator and executive producer. |
| Joaquim Dos Santos | This is Joaquim Dos Santos, co-executive producer. |
| Tim Hedrick | [In a mock suave tone.] Hi, this is Tim Hedrick, writer. |
| Bryan | Wow, Tim, you can't just be serious for once. [Mike, Tim and Joaquim chuckle.] So, this uh, episode was written by our good friend, Josh Hamilton, who could not be here today. So... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Yeah, what's up with that? |
| Bryan | ... we're just going to pretend Tim wrote it. |
| Tim | I'm gonna be representing him. [Mike chuckles.] |
| Bryan | [Laughs.] You guys are... |
| Tim | [Interjects; imitating Josh.] "Blah, blah, blah, Hawaii." |
| Mike | Well, the way the, [Tim laughs.] this a good uh, way to uh, segue into how we uh, talk about and come up with these stories, because it isn't like you-just randomly one guy goes off and writes an episode without, you know, talking to the rest of us, uh, [Tim affirms.] we're-we're all in the room. Uh, you know, for Book Two we had at least a month, maybe more, of just all, you know, me, Bryan, Josh and Tim's, uh, you know, talking about the story, what we wanted to do, and kind of talking about them in a general sense uh, before we even like nail down like, "okay, this episode, this is gonna happen, and this episode, this is gonna happen". So, it's, you know, we kinda start out very generally, and-and as the weeks go on, kind of uh, narrow the story beats down, and narrow down like, "okay, so, episode two, now..." |
| Tim | Right, you start breaking it in chunks. And I think at the end of that first month, or six weeks, or whatever, we probably came up with the first two/thirds of the season, maybe, and like what the end would be. |
| Mike | Yeah, I think we had written a bunch of premises, uh, before we actually started writing these episodes, which is always nice to uh, [Tim affirms.] kinda have the uh, episodes laid out so we know where we're headed. |
| Bryan | Yeah, I-it's like, when we talk about our writing process, I never wanna take away from the individual whose name is on the script, [Mike affirms.] but at the same time, you know, 'cause Josh isn't here, so we're like, "well, this is a perfect opportunity to say [Tim and Mike laugh.] that it isn't one individual," you know? |
| Mike | Naw, I didn't mean it now. [Tim affirms.] |
| Bryan | No, but it, a-at the same time, it is such a collaborative process. [Tim affirms.] Um, that said, everybody, you know, uh, Tim, Josh, Mike, our writer's assistant, and-and me, the-you-everybody who's... who's like in the room kicking around the ideas, um, breaking the story, uh, and then, you know, when-I'm usually not in the writer's room anymore, so then I'm getting the written documents that they generate. And it's li-it's like a group meeting, and then one person takes what was kicked around in the meeting, and-and, you know, synthesizes it, you know, crystallizes it in... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Right, there's one person that kinda fleshes the whole thing out, [Bryan affirms.] but it's difficult to tease out who came up with what when, and all that's like very like... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] I-yeah, and the-the point is when it was just Mike and I writing Book One, even though he and I split all of those episodes half and half, it's such a back and forth revision process and idea, you know, brainstorming process. I-I-I actually have a hard time remembering specifically what I wrote, you know? There's occasionally something I might have [Tim affirms.] fought for, you know, so I-I'll remember it, but it is such a-a collaborative thing. |
| Tim | Yeah, and I will-I will have parts in some of my episodes where I'm like, "well, Josh actually came up with this little bit here," and the same thing about, you know, other people's episodes, like, "oh, that's my joke," you know? So, everybody's kinda pitchin' in. |
| Mike | Yeah, 'cause even after the writer, you know, writes the script and, uh, we'll all sit in the room together and project it on a screen, and go through it, um, page by page, and like, you know, sometimes rewrite some jokes, or, "oh, this story beat isn't quite playing right yet," and we do little tweaks like that um, as a group. |
| Bryan | And it ends up, I think, giving it a much more consistent voice, [Mike affirms.] uh, for the whole series that way, 'cause it's-it-it's-it's passed around everybody so, you know, so consistently. Everybody gets to even it out. |
| Mike | Yeah. I mean, Joaquim, also, like with the storyboards, it's kind of a similar process, right? With you guys all meeting together to go over people's storyboards? |
| Joaquim | Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I said it uh, I think in our last commentary, but it-it-the idea is that with each pass, it gets tighter and tighter, and it-it gets better and better. Um, so even, you know, when you're revising a scene that might be playing like, you know, pretty cool, you can always make it better, uh, and you can always make it a little tighter. And-and we're in the same boat between Ryu, Lauren and myself, uh, and the directors; you know, it's-it's this big sort of soup with everybody's ideas and-and revisions and changes, and then by the time it gets in front of you guys, um, you know, you guys have a whole other round of-of changes and revisions and sugge-suggestions. So, by the end, it's really sort of everybody collaborating, uh, to-to bring this thing together. Um, and it-and it's-it-it does, it gets tough to-to remember like, "oh wait, who did that section? Oh yeah, that w-was so-and-so," and that was-one scene might have three different artists' passes on it. |
| Bryan | Yeah. It's, it's a big uh, big collaborative soup. |
| Joaquim | I will say, though, you know, being uh, removed from the writing process, when I walk into your-your office, Mike, and I m-I might have said this before, it's amazing for me to see your guys' board with all the, you know, with all the cards on it sort of highlighting the different points in the story, and I'm like, "oh, wow, that's gonna happen in episode, you know, episode four or five". Eh, you guys have got the whole thing mapped out, it's-it's pretty amazing to see. |
| Bryan | So, yeah, we-we touched on it a bit in the commentary of the previous episode, but um, Book One, at the time, that's all we were picked up for, just those twelve episodes. So, um, it was kind of a small team, you know, we-it was hard for us to get, all of our friends from Avatar had uh, gone on to, you know, direct and work at-in feature, and all this stuff, so it was really hard for such a short project to get like, you know, we-we-it was impossible for us to get like as big of a team back, and-and a lot of those people were like running their own shows now. So, um, so, we just-the idea was to just focus on a, you-you know, a few people, and-and at the time, we got Joaquim as the co-exec and Ryu as a supervising producer. Um, we added a few people along the way as we needed help; you know, Ian Graham, who I've worked with for years, uh, back on Invader Zim, and he wor-he was-worked on Avatar for a long time. |
| Joaquim | And he started as storyboard supervisor, initially. |
| Bryan | Yeah, he, on Book One, he was storyboard supervisor, and then um... and he directed this episode; so, much like I stepped away from writing. And, you know, and we-we added s-you know, Tim and Josh, uh, Joaquim and Ryu had-had co-directed all of uh, the Book One episodes, and just like Mike and I had co-written them, um, but, s-now that we got picked up for, you know, Book Two, we had so much overlap, and Joaquim and Ryu had tons more supervising work to do. So, um, Lauren Montgomery, we added her as an additional supervising producer, and-and then Joaquim and Ryu stepped back from being the directors, um, and so we-we added Colin and Ian. |
| A brief pause in commentary until the scene fades in from black to the expeditions' cave campsite, as Korra questions her father about why he was banished from the Northern Water Tribe. | |
| Bryan | So, yeah, ag-again, mu-much like the writing thing, I-I don't wanna ever take away from the amazing work that each director does on-on the episode, or the storyboard artist. But it is such a collaborative thing, and... and uh, especially the, you know, the execs and supe-well, where you-what d'you call it? Producer's Row, Joaquim? |
| Joaquim | Yeah! Yeah, yeah. |
| Bryan | 'Cause Lauren and Ryu and Joaquim's offices are all in a row. Um, you know, those guys just get their hands on every single episode, and uh, but uh, you know, the-very important what the directors do, shepherding these episodes. |
| Joaquim | Oh, without them keeping everything in order, you know, we've-we've got big broad view-Producer's Row has got a big broad view, sort of... uh, sort of uh, view of the-of the entire battlefield, and we're sort of keeping the-the-the whole thing going. Those guys are... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Lording over your minions. [Mike affirms; Bryan laughs.] |
| Joaquim | ... those guys are-are-are day to day on individual episodes and making sure everything is in order. |
| Bryan | Yeah, and giving, you know, and they-and the cool thing is then they can focus on the-the feel of that episode, and-and, you know, whereas sometimes, as a supervisor, we're just honed in on a-a problem, [Joaquim affirms.] one little, "oh, I wanna make that thing better," but the director is focused on making that whole episode work and uh, putting their touch on it. |
| Joaquim | Yeah. I mean, you can tell each-each one's got-got the feel of the director on there. |
| Bryan | [Refers to a younger Tonraq ambushing a group of barbarians in the North Pole.] So, Joaquim, you-you had uh, designed Tonraq, um, like a-like an early version that showed up in Book One, and we refined it a bit for Book Two. [Joaquim affirms.] And uh, he's got-I feel like he's kinda your archetypal manly man that you tend to draw. [Mike chuckles.] |
| Joaquim | Yeah, yeah, so, he's-he's [Tim laughs.] the dude that, like when I was like a twelve-year old kid, you know, drawing barbarians and stuff, I was like, "this is the coolest guy ever!" |
| Tim | Yeah... |
| Joaquim | [In the background.] He's... |
| Tim | ... James Remar does the voice, [Mike affirms.] and he was really into thinking of this as him. [Bryan laughs; Mike affirms.] It's like, yeah, that is... |
| Joaquim | [Interjects.] Well, let me just say that like [Tim chuckles.] Ajax from The Warriors was literally one of those figureheads in my mind, growing up, [Bryan affirms.] so it kinda makes sense. |
| Bryan | Played by James Remar. [Tim and Joaquim affirm.] |
| Mike | Wow, I didn't know he was in that movie. [Bryan and Joaquim affirm.] Um, yeah, he's-he's an awesome actor; he-he brings a great gravitas to Tonraq. |
| Tim | Oh, yeah. You totally believe that he is about to mess you up. |
| Joaquim | Well, he's... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] And that-we wanted that-the idea is-was that uh, you know, I think I had heard like Gina Carano's dad was like a-in the NFL or something; like, you know, she's-she was this MMA fighter. And uh, you know, definitely Korra was inspired by female MMA fighters, and uh, Joaquim and I are big MMA fans, and when I heard that her dad was this-is like a linebacker or something, I-that gave us the idea for-for Korra's dad, "oh, it makes sense," you know? She's-she's this really athletic person, and she'd have, you know, you know, one of her parents would be this big, you know, brawny, athlete-type dude. [Refers to Tonraq's regretful tone as he tries to explain to Korra he was protecting her from the shame of his banishment by not telling her about it.] And uh, but we wanted to give him a sensitivity, you know? He's not just this... uh, oaf, who's, you know, kinda ham-fists everything; he's-he's like a tender guy, and-and he's-really cares about his daughter, and just wants to make her happy but take care of her, and... |
| Tim | [Refers to when Tonraq concluded his retelling of his banishment by saying he left his home to start a new life in the Southern Water Tribe.] He just wants to live a quiet life down there in the South, for once. [Joaquim affirms.] |
| Bryan | Yeah. It's-it's not his fault he's just so handsome and buff. [Tim affirms; Joaquim chuckles.] |
| Mike | [Brief pause.] Yeah, kinda like kn-knowing we were gonna meet Bumi and Kya more, I was excited to delve into Tonraq and her mom, Korra's mom, a little bit more, 'cause we, yeah, we-we saw one little glimpse of them in-in Book One, but since that Book wasn't really about her family, it was about her leaving her family and being off on her own for the first time, that now this made sense to, uh, bring her back into the family fold and find out what her dynamic was with her parents. |
| Joaquim | [Refers to when Korra turns away from her father, saying she's tired of him not telling the truth to ostensibly protect her.] And that-that was another good example of one of those scenes where you're-you're s-you're sympathetic to Tonraq as a father in wanting to have done the right thing, and you're kinda frustrated with Korra, but you get where she's coming from too. |
| Tim | Yeah, this is really about her becoming, you know, breaking ties with the past and trying to become her own person. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Jinora approaching Aang's statue in the Southern Air Temple's sanctuary, where it stands at the center of the room amongst the other likenesses of past Avatars spiraling out and extending up along the rising periphery of the tower.] So, this was the-the statue room from, uh, episode 103 of Avatar, up-revisited and updated, and I made Mike vow to [Mike chuckles.] never ever, ever write anything... |
| Mike | [In the background.] No more statues. |
| Bryan | ... in this room again, 'cause this is a design and animation uh, nightmare. It was just, [Tim laughs.] we had to-we had to redo [Laughs.] so many of those scenes in-house; it was just... I don't know... |
| Joaquim | [In the background.] I-I remember you s... |
| Bryan | ... if we had a feature film budget, and we could have like sculptors u-use ZBrush, and [Mike chuckles.] perfectly make every one of those statues, and put 'em in a 3D room, mi-might be one thing, but on a TV budget and schedule, it was a nightmare. |
| Joaquim | And... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] I think they look great. [Mike chuckles.] |
| Joaquim | They do look great... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Well, you can't have eh... |
| Joaquim | ... but I do remember Bryan saying, "never again!" [Tim laughs.] |
| Mike | Yeah. Apparently, statues are harder than we think. |
| Bryan | People uh, you know, on the crew, "why are we so behind?" and I'm like, [Gives a frustrated growl.] "the statue room!". [Tim and Joaquim laugh.] It's so well... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] That one thing set us back. |
| Bryan | It's a lot of "one things", you know? [Laughs.] |
| Tim | [Refers to Unalaq riding up to Tonraq and Korra on his arctic camel.] By the way, I love these camel yaks. [Bryan and Joaquim laugh.] I mean, that's... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] That's the way to travel. [Joaquim chuckles.] |
| Tim | ... that's a solid Avatar animal, [Mike chuckles.] there. |
| Bryan | It's-it's-it's a-it's a mild blend, I would say. [Tim laughs.] |
| Mike | I know. We do see, I mean, I guess we see more like spirits this Book, but, like Book One, since they were in the city, there weren't like opportunities to do a ton of animal hybrids. But there's this one... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] You just heard them on the-the pro-bending team names. |
| Mike | Yeah, yeah. [Joaquim and Tim affirm.] But this-we introduce a few new ones in Book Two, including these uh, tundra camels, I believe they were called. |
| Bryan | I'm-I'm gonna guess most uh, suburbanite kids are just-just think they're camels. [Tim snickers.] |
| Joaquim | Yeah. |
| Mike | Yeah, probably. |
| Bryan | The yak aspect didn't really uh, come through too strong. |
| Mike | They're a little hairier than your average... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Yeah, they're furry. |
| Bryan | Yeah. [Refers to the shot of the South Pole, the massive dark clouds of the Everstorm looming in the sky, with multiple large rock peaks dotting the landscape.] This is a cool painting by uh, Fred Stewart, uh, one of our very talented background painters. And uh... |
| Joaquim | [Interjects; refers to the thunder and wind sounds playing during the group's journey through the Everstorm, the latter booming through the air and screaming off the rocks.] And the sound design here, let me just say, like when you hear this with the-coming through the right system, it's like, "ooh, momma, [Bryan affirms; Mike laughs.] it's happenin'." |
| Bryan | Ben-Benjamin Wynn and uh... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] Yeah, I mean, all the-all the... |
| Bryan | ... Aran Tanchum. |
| Mike | ... [Refers to the group trekking onward through the raging snows and winds of the Everstorm.] snow effects and sound design, everything, like it really does feel like, you know, the challenge was like m-making it feel it like this was really a big like epic journey into this crazy storm. |
| Bryan | Well, our-our foley artists, uh, Aran and Vinnie, got real snow. This is crazy... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Oh, yeah, that's right, yeah. |
| Bryan | ... we-if-if you don't know, we live in Los Angeles, [Bryan and Mike chuckle.] we-we live and work in uh, pretty much a desert. Um... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Did they order the snow online? [Mike chuckles.] Where did it come from? [Joaquim laughs.] |
| Bryan | I-I don't know. I think these foley people have, you know, some uh... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Connections. |
| Bryan | ... black market snow, that they [Tim laughs.] go in some seedy Hollywood alley and they just buy some. Uh, yeah, I-it might have been artificially made, but it was actual snow, and so they-they recorded it, and uh, it sounds incredible. |
| Joaquim | [Refers to Bolin's terrified expression as he exclaims that the small dark spirit currently inside his snowmobile is in the engine, taking his hands off the steering in fright.] Lemme just say, Bolin's reaction there, too, when it goes in the engine, [Bryan laughs.] the little gremlin goes in the engine's [Mike affirms.] incredible. |
| Bryan | Animation, and P. J.'s read. [Joaquim affirms.] |
| A brief pause in commentary until the purified dark spirit flies away from the group, with the group's arctic camels standing still in their respective places, looking straight off into the distance and away from the other characters. | |
| Mike | Camels are just like, "what the hell just happened?" [Tim and Joaquim laugh.] |
| Tim | [Brief pause; refers to Bolin screaming as his malfunctioning snowmobile continues to accelerate up a hill.] He's so good. [Joaquim laughs; refers to when Desna and Eska grab Bolin and jump off the snowmobile.] Some good Eska and Desna action, coming up here. |
| Bryan | Yeah. This is the first time we really see them move. [Bryan and Mike chuckle.] |
| Joaquim | [Referring to and imitating Eska's dispassionate tone as she saves Bolin.] I like that she says, "I'll save you." [Tim chuckles.] |
| Bryan | [Laughs; refers to Desna and Eska bending ice around their feet as they dignifiedly weave their way down the hill, both of them keeping their arms firmly at resting positions.] I-I thought this was really elegant. I remember Lauren... |
| Tim | [In the background.] Yeah, this is so cool. |
| Bryan | ... Lauren storyboarding this. [Joaquim affirms.] Really cool. |
| Joaquim | It's like calmly dynamic. [Mike gives an affirming murmur.] |
| Bryan | Yeah, I mean, they-there's-there are certain archetypes that we tend to write, and uh... we have these characters that we like to create, and-and... |
| Mike | [Refers to Bolin, inflated like a balloon by his snowsuit, being noisily pierced and deflated by Eska's well-placed ice spikes.] This is classic. [Tim chuckles.] |
| Bryan | ... Eska and Desna are definitely much more like Mai [Mike affirms.] from Avatar. [Tim affirms.] And were-they were kind of blasé, and, and uh, just like, "ugh, everything's just a bother," and they don't move around a lot, but then they spring into action, and they're super... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] Yeah, that don't wanna mess with them. |
| Bryan | ... super deadly. Uh, we just like that. |
| A brief pause in commentary until the scene fades in from black to an establishing shot of the snowy rock peaks, zooming past the ones in the foreground toward the clearing the group is standing in. | |
| Bryan | I like that painting. We do a lot more um, kinda cutting up the paintings into different layers so that we can give it more depth in After Effects, and we did a lot of that, a lot of that in-house on this uh, episode. |
| Mike | [Brief pause.] Yeah, it really does feel like a, a dark, stormy place that I would not want to be trapped in. |
| Bryan | [Refers to the blue-green light permeating through the clouds.] Randy Beveridge, our uh, our color timer, he gets so excited every time I bring him footage with this kinda cyan-green tint, 'cause he never gets to do that, [Laughs.] and he's-he's [Tim laughs.] so excited. [Mike chuckles.] |
| Tim | Wow. |
| Bryan | It's a re-it's really problematic, it-it effects the different um, colors differently. Every time you add-add-ever since Avatar, when we did the uh, 105, with uh, Bumi's like crazy... crystal cavern with like the tests he's putting Aang through, any time you add green, it really makes character's skin just look bizarre. Green and blue; they all react differently. |
| Mike | [Refers to Unalaq telling Korra about the dormant portal to the Spirit World deep within the frozen forest at the South Pole.] I was just remembering; Tim, you remember how we used to have four port-portals? |
| Tim | Yeah. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] We had [Tim affirms.] in one version, yeah... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] There was gonna be like the four-they were kinda breaking the season into quarters, [Mike affirms.] and it was gonna be one portal for each one, and then like the last portal with the big battle. |
| Bryan | Ooh! I think... |
| Mike | It was like there would be portals in the air temples, and then we were like, "what're we doing?" [Tim affirms.] |
| Bryan | I think I came in one day... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] "There's too many portals!" [Tim and Mike laugh.] |
| Bryan | I came-I-I'm-I'm gonna take credit for that. [Mike chuckles.] I think I came in one day... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Command over this. |
| Bryan | ... I was like, "guys, c'mon. Two's fine." [Mike chuckles.] |
| Tim | [Laughs.] Yeah. |
| Joaquim | I gotta-I gotta thank you on that, Bryan, [Bryan laughs.] 'cause even with two, we were getting 'em confused, staging-wise. [Mike affirms.] |
| Bryan | Oh man. |
| Tim | Well, the question about where the portals are and where they come out in the Spirit World, and all that; oh man, that was a, [Mike chuckles.] there was a lot of work going on there. |
| Bryan | There were definitely uh, I would-I would visit the guys every once in a while, as the like tiebreaker, you know? But like, just kinda help, you know, it's-Mike and I when we were writing together, it's just the two of us, we-some-some days were very quiet, we were just sitting there, stuck [Tim gives an affirming murmur.] on something. And any time you start delving into the Spirit World, things get confusing, and-and uh, I remember coming in and they were just all exasperated and confused, and I'd just be like, "how about just two portals?" and then things would move along. [Laughs.] |
| Tim | Yeah. But you were a wildcard because sometimes, it would be like, "well, let's keep this like little low budge, l-and maybe this is just a group of like four or five people," and you'd come in and be like, "no! let's-c'mon, it can be fifteen people". [Mike and Joaquim chuckle.] "Really?" [Laughs.] |
| Bryan | But more often, you would write like, "ten thousand [Tim and Joaquim laugh.] soldiers pour over the mountain," and I'm like, "how about four scouts?" |
| A brief pause in commentary until Korra starts walking in the carved-out tunnels through the frozen forest, the branches of the trees growing out of the ice. | |
| Joaquim | This-these BGs are just amazing, and I remember-was it Fred that did the initial... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Fred did the keys, and then Lauren uh, Zurcher, who's uh, we should talk about, she did a lot of amazing paintings. Um, we added Lauren as our third in-house painter, and um, on Korra, we do a lot more in-house retakes now that we have the power of After Effects; [Joaquim affirms.] Matt Gadbois, our resident After Effects wizard. So, Lauren uh, this was one of the first things she did, [Joaquim gives an affirming murmur.] she-we-she went to San José State, just like Fred, and uh, a lot o' talented artists coming out of that program, and uh, I think on her first week, I just gave her a ton of backgrounds from this. |
| Joaquim | It was like ice cavern time? |
| Bryan | She did that really cool painting of the trees frozen in the ice, [Joaquim gives an affirming murmur.] and uh, I would do these [Laughs.] really, really bad like rough paintings and give 'em to her, and she would just make 'em awesome. |
| Mike | [Refers to Jinora, walking from her bed in a stupor, finding a wooden carving of an interlocked Avatar and spirit among the statues in the sanctuary.] Like, I love how this statue turned out. [Tim and Joaquim affirm.] The whole wood like texture stuff is really cool. [Bryan affirms.] |
| Tim | And that's a really kind of interesting-Jinora's starting to get some sensations from the Spirit World. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] Yeah. |
| Bryan | Yeah, I think that... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Planting... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] I think that was Mike's idea, right? That Jinora was gonna be really tied in, have this deep spiritual connection? |
| Mike | Yeah, and I, again, I don't remember. I don't remember exactly... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Uh, well... |
| Mike | ... whose idea was what, but, sure, I'll take it. |
| Bryan | Let's give you credit. |
| Tim | Yeah, the idea that Tenzin is-who you would think would be Mr. Spirit, just can't get it done, and that his daughter... |
| Joaquim | [Interjects.] And gets increasingly like frustrated [Tim affirms.] and crazy. |
| Bryan | Um... |
| Mike | [Interjects.] Yeah, we wanted to give the airbender kids a little more stuff to do this-this season. [Bryan affirms.] So, Jinora got the most, but then we did a little-little stories with Ikki and uh, Meelo, as well, in some of the episodes. |
| Joaquim | [Refers to Korra fighting the giant snake-like dark spirit.] I remember, this was a super crazy sequence boarded by uh, Ryu. [Bryan affirms.] |
| Mike | Yeah. [Refers to the dark spirit segmenting into smaller versions of itself, wrapping itself around Korra's body and limbs as it hoists her into the air away from the spirit portal.] Yeah, I remember his, the-all these crazy spirit squiggles, and I was like, "how are they gonna animate that? It's insane." |
| Bryan | It worked out. [Joaquim affirms.] |
| Mike | But it worked out. |
| A brief pause in commentary until Korra goes into the Avatar State, using her enhanced strength to free up her limbs by momentarily breaking apart the dark spirit's bindings, dropping down back toward the portal in the process. | |
| Joaquim | Sometimes, the stuff that we think is gonna be the hardest, [Mike affirms.] and we're like, "Ryu, how are they gonna do this?" [Bryan chuckles intermittently.] and he's like, "they can handle," [Bryan laughs.] like, "alright, man." |
| Mike | And then stuff you think like, "oh, it's gonna look great," and then like, "oh, well, that was... |
| Joaquim | [Interjects.] "That was-that was really hard to do." |
| Mike | ... way more power to fix it." |
| Bryan | Ryu is our uh, it's like having a lawyer on the crew, you know? Like someone who passed the bar. |
| Tim | [Laughs.] He kinda vets it? |
| Bryan | Like, Ryu actually was an animator. [Joaquim affirms.] Um, all of us work in animation and we might have done some animation, but we never made a living just doing animation all day long. Um, but Ryu has, so we always just turn to him. |
| Mike | [Refers to Jinora staring at the glowing wood carving.] So, here's... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] "Ryu, whaddya think?" and he's like, "yeah, that's impossible," and we're like, [Joaquim laughs.] "okay, we gotta change it." |
| Tim | "Whatever." |
| Mike | I mean, the one benefit, too, about doing a lot of these episodes... you know, together, and-and having figured out stuff later, and even with design-wise, like, [Refers to when the scene cut from Korra, having just opened the spirit portal, looking at the southern lights dancing in the sky to the wooden carving Jinora is looking at beginning to glow.] I guess I'm saying one of the benefits of being behind is that we can then like clearly hook up [Joaquim affirmingly murmurs intermittently.] that that is Avatar Wan and Raava in that statue. |
| Bryan | Mike, could you call the network, and [Mike laughs.] te-and defend my honor; [Mike affirms; Tim and Joaquim laugh.] tell them that, the-the benefit of... |
| Mike | [In the background.] There's-there is... |
| Bryan | ... being behind in design? |
| Joaquim | I think you guys got a book in your future called The Benefits of Being Behind. [Mike affirms; Tim chuckles.] |
| Bryan | You know, as a proca-as a lifelong, professional procrastinator, uh, I can tell you... |
| Joaquim | [In the background; refers to Eska waterbending a wall of ice up and around Bolin's neck like a pillory, and moving him around to face her, questioning why he was just initiating physical contact with Korra during their hug.] That's a great scene, by the way. |
| Bryan | ... I get just as many uh, benefits from being behind as I do have problems. [Joaquim laughs; Mike affirms.] It's about fifty/fifty. |
| Tim | [Brief pause.] This whole scene with the southern lights is definitely something that we had very early on; like-and [Mike affirms.] I remember we were pulling reference of the aurora... |
| Mike | [In the background.] Yeah, it was... |
| Tim | ... australialis. [Mike chuckles; refers to when the light beaming from the portal transforms the spirits rampaging as the Everstorm into the vibrant patterns of the southern lights.] And uh, that was g-definitely spirits dancing in the sky, and that at-that's something that was like an early idea. [Mike affirms.] |
| Bryan | I remember Josh being really excited about all that. |
| Mike | [Laughs.] Josh gets excited about [Tim chuckles.] lots of thing. |
| Bryan | [Refers to Naga raising her head up into frame as Korra and Mako hug each other.] I love that little-when uh, uh, Naga lifts her head, in the end. She's very cute; reminds me of my dog. [Refers to the coloration on Naga's snout resembling a moustache as she comes over the crest of the hill.] But there, not so cute; strange moustache. [Joaquim laughs; refers to the shot of the Southern Water Tribe's capital, with multiple Northern Water Tribe battleships moving into the harbor.] This is another painting Lauren did, in-house. |
| Tim | Whoa. |
| Bryan | Uh, we did that scene in-house. |
| Joaquim | [Refers to the closeup profile shot of the Northern soldiers, layered on top of each other, as they walk in and out of frame.] As is-this is a good example of a way to sort of cheat, uh, an army invasion without showing all bajillion of them... |
| Tim | [In the background.] Right. [Laughs.] |
| Joaquim | ... in a big wide shot; you just cut to a closeup of them marching. |
| Bryan | Yeah, we don't have that Wētā software, where we can just say, "alright, ten thousand people walk across a-a port, and all do different things." |
| Mike | [Brief pause.] Just imply it. |
| Tim | [Gives an affirming murmur; refers to Unalaq telling Korra that opening the portal and moving his troops to the South are only the first steps for unifying the Water Tribes and putting the South back on its "righteous" path.] This is where we find out maybe [Mike gives an affirming murmur.] Unalaq's not such a good guy, after all. [Mike affirms.] |
| Bryan | "Maybe"? [Laughs.] |
| Tim | Whoops. [Refers to Korra's uneasy expression as she looks from her uncle down toward his encroaching military.] Oh, Korra. [Mike laughs; makes an explosion sound.] |
| Mike | [Brief pause.] Well, Tim, you'll be joining us [Tim gives an affirming murmur.] later for another commentary, [Tim affirms.] at another time, but uh, it was great to have you. |
| Tim | Thank you, thank you. |
| Mike | Great-great... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] Oh, is that it? We're losing Tim? |
| Mike | Tim's-Tim's... |
| Tim | [Interjects.] Yeah, I'm gonna drop out for a little while, but don't worry fans. [Mike and Bryan laugh.] I'll be back... |
| Joaquim | [Interjects.] He's-he's... |
| Tim | ... I'm not going anywhere. |
| Mike | He will come back some time, you know, we're gonna have some guest commentators comin' in during the course of this uh... |
| Bryan | [Interjects.] And I'm sure he'll introduce himself in a silly manner. |
| Mike | Yes. [Joaquim chuckles.] |
| Tim | I'll try. [Laughs.] |