2 years ago, we were handed one of the worst movies of all time that was depicting one of the greatest animated series of all time. Our feelings were hurt when The Last Airbender (TLA) failed to capture the greatness of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA).
With the rising popularity and success of the animated series’ successor, The Legend of Korra, it’s high-time that Hollywood try again with the Avatar series while the timing is still good.
By the way, I spent a lot of time talking about social media last week, so expect this week to be a little more entertainment-heavy.
Now, let’s get some basic points out of the way. ATLA is my favorite animated series of all time. Debuting in 2005, this show had everything I could possibly want in a sprawling epic.
Amazing animation (it is an American cartoon animated in South Korea), deep and interesting lore, a high-stakes storyline (making it accessible for an older audience), some of the most memorable characters on television, and even humor.
So, making a movie out of this show should have been a cinch. As we understand it, the show’s studio gave Hollywood a lot of freedom with the story, over $150 million was put into its production, and the show lends itself very nicely to a trilogy since it was made with three seasons.
The movie even had M. Night Shyamalan directing it.
Well, okay, all of these things ended up being a negative. Hollywood ruined the story because they had too much freedom, they spent way too much money on the wrong things, making three movies meant changing the length of the story to keep up with aging actors, and M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed it.
If you haven’t seen the movie or know what I’m talking about, watch these videos that recap everything wrong with the movie pretty perfectly (SPOILERS from here on out).
The question being asked by some is whether or not Shyamalan will follow-up this disaster of a movie with a sequel the movie begged.
Obviously, no one outright wants it, but the movie did manage make $300 million worldwide. So, the movie does make sense financially, if not critically.
Still, that’s no guarantee the sequel will manage to pull off the same magic, especially if none of the first movie’s mistakes are corrected.
That said, I have two possible solutions that would please everyone.
We should either reboot the first movie or go the way of The Incredible Hulk (Most people did not like Ang lee’s Hulk that came out in 2003, so 2008’s The Incredible Hulk served as an unofficial sequel to the 2003 film).
A reboot is the nice solution, because it would take less effort to rework the movie’s mistakes.
Here’s my wish-list for a reboot:
1. Change the writers. The animated series had different writers for almost all of their episodes. Tapping into their talent for a movie just makes sense, especially since they’re the biggest reason (along with the creators) why the series was successful.
2. Pronounce the names correctly. Shyamalan decided that the names in the show were not pronounced correctly in Asian. That was misguided, considering the show takes place in an alternate world influenced by Asian themes, not Asia. Changing the pronunciation did nothing but annoy all of the show’s fans.
3. Change the casting strategy. In the movie, the Fire Nation was depicted by Indians, the Water Tribe was caucasian, the Earth Kingdom was chinese, and the Air Nomads were diverse. This doesn’t make sense alongside the show at all.
The Fire Nation was clearly influenced by the Japanese, which we see in their culture, architecture, and how we find out later on that “firebending” originated with dragons. So, why not carry that over to the movie? Also, a Japanese actor playing Zuko would be way more interesting.
The Earth Kingdom makes way more sense as the “diverse” nation because they are largest. Even the show implies this, since Zuko and Iroh were able to pass as Earth Kingdom refugees in season 2, and many of the characters in this part of the world look very different from each other.
The Water Tribe is composed of two separate tribes, the North and South Pole. You can get away with having Europeans depict the North Pole, but Katarra and Sokka should just be darker skinned like they are in the show to please the fans. A “white” Katarra is just too much of a change, and our pop culture could really use more diversity anyways.
Also, Dev Patel would’ve made a far better Sokka than Jason Rathbone. Sokka is humorous and very animated. Patel’s “Anwar” in Skins was one of the most animated characters in that show, so why not give him a character with more to do?
Finally, the Air Nomads should be Chinese for the same reason that the Fire Nation should be Japanese. They clearly represent Tibetan monks, and we’d have an easier time casting a child actor for Aang who can handle all of the physical stunts throughout the trilogy.
4. Rework the plot. The first season of Avatar is the most challenging to compress into one movie because almost every episode is “standalone.” It’s basically about a group of friends travelling the world having various adventures.
That said, the movie left a lot of really critical characters out, including the Kyoshi Warriors and King Bumi, who play major roles in the other seasons.
Here’s how I would break it down: The first act would focus on Aang, Sokka, and Katarra. We needed that more in TLA, which glossed over major character development points.
The second act should introduce us to the Kyoshi Warriors and King Bumi, who could be Aang’s method of receiving his world-saving mission from Roku. This could all culminate with Book 1’s most important episode, The Blue Spirit, which teaches us a lot more about Zuko.
Finally the third act would focus on the North Pole, giving us more time to commit to Yue’s character, Aang’s confrontation with Koh, the fight between Zuko, Katarra, and Zhao, and Aang’s epic fight against the entire Fire Nation navy.
5. Make the movie longer. Yes, this is a kid’s movie, but that didn’t stop us from letting Harry Potter have at least 2 hours, and there’s really no other way to tell the show’s story.
I’d go on, but you get the point. A reboot would be a much-needed, major overhaul of the 2011 iteration.
As I said before, we could also just skip the reboot and do the sequel as an unofficial follow-up to the reboot I just described. After all, season 2 of the show was far more like a serialized saga with major set pieces, making a movie easier to create.
Or we could leave ATLA alone and just skip to a prequel for Legend of Korra. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a young version of Korra mastering water, earth, and fire?
I’ve seen the Avatar series’ numerous times, watched them over and over and I know pretty much everything there is to know about the entire show, and I was pretty dam excited about the movie, that is, before it came out. never did I think that they would butcher such a great story with such poor casting and direction, M Night clearly has no idea about the show, maybe he watched it once through and that’s it, but his making the fire nation indian is the worst creative decision I’ve seen in a movie depiction of well, anything. Ruined it. Pretty much everything said in the original post is exactly what I’ve been thinking so well done, they should do it again and do it right, make it longer, do it the justice it deserves
Your so right about the movie terrible idea.
Leave it alone!
I just want to point out that he also changed LAWS setup in the avatar universe like fire benders needing a PRE-EXSISTING source of fire to bend.
I’m not disagreeing with you, but should’t that make sense? Like, waterbenders can’t create water and nor can earthbenders create earth. I wouldn’t know how to explain that to the audience. I guess I’m just asking for a reply because I would know what to do either. Would it just be like airbenders and air?
In the series the fire is just supposed to come from within. At first it is thought that the fire comes from rage but later when Z and Ang find the dragons, they discover that the fire comes from the warmth of life within. There are a few real cases around the world where people can channel heat from their body to their hands. They actually raise the temperature of their extremities above 100 degrees. This is how the idea should be portrayed.
Fire needs air..or oxygen.
NO REBOOT! JUST CONTINUE THE TRILOGY!
I agree with the reboot but it would still make sense for M.Night finished what he started… the only
Does anyone here remember dragonball?
Is that “that” another Hollyshitwood failure?
Always fail on the cast line..
If they are doing this again they should go with 6 to 7 movies at least 2 movie for each books so at least they can manage the story without butchering all the greatness of the story
Yes, exactly what I was thinking!
I think a live-action Netflix series is their best option. I think there’s too much story to fit into 3 movies, and I’d rather have an in-depth adaptation with 1 hour episodes, and probably 10-12 episodes per season (there’d still be 3 seasons). Instead of the occasional filler episode that ATLA had, they could blend the important details from the lesser episodes into the more important ones.
Another good option is making an entirely original live-action property for Netflix, with possibly a darker tone if they want
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Okay first off just because a director takes an idea from a previous show and make a movie from it , doesn’t mean its crap… Or it wouldn’t have made $300 million haha Another thing … I first saw this movie in theatres, which then brought my attention to the original show .. I love them both … The show for its own amazingly written and illustrated… But I also love Avatar:TLA because its m. Nights version of that story, he put his own twist to it .. If you would like to put your own version out .. I’ll be first in line to buy a ticket! Till then you shouldn’t be So judgmental of someone else’s concepts… Just saying..
Just because a movie makes $300 million, doesn’t mean it’s not crap.
And that’s fine if you like the film. But I won’t change my own opinion just because one person I don’t know happened to like it.
Regardless of how well the movie did or whether you liked the movie as it is, there is a certain method of story telling that should have been adhered to. There are a ton of movies ripped on by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTraxx that were just atrocious yet people liked them anyway because of their hokeyness. I mean Sharknado has a major cult following and it is just not good. I feel the same way about Last Airbender. He could have given it his own take while actually making a good story. He did it for Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Why not TLA? But no. He glossed over character development, forced an entire season’s worth of content into 90 minutes, brought forward rather dry humor and dialogue, and spent his budget on the final battle sequence of the movie where nothing actually happened. Had it not held the Last Airbender label, it would have bombed opening weekend. The only reason it did so well was because diehard fans expected an awesome rendition of their favorite series. Bringing something new to the table. Delivering memorable moments. Instead, there were scenes like the beginning where it looked like Sokka was going to beat the life out of Katara. It made me cringe and want to get up and walk out right then and there. But I stuck it out and left feeling an empty, shallow void in my gut. It just doesn’t stand as a good movie. Try it yourself. Remove any idea that it is a movie about Avatar the Last Airbender and see if it’s something you’d actually like to watch over and over again. I’ve watched it four times hoping maybe I just missed something. I gotta tell ya, it still feels me with a void in my gut.
Just because the movie made money, that doesn’t mean it’s not crap.
A lot of ATLA fans went to watch TLA, but they could have no idea that it’s crap.
If they would’ve known,hardly anyone would give money to see it.
Totally agree with you, Jon; The Last Airbender should definitely be remade. Regardless of how much money it made, it was an absolutely terrible movie. Here are some additional thoughts that I have:
I think they should split each Book into 2 movies.
By splitting each Book into 2 movies, they can fit much more content into each movie. The filmmakers will be able to easily fit all the important plot points and interesting characters into the movies without having the movies feel rushed. I think it will give the story a much more polished and cohesive feel. There’s also the potential for a LOT more money to be made if the Books are split in two, which should entice the filmmakers and producers.
On top of that, it should be very easy to split each Book into 2 movies since each Book has a distinct midpoint. For Book 1, the midpoint is The Winter Solstice. For Book 2, the midpoint is the Desert. And for Book 3, the midpoint is The Day of Black Sun.
Just as a side note, I was thinking that in Book 1, Part 1, Aang could be captured at the Fire Temple instead of escaping. Then, they could start the next movie out right at the Blue Spirit.
Bouncing off this point, I totally agree that Book 1 would be the most difficult to translate into a movie because of the standalone nature of each episode. With that in mind, a large portion of the Book may need to be reworked to make it feel cohesive. Perhaps storylines from the episodes could be interwoven and combined in a way that makes them feel more cohesive?
Finally, even if they make each Book into 2 movies, it will still be difficult to fit in ALL the content. Sacrifices will sadly have to be made. With that in mind, here’s a potential breakdown of the episodes that should be covered in each movie:
Book 1: Water, Part 1: The Avatar Returns (approx. time: 2hrs 30min)
The Boy in the Iceberg
The Avatar Returns
The Southern Air Temple
The Storm
The Warriors of Kyoshi
Imprisoned
The Winter Solstice Part 1
The Winter Solstice Part 2
NOTES:
a) Removed Omashu; I thinks it’s ok if Bumi is introduced in Book 2. In terms of tone and plot, I just don’t think it’s necessary for Book 1.
b) Perhaps the Warriors of Kyoshi and Imprisoned could be combined in some way? I think all the other episodes are won’t be much of a issue in terms of standalonishness.
c) The Storm is placed in Part 1 to make sure that Part 1 has a good deal of depth and character development. I also think it just fits well into Part 1.
d) As I said before, Aang should be captured at the end of Book 1.
Book 1: Water, Part 2: The Siege of the North (approx. time: 2hrs 30min)
The Blue Spirit
The Waterbending Scroll
Bato of the Water Tribe
Jet
The Deserter
The Waterbending Master
The Siege of the North Part 1
The Siege of the North Part 2
NOTES:
a) Aang starts off imprisoned in the Pohuai Stronghold.
b) Combine Bato and The Waterbending Scroll. I think the stories can be reworked to make them fit together. The nuns and the perfumes and not necessary so those can go. I was originally leaning toward eliminating Bato altogether, but I think it’s an important episode in terms of character development and character introductions (June and the Shirshu).
c) Jet and the Deserter are both kind of standalones, and I’m ok with that. Perhaps there’s a way to make them flow nicely into each other.
Book 2: Earth, Part 1: The Blind Bandit (approx. time: 2hrs 30min)
The Avatar State
The Cave of Two Lovers (Zuko and Iroh only)
Return to Omashu
The Swamp (Zuko and Iroh only)
Avatar Day (Zuko and Iroh only)
The Blind Bandit
Zuko Alone
The Chase
The Library
The Desert
NOTES:
a) Some episodes should only be used for the parts with Zuko and Iroh since the parts with Aang are irrelevant.
b) Bitter Work is unnecessary; we don’t need to see a lot of in depth earthbending practice. Just a few mentions of it, and a demonstration or two should be sufficient.
Book 2: Earth, Part 2: City of Walls and Secrets (approx. time: 2hrs 15min)
Appa’s Lost Days
The Serpent’s Pass
City of Walls and Secrets
Lake Laogai
The Earth King
The Guru
The Crossroads of Destiny
NOTES:
a) Appa’s Lost Days should be interspersed throughout the start of the movie.
b) No Drill. It was a bit silly, and there are other ways of proving to the Earth King that the war is happening.
Book 3: Fire, Part 1: The Day of Black Sun (approx. time: 2hrs)
The Awakening
Sokka’s Master
The Beach (Aang’s part only)
The Puppetmaster
The Day of Black Sun Part 1
The Day of Black Sun Part 2
NOTES:
a) The episodes in Part 1 of Book 3 is unfortunately just as standalonish as Book 1. Perhaps they’re even more standalonish! Something will have to be done about that…
b) There are not many relevant episodes to use for Part 1 of Book 3. In place of the irrelevant episodes, I would love to see more backstory on Iroh. Perhaps they could add depth to his character by showing his transformation into the character we know him as. They could elaborate on death of his son, his vision of conquering Ba Sing Se, and his journey into the Spirit World.
Book 3: Fire, Part 2: Sozin’s Comet (approx. time: 3hrs)
The Western Air Temple
The Firebending Masters
The Boiling Rock Part 1
The Boiling Rock Part 2
The Southern Raiders
Sozin’s Comet Part 1
Sozin’s Comet Part 2
Sozin’s Comet Part 3
Sozin’s Comet Part 4
NOTES:
a) It’s the final movie; let’s make it a bit longer 😉
b) I think all the episodes here are relevant and interesting in terms of character development and plot; however, if we were to cut episodes, we could cut The Firebending Masters and/or The Southern Raiders….But I would prefer to leave them in.
Well, that’s about all I can think of right now! Let me know what you think!
I think you need to just go ahead and email this outline to Nickelodeon Movies.
I second what Jon said. That is what should have been in the beginning, you hit the nail right on the head. Sending that and perhaps along with creating a petition to reboot as well. It has a strong enough fan base to get some attention. I would like a properly told story to do the show justice as much as anyone, and truth be told, The Last Airbender was never going to work as a single movie to represent the entire 1st season, no matter who directed it, who was cast, or who wrote it. At best it could have been decent, but there was too much materiel and variety from episode to episode. Having it split into two good 2 hour long features stands a much better chance at effectively retelling the story.
Since the film was still considered a success due to the box office it received I hope the rumors I keep hearing about a sequel in 2015 aren’t true.. But does it stand a better chance at being rebooted sometime in the future if they actually ended up doing all the sequels now? or would that just eradicate all hope of a proper reboot altogether?
I hope the rumors are false and that they keep M. Night Shamalamalanana far far away from the franchise. That having been said, I think season I could be made into a single movie. IF they concentrate on the spirit of the series and don’t cram a whole season into the flick. Focus on what made the season so good and get those aspects into it. That way it could be original AND faithful all at the same time. I really don’t want to see Shamylan remake Lady in the Water again.
I believe even if they did go with a sequel, M. Night Shyamalamadindong would not be directing. Although an article was released this month mentioning that someone a part of the production said Shyamalans first draft of the script was actually pretty tasteful, but the studio hired a ghost writer to change it and ended up being a shadow of the original. Ah well, too late now.. There was no hope for the poor casting choices though..
I guess you could probably do a whole season in 1 film, if it were a good 2 and a 1/2 hours. I didn’t realize the last airbender was only 1 and 1/2 hours long, (why it wasn’t longer baffles me..)
Hi please tell me you e-mailed this
Why don’t you just direct the movie? I enjoyed your outlines more than M.Nights movie.
I’m not a director. If anything, I would be a screenwriter.
i like your idea but the north pole should be one movie alone maybe the in between episodes like blue spirt jet and the fortuneteller c can be a movie on it’s own just being them on an adventure like lord of the rings that way in the north pole movie we can develop sokka and yue’s romance more cause it wasn’t done so well in the series and this way we can improve rather than detract and it won’t drag out the runtime
A whole movie for the North Pole? That seems like overkill to me. People can’t even deal with a whole episode of Game of Thrones that focuses on the Wall.
i like your whole set up you should get this emailed to completely different people so not nicklodian movies but the episode on book 2 part 1 you need the headband as it will be more interesting as they are secretly getting information and yet tense
Ok, everyone here has made very good points about the terrible movie made by M Night, but I have a serious question. Why didnt they make a season 4 for ATLA? I mean they had so much material they could have used to make a season 4. First point they could go over would be Zuko finding his mother. Aang and Katara actually getting to together as well. They also could spend more time around Zuko and Aang raising their families and starting up the city of Republic City. I mean those are just a few ideas of the top of my head. I want to hear all of your guys’ ideas though. On why they didnt make a season 4, if you think they didnt need a season 4 or even more ideas of things they could have done for episodes if they had a season 4.
Hi James I’m pretty sure there are tons of other people who wished the creators made a book 4, and I definitely agree with you. But I think that’s just me wanting more of the show. Logically, it’s best that the show ended where it ended. The whole point was for Aang to defeat the fire lord and bring peace, and that’s what was delivered. It had to end on that note.
But, as for Zuko’s mother, there is a comic on the story of how Zuko and the gang actually search for Ursa. It’s called The Search. I’m not sure if you have heard of it but the creators wrote it and were going to make into a mini series, if not a nickelodeon movie. Unfortunately, Nickelodeon decided not to air it because the Legend of Korra was airing and they thought it wasn’t the best time. So the creators went ahead and made it into a comic. You can watch it on Youtube actually, its divided into 3 parts. It literally explains everything and more and it was really good!
Thanks for bringing this up. The Search is fantastic, along with the rest of the comic series that have come out. The first one is The Promise, which is an interesting prelude to how they came up with the idea of Republic City and further explored Aang and Zuko’s fragile friendship. The Search came out after and is even more phenomenal. Finally, the Rift has been coming out recently (Part 3 is the next to come out) and focuses on Toph and Aang, as well as Toph’s potential love interests.
I believe the reason for that was this: each season was a book (Book One: Water; Book Two: Earth; Book Three: Fire). Each book was named after the type of bending Aang needed to learn. He already knew Air bending, and there was only three more bending techniques to learn, so three seasons.
I feel like if they were going to make a Korra prequel, they should definitely show us the Red Lotus trying to capture Korra as a child. I am pretty sure all of us would freak out if we could see Tonraq, Tenzin, Zuko, and Sokka (still alive!), fighting against the Red Lotus, when Zaheer had no airbending.
I also agree that the Last Airbender should be around 2 hours 30 minutes if they want to fit all of the important things in the movie. There are some episodes we can keep out such as the Great Divide (for sure), Bato of the Water Tribe, and maybe Jet (so he can be introduced in season 2, most likely in a flashback).
If they do a ATLA reboot & instead of Shyamalan. Which director who is good enough can do a reboot.
I go for Peter Jackson, instead of Shyamalan for a reboot.
Joss Whedon. he’s great at directing group dinamics like the scoobies, the avengers, and coulson’s b squad, just like team avatar plus he’s leaving avengers leaving him free for this
Alfonso Cuaron – He has the technical and camera work skills needed to make the actions scenes and cinematography come alive (Gravity) and he knows how to work with children (if needed) and pull out an emotional performance from actors and actresses no matter the acting skills they do/don’t have. (HP3 and the little princes. He practically rebooted the HP franchise and restarted it in a better artistic direction). But he is taking a break from visual effects heavy film making and the HP franchise might lure him for another project so…
Great choice. I would love an Avatar movie with a Children of Men aesthetic.
I want Bong Joon-Ho. I don’t know if you watched Snowpiercer but I would love Bong Joon-Ho to direct the reboot. Also given that Korean film and other aspect of Korean pop culture are gaining popularity around the world. Maybe the reboot should be a US-Korea-China co-production. I know who could play who given that I know my Korean and Chinese actors:
Lee Byung Hun as Ozai:
http://images.kdramastars.com/data/images/full/72506/lee-byung-hun.jpg
http://honeycuttshollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/masquerade-lee-byunghun.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/avatar/images/4/4a/Ozai.png/revision/latest?cb=20130612170743
If Claudia Kim-Soo hyun (Avenger: Age of Ultron) was younger, she could’ve fit Azula:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Kim
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Claudia+Kim+Captain+America+Winter+Soldier+pStRBrUPKRgl.jpg
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120724235558/avatar/images/1/12/Azula.png
For Katara, I think Krystal Jung for f(x) or Suzy (real name: Bae Suzy) of Miss A would’ve fit:
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121014193924/avatar/de/images/f/fb/Katara.png
Krystal Jung:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FFcG83w09oM/VB0g8RbypVI/AAAAAAAAHKM/AyYHfROyt-U/s1600/Krystal%2BJung%2Bas%2BYoon%2BSe%2BNa%2B(23,%2Baspiring%2Bcomposer).png
http://www.kpopmagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fx-krystal-heirs.jpg
Suzy of Miss A:
http://www.soompi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/suzy_main-e1344868787544.jpg
http://www.asianjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Suzy.jpg
To be honest, I can live with the idea of the Fire Nation being not-Japanese, I don’t expect all nations in the live-action adaptation to be Asian, and it make sense that Fire Nation to be Middle Eastern, after all we do asociate the Middle East with fire and heat.
But, besides of that, I agree with the rest, and specially with that stupid choice of making Katara and Sokka white, that’s terrible, they should be dark-skinned
I could also see the Fire Nation being Greek or Roman in style. Just anything with the Empire mentality.
Couldnt disagree with you at all! and the fire benders needing a source was ridiculous! heat is everywhere, no only within but also from the sun!
Leave M. NIGHT ALONE! The movie was awesome! You picky jerks need to give M. Night Shamalon a chance! THE MOVIE WAS BRILIANT! LEAVE IT ALONE! IT’S BECASUE OF YOU PICKY FANS, THE TRILOGY NEVER CAME! I REALLY WANTED TO THE LAST MOVIE! SHAME ON YOU ALL HATERS!
So basically you’re OK with the whitewashing and all that stuff. Yeah I think your post smell of racism and and you don’t want Asian actors in a live-action reboot, right?? Do you even watch the show and understand why fans are pissed.
THAT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANTHONY! NOT ME!
I am a great fan of Avatar and I thought the movie was a great insult to the fans and the show alike.
Hi Jon! 🙂 Great article you got here.
I’ve thought about this too, and come up with a possible casting — http://fav.me/d8suu4n
Do you agree?
Honestly, the fire nation was NOT Japan. It was based on China with influences from Thailand and Mongolia. The Earth kingdom was also China (Qing Dynasty) with influences from the Manchu and Korea. The air nomads were Tibetan monks and the water tribe was based on Inuit civilizations/Mongolia with culture influences from Native American cultures. Ill try to post pictures in my next post of REAL life influences from the show.
The show takes place in a fantasy Asian world (mostly Chinese inspired, which is why the writing and names in Avatar the last airbender are mainly Chinese).
Fire Nation Culture and influences: Fire nation culture is almost entirely Chinese and Thai. Culture influences include Yuan Dynasty China (Mongolian culture:Pointy shoes/clothing/weapons/names/hairstyles), Tang Dynasty China (Thats where the pointy shoulders comes from on fire nation uniforms), Joseon period of Korea (Fire nation war ships were modeled after Korean turtle ships), Ming Dynasty of China (The instruments/food/art/calligraphy), Thailand (The Buddha statues in Thailand have pointy heads, just like in the Firenation. Japan, Chinese, indian all have round headed Buddhas/Houses), Aztec, Mesomerica, Mayan. The terrain of Ice land were not modeled off of Japan, but of Iceland.Fire Nation armor does look influenced by Japanese Samurai armor. Said style, though, does not originate in Japan, but in China’s Tang Dynasty. Look up in Google images what I’m talking about if you do not believe me.
The Fire Nation palace in the caldera and the Earth King’s palace in Ba Sing Se are both modeled after different parts of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Both, the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom have golden- red roofs. They follow the Chinese architectural feature of yellow roof tiles/roofs indicating an imperial building.
The Fire Temple on Roku’s island is based on the Yellow Crane Tower first built in the year 223 AD, the current structure however, was rebuilt in 1981. The tower stands on Sheshan (Snake Hill), at the bank of Yangtze River in Wuchang District, Wuhan, in Hubei province of central China. Yellow Crane Tower is considered one of the Four Great Towers of China.
The Swords the Fire Nation guards have are a kind of Chinese broad sword called Dadao. The dadao 大刀; literally “big knife”; one of the varieties of dao or Chinese saber, is also known as the Chinese great sword.
The instruments that the fire nations students were playing in the episode were Aang goes to fire nation school are Chinese. We see the students play: Pipa, matouqin, dizi, gu, ruanxian and tsungi-horn. Pipa, dizi, gu and ruanxian are Chinese musical instruments. The matouqin is a traditional Mongolian instrument and the tsungi-horn is made up.
Lake Laogai is real. Lao Gai is not a made up phrase or name. Lao 劳 Gai 改 is the abbreviation for Láodòng Gǎizào (劳动改造) “Reform Through Labor,” the slogan of prison labor camps in China (PRC) until 1990.
Here is an example of Chinese hanfu.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f5/ec/b2/f5ecb24e43326aa737c551e2cbfaddc6.jpg
Here are MY cast.
For Fire lord Ozai: Chinese actor Wang Kai
For Azula: Korean actress Baek Su Ji
For Prince Zuko: Korean actor Ji Chang Wook
Aang was a bit hard, theres not too many Tibetan monk actors. I was thinking Thai actor Mike D Angelo but hes a bit old?
Ha Ji won as Katara, I know Katara in cartoon was Inuit/Mongolian, however, i cannot find any inuit/Mongolian actresses.
Nam Gil as Sokka?
Joo Jin mo as Kataras dad!
Yes, Fire Nation clothing and culture is very Chinese inspired, but the creators have specifically stated that it’s a mix of other South East Asian countries and Polynesian islands. I reference it’s like Japan because of it’s geography and imperialistic propaganda. The creators have said they drew from how Japan justified its actions during World War II.
Also, I don’t believe water tribe has any Mongolian influences. It’s a mix of Eskimo, Inuit, and Pacific Islanders.
In my opinion, the show is so masterful that the film director must be around the level of Steven Spielberg or George Lucas to pull this one off.
I think I know how we can reboot Avatar: The last Airbender. It might need help from South Korea and Mainland China (Taiwan could be included). It doesn’t need to be a film, it should be a live-action Asian-style TV drama. Last month I read it that the producers of the Walking Dead are doing a Korean drama:
http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/walking-dead-pre-apocalyptic-korean-drama-viki-five-year-1201714793/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/02/25/robert-kirkman-and-skybound-announce-korean-drama-called-five-year
Also I saw this on article on Dramafever about upcoming Chinese fantasy epic drama:
https://www.dramafever.com/news/are-you-fans-of-fantasy-dramas-5-fantasy-dramas-you-could-look-forward-/
This upcoming Chinese TV drama, Ice Fantasy got my attention:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Fantasy
This got my attention because if you read the plot for that drama, does it reminds you a lot like Avatar the Last airbender. I mean have a look at these pictures from the drama:
http://40.media.tumblr.com/385cd4bda4cc70771a604082f580cb54/tumblr_nw1n8uaQT01qlai99o2_1280.jpg
https://41.media.tumblr.com/aaed83a77b620845ada24b48237d1ed3/tumblr_o2f2a56cGF1smeb7do1_540.jpg
Do these look close to a live-action Asian cast Avatar: The last Airbender? After seeing Ice Fantasy and the Walking Dead producer doing a Korean drama I think there’s one way to do a proper live-action Avatar: Make it into a live-action TV drama in the style of Korean and Chinese drama. This should be a US-China-South Korea co-productions. I think it should be 30-50 episodes long, each episode should be an hour each. Here’s my issue:
Where should this live-action TV drama be broadcasted it on? We can’t broadcast it on terrestial TV, so I think it should be shown on Dramafever, Viki, Hulu, and/or Netflix.
What language should the characters in this TV drama adaptation be in? Korean, Chinese, English?
I think a Korean/Chinese style TV drama would be a better way to adapt a live-action Avatar: The last Airbender. I hope these help.
Just got chance to watch the trailer of Ice Fantasy, check it out:
After watching this trailer for that Chinese drama (it’s coming to Dramafever and Viki, so check it out when it come out), I think that’s enough evidence for me to say let’s reboot Avatar: the last airbender but not as a film but as a Korean/Chinese style TV dramas.
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