Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time. Not only does it have stellar fan reviews from all sides, it also has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. One of its most commended aspect is its immersive world-building. Not only are the dynamics between factions excellently well-thought-out, but the powers and bending as a concept are truly one of a kind.
Knowing just how magnificent the power structure is, it is surprising to find out that the original plan that the network had was a lot different. Nickelodeon seemed to be aiming for a ‘magic and action’ series, something that could have easily doomed the animated series before it was even released.
Thankfully, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino came to the rescue.
The Original Plan for Avatar: The Last Airbender Would Not Have Worked
During an interview Unicroft, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino talked about the roots of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not with their own lives and how they came to create it, but the process of it getting picked up by Nickelodeon and their original plan for the series.
“Nickelodeon wanted something with magic and action but it’s a kids network and we couldn’t just have straight up violence; and that’s honestly not something Mike and I were interested in anyway. But the world of wizards and magic and wands and stuff, it never made a lot of sense to me. It just seemed to be too many Nickelodeon and their original plan for the series.”
It would seem that the two creators and the network had very diverging views on the iconic series. When they were deciding the direction of the show, the studio wanted to take an approach of action, adventure, and magic but toned down for children. Unfortunately for them, this specific genre was already booming and had a lot of competition. The Harry Potter series was at its prime and more projects like it were already in production.
“Mike and I both felt that ‘let’s do something really physical with the magic.’ It’s magic but we won’t even call it that. It’ll just be an extension of the persons Chi into the element. But there were limitations. They had to be trained and they had to work and earn these skills. They weren’t just like, ‘I’m granted with these powers and I can do things.’”
Every producer, director, and executive wanted to create something with magic, action, and charm for children. This meant that if the series stuck to a formula exactly like other projects at the time, nothing would have been able to make it stand out; not even its excellent storytelling or character writing. Additionally, the approach was not favored by the two creators.
Knowing this, it would seem that DiMartino and Konietzko has a plan to add their own flare and uniqueness to the world that they were creating.
Complexities Were A Speciality For Avatar: The Last Airbender Creators
Even though Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino revealed to IGN that they were big fans of the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings franchises, they were far too talented to make copies of the same dynamics. Instead, they wanted to bring their own specialties as originality into the series.
“Mike and I were really interested in other epic “Legends & Lore” properties, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but we knew that we wanted to take a different approach to that type of genre. Our love for Japanese Anime, Hong Kong action & Kung Fu cinema, yoga, and Eastern philosophies led us to the initial inspiration for Avatar.” said Konietzko.
When bending is put, on its own, it can easily be called a form of magic in media. However, the two creators decided to merge a Western audience with Eastern culture, mixed with magic; something that was naturally unheard of.
“Bryan and I love the films of Hayao Miyazaki. The stories and emotional depth of Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke were big inspirations for us when we began creating Avatar. Also, the character design and animation of Fooly Cooly from studio Gainex was influential as well.” added DiMartino.
They were big fans of anime, so it was animated in a similar format. Hong Kong action films were something they enjoyed, so similar dramatizes were added to the fight scenes in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The list goes on, with Kung Fu, fans of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpieces, and his ability to tell stories without the live-action medium. Hence came the birth of the 2005 series, which that has been regarded as one of the greatest works in animation of all time; something very few can say.
