Avatar: The Last Airbender
fan of the quicken seriesAvatar : The Last Airbenderfinally got to see the unaired pilot program when Nickelodeon teem the entire episode onTwitch- and longtime fans noticed grown changes from what really ended up airing . Avatar : The Last Airbenderaired from 2005 - 2008 , but the pilot was created in 2003 by co - creator Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko . The original cowcatcher was usable as a special feature on the Season 1 videodisc sacking , and can be see in fragments on YouTube , but the Nickelodeon current marks the first prison term the episode can be watched online in its totality .
The final version of theAvatar : The Last Airbenderbegins with Katara and Sokka , sibling from the Southern Water Tribe , discovering a mysterious male child trapped in an berg . After freeing him , they realize that he is the Avatar , who has been missing for the preceding hundred years : anairbendernamed Aang . The exile Prince Zuko , and his Uncle Iroh , are traveling the world to capture the Avatar so that Zuko can return to the Fire Nation and restore his honor . The pilot episode manages to introduce all major characters in the series and establish the elaborate mythology of the domain .
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The original pilot instalment , created in 2003 to sell the show to Nickelodeon , was a very dissimilar episode than what cease up airing . Although both interpretation had the same fundamental premise and case , they established the tone of the show in very different way . From the iconic claim sequence to everyone ’s favorite fly lemur , here are all the deviation between the original pilot and what actually send .
The Title Sequence
The opening sequence ofAvatar : The Last Airbenderis iconic for a reason . Narrated by Katara , the series opens by demonstrate all four styles of elemental bending , performed by crouch masters from every nation . Meanwhile , Katara explain the origins of the Hundred Year War , the disappearance of the Avatar , and the theory that the Avatar cycle has been break . It compactly establishes the mythology of the serial , and introduce the mystery that opens the show : what happened to the Avatar ?
However , that iconic title sequence was almost very unlike . In the terminal adaptation , we see only the silhouette of the bend master in front of the banners of their respective nation . The stylization highlights the animalism of the bending , and the supernatural abilities of the benders . In the unaired pilot , rather of the silhouettes , we see a fully light up and alive sequence of each carousal , in their respective kingdom . While the original pilot might have given us more info about the globe ofAvatar : The Last Airbender , it lacks the cohesive style and drama of the final interlingual rendition .
In both versions of the pilot , Katara narrates the first appearance - but in the unaired version , she goes into much more detail describing the disappearance of the Avatar , and how she and her brother happen upon Aang in the iceberg . The chronological succession terminate with Katara explaining thatAangmust master all four elements to defeat Fire Lord Ozai , and that Katara and Sokka have give themselves to keeping him dependable . While the airless title chronological succession is still good , rushing through Aang ’s discovery in the iceberg means that it does n’t spend enough time setting up the family relationship that define the eternal sleep of the series .
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Aang In The Iceberg
The pilot ofAvatar : The Last Airbendershows us the moment that Sokka andKatara , the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe , discover Aang trapped in an iceberg , and Aang ’s dawning realisation that he has been trap for a hundred years while the Fire Nation has start a devastating state of war . The sequence acquire its time define up the stake of the narration - Aang ’s journey to master all four component , Prince Zuko ’s pursuit of the Avatar guided by his Uncle Iroh , and that Aang must travel to the North Pole so he and Katara can chance a waterbending master .
In the stuffy installment , all of these game points are plow in the title sequence . The original pilot plunk up with Aang , Katara ( named Kya in this loop , a name that is eventually reused as her mother ’s name ) , and Sokka already fleeing from the Fire Nation on Appa , sidestep fireballs and quickly landing on an island for resort . While the final version of the pilot takes its fourth dimension developing the dynamic between Aang , Katara , and Sokka , this version commence with the radical already make , and steer to an name location . Prince Zuko is unlike as well ; in the final version of the pilot he seems to be wandering without direction and trying to find the Avatar ; in this interlingual rendition , he ’s already find oneself him , and is in hot pursuit of Aang and his friends .
The Sea Serpent
In the unaired buffer , Aang and his friends find an island to shoot down on after being pursue across the urine byPrince Zuko , and spot an enormous ocean serpent following them beneath the ocean . After landing on the island , Katara and Aang persist with Appa while Sokka goes to observe intellectual nourishment , and is unexpectedly captured by Fire Nation soldier . While the serpent chasing Aang and his friends does n’t look in the last version of the pilot , it is reprocess inAvatar : The Last Airbenderseason 2 , episode 12 " The Serpent ’s Pass . "
In this episode , the ocean serpent meets an early end from Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation . When Zuko arrives at the Fire Nation camp where Sokka is being held , he move into after the beheaded head of the sea ophidian is bicycle in by his Fire land soldiers . The dying of the sea serpent in the animate series is a scandalous modification from the tone of the show . Avatar : The Last Airbenderalmost never present furiousness of decease , but the airless pilot hinted at a much darker variant of the show .
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Uncle Iroh
One of the expert parts of the original serial is Prince Zuko ’s buyback arc , for the most part guided by his Uncle Iroh . Iroh is one of the best characters fromAvatar : The Last Airbender , sprinkling his soundness alongside anecdote about tea , and ends up playing a all-important purpose in the coda withthe other phallus of the White Lotus . In the final archetype , Iroh plays a of the essence part by rail Prince Zuko in firebending , and assisting with his quest in finding the Avatar .
However , Iroh does n’t show up in the airless original episode at all , leave the hot - headed Prince without a direct hand . While Prince Zuko is still pursue the Avatar to restore his honor , in the stuffy cowcatcher he tell Sokka that if he cooperates with the Fire Nation , Zuko can forestall Ozai from harming him , and never mentions his expat . Uncle Iroh ’s disappearance from the original original hints at a very different discharge for Prince Zuko and leave fan to contemplate a variation ofAvatar : The Last Airbenderwithout any Uncle Iroh at all .
Momo & Zuko’s Raven
The original pilot feature several game point that ended up being reuse in other office of the serial , including the presentation of Aang ’s winged lemur , Momo . Since the literal pilot begins with Aang ’s find in the South Polealongside his sky bison , Appa , Momo does n’t appear untilAvatar : The Last Airbenderseason 1 , episode 3 , " The Southern Air Temple . " However , in the original edition of the pilot , Aang already has his wing associate .
Zuko also had an animal companion in the buffer , which did not come along in the final serial publication : a raven . Original intended as a enhancer for Aang ’s lemur , Momo , Zuko ’s Corvus corax is a meaning part of the airless episode . The raven brings Zuko the word that Sokka has been entrance , and Zuko ’s Corvus corax spends most of the episode battling Momo . Although Zuko end up without an animate being companion in the last interlingual rendition , he rather had Uncle Iroh as his fellow traveller throughout the show .
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The Avatar State
ThroughoutAvatar : The Last Airbender , Aang struggle with mastering the Avatar land , a State Department where he channel the spirits of all the past Avatars and harnesses their coalesce supernatural power . His inability to control his behavior in the Avatar State , and his fearfulness of wielding that much index , is a major challenge throughout the series and culminates innearly being killed by Zuko ’s sister , Azula . Before Aang learns to control the Avatar Department of State , he finds that it can be triggered if or his friend are in mortal risk as a defence mechanics .
In the close pilot , Aang is able to enter the Avatar nation easily while battle Zuko , and seemingly control the power with no difficultness at all . Part of this is because co - Creator Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had not yet finalized the complex mythology of the series , and were still figuring out how to follow up the Avatar land in the show . make love that a major part ofAang ’s journey centers around his fear of the Avatar Department of State , it ’s jarring to see him dominate the power with ease in the original pilot .
Avatar : The Last Airbenderclearly went through significant changes between when the original pilot was created in 2003 , and what eventually ventilate in 2005 . rewrite the pilot to focalise on Katara and Sokka ’s discovery of Aang , and taking sentence to prove the beginnings of those relationships , lay a better foundation for the quietus of the series . From modest changes , like switch Kya to Katara , or big I , like the plus of Uncle Iroh , the original pilot shows us that could have had a very different version ofAvatar : The Last Airbenderthan the beloved quicken series it became .
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