Conception and Production

Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. Its animation was mostly done by South Korean studios JM Animation, DR Movie, and MOI Animation. According to Konietzko, the series was conceived in early 2001 when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man and imagined the man as a child. He drew the character herding bison in the sky and showed the sketch to DiMartino, who was watching a documentary about explorers trapped at the South Pole.

Konietzko described their early development of the concept: "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland ... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them".[16] Two weeks later, the co-creators successfully pitched the idea to Nickelodeon vice-president and executive producer Eric Coleman.

The series was introduced to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004,[18] and premiered on February 21, 2005.

In an interview, Konietzko said: "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 and kung fu cinema, yoga, and Eastern philosophies led us to the initial inspiration for Avatar: The Last Airbender."

According to head writer Aaron Ehasz, Konietzko and DiMartino originally envisioned the series being three seasons long but Nickelodeon asked Ehasz what his ideas for a fourth season would be, and he later discussed these ideas with both Konietzko and DiMartino. Ehasz believed that a fourth season would be created but this plan was interrupted when Konietzko and DiMartino became occupied with assisting M. Night Shyamalan on the film The Last Airbender. Ehasz says that Shyamalan insisted they create a fourth season instead, but Konietzko and DiMartino wanted to focus on the live-action film as they were executive producers on the project.[21] However, Konietzko and DiMartino have denied this, and claim that a fourth season was never considered by themselves nor by Nickelodeon.

Plot

A pilot episode for the series was made in 2003. It was animated by Tin House, Inc., written by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and directed by Dave Filoni. Mitchel Musso voiced Aang in this pilot but was later replaced by Zach Tyler Eisen when the show began production. In the episode, Sokka and his sister Kya (renamed to Katara by the time the series aired) must travel the world to find masters for Aang, who is the Avatar; however, they must evade a critical foe, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, who wants to capture Aang.

This episode was first publicly released as one of the extras in the NTSC season 1 DVD box set, which were not available with the previously released individual volumes. As the PAL box set lacks extras, the episode was not made available on DVD in PAL regions. The episode was released with audio commentary from the creators which, unlike commentary on other episodes in the season, is not possible to disable on the DVD set.[23] On June 14, 2010, the unaired pilot was made available with and without commentary for the first time via the iTunes Store.

In 2020, the pilot was shown on Twitch.

Influences

The series is notable for borrowing extensively from East Asian art and mythology for its universe, especially Chinese culture.[2] Its creators employed cultural consultant Edwin Zane and Chinese calligrapher Siu-Leung Lee to help determine its art direction and settings.[26][27] The creators have cited Chinese art and history, Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism, and yoga as the strongest influences on the series.

Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn created the series' music and sound design together in the early developmental stages and then went on to divide the tasks, Zuckerman taking on the musical responsibility and Wynn the sound design. They experimented with a wide range of instruments, including the guzheng, pipa, and duduk, to match the show's Asia-influenced setting.

The art style of the fictitious locations used in the series are based on real locations in Asia. Sites such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China in Beijing were inspirations for the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se,[30] and Water Tribe locations were based on Inuit and Sireniki cultures.[3] According to writer Aaron Ehasz, early Fire Nation designs were based on Japanese culture. To avoid accidentally making broad statements, they redesigned many settings and peoples to be more "broadly inspired".[3] For the final design, the creators went with a more Chinese style for the Fire Nation's clothing and architecture.[31] For instance, the Fire Temple was based on the Yellow Crane Tower, as its flame-like architectural elements were a perfect motif for the Fire Nation architecture according to the creators.

The gestures used by the "bender" characters are derived from Chinese martial arts, for which the creators employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a consultant.[33] Each fighting style is unique to the "benders" who use them or characters who are aligned to a certain element. For example, practitioners of "waterbending" use movements influenced by tai chi and focused on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. Hung Gar was the inspiration for practitioners of "earthbending", and was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes as a representation of the solidity of earth. Northern Shaolin, which uses strong arm and leg movements, was chosen to represent "firebending". Bagua, which uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes, was used for "airbending".[34] The Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style can be seen practiced by the earthbender, Toph, who develops a unique fighting style as a result of her blindness.[35] Asian cinema influenced the presentation of these martial-art bending moves.

Themes

The series addresses many topics rarely touched on in youth entertainment, including issues relating to war, genocide, imperialism, colonialism and totalitarianism, gender discrimination and female empowerment, marginalization and oppression, spirituality, as well as the philosophical questions surrounding fate, destiny, and free will.

The show is set during a period in which the world is engulfed in an imperialistic war initiated by the Fire Nation. While war is a constant backdrop, the show depicts these effects through the eyes of common people—the oppressed Earth Kingdom citizens as well as indoctrinated Fire Nation schoolchildren—to show how war makes victims of everyone.[3] And while the Fire Nation is presented as the instigator of violence, the show also depicts the systemic inequality experienced by residents in the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se as well as the nefarious activities of the city's secret police. These situations show the corrupting nature of power and the nuances of good and evil.[3] The show introduces viewers to genocide early on when protagonist Aang visits his former home in the Southern Air Temple. He arrives to discover his people have been massacred and displays a range of emotions, from rage to sadness.

The character Zuko and his relationship with his father and Uncle Iroh is the main redemption arc of the series, and represents the show's message that destiny and fate are not binding or set by other people but can be changed.[37] In season two, Zuko struggles to conform to the destiny and path determined by his father,[3] but Iroh prods him, asking, "who are you, what do you want?"

The show also represents a diverse cast of characters in order to tackle the issue of marginalization. For example, in introducing a blind character like Toph and a paraplegic boy like Teo, the show depicted characters with vulnerabilities overcoming their physical and societal limitations.[3] This is also true when it comes to the show's female characters. For example, female protagonist Katara faces systemic sexism when she reaches the Northern Water Tribe to learn waterbending. In another instance, her brother Sokka is initially dismissive of the all-female Kyoshi Warriors, but learns to respect and appreciate their skills.[3] According to Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku, these themes represent the show's message that it is more important to be oneself than to hew to societal expectations.