In which I declare myself a fandom heretic
After the euphoria of Atla's Book 3 (Fire) wore off, I realized that I had some issues with it. And some is an understatement. It took me a while (another understatement) to put them together with any degree of coherency. I don't think I succeeded. But here they are, at last, to all intents and cathartic purposes.
( Cut for spoilers and heresies )
( Cut for spoilers and heresies )
To elaborate a little, I thought Azula would latch onto the idea of usurping the throne once someone (Combustion man, if only to give him some actual purpose in the show) managed to manipulate their way into Ozai's favor, via naming Mai and/or Ty Lee as traitors and thus putting Azula's judgment under scrutiny. Elaborate plots like this were fairly common in the ancient dynasties, and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't utilized in Avatar to keep the story fresh.
The reason I wanted Song back in the story so much was because I believe her character would have been a good way to help ease tensions when Zuko joined the Gaang, and because I felt that Song needed to learn that you shouldn't put all your hopes and faith into one being without doing anything yourself. Not to mention, Katara's healing abilities are patchy, and she's a much better warrior than she is a healer--Song's medical expertise and herbal knowledge could have come in VERY handy. Want a non-lethal way to stop a bender? How about White Jade powder bombs? Can't bend fire if you're suffering a furious itch, right? There was a lot of potential I saw there, and it was just left to the wayside, like so many other brilliant ideas...
Plus, the way the scene was filmed, it felt like Song was due for a reappearance. Why bother showing Song's crestfallen disappointment with Zuko if it was never to be touched on again? They could have just ended the episode with him running off with the mount, but they specifically focused on her reaction to it.
I chalk up her to be one of many scrapped storyboards that occurred when some of the writers left.
I like your theory on Aang's trip to rediscover the Avatar spirit, but as cool as it sounds, it probably would have taken quite a bit more than 20 episodes to pack everything in there while making use of most of the cast. I really wanted The Duke to find Smellerbee and Longshot. I really wanted Haru to rally other Ek warriors the way Katara inspired him the first time around. I really, really wanted Song back in the storyline because the characters were really starting to show just how screwed up they were, and a well-adjusted character like her is a breath of fresh air. I WANTED TEO AND SOKKA TO STRATEGIZE TOGETHER! ;-;
Plus, I had weird dreams of Mai actually showing concern towards an ill Ty Lee (malnourished aura in prison/illness?) and telling Song to fix her. It was weird, but I really wanted it to happen because just that little bit would have redeemed Mai somewhat.
I had other theories, but they were scrapped when the episodes were coming out because I kept adjusting to them to what was shown to be canon, so I forgot some...but I'll tell you this, my epilogue wouldn't have been a friggin' tea party all the way in BSS right after being named as the ruler of a VERY unstable nation.
No lies, I was tempted to re-write s3 in my head, but after watching all of it, I felt so letdown and my motivation kinda sapped away. It returns in small spurts of guilt when I look at my poor, neglected Zuko/Song prompt community, but past that, I haven't given Avatar much thought since 2008.
I will tell you that my series' epilogue was just sort of a brief, light-hearted overview of what most of the cast was doing. The one scene I remembered best was of Jun, Mai and Ty Lee tracking down Kuei and dragging him back to BSS while he just gushed over Nyla. Ty Lee and Bosco were hugging because they missed each other and Mai was actually smiling in a contented fashion after some good-natured snarking with Jun.
I think there was also a race between Teo and Toph, with him flying and her earth-surfing. I lol'd.
*sigh* What could have been.
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I love the idea of Song as a medic and using her non-Bending skillz to help the war effort. And you’re absolutely right that the Song episode ended in such a way that it foreshadowed her returning into the story.
I like your theory on Aang's trip to rediscover the Avatar spirit, but as cool as it sounds, it probably would have taken quite a bit more than 20 episodes to pack everything in there while making use of most of the cast.
I think if they deleted a lot of extraneous episodes (Runaway, Painted Lady, Sokka’s Master, etc) there might have been quite some room to explore Aang’s adventures in the Spirit World. Remember his other adventures in the Spirit World never took more than 2 episodes in a row (the Winter Solstice, the Siege of the North, the CoD, etc).
The Tea Party epilogue might actually have been a good idea if it was clearly a couple of years after the events of Sozin’s Comet. As it stands, it looks like if Zuko was crowned King then took an air balloon to join Iroh at Ba Sing Se, leaving the Fire Nation to sort itself out. Fail.
Ty Lee and Bosco were hugging because they missed each other and Mai was actually smiling in a contented fashion after some good-natured snarking with Jun.
LOL! I would have paid good money to see that! :D If you ever change your mind about writing your alt-Season 3, I'm right here. :D :D
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S3 needed more non-benders being badass, for realz.
If they had structured Aang's storyline as an A-plot/B-plot thing so that we didn't have to completely ignore the rest of the cast at the time, it could have been possible...hm.
I agree the Tea party should have been done like...maybe a year or so after the comet. Not a couple of months. Not with the way Zuko got the throne.
To this day, I still think it was dumb of Azula to leave Joo Dee in charge of BSS with no problems.
I think the ultimate issue with re-writing S3 is figuring out absolutely everything that should be made a priority and figuring out how to work it into 20 episodes. As it is, I can only seem to write post-series short stories here and there for my own prompt community, and the inspiration for those are few and far in-between. It's easy to know what I would have wanted done because I see it in my head--but putting it down in print would just be ungodly amounts of tl;dr...which is sad that a great series left me with that much need for alternative story lines, right?
What were the major things you wanted to see, aside from Aang's spirit journey?
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Secondly, I am so sorry it's taken me this long to respond! I hope you don't think I'm the kind of person who's only interested in talking when people disagree with her! RL obligations have tied a noose around my neck and i have been busy, busy, busy. Please I'm so sorry...
As to your question: what would I like to see? Well, that's tricky, isn't it? Mmmmm.... It's so much easier to say all the things I didn't want to see! But what to have seen instead?
Let's see...
Definitely, Aang Alone. I'm thinking the first episode of Season 3 when he runs off? He should stay away from the Gaang, travel around the Fire Nation and its colonies, learn about himself. He'll discover soon enough that he's no longer an Avatar - Azula killed the Avatar Spirit when she Lightning-shot him in the Avatar State. katara just brough 'Aang' to life, not the Avatar. So Aang will have to go on a spiritual quest, first by trying to find his way into the old Fire Nation Temples, then by going into the spirit world, somehow. (And this could be a nod without a direct revelation of how Iroh was able to do it).
After he comes out of the Spirit World, he has to find his way back to his friends. This is Aang traveling around the Fire Nation (think Zuko Alone and Appa's Last Days expanded over several episodes), learning Fire Bending from a whole variety of common people and in the process, learning about the Fire Nation and realizing that his enemy has a face. If this leads to the whole 'no killing Ozai because he was once a baby' resolve, then I'm cool with that. But there has to be more lead up to it than, "Oh! I just realized after 2 seasons of fighting and killing random mooks that I'm a pacifist monk who can't kill the Ultimate Evil Guy."
Meanwhile, Sokka and the Gaang are preparing for the Invasion. It requires gathering their old friends and this does not happen over night. Perhaps the Gaang splits up more as they go on different quests to get people? Sokka tries to find out what happened to Suki before the Black Sun. Perhaps he even attempts to rescue her single-handedly before then? And he almost gets caught and gets unexpected help from Mai (let's make her more sympathetic from the start) who remembers the whole Sokka-taking-care-of-Tom-Tom thing and has a soft spot for him.
I'm just thinking all this out as I type so I'm going to be throwing some things out there randomly.
What if Hakoda and most of the Southern Water Tribe warriors are captured? Right from the first episode? That is added impetus for Aang to leave the group because he has failed them. Then if we're trying to stick to canon, it can give a more realistic bent to Katara-going-dark. It pushes Sokka into the de facto leadership position much sooner, too.
Meanwhile, Mai and Zuko's getting-together has to be shown clearly on screen. If it means exclusively focusing Episode 1 on Aang and the Gaang and Episode 2 on Zuko and Azula, etc. respectively, so be it. And instead of the comical 'let's give Zuko added impetus to go back to the Fire Nation because he likes Mai', let their dating be Mai's assignment from Azula to keep tabs on her brother.
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Well, let me see what I can remember...
OK, day of the black sun is coming. Sokka and the rest of his rag-tag army launch the Invasion with the plan that the Gaang will take out Ozai by their combined powers of awesome. Once again, Azula is waiting and checkmates them by taunting Sokka about Suki (only this time, he's tried to find her and he's been made to believe that she's only his second dead girlfriend so when we see him cry, we actually care that he's crying and not wondering why he's upset over a girl that he hasn't thought about since Ba Sing Se). Meanwhile, Zuko calls the Old Man Out for pretty much the same reason he does in the 'canon' S3. (Instead of Combustion Man, perhaps Zuko also campaigned in preventing the Northern Water Tribe Army from reaching the Fire Nation).
After Zuko leaves to save Iroh, Azula steps into the Throne Room and in a non-bending-involved completely-underhanded move, kills Ozai and makes it look like Zuko did it. Meanwhile, the Invasion army is surrounded and all hope since lost... until AANG RETURNS and saves the Gaang and a few others. Zuko follows, like in canon.
OK, I have to go off again. More later. :D This is fun!
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Some of your theories kinda work with 'canon'S3, where as a lot of mine pretty much disregard the majority of s3 with a couple of ideas borrowed and expanded upon (bloodbending, Combustion Man, Yue, Northern Water Tribe, etc).
In my version, I think all the relationships would have been done differently. S2!Zuko never gave any thought to Mai before s3 other than how Azula was cruel to them both as kids, which makes their canon relationship in s3 all the more confusing, and all the less convincing. Mai didn't even seem bothered by the fact that she was hunting Zuko and Iroh down as traitors to the nation, which also raises some eyebrows. I like how they portrayed Sokka's difficulty in moving on from Yue, except I didn't really see a point in the series where he truly did--rather, Sokka just pretty much pined over her, but kept an eye out for anything with tits that wasn't his relative or trying to kill him.
Nahh, I think if I had had my way (and despite how much I love Zuko/Song), Zuko really should have been kept single by the series end, and possibly Sokka too (though plenty of hints could be left for the fans to do as they wish). The only relationship I think I would have made canon would have been Aang/Katara, simply because that was the one that had the easiest foundation to work with (which really boggles the mind as to how they messed that up).
You and I appear to be on the same wavelength when it comes to what we expected Azula to do. It even seemed like that is what she was going for during the eclipse: have the Gaang and Ozai tire each other out and swoop in to finish them both, unite the nation over the grief of losing Ozai and the victory of defeating the Avatar and Zuko (the usurper who pretended to kill Aang in order to have him come during a sneak attack to kill Ozai)--only the Gaang would be called back before the end of the fight due to a heavy loss (Hakoda?). That way the parallels that helped strengthen the story and pacing through the first seasons would remain present in the final season.
Not to mention, they probably could have saved most of their budget without having to pay Mark Hamill to do almost 10 episodes of the season, lol.
I'm afraid I'll be overseas and away from my computer until after the 8th of January at this point, but I'll get back to you if you decide to continue this. :3
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