"If my LJ Friends Poked Around In My Brain, They'd Probably Find A Lot Of Rubbish".

[ladyofleithian]

Just to cheer myself up after seeing...that movie, I decided to post a little snippet of some notes I took during a non-Internet break. ^__^

-Only change dialogue around if you have a decent enough reason for it (mostly to aid characterization). Probably where Steve Kloves fell flat in giving Ron’s line to Hermione.
+ Katara’s lines to Aang: It serves no purpose other than making it a complete sausage fest.
• Just eliminate “Imprisoned” entirely. It serves no purpose to the plot; it’s a good sidequest, but it’s not…relevant.
+ Emphasize the growing friendship between the characters. One of the flaws of The Last Airbender was that you didn’t feel that Aang, Katara and Sokka were the Nakama they were in the series. There was no reason to care about them at all, other than being told we should. (And there is the ultimate downfall of The Last Airbender: it’s all tell, no show)
+ Add humor. It’s not a crime, you know. And it allowed you to get to know the characters better in the original animated series.
+ Sometimes understatement works best. Don’t have Yue and Sokka’s farewell be all contrived; have it be quiet, gentle, tender. And build up some character interaction so that we care when Yue dies.
+ Emphasize the relationships between Sokka and Katara, Hakoda, Sokka and Katara, Haru and his father, Zuko and Iroh, Aang and Gyatso and even Azula and Ozai. Especially Azula and Ozai. Even darkness has a heart, after all.
+ Preserve the essence of the characters – especially your female characters.
• Keep their moments of awesome: Yue willingly sacrificing herself for her people. Katara holding her own against Pakku and Zuko, respectively. Yet make Zuko just as powerful to build the tension. Have moments when it looks like Katara’s going to lose.
• Keep the rules intact: Zuko’s firebending comes from the sun, Katara’s from the full moon. Zuko may not be able to be at his peak under the full moon, but at the very least, have him taunt Katara to throw her off balance and very nearly get some shots in at her.
• Have Katara confide in Aang about wanting to be a Waterbender like her mother, but being unable to because “there aren’t many Waterbenders in the South Pole”.
• In the South Pole, women being allowed to fight. In the North Pole…not so much. Yue feeling the brunt of this, and feeling trapped and restricted – sometimes hating Arnook, her father, at times.
• Show Azula’s icy competence at first, before slowly easing into her more vulnerable side. At her core, she’s really a lost, scared little girl who’s been made into a Tyke Bomb by her father.
• Accentuate Meng’s crush on Aang a little more. Have Aang gently brush her off with “I really like you, Meng, but I don’t like like you.” Have them be close friends, and Meng even showing up to help during the invasion…but no more.
• Aang and Meng occasionally having chats when Aunt Wu’s on a break and Meng doesn’t need to help her out. Meng joking about Aang having a crush on Katara, and Aang trying to brush it off. “She’s just a good friend.”
MENG (good-naturedly sarcastic): Feh. Good friend. And I’m the Queen of Ba Sing Se.

AND
Aang mostly keeping the truth under wraps to spare Katara discomfort – as well as Meng.

• Keep Suki’s strength as well. Have her try (and eventually succeed) at breaking out of the Boiling Rock. Have her embrace with Sokka be brief, before Sokka says, “Come on; let’s get out of here.”
• Have Iroh later tend to Suki’s wounds – and Suki eventually tell the others what happened with Azula. “She was…harsh.” And honestly, that’s all that needs to be said.
• Keep Yue’s strength as well as her restlessness and depression.
• Yue and Sokka – Beren and Luthien. An imperfect man falling in love with a (seemingly perfect) woman.
• Yue’s interactions with Hahn taking on a creepy edge – this is the twerp she’s going to marry. Shallow, misogynistic, et cetera et cetera. Her life being interrupted when Sokka and the others arrive – Sokka seeing Yue and becoming captivated by her.
• Suki speaking with Sokka about Yue – keep in mind that The Ember Island Players is going to be left out if only because it doesn’t really advance the plot. So it’s a bit tenderer, with Sokka speaking about Yue’s kindness and grace. “She would do anything for her people – and her people would do anything for her.”
• Use the pause in the firing (regarding Zhao attacking the Northern Water Tribe) for the other people in the tribe to start panicking/arguing amongst themselves, and Yue turning towards Katara and co., despairing that those in her tribe are fighting amongst themselves. “Take heart, Sokka. It will soon be over.”
+ Sokka then giving her words of encouragement so the war can thus be won.

• Later, of course, they slip away to the Spirit Oasis so Aang can get in contact with the Spirit World. Zuko, of course, crashes the party, yadda yadda yadda. Have Yue and Sokka try to fight back, but be defeated (seriously, where was Yue while the Zuko/Katara fight was going on?). Have Zuko chastise Katara for “dragging” Yue into this (due to her so-called “civilian” status), to which Yue replies, “I came of my own choice. Katara had nothing to do with this.”
• Zuko blaming Katara for this, one hundred percent. “You should not have dragged [Yue] into this.”
“You did that yourself.”
• Yue being A Mother To Her People, in a sense (something Arnook most likely taught her at a young age).
• The Team Mom aspect of Katara being given to Yue, if only to make the whole Kataang thing a little less…well, Oedipus Rex, Part Two.
• But it doesn’t mean that aspect of Katara should be removed entirely. Keep some of it – but mostly accentuate her naiveté, her vulnerability, et cetera. Gradually, she matures.
• Katara – kind, determined, brave, restless.
• Aang loving Katara for who she is – and Katara loving Aang for who he is. Aang treating her like an equal, not a prize to be won.
• Have Katara question it at one point: “Am I nothing more than a prize to you?”
• Where is Gran-Gran in terms of taking care of Katara and Sokka?
• She’s there, naturally, but sometimes, when the siblings have no one to rely on but each other, Katara tends to take over parenting. Sokka being immature at times, and Katara being the more grounded one – which carries over into the search for Appa.
• Katara’s breakdown to her father being where it’s revealed that the stress of him being away has really shaped her into the person she is today. Slowly healing over the course of “Book Three”.
• Azula being a dark mirror to Katara – who Katara could have turned into if she wasn’t careful. (I.e. a Villainous Breakdown) Azula, like Katara, being later revealed as a small, frightened little girl under the cold, icy, scary competent exterior she wears.
• Ozai trying to console Azula – in his way – after Mai and Ty Lee betray her. “Have faith, my daughter. In time, everyone will see it our way.”
“Our way…assuming the Avatar doesn’t decide to save them.”
“Or even if he does. Everything will turn out right.”
• Most likely leave out The Beach. It’s a great episode and everything, but it doesn’t have much to do with the plot in the long run. However, do allude to it at times – especially with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee’s insecurities.
• The others trying to help Azula heal – if only because Zuko, Aang and even Katara want her to.
• Emphasize Azula’s fear of not being good enough – especially in “Book Three”.
• Have the two siblings eventually reconcile in the end, with Azula sobbing into Zuko’s shoulder as Zuko merely rubs her back and reassures her that it’s going to be okay.
ZUKO: It’s over…it’s over. It’s going to be okay…it’s over.
• Azula’s surroundings eventually taking on a nightmarish design – at least, cut to certain details of her room (i.e. creepy ones) to build tension.
• Or leave The Beach in, if only to experiment with the lighter side of Azula.
• Emphasize Azula’s devastation when her father leaves her behind. Especially, later, her anxiety that he’ll be killed in battle – she can’t afford to lose another person she loves. Desire for power/arrogance/fear being her ultimate undoing, a la Citizen Kane.
• Ultimately going out with a bang – in her Agni Kai with Zuko.

+ Does she die?

Maybe she dies in Zuko’s arms, just to enhance the pathos. Ozai’s cruelty towards her leading to the ultimate reason to hate him.
• Dying in Zuko’s arms:

+ Instead of it being an Agni Kai, have it just be an all-out brawl. Both Zuko and Katara play their parts.

• Zuko going through the Five Stages of Grief after losing both Azula and Ozai, and eventually starts shouting at Mai before breaking down in her arms. She can only hug him and promise him that everything is going to be okay.
• Azula beginning to hallucinate in the weeks leading up to her death/defeat.
• “But…I was perfect…”
+ Azula’s possible last words.

• Build up the Maiko a little more. Have Mai occasionally sneak yearning looks at Zuko, as well as murmuring to Ty Lee, in wonder, “He must be a man by now!” Also confiding a bit in Ty Lee about wondering if it was the right thing for Azula to do, to drag them out here.
• But don’t let it compromise Mai’s character. Have her still be cool and snarky – but give her some humanity too.
• First time we see Mai, she’s mostly…well, bored. Look at “Return to Omashu” to give her something…suitably boring to do. XD
• Have her joke around with Zuko a few times. In a way, she’s the only one who’s made him happy, when not even Iroh or Katara could.
• Show Mai’s bravery, especially at the Boiling Rock.
• Keep Mai competent.
• Have Zuko later confide in her about his insecurities, and have her reassure him with, “You’re good enough”, basically.
• Mai and Ty Lee defying Azula if only because they’re fed up with her bullshit. At least, Mai is. Ty Lee mostly steps in to save a friend, and they flee.
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