The last airbender’s un-aired avatar pilot was surprisingly dark

Avatar: The Last Airbender is known to explore complex moral and emotional situations. However, Nickelodeon has released an unreleased pilot that shows a few key differences from the anime series we know and love, and they’re pretty dark!

The network organized a Avatar: The Last Airbender live broadcast session on Sunday (as reported by Weekly entertainment), telling how Jump arrived at. It was narrated by creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who recently left Live adaptation of Netflix due to creative differences with the streaming platform. Included in the live stream (which you can watch here) was the original, un-released driver – it was previously included on DVDs but had not been made available online.

The animation style and character design are quite similar between the un-released pilot and the actual series, but it’s clear that there were some changes made before it launched on Nickelodeon. Most of the cast’s voices are the same, with the exception of its star, Aang, who was originally voiced by Mitchel Musso (Hannah montana) but was replaced by Zach Tyler Eisen. Additionally, Katara’s character was less confident, appearing to be more dependent on Aang than needed. She was also called Kya at first, but the name was changed to Katara, possibly due to issues with the 2003 video game. Kya: dark lineage.

The un-broadcast pilot also skips all the events of the first episode where Katara and Sokka find Aang, instead putting them in the middle of their runaway adventure since Dante Basco Zuko (although it never explained what they actually do). Some creatures and storylines from later episodes appear, most notably Momo and the serpent from the second season episode, “The Serpent’s Pass.” This is where Zuko comes in.

During a chase across a vast ocean, Aang and the others manage to escape the attacking serpent, but Zuko and his ship come face to face with the creature. We see Zuko getting ready to strike, and the next thing you know it happens.

You can’t imagine things: it’s the decapitated head of the serpent transported to the Fire Nation camp, tongue flapping, scarred by the burn marks from Zuko’s deadly attack. Sure, benders can do a lot of crap, and it’s safe to assume there’s some collateral damage, but it’s all handled offscreen. Even Jet’s presumed death has not been shown as it is a children’s show. I imagine the test audience glanced at that flapping tongue and said ‘no thanks’, and the series was edited to make the deaths accidental instead of being right there in front of your beheaded face. Zuko, how could you?

Avatar: The Last Airbender and The legend of Korra are currently available to watch on Netflix.

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