Condensing The Last Airbender to 2 Hours. (Rumors/Facts/Speculation)

Hey, guys. With not too much information circulating about the Last Airbender movie in the last week or so, I thought I'd put a post up concerning rumors about what is being left out of the movie(s) and what should be, in my humble opinion.

Firstly, I have encountered a lot of people on the internet who are still wondering if the entire 3 seasons are going to be crammed into this one movie. Let me clear this up for whoever is still confused about this... somehow:

there will be 3 movies, one for each season, spanning between 2010 and 2014, as of now. however, the 2014 date is far from final, as the first movie doesn't even come out till next year, but Shyamalan did say he expected it to take 6 years, in 2008.

Now, having said that, I have run across a few credible rumors concerning what episodes will be left out of or merged together in The Last Airbender:

1. The merging of 'The Warriors of Kyoshi' and 'Imprisoned.'

Although details of exactly how this is going to pan out are very scarce, it is almost certain that these two episodes will be merged together. While Shyamalan was filming the set that has been confirmed to be Kyoshi Island, spectators with camera's quickly posted set pictures of what looked like Kyoshi Island, and marching prisoners. The photos were wiped off the internet before I could save any of them, though =( but hey, bright side: that means they were official!

This means that, contrary to the T.V. show, the Fire nation will catch Haru (otherwise known to the cast as 'Earthbending Boy') on Kyoshi Island, and thus make two or three episodes one. I think this is brilliant. Seeing as how season one was like 6.5 hours long, and the movie is 2.5 max, there really is no reason why these two sections shouldn't be merged. Make the island a bit more populated with Earthbenders, add Haru's family and a few more ships/military presence and *BAM,* you have a merge that stays almost completely faithful to the idea of the show.
This is heavily speculated however, but the pictures did exist, and prisoners were marching around on the confirmed Kyoshi Island set. So, as for what this means- you decide, we'll have to wait and see. The possibility, however, sounds good to me.

2. The Blue Spirit

Okay. Theres not much information supporting this either, but there is some. A few months back a CGI trailer for The Last Airbender leaked onto youtube, and fans barely had enough time to doubt it's official-ness before Paramount themselves pulled it. We all know what that means: Yes, it was official. I can't find any screen caps of the trailer, but they may be out there if you wanna go digging for them on your own. Later it was tentatively revealed that the CGI Trailer was a compilation of scenes that were taken from an early-stage CGI storyboard for the movie. So it is safe to assume that many if not all of the scenes created in that leaked storyboard will appear in the movie. Among them was the Blue Spirit.

Also, a Fire Nation extra confirmed the Blue Spirit's part in the movie a week or so ago, saying that they had finished filming the sequence just a few days before Producer Frank Marshall said filming wrapped. Again, decide on your own, but I'm pretty sure they kept the Blue Spirit. Only time will tell.... fingers crossed. there was some good stuff in that episode.

3. What should be left out?

We know that there will be some merging and deleting of minor plot lines, and maybe even some re-arranging in order to condense the 6.5-hour season one into a manageable movie. I know, it sucks because as I said in an earlier blog, I would love a 7 hour Avatar movie, but alas that's so far from realistic its sad. Anywho- The most prominent thing from season one that should be deleted completely is an episode called 'The Great Divide'

This episode is statistically the most hated by Avatar fans, and is obviously complete filler. There are no character revelations, no important character introductions, no events that translate later in the series, there's not even any semi-significant Aang-Katara relationship building scenes. Going even further, there is even quite a large plot-hole introduced in this episode, as the canyon guide says he cannot bend without his arms when they are broken. Later in the series, we see King Bumi Earthbending while locked in a metal cage, using only his chin... And throughout seasons two and three, Toph launches boulders just by stomping her feet on the ground, as does the name-less Earthbender in the opening sequence of every episode. kind of annoyed me xD

This episode needs to be dropped 100%, or at least turned into a travel montage of Appa flying over a canyon for a minute or so, just to show that they are journeying. That's it.

Another episode which I think should be cut completely, and this may cause a stir, is 'Jet'

I know, I know, Jet is so smoooth, and coool, and Katara likes him, and he comes back in season two, blah blah.
The only thing that the Jet episode lends to the story is showing how completely oblivious Katara is to Aang's crush/love for her.

Bout time Katara kicked his ass...

Jet is a traveling episode, showing an adventure in the woods that gives nothing to the plot overall. I know he comes back in season two, but think about it: He does nothing there, either. He confronts Zuko about being a Firebender, but no one believes him so it makes no difference.

and gets his ass kicked again.

He serves to enlighten the Aang Gang about the Dai Li conspiracy, but that could easily be revealed another way--hell, It was basically revealed when Aang was talking to the Dai Li leader, Long Feng. He told Aang that they had Appa, and that they were controlling the city anyway. All Jet did was re-introduce a pointless character who led them to the Dai Li headquarters. They could just have followed a Dai Li agent back to the lake, via Ju Dee's tipoff about going to Lake Laogi, and find it that way. Bottom Line: If we're cutting 4 hours out of season one, leave Jet behind. please.
Like I said, in season one he only serves to show how Katara just forgets about Aang when confronted by a different guy, and I always thought it made her look superficial and wasn't in line with her character. He isn't really necessary.
Plus... he was a tool. ^_^

Now, as we know, in order for the Katara-Aang relationship to develop in a believable way over the course of the movies, there has to be ups and downs. Jet kind of provided that for the audience, as did Haru in the show, by the time their characters were introduced we were all kind of starting to root for Aang-Katara. We need these ups and downs in order to strengthen the final outcome of Aang and Katara's relationship in the third movie, but I think one is enough for the first movie. And if we have Haru, they might play that up a little bit and we still get the same tone as we did in the T.V Show without Jet.

Also, If we read the current cast list, it goes into such specific detail as to lend names such as 'Earthbending Boy' and 'Earthbending Father.' I think if Jet was going to be in the movie, he would be more important than a character who doesn't even get a name on the cast list... just 'Earthbending Boy.' Seeing as how he isn't on the cast list, It's pretty safe to assume Jet is out.

Which brings me to another point: the Ambiguous Earthbenders.

I am like 99% positive that Earthbending Boy/Father are Haru and Tyro. I say this because of a small interview with the Actor who portray's the Father. quote-

When asked about the official title of the role, ‘Earthbending Boy,’ he thinks “most fans will be able to guess what character from the original cartoon that might represent.”"

The only significant earthbending boy in season one was Haru (Kid-Bumi was there, but Bumi was not associated with a father of any sort, so It's pretty safe to assume they aren't talking about Bumi). The kids name is Isaac Jin Solstein, here's a side-by-side with Haru:

Looks fine to me. maybe a bit young, but not a deal breaker.

So there's my mix of facts and speculation. Let me know what you think, I try not to speculate without a decent amount of reasonable-ness. There's tons of rumors and bullshit floating around, more than normal for being a year out, which points to the possible magnitude of this film come next July. These rumors I felt were the only ones which may actually merit some thought.


One last thing... I dug up another two pictures w00t!

A Northern Water Tribe costume, worn by an extra who supplied the photo:

Looks pretty good to me. Glad to see it didn't look as cheap as Aang's costume did in the photo released of him a few weeks back... hopefully that'll get changed...

This picture has been out for a week or so, and I didn't notice the awesomeness in the background until a minute ago... hmm what does that look like back there?

Holy Balls! could it be the Fire Navy ship from the first episode? I bet it's booby-trapped too... either way, looks pretty cool!

I'll keep you posted as more information comes out, but it most likely will be a while before anymore concrete evidence hits the scene. If I spot any more official photos / news / or rumors with logical backup I'll post them.