KazeAizen said:
Thing is a lot of the season 1 and 2 problems were the fault of Nick circle jerking them around. It went something like this.
Creators: We want to make a sequel movie dealing with the loose end of Zuko's mother.
Nick: No! It was too successful make a sequel series instead!
Creators: Ok but it is just going to be a one off mini series.
Nick after season 1's animation and voice work have wrapped: There is a demand make a second season!
Creators: But we...
Nick: Second season now!
Not quite actually. They had ideas for
Korra before Nick ever decided between the two. When Nick suggested a sequel series instead the creators mentioned they had a general idea ready in a "Well, now that you mention it kind of way". Actually, some Q and A's suggest the creators pushed
Korra harder than the TV movie. I don't have any solid confirmation on that though; that's just how I interpreted certain statements. Either way, the creators wanted the best of both worlds. It's not as if the sequel series was forced upon them when they really wanted the
ATLA movie instead; they wanted both. Nickelodeon wanted something that would last longer and make them more money, so Korra it was; yes, that much is still true. When Nick responded positively to
Korra THE CREATORS POINTED OUT they had basic blueprints for later stories in Korra, just in case they ever got an opportunity. If all the creators wanted was a mini series they wouldn't have written these out ahead of time. So, yes, Nick jumped on greenlighting Books 2-4 of
Korra, but Nick did it with the knowledge of those blueprints existing. That's not to say Nick might not have requested it anyway, but the creators tend to be very honest on this stuff and I believe they really did write more up before any certainty whereas your description implies they just whipped something halfway decent up real quick to satisfy greedy Nick. They have shown great appreciation for being able to work on Korra rather than bitterness towards never getting a TV movie out there especially since we got it in graphic novel form anyway. In fact, they revealed story of the first Avatar was supposed to be in the original series, but they never decided on the right way to fit that in and this evolved into Wan in Book 2 of
Korra. That sounded fun for them. To imply the creators did the best with something they never wanted is disingenuous if you know the full story, which to be fair it sounds like you didn't, especially considering how Nick became reluctant when they found out the show would be about a female protagonist. The movie may not have been as good of a deal for Nick, but if they were as ready/desperate to jump on a sequel series as you say they wouldn't have gotten cold feet just at the mention of Korra being an action girl protagonist regardless of how powerful risk avoiding is in the business [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlShowGhetto]. They would have ignored that risk for the greed of mooching off a franchise with a powerful cult following and good prior reputation. I don't blame you for espousing this not quite true version of what happened though. This story spread because of some diehard fans upset at the progression of Korra as a series quoting the creators out of context.
I think this skewed version of the story spreads because people don't want to criticize the creators and those out-of-context quotes are convenient for that. After all, most fans don't follow Team Avatar's full statements and updates regularly. Don't get me wrong: Nick did screw with the Avatar team and that did affect Book 2's story quality. A limited production time did not help writing quality and the moving of time slots, move to digital (and then a return to TV all of a sudden right after Book 3 ended), and lack of proper marketing definitely contributed more to lower ratings than anything else. There's no way the quality drop alone explains that ratings drop. Say what you want, Book 2 wasn't THAT terrible.
Still, the fact of the matter is there was even evidence in
ATLA that the creators are iffy on certain aspects of writing. The majority of the fan favorite episodes did not credit the creators with direct writing. They wrote like maybe 1 of 2 of the fan favorites and they were weaker than the other fan favorites. The creators credit the Deus Ex Machina moments as among their favorite moments in
ATLA. Toph almost didn't exist because Bryan Konietzko, one of the creators mind you, wasn't sure about such a characterization. Yes, she became 1 of his favorites once she came into fruition, but the fact is she almost didn't exist because of him. Hmmm. They pushed the bad romance angles harder than anyone on the Korra team by their own admission. They're better visionaries and world builders than writers. That's hard for fans to say because when they think why
ATLA was great they think of the biggest public personas of the show, the creators. It may also feel like an insult more than analysis and constructive criticism. This is silly of course because there's nothing wrong with being a better visionary and world builder than a writer, especially since this doesn't imply they're bad at all types of writing, and it gives more credit to the rest of the Avatar team. The entire team's contribution goes largely unreported even though fans know they are responsible as well. It's just like how people think George Lucas and
Star Wars and...well, that's it despite evidence to the contrary. They're the people reported on though the creators do go more out of their way to thank their team and remind us they're there than others in the creator category. Point is it's no coincidence that when Korra had much more direct involvement from the creators than
ATLA that many fans thought the writing was suffering. Book 3 is often considered a quality jump from Book 2 and that is also the Book the creators didn't contribute as much to cinch writing (Compare the credits of Book 3 to Book 2 and especially Book 1).
This is just a theory, but it's a popular one among a certain sect of Avatar fans, myself included. I mean, I'm still shocked Michael Dante DiMartino wrote "Korra Alone". What really helped pushed my belief in this theory though was when I read a post from Bryan Konietzko describing the writing process and as someone who used to want to be a writer it was some of the most bizarre stuff I've ever read on the subject. I'd hate to see someone in that state of mind in charge of writing something that has potential and I still don't think
Korra reached its full potential. I suppose some of this bizarre-ness might come from how the post was largely defending Book 2 and absolving Nick of much of the quality responsibility (not all of it though since he did subtlety insult Nick here and there) since much of how it came out was intended even before Nick's restrictions. His description might have been more insightful and understandable if he wasn't tying so much of it into defending Book 2. He conceded that certain things could have gone better hence why the clip show episode made a big deal of making fun of Unalaq. But, I mean....HE DEFENDED Jinora 'Jesus' Ex Machina. So...yeah.
Sorry, if this came off kind off rant like. I need to learn to write more concisely. I'm just tired of people who downright hate
Korra justifying their hate with the notion that the creators never wanted the show and were strong armed into it by Nick. Obviously, you don't hate the show, but it's just annoying to see in forums especially considering it's not as true as people like to believe. It's a subtle difference in truth, but it's a notable difference nonetheless. If you don't like the show fine, but just say that versus justifying that the Avatar team didn't flex their writing muscles because they didn't care. They've said they cared. That was their writing you didn't like. Sorry, your perfect image of them was destroyed. There's still the original series for those who didn't like
Korra whatsoever, you know? I just don't like how the rumor has spread. It's nothing personal, so if it came off that way sorry.
