The Ember Island Players
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- This article is about the episode. For the group with the same name, see: Ember Island Players.
| The Ember Island Players | |||||
 | |||||
| Book | Fire | ||||
| Episode # | 57/61 | ||||
| Original airdate | July 18 | ||||
| Episode guide | |||||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||||
| The Southern Raiders | Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King | ||||
Writers: Tim Hedrick, Josh Hamilton, and Josh O’Bryan
Director: Giancarlo Volpe
Guest Stars: Jennie Kwan (Suki, Actress Yue), Scott Menville (Actor Sokka), Grey DeLisle (Actress Katara)), Tara Strong (Actress Azula), Derek Basco (Actor Zuko), John DiMaggio (Actor Toph, Actor Iroh), Rachel Dratch (Actress Aang)
Contents |
Synopsis
The episode starts off with Aang and Zuko training while Katara and Toph watch. Katara asks if its safe for them to be hiding in Ozai's beach house on Ember Island, but Zuko tells her its the last place he would look. Sokka and Suki, now with a Fire Nation disguise, come back from town with a flier about a play about Team Avatar put on by the Ember Island Players.
When they get to the theater Aang tries to sit next to Katara but Zuko sits down next to her first, forcing him to sit next to Zuko. The play starts with Sokka and Katara in a canoe. The Katara actress gives a long speech about hope while Sokka's cracks jokes about how hungry he is, much to the disgust of the real Sokka and Katara. They come across an iceberg with an Aang puppet inside and Katara uses her waterbending to release him. When the actual actor surfaces Aang reels back in shock upon seeing that a woman is playing him, much to Toph's amusement.
The next scene of the play shows Zuko and Iroh's actors. Iroh's actor is very short and fat while Zuko's actor has a mask on with his scar, but on the wrong eye. Iroh tells Zuko to have some cake but the Zuko actor says he doesn't have time cause he must regain his honor. Zuko thinks they made his character stiff and humorless which Katara thinks is a perfect rendition.
The play moves on through Book 1, Water, with Aang finding Momo, Sokka dressed as a Kyoshi Warrior with the Suki actress, King Bumi's challenge for Aang to save Katara and Sokka, the pirates attacking the gang to get back their scroll, the Blue Spirit inaccurately saving Aang from Zuko, Jet destroying a town by summoning water, Yue becoming the Moon Spirit and Aang saving the Water Tribe from Zhao.
The gang go outside for the intermission and are all disgusted at the way they've been portrayed. Toph tells them what they're seeing on the stage is the truth. They go back in for act 2 and it starts with them trying to find Aang an earthbending master. The Toph actor appears and he's a muscular guy who instead of using his feet to see, releases a sonic wave by screaming. Toph is very satisfied by the way she was portrayed. The play then goes on to show Zuko and Iroh going they're separate ways because Iroh thinks Zuko's hair got too long. Then they show the scene from the chase where they corner Azula who narrowly escapes by fooling Zuko into turning around to look for his honor. It then showed a scene from "The Drill" followed by a scene of Jet, apparently hypnotized by the Earth King getting crushed by a rock. Zuko is slightly shocked by this and asks Sokka if Jet died, in which Sokka replies "it was very unclear".
The next scene shows Zuko and Katara in the cave, with the Katara actress hitting on the Zuko actor, which makes they're real life counterparts slightly uncomfortable. The Katara actress tells him the Avatar is like a little brother to him and that she doesn't think of him romantically and they both hug. Aang gets annoyed and storms off. The next scene in the play Zuko sides with Azula and pushed Iroh over, Which deeply offends the real Zuko followed by Azula taking Aang down with lightning and claiming "The Avatar is no more!" and posing with the Mai and Ty Lee actresses. The crowd cheers and the Gang look on in disbelief.
During the next intermission Katara meets up with Aang outside who is upset about the play and how he could be in the Avatar State if he hadn't blocked his last chakra. Sokka and Suki sneak backstage so they can give the Sokka actor some of his jokes, and Zuko vents to Toph about how the play is shoving his mistakes in his face and how he betrayed his uncle. Toph tells Zuko that he did redeem himself to Iroh because he found his own path and that he'd be proud, followed by an affectionate punch. A little boy walks up and tells Zuko that his costume is good but the scar is on the wrong side, making Zuko furiously pull his hood over his head. Sokka then reads some of his lines to the Sokka actor who apparently has the same awful sense of humor he has and tells him to make up some catch phrases.
Back outside Aang asks Katara if she has feelings for him and how he thought they would be together after the invasion. Katara tells him that she's confused and that nows not the right time. Aang kisses her again and she gets angry and runs back inside.
Aang comes back and Sokka summarizes what Aang missed. The invasion starts with Katara telling Aang she loves him like a brother and they shake hands. Sokka's actor asks Toph if Aang and her have a "rocky relationship", and Sokka squeals with joy at the fact that he used his line. Zuko joins the group during the invasion because Ozai wasn't there. Sokka gets up to leave thinking the plays over cause its caught up to the present but Suki tells him the plays not over yet.
Fire Lord Ozai appears on stage summoning power from the comet. Azula comes in and tells him that Zuko and Aang are at the palace trying to stop him. Zuko fights Azula and is killed, his last words are "HONOR!" the crowd cheers as Zuko watches in horror as the group all stare at him in disbelief. Aang makes his way to the Fire Lord but he's too late, the comet has already arrived and now the Fire Lord is unstoppable. Ozai fires a giant fireball at Aang killing him. Azula comes back in and Ozai gives a speech about how the world is now his as the crowd gives him a standing ovation.
The episode ends with the group walking back to Ozai's beach house talking about how the play was terrible but Sokka thinks the effects were decent.
Trivia
- The image for the poster shows an exaggerated rendition of the Season 1 Boxed Set cover art.
- On the poster and in the play, Zuko's scar is on the wrong side of his face.
- The title of the play, "The Boy in the Iceberg", is a reference to the series' premier episode.
- In the play (in the preview), while the events are true to the first Season, the character portrayals and minor plot details are comically incorrect to make the Gaang look bad. Examples:
- Katara is played by a much older (and more developed) actress, and portrayed as very melodramatic and exaggeratedly preoccupied with "hope", often bursting into tears and/or melodramatic speeches for the occasion. (This is an exaggeration based on the speech she gave to the imprisoned earth benders in "Imprisoned.")
- Sokka's actor is incredibly thin and has buckteeth; he thinks only about food (mostly meat). He wears Sokka's season two outfit.
- While the character is a boy, the actress portraying Aang is a woman who does not attempt to hide her gender (much to the real Aang's annoyance) and is more of a trickster and is much more perky.
- Jet is in the play and he´s "a bad boy" according to the actress playing Katara (with a sexy tone); he has exaggerated spikey hair seen in many animes. He is portrayed as summoning a flood to save the village rather than trying to flood the village to kill the inhabiting Fire Nation soldiers, villagers included. He chews on a red rose instead of a twig or piece of wheat. His death's lack of clarity in the play refers to how his fate was never shown on screen.
- Zuko's actor has the scar on the wrong eye and is consistently made fun of for his lack of honor.
- Appa resembles more of a Chinese Dragon in festivals.
- Iroh is portrayed as a glutton, eating a whole cake. His love of tea is not mentioned and seems to instead be replaced with cakes.
- Momo is a "flying rabbit monkey", talks and is portrayed as a hand puppet with a fake arm attached to the end to fool the audience (though only Aang's actress can wear it).
- The Blue Spirit is a separate entity from Zuko and also saves "Aang" from Zuko, though in reality, it was Zhao who captured Aang. The Blue Spirit is given a gargantuan head and a silly expression on his face.
- Suki is quite accurate, though some physical details are slightly exaggerated, but to a lesser extent. She has no lines at all during the play.
- The Gang skip over "The Great Divide", referencing the fanbase distaste of the episode.
- Likewise, the audience yawning and falling asleep during the section of the play dealing with "The Drill" is a reference to a vocal portion of the fanbase considering that episode to be "boring."
- At first the only one who likes the play is Toph.
- Zhao is seen in the Water Spirit's hand, even though his fate was only seen by Zuko
- The portrayal of Toph is most likely a reference to the Earthbender prototype that Mike and Bryan created before they decided that the Toph's character should be a girl.
- While he has Zuko's original topknot at first, Zuko's Actor has a spiky haircut, and long hair. This parodies the fact that Zuko's hairstyle chaged numerous times in Book 2. Although his hair is portrayed somewhat inaccurately.
- During the "cave scene" between Zuko and Katara's actors, it makes them seem like a couple. This is an obvious jab at the "Zutara" shippers since all the other things about the play was inaccurate.
- Sokka offering his actor advice, is a reference to when Jack DeSena (Sokka's voice actor) added his own input to Sokka's lines, which changed the original serious Sokka, to the fun-loving Sokka of today.
- The following episodes are referenced in the play (in order of appearance):
- The Boy in the Iceberg
- The Southern Air Temple
- The Warriors of Kyoshi
- The King of Omashu
- The Waterbending Scroll
- The Blue Spirit
- Jet
- The Great Divide
- The Siege of the North, Part 2
- The Blind Bandit
- The Chase
- The Drill
- Lake Laogai
- The Crossroads of Destiny
- The Awakening
- The Painted Lady
- Sokka's Master
- The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion
- The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse
- The Western Air Temple
- Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang (their version consists in Aang being killed)
- Aang is wearing the same hat that Xu wears in "The Painted Lady".
- Perhaps ironically, the only two characters besides Suki who are decently accurate are Ozai (although he is more dramatic) and Azula (despite being older), the two "good guys" in the play (surprisingly, since the play is by an Earth Kingdom playwright although it can be presumed that the playwright was either coerced into this portrayal or is sympathetic to the Fire Nation).
- A running joke (or jab) in the play is Zuko's honor. Azula in the play, during the scene referencing "The Chase", escapes from Team Avatar and Zuko by claiming to see Zuko's honor, to which Zuko hurriedly asks "Where?!". In the final battle between Zuko and Azula, Zuko is defeated and screams "Honor!"
- The ending to "The Boy in the Iceberg", in which the Fire Nation gains total victory in the war, seems odd considering the playwright is from the Earth Kingdom. However it can be presumed that the playwright was coerced into writing the play this way or is trying to curry favor with the Fire Lord. In the real world, there is a long history of playwrights altering history and fact to portray their current patrons or rulers as more sympathetic; William Shakespeare did this frequently.
Translations
- The top of the plays poster reads its title in Chinese: 冰山上的男孩, meaning "The Boy in the Iceberg".
- The poster for "The Boy in the Iceberg" reads as follows:
- 冰山上的男孩
- 土國著名劇作家浦安添新作搜集全球有関降世神通資料由南極冰山全土國首都
- 資料来自牧民歌手海盜戰犯知菜販
- 由餘燼島演員主演
- The Boy in the Iceberg: A new production from acclaimed Earth Kingdom playwright Pu-on Tim, who collected data concerning the Avatar from around the globe - from the icebergs of the South Pole to the Earth Kingdom capital. Information came from nomad singers, pirates, prisoners of war and a knowledgeable merchant of cabbage. Starring the Ember Island Players.
- Note: Pu-on Tim's name is written here as 浦安添. Pu, (浦, pǔ) is a traditional Chinese surname meaning "beach" and one of the 100 Chinese Family Names. On-Tim (安添, ān tiàn), his given name, roughly means "increasing peace".
- Note: Oddly, when Sokka reads the poster aloud, he does not reverse the order of Pu-on Tim's family and given names, as he does with Toph's.
- The sign over the stage reads 餘燼島劇院, meaning "Ember Island Theater".
Series Continuity
- A poster for "Love Among the Dragons" (which Zuko says his mother took him to see every year, despite the fact the players "butchered" it each time) can be seen at the post office in "The Runaway".
- The episode makes a reference to the Cabbage Merchant, a recurring joke in the show, as a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.
- It also refers to Chong and his fellow nomads and the pirates from "The Waterbending Scroll".
Real World Connection
- The idea of a young, male hero being acted by a woman may derive from the traditional English theater productions of "Peter Pan", where the title character is played by an actress. The portrayal of the Fake Aang is much like the character Peter Pan, who is also known for being very immature and a trickster (since he is forever juvenile). In the commentary track, the series creators indicate that it was a send-up of the pressure on them to cast a woman as Aang's voice rather than a boy close to Aang's actual age.
- Zuko's voice actor Dante Basco's older brother Derek Basco provided Zuko's stage actor's voice.
- The black-clad stagehands are a reference to the stagehands from traditional Japanese Kabuki theater. In the real world, the adoption of these stagehands' costumes to signify the invisibility of ninjas in Kabuki plays is responsible for the pop-cultural depiction of ninjas as wearing all-black outfits.
