Avatar: The Last Airbender
Have you been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon? If not you are missing some superb television.
Tomorrow a new episode will air, followed by another new episode Friday and then Saturday is the big four-episode series finale. If you haven’t been watching the series go get caught up on the wikis here and here then watch the last few episodes.
This is good drama and good times folks. The story arc through the three seasons has been consistently coherent and compelling. The character development is outstanding. And the build up to the finale has been riveting. Unlike some shows on TV (I’m looking at you BSG!) one never gets the feeling that the writers were making things up as they went with this series. There has been a clear beginning, middle and end. I trust the grand finale coming up will satisfy as well. 8:00 PM on Nick.
Great show. Don’t spoil it for those of us a little bit behind!
Prediction: Zuko vs. Fire Lord smackdown. That one’s fairly obvious. But will Aang and Katara enjoy a snog?
Comment by The Brit — July 17, 2008 @ 2:07 am
I’ve been saying for at least two years that Avatar is one of the best things on TV. They’ve really carried the story forward with remarkable skill. I love how all the different threads tie together. Everyone in my family loves this show (which is another thing to be grateful for–how many TV shows even make that a possibility?).
Comment by BTD Greg — July 17, 2008 @ 7:44 am
I am so, so, so excited about the new episodes. Is this the end of the series, though? If so, that’s really too bad.
Comment by Allison — July 17, 2008 @ 8:36 am
According to Wikipedia, this season is indeed the end.
Which makes sense, in a way. Each of the three seasons has centered on Aang learning one type of bending. After this season, he’ll have all four elements.
However, there is a series of follow-up movies planned.
And yeah, it’ll be really interesting to see how it end. For my money, the end to Book 3, Chapter 15, is possibly the best thing in the entire series so far.
Comment by Kaimi — July 17, 2008 @ 9:42 am
I think Avatar should get credit for planning an entire three-part series (based around the elements of water, earth and fire) with a beginning, middle and end. Lost was given lots of (deserved) recognition for planning a definite end to the show. For an animated show on a kids cable station, Avatar gets proportionately similar ratings to Lost.
The bad news about the movies is two part: 1) they will be live-action with child actors (color me skeptical); and 2) they will be directed by M. Night Shyamalan (color me VERY skeptical). Last I heard, the movie trilogy will simply be a retelling of the TV show. That may have changed. No way will the movies be able to capture the texture of the series.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 17, 2008 @ 9:47 am
I LOVE this series, but alas, we no longer get Nickelodeon. Anyone know if they have recent episodes online anywhere?
Comment by Brock — July 17, 2008 @ 10:49 am
I credit telenovelas (and then 24) with the emergence of series such as Lost and BSG that have an actual story arc. The problem with US series is that once something is popular nobody that works on it wants it to end. It takes real discipline to have a plan of how to end a show right from the start and to then actually follow through and end it.
Comment by a random John — July 17, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Kaimi — I agree that the recent episodes have been exceptionally good. The boiling rock two part episode aired last night and had Kristen all stressed out. That’s good drama. I really like chapter 13 with the fire-master dragons too.
Greg — I’m skeptical of Shyamalan’s ability to pull this off too.
Comment by Geoff J — July 17, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Brock,
There is a site (that I can’t recall right now) that has decent quality bootlegged, youtube-style videos. I haven’t been there in a while and I’m assuming that it’s still there. Everything but the new episodes airing this week is on DVD (and available through Netflix). As far as I know, Nick doesn’t stream any of the episodes online.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 17, 2008 @ 10:55 am
This is family viewing in our house. My almost 7 year-old is enthralled, and us grownups like this one too.
Comment by tracy m — July 17, 2008 @ 11:47 am
Avatar is a family favorite at our house. It’s right up there with Samurai Jack.
I’m having a hard time imagining the characters with live actors–I think I would miss the cartoon characters and their voices.
Comment by bythelbs — July 17, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
One of our kids just got invited to an Avatar viewing party. She is beside herself with glee.
Comment by Allison — July 17, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Another solid episode tonight. Katara held off on vengefully killing her mother’s murderer. Our little band of heroes is growing up (wipes tear).
Comment by Geoff J — July 17, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Crap. Somehow, our DVR missed the new episode.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 18, 2008 @ 7:28 am
It was mostly a story about revenge and forgiveness (done with surprising nuance I thought — Katara couldn’t bring herself to kill her mother’s murderer but at the end she admitted she couldn’t really forgive him either). The main twist to the overall story arc is that Azula is becoming increasingly manic and unhinged and even reckless.
Comment by Geoff J — July 18, 2008 @ 9:09 am
Please, please could we not post spoilers about the new episode? I haven’t seen it yet.
Comment by Allison — July 18, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
Holy Smokes! The series finale was awesomely epic and epically awesome!
Comment by Geoff J — July 20, 2008 @ 12:31 am
Isn’t M. Night supposed to be writing the script for the feature film?
As cool as the TV show is, considering M. Night’s last two movies . . .
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — July 20, 2008 @ 12:53 am
Unlike some shows on TV (I’m looking at you BSG!) one never gets the feeling that the writers were making things up as they went with this series.
Truer words have probably been written somewhere, but I can’t think of them at the moment.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — July 20, 2008 @ 12:55 am
Last two movies? Don’t you mean last three?
Comment by Clark — July 20, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
No. I kinda liked the Village.
So sue me.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — July 20, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
I loved the Village.
Comment by MCQ — July 20, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
So, did anyone else think that they left the door open for a possible spin-off?
Comment by BTD Greg — July 20, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
Getting back on topic, my son watched the finale of Avatar on Nickelodeon last night. He was entranced even though he’d never seen it before. So I’m getting the first season to start him out on. I was surprised as it wasn’t the typical anime stuff I was expecting. (Yeah there were elements of course)
Comment by clark — July 20, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
Hmm…maybe I spoke too soon about Avatar having the foresight to end the show after three seasons. (Caveat: I have no idea how reliable this source is.)
After watching the finale, I’m not sure how they would be able to do a season 4 without it feeling tacked on.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 21, 2008 @ 7:22 am
Also, the NY Times reviewer liked the finale.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 21, 2008 @ 7:25 am
There was that bit about some guy finding his mother. (Sorry, the finale is the only episode I watched) It seemed explicitly meant to allow more episodes.
Comment by Clark — July 21, 2008 @ 8:45 am
Clark, that was the part I was thinking of specifically. There had been some lead-up to this story over the last half-season, and even that bit with Azula seeing the image of her mother in the mirror.
Prince Zuko developed into one of the most interesting characters pretty quickly in the story, and in many ways, the show was more his show than Aang’s.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 21, 2008 @ 9:01 am
I think there is room for further books, but there is a massive risk of them being a letdown after the beautifully crafted and largely self-contained first three books.
Still, I was left wondering if the Air nation would ever come back, or if Zuko wold ever find his mother, etc. FOr now I am just pleased with the quality of the trilogy.
Comment by Geoff J — July 21, 2008 @ 10:53 am