Team Avatar: Sokka, Aang, Katara and Toph, with Princess Azula and Prince Zuko behind them

Netflix, which I will do a brief, shameless plug for, is a great service. When the Hollywood Video in my town closed down, we switched to Netflix, and we’ve liked the service, especially the instant streaming. Over a month ago, I found all 3 seasons of the Nickelodeon TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, and my husband and I have been slowly watching and finishing the series.  We’d started watching when it first began, but we’d gotten out of the habit and so didn’t finish it while the show was actually running.  I must say, I wish we’d watched it all sooner.

The story is about Aang, an airbender and the avatar, a special being that has been

Aang is always ready for action

reincarnated for centuries, and is able to master bending (or manipulation) of all the elements: fire, water, air and earth.  He is discovered frozen in a ball of ice by a brother and sister, Sokka and Katara of the southern pole’s water tribe.  Aang and his 6 legged flying bison, Appa, have been stuck frozen in the ice for about 100 years.  In that time, the Fire Nation has completely wiped out Aang’s people of the Air Nation and threatened the Water and Earth nations as well.  Katara and Sokka have lost their mother to the Fire Nation’s attacks.  Aang decides it’s time to fulfill his destiny as avatar and stop the threat of the Fire Nation, aided by Sokka and Katara  and Toph, a blind earthbender girl who takes Aang on as a student.  Aang has to learn to bend all the elements to succeed in his quest.  He must accomplish this while being chased by Zuko, the banished prince of the Fire Nation who wants to reclaim his lost place and honor by capturing Aang, and Zuko’s deadly sister, Azula, aided by her two girlfriends.  This keeps Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph traveling, never staying in one place for too long in their quest to defeat the Fire Nation.

Toph, the blind earthbender

The plot was epic and well made,  with good characterization.   They made the plot

Aang the avatar

solemn and epic while giving leavening moments of humor throughout, especially with Sokka.  Sokka was terrific comedy relief.  Toph the blind earthbender was probably my favorite character, a sassy and plucky thing, not to mention tough, and determined to do things herself.  The characters all learned something and changed and grew, and Zuko was the best example of this.  I don’t like plots with static characters much. All the major characters, except Iroh, ended up different people than they began.

The animation was well drawn, with anime influences throughout, especially with the eyes, eastern attitudes, and the plot. When characters, like Sokka, were comically angry they were drawn in a style very much the way anime draws characters while they were throwing their tantrum. The pacing was very much like anime, too. It was slow, speeding up at the right moments, but paced so you got to know each character very well, even Zuko.

Appa prepares to carry team Avatar off to adventure

The music was well done as well, and had a lot of eastern influences, which really helped characterize the world of the show. There was a lot of use of flutes and drums. Speaking of, the world of the Avatar was very well put together. One of the ways you can tell is that you get jarred and surprised when you see something different. For example, most of the animals in this world are a conglomeration of two animals found here in our world, such as platypus bears, armadillo bears, and badger moles. By the time we meet the King of the Earth Kingdom, we’re as surprised as the characters are that he has a bear, a plain, ordinary bear.

The ending, I won’t reveal other than to say it was good and satisfyingly awesome. It truly worked and fit what had been set forth in the series, and I look forward to seeing more of Aang’s world in the future. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should go and see one of Nickelodeon’s best series.

On a final note the movie The Last Airbender, is out in my local dollar theater.  When I see it, I’ll do a comparison here.

4/5