Recommendation – Avatar: The Last Airbender (the Animated Series)

For the longest time I thought of Avatar: The Last Airbender solely through the disastrous 2010 movie.  I saw it once.  It was awful. Never want to see it again. I even agree with Rotten Tomatoes on this one — although 5% on the Tomatometer and a 30% audience score might still be little generous.

So when I heard there was an animated series of the same name produced by Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, I didn’t give it much thought. Maybe I just didn’t put 2 and 2 together — a series that spawned a movie? Maybe it was good. But the movie soured me on it just that much I guess. I saw it was on Netflix USA a while back, but it still wasn’t in Korea.  And honestly, I wasn’t interested…even when someone in my office assured me it was excellent.

Then it showed up on Netflix, Korea a few weeks back, so I decided to give it a try.  Micha and I actually enjoy animae, and I figured it was something that maybe she’d like. If anything, we could watch it “together” as I sat here and typed away doing something else.

And it turns out, she did like it. We both did. Very much.

And I discovered when I was looking up trailers and videos for this writing that it’s one of those things that has its own set of fanatics — like Trekkies or Star Wars fans.  I mean, there are people who talk about Avatar “Canon” like it’s some kind of holy scripture. And even though it’s animated, it’s not entirely a kids’ show. Don’t get me wrong — it does have its teen moments, with the boys and the girls and what not. But it’s not “adult” like some shows that sneak in bits of suggestive (and often lowbrow) humor. It’s a good mixture that contains epic themes and fascinating storytelling throughout while carrying a pretty light blend of humor that adds to the stories and helps move them along at an enjoyable pace.

And it gets better.  With three seasons (books) of 20 episodes (season 3 has 21), I really believe the overall quality of the series improves steadily right through to the end. The episodes are short enough that you can watch them in bites – one, two, three episodes at a time depending on if you want 20 minutes or an hour. And they never really lag or are uninteresting. They really do appeal to an especially broad audience. I can see people of all ages enjoying it together.

My only complaint is the typical “that was a dumb move” that pops up pretty obviously every so often. Sometimes a character just won’t know what’s good for them…but then again, that’s a standard plot device in most every show at one time or another.

Avatar: The Last Airbender. Well worth watching. I hope you do, and I hope you enjoy it.