The spin-off of one of my favorite shows just ended a couple of months ago and I thought I would take the time to write about it a bit more in detail and they are both big favorites of mine!
Book One - Water: The
Avatar is the only one who can control all four elements. However, he disappeared hundred years ago when the Fire Nation attacked the other nations in a war.
Sokka and
Katara - a brother and sister of the Southern Water tribe - find the young
Avatar in an iceberg on the South Pole. His name is
Aang, and he is the last airbender, as his kind was wiped out by the Fire Nation in search of him.
When Aang is faced with what he left behind when he was scared to accept his responsibilities, he decides to set out to learn the other elements with the help of Sokka and Katara to soon defeat the Fire Lord. Their trip, however, is a very bumpy one as they continuously ambushed by the
Fire Lord's son,
Zuko.
Zuko, after disrespecting his father was scarred and then banished from the Fire Nation. The only way for him to get back his honor is to find the
Avatar. Not only does he end up fighting with
Aang, but with other Fire Nation soldiers as well, as they manage to capture
Aang before him. At the end of the season
Aang reaches the North Pole where he and
Katara learn waterbending.
Aang and his friends manage to escape from
Zuko, he - because of his rivalries with Fire Nation soldiers - is forced to hide in the Earth Kingdom with his
Uncle Iroh.
Book Two - Earth: After learning to waterbend,
Aang has to master earthbending. He tried to change the order of elements, but he hurt
Katara while trying to learn firebending, so he continued his quest to master earthbending instead. In order to do that, he has to find a teacher. He reaches his old friend,
Bumi, one of the best earthbenders in the world. But they can't stay and
Bumi can't leave his kingdom.
Aang finds another master,
someone who never uses her eyes, but her other senses, because she is blind.
Toph wishes to escape her life and she decides to join the team and teach
Aang. Her blindness causes several reasons for laughter as
Sokka's jokes keep focusing on what the others face while running from the Fire Nation. After
Zuko hid in the Earth Kingdom and stopped his search for the
Avatar, his place is taken by
Azula, his sister.
Azula decides to use more fatal ways to find Aang, and the paths of the siblings as well as that of the Avatar often cross. And the last time they cross
Zuko decides to attack the
Avatar instead of going back to a life of hiding with his
Uncle Iroh. And at the end they all believe that they have killed
Aang in his Avatar state, and if he dies there, the cycle of the Avatar is broken.
Book Three - Fire: The
Avatar has to act fast to defeat
Fire Lord Ozai, as their only chance is the the day of Black Sun, a solar eclipse when firebenders lose their powers. Unfortunately, even if the forces guided by
Sokka's father to gain control of the Fire Nation get very far, they are outsmarted as the
Fire Lord expected their arrival.
During the eclipse Zuko escapes and follows the Avatar one last time to tell him that he wishes to teach him firebending. That he understands that what his father is doing is wrong: fire only brings about destruction, and not power. His nation is not sharing his gift with the world but oppressing it. Although hesitant, but everyone from the group spends time to find out who
Zuko really is and they learn to trust him.
Aang is, however, troubled as he was taught to cherish every life: He has a problem with taking
Fire Lord Ozai's life, even if he threatens to wipe out the whole world with the help of a meteor that is set to orbit the planet.
Just days before the fight Aang leaves the others behind on a spiritual quest where he learns that he is able to take away others' bending. He fights the
Fire Lord and takes his bending in order to ensure peace among nations and ends of the hundred year war.
To quickly summarize my overall feeling about the show: If you haven't known already,
this is one of the best series every made in television. It is smart, funny and everything a child needs as well as an adult! It doesn't shy away from conflict, and it shows that sometimes your friends can become your family instead of your relatives. And that is a beautiful lesson for anyone who ever felt lonely because of their parents or siblings. I also love that although
Aang faced his demons and his responsibilities alone, he didn't have to.
His friends had his back all the way. There is a lot to learn from this show and me, for instance will show it to my kids for sure!
(This bit also appears in my review of The Legend of Korra, so if you to read that first, skip to the end!)
From a critical point of view: I watched this series while I waited for the second season of
The Legend of Korra. I love that a lot, for several reasons, but I noticed a huge difference between the two shows. All of my friends seem to have preferred either one to the other, but not me. I saw the genius behind both of them and I enjoyed the evolution from one to the other. Be honest, if they would've copied the first series it would not have been nearly as good. And I will debate anyone who doesn't feel that the first was excellent ground work for the second one!
That being said, when you watch both series, you will realize something:
Korra barely has any non-benders. On one side, this is not a problem because you will also see that
Korra brought bending to a whole other level! And the non-benders? They are kickass too. But, they are still limited.
Asami (a beautiful and smart girl),
Pema (a fierce mother),
Varrick (a backstabbing business man who really only does good in the end) and his assistant
Zhu Li (a bad-ass girl with the brain of a genius). And if you don't feel connection with either of these characters, you are somewhat bound to be left out, you know? Think about
Sokka, the
Kyoshi Warriors, the
Air Acolytes who learn about the nomad cultures of airbenders, the inventors and just a series of people who have never needed bending in their life for it to be full. I think, or at least I have seen, that people found it easier to get lost in this world - or feel like they are a part of it - when they could be one of those humans themselves. And I get that. But I am full fantasy all the time, which means, that the less it has to do with sucky reality the more I love it.
I will tell you this, however, that you should watch both series and I would even recommend starting with
Korra. Why? Well, people who started with
Aang's adventures had problems with the other that I never quite got my head around too - besides the ones mentioned above. Also, there is something fun about seeing what was the origin for a series.
The Legend of Korra took it to a next level with several nods to the old series and a lot of inside jokes, but ultimately, you know the story is good because it stands on it own! Imagine, if you will that
Korra is the era in which you live in, while that of
Aang is inside a history book that comes to life when you open it. If you check out the first series while watching the second, I think you will find it a lot more fun. Getting answers to questions while they are being asked is a wonderful feeling!
That said, do watch it. It isn't critically acclaimed for nothing! I have myself re-watched it several times. And, after posting this, I will schedule another marathon for myself! In a couple of weeks you can read my
Legend of Korra review as well!
PS: NO. DON'T WATCH THE MOVIE VERSION, IT SUCKS. If yo need more info on it, check out the
Nostalgia Critic's review
here!
Stay tuned, until the next item on my list!
_ _ _ _
and
Even I have a list and on top, I have added shows by Andrew Yeatman. The shows are available on Netflix and I have heard that he used to work with Disney channel as well. The entertainment and literacy value of these shows are superb and I am glad my siblings learn good things from these shows.
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