Avatar: the Last Airbender

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The three nations are at war and only the Avatar, who has been missing in action for the last hundred years, can unite them in an age of peace. Aang, the last of the Air Nomads, is forced to reveal his identity as the Avatar when the Southern Water Tribe is attacked by Prince Zuko and his Fire Nation army.

Something about this series really turned me off during its original broadcast run; I would see the occasional ad for it, or flip passed it while searching for something to watch, and, despite the fact that I had no information on the show whatsoever, I felt that it was beneath me. It wasn't until well after the series had ended, and I had heard some good word of mouth from some of the people that I knew, that I finally looked it up and watched the first episode on a lonely Friday night. By Monday morning I had marathoned my way through the entire series, and I couldn't have been happier. Whatever reservations I had had about the series had vanished, and I now eagerly await new episodes of its sequel series, the Legend of Korra.

The mythology being set up in this world is nothing short of magnificent. The characters are all very distinct and the audience already has a firm grasp on the nations as presented, at least in the case of the water and fire nations. The nature of bending is very interesting, but seeing as how not everyone can do it, one would imagine that Katara's tribe would be more nurturing of her gift, though that may be a case of them being unable to help her with it.

I like the animé influence that this series has adopted; for a show about bringing unity to separated nations, borrowing styles from both western and eastern story telling was a good decision on the creators' part.

At times this episode resorts to slapstick, which, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in animation, but for this series it's possibly ill-fitting. At least, for what this series is to become. At this point in the game it just gives off the wrong impression of what the show's about, and forces Sokka to be the comic relief rather than allows him to be the comic relief; here the humor comes from funny things happening to Sokka, where later it's more about Sokka creating the humor, and that's where I much prefer his character to be.

The pacing of this episode is an issue; at times the plot is moving so slowly that it seems to take forever and a day to get anything done, and other times it seems to be going at just the right speed. The episode never makes a move to rush anything, but it certainly couldn't hurt to try.

Most of the actors are still working out their voices, but no one more so that Mae Whitman as Katara, which is surprising since she's already voiced the character in the unaired pilot. Here Katara comes off as far more hard-edged and shrewish than I believe she was meant to be. The only two that grasp their characters immediately are Iroh's Mako Iwamatsu and Prince Zuko's Dante Basco. Both voice the characters with the proper amount of history to them and play off of one another quite well.

Dave Filoni's directing of this episode has some pacing issues, especially when it comes to the long-lingering establishing shots, but the fire bending sequence was nicely done and he's doing well to create the world of the Avatar.

At this point the show hasn't yet found its footing, and the exposition provided by writers Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko is, thus far, awkwardly presented. The characters are the victims of serendipity, what with Sokka falling victim to everything that might soak, slime or bury him, Katara happening upon Aang's iceberg to free him, and, what may be the biggest coincidence of all, Prince Zuko being within sailing distance at that very moment. It's also a little distressing how quickly Aang dismisses the thought that everyone he has ever known is dead and paints him in a mild shade of sociopathy.

This series kicks off with a decent, if somewhat forgettable, episode; while there's nothing outstandingly bad about the first half hour, there's also nothing that's really grabbed my attention so far. At this point in the series, I would let it play if it were running, but I'm not certain that I would seek it out for continued viewing; that being said, knowing where the series is going, I strongly encourage that viewers stick it out for a while.

Avatar: the Last Airbender is in the running to become the feature for Tuesdays. The series ran from 2005 to 2008 on Nickelodeon with a total of 61 episodes.