One Of The Best TV Shows I've Seen, and The Terrible Movie Adaptation

     Okay, I have to talk about this. I am so sorry that it has been a long time since my last post. I was thinking about doing a post for Thanksgiving about everything going on in my life, and why I'm so thankful for them, but the time passed, and now I feel like it's too late, but I want to try to talk people into watching one of my all-time favorite tv shows that is 100% family friendly. On top of that, it's animated.

    Of course, I am talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender. For as popular as it is, there are tons and tons of people I have talked to about it, and they confess they have never seen it before. It can be hard to talk adults into watching a show that is animated, and very kid friendly. In fact, people loved it so much that the creators created The Legend of Korra, which is a great sequel show, but still, Avatar: The Last Airbender is the best. 

    The creators knew going in that they had a story to tell, and that the show would be three seasons long, with 20 episodes in seasons 1 and 2, and 21 for season 3, and it makes the show that much better. It's not like they kept going until the show started to lose steam, and then have Nickelodeon, where it first aired, cancel the show after a little while. However, the three seasons, it's like the show gets better and better and better, and then ends on a super high note.

    For those of you uninitiated, Avatar: The Last Airbender tells the story of Aang, a child monk who learns he is the Avatar. So, what is the Avatar? In the world of the show, there are four nations. The Water Nation, The Earth Nation, The Air Nation and The Fire Nation. In those nations, there are powers that some of the people from those nations get that let's them "bend" that particular element. For example, The Earth Nation has a special power some are born with where they can control anything from the Earth, like make boulders to launch at bad guys, or use their powers in the military where they use their element that they can control to protect their nation. 

    The Avatar is the only person that can control all four elements, and there is only one alive at a time, and the spirit of the Avatar is reincarnated to the next Avatar, after the pervious one passes away for whatever reason, whether it's in battle, or old age. Aang is the Avatar in the show, and he is only a little kid, and he is over 100 years old. When he discovered that he was the Avatar, he ran away, and 100 years later, a water bender, from the Water Nation, and her brother, who doesn't have the bending ability that his sister as, discover Aang frozen in an iceberg, and that's how the story starts. 

    The Avatar is also reincarnated into the next Nation. The rotation is Water, Earth, Fire, Air. So, the Avatar who would come from the Water Nation, would be reincarnated in the Earth Nation. While Aang was frozen in the iceberg, the Fire Nation has a leader, The Fire Lord, who decides to rage war on the other nations, and make the Fire Nation the most powerful. It's the Avatar's job to keep balance in the four nations, so the body of the show is Aang, and his destiny to defeat the Fire Lord before his armies conquer the whole world.

    Aang is from The Air Nation, and knows how to air bend really well, but he doesn't really know how to control the other three elements. The seasons are pretty cool because season one's title is "Book One: Water", so during the first season, Aang travels with the girl, Katara, and Sokka, who were the brother and sister that found Aang, and his giant flying bison, and trying to help Aang learn water bending from their leaders. Season Two, is "Book Two: Earth, and Season Three is "Book Three: Fire. So in each season, Aang is learning each element throughout the season.

    The other half of the show is there is a teenager named Zuko, who is the prince of the Fire Nation, but has been banished after speaking his mind during a war meeting his dad, the big bad guy of the show, and the Fire Lord even burned part of Zuko's face before banishing him. Zuko believes that if he can capture the Avatar, so Aang, that he will restore his honor and be welcomed back into his father's inner war circle. He is also accompanied by his Uncle Iroh, who is older, but very wise, and frequently tests Zuko's emotions, to see if he would even want to go back to his father after the terrible things he has been doing. Most of the series has Zuko catching up with Aang and his friends, and keeping them on high alert, and on their toes. However, there is some part of Zuko that knows the Fire Nation is in the wrong, but his honor being restored gets the better of him most of the time.

    So, that's the plot of the series. The Legend of Korra, the sequel series, where Korra is the next Avatar in the cycle, who is from the Water Tribe, but she catches on with bending faster than Aang, but she's also an older teenager. The creators actually had to drop the name "Avatar" because Director/Producer, James Cameron used it in his 3D mega hit film, Avatar, you know, the one with the blue people, so Avatar was dropped from the title for Korra.

    Now I have to talk about something horrible. in 2010, five years after the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan made a live action film based on the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it was released after James Cameron bought the rights to use the word Avatar, so it was just called The Last Airbender. 

    This is where I lose people because that film was horrible. First off, he tried to cram 20 episodes of the show into a one hour and forty minute film, so tons of the great stuff from the first season were cut. The acting was horrendous, and the special effects were terrible. The Rotten Tomatoes website has posted that out of 193 film critics, five percent of them thought it was okay, which means that ninety-five percent loathed it. 

    I think it's a tragedy that such an amazing show got that treatment. I have a lot of friends and family that I tell to watch the original animated show, and forget the terrible film, but it's hard to convince people since they probably saw the live action version first, and have no desire to go back and see how it was supposed to be. I have the blu-ray version of the animated series for it, as well as The Legend of Korra, but I always go back and watch Avatar: The Last Airbender  once a year. I love watching it with people who haven't seen it. 

    Oh, I forgot to tell you part of the overall plot. The reason it is called The Last Airbender, is because when Aang was frozen for a hundred years, the Fire Lord went and raided all of the Air Nation, killing everyone because the Fire Lord knows that the Avatar would be from the Air Nation, since the previous Avatar was from the Fire Nation, who was actually really awesome, and a good guy. So, because the Fire Lord wiped out all of the Air Nation, Aang is the last, and only airbender. 

    If you are reading this, please go onto Netfilx, or Paramount+, and watch this incredible show. The whole family can watch it. There is a little bit of child humor, like silly jokes here and there, because it originally aired on a children's television network, so there is a little bit of that stuff, but the overall story is so amazing, and exciting. You won't be disappointed. It is probably one of my all-time favorite shows, animated or not.

    Netflix is in production to make another live adaptation of the show, but the creators of the show were working with them to make it the right way, and something happened, and the creators left the project, but I think it will be better than the awful 2010 film. Even if it's good, you really need to watch the original. I don't think anything will beat it. 

    One more piece of good news, after the creators left Netflix, Paramount gave them their own studio, and production team to create a whole Last Airbender universe. There are also comic books, and there is a three book novel series that tells the story of an Avatar from the past from the Earth Nation, who is really into fighting, lol. Aang tries to lead by spreading peace, so even the Avatar's personalities are a little different. In the show, the cool thing is, Aang can communicate with Avatars from the past because they share the same spirit.

    Anyway, I really hope you will watch it if you never have, it really is incredible. If you have seen it, watch it again! It deserves it.

    Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. It's been a while, and I have been thinking of new topics to write about, but I thought while I have been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender, I would write up a short blurb about it, and try and convince some of you out there to watch it. 

    I hope you are all safe and healthy. I get my booster shot the day after tomorrow, and I'm excited to do it. Although, my sister and niece who have been vaccinated actually caught the Covid virus, and that changed our Thanksgiving plans pretty fast, lol. I mention that because even she had the vaccine shots, so we all need to be careful in public, and make sure to be aware of how you feel so that you can judge if you should go in and get another test, just to be safe. 

    Anywho, thanks for reading my blog post, and I will try to get another post out faster than I have lately.

I'm Out!!!