Avatar: The Last Airbender

If I would not have had a son growing up when he did I probably would have never watched this series. In 2007 my son was 7 and we started to watch this and I have to admit I got hooked. It is extremely well animated and an entertaining series. The stories are such that an adult can easily watch it. The scripts are intelligent and you get drama, comedy, and action. The show was critically praised and won many awards (listed at the bottom of the post from wiki).

I would recommend this to anyone of any age. It does contain violence and fighting. The show starts off light-hearted for the most part and then grows darker.

It starts and finishes the ongoing story in 3 seasons. The episodes are around 24 minutes long and very easy to watch. You see these characters grow while watching it. Netflix has announced that they are coming out with a live action version of it.

There was a terrible live action movie that was released…avoid at all costs. Some have regarded it as one of the worst movies ever made…

I looked for a short synopsis of the series…I found this and altered it a little on IMDB.

In a lost age the world is divided into four equal powers: Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. In each nation, there’s a group of gifted people known as Benders who have the ability to manipulate their native element using martial arts and elemental magic. For thousands of years, the nations lived together peacefully. But then disaster struck. The young ruler of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Sozin, began a war of world conquest. The only one who could have prevented it was the Avatar. The Avatar is the human incarnation of the Spirit of Light, he alone can master bending all four elements. But, just when he was needed most, he disappeared.

Now, 100 years later, a young Waterbender named Katara and her older brother Sokka stumble upon the long lost Avatar, Aang (he was around 12), who was encased in an iceberg for 100 years. They must help Aang master all four elements before summer when Sozin’s grandson Fire Lord Ozai will use a comet to deal one last deadly strike against the other nations and claim a Fire Nation victory. But, all that is easier said than done with the Fire Lord’s determined and hot-tempered son, Prince Zuko, hot on their trail.

Below is the intro to the series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender

 

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Status
2005	Pulcinella Awards	Best Action Adventure TV Series	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[78]
		Best TV Series	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[78]
2006	33rd Annie Awards	Best Animated Television Production	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Nominated[79]
		Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production	Lauren MacMullan for “The Deserter”	Won[79]
		Writing for an Animated Television Production	Aaron Ehasz and John O’Bryan for “The Fortuneteller”	Nominated[79]
2007	Nickelodeon Australian Kids’ Choice Awards 2007	Fave Toon	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Nominated[80]
	34th Annie Awards	Character Animation in a Television Production	Yu Jae Myung for “The Blind Bandit”	Won[81]
		Directing in an Animated Television Production	Giancarlo Volpe for “The Drill”	Won[81]
	Genesis Awards	Outstanding Children’s Programming	“Appa’s Lost Days”	Won[82]
	59th Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program	“City of Walls and Secrets”	Nominated[83]
		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation	Sang-Jin Kim for “Lake Laogai”	Won[84]
2008	2008 Kids’ Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[85]
	Annecy International Animated Film Festival	TV series	Joaquim Dos Santos for “The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse“	Nominated[86]
	Peabody Awards	N/A	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[87]
	13th Satellite Awards	Best Youth DVD	Book 3: Fire, Volume 4	Nominated[88]
2009	36th Annie Awards	Best Animated Television Production for Children	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[89]
		Directing in an Animated Television Production	Joaquim Dos Santos for “Sozin’s Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno“	Won[89]
	Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing: Television Animation	“Sozin’s Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang”	Nominated[90]
	Nickelodeon Australian Kids’ Choice Awards 2009	Fave Toon	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Won[91]
2010	Nickelodeon Australian Kids’ Choice Awards 2010	Top Toon	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Nominated[92]