I bought the DVDs last year after having seen the movie. I’ve seen a couple episodes here and there on Nickelodeon, but was never able to catch it on a regular basis. After the travesty that was the film, my friend who was a big Avatar fan urged me to buy the original series.
I consider it about a million times better than the film. Of course, with such big numbers, its hard to have a concrete amount, but a million sounds about right. Right now, I’ve got 2 episodes left until the end, which I will finish tonight. Already, I consider this probably the best American-made cartoon series I’ve ever seen, right up there with X-Men, Batman Beyond, and Exo-Squad.
I’m hoping this resolves well, as there is so much to cram into the last 2 episodes that I am afraid there will be a letdown. The invasion was a bit of a letdown, but it made sense as the Firelord was essentially baiting them with an empty city and setting out for the Earth Kingdom. But Azula still has to be dealt with, then Ozai, and then everything has to resolve. Azula can’t live, she’s too insane, and I don’t know what Aang is going to do with Ozai with his general refusal to kill
In fact, while I am now a full-fledged Avatar fan, I hesitate to say that maybe the series would have been better if Nickelodeon hadn’t picked it up and it was broadcast somewhere else (not Cartoon Network). Perhaps as an anime? I say that because while I understand the basis of the Air Nomads and Aang’s personality is rooted in Buddhism with their “all life is sacred” creed, it makes little sense to have all this huge war going on over the past 100 years but hardly any deaths.
We are meant to suspend disbelief and accept that a nation that has a population that can shoot fire out of their hands merely captures members of opposing countries and throws them in jail, when it would be easier to kill these people on the spot. Sure, there are occasional killings of named characters by the Fire Nation, Katara’s mom being one of them, but with all the people hurled into walls, rocks falling on them, burned, and thrown into water, a surprising amount of people survive unscathed. I know Cartoon Network has some onerous rules for its shows like no smoking or drinking (thanks for ruining Naruto, bastards!), so I’m willing to bet the creators of Avatar had to somehow get around a no killing policy on Nick as well.
On one hand, it shows what great writing can be accomplished with these rules that I didn’t really notice them a lot until now, but on the other hand, I am disappointed in what could have been a more mature show with a better realized plot had these rules not been in place (and yes, I’m completely assuming that Nick did have such a rule in place without verifying it :p).
But enough about the bad, the show is still great. I weep for Avatar fans if M. Night goes through with ruining Book 2 and 3 for us, as it doesn’t seem like he’s even capable of capturing an ounce of emotion with real actions than the show could with pencils and ink. I’d rather Book 2 and 3 never come out as movies than have M. Night do his shitty version.