# I just finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (the show)(open spoilers on the entire series) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850 "2010-06-20T05:55:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/21 "2011-02-23T16:21:04Z")
Bump to get more people to watch this show – all three seasons are on Netflix Instant! – because it’s really, really, really good, and I’m not normally an anime fan. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/22 "2011-02-23T16:38:30Z")
There’s a sequel being made as well, set something like a hundred years after the original series with Ang’s sucessor ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/23 "2011-02-23T17:06:15Z")
Good bump! I’ve seen the entire series twice - the second time to get my girlfriend into it. She loves it too. Looking forward to the sequel series. I hope that you all, unlike me, didn’t have the series permanently tainted by that abortion by M. Night Shamalalalalaandadadanman. I was so pissy at the (bad) gloss job it did on season one. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/24 "2011-02-23T17:28:46Z")
I still haven’t seen the M. Night movie. I was real jazzed up for it and then heard the bad news and avoided it. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/25 "2011-02-23T18:19:18Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I still haven’t seen the M. Night movie. I was real jazzed up for it and then heard the bad news and avoided it. It is bad. Impossibly bad. It may actually be, by far, the worst movie he ever made. Think about that. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/26 "2011-02-23T22:43:26Z")
I love this show. I’ve seen it two and a half times. First time I caught it half-way through and was a little confused as things progressed. Then like a year later Nicksalodeon re-ran it but with those “behind the scenes moments/recalls back to previous episodes/explanations of whats going on” at the bottom of the screen so I watched it again and then I bought the seasons and watch it again. I really want a lion-turtle. I haven’t seen the movie but I will someday just to see it. Like the Dragonball movie which when compared to the show totally sucks donkey butt-hole but on it’s on merit is a sort-of-ok-I-guess made for tv kids movie. I liked how the show wasn’t afraid to get sad. Especially when Appa gets kidnapped. And especiallier when they do the “Day in the life of” episode where there were short segments from different characters and Momo spends his time looking for Appa and then at the end he finds Appa’s footprint and he lays down in it. > [@Cisco](#): > > -Sokka’s quest to become a master swordsman was very anti-climatic. He never really showed off his skills and he ended up losing his badass meteorite sword. I loved the episode where Sokka trains and then makes his space sword and it was another sad momment for me when he throws it at the firebender on the airship at the end and then it falls and he sadly says, “My space sword.” Speaking of airships, “Airship Slice!” was awesome and pure Sokka. Another sad moment was again with Sokka on the airships where he uses his boomerang on the firebenders and it just goes and he says to Toph, “I don’t think boomerang is coming back.” It was a good line that brought back all the times he used boomerang to get them out of a jam and it made boomerang feel like it’s own character. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/27 "2011-02-23T23:36:43Z")
It is indeed a great series. I’m another who did not see the movie version … ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/28 "2011-02-24T00:02:23Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > All in all, though, great series. The only “American anime” that I know of, and a damn fine example of the genre IMO. HM goes to the TV version of “The Boondocks,” which although manga in style, is wholly American in its storyline. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/29 "2011-02-24T02:23:22Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I still haven’t seen the M. Night movie. I was real jazzed up for it and then heard the bad news and avoided it. I have not seen the show, but I did watch the movie. It was really boring and totally weird. Skip it. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/30 "2011-02-24T02:38:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I have not seen the show, but I did watch the movie. > > It was really boring and totally weird. Skip it. That’s so unfortunate, since I presume that it put you off watching the TV series. That movie was awful… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/31 "2011-04-21T17:34:03Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > That’s so unfortunate, since I presume that it put you off watching the TV series. That movie was awful… Bumping to mention: No, I am just on the finale of the show now, having watched all of it on Netflix instant. Love it! ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/32 "2011-04-21T19:08:35Z")
sorry, but remind me again why M. Night got the movie gig instead of the creators? I read an interview where Night basically said “my kids watched it. my agent made some calls. i’m really excited.” i’m pretty sure Night is done as a director forever. he might get writing gigs but he’ll never be allowed to direct a studio film ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/33 "2011-04-22T00:06:19Z")
I just finished watching the finale. What a great show. Just a great, great show. I loved every minute of it and I actually really like the ending. I miss it already. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/34 "2011-04-22T00:14:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I just finished watching the finale. > > What a great show. Just a great, great show. I loved every minute of it and I actually really like the ending. > > I miss it already. Good news: [a sequel series is in the works.](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/08/the-last-airbender-legend-of-korra-the-creators-speak/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/35 "2011-04-22T06:00:03Z")
Interesting, reading up on that… They say it’s set 70 years later, that the protagonist is the next Avatar, and that she’s 16 or 17 years old. Put it all together, and it implies that Aang dies at about age 66, ludicrously young for a natural death (especially in a world where Bumi could still be a great earthbender at 100-something). I wonder if they’ll address how he died? I also kind of wonder what happened with the Air Nomads. Aang had to have re-founded the nation, to keep the Avatar cycle running, but how? Seeking out and recruiting air-attuned folks from the other nations? It’s sort of implied that the kid in the wheelchair glider (the inventor’s son) might have the potential for airbending. Or Aang’s own descendants, maybe (though they’ll presumably be half-Water Tribe)? ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/36 "2011-04-22T14:39:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Interesting, reading up on that… They say it’s set 70 years later, that the protagonist is the next Avatar, and that she’s 16 or 17 years old. Put it all together, and it implies that Aang dies at about age 66, ludicrously young for a natural death (especially in a world where Bumi could still be a great earthbender at 100-something). I wonder if they’ll address how he died? I read somewhere that his young-ish death was related to him being in hibernation for 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/37 "2011-04-22T15:25:17Z")
My love for this show is super strong… My dogs are named Apa and Iroh. Just saying. 🙂 And they are totally like Apa and Iroh in personality. Awesome. My favorite scene in the entire series has to be in the episode, Crossroads, where Zuko and Iroh have been asked to serve tea to the Earth King, but it is really just a trap. When surrounded by guards and confronted by Azula, Uncle Iroh asks, “Do you know why they call me the dragon of the West?” Azula blows him off, saying, “We’re not here for a history lesson, Uncle.” Then he breathes/blows fire in a circle at the guards surrounding them. It just looked so intense and bad ass. He is my favorite character. And in the third to last episode, The Old Masters, when Iroh embraced Zuko, the returning prodigal son, before Zuko could even finish apologizing… I cried. I admit it. Actually cried. Powerful stuff. Didn’t know about the sequel. Cannot wait for sure. I was not terribly impressed with the movie, but didn’t hate it either. The only thing I found truly frustrating was how they changed the pronunciation of all the names. What the hell was the reason for that? But I thought they actually did a good job with the Siege of the North. Are the next two movies going to be made??? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/38 "2011-04-22T16:03:14Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I just finished watching the finale. > > What a great show. Just a great, great show. I loved every minute of it and I actually really like the ending. > > I miss it already. That’s one of my favorite endings to a cartoon. The lion-turtle teaching Aang how to energy-bend and him and Ozai trying to bend each other was perfect. Aang being the peaceful guy it had to end that way. If he had killed Ozai it would have ruined the ending. > [@Miller](#): > > Good news: [a sequel series is in the works.](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/08/the-last-airbender-legend-of-korra-the-creators-speak/) Hurray! A “fiery-waterbender” sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait. > [@Chronos](#): > > Interesting, reading up on that… They say it’s set 70 years later, that the protagonist is the next Avatar, and that she’s 16 or 17 years old. Put it all together, and it implies that Aang dies at about age 66, ludicrously young for a natural death (especially in a world where Bumi could still be a great earthbender at 100-something). I wonder if they’ll address how he died? > > I also kind of wonder what happened with the Air Nomads. Aang had to have re-founded the nation, to keep the Avatar cycle running, but how? Seeking out and recruiting air-attuned folks from the other nations? It’s sort of implied that the kid in the wheelchair glider (the inventor’s son) might have the potential for airbending. Or Aang’s own descendants, maybe (though they’ll presumably be half-Water Tribe)? I hope they’ll at least do a flashback so we can see Aang’s death. You make a great point about the air-nomads. I never even though of that. Maybe in the flashback I just mentioned they can show Aang on his deathbed surrounded by his family and a small clan of air-nomads. I think it would be good if Aang did go back to live with the inventor and his group of people. Also it would be cool if Zuko is still alive and his kids turn out to be good-people and we can see that the fire-nation is still peaceful. Ooh ooh also if Toph became queen of the earth nation that would totally kick-ass. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/39 "2011-04-22T19:51:52Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Sokka’s quest to become a master swordsman was very anti-climatic. He never really showed off his skills and he ended up losing his badass meteorite sword. Responding to an old comment I know, but this was actually one of the things I liked about the series. Not that he lost his cool sword because I felt bad for him there, but because Sokka wasn’t a master swordsman. In any of the fights he’s not much better than average with a sword even after meeting his Master and training. He was certainly a master with his boomerang, but that didn’t translate to all around weapons master. He fails with every different weapon he picks up when he’s in that shop trying out new ones. By not having him become a master swordsman I felt they made him more believable. He wasn’t a master at all things that weren’t bending to make up for being the only non-bending major character. It makes his angst at not being a bender all the more painful because he can’t see just how incredibly gifted he is at other things like strategy and tactics, just that he’s always needing help to accomplish anything. Nevermind that without him half the time everyone would have just ended up standing around or have been too disorganized to make much of a difference. I also like how they handled Toph’s blindness and using her earthbending to “see.” They were consistent with her only being to use it on the ground. When they visit the village that’s on stilts in the middle of a lake she becomes less outspoken and is holding on to Aang or Sokka the entire time. She comments how she doesn’t like flying to the Earth King. And at the very end with Aang’s spiritbending her reaction upon learning about it is very different than Sokka’s. Sokka seems genuinely happy for Aang, he’s defeated the Firelord _and_ maintained his vow to keep from killing anyone. For Sokka removing Ozai’s firebending seems like a perfect compromise. After all Sokka isn’t a bender himself, so there’s nothing cruel or unusual about that punishment. It’s just powering Ozai down to normal. Toph responds differently. Her line is, “You can do that?” and while she’s happy for Aang from her viewpoint it’s a dangerous thing. Without her bending she becomes that scared little blind girl that her parents think she is. Aang has just shown that he can effectively destroy her entire life if he wants to. It’s the Princess Bride’s “To the Pain” only all to real for Toph. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850/40 "2011-04-22T20:55:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Toph responds differently. Her line is, “You can do that?” and while she’s happy for Aang from her viewpoint it’s a dangerous thing. Without her bending she becomes that scared little blind girl that her parents think she is. Aang has just shown that he can effectively destroy her entire life if he wants to. It’s the Princess Bride’s “To the Pain” only all to real for Toph. Y’know, I never noticed that. Yeah, that _would_ be genuinely frightening to her. And Aang, innocent as he is, probably never even realized how frightening it would be for her, since after all, he would never have considered taking her bending away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-watching-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-show-open-spoilers-on-the-entire-series/543850.md?page=3)