I like it. Veyr goof show, with excellent dialogue and a plot which does not rely on the viewer being a moron. It does sometimes relies on the characters being morons.
Thus far the only problem is that Aang is not merely immature, but actually unpleasantly selfish at times. He has a nasty tendency to simply assume what he wants is right, even if he would never admit it. He also leaps to conclusions and judgements way too fast.
I did think it amusing that Sokka, as the badass normal, is also the smart one. Ok, he’s also the dumb one at times, but it’s usually from following a logical thought in a world which is often insane.
You mean being a typical twelve year old? I am a huge fan of the show and this was one of the major selling points for me at the beginning.
It gets boring watching show after show where the child lead, who has been burdened with saving the world or some other monumental task, knows exactly what to do all the time, is never wrong and all of the adults are idiots. I found it refreshing to see all of the characters behaving in ways that were fairly age appropriate for them and their personal circumstances.
They all mature, but they never really grow up and stop being who they are. In the last season, they still make decisions that were stupid, or that they regret.
Aang finds his Firebending teacher, after visiting the carnival. I found it unrealistic even in a show with Mystic Elemental Tai Chi he would suddenly forget the stage magician was, well, putting on a show.
Well, sure, but Aang gets a little irrational about Katara at times, so its not that out of place.So, what part of which season are you on now? I really liked the season 1 finale.
The one thing that was a bit jarring for me is how nonviolent all of the violence is. For all the fighting going on, almost nobody ever actually dies. I understand the reason for that, though, it being a kid’s show and all.
I understand what you mean. Still, though, I was surprised when (season 1 finale spoiler)two major secondary characters “died” at the end of the first season. Okay, so Yue became the moon spirit and wasn’t “dead” dead, and we don’t know what happened to Zhao but he obviously was “dead” dead; this seemed edgy to me for a kid show. Yueh was Sokka’s love interest only during the finale, but Zhao had been the group’s nemesis for a good part of season 1, so he wasn’t a throwaway character.
Well, The Fire Nation killed all the Airbenders. With one obvious exception. Does that balance things somewhat? Yeah, I know, it took place offstage, but obviously people were dying. I think any kid watching grasped that. Aang even found the bones of his ‘father’, Gyatso.
They actually made fun of this at one point, didn’t they? I seem to recall the main characters standing around talking about how many of their enemies had come to ambiguous ends by disappearing off cliffs or falling into the ocean, etc, and how they were never sure if they were really dead or not.
Agree that one of the best parts of the show was how the child characters acted at least somewhat like children.
I think it was from the 3rd season episode, “The Ember Island Players”:
[spoiler]They’re watching the play based on their adventurers, and get to Jet’s end. “Wait, did Jet just die?” “I dunno, it was kind of unclear.”
Although, the first time around (when it was actually happening), I think it was pretty clear: Smellerbee tells Jet that he’s going to be all right, and as the heroes are leaving, Toph says “She’s lying”.[/spoiler]
I feel sort of weird about criticizing this show for not killing more people. On the one hand, I don’t want to be one of those choads who freaks out because things explicitly designed for children don’t contain adult themes. On the other hand, Avatar deals with a lot of heavy material for a kids show, much more so than having large-scale battles result in a redshirt bodycount. I mean, just look at Zuko. He’s a teenager whose own father burnt off half his face, because he wasn’t being properly “respectful.” That’s some seriously hardcore child abuse, right there, and probably something that resonates with a disturbingly large amount of the target audience. It seems like that’s a much heavier load for a child to process than seeing a couple of bodies lying on the ground after a major battle. And the series does such a good job of dealing with that subject in a way that’s both realistic in terms of the setting, how the victim reacts to it, and how he ultimately move past the abuse. It would have been interesting to see the show address the realities of war with the same accessibility and maturity.
Plus, there’s at least one episode that, while still really good, came across as more than a bit silly because they didn’t want the villain to be a killer:
Specifically, the episode in which Kitara learns how to blood bend. The mad water bender who’s been preying on Fire Nation villagers to avenge what the Fire Nation did to her and her village comes off as a bit ridiculous when you find out that her great revenge was locking up the missing villagers, as opposed to murdering them.
Especially since all her victims have been there for at least a month, since she can only work her mojo at full moon. Has she been feeding and otherwise tending to all those people that whole time?
I actually remember both this and the time squeegee mentioned, so they make fun of it (hang a lampshade on it, to use a term I just learned the other day) at least twice. I imagine Nickelodeon has pretty strict guidelines about how much death they’ll allow in their kiddy shows, and the writers were using their characters to gripe.
Well, both Zuko and Azula seem to me to have been serious abused, to the point where they’re both amazingly neurotic (though in more subtle ways). Zuko’s an obsessive whose naivity is matched only by his single-mindedness. Azula’s … well, that girl is just messed up. Of course, she doesn’t show it as much, but it’s clear she cannot fail or lose or her ego breaks.
Azula’s definitely seriously messed up, but in her case, I don’t think it’s a result of any sort of abuse: She’s the one her father likes, and her mother tries to be as supportive as she can (which, in Azula’s case, isn’t much). I think she’s just plain inherently whacked.
So I take it you’re starting in on the second season, now?
