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Avatar: The Last Airbender

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Avatar: The Last Airbender
File:Avatar-TLA people2.gif
From left to right: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo, Prince Zuko.
Created byMichael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
StarringZach Tyler Eisen
Mae Whitman
Jack DeSena
Dante Basco
Makoto Iwamatsu
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes20
Production
Running time30 minutes per episode (including commercials)
Original release
NetworkNickelodeon
ReleaseFebruary 21, 2005

Avatar: The Last Airbender (titled Avatar: The Legend Of Aang in the UK) is an animated television series airing on Nickelodeon since February 21, 2005. The artwork of the series mimics anime, a style of animation originating in Japan. The show is animated in South Korea and was created by two Americans, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Avatar is considered darker and more serious than other Nicktoons, but it does have a sense of humor. Set in a fantastic world of martial arts and elemental magic, Avatar follows the journeys of Aang, the successor to a long line of Avatars, his friends Katara and Sokka, and their pursuer Prince Zuko, who is attempting to capture Aang.

New episodes air Friday nights at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time in Nickelodeon's Friday Night Slimetime block of programming. Due to this, start times may vary by up to ten minutes, making the actual start time closer to 7:50 pm EST. Repeats (though not necessarily of Friday's episode) air on Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 am EST. The show also airs in Canada on YTV at 11:30 am in the Vortex block of programming.

The DVD of Book 1: Water, Volume 1 is set to be released on January 24th, 2006 by Paramount Home Entertainment.

A second season of twenty episodes has been ordered, and will begin airing sometime in 2006.

Template:Spoiler

Show Details

In a lost age, the world is divided into four nations: Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Within each nation, there is a remarkable order of men and women called "Benders" who have an inborn talent for learning to manipulate their native element. Bending is a powerful artform, combining martial arts and elemental magic. The four bending disciplines are waterbending, earthbending, firebending and airbending, respectively.

In each generation, one Bender is capable of controlling all four elements. That Bender is the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When an individual Avatar dies, the Avatar Spirit reincarnates into an unborn baby of the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. Starting with the mastery of his or her native element, each Avatar learns to bend all four elements in the order of the cycle, which parallels the seasons. (winter for water, spring for earth, summer for fire and fall for air) Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony. The Avatar is also the bridge between the mortal world and the Spirit World, home of the universe's disembodied spirits.

A century prior to the series' opening, Aang, a twelve-year-old Airbender of the Air Nomads' Southern Air Temple, learned from his monk instructors that he was the Avatar. Usually, the Avatar is told of his/her true identity only after turning sixteen; however, the Air Nomads feared that a war between the Four Nations was on the horizon, and that the Avatar would soon be needed to help maintain balance. Shortly thereafter, it was decided that Aang would be separated from his guardian Monk Gyatso and sent to the Eastern Air Temple to focus on his training. Confused, frightened and overwhelmed by all he had learned, Aang fled from his home on his flying bison Appa towards the South Pole. While over the ocean, a sudden storm caused Appa to plunge deep into the sea. Channeling his Avatar Spirit, Aang reflexively used waterbending to freeze Appa and himself in an ice sphere, putting them in a state of suspended animation in the icy waters surrounding the South Pole.

When the series opens one hundred years later, the Fire Nation is on the brink of victory in its imperialist war. The Water Tribes are in dire straits--the Southern Water Tribe's warriors have gone off to war, leaving their home defenseless and subject to raids, and the Northern Water Tribe, though largely intact, is continually on the defensive. The vast Earth Kingdom is now the only true barrier to the Fire Nation's supremacy, but as the Fire Nation continues to encroach on its borders and occupy its territories, hopes for victory grow bleaker with each passing year.

In the present day, two teenage siblings from the Southern Water Tribe--Katara, a Waterbender, and her brother Sokka--discovered and freed Aang from his iceberg prison. Aang soon saw that in his absence, fears of war had became a reality. The very year he vanished, the then-leader of the Fire Nation, the ruthless Fire Lord Sozen, took advantage of both the Avatar's absence and the firebending-enhancing powers of a mystical comet to launch a war on the three other nations. To Aang's shock and disbelief, the Fire Nation's opening gambit had been a genocidal assault on the Air Nomads. The Air Temples were stormed and the the Airbender monks slaughtered in an effort to break the Avatar Cycle, leaving him as the last known Airbender in existence.

Aang realizes that, as the Avatar, it is his duty to restore harmony and peace to the Four Nations. Along with his newly-discovered friends Katara and Sokka, and pets Appa and winged-lemur Momo, Aang travels the world to find and learn from Master Benders, all while evading capture by the Fire Nation's Prince Zuko. Although it takes years of discipline and training to master any particular element, Aang must master them all, and defeat the current Fire Lord Ozai before summer's end, when the return of Sozen's Comet will grant the Fire Nation the power to conquer the entire planet. If these events come to pass, not even the Avatar will be able to restore balance to the world.

Influences

Cultural References

Avatar is heavily influenced by Asian mythology and art. The term "Avatar" comes from the Sanskrit word Avatāra which means "descent." In Hindu mythology, gods often manifest themselves into Avatars to maintain balance on earth. This agrees with the classical Chinese calligraphy written above the word "Avatar" in the show's opening, which means "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."

In the show, Aang unknowingly revealed that he was the Avatar when he chose four toys out of thousands. These four toys were the exact ones that past Avatars had chosen for generations when they were children, revealing Aang to be the reincarnation of the Avatar. This same test is used by Tibetan Buddhist monks when a reincarnated Dalai Lama is expected. Visions the monks have revealed who the Dalai Lama is, and this test finalizes that he is, indeed, the reincarnation.

Monk Gyatso may have been named for the 14th (and current) Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

The series also references the principles of yin and yang (Firebenders draw strength from the sun as Waterbenders do from the moon).

Avatar draws on four of the five classical Indian elements of Hindu and Buddhist traditions- Fire(agni or tejas), Water(ap or jala), Earth(prithvi or bhumi), Wind or Air(vayu or pavan) for the bending disciplines. The fifth, Aether (classical element)(akasha or akash) is symbolized by Aang as an intermediary of the Spirit World. Some names in the series such as "Agni Kai" and King Bumi the Earthbender borrow directly from these elements.

Fighting Styles

One final Asiatic influence is found in the show's action choreography. The fighting choreography, styles, and weaponry are heavily based upon Chinese martial arts, with each bending discipline corresponding to a certain real-world style. The creators use Ku Tai Chi for waterbending, Hung Gar Kung Fu for earthbending, Northern Shaolin Kung Fu for firebending, and Ba Gua Kung Fu for airbending.

Episodes

See list of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes for a list of episodes and information.

Characters

Primary characters

  • Aang - The main character of the series, Aang is the reincarnation of the Avatar, who must master the four bending disciplines to save the world.
  • Katara - A Waterbender, Katara freed Aang from suspended animation, and travels with him to assist him on his journey.
  • Sokka - Katara's warrior brother, Sokka believes in cunning over bending, and travels with Aang and his sister to hone his skills.
  • Prince Zuko - The banished prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko seeks to capture the Avatar to earn his return home.
  • Uncle Iroh - A retired Fire Nation General, Prince Zuko's uncle is a powerful Firebender, who travels with his nephew to assist in his quest to capture the Avatar.

Secondary characters

See Secondary Characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Opening sequence

The Opening Sequence from the pilot; narrator Mae Whitman, voice of Katara:

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace; when the Avatar kept balance between Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads.
Only the Avatar mastered all four elements.
Only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war.
Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe.
Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken.
But I haven't lost hope.
I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world."

The Opening Sequence from Season 1, "Book 1: Water"; narrator Mae Whitman, voice of Katara:

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them.
But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar,
an Airbender named Aang, and although his Airbending skills are great,
He still has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
But I believe Aang can save the world."

Voice actors and their characters

- Although a key part of the series, Uncle Iroh and Prince Zuko do not appear in all episodes.

Recurring cast voice actors

See also

References

  • {{cite AV media}}: Empty citation (help)
  • Nickelodeon's Official Avatar: The Last Airbender Flash Site
  • Distant Horizon: Calligraphy Writings in Avatar
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