Thanks to my (at the time) 5-year-old nephew, I became hooked on Avatar: The Last Airbender. I showed it to Justique. She loved it. She showed it to her friends. They loved it. Then I showed it to Neal. He loved it. Now there are at least eight of us between the ages of 20-26 that have a serious Avatar addiction.
Last week's end of Book 3: Fire has left me with mixed feelings. [SPOILER ALERT from here on out.] I think that this Avatar season culminates in a fashion that might be a bit too happy for my tastes. We've still got villains in the form of a demoralized former Fire Lord Ozai and a chained Princess Azula. But just about everything else ended up in a nice, neat package.
The only cliffhanger / dangling plot thread is the mystery of Zuko's mom (and potentially Katara's mom as well). It's vaguely interesting, but nothing too compelling. It feels like the creative team on the show planned for three seasons and stuck to their guns even when Avatar got renewed for three more seasons (making a total of six Avatar "Books" last that I heard).
And I think it's awesome that they stuck to their guns. Too many "great" tales have been turned to "good" or "okay" by giving into the push for an endless bevy of serialized stories that can be marketed to an exhausted audience (*ahem* Star Wars *ahem*). But this ending is so happy that I actually wish the characters were in a bit more pain. The triumphant conclusion isn't gratifying -- it actually feels hollow. Where's the suspense?
This time last year, I was absolutely riveted by the ending of Book 2: Earth. Now I feel a bit tired of the Avatar Universe. With so many missed airdates and never-ending plot teases, my patience was beginning to wear thin before Book 3 even ended.
I also feel like Nickelodeon has severely mismarketed this property, continuing to aim it exclusively at an adolescent demographic when the stories have an obvious appeal to the Generation Y crowd.
Speaking of marketing Avatar, what's up with the Avatar trilogy of films directed by M. Night Shyamalan? He was quoted as saying that his first film would cover both Books 1 and 2. It's hard to imagine how he would still make a trilogy out of this presuming that Books 3 and 4 would combine to make film number two.
So what does the future hold for this franchise? Do we follow our heroes as they rebuild a diverse world that's free from the controlling hand of the Fire Nation? Do we get to see Aang restore the Air Temples now that he's in touch with the spirit of the nature itself (a.k.a. will he "create" new airbenders now that he can give and take bending abilities)?
I would actually be fine if this was simply the end of Avatar. It could be nice to revisit the Avatar Universe down the road when Aang's all grown up. Or maybe Nickelodeon should skip ahead in time significantly and let the story follow the next Avatar (you know, the one that would follow Aang). I guess all I'm wondering is: have we seen the last of the Last Airbender as we know him?
EDIT: I ask and Nickelodeon answers. According to an SDCC Avatar panel from this weekend's Comic-Con International in San Diego, Avatar: The Last Airbender was always intended to be three Books / seasons. Furthermore, it's just a bad rumor that there are going to be six seasons of Avatar. As we know it, the show is over.
As for the Airbender movie by Shyamalan, the first film will be a direct adaptation of Book 1: Water. At the panel, creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko also said that they're working to get an Avatar show soundtrack released.
Maybe Anng and his crew's ends here and future seasons focus on previous avatars? Avatar Roku seems to have had some fun times as did Kyoshi and others. That, and more Airbenders would be more than enough to float the show for another one or two seasons.
i was so wrong about the future seasons. check out my edit to the original post above.
well, that makes a lot more sense.
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That was an interesting point about not letting a series get to dragged on. Nick, what is your opinion about series that drag to a point of telling the main character as a child, adolescence, adult and eventually, parent? I'm curious because of future plot's that I have thought of for shows I felt could go a little further
Edit: I meant are there shows that told long stories and were still enjoyable an not drag on to the point of exhausting the franchise? This is to anyone who wants to comment, not just to Nick.
i'm all about a series that takes a character from youth into adulthood. i love the serialized storytelling in comic books. spider-man WOULD have been a great example of a character that successfully matured from being a young teen into a father, but Marvel Comics got skittish and decided to de-age (well, more like de-mature) Peter Parker because of licensing, and possibly even storytelling nostalgia (because honestly i can't see any other reasons why it was decided to decimate the character's growth).
the thing about spidey is that these changes happened over the course of literally decades of stories. TV shows are rarely afforded over 40 years of time to tell their ongoing stories. it would be interesting, i feel, to see a show that took a season to explore an "era" in the character's development. start them as an adolescent, put them in college in season 2, have them as a bachelor / bachelorette in season 3, and make them a parent in season 4. has that ever been done?
for Avatar, i'm glad we got the finite ending that we did. but it doesn't feel, to me, like the story has actually completed. Robert McKee suggests that the optimal screenplay / story completes with an ending that's so fantastic, you just can't imagine how it could be topped. i agree with him in many respects. in that sense, i don't feel that Avatar had that type of ending. i found the suspense and excitement of Book 2's end to be far more "how can they top that?!" than the end of the series.
really, the ending is the hardest part when you're taking something that was serialized and finishing it. Avatar and Y the Last Man both share a similar stumbling block in this respect, in my opinion.
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WELL I THINK MOST OF YOU GUYS R RONG ABOUT AVATAR ENDEING. BUT THERE IS GOING TO BE LIVE ACTION MOVIES! I HAVE A BOOCK SAYING THEY WERE THINKING ABOUT IT. I REALY HAVE HOPE IN SEASON FOUR. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE WUT HAPPEND TO AZULA, ZUKOS MUM , IROH, AND IF BA SING SA MADE IT OK AND IF THE FIRE NATION HAS REBELS STILL LOYAL TO OZIA. IF THERE ISNT GOING TO BE A SEASON FOUR IM GOIN TO BE SAD *CRYING EYES OUT*. SO THERE BETTER BE A SEASON FOUR YOUR INTERESTED VIEW AND AVATAR FAN,AVATARROCKS08-09
THERE COULD BE A LOT OF THINGS TO MAKE FOR AVATAR SEASON FOUR
I LOV AVATAR SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I REALLY HOPE THEY MAKE SEASON FOUR! I WANT TO KNOW WUT HAPPEND TO ZUZUS MUM AND AZULA AND IF THERE ARE REBELS STILL LOYAL TO OZIA. I WANT TO NO IF BA SING SA CHANGED MUCH. AND I WANT TO SE MORE OF IROH! IM AN IROH FAN!! PLUZ TOPH AND AANG FAN 2! OH AND A DEFFINET SOKKA FAN!
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i love Uncle Iroh too. wish there was more of him in Sozin's Comet.
Hopefully there is a short animation or mini movie that explains the whereabouts of Zuko's mother, if there is indeed a sequel.. it would have to be about another avatar!?!???!
yeah it would have to be another one sadly... UNLESS... my friend suggested that they show Aang in the future, restoring the Air Temples, which was a good idea to me. then again, i think i'd rather see a second Avatar far in the future where there's another situation similar to what Aang had to go thru (not the same, but an obstacle just as great). what if in that future the Air Temples were attempting to conquer the planet... interesting twist, eh?!!
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Shyamalan just did an interview with MTV for the movies blog: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/11/05/shyamalan-eager-to-transform-image-with-last-airbender-franchise/ i'm still very apprehensive, but i can't wait to see the movie in 2010!!!
I feel sad about avatar ending... i think it was a bit to short but the story was amazing. i really loved how it ended with sakka painting then the kiss. *sigh* im gonna miss avatar.... and im not sure there is going to be another avatar because at the real end it said The End and thats pretty much it..... =(
yeah every once in a while i get "avatar sadness" and i am stricken with melancholy that the show is over.
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well, lets all just hope that M Night doesn't do this one like he has his last few movies.
Well, so I finally just watched all of Season 3 (thanks, Nick). I think Nick's completely correct in pointing out that the problem of the ending of the series is directly tied to the (mis-)marketing of Avatar by Nickelodeon; namely, in their flirting with the slightly-older demographic (young parents and the extended social circles (of twenty-somethings) those young parents that found out about the shows quality) by showing up at comicons and stuff but ignoring them in keeping the show decidedly kid-centered--the worst example of this, most jarring to me, was the introduction of many cartoony animation and sound effects into the third season.
Honestly, I can't blame Nickelodeon for keeping it a kids show--a large part of show planning is also the shows that precede and follow it; if you market a show to the part of the audience that only shows up to your channel to watch that show and then turns your channel right back off again, then you're not going to make nearly as much money as hooking the demographic that is more likely to watch the other programs you offer.
I, personally, don't see any need for the show to extend itself and show later life of these characters. Don't forget that quality childrens' programming will seed kids' imaginations, not subsume them; it's a glorious childhood past-time to extrapolate tales on your own with the characters you've come to know through TV or books. The main question to me, then, instead, is whether or not the ending really was too treacle-y.
If it was an "adult" show, changing as little as possible, here's how the ending would go: Aang would knock up Katara before fighting the fire-lord, and then die while soul-bending him; using his super-good soul to destroy and cancel out the supreme badness of the fire lord. With the death of Aang's soul, the chain of avatars would end, and we would know that not only was Aang the last airbender, but also the last avatar, since all the thousands of preceding avatars' souls would die with him. Thus, a new era without avatars is ushered in, and viewers are left to imagine whether or not Katara and Aangs kid will be an airbender or not.
Not killing the Avatar, in my mind, really defies all the expectations that the show builds up, all the way up through his talk with the Lion-Turtle. Basically, Aang's journey defines the end of an epoch, just as the Lion-Turtle hints that there was a time before bending as well, there should be a time post-avatar. They are right in keeping the evil characters alive as well (though, there should be more menace at the end of the tale--this is one of the worst parts of the movie versions of The Lord of the Rings, incidentally, that they cut the ending which returns to the Shire to find out that evil wizard is ruling of it despotically), but they should be more menacing.
Can kids these days really not handle actual epics where the hero dies? Is their message of finding another way other than killing people watered down if Aang himself had died (I would argue that stealing someone's soul and essence could pretty easily be seen as worse than just killing that person)? Did they save Aang out of concern for the message their delivering to their demographic, or for more practical reasons of marketing and brand expansion?
interesting notion of the adult Avatar ending. though i did feel like there was an anti-climactic quality to the ending, i also feel more accepting of it as time goes by. sometimes it's nice to have a solid trilogy that ends with the heroes beating the baddies without losing everything in the process (ahem Star Wars IV, V, and VI ahem). nowadays it's always a tragic victory (Harry Potter bites it, Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Frodo and Sam don't have a torrid gay hobbit romance after all, etc.). so i appreciate Avatar's effort to buck the trend with a bit of happiness. still, it did need a bit more to it and i haven't figured out what yet.
but despite all that, i still feel - more now than ever - that Avatar was heavily mis-marketed. it will become a huge late teen / early adult hit as all three seasons collected on DVD when the live action movies come out.
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