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Tag Archive for 'television'
In honor of the completion of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender animated TV series, here are nine moments from the epic saga that shine brighter than the rest:
9. “It’s important that you be prepared for anything!” (Book 1 Chapter 5)
8. The Firebending Masters shoot colored flames (Book 3 Chapter 13)
7. Aang becomes a giant water monster to fight the Fire Nation (Book 1 Chapter 20)
6. Katara learns bloodbending and fights Hama (Book 3 Chapter 8)
5. Sokka and Momo trip on cactus juice (Book 2 Chapter 11)
4. Suki captures the Warden at Boiling Rock prison (Book 3 Chapter 15)
3. Wan Shi Tong’s Spirit Library (Book 2 Chapter 10)
2. “Flameyo Hotman!” (Book 3 Chapter 2)
1. Aang energybends to take away Fire Lord Ozai’s bending ability (Book 3 Chapter 21)
I co-wrote this list with Justique. She nominated a few moments I never would have thought of (see numbers 9, 4, and 1), while I definitely had a few that weren’t at the top of her list (in particular, number 3). Then, of course, there were a few unanimous nominations that couldn’t be denied (especially numbers 8, 5, and 2).
It’s all in your court now, M. Night Shyamalan. If you’re going to write, produce, and direct the live action Airbender movies, you better be on the ball. Don’t @#$% this one up!!!
Next: The Top 9 Things That Suck About Modern Movies!
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
We stick it to Pigtail Girl, Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #1, Avengers: The Initiative #15, Uncanny X-Men #500, Black Panther #38, X-Men Legacy #214, superhero codenames, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, Chromeo, 2D fighting games vs. 3D fighting games, Street Fighter, Winged Migration, voting, celebrity pairings (Rob Schneider and Tom Lennon, Jeremy Piven and Joe Rogan, Tom Arnold and Jim Belushi), Mad Men, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and so much more that we can’t even remember.
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.
It’s time for another round of FNMTV bashing - courtesy of yours truly. In case you missed last week’s post, MTV recently added a new segment called Friday Night MTV as a venue for video premiers and live performances. This salvo of music television begs to be discussed - because it is so clearly bottom of the barrel - but not in a formal video review manner. Consider these video review ‘quickies’.
Lil Mama - I’m What It Is (Strike a Pose)
Old skool rope chains, T-Pain sans vocoder channeling the pied piper, and Missy Elliot style antics make for a pretty kid-friendly video. I wouldn’t hesitate to show this to an 8 year old.
Boys Like Girls - Thunder
The band members all have similar haircuts to other bands, they sing slow and deep at first and then jump up an octave to belt out the chorus. Flashback / performance videos like this are boring. If I want to relive getting drunk in high school and doing dumb townie shit… I’ll look out my window at the douchebag highschoolers on summer vacation.
Shawty Lo - Foolish (Remix)
DJ Khaled has never been on a decent track, so this was doomed from the beginning. Morever, what self respecting rapper wears a beater when he has a gut - and for that matter CAPRIS? I’m not even watching the rest of this video. 39 seconds in and I am over it. I won’t even mention that Baby, AKA The Birdman, drops a vocoder verse.
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
This actually did not suck. The whole thing reminded of a Wes Anderson movie- but one that didn’t suck. In fact, if all of Wes Anderson’s stuff was this short and pithy - Nick and I might like the guy a lot more.
Duffy - Mercy (Live)
I don’t know much about Duffy, but her voice is definitely an acquired taste. I can get into the track, but I’d like it more if it were by another vocalist. ZING! Other than that, this ain’t much to write home about. Here is the original video.
Lil Wayne - A Milli (Live)
It’s no secret that I’m not a huge fan of Lil Wayne’s recent records - but apparently he gets crowds hype. And really, how can I disagree with that? If you can rock ‘em right, you must be doing something right. He did race through the song though - he was def in a hurry to get out of there.
That’s it ladies and gents. You don’t have to go home - you can stay and comment here!
I went to my first comic book convention this past weekend. I’ve been reading comic books regularly since the age of four (well, you know, as regularly as you can read comics at four…) yet I’ve never really been a part of communal fandom. I got into the online comic book message board thing a bit in the past few years, but I wouldn’t even really consider myself a true part of that either.
So attending a comic book convention for the first time after reading comics for over 20 years was interesting. It just wasn’t what I expected. Ever been to a trade show or a business convention? It’s just like that except the attendees wear tights instead of suits. The booths and the salesmen are all still there, from retailers that go straight to the consumer all the way through to niche businesses geared especially towards the convention-going small press comic book creator.
And I wasn’t even at one of the huge conventions. I was at the Pittsburgh Comicon, celebrating its 15th anniversary this year under some extremely unusual circumstances. I enjoyed myself in the sense that nothing went wrong. But I feel so disconnected from the convention culture. I love comics for the craft, for the stories, for the characters, and for the sweeping metaphors. I suspect, however, that if I really want to make the comic book industry my career field of choice, I need to learn to love comicons too.
As for Reads You Need, may I recommend Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #45. It felt like autumn today here in the Steel City, and this comic book made me feel like October arrived early. This eerie tale is a solid example of why I’ve read more consecutive issues of Tales of the TMNT on a month-to-month basis than any other comic book series. Coming in a close second is Dynamo 5 #12, which finally pays off a plot tangent about the character Myriad that was introduced way back in issue #7.
Before I go, I should let everyone know that Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3 Chapters 14 and 15 are online. I’ve watched both of them (a two-parter called “The Boiling Rock”) and I thoroughly the episodes. Chapter 14 is mostly setup — and Chapter 15 is doubly good when it really brings the plot home. If you’re trying to find these episodes, here are links to Chapter 14 and Chapter 15. Enjoy (and check out the video description on Chapter 15 for more).
We converse about Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, EuroTrip, Baby Mama, The Love Guru, Romany Malco, Juno, Dane Cook, Hellboy II The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, Joker, your first supervillain, Madame Masque, Magneto, Penguin, Harley Quinn, Stockholm syndrome, Poison Ivy, Lex Luthor, Arkham Asylum, Batman, Shutter, American remakes of Asian films, horror movies, Mamma Mia, ABBA, Tripping the Rift, Afro Samurai, Captain Planet, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, hipsters, Spike Lee movies, Clockers, Crooklyn, Jungle Fever, Mya, Lil Wanye, getting your face tattooed, Cash Money, Juvenile, Manny Fresh, Rachel Ray, extra virgin olive oil, EVOO, whiskey, New Avengers 40, Avengers The Initiative 12, X-Men Legacy 210, Immortal Iron Fist 14, and more than you care to know.
We chitchat about the Unlicensed Attorneys at Law, UnlicensedAttorneys.com, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, 3:10 to Yuma, 27 Dresses, Katherine Heigl’s boobs, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel’s penis, Mila Kunis, Meet the Spartans, Irina Palm, Mariah Carey, E=MC2, Jermaine Dupri, New Jack Swing, Teddy Riley, Midas Touch, 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, ghostwriters, Akon’s fabricated past, Fugees, Pras, Mya, Ghetto Supastar, ODB, Prince, Amelia Earhart, Truffle Shuffle, Avatar, Airbender, Black Panther, BET, Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, Iron Man in The Incredible Hulk movie, Marvel Studios, Civil War 1, Mighty Avengers 12, and more.
Let’s get things started with Reads You Need. This week, you need to read X-Men: Divided We Stand #1. From the outset, this book seems like a rather unspectacular exploration of several side characters in the X-Men Universe. And all of that is true… except for the part about it being unspectacular.
In fact, the case is quite the opposite. This comic book is particularly spectacular, mostly due to the tremendous amount of insightful emotion exhibited by the writers. It has a long list of creators and I can’t remember all the names right now. However, the character lineup goes something like this:
A Cannonball story by Mike Carey and Brandon Peterson looks great and reads pretty well to start out the book. It’s awesome for Cannonball fans, but it didn’t do much for me as an add-on to the Messiah CompleX aftermath. The Nezhno story up next is interesting, and we get to see a civilian’s view of Wakanda (which was extremely gratifying for me). The Northstar tale afterwards is actually a tale about one of the New X-Men named Vic (but I don’t know the character by codename). The art by Skottie Young is interesting, but his story is just okay. The following piece about Hellion shows the emotional fallout of a troubled young man who reaches out to Magneto for solace. He finds none.
The final Scalphunter and Nightcrawler story by Matt Fraction steals the spotlight. This may just be Fraction’s finest work to date. It’s thoughtful, inspired, and emotional. Fraction discovers amazing potential in Scalphunter, a perpetual C-list X-Men villain. The intellectual analysis of his psyche is a fascinating journey and it gives me great confidence in Fraction’s ability to write the X-Men (as his upcoming tenure on Uncanny quickly approaches).
As for other comics that came out last Wednesday, Marvel Adventures Avengers #23 brought Black Panther back for the second month in a row. Though the story oddly plays up Panther’s connection to Storm as prime emotional motivation, Mark Sumerak doesn’t butcher T’Challa’s character concept like he did last month. It’s a relief but it doesn’t erase the bad taste in my mouth from Marvel Adventures Avengers #22.
In other Black Panther news, the character was announced as the star of a prime-time animated show on BET. Debuting in October 2008, BET president and Black Panther comic book writer Reginald Hudlin will write the series. The program will run for eight episodes, a bizarrely short number of shows. Still, I’m excited for this series and looking forward to the increased interest in T’Challa as a result.
EDIT: While we’re on animation kick on the ComicShocker, here’s an update on the status of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Apparently there was an Avatar panel at NYCC this past weekend, and it looks like we won’t get new Avatar episodes on TV until July 2008. The weird part is that the Avatar Book 3 Vol 3 DVD (which will contain episodes that haven’t aired yet in the USA, Canada, or any English-speaking country for that matter) will be out in early May 2008. Go figure that one out!
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