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Moriarty Takes A Closer Look At AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER On DVD! Plus AICN EXCLUSIVE COMIC For You!!
Okay. I’ve heard the title before. I’m vaguely aware that the show is on the air. I think I saw the main character on the front of a candy bar when I was in line at the grocery store not long ago. But I’ve never felt any particular urge to check out AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER.
Then Jim Cameron announced that he was making his new movie. That, uh, turns out to have nothing whatsoever to do with this show. And that same day, M. Night Shyamalan announced he was making this show into a trilogy of films. One announcement was not a surprise. One most certainly was.
That same day, I got a letter from a publicist I know, sending along a press release for the new DVD release of AVATAR – BOOK 2: EARTH, VOL. 1. I wrote back and asked them to send it along, and she asked me if I’d like to run an exclusive AVATAR comic for you guys on the day of release.
I watched the episodes before I wrote back to her. I wanted to at least know what the show is. The show, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, is not what I expected at all. I find most kid’s programming these days shrill and annoying, and I have a hard time sitting through a lot of it with Toshi. But this show is smartly designed, and it’s written smart. There’s no talking down to an audience, at least not in the episodes I saw. It’s a fairly simple set-up. It take place in a world where everything has been divided into elemental kingdoms. Fire, water, air, and earth. Everything was balanced in a sort of harmony until the Fire Kingdom developed into a warrior race set on conquering each of the other kingdoms. Each elemental caste can “bend” the element they represent, meaning they can channel it, move it, control it like a weapon. Only one being can bend all four elements, and that is the Avatar, a powerful being who has been reincarnated from one persona to another over generations. The most recent Avatar, a boy named Aang, was accidentally frozen when he was needed, and so the Fire Kingdom was able to get a foothold with their plans of conquering. When two kids (Sokka and Toph) find the Avatar and unfreeze him, they are shocked to realize he is still untrained, and they set out with him to find the wisdom he will need to face the Fire Kingdom and reunify their world.
It sounds complicated, but it’s not. I was able to pick up with the first episode of season two and not feel like I was really missing anything. This disc has five episodes on it, and if there’s any one I would recommend as a showcase for how good this show can be, it’s “The Swamp,” which is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to Miyazaki on television. And it doesn’t come across as some crass ripoff of anime, either. AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER has real soul, and it seems respectful of the ideas it borrows from Eastern philosophy. It’s not an expensive show, but it’s so smartly stylized that the inexpensive animation never comes across as a negative. The show definitely has a sense of humor, but it also has some thrilling action scenes that are not just place-holders. There’s a sense that the show really is progressing, that these characters are growing. It’s all heading somewhere, and isn’t just some stagnant meandering repetition of a basic formula. None of the five episodes I saw struck me as being the same story, and that’s rare enough with this sort of program. The voice work is strong and well-directed, no surprise since Andrea Romano is involved. Her work on the BATMAN animated series set a standard for modern TV animation, and she appears to be bringing her same high quality of work to this show as well.
Overall, I am intrigued by the notion of M. Night Shyamalan doing this as a trilogy of films. I wish him luck in trying to find the right Aang for live-action. You need a kid with the chops of young Haley Joel Osment, but the physical prowess of Bruce Lee. No easy thing, that. I’ve said for a while that he needed to take on the challenge of playing in someone else’s sandbox for a while, and I think he’s found really potent material here. I look forward to going back and catching up with the whole series now, and I’m excited to see how the development of this one progresses.
I’m off to London now, so I’ll probably talk to you guys later this week. For now, enjoy the first few pages of the exclusive comic that you’ll find inside the DVD if you pick it up this week.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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Mori speaks the truth. The "bad guys," the fire dude with the burn scar and his uncle, are really compelling characters with surprising depth. Ignore the Nickelodeon taint and give it a shot.
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Make sure to hit Hamleys to pick up something for Toshi. And P.S. Please don't let Shyamalan touch this. Why? He brings nothing to the table, and I don't say that as a hater.
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Have you checked in the laundry pile?
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Who would have thought, gonna catch up some episodes then.
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How can you say that Shyamalan doesn't bring anything to the table? He's only ever worked on his own projects...
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I guess I fear that he'll feel the need to put his "stamp" on something that is perfectly fine as is. It seems the original writers are never given a shot when things move to the big screen. I do have that bias, though: every comic book movie I see (particularly Batman), I think, geez, I can think of 100 issues of the original comic that would have made a better film. I don't like the idea of Avatar being Nighted.
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but otherwise, there's some originality here. My son likes it.
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that one was awesome. great show! not shure if shyamalan is the right one to do it...
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That work for you guys?
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"airbender", sounds like a skateboard maneuver. or a hot air-guitar lick. or a robot from Futurama. or a, ah nevermind I'm done. I like anime.
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I don't know. If you think about it, there are a lot of thematic similarities between 'Lady in the Water' and "Avatar". I don't necessarily think Night would be compelled to fiddle with the nuts and bolts of the show all that much considering the fact that those are probably what attracted him to the project in the first place. I'm a little concerned because Shyamalan is relatively untested when it comes to shotting action, which is something I imagine he'll be required to provide if he expects to film this. Casting, as Moriarty mentioned, will present some difficulties as well.
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Infore teh tTypos...
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From my 13 year old brother, "This is the best show on TV; I'll be sorry when it finally comes to an end." From my 33 year old brother, "It's the only cartoon I watch" This series entertains young and old alike and is extremely layered in plot and character development. I find the writing to be much better than many prime time shows on the 5 networks. Having said that, I beg you, Mr. Shyamalan, remove your ego and approch this project with the passion and respect it deserves.
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thats a good premise
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He needs it...
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It will be my fist hitting his face until I get my $9.50 back from Lady in the Water.
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Lord, I hope Night doesn't flay the skin off this, disembowel it, and shit in the intestinal cavity like Rob Zombie did with that Halloween script.
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. . . cause I saw LADY IN THE WATER for the first time over the weeked. Good GOD what an embarassing trainwreck.
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:Commence nerdly correction mode:
Actually it's Sokka and Katara.
Also, hey Moriarty, can you find out if the comics will be available in any other way than besides with the individual volume releases?
I'm guessing they won't all be in the eventual complete Book 2 collection. -
Should be a fine combination of material and creative director,
there's potencials for unusual scifi/fantasy here.3of them,nice.Makes me think of a cross of Ewoks and Nausicca.
Hope its not too comedic and loudmouthed,more organic/mystic. -
Ever hear of a thesaurus, Moriarty? And you should go out of your freebie, send me a screener way to check out Shadow Raiders, otherwise known as War Planets. It's on DVD and it's kickass. And deep.
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Check it out. I think Harry or Quint reviewed STORM RIDERS positively a couple of years ago. I think a live-action Avatar film would look a lot like STORM RIDERS.
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Found it:
http://tinyurl.com/22ku5l
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I really enjoy the Avatar series.
Two things. You're synopsis up there has some errors. The two kids who find Aang the Last Airbender (Avatar) are named Sokka and Katara. They are brother and sister. Katara is a Waterbender and becomes a Master at some point in the story. Toph, a blind Earthbender girl, doesn't come in until the second season, she too is a Master.
This show is excellent and the characters are great. The greatest of them I beleive would be Iroh (voiced by Mako) and his nephew Zuko (Dante Basco aka Rufio!) mostly because of their evolution as characters and the way in which they were played by the actors. I am concerned about what Iroh will be like now after Mako's passing, but as it has been said, Andrea Romano knows her shit.
As far as M. Knight Sharamalamadingdong is concerned. The idea that he is directing these is somewhat frightening since he has said he would be writing the story as well.
http://tinyurl.com/337mjq
http://tinyurl.com/yhq2hl
This means that even though the characters are not his own, the story will be and an inevitable twist will be thrown in. Probably something stupid that will trash that which has come before it.
This also means that M. Knight Shamarammaling won't be simply directing someone else's script. I really think this shows how poor a director he is, or maybe it shows how much of a coward he is. Either way, it shows that he can't direct anything that he doesn't write himself and I honestly think he's afraid to. Which ultimately makes him a hack.
If NickToons Studios had half a brain they would dump him and find someone who cares about the source material and isn't so pretentious as to want to write and direct the movie themselves. -
I reiterated your catch on the mistake Mori made. Nice to know someone else pays attention.
I suspect that the comics won't be in the collected box set as it wasn't in the first set. Of course I found out that there was a map in that box set that I didn't get.
Yeah, I own the first season. So what? It's good. -
I'm now a part of the Zone. I haven't really found anything there I'd like to talk about, but eventually I might0.
See you in the Zone. -
As blasphemous as this sounds, its actually pretty fair. Check out season 1 episode The Spirit World for an episode with heavy Miyazaki influence.
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You really should check out the first season set on dvd. And then continue with the rest of the second season. The story is really rich and all of the characters, even the baddies, are complex and well-developed. The second season finale is a killer.
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Avatar is for kids.
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And is Sam Jackson still being tapped for the (yet another) bad-ass black action role? He does the voice in the anime and I heard he was going to be in the film. Any word?
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It is on par, with a lot more emphasis on style and attitude, but Avatar has more genuine HEART in cartoon than I have seen in a long time of watching toons. It is nowhere near the masterpiece Cowboy Bebop was but still very memorable, and some GREAT characters and moments. And it is fun.
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It is on par, with a lot more emphasis on style and attitude, but Avatar has more genuine HEART in cartoon than I have seen in a long time of watching toons. It is nowhere near the masterpiece Cowboy Bebop was but still very memorable, and some GREAT characters and moments. And it is fun.
p.s. Toph RULES! -
But it sincerely bores me. Someone bring back Invader Zim.
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So nyah!
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Good thing you did this little write up, Mori. I don't think it makes any sense to just reject kid tv or entertainment in an outgrouping faraciish categorial way. On the other hand...although I find Kim Possible pretty cool I don't regularly watch it.
I just thought that Shyamalan didn't want to adapt stuff....!?! But maybe this is something else..who knows how far his interpretation goes.
Apropos Kid-adult entertainment (stupid category): THE THREE INVESTIGATORS AND THE SECRET OF SKELETON ISLAND will be finished this year. -
I don't like the sudden inflation of "EXCLUSIVE" in headlines of online film news sites. It's so cheesy that I hope it is a comment on exclusive claims rather than the claim itself.
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...it really is a strange world, still to each their own and all that I guess.
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...and was VERY impressed. If I had more time, I'd love to get into it more. > Ah, the bygone days of youth....
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Is a very impressive show. For a nick cartoon its amazing that they get away with stuff we took for granted when we where kids but at banned from TV thanks to censors
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and i really like it. its funny, its got depth and the action (sometimes) is just awesome!!
lets just hope they get appa right! and i do side with the guys here up till now: why not give the seriescreators a chance? they would do something truly great i`m shure. and moriarty: with "the drill" i meant an actual avatar-episode...
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- minus the kangaroos, of course. WARRIORS OF VIRTUE's deeply flawed, but when it works, it works really well. When it doesn't, we get lame APOLLO 13 jokes and flashbacks to FLASH GORDON's ridiculous space football match. But Angus McFayden's drug-addicted pedophile of a master villain is surprisingly creepy for a PG rated film, and the film is fucking gorgeous to look at thanks to Peter Pau's incredible cinematography, butchered by a REALLY bad pan & scan job on all available versions (except the laserdisc, if you'd call an out of print laserdisc "available").
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Indeed it is! Glad to see you could make time for us in-between appreciating Significant Works of Art and just being awesome in general to tell us we're "allowed" to like "shit." I was hoping our habits were okay with you, I mean we're not changing the world by nodding Significantly after watching an especially Meaningful television program like you doubtlessly do each night, but surely we can be afforded our own bizarre proclivities as long as they're not harming anyone. Anyway, thanks for stopping by!
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they made/making a 3 Investigators movie...I LOVED those books as a young man, might even have Skull Island around somewhere at my folks house. wow...but the question is, what are they going to do about Hitchcock as he was their "Hollywood" connection/Chroniclor if you will...need more information on this movie
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Yes, I did it!!
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now THERE'S smart writing, strong, well-fleshed out characters, yadda yadda yadda.
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Pass it down!
Overly dramatic, too much self-exposition and entire episodes dedicated to simple acts that should be done in say, oh, 2 minutes tops.
Puh-lease.
Kids, get your folks to get you the Avatar DVD's. You'll thank me. -
This coming from a 36-year old married father of one (a 7 year old daughter who loves this show). I don't watch much of anything on the ol' box cuz the vast macority of it is drivel at best. Sinve X-Files left, TV has really hit the crapper.
Avatar brings it all - intriguing characters that are just the right balance of light and dark, new and compelling episode story lines leading the viewer down the path of the overal story arc, cool action sequences, a good bit of INTELLIGENT humor, even some old fashioned romance. It's well-written, well-directed and well-paced. What else could you ask for in a weekly show? "Kiddie" or not, animated or not, I highly recommend it... -
Naruto may have smart writing, strong, well-fleshed out characters, but could something actually happen for a change? I miss like five episodes come back and they're still fighting the same battle. Avatar while perhaps less well written and fleshed out, does, however, leave me satisfied at the end of the episode.
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Seriously like it, as far as kids stuff goes (my brain has been reduced to the level of childhood by the poisonous effects of alcohol).
Yeah, the Myazaki influence is heavy, but that's a good thing, I think more animators could stand to steal from the master. The 'flying bison' is basically Totoro and the Cat Bus' love child, but that's cool. I've always liked the 4 elements as a theme in super hero stories and mystical/fantasy stories, and we get a clever mix of both genres here. Overall, a good bet.
also, not sure if it's the lack of brain cells, but I actually laughed out loud a few times. This show can be funny.
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