Water. Earth. Hearth. Air. Way back, the 4 nations lived collectively in concord. Then, the whole lot modified when “Avatar: The Final Airbender” premiered in 2005. Since then, animation hasn’t been the identical. The Nickelodeon cartoon, as created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, takes place in a fantasy world impressed by Asian tradition and mythology. On the middle of its story is Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), the newest incarnation of the Avatar and, as such, the one residing being able to wielding all 4 parts and stopping the evil Hearth Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill, who thought the present was too sensible to remain on the air) earlier than he can conquer the world.
It did not take lengthy for “Avatar: The Final Airbender” to set itself other than different action-heavy animated reveals in its day (like “Samurai Jack,” and “Justice League Limitless”) on its strategy to turning into top-of-the-line and most unusual American cartoons of all time. Alongside “Teen Titans,” “Avatar” helped popularize anime-inspired cartoons within the West and began discussions amongst followers about what even qualifies as anime. The collection additionally constructed on tv developments from the earlier decade by telling a closely serialized story that includes a few of the greatest character arcs in fashionable fiction, together with profound themes that was once unusual in youngsters’ TV (like genocide, imperialism, and indoctrination), large world-building, and lore that spans millennia. In brief, “Avatar” heralded the arrival of a brand new period on the small display, and it stays a excessive normal of what the medium can do — particularly on community TV.
To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of “Avatar” (which continues to be one of many highest-rated TV reveals of all time on IMDb), let’s rank its three brief however vital seasons.
3. Season 1
The primary season of “Avatar: The Final Airbender” takes a bit to search out its rhythm, and it does not attain the identical heights its two follow-up seasons do, however there are clear indicators of greatness in it. The primary season is probably the most episodic of the three, as it’s principally about Aang rejecting his future and insisting on happening foolish adventures — like penguin sledding. It is not till the “Avatar” Season 1 episode “The Storm” that the present goes from being a enjoyable collection to a monumental one.
Nonetheless, within the third episode alone, “Avatar” shortly reveals it is a youngsters’ cartoon that is not afraid to go darkish and mature, revealing that Aang’s whole civilization was wiped off the map in a horrifying second that rings scarily well timed at present. There are additionally loads of unbelievable episodes that also maintain up as a few of the perfect “Avatar” episodes total, together with “The Blue Spirit” (directed by “Star Wars” guru Dave Filoni), “The Warriors of Kyoshi,” and “The Northern Air Temple.” These episodes begin to showcase the huge world-building of the collection whereas nonetheless being fairly self-contained of their tales. Season 1 additionally has top-of-the-line aspect characters within the present: the frighteningly Zhao, performed by Jason Isaacs.
2. Season 3
An enormous cause why “Avatar: The Final Airbender” stays so beloved is that it went out on an enormous excessive. The present’s four-part finale is an ideal fruits of its themes, character arcs, and total story, but it nonetheless leaves some mysteries unsolved for different “Avatar” tasks to probably resolve. Even earlier than the finale, Season 3 merely ups the ante in each method. The overarching narrative flows properly, and we get gorgeous two-part installments that act as mini-movies (just like the invasion incident or the jail break episode).
Season 3 can be stuffed with main lore moments, amongst them the introduction to Bloodbending, the origins of Firebending, and the glimpse we’re supplied of life earlier than Aang in “The Avatar and the Hearth Lord.” These enormously increase the world of the present and make it a part of a lived-in, fleshed-out universe. And but, regardless of the heightened stakes and sense of urgency, “Avatar” Season 3 by no means loses its humorousness. Certainly, this season has a few of the funniest aspect tales in your complete present, standalone comedic episodes that embrace a “Footloose” homage, an anime-inspired seashore episode during which the dangerous guys pour their hearts out and wreak havoc, and even the hilarious self-parody episode “The Ember Island Gamers.”
On prime of all that, Season 3 has absolutely the coolest motion, with Zuko (Dante Basco) and Azula’s (Gray Griffin) Agni Kai within the finale being top-of-the-line motion scenes in animation historical past (one which’s made all the higher by composer Jeremy Zuckerman delivering his greatest work). Certainly, few reveals have a rating pretty much as good as “Avatar: The Final Airbender,” and it does not get higher than it’s in Season 3.
1. Season 2
Sure, Season 2 is the perfect season of “Avatar: The Final Airbender.” That is as a result of it’s the season with the perfect steadiness between episodic and serialized storytelling, character improvement, and plot development. Many fashionable reveals neglect the advantage of an excellent standalone episode, however that is not the case with Season 2 of “Avatar.” It might not have stakes as excessive as these for Season 3, but it manages to have a larger sense or urgency — Aang has to search out an Earthbending trainer, Appa will get kidnapped, there’s a conspiracy in Ba Sing Se — and each episode flows easily into the subsequent.
That is the season with the strongest deal with the political intrigue of the Earth Kingdom, together with the injustices of its feudal system, its robust use of propaganda, and the massive inequality throughout the realm. It helps that we spend your complete season exploring the Earth Kingdom, and all of its gorgeous places have vastly completely different appears to be like — from the swamp to the desert and the large metropolis.
What makes this season particular, nonetheless, is that each particular person episode and second shines relatively than mixing collectively within the bigger tales. There are many little standalone tales that both develop the season’s overarching plot or supply some nice character or lore tidbit, just like the “Avatar Day” episode that is all a couple of homicide trial, “The Blind Bandit” bringing professional wrestling to the “Avatar” world, and “The Guru” introducing youngsters within the West to the idea of chakras. Then there’s “Zuko Alone,” the gold normal for standalone episodes on each this present and arguably fashionable animation. The episode confirmed that Zuko’s redemption story would not be straightforward or fast, however immensely satisfying nonetheless. The season additionally gave us Iroh’s (who was nonetheless voiced by the late, nice Mako in Season 2) greatest moments of knowledge, and launched the perfect character within the present: Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower).
And, in fact, Season 2 of “Avatar” has probably the most emotionally devastating moments in your complete present. There’s “The Tales of Ba Sing Se” (what number of collection could make followers shed tears with the point out of a single music?) and Iroh’s devastating story, but in addition “Appa’s Misplaced Days,” an award-winning episode about animal cruelty. That is the perfect “Avatar” ever was, and a testomony to the ability of TV animation.
