Aang: The Last Airbender

Aang returns after disappearing 100 years before, along with his flying bison, Appa. Yes, his bison can fly. The world has seriously changed since Aang disappeared. The Fire Nation is in charge and seeking to crush any and all opposition from the other three (3) nations.

But before Aang can stop anyone, he has to learn how to become the Avatar. He's still a 12 year old boy who loves to have fun. In the promos on Nicolodeon, "He's the boy who can bend air without hair." He's mischievous, adventurous and a master airbender. But he also knows he's the Avatar, and the world expects alot of him. But to help him, are the two children who found him in the glacier, Katara and Sokka.


photo courtesy of www.ugo.com/movies

Katara and Sokka are sister and brother. Sokka dreams of being a great warrior and leader like his father, who is off fighting the Fire Nation with most of the men of his tribe. Katara is a young water bender who just wants her father back. She's smart and level headed. Their mother was killed by the Fire Nation, so they have no great love for the Fire Nation.

While out exploring one day they find a glacier with a boy inside, Katara using her water bending abilities manages to free the trapped boy and his pet. Imagine their surprise when they find out he's an airbender. No one has seen an air bender in 100 years.

We find out that Aang was frozen inside a glacier along with his pet bison, Appa, how did Aang become frozen inside a glacier, was it an accident?

He is the Avatar and the only hope to defeat the Fire Nation and save the Earth Kingdoms.

Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. Sister to Soka. Good friend to Aang. Has not yet mastered her waterbending skills because there is no one to teach her. The waterbenders of her tribe have either been killed or captured by the Fire Nation.

Water bending, I think, is among the most graceful forms of bending, but that does not make it less lethal if used by a master. All they need is a little bit of water and they can be deadly.

Soka, brother to Katara. Member of the Southern Water Tribe. He is not a water bender, but what he lacks in waterbending skills, he makes up with tenacity and determination. He's the planner, the warrior, and the comic relief. Not everything Soka does meets with success, but he's learning. Good friend to Aang.

What would a story be without a nemesis. Prince Sukko is Aang's nemesis. Prince Sukko is the sworn enemy of Aang because Aang is the Avatar. Prince Sukko fell out of favor with his father, Lord Ozai, the current ruler of the Fire Nation. The only way to get back into his father's good grace is to capture Aang. That's not a tatoo around his eye. No father's day present for Lord Ozai. Prince Sukko has much to learn, but he is a powerful firebender. He must regain his honor by capturing Aang, or does he?

Prince Sukko is accompanied on his quest to capture the Avatar by his Uncle Iroh. His uncle was once an accomplished general of the Fire Nation. His accomplishments were legendary. He was and is a power firebender. He lost his only child, a son, in a fire nation siege against Ba Sing Se, the powerful earthbending kingdom. The downfall of the earthbending kingdom was emminent, but Iroh walked away. After that day, it is said that Iroh changed. He was not the same. He lost that drive to conquer that made him such a good general. He is now considered a doddering old man and somewhat of a joke in the Fire Nation. But, that is where the Fire Nation is wrong. Iroh is not what he seems. Iroh is the voice of reason and wisdom to Prince Sukko that Lord Ozai could never be. We see their relationship as it grows from nephew and uncle to something more like father and son. Uncle Iroh loves tea.

In the cartoon version, the voice of Uncle Iroh was performed brillantly by Mako. Sadly Mako passed away July 21, 2006. He will be missed. He was truly a great actor.

I'm really looking forward to the live action movie, just for the special effects alone should be amazing. But the story line is great. A boy who disappeared 100 years ago returns. He's the only hope for the world. He has to master all four (4) elements.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

The upcoming movie will be based on Season One (Water) of the series.

It's to be the first of a planned trilogy - so sorry fans no showdown just yet with Lord Ozai. If you're a fan of the series, I'm sure you were glued to your television sets when that long awaited battle occurred, I know I was. Interruptions were not looked on kindly.

The show's creators based each Bending style on a style of real-world martial art, leading to visual differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (tai chi chuan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (baguazhang).

Director is N. Night Shyamalan. Special effects Industrial Light & Magic.

Casting controversy - the casting controversy is over the fact that the cast for the live action movie are non-asian and in the cartoon series the characters are of asian descent.

It is a tragic tale. Shortly after Aang disappeared 100 years ago, Fire Lord Sozin, grandfather to the current Fire Lord Ozai, determined from the Avatar cycle of reincarnation that the next Avatar would be an airbender. With thoughts of world domination, what better way to clear the path than to destroy the Avatar before he became powerful enough to stop him. So he destroyed all airbenders or air nomads. Not one of them escaped, none were imprisoned. There are no more airbenders, every one that Aang knew was destroyed. But this is a children's show so they don't come right out and say that's what happened. The airbenders were attacked, their home destroyed, and now there are no more airbenders.

The air nomads were a peaceful and comtemplative people. They lived in high places, not easily reached. Using the wind and air they could fly or glide where ever they needed to go. Why would they fear an enemy? But the Fire Nation found a way to reach the air nomads by stealing technology from other people and built airships. Airships which could be used to rain down fire on their enemies, the unsuspecting air nomads.


The Last Airbender

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In all good stories, there is a quest that pits our hero or heroine against great odds, difficulties, situations that stretch their resourcefulness or help them find resources within themselves they never knew they had. This story has that and more. Little did Katara and Sokka know how incredible their lives would become when they found the boy frozen in ice.

First, I want to answer the question why Aang was frozen inside a glacier. Because if that had not happened, this adventure would never have happened and the Fire Nation would be free to rule the world unopposed. Was it fate or just dumb luck?

Aang was raised by the Southern Air Tribe. Early on his elders saw indications that Aang was the Avatar. His ability to master the airbender techniques so quickly and at such a young age were definite indications. Since Aang was the next Avatar in a long line of Avatars, there is a procedure of training the next Avatar. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation was already being seen as a threat. Usually the potential Avatar is told when they reach 16 years of age; this allows them the opportunity to grow up experience childhood, form relationships and experiences, before the weighty responsibility of being the Avatar is placed on them. But because of the brewing situation with the Fire Nation and the fact that the last Avator, Avatar Roku disappeared, Aang was the Earth Kingdom's only hope. So they had to tell him ahead of schedule with the purpose of training him sooner to master the other three (3) elements.

Aang freaked. Yep, he freaked. What 12 year old wouldn't. You're told that you are one of the most powerful benders alive, with the ability to bend all four (4) elements and you are the only chance to defeat a great and powerful nation like the Fire Nation. You are also told that from now on you must think only about becoming the Avatar, that you must leave your home, your friends, the people you care about and who care about you to become the Avatar. And you are the world's only hope to defeat a powerful nation bent on subjugating the rest of the world. Wouldn't you freak?

Before Aang was just an ordinary air bending disciple, playing with his friends, and learning from his teacher who was also a father figure. Now, suddenly he is the Avatar. His friends started treating him differently, people were now telling him that everything he does must focus on being the Avatar. That's alot to put on a 12 year old boy. Aang was afraid. He did the only thing he knew to do, he ran away. He ran away with his pet, Appa, a flying bison. But while Aang was running away, he realized his responsibility to his people and to the other nations, but just as he was about to turn around, he was attacked by the Fire Nation. There was a fierce storm brewing and Aang was caught in the storm. He managed to elude the Fire Nation but the storm was terrible. It forced Aang and Appa into the sea. When it appeared all would be lost, Aang went into the Avatar state. It's when all the power and knowledge of the past Avatars takes over, firebenders, waterbenders, airbenders and earthbenders are all in the Avatar line. When Aang subsciously went into this state, he was able to save himself and Appa by enclosing them inside a ball of ice. Now this is where I personally started thinking was this fate or an accident. Since the Avatar state is so powerful, why didn't Aang's alter ego just fly away to safety, protecting himself and Appa? Aang is almost unstoppable while in this state. Maybe the power understood that Aang could not survive in that time, not with the Fire Nation determined to destroy the Avatar. Lord Soszin, the Fire Nation Lord at that time, had already caused the disappearance of the last Avatar, what would he do to Aang who was only 12 years old and hadn't mastered any of the other three (3) elements. What do you think?

So, 100 years later, Aang and Appa are discovered by two children of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka. So the journey begins. The journey to discover what happened to the Southern Air Tribe, why no one has seen an airbender in 100 years, what will he have to do to become the Avatar, and more.

This cartoon is so much fun. It hits on so many levels, it's not just a children's cartoon. Many adults can relate and enjoy it as well. I first saw this cartoon while over a friend's house during Christmas holidays. The channel was on Nicolodeon for the children. There was a marathon of "Avatar the Last Airbender." It caught our attention. Suddenly every adult in the room including me started watching this show. We were blown away. It was funny, it had drama, it had action, and it captivated us. We were flipping to see how many episodes were going to be shown. We ate our Christmas dinner in front of the TV set watching this show. We were hooked.

I finally got a chance to see The Last Airbender. I'm such a fan of the cartoon series, I wanted to see how the live action would pull it off.

The movie premiered here July 1, 2010. Imagine my surprise when all the reviews I heard were negative. Worst movie, terrible movie. Those were not the things I wanted to hear. But I've never been one to let reviews be my only judge, some things you have to see for yourself. I remember once when a movie came out, the critics torn it apart. If I'd listened to the critics I would have missed a movie that I found fun to watch, had me at the end of my seat. The movie was Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Critics panned this movie. If I had listened to them I'd have missed it.

Unfortunately, the bad reviews for the Last Airbender seemed to be by the general public. But I still wanted to see for myself. So I did. I liked it. Yes, I liked it. Did it live up to my expectations, not all of them but I enjoyed the movie. I won't get into what was wrong with the movie but rather what was right with the movie. I'll list those that come to mind.

1) My favorite cartoon series turned into a live action adventure
2) The opening of the movie showing live actors portraying the water, earth, fire and air benders. The same opening as in the cartoon.
3) How bad Katara was when she was still learning waterbending. She always seemed to soak Sokka no matter where he stood.
4) The special effects for the benders. We get to see the grace and beauty of the water benders and just how lethal water can be.
5) Aang in the Avatar state, that was so cool.
6) Uncle Iroh never looked so sexy.
7) That cool fighting sequence with Aang and Prince Zuko as the Blue Mist against the Fire Nation guards. Sweet moves.
8) The earth benders rallying after a pep talk by Aang. Now if they could just get that slide right.
9) Aang with his flying stick.
10) The look on Sokka's face when he stood in the wrong place while Aang was doing his airbending thing. The look was like "Oh Man, note to self don't forget to hold on to weapon."

These are the ten things off the top of my head. They may not a great movie make but they show the potential. They will learn what worked and what did not work and hopefully apply it to the next movie. I hope there is a next movie. I will offer what I think the main flaw for the movie is, it's trying to fit in everything in the first book at the expense of focusing on main points that would draw in people who've never seen the series. He tried to do it all and missed the opportunity to focus on the parts that made us care about the character. But hopefully he has learned from this movie.

More Avator stories are on the way. If you've been missing your fix of Last Airbender stories. There is a new 80-page Avatar book with new adventures of our favorite characters scheduled to come out January 25, 2012. It will be available from certain comic stores and bookstores.

There will also be a new Avatar series appearing on Nikolodeon sometime 2012 or 2013. This series will be several years into the future, after our heroes defeated the Fire Lord. The new series will be entitled, "Avator - The Legend of Korra". If anyone has any more information, feel free to share it here. What I know so far is that there will be a new Team Avatar, made up of the offspring of our favoritie characters.