AVATAR:Last Airbender ... eh.. overrated
Terrence Briggs
I used my recent sick leave to catch up with Season 1 of Avatar. It's
incredibly flawed and progressively less compelling to me the more I
watch.
I complained about Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood's lame comic
asides. Avatar has the same problem. There's a potentially
compelling story, unvierse, and cast here, but it's forced to share
time with bad shtick.
Most of the problem is Sokka. Sokka is a heel, whose job is to whine,
complain, moan, and be wrong every step of the way. His shuck and
jive is ubiquitous and annoying. I have complained when Dungeons and
Dragons and Galaxy High dabbled in "heels" (Eric and Doyle,
respectively). Our heroes, likable as they sometimes are, seem
required to have this gnat around. By the time episode 15 rolled
around, the story stopped to chirp at Sokka's "stinky bison" crack. I
was doing that around episode 2.
The villains are slightly more interesting, if only because their
required comic relief is less grating. Prince Zuko's a one-note
character, I'm afraid, so his uncle has to do all of the lifting.
He's a welcome presence, though, unlike Sokka. Still, the antagonists
are little more than a tangent to the heroes' voyage, with Zuko single-
mindedly tracking the Avatar like Darth Vader chasing Luke Skywalker
in The Empire Strikes Back.
So... yeah. The characters and dialogue are a mixed bag. At least
the visuals are good.
The wicked-cool animation doesn't get as much screen time as Sokka's
shuck-and-jive, so I'll call that a wash.
Avatar certainly has potential. If I wasn't invested in every weekly
installment, I'd probably be reasonably intrigued. As it stands, the
indelible stuff is a minor part of any individual episode. I get an
awesome 20-second animated sequence, then I have to wait 15 minutes
for the next awesome sequence in act 3. I gotta wade through all of
that blah to get to it, too. I felt like I was watching an old WWF
wrestling match, where matches are padded by bad pantomiming and phony
"fatigue" inbetween the major stunts. In fairness, the characters,
performances, and dialogue are less dopey than draggier martial arts
fantasies like Naruto or Dragon Ball Z.
For my money, I'd rather watch 4Kids' Avatar-ripoff, DiGata
Defenders. It features characters that are more likeable and complex,
and stronger dialogue, which more than make up for its cheapie
visuals. In fact, I spent most of my Avatar marathon wishing I could
dig up my Digata timeshifts. Things might improve for the Season 2
DVDs I'm renting. Still... too bad. I guess I'm spoiled by Justice
League Unlimited and Ben 10: Alien Force. Less filler. Less lame
shtick. More busted jaws :-)
Terrence Briggs, catching up to the cable stuff. Ya yfor 1-dollar
Blockbuster rentals.
Peace to you...
Invid Fan
<720a8258-e8c9-40ec...@g28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>,
Terrence Briggs <mrman1...@lycos.com> wrote:
> Yeah, I'm late to the party, but it looks like I haven't missed much.
>
> I used my recent sick leave to catch up with Season 1 of Avatar. It's
> incredibly flawed and progressively less compelling to me the more I
> watch.
>
The first season is the weakest. I came in a couple episodes into
season two, then caught up with the first season on DVD and the
knowledge of where it was going made the first season better then it
would have been otherwise. I love the show overall, but if it's not
your cup of tea that's ok too :) You just have to remember this thing
aired on the same station as Spongebob, and it's amazing what they did
within those limitations (two characters are clearly sexually active by
late 3rd season). The character development is also great, with
everyone changing over time. Well, maybe apart from Toph :)
--
Chris Mack "If we show any weakness, the monsters will get cocky!"
'Invid Fan' - 'Yokai Monsters Along With Ghosts'
Terrence Briggs
> In article
> <720a8258-e8c9-40ec-a7f1-077e84ef0...@g28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>,
>
> Terrence Briggs <mrman1mrm...@lycos.com> wrote:
> > Yeah, I'm late to the party, but it looks like I haven't missed much.
>
> > I used my recent sick leave to catch up with Season 1 of Avatar. It's
> > incredibly flawed and progressively less compelling to me the more I
> > watch.
>
> The first season is the weakest. I came in a couple episodes into
> season two, then caught up with the first season on DVD and the
> knowledge of where it was going made the first season better then it
> would have been otherwise. I love the show overall, but if it's not
> your cup of tea that's ok too :)
Avatar is DEFINITELY my cup of superblack hypercaffinated tea. East-
west cultural mishmashing with serious character development, a strong
sense of cinematic storytelling, sharp visuals, and OMG superhuman
martial artistry. I'm there with bells on. I just didn't care much
for the filler.
> You just have to remember this thing
> aired on the same station as Spongebob, and it's amazing what they did
> within those limitations (two characters are clearly sexually active by
> late 3rd season). The character development is also great, with
> everyone changing over time. Well, maybe apart from Toph :)
Season 2 and 3 are notable improvements, from what I've seen. Sokka
was forced to evolve from simply being "the complaining guy", and
Toph's pretty awesome. Gotta love the Kyoshi warriors. There is a
lot more "shipping" and "fanservice" in later seasons, if that's your
tea bag. There's coupling all over the joint, and even a beach
episode. It's as though the creators created the show for older
Spongebob fans in season 1, then realized that their fanbase was older
and more sophisticated than they though. We've ended up with a series
that probably rivaled Gargoyles in popularity, if not Naruto. If the
live-action movie makes an impression, it might be the next Ninja
Turtles. (I may have just jinxed it, though. My last Nickelodeon-
related prediction presumed that Invader Zim would be The Next
Spongebob.)
> --
> Chris Mack "If we show any weakness, the monsters will get cocky!"
> 'Invid Fan' - 'Yokai Monsters Along With Ghosts'
Terrence Briggs, fair, but picky :-)
Peace to you...