Avatar: The Last Airbender is a multimedia franchise consisting of television series, a live-action film, comics, books, video games, home media, and soundtracks. The franchise began with the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino and aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series is set in an Asian-inspired[1]fantasy world in which some people can manipulate, or 'bend', one of the elements of air, fire, earth or water. Only the 'Avatar' can bend all four elements and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world.[2][3]
Since its original release, Avatar: The Last Airbender has developed into a franchise spanning works in various media. A sequel animated television series, The Legend of Korra, aired on Nickelodeon from 2012 to 2014 and has since expanded into its own sub-franchise. The storylines of both animated series have been continued in comic book form.[4][5] Other franchise tie-ins include novelizations, art books, companion books, video games, and home media releases. In 2010, the original animated series was adapted into a live-action film titled The Last Airbender. The film itself spawned a novelization series, two graphic novels, two video games, a soundtrack album, and DVD and blu-ray releases. A Netflix live-action remake of the original series is scheduled to begin production in 2019.[1]
Television series[edit]
Film[edit]
The Last Airbender is a 2010 live-action adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender by M. Night Shyamalan. The film was widely panned by critics and took in $319 million at the worldwide box office.[9]
Comics[edit]Avatar: The Last Airbender[edit]
The Last Airbender[edit]
The Legend of Korra[edit]
Books[edit]Novels[edit]
Art books[edit]
Others[edit]
Video games[edit]
Home media[edit]Avatar: The Last Airbender[edit]
The Last Airbender[edit]
The Legend of Korra[edit]Soundtracks[edit]
References[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_media&oldid=888681267'
OR
Season 3The Awakening
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Weeks after the fall of the Earth Kingdom, Aang and his friends must infiltrate the Fire Nation. Katara meets her father for the first time in years. Zuko returns home, but is uneasy with his newfound reputation.
The Headband
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Posing as a regular kid, Aang goes to a Fire Nation school and sees what's missing from their lives. Zuko visits his uncle in prison.
The Painted Lady
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
When Aang and his friends come across a fishing village being poisoned by a nearby factory, a local legend comes to life to help the townspeople.
Sokka's Master
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
After deciding he's the least valuable member of the team, Sokka seeks an apprenticeship with a sword-master. The rest of the gang tries to adjust to being without him. The imprisoned Iroh may not be as beaten as he seems.
The Beach
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
On a forced vacation, Zuko, Azula, Ty Lee and Mai try to blend in with normal teenagers and learn about themselves and one another. Aang and company are attacked by an ominous assassin.
The Avatar and the Fire Lord
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Both Aang and Zuko must learn the history of how the war began. Zuko learns a secret about his great-grandfather's past.
The Runaway
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
When Toph discovers a quick way to make cash, Katara disapproves, and the rift between them has disastrous consequences.
The Puppetmaster
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Creepy things are afoot when the gang meets a mysterious old innkeeper with a secret.
Nightmares and Daydreams
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
As the invasion approaches, Aang has recurring nightmares about being unprepared to face the Firelord. Zuko feels the perks and pressures of being the prince again.
The Day of Black Sun
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Zuko makes a decision about his future. Aang reunites with many of his old friends in a full-scale invasion of the Fire Nation capitol to coincide with an eclipse which will remove the Fire Nation's powers.
The Day of Black Sun
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
The invasion seems to be succeeding until Aang learns that their arrival was anticipated. Zuko confronts his father.
The Western Air Temple
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
The gang hides out in the Western Air Temple. Zuko tries to convince the gang of his change in heart, but they are very hesitant. Combustion Man/Sparky-Sparky Boom Man attacks again.
The Firebending Masters
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Zuko has joined up with Aang's group and is now ready to teach Aang fire bending. Unfortunately, Zuko has found out that he has lost his ability and must now relearn it. Zuko and Aang travel to find the original source of fire bending so that they both can learn from The Firebending Masters.
The Boiling Rock: Part 1
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Sokka and Zuko head to the Fire Nation's most heavily guarded prison -- the Boiling Rock -- in hopes to find and break-out the captured invasion force.
The Boiling Rock
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
The escape is planned and the heroes attempt to break from the prison that very day. But problems come when Azula, Mai and Ty Lee arrive at the prison.
The Southern Raiders
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Trying to prove that she can trust him, Zuko helps Katara track down the man who killed her mother.
The Ember Island Players
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
The gang, now hiding at Ember Island, watch a play about themselves and their adventures.
Sozin's Comet
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Sozin's Comet is only three days away. Zuko tells the others what the Fire Lord plans on the day of the comet and the gang realizes that they must stop him before then. But Aang doubts that he can do what is expected of him.
Sozin's Comet
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Aang awakes on a mysterious island and confronts his past lives for advice on how to stop the Fire Lord without killing him. The rest of the group searches for Aang.
Sozin's Comet
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Zuko battles his sister with Katara's help for the right to be named Fire Lord. Elsewhere, Aang meets Ozai just as the comet arrives.
Sozin's Comet
Rate
0
Error: please try again.
Aang's moment of truth arrives. Can he defeat Ozai, the Phoenix King? Will he be forced to take a human life? All the characters face their greatest challenges.
Now for the movie itself. The first fatal decision was to make a live-action film out of material that was born to be anime. The animation of the Nickelodeon TV series drew on the bright colors and 'clear line' style of such masters as Miyazaki, and was a pleasure to observe. It's in the very nature of animation to make absurd visual sights more plausible.
Since 'Airbender' involves the human manipulation of the forces of air, earth, water and fire, there is hardly an event that can be rendered plausibly in live action. That said, its special effects are atrocious. The first time the waterbender Katara summons a globe of water, which then splashes (offscreen) on her brother Sokka, he doesn't even get wet. Firebenders' flames don't seem to really burn, and so on.
The story takes place in the future, after Man has devastated the planet and survives in the form of beings with magical powers allowing them to influence earth, water and fire. These warring factions are held in uneasy harmony by the Avatar, but the Avatar has disappeared, and Earth lives in a state of constant turmoil caused by the warlike Firebenders.
Linkin park albums in order. Our teenage heroes Katara and Sokka discover a child frozen in the ice. This is Aang (Noah Ringer), and they come to suspect he may be the Avatar, or Last Airbender. Perhaps he can bring harmony and quell the violent Firebenders. This plot is incomprehensible, apart from the helpful orientation that we like Katara, Sokka and Aang and are therefore against their enemies.
The dialogue is couched in unspeakable quasi-medieval formalities; the characters are so portentous they seem to have been trained for grade school historical pageants. Their dialogue is functional and action-driven. There is little conviction that any of this might be real even in their minds. All of the benders in the movie appear only in terms of their attributes and functions, and contain no personality.
Potentially interesting details are botched. Consider the great iron ships of the Firebenders. These show potential as Steampunk, but are never caressed for their intricacies. Consider the detail Miyazaki lavished on Howl's Moving Castle. Trying sampling a Nickelodeon clip from the original show to glimpse the look that might have been.
The Last Airbender Movie Cast And Crew
After the miscalculation of making the movie as live action, there remained the challenge of casting it. Shyamalan has failed. His first inexplicable mistake was to change the races of the leading characters; on television Aang was clearly Asian, and so were Katara and Sokka, with perhaps Mongolian and Inuit genes. Here they're all whites. This casting makes no sense because (1) It's a distraction for fans of the hugely popular TV series, and (2) all three actors are pretty bad. I don't say they're untalented, I say they've been poorly served by Shyamalan and the script. They are bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing. Little Aang reminds me of Wallace Shawn as a child. This is not a bad thing (he should only grow into Shawn's shoes), but doesn't the role require little Andre, not little Wally?
The Last Airbender Movie Questions
As the villain, Shyamalan has cast Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai and Dev Patel (the hero of 'Slumdog Millionaire') as his son Prince Zuko. This is all wrong. In material at this melodramatic level, you need teeth-gnashers, not leading men. Indeed, all of the acting seems inexplicably muted. I've been an admirer of many of Shyamalan's films, but action and liveliness are not his strong points. I fear he takes the theology of the Bending universe seriously.
As 'The Last Airbender' bores and alienates its audiences, consider the opportunities missed here. (1) This material should have become an A-list animated film. (2) It was a blunder jumping aboard the 3D bandwagon with phony 3D retro-fitted to a 2D film. (3) If it had to be live action, better special effects artists should have been found. It's not as if films like '2012' and 'Knowing' didn't contain 'real life' illusions as spectacular as anything called for in 'The Last Airbender.'
The Last Airbender Movie Cast List
I close with the hope that the title proves prophetic.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |