Avatar: Series Finale [Spoilers]

Mr E

The long (long long long) awaited finale to the Avatar saga is due to air this week (if my RSS feeds are to be believed)

If you're an addict, you've already seen up to the end of 3x15 (The Boiling Rock, Part 2 - released on DVD about 3 months ago)

The schedule is:

15/07: 3x13 (The Fire Bending Masters)
16/07: 3x14/15 (The Boiling Rock Part 1 & 2)
17/07: 3x16 (The Southern Raiders)
18/07: 3x17 (The Ember Island Players)
19/07: 3x18/19/20/21 (Sozins Comet Parts 1-4)

After that, the show is completely finished. Its one of the most cohesive, epic cartoon series that I've ever seen, and I can't wait to see how it all ends.

Full_Circle

*holds up hand* Addicted fan right here, so I too have been pulling my hair out since The Boiling Rock eps aired months back. This has to be the most drawn out and unevenly broadcasted season of a show EVER. I'm still mightily confused as to why they waited so bloody long to air all these episodes, then proceed to show them all in a row. Though I'll admit, the idea of a quadruple episode finale has had my tongue wagging for weeks now! :P

Although you've only now confirmed for me that this is to be the end of the whole series Even though he began the show having mastered "air", I still figured there'd be four seasons, one for each element *sigh*

Oh well, at least I can look forward to re-watching the whole season again when the box set comes out in September! Even if you've "stumbled across" the series in some other fashion, I'd really recommend the Region 1 box sets for anyone. They are beautifully packaged and have some really nice extras/commentaries, and are FAR better value for money than the single disc releases that were pawned off on us Region 2 folks :mad:

God, what will I bother watching when this ends? Most other shows dont hold a candle to it...........

Mr E

(Before you read on, I changed the thread title to say Spoilers so you've been warned!!!!)

Well well well.... finally got to watch Sozin's Comet tonight. What a way to end a great series. After The Ember Island Players (an episode I thought was among the worst of the whole 3 series), Avatar completely redeemed itself in the final 4 epic episodes.

The last 2 parts in particular were amazing. The 2 main fights were flawlessly choreographed - particularly Zuko's. Kudos to the person who decided that battle should have no dialogue. It was a stunning spectacle, and the amazing music made it even more emotive.

As for Aang's battle, another triumph. The way it ended was stunning, and it was a fitting fate for Ozai. We've only seen the Avatar State 2 or 3 times in the whole series, and its always a treat when it happens.

If I was to nitpick anything, it would be Azula in the first 2 parts. She changed from a powerful fire bender into an annoying whiney bitch (but the fight made up for it).

Congrats to the writers for wrapping everything up with no loose ends at all. It really was a great end to over 20 hours of great TV. I await Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's next creation with great anticipation (hopefully with writers Aaron and Elizabeth Ehasz on board).

Hmmmm... now what do I watch?

(On a side note, I realised over the last few days that I missed a show on the nominations for "Show most effected by the writers strike" from this year's TV Awards - Avatar deserved a spot on that list, and probably deserved to take it down.)

Full_Circle

Hmm, seems like just you and me on this thread Mr E. Doesnt anyone else on the boards watch the show?

I absolutely loved the finale. I tried to hold off watching it as long as I could, cause I knew that after, it would finally be over!

Mr E wrote: »

After The Ember Island Players (an episode I thought was among the worst of the whole 3 series)

I quite liked this episode. It gave a quick synopsis of the past three seasons and helped the characters face up to their previous actions (in an albeit exaggerated retelling). It was a great way to highlight just how much each of the cast have progressed over the shows run.
If this were any other show, this episode would have been accomplished with another tired "clip-show" format, but they actually went to the trouble of animating entirely new sequences to flesh out the shows history. And the way the performers on stage portrayed the story (using practical methods to represent things such as "bending") was really quite inventive!
I also loved the way the truth of the story was altered to play to the Firenation crowd (and the fictional victory of the Fire Lord at the end was very foreboding and unsettling, given that the finale was just around the corner!)

Mr E wrote: »

If I was to nitpick anything, it would be Azula in the first 2 parts. She changed from a powerful fire bender into an annoying whiney bitch (but the fight made up for it)

I actually liked the way they handled Azula towards the end. For me, she became a truly tragic character. When her only friends abandoned her, she was struck by how alone she was and started to crack. The scene where she imagines talking with her mother was so unsettling and upsetting!

Mr E wrote: »

Congrats to the writers for wrapping everything up with no loose ends at all.

Well they didnt quite wrap up everything. The Southern Raiders ep gave some closure to Katara regarding her mother, but they left the question as to what happened to Zukos mother completely up in the air. Perhaps they intend on following up that in another medium (a comic perhaps?). At any rate, I was glad they didnt try to resolve ALL outstanding plot lines by the end of the show. There was enough going on as it was!

One thing that really irked me though, was how it was quite tricky to understand the dialogue of one of the new characters

The Lion-Turtle

. Its conversation with Aang was extremely pivotal to the story and yet at the time, I couldnt make out what the hell it was saying!

Overall I couldnt have been happier with the finale. It was a fantastic ending to consistently excellent show.

Mark Hamill

Full_Circle wrote: »

Hmm, seems like just you and me on this thread Mr E. Doesnt anyone else on the boards watch the show?

You're not the only ones, I caught the end a few days ago.
Overall, it was a really good ending to great series, but there where on or two things that I didn't like.

Full_Circle wrote: »

One thing that really irked me though, was how it was quite tricky to understand the dialogue of one of the new characters

The Lion-Turtle

. Its conversation with Aang was extremely pivotal to the story and yet at the time, I couldnt make out what the hell it was saying!

This really bugged me, I couldn't understand a thing it said, but not only that I didn't like

how the Lion Turtle showed how to defeat the Firelord without killing him only a few episodes before the end. I like what Aang did, I just think it should have been set up earlier in the series. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember Aang having any issues with the thought of killing the firelord when they attacked the fire kingdom capital earlier in the season. Sure he was nervous as hell and that episode where he couldn't sleep and kept training all night (Nightmares and Daydreams) was brilliant, but that was just about being good enough to beat the firelord, not killing him.

While I thought the last fight was done very well, I, for some reason, was expecting Aang to destroy Sozins Comet. I don't know why I expected this, I guess I just thought it would be great show of the avatars power. I kept expecting the firelord to hit Avatar Aang with lightning, hurting him slightly, to laugh and say " I can still beat with you, as long as I have the comet!" and for Aang to destroy the comet with big cool avatar powers (and then to follow up with taking away the firelords powers. I'm not that disappointed it didn't happen, but I think it would have looked cool

PS a delayed thanks for MR E, I had forgotten all about Avatar, the last episode I had seen was The Firebending Masters, and that was months ago.

Full_Circle

Mark Hamill wrote: »

I didn't like

how the Lion Turtle showed how to defeat the Firelord without killing him only a few episodes before the end. I like what Aang did, I just think it should have been set up earlier in the series.

I'll admit, having this revelation so close the end was a bit too convenient, but had it happened earlier in the show, there would have been very little tension leading up to and during the battle. Of course, when I watched it, I had no idea thats what the Lion-Turtle was telling him, so I was still pretty clueless! :rolleyes:

Mark Hamill wrote: »

I, for some reason, was expecting Aang to destroy Sozins Comet.

Ha! This seems like the most obvious of solutions and yet until you said it, it never even occurred to me

Mark Hamill

Full_Circle wrote: »

Mark Hamill wrote: »

I didn't like

how the Lion Turtle showed how to defeat the Firelord without killing him only a few episodes before the end. I like what Aang did, I just think it should have been set up earlier in the series.

I'll admit, having this revelation so close the end was a bit too convenient, but had it happened earlier in the show, there would have been very little tension leading up to and during the battle. Of course, when I watched it, I had no idea thats what the Lion-Turtle was telling him, so I was still pretty clueless! :rolleyes:

I thought he was fixing Aangs chakra or something, but that turned out to be convieniently fixed by a rock to the back:rolleyes:

Anyone holding out any hope for Shyamalan film?

Full_Circle

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Full_Circle wrote: »

I thought he was fixing Aangs chakra or something, but that turned out to be convieniently fixed by a rock to the back:rolleyes:

Anyone holding out any hope for Shyamalan film?

Actually, when that part happened, I thought it was going to injure him even worse, considering that was the spot he was almost fatally wounded in before!

An no, given the quality of Shylalalalamans most recent efforts, I dont have much faith in him translating Avatar for the big screen. I wonder are they going to condense each season into a movie, or are they going to pick up the story where it left off?
They might manage to squeeze the main plot of each season into a movie, but it would mean all of the more character building storylines would have to be ditched. Not exactly a good trade-off.......

Mr E

I heard Shyalamanaman (man) is going for a trilogy.
The first movie will be Book 1 (Water) of the TV show.
Second will be Earth and third will be Fire.

After The Happening, I fear he'll make a balls of it.

Mark Hamill

Mr E wrote:

I heard Shyalamanaman (man) is going for a trilogy.
The first movie will be Book 1 (Water) of the TV show.
Second will be Earth and third will be Fire.

After The Happening, I fear he'll make a balls of it.

Thats what I heard too. I'd say it could be done quite well, basically its turning a 7-and-a-bit hour season into a 2 hour movie (for each one), so they could still keep enough of the character development in to keep it interesting. If Shyalaman can keep the mood and emphasis that the show had it could be good, lets just hope he doesn't try to be too creative and add in bits when he makes it.

Mr E

As long as he doesn't try to throw some stupid twist in at the end (maybe Appa was really the Avatar - he was frozen for 100 years too... oooooooh!), he might pull it off. It needs to be colourful and fun too (not dark, moody and arty just for the sake of it). His movies to date have been pretty grim to look at.

VinLieger

Does anybody know when the box sets are going to be released over here? I know that the season 1 box set is finally available in region 2 format but theres no info on the others.

WindSock

What channel and what time is this moving picture show on?

VinLieger

The second half of series 3 still hasnt been shown over here. But you can get repeats on Nicktoons at 7:30 every evening.

Full_Circle

VinLieger wrote: »

Does anybody know when the box sets are going to be released over here? I know that the season 1 box set is finally available in region 2 format but theres no info on the others.

Has the first season been released on Region 2??? I cant seem to find it in any of the online stores.

Given the painfully slow rate at which they were releasing the individual dvds on R2, I just went ahead and ordered the box sets on R1 instead.

I think in general, the Region 2 market is very poorly treated for tv releases (especially animated ones). Sometimes the only course of action is to import

callaway92

Is Avatar not a cartoon for young children

xbox36016

i dont no what to think about this d

Full_Circle

callaway92 wrote: »

Is Avatar not a cartoon for young children

While it would appear to be primarily aimed at kids (given how its made by and aired on Nickolodeon), its actually a surprisingly complex and intelligent show that doesn't talk down to its audience. You have the super slick animation and high powered fight scenes to keep the young kids happy, but at the same time theres so much more going on (subtle interplay between the characters, tons of character development and a three year long story arc) that really only adults could full appreciate and enjoy. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesnt immediately rule out cartoons as "kiddie-fare"!

VinLieger

Nick Toons UK will finally be showing The Western Air Temple this sunday at 10 am and continue the series each sunday till sozins comet. I know most have already seen it via the interwebs but its always nice to be able to watch on tv. Especially since at the rate they release the dvds for europe season 3 probably wont be out till 2012