Avatar: The Last Airbender/ The Legend of Korra

[Combine Hunter]

It's kind of hard to convince adults that Avatar is actually genuinely good. I was hard to convince! I wrote it off as a silly kids show like Ben 10 or some other crap, until I marathoned Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. And it also doesn't help the live action movie sucks balls. Hmmm, I wish there was a non-spoilery clip I could show people who haven't seen either of these great animated shows that would demonstrate:

1. How great the animation is. (better than some films)
2. How great the music and sound design is.
3. And that this clearly isn't just targeted at kids (...except maybe Book 1 of the first show) like most western animated shows. Adults can get just as much out of it

....oh wait!

[Combine Hunter]

If that clip even slightly interests you, then watch my video on the first series that gives you further reasons to check Avatar out (without spoilers)



...oh yeah, and I guested on several Digital Gonzo shows where we talked about the series in detail.

http://www.gonzoplanet.com/2012/08/16/d ... airbender/
http://www.gonzoplanet.com/2012/08/23/d ... tv-review/
http://www.gonzoplanet.com/2012/08/30/d ... tv-review/
http://www.gonzoplanet.com/2012/09/06/d ... tv-review/
http://www.gonzoplanet.com/2012/09/13/d ... tv-review/

[Scrustle]

I'm surprised this thread isn't already a hundred pages long. I would have expected these forums to be full of fans of the show.

Well I'm a huge fan, it's my favourite TV show in fact. Seeing that first clip reminds me how much I need to see Legend of Korra again. They really need to hurry up and release it on DVD. On the topic of the DVDs, I've always been slightly disappointed with the picture quality of the DVDs of Legend of Aang. Is that a common problem?

I've also listened to those Gonzo Planet podcasts a while ago actually. Thoroughly good listen. Even though they were so long I was wishing there was more.

[Combine Hunter]

Yeah, the picture quality is pretty rubbish for the Avatar DVDs. Because, you know, "it's just a kid's show." Legend of Korra is guaranteed to get a blu-ray release though.

I'm not surprised by the lack of responses. It is very hard for most people to get past their preconceptions of what this show is, and the M. Night movie hasn't helped. In fact I was one of those people dismissing it, Alex over at Gonzo Planet was too, but we both saw the light. It also doesn't help that Book 1 is a bit kiddy a first, you have to tell people "stick with it! Once it gets to Book 2 you wont be able to stop." And everyone I know who got to book 2, didn't need any further encouragement, and went on to love it. I count it among my top 5 favourite TV shows, along side the likes of The Wire, Breaking Bad, Dead Wood and Firefly. Avatar is Pixar/Lord of the Rings quality storytelling on the small screen. No other western animated TV show even comes close to its quality.

[Scrustle]

Yeah, it's definitely one of my favourite stories ever. I get a lump in my throat all the way through the last few episodes of Book 3 when it all comes together. The scale of everything is so huge, but it's still very personal because of how good the character development is. I love it.

I never really had a problem getting in to it myself. I guess that's because when it was first beginning to be shown on TV I wasn't too far out of the target demo. According to Wikipedia it started in early 2005, so I would have been 14 at that time. I guess in a way the maturity of the storytelling grew with me at the same time, although I didn't see Book 2 and 3 when they were first aired. But I think that allowed me to appreciate them even more in fact.

[FudgeMonkey]

I enjoyed the first series but i did watch it back to back rather than when it was aired. I'm holding off on the new series to do the same i think. You're right though it definately gets the "Kids show" treatment from a lot of people. Also, from my experience, it suffers from people not giving it a chance due to it not being Anime which seems a bit silly to me.