Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show airing on Nickelodeon since February 2005. It is an American cartoon series set in a fantastic world of martial arts and elemental magic. The artwork of the series is inspired by Japanese anime. It follows the journeys of Aang, the successor to a long line of Avatars, and his friends Katara and Sokka.

Show Details

In a lost age, the world is divided into four nations: Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Within each nation, there is a remarkable order of men and women called the "Benders" who can learn to harness their inborn talent and manipulate their native element. Bending is a powerful form combining martial art and elemental magic.

In each generation, only one Bender is capable of controlling all four elements. That Bender is the Avatar. The Avatar is the spirit of the world manifested in human form. When the Avatar dies, it reincarnates into the next nation in the cycle. Starting with the mastery of his or her native element, the Avatar learns to bend all four elements. Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony.

About one hundred years prior to the story, during the Air period of the Avatar cycle, the Firebenders attacked. Just as the world needed the Avatar the most, he mysteriously vanished. A hundred years later, the Fire Nation is near final victory in its ruthless war of world domination. The Air Nomads were destroyed, the Air Temples ravished, and all Airbender monks eradicated. The Water Tribes were raided and driven to the brink of extinction. The Earth Kingdom remains and fights a hopeless war against the Fire Nation. Many believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken.

In the desolated South Pole, a lone Water tribe struggles to survive. It is here that the village's last remaining Waterbender Katara and her warrior brother Sokka rescue a strange 12-year-old boy named Aang who has been suspended in hibernation in an iceberg. The tribe soon discovers that Aang is not only an Airbender--the extinct race no one has seen in a century--but also the long lost Avatar. Now Katara and Sokka must safeguard the child Avatar in his journey to master all four elements and save the world from the Fire Nation.

Influences

The show is heavily influenced by the style of Japanese anime, with unanatomically large eyes. It also draws on the classical Greek elements rather than the five Eastern elements.

Characters

• Aang is the last Airbender and the only known survivor of the Air Nomads. A fun-loving kid and reluctant hero, Aang awoke from a hundred-year catatonic sleep and found himself in an unfamiliar war-torn world. Aang's destiny as the Avatar is to end the war and restore order. Unfortunately, Aang is only a 12-year-old kid and has not yet learned to master the other three elements. Aang must find a way to learn Waterbending, Earthbending and Firebending, become the master of all four elements, and stop the Fire Nation.
• Katara is a 14-year-old Waterbender who, along with her brother, found Aang in an iceberg. Having lost both her parents in the war, Katara is mature beyond her age and determined to end the war--or at least never stop trying. Being the only surviving Waterbender of her tribe, Katara has no one to teach her how to waterbend. Katara practices rudimentary waterbending on her own everyday and longs to find a master Waterbender to teach her, so she can live up to her potential and become a great Waterbender in order to save her tribe. Katara is the self-appointed caretaker of the young Avatar and the leader of the group--not the mention the older girl who has become Aang's crush.
• Sokka is Katara's 19-year-old warrior brother. Sokka is loyal, courageous, proud, headstrong, and very protective of his sister. Unlike Aang and Katara, Sokka does not use or trust "magic" (his word for bending.) He prefers to use strength, determination, ingenuity and his boomerang (given to him by his father) to get out of troubles.
• Prince Zuko is a disgraced 16-year-old prince of the Fire Nation. When the story begins, he has been banished to the South Pole and is never allowed to return home unless he can fulfill a seemingly impossible mission: find and capture the Avatar. (Of course, no one has anticipated the lost Avatar would ever return, so Zuko's banishment was intended to be permanent.) During his two years in exile, he has trained himself to become a powerful Firebenders. Focused, driven, honorable but very bitter, Zuko is obsessed with what he believes is his destiny: capturing the Avatar, in order to redeem his honor and be accepted back by his father, the Fire Lord Ozai.
• Haru and his father, Tyro, are Earthbenders who, primarily with Katara's help, help liberate captured Earthbenders from a Firebender rig.
• Jet is a charasmatic brown haired leader of a group of freedom fighters that live in the trees of a forest. Katara had a bit of a crush on him. He is very agile with his choice weapon being hookswords. While against the Fire Nation, thoughts of revenge clouds Jets mind impairing his judgement.
• Avatar Roku is the previous Avatar before Aang that informs him of a coming comet, Sozen's, that will supply the Fire Nation with so much thermal power they could conquer the rest of the nations. Apparently, this comet was also used as a deadly first strike one century ago, and began the war.
• Momo is Aang's pet lemur. Lemurs are smart, trainable small creatures, capable of performing many simple human tasks. (Note: Lemurs cannot talk and do not have special abilities or powers.) In episode three, "The Southern Air Temple", Aang found Momo and decided to keep it as a reminder that his people still live in them, as winged lemurs were once a favorite pet for Air Nomad children.
• Uncle/General Iroh, Prince Zuko's uncle, advisor, and a retired general. He would rather lounge and eat in his old age than fight in the war but is a strong opponent. Iroh has more to him than meets the eye. First Appeared in "The Avatar Returns".
• Commander Zhao is a ruthless general of the Fire Nation Navy and a powerful Firebender. He wants to capture the Avatar before Prince Zuko does or take the Avatar from Zuko if Zuko captures the Avatar first. First appeared in "The Southern Air Temple".

Episode Guide

Opening sequence

From the show's opening theme, narrated by the character Katara:

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, An Airbender named Aang, and even though his Airbending skills are great, He still has a lot to learn before saving anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.

Episodes

Book One: Water

The Boy in the Iceburg

While Sokka and Katara are out fishing, Katara accidently cracks open an iceburg releasing Aang and Appa. They ride Appa back to the Southern village where they introduce Aang to the people of the village. The villagers grow very suspicous. Especially when they discover Aang is an Airbender.

The Avatar Returns

While exploring an abandoned Fire Nation warship, Aang realises he was in the iceburg for 100 years and accidently sets off a trap warning the Fire Nation someone is on their ship. Sokka fights the Fire Benders but fails, so Aang gives himself up to save the village. Sokka, Appa, and Katara all go and rescue Aang who frees himself from the Fire Benders. Aang awakens the Avatar spirit inside him to hold off the Fire Warriors and escape.

The Southern Air Temple

Aang and company arrive at an Air Temple on a mountain. Aang enters a shrine and sees statues of all the past Avatars. Aang recalls his past. Meanwhile, Zuko returns to the Fire Nation to repair his ship. Sokka and Aang chase a flying lemur until Aang finds the dead body of his old master. Aang unleashes his rage through his Avatar spirit. This warns all the nations of the Avatar's return. Katara calms Aang and they continue on with their new lemur friend "Momo" in tow. Prince Zuko fights Commander Zhao and defeats him.

The Warriors of Kyoshi

The gang arrives at Kyoshi Island where they relax on it's beach. Aang goes swimming and is almost killed by a creature called the Unagi. But, after arriving back to shore they are all captured by the warriors of Kyoshi and thier leader Suki. Aang sets the group free and shows off that he is the Avatar to the town. Katara grows jealous of all the girls following Aang. Sokka is upset because a bunch of girls captured him and goes to show off at them but is humilated. Sokka then asks for Suki's guidance and learns the ways of the Kyoshi warriors. As a climatic stunt Aang goes to the beach to ride the Unagi where he almost drowns. Luckily Katara saves Aang but now the Fire Nation is attacking Kyoshi. The warriors hold off the Firebenders while Aang and company escape. Aang makes a rash decision and jumps on the Unagi, the Unagi sprays water over Kyoshi dousing it's fire.

The King of Omashu

Aang and his friends arrive at the Earth kindom town named Omashu to play on their delivery slides, which are used to send mail throughout the town. They go up to the highest part and slide down a delivery shoot, which gets them into trouble when they crash into a cabbage cart. The group is sent to the king, which instead of throwing them into the dungeon, throws them a feast. The king soon reveals that Aang is the avatar. He then puts the kids into a prison cell and makes Aang participate in three dangerous challenges. The king held Aang's friends hostage and put a ring of "creeping crystal" on Sokka and Katara's fingers. The king said that he will only stop the crystal from covering Sokka and Katara completely is if Aang passes his tests. The first challenge was to get the key hanging on a chain in the middle of the waterfall. After Aang sails a stalagmite and a gust of air in the waterfall, the key lands right above the king's head. The second challenge had Aang look for the king's pet, Flopsie. After solving the second test, Aang had a duel against any opponent he wanted. He chose the king, thinking he was a frail old man, but he was actually fighting the Earth Kindom's best Earthbender. After finishing the duel in one piece, Aang had to guess the king's name before his friends could be set free. Aang discovered that the king was his old friend Bumi.

Imprisoned

Aang and his group are hungry and are looking for food. In their search, Katara stumbles upon a fledgling Earthbender named Haru who immediately runs away. The party follows after him into a village where everybody is suspiciously quiet; the reason is revealed quickly enough when Firebenders walk into the town looking to tax the Haru's family. Indeed, the town is an occupied Earthbender town that is of strategic interest to the Firebender Nation for its rich coal deposits; all the martial Earthbenders (including Haru's father) have been long imprisioned, and the practicing of Earthbending strictly forbidden. One day, Haru and Katara are walking by the coal mines when a shaft collapses; Katara coaxes Haru to Earthbend to save an old man's life. Not surprisingly, this old man is a spy for the Firebender secret police, who raid Haru's house at midnight and carry him off to a rig. Katara wants to follow to rescue Haru, so she has Aang use Airbending in conjunction with the mine shafts to convince the Firebenders she's an Earthbender (not a Waterbender); this succeeds and she is carried off to the prison, with Aang and company following on Appa. The prison is an iron rig, where prisoners have no access to any Earth; Katara's efforts to incite revolt fail initially. Aang infiltrates the area, uses the airbending trick to blow the rig's coal deposits towards the Earthbenders so they have a weapon to use, and a battle ensues between Earthbenders and Firebender guards. The Earthbenders break out, and Haru and his father say they won't keep Aang from his quest; they have to liberate their village. Of special importance is that Katara lost her mother's necklace in the prison; the episode ends with Prince Zuko striding into the prison ruins only to pick it up.

Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World The party arrives at a Earth Kingdom forest, and sees what looks like a huge black scar in the middle of the woods. They land only to find out that it was burned down by Fire Nation soldiers. Aang feels bad that he let that happen, but Katara assures him that the forest will grow back, because of all the acorns around. The party is startled when an old man comes asking the avatar (Aang) for his help. The group arrives at a village in ruins and learns that it was being terrorized by the forest's spirit, Havi. They ask Aang to help them, he doesn't know how, but he agrees. At sunset, he went out to confront the spirit. Aang was trying to talk to the spirit, but it seemed it wasn't listening. Sokka runs out to help Aang, but is captured and taken away by the spirit instead. Aang, while chasing after Sokka and the spirit, mysteriously enters the spirit world. He is confronted by a dragon, which turns out to be Avatar Roku's dragon. The dragon takes Aang to a temple on a cresent shaped island to see Avatar Roku's statue. Aang finds out that Avatar Roku wants to speak to him about a comet, anad the only time they can talk is during the Winter Solstice. The dragon takes Aang back to his body and there, Aang learns why the spirit is terrorizing the village. The spirit was yupset and angry that his home was being burned down. At sunset, Aang shows the spirit that the forest will grow back by giving him an acorn. The satisfied spirit (which turned into a panda bear) leaves the village, and in its trail, it left a few bamboo stalks that the captured villagers (including Sokka) come out of. The show ends with Aang telling Katara and Sokka that he needed to go to the temple (which is in the Fire Nation) to speak with Avatar Roku by sunset on the Solstice (which was the next day).

Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku On a journey to the Fire Nation, Aang and his friends run into some major trouble. Prince Zuko and his uncle are hot on their trail, then they run into Commander Zhao and his army in a block. Shockingly, the party makes it through. The commander let Prince Zuko pass through, but they don't know why. aang gets into tehe temple, only to be stopped by the Fire Sages. They try to stop him, but one Fire Sage is loyal to Aang and shows Aang how to get to Avatar Roku's sanctuary. Unfortunately, the chamber is locked. Only a blast of fire from all the Fire Sages or from an experienced Avatar could unlock it. Sokka's idea of igniting bags of powder makes it look like Aang got into the sanctuary, but Aang is still locked out. When all the Sages arrive and open the door, Thee plan was for Aang to run in the chamber. This plan messes up when Prince Zuko catchs Aang. Aang gets away and dashs into the chamber just in time. Avatar Roku tells Aang he must master the elements and defeat Lord Ozai before the end of the summer or he'll be unstoppable when the comet returns. Then he tells Aang he'll help him beat the danger outside the doors of the chamber. Avatar Roku takes form and keeps Aang out of harm's way. he sets his friends free and destroys the temple. Aang and his friends escape just in time.

The Waterbending Scroll Katara begins to teach Aang her knowledge of waterbending. Immediatly he masters what she has given him, even though it was hard for her to learn. She becomes somewhat jealous of him. They then go to town to buy some supplies and they come about a pirate ship. This pirate ship is selling items that they "worked hard to get". Katara comes upon a waterbending training scroll and she steals it from the Pirates. There is a big chase and inevitably, with the help of water and airbending, our heros prevail. They go back to their camp and begin to learn such techniques such as the water whip, which Katara could not do. Katara then flips out on Aang because he could do it first try. Zuko then comes to the trading port to buy a game piece for his uncle and hears that a bald monk with an arrow on his head and two friends had stolen something from some pirates. Zoku teams up with the pirates and goes hunting for Aang and company. The good guys are found because Katara is practicing the waterbending from the scroll late at night. Aang and Sokka are then captured and then they use -bending to rescue Katara and themselves from Zuko. They then continue their journey to the North Pole.

Jet

Credits

• Zach Tyler Eison as Aang
• Stephanie Meredith as Katara
• Jack DeSena as Sokka
• Dante Basco as Prince Zuko