It’s been long since I’ve updated here, I kinda lost the mood to write/blog for quite some time. Hope it doesn’t stay that way though.
Of course, the thing that’s been taking up most of my time over the past week or so has been Avatar: The Last Airbender. I just finished plowing through all 3 seasons which amounts to about 60 episodes. In retrospect, it’s pretty amazing that I actually watched the ENTIRE series in the first place, considering how I almost never finish watching ANY TV series in the first place, let alone a cartoon show.
I started watching Avatar after the show was repeatedly recommended by the hosts of the Totally Rad Show, and I thought I’d give it a shot. I heard about the show in the past, but paid little attention to it since it was a cartoon. That was until Dan made a really bold statement: “It’s as good as Star Wars”. I could hardly ignore it after hearing that.
Now, here I am, 60 episodes later, thinking that it isn’t exactly as good as Star Wars. In fact, I desperately wished this show wasn’t a cartoon aimed at children, but a more adult series. Because in a show where the main premise is that there are four nations at war, all of which have special powers to control the elements of fire, water, earth and air which they use to fight each other, the show is a lot less satisfying when not a SINGLE person in the entire series actually explicitly dies. I mean for crying out loud, there’s a fight scene in almost every single episode, yet no one ever dies. It just feels really weird to me…
Of course, a movie based on the show is in the works, due for release next year. But seriously, when you have a show that draws most of it’s inspiration from ancient Chinese culture, why in the world did the director (M. Night Shyamalan) cast every single role to a white kid? Even the main character, who’s a bald, Chinese monk, is played by a white kid? Seriously?
Besides that, from what I’ve seen thus far, The Last Airbender isn’t exactly shaping up to be a blockbuster movie. All the pictures I’ve seen of the filming thus far look really bad. Everything just doesn’t look and feel the way it’s supposed to be. Of course, all the footage that’s been released thus far has merely been a teaser trailer, and things could change a lot in a year of production, but I’m pretty nervous as to how the movie is going to turn out.
That being said, the TV series is probably one of the greatest stories ever told. The characters are all really well thought out and developed, and I really felt attached to every single one of them. The twists in the story are pretty cool and unexpected, and you’re always wondering what’s going to happen next. By the time you reach the third season, it’s like reading the last 200 pages of a Harry Potter book, you just don’t want to stop.
