The Journey Ends .... A Half-Hearted Evaluation of the Merits of Reading Ahead

Tonight the journey ends. After 57 episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, my housemates and I are left with episodes 58-61, which were originally televised as a movie, but for DVD and TV were separated into four episodes.

It was an amazing experience to watch the series without reading ahead. You see, I hate surprises, and so, whenever I read ahead. I like to focus on details, like character development, sets or in animation the drawings, etc. Recently, I tried not reading ahead with Avatar, Green Lantern: First Flight, and District Nine. Only once did it fail me.

Let me first say, all three movies had a very nice story and were very engaging of my interest, however, District Nine was almost unwatchable for me due to the camera work. It gave me varying degrees of vertigo and disorientation - it is that style of camera work, like in Blair Witch, where it looks someone is using a camcorder and waving their arms as s/he film. If I had read ahead about it, I would have probably not seen District Nine - no movie can be good enough to compensate for such wonky camera work, at least for me.

As for Avatar, well, I am very glad I did wait to just watch the episodes. The story has been absolutely amazing to see unfold and the creators were able to sustain the momentum and even generate it throughout the series. I have very high expectations tonight as we watch the finale.

My fiancée watched a couple of episodes and became interested in it as well. I think next year when the live action movie is released, we will forgo the movie theatre and look forward to re-watching the animated series - in Blu-Ray (one would think it would be released in Blu-Ray as the movie is released)!

For now, I will end with this:

Water... Earth... Fire... Air.

Recently, my friends and I have been introduced to Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is an animated series, dating back to 2005-2007 when it first aired on Nickelodeon.

What amazes me, is how I let this show slip through the cracks, until ~ 2-3 weeks ago. Perhaps in 2005, I was too busy writing my dissertation or finding a postdoc. Who knows. All I know is that I recently saw a movie preview for the upcoming movie next summer, and I thought to myself, "Ahh, that looks cool. Some archetypal hero representing some element, and oh wow, the Fire people are the bad guys. Yeah, cool, I'll watch it."

[The image I have posted, is the main character's trusty 10 ton 6-legged, flying bison - Appa. A very loyal and imposing friend to have.]

I brought it up in conversation to a friend, and he stressed how well executed the animated series was. WHAT? It was based on an animated series? Oh Snap!

So I NetFlixed the first 4 episodes. I liked it, I liked it a whole lot. I told my housemates/friends about it, and they were like, "I dunno Thakman Jones, you thought It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was good, too!"

HAAR! We tried watching an episode together, and then another, and another, ..... Yeah, we liked it!

What appeals to me the most about this show is that the characters are not flat. They are dynamic. The story itself, well, we've seen this sort of theme/meme in movies/series/literature - a hero comes of age, a hero understand his/her destiny and comes to embrace it, a person driven to ill pursuits out of a misguided but noble sense of honor, the hero embarking on a quest. There are probably others, but these will do for now, as I am only on episode 12 out of 61.

What is remarkable is that the primary antagonist, at least for now, is an amazing character. You can describe him as a "bad guy" but he is not "bad" for the sake of being bad. There is a reason he becomes the way he is, and his story and motivations are absolutely fascinating.

I feel, only my gut feel as I have promised not to spoil or read ahead about the series, is that one's redemption, both the hero and the current primary antagonist will play a role. If the first ~20% of the series are an indication, the creators have done an impressive job with their execution. I feel like the whatever direction the series takes, it will be an interesting journey and a compelling story.

What a thoroughly entertaining and delightful show.