19 years ago on February 21, 2005, the first episode of Avatar the Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon. 19 years later the live-action, Netflix-produced remake of Avatar the Last Airbender hit viewer’s screens on Netflix on February 22, 2024. With eight episodes in total and seasons 2 and 3 already confirmed, the show is a whirlwind of effects, action shots, life lessons, and childhood nostalgia. While many fans were excited about this, it has been hit with mixed reviews. BBC states, “The Last Airbender is a rather unholy combination of this cheaply nostalgic drive and the worst vices of live-action remakes of animation.” It pays gratitude to the 2005 series but also builds its timeline in its 50-minute episodes.
Avatar the Last Airbender follows a world-building of four different nations fighting against a war of the Fire Nation against the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Air Nomads. However, for hundreds of years, this war has raged on and the only one who can stop it is the Avatar – the master of all four elements. However, the young Avatar, Aang, has been frozen in an iceberg with his pet flying bison. One hundred years later he emerges with the help of two Water Tribe teens: waterbender Katara and her older brother Sokka. The three set out on a journey to end the war from the Fire Nation with Prinze Zuko in pursuit, heir to the king of the Fire Nation. They join forces with other nations like the Earth Kingdom and Water Kingdom in the pursuit of defeating the Fire Nation and restoring harmony to the world.
The show pulled in 21.2 million viewers in its first four days on Netflix, with 154.3 million hours streamed in the process. However, viewers and critics claim the storyline is curated to show people what pieces of the nostalgic show they can pick up with lifeless long dialogue scenes and lacks a visual character that the animated series was able to hold. To many fans, it is a feel-good show to turn on and feel somewhat nostalgic.
Eleanor Taylor, who has watched Avatar the Last Airbender since the beginning in 2005, claims, “It’s cool to see it still be popular almost 15 years later and still be a thriving franchise worth remaking.” Many people have tuned into this new remake because of the memories of watching the original seasons. Taylor says the animated series is a “great memory [she has] watching with [her] parents and sisters, which has been a memory [she] can talk about for years to come.”
The showrunners cast well age-appropriate people for the characters. The live-action version actors were portrayed as almost identical to the animated characters. Actors in the show like Gordon Cormier who plays Aang, a fourteen-year-old to Kiawentiio Tarbell who plays Katara. The cast has a long list of characters, and many of the actors range from young to old.
However many people still prefer the cartoon. This franchise has easily budded into something that everyone knows worldwide. With cartoons video games to multiple live-action remakes made, it is sure to have people wanting to see what is next in store for the Four Nations.
