Saturday, July 25, 2009

AVATAR: THE GREATEST CHILDREN’S CARTOON SERIES


For our first summer together, the daughter and I chose to watch the entire AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER series from Nickelodeon. Consistently, the series has gotten better by growing and developing into a fully realized cartoon series.

AVATAR is, in our opinion, simply the best cartoon series for kids ever made. I loved G.I. JOE and THE TRANSFORMERS as a kid, as well as SUPER FRIENDS and other comic stories. However, AVATAR is, from a writing standpoint, far superior to these cult cartoons. The characters are developed, the story lines interconnected, rich with detail, and they [gasp] make sense. Good lucking finding all of those qualities in any cartoon series designed for children and teens.

The story is relevant today and ripe with strong male and female characters (on the good and bad sides). Characters transform throughout the series, gathering wisdom and understanding regardless of the peril it may bring them. It is amazing to me that a children’s show is so complex and deep.

The characters often struggle with right and wrong, between fight and flight, family and destiny. We see them (good and bad characters) struggle with discovering who they are and working to find their own path through life. It is intense and painful at times, but it is a good story for children and adults.

I would go on and on, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the three-season series. Forget about renting it from any brick and mortar store in Springfield. Most don’t carry it and those that do only carry disc one of season one. Netflix, on the other hand, has available every disc of all three seasons – the first season is open for streaming to your computer or television.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER is absolutely outstanding and is worthy of the numerous awards it has been nominated for and won. There is a live action movie coming out but the more I have learned about it, the more disappointed I have become. First, they have scrubbed the cultural diversity from the film, making the characters all white, rather than their intended cultures. Secondly, the creators of the series are not involved. I’m not holding my breath.

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