Posted 31 October 2018
On September 3rd, I began my endeavor to watch all three seasons (or “books,” as so called) of Avatar: The Last Airbender (“Avatar” for short) (Nickelodeon, 2005-2008).
In this fine series, a fire lord declares war against the other three nations (Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, and Air Nomads). It is up to Aang, a 12-year-old Avatar and his friends to end the war and return peace and unity among the four nations.
However, I didn’t always think this show was going to be as “fine” as it turned out to be. Back then in the mid ‘00s, I felt Nickelodeon had a track record for producing animation of a palatable caliber. I thought the introduction of an anime series would ruin that record. Let’s look at my first reaction after the initial Avatar series announcement in the summer of 2004.
Who wants to take a peek in Vic’s dairy? You know you want to!
So, here’s a page of my diary. It has been digitally altered to emphasize the date the entry was written and how dearly I regret not wanting change. I pixeled out thoughts about another show I watched that day (that part’s for another post). Man, I really do feel bad about what I said. Here’s what it said with all the spelling and grammatical errors intact:
“I also found out about this show that’s gonna be on Nick called ‘The Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ I know it’s gonna suck because it’s anime. it’s not gonna last a year of the airwaves. The animation is just horrible! I’d rather be dead when it comes out this November.”
What in the world was I thinking as I was writing this? I’ll break down this passage in attempt to further explain myself.
“I also found out about this show that’s gonna be in Nick called ‘The Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ I know it’s gonna suck because it’s anime.”
Again, I didn’t care about grammar/capitalization back then. This wasn’t a school paper. So, I almost had the title right. I didn’t have a smartphone in my room (where I wrote this) to confirm the title. This was after I switched off my dial-up connection for the night (yes, I used dial-up back then). I also felt I wasn’t ready for Nickelodeon to be showing their own “anime.” I knew Cartoon Network had anime on their Toonami block and that wasn’t my cup of tea back then. I loved almost every show Nick had in those days. I was reluctant at first to try this one.
Later on, I found out that Avatar is not actual anime as it was not produced in Japan. There’s a difference between this and Japanese anime where I can write a completely different blog post comparing the two. Soon I found out that this wasn’t Nick’s first time showing cartoons in the anime style. There were several acquired shows imported from Japan and France in the 1980s (ie: “The Adventures of Little Prince,” “Belle and Sebastian,” among others).
“It’s not gonna last a year on the airwaves. The animation is just horrible!”
Boy, was I wrong! Three “books,” three years on the air, and dozens of awards? Explain that, younger me. I judged the animation by a slither of animation I saw on a brief preview shown on Nickelodeon and a still picture on the internet. When I watched more of the show later on, I found the animation quite beautiful.
“I’d rather be dead when it comes out this November.”
Aaaawwww! I just didn’t want to take any chances on this show. I didn’t even want this show to exist on Nick. Back then, Nick was practically my life. If something didn’t look good too me, I assumed my time watching Nick was over. Also notice I said “November.” That was the original air date before it was pushed to February. Notice the 2004 copyright date at the end of the earlier eps.
I never really wanted to die that November; perhaps falling out of existence would have been what I should have said. Luckily, I used that extra time between the time I wrote this and February to think about whether to give Avatar a chance or not. Come November/February, I was still alive and it was time for me to give it a try. I never regretted anything!
Here’s a blurb from the second and last page.
“that does it, I believe that ‘The Avator’ [sic] is bring nick down to ‘h-e-double hockey-stick’ in a handbasket. There are some exceptions, but most of nick’s programming is just s@#!!”
What I was meant to say in that first sentence was, “…I believe that ‘The Avatar’ will bring Nick down to hell.” Yes, I’ll actually say “hell” here.
I had some very low hopes for Avatar, didn’t I? I thought the show would be the one to make me end my long-term viewership for Nickelodeon. There were shows on Nick that I didn’t care much for and I thought Avatar would be one of them. Shortly after the show started airing, Nickelodeon either just got bad on its own or I just got older.
The lesson here is don’t judge a show by looking at one frame. When you look at the picture, realize there should be more to the show than just a still picture. Open your mind and don’t be afraid to diversify your show list.
I will post an Avatar: The Last Airbender review as soon as I can write it.