Experience the complete Avatar saga with Aang and Korra. From the discovery of Avatar Aang in the iceberg in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” to Korra’s heroic journey to set things right in Republic City through “The Legend of Korra,” relive all the epic air, earth, water, and fire bending in the ultimate Avatar collection.
In the world of children’s shows, very few remain beloved by fans, young and old, like “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” After reappearing on Netflix in early 2021, the show’s resurgence fueled renewed interest even prompting Netflix to order a live-action adaptation that subsequently lost the show’s original creators (a huge part of the fandom’s attachment.) This box set brings all of the original show plus its overshadowed sequel, “The Legend of Korra,” back to people’s homes with hours of bonus content, making a fantastic watch for newcomers and long-time stans.
You’ve probably heard of this show by now. It’s held in the television world as one of the greatest shows of all time. Right up there next to “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad” or “The Wire.” Of course, “Avatar” doesn’t have crime lords or angry white men destroying the worlds around them. Instead, it’s solely focused on a child, bent on saving the world. It’s a fantasy show blending martial arts, magic, and children’s cartoons for a deceptively profound story about redemption, love, imagination, and forgiveness.
The show follows Aang, a child raised in the nomadic tribes of the Airbenders. In this world, a large majority of the population can move four different elements: water, earth, air, and fire. While these abilities may create war among the different factions it is the unique purview of the Avatar, keeper of peace, to master all four elements. When the Fire Nation, the people most prone to anger, decimate the Airbenders in a surprise attack, the Avatar goes missing. Years later, young Avatar Aang resuscitates to find a world bent under the yoke of the Fire Nation’s oppression. Together with his newfound water tribe friends, Sokka and Katara, he must master all four bending styles to defeat the Firebender lord. Along the way, he’ll make countless friends, including one blind Earthbender Toph, and fight his great rival Zuko.
Avatar was a stealthy show when it first aired. Originally airing on Nickelodeon only for kids, the show’s powerful displays of redemption and despair seemed juvenile. Only when the fanbase grew up did the quality of the show become clear. It’s an incredible show with dynamic action sequences and unique characters. Few stories match the high-quality dynamic of Aang’s grappling with being a geopolitical savior as a young boy and even fewer can tell Prince Zuko’s redemption arc as this show did. It’s a show that showed us gorgeous battles of fire arcing through the air, swept aside by gusts of wind.
It’s a show that never misses its mark. Every character gets their time under the sun and even the most unlikely of goofs become the central heroes at different points. It tackles all sorts of topics with the airy touch of a child’s show. Like all Hollywood affairs if it strikes gold, mine it for all it’s worth. Enter Korra.
“The Legend of Korra” is another story about a young avatar set in the world of the previous show just after Avatar Aang’s passing. Centered on a full-fledged teenager, waterbender Korra undergoes training throughout her years to become the keeper of peace in a relatively peaceful city. Throughout her journey, she will encounter gruesome villains, political movements, and even dig into the lore of bending itself. The show has often been thrown under the bus, especially in comparison to its predecessor, but it has its merits.
For starters, Korra gives us the “how” of it all. We learn where bending came from, how it was invented, what is its purpose, and what happens in the bending world. It answered questions fans had about the mechanics of a world so easily divided up into four “tribes” even delving deeper into the world of non-benders. It showed us a deeper look at an uneven society and Avatar Korra’s growing disillusionment with the world around her fed us some of the most interesting ideas about this universe we’ve ever seen. It also gave us steampunk Avatar-world so there’s a fun thing to think about.
Ultimately, “Korra” fails where “ATLA” succeeds: delivering honest emotional payoff. Its single-season arcs keep it feeling dislocated. Instead of one series-long baddy, we get a different Big Bad every season. Each character grows and develops, but unevenly. Goofy characters tend to remain crutched that way and serious characters feel sidelined in uninteresting manners. Korra attempted to inject some teenage hormones into the series with some love triangles, but those fell by the wayside or didn’t play well at all.
The box set collection of both shows makes them easily accessible. While no digital code gives you the incorporeal Holy Grail of streaming, it’s still very good to hold on to a wombo combo of shows like this. The bonus content highlights the popularity of the show, even at the time of its airing. With storyboarded sections and Comic-Con panels, we get a chance to see the fanbase of these shows roar in excitement, and even though some of us didn’t participate in the show’s original hype we get to understand just how valuable it was.
I can’t recommend this box set enough. “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is one of the greatest shows of all time and a lesson on abject storytelling. I have distant plans to raise children on this show and evangelize it to all my adult friends if anything to add something exciting to their days. I’m always advising adults to try more children’s cartoons. They tend to boil down complicated messages in short, concentrated points for young audiences. They’re limitless in their imaginations and yet each episode has a maximum of twenty minutes to hook us. This show perfectly demonstrates the ability of children’s cartoons to flex on us, with bombastic action sequences AND adept characterizations. I’m not ashamed to say I cried during some of the episodes. Don’t let the fandom scare you away. This show is amazing and to own it on Blu-ray is a wonderful resource.
Now available in a Brand-New Special Collector’s Blu-ray™ Edition
