Product Description
-------------------
Book 1:
Avatar: The Complete Book One DVD Box Set includes the collection
of all Avatar Water Nation episodes. This six-disc set will
center on the Water Nation and its characters in 20 Avatar
episodes (Chapters 1-20), Five DVD’s plus a bonus disc filled
with incredible special features!
Book 2:
Avatar: The Complete Book 2 DVD Collection includes 20 action
packed episodes from Book 2: Earth, plus an exclusive
never-before-seen bonus disc! This 5 disc set centers around
Avatar Aang and his continious quest to master the four elements.
Together with Katara, Sokka, Momo and Appa, he journeys across
the Earth Kingdom in search of an Earthbending mentor while
staying one step ahead of Prince Zuko and fighting off the
treachorous, Princess Azula, of the Fire Nation, who will stop at
nothing to defeat the Avatar!
Book 3:
In this award-winning anime series, Aang has survived a terrible
battle and must face new challenges as he and his friends enter
the Fire Nation. Bonuses: commentary by the creators, the women
of Avatar, pencil test animation and Into the Fire Nation.
.com
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Book 1: Water, Vol. 1
Mysterious, visually beautiful at times, and surprisingly funny,
Avatar: Book 1, Volume 1 is the exciting story of Aang, a
12-year-old reincarnation of the ancient Avatar, whose purpose
(in an imagined world that seems both ancient and futuristic) is
to restore peace and order between warring armies of the four
elements: fire, earth, water, and air. At one time or another,
over thousands of years, the Avatar has been embodied in masters
of each of the elements. Aang (who is freed from a century-long
inside an iceberg) happens to be an "airbender," capable of
using air and wind as powerful forces for moving objects and
defeating hostile armies of firebenders. The feature-length
Avatar follows Aang and a couple of friends as he becomes
reacquainted with the world he knew before his 100-year
hibernation--a world now lost to history. The story also concerns
internal dramas within the unforgiving world of firebenders, who
are intent on destruction and conquest. This engaging story, very
pleasant to look at in its rich tones of blue and orange, is for
all ages. --Tom Keogh
Book 1: Water, Vol. 2
Avatar The Last Airbender, Book 1: Water, Volume 2 continues the
adventurous if half-comic journey of 12-year-old Airbender Aang,
reincarnation of an ancient avatar, and his friends Katara and
Sokka as they seek a teacher to help Aang fulfill his peacemaking
destiny in a war-torn world. The four episodes on this disc, a
follow-up to the elegant, magical series introduction, find the
trio wandering through sundry Earth Nation cities, where they
encounter signs of troubles between the once-harmonious,
elemental tribes representing fire, earth, air, and water. They
also bump into trouble with the occasional evil kingdom, as in
"The King of Omashu," where Aang must go through various trials
to save Katara and Sokka from a bizarre execution. (They're
encased in growing, crystal structures.) "Imprisoned" finds
Katara inadvertently responsible for the arrest of an
Earthbending boy who dares to use his powers while his people are
under Firebender occupation. The ambitious, two-part "Winter
Solstice" is the best production in this collection, a pairing of
storylines involving the capture of a Firebender war criminal and
the hopes of a frightened village that turns to Aang to defeat a
monster from the spirit world. The action is still original and
fun on this sequel--most of it continues to be based on exciting
uses of the elements--and the lead trio's characters (Aang the
scamp, Katara the idealist, Sokka the skeptic) are still a
pleasure to be with. --Tom Keogh
Book 1: Water, Vol. 3
The Avatar saga continues with four of the anime series'
strongest stories yet on Book 1: Water, Volume 3, mixing goofy
comedy with mythic drama in the spirit of Avatar's magical debut
(Book 1 Water, Volume 1) and engaging follow-up (Book 1 Water,
Volume 2). Volume 3 concerns the continuing (perilous) travels of
Aang, the 12-year-old Airbender destined to heal the rift between
the world's air, water, fire, and earth peoples, and his friends
Katara and Sokka. "The Waterbending Scroll" finds Katara so
jealous over Aang's quick mastery of complicated waterbending
techniques that the trio ends up in trouble with a cluster of
cutthroat pirates. "Jet" is an interesting story of an adolescent
boy leading a Robin Hood-like rebellion against the firebending
occupiers of his land. Charismatic and rakish, Jet makes Katara
swoon and becomes a hero to Aang--until his true colors and
agenda show up later. "The Great Divide" places Aang and company
in the position of mediating a truce between refugees seeking
assistance across a great canyon. Finally, "The Storm" is a
superb piece which shows us, in parallel narratives, how Aang was
fleeing his oppressed life as an avatar-in-training a century
earlier when he became encased in ice, and how the driven,
seemingly merciless Prince Zuko lost his own boyhood innocence
before setting out to capture Aang. This excellent collection
carries on the series' imaginative, graceful animation, making
Avatar a real pleasure to watch. --Tom Keogh
Book 1: Water, Vol. 5
Chapters 17 through 20 of Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 1
Water, Vol. 5 find Aang, the 12-year-old Avatar destined to bring
peace to the world by mastering the four elements, once again in
direct collision with the forces of the Fire nation. In "The
Northern Air Temple," a sad Aang visits the ruins of a monastery
well known to him in his past life. Aang is shocked to discover a
tribe of faux Airbenders living there, presided over by an
inventor with a dark and even treacherous secret. "The
Waterbending Master" introduces Aang to a mentor he would just as
soon avoid: an old Waterbender who can teach him to move, shape,
and fight with liquid, prerequisites to Aang assuming his place
as the world’s savior. Meanwhile, Aang's traveling companion
Katara is frustrated by that same master’s refusal to sharpen her
own natural, Waterbending talent; until, that is, an unexpected
link between them becomes clear. (Aang's other friend, Sokka,
stays busy--and crazy--chasing a princess who gives him mixed
signals about her romantic interest.) "The Siege of the North,
Parts 1 and 2" is yet another epic confrontation between Admiral
Zhao's Fire Navy fleet and the Aang gang. The twist this time is
that Zhao attempts the murder of Prince Zuko, an action that
cannot go without consequences. As usual, Avatar is visually
exciting and highly original, an otherworldly yet fully
accessible fantasy full of dreams and good humor. --Tom Keogh
Book 2: Earth, Vol. 1
Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 2 Earth, Volume 1 finds Aang, the
Avatar and potential reconciler of a world divided into air,
earth, water, and fire kingdoms, now a master Waterbender. That
means he and companions Katara and Sokka can now leave the
Northern Water Tribe and concentrate on mastering earth. New
adventures and dangers await the heroic trio in the five episodes
included on this DVD, which finds Aang experiencing nightmares
about the power of the Avatar State. He also meets an earth
kingdom general with plans for attacking the warrior tribes of
the fire nation, gets trapped with possible love interest Katara
in the Cave of Two Lovers, and gets pulled into a supernatural
swamp by a tornado. As always, Avatar is above average as an
engaging anime tale, with a wonderfully original storyline and
striking artistry. --Tom Keogh
Book 2: Earth, Vol. 2
The five chapters in Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 2 Earth,
Volume 2 continue the story of young avatar Aang's adventures
deep within the Earth Kingdom. As usual, each episode is a
seamless blend of grave drama and comic , but the stakes
seem higher than ever with the addition of a new member to Aang's
team. Joining Katara and Sokka is Toph, a blind but powerful
earthbending girl trying to obscure her aristocratic origins by
defeating large, y men in the ring. Aang recognizes Toph from
his vision of an earthbending teacher, whom he needs to help him
master control over the earth element. Toph also adds a kind of
sardonic, tart tone to Aang's journey, ultimately leaving her
world to join the series’ trio of young heroes. "The Blind
Bandit" finds Aang, Katara, and Sokka working hard at convincing
Toph to help their mission. "Zuko Alone" carries on the tale of
the firebending prince who now travels alone and anonymously, but
comes close to befriending a boy in an Earth Kingdom town. (The
episode is full of interesting flashbacks from Zuko’s youth.)
"The Chase" also concerns Zuko’s past, but is primarily about
Aang, Katara, and Sokka adjusting to Toph’s somewhat
self-centered presence on the team at the same time Princess
Azula is relentlessly hunting them all down in a kind of speeding
tank. "Bitter Work" finds Toph having difficulties training Aang,
while "The Library" is an exotic episode about a professor who
leads the crew to a library containing information useful against
the Fire Nation. When they get there, they find the place guarded
by the owl-like Wan Shi Tong, who begins sinking the library in
defense against the perceived invaders. --Tom Keogh
Book 2: Earth, Vol. 3
Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 2 Earth, Volume 3 covers chapters
11 through 15 in the ongoing saga of Aang, the 12-year-old
reincarnation of an avatar destined to reunite the warring
nations of fire, earth, water, and air. Still traveling with his
friends Katara, Sokka, and newcomer Toph, Aang gets into some of
the strangest and most compelling situations yet seen on his
journey to master control over all four elements. The first
story, "The Desert," finds Aang so upset over the abduction and
criminal sale of his flying bison, Appa, that the powerful boy
shows a streak of rage, demonstrating to himself that he could
easily use his emerging skills to harm enemies if he wished.
Still, Appa remains missing through this volume, leading the gang
on a mission to survive a desert sojourn and survive during a
perilous flight (with a young family in tow) over a pass through
ains and ocean in "The Serpent’s Pass." They also get
involved in a bizarre fight (in "The Drill") against the Fire
Nation army and its gigantic drill, which is ed at the outer
wall of Ba Sing Se, a city occupied by earth people. Once inside
Ba Sing Se, however, things get really weird: smiling officials
(in "City of Walls and Secrets") outlaw any discussion of the war
outside in order to keep the population pl and the economy
rolling. Finally, "Tales of Ba Sing Se" is an original piece made
up of individual vignettes focusing on each of the major
characters. If there is anything surprising about Book 2 Earth,
Volume 3, it’s the a of romance (kissing, even!) in the air.
These Avatar boys and girls are growing up. --Tom Keogh
Book 2: Earth, Vol. 4
The long journey of young Avatar Aang and his friends Katara,
Sokka, and Toph continues in this dramatic installment in the
Avatar the Last Airbender series. Picking up from Volume 3, the
first chapter on this disc, "Appa’s Lost Days," traces the hard
times of Aang’s winged bison, Appa, after the latter is stolen in
order to blackmail Aang into not going to the Earth King with
information about a pending coup. The clever Aang manages to find
Appa anyway and complete his crucial mission, though he learns,
in "The Earth King," that the sheltered monarch doesn’t buy the
notion that his own counsel, the power-grasping Long Feng, could
be behind such a conspiracy. Complicating matters is the arrival
of Princess Azula to take control over forces loyal to Long Feng,
while Zuko, the reformed Fire Nation prince now acting as a
humble but happier servant to his wise, tea-drinking uncle, is
powerless to stop her. (On the other hand, Zuko forms an
unexpected bond with one of Aang’s allies.) Everything comes to a
head in "The Crossroads of Destiny," in which Aang, suddenly
confused by the sage advice of a guru who tells him he must free
himself of a crucial emotional attachment, joins the others in an
uphill effort to stop Azula from overtaking the Earth King. As
engaging and frequently funny as every other volume in the Avatar
series, Volume Four is a great ride through a climactic time in
the long-running story. --Tom Keogh
Book 3: Fire, Vol. 1
Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 3, Volume 1 is a slightly unusual
suite of episodes in the Avatar canon, as the majority of
programs are even more comical than usual. Not that the five
shows included on this disc lack seriousness: the long-running
series now finds young Aang (the once and future avatar destined
to reunite the world’s four estranged nations) and his traveling
companions behind enemy lines in the Fire Nation, disguised as
colonists. In "Awakening," Aang arises--with a surprising headful
of dark hair--from several weeks of unconsciousness (due to the
injuries he sustained during a battle for Ba Sing Se) aboard a
captured Fire Nation warship. Though he finds old friends Sokka,
Toph, and Katara nearby, all urging him not to take matters in
his own hands, Aang ultimately feels compelled to go head-to-head
with the Fire Lord before he is ready. The result forces Aang and
the others to remain incognito, setting up subsequent episodes in
which the heroes are forced to lay low and find something else to
do with their time besides fight adversaries. In "The Headband,"
Aang enrolls in a Fire Nation school, where his eyes are opened
to such ordinary experiences as dealing with a campus bully and
getting a hard time from strict teachers. In "The Painted Lady,"
Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph visit an impoverished fishing
village and have to repress their typical instinct to help lest
they be recognized as outsiders. (An alternative is found.)
"Sokka’s Master," in some ways the most enjoyable episode here,
finds Sokka feeling useless because he doesn’t possess powers
similar to his mates. His solution: talk a master sman into
taking him on as an apprentice. Finally, the most unexpected
story in this collection is "The Beach," in which Prince Zuko,
Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee--all of whom are back in the Fire Nation,
too--take an awkward holiday but end up learning a lot about one
another.
Meanwhile, Zuko--following his extended banishment from the Fire
Nation--discovers that his her welcoming again, but only
because his manipulative sister, Princess Azula, has falsely told
everyone that Zuko killed Aang. Fearing that his her will
disown him again, Zuko chooses not to tell the truth and works on
having Aang quietly assassinated. Where Zuko had been more of a
complete human being during his exile, he’s back to being a
monster again, going so far as to keep his dutiful uncle, Iroh,
in a dark, dank prison. --Tom Keogh
Book 3: Fire, Vol. 2
Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 3--Fire, Volume 2 finds the
series closing in on a long-awaited day of reckoning with the
fire nation. The five episodes on this disc continue those
chapters on Volume 1 in which Aang--the young avatar--and his
companions Katara, Toph, and Sokka live undercover in the fire
nation, awaiting the moment when an alliance of warriors from the
air, water, and earth nations converge to overtake the conquering
firebenders once and for all. On Volume 2, the path to the day of
battle, in typical Avatar fashion, is full of misadventures and
intrigue, but also sundry revelations that make the pending
series climax that much more interesting. "The Avatar and the
Firelord" is the backstory of how the fire nation leader came to
be a brutal tyrant in the world. Turns out he was the best friend
of none other than the previous avatar; the souring of their
relationship led to the troubles young Aang is trying to resolve.
(While Aang is finding all this out, the fire nation’s Prince
Zuko discovers his ancestry is more complicated than he’d
imagined, and that he has more of a role to play in ending the
war waged by his people.) "The Runaway" is a comedy about
mischievous Toph getting into trouble for using her earthbending
powers to win bets and make a lot of money. "The Puppetmaster" is
a y story featuring a waterbending old woman who initially
enchants Katara, but then later is revealed to be a vengeful
monster with terrifying abilities to control people’s bodies.
"Nightmares and Daydreams" concerns an anxious Aang unable to
and stop hallucinating prior to the coming battle, while
part one of "The Day of Black Sun" sees the beginning of the
allies’ invasion of the fire nation. Lots of surprises in this
last episode, with a cliffhanger ending that makes the next
volume of Avatar most desirable. --Tom Keogh
Book 3: Fire, Vol. 3
At the beginning of Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 3 Fire, Vol.
3, things don't go quite the way one would have hoped at the end
of Vol. 2. Aang--the young avatar--and his companions Katara,
Toph, and Sokka were part of a major assault on the tyrannical
fire nation, and hopes of victory were high. In "The Day of Black
Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse," however, circumstances reverse the
heroes' fortunes, forcing Aang, his friends and the very youngest
warriors to flee the battle. As they regroup at the Western Air
Temple, mourning the expected imprisonment of the adults left
behind, Aang comes face to face with an unexpected, would-be
ally: Zuko, prince of the fire nation. Sokka and Katara refuse to
accept Zuko's guarantee that he is truly on their side (they've
been through this before), but Toph and Aang are a little more
receptive to the idea. Good thing. In "The Firebending Masters,"
Aang accepts that Zuko could be the firebending mentor he needs
to show him how to conquer the most elusive of the four elements.
But it isn't easy: Zuko loses his power and must retreat to a
fire nation temple, where he can learn the origins of his native
gift. The set of five stories on this disc concludes with the
two-part "The Boiling Rock," in which Sokka and Zuko infiltrate a
fire nation maximum security prison in hopes of freeing Sokka's
her. Trying hard to stay clandestine, Zuko's identity is
revealed anyway, jeopardizing not only the mission but Zuko and
Sokka's very freedom. The excitement is endless in the
long-running Avatar series, and developments (especially Zuko's
acceptance by Aang and the others) are as heartening as they are
surprising. --Tom Keogh
Book 3: Fire, Vol. 4
The long-running series Avatar the Last Airbender comes to a
dazzling conclusion in Book 3 Fire, Volume 4. Poised for quite a
number of episodes (seen in previous volumes) to go to war
against the tyrannical Fire Nation, Aang the young Avatar and his
cohorts must now bring down the Fire Lord and his army, or watch
them ramp up their destructive powers during an imminent solar
eclipse. But there's a lingering question only Aang can answer:
can the Avatar, who has never killed anyone, bring himself to
take the Fire Lord's life? That is what he must do, according to
Zuko, the Fire Prince who has thrown in his lot with Aang and the
latter's friends.
While Aang is sorting that out--receiving various wisdoms from
past Avatars and advice from a giant turtle-lion creature--Zuko
and Katara take another leg of the battle by confronting Zuko's
crazed sister. Meanwhile, Sokka re-asserts his latent talent for
commanding dangerous missions as he and earth-bender Toph attempt
to sabotage Fire Nation airships. The final episodes on this disc
are thrilling, in no small part because they have been so long in
arriving. Before those, however, there are a couple of
interesting chapters to get through, including "The Southern
Raiders," in which Katara attempts to exact revenge for the
disappearance of her mother. As always, there's some comic
, in this case "The Ember Island Players," in which our
heroes experience the ignominy of watching some of their previous
adventures become a ridiculous, staged play. --Tom Keogh