Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang in several countries) is a multi award-winning American animated television series that airs on the Nickelodeon television network and every day 7-8 PM EST on Nicktoons Network. The show is set in an Asian-influenced world.[1] of martial arts and elemental manipulation; the series follows the adventures of Aang and his friends, who try to save the world from war with the Fire Nation.[2] The show's protagonist Aang is trapped in an iceberg when he is found by two members of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka.[3] After being freed from the iceberg, Katara and Sokka join Aang on a long journey across the globe; their ultimate goal is to help Aang acquire the skills to defeat the Fire Lord, and end the war.[4] In the series' terminology, each episode is referred to as a "chapter", and each season as a "book."
Avatar: The Last Airbender logo.
The Chinese characters 降卋(世)神通 (pinyin:Jiàngshì Shéntōng) that appear with the English logo translate to "The divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."
Originally slated to start in November 2004, the show was postponed twice: first to September 10, 2005,[2], then to February 21, 2005, where it finally made its debut; it is now available on DVD, the iTunes Store, and the Xbox Live Marketplace, as well as its home on Nickelodeon.[5] Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko co-created the series, and serve as executive producers alongside Aaron Ehasz. Avatar: The Last Airbender is popular with both audiences and critics,[6] garnering 4.4 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 6-11-year-old demographic.[4][7] The series' success prompted Nickelodeon to order second[8] and third[9] seasons. Merchandise based on the series include scaled action figures,[10] a trading card game,[11][12] three video games based on the first,[13] second,[14][15] and third seasons, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two Lego sets.[16]
Contents:
1 Background
1.1 Premise
1.2 Plot synopsis
2 Characters
2.1 Main characters
2.2 Secondary characters
3 Influences
3.1 Cultural references
3.1.1 Avatar
3.1.2 Elements
3.2 Western culture
3.3 Asian culture
3.3.1 Calligraphy
3.3.2 Fighting styles
3.4 Asian film
3.5 Anime
4 Response
4.1 Ratings
4.2 Awards and Nominations
5 Media information
5.1 Promotion and merchandising
5.2 Feature film adaptation
6 References
7 External links
A map of the four nations. The characters at the top, 群雄四分, mean "the heroes divide [the world or the country or the land] in four." The characters of the four lands are 水善 (Water Peaceful), 土强 (Earth Strong), 火烈 (Fire Fierce), and 气和 (Air Harmony). The phrase at the bottom, 天下一匡, reads "correct all things under heaven." The "correct things" phrase, with roots of the Confucian analect phrase 一匡天下, refers to reunification.
===========================
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
