Avatar: The Last Airbender pulled off one of the greatest storytelling feats in the history of American television

The Cut

Fans of the animated series that ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008 are thrilled now that it's available on Netflix. "Today is the best day of my life," says Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz of the show's release Friday. "It’s the first day in 15 years that I don’t have to go to a weird video-streaming site, click out of all the pornographic ads, and wait for the world’s best show to buffer for 30 minutes before watching it. Today is the day that Avatar: The Last Airbender comes to Netflix." Singh-Kurtz calls Avatar: The Last Airbender one of the greatest shows ever. "Don’t be fooled by the fact that Avatar is a cartoon; the world is lush and complicated, and many of the plots have strong political resonance," says Singh Kurtz. "Its story, too, is a human one: The characters are imbued with a kind of complexity that’s closer to a prestige HBO drama than something that aired alongside Invader Zim. To watch them grow over three seasons is a master class in character building — particularly the profound journey of the show’s antagonist, a sexy and tortured Fire Nation prince named Zuko. And while it has the hallmarks of a kid’s show, Avatar tackles big themes."

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• Airbender’s cultural influence was slow to spread, but its impact was huge: "At the time it aired, mainstream critics were a little slow to embrace the show: It lost its one Emmy nomination, in 2007, to the tenth season of South Park," says Aja Romano. "Still, its final season won a Peabody for 'adding thoughtful substance to a genre best known for its style.' That observation proved prophetic, because Airbender went on to dramatically alter the landscape of children’s animated television. The series is widely believed to have started a 'golden age' of serial animated TV which, while aimed at children, dealt with complex, nuanced themes that also gave the shows wide appeal among adults. It’s hard to imagine lore-heavy cartoons Adventure Time or Steven Universe, which began in 2010 and 2013, respectively, existing without Airbender proving that there was a US audience for sophisticated narrative animated series. Airbender’s follow-up, 2013’s The Legend of Korra, which explores the Airbender universe many years in the future through the eyes of a new avatar, also garnered a cult following, as did later series by members of Airbender’s creative team, like Voltron: Legendary Defender and the current Netflix series The Dragon Prince. Airbender is seminal, too, not just for its impact on TV animation, but because of its status as a show with an openly progressive worldview. Its themes anticipated an era of progressive change."
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