Aang – The 2024 Avatar season 1 premiere begins in the Capital City with several Fire Nation guards (Hao Ting) pursuing an Earthbender. A fight ensues and ends with the Earthbender being brought before The Fire Lord Sozin (Hiro Kanagawa). Before being burnt to a crisp, the Earthbender learns that his acquisition of the Fire Nation’s battle plans was a carefully constructed tactical ruse to divert resources away from the Fire Nation’s real target, the Avatar.
Once that’s acknowledged, Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) provides a quick voiceover explaining how the Avatar is the delicate balance between the four nations. It is because of the Avatar that those four nations have remained in harmony for millennia. She goes on to explain that the only problem now is that a new Avatar hasn’t been named since the death of the previous one. This is what has spurred Lord Sozin into quick action.
After the brief explanation, the footage resumes in The Southern Air Temple where Aang (Gordon Cormier) is quickly introduced. As the young boy soars to the ground, it immediately becomes clear that he’s quite gifted. His discussion with Gyatso (Lim Kay Siu) alludes to him feeling superior to his peers. Before dismissing him to help the other children prepare for the Air Nomads’ arrival for the Comet Festival, Gyatso tries to get him to realize that there might be a time when he’ll wish he spent more time with his trainers.
As Aang races off excitedly to help with the upcoming festival, Gyasto is dragged in front of the Airbender council where he pleads to delay Aang’s Avatar training. Despite Gyasto advocating a good case, it is ultimately decided that Aang’s training will advance. Later that evening, Gyasto doesn’t just reveal the news to Aang, but he tells him about the dark path the Fire Nation has embarked on. Aang appears to be most troubled by the fact that his training will require him to be sent away from his friends.
Unable to sleep much later that night, Aang ventures into the town square where he shares his woes with his bison pal, Appa. Although Appa is a huge animal, Aang appears to find comfort in him and his grunting and moaning provide the illusion that he understands Aang. When Aang decides on a final ride on the bison, Lord Sozin is quickly shown elsewhere rallying his troops.
Mere seconds later, The Southern Air Temple is revealed as the target. Gyatso focuses his efforts on the young boys and appears to lead them to safety thanks to the assistance of several heroic monks. At the same time, Aang and Appa find themselves caught in a storm above the ocean. The Southern Air Temple puts up a commendable resistance but the Fire Nation proves too powerful. Lord Sozin sets his sights on the temple where the young Airbenders are hidden. Gyatso puts up a good effort to protect them, but Sozin prevails thanks to the extra strength from the comet. At the same time, the storm has also overtaken Aang and he now floats alone, unconsciously in the middle of the ocean.
The story picks up in a cave outside Wolf Cove where Katara (Kiawentiio) becomes frustrated with her lack of success at waterbending. Returning to the village, she joins Sokka (Ian Ousley), who is expressing his disgust with the careless way the young villagers have been manning the wall. The two of them soon find themselves on a fishing expedition, hoping to compensate for the village’s recent lack of success. He doesn’t waste any time letting Katara know how he feels about her practicing waterbending. Their expedition is derailed when they get caught in a riptide of sorts that strands them on a glacier. While stranded on the glacier Katara attempts and fails to manipulate the water to return their small craft. They also discover a mystical glowing sphere that Aang later emerges from. The bright light also attracts the attention of a nearby ship with Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) onboard. After retrieving the canoe, Sokka tries to leave Aang but Katara makes it clear she’s not leaving him behind.
Aang is returned to the village, where the locals marvel over him and his unique tattoos. It isn’t until Gran Gran (Casey Camp-Horinek) arrives that any light is shed on his identity. When the footage returns to the large ship and Prince Zanko, it’s revealed that his father, Lord Sozin has exiled him from their home until he returns with the Airbender.
Despite waking in frightened, Aang is immediately calmed by the artic setting and reveling children he finds outside. This soon changes when he’s hit in the face with a snowball and Sokka arrives armed for a fight. Aang appears to be amused that anyone would consider him a threat, but is put back on high alert when he realizes Appa is missing. After the quick reunion, Aang attempts to explain the storm and his origin story to the locals. Much to Aang’s surprise, the villagers are more than familiar with the story, as it has become a bit of a myth since the comet or Airbenders haven’t been seen since.
Despite Prince Zanko’s age, he doesn’t have a problem asserting his authority when he overhears Lieutenant Jee (Ruy Iskandar) mouthing off about the stop at Wolf Cove. Katara attempts to comfort Aang with the story of the night the Fire Nation attacked her village and her father’s subsequent disappearance. He later returns the favor when she takes him to the cave where she practices waterbending. She tells him that she too is the last of her kind in the village. Katara’s excitement with the progression of her training abruptly ends when she spots the Prince’s ship approaching their village.
Sokka and the village are already preparing for the attack when Katara and Aang arrive. While quickly debating about the ship’s intention it is Gran Gran that shines light on Aang being the Avatar. Although it’s neither confirmed nor denied, this upsets Sokka, who then refuses to help Katara participate in the attack. Their argument resumes when Prince Zanko arrives and offers to leave the village unharmed if they turn over Aang.
It takes some convincing, but Katara convinces Sokka to protect Aang. He chooses to do so by challenging Zanko to a one-on-one fight, which he accepts. Despite putting forth a commendable effort, Aang intervenes when Zanko is about to finish him off. Aang doesn’t appear to have a problem holding off the Zanko’s army but eventually agrees to turn himself over. Katara once again convinces Sokka to go after Aang, although it doesn’t appear to take much persuasion this time. He is much more reluctant when she later suggests riding Appa to help make up lost time.
Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) joins Aang in the ship’s brig and formerly introduces himself as the son of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). Once asked, Iroh attempts to explain the reasons behind the Fire Nation’s pursuit. Their discussion doesn’t last long, but it provides Aang with the opportunity to steal the guard’s keys and free himself when left alone. After discovering Zanko’s journal of Avatars and finding his staff, a chase ensues. Aang jumps off the shift and uses his gliding abilities, but ends up out of control when he’s hit by one of Zanko’s fireballs. He’s saved in the nick of time by Sokka, Katara, and Appa. Seconds later, Katara manages to deflect another of Zanko’s fireball attacks.
Once a safe distance away, Sokka, Katara, and Aang debate about where they can go without putting anyone at risk. At Aangs’ suggestion, they decide to return to the Air Temple, where Aang discovers Gyatso’s corpse and becomes upset. His anger leads to a similar reaction that was experienced earlier at the glacier. The episode ends with Aang accepting his role as Avatar and avenging the loss of his village
2024 Avatar: The Last Airbender Review
I honestly can’t say the series was horrible, although it did feel incredibly long-winded at times. In addition, the cast felt entirely oversaturated. There were so many characters that in the end had little impact on anything. Despite feeling somewhat familiar, I did enjoy the origin stories and story arcs. I was even at times surprised by some of these young actor’s performances. As far as introductions to a series, the story felt well-developed, plenty of story arcs were established, and the quest for revenge was set. For those reasons and despite being a Nickelodeon show, I’d give the episode a 5 out of 10.
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