The Western Air Temple

''Book Three: Fire'' is the third and final season of ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', an American animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The series stars Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, Jessie Flower, Dante Basco, Dee Bradley Baker, Greg Baldwin (replacing Mako Iwamatsu), Grey DeLisle, and Mark Hamill as the main character voices.

The final season focuses once again on Avatar Aang, now seeking to learn Firebending, and his friends Katara, Sokka, and Toph, who must defeat the tyrannical Fire Lord Ozai before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. Concurrently, it also follows Prince Zuko, who is finally welcomed back into the Fire Nation after betraying his uncle Iroh and helping his sister Azula conquer Ba Sing Se in ''Book Two''.

''Book Three: Fire'' premiered on Nickelodeon on September 21, 2007. It consisted of 21 episodes and concluded with the four-part series finale "Sozin's Comet" on July 19, 2008. Like the previous seasons, it received critical acclaim, with many praising it as a satisfying conclusion to the series.
Between October 30, 2007 and September 16, 2008, Paramount Home Entertainment released four DVD volumes and a complete boxset.

The season was followed by the comic trilogy series '' The Promise'' which is set one year after the four-part series finale.

A sequel series, ''The Legend of Korra'', aired on Nickelodeon from April 14, 2012 to December 19, 2014. Set seventy years after the finale, the series follows Avatar Korra of the Southern Water Tribe, the successor of Avatar Aang.
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Episodes

Production

The season was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and aired on Nickelodeon, both of which are owned by Viacom. The season's executive producers and co-creators were Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who worked alongside head writer and co-producer Aaron Ehasz. Most of the individual episodes were directed by Ethan Spaulding, Lauren MacMullan and Giancarlo Volpe. Episodes were written by a team of writers, which consisted of Aaron Ehasz, Elizabeth Welch, Tim Hedrick, and John O'Bryan, along with creators DiMartino and Konietzko.

The season's music was composed by "The Track Team", which consists of Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who were known to the show's creators because Zuckerman was Konietzko's roommate.

Cast

All of the central characters generally remained the same: Zach Tyler Eisen voices Aang, Mae Whitman voices Katara, Jack DeSena voices Sokka, Jessie Flower voices Toph, Dante Basco voices Zuko, Dee Bradley Baker voices Appa and Momo, and Grey DeLisle voices Azula.

Additionally, Mark Hamill reprises his role as Fire Lord Ozai in a greater capacity after having minor appearances throughout the first and second seasons of the series,
while Greg Baldwin now voices Iroh due to Mako Iwamatsu's death.

Reception

The season received critical acclaim, winning a 2008 Peabody Award. Jamie S. Rich from DVD Talk remarked, "In addition to the solid writing, ''Avatar the Last Airbender'' 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''also has amazing animation. The character designs, with its roots in classic Asian folklore, are colorful and inventive, and the overall animation is smooth and consistently executed". Jamie S. Rich wrote in another review:

Henrik Batallones, a BuddyTV Staff Columnist, also noted the wide variety of positive reviews from the press for the Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, series finale, noting that sources such as ''The New York Times'' and Toon Zone gave ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' "glowing reviews".

The season also received praise for its video, redemption of Zuko, and sound quality. Nick Lyons from DVD Talk felt that the video quality appeared better than previous seasons, which had also garnered additional awards. He also remarks that the sound is "spot on...as per usual." At the 2008 Annie Awards, the season won "Best Animated Television Production for Children". At the same Annie Awards, Joaquim Dos Santos won the "Best Directing in an Animated Television Production" caption for his directing in "Into the Inferno". Joaquim Dos Santos also gave ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' a nomination at Annecy 2008 for his work with "The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse". Additionally, music editor and composer Jeremy Zuckerman and the sound editing team were nominated a Golden Reel award for "Best Sound Editing in a Television Animation" for their work in "Avatar Aang".

DVD releases

The first three DVD volumes contain five episodes each, and the fourth volume contains six. A later boxed set contained all four volumes. The first DVD was released on October 30, 2007, and the complete boxed set was released on September 16, 2008. They are released by Paramount Home Entertainment. Each of the individual Season Three DVDs also comes complete with an exclusive comic book. The Complete Book 3 Collection DVD includes the following DVD extras: ''Inside Sozin's Comet'': Exclusive Four-Part Commentary by Creators, ''The Women of Avatar: The Last Airbender'', Book 3 Finale Pencil Test Animation and ''Into the Fire Nation'' at San Diego Comic-Con. The boxed set was released on February 1, 2010 in the United Kingdom.

Footnotes

:1. Production code format taken from the commentary for "Sozin's Comet Part 1: The Phoenix King"

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avatar: The Last Airbender (Season 3)

Avatar: The Last Airbender
2007 American television seasons
2008 American television seasons

fr:Liste des épisodes d'Avatar, le dernier maître de l'air#Livre Trois : Le Feu