Book One: ''Water'' is the first season of '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

created by

Michael Dante DiMartino Michael Dante DiMartino (born July 18, 1974) is an American animator, producer, writer, and director. He is best known, together with Bryan Konietzko, as the co-creator of the animated TV series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and ''The Legend o ...

and

Bryan Konietzko Bryan Joseph Konietzko (born June 1, 1975) is an American animator, writer, producer and director. He is best known, together with Michael Dante DiMartino, as the co-creator and executive producer of the animated series '' Avatar: The Last Airben ...

and produced by

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio Inc. (also known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios or Nick Animation and credited as Nickelodeon Productions on-screen) is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. It has c ...

. The first season aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

from February 21 to December 2, 2005, and consisted of 20 episodes. The series stars

Zach Tyler Eisen Zachary Tyler Eisen (born September 23, 1993) is an American actor. He voiced Aang in Nickelodeon's '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', Lucas Nickle in '' The Ant Bully'', Andrew in ''Little Bill'' and Pablo in the 2004 animated TV series ''The Backy ...

Mae Whitman Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actor. She began her career as a child actor, starring in the films '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994), '' One Fine Day'' (1996), ''Independence Day'' (1996), and '' Hope Floats'' (1998), ...

Jack DeSena John Patrick De Sena (; born December 6, 1987), better known by his stage name Jack DeSena, is an American actor. He is best known for his work on the sketch comedy series '' All That'', and voicing Sokka on the Nickelodeon series '' Avatar: The ...

Dante Basco Dante Roman Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys, in Steven Spielberg's ''Hook'', Dolph in the cult film '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', the lead character Ben Mercado in th ...

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

Mako Iwamatsu was a Japanese-American actor, credited mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply Mako (マコ), pronounced "MAH-ko". His career in film, on television, and on stage spanned five decades and 165 productions. He was an Academy Aw ...

and

Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of D.J. in ''Event Horizon'' (1997), Ronald Quincy in ''Armageddon'' (1998), Colonel William Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' ...

as the main character voices. The season revolves around the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

Aang Avatar Aang ( zh, c=安昂, p=Ān Áng), or simply Aang, is the titular protagonist of Nickelodeon's animated television series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko), voiced by Zach Tyler Ei ...

and his friends Katara and

Sokka Sokka is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and its sequel series ''The Legend of Korra''. The character, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, is voiced by Jack ...

going on a journey to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to teach Aang and Katara. The

Fire Nation ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'' in some regions, is an American animated series, animated fantasy television, fantasy Action fiction, action television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino a ...

is waging a seemingly endless imperialist war against the

Earth Kingdom ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'' in some regions, is an American animated fantasy action television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and produced by Nickelodeon Anima ...

and the Water Tribes, following the genocide of the

Air Nomads This is a list of significant characters from the Nickelodeon animated television series ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and its sequel ''The Legend of Korra'', co-created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, as well the Avatar: The L ...

one hundred years ago. Aang, the current Avatar, must master the four elements (Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) to end the war. Along the way, Aang and his friends are chased by various pursuers: the banished Fire Nation Prince Zuko, along with his uncle and former general

Iroh Iroh (listed as Uncle in onscreen credits) is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender''. Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the character was voiced by Mako in the fi ...

, and Admiral Zhao of the Fire Navy. Each episode of the season attracted more than a million viewers on its first airing. Between January 31 and September 19, 2006, five DVD sets were released in the United States, each containing four episodes from the season. On September 12, 2006, Nickelodeon also released the "Complete Book 1 Collection Box Set", which contained all of the episodes in the season as well as a special features disc. The original releases were encoded in Region 1, a DVD type that plays only in North American DVD players. From 2007 to 2009, Nickelodeon released Region 2 DVDs, which can play in Europe. __TOC__

Episodes

Production

The show was produced by

and aired on

, both of which are owned by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

. The show's executive producers were co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who worked alongside head writer and co-producer Aaron Ehasz. Eight episodes were directed by Dave Filoni. Animation directors

Lauren MacMullan Lauren Hunter MacMullan (born April 30, 1964) is an American animation director. She grew up in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Havertown, Lansdowne and Swarthmore, and graduated from Swarthmore High School in 1982. She attended Harvard University, ...

and Giancarlo Volpe directed five episodes each, and Anthony Lioi directed two. Episodes were written or co-written by a team of writers, which included Nick Malis, John O'Bryan, Matthew Hubbard, James Eagan, Ian Wilcox, Tim Hedrick and Elizabeth Welch. All of the show's music was composed by "The Track Team", which consists of Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who were known to the producers because Zuckerman was Konietzko's roommate. Two alternating Korean studios were enlisted to provide animation production support for the series,

DR Movie DR Movie Co., Ltd. is a South Korean animation studio that was established in Seoul in 1990 and frequently works with Japanese companies on anime titles. Since 1991, the studio has been in an exclusive partnership with the Japanese animation stud ...

and JM Animation Co.

Cast

Most of the show's main characters made their debut within most, if not all, of the first episodes: Zach Tyler Eisen provided Aang's voice, Mae Whitman as Katara's voice, Jack DeSena as Sokka's voice, Dante Basco as Zuko's voice, Mako as Iroh's voice, and Dee Bradley Baker as the voices of both

Appa Appa or APPA may refer to: Organizations * American Psychopathological Association, a scientific professional organization * American Philosophical Practitioners Association, a non-profit educational organization *American Public Power Associatio ...

and

Momo Momo may refer to: Geography * Momo (department), Cameroon, a division of Northwest Province * Momo, Gabon, a town in the Woleu-Ntem province * Momo, Piedmont, a town in the province of Novara, Italy People Given name or nickname Athletes * ...

. Additional supporting characters include Commander (later Admiral) Zhao, voiced by

Reception

Film critics appreciated the first season of ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' because it attracted the attention of "an audience beyond the children's market with crisp animation and layered storytelling." On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the season has an approval rating of 100% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A brilliant blend of magic, humor, and adventure, ''Avatar'' is an instant classic." As for the video and picture quality, Gord Lacey from

TVShowsOnDVD.com TVShowsOnDVD.com was a website dedicated to cataloging, campaigning for, and reporting news about Region 1 television series releases on DVD and region A Blu-ray. The site's slogan asked: "Is YOUR Favorite Show On DVD?". From February 2007 un ...

claims "the colors are bright, and the picture is nearly flawless." He says later in the review that "the audio is very nice, with lots of directional effects and nice musical cues."

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

reviewer Christina Urban praised the season's masterful combination of "elements from Chinese

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

, Tibetan philosophy,

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

forms, and even Hindu spiritual beliefs". According to Aaron Bynum from AnimationInsider.net, "the series posted double digit year-to-year gains in May". He also said that the show has been number one in the boys 9- to 14-year-old demographic, and has attracted many age and gender groups in its pool of 1.1 million viewers who watch each new episode. In addition, the season has won many awards throughout its runtime. During the 33rd Annual

Annie Awards The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origi ...

, the show was nominated for the "Best Animated Television Production" award. Because of the episode "The Fortuneteller", the show was nominated for the "Writing for an Animated Television Production" award. For the episode "The Deserter", the season was nominated for and won the "Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production" award. During the 2005 Pulcinella Awards, the season won the "Best Action/Adventure TV Series" award as well and the general "Best TV Series" award.

Home media release

Region 1

Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Entertainment started releasing Season One DVDs in North America on January 31, 2006, with a series of single-disc sets containing four episodes per disc. Later the Complete Book 1 Collection was released on September 12, 2006, containing all twenty episodes plus extras on six discs.

Region 2

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

versions of the single-disc volume sets started being released on February 19, 2007;. As with the original Region 1

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

DVDs, each set contains four episodes per disc. The Complete Book One Collection was released on January 26, 2009, containing all twenty episodes on five discs. These Region 2 releases lack the commentary tracks and other DVD extras found on the Region 1 releases.

Live-action adaptations

''The Last Airbender'' is a live-action film based on the first season of the animated television series and had a theatrical release on July 1, 2010. The film, directed by

M. Night Shyamalan Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received vario ...

, was universally panned by critics, audiences and fans of the series alike and grossed $319 million on a $150 million budget. The first season would once again be adapted into an unrelated live-action series and released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on February 22, 2024. The series received mixed reviews from critics and audiences.

Notes

References

Avatar: The Last Airbender 2005 American animated television seasons {{DEFAULTSORT:Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 es:Anexo:Episodios de Avatar: la leyenda de Aang#Libro Uno: Agua fr:Liste des épisodes d'Avatar, le dernier maître de l'air#Livre Un : L'Eau