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Format: 25 min. Episode
Air Date(s): Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 8:30pm (ET)
Regular Air Date(s): Fridays at 8:30pm on Nick
Official Website: www.Nick.com/Avatar
Official AVATAR s3 Trailer: Available for Download / Viewing
A.I. News Link: Season Three of 'Avatar' Scheduled
A.I. News Link: Cable TV Animation Q2 Ratings
Past A.I. Interview: Bryan Konietzko & Mike DiMartino
Program News: Korean Animators work on Avatar
Program News: www.AvatarSpirit.net
Images: Click to Enlarge [all];
All images & AVATAR properties © Nickelodeon 2007.
All 18 fanart © their respected owners.
Warning: This Review Contains Spoilers for the Episode Reviewed.
"Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's capital. In Ba Sing Se she found her brother Zuko and together they faced the Avatar... and the Avatar fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell! Azula's agents quickly took over the entire city; they went to Ba Sing Se's great walls and brought them down. The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the wall and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory! Now the heroes have returned home: your Princess Azula; and after three long years, your Prince has returned: Zuko!"
Nifty summary of Season Two, isn't it? Or at least, that's what the bad guys say. In any case, here's a perspective of what happened afterwards, from the good guys:
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"After what happened at Ba Sing Se, we had to get [Aang] to safety. We flew back to Chameleon Bay where we found my father and the other Water Tribe men. The Earth King decided he wanted to travel the world in disguise so he set off alone… Soon, the Bay was overrun by Fire Nation ships. Rather than take them all we captured a single ship and made it our disguise. Since then we've been traveling west[ward under the semblance of a Fire Navy vessel]."
Hmmmm. Where to start. I made it a personal point to pay no attention to the buzz related to the new season of Avatar: the Last Airbender since the closing of last season, often sticking to subjects that deal with the program indirectly: network ratings, videogame releases, &c. That as combined with the fact that Third Seasons are often the most difficult to produce in television animation, I've kept myself well-occupied over the past several months, only occasionally intriguing myself with the wide varieties of [fanart] upon [fanart] that permeates the web. Nevertheless, a Season Three often squeezes the most out of a production team while subject to additional concerns over series direction and continuity. The Third Season is also where the television animation's creativity is in the highest demand… innovation isn't that infrequent little gift one finds on a random Friday afternoon anymore; it's damn near expected every single week.
And so with Season Three of Avatar: the Last Airbender coming down the line, my expectations were what they've always been: an indifferent enthusiasm. Upon debut: "The Awakening" is a display of artistic wonder, but for all its fancy artwork is riddled with technical blemishes that make it extremely difficult to concentrate on what's supposed to be an engaging animation.
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"And the best part is... the eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage. We have a secret. You. Yep, the whole world thinks you're dead... isn't that great?" --Sokka |
In an expected turn of events, Aang and his buddies find themselves fugitives once again, sort of, as they rally supporters of The Day of Black Sun. Sokka, Katara, Toph and up until now, an incapacitated Aang, have found that without the Earth Kingdom, their assault against the Fire Nation is going to have to fought with guerilla tactics.
Using the resources of the Water Tribe Fleet, courtesy of Chief Hakoda, the Aang gang has assembled a few allies, but will need a much larger, better-organized battle strategy if the Eclipse attack is to work at all against a power hungry entity such as the Fire Nation. Generally speaking, that's "Sokka's Invasion Plan," but as one can tell it is in need of some fine-tuning and has some holes that need to be filled.
As the title of this episode implies, Aang regains consciousness following the massive battle at the Earth Kingdom capital in the Second Season finale. It's been a few weeks since the battle, and though the world assumes the death of the avatar based on hearsay; our heroes are busy looking for a detailed battle plan, searching for a means of redemption and regretting the takeover of lost cities, naturally. Now adrift through eastern waters, Aang's got a massive headache, a malnourished stomach, a full head of hair and a serious, serious bone to pick with Fire Lord Ozai.
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