Customer Reviews

Avatar The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 1 (Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First and foremost, about the show: I never had an interest in watching it until I started seeing the trailers for "The Last Airbender" live action film. To me the show just seemed soooo kiddie-looking. However, after doing some reseach and finding almost total critical praise and a huge fanbase encompessing boys girls, men and women, I thought I'd give it a try. Man, was I blown away. This is definitely a cartoon for the ages. While it is lighthearted, it also explores darker themes as the characters are slowly fleshed out. My wife and I, as well as my two daughters, were completely captivated. 5-stars without question.

For the Collector's Edition, if you've already purchased the previously-released Book I collection, you DO NOT need this edition. I repeat, you DO NOT NEED this edition. Inside the fancy box is a DVD with a 20-minute documentary that explores the origins of this series with its creators. Not a bad documentary, but not worth throwing an extra $30 on the counter. Also included in the set is a small booklet that shows some earlier sketches as well as commentary from the two creators. Again, nice, but not worth a re-purchase. And last, the previously-released BOOK I collection is what you're actually getting inside this box. They just took the old edition (box and all), put it inside another box along with a documentary and booklet, stamped LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION on the box, and then jacked the price up $10-$15 dollars. The distributor is trying to take advantage of the up-coming movie. Don't be duped.

I wouldn't call this a true Collector's edition. Sure, there is an extra disc and a come-on to buy the Art of book, but the Book 1 collection itself is the same, they didn't even change the box. The nice looking box simply contains the original 6 disc release of the first season, in the original packaging. I was a little disappointed that the nicer box wasn't integrated a bit more. Like the Lord of the Rings Collector's Editions. I think something as simple as that would be really nice for this series.

In short, if you own the original 6 disc release, don't bother. But if you don't, the box looks great and it'll add some class to your DVD shelf.

Most western animation for children is, to put it simply, really wretched. At best, it's tolerable.

But a shining exception would be the tale of the Avatar of all four elements, and to restore the balance in the world. "Avatar The Last Airbender - Book 1" serves as a solid first season to this series, with its colourful world, vivid action and complex characters. It may be aimed at kids, but it's a solid enough series to be enjoyed by any age.

South Pole Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka stumble across a glowing iceberg, with a young Airbender boy named Aang (and his flying bison) sealed inside. All Airbenders were killed long ago by the Fire Nation -- and Aang is the Avatar who mysteriously vanished a century ago, and is the only hope against the Fire Nation.

Unfortunately, a Fire Nation prince named Zuko has been wandering the world in search of Aang, and agrees to let the Water Tribe alone if Aang surrenders. Katara and Sokka manage to rescue their friend, and since Katara isn't experienced enough in waterbending to teach Aang, they set out for the North Pole to find a waterbending master -- with Zuko and his cruel rival Admiral Zhao in hot pursuit.

Along the way, they encounter hurricanes, woman warriors, a loopy old king who seems very familiar, a Spirit World Beast, pirates, teenage rebels, two tribes locked in an eternal feud, a mysterious blue masked man, fortunetellers, a rogue Firebender, and an Air Temple turned into a steampunk city. But when they arrive at the north pole, Aang and his friends find that their time is running out...

The highest compliment I can pay "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is that it's like a thoroughly solid action/fantasy anime. It's graced with good writing, excellent animation, and a general look drawn from Asian and Inuit cultures -- not to mention different civilizations clashing against the steampunky armored tanks and ships of the Fire Nation.

That isn't to say that it's all grim and serious -- it's quite the opposite. Lots of amusing dialogue ("I'm too young to die!" "I'm not, but I still don't wanna!"), slapstick, and flashy fights involving eruptions of fire, swirling water and blasts of air. It all culminates in a brilliantly epic clash, which wraps up the season nicely while leaving the way open for Aang's next lessons.

Aang is a kind and selfless kid, but still a kid -- plenty of turmoil over his role as the Avatar and his past mistakes, but he's still down-to-earth and sometime spacey. Katara and Sokka make good companions -- a sensible, short-fused girl with waterbending powers, and her reckless, courageous brother. And though he's technically a villain, the scarred, exiled prince Zuko is a brilliant anti-hero. And his lovably pervy uncle Iroh makes for good comic relief ("I'm certain you bathe regularly"), but there are hints that he's much more than that.

The special edition is being released in time for the live-action adaptation, and it adds a sleek blue "book" case with silver detailing. There are going to be seven discs instead of the usual six, with extra stuff -- an exclusive documentary, a paperback companion for artwork and designs, and so on. This could be worth it if you're just discovering "Avatar," but I wouldn't advise buying it if you already have the regular "Book 1."

"Avatar The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 1" has a few initial wobbles, but quickly blossoms into a brilliant little show. Definitely worth seeing.

Since the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender in February, 2005. I have been a die hard fan and a loyal viewer. This show for me has really surpassed all boundaries of story telling and is the greatest example of well done story in all aspects of story telling. With an awesome list of memorable characters and characters stories, an amazing world of true originality, having brilliant and original humor, also an original music, and memorizing battle animation and a massive world of captivating art, Avatar the Last Airbender has been my favorite show since it's release, and being a kids show on Nickelodeon, this is pretty amazing. I looked forward to every new episodes and loved the originality I saw every time. I had grown to love the characters and really enjoyed seeing their progression throughout the series. (Especially Zuko.) This show is just a masterpiece and this collectors edition of the series seems like it will be a treasure to have!

I can only hope they don't come out with a blue ray version as soon as this version has finished it's release. Lol.

I highly recommend this series to everyone. All my friends that I have introduced the series to have become obsessed ever since. I know that if this show would have been aired on Fox or a bigger network, it would have achieved so much more fandom. I can only hope the movie does it some justice, and I also eagerly await the art book coming out soon. Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series)

This show has really inspired me. As an artist and a writer, I really appreciate everything about it and I know if you watch it, you'll probably grow to love it as much as I have,so give it a chance. Definitely a great buy and I really look forward to this purchase.

I also hope that they will continue the series, and if they do, it will be in a widescreen HD format, please. :) I've been checking online ever since series ended. Please bring me a sequel Bryan and Michael!!!! And once again, Thank you so much for creating a masterpiece series.

~ Antonio, 19

I was really looking forward to getting this Collector's Edition and see what extras were added. I knew it wasn't a lot - just a mini-book and a documentary - but I figured it would be packaged in a cool way.

Wrong.

As others have already mentioned, the Collector's Edition is *literally* the Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 1 Collection slipped into another cardboard box, with a little booklet and DVD in an envelope (not even a case!) wedged in. It's really disappointing; it would have been so easy to create a quality Collector's Edition but the studio couldn't be bothered, I guess.

This DVD is not any different than the normal Avatar The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 1 Collection (2005. The only it has as an extra is an artbook that is nothing more than a teaser advertisement for a larger artbook.

I love the serie, and I love the extras, but I especially love the fact that I didn't get suckered into buying this collection for more than the original collection. Especially since it is the same thing as the original. If you have the, Avatar The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 1 Collection from 2005, don' buy this. If you want to buy the first season with a better cover, only buy this if it is cheaper, or the same price as the original one.

This edition of Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender has Season 1 boxset that was previously released in 2006. Although it is missing the paper inside saying what episodes are on what disc but it still comes with the original six discs of the other set if you already have it. While this set comes with a little cardboard to hold the set along with the bonus disc along with a small book with some of the stuff that you can find in the book that was released earlier this month.

I wouldn't recommend getting this if you already have book 1 collection unless you want to get this just for the documentary, while I already had the season 1 set but that can be a nice gift for someone who don't have it. The documentary itself is a half hour long though I felt it could've been maybe a little longer like 45 minutes to try to tell more about what went on with the making of the show. If you don't have Season 1 of this show and wanting to get it, I recommend picking up this set. I give this set 5 stars out of 5.

This particular release is in fact a "repackage" of the original season one box set with a new slip cover and a making of DVD. The cover is cool and the making of DVD inspiring; however if you already own season one you may just wish to hold off on this purchase in case they release a true new version such as a full Blu-Ray collection of the show. All in all though it's a good purchase as long as your buying it for the first time.

I'd only recommend getting this if you don't already own the regular first season. To sum up the documentary DVD, making the show was really really hard. The end. As for the "exclusive art-of" book, it's more of a booklet... pamphlet maybe. Then there's the show itself, in the exact same packaging as the standard season 1 box set. Although there is the super-fancy cardboard case that it's all packaged in... takes up an extra half inch of thickness on the shelf. That's kinda cool.

Let me start off by saying this is one of my favorite shows that has ever aired on TV. Avatar the Last Airbender has been a great show from start to finish, and the producers knew when to end it and not continue after. The first season introduces us to the world of Avatar and its main characters, and is suggested for people new to Avatar to start with book one. I could go on praising the TV show, but plenty of other people have done that.

Now on to the collector's edition of this box set. Truthfully, theres not much more that the collectors edition offers over the original box set. The extra DVD is a very nice feature (worth a watch at least once) and the preview art book is also nice, but not worth the extra purchase if you already have book one on dvd.

Some people have complained about the packaging and the quality of it. I have to say that I love the newer packaging, its how I originally imagined the box sets to look like (They are called book 1,2,3). No, it doesn't look ugly (but it did take me a few minutes to become accustomed to it for some reason), and I love how it looks like a book. The packaging is what really sets this apart from the standard edition (still, not worth an additional purchase if you already own the standard edition, unless you like spending money).

Up until now I had held off buying Avatar box sets, not because I didn't like Avatar, but because they were expensive and I had other series that I wanted to complete the collection. Needless to say, I bought this collector's edition immediately once I found out it existed.

Buying this collector's edition leaves me worried however. I love how the box looks on my dvd shelf, but I want to complete the collection. I want seasons 2 and 3 in collector's edition, just so the boxes look nice together. I want to buy those seasons soon, but not if nickelodeon will be releasing collectors edition.

In short, a great TV show, a great dvd package, but not worth it unless you're a huge Avatar fan or have held off on buying the seasons. And if you do buy it, hope for collector's editions of seasons 2 and 3.

In short