Nickelodeon’s new Avatar collection offers nothing new but is pretty to look at.
At long last, this Tuesday, Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is available as a complete series DVD box set, including all 61 episodes on 16 discs. That’s not to mention all-new packaging, with beautiful cover art drawn by co-creator Bryan Konietzko. As home video releases go, this box set is perfect for newcomers and fans wanting to round out their collection. But for those who already own all three seasons on DVD or Digital, it may not be worth picking up.
For the uninitiated, the series takes place in a world defined by water, earth, fire and air. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, can stop the evil Fire Nation from enslaving the rest of the nations. As it happens, the current Avatar is the last of the Air Nomads, a young boy named Aang, who must learn the ways of waterbending, earthbending and firebending if he hopes to save the world.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series DVD collection
If you haven’t already seen it, Avatar is seriously a must-watch. In my opinion, it’s one of the greatest animated series of all time. I’ve already talked at length about the show and its sequel series The Legend of Korra in other articles (including my recent flashback reviews), so I won’t bore you with more gushing, but I really can’t recommend it highly enough. (Well, okay, you can also read my list of the Top 10 Airbender episodes)
As for this collection, the first thing I should note is Konietzko’s gorgeous new artwork for the DVD cases. Boasting a minimalist design, the cardboard sleeve features Aang striking a dynamic pose against a white background, with the series’ logo emblazoned in reflective silver. The rest of the set is divided into three standard DVD cases, with complementary artwork for each book. Without a doubt, these new covers are the highlight of the collection and give the box set a pristine, uniform look. (They’ll also look great sitting next to the Legend of Korra complete series collection when that set eventually comes out.)
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series DVD cases
Meanwhile, the DVDs themselves are curated in double-sided plastic holders, which are a notable improvement over the overlapping cardboard cases found in the individual season sets.
Unfortunately, that’s where the new stuff ends. The discs are merely repackages of the old ones, complete with outdated ads for other Nickelodeon shows and a trailer for Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Funny enough, there’s also a promo for the old Avatar DVDs on some of the discs.
This also means no new menus or special features, although the ones included in the old sets are still there, with the exception of the seventh bonus disc from the Book One: Collector’s Edition. But from the random sampling of episodes I watched, the NTSC 4:3 video and Dolby audio still hold up fine. As always, HD remasters would have been preferred, but that would have been a much more costly and laborious process, if not an impossible one.
Ultimately, the purchase of Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series is dependent on your current ownership of the show. If you already own all three books on DVD, then this set is likely a pass. But if you’re new to the series or only have one or two season sets — or if you’re just looking for a nice display piece to match the upcoming Korra Blu-rays — then this collection is definitely for you. And at 30 bucks, you couldn’t ask for a better presentation.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series is available on October 6th.
