Country of origin United States Original network Nickelodeon | No. of episodes 21 | |
Original release September 21, 2007 (2007-09-21) – July 19, 2008 (2008-07-19) | ||
Season Three (Book Three: Fire) of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an American animated television series on Nickelodeon, first aired its 21 episodes from September 21, 2007 to July 19, 2008. The season was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and starred Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, Jessie Flower, Dante Basco, Dee Bradley Baker, Grey DeLisle, and Mark Hamill as character voices.
Contents
This third and final season focuses on Aang's quest to defeat the tyrannical Fire Lord. In the season's beginning, protagonist Aang and his friends Sokka, Katara, and Toph are traveling through the Fire Nation, conjuring a plan for invading the Fire Nation and looking for a teacher to teach Aang Firebending. Midway through the season, Aang gathers friends he met in previous episodes and leads a failed invasion into the Fire Nation. Former antagonist and anti-hero Zuko changes sides and joins Aang, serving as his Firebending teacher until the four-part series finale when Aang finally defeats the Fire Lord and ends the one hundred-year war in a surprising way: he uses a new ability to take away Ozai's firebending abilities to avoid violating selfless Air Nomad teachings.
The season is then followed by The Promise, The Search, and The Rift comic series that take place one or two years later after the hundred-year war's end.
The final season features twenty-one episodes, one more than the previous two seasons. The season finale consisted of the four episodes airing together as a two-hour television movie. Season Three received a similar positive critical reception to that of the previous seasons. The season, and especially the finale, received much critical acclaim, with praises from sources such as DVD Talk. Between October 30, 2007 and September 16, 2008, Nickelodeon released four DVD volumes and a "Complete Box Set".
Production
The season was produced by and aired on Nickelodeon, which is owned by Viacom. The season's executive producers and co-creators were Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who worked alongside episode director 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 Ehasz, Tim Hedrick, 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 joins the cast to voice Fire Lord Ozai after having minor appearances throughout the first and second seasons of the series, while Greg Baldwin now voices Iroh due to Mako Iwamatsu's passing.
Reception
The season received critical acclaim. Jamie S. Rich from DVD Talk remarked, "In addition to the solid writing, Avatar the Last Airbender 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 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 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.