Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 3)

Season Three (Book 3: Fire) of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an American animated television series on Nickelodeon, first showed its 21 episodes on television from 21 September, 2007 to 19 July, 2008. The season was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and it starred Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, Jessie Flower, Dante Basco, and Grey DeLisle as character voices.
This third and final season focuses on Aang's quest to defeat the tyrannical Fire Lord Ozai. 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 season finale, when Aang finally defeats the Fire Lord and ends the war.
The final season features 21 episodes, one more than the previous two seasons. The season finale consisted of the four episodes showed together as a two-hour television movie. Season Three received a similar positive critic to that of the previous seasons. The season, and especially the finale, received much critical acclaim, with praises from sources such as DVD Talk and IGN.
Production
The season was produced by and aired on Nickelodeon, which is owned by Viacom. The show's creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, worked with 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 written 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
Mako's death
Mako Iwamatsu, the voice actor of Iroh at first season, died during the production and was replaced by Greg Baldwin.
Episodes
DVD releases
Between 30 October 2007 and 16 September 2008, Nickelodeon sold four DVD volumes and a complete box-set. Each of the four volume DVDs had one disc and five episodes, with the exception of volume four, which had six episodes, and the boxed set had all twenty-one episodes on five discs. The boxed set of DVDs was sold on 1 February 2010 in the UK.
Critic
Like the previous 2 seasons, the critic was positive overall. Jamie S. Rich from DVD Talk said, "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:
This final season in the trilogy is turning out to be the best... At this point in the story, major things are happening, with the characters going through changes and the various plot elements coming together. Thankfully, the show creators never rest, and the quality control is top-notch. The writing is smart, and the animation always impressive.
Henrik Batallones, a BuddyTV Staff Columnist, also noted the wide variety of positive reviews from the press for the season finale, noting that sources such as the New York Times and Toon Zone gave Avatar "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 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".
Film adaptation
The final part of the planned The Last Airbender trilogy is expected to be based on Book Three with the main cast of the first and second films and M. Night Shyamalan to return as director, writer and producer.
References
General
Specific
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Nicktoons
American television seasons
2007 television seasons
2008 television seasons