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Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 2)

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Avatar: The Last Airbender
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes20
Release
Original networkNickelodeon
Original releaseMarch 17 (2006-03-17) –
December 1, 2006 (2006-12-01)[1]
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 1
Next →
Season 3
List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes

Season Two (Book 2: Earth) of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an American animated television series on Nickelodeon, first showed its 20 episodes from 17 March 2006 to 1 December 2006. The season was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and starred Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, Jessie Flower, Mako, Grey DeLisle, and Dante Basco as the main character voices.[2]

In the season's beginning, the protagonist Aang and his friends Katara and Sokka started a search to find an Earthbending teacher, which finishes when they recruit Toph. Sokka finds important information concerning the war with the Fire Nation. Aang quickly becomes single-minded in looking for his kidnapped flying bison Appa. His search leads him to Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom, where he uncovers the great internal government corruption of Ba Sing Se. At the season's end, Ba Sing Se falls to the Fire Nation and Aang escapes with his friends on a recovered Appa.

During the season's airing, the show received much critical acclaim, with praises such as, "As a flat concept, Avatar the Last Airbender is nothing special, but in execution, it is head and shoulders above other children's entertainment", and that "as a whole, the look of Avatar is consistently excellent."[3] Season 2 has won multiple awards, including the "Best Character Animation in a Television Production" award from the 34th Annie Awards[4] and the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation" award from the 2007 Emmy Awards.[5]

Between 23 January 2007 and 11 September 2007, Nickelodeon released five DVD sets for the season: four sets had five episodes each, and a fifth DVD collection of all twenty episodes.[6] All DVDs were encoded in Region 1. In the UK, only the season boxset was released without being released in four volumes first. The boxset was released on July 20, 2009.

Production

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The season was produced by and shown on Nickelodeon, which is owned by Viacom. The season's creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, worked with Aaron Ehasz.[7] Most of the individual episodes were directed by Ethan Spaulding, Lauren MacMullan and Giancarlo Volpe.[2] Episodes were written by a team of writers, in which worked Aaron Ehasz, Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, Tim Hedrick, John O'Bryan; with creators DiMartino and Konietzko.[2]

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.[8]

Cast

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See the main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters

From the first season

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Actor Role
Zach Tyler Eisen Aang
Mae Whitman Katara
Jack DeSena[2] Sokka
Dante Basco[9] Zuko

New characters

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Actor Role
Jessie Flower Toph
Cricket Leigh Mai
Olivia Hack[2] Ty Lee
Grey DeLisle Azula
Clancy Brown Long Feng[2]

Mako's death

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Mako Iwamatsu, the actor who voiced Iroh at first season, died during the production and was replaced by Greg Baldwin.[10]

Episodes

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See the main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes
Episode's number[11] Τitle Directed by Written by Original air date Prod. Code
1 The Avatar State[12] Giancarlo Volpe Aaron Ehasz, Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, Tim Hedrick & John O'Bryan 17 March 2006 201
2 The Cave of Two Lovers[13] Lauren MacMullan Joshua Hamilton 24 March 2006 202
3 Return to Omashu[14] Ethan Spaulding Elizabeth Welch Ehasz 7 April 2006 203
4 The Swamp[15] Giancarlo Volpe Tim Hedrik 14 April 2006 204
5 Avatar Day[16] Lauren MacMullan John O' Bryan 28 April 2006 205
6 Blind bandit[17] Ethan Spaulding Michael Dante DiMartino 5 May 2006 206
7 Zuko Alone[18] Lauren MacMullan Elizabeth Welch Ehasz 12 May 2006 207
8 The Chase[19] Giancarlo Volpe Joshua Hamilton 26 Μay 2006 208
9 Bitter Work[20] Ethan Spaulding Aaron Ehasz 2 June 2006 209
10 The Library[21] Giancarlo Volpe John O' Bryan 14 July 2006 210
11 The Desert[22] Lauren MacMullan Tim Hedrick 14 July 2006 211
12 The Serpent's Pass[23] Ethan Spaulding Michael Dante DiMartino & Joshua Hamilton 15 September 2006 212
13 The Drill[24] Giancarlo Volpe Michael Dante DiMartino + Bryan Konietzko 15 September 2006 213
14 City of Walls and Secrets[25] Lauren MacMullan Tim Hedrick 22 September 2006 214
15 Tales of Ba Sing Se[26] Ethan Spaulding Joann Estoesta, Lisa Wahlander, Andrew Huebner, Gary Scheppke, Lauren MacMullan, Katie Mattila, Justin Ridge & Giancarlo Volpe 29 September 2006 215
16 Appa's Lost Days[27] Giancarlo Volpe Elizabeth Welch Ehasz 12 October 2006 216
17 Lake Laogai[28] Lauren MacMullan Tim Hedrick 3 November 2006 217
18 The Earth King[29] Ethan Spaulding Jonh O' Bryan 16 November 2006 218
19 The Guru[30] Giancarlo Volpe 1 December 2006 219
20 The Crossroads of Destiny[31] Michael Dante DiMartino Aaron Ehasz 1 December 2006 220

Critic

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In a review of the Volume 2 DVD Release for Book 2, Gabriel Powers from DVDActive.com described the series as one of the best children's series in recent times, making comparisons with Samurai Jack and Justice League, and complimented it for its depth and humour.[32] Powers also comments:

Without dumbing down its characters, plots, or humour, and without overtly taming-up the action or peril, Avatar manages to enthral children and adults, ages 4 to 56...There is a genuine classic feel to the series, which uses actual Asian culture and lore as its base. Like Star Wars, the creative forces behind the show have tapped into that basic, generation spanning storytelling that will live long after the series' youngest fans are old and bitter.[32]

For the video and audio quality, Powers says "Season two generally looks better than the bulk of season one, but still has some issues" concerning image sharpness.[33] Jamie S. Rich from DVD Talk says that "As a flat concept, Avatar the Last Airbender is nothing special, but in execution, it is head and shoulders above other children's entertainment", and that "as a whole, the look of Avatar is consistently excellent".[3]

The show also received acclaim for its visual appeal. In the 34th Annie Awards, the show was nominated for and won the "Best Character Animation in a Television Production" award, for Jae-Myung Yu's animation in "The Blind Bandit", and the "Best Directing in an Animated Television Production" award, for the episode "The Drill".[4] In 2007, the show was nominated for "Outstanding Animated Program" in the 2007 Emmy Awards for the "City of Walls and Secrets" episode,[34] though it did not win.[5] However, the show did win the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation" award for Sang-Jin Kim's animation in the "Lake Laogai" episode.[5]

DVD releases

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Between 23 January 2007 and 11 September 2007, Nickelodeon released five DVD sets for the season: four sets had five episodes each, and a fifth DVD collection of all 20 episodes.[6][35] All DVDs were encoded in Region 1 (USA). In the UK, only the season box set was released without being released in four volumes first. The box set was released on 20 July 2009.

Volume Discs Episodes Region 1 release (USA) Region 2 release (Europe) Region 4 release (Australia)
1 1 5 23 January 2007 Not released 4 June 2009[36]
2 1 5 10 April 2007 Not released 6 August 2009[37]
3 1 5 22 May 2007 Not released 29 October 2009[38]
4 1 5 14 August, 2007 Not released 31 March 2010[39]
Box set 5[40] 20[40] 11 September 2007 20 July 2009 9 September 2010[41]

Film adaptation

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A sequel to The Last Airbender, a film adaptation of Book One, is expected to be based on Book Two with all the main cast and M. Night Shyamalan to return as director, writer and producer. Production will possibly start in 2011 and the film will be released in 2012 at the earliest. It will be the second part of a planned trilogy.

References

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General
  • "Season 2". Avatar: The Last Airbender. IGN. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  • "Season 2 DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. February 24, 2005. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
Specific
  1. ↑ "IGN: Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2". IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Avatar: The Last Airbender Cast and Details". TVGuide.com. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rich, Jamie S. (September 12, 2007). "Avatar The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 2 Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Annie Awards: Legacy - 34th Annual Annie Awards". International Animated Film Society. February 9, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mesger, Robin (September 8, 2007). "59th Creative Emmy Awards Winners" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. pp. 11–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Season 2 DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. February 24, 2005. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
  7. ↑ DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan (August 29, 2005). "Interview with "Avatar" Program Creators — Page 3" (Interview). Interviewed by Aaron H. Bynum. Archived from the original (Transcript) on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008. {{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan (August 29, 2005). "Interview with "Avatar" Program Creators — Page 4" (Interview). Interviewed by Aaron H. Bynum. Archived from the original (Transcript) on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2008. {{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  9. ↑ "Dante Basco". 2005. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  10. ↑ Fox, Margalit (July 25, 2006). "Mako, 72, Actor Who Extended Asian-American Roles, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Season 2". Avatar: The Last Airbender. IGN. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  12. ↑ The Avatar State on IMDb
  13. ↑ The Cave of Two Lovers on IMDb
  14. ↑ Return to Omashu on IMDb
  15. ↑ The Swamp on IMDb
  16. ↑ Avatar Day on IMDb
  17. ↑ Blind bandit on IMDb
  18. ↑ Zuko Alone on IMDb
  19. ↑ The Chase on IMDb
  20. ↑ Bitter Work on IMDb
  21. ↑ The Library on IMDb
  22. ↑ The Desert on IMDb
  23. ↑ TV.com. "Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Serpent's Pass". TV.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  24. ↑ The Drill on IMDb
  25. ↑ City of Walls and Secrets on IMDb
  26. ↑ Tales of Ba Sing Se on IMDb
  27. ↑ Appa's Lost Days on IMDb
  28. ↑ Lake Laogai on IMDb
  29. ↑ The Earth King on IMDb
  30. ↑ The Guru on IMDb
  31. ↑ The Crossroads of Destiny on IMDb
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Powers, Gabriel. "Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 2, Vl.1". DVDActive. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  33. ↑ Powers, Gabriel. "Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season Two Collection". DVDActive. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  34. ↑ "59th Creative Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2007. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  35. ↑ "Avatar: The Last Airbender Search". Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  36. ↑ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/806137
  37. ↑ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/807324
  38. ↑ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/808541
  39. ↑ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/811540
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 "Avatar: The Last Airbender — Season Two DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  41. ↑ "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 2 Collection (4 Disc Box Set) @ EzyDVD". Archived from the original on 2010-09-09. Retrieved 2010-08-08.

Other websites

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