In terms of animated adventure shows for children over the last thirty years in the United States it's not really a contest for me which shows have turned out to be the most significant. In chronological order I'd say the significant touchstones of the genre have been Batman: the animated series (including the sequel series for Superman and Justice League, particularly); Samurai Jack; and then Avatar: The Last Airbender. You could in many respects skip the entirety of animated adventure shows for American kids in the last thirty years if you stuck to just BTAS, Samurai Jack, and The Last Airbender.
Of course The Last Airbender was, alas, made into that universally reviled live-action film that should never have been made.
I thought the sequel series Legend of Korra, which I have since called Legend of Entitlement, was a trainwreck of poor characterization and bad writing that was passed off as progressive when it was generally lazy. Having Asami go from being Q dispensing the gadgets to the Bond Girl who throws herself into the arms of the world-saving heroine was not improved by the heroine having a girlfriend. If there's a game of "points" score for animated shows aimed at children merely for having same sex relationships Superman: the animated series showed Maggie Sawyer's girlfriend back in 1997 and did so in a not self-congratulatory way as these things go.
What's more, in attempting to make Korra not-Aang there was a problem, a large problem--Korra was constantly seeking new powers, new levels of power, and wider varieties of power; she also acted and spoke as though her fiat was the deciding variable for things. For those familiar with the original series Korra spun out from, the problem with trying to make the next avatar the anti-Aang is The Last Airbender gave us a pretty vivid, memorable anti-Aang in season 2, and it was the terrifying sociopath Princess Azula. Seriously, I have rarely come across a more terrifying antagonist character in a show made specifically for kids than Princess Azula.
So here we are, and it apparently takes a pandemic lockdown and a ton of people wanting to revisit one of the landmark long-form animated series in American children's entertainment for The New Yorker to finally sorta take notice.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-stunning-second-life-of-avatar-the-last-airbender
I could write more, a lot more, about Avatar but I don't feel like it. The show creators showed in the last fifteen years that it was their lightning in a bottle moment and that nothing they've done since is ultimately really worth talking about. It's a harsh assessment but I'm willing to stand by it. If you haven't seen the old show I recommend it. Season 1 has some weak episodes early on but season 2 and 3 are spectacular. It's not for nothing that people would the end of Avatar triumphed where Game of Thrones failed, actually landing that series ending.
POSTSCRIPT
In light of the Hank Azaria and Apu situation, The Last Airbender could have been a useful reminder that within the realm of voice-over work how a person looks or "reads" isn't necessary for turning in a great performance. Phil LaMarr's turn as Jack in Samurai Jack is great just like his work as John Stewart in Justice League is great work. Mae Whitman has never looked like Katara and has never needed to, her voice over work is spectacular and part of what makes The Last Airbender a compelling show. With Andrea Romano no longer doing voice casting and voice direction the animation industry in the U.S. has lost one of its most powerful and effective creatives.
Romano had the task of recasting General Iroh when Mako passed and her choice of Greg Baldwin was critical not just for the completion of The Last Airbender, fans of Samurai Jack know that once she found someone who could step in for Iroh Tartakovsky could trust she'd found someone who could take on the role of Aku. It's not surprising that The New Yorker piece fixates on the writing and the concept creation but what made The Last Airbender great had a lot to do with other people who don't tend to come up in general discussions, much like George Lucas tends to get "all" the credit for Star Wars when Anthony Daniels can remember how many collaborators helped make the original trilogy the success that it was.
It's disappointing if predictable that the article in The New Yorker shed no light at all on the kinds of collaborative work and nexus of personalities that can make a show stand out in favor of the reception history of the co-creators tackling social issues. Romance is actually one of the weakest aspects of the co-creators, with Korra being particularly bad. The idea that Asami would pine for the woman who stole her boyfriend from her two seasons in a row and displays behaviors that could be considered emotionally abusive as well as being fixated on constantly gaining power, Asami might as well have been crushing on Azula.
Airbender is worth checking out even if nothing subsequent to it basically is.
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