Movie: Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V4 is the fourth volume of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series to come out on DVD. It is the second to last from season one, and continues the adventures of three young children as they face insurmountable odds to fulfill a prophecy about the fate of the world. Here's a quick look at the series from what IO said before:

The show is set in a timeless place where four factions had existed in harmony for eons. This balance was upset generations ago when the ruthless Fire Nation waged war and destroyed the Air Nation, the home of the then powerful Avatar. Apparently, each faction could learn a type of magic based on the martial arts that allowed them to manipulate the elemental forces of nature (the Fire Nation folk could "bend" fire to their will, the Water Nation could do likewise with water, etc.) with the Avatar being the only one who could bend all four elements to his will at a given time. This being would reincarnate into a different faction in a rotating cycle and the world was at peace.

At the start of the initial volume, a couple of youthful water benders, Sokka and Katara, were fishing in the frozen wastelands near the South Pole. They came across a large iceberg that contained a small boy and a larger animal inside. One thing leads to another and the iceberg melts, revealing Aang, a boy that appears to be the lost Avatar (and person the Fire Nation pursued even as a myth to insure their dominance over the remaining two tribes). Inside the iceberg with him is his huge flying bison, Appa, and soon enough the group is flying around the world. When reports of the returning Avatar hit the Fire Nation, Aang gives himself up since his mere presence endangers those around him. He escapes after damaging the ship of his captors, including a disgraced Fire Nation Prince, Zuko who then begins a series long chase of the characters.

Okay, the episodes this time were 13) The Blue Spirit, 14) The Fortuneteller, 15) Bato of the Water Tribe, and 16) The Deserter, all airing last year on Nickelodeon. The episodes this time continued to show personal growth of the cast as Admiral Zhao, newly promoted, used ever increasing resources to defeat Aang. Initially, Aang must retrieve some medicine to cure his ailing friends but falls into a trap, only to find an unlikely ally assisting him in his flight for freedom. The action sequences were stepped up and that added to the fun but they were cleverly handled too so that made them even better. The trio then came across a fortuneteller of great power, finding that relying on her abilities was a bad plan when they involve an erupting volcano. This led Aang to show he wasn't all knowing when a family friend of Sokka and Katara threatens to take them off his quest and meet their father; long missing as he was. It was a distinctively uncomfortable episode though in how it showed Aang was still a boy at heart and in need of the maturity of his wisdom. The volume ended with another bout against Admiral Zhao as he and his minions sought to recapture Aang with some trickery and admittedly powerful firebending.

Avatar: The Last Airbender V4 was another decent set of episodes and I suggest it as worthy of being Recommended just as I did with Avatar: V3. While it was geared towards a decidedly younger audience than myself, I found myself dissecting the dynamics of the episodes much as I would with something on a higher scale, watching the pacing improve as it had done last time. The show is one you can watch with your younger kids and even teenagers might appreciate the themes invoked here but it showed that Nickelodeon has been catching up to other networks in terms of offering interesting fare that many will appreciate seeing a few times.

Picture: Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V4 was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as it airs on the Nickelodeon cable television channel. The animation style showed all the limitations you'd expect of a lower end show (static backgrounds, panning of the characters to show movement, stock positions) but unless you pay more attention to the technical aspects than the story, you probably won't care a whole lot. The DVD itself had no compression artifacts or visual flaws that really stood out but there weren't a lot of extras to clutter up the disc and push the envelop in order to force any compromises either.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of a 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo signal in either English, French or Spanish. I spot checked the other two languages but the English language track was fairly pleasing with some separation between the channels and a decent dynamic range. The best effects came during the fighting sequences but the vocals were reasonably good (I always like hearing Mako as Prince Zuko's advisor) and the music pretty decent too. It was better than the show sounded when I checked it out on cable but not that much better if you catch my drift.

Extras: Aside from some trailers and a paper insert, there were a couple of decent extras this time. The first of these was a feature called Ask the Creators where a number of questions were asked of them and the answers will help those who haven't watched the series closely catch up to the rest of the world. The best extra though was the original uncut animatic where the progress of shooting an episode from the story boards can be watched unfold. I'd have appreciated a couple of commentaries on the episodes too but perhaps that will be considered for future releases.

Final Thoughts: Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V4 was another decent set of four episodes that fans will enjoy repeatedly. The struggle of the youth against what appears to be insurmountable odds as he learns how to bend the will of the four elements to his own needs started off a bit rough but has been getting better and I can see why it has such a growing fanbase. The technical considerations aside and the extras improving were just icing on the cake as the writing improved to show that simply because something is made for a younger primary audience does not mean it is limited to that audience and if you watch the show on cable, you'll understand what I mean. In short, Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V4 proved the fans to be right that the show was one that slowly develops as something worth checking out though I'd suggest you watch the episodes in order to get the most out of them.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.