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Avatar: The Last Airbender media information

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This article lists media information related to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Broadcast history

As Nickelodeon mainly involved in the production, Avatar is broadcast on Nickelodeon in the countries where the station exists, such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America, etc.

First glimpsed in a short teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004, [1] Avatar's US premiere was initially scheduled for November 29 of that same year. However, the show was delayed until 7 p.m. EST February 21, 2005. During the delay, Nickelodeon contracted House Party Inc. to maintain interest and create advance buzz by arranging "House Parties." These parties were private home viewings of a DVD of the pilot episode by 6-to-11-year-olds and their friends, arranged by Internet sign-up to occur simultaneously on February 5.

Due to CRTC regulations, Nickelodeon does not exist in Canada where YTV broadcasts the English version of Avatar and VRAK.TV broadcasts its French version.

In Brazil, Italy, Latin America, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom and the countries covered by Nickelodeon Asia, the series broadcast as Avatar: The Legend of Aang or the translation of the title. Nickelodeon Asia premiered the series as Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, following the broadcast of Book Two, it is titled as Avatar: The Legend of Aang.

A Japanese dub of Avatar has been announced to begin broadcasting on Nickelodeon Japan on December 1st at 6:30 P.M. local time, starting with the two-part series premiere and continuing with new episodes in the same slot every Saturday onwards.[2] Nick Japan currently is advertising for dubbing artists to help dub Avatar into Japanese.[3]

As well as Nickelodeon on the subscription platform, the series also broadcast on terrestrial stations. In the United Kingdom, CITV on the British ITV stations such as ITV1 branded stations, STV and UTV broadcast the series. Also, ITV's free-to-air digital channel, CITV Channel, broadcast it, as ITV stations simulcast the channel. In Australia, ABC broadcast the series on their ABC Kids block and Nickelodeon on Foxtel.

Promotions

Avatar has several free promotional games on its affiliated sites, including a collection of flash games and subscriber-limited collectible "e-trading cards" on its parent sites, and a limited-edition flash game on the Viacom-owned Neopets site.[4]

In addition, an Avatar-themed family roller coaster debuted April 14, 2006, at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio.[5]

From August 28 through September 30, Burger King promoted Avatar kids meals with print, on-air and in-store advertising. The meals came complete with one of eight different Avatar character-based toys as well as an exclusive Avatar TCG card provided by Upper Deck.[6] The commercial for the limited-time offer first premiered on August 28, 2006.

Alongside the Burger King promotion, Upper Deck also sponsored special theatrical screenings of the new one-hour special, Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation at nine theaters in eight major markets including Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Ann Arbor, Louisville and Providence on September 9, almost a full week before the special aired on Nickelodeon. The screenings included demonstrations of the Avatar Trading Card Game and all who attended received promotional booklets, gift bags, and special trading card game products.

During the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International convention, "Have you seen Appa?" posters were given out. [7]

On September 12, 2006, Nickelodeon published the first edition of Nick Mag Presents entirely dedicated to Avatar: The Last Airbender. According to Nick press releases, the issue contains 48 pages featuring numerous comics, sketches, interviews, a detailed map of the Avatar world, and generally insightful information regarding the Avatar universe and fandom. It is notable that both Avatar sites AvatarSpirit.net and Distant Horizon were briefly mentioned in the periodical.[8] Furthermore, although Nick Mag Presents issues are usually one-shot, it has been stated that given the immense, constantly changing and growing Avatar universe, an exception could be made if the issue sells well enough. Hence the "first edition" labeling.[9]

Starting September 11 and ending October 31, the Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation movie was available on Comcast ON DEMAND.

Avatar co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino appeared at the Pacific Media Expo as guests of honor on Saturday, October 28. The Pacific Media Expo is a convention centered around Asian entertainment, including animation and music. The event was located at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport on October 27-30.[10] Martial Arts Consultant Sifu Kisu also appeared as a special guest at the PMX.[11] The schedule for the "Avatar Day" was as follows-[1]

A double sided Avatar poster can be found in the new Spongebob Poster Magazine, one side of which is the cover art for the volume 5 DVD of season one.

The cover of as well three pages of the February '07 Nick Magazine were dedicated to Avatar.[12] The magazine contains advertising for the season two, volume one DVD, a short interview with Zach Tyler Eisen, voice of Aang, and also an "Avatar A to Z" guide, which lists a variety of things related to Avatar quite literally "from Aang to Zuko". The magazine also introduces a new feature at AvatarEscape.com during the month of February.[13]

Avatar Escape is an online game released by Nickelodeon. The game's full name is "Avatar Escape From the Spirit World." Advertising began on February 3 2007, with secret codes airing Saturdays on Nick from 10 AM to 12 PM. It was a four week game and contest, each week giving away 50 super nation packs and airing the names of the winners on television. After unlocking all chapters an exclusive game is released. This may be the reason the comics were released on a weekly basis, despite wide availability of the codes on the internet.[14] The animated short "School Time Shipping" has been released on Nick.com and can only be viewed with the code "Koh".[15] The short was displayed on Saturday, March 3rd at WonderCon 2007. [16] Two more shorts (""Swamp Skiin' Throwdown" and "Bender Battle") were included on the Season 2 DVD collection, and was shown on September 19th on the NickToons Network.

A panel dedicated to Avatar is scheduled to appear at Anime Boston hosted by Nickelodeon Magazine editor, Dave Roman on Saturday, April 21. The panel is to feature a behind-the-scenes look at the various stages of making the Avatar comics that appear in Nickelodeon Magazine as well as the Book Two DVDs. In addition, the panel will also include a cosplay photoshoot, where pictures of costumed fans will be taken by Roman to be later applied to an extensive article regarding the fandom within the subsequent all-Avatar 'Nick Mag Presents issue which is to be released just prior to the debut of season three.[17]

According to a preview sent out by Nickelodeon Magazine, the upcoming second all Avatar edition of the publication is to be released for the September 18, 2007 issue. The description reads that the official Avatar magazine, written by the writers of the television series, consists of 52 fully colored pages, which includes over 30 pages of all-new comics featuring adventures that take place between seasons 2 and 3. The issue also includes an exclusive Season 3 preview alongside fan pages, interviews, behind-the-scenes articles, and puzzles. Illustrators of the magazine include Amy Kim Ganter, Reaggan Lodge, Brian Ralph, and the fan artist turned Avatar storyboard artist Johane Matte.[18]

A panel for Avatar has been reserved at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007 and is set to run between 10:30 to 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 28. Moderated by VP and executive producer Eric Coleman and entitled, "Into the Fire Nation: Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 3 Sneak Peek," the panel provides a first look at what's to come in the approaching third season. This display includes clips from upcoming episodes, a visual tour of the Fire Nation guided by co-creator Bryan Konietzko and director Joaquim Dos Santos, insider information from head writer Aaron Ehasz, and a voice-over demonstration provided by Dee Bradley Baker. Visitors are also to dress in Avatar-themed cosplay, as there is to be a special prize for the best.[19]

Merchandising

Avatar T-shirts are currently sold through the Nickelodeon Shop website, including two created by Mike & Bryan.[20] Upper Deck Entertainment has released a trading card game, while Tokyopop has published a cine-manga which as of May 2006 has reportedly sold well over half a million copies.[21][22] Other merchandise includes LEGO branded playsets,[23][24] a THQ-published videogame[25] and a Mattel line of toys.[26]

Title sequence narration

As each Element is named, a Bender appears in silhouette bending his or her natural element. The Waterbender is Master Pakku, the Earthbender is unknown, the Firebender is Princess Azula, and the Airbender is Aang. The Avatar that uses the four elements is Avatar Roku.

  • The calligraphy used in the opening, and in the show, is Classical Chinese.
  • The calligraphy featured behind the Waterbender in the show's opening means "Water is benevolent/adaptive."
  • The calligraphy behind the Earthbender means "Earth is strong."
  • The calligraphy behind the Firebender means "Fire is ferocious/intense."
  • The calligraphy behind the Airbender means "Air is gentle/harmonious/peaceful."
  • The calligraphy featured on the four corners of the world map in the show's opening matches that displayed behind the Benders.
  • The calligraphy on the top and bottom of the map form a rhyming couplet when read aloud in Chinese. The characters at the top read "Powers are divided into four," while those at the bottom read "The world is guided by one."
  • The map clearly marks the territories of the four nations, Water in blue, Earth in green, Fire in red, and Air in white.
  • The calligraphy featured above the show's masthead means "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."
  • The single character on the title card matches the title of the particular "book" in which the episode takes place: "water", "earth", or "fire".

References

  1. ^ http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/video.jhtml?show_id=ava&clip=16
  2. ^ http://www.animetopics.com/news.php?news_seq=7819
  3. ^ http://www.nickjapan.com/avatar_voice/
  4. ^ http://www.neopets.com/games/upperdeck/game1.phtml]
  5. ^ http://www3.paramountparks.com/kingsisland/attractions/category.cfm?ac_id=39
  6. ^ http://www.bk.com/avatar
  7. ^ http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=195223892&size=l
  8. ^ http://www.musogato.com/avatar/magazine/avatarmag1_scan40.jpg
  9. ^ http://www.realmsend.com/Nickelodeon/postimages/avatar_cover_med.jpg
  10. ^ http://pacificmediaexpo.com/pmx/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=2
  11. ^ http://pacificmediaexpo.com/pmx/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=142&Itemid=56
  12. ^ http://www.avatarspirit.net/images/newsupdates/February%20Nick%20Mag.jpg
  13. ^ http://dongbufeng.net/Avatar%20Nick%20Mag%20Feb%2007.pdf
  14. ^ http://www.avatarspiritmedia.net/nickpressrelease.php
  15. ^ http://www.nick.com/avatarshort/
  16. ^ http://www.comic-con.org/wc/wc07_prog_sat.php
  17. ^ http://nickmag-comics.livejournal.com/tag/avatar
  18. ^ http://www.avatarspirit.net/index.php#432
  19. ^ http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci07_prog_sat.php
  20. ^ http://shop.nickjr.com/entry.point?entry=2060004&source=NCK_:2060004:0323_wiki
  21. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-24-2006/0004266998&EDATE=
  22. ^ http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/8740.html
  23. ^ http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/7446.shtml
  24. ^ http://www.lego.com/eng/avatar/default.aspx
  25. ^ http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=15058
  26. ^ http://toyfair06.asmzine.com/mattel/mattel-avatar/
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