18: 23 - Episode Overview, 8-12

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Written by: Melaisis

So, whilst we all wait around for Dee to post another update on the next mobisode, I thought I'd chip in in the meantime with my continuing LOST overview. The other night I watched the above episodes of the first series. Here's my critique:

- Claire has replaced Jack in terms of 'the whiner' of the camp. All she did, up until the kidnapping, was whine. So what if you're a bomb of responsibility waiting to explode? Shouldn't of gotten knocked up in the first place! Heck, I bet right now she's moaning on about how 'helpless' she is to that Ethan guy about how 'harsh' he's being on her. Whatever. The point is her ranting is on par with that of Angsty Me, and that's saying something ([End plug]).

- Sayid is creeping up my list of favourite characters. Despite the one with the most vicious past, he seems the most faithful to the camp and the most efficient. Certainly Locke's the one stalking around in the undergrowth for boar and other nasties, but Sayid is actually help progress the story. Even if all he does do is get into fights with Sawyer and get molested by decrepit French maidens.



- Talking of violent flashbacks, Kate is gaining some depth. As a lying, cheating, loser, maybe; but at least she's interesting. Well, for me anyway, and I've always been a fan of Reservoir Dogs. Kate's life seems to be a bloody rendition of all Tarintino films.

- Sawyer still remains on top as an orgasmic anti-hero.

Labels: Avatar Reviews, Lost, Lost Review, Sayid

Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?

17: 32 - An Ava-nnouncement.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Written by: Dee4leeds



Hello! Fellow Avatar fans from digg.com I have an announcement.

The Avatar reviews are on hiatus until the return of Avatar on UK television. So I shall be back in 4ish weeks with brand new reviews (of old episodes in the US.)

Oh and for the record I shall be writing a post longer than 2 sentences within the next week. I'm sure you will like it.

Labels: Avatar Reviews, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Author: Dee4leeds | Comments: | Leave Your Response?

12: 11 - The PUNted Lady

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Written by: Dee4leeds



Welcome back fellow Avatar fans who probably found this post from a link on Digg.



We join as our heroes float downstream, in the middle of a river that seems to be mostly brown crap. With no chance of catching any food in the crap, they decide to buy some food at a nearby village, which happens to be in the middle of the river, which has been polluted by a nearby Fire Nation military factory. They are ferried to the village by Dock, a rather eccentric man. The village is in a deep depression. Many villagers are sick, and there is a lack of food because of the polluted water. Katara wishes to help these people, but Sokka says their overall mission is too important to stop to help everybody they come across. They buy some food from Xu, a shopkeeper who happens to bear a strong resemblance to Dock, expect for a new hat. (Which I must have.) Before they leave, Katara gives one of the fish they bought to a small child, but as she sees him give it to his sick mother, she wishes she could do more. That night, Sokka is trying to find a way to rearrange their schedule, and mentions that the solar eclipse will only occur for about 8 minutes. In the morning, Appa is found lying on his side, and his tongue is purple. Katara suggests that the village might have some herbs that can heal him. When they get to the village, everybody happens to be in much better spirits. According to Xu, a legendary local river spirit known as the Painted Lady came and gave them some more food. But there is no medicine in the village, as the factory takes it all. Katara suggests letting Appa rest for another day. That night, a thick mist comes across the village. The Painted Lady arrives and heals several of the sick. The child Katara helped earlier thanks her, and the Painted Lady. But the Painted Lady is revealed to be Katara in disguise. The next day, Appa is still sick, so they return to the village. The village is in even higher spirits, and have erected a large statue of the Painted Lady in thanks for healing their sick. Xu/Dock suggests that maybe the Painted Lady could help Appa out. Sokka skeptically notes that the Painted Lady's work will be all for nothing unless she helps them all the time, as long as that factory is still there, and jokingly suggests that the Lady should use her "spirit magic" to just blow it up.



The next night, Katara once again puts on her disguise, but as she leaves, Momo wakes up, rousing Aang in turn. Seeing the Painted Lady, he tries to ask for her help, but she runs away. Aang chases her all the way to the village, where he finally finds out Katara's secret. Appa's illness was the result of her feeding him berries that stained his tongue. Katara sadly confesses and apologizes for holding them there to help the village, but Aang naturally likes the idea. Together, the two infiltrate the factory and wreck it, stopping the flow of pollution. In the morning, the two arrive back at the camp and find Sokka and Toph waiting for them, having found out the truth on their own. As they prepare to leave, they see a squad of Fire Nation troops heading towards the town on speeders, and realize that they must believe the villagers had sabotaged the factory. Katara is determined to stop them, and despite their argument, Sokka readily agrees to help her once he sees that she's set on helping. At the village, Fire Nation General Mung accuses them not only of destroying the factory, but also for stealing the food and medicine that the Painted Lady and Katara had given them before from them as well. The soldiers start attacking the village, but a gust of wind blows their flames out. With help from Appa, Toph, and Sokka providing spooky sound effects, Aang and Katara stage an encounter with the Painted Lady to defeat the troops and drive them away. The villagers cheer the Painted Lady, but Dock/Xu notices that her facepaint has smudged, and recognizes Katara. Several of the villagers get angry, but Katara apologizes, and tells the villagers that they need to deal with their own problems, and offers to help them clean up the river. Dock/Xu goes to get his brother Bushi, which consists of switching hats yet again. Bushi/Dock/Xu also confides that Dock/Xu/Bushi happens to have Multiple Personality Disorder. The gang stays behind long enough to help the villagers clean up their river. That night, as Katara examines the water, a thick mist appears out of nowhere, and the real Painted Lady appears to thank her before disappearing into the mist.



ENTERTAINING!

Episode Rating: 3/5 - Although good compared to the Awakening this lacked that something which could have made it perfect.

Next Week - Episode 304 - Sokka's Master

Labels: Avatar Reviews, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Review

Author: Dee4leeds | Comments: | Leave Your Response?

08: 42 - I R teh Headband

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Written by: Dee4leeds



Week 2 of the 20 weeks of Avatar goodness. So let's not delay it any futher...



merely faces away from Late at night, Zuko approaches a Fire Nation prison, and looks distantly towards it. As he stands near the entrance, a guard spies him from the roof. The guard shouts demands to know Zuko's identity, but he simply walks away instead.Meanwhile, Aang and the others are taking temporary shelter in a cave, and then go to seek out new clothes to help them better blend into the Fire Nation, with somewhat hilarious consequences. Finally they find an unattended clothes on a line. They steal four outfits. In the Fire Nation town, the fabulous foursome attempts to act natural, which is impeded by Aang claims to be an expert of their customs. When the others go to buy food from a meat stand, Aang declines due to his vegetarianism, and goes off on his own for a bit. However, he is quickly caught by a group of men who grab him and escort him into a classroom, because it seems his clothes are atchully a school uniform. At the school the teacher assumes he is a new student from the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. Aang calls himself Kuzon and attempts to blend in at the school, with partial success. After dismissal he meets a girl named On Ji, who is friendly to him, as well as On Ji's apparent boyfriend, Hiide, a popular student who is less than friendly. After a brief confrontation, Aang winds up making friends and playing with the other children from the school. Later, Aang returns to the cave at nightfall, relieving Katara, Sokka, and Toph who were evidently worried by his long absence. The fact that he has been attending a Fire Nation school all day shocks Aang's friends, and when he claims to have enjoyed the experience and wishes to return to the school the next day, Sokka strongly objects with a truly perfect Sokka line. Aang manages to convince them to allow it by showing it's a chance to find out information about the Fire Nation, especically a "secret river" that led to the Fire Lord's palace. They agree. Back to the Fire Nation prison where Zuko has returned to the prison. When confronted by the guard, he threatens him not to tell anyone about his visit. He goes into a room in which Iroh is being kept prisoner. Despite pleas from Zuko, Iroh merely turns away from Zuko. He tells Iroh that it is his own fault that he is in prison, and that the two could have returned to the Fire Nation as heroes. Iroh still refuses to speak. This sends Zuko into a fit of rage. The next day at school, in Band class, Aang tries to play the horn and gets chided by the teacher for dancing, which is not considered proper in the Fire Nation. Nevertheless On Ji is amused by the dance, and when Aang offers to show it to her during recess, he incurs the wrath of Hiide, who attempts to hit him. However, Aang pwns him by slickly evading every attempted blow, (Typical Airbender) eventually getting Hiide to overbalance himself and fall over without any bending or even touching him. However, this gets Aang into trouble for "roughing up" a favored student of the headmaster. Back at the cave Sokka is against Aang returning to school. Aang, however, insists that they need to do something for the children in the school, in order to allow them, at least briefly, to have a freedom of expression. He therefore plans to hold a secret dance party in the cave for everyone in the school.



Meanwhile in the quiet Fire Nation hills, Zuko is having a romantic picnic with Mai, before the two are interrupted by Azula, who tries to get Zuko to talk to her. He refuses, so Azula changes tactics and sends Mai away; Mai complies politely, but shoots Azula a quick, venomous look as she passes. Azula then tricks Zuko into admitting that he was visiting Iroh, and warns him not to do so, as his visiting a traitor would make others suspicious. Nevertheless, Zuko visits his uncle in prison again. Once again Iroh turns his back on Zuko. But Zuko attempts to be kinder, bringing Iroh food as a gift. Zuko begs Iroh for his advice; he explains that he believes the Avatar to be alive, and that he has no idea what to do about it without Iroh's guidance. When Iroh is silent, Zuko flies into another rage, then leaves. As he leaves, Iroh remains silent with a tear running down his face. At the cave the children have arrived and the music has begun to play, the children do not know how to dance and are afraid they'll get in trouble. Aang demonstrates some historical Fire Nation dances, and eventually asks On Ji to dance, which gradually encourages the rest of the students to do the same. Sokka states that Aang and On Ji look good together, to which Katara gives a typical unrequited love response. Later, Aang asks Katara to dance, and after she briefly hesitates they perform an acrobatic dance. However, the headmaster and several teachers appear on the scene, having been told of the dance by Hiide. They try to catch Aang, but he hides within the crowd of kids. Because the teachers identify Aang with his headband, they are thrown off when they discover several other students wearing the same headband. Eventually, every student in the cave appears to be wearing a headband, effectively delaying the headmaster's hunt for Aang. The crew manage to slip away in the opening behind the cave. But before leaving, Aang closes the opening behind him with Earthbending and leaving the students speechless. While the party flies off on Appa, Toph compliments Aang on his efforts, which she believes made a serious impact on the students. Katara agrees and kisses Aang on the cheek, which causes him to blush. And finally, in a dark alley, Zuko meets with a mysterious man with a metal prosthetic arm and leg, as well as a third eye tattooed on his forehead. Zuko states his purpose for contacting the man; Zuko has heard the man is capable of doing a job effectively and secretly. Zuko asks the man to track down and "eliminate the Avatar."



CLIFFHANGER!

Episode Rating: 4/5 - Much better but possibly too much dancing.

Next Week - Episode 303 - The Painted Lady

Labels: Avatar Reviews, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Review

Author: Dee4leeds | Comments: | Leave Your Response?