Legendary

The Legend of Korra aired on Saturday the 14th.

Actually, the first two episodes of the series aired.

What the hell am I talking about, you ask? Have you seen Avatar: The Last Airbender?

If not, drop everything and rent the series. There's three seasons. They're all awesome.

Go ahead. This post can wait.


Okay? Good. Moving on.

"The Legend of Korra" is the sequel to "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (and I'm talking about the animated series, not the abomination that was the live-action movie).

Caveat: I refer to "Avatar: The Last Airbender" as "Avatar". I do not mean that fluffy piece of brain-dead drivel that was James Cameron's movie. Just to be clear.

"The Legend of Korra" is set about seventy years after the conclusion of "Avatar" when Avatar Aang (the main character from "Avatar") has passed away and been reincarnated as a Waterbender named Korra.

In this world there's four classic "elements": earth, air, fire, and water. Certain people in this world have the ability to "bend" one of those four elements. So earthbenders can make stone/earth move. Firebenders generate and throw fire. Etc.

In every generation, there's one person - the Avatar - who can bend all four elements (and then some) as well as commune with spirits and all that fun stuff. The Avatar is responsible for maintaining balance, blah-blah-blah. As part of the role, an Avatar must wander about and learn how to bend all four elements.

This presents a bit of a problem in the post-Aang era. Airbenders, as a result of a pogrom in the events of "Avatar" are almost all dead. There's a small number now, mainly consisting of Aang's son, Tenzin, who is the only Airbending master.

So along comes teenage Korra. She's more aggressively kick-ass than Aang. She's able to bend water, earth, and fire pretty early on in life.

To really get her Avatar-ness together, she needs training in Airbending and some of the more spiritual elements of her role.

And now we have the series...

The first two episodes were pretty solid. The first episode introduced Korra and Republic City, the setting for the show. It's got a steampunk/1920's vibe and Korra is clearly a fish-out-of-water (ironic, given her ancestry). She mixes it up and meets a few characters with ties to characters from the previous series. Great fun ensues. A big bad is introduced.

Cue the second episode. Korra is not good at airbending. She's got issues and is trying to work them out. She also gets exposed to "Pro Bending", a sort of gladiatorial sports-event with earth, fire, and water benders doing their thing. She meets a couple of pro benders - Mako and Bolin. There's cheesy teen romantic tension. Lessons are learned. Good times.

I'm being deliberately vague to avoid serious spoilers. The stories and dialog move smoothly. The characters are all interesting and the animation is spectacular.

It's my hope the (mini)series keeps up the pace. This is one of the better shows on TV right now.