Avatar:
The Legend of Korra (ALOK) isn’t boding well in its second season. Last year,
its first season premier brought it 4.55 Million viewers, and the show averaged
3.5 million viewers for the season, making it one of the most watched cartoons
of 2012. This year, however, ATLOK’s season premier, “Rebel Spirit,” brought in
only 2.6 Million viewers, and has averaged only 2.0 Million viewers so far in
its season, hitting an all-time low of 1.1 Million viewers with its fifth
episode, “Peacekeepers.”
ATLOK’s
first season was the definition of building action and well-developed plot. ATLOK
is a continuation of the Avatar universe initially expanded in the series,
Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA), in which the world is split into four
nations, each nation having the control of a certain element (Earth, Fire,
Water, or Air), but the Fire Nation wages war on all the other nations. The
Avatar is a half-spirit, half-human guardian of the world who can control all
four elements and is charged with guiding the world toward peace; when one
avatar dies, the avatar is reborn as a new baby, creating a life cycle. Aang, a
ten-year-old boy from the Air Nomads is the Avatar in ATLA, and it chronicles
his journey to stop the war. This show actually received more views than ATLOK
ever did, finishing the last four episodes with almost 6 Million viewers per
episode.
In
ATLOK season one, we learn that Aang has grown old and died, and the new Avatar
is Korra, born to the Southern Water Tribe. She is much different from Aang,
who was a pacifist and very spiritual. Korra is hard-headed and violent,
throwing herself into any situation. The plot of season one progresses as a
mysterious “Amon” leads a non-bending movement against all benders (people who
can’t bend any of the elements against those who can). It turns from peaceful
to violent, and we never know Amon’s identity until the finale. The suspense
leading up to that moment was paramount, and we have known for a while that
Amon has the ability to take people’s bending away. Korra eventually fights the
final battle against Amon, who has a secret ability besides taking bending
away, and wins at the cost of her own bending. As she gives up hope at the end
of the finale, she makes a spiritual connection with her other Avatar lives,
and Aang, the Avatar from the previous series, gives her her bending back. One
of the biggest draws of the ATLOK is its constant reference to the characters
we all know and love from the original ATLA series, throwing family members and
children of those characters into the new mix in ATLOK. It brings back memories
and nostalgia of ATLA, which was developed over a total of 61 episodes over
three seasons. The character were well formed in this longer time period,
compared to the 12- and 14-episode seasons ALTOK airs in.
All
this to say that this universe matters. ATLA and ATLOK have been proven some of
the best TV shows in the cartoon world and overall, both of which receiving awards
for best animated show here and in countries across the globe. This is why its
sudden decline in viewers is so distressing.
So
what changed from season one to season two? What did the average viewers drop
by nearly half in this new season? It turns out, a lot has changed.
To
start, the show’s season premier dates were nearly a year and a half apart,
both changing the air period from start of summer to start of the school year,
and making anxious fans wait all too long, possibly losing much of its fandom. On
top of that, the actual writers of ATLOK have changed! Yes, our beloved Michael
Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have handed off the writing torch to new
writers such as Joshua Hamilton and Tim Hedrick. Both of these writers also
wrote for ATLA, but didn’t lay a hand on the first season of ATLOK. Another
contributing factor has been the numerous airtime changes. The first two
episodes aired at 7:00pm, while the next few aired at 8:30pm, and now the
current (and supposedly permanent) airtime is 8:00pm. With all these changes, I
hope the low viewer count is only temporary, and this great fantasy universe
continues to thrive.
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