I was just waiting for this topic.
I'm going to do things a little differently, here. I'm choosing to list five of the movie events in the series' history as only one episode, with the rest separated into their respective thirty-minute blocks. I know that's not what the topic is asking for, but I believe that the few I'm going to combine flow naturally enough to be kept together.
First, all three seasons individually:
Season One:1) Siege of the North (Parts I, II)
2) The Blue Spirit
3) The Storm
4) The Deserter
5) Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice: Part II)
6) Jet
7) The Southern Air Temple
8) The Fortuneteller
9) The Waterbending Scroll
10) The Boy in the Iceberg; The Avatar Returns
11) The Spirit World (Winter Solstice: Part I)
12) The Waterbending Master
13) The Warriors of Kyoshi
14) Imprisoned
15) Bato of the Water Tribe
16) The King of Omashu
17) The Great Divide
18) The Northern Air Temple
Season Two:1) Zuko Alone
2) The Crossroads of Destiny
3) The Drill
4) The Blind Bandit
5) The Serpent's Pass
6) City of Walls and Secrets
7) The Earth King
8) Lake Laogai
9) The Library
10) The Desert
11) Bitter Work
12) The Chase
13) The Guru
14) The Avatar State
15) Return to Omashu
16) The Cave of Two Lovers
17) Tales of Ba Sing Se
18) The Swamp
19) Avatar Day
20) Appa's Lost Days
Season Three:1) Sozin's Comet (Parts I, II, III, IV)
2) The Day of Black Sun (Parts I, II)
3) The Puppetmaster
4) The Boiling Rock (Parts I, II)
5) The Avatar and the Fire Lord
6) The Ember Island Players
7) The Western Air Temple
8) Sokka's Master
9) The Headband
10) The Runaway
11) The Firebending Masters
12) The Awakening
13) Nightmares and Daydreams
14) The Beach
15) The Southern Raiders
16) The Painted Lady
And now, for the series as a whole...
1) Siege of the North (Parts I, II)
2) Sozin's Comet (Parts I, II, III, IV)
3) Zuko Alone
4) The Crossroads of Destiny
5) The Blue Spirit
6) The Day of Black Sun (Parts I, II)
7) The Storm
8) The Drill
9) The Blind Bandit
10) The Deserter
11) The Serpent's Pass
12) Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice: Part II)
13) City of Walls and Secrets
14) Jet
15) The Puppetmaster
16) The Earth King
17) The Boiling Rock (Parts I, II)
18) Lake Laogai
19) The Southern Air Temple
20) The Avatar and the Fire Lord
21) The Fortuneteller
22) The Waterbending Scroll
23) The Ember Island Players
24) The Boy in the Iceberg; The Avatar Returns
25) The Spirit World (Winter Solstice: Part I)
26) The Waterbending Master
27) The Warriors of Kyoshi
28) The Western Air Temple
29) The Library
30) The Desert
31) Sokka's Master
32) Bitter Work
33) The Headband
34) Imprisoned
35) The Runaway
36) The Chase
37) The Firebending Masters
38) The Guru
39) The Avatar State
40) Return to Omashu
41) The Cave of Two Lovers
42) Bato of the Water Tribe
43) The Awakening
44) The King of Omashu
45) Tales of Ba Sing Se
46) Nightmares and Daydreams
47) The Swamp
48) The Great Divide
49) The Northern Air Temple
50) Avatar Day
51) The Beach
52) The Southern Raiders
53) The Painted Lady
54) Appa's Lost Days
Breakdown:
Top 33% (Episodes 1-18):Season 2 - 8
Season 1 - 6
Season 3 - 4
Middle 33% (Episodes 19-36):Season 1 - 8
Season 3 - 6
Season 2 - 4
Bottom 33% (Episodes 37-54):Season 2 - 8
Season 3 - 6
Season 1 - 4
Top 50% (Episodes 1-27):Season 1 - 13
Season 2 - 8
Season 3 - 6
Bottom 50% (Episodes 28-54):Season 2 - 12
Season 3 - 10
Season 1 - 5
Top 10:Season 1 - 4
Season 2 - 4
Season 3 - 2
Bottom 10:Season 3 - 4
Season 2 - 4
Season 1 - 2
* It's entirely possible that this analysis is skewed against the third book, because three of its top four episodes are specials, which are only carrying the weight of a regular thirty-minute episode. I was reluctant to separate these five specials:
- The Boy in the Iceberg; The Avatar Returns
- Siege of the North
- The Day of Black Sun
- The Boiling Rock
- Sozin's Comet
because of the ease with which they were connected. (You'll notice that three of the five are from Book 3, and none are from Book 2.) Movies like The Fury of Aang, Secret of the Fire Nation, Guru/Crossroads, and Winter Solstice (I don't even remember if that last one aired both episodes on the same night) were more easily "detachable" in my mind, and there was often a medium to severe difference in quality between whatever episodes were contained within those movies.
Below I will list the top thirty-three and fifty percent rankings again, but I will give each of the five specials listed above their proper weight. As three doesn't go evenly into sixty-one, there's going to be a small margin of error.
1-2) Siege of the North (Parts I, II)
3-6) Sozin's Comet (Parts I, II, III, IV)
7) Zuko Alone
8) The Crossroads of Destiny
9) The Blue Spirit
10-11) The Day of Black Sun (Parts I, II)
12) The Storm
13) The Drill
14) The Blind Bandit
15) The Deserter
16) The Serpent's Pass
17) Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice: Part II)
18) City of Walls and Secrets
19) Jet
20) The Puppetmaster
21) The Earth King
22-23) The Boiling Rock (Parts I, II)
24) Lake Laogai
25) The Southern Air Temple
26) The Avatar and the Fire Lord
27) The Fortuneteller
28) The Waterbending Scroll
29) The Ember Island Players
30-31) The Boy in the Iceberg; The Avatar Returns
32) The Spirit World (Winter Solstice: Part I)
33) The Waterbending Master
34) The Warriors of Kyoshi
35) The Western Air Temple
36) The Library
37) The Desert
38) Sokka's Master
39) Bitter Work
40) The Headband
41) Imprisoned
42) The Runaway
43) The Chase
44) The Firebending Masters
45) The Guru
46) The Avatar State
47) Return to Omashu
48) The Cave of Two Lovers
49) Bato of the Water Tribe
50) The Awakening
51) The King of Omashu
52) Tales of Ba Sing Se
53) Nightmares and Daydreams
54) The Swamp
55) The Great Divide
56) The Northern Air Temple
57) Avatar Day
58) The Beach
59) The Southern Raiders
60) The Painted Lady
61) Appa's Lost Days
Breadown (with specials weighted as they were aired):
Top 33% (Episodes 1-20):Season 1 - 7
Season 3 - 7
Season 2 - 6
Middle 33% (Episodes 21-41):Season 1 - 9
Season 3 - 7
Season 2 - 5
Bottom 33% (Episodes 42-61):Season 2 - 9
Season 3 - 7
Season 1 - 4
Top 50% (Episodes 1-30):Season 1 - 11
Season 3 - 11
Season 2 - 8
Bottom 50% (Episodes 31-61):Season 2 - 12
Season 3 - 10
Season 1 - 9
* Here results are skewed away from Book 2, which had no one-hour specials in the first analysis. Now that highly-ranking movies are given more weight, Book 3 pulls itself from the pit in which it found itself in the first part of my breakdown, and Book 2 slips a fair bit, while the first book remains on top by consistently keeping the majority of its episodes out of the Bottom 33% range.
What I took away from all this time-wasting "research":
- When the second book is good, it's
good, and when it's bad, it's
bad.- The first book was consistently above average, giving it the edge on the second and third no matter how the standings were calculated.
- The third book rarely excels outside of its movie events - it had only two (just one if you give specials their full weight) thirty-minute episodes in the Top 20.
- Between episodes 28-41 (35-48 when giving specials their full weight), Season 1 was represented solely by "Imprisoned" at number 34 (41 weighted).
- Between episodes 19-28 (25-35 when giving specials their full weight), the second book had no representatives.
Last things: Obviously, this list is subject to change. If I watch an episode one day and think, "Hey, I had forgotten how cool such-and-such a scene was," and feel compelled to change my list, I'll do it. Also, if anyone makes a convincing argument for a given episode and I find myself agreeing, it will be reflected here.
And finally, karma to anybody who lists Siege of the North as their top pick (including kooties, who has already done so).