Cameron selects an Avatar

[eugimon]

I was agreeing with her assessment for the massive spoiler post a few pages back using poker tems, that's all.

oh, well then let me spoil some more old stuff for you. ET dies but like jesus, comes back to life. Senator Palpatine is the Emperor, Leia is Luke's twin sister. In Chinatown, She's her sister AND her daughter. The dog dies in Old Yeller too, the whale doesn't die in Moby Dick, Maggie was the one who shot Mr. Burns. It was Jean Valjean who saved Marius, the secret garden isn't so secret. Robbie and Cecilia are dead in Atonement and oh yeah, if the movie has been out for three weeks and you still haven't seen it, maybe YOU should take responsibility and not click and then read the giant thread where other people are talking about said movie.

[eriku]

With the actual film aside, my minor disappointment with the film was the lack of high end collector's merchandise. Aside from the Avatar diary and art book, what else is there that's a decent buy?

They haven't shown any product yet, but Hot Toys has the license for the movie so I would expect at least the main characters from them in 1/6 scale sometime this year. I'm guessing they'll do the Na'vi in the same style as the Hellboy and Abe figures, with a rubber 'suit' over an articulated inner body:

And considering Hot Toys did a Power Loader from Aliens, I wouldn't be surprised if they did a fully articulated AMP suit. It would be bigger and more expensive to produce than the Power Loader but they were crazy enough to make the Batmobile in 1/6 scale.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Still haven't seen this yet, don't plan to, the story seems kinda boring, and i know immediately who i woud go for, so it's kinda of a miss for me, the mecha looks outdated and crap.

I saw Sherlock the other day, awesome movie!

Edited January 8, 2010 by ruskiiVFaussie

[miriya]

It looks like slideshow is making a nice maquette. . .

Edited January 8, 2010 by miriya

[Duke Togo]

Still haven't seen this yet, don't plan to, the story seems kinda boring, and i know immediately who i woud go for, so it's kinda of a miss for me, the mecha looks outdated and crap.

I saw Sherlock the other day, awesome movie!

Go see it for the 3D effects. It's worth it.

[peter]

...

I'm a firm believer that public criticism needs to be supported by constructive solution. Example, if someone knows how to have done the Avatar script and dialog better, than please submit your version to strengthen your case.

With the actual film aside, my minor disappointment with the film was the lack of high end collector's merchandise. Aside from the Avatar diary and art book, what else is there that's a decent buy?

I'm hoping for a life-size Nitiri Real Doll.....well, one that's 5'6 will do.

[nugundamII]

...

I'm a firm believer that public criticism needs to be supported by constructive solution. Example, if someone knows how to have done the Avatar script and dialog better, than please submit your version to strengthen your case.

With the actual film aside, my minor disappointment with the film was the lack of high end collector's merchandise. Aside from the Avatar diary and art book, what else is there that's a decent buy?

i promised my self not to keep this thread alive .....why wont it just die!!

anyhoo, for the past 6 years i have been working on two books one non fiction the other fiction. both are slllllooooooowwwwwww progress because you know life and you need to take care of that first. a couple of years ago i took the first 250 pages of my fictional work to an editor friend of mine. now its not scifi but more like a martial arts story based on some history and a dab of fantasy. editor got back to me and told me it was a great story but its more suitable to be translated into a script and he gave me software that does just that. now sorry to say i am only ahead another 60 pages cause i just dont know how to shorten the story. i planned three volumes but who knows yet. writing to me comes in spurts too. anyhoo if it gets finished and it does get through all the editing and maybe it does get translated into screenplay and i make my first million i will make an avatar movie that will please both the visual techie nuts and the folks who like a more involved story baring in mind its still scifi

but i think that is a unfair comment. people can be critical but lack the know how to a solution. Just because there is no visible immediate answer to a problem doesnt mean that that is the correct solution in question not merit to critisim.

[Wanzerfan]

It looks like slideshow is making a nice maquette. . .

Damned thing looks like an E-Frame rip-off from Exo-Squad.

[peter]

I was agreeing with her assessment for the massive spoiler post a few pages back using poker tems (post #398 in this thread, to be exact), that's all.

EXO's a girl? EXO, all this time I thought you were a dude...........ma'am....sorry.

[Wanzerfan]

EXO's a girl? EXO, all this time I thought you were a dude...........ma'am....sorry.

Well, I was going by the avatar photo, if EXO's a dude, sorry for the misunderstanding.

[EXO]

that really is me...

[peter]

that really is me...

Don't even start..............word gets around that you're a girl, all the little nerds here will be on you like fat kid in a candy store.

Edited January 9, 2010 by peter

[eugimon]

Don't even start..............word gets around that you're a girl, all the little nerds here will be on you like fat kid in a candy store.

Does that mean Wanzerfan is really some sort of sentient illustration?

[EXO]

ok... back the the blue people!!! lol.

[bob joe mac]

i promised my self not to keep this thread alive .....why wont it just die!!

anyhoo, for the past 6 years i have been working on two books one non fiction the other fiction. both are slllllooooooowwwwwww progress because you know life and you need to take care of that first. a couple of years ago i took the first 250 pages of my fictional work to an editor friend of mine. now its not scifi but more like a martial arts story based on some history and a dab of fantasy. editor got back to me and told me it was a great story but its more suitable to be translated into a script and he gave me software that does just that. now sorry to say i am only ahead another 60 pages cause i just dont know how to shorten the story. i planned three volumes but who knows yet. writing to me comes in spurts too. anyhoo if it gets finished and it does get through all the editing and maybe it does get translated into screenplay and i make my first million i will make an avatar movie that will please both the visual techie nuts and the folks who like a more involved story baring in mind its still scifi

but i think that is a unfair comment. people can be critical but lack the know how to a solution. Just because there is no visible immediate answer to a problem doesnt mean that that is the correct solution in question not merit to critisim.

You sir are my new favorite person take it however you want.

[Wanzerfan]

Does that mean Wanzerfan is really some sort of sentient illustration?

Nah, that's only a pic of Anomen (a Baldur's Gate II character) that I have over at photobucket. I keep meaning to upload a pic of Minsc over there but haven't gotten to it.

[miriya]

Damned thing looks like an E-Frame rip-off from Exo-Squad.

I like how the cockpit looks like it is from a helicopter. At first I thought it looked silly like a walking chopper but halfway through the movie I started to like the design. Nothing great like the regult or the AT-ST (which looks like a rip off of the regult by the way). I like the detail on this maquette though.

And I AM two robots making out with each other!

Edited January 9, 2010 by miriya

[-Snowblind-]

...

Nothing great like the regult or the AT-ST (which looks like a rip off of the regult by the way).

...

...Shouldn't that be the other way around... Given that the AT-ST came first an' all?

[taksraven]

Heh, the syncing is exactly how I guessed that the Na'vi 'did it'. Odd that they felt compelled to cut that scene when the Na'vi are running around syncing with everything else. I guess Na'vis having sex with horses, dragons, super-dragons and trees is fine, but with each other? That's just dirty!

If a male Na'vi sync's with a male horse, does that mean that they're GAY!!!!!!????????

(joke)

Taksraven

[anime52k8]

Does that mean Wanzerfan is really some sort of sentient illustration?

only if it means you're a VF-0

[eugimon]

only if it means you're a VF-0

Well, my shoulder does hurt every now and then...

what really happened...

Peter's original post was that if Exo's avatar were really him/her(?) than peter was actually a little red toy car. But now it looks like when you edit your post those changes are applied to your quoted text as well.

Edited January 10, 2010 by eugimon

[Freiflug88]

I haven't seen the film yet so I can't judge it, but I do hate that James Cameron is selling it as this original story he has for years. Its painfully obvious that Avatar was very much inspired by Paul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," which I don't have a problem with at all. What I am dispointed about is that James Cameron won't even acknowledge the influence Paul Anderson's work had on Avatar at all and refuses to give the guy even a line in the credits. I mean if I had made a blockbuster hit like Avatar I would be publicly thanking every inspiration I could think, giving them private screenings, bring them to Hollywood parties, etc not claiming that I am some sort of origianl genius that happened to think up the same thing by coincidence.

[nugundamII]

I haven't seen the film yet so I can't judge it, but I do hate that James Cameron is selling it as this original story he has for years. Its painfully obvious that Avatar was very much inspired by Paul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," which I don't have a problem with at all. What I am dispointed about is that James Cameron won't even acknowledge the influence Paul Anderson's work had on Avatar at all and refuses to give the guy even a line in the credits. I mean if I had made a blockbuster hit like Avatar I would be publicly thanking every inspiration I could think, giving them private screenings, bring them to Hollywood parties, etc not claiming that I am some sort of origianl genius that happened to think up the same thing by coincidence.

Call Me Joe (1957) is a science fiction story by Poul Anderson. It is the story of an attempt to explore the surface of the planet Jupiter using remotely controlled artificial life-forms. It focuses on the feelings of the disabled man who operates the artificial body.

The Science Fiction Writers of America selected Call Me Joe for The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.

Contents

* 1 Plot summary

* 2 Scientific background

* 3 In popular culture

* 4 References

* 5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Joe is awakened in his den, when a pack of predators is attacking him. Using his great strength, and weapons made from sculpted ice, he kills the animals and, exultant, bays at the moon above him. A vital component shorts out, and "Joe" reverts to being a human, Ed Anglesey, wearing a special headset on a space station orbiting Jupiter. Anglesey furiously repairs the equipment to restore the connection.

It transpires that such equipment failures are happening more and more often. All technical attempts at repair have failed, and instead a psionics expert, Cornelius, is brought to the station to determine if Anglesey himself is the problem.

Anglesey uses a wheelchair and is bad-tempered. He dislikes all his colleagues and is disliked in return. He is allowed to stay on the station only because of his ability to establish a telepathic connection with and thereby control Joe, a creature designed to survive the hostile conditions on the Jovian surface. Cornelius conjectures that something in Anglesey's mind rejects or fears Jupiter, and the resulting feedback keeps destroying the delicate equipment.

Eventually Cornelius is allowed to share a session with Anglesey during an important part of the mission. A set of autonomous female Jovians, similar to Joe but lacking a human controller such as Anglesey, has been launched from the satellite and will soon land on Jupiter. Joe, still controlled by Anglesey, is to be the leader, and father, of a new race that will live on the planet. During this session, Cornelius becomes aware of a third mind – that of Joe himself. Anglesey's mind has been steadily transforming itself into Joe and shrinking in the process. Cornelius was looking at the problem from the wrong end – it was not Anglesey's fear of going to Jupiter and becoming sublimated into Joe's stronger character which was causing the blowouts, but his fear of leaving Jupiter and the freedom Joe's whole and healthy, though non-human, body allows him. Anglesey's existence is poor and constricted compared to Joe's, and the environment has shaped a personality that no longer wants to be human.

Seeing himself from Cornelius's perspective, Joe becomes fully self-aware. He ejects Cornelius from the loop and shuts down what is left of Anglesey.

Cornelius revives on the station next to the hollow shell of Anglesey's body. Far from being dismayed, Cornelius realizes that this is the way of the future. From now on people with diseased bodies and even the aged can be recruited for the Jovian program if they have the necessary talents. Eventually they will leave their bodies behind and become Jovians in the flesh, functioning as the priesthood of the new race.

[edit] Scientific background

At the time the story was written, conditions on Jupiter were not well known, although measurements of the planet's mass had revealed that it must consist largely of gases. Call Me Joe posits a surface at very low temperatures and exceptionally high pressures. Under these conditions ice is a hard solid and methane a liquid, where both native and human-created life can survive. However, based on subsequent observations from space probes it is believed (as of 2005) that the solid core of the planet is surrounded by regions of high pressure and temperature that would make any life, as we know it, impossible.

[Vile]

Call Me Joe (1957) is a science fiction story by Poul Anderson.

Cool - one more for the Book Depository wishlist.

[taksraven]

Poul Anderson.

Coolest sounding name in SF!

Taksraven

[Duke Togo]

I haven't seen the film yet so I can't judge it, but I do hate that James Cameron is selling it as this original story he has for years. Its painfully obvious that Avatar was very much inspired by Paul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," which I don't have a problem with at all. What I am dispointed about is that James Cameron won't even acknowledge the influence Paul Anderson's work had on Avatar at all and refuses to give the guy even a line in the credits. I mean if I had made a blockbuster hit like Avatar I would be publicly thanking every inspiration I could think, giving them private screenings, bring them to Hollywood parties, etc not claiming that I am some sort of origianl genius that happened to think up the same thing by coincidence.

Didn't we go through this already with Cameron and Terminator?

[bob joe mac]

I haven't seen the film yet so I can't judge it, but I do hate that James Cameron is selling it as this original story he has for years. Its painfully obvious that Avatar was very much inspired by Paul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," which I don't have a problem with at all. What I am dispointed about is that James Cameron won't even acknowledge the influence Paul Anderson's work had on Avatar at all and refuses to give the guy even a line in the credits. I mean if I had made a blockbuster hit like Avatar I would be publicly thanking every inspiration I could think, giving them private screenings, bring them to Hollywood parties, etc not claiming that I am some sort of origianl genius that happened to think up the same thing by coincidence.

Sounds Interesting I'll have to track down a copy and give it a read but. Aside from some handi-cap...no idea what politically correct term I should use lol... using a fake body to do stuff on another planet thats all the connection. Now like I said in a earlier post I found a significant amont of similarities with another sci-fi book called Speaker for the Dead and sequels written by Orsen S. Card. Which had quite a few similarities with avatar

- Mankind finds a planet inhabited by a primitive but sentient life form that are still in the earlier stages of technolgy like using spears and such

- They have a special connection with the trees

- When humans tear down the trees they get all pissed because they consider trees as sacred if not more then their own life

- Ender the main character a ex-soldier comes to the planet after hearing about these aliens killing some scientists to try to find a peaceful solution

Theirs a couple more but I can't ruin the premise of the book the Ender series is a fantastic read. But Freiflug88 this is another work that to my knowledge Cameron hasn't given credit to. So I don't know maybe he did randomly just happen to have similar ideas but I did read that Cameron said he borrowed alot from other sci-fi works and Dances with Wolves

"Avatar is primarily an action-adventure journey of self-discovery, in the context of imperialism and biodiversity.[57] Cameron has said that Avatar shares themes with the films At Play in the Fields of the Lord and The Emerald Forest, which feature clashes between cultures and civilizations, and acknowledged the film's connection with Dances With Wolves, where a battered soldier finds himself drawn to the culture he was initially fighting against."

^ taken from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_dead

Edited January 10, 2010 by bob joe mac

[-Snowblind-]

Sounds Interesting I'll have to track down a copy and give it a read but. Aside from some handi-cap...no idea what politically correct term I should use lol... using a fake body to do stuff on another planet thats all the connection. Now like I said in a earlier post I found a significant amont of similarities with another sci-fi book called Speaker for the Dead and sequels written by Orsen S. Card. Which had quite a few similarities with avatar

- Mankind finds a planet inhabited by a primitive but sentient life form that are still in the earlier stages of technolgy like using spears and such

- They have a special connection with the trees

- When humans tear down the trees they get all pissed because they consider trees as sacred if not more then their own life

- Ender the main character a ex-soldier comes to the planet after hearing about these aliens killing some scientists to try to find a peaceful solution

...

If Cameron needs to give credit to Card, then Card needs to give credit to a number of people that came before him. Trying to use points that are common to many, many sci-fi/sci-fantasy stories such as the primitive locals and ex-soldiers turned peaceful negotiators doesn't help the argument that Card deserves credit for 'his' ideas. These weren't new ideas when Card wrote Speaker for the Dead.

And the connection between the Na'vi and the trees owes far more to various Earth-bound myths/religions/spiritualist movements than it does to anything in the Enderverse.

If you're just going to pick and choose ideas and concepts that are similar to other stories, then there's nothing original out there - as has already been pointed out elsewhere. If you're going to say that Avatar is unoriginal, and that's a fair comment 'cause it's far from original - it's easier to point out how it's almost a note for note imitation of other films and books.

[bob joe mac]

If Cameron needs to give credit to Card, then Card needs to give credit to a number of people that came before him. Trying to use points that are common to many, many sci-fi/sci-fantasy stories such as the primitive locals and ex-soldiers turned peaceful negotiators doesn't help the argument that Card deserves credit for 'his' ideas. These weren't new ideas when Card wrote Speaker for the Dead.

And the connection between the Na'vi and the trees owes far more to various Earth-bound myths/religions/spiritualist movements than it does to anything in the Enderverse.

If you're just going to pick and choose ideas and concepts that are similar to other stories, then there's nothing original out there - as has already been pointed out elsewhere. If you're going to say that Avatar is unoriginal, and that's a fair comment 'cause it's far from original - it's easier to point out how it's almost a note for note imitation of other films and books.

Thats why I enjoyed Avatar and most media that still comes out and why I put that quote up I realize that have a brand spanking new idea is non-existent so I never expect anything to be...new.

[Ghost Train]

Fresh off failblog.org :

[nugundamII]

Fresh off failblog.org :

:lol: :lol: clever!

[eugimon]

yes, it's clever how that person rewrote the story of pocahontas to make it the same as Avatar. Good job.

[Omegablue]

i promised my self not to keep this thread alive .....why wont it just die!!

anyhoo, for the past 6 years i have been working on two books one non fiction the other fiction. both are slllllooooooowwwwwww progress because you know life and you need to take care of that first. a couple of years ago i took the first 250 pages of my fictional work to an editor friend of mine. now its not scifi but more like a martial arts story based on some history and a dab of fantasy. editor got back to me and told me it was a great story but its more suitable to be translated into a script and he gave me software that does just that. now sorry to say i am only ahead another 60 pages cause i just dont know how to shorten the story. i planned three volumes but who knows yet. writing to me comes in spurts too. anyhoo if it gets finished and it does get through all the editing and maybe it does get translated into screenplay and i make my first million i will make an avatar movie that will please both the visual techie nuts and the folks who like a more involved story baring in mind its still scifi

but i think that is a unfair comment. people can be critical but lack the know how to a solution. Just because there is no visible immediate answer to a problem doesnt mean that that is the correct solution in question not merit to critisim.

Sorry, but just how many movies have you directed, and how many Oscars have you won?

[DarrinG]

I heard it's approach Titantic as highest grossing.

Or am I late - has it already passed it?

[VFTF1]

I still haven't seen this, and probably won't. I heard one pretty bad review on the radio - the dude was saying that the film totally lacks plot and is predictable and the characters are shallow.

On the other hand, lots of people who have seen it keep saying "best movie of 2009" ... but I think they just say it because it sounds trendy - since it was also pretty much the LAST movie of 2009...

I dunno... I can't see myself getting enthusiastic about it - which means seeing it is unlikely, since I need to be enthusiastic about a movie to go see it....

Pete