Avatar

[sophie]

It seems theirs a copy of 114 page original screenplay for Avatar (called Project 880) available on the net and this blog gives a blow by blow of all the significant changes between it and the final movie.

http://chud.com/articles/articles/21969/1/PROJECT-880-THE-AVATAR-THAT-ALMOST-WAS/Page1.html

880 reads as a much better plot with a lot less cliche and more original plot elements such as dealing with the other members of the Avatar project and their loyalties, the dystopian situation on Earth and the legal structure under which the 'Company' operates, other Avatars project members who went native before the events of the movie. Na'Vi being captured by humans and rescued by the Protagonist. And in my opinion the best piece, the Avatar projects real aim is to teach/coerce the Na'vi into becoming the workforce for the whole mining operation thus freeing the company from the logistic cost of bringing humans to the planet. This REALLY brings home the colonialism angle and explains why such money is being poured into the whole Avatar project when the Company really doesn't care about relations with the natives.

Also it seems that the screenplay has the Unobtanium and mining operations in the floating mountains (which is why they float) not under the Big Tree. In the screenplay the Tree is destroyed purely for 'shock and awe' purposes. This is clearly a 'plot scar' ware compression of the screenplay has left a detectable flaw in the movies logic.

Cameron basically had to compress a 5 hour screenplay into 2 hours 40 minutes which is actually impressive when you think about it. But it feels like something which while derivative of its body of inspirational works (what Cameron calls the 'going native' story) is still quite original into something that feels like a distillation ware every plot point is cut down to its most cliche core in order to keep the story skeleton intact in the required time frame. If they do a full novelization I'd be quite interested in reading it.

I really wish this was the movie they released. Even if it was 5 hours long I would have watched the whole thing. Seems to be a lot more about how the planet works, and the culture of the Na'vi, which is the kind of stuff I find most exciting in SF/Fantasy. I tend to like the history and cultural aspects of those genres a hell of a lot more than I like the action.

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

more na'vi sex

Yes theirs rumors floating around about a better sex scene in the directors cut, but personally the only thing I though it was missing was a 1 second shot of their alien-pony-tail-USB-plugs slowly entwining followed with a tasteful fade to black. I mean come on they simply must use those things for sex, they use them to talk to trees and riding animals for crying out loud. I remember watching the movie and as soon as it was clear this was going to be the sex scene I knew absolutely without a shadow of a doubt that it would be shown and was shocked when I was wrong. Again the 880 script goes exactly as it should have and fills the hole in the movie version.


Having said all that about that one scene I'd now like to start an extreamly profound and long grip about the alien-pony-tail-USB-plugs, for those not into philosophy you might want to skip to my one sentence summary at the end.

To start I'll give Cameron a complete and total pass on all the evolutionary and bio-mechanical reasons why its silly (lots of reviews have ripped into this but I think it's nit-picking in the 'soft' SciFi genre). The idea is no longer fresh enough to earn any originality points either, but the screen play was written many years ago so I can give a bit of a pass on that as well. My main grip is that the whole Na'vi spirituality and connection to nature rests on this plug-in ability, in other words their entire spirituality is in fact entirely materialistic (in the philosophical sense of the word). While I am myself a through and through materialist I don't think we need to have literal nerve-to-nerve contact with nature to appreciate it or have a sense of wonder and respect for it. Avatar is clearly a Romanticist work (as our most movies) meaning emotions and spirit are dominant over logic and reason so to throw in a materialistic explanation for the spiritual core of the movie is a betrayal of Romanticism. It's an admission that the movie lacks the courage to unambiguously exult the righteousness of spirituality over reason or even dispense entirely with reason. Perhaps I should be pleased at some level that even dyed in the wool Romanticists feel it necessary to give lip-service to Materialism by not presenting raw 'magic' to the audience in a genre that has the word Science in its name. But it sure makes for poor story telling that's for sure. Which is exactly what another even more well know Romanticist movie maker did to the spiritual core of of his own Magnum-opus in a certain ill-revived prequel. I think you can now see ware I'm going with this.

Alien-Ponytail-USB-plugs were the Midi-chlorians of Avatar!!!

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

I really wish this was the movie they released. Even if it was 5 hours long I would have watched the whole thing. Seems to be a lot more about how the planet works, and the culture of the Na'vi, which is the kind of stuff I find most exciting in SF/Fantasy. I tend to like the history and cultural aspects of those genres a hell of a lot more than I like the action.

While their are more references to exotic animals (some of them exceedingly bizarre and original in their biology) but their really isn't much more on the Na'vi or their thinking and motivations through the course of the movie, the noble-Savage cliche is just as strong in the screenplay as it is in the movie. But the bits about other Avatars who went native dose greatly reduce whole "Magic chosen white guy goes Native" feel that the movie has. The screenplay's Protagonist is just the first to succeed in going native and has the courage to fully throw his lot in with the natives when fence sitting becomes untenable.

 

[Esckey]

There are some parts of the 880 that I do like and wish was in the movie theres just as many parts that I'm glad never made it on the screen such as....


- Grace survives the soul transfer(In my opinion its a fitting end, she finds out it's real and probably would like to "stay" and reseach Ewya from the inside)

- There is no unobtainium beneath Hometree. The military just wants to wipe out the local Na'vi to send a message to all the tribes that they must be obeyed. (That just makes the humans 100% evil instead of the wishywashy we get now)

- How Jake's brother dies

- The Avatars are alive

 

[Kozmos]

Did you just quote that review you just posted and try to pass it off as your own witty line? Show me one heavy metal album cover that has floating mountains

It is from the review, and I'm pretty sure Iron Maiden and/or Helloween have flying mountains. Not to mention that old videogame.

 

[jonebele]

I saw this movie at last night. I thought it was pretty movie. It is the best movie of the year. It was entertaining and enjoyable movie. Awesome movie. I really enjoyed.

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

- Grace survives the soul transfer(In my opinion its a fitting end, she finds out it's real and probably would like to "stay" and reseach Ewya from the inside)

Some say that having a main character "die" can add some pathos to a story but I was disappointed that the movie just comes right out and says their doing a soul transfer, it immediately and completely gives away the ending (though admittedly a savvy person should know he's going to 'stay' some way some how). The screenplay makes much better use of the transfer to actually surprises the reader (the movie badly needs surprising twists) and then has her dispense nuggets of planetary biology wisdom. But it fails to use her again in any way during the final battle which is a big oversight. I'd come down on the side of having her survive mainly because it cuts down the "chosen white guy goes native" idea, in the screenplay Grace has gone considerably though not completely native first and another controller has been emotionally shattered when his Na'vi lover is killed. All this makes Jake transition a lot less 'chossen' and less hokey. If Grace is the first to transfer to the Avatar it makes Jake less 'the chosen one' and more a person who succeeds because of courageous actions. Basically anything that's less cliche is good.

- There is no unobtainium beneath Hometree. The military just wants to wipe out the local Na'vi to send a message to all the tribes that they must be obeyed. (That just makes the humans 100% evil instead of the wishywashy we get now)

Most people are in agreement that the Colonel is a pure unmitigated evil bad ass (complete with evil enhancing scars) he couldn't have gotten much eviler so I can't really see how their was any wishywashy their.

- How Jake's brother dies

The movie really rushes through the brothers death with its almost throw away "for the paper in his pocket" line, a subway fire is just another stupid random way to die but it allows a scene ware Jake hears about it on TV without knowing that his brother's died in the event. Personally I think both the screenplay and movie miss an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the ecological breakdown of the Earth, the Brother should die from a virulent new disease Pandemic, a classic dystopian element and one which rings increasingly true in our own time.

- The Avatars are alive

Again I think this could go either way, some say it adds some kind of moral quandary for Jake to even use the Avatar but theirs just not enough room for such a tangential and minor moral quandary like that with all the 500 pound quandaries running around. The 'birth' scene might have looked good though.


The blog author that I linked to earlier points out one additional plot point that the Screenplay lacks but the movie has improved upon is the offer for Jake to get his spinal-cord healed. This gives him an actual reason to stay human, in the screenplay the company just dangles the 'carrot' of the Avatars legs when money isn't enough and theirs no indication spinal-cords can be healed at all. The only thing I would have changed though is WHO offers it to Jake, the Colonel is the wrong person he shouldn't be able to requisition those kinds of funds from the company and he should try to coerce Jake with military comradeship, patriotism, Semper-Fi and all that stuff. It would also give a lot more weight to the "How dose it feel to betray your entire race?" line.

It's the corporate boss guy who should offer the spinal-cord operation to Jake, bribing people with money is his business (he's doing it to another character) and he has the position to pull such a thing. Best of all it would actually establish a relationship between that character and Jake and help develop both characters. Now Jake has two strong but unique 'strings' being pulled to try to control him and the tension will be that much higher.

Lastly I think the movie/screen play could have done some fabulous meta criticism by having Jake and the humans on Earth getting some escapism from their miserable lives by watching some Pandoran nature documentaries. The sad nature-disconnected humans are vicariously viewing the natural world they have forsaken through a screen, It's just deliciously meta, so meta it probably goes over the heads of half the audience. It would have gone over very very nicely with the critics who are saying that Cameron is a hypocrite for idealizing nature with a movie that made with cutting edge technology and a budget large then the GDP of small countries.

 

[MobBoss]

Most people are in agreement that the Colonel is a pure unmitigated evil bad ass (complete with evil enhancing scars) he couldn't have gotten much eviler so I can't really see how their was any wishywashy their.

Well, I want to point out that I dont think the Colonel was evil per se but he did have a mission and wanted to complete that mission. In other words, he certainly could have been more evil.

If he were pure evil he would have just killed the Na'vi outright when taking down the hometree instead of basically ignoring them.

Or blasted them from orbit.

 

[useless]

The colonel is a typical American, obviously.

 

[sophie]

Well, I want to point out that I dont think the Colonel was evil per se but he did have a mission and wanted to complete that mission. In other words, he certainly could have been more evil.

If he were pure evil he would have just killed the Na'vi outright when taking down the hometree instead of basically ignoring them.

Or blasted them from orbit.

You didn't see any sort of revenge line coming from the Colonel? I got the sense that he was on the line "The only good Na'vi is a dead Na'vi".

Personally I would have at least liked them to do all the Earth backstory described in 880 about what's wrong with the planet and why Sully finds Pandora so fascinating.

 

[xchen08]

The history of Colonialism isn't just people starting their lives anew. Most colonisation is paired with the evils of imperialism and capitalism. The original colonies in the new world, be it them escaping religious intolerance or something else were all funded by capitalists who invested money in colonies to see more money be rerouted back to their pockets.

But the fact remains that people settling in a new land has a romantic connotation to most Americans, and the need to strip out any of the positives of colonialism/imperialism in the movie left quite a few plot holes. For instance, the use of contract labor instead of settlement is costing RDA billions. Unobtanium is 20 million of some monetary unit, most likely equivalent to modern dollars, per kilo. Assuming 80 kilos for a healthy American male, and half that for a cryo capsule (extremely generous), that's $2.4 billion in lost profits for every worker that returns to Earth instead of permanently settling on Pandora. And quite frankly, Pandora is very hospitable as far as off earth settlements are likely to be. People can walk around with just a breather mask in near Earth gravity; compare that with what settling Mars would take. And given how Earth is supposed to be such a hellhole as yet another part of the whole technology is evil, primitive life in harmony with nature is best message, there should be millions willing to settle on Pandora.

Realistically, RDA should have set up an entire colony, and recruited the personel for its operations from the settlers. The other settlers would provide the assorted support services needed to keep workers sane far from Earth, and they could even provide a defensive militia to back up the Company security forces. Then Jake's crusade would have been more like real anti-colonial wars, with settlers fighting for their new homes and livelyhoods. And Jake kicking the human presence off Pandora would have seen the mass slaughter of civilians, with the rest losing their homes and cursing Jake as a traitor. Overall, far more nuanced than the superior to humanity in every way including moral Na'vi with absolutely no innocent blood on their hands that we got. And finally Quaritch's nonsensical lines about fighting Na'vi terrorism with shock and awe would make sense instead of being just an illogical throw away meant to tie RDA to modern America.

 

[mitsho]

she probably wet her pants with joy to get this role. and if she wasn't the "bad girl who knows how to handle guns" type, then she wouldn't be James Cameron's type either, would she?

What's JC's (Yeah, Funny I know) type of Girl? Wasn't he the Director of Titanic, no tough girls in there...

(And you see, my post was after having seen the movie, being at the bar and then battling oneself back home through the Snow Storm, no good idea to post things at that time, I had to delete my facebook status in the morning ;-) I was just a little bit disappointed to not being able to see more of her in the next movie, or maybe we will, isn't it supposed to be a prequel?)

 

[Esckey]

Some say that having a main character "die" can add some pathos to a story but I was disappointed that the movie just comes right out and says their doing a soul transfer, it immediately and completely gives away the ending (though admittedly a savvy person should know he's going to 'stay' some way some how). The screenplay makes much better use of the transfer to actually surprises the reader (the movie badly needs surprising twists) and then has her dispense nuggets of planetary biology wisdom. But it fails to use her again in any way during the final battle which is a big oversight. I'd come down on the side of having her survive mainly because it cuts down the "chosen white guy goes native" idea, in the screenplay Grace has gone considerably though not completely native first and another controller has been emotionally shattered when his Na'vi lover is killed. All this makes Jake transition a lot less 'chossen' and less hokey. If Grace is the first to transfer to the Avatar it makes Jake less 'the chosen one' and more a person who succeeds because of courageous actions. Basically anything that's less cliche is good.

In the movie it probably would of been more dramatic if she died and when burying her Ewya reaches into her body and brings her into the fold so to speak.But yes everything else makes sense, making Jake the first to transfer just reaffirms his "chosen one" title. I'm sure most of the Avatars would like to make a permanent transfer as well.

ouldn't have gotten much eviler so I can't really see how their was any wishywashy their.

It wasn't the colonel that was wishywashy it was Selfridge, his "boss" that was.

some say it adds some kind of moral quandary for Jake to even use the Avatar but theirs just not enough room for such a tangential and minor moral quandary like that with all the 500 pound quandaries running around.

Which is why I'm glad its not in the film, there are already more then enough moral and ethical issues in the movie you don't need to add one more. Probably break the whole point of the movie

Don't get me wrong though, 880 would of been a really really good movie and I hope we get some of 880 in the Directors Cut, but I don't think it would of made as much money as Avatar has. Unless he broke the movie in two.

 

[MobBoss]

The colonel is a typical American, obviously.

Rofl. Hardly.

You didn't see any sort of revenge line coming from the Colonel? I got the sense that he was on the line "The only good Na'vi is a dead Na'vi".

If this were true, he would have simply targeted them...not the hometree.

Personally I would have at least liked them to do all the Earth backstory described in 880 about what's wrong with the planet and why Sully finds Pandora so fascinating.

I think Sullys fascination is that as an Avatar he is no longer crippled...but grew from there.

 

[jUmpSt0p]

I think Sullys fascination is that as an Avatar he is no longer crippled...but grew from there.

you think this would be as obvious as the tail on his A**, but it seems nobody knows what a damm screenplay is anymore.

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

I've located the final screen play as well, it's a bit longer then the 880 script and its much closer to the final movie. I suspect most or even all the scenes in this final script were filmed and it was then edited down to create the final movie. Thus this is probably our best guide as too what will be in the directors cut. I'd rate it about a 6 because its not fundamentally changing the plot, just fleshing it out a bit a bit.

http://www.foxscreenings.com/media/pdf/JamesCameronAVATAR.pdf

Overall its mostly bits of characterization and dialogue which got edited out, its like every conversation had 2-3 more lines in it that got dropped. Their are four big plot points that this script has that are unique to it, neither found in 880 or in the final cut.

First Norm and the pilot girl became a couple so when she dies Norm's grief adds a lot more Pathos their in the middle of the battle. Also her death is more important in the battle as it's her Kamikaze attacks on the large ship that the Colonel is in that actually brings it down rather then Jake's attack. This saves the mother tree as the Colonel was intent on using that ship's missles to attack it after the loss of the shuttle.

Second it's revealed that Neytiri had a sister and Grace taught them both English at the briefly mentioned school, but she was then killed by humans at the school after destroying mining equipment. Grace and Neytiri are present for the death and the event scars both characters and ends the time of 'good relations' with the Natives. This also establishes that Grace has been their with the Natives for something like 10 years which is something I'd been wondering about.

Third Jake's 'final test' to join the clan is not the Alien-Buffalo hunt of 880 (It's still their but just one more montage element) but is instead a Hallucinogenic drug induced vision-quest. This is dangerous for a normal Na'vi but his hybrid-DNA Avatar is at even more risk, naturally he sees a vision of the soon to be destroyed home-tree and the Leonoptryx. It's a bit cliche but it really it really fills a hole in the movie ware I was expecting something to happen after all the build up and all they did was paint him and then form a circle around him.

Lastly the death of Tsu’tey (the rival alpha male), rather then just falling literally out of the movie, he is badly wounded and found by the ground forces and they figuratively 'scalp' him by cutting off the nerve-pony-tail (which is of course worse then death to the Na'vi). In 880 Neytiri charges in and kills the soldier responsible but Tsu'tey is already dead. In the final screenplay Tsu'tey is still alive after all this and after the battle asks Jake to end his suffering and asks Jake to be the next chief as well, Jake reluctantly dose both.

On the dialogue side of things theirs some more jealously on Norms part directed at Jake, Grace's character urges Jake not to 'get in too deep' and reveals her own pain that resulted from doing so (In this respect Graces character absorbs the tragic aspects of the character Hegner from 880). Also we get a bit more Na'vi dialogue which helps them seem a lot less naive, Mo'at (the Matriarch) and Tsu’tey have a conversation ware she says they will learn from Jake even if he learns nothing. Also we get to see the corporate boss fellow really objecting to the final battle and being physically bullied by the Colonel who literally takes over in a military coup which the movie implies but doesn't show.

 

[Pieman]

Personally, I found the film to be underwhelming. The CGI was entrancing for the 1st half but then I got over it and realised that the film was unoriginal and bland. I found it to be a fairly standard blockbluster: bland, unoriginal storyline, numerous plot holes, stock-standard characters, sentimental orchestral themes, numerous cliches, all wrapped up in pretty visuals.

I suppose I should have expected all that, considering that it's a Cameron flick, but even so, considering this was a really big project which took an investment of 6 years and $300 million, I was hoping for a more bold and adventurous film than what I got. If the film was 20-30 minutes shorter than its shortcomings might not have mattered so much; however, the film stretched on for too long for me to be distracted by the pretty visuals.

Pity that 880 script didn't make it; it sounded a good deal more promising than the final product.

 

[BasketCase]

Why so complex? All is so simple and obvious: blues == Native Americans, earthlings == European colonizers. He could say anything, but they had copied exactly this part of history...

Something else I wish to add to my previous rebuttal.

The Na'Vi clearly cannot be a parallel of Indi--errr, NATIVE AMERICANS because one of the hallmarks of Indi--oh, for Pete's sake--INDIAN tribes was that most of them were patriarchal societies that treated women like dirt.

Without even having seen the movie or looked at a single spoiler, I can tell you right off the bat that the Na'Vi in the movie are gender-equal. At this point I would then do that sarcastic bit where I go "am I right?" but I don't need to because I already know I'm right.

So, no. There's a huge disconnect between the Native Amer--errr, INDIANS and the Na'Vi.

 

[holy king]

i strongly dislike bad stories, though i couldnt care less if in the midst of it is john mclain bleeding out of every artificial orifice imaginable.

should i watch it?

 

[Loppan Torkel]

No, you'll only get annoyed halfway through. Pieman summarized it in a good way. The only thing that keeps the movie floating is the 3D which was pretty nice, but I'd wait for something better and more rewarding.