The Avatar Show

If you're like one of the other people on this planet, you've probably seen the movie Avatar.

People that saw Avatar come in two different flavors: those who believe that it is the greatest thing ever filmed in the history of the universe and we should probably just shut down all production on other movies and just film Avatar sequels and related products, and those that thought it was an okay flick with good special effects.

I fall distinctly into the second category, in case you are wondering.

I don't begrudge James Cameron for any of the success of Avatar.  I thought it was an okay flick with good special effects (see, told you I was in the second category).  Cameron's a smart guy.  He takes a well known story that works, sets it in a different time/place, adds more money than you or I are likely to see in our lifetimes, then films it.

It worked for Titanic: Romeo and Juliet + Titanic.

It worked for The Abyss:  E.T. The Extra Terrestrial + Underwater.

It worked for Aliens:  Terminator + Space.

It worked for Terminator:  A Midsummer's Night Dream + Cyborgs.

There's been some hype about how Avatar is simply Pocahontas in Space.  It's very easy to draw the comparisons.  And if that was all there was to it, I'd leave it there. But there's more.  So prepare to have your entire world rocked to its intelligent symbiotic plant like core.

It's not like James Cameron hid it from you.  He put it right out there in the middle of the story, the very reason for the conflict: Unobtainium.  This strange mineral defies all laws of nature and floats - nay, it shuns gravity - thus making it useful for all sorts of things that are never explained adequately in the movie.  I assume that the entire operation is funded by a cosmetics corporation who use it in shampoos to give hair more lift and bounce.  Or maybe it's used in breast implants for the same reasons.  Whatever the case, Unobtainium is a vital resource.

But does that description of Unobtainium sound familiar?  Where have I heard that before?  Oh, wait, that's right: Saturday mornings from my childhood.

Unobtainium is Upsidaisium.

Remember Upsidaisium?  It's the anti-gravity floating mineral that Boris and Natasha were trying to steal.

Avatar is Rocky and Bullwinkle in Space.

So there.

Comments

  1. Apt description.

    And I also fall into category #2. I saw it on the IMAX screen in Halifax and thought the movie itself was okay, but it was visually stunning and a must-see just for the 3-D effects (unlike most 3-D movies, EVERYTHING seems to "pop" on the screen in Avatar).

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