Avatar - New James Cameron movie (Marines in space) busts magic $1B mark!

If the floating mountains were deposits, why didnt they mine them?

Because that would be too easy. You'll find that will answer many of your questions in the Navy.

I actually thought about this and concluded that it would in fact be very hard. You couldn't do it while they were suspended. Every time you blew away waste rock, the thing would gyrate and change altitude; your mining and refining equipment isn't going to handle that too well. Your gear would have to be portable and scaled down to very small sizes as well. I suppose you could tow them outside of the magnetic anomally, they would crash to Earth, and then you could go to work properly. In any case, you would have to contend with all the flying dragons that live there.

Perfect. I can always rest easy knowing a movie remains logical.

I do NOT want to ruin this movie for any one so.....

Same thing happened when:

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SPOILER!!!! In the end when he is being held by his hair, why didn't he grab the knife in front of his face? I concluded that he was too weak from lack of oxygen (remember his real body). I forgot that the window had been broken and oxygen was escaping. Add that to the fact that his pony tail seems to be a sensitive thing. SPOILER!!!!



SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!

Well I just saw it in IMAX 3D, I have to say, very awesome movie IMO. I like how they did the Na'vi with that language too, they seemed very authentic. Can't wait for #2 to come out.

Also quick question, but those double-rotor helicopter things, how come they don't use a design like that for modern military helos? There's no tail rotor so less risky if you bump into something, and also the fan rotors make it less risky I'd think.

Avatar was a little too pantheistic/mother nature-y for me....

Hurt Locker was about a billion times better

MAD's spoof of Avatar

So in this thread I remember someone mentioned about how the rotorcraft used in Avatar look rather "current" (our time) for this supposedly being the 22nd century on a different planet (actually moon), well I was doing some reading and that is actually part of the backstory. Turns out actually we had for about eight decades been using unmanned aircraft for most things until the late 21st century, but then due to EMP ground-to-air weapons falling into terrorists hands, they had to start using piloted aircraft again.

The rotorcraft used on Pandora are actually late 21st century airframe designs. These are antique models by the mid-22nd century, however according to the backstory details, the RDA (Resources Development Corporation) tried using modern-designed combat aircraft on Pandora, but they require electronics that are too sophisticated and too fragile for the ultra-powerful electromagnetic field of Pandora, and also they require materials technology that is too sophisticated to manufacture there (much of the heavy machinery and aircraft actually are manufactured by special manufacturing plants established on Pandora itself, only ultra-sophisticated equipment like special electronics or machinery that cannot be manufactured are transported by spacecraft from Earth).

So if anyone is wondering why the rotorcraft in the movie look a little "old-fashioned" for the mid-22nd century (people who think, "You'd think by then they'd have something a little more sophisticated"), that's why

Also the rotorcraft cockpits are resistant to the arrows fired by the Na'vi, the only exception being if the Na'vi go into a dive from above at very high speed on their banshees, the combined speed of the dive plus the speed of the arrow is enough to puncture the cockpit (Na'vi have around 4X the strength of a human so their arrows are a lot more forceful). This is why in the initial attack they can shoot arrows through the cockpits of the rotorcraft.

There is also some other neat stuff to the science. James Cameron really thought it all through. For example, the moon Pandora is only 4.3 light years away from Earth. It is in the closest star system to us, Alpha Centauri. The spacecraft used isn't anything Star Trek, it can accelerate up to about 70% or 80% of the speed of light, so a whole trip takes about six years to get to Pandora and six years to get back.

And the craft has a special shield in case any kind of particles are encountered in deep space, because at that high of a speed, the particles would either rip the spacecraft apart, or generate an enormous amount of radiation and thus kill the crew. The chance of encountering such particles in deep-space is very small but it is possible.

The reason Pandora has glow-in-the-dark plant life is from Cameron's study of the deep ocean. He has found deep underwater, where there is no sunlight, that there are many bioluminescent lifeforms. Basically when there is no light, nature will create its own. Well Pandora being a moon, a single Pandoran night can last the equivalent of many Earth days. This is the same with our own Moon, one Moon day and night are many Earth days. So the biology has adapted by being able to glow-in-the dark during the nights.

Also since Pandora orbits a gas giant, well gas giants emit huge quantities of radiation. But supposedly because of Pandora's ultra-powerful electromagnetic field, this deflects away most of the radiation.

The term unobtainium actually is a term that already was in existence before Avatar, being used by researchers and I think coined by science-fiction fans to refer to any material that is incredibly expensive and rare but ultra-useful, or a material needed but doesn't exist. By using the term in the film, Cameron is giving a nod to the hardcore science-fiction crowd.

You know it's not a documentary, right?

https://secure.usstandardissue.com/Product_Detail.cfm?id=224&CFID=12401102&CFTOKEN=90749802

Oakley Splinters use unobtainium.

Also, this is why I will never see this movie.

Of course, but I found it interesting how they thought through a lot of the stuff for the film.

You are missing out if you don't see it. It isn't a Star Wars-style science-fiction film (no soldiers saying "Roger Roger" to one another), it is more hard science-fiction. It also has some spectacular action sequences, and I don't just mean shooting (some of the animal sequences are also great).

If you think the battle droids and the abortion that was Ep1-3 is Star Wars, choke yourself right now.

A coherent backstory doesn't make it "hard science fiction". 2001 is hard science fiction. This is Dances with Wolves ....in Space!....in 3D!

Tatanka? Tatanka!

Wow, I'm speechless...

Yueah that ruined this movie for me. The storyline is literally identical to Dances with Wolves.

I didn't say a backstory made it hard science fiction, I'm talking about the other details to the film ranging from the life forms on Pandora to the design of the spacecraft (no warp drive), to the aircraft, to the moon and how it can be Earth-like while so near a gas giant, etc...although I agree the story itself could have been a bit more complex and the characters were very cookie-cutter.

The Russians say Cameron stole it from them http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/13/james-cameron-avatar-plagarism-claim

There was actually a thread that was started over at the official Avatar forums to help people cope with the depression of the fact that the world of Pandora is not real. Some people were apparently even contemplating suicide.

And Pocahontas, and The Last Samurai too!

And you know this... how?

TMI...way too much information!!

If these people would commit suicide because of this movie... I'm going to guess they weren't terribly productive or useful citizens anyhow...

News article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...suicidal-able-visit-utopian-alien-planet.html

Well the good news is that they are starting a "real" Na'vi Tribe in the Pensacola area. Maybe you could join up dude. Looks like you'd have to move though.

Does RadicalDude know about this?

Here is a must watch review of Avatar on YouTube. I almost peed my pants laughing.

It's a two part video. . .

Part 1


Part 2

"I don't think I've rolled my eyes that much since I had that demonic possession."

Thank you for linking that hilarious review!