Vorax Transtellaris Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes a lot. I was and still am afraid Avatar may annoy me more than it will entertain me and so we decided to go see Holmes instead. Since I am far from a CGI fetishist, to "go for the eye candy and leave your brain at home" is not as easy an option as it may be for others. Last but not least, the Na'vi are too elf-like to my taste and I hate elves. Quote RPGbericht (Dutch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Last but not least, the Na'vi are too elf-like to my taste and I hate elves. Elves the size of Great Trolls shooting arrows the size of javelins and flying on giant beasties - what's not to like? Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerCooper Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 From an RPG point of view Avatar is a mix of Hard SF & Space Opera elements. Hard SF 1. Explicitly STL travel 2. Spaceship is zero-G 3. Weapons are plausible developments of current weapons 4. Planet has varied ecosystem 5. The natives have different cultures 6. Exploration with created bodies Space Opera 1. Trees linked in a planetwide network 2. FLOATING MOUNTAINS! 3. Deadly animals at every corner Is the ecology of Pandora naturally created, or has there been outside interference. Such interference could be behind the Tree network and the compatibility of the Human and Nau'vi DNA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 From an RPG point of view Avatar is a mix of Hard SF & Space Opera elements. 1. Explicitly STL travel Was it explicit? It clearly took a long time, but a "slow" FTL travel could do that depending on the distance (10x speed of light still takes years if you're anything but pretty close, for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerCooper Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Pandora is in the Alpha Centauri system. It was stated that the trip takes 6 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Ah. I didn't see any actual reference to the star system in the movie; must have missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorax Transtellaris Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Elves the size of Great Trolls shooting arrows the size of javelins and flying on giant beasties - what's not to like? No matter how ridiculous they're still elves and I hate elves. And giant blue space-elves on a New Age/neo-hippie world even moreso. Quote RPGbericht (Dutch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agentorange Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I must admit I rather enjoyed it, admittedly after about 10 minutes I felt I could have outlined the remainder of the plot on the back of a napkin with a fair degree of accuracy ( and I was right ) but apart from that I really enjoyed it. One thing I want to know. You know near the end just before the big battle when the naboo..er ...that is: na'vi are clinging to the sides of the flying mountains whilst the fleet of VSTOL craft are flying beneath them ? Instead of swooping down and getting the shit shot out of them....why didn't they just drop big rocks into the rotor blades ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share Posted February 13, 2010 Because those darned rocks float and won't drop! But, yes, they didn't seem to have the best tactics against the aircraft. That's why it would make a great game - we'd optimise the fun out of it. Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agentorange Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I suppose it was a cultural thing. After all they've hunted everything else with the same tactic: fly in close and fill it full of arrows. If it works for flying dragons why not for aircraft ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Nash Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 One thing I want to know. You know near the end just before the big battle when the naboo..er ...that is: na'vi are clinging to the sides of the flying mountains whilst the fleet of VSTOL craft are flying beneath them ? Instead of swooping down and getting the shit shot out of them....why didn't they just drop big rocks into the rotor blades ? I was fully expecting them to do that, tree trunks if not rocks. My napkin would have been a bit wrong. As you surmised, the na'vi were obviously acting within their cultural traditions/limitations. Definately not PCs... Quote 10/420 https://www.amazon.com/author/petenash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenMcStern Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 3. Deadly animals at every corner Is the ecology of Pandora naturally created, or has there been outside interference. Such interference could be behind the Tree network and the compatibility of the Human and Nau'vi DNA. I have not seen the thingy yet, but please consider that an ecosystem with deadly animals at every corner is not unrealistic. Land ecosystems on Earth are not organized this way, but water ecosystems may actually have the biomass of major predators at a given time being larger than that of vegetables and herbivores. So there is no reason an alien land ecosystem should not have a deadly beast at every corner. Quote Proud member of the Evil CompetitionTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Nash Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 So there is no reason an alien land ecosystem should not have a deadly beast at every corner. Indeed. Just look at our own planet 65 million years ago. It had a very nasty range of deadly predators too. Quote 10/420 https://www.amazon.com/author/petenash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence.whitaker Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Indeed. Just look at our own planet 65 million years ago. It had a very nasty range of deadly predators too. It still does. We just tend to elect them into political office rather than hunting them down like we should. Quote The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedeesix Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 :thumb: Quote Join my Mythras/RuneQuest 6: Classic Fantasy Yahoo Group at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RQCF/info "D100 - Exactly 5 times better than D20" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Indeed. Just look at our own planet 65 million years ago. It had a very nasty range of deadly predators too. In fact, I've commented that Pandora clearly has a biosphere much more like prehistoric Earth than the modern world in its general level of fucundity, and that tends to support a large predator population better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trifletraxor Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 No matter how ridiculous they're still elves and I hate elves. And giant blue space-elves on a New Age/neo-hippie world even moreso. Hehehe... Tree-huggers! SGL. Quote Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub! 116/420. High Priest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rust Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Hehehe... Tree-huggers! Yep, and whenever one assumes that things cannot get worse, something like this here happens ...: Quote "Mind like parachute, function only when open." (Charlie Chan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorax Transtellaris Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Hehehe... Tree-huggers! SGL.Exactly! The image your average "spiritual" housewife has of tribal peoples, which couldn't be further from anthropological reality. Heck, even the Ewoks made more ethnographic sense! The Na'vi suck and so does their planet and if some idiot GM would present me with them in a game I'd have trouble refraining myself from trying to destroy them . (I have the same gut reaction to elves, by the way.) Quote RPGbericht (Dutch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonewt Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Heck, even the Ewoks made more ethnographic sense! If you ever want to defeat an Evil Empire , use Ewoks flying A-Wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Exactly! The image your average "spiritual" housewife has of tribal peoples, which couldn't be further from anthropological reality. Heck, even the Ewoks made more ethnographic sense! The Na'vi suck and so does their planet and if some idiot GM would present me with them in a game I'd have trouble refraining myself from trying to destroy them . (I have the same gut reaction to elves, by the way.) I have to disagree somewhat; given context, the Nav'i make perfectly good sense given they have a planet with a collective mind that they can converse with. Its just a mistke to read that as any kind of useful comment on our own planetary habits, since neither of those statements are true there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredj Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 I have to disagree somewhat; given context, the Nav'i make perfectly good sense given they have a planet with a collective mind that they can converse with. Its just a mistke to read that as any kind of useful comment on our own planetary habits, since neither of those statements are true there. It may make sense in the film, but it's still a typical "spiritual" housewives idea of indigenous cultures and how they "commune" with the earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 I don't think its Cameron's job to make avoid making his world serve its purpose just because its also the way some people mistake the real world as working. In fact, setting up his world so he shows you how it does work when he wanted to do that is the honest way to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vile Traveller Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 It may make sense in the film, but it's still a typical "spiritual" housewives idea of indigenous cultures and how they "commune" with the earth. That's really all that matters, though. I mean, it's a fantasy movie - would you expect Glorantha or any other fantasy world to try to make sense in context with the real world? Internal consistency is the only thing any story needs to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enpeze Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 But as some said here, its a mix of hard SF and space opera and not fantasy. And with this in mind the Navi dont have much sense or even well thought out design. They are eco-Sioux with blue skin on dragons, nothing more. I dont care much about Avatars story which is flat and predictable, more than most other Cameron films, but the great CGIs are revolutionary and definately the best ever shown in a movie. My recommendation is: run to the next theater and watch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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